Who Do You Think Is Overrated?

[Furious D]

In my long tradition of playing the Devil's Advocate I have a question:

Who do you think is the most overrated person or thing in movies? What or who gets all the attention and publicity without doing much to deserve it?

Let us all know. Here's my short list.


Marlon Brando Outside of THE GODFATHER, his whole career has been nothing but 'Look at me I'm ACTING' posturing and he's been the site of more mugging than Central Park in the 70's. Thank Jehovah, and Buddha that he's been lying low lately.

Beniffer- AKA Ben "If I Were More Wooden I'd be a Chair" Affleck and Jennifer "Look at my Ass" Lopez I think everyone's pretty sick of their dominance in the media. Marry, break up, nobody cares anymore!

Julia Roberts Nice teeth, okay actress, but she's not the be all and end all her publicists make her out to be.

Michael Bay Nuff said.

Joel Schumacher Many moons from now when the elderly Joel reaches the Pearly Gates, St. Peter's going to take one look at him and say: "Nipples on the Bat suit?" before hitting the down button.

McG Please, for the love of god, apple pie and cute little puppies: LEARN TO TELL A COHERENT STORY BEFORE YOU MAKE ANOTHER MOVIE! You're all sizzle, no steak, and pretty soon people are going to catch on to you. It's a good thing you use a pseudonym, it'll make the transition to a new life as a cashier at a Cleveland Target store go a lot smoother after your movie career crashes and burns.

Remakes What's the deal with remakes. I know Hollywood's creatively bankrupt, but that never stopped them from at least making up new titles for the same old crap.

Sling Blade I found it a tedious collection of acting excercises instead of a real film. Like looking at a reel of auditions for Tennessee Williams Goes To The Nervous Hospital. Hmmm-hmmm.

Aaron Sorkin You can't handle the truth that he's not really the great writer people claim he is! He's just a little more clever than the usual Hollywood hack. A lot of rapid fire linguistic wrapping over a proverbial lump of coal. Just because they talk fast and use a lot of clever phrases doesn't make what they're saying mean anything.

Al Pacino's performance in SCENT OF A WOMAN I wished his character was mute instead of blind. Yes we know he was 'in the dark!' He didn't deserve to win an Oscar for what was the single worst performance of an otherwise stellar career.

[Ricky Retardo]

I know that this will probably attract a shitstorm, but someone who I think is vastly over-rated is...




Stanley Kubrick!!!

The first half of his career was indeed brilliant...Dr Strangelove, Lolita, Clockwork Orange (notice I did NOT include the sopor-inducing 2001) are all unfuckwithable, but uhhh...Barry Lyndon? C'mon! Plus, I seem to be the only one I know that thought that The Shining infinitely forgetable (modern horror classic my white and pimpled ASS!) Full Metal Jacket totally lost steam once they got out of boot camp. And Eyes Wide Shut was about as erotic as a warm glass of milk. Yeah, I agree that he knew how to frame a shot, but puh-leez, I just never understood why everyone wanted to cream thier jeans over this guy.

[mruzick3]

-Depressing suburban commentaries: I know I have made this argument in other posts but I just can't help driving the point further. This is a lazy Hollywood theme about as tired and played out as terminal illness films. Haynes & Solondz need to find another theme or just get over their angst. This also goes for the film that popularized the genre, 'American Beauty' and the film that combined terminal illness with obvious and unrealistic '50's commentary, 'The Hours.' Julianne Moore is much more talented than this.

-Serial killer movies: Maybe I'm getting older but I really hate this genre. I can't stand that movie audiences are so debased that they'll glorify a Hannibal Lecter as a pop icon hero. Call me a hypocrite for liking Tarantino movies but there is something wrong about these films to me.

-Nic Cage: Or is it, Nicolas. 'Wild at Heart' was great and 'Valley Girl' was fun but eveything else is over-blown method acting. And in some movies he yawns the entire script.

This is my short list for now.

________________________________
Mike Ruzicka

[Furious D]

Here's some other people & things that I think are overrated:


James Dean: If he hadn't died young he would have ended up dying of alcohol poisoning and shame after doing a guest spot as Chrissy Snow's morbidly obese Dad on Three's Company. He overacted to the point of unintentional comedy and was really nothing more than a pretty boy who could cry on cue.

Jane Fonda: People have always said that the best performance was in the movie KLUTE. Well, I finally saw it, and I was completely underwhelmed. The real star performance of the film was Donald Sutherland as the repressed title character. All Jane did was do a few 'look at me I'm acting!' moments that added nothing to the already pondeorusly bloated film. If she hadn't gone to Hanoi and created her 'rebel activist' image, she probably would have ended up on a soap opera or a sitcom.

Good Will Hunting: Rumour has it that the film was originally supposed to be a spy thriller about a janitor who breaks codes for fun. The final product, that won the Oscar, was, according to this reliable source, the result of numerous rewrites done by other and uncredited writers. Even then I thought it was just another collection of 'look at me I'm acting!' moments with very little story and even less to give a rat's behind about.

Tennessee Williams: So many really awful overacted movies were made from the canon of this glorified hack. His tawdry melodramas only became so glorified because he'd toss in liberal doses of what were then 'taboo' subjects like homosexuality, and cannibalism. Nothing more than overwrought soap operas with unbelievably arch dialogue and pretensions to being watchable.

The 60's: Will the Baby Boom generation please shut up about the 60's. We've heard it all and we don't care anymore. It wasn't that great anyway. Everybody had bad hair and even worse outfits and it caused that horrible nightmare called the 70's. I wasn't around when Kennedy was shot, nor was I at Woodstock, but I don't need to hear you waxing nostalgic about it ad nauseum.

Chris Farley Another case of an early grave leading to undeserved hagiography. This portly comic's untimely death immediately shot him into the stratosphere of comedians where people compare him to the likes of Buster Keaton, Lenny Bruce and John Belushi. There's only problem: Those guys were actually funny. All Chris Farley did was jump up and down, yell, and fall down. If his bad habits hadn't killed him he'd be trying and failing to get a sitcom on the WB. I'd say more, but that would just get me ranting about the Saturday Night Live comedy death machine.


PS: I liked THE SHINING. So we must agree to disagree.

[mruzick3]

I just thought of a couple of people who are dangerously close to becoming overrated due to the hubris of their receptions.

-Steven Soderburgh: His last two films have been luke warm at best. I find it ironic that 'Solaris' was a collaboration with James Cameron who is still getting over his hang over from the Titanic Oscar party. Look out, 'Ocean's Twelve' is coming.

-Charlie Kaufman: The neurotic schtick is played out. 'Eternal Sunshine...' looks like it could be refreshing but with another Jim Carey dramatic-Oscar-reach, I'm just not sure.

...any additions to this sub-category?

____________________________
Mike Ruzicka

[C J Hyatt]

The English Patient and any other film directed by Anthony Minghella -- is it just me, or are these slightly better framed "Materpiece Theatre" episodes with Hollywood budgets?

Chicago -- proof you don't need to have singing and dancing talent or storytelling ability ... just a snappy editing style that will fool everyone into thinking they're seeing a good movie.

Lost In Translation -- yeah, Bill Murray is good but did you happen to catch the rest of that movie? Are self-absorbed yuppies what pass for edgy characters these days? Also, was it just me or was the attitude the movie had toward the Japanese characters racist as hell (I'm half Asian, so I might be a little sensitive).

Gods and Monsters -- So you have a chance to tell the story of the man who basically developed the horror genre in America and all you can do is say he liked boys? It's like doing the Buddy Holly story and saying, "Yeah, the music is good and all, but I'm only interested in the plane crash".

[Jeremy7211]

Over-rated:

Peter Bogandavich, Christopher Nolan, Richard Kelley, David Fincher.

[kevinpmurray]

I think that there are a few actors who are sorely underated and heres my two cents, in no particular order:

1. Delroy Lindo

2. Jeff Bridges

3. Gary Oldman

4. Ray Liotta

5. Bruce Willis ("serious" movies)

can't think of any more right now.

I agreed with most of yours Furious, especially on the Charlston Heston front...."get your paws off me your damn dirty ape" (or something along that line), all said without ungritting his teeth. Marvelous.

[BuckyMcSatan]

Okay, I'm going to have to agree with the Kubrick bashing except for "The Shinning" (underrated - and can you imagine if he actually put the moving shrubbery in like King wanted.. hahaha..), "Clockwork Orange" (but I've seen it so many times, I sold the DVD.) and "Lolita" (could watch a million times).

Other Overrated shit:
(and yes, I am about to bash two American classics, so LOOK OUT!)

1. Casablanca.
If I were born in the twenties, maybe I really could have appreciated this film, but when it was forced upon me in film theory, it might as well have been a waterbed commercial - if you catch my drift.

One day some kid will be shown the Matrix in college and look at the opening Trinity scene and laugh his head off since it's already been satirized, parodized and made fun of by everyone with a pen or a camera. If I gotta see one more person jump up in the air in a parody of Trinity or with snot dribbling out of their nose ala, The Blair Witch Project, I'm gonna poke my own eyes out.

2. Citizen Kane.
Holy yawn-fest! I find Orson Wells' life to be more interesting than his films. (see the great HBO flick "RKO 281" and Liev Schreiber's impeccable channeling of Wells).

Okay, don't get me too wrong, I realize that without films like the above two, "there would be no..." blah blah... but I'll tell ya, these two yawn-fests have me running for the hills everytime some purist, turtleneck-wearing, espresso-sippin', bo-ho poetry readin' film geek mentions how great they are.

If you wanna talk "classics", let's talk "The Girl Can't Help It". Now Frank Tashlin is cool. hahaha...maybe it's my animation training speaking, but...

"One rock... two rock... three rocks.. four rocks... rockpile dust is on my shoes... I'm a guy that's born to lose..."

[Spectaclegrinde]

Over rated directors:

1. Mike Figgis-- Jesus. Timecode? Crappy stunt movie. Leaving Las Vegas? This is a movie? Guy with more fucking money than God goes to Vegas to drink himself to death, and does. That's not a character arc, that's just dull. Oh, and he hooks up with another hooker with a heart of gold. Please, go back to just playing your boring Jazz shit. Don't even get me started on "the Loss of Sexual innocense." This is everything that makes real people hate film school schmucks.

2. Ang Lee. Did no one mention to him that "Hulk" was a kids' movie? Did no one mention to him that martial arts movies are supposed to be entertaining? He takes himself so Christing seriously he can't put an ounce of wit or life into his pictures. Innert, tedious dry-as-dust specimens for people too concerned with appearing cultured to want to go see a movie that hasn't been stuffed and mounted for their supposedly erudite, paint-by-numbers appreciation.

Movies:

"American Beauty" I love Kevin Spacey. He's great in this, too. SHame the film was made to make self-declared snotty urban sophisticates nod in Pavlovian unison over yet another condemnation of "those uncultured rubes in suburbia."

"The Searchers." THIS is a classic? Racist, tedious, stilted, and not nearly as morally complex as it's reputation makes it out to be.

Okay, back to work...

[VIRGOBLACK-]

I DO NOT UNDERSTAND WHY PEOPLE THINK TUPAC IS GREATEST RAPPER OF OUR TIME. TUPAC TALKS ABOUT NOTHING TO ME. WHO CARES ABOUT GANGSTER RAP. TO ME IT IS STUPID. HE WAS NOT A GREAT MAN. WHAT DID HE DO FOR THE BLACK PEOPLE. NOT A DAM THING. HE IS NO EXAMPLE FOR ANY BODY TO LOOK UP TOO. I KNOW AT LEAST 70 GUYS IN THE PROJECTS WHO ARE TUPAC LIKE. THE ONLY DIFFERENCE IS THAT, TUPAC IS ON T.V.

AND DO NOT GET ME STARTED ON FIFTY CENTS. I REALLY CANNOT STAND HIM. I AM SOMTIMES ASHAMED TO BE A BLACK WOMAN, WHEN I LOOK AT THESE DUMD ASS RAPPERS.

RAPPERS WHO TALK ABOUT GUNS, WHORES, PIMIPING, CARS, REPERSENTING THEIR HOME TOWN. LET ME TELL YOU SOMETHING. I DO NOT REPERSENT ANYTHING THAT I DO NOT OWN. WHAT ARE THOSE RAPPERS DOING FOR THEIR HOME TOWNS. NOTHING. HALF OF THEM DO HAVE A HIGH SCHOOL EDUCATION. I DO NOT CARE HOW MUCH MONEY YOU HAVE. YOUR ASS IS STILL DUMD.

KEEP IT REAL. PLEASE! AND THAN THEY HAVE THE NERVE TO THANK GOD. THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN MOST RAPPERS AND WILL SMITH IS

EDUCATION! EDUCATION EDUCATION!

IF YOU ARE GOING TO BE AN RAPPER, BE AN EDUCATED RAPPER.

[Eric Campos]

On that note, I think the Fat Boys did a damn fine job of keeping it real.

[Rory L. Aronsky]

"Dumd". I think that'll be a new pronunciation in my vocabulary. Maybe I'll go around today and just tell random people, "Hey! You're dumd!"

[The Baron]

Overrated...

In a word: Keanu. How does this guy continually put asses in seats?

Francis Ford Copolla. Does this man even hire someone to watch continuity?

Gone with the Wind: I've never made it past the first 20 minutes. But I always seem to wake up for "The End".

Titanic: The boat sank... Get over it.

[cooke]

Lindo! too right. has just returned to UK to make Wondrous Oblivion. He has to be the most under rated actor in english speaking world.

Over-rated? Charlie Kaufman, Spike Jonze, CABIN FEVER, CABIN FEVERS PRODUCERS, DIRECTOR, WRITERS and EVERY Dick Headed reviewer who rated the Film... and the distributors LIONS GATE who shat on the Great MAY to push this turd flavored film down our throats, and we sucked it up thanks to the lousy reviewers who lied to us (shit in their eyes?) and the stupid canadian festival who 'discovered' this masterpiece of toss, ANY ONE WHO ENJOYED IT? They are over-rated by their own mothers. they are rubbish. and secretly their own mum's know it. they hate you.

[El Duderino Diablo]

Damned dumd. Straight up, homey.

[cooke]

can I ask does anyone want to join me in claiming that cabin fever is the worse film of the last ten years?

or is it just me ans my mate steve?

mind you together we have succesfully warned off 227 people from seeing the piece of crap.

though it's still raking in the money...

[Rory L. Aronsky]

And the funny thing is that a DVD website I also write reviews for is receiving a copy of the "Cabin Fever" DVD next week that's being released on January 20th. On the DVD are 5, count them 5, audio commentaries. I can imagine one for director Eli Roth and one for the writers, and let me guess....3 of the others are for the actors? Who knows, but I'm certainly not expecting one from Peter Jackson explaining why he decided to allow his quote on the movie advertisements.

[BuckyMcSatan]

3. The Wizard of Oz.
Like a bad acid trip, the film reminds me of what it's like to be hanging on a thread with hallucinatory sickness crawling up from my belly and into my medula with dread-inducing clarity. The high voices, blaring colors and saccrine sweet characters in a state of constant anxiety and displacement really makes me wish it was directed by David Lynch with a soundtrack by Pink Floyd.

For part 1:

http://www.filmthreat.com:8000/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=244&perpage=5&pagenumber=2

[automanic]

I couldn't agree more with the people who were let down by Cabin Fever. I generally never let myself get too excited about a movie since nothing ever lives up to its hype, but this "horror" film had me laughing instead of cringing.

As for overrated directors, I know no one will agree with me on this, but: JOHN WOO. I usually love HK cinema, but this guy is just way too over the top. After the first 15 minutes of Hard-Boiled, I was just bored. I don't think I even finished watching it. And don't get me started on Broken Arrow, Face/Off or MI:2.

Oh, and by the way... VIRGOBLACK-- no offense, but you should know that writing all in caps doesn't make your posts look more important or emphatic. Actually, it makes them harder to read, which is why I skipped yours....

[Kuato]

overated :

The Matrix - everybody thought this was a great movie.... "am i taking crazy pills!!!!!!!!!???"

Moulin Rouge- i was forced to watch this and in the middle of my torture the t.v. actually blew up! thank christ for that!

Signs - jesus :( i can't remeber who told me to see this but it ruined the day

underated:

Lost In Translation

[Jason]

You are all stupid

[cooke]

well, its nice to know that we are all stupid, thanks.

virgoblack seemed to have every right to put everything in capitals, its for extreme emphasis. if you hate BLOCK CAPITALS and refuse to READ them, then you'd have MISSED lots of the points previous writers have been making OCCASIONALY thru their RANTS.

AND FOR FUCKS SAKE, LETS ALL LAY OFF CRITICISING PEOPLE FOR THEIR SPELLING! PEOPLE WHO LIVE IN GLASS HOUSES SHOULDN'T THROW STONES!

We are all stupid, mind.

anyway, A.I. most horrible, skin crawlingly, offensive piece of shit ever to emerge from the anus of Hollywood? YES!

I'M THE STOOPIDEST! ME! ME!

[Jason]

Obviously.
I am curious how many of the people who have posted on this thread are the same people who have touted the new Matrix as the greatest movie of all time.

[The Baron]

Mean while, back at the thread...

Most overrated has to be Meryl Streep. The woman plays the same emotion in 17 different dialects.

[Zebo]

No, no, no, no, no.

There's no way "Cabin Fever" could possibly be the worst movie of the last 10 years.

Can everyone have already forgotten that heinous summer that gave us "Tomb Raider," "Jurassic Park 3" and, most importantly, that brutal remake which hideously tainted for a new generation a classic, intelligent movie that ranks among the best that science fiction has to offer -- Tim Burton's "Planet of the Apes"?

While it was no masterpiece, I'm not sure "Cabin Fever" even rises to the level of "Ghost Ship" on the Suck-o-Meter. And I didn't even have to mention "Godzilla" or "Corky Romano" (which I haven't seen, but can you imagine an entire film devoted to Chris Kattan using his most annoying voice?).

:D [Christ on a stick, I can't believe I actually spent time posting a response that almost defends "Cabin Fever.]

Underrated? Despite the ending, which left me in the dust, I loved the absolute weirdness of "Donnie Darko." I don't think "Adaptation" received nearly enough notice. Surely I wasn't the only one to laugh all the way through "The Good Girl." And a comedy which went completely under the radar -- "So I Married an Ax Murderer." I still walk around saying, "Head -- Pants now!" "There's a piper down! A piper is down!"

[Jason]

The two worst movies I can think of are "House of 1000 corpses" and the one with danny devito, norm macdonald and dave chappelle as robbers or something. With that cast how could there not be even one moment that was funny?

[Rory L. Aronsky]

The movie was called "Screwed" and the answer's quite simple: Bad writing, indifferent direction; it's hard to find good comedy nowadays in the cinema. It's almost a miracle if you find a mainstream Hollywood film that manages to engage in the act of making people laugh and does it successfully throughout. But then keep in mind that different things make different people laugh and I'm sure Bad Santa had its moments in that.

I saw Stuck On You today and it was the mildest Farrelly Brothers comedy ever. It's basically their "PG" movie, except it's PG-13 for the porn movie scenes and the strip club. Here were two guys who were kinda cutting-edge for what they did in making people laugh at things you don't normally laugh at. I guess their thought might have been that if they keep up that kind of act, then it gets old pretty fast. It was an ok film and had some laughs here and there, but not enough to constitute a comedy. In the case of this film, they were nearing rank sentimentality.

I'm not sure what the point of my post is. Hell, I wrote this without even thinking about one and I'm sure I'm going to end this without one. Anyway, I'll end it with this. At one point, Stuck On You was going to star Woody Allen and Jim Carrey as the conjoined twins and I just couldn't help thinking of how that might have ended up had the casting gone in that direction and had the two been available for that.

The highlight of most of the film for me was thinking, "Hey, I've been there! I've seen that!", mainly in the spots when the boys were on the 20th Century Fox lot. Granted, I haven't been in the building that Cher came out of, but I've seen it. I did find it kinda sad though on one account. It took me a little while to figure out who the "Honey and Beaze" director was. At first, I thought it looked like Cameron Crowe, but then I remembered that Crowe looks a little more innocent than that. Within a minute or so, I did have my answer: Griffin Dunne. I'm not bragging about my expanding film knowledge, but I didn't expect to recognize him by face. Then again, he does have a kinda-sorta distinctive look.

Then came the bit with Seymour Cassel in the studio chief's office. When Cassel (as Morty) called the guy, "Terry", I was thinking of Terry Semel who I thought worked for 20th Century Fox. As it turns out, Semel runs Yahoo! and was a former co-CEO of Warner Brothers. Just shows to go you that I shouldn't be trying to recognize business types and should stick with directors.

Also, Hootie and the Blowfish singing a new version of "The Goodbye Girl"? I understand TNT's need to pull in some kind of audience so I guess it's best to re-do the song as a rock version, because the original David Gates version would probably sound sappy. The good thing about Edwards Cinemas is that they don't leave the screen blank before the movie starts and they have this show run off a digital projector called "The Twenty", which starts 20 minutes before the show. As I walked in, there was an advertisement for the remake of "The Goodbye Girl" on TNT, which stars Patricia Heaton (as Paula McFadden), Jeff Daniels (as Elliot Garfield), and Hallie Kate Eisenberg (the Pepsi girl as Lucy McFadden). The truth is that I'm a major fan of the 1977 film from which this is based. Neil Simon, who wrote that screenplay, also wrote the script for this one, but it doesn't help if you have actors that seemingly aren't into the whole thing. I mean, maybe I'm unfairly comparing Jeff Daniels interpretation of Elliot Garfield to Richard Dreyfuss' portrayal, but a brief snippet was shown of the scene where Elliot says, "I don't like the panties...drying..on...the...rod", as he takes them off the shower rod. Daniels' sounds too soft-spoken and I just miss Dreyfuss' timing of it. This makes me wish that MGM Home Video (or whoever has the rights to the original film) would make a new DVD of the original film with a commentary by Richard Dreyfuss, Marsha Mason, and Quinn Cummings (if possible since she doesn't work in Hollywood anymore). I'm sure Neil Simon wouldn't bother anyway.

Man, this post has turned out longer than I expected. One answer to a question about a film's name turns into this. I'm stopping here before this turns inadvertently into a tirade about why Jack Valenti of the MPAA should retire and believe me, you DON'T want to go there with me.

[Kuato]

underratted:

Robert Goulet


" whats all this talk about farting?"

[Ellen M.]

Soooooooo many good comments!

But, you forgot to mention...

- Ewan McGregor for building a career on dropping trou.

- It pains me, but Christopher Walken, for doing way too many crappy films recently (I know he's gotta pay the bills, but PLEASE take a break).

- Keanu Reeves, for being Keanu Reeves.

- Paris Hilton for being a vacuous, exo-skeleton, designer-clad slutbag.

- Kelly & Jack Osbourne for being proof that some people just shouldn't procreate.

- Helena Bonham Carter for thinking it's romantic that she's had an illegitemate child with Tim Burton & lives next door to him in London (can you imagine how scary this poor kid must look?).

- Gwyneth Paltrow & Jennifer Aniston for merely existing.

- And last but not least, Sting, Bowie & The Rolling Stones for becoming total middle-aged, rocker sell-outs... time to hang it up fellas, you've made enough $ off us poor sods!

I could go on, but I'll stop for now...
Ellen ;)

[Philo Bedo]

I DO NOT UNDERSTAND WHY PEOPLE THINK TUPAC IS GREATEST RAPPER OF OUR TIME. TUPAC TALKS ABOUT NOTHING TO ME.

Being an "...cracker ass cracker..." I don't know what kind of shit storm this is... maybe nothing at all. You never know.

Biggie & 2Pac have been Elvised. Made more money after death than alive.

Biggie = Fat mush mouth with a good production team

2pac = I was gangsta when it suited me. I was Don Cu'Illminanti (sp?) when I needed to reinvent muh' bush. But at heart I was an actor/rapper with potential, who was an back up dancer with Digital Underground.

My point is everyone needs an martyr. And even more people need that person to make a buck.

Smell my Humpty Dance.

Buy Otha Tuner's

EVERYBODY HOLLERIN' GOAT

If you want some real shit. That didn't have 20,000 + $ spent just for the demos.

I'm starting to sound like my NPR shit don't stink. SORRY.

Time for an other drink....

[ankitovich]

Originally posted by Kuato
overated :

The Matrix - everybody thought this was a great movie.... "am i taking crazy pills!!!!!!!!!???"

I'm with you man. I didn't think it was any good when it first came out. Suffice it to say the sequels have not helped any. We should add all SNL spoofs and Tarantino films to this list.

[Jason]

I disagree with most of the films that everyone is saying are overrated. I thought the Matrix was decent, but the third matrix was horrible. What movies are good? I wonder to myself.
Actually I am only posting this message because I want to know if Chuck Berry really said "trust me smell my fart". Did he? If so what exactly was the situation that prompted that statement?

"I will never betray you. smell my fart" is what I am reading

[GiGi]

I hate to wail on anyone, and have no room to talk since these people have more money and crap than I may ever, but here are a few:

COLLIN FARRELL (I cant spell his name and dont care. He's like a 12 year old kid who has just learned to cuss and thinks it's super cool he can. And I'm not impressed with his acting. But that's me)

BRITNEY SPEARS (She can dance, she's pretty, but what the hell. Am I the only one who thinks she cannot sing?)

JAY LENO (He's a mean asshole. If he couldnt pick on anyone he'd have no material and he rips Letterman off left and right)

PAMELA ANDERSON (she's good to animals, but she's talentless and I have seen her dirty bits more than I have my own. NEXT!)

JA RULE (clear your throat, man.)

Sorry to any of the fans, it's JMHO

[Philo Bedo]

Actually I am only posting this message because I want to know if Chuck Berry really said "trust me smell my fart". Did he? If so what exactly was the situation that prompted that statement?

That line came from the infamous Chuck Berry backstage tape. I have never seen the flick. A good friend of mine had a several generations old copy when he lived in Miami, but lost it in a move. I know this creeping into Urban Myth, but he described the video in great detal. Other people I've talked to who also claimed to have seen the video have described the scenes and everyones stories jive.

Anyway, apparently Chuck Berry was R. Kelly before R. Kelly was an OGBYN. Only difference is that in Chuck's tape, the woman was well into her 30s - 40s. According to all sources the tape was shot late 70s - early 80s. Various "bathroom antics" were perfromed by Mr. Berry onto said woman. At some point, Mr. Berry is standing on the bathroom sink giving a little gloden shower where he states his devotion to his lady.

I've seen the tape pop up on EBay from time to time, but I was outbid. So keep that grain of salt at the ready. It's still a great line though.

[Jason]

This is fantastic. I hope its true.

[CrystalPepsi]

Well I still think HardBoiled is one of the best shootout films ever.How could you stop after the first 15 minutes,ya missed the hospital shootout!!!

I remember watching Citizen Kane in a high school film class and virtually everyone fell asleep.I've been on a film noir kick lately so I've been watching some of Welle's other works and I think Touch of Evil is great,and suprisingly funny.

Seems to me Hollywood Acting is a whole style onto itself,which is why Nic Cage is pure ham to me.I don't get it,really.And Tom Cruise is not that great either,he doesn't have much range.Most "stars"are simply great at being stars and exploiting their personas,not great actors.

Ja Rule makes me laugh,he still looks like a little kid to me,so when he tries to get all thug on ya,by scrunching up his face an nodding his head to the left and right as he speaks,ah hell,any rapper in "look at me I'm da pimp,BITCH!"makes me laugh.

OVerrated?Hmm,pretty much anyone who makes a horror film these days.Any new film that isn't braindead is heralded as the 2nd coming.

[rat fink]

Jim Carrey as a "serious" actor. He'll never be able to get rid of those faces.

Four weddings and a funeral

The full monty

Trainspotting

Coen Brothers

Lars von Trier

A beautiful mind

[truepictures]

Originally posted by rat fink
Coen Brothers



No way. Never. You are mistaken. O Brother Where Art Thou, is one of my favorite movies, on my top 15. For that, the Coen Brothers have my respect forever.

I don't know about their new movie LadyKillers with our friend Tom Hanks though, how can Hanks play another southern character without us being reminded of Gump?

[El Duderino Diablo]

Originally posted by truepictures

I don't know about their new movie LadyKillers with our friend Tom Hanks though, how can Hanks play another southern character without us being reminded of Gump?

A hairy mole, a Zappatta moustache and an eyepatch might keep Gump off my mind.

[Jeremy Knox]

Overrated?

I wrote this long list of people and films and music styles. Then erased them all because everything that sucks today stems from the same place...

"Advertising and Marketing"

Eminem, Britney Spears, Michael Bay, Hip Hop, Fast and The Furious, The Urban Look, Christina Aguilera, Limp Bizkit, Puddle of Mud, Metallica's war against KaZaA, Puff Daddy, Papa Roach, Movie Remakes, Movie Sequels, Celebrities becoming Politicians, ect...

All these above heresies are created, thought up, and put forth upon the earth by the great Gods of Marketing. Most of what I mentionned in my list wasn't even conceived to be good. It was conceived to sell. The end.

It's basically a switch from Artists to Marketers as the creative force behind any product. They're not "Making a movie", they're selling it. Like a refrigerator or a car. It's not about art, it's about sales goals, audience size (and audience wealth). How can we make the most money off of this project?

Like the Frankenstein monster they assemble these things from previous creations and then vomit it forth on kids too young to remember where all their music, movies and clothes were ripped off from.

It was always about money, but since about 1997, it's been a MONEY MONEY MONEY orgasmatron. They don't even pretend to be about art anymore. Creative writers have become useless, the writers today are little more than transcribers. They watch an old movie or TV series and "re-imagine" it. Directors with a vision are treated with similar contempt. If you can't direct it like an hour long commercial then you're no good to them. Same thing for actors. If they don't sign a million contracts whoring themselves out to any company who'll pay money to them, they're seen as "difficult". Musicians too, they're not asked to be original anymore. They're just asked to write songs that sound like older songs. It's like Led Zeppelin's first album all over again, only this time it's a rule and not an exception (not to mention that none of these guys have 1/10th the talent of Zep).

Then there's the genres. Can't have real horror movies anymore. You have to pussify it down to Friday The 13th Part 7 type scares. Rap was watered down to Hip-Hop. Great stand-up comics are constantly asked to "tone it down" for movies.

The whole mentality seems to be that if you can't sell it, cut off it's balls and see if you can sell it then. Most of the time it works, sadly. People love comedy that's not too rude, horror that's not too scary, porn that's not too dirty, dramas that aren't too realistic.

The absolute worst part is that the public seems to be falling for it. They're like idiot tourists at a cheap resort where all the drinks are watered down, the food stinks and the rooms are small, yet no one notices because it's so nice and warm out.

So what's overrated? Just about everything making any kind of money today. Depressing eh?

JK13

[truepictures]

Clint Eastwood as a director is way overrated.

[VidVicious]

I must agree that Casablanca was a pretty overrated film. For that matter I think Bogey is a pretty overrated actor.

Other people I think are overrated:Frank Sinatra- I think the only worthwhile contribution by this man is "Love & Marriage" as the themesong to Married With Children.

Elvis : There were so many great performers of that era (Carl Perkins, Link Wray, to name a few) who appointed this sneering truck driving drug addict from Mississippi as the king of rock an role.

Battleship Potemkin: If I have to sit through the Odessa Steps sequence one more time...heads will role. Give me Dziga Vertov any day,

Movies that take place in NYC or LA
And what about these movies about the plight of some 20 something loser in these huge metropolitan areas.
Yes I know these are the Hubs of the Production industry. And not all of these movies are bad, but dudes, there're 48 other states in this country that all have people with some kind of story. Why not make more of them?

[begbie2112]

Jennifer Lopez is the most overrated c**t in showbiz. This talentless piece of ass should go crawl in a cave somewhere or just make porn films....

Also....any rap star who thinks they can act.....WAKE UP IDIOTS!!
When the novelty and mind poison of hip hop finally dies I will rejoice in the streets!!

[bizzlejig]

OVER-RATED STUFF IN HOLLYWOOD:

Anthony Minghella – Seriously. Why does EVERY SINGLE FILM HE MAKES have to be a gigantic, epic period piece???? Does he think by taking these overly long, boring, so-called “prize-winning” novels and turning them into overly long, boring movies that he’s giving the world something worth watching??? So freakin’ pretentious!

The Matrix sequels – Everyone keeps complaining that their questions went unanswered in the sequels to the Matrix. My question is: What the hell questions did you need answered??? The first film was an okay film, and in my opinion it stood just fine on its own. I saw no need at all for any sequels.

Movie Critics – We put too much stock into what they say. Too many people skip movies just because a critic tells them to. Whatever happened to making up your own goddamned mind??? I’m all for them writing their reviews of the movies, so I guess my gripe is really with the people who actually listen to them and heed their “warnings.”

“Friends,” “Frasier,” & “Seinfeld” – Three of the most absolutely over-rated television shows to ever grace the airwaves. “Seinfeld” and “Frasier” were funny for the first season or two, but then as their popularity grew, they just stopped being funny and started being annoying. “Friends” was just never funny.

“Reality” TV – Somebody should find, decapitate, and make a big steaming bowl of soup out of the head of whatever person came up with “Survivor” because HE/SHE is to blame for this sudden wave of crap that’s just flooding the TV now.

MCCABE & MRS. MILLER, PRET-A-PORTER, and GOSFORD PARK – Why is it that Robert Altman can make some movies that are absolutely fantastic but then others that just suck and bore you to death???

EYES WIDE SHUT – Okay, I know this has been debated numerous times ever since its release, but I just have to say that just because the director of the movie (who had also been responsible for numerous classics in cinematic history) died before the movie was released, doesn’t mean that we all have to sit through this dreck and come out patting him on the proverbial back. Every single critic I read when this movie was released praised the hell out of Kubrick for making such a “masterpiece,” saying that it was a perfect “swan song” to an already perfect career, or some crap like that. It kept making me wonder if I was watching the same movie they had seen. Cuz in the version I saw, the acting sucked majorly, and so did the story itself. I’d really like to see the version that was sent to the critics, cuz they made it sound like it was really good.

And I know that they’re not exactly a product of Hollywood, but seriously, am I the only person in this entire world who does not bow down and worship and kiss the ass of the highly over-rated band known as the Grateful Dead???? Please tell me I’m not alone in hating these talentless hacks! They should’ve just gone into a career writing children’s sing-alongs and commercial jingles cuz that’s what their crappy music sounds like anyway.

I definitely agree with some of the other names that have already been bandied about on this thread. Julia Roberts is HIGHLY over-rated. Same with Ben & Jen, Marlon Brando, Michael Bay (I could write a book about all the reasons there are to hate that spawn of Satan), GOOD WILL HUNTING, Mike Figgis, Tupac Shakur,

And as for CABIN FEVER, I don’t think that it was a bad movie. I just think it was yet another case of the film not living up to the incredible hype that was created for it.

[nickylund]

Lord of the Rings, Lord of the Rings, Lord of the Rings.

and Mystic River.

[Magneticleather]

I can't believe that there has been more than one or two people to douse rap or hip-hop. Like only the rappers on the public's conciousness are the ones to exsist. That's like saying that Hollywood movies are the only movies being made.

You know who is overrated? Pink Floyd. I couldn't help thinking I was lisenting to Bowie the entire horrible expirence of "The Wall".

MWaHAHHAAAA!

Oh yeah, Cabin Fever was pretty bad...But I am a big MST3K fan, so I have seen waaaaaaaaay worse movies. Cabin Fever though is good for a laugh...and yelling at the stupid white kids on screen, and wondering 'WHAT THE HELL'. AND a BIG laugh to when Santa Claus drops the 'N'-word. Man that was just too inappropriate.

I hate this post. I will submit it anyway.

[VidVicious]

I dug Cabin Fever actualy. The whole idea of people being killed off without a tangible killer really intrigued me. The dialogue could've been better, but hell, it was a campy horror flick.

Regarding music: I am in complete agreement that the Hatefull Dead suck, as well as Phish, and the Doors. I never understood why people got into these bands in the first place.

[Ellen M.]

Brilliant observations on Page 3, guys! So much good stuff, I don't even know how to respond.

But I will say this in response to the music comments... Ill be grateful when they're dead!

Ellen ;)

[El Duderino Diablo]

Ellen, your Betty Page avatar has gone from distracting to downright hypnotic.
Now I'll never get any quality posting done! ;)

[GiGi]

Isn't Betty living somewhere near Nashville? Now that would be a cool documentary...."FInding Betty Page"......

[Ellen M.]

Yes Dude, my plan to take over the world by distracting people through not-so-subliminal Bettie Page images is FINALLY working!

The *real* scoop in Bettie Page is this...
In the '70's she had a 2nd marriage, found god, and the last I heard was she was living in some small town in California. There have been many books & a few docs done about her, but I think she's declined any offers to do any media. This of course, adds to her mystique & iconic status. I've seen pictures of her, and she still looks great for an older broad!

Bettie rules, and she's definitely NOT overrated!
Ellen :)

[bizzlejig]

Well, she did do an interview for E!'s True Hollywood Story about her a couple of years ago, but she insisted on doing it in silhouette because she wanted people's image of her to remain the same as all the pictures she took.

[Philo Bedo]

There is an current photo of Ms. Page in this month's issue of Playboy. She featured in the Hef party photos on page 3 or so. I believe it is photo #2.

Showing her age bit, but still a pretty lady.

P. S. - Did I mention that every Wood Allen film made past '88 are completely overrated in every way shape and form. Except for Sweet & Lowdown (still blew, but I kinda liked it, the music and sean penn, I guess) everything has been complete gabbb-age. It's a sad sight when Allen rip offs (Jon Faveuro(sp?) Ed Burns, maybe not Burns, he's an whole nutha level of fart smellin, etc.,) are doing Allen better than Allen. Time to hang up the glasses and take that long, nebbish walk into the night.

[Foddre]

Originally posted by mruzick3

-Nic Cage: Or is it, Nicolas. 'Wild at Heart' was great and 'Valley Girl' was fun but eveything else is over-blown method acting. And in some movies he yawns the entire script.

This is my short list for now.

________________________________
Mike Ruzicka [/B]


Whaaaaat. Have you seen Nic Cage in Bringing Out the Dead

[langston]

All these above heresies are created, thought up, and put forth upon the earth by the great Gods of Marketing. Most of what I mentionned in my list wasn't even conceived to be good. It was conceived to sell. The end.


I agree with your list here, Jeremy-- except for hip hop, which got popular in the late 70's because it didn't cost anything to participate in. Money was never a concern, as all early hip hop "shows" took the form of neighborhood-wide block parties-- and I don't recall anybody charging admission. That said-- in a way, you are actually quite correct. I do believe that hip hop has been reinvented in order to sell, but the intentions of hip-hop were initially good.

As for me...Big Fish is a truly disappointing film. I like it, but I'm not going to say it's the best film of the year. Coupled with that, Burton is highly overrated-- he's an imagery-obsessed little greaseball who would have served the world better as a painter. Being a director involves too much else that isn't related to making things nice to look at.

And, piggybacking on that-- Ewan McGregor, for smiling his way through a film instead of acting, and, as stated in a previous post, for building his career on dropping trou.

AMC is ass. They charge too much, they serve popcorn the worst way possible, they try to be more than a movie theater and fail, and they fuck over their employees.

Brothers are overrated. Coen, Wachowski, and Farrelly, to name a few.

"New-age horror", for being totally and completely not scary. The best horror film I've seen in a long time, Irreversible, wasn't even a horror film. Meanwhile, Cabin Fever was like watching someone crap onto celluloid.

Van Helsing. This movie is teh s uck. I haven't even seen it yet and I think it's going to be one of the worst flicks of the year. Hugh Jackman's good, but I can't see him holding up the movie on his own, and I think he'll have to try since the plotpoint and the effects I've seen are all extra-strength lame.

[Ellen M.]

Originally posted by Philo Bedo
There is an current photo of Ms. Page in this month's issue of Playboy. She featured in the Hef party photos on page 3 or so. I believe it is photo #2.

Showing her age bit, but still a pretty lady.

P. S. - Did I mention that every Wood Allen film made past '88 are completely overrated in every way shape and form. Except for Sweet & Lowdown (still blew, but I kinda liked it, the music and sean penn, I guess) everything has been complete gabbb-age. It's a sad sight when Allen rip offs (Jon Faveuro(sp?) Ed Burns, maybe not Burns, he's an whole nutha level of fart smellin, etc.,) are doing Allen better than Allen. Time to hang up the glasses and take that long, nebbish walk into the night.

Wow, I'll have to check out the January "Playboy" for the Bettie sighting (maybe one of my guy friends will let me borrow it).

I agree on your Woody Allen comments! He's definitely jumped the shark. And the comments about Tim Burton & "Big Fish" are right on the $ too. I thought "Big Fish" was a big bore. People actually cry at this movie? I was crying too... over the fact that I paid $9 for my ticket!

Ellen ;)

[JulusHG]

I hate that the great actors from my childhood have since passed away.......

No one today can compare with the gentleman qualities like William Powell and Cary Grant bestowed upon the screen..

I miss the glory days of the western.Where have you gone Randolph Scott?

I hate to see Newman, Redford, Eastwood, Duvall,Caine and Pacino get old.

I miss the wit of Spencer Tracy and the glamour of Susan Hayward.

I miss the comedy of Lemon and Mathau....

I miss the drama of Richard Burton and Richard Harris....

I miss the young James Bonds of Connery and Moore.

I hate to see movies that come out now that win an Oscar for best picture when such great movies as The Man Who Would Be King failed to do so.

I hate that todays action hero has to look like a bodybuilder to kickass....What happened to the Death Wish days of Charles Bronson or the Prime Cut days of Lee Marvin?

I miss the days when The Wild Bunch was a Bunch of great actors not just the best looking guys off a television show.

I miss the days of when movies showed the bedroom door close and let you wonder what happened behind it.....

I miss days when John Wayne, Rober Mitchum, or William Holden would save the day......

I miss the days when Hollywoods worst actors were much better than todays so called whatevers........

Damn I think I will just go look through my dvd's and pick out a Henry Fonda movie to watch and enjoy the afternoon...

[ankitovich]

Originally posted by Ellen M.
I thought "Big Fish" was a big bore. People actually cry at this movie? I was crying too... over the fact that I paid $9 for my ticket!

lmao

[King Crat]

I dont know if hes overrated or not but every time i see Matt Damon I want to pull his lips off and fry them in wee :(

[saccharine]

haha shit im still laughing from the fat boys comment... come on everybody do that fucking twist!!!!

I have an abject hatred for Forrest Gump sorry people. Retarded people arent that fucking amazing. I went to a private school and quite a few "special people" sat in on classes (i still havent figured out why ten years later), and i have to tell you they dont teach you shit like Radio. And they certainly dont conquer the world ala Forrest. Unless drooling, flexing like the incredible hulk, and punching people in the nuts have all of a sudden become precious commodities.

Hmm what are some others i dont like Bringing Down the House where whitey is dumb and has soooooooo much to learn from the hood. Please. Aren't we all supposed to be on the same level nowadays?

Brown is the new black. Hey look its an arab person!
No actually he's Pakistani.
Yay brown people are funny what with their guttural accents, shewormas, and birkas and all!!!
Yippee i mean shit it cant be racism if they arent black or mexican right?Jesus i hate this fucking part of the country.

Grease. I fucking hate Grease. And just about anything aside from Pulp Fiction that JT's in.

Ok so this was supposed to be an overrated post and i just listed things i hate. So what. Fuck off. Youre next.

Underrated: Handjobs and cream cheese. Yeah those two things are nice. Brad Anderson flicks. Superdrag's "Head Trip In Every Key", Califone, Starflyer 59, and George Bush falling down a flight of stairs.

[The Baron]

Two words: Guy Richie

[MikeWatt]

Originally posted by Ricky Retardo
I know that this will probably attract a shitstorm, but someone who I think is vastly over-rated is...




Stanley Kubrick!!!

The first half of his career was indeed brilliant...Dr Strangelove, Lolita, Clockwork Orange (notice I did NOT include the sopor-inducing 2001) are all unfuckwithable, but uhhh...Barry Lyndon? C'mon! Plus, I seem to be the only one I know that thought that The Shining infinitely forgetable (modern horror classic my white and pimpled ASS!) Full Metal Jacket totally lost steam once they got out of boot camp. And Eyes Wide Shut was about as erotic as a warm glass of milk. Yeah, I agree that he knew how to frame a shot, but puh-leez, I just never understood why everyone wanted to cream thier jeans over this guy.

Finally! I felt like I was the lone man on the iceberg and the rest of the world was testing their lighters on my edges. I have often thought the above, and OH how I've been pilloried for it. On the other hand, if popular opinion makes something right, then you and I are the MOST wrong people to walk the Earth! ;)

Actually, I was able to get about two-thirds of the way through this thread before I found anything to disagree with. I'm a huge fan, supporter and have great love for CASABLANCA (but I was allowed to discover it, and it was not shoved down my throat in theory classes - the way that, er, POTEMKIN was), THE SEARCHERS (which I don't find racist, though Wayne's Ethan is, definitely), CITIZEN KANE (which I not only don't find boring, but I see something new each time I watch it), and AMERICAN BEAUTY (which, again, I was allowed to discover, rather than was forced to watch by the mass appeal).

What's nice about this thread is that people, for the most part, are expressing their opinions, then explaining what they don't like about it, rather than just ranting about how something sucks and trying to entertain themselves with insults.

Most of the so-called Oscar-winning movies I have found over-rated. There seems to be this new genre of movies that I like to call "the so-what? movie" WHITE OLEANDER, THE HOURS, SHINE - you slog through these things, get to the end and get nothing out of it aside from "life is hard". I already knew that. I didn't have to spend two hours watching someone I didn't like right off the bat learn this same lesson.

Or am I just being grumpy?

Mike Watt

[Furious D]

Originally posted by The Baron
Two words: Guy Richie

I think you have to do something other than bone Madonna to be rated for anything... Cause if that were true this thread would take up about 50 gigabytes of server space. :p ;):rolleyes:

Besides that lame ass castaway movie he made with her pretty much put his movie career in the shitter. The only thing that could damage more would be if her were to announce that he's doing a remake of GIGLI, as an all-rap musical starring Madonna and Marlon Brando.

[The Baron]

Originally posted by Furious D
...The only thing that could damage more would be if her were to announce that he's doing a remake of GIGLI, as an all-rap musical starring Madonna and Marlon Brando.

Oh, the mind boggles! "Gobble, Gobble... Pass the Butter".

Sorry. I know I didn't need to go there. *scrubs mind's eye to banish the image*

[VidVicious]

Here's a few more that have been bugging me for a while.
Dirty Dancing Seriously what do people think is so great about this movie?
Having to see a movie because somebody is in it Granted, Angelina Jolie is hot, and an feminazi icon, but do we really need to sit through another Tomb Raider movie.
And the corollary Refusing to see a movie because somebody is in it I hate hate hate Leo Dicraprio, but it didn't stop me from seeing Gangs of New York or The Beach (both movies I enjoyed).
Just cuz an actor sucks, doesn't mean the movie's gonna be a complete crapfest.