Overrated movies
- Thread starter dahliaclone
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Oh I've got one for you...
Citizen Kane
Yeah, I said it. I will never understand this films high rank in the pantheon of American cinema. It's not even Orson Wells's best movie, The Third Man is (imo).
And before I hear about W.R. Hearst or what a genius Wells is...I get it. I've heard the arguments. It's just not what it's been inflated to be over the past x decades.
Citizen Kane
Yeah, I said it. I will never understand this films high rank in the pantheon of American cinema. It's not even Orson Wells's best movie, The Third Man is (imo).
And before I hear about W.R. Hearst or what a genius Wells is...I get it. I've heard the arguments. It's just not what it's been inflated to be over the past x decades.
I don't think a lot of people get American Psycho because it's so manic - it'll be so understated that some people think it's boring, and then it will flip and be a totally different movie. I loved it, but it always ticks me off a little that they changed it so much from the book. You sort of had to, though.
whaaaaa!?!?!?!? the opening scene of Inglorious Basterds was what I didn't like most about it. it was too long, too boring. I know it was supposed to be building up suspense and drama, but criminy, they could have done that and still cut 5 minutes out of the opening. Lest I sound like a Tarantino basher, I'm not. I really like some of his movies, like Reservoirs Dogs and Django and others, but others just make me scratch my head. So I guess that disproves the notion that you either like him or hate him.
And that would be one thing, but then why did he do the exact same thing with IB and DU?
Right. And I'm not even talking about the gore. You really have to read Bateman's long monologues to get the full oomf of his insanity.
Surely this can be found somewhere on the Internet, but Tarantino has to be purposely overdoing the blood to the point of forcing it to look cartoony and unrealistic right? That's how I've always interpreted it.
You really do. The sheer paranoia and self-importance, all of it - the book was just crazy. I would guess they'd have had to make it NC17 if they had included the gore, but you just can't really translate the monologues to screen.
I thought the movie theater scene was great. It was over the top but I think that was the point. I took it as being kind of a cathartic rewriting of history where Hitler and his men get killed in a giant blaze of destruction where they are killed directly by the people they are oppressing, instead of dying by killing himself alone in a bunker. After it was over I seriously sat stunned in the theater for the whole credits unable to form a thought beyond "holy ****".
Exactly, I actually just finished the book. Why I didn't read it before is a different question, but the book really explains a lot. Its a great book/movie that is humorous at parts, and really dives into his mind.
As you said, the book is very different, much more detailed. The description of all the suits, how no one really knows who each other is, etc. Love it.
Tarantino is the a master of building tension when all that's happening is two people talking and that scene is a perfect example. There was so much tension built up and the length of the scene was part of that.
And getting back to your earlier point, the sequence of scenes in Pulp Fiction is not random. They aren't chronological, but they also aren't random.
Now, just because I think it's just his schtick now, I'll point out - you say the ridiculous gore in Kill Bill is an homage to samurai films. In IB, it's cathartic. What is it in Django? There isn't a gigantic number of African-American cowboys out there, and Westerns weren't insanely gory, so I have nothing. I think he's just not being creative, and instead going for the easy out of shock value.
It is also interesting how some integral relationships in his life (however immaterial they actually are) were really downplayed in the film. Tim, Courtney. You don't hear much about those.
Tarantino has a classic dialogue scene in every movie he's done, all of which are some of my favorite scenes in each movie. The diner scenes in Pulp Fiction, the breakfast conversation around the table in Reservoir Dogs, the lunch convo between the girls in Death Proof, the opening of Inglorious Basterds and the scene in the basement of the bar later on, the dinner scene at Candy's ranch in Django.
I guess I can see why people think his violence is over the top, but I think that's his point. It's odd to me that people talk about his violence but pass over others. Is it because it's so in your face? Take a movie like Se7en, which I LOVE. But that is more disturbing and violent to me than Tarantino because his IS so gratuitous and over the top. Then I see a movie like Saw or Hostel and THOSE aren't being dissected by people as being too violent yet Tarantino movies are? That makes zero sense to me. Just because they are horror movies they get a pass?
Just glancing through the IMDB Top 250 for some ideas...
Inception - Delicious special effects, but a convoluted, plot hole-ridden storyline that is at once too simple and too complicated to really make much for compelling story, character, or drama
Terminator 2 - The first one is superior in all ways... the kid is annoying, it breaks so many rules of its own universe, and the anti-men themes and dialogue (for some reason completely absent in the first one with the strong, male hero of Kyle Reese to guide things) just kind of ruins it for me
The Dark Knight Rises - None of the interesting character study of the first one, none of the tightly-wound plot or drama of the second one, simply just a mess on all fronts
WALL*E - Pixar has done just so much better, the robots aren't really that compelling, and the brain-dead environmentalist themes and daft science fiction logic just took me out of the moment
The Avengers - Hilariously fun popcorn flick, but, one of the best films ever made? Really? Iron Man is way better as a pure film from the same franchise for innovation, entertainment, and character development
A Beautiful Mind - Not particularly accurate to the life of John Nash, they might as well went with the whole NXNW plot... I probably would have enjoyed that a ton more...
Star Trek Into Darkness - fun, but a mess, and I really don't see the point of "rebooting" the franchise if they're just going to liberally rip story elements from far better originals like The Wrath of Khan
Harry Potter 8 - a franchise that belonged on the page, watching Emma and Daniel and the crowd snore their way through this (they were so bored looking) in their early 20s got old
That would be my obvious list, glancing at it, of overrated Top 250 films.
Inception - Delicious special effects, but a convoluted, plot hole-ridden storyline that is at once too simple and too complicated to really make much for compelling story, character, or drama
Terminator 2 - The first one is superior in all ways... the kid is annoying, it breaks so many rules of its own universe, and the anti-men themes and dialogue (for some reason completely absent in the first one with the strong, male hero of Kyle Reese to guide things) just kind of ruins it for me
The Dark Knight Rises - None of the interesting character study of the first one, none of the tightly-wound plot or drama of the second one, simply just a mess on all fronts
WALL*E - Pixar has done just so much better, the robots aren't really that compelling, and the brain-dead environmentalist themes and daft science fiction logic just took me out of the moment
The Avengers - Hilariously fun popcorn flick, but, one of the best films ever made? Really? Iron Man is way better as a pure film from the same franchise for innovation, entertainment, and character development
A Beautiful Mind - Not particularly accurate to the life of John Nash, they might as well went with the whole NXNW plot... I probably would have enjoyed that a ton more...
Star Trek Into Darkness - fun, but a mess, and I really don't see the point of "rebooting" the franchise if they're just going to liberally rip story elements from far better originals like The Wrath of Khan
Harry Potter 8 - a franchise that belonged on the page, watching Emma and Daniel and the crowd snore their way through this (they were so bored looking) in their early 20s got old
That would be my obvious list, glancing at it, of overrated Top 250 films.
