5 Overrated Films

This is the one that makes me think of that word: Overrated. Over-hyped and over-praised are terms that come to mind as well. This movie was #10 on Empire’s Top 500 Films of all time list as voted by its readers. I would even dream of putting this on a list of my top 250. I’ll honestly take another look at Ace Ventura: Pet Detective before I watch this movie again. Brad Pitt and David Fincher’s work in this movie is all that keeps me from giving it a 0/10. Pitt gives his best performance from the 90’s and Fincher’s camerawork, editing and general visual style make this a must see (at least once). But nothing about the script, plot, characters or other performances resonates with me on any level. Also, the simple idea of “a fight club” really sickens me; why do they HAVE to take their shirts off?! The movie was going fine when it was just about two guys with different philosophies then it becomes a sick testosterone-laden macho porno. I truly hated the characters in the film, every single one. There’s nobody to root for whatsoever. This movie also tries to tell me that if I don’t have any violence or non-stop adrenaline that I’m a weak human being. That makes me sick that Fincher would suddenly make a movie that is really just a 2-hour middle finger to the way normal people live. David Fincher is definitely one of the best directors working today and will no doubt be remembered for all of cinema history; but hopefully for his other films like Se7en, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button or the truly underrated Zodiac. This movie will have to be watched again by me, I know. But I have no desire to share this movie with anybody else. I’d watch any grisly thriller with my parents, but I’d be embarrassed to be in the room when they watch Fight Club.

The Departed and Goodfellas could easily be named the best crime films of all time and I wouldn’t have a problem with it. Scorsese is the best when it comes to making “Day in the Life of an American Gangster” films. But Casino is a movie that gets lumped in there with Scorsese’s best and I won’t stand for it! Won’t, I say! From the outset I was excited, a follow-up to Goodfellas with the same writers, much of the same cast and a story that I’ve never seen told; the fall of the mob’s Las Vegas. But about an hour into this 3 hour beast I was really upset to see that indeed only an hour had passed and there was a whole 2 hours to go. And that’s one of the major problems with this movie; it falls into that category of movies that are simply too damn long. Goodfellas and The Departed fly by at 2½ hours and I always wonder where the time goes, but I was ready to turn it off and finish it another day. That’s never sign that you love a movie, when you don’t care that you’ve been called to dinner in the middle of a film and a Scorsese film at that. The film itself has some great qualities, like the great performances from Robert DeNiro, Sharon Stone and a number of supporting performances (LQ Jones, Don Rickles, James Woods, Frank Vincent, etc.). As well as a few choice moments of violence, the scenes with the hammer and then the vice are memorable. But I felt that Pesci was repeating himself from Goodfellas. But the real reason I don’t like the film has to be the characters and my level of sympathy with them. *SPOILER*In Goodfellas I almost felt the onset of tears when Tommy was killed and we see Jimmy’s reaction*End SPOILER*. I was glad to see Pesci die in this movie. Also unlike Lorraine Bracco in Goodfellas, I had no sympathy for Sharon Stone as essentially the same character; she’s just such a bitch towards the end. But again, I think DeNiro gives his last good performance in movies (tragically), I really did have some emotion invested in his character. But in the end I felt that it was simply too long, I didn’t care who died and I also don’t care what happens to the city of Las Vegas. Am I supposed to want murderers to run a popular tourist city? So I have to say that the praise this movie gets is honestly lost on me.

Supposedly an art film set during the battle of the Guadalcanal. I found it to be truly pretentious, far too long and filled with too many characters. That's not to say that there aren't great people in the cast who give great performances (Sean Penn, Nick Nolte, John Cusack), but there are simply too many characters that annoyed me. Say what you will about Saving Private Ryan, that movie had a clear structure and far better pace. Perhaps I need to see it again, but I don't feel the urge to.

I remember when I read the nominees for Best Picture in 1977 and saw that Annie Hall beat Star Wars; I was disgusted. “What the hell is this? Some Woody Allen movie won and Star Wars lost? What a joke!” Then I watched Annie Hall. Star Wars deservedly LOST a lot of Oscars to Annie Hall (namely Best Screenplay, Best Director and Best Picture). Also I feel that Close Encounters of the Third Kind should have been nominated in place of Star Wars. Don’t get me wrong, Star Wars is the reason we have so many great films today. Without it we would probably never get Raiders of the Lost Ark, Lord of the Rings, The Matrix or just about any comic book films. Also I think Harrison Ford and Alec Guinness are superb, and nobody’s bad in the film. There’s nothing bad in the film that I can name. It’s just that there’s nothing in the film that I would put in a top 10 list. Darth Vader makes a great villain and Luke’s a great hero, Han’s a classic, but I wish somebody could somehow remove C-3P0 from the entire series. Now, no matter what I think about Star Wars, I do think that The Empire Strikes Back is among the greatest films ever made, it should be right there between Apocalpyse Now and Goodfellas, but that’s another topic. But Episode IV is not the best movie ever made and certainly not worthy of ALL the praise it gets.

This movie is an achievement, I admit that. BUT! It's not the BEST Sci-Fi movie ever made, it's not the best Phillip K. Dick adaptation, it's not the best Ridley Scott film (or his best sci-fi film) and it's not Harrison Ford's best performance (quite the contrary I believe). However I do love many aspects of it. This could be the most beautiful science fiction movie ever made, but nice lighting and set decoration does not a masterpiece make. I think that every scene with Rutger Hauer is perfect and certain images are immaculate. But in the end; I've seen better films. Minority Report is the film that I prefer when it comes to film noir science fiction. Again, I will always respect the hell out of this movie, but I have no real devotion to Blade Runner.