Spottedfeather

I don't know that that FX budget was so massive. What effects did they have ? There was a mostly cgi colosseum and they removed space so that the tigets would appear to be closer to the actors. Other than that, what was there ?

Spottedfeather

Exactly. As I think I've said before, I tried to watch Napoleon Dynamite but could barely get through about 25 minutes of it. I eventually was able to, barely, finish the movie. Didn't laugh a single time. It's such a stupid movie. And the Hangover ? Another laughless movies that grabbed a bit from a much better movie over here, and another bit of a much better movie over here and smushed them together in hopes that it would make a goo movie, which if failed miserably to do. These two movies are just massive cases of being movies that people talk about over and over an over, to the point where people start to think they're actually good, even when they're not. I am sure that there are a lot of people that genuinely like these movies. That's fine. You can like what you like. But I'd bet that most of the people that say they like these movies do so because it seems like everybody in the world loves these movies and people who don't are made fun of or looked down on because they don't like them.

I'd say that I appreciate the effort it took to make these movies, but that would be a lie. There was no effort. They just kept taking bits and pieces of other movies that people actually like in hopes that the likeability factor would rub off. But when you take bits and pieces of good movies, hoping to make a good movie yourself, you can't do any better than those other movies. And 99 percent of the time, you do the exact opposite and fail to make any sort of watchable movie...unless people only watch it to make fun of it and enjoy the cheesy camp factor.

As I said. If you like a movie that's extremely popular for no good reason, then that's perfectly fine. You can like whatever you want to like. But please don't like it just because a lot of other people do. Like it because you actually like the movie.

DaveyJoe

That's a terribly sad perspective, and very untrue. Be a film snob if you want, but it's ridiculous to assume that the masses are waiting for a perceived consensus before deciding whether or not to like a movie.

raven56706

The Artist.... finally saw it after my comments of backlash..... and i still think its overrated...

RichC2

I always figured that's why The Matrix and Star Wars franchises are popular, group mentality

GuessWho

Actually, my answer to the thread's question is The Matrix.

Terrell

That describes quite a few of Cameron's films. It also applies to Titanic. It also applies to True Lies and Aliens, albeit to a lesser degree. I consider Aliens to be a good film, but overrated. It doesn't touch Scott's original. True Lies is a fun couple of hours, but people talk about that damn film like it's the second coming. It's merely decent at best.

As for Avatar, I couldn't agree more. I watched that film on Uverse and I'm thinking, this is the film everyone is raving over? This is the film that was nominated for Best Picture? This is the film that made 2 billion? The only reason it sniffed the Oscars Best Picture and Director categories was because it made 2 billion dollars.

I'd also have to concur with The Hangover. My uncle said it was one of the funniest movies he's seen, and my brother and I watched it and about halfway through it, we looked at each other in stunned silence.

DGibFen

Pulp Fiction. Actually, on a whole, I really don't care for Quentin Tarantino's work. I find most of his storytelling is too wrapped up in trying to be clever and hip.

The closet I've ever come to enjoying his work was the first 20-30 minutes of Inglorious Bastards, and I don't know if I can credit Tarantino for writing/directing that scene, or Christoph Waltz for his masterful job of bringing that scene to a frightening realization.

Spottedfeather

I'm as far from a film snob as you can get. I like all types of movies. Even bad ones. Everything I said is correct. There are a lot of movies that a lot of people like only because everyone is talking about the movie and they don't want to be left out or thought of as uncool. Or are you saying that that never happens ?

For every crappy movie that people like just because they don't want people to make fun of them or look down on them, there are people that actually like the movie. I never said that EVERYONE only likes certain movies just because everyone else seems to. I said that MOST people only like certain movies because they want to be part of the crowd.

Spottedfeather

That's one case where the movies are popular because they're great movies, whereas Napoleon Dynamite and Hangover are only popular because people keep talking them to death. And if something is repeated enough times, there will be people that start to believe the hype, undeserved though it may be. If Napoleon Dynamite and Hangover stood on just the people that genuinely like the movies, they wouldn't be nearly as popular as they are now.

RoboDad

I think that is the part that DaveyJoe referred to as a sad perspective. Personally, I have never met a single person who only likes a particular film due to any kind of groupthink or peer pressure. There is no doubt that such things can influence people to go see a film (hence the value of "word of mouth"), but using that as the sole basis for liking the film? Not so much.

In the case of Napolean Dynamite, I can attest that the first time I saw it was because of strong positive recommendations from several friends. But the second time I saw it, it was because I found it to be a very funny, off-beat film.

Spottedfeather

I, too, got Napoleon Dynamite because everyone kept saying how it was this cool, really funny, smart movie that I would love. Ugh. As I've said multiple times, I could barely make it through 25 or so minutes. I just had to shut it off. I'm not saying that it's a horrible movie. I'm just saying that it's just not funny. It was like an amateur high school play. Everyone in the movie was so flat and unaffected. It felt like they were all on some sort of cold medication or something. The jokes, if you can call them that, were hardly original and poorly executed, at that. I kept waiting for the movie to get better, but it just never did. I won't call it a bad movie, because it's not. I've had to sit through movies like Titanic and Watchmen, after all. But it was just boring. If you like it, that's great. We're all entitled to like what we want to like. I just don't understand how someone could call Napoleon Dynamite funny. The characters were extremely generic with no real development to speak of. The story was sub par and lacked even the slightest hint of originality. It felt like each character in the movie wasn't in the same movie as any of the other characters. The blonde girl that Napoleon liked (I hate this movie so much, I don't care to look up the girl's name) seemed like a character from Mean Girls.

The brown haired girl that was Napoleon and Pedro's friend felt like someone out of Revenge Of The Nerds. The nerdy Kip....good lord. I don't even know what to say about him. I can't imagine a movie horrible enough that that character would fit into. I really wish you could un-see things.

Profane

It would be safe to say I qualify as a lurker, but this thread is interesting so I figured that I would weigh in. Here's a few films that I think are overrated, and while most have been mentioned, I believe a few haven't.

The Big Lebowski (watched it 3 times, don't understand the appeal/humor)
Fargo
The Hangover (average comedy at best, wildly overrated)
The Royal Tenenbaums (not a big Wes Anderson fan)
Pan's Labyrinth (enjoyed Del Toro's "The Orphanage" & "The Devil's Backbone" more than this)
The Graduate
Heat
Nightmare Before Christmas
The Lost Boys
Legend
Chicago (worst BP winner of the last 20 years, in my opinion)
Lord of the Rings: FOTR

I can't honestly say that I really "hate" any of these films, Chicago would really be sole exception. I just think the others are very overrated and I don't understand the broad appeal. I saw LOTR: FOTR in theaters and thought that it was well made, but I was bored and wasn't compelled to see the sequels. A lot of friends and co-workers seem perplexed that I could walk away from the trilogy after just one film.

Jerry Maguire would have topped my list just a few weeks ago. I couldn't stand that film when I initially saw it as a teenager. I re-watched it recently and found that it was much better than I remembered. I thought the script was solid, I could tolerate Renee Zellweger this time around, and the chemistry between Cruise & Gooding Jr. was excellent. Cuba really gave a great performance, one that I don't think I could appreciate at the time I saw it.

jfoobar

I just read this whole thread start to finish in one sitting and there have been a few "what the...?!?!?" moments here and there, but this quoted text is the first time I have wanted to punch someone in the cock.

Well, except Jules, but I always want to punch him in the cock.

Heat has one very glaring weakness IMHO, but is otherwise one of the most perfect films I think I have ever seen.

DaveyJoe

I said that you can be a film snob, there's nothing wrong with that. I went through an elitist phase when I started getting into foreign films as a teenager, but then I remembered that I still like a lot of hokey shit from the 80s. Either way it's okay to prefer one type of film over another, and I can understand when somebody looks down their noses at the crowds who go apeshit over Transformers and Battleship, but to think that the masses are choosing to like a film based on some kind of general consensus is ridiculous.

If you ask me, the type of people who actually like that mind-numbing shit don't care what anybody else thinks. These are the type of people who don't want to read subtitles for films and just want to shut their brains off for 90 minutes of escapism. The last thing they're thinking about is whether or not it's socially acceptable that they enjoy the film. You just need to accept the fact that not everybody will share your opinion. And sometimes, really awful films will be embraced by the masses: Avatar and Twilight.

jfoobar

On the other hand, there are those of us who embrace, when done well, both films with subtitles and mind-numbing escapism and everything in between. But there is good mind-numbing escapism and not so good and/or overrated mind-numbing escapism. When filmmakers seemingly assume that their audience for an otherwise adult-oriented film has the mentality of a child or won't notice gaping plot holes or characters that do something or say something that is simply inexplicable they are...well, they are usually right. But someone who notices these shortcomings and criticizes the film because of them isn't necessarily a film snob or an elitist.

Or maybe they are. Who knows?


Edited to tidy up phrasing.

DaveyJoe

I agree, and I'm one of those people who has the ability to appreciate all types of cinema when they're done well. I'm afraid my post had a few sweeping generalizations, because I was mostly trying to focus on the concept of sheep mentality.

Jaymole

Good post and I fall readily into this camp.

OldBoy

rocket1312

JoeySeven

inri222

So many that it could fill up a phone book.

EddieMoney

Same here, but I'll point out a few recent ones that come to mind:

"Crash" - 2005
"Armageddon" - 1998

hasslein

For me to have enough passion to hate a film, it usually has to have some acclaim... That being said-

Star Trek (Abrams)
A Few Good Men
Gone with the Wind
Return of the King
Avatar
Terms of Endearment
The Lion King

mrhan

Same here.