Most Overrated "Great" Movies

[Cubo de Sangre]

Glengarry Glen Ross is by far the most overrated movie that I've ever seen.

Not when it comes to acting. Stellar work from top to bottom.

 

[peytonlucy]

Yeah, Gangs of New York just isn't that good.

Gangs of New York, unwatchable.

 

[minute bull]

I was actually very pleasantly surprised by how good Hacksaw was. I don't care for Garfield, and the proselytizing aspect was annoying, but I thought Gibson did a really good job capturing the chaos, disorganization, and delirium of war, while still maintaining narrative structure. Given his political disposition, I am in no rush to applaud Gibson, but I was shocked at how well directed this was.

Mel Gibson is a great director and actor. Then Clooney kinda replaced him as he's been aging out and making an anti-semite ass out of himself, but he's nowhere near as a good a director. Loves Jews tho, so....

 

[peytonlucy]

Pacino's lines on their own make it worth watching though. When he called Kevin Spacey a "F*g" you could tell it cut deep!

I think that's a Mamet movie. Recently, I purchased on DVD House of Games (excellent), The Spanish Prisoner (excellent), Glengarry Glen Ross and The Winslow Boy - all Mamet movies. I like heist/ con man movies of which House of Games and The Spanish Prisoners are good examples. The Winslow Boy is not good, avoid. Glengarry Glen Ross comes down to dialog because that is all there is. Though I like Mamet movies, I don't particularly like his dialog style. I did like Glengarry Glen Ross, and I'm happy that I spent $4 on it. Decades ago, I spent time around sales offices (investment companies, real estate). I think Glengarry Glen Ross should have been written so that you knew that the Jack Lemmon character had character tells you.

SPOILER ALERT:



BTW, in The Spanish Prisoner, the club certificate that turns out to be something else - actually says club certificate on it (freeze frame) when the director wants you to believe that you too were conned. I think this sucks. There also is something about the switch of the red book that sucks too.

 

[minute bull]

I think that's a Mamet movie.

Yeah, it's his play; someone else directed it for the screen.



I love HEIST, and SPARTAN (action) and REDBELT (sports). Of these feature cons, too.

 

[Strange King]

this thread is shit hahahah

 

[TheMadThinker]

I have extreme dislike for Kill Bill and have not tried to watch any Tatantino movies since then. It just seemed like he was under the impression that he could throw any ridiculous shit together and still make it cool somehow. The arrogance of that really rubbed me the wrong way.

I liked all his movies prior to that.

One day I will go back and watch his other movies, but I am still not ready yet.

 

[ArtemV]

Life of Pi sucked imo. It looked nice, but was so boring.
Mother.
Lost city of Z also sucked

 

[peytonlucy]

I love HEIST...

I love heist movies and HEIST is a good example. I can't decide if I very much like or very much dislike Rebecca Pidgeon. Gene Hackman is always solid. The movie The Conversation is a disappointment, which he stars in but it isn't his fault. I think it's a Francis Ford Coppolla movie made between the Godfather films and Apocalyse Now. Incidentally, the director's cut of Apocalypse Now (assuming someone likes the movie) is a perfect illustration of too much of a good thing. In turn, the Godfather III is a portrayal of too much of a good thing in a pile of crap.

 

[peytonlucy]

I have extreme dislike for Kill Bill and have not tried to watch any Tatantino movies since then. It just seemed like he was under the impression that he could throw any ridiculous shit together and still make it cool somehow. The arrogance of that really rubbed me the wrong way.

I liked all his movies prior to that.

One day I will go back and watch his other movies, but I am still not ready yet.

Tarantino bugs me because he is a pervert with a foot fetish, which bothers me more than it should. I just paid under $10 for Pulp Fiction, Reservoir Dogs, and Jackie Brown. I really like Jackie Brown, another heist film. The stuck in the middle with you scene in Reservoir Dogs is one of the most cringe worthy scenes that I can think of.

 

[mb23100]

Yeah, Gangs of New York just isn't that good.

There's something about it that's just off. I can't put my finger on it

 

[ThinkGreen]

Inception

 

[the ambush]

Self-explanatory. I just finished the (wildly disappointing) Godfather series, having not seen it in many years, and this topic came to mind.


1. The Departed
2. The Godfather: Part II
3. Fight Club



Frankly, the original Godfather may be slightly overrated on its own, but Godfather II is markedly less impressive because, whereas the original hung its hat on stellar performances by Brando, Pacino, and Duvall, in the sequel, Brando's character is dead, Pacino's portrayal becomes a caricature of itself, and Duvall gets fuck all for screen time.

The Departed is just all-around a shitty film with shitty performances. It's like if The Godfather were directed by a music video director. DiCaprio and Wahlberg always blow because they're not dynamic talents, but Damon and Nicholson are genuinely talented actors. Yet Damon's performance is as boring and cookie cutter as the film itself and Nicholson's is cartoonish, perhaps to make up for everyone else.

For Scorsese, Taxi Driver, Mean Streets, Cape Fear, Raging Bull, and The Last Temptation of Christ are all markedly better than The Departed, and probably all are better than Goodfellas.

For Fincher, Se7en and Gone Girl are certainly better than Fight Club.




Go.

+ The Departed, overrated as fuck

For me Tombstone’s overrated believe it or not.

 

[OneManOrgy]

Everything Christopher Nolan has directed.

 

[minute bull]

I love heist movies and HEIST is a good example. I can't decide if I very much like or very much dislike Rebecca Pidgeon. Gene Hackman is always solid. The movie The Conversation is a disappointment, which he stars in but it isn't his fault.

You mean in general, or specifically in HEIST? That's Mamet's wife (after Lyndsay Crouse from HOUSE OF GAMES) and her delivery has always been seriously flat, but that's the thing about Mamet's style of direction. She's got a pretty good character in STATE AND MAIN tho, which is a zany comedy (well, as zany as Mamet gets).

His dialogue has a particular rhythm that doesn't always mesh with people.

THE CONVERSATION is a really good movie, and gives inspiration to ENEMY OF THE STATE and THE LIVES OF OTHERS. Gene Hackman is another of the great actors who is weirdly not mentioned very often on Sherdog, along with Jack Nicholson. These are titans of the game.

 

[Jesus X]

You mean in general, or specifically in HEIST? That's Mamet's wife (after Lyndsay Crouse from HOUSE OF GAMES) and her delivery has always been seriously flat, but that's the thing about Mamet's style of direction. She's got a pretty good character in STATE AND MAIN tho, which is a zany comedy (well, as zany as Mamet gets).

His dialogue has a particular rhythm that doesn't always mesh with people.

THE CONVERSATION is a really good movie, and gives inspiration to ENEMY OF THE STATE and THE LIVES OF OTHERS. Gene Hackman is another of the great actors who is weirdly not mentioned very often on Sherdog, along with Jack Nicholson. These are titans of the game.

rebecca pidgeon has a robotic cadence to he speech like she is someone who is speaking english phonetically or not a natural english speaker.

on the show "the unit" she would pronounce things weirdly.

 

[Frode Falch]

Nolan movies

Except batman begins

 

[minute bull]

rebecca pidgeon has a robotic cadence to he speech like she is someone who is speaking english phonetically or not a natural english speaker.

on the show "the unit" she would pronounce things weirdly.

I used to not know what exactly about her it was that bothered me, until I realized she isn't Wendie Malick.

Pidgeon works almost solely with Mamet, who places no emphasis on movie-style acting. He just wants his actors to say the words quickly and clearly. Some actors work well in this environment and can still imbue their performances with a certain sense of naturalism. Pidgeon is not one of those people.

 

[blaseblah]

I'm sure it's been said, but the definitive answer is Citizen Kane.

 

[peytonlucy]

You mean in general, or specifically in HEIST?...
His dialogue has a particular rhythm that doesn't always mesh with people.

I've noticed the dialog style in all of his works. I haven't thought through exactly what it is but one of the features is that short lines are directly repeated back to back. One actor says something and another repeats the line and adds something to it or the same character says the same line back to back. I think, in general, the style stands out because I've never heard real life conversations done that way. It just hit me, maybe I'm wrong, but it might be like the Hemingway short story Hills Like White Elephants. Anyway, I don't like the dialog style but I like his movies.