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Films you found to be not as good as the hype...

Posted: 07 Apr 2009, 19:37
by saltysam
What well received/generally liked movies left you distinctly underwhelmed/disappointed/wondering what the fuss was all about? i'll start :)

The Abyss- An overlong,turgid bore imo. i think this got decent write ups because it's a Cameron film.

Taxi Driver- Another film i found vastly overpraised-seedy,dark and though De Niro is excellent the film left me cold.

Fantasia-I have childhood memories of seeing this in the cinema and being bored out of my skull.A boring mess from Disney.

Superman The Movie-This is only ok,not great at all even at the time of release.the sequel kicks it's arse.

Lord Of The Rings Trilogy-Overlong,dense and pretty boring fantasy romps imo.

Posted: 07 Apr 2009, 20:29
by romerojpg
The Abyss is one of the best films of all time for me :D amazing acting, cast, effects, music, story and it cannot get long enough for me :D

Posted: 07 Apr 2009, 20:37
by saltysam
The Abyss is no T1 Or 2 that's for sure.it's not even a Piranha 2-Flying Killers :)

Posted: 07 Apr 2009, 21:15
by HungFist
Some 1/5 films

Garden State - Overly pretentious Sundance crap.

Wife to Be Sacrificed and most other Konuma classics: repulsive, boring trash.

The Match Factory Girl - Nearly unwatchable, minimalistic tragi-comedy. I fail to see what is so funny about humiliating characters 90 min non-stop.

Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind - Aside being irritatingly preachy, everything that happens on screen is repeated in the dialogue. "I see birds". So do fucking I.

Secret Sunshine - Incredibly shabby KR melodrama.

Pink Flamingos - Depressingly pretentious and boring garbage.

The City of Violence - Unbelievable lack of sense of style

Banlieue 13 - Unebelievable negative sense of style.

Burst City - Ishii with his head up his ass. Seems to fit.

Some 1.5/5 films

Kairo - The way sound is used to create atmosphere is embarrasing, just like pretty much the entire movie.

A Woman Called Sada Abe - Tanaka's visual skill is trapped in a film that takes place in one room. Miyashita can be an decent actress occasionally, but this role is out of her league.

The World of Geisha - Somebody needs to tell François Truffaut that there's better pink out there than this. Oh, right, he's dead.

Captain Abu Raed - I can get syrup from a grocery store if I need some.

Son of Rambow - Is there a family film cliche that wasn't repeated in this film?

I’m a Cyborg but that’s Okay - It's funny that violence is the only thing that works in this movie.

Sideways - too uninteresting

Crying Out Love, in the Center of the World - dooh

Some other over-rated suff

Survive Style 5+ - Tricks, tricks, tricks

Posted: 07 Apr 2009, 21:24
by gasteropod
HungFist wrote:I’m a Cyborg but that’s Okay - It's funny that violence is the only thing that works in this movie.

Sideways - too uninteresting
Two films which I truly love, I can watch them over and over again.

Posted: 07 Apr 2009, 21:41
by saltysam
Woody Allen's Manhattan left me cold...Annie Hall was a bit better but nothing special despite the oscars.

Posted: 07 Apr 2009, 21:50
by HungFist
saltysam wrote:Woody Allen's Manhattan left me cold...Annie Hall was a bit better but nothing special despite the oscars.
I recall Manhattan being the better of the two, but still pretty cold both. It's not that Allen repeats the same joke from movie to movie, but from scene to scene! His films tend to be great for 15 minutes and then you get tired of it.

Posted: 07 Apr 2009, 22:06
by Yi-Long
I'll think of more movies when I have the time to do so (expecting a call any minute now), but there's one that immediately springs to mind:

Requim for a Dream: Horrible HORRIBLE movie. Just a worst-case scenario informercial against addiction, with horrible writing, horrible acting by some, and a director who's desperately trying to make this after-school special look 'happening' and 'cool' with some editing-tricks.
Just plain BAD.

Also, I've never really understood the hype about Star Wars. Better said: I understand why people were stunned and amazed when it was released in 1977 cause it brought something that really hadn't been done like that before.... but watching it today it is just a kids-movie, and adults are still going absolutely nuts about it, and everything related to Star Wars. I like the idea, the story and the design, but them movies themselfs, while not 'bad', really aren't something I'm interested in.

Face-Off: Can't believe people like this movie so much. Horrible crappy movie.

Superman Returns: Horrible horrible horrible, in every sense of the word, and in every department (writing, acting/casting, etc).

Posted: 07 Apr 2009, 22:21
by saltysam
I Like Face/Off :) as for Superman Returns,yep a boring film but i don't think it had decent reviews did it? Another highly praised film that i couldn't get into was Close Encounters.pretty long and quite boring,Dreyfuss,so good in Jaws annoyed me in this one.

Posted: 07 Apr 2009, 23:04
by bradavon
I agree about Superman. I've always preferred the sequel. I also agree about Fantasia, so boring. I love Taxi Driver though, outstanding. Kairo is decent but no Ringu.

Off the top of my head:

* Drunken Master 2 - Dull as dish waster, okay to average action
* Police Story - Dull as dish waster, okay to average action
* Shawkshank Redemption - I actually like this but boy it's overrated.
* Citizen Kane - Sure it's clever and was ahead of it's time but my god it's boring. Nowhere near as good as many think.

p.s - Superman Returns is decent, most understood. It never had decent reviews.

Posted: 08 Apr 2009, 00:14
by gasteropod
saltysam wrote:Another highly praised film that i couldn't get into was Close Encounters.pretty long and quite boring,Dreyfuss,so good in Jaws annoyed me in this one.
Agreed.

Posted: 08 Apr 2009, 00:44
by bradavon
Agreed too.

Posted: 08 Apr 2009, 06:10
by Markgway
Yi-Long wrote:Requim for a Dream: Horrible HORRIBLE movie. Just a worst-case scenario informercial against addiction
Yeah, where are all the pro-addiction movies dammit??

I'll save myself some time by adding "anything that's won a Best Picture Oscar since UNFORGIVEN".

My comments on a few previous choices:

THE ABYSS - Great movie, if anything it's underrated.

TAXI DRIVER - Very good film, but more to admire than enjoy for sure.

SUPERMAN - Haven't seen this since I was a kid, but I recall it being flabby and dull.

SUPERMAN RETURNS - A disappointment, that's no better than the original. And doesn't even have Chris Reeve or Gene Hackman to compensate.

DISTRICT 13 - Switch off your brain, ultra-fast action movie. Some of the best non-HK action scenes out there. Has high rewatch value.

FACE/OFF - Woo at his most overblown and silly. Seriously hammy performances and cheesy dialogue. A couple of good action sequences, but not even close to HARD TARGET.

STAR WARS - Massively overrated, but fun adventures for the family. The original trilogy that is. Haven't seen the new trilogy. Gave up part of the way thru Ep. 1.

Posted: 08 Apr 2009, 06:12
by Markgway
bradavon wrote:* Drunken Master 2 - Dull as dish waster, okay to average action
WTF?? Do you know ANYTHING about martial arts choreography?
* Police Story - Dull as dish waster, okay to average action
WTF?? Do you know ANYTHING about martial arts choreography?
Shawkshank Redemption - I actually like this but boy it's overrated.
My favourite film.

Posted: 08 Apr 2009, 09:21
by grim_tales
I've got TAXI DRIVER but havent seen it yet. DISTRICT 13 is great fun. I remember being rather bored by FANTASIA as a child.

2001 A SPACE ODDYSSEY: It was good but maybe I didn't "get it" on first viewing.

SUPERMAN RETURNS: Boring film IMO.

Posted: 08 Apr 2009, 09:49
by luckystars
Citizen Kane - masterful although not the perfect film, still a classic.

Goodfella's - ok a good popcorn movie but nothing more (plus too silly at the end).
French Connection - ditto
Shawshank - ditto
Lock Stock - ditto
T1 - ditto, but classic.
Aliens - ditto, but classic and great fun.

Posted: 08 Apr 2009, 10:40
by Yi-Long
Oh yeah, The Departed .... which was a good movie, but nowhere near as good as the hype made it out to be, nor as good as the HK original.

Posted: 08 Apr 2009, 13:16
by bradavon
I reckon we may have enjoyed Departed more if it wasn't a remake we'd all seen.
Yi-Long wrote:but watching it today it is just a kids-movie, and adults are still going absolutely nuts about it, and everything related to Star Wars
It's very much a nostaglia thing. Sure kids love the new ones but not in the way adults the old ones. They are pure escapism of the highest order. I still love the original trilogy.
Markgway wrote:SUPERMAN RETURNS - A disappointment, that's no better than the original. And doesn't even have Chris Reeve or Gene Hackman to compensate.
Classic. You wanted Reeves to be Superman? :D.
Markgway wrote:FACE/OFF - Woo at his most overblown and silly. Seriously hammy performances and cheesy dialogue. A couple of good action sequences, but not even close to HARD TARGET.
Face/Off is loads better than Hard Target. Woo has made much worse Hollywood films.
Markgway wrote:WTF?? Do you know ANYTHING about martial arts choreography?
Do you understand the concept of this thread?

Posted: 08 Apr 2009, 15:16
by APPINESS
Prefered Face/Off to Hard Target too. Police Story is one of the best films ever IMHO.

Two of the most overrated American movies must be:

Se7en.
An average movie that just wanted to shock people.

Interview with the Vampire
No storyline and bad stunt work. I think noticing the wires at the beginning of this one ruined it for me.

Posted: 08 Apr 2009, 17:26
by saltysam
Yes Interview With A Vampire is dull as dishwater. :) I Forgot to mention the daddy of overpraised movies-Blade Runner :) Harrison Ford looks disinterested,Sean Young is wooden,the plot is dense and boring...why is this considered a masterpiece by many :?

Posted: 08 Apr 2009, 17:44
by romerojpg
Well pretty much every single high praised Mobster/Mafia film sucks balls, so add 90% of them to the list of shitness.

Posted: 08 Apr 2009, 17:46
by grim_tales
SW: Ep 3 was better than 1 and 2.

Posted: 08 Apr 2009, 18:18
by gasteropod
grim_tales wrote:I remember being rather bored by FANTASIA as a child.
Yeah I hated it, I never want to see it again!

Posted: 08 Apr 2009, 18:20
by gasteropod
saltysam wrote:I Forgot to mention the daddy of overpraised movies-Blade Runner :) Harrison Ford looks disinterested,Sean Young is wooden
Erm, they're both replicants...

Posted: 08 Apr 2009, 18:28
by saltysam
gasteropod wrote:
Erm, they're both replicants...
Method acting then,they should've won oscars because they were very convincing. :) Ford was very bland in this film,replicant or not.