aha.. a sequel?
Cinema
to be added or dropped from this ping list.
Ten minutes into Titanic, I’m yelling at the screen, “Just Sink Already!”
Wilder's "One, Two, Three" is one of the funniest movies ever made, and Cagney's performance was one of the most brilliant comedy performances ever.
I agree across the board.
I do have to put my hand up for 2001.
Back then, people READ BOOKS. If you read “2001” and then saw the movie, the 2 clicked in nicely and made it a good movie. If not, then 2001 made no more sense than “A Clockwork Orange.”
I also think 2001 gets props for special effects — making space a true, livable and believable backdrop. The idea that all the computer displays were hand-drawn graphics makes one pause.
Arthur C. Clarke is also an arrogant S.O.B. who made himself the spokesperson for Sci Fi when there were much bigger names still alive (Asimov, Heinlein, Ellison). Just sayin’
Agree on Titanic and 2001: A Space Odyssey. The latter just isn’t my kind of film. As for Titanic, it’s very formulaic, and I was surprised by how successful it was.
Titanic was a great movie, truly awesome.
Apparently the plot was too complicated for some folks...
ET, Lion King, Space Odysyeyeyo, Easy Rider, and all Star Wars movies after the first one, yes, they are not so great/or suck films that didn’t warrant the praise they got. I’m sure I can think of a few more...
A movie mill of overrated titles, any Sundance festival.
American Beauty was a truly worthless POS movie, I agree. Fargo and Pulp Fiction, I will allow some leeway because it truly had it’s moments while Am beauty had absolutely none.
I liken Usual Suspects with John Cage’s 4’33”: the kind of way out there art which must be done once well to define the boundary, and thereafter is impossible, and annoyingly boring, to duplicate.
Surely that's not the best the author can do, is it?
Benjamin Braddock is a whiny bitch of a human being
Figures. He resorts to rude words, too. Apparently that is the best he can do.
Pity.
I agree with 14 of the 20 picks.
Pulp Fiction is on his list? Huh? Is he insane?
PF is one of the most awesome movies of all time, unless you’re gay, or hate gays, and cannot handle the basement scene. The basement scene ROCKS.
“That watch was in my ### for years in an NVA prison, it belonged to your dad, and I promised I’d return it to you, his son...” I mean WOWSA, now I totally get it, why a guy would risk his whole life, for a F’n watch!!
The ending, totally sewed the movie up. There are times in life, where you just feel it, you WALK AWAY from it.
I normally find myself overwhelmingly disagreeing with these lists...but the guy writing these two makes some valid points.
My humble opinions on the lists:
20. Blade Runner: Disagree with the writer big time on this one. I’d agree Scott did better work on Alien, but Blade Runner is still amazing and many years ahead of its time. Minority Report better? Ha ha ha!!! <—(flame bait :-)
19 & 16 Shakespeare in Love and The English Patient. Both were vastly overrated, IMHO. I was never able to finish ‘Patient, actually. Too dull.
15. Giant. I speak blasphemy here, but...I never thought James Dean was that great an actor.
14. American Grafitti: I really liked this one. Overrated? Maybe. But still a great movie.
13. The Matrix: Agree. Amazing F/X, but IMHO eXistenZ and Dark City had much better acting and storylines.
12. Annie Hall: This is the only Woody Allen film I’ve ever seen. I thought it was quite funny, but have nothing to compare it with.
10. Titanic: It’s easy to pick on the biggest grossing movie of all time (IIRC). No film could live up to the hype surrounding Titanic. It’s a well-made film, though not my personal favorite.
9. Some Like it Hot: I’d agree Wilder has done much better movies. Stalag 17 is one of my all time favorites.
8. Chinatown: Y’know, I’ve never seen this one.
4. Fargo. Oh yah! I liked Fargo, and thought it was quirky fun, but I didn’t see it as the masterpiece some do.
2. Raging Bull: While it’s not my favorite Scorsese film, I think the writer really, really doesn’t “get it” if his primary criticism of the director is that his characters aren’t sympathetic.
1. The Graduate: This film has always made me feel stupid. In the sense that after watching it I always asked myself...”and?” As in “And, is that all there is?” I thought it was okay, but nowhere near the accolades it has received over the decades.
Leo DeCaprio (sp?) has always reminded me of the Pillsbury Dough Boy.
I watch a lot of movies.
I am constantly amazed at the hype around not so great movies. Usually it is because it has the “right” message - Republicans are evil, people are destroying the environment, the most important character trait people can have is being tolerant, minority groups are exploited, etc.
There are so many I don’t know where to start.
Caberet is one. Great music, creepy story. I admit, I can watch the just the music. But all these strange people.
ET. I just didn’t get it.
Close Encounters. A few fun scenes, the rest? What was the weird thing with the song?
American Beauty. Let’s glorify weird people and show how nasty the nuclear family is.
Tootsie. Some consider this the greatest American picture of all time, or at least greatest comedy. ???
Dirty Dancing. You know, I really like the part at the end where the Dad smiles and laughs with the guy he knows is doing the dirty with his “Baby” daughter. Yep, that’s real. Or where she borrowed money from her dad so someone could have an abortion. I just kept thinking, what a weird family. Nothing nice about it.
Avatar. My gosh, don’t get me started. If I want a message, I get an answering machine.
OK, standing by for flaming.
“7. 2001: A Space Odyssey: 45 minutes of greatness, almost two hours of poop, including half an hour of monkeys hitting each other with sticks. Oh yeah, and there’s a monolith.”
Gasp! (holding heart with one hand and leaning on chest of drawers with the other). After viewing 2001 at least 30 times, I still am in thrall to the depth of the film, its use of space and technology as a vehicle to express Nietsche’s (bankrupt) philosophy.
One of the greatest moments in film history is when the human being in the pod silently faces the mother ship in perfect stillness telling Hal the computer to open the pod bays. Humanity finally facing a technology in rebellion, leaving him only the option of becoming an übermensch, a complete rebirth.
Then again, that could also be interpreted as poop, I guess 8^)
As a surprise my 15 y/o daughter picked “The Karate Kid” remake with Will Smith’s son for a father/daughter movie night a couple of weeks ago.
That whiny wimp had me HOPING someone would kick his a$$ by about 10 minutes into the flick.
Blade Runner- I saw this in the movies when it first came out. It was innovative with a premise and a vision of the future that had never been seen before in the movie. The film's vision of a dystopian future and defective androids that had to be identified and decommissioned was great. The acting by all characters but especially Harrison Ford and Rutger Hauer was excellent. It had an original approach to sci-fi and after I left the theater I wanted to see it again.
Little Miss Sunshine- Abigail Breslin was great in the title role. It was a great ensemble comedy, the characters’ interplay was funny and original.
The Matrix- An original concept and a movie that makes you think. A great sci-fi idea and the plot and special effects kept it interesting.
Raging Bull- Jake Lamotta was a jerk but the movie was great. The camera work and the acting were excellent. Cathy Moriarty was amazing and Robert Deniro was good.
Shakespeare in Love- This was a good light comedy. It isn't meant to be taken seriously and parts of it are stupid but it has some funny parts.
I thought Jaws was an overrated bore. I also fell asleep during the fight scene in French Connection.
I guess the message here is to not hope to get movies rated by people that hate movies.