Posted on 12/13/2006 5:40:45 PM PST by EveningStar
It happens to everyone who loves movies: You're in a conversation at a bar, or at a wedding, or online, and someone begins rhapsodizing about one of their favorite movies and you can't help but say, "Uh, that movie sucks. It's totally overrated." How two perfectly well-balanced individuals can have such drastically different views of the same film is one of the great wonders of being a film fanatic. It happens to us at Premiere all the time, enough so that sometimes we find ourselves questioning who we work with (boy, did it get ugly here when Love, Actually came out, and some of us are still snickering over our boss's love for Bowfinger, not to mention his affection for The Last Samurai). Well, we decided to let our staff go at each other regarding some of the more beloved movies of all time, and, sure enough, sobbing can still be heard coming from the bathroom stalls. Relationships have been strained. Egos bruised. Consider this a film lovers' quarrel, an admittedly rabid one.
(Excerpt) Read more at premiere.com ...
Goody :)
* American Beauty - Piece of trash
* Nashville - Way overrated
* Easy Rider - Overrated, but I can see why people like it.
Forrest Gump is a great movie because it is a story about modern American culture.
The English Patient is a good movie, but it is a total rip off of Casblanca - but with 90's twist where everyone does the wrong thing instead of the right thing.
Yes to all of your movies.
I wouldn't know. I spent the whole time looking at my watch trying to figure out how much longer it would be before the damn thing was over.
I'm glad someone ELSE around here agrees with me that Kubrick was nothing but a narcissistic blowhard of a director who never met a story line he couldn't screw up!
When someone argues with me over my disgust with 2001, I tell them to watch 2001, then 2010 soon after. When you explain to them that 2010 is a sequel to 2001, written by the same author (Arthur C. Clarke), the puzzlement over my problems with the first movie often disappears.
That may be. Still bored me to tears.
If mass appeal doesn't matter, then you are ignoring the fact that most people are average sane, intelligent people. Even if they're Dems. "Quality" is in the eye of the beholder, and generally what the mass says isn't far off the mark. Especially over periods of time.
If Kane is really popular, I'd see alot more of it on TV and in various every-day references, as well as SALES, both of the movies and probably like things on eBay. I never have noticed that. Almost never in a nostalgia or movie-fan store have I ever noticed lots of Kane merchandise. That's an indicator.
Well, as I said, he was tying in the B&L troubles in the movie with S&L scandals in the news. Kind of precarious, because George Bailey wasn't being corrupt (although tempted), just having troubles with the economy. Meanwhile S&L leaders were double-dealing. My teacher didn't mean to make out Bailey to be bad. Just that it is a rather poor tie-in - but I think he used it as an excuse so he could have a movie day before Christmas.
LOL!
I remember sitting with an audience of college students
(they showed "2001" on campus). I pretended to be impressed
by it's "depth", fearing I would be labeled not intellectual
enough to "get it". But later shook off the stupor and
realized this movie mocks intelligence.
IAWL is a good movie, but not a "masterpiece" and in terms of how much it's overplayed and built up as the greatest Xmas film (it is NOT a Xmas film, it is primarily a biography!), it is overrated.
Beloved of "film buffs" probably tells me all I need to know. ;-) As a child in the '70s I never once had even heard of it, and I watched old movies alot on plain TV (no VCRs in those days, you know). Apparently the film buffs didn't get their way until the late '80s.
Again, it IS a very nice film and 1 I like to watch, but it's just overrated (<- means "rated higher than it should be", not "bad").
Snort!
What would Kane merchandise be? A sled? Anyway TV, these days, hardly ever shows older movies with the exception of a small handful. It's on TCM all the time. The reason it wasn't a big success in its own day is because it was hindered by William Randolph Hearst's media machine. He wanted to buy every copy and destroy it.
Diamonds are superd materials. They are very useful in lots of technology, even precision cutting tools as relatively low technology. Their great heat resistance makes them even sought for heat-resistant epoxies. Good diamonds are beautiful, but the ugly as well are terrific engineering materials; they aren't just for WOMEN (thank you very much).
I guess you agree with Elaine Benes.
XMAS movies are defined pretty vaugely. Any movie with a Christmas scene in it apparently. By masterpiece I was reffering to issues of cinematic texture and nuance. Capra's mise-en-scene had never been so fluid nor had his direction of actors been so natural. The scenes with Jimmy Stewart courting Donna Reed almost seem improvised which was a highly unusual acting style in those days. By comparison, 'Miracle on 34th Street' is not very cinematic and is more of a filmed play. Enjoyable but not great cinema.
Merchandise is any possible memorabilia of the movie. There are tons of posters and tinplates and such that you can buy, never mind even more mundane things like magnets, mugs and other household items as well as "conversation pieces".
Your view won't shake my impression of over 30 years. It was *never* a big deal in my lifetime; I am well aware of the changes in TV and media options from then to now. Only mentioned in some text books, especially film classes where they love it, of course. Had to see it in a liberal-arts basic film class (I'd seen it before).
Along with a true masterpiece like "Singin' in the Rain". At least they had some perspective of true greatness! ;D
SITA is another movie that was 'just another musical' until French critics in the 60s took it up and passed it along to American critics in the 70s. At the time 'An American in Paris' was much more highly regarde'.
I'll go along with "Fight Club" but "The Godfather" is one of the best movies ever made (but still not as good as Godfather II).
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