I have so far seen 3 films that were overated:

1)Gladiator....Russell Crowe is very wooden,boring samey action.Good soundtrack and at least Oliver Reed is excellent.

2)The Matrix...I have heard people say life isn't worth living unless you see this film.Well,its PANTS!!!!!.A very dull,uninspired story with wooden acting from Reeves.Special effects are ok.

3) A Knight's Tale...what can I say,I saw about 20 minuites or so and was bored stupid and gave up.I couldn't really hear or understand the dialogue and the so called funny bits were not funny as I checked my sides to see if they had split and they hadn't.The terrible music added also didn't work.PANTS!!!!!!

I disagree with you about the Gladiotor, and the Matrix. A knights tale I have never seen, so I'm not gonna say anything about it. However, The Gladiator was a very good movie, it did a very good job at re-creating Rome, the battles, and my favorite; gladiators themselves. This movie wasn't meant to be all fast-paced action, because it wasn't an action movie. More of a drama/adventure sort of thing. I would say that they don't make movies like this anymore.

The Matrix. I'm not one of those matrix kiddies, I saw the sequel and I was sort of dissapointed. But the original Matrix was very entertaining. It had a very good story, awesome visuals. The acting wasn't bad, I think Keanu and Lawrence did just fine playing their characters. Nothing bad about this movie really. Oh yea, and then there's the whole "revolutionary" camera angles thing.. In other words, the movie deserved the credit it got, but it's not everyones cup of tea.. And they didn't exadurate it that much, I mean come on.. Every movie that comes out nowadays is the "#1 Movie In America" a day after it's release....

Sorry for the long, illiterate post guys. Here's my list

1. The Ring - Starts out as a teenflick, turns into a mystery, not scary at all, yet it ends up being the scariest movie of the year.
2. The Hulk - What's there to like? Really
3. Charlies Angels 2

yea.. Mine are the more recent ones, cause I'm still mad

[Sinzer]

1) Star Wars 1&2 - Completely lame, the only time I play Ep 1 is to test my sub on the pod race. I doubt I will ever buy Ep 2. The ultimate example of a director who has run out of ideas and has a special effects company with too much time and budget on their hands
2) 28 Days later - Loads of people said this was scary, it wasn't.
3) Donnie Darko - Good film, but the way people raved about it, I thought it was going to be really messed up. Thought it was fairly straightforward and I was fully baked at 1 in the morning when I put this on. No David Lynch


As far as Gladiator goes, I really enjoyed it, but still prefer Spartacus
The ring is ok, but you do need to watch the Jap version, far superior and actually scary.

I just thought the Matrix had lots and lots or boring slow motion shooting and that woman was so annoying,I don't know why but she was.

Another overated film is Wayne's World.I just didn't laugh once and I have avoided those stupid Austin Powers films too.

Twister was terrible too and I thought Attack Of The Clones was very dissapointing.I agree,the special effects have millions of $$$$'s to play with but they still can't make it look as good as the people at WETTA who did LOTR.

Originally posted by Amarok
I have so far seen 3 films that were overated:

1)Gladiator....Russell Crowe is very wooden,boring samey action.Good soundtrack and at least Oliver Reed is excellent.

Would have to agree. Pretty much anyone could have done what Crowe did in this. Now he was good in a Beautiful Mind. But people come on, there's a epic movie called BEN HUR which is sooooooo much better.......

2)The Matrix...I have heard people say life isn't worth living unless you see this film.Well,its PANTS!!!!!.A very dull,uninspired story with wooden acting from Reeves.Special effects are ok.

Would have to disagree. This is a smart clever Sci-fiction movie. One of which we not had for a very long time. Love it. Plus the effects are great and thay dolby digital soundtrack is still a great demonstrater!!!

3) A Knight's Tale...what can I say,I saw about 20 minuites or so and was bored stupid and gave up.I couldn't really hear or understand the dialogue and the so called funny bits were not funny as I checked my sides to see if they had split and they hadn't.The terrible music added also didn't work.PANTS!!!!!!

Would also have to disagree about this. Great fun. Couldn't hear or understand the dialogue - what where you watching it on? The DVD soundtrack is dynamic and the picture quality is awesome. Here endith the lesson...

For Me, the last three movies I saw that were PANTS are, and this is in no particular order :

1. The Transporter - laughable to the extreme - why does anyone give him work?
2. The Recruit - Predictible, Al what are you doing mate?
3. Charlie's Angels 2 - not seen it yet, but it looks arrrrsssseeeee!

Bound to be a lot more too.....

[Urotsukidoji]

I don't know why people think the matrix is smart - it is the same plot as Dark City.

Just read these two links
http://www.townonline.com/arts_lifes...oc05202003.htm

http://www.geocities.com/princessrajah/mvsdc.html

The only big difference is Rufus Sewall can act

[Dimmy]

Didn't like The Matrix either. Great idea - but you can't do anything with it once you've explained it (hence the ploy - What is The Matrix?), which probably explains that TERRIBLE sequel.

Star Wars Episode I is the film I choose to forget existence of as I love the rest of the movies.

Gladiator was another great premise - the niggle here was Russel Crowe (what on earth did the Academy give him an oscar for?).

Agree with A Knight's Tale too - fell to sleep about 20 minutes into it, simply awful.

The Hulk and the rest of this dung-inspires dribble of Happy Meal derived Comic Premise became unbearable once the third Batman movie was released.

My own contribution has to be Gangs Of New York and The Usual Suspects. The latter is entirely dependent on "who did it" guessing which - if you managed to avoid the hysteria - is IMPOSSIBLE to draw a correct conclusion on.
It's sort of like those people who attempt to answer questions whilst watching gameshows - the answers to which they haven't got the vaguest idea about.

Oh and Gangs Of New York was just an absolute mess - Daniel Day Lewis an accomplished actor? He doesn't convince me of his character the slightest bit - oh and Leo DiCaprio with a crayon-inspired tash and truly dreadful irish accent were just enough to tip this one over the edge....

I await people's responses on these...

[senna]

Originally posted by Sinzer

2) 28 Days later - Loads of people said this was scary, it wasn't.

Brilliant film.

Godspeed You! Black Emperor!

[MarkR]

Originally posted by Hayabusa

1. The Ring - Starts out as a teenflick, turns into a mystery, not scary at all, yet it ends up being the scariest movie of the year.

I must admit I thought "The Ring" was outstanding, best scary movie I have seen in a long time. Compared to other scary movies this one shines out from the rest IMO.

[Zapp.Brannigan]

Anyone like the film Ghostship?

This has to be my all time favorite film. Good cast, good plot, good all round entertainment and not in the slightest bit predictable.

If fact I'm watching it now.

[MarkR]

Ahhhh, Ghostship.......

A lot of thought went into the making of this film. I was on the edge of my seat wondering what was going to happen next. Also I like the film because of the non American feel to it. Ghostship what an absolute gem of a film, defantley goes down as an all time classic.

Knights Tale...
I'm not sure if it was overrated. It wasn't a particulary good film, very forgettable - but no one really raved on about it and there wasn't that much hype of amazing reviews, so It wasn't overrated - just got what you would have expected - mediocre dull but watchable film.

[paulr]

Amorak.....first film i thought of was Gladiator....just so overrated and the characters are crap.How he won an oscar for it i'll never know.

Also Jurrasic Park(dire).

Please tell me you are being sarcastic about Ghostship

I know everyone's entitled to there opinion

but......but........*head explodes*

[mjn]

Originally posted by Spazwunkle
Please tell me you are being sarcastic about Ghostship

I know everyone's entitled to there opinion

but......but........*head explodes*

yep, have to agree here, i saw it at the cinema.....and was very disappointed by it.

I was more interested in the boobs, the girl i went with had!!

Not just to be contentious... but we are talking overated films and therefore first on my list is

!: Star Wars Ep 4... The original... It's a good film... but no more than that. Yes it was different and revolutionary for it's time but so are many films. And it spwaned an awfull lot of imitations that were nowhere near as good. The plot is simplistic. It doesn't really say anything and Carrie Fisher's hair is laughable. Alec Guiness is tops however as was James Earl Jones as the voice of Dath Vader.

For me a better film of this era was Silent Running. At least it had a message.

2: The Exorcist... I just think this is a nasty film.

3: Boogie Nights... If Paul Thomas Andersonn could decide what kind of film he wanted to make before he made it, he might be a half decent director. But he needs someone to say "NO" to him everynow and then. Bits of Boogie Nights are good... But mostly it's over long and boring... and really far too little humour. With the material it could have been so much more. he did the same thing with Magnolia... too long... and repeating the same beats far too often.

As for Knights Tale... I have to say I love it. I do think it's funny and I think the music is inspired.. It's high camp.

[CMcK]

A few films that are IMHO overated:

Gangs Of New York - HBO TV Special.

The Exorcist - It was rubbish.

Anything with Jim Carrey - His rubber faced antics spoil films.

Titanic - Too long, made bearable by the lovely Ms Winslet.

Natural Born Killers - Style over substance.

Matrix Reloaded - American teenage male comic book mince. Far too heavy on SFX. For a decent fight on top of a real moving train (complete with helicopter) see Supercop/Police Story 3.

Final Fantasy: TSW - So crap that even saying it was rubbish is overrating it!

[Matinee]

Well... personally I think Gladiator and Matrix are good films, plot holes aside. Not seen First Knight.

Most overrated?

I think it's necessary to distinguish between hyped up films recently, and long term films. As such, even ardent Star Wars fans tend to agree that SW1 was awful, a few years after the event.

So, taking films which are still rated reasonably highly now, yet I think are overrated:

1) The Piano. The cinematography is good, but the plotline is facile centring on a mentally ill woman. It's 'arty' and features sex, but that doesnt elevate it beyond average.

2) I think I may offend a few people here: Casablanca. It really is nothing special. Yes, it has some nice dialogue and a good ending, but compared to The Third Man (made 7 years later admittedly) it's not that good.

I accept the point that Casablanca was good when it was released; I just feel its continued reputation is undeserved.

3) This is Spinal Tap. I can see that musos will gain more from this, but looking as objectively as I can : it's not very funny and it looks its age.

4) GONY is *extremely* overrated. I thought the reviews werent that favourable, so I went and checked. Regardless of what the reviewers say my take is that it's overlong, features cringeworthy acting (DiCaprio), appalling plotting, lacks focus, has poor cinematography in sections and develops zero sympathy for any of the thick, nasty characters.

It also features the worst ending I've seen in a film for a long long time. I hope that as another couple of years pass people will recognise it for the turkey that it is.

PK

[JohnG]

1) Gladiator - I found very boring and pompous

2) A.I. - again very tedious. Someone has obviously told that kid that if he tilts his head on one side and stares with a strange expression on his face that is called acting.

3) The Exorcist. I saw this originally at the cinema when I was about 15 and it scared me to death. So I always said it was the scariest film I have ever seen...... until I saw it recently and thought it was crap.

[Duncan Harvey]

I find it a bit bizarre that Spinal Tap can be criticised for “looking its age” – its supposed to be a “rockumentary” set in the early 80s – how else would you expect it to look? As for not being funny – well each to their own, but it’s a great mixture of the subtle and the blatant.

I thought the Matrix was awful – cod philosophy and a few snazzy effect. Anything that relies on Keanu Reeves is a bit suspect in my view.

Others that were very “is that it?” include

Strange Days
The Abyss
Casablanca
Touch of Evil
Magnolia
ID4 – truly appalling
Fifth Element
Marnie
Vertigo
Austin Powers 2

[Mr.The.Spoon]

Originally posted by Duncan Harvey
Others that were very “is that it?” include
The Abyss
Austin Powers 2

I liked the Abyss but only in the remastered special edition so you get to see the tidal wave. Adds quite a lot to the story in my eyes.

Only reason Austin Powers 2 made you feel it ended early was it was only rated 12, if it had been 18, I'm sure it would've gone one a bit more

Probably the most overratted film of recent memory has to be...
Blair Witch Project

Complete and utter pants

[r47463]

Signs - I believe this was terribly over rated, and felt a bit ripped off after wasting my time watching it. The acting was laughable, Joaquin Phoenix's character was totally pointless and out of place, there were more fake jumpy bits than real jumpy bits. There were more climatic moments in the trailer than in the actual film. The kids weren't very likeable. By the end of the film I was hoping the aliens would lobotomize them all and suck their brains out. I usually read up on a film before to see if it is getting a good reception. My most trusted magazine Total Film gave it 4/5, and IMDB had it in the high 7's at the time. I really went against the grain in wondering why it got so much attention and maintain my views against the majority.

[the_pauley]

Others that were very “is that it?” include
Strange Days
The Abyss
Casablanca
Touch of Evil
Magnolia
ID4 – truly appalling
Fifth Element
Marnie
Vertigo
Austin Powers 2

"Casablanca"? "Vertigo"? "A Touch of Evil"? Am I going to be the only one to howl in disbelief at their inclusion on this list?

Is there a smiley for "jaw dragging on floor in disbelief"?

[Matinee]

Originally posted by the_pauley


"Casablanca"? "Vertigo"? "A Touch of Evil"? Am I going to be the only one to howl in disbelief at their inclusion on this list?

Is there a smiley for "jaw dragging on floor in disbelief"?

I still think Casablanca is overrated, especially compared to films like The Third Man.

PK

Err, I really can't get into Citizen Kane. I just find it unwatchable. I've never made it more than half-way through. Does anyone else struggle with it?

Wizard of Oz is absolute garbage, as far as I'm concerned.

I like Gangs of New York: I think if anything, it's underrated (it certainly doesn't have a great reputation, but I really enjoyed it).

Other films I don't get are Twin Peaks (I know! lets deliberately make a cult show!) and anything by Charlie Chaplin (I believe it is traditional for a 'comedy' to actually be funny?).