Movies that everyone loves that you cannot get the love for

[Masked Man of Mystery 0]

The movie that immediately comes to mind for me is Scarface. I cannot see what people see in Tony Montana, he's a total jerk from beginning to end, and the way hip hop culture adores him baffles me. He died. He lost everything in the name of greed and then got blown to shreds. I just don't get it. Casablanca also bewilders me, but admittedly I think I need to watch it once or twice more. Pulp Fiction, well, it has a lot of cool scenes and such, but the whole thing just lacks a story to put it together, which may be intentional, but I just can't work through that. I like Kill Bill far more. Anther Tarantino film that baffles me for its popularity is Resovoir Dogs. The acting is okay at best, and the whole thing just screams "LOW BUDGET!" in a way something like El Mariachi never did, even though it doesn't look as nice on DVD.

[SuperJerk 0]

I'm going with 2 Russell Crowe films: Gladiator and Cinderella Man.

[bob_barron 0]

Office Space isn't that funny for me.

 

The beginning is really funny, but once the main plot kicks in, it just drags on and on.

[Jonathon 0]

Napolean Dynamite...everyone I'm with cracks up the entire time, and I feel like I'm forcing the laughs.

[Downhome 0]

The first one that popped into my head was The Devil's Rejects.

 

It seems like most of the hardcore horror fans love it, and I just don't get it at all.

[Corey_Lazarus 0]

Exactly. Devil's Rejects was a movie by a hardcore horror fan for hardcore horror fans. Unless you like the exploitation and grindhouse horror flicks of the 70's, you're not going to like Devil's Rejects. Well-acted, amazing how quality the work came out considering it was made for half the budget of House of 1000 Corpses and in 30 days (pre-production, production, and post-production included).

 

I'm echoing Scarface. I can't get into it. At all. Wow! He snorts coke, builds an empire, and then gets off'd by some random Cuban with shades and a shotgun! HURRAH!

 

Brokeback Mountain sucked, but a lot of people loved it. The gay movie's been done before, and been done better, so it's not that revolutionary. The editing was redundant, the direction poor, and the acting subpar (considering that every name on the cast whose work I'm familiar with has done better in every other movie I've seen them in). That's why it didn't win an Oscar: not because it's about two gay men, but because it's awful.

 

I don't see what's so great about A Nightmare Before Christmas, either. Or the majority of Tim Burton's work, for that matter. Outside of Batman, that one short animation he did in college that Vincent Price narrated, and Big Fish...I haven't liked a single movie he's made. What's so special about him?

[DMann2003 0]

Throw me in for not getting the love for Scarface, not because I dislike Tony Montana, but I just find the film soooo boring and bland. That and it's a boil on the bum of films like Godfather or Goodfellas.

[cbacon 0]

Garden State.

 

I love Natalie Portman, and it sounded like a movie i'd love, but it just didn't do anything for me.

[DMann2003 0]

Come on Corey tell me you saw Ed Wood and like it?

[Red Baron 0]

Dude, Resevoir Dogs was low budget to the tee.

 

I'm going with Titanic and Spiderman as the movies I thought were big "eh".

[Downhome 0]

Exactly. Devil's Rejects was a movie by a hardcore horror fan for hardcore horror fans. Unless you like the exploitation and grindhouse horror flicks of the 70's, you're not going to like Devil's Rejects.

 

The film was almost purely an old 70's style exploitation flick, which is why I don't get why so many hardcore horror fans like it. I know that many horror fans like that kind of stuff too, but still. It's praised as the second coming. It's a very well made exploitation flick, I give it all the credit in the world for what it is, but I just didn't care for it.

[SuperJerk 0]

Adding to the Scarface dogpile...I thought that the Giorgio Moroder score gave it a made-for-TV feel (which is a bizarre counter-point to everything else in the movie, I'll admit).

[spman 0]

Donny Darko

The Rocky Horror Picture Show

Any of the Harry Potter films

Any Kevin Smith film, except maybe Clerks

[bob_barron 0]

The last 10-15 minutes of Garden State are awful.

 

I can see people not liking the first two Potter flicks (even though I love Chamber of Secrets), but Azkaban and Goblet of Fire are just awesome.

[Vyce 0]

Exactly. Devil's Rejects was a movie by a hardcore horror fan for hardcore horror fans. Unless you like the exploitation and grindhouse horror flicks of the 70's, you're not going to like Devil's Rejects. Well-acted, amazing how quality the work came out considering it was made for half the budget of House of 1000 Corpses and in 30 days (pre-production, production, and post-production included).

 

And a great ending. I have to go back to that, as I've mentioned it before, but it had a really great, stylish ending. The way Zombie wrote and shot that ending, including his use of music, really was fantastic and was one of those little flashes of brilliance that makes me believe Rob has some real talent and could develop into a really good director with more practice.

 

Since it was mentioned earlier, let me choose Kill Bill. Both parts. Part one was enjoyable, but nearly worth of the "OMG IT'S SO AWESOME DOOD!!!" reaction some people gave it. Part two bored me literally to sleep at least once.

 

A recent pick: Oscar winner "Crash", which was a heavy-handed piece of shit that is easily the least-deserving Best Picture winner in years. I'd have given the Oscar to the gay cowboy film, and quite frankly, I still can't look upon 'Brokeback' as anything other than a joke.

 

EDIT: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone is too long and plodding at times. Chamber of Secrets is also a little long and can drag but makes up for it with Kenneth Brannan's performance as well as a fairly dark and sinister (for a kid's movie) third act. Prisoner of Azkaban and Goblet of Fire are both great - yes, great - movies.

 

Totally agree about Kevin Smith, though. I really, really like Smith as a person, he's always fun and interesting to listen to, but IMO Clerks is his only *great* film, and after that there's been an ever diminishing return when it comes to the movies that follow. I have little hope for Clerks 2.

[SpikeFayeJettEdBebop 0]

I personally just didn't think that 40 Year Old Virgin was that great. I enjoyed it I guess, I just didn't think it was as funny as it was made out to be by most people.

 

That's the only thing I can think of off the top of my head. Oh yeah, and I dunno why really, but I do like Scarface. Enjoyed Devil's Rejects a whole lot too, although I've never seen any 70's horror films....

[Darth Vader 0]

Everyone had a boner for Batman Begins but it was hella super boring to me. Nothing will ever beat the Micheal Keaton Batman movies.

[Just John 0]

Godfather and Apocalypse Now.

 

To a lesser extent, Napoleon Dynamite and Super Troopers.

[Jebus 0]

Napoleon Dynamite (Boy, did I find this unfunny...maybe I chuckled once)

 

Equilibrium (Everybody told me it was "Matrix" good...I guess they meant "Matrix sequels" good)

 

I didn't hate these per say but I'll put them in my "overrated" column:

Million Dollar Baby and Lost in Translation (good movies...sure, all time classics...nah)

[Darth Vader 0]

Super Troopers is funny, just over-hyped.

[Downhome 0]

Enjoyed Devil's Rejects a whole lot too, although I've never seen any 70's horror films....

 

Then you really, really should.

 

I'll let someone else recommend some of them to you though.

[Guest Coffey]

I don't know if everyone loves these movies but the people around me certainly do:

 

Fight Club, Equilibrium, Brotherhood of the Wolf, the new King Kong, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, Hero, Batman Begins, Signs, The Sixth Sense, Skeleton Key, Hide & Seek, A History of Violence, Kingdom of Heaven, Troy, 40-Year-Old Virgin, American Psycho...

 

EDIT: As far as great horror movies: Texas Chainsaw Massacre, The Thing, The Exorcist, The Omen & The Shining all instantly spring to mind. I enjoyed Phantasm a lot.

[USC Wuz Robbed! 0]

Then what do you like, Coffey?

[2GOLD 0]

Return of the King. It was slow, dull, poorly acted (cept Astin, he did good) with average CGI and an ending that just refused to happen. Giving it those pity Oscars was a major joke.

 

King Kong. Again, about an hour of decent movie and the rest is just boring crap with average acting if I want to be generous about it.

[bob_barron 0]

If the people around you like Hide and Seek, then I don't think they're very bright

[Vyce 0]

Everyone had a boner for Batman Begins but it was hella super boring to me. Nothing will ever beat the Micheal Keaton Batman movies.

 

Completely disagree. I LOVED the Keaton Batman films when I was younger, and I still enjoy them a lot, but I watched the first Batman not too long ago, and it doesn't age as well as I remember it doing.

 

Napoleon Dynamite (Boy, did I find this unfunny...maybe I chuckled once)

 

Equilibrium (Everybody told me it was "Matrix" good...I guess they meant "Matrix sequels" good)

 

Napoleon Dynamite is a polarizing film. I wouldn't even list it as something "everyone" loves. About half of the people who see it like it, the other half thinks it's painfully unfunny. I liked it, but I can totally see the argument of those who don't, as the humor is very......offbeat.

 

Agree about Equilibrium. I always got rave reviews for that from people I know, and outside of a couple fun action sequences, I found the film pretty generic. Not bad (nowhere near Matrix sequel shitty) but just not worth the hype.

 

About "A History of Violence": I liked that a lot, but I'm not sure it deserved to be considered one of 'the best films of 2005', although seeing as I intensively dislike 'Crash' and think its Oscar win was a joke, "A History..." deserved a Best Picture Oscar nod more than the film that actually won it.

[Special K 0]

Equilibrium was fucking terrible, and I like Bale.

 

Scarface is a good one. I can't see any reason why this is more than a passable gangster movie.

 

Caddyshack. I love Bill Murray, but why this is seen as some sort of high point of 80's sex comedies? Didn't make me laugh once.

 

Ringu: One incredible scene. OK, it was done MUCH better than the American remake, but ONE incredible scene does not a movie make.

[Hogan Made Wrestling 0]

Fight Club

 

Overrated, pretentious drivel; a movie worshipped by people who like to flaunt how "intelligent" their tastes in movies are.

[Big McLargeHuge 0]

Agreed with Batman Begins. Hardly the "greatest comic movie ever", despite the credible cast and crew involved. Batman may not have aged well, but it's still far more entertaining and fun to watch than Begins.

 

People liked Troy? I thought it was terrible.

[iggymcfly 0]

Wow, there's been so many of these that I'm going to have to break them down into categories.

 

Recent comedies:

 

Wedding Crashers, 40 Year Old Virgin, Napoleon Dynamite: The first two at least had potential, although they hammered the same jokes into the ground, and went too long. (In the case of Crashers, way too long.) But Napoleon Dynamite was just awful. The only remotely funny scene was the little dance at the end. Otherwise, I don't think I laughed once the entire movie.

 

Recent oscar winners

 

Crash, Brokeback Mountain: I saw Crash back in October, and I thought it was a mildly entertaining, star-driven niche film. Nothing more. When I saw that it was nominated for Best Picture, I was legitimately shocked and said to myself, "wow, they must have been really desperate for candidates this year". When it actually won, I couldn't believe it. It slammed you over the head with "RACISM RACISM RACISM", but it didn't even really hold a plot together.

 

Although, to be fair, Brokeback was even worse. As a love story, I think Heath Ledger had it beat with his work in A Knight's Tale. The relationship was built terribly, as they went from hardly talking to fucking in the span of about three seconds. Then they leave and we're supposed to be instantly enthralled with how passionately in love they are. After that, the movie pretty much falls off a cliff. We see the two of them randomly meeting up at times between 5 and 25 years in the future, although we never get any clues at all as to how much time has passed. Then, after about an hour and a half of this, we find out Jack's dead and we're all supposed to feel bad about that too. Honestly, I was surprised that the gay community even liked this portrayal as Heath Ledger's character is basically a straight man that gets "turned gay" by creepy horndog Jack. I thought it set back homosexuals 10 to 20 years.

 

Not quite-so recent oscar winners

 

Gladiator, Return of the King: Gladiator is maybe one of two movies I've seen in my life that actually put me to sleep while I was in the theater. Not sitting on the couch chugging a beer, but in the movie theater. Honestly, they couldn't have made this more dull. We get these long boring war scenes that deal with successions that no one cares about at all. Then we have a few all-too short scenes where Crowe's actually a gladiator, and pretty soon, they're all arguing about who's going to be king again. Somehow, it lasted for three hours.

 

Even longer and more boring was Return of the King. I think this might be the most overrated movie of all time. I really don't see one redeeming thing about it. The plot is that Frodo's going to throw the ring in the volcano which will magically end all the war. We all know exactly what's going to happen. But instead we have to watch the war that doesn't matter for two and a half hours in scenes that everyone seems to think are the coolest thing in history, but which seemed pretty dull to me. Then, he predictably throws the ring in the fire, and the movie goes on for another hour with celebrations so gay that they'd make Ang Lee blush. It's basically just Frodo and his gay hobbit friends professing their everlasting love to each other for an hour. I really wanted to walk out, but I just couldn't resist the train wreck factor of seeing how long that awful movie would last.

 

Movies that only worked on novelty/shock value and are now completely outdated

 

Scarface, The Godfather: Scarface told the bare-bones story of the fall of a drug dealer, but did nothing to make him likeable or to make us care whether he lived or died, and then made his fall just downright ridiculous. (Didn't he basically make up a reason to kill his sister's boyfriend? I mean it wasn't even sensible.) "Blow" copied the general idea, but it did the story about 100 times better. Likewise, the Godfather doesn't really do much to get us in-depth with the characters either. Marlon Brando's the aging good don, and Pacino's the good son that gets sucked into the business, but that's about it. The side plot with Michael's wife in Italy is completely pointless and unnecessary, and the antics of the rest of the family seem somewhat circumstancial as well. The movie worked a lot on the cool shock value of seeing what the mob can do, but after you watch Paulie Walnuts beat somebody to death with a baseball bat on The Sopranos, seeing a horse's head in someone's bed just doesn't have much impact.

 

OK, I could probably find more, but I already wrote about ten times as much as I planned to so I guess I'll leave it at that, as those are the peak offenders among movies that get overrated like crazy.