Overrated movies

I think Shawshank's a bit overrated. At one point it was imdb's GOAT, not even in that league, imo

 

The Hangover is like the 500th funniest film ever

It has some funny moments, for sure, but it's not like it is a masterpiece like "Airplane!", for example

 

It's a great movie but I agree with you... I think it is very likable, you want Andy Dufresne to succeed, you want Red to embrace the idea of a new life on the outside, etc.

But it lacks the nuance to be up for GOAT discussion... The characters are all either wholly admirable or wholly detestable... There's not really anything to not like about Andy or Red, just as there is nothing to really like about Warden Norton or Byron Hadley... The rest of the cast, though colorful and memorable, aren't really fully formed either. They just ARE.

What makes it a great movie to watch is that it plays on our emotions and our sense of right-and-wrong; like The Count of Monte Cristo, we immediately sympathize with Andy and we never stop sympathizing with him... We are immediately disgusted with Norton and we remain disgusted with him until the satisfying Karmic turn that causes him to eat lead. It's all too pat, too cut-and-dry, to be a GOAT-type film... It never forces us to question anything, certainly nothing of ourselves or our worldview.

The fact that it succeeds in being such a watchable film is a tribute to the actors, the direction and the easily-digested storyline...

 

Plus the fact that in Stephen King's novella, Andy gained the respect of the other inmates by biting another inmates dick off, when they were trying to mouth rape him in the shower.

In the movie, he gained their respect by doing their taxes or some such shit.

No dick biting scene means, decent flick, but highly over-rated by the public.
















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:laughing:

 

If you don't consider Shawshank to be THE best movie of all time, that's fine. It's probably not mine either, even though it's all subjective.

But it should be universally considered a top 10-20 movie of all time.

 

No fucking way

I don't think it is a top ONE HUNDRED movie all-time

I love the movie, but it's way too easy to tear it down a notch or three... It is one of the 20 best films of the 1990s, perhaps, but all-time? Not a chance in hell... It doesn't hold up to real scrutiny

 

I'm not trying to be a dick, either, I love that movie, but it is open to some pretty easy criticisms, and not of the petty variety

 

You are truly a movie snob. ::

 

alm:

 

Fuckin bigot!!!!

 

:wo:

 

:laughing:

 

I'm not, man
::

Subjectively, I love the movie... It's a favorite of mine... But, I can too easily pick it apart if I play Devil's Advocate... The characters are completely one-dimensional, the good guys are great, the bad guys are evil, you never have to question anything about the characters or their motivations, you don't have to question yourself either, everything is crystal clear and simple... I don't personally care because I enjoy the film and I want to be hoodwinked and fooled into thinking something like this is remotely realistic or in any way a reflection of human behavior, I want to root for Andy and curse the Warden (although now, having watched it so many times, I generally just make jokes like an asshole the whole time)... I want it the same way a child wants shit to turn out well for Cinderella, but I have to face the facts ... the film is closer to a crowd-pleasing 4-star work of art than a 5-star one, objectively

 

It doesn't please me to say any of that, but I have heard those criticisms and I can't objectively, unemotionally discredit them

 

Agree!


I feel the same way about the movie "Crash". I fucking love that movie, even though I know it's on everybody's hate list.

I love it since I go to movies because I WANT to be manipulated, and this movie does a tremendously convincing job of doing that.

I understand the criticisms but I don't care.

Matt Dillon will always be the cracker cop full of hate that eventually learned his lesson about race relations..................and Ryan Phillippe will always be the paragon of moral virtue who ends up being just as much of a hypocrite as everybody else........and Ludacris will always be.................well, he'll always be Ludacris.


:bears:

 

I'm not sure I would put Shawshank and Crash in the same category that way but I did enjoy Crash as well.

 

exactly

 

At least I never said that about The Godfather.

 

The Godfather is clearly one of the top 100 films... Hell, it is clearly one of the top ten

Shawshank isn't in that class of film any more than a Norman Rockwell painting is in the class of Van Gogh

 

What about the Mexican Locksmith, who just Wants to Live Right & Take Care of his Baby Girl, FREE of Suspicion that he's Up to No Good???

 

I can watch that movie on loop for days at a time.....excellent..

 

Great hyperbole but untrue.

 

Rockwell shits all over Van Gogh, I hope you're not hinting otherwise. Van Gogh is a sloppy piece of shit.

 

Michael Pena is pretty awesome. I probably enjoyed that storyline the best. :bears:

 

The Godfather I and II are the greatest films ever made....I can't pick between the two...but one of them has to be the greatest...Shawshank is Top 20 IMO...

 

yeah, except in the eyes of everyone with taste and a brain

 

:atu:

 

I'm not sure about The Godfather needs to be so revered and respected?
Over time, I've just re-evaluated it to a 'good' movie that is such a 'Sacred Cow', people have been almost peer-pressured into thinking they have to like it and it's blasphemy to suggest otherwise.