2002: Most Overrated Films of the Year
Submitted by AAA on Sat, 02/01/2003 - 08:10
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- Frida - Completely lacking in passion or intensity. Lackluster lead performances completely outdone by great visuals. For a film about a tortured artist, this was surprisingly flat.
- 13 Conversations About One Thing - Woody Allen-lite, sucks the soul out of every issue it deals with. Sure, Alan Arkin is great, but this movie doesn't deserve him. How this is considered one of the best of the year is beyond me.
- The Good Girl - Hateful, awful, unfunny comedy that hits every sour note possible. Made me want to watch You Can Count on Me just to wash out the aftertaste.
- One-Hour Photo - Who in their right minds would compare this to Kubrick? Cliche followed by cliche followed by...
- Igby Goes Down - Spoiled brat runs around spouting dialouge that sounds like a pretentious Mamet in high school. Jeff Goldblum, Amanda Peet and Claire Danes manage to sort of save some of the film. Kieran's younger brother Rory is far more talented.
- 8 Mile - There were a couple good moments, but tedious and boring for the rest of the running time. Can they take back Kim Basinger's Oscar?
- My Big Fat Greek Wedding - I'm not gonna say anything, it's all been said, many times.
- The Son's Room - This won the palme d'or? This?! Wow, this mediocre attempt at examining death and its effects manages to never get off the ground, and never affect the audience emotionally.
- Gangs of New York - Moments of greatness, but seriously, this is by no means a masterpiece.
- Minority Report - Pretty entertaining, visually stunning, Samantha Morton rocked. But the last twenty minutes negates all of that. What a shame.
AAA,
First off, let me compliment you for your improving writing skills and more importantly the ever increasing clarity in your thought process. You are finding your voice and you are learning to articulate it very well. This is an important lesson for movies but even more important for just living your life.
Out of the movies that you are commenting on here, I have seen a few and have a few comments and one vehement disagreement.
TThe Good Girl was not a good movie. I am not sure I would trash it as much as you but it is pretty bad.
Gangs of New York is a disapointment. Only because of the lofty expectations and the performance of Leonardo and Cameron Diaz. I would have liked to seen Edward Norton get the Amsterdam role. I think he could have brought more to the table.
Dead on with your comments about Minority Report. Much to like but the ending just kind of blows it.
Now my big disagreement is with 13 Conversations...I do not understand the Woody Allen comparison. Nothing about this movie reminded me of Woody. I found it to be a wonderful observstion study on life, fate luck and the vagaries of chance. It is very well written and even better acted.
I can't help but think this movie is aimed far more squarely at someone in my age range than yours. I would normally never bring up your age because you have certainly demonstrated a strong understanding of film. I just think if you were to watch this movie again in say 20 years, you might appreciate it a little more.
Thanks for taking the time to reply.
I think you get my point on the films we agreed on. By the way, I just want to make it clear that Gangs of New York had some of the best scenes of the year...it was just lacking when it came to the big picture.
Do you mind if I address your comments about 13 Conversations when I write up the mini-review on my "Movie I've Seen" list? I knew that you would have something to say here, and I do want to answer you when I have more time.
No worries on feeling the need to reply. I understand I put you in a difficult position by claiming your age as relevant. It doesn't change my opinion. I know when I was 16 I had very strong opinions and if some old fart told me my opinion was not valid because I wasn't old enough, I would not like it.
I would like to reiterate and concur with Mr. Bangs, your writing and thoughts are improving by leaps and bounds. If you want to pursue a career in journalism or criticism I dont see how you could fail.
Please don't misuderstand my comments, it's not that I don't want to reply to the 13 Conversations comments, it's that I'm not sure I can formulate a complete though on them right now, so I wanted to answer them later when my mind is wrapped around the film.
I really liked Minority Report and Gangs, though I didn't think Minority was overrated, Gangs either. Almost everyone I talked to didn't like Gangs, while I didn't think it was a masterpiece, I enjoyed it a lot. Minority Report was great and I didn't hear too many people talking about that either. Maybe it's where I lived, maybe it's the people I talked to...
Also, Frida was visually stunning (as mentioned) but there are some parts, well, quite a few, that are just embarrassignly obscene.
Obscene, eh? Are you speaking of the sex scene between Diego and Frida (no spoilers there, they're married, it's gonna happen)? I happened to think that was one of the few passionate scenes in the film. The trolley crash was also very well done.
Maybe obscene wasn't the right word, rediculous is a better fit, like the part where Frida goes to the party with Diego for the first time and the lady puts down a bottle on the table to break up a fight and whoever takes the biggest swig gets to dance with her. Frida wins, but I just thought that was unnecessary. That happens a lot in movies.
I agree completely. There were contrived, cliched, and just plain dull scenes a plenty in Frida.
Well, I'm going by awards attention and critical reaction both on the web and in print. The web critics were in love with Minority Report, and print critics seemed to have a "hard on" for Scorcese's weakest effort. I also think that Gangs' multiple nominations at the Oscars are somewhat of an overappreciation of the film.