RKMBs Forums .::Robegories::. Media Top 5 Most Overrated Movies

Oh shit. I forgot Spaceballs on that list, too. Boy, that was funny when I was eleven...

Cripes, Pro...

The film knows EXACTLY what it wants to be. It expertly balances the horror and the comedy. It is both parody and homage to George Romero's Living Dead films. It gives nods to various other films in the zombie/living dead/infected people subgenre of horror. And it gives the viewer a solid (romantic) comedy with some valid things to say about friendship, loyalty, and the meaning of family. It's everything you list. And I'm not even going to try and list the in-jokes and references to other films and Spaced.

It's one thing to not like the horror genre that this film draws from, but to understand Hot Fuzz while missing the point of Shaun...damn, Pro, lay off the weed. Both films do exactly the same thing within the confines of the subgenre in which they work (the American buddy cop/action flick for Hor Fuzz). How do you miss that?

But honestly, isn't there an 11 year old boy in all of us?

Other than that, and the fact that I enjoy The Godfather, your list is okay (for your opinion)...

My list;

1) Titanic. I love James Cameron, the guy's a genius, but this sappy Romeo and Juliet on a boat destined to sink has me falling asleep before I'm done reading the title. The rumor is Cameron, before just a perfectionist, became an intolerable asshole after Titanic hit box-office platinum. His ego inflated to such huge proportions that there wasn't any room left in his marriage for it and Linda Hamilton. My loathing of Titanic knows no bounds.

2) American Pie. Seen by some to be the resurrection of the 80s teen sex comedy, leaves me questioning if these people actually watched an 80s teen sex comedy. American Wedding saves the series with decent writing, jokes, and character work and is the only one I ever bother to watch.

3) Any movie made by Rob Zombie. The guy's not a good director, not terrible .. but not good, and honestly, anything he's written could use a rewrite by somebody else ... anybody else.

4) Any American import and redo of a successful Japanese horror film.

5) Torture Porn. Saw 1 had some interesting play in it, the other volumes in the series are quickly written and produced sadist fare. Hostel also fits this model.

As for my own list, I know I'm going to catch a massive amount of shit for saying this here, but nearly every Coen Brothers comedy and, especially, "the Big Lebowski" is wildly overrated. If I wanted to spend two hours watching some dirty hippie babble on about nothing in particular I could attend an "Ithaca for Obama" rally.

Are any of these actually well-regarded by enough people as to constitute overrated?

There's nothing you can do, Joe. It's Chinatown.

Yes.

Oh damn Silky, it wasn't personal!

The thing is, I don't appreciate that entire genre. Thus, I can't appreciate it's homage or respects to said genre. Thus, I have to try and appreciate it all on its own as a film. And, I can't, because...to me...the identity of the entire thing is skewed.

And it's TOTALLY my opinion. Not trying to or anything. I know I worded it all pretty...directly. But, that's just me being an egocentric blowhard than anything else.

Now, wipe that hurt puppy dog look off of your face and tell me why Shaun is superior to Hot Fuzz...

Listen, that kind of pedophile talk may have been okay over at the extinct Insurgency Boards, but it won't fly here...

American Pie marked the all-too-brief return of the 80s teen sex comedy. Without it, we wouldn't have gotten Road Trip and Euro Trip, which are both funny, underrated flicks. Sadly, American Pie shot itself in the foot by playing things safe in the far weaker sequels, watering down the comedy in a genre where that is an act of suicide. The sequels get consistently more unwatchable.



I agree with you, for the most part. House Of 1000 Corpses is a fun little midnight movie, but it's nothing great. The Devil's Rejects is actually quite good. It's a neat little balance of 70s road movie with 70s exploitation/horror. His remake of Halloween is a fucking abomination. It's a disaster of bad logic (poor white trash family can afford a house with an in-ground pool?), bad pacing, bad soundtrack-to-film moments (his choice to use "Love Hurts" while mommy strips and li'l Mikey trick or treats was AWFUL), vanity (way too many needless cameos and the use of his talentless wife), and generally wanting to have is cake and eat it too (explaining the origins of Mike Myers while also wanting to keep him as The Shape).

The problem lies in exactly what you mentioned. He can direct a movie, and has enough contacts to get the actors he'd want to direct, but he desperately needs to either get a co-writer or just let someone else entirely write the scripts.



With the exception of The Ring (just the first one), I agree. The problem lies in trying to make these films into watered down, PG-13, fare for teens. The originals are often way too complex to allow for that type of laziness.



The original Saw WASN'T a torture porn flick, actually. While is did feature various death traps, they really weren't the focus of the film. Saw deftly balanced the characters with the murder mystery plot to create a wonderfully tense film. The scene of Cary Elwes sawing through his ankle was shocking because the audience wasn't bledgeoned with acts of gore and torture.

And therein lies the problem with the torture porn genre of horror. By focusing on the kills rather than the characters, these films remove any sense of fear or tension or shock. The viewer cannot be moved by the violence because s/he doesn't give a crap about the person on the receiving end of said violence. All that is left is the gore, and that's just boring.

I went to see Hostel in the theater (support a local guy, y'dig?). The crowd around me was mostly high school aged couples who probably bought tickets to another flick and snuck in. Your basic mall crowd. Throughout the film, the crowd - who should've been grossed out or freaked out - just sat there. Bored. One high school girl actually walked out while the closing credits rolled and said, "That was dull. What a stupid movie." Sadly, I didn't disagree.

Westley, are you a horror movie buff?

Well played, sir.

What if I throw in a priest reference?

I am. I grew up in the golden age of horror\slasher flicks and so have a special bond with that genre. With Alfred Hitchcock Presents in syndication, along with Tales from the Crypt, Tales from the Darkside, Twilight Zone and the classic Universal stuff playing during the summer, it really was kind of an orgy of the genre.

Even the "B" stuff is a great watch, especially with Joe Bob Briggs acting as host.

You called me Silky...

Here's the thing: I won't tell you that Hot Fuzz is superior to Shaun, because I CAN'T tell you that. Truth be told, you can't really compare the two against each other. Rather, you have to compare them against the films they reference/parody. Hot Fuzz is a brilliant take on the American buddy cop films of the 80s and 90s. Everywhere you look is a reference. The film balances between parody and homage while also saying something about family, friendship and loyalty. Shaun Of The Dead does the same thing with zombie flicks (Romero's, mostly, but there are other references). It also speaks on family, friendship and loyalty. And references abound, as well. As a fan - nay, as a total mark!!! - of zombie films, I loved how Wright, Pegg and Frost crafted a brilliant Romero-esque horror movie and balanced it with a ton of solid comedy. And seeing it after I'd seen Spaced added a whole new dimension to the film. Wright, Pegg and Frost do the same thing in Hot Fuzz and, this time, they had enough of name recognition and reputation to get a ton of well-known British TV, film, and stage actors to round out the cast of regulars. In both films, it's obvious that everyone is having a great time making what they know is a great film (Timothy Dalton almost literally bursts with glee as he delivers his lines).

If you're not a horror movie (zombie/living dead/infected people subgenre) fan, then I can understand why most of the references would go over your head. But if you take in Shaun and Fuzz together, you'll see that they're the same type of film, albeit in different genres. And both succeed admirably, bot on their own and within the genre.

Do dat expwain it, pookie?

I tip my cap to you, my good man. I started down the path thanks to Commander USA, USA Up All Night, Elvira, and various local horror programming (back when Saturday afternoons featured Creature Double Feature). I've been reintroducing myself to the cheesy horror of the 80s. Recently, I caught Hell Night and the first two Sleepaway Camp flicks and will most likely take in a Night Of The Demons double feature before the week's out. Those TV shows you mentioned are all favorites of mine - thank God for DVD! I'm also going back and watching a lot of 70s horror and exploitation flicks.

If you haven't seen it already, check out Behind The Mask: The Rise Of Leslie Vernon. It's a great flick, especially if you like the slasher genre.

i never knew. but i should have...


and yeah shawn is better. not by much though.

If it helps, I like Shaun's mother. She plays the Prime Minister on Doctor Who...

I will strike you down...

Don't you think Pro looks tired?

Wasn't that the guy on USA on Saturday's with the red, white, and blue get-up with the mask, cigar, and Gablesque mannerisms?

And I don't remember Up All Night having anything but titty flicks with the titties edited out.

My deal with both these films is that I like Fuzz better, because its a lot more of a wilder comedy, but I think the genre helps that, being that cop movies generally already have an inbuilt comedy element that Fuzz then blew up even bigger and bolder!


Shaun on the other hand was parodying a genre not known for its humour, so to somebody wanting a laugh riot comedy, it was never gonna hit the spot.

I think Shaun was a lot more subtle in its humour for a good part of the film, where as Fuzz was so over the top, it was exactly what most people want from a comedy.
Plus, the cop genre is far more popular than the zombie genre, meaning more people related to Fuzz (which is pretty much what you said).

Just as long as we are not talking about Mr.America!

Yep, that's the guy. He also had a sidekick - Lefty - which was basically a fce he drew on his right hand.

Up All Night had both edited titty flicks and edited horror flicks. Usually Friday nights had the horror and Saturday night had the comedies. But with Rhonda Shear as hostess (Gilbert Gottfried came later), my young self wasn't complaining.

My top 5 overrated films:
The Matrix and any of its sequels cause they are all about special effects and shit story.
All Star Trek films just cause they are Star Trek.
Casino Royale (Craig version) cause its a great action film, but a poor Bond film.
Anything starring Jim Carrey cause he is not funny.
Ghost Dog cause Rob is gay!

Was that the blonde chick that always hit the high-note "USA UP!...all Night!" and had the big boobs?

Did Vincent Price scare the shit out of you? I could watch any of his movies all the way through, I havent watched Fall of the House of Usher since I was 9.

I think maybe Shaun of the Dead was to sophisticated for Pro, from the sounds of it he didn't really understand what it is about, same with G-man and Lebowski....

INDEED!!!

Vincent Price is awesome. The Corman/Price Poe flicks are classics.

My top 5....

1) Tim Burton's Batman
2) Stanley Kubricks's The Shining
3) Star Wars: A New Hope
4) Return of the Jedi
5) Close Encounters of the Third Kind

cheap heat snarf?

Snarf also thinks that hair and vaginal sex are overrated.

1. Titanic
2. Dirty Dancing
3. Ghost
4. Reservoir Dogs
5. Any Pirate Of The Caribbean flick

1) Anything by David Lynch (except for The Elephant Man)
2) American Beauty
3) The Blair Witch Project
4) Anything by John Waters
5) The Doom Generation (Loved by many douchebags in the 90's. It's only good for showing us Rose McGowan's boobies. It's nowhere near the cinematic masterpiece some ignorant fucknuts claim it is. It's angsty and artsy to the point of being silly.)

I have no opinion on the first three, as I have never watched them (chick flicks tend to be avoided purely on the basis they are chick flicks).
The Pirates films I like.
Reservoir Dogs though, I fully agree with you on, and am glad that someone actually agrees with me on this. (personally I'd also add the Kill Bill films, as I generally think Tarantino is overrated himself)