First things that come to mind: those "classics" of European cinema, Fellini's 8 1/2 and Godard's Breathless. Snore.

Though most people seem to rate it very highly, The Royal Tenenbaums underwhelms me. But I loved The Life Aquatic, considered by many critics to be Wes Anderson's weakest work, so what I do I know, amirtie?

Methinks this thread will get a lot of mileage.

1982- Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, dir. Nicholas Meyer

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Oh what a fun thread! I agree with most of the selections though I loved 8 1/2 and Juliet of the Spirits. AND La Dolce Vita but I have a prejudice as an ardent Italiaphile.

You know, Booth, I was there for The Shining in its initial theatrical run and I recall it getting panned by all the sources I read. I loved the visuals of the film especially the maze in the snow. And Jack Nicholson. But it was at the time, to me, like a Stephen King novel -- fun, move-along, story-telling. There are a few iconic moments in the film that allow its place in cinematic history but as a movie you want to watch over and over? Maybe not.

Okay. Now let me think. Are there movies that EVERYONE loves. I will name the one that I routinely rate a 1 or a 0 depending on my generosity of the day -- Natural Born Killers. Okay, yes, I despise Oliver Stoned but it wasn't always that way. I had actually been looking forward to that film. I had loved his screenplays -- Salvador & Midnight Express. Loved JFK too, mistaken though its central premise was. I thought the addition of Quentin Tarantino as the supposed screenwriter of NBK was a really good thing. Loved Reservoir Dogs and LOVED Pulp Fiction. So I did not go into that film wanting to hate it.

Halfway through being clobbered over the head with Stone's heavy hammer, I craved relief from part two. Just some change in the tone -- the pace. A counterpoint. Something... artful. Instead I got more of his mushroom-induced mish-mash.  "You mean right here on my fingernail there might be entire universes?  Wow, man."

Remember how it's split into two parts? But no relief -- the second part was equally oppressive, lame, over-kill. Afterward I was so angry with OS, I could almost have realized the fears of those who worried that film would cause violent acting out -- I wanted to kill Stone for having inflicted that mess upon me.

It was as if sections of the film had been snipped into oh maybe 10 foot sections and hurled onto the floor. Then they were picked up randomly and pieced back together by a monkey. Argh I hated it. The only redeeming features - Rodney Dangerfield and Robert Downey Jr.

I'm sure there are many other films I could add to the mix, but I've depleted my energy just recalling the pure misery of having sat through that horrible movie all those years ago. Phew!

Susan

     
“Half a truth is often a great lie.”

Ben Franklin

The night time labyrinth chase is actually the only part of The Shining I liked.
Disliked Reservoir Dogs too. And the "trying too hard to be cool" parts of Pulp Fiction.

Agree.MILLION DOLLAR BABY-was terribly boring for me too.

All films with James Bond character also are out of my interest.

Yes, Million Dollar Baby was very overrated (just my opinion).  Folks were mesmerized by this movie but i was bored.

I never got into the Star Trek movies, Sorry!!!

Dark City.  I have a ton of friends who love this movie; the best I can say for it is that it displeased me slightly less the second time I saw it -- perhaps age had mellowed me a touch?

Transformers.  Fine, the robots were cool and well done, but it didn't come near making up for the feeling of enduring one gigantic, expensive, utterly unnecessary ninety-whatever minute insult -- not just to my own intelligence, or that of a general audience's, but to intelligence as a concept.

The Nightmare Before Christmas.  Saw it once with friends (at Christmas), was mildly amused, never need to see it again.  I love Tim Burton, liked Corpse Bride, can't wait to see what Sweeney Todd turns out like...  I'm not sure why this movie doesn't work for me. 

Because I think no one else likes it, or because I do? yeah, you think I'd be preaching to the choir here, but remember this?

http://www.2000revue.com/community/topic.cfm?topicid=1659&page=1

Even on this board, it's a pretty split reaction.

Oh, and I also love Leaving Las Vegas! Love anything John O'Brien, love Julian Sands! 

Dark City. Good call. I watched it based on numerous recommendations and made my way through it and really didn't get into at any point along the way. Extremely overrated.

You have to realize I work with people with limited tastes in movies that also diametrically oppose my own tastes of what I consider good cinema, so this list could be quite extensive.

The Devil's Rejects...to which I respond, "Watch High Tension"

Derailed - Clive Owen's performance kept me watching this predictable pile of steaming dooky

Pick any cheesy, poorly written romantic comedy released in the last 4 years and it has probably been recommended and hyped, except High Fidelity of course.

It's early and my mind isn't working because we broke into the Woodford Reserve I bought for tailgating last night. But trust me, I will be contributing to this thread after the weekend.   

Movies only I like: The Royal Tenenbaums is roundly dissed by anyone I know who has seen it. I have to go with Kirk and say I enjoyed Rushmore and Life Aquatic more. Again this list could be pretty extensive as well. Lost in Translation is another one that got pounded by friends. In The Bedroom, surprisingly is another one. Do you see a trend here against slower paced films? Which means any of the Merchant Ivory films I like i.e. Remains of the Day, A Room With A View and Howard's End...a lot of people didn't like Jarhead because it was anti-climactic...um, wasn't that the point of the film? Kinda like when people don't get the end of Castaway..."Um, he's at the crossroads, you f-ing, spoonfed, morons". I Heart Huckabees and Elephant are two others that come to mind and it goes without saying that most of Lynch's films fall under this heading.      

"Every day holds a new beginning and every hour holds the promise of an Invitation to Love." 

Oh yeah, forgot about that one. Didn't care for it, yet I liked Murray in Jarmusch's Broken Flowers. (Waiting for someone to say they hated that one.)

Dark City is rather overrated, but I still like it. Though the big action climax I can skip without missing it.

1983- Monty Python's The Meaning of Life, dir. Terry Jones 

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"We cannot allow a mine shaft gap"

Do you know, I was going to say that myself and then realised there's not that many people who actually like the film...

My theory by A. Elk, brackets, Miss, brackets. This theory goes as follows and begins now. All brontosauruses are thin at one end, much much thicker in the middle, and then thin again at the far end. That is my theory, it is mine, and it belongs to me, and I own it, and what it is, too.

Ange's Odyssey

Titanic. Good call.

Broken Flowers is a pefect example of a film only I would like anongst my circle of friends, Kirk. I really liked it. My friend Luis liked it, but he is the one exception in my friends who likes the same films as I do and he digs Lynch, Wes Anderson, Pedro Almoldovar and the Coens among others      

"Every day holds a new beginning and every hour holds the promise of an Invitation to Love." 

God, do you remember when that movie came out? People were seeing it in the theater like twenty times in a row. I know there were these ladies up in Sacramento who had seen it in the theater every night since it opened, for like four solid months. And that was the worst part! Because so many people watched it repeatedly, the movie stayed in the damn theaters forEVER. I hate that film. HATE it. It was overrated, it didn't deserve all the Oscars it stole from other more-deserving competitors, and it had the hands-down shittiest "love song" ever recorded. 

~ Amanda

"Just fear me, love me, do as I say and I will be your slave..."

Though those other nominees are pretty overrated, too.

I really really want to see the 3-hour Rifftrax for Titanic, though. Remember the MST3K Blockbuster Review?
"I'm gonna sink this bitch."

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I went to see it with a friend and I just remember her turning to me in the cinema and saying, "I WISH THE BLOODY BOAT WOULD JUST SINK!!!" after about 25 minutes.   Oh how right she was.

As for Celine Dion, I'd gladly pay the air fare just to seek her out, punch her in the face, and then get back on the plane and come home again.  Silly tooth-ridden tart... 

My theory by A. Elk, brackets, Miss, brackets. This theory goes as follows and begins now. All brontosauruses are thin at one end, much much thicker in the middle, and then thin again at the far end. That is my theory, it is mine, and it belongs to me, and I own it, and what it is, too.

Ange's Odyssey

"Every day holds a new beginning and every hour holds the promise of an Invitation to Love." 

Oh of course they were all pretty overrated, but if I had to weigh them against one another for award worthiness, Titanic would end up at the bottom nearly every time. It was just a crap film all around, the whole gimmick being this AMAZING LOVE STORY...that really wasn't that amazing.

Ange...I didn't see the film 'til it came out on video, and at the time it came on two VHS tapes. You can imagine my disgust when we got partway through the film and I realized that the boat begins to sink starting on the 2nd VHS tape. I turned to my "date" at the time and said "You mean to tell me I just sat through ninety minutes of sh*t when we could've gone straight to the interesting part?!" Needless to say, he didn't get any that night.

~ Amanda

"Just fear me, love me, do as I say and I will be your slave..."