Here's something you might be interested in.
I love asking people what their favorite films are. It always blows me away when someone will say something like "I rented Fargo. I hated it. Those accents were annoying."
Or a high school friend who had the best sense of humor, telling me he and his wife watched "Swingers" and hated it.
Another friend who I loved joking around with, hated the crude elements of "Election," which was perhaps the best movie the year it came out (Alexander Payne also gave us About Schmidt and Sideways).
I made sure I didn't recommend "Boogie Nights" to that friend (it's Paul Thomas Andersons best movie).
There are some movies like Citizen Kane, that were great in 1942, but are a bit dated for me.
Vertigo is my favorite Hitchcock film and I think it holds up just fine.
I'm always amazed when a new movie can come out and knock my socks off. I remember three movies (with Bruce Willis, who I don't particularly care for). 12 Monkey, Pulp Fiction, and Sixth Sense...I loved them so much that I saw them again the very next day. Willis was also great in the underrated Unbreakable.
When someone asks me my favorite movies, I always try to go for a movie in each genre. I'll say Casablanca for romance. For dark comedies, I go with The World According to Garp.
Regular comedies I loved would include Some Like it Hot, Tootsie, and This is Spinal Tap as three favorites.
Movies that have twists, I'd go with The Sting. But a close second for me is David Mamets House of Games.
To me, what's just as fun as asking people for their favorite movies, is asking them their least favorite. Or movies they thought were overrated. You get into all kinds of fun debates.
So, here are few of my lists (going off the top of my head, and not giving it much thought at 1:30 a.m.)
The most underrated movies ever:
Unbreakable. M. Night Shamayalayamanananayemen, did this after his wonderful Sixth Sense. It's so subtle and interesting. You gotta love it for Samuel Jacksons hair alone. And the scene with Jackson as a boy and his mother trying to get him to go outside...it's a thing of beauty.
In the Company of Men. Writer/director Neil LaBute is a genius. This is dark. Aaron "two face" Eackhardt is pretty evil. The ending is powerful.
He Got Game. Spike Lee makes one good movie for every 10 horrible ones. He's racist. He's angry. I met him and he was a jerk. But when he does a good movie, I give him mad props. The critics didn't give this movie good reviews, but I loved it.
Cop Land. An all-star cast (DeNiro, Keitel, Stallone, etc). I rented it so my girlfriend could watch it. She thought some of the scenes were corny and got tired of Stallone playing the mopey sad-sack. But I think it's an interesting premise. And the scene with DeNiro yelling at a deaf Stallone are painful and brilliant.
Vanilla Sky. I didn't love this movie, but I liked it. People either loved it or hated it. I think most people didn't get it. Cameron Crowe has written some great screenplays.
Welcome to the Dollhouse. An indie film that never seemed to get the credit that other indie films have gotten. It got great reviews when it came out, but for some reason people have forgotten about it.
Boiler Room. It might go down as the only good movie Vin Diesel was involved in (oh wait...he had a bit part in Saving Private Ryan). It was the first time I noticed him on screen, and he had a presence. The scenes that involve a boy trying to get rich and disappointing his dad, are excellent. It's so refreshing when a screenplay is written that has the dad character not just being angry, but also being loving, and bringing intelligent arguments to the table (two similar dad characters that come to mind are in The Flamingo Kid and the teen comedy Some Kind of Wonderful).
True Romance. The script was written by Q. Tarrantino. And it gets a little crazy at times. But it's an all-star cast (walken, hopper, slater, penn, kilmer, pitt) and an interesting story about a guy trying to get rid of some cocaine that fell on his lap, and all the trouble that goes along with getting into such deals.
For the list of most overrated movies, I'm going to go with:
Frantic. It starred Harrison Ford and it was done by the most overrated filmmaker of all-time: Roman Polanski. I've never been so bored in a movie. His wife is kidnapped in Paris. Nobody knows English or seems willing to help him. And I didn't care.
Rushmore. I mentioned this Wes Anderson movie in a previous blog. It had its moments, but was to unrealistic, characters not likable enough, and overall, it just didn't work as well as all the critics seemed to think it did.
The Color Purple. This is a movie like Schindler's List. I hadn't seen it for a while, because I thought it would just be depressing. But when everyone was outraged it didn't win any Oscars, I figured I should rent it and see what all the fuss was about. Boy was I disappointed. Oprah and Whoopi can act. I have no problems with them. I just feel it's in the same category as Driving Miss Daisy. They're contrived and don't move me.
Reservoir Dogs. Everyone praises this Tarantino movie. And I think it's okay. It's just not nearly as good as Jackie Brown or Pulp Fiction. It borrowed heavily from a lot of other movies, and I have no problem with that. I just have a problem with everyone acting like this is the best gangster flick ever. Which leads me to my next pick:
Scarface. When I was 12 and saw this on HBO, I thought it was cool. When I was 16 and saw it again, I noticed all the overacting and craziness, and was a bit disappointed. Yet, so many people pick this as their all-time favorite movie. Not just the rappers on Cribs, that all seem to have a poster of it; but even regular folks I chat with about movies.
Brokeback Mountain/Crash. I put these in the same paragraph, as they both came out the same year. And lots of gay people were mad Crash won the best picture Oscar. I don't blame them for being mad. The movie was bad. It doesn't mean Brokeback should've won, as it had too many problems to even list.
The Conversation. I believe this came out in 1974. And movie critics love to talk about how the 70s were the best decade for film (which I won't disagree with). And they bring this movie up. Yes, Gene Hackman is good. When is he not? Harrison Ford had a small part (with his usually facial expression of...of not having an expression). But I just don't think there's enough here to consider this as the classic all the critics want to deem it. A guy bugs houses and hears something he shouldn't, and becomes a paranoid mess. So what.
Okay, so let's hear the list of your favorite movies, most overrated, and most underrated.
I love asking people what their favorite films are. It always blows me away when someone will say something like "I rented Fargo. I hated it. Those accents were annoying."
Or a high school friend who had the best sense of humor, telling me he and his wife watched "Swingers" and hated it.
Another friend who I loved joking around with, hated the crude elements of "Election," which was perhaps the best movie the year it came out (Alexander Payne also gave us About Schmidt and Sideways).
I made sure I didn't recommend "Boogie Nights" to that friend (it's Paul Thomas Andersons best movie).
There are some movies like Citizen Kane, that were great in 1942, but are a bit dated for me.
Vertigo is my favorite Hitchcock film and I think it holds up just fine.
I'm always amazed when a new movie can come out and knock my socks off. I remember three movies (with Bruce Willis, who I don't particularly care for). 12 Monkey, Pulp Fiction, and Sixth Sense...I loved them so much that I saw them again the very next day. Willis was also great in the underrated Unbreakable.
When someone asks me my favorite movies, I always try to go for a movie in each genre. I'll say Casablanca for romance. For dark comedies, I go with The World According to Garp.
Regular comedies I loved would include Some Like it Hot, Tootsie, and This is Spinal Tap as three favorites.
Movies that have twists, I'd go with The Sting. But a close second for me is David Mamets House of Games.
To me, what's just as fun as asking people for their favorite movies, is asking them their least favorite. Or movies they thought were overrated. You get into all kinds of fun debates.
So, here are few of my lists (going off the top of my head, and not giving it much thought at 1:30 a.m.)
The most underrated movies ever:
Unbreakable. M. Night Shamayalayamanananayemen, did this after his wonderful Sixth Sense. It's so subtle and interesting. You gotta love it for Samuel Jacksons hair alone. And the scene with Jackson as a boy and his mother trying to get him to go outside...it's a thing of beauty.
In the Company of Men. Writer/director Neil LaBute is a genius. This is dark. Aaron "two face" Eackhardt is pretty evil. The ending is powerful.
He Got Game. Spike Lee makes one good movie for every 10 horrible ones. He's racist. He's angry. I met him and he was a jerk. But when he does a good movie, I give him mad props. The critics didn't give this movie good reviews, but I loved it.
Cop Land. An all-star cast (DeNiro, Keitel, Stallone, etc). I rented it so my girlfriend could watch it. She thought some of the scenes were corny and got tired of Stallone playing the mopey sad-sack. But I think it's an interesting premise. And the scene with DeNiro yelling at a deaf Stallone are painful and brilliant.
Vanilla Sky. I didn't love this movie, but I liked it. People either loved it or hated it. I think most people didn't get it. Cameron Crowe has written some great screenplays.
Welcome to the Dollhouse. An indie film that never seemed to get the credit that other indie films have gotten. It got great reviews when it came out, but for some reason people have forgotten about it.
Boiler Room. It might go down as the only good movie Vin Diesel was involved in (oh wait...he had a bit part in Saving Private Ryan). It was the first time I noticed him on screen, and he had a presence. The scenes that involve a boy trying to get rich and disappointing his dad, are excellent. It's so refreshing when a screenplay is written that has the dad character not just being angry, but also being loving, and bringing intelligent arguments to the table (two similar dad characters that come to mind are in The Flamingo Kid and the teen comedy Some Kind of Wonderful).
True Romance. The script was written by Q. Tarrantino. And it gets a little crazy at times. But it's an all-star cast (walken, hopper, slater, penn, kilmer, pitt) and an interesting story about a guy trying to get rid of some cocaine that fell on his lap, and all the trouble that goes along with getting into such deals.
For the list of most overrated movies, I'm going to go with:
Frantic. It starred Harrison Ford and it was done by the most overrated filmmaker of all-time: Roman Polanski. I've never been so bored in a movie. His wife is kidnapped in Paris. Nobody knows English or seems willing to help him. And I didn't care.
Rushmore. I mentioned this Wes Anderson movie in a previous blog. It had its moments, but was to unrealistic, characters not likable enough, and overall, it just didn't work as well as all the critics seemed to think it did.
The Color Purple. This is a movie like Schindler's List. I hadn't seen it for a while, because I thought it would just be depressing. But when everyone was outraged it didn't win any Oscars, I figured I should rent it and see what all the fuss was about. Boy was I disappointed. Oprah and Whoopi can act. I have no problems with them. I just feel it's in the same category as Driving Miss Daisy. They're contrived and don't move me.
Reservoir Dogs. Everyone praises this Tarantino movie. And I think it's okay. It's just not nearly as good as Jackie Brown or Pulp Fiction. It borrowed heavily from a lot of other movies, and I have no problem with that. I just have a problem with everyone acting like this is the best gangster flick ever. Which leads me to my next pick:
Scarface. When I was 12 and saw this on HBO, I thought it was cool. When I was 16 and saw it again, I noticed all the overacting and craziness, and was a bit disappointed. Yet, so many people pick this as their all-time favorite movie. Not just the rappers on Cribs, that all seem to have a poster of it; but even regular folks I chat with about movies.
Brokeback Mountain/Crash. I put these in the same paragraph, as they both came out the same year. And lots of gay people were mad Crash won the best picture Oscar. I don't blame them for being mad. The movie was bad. It doesn't mean Brokeback should've won, as it had too many problems to even list.
The Conversation. I believe this came out in 1974. And movie critics love to talk about how the 70s were the best decade for film (which I won't disagree with). And they bring this movie up. Yes, Gene Hackman is good. When is he not? Harrison Ford had a small part (with his usually facial expression of...of not having an expression). But I just don't think there's enough here to consider this as the classic all the critics want to deem it. A guy bugs houses and hears something he shouldn't, and becomes a paranoid mess. So what.
Okay, so let's hear the list of your favorite movies, most overrated, and most underrated.