The new issue of Premiere Magazine arrived this weekend with another list, and one that's been a long time coming: the 20 Most Overrated Movies of All Time. Not surprisingly, "all time" seems to consist mostly of the last 20 years or so. Fourteen of their choices are reasonably apt: American Beauty, A Beautiful Mind, Chariots of Fire, Chicago, Easy Rider, Fantasia, Forrest Gump, Field of Dreams, Gone with the Wind, Good Will Hunting, Jules and Jim, Monster's Ball, Moonstruck and Nashville. However, such lists are often meant to provoke, and it also includes five genuinely great films: 2001: A Space Odyssey, An American in Paris, Mystic River, The Red Shoes and The Wizard of Oz. The final film is Kevin Smith's Clerks, and I can't possibly begin to guess how that got on the list. (It's more of a cult film.)
To replace those misplaced six, I suggest the following: High Noon, My Fair Lady, The Graduate, Rain Man, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and City of God. How's that for provocation?
To replace those misplaced six, I suggest the following: High Noon, My Fair Lady, The Graduate, Rain Man, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and City of God. How's that for provocation?
| :: posted by Jeffrey M. Anderson, 8/29/2005 | Comments (1) Links to this post |
1 Comments:
I remember when I used to get Premiere religiously! Wish I hadn't missed this issue. On the whole, I agree with their choices of overrated films, especially American Beauty. It's decadent, slyly funny and shocking in parts, but in the end, it comes off like some Goth kid's first angry film about his parents; they are all caricatures, especially Peter Gallagher. I would not agree with the choice of Moonstruck, Mystic River or Good Will Hunting! Moonstruck was the kind of comic masterpiece rarely seen since the days of Capra. Mystic River, though quite flawed in places, truly captured the decaying, small-town culture of Southeastern, coastal New England (The flip- side of Mystic Pizza, if you will) . Good Will Hunting was so many things, a surprise around every corner, but the genuine quality of the characters, including (for once!) Robin Williams, carried it past the cliches almost unavoidable in novice screenwriters.
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