Some 2010 movies got way too much love from my fellow critics.
So, in no particular order, here’s the only Overrated List you’ll need this year.
- “Inception” – Bold … original … and so chock full of exposition it buries the fun to be had romping around director Christopher Nolan’s fun house. And I’m not alone in my feelings.
- “Easy A” – WWTW guest blogger James Frazier says it best – “one of those high school pictures that appears written by someone who never went.”
- “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part I” – Utterly incomprehensible to anyone not steeped in all things Potter. And a bore, to boot.
- “Monsters” – Yes, this no-budget indie showed us some impressive creatures. But the dialogue and characters were all kinds of dumb.
- “Client 9: The Rise and Fall of Eliot Spitzer” – Director Alex Gibney manages to make a sex scandal dull while blaming everyone but Spitzer for the ex-governor’s fall from grace.
- “Four Lions” – Yes, the film deserves credit for taking a difficult subject – terrorism – and making it the target of parody. But it’s rarely laugh out loud funny, and the film spends as much time making the police look foolish as it does the terrorists. Forgive me for not laughing at that.
- “Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work” – A no holds barred documentary on the comedy legend that doesn’t directly address why she turned her face into a goopy mask of unlined flesh doesn’t deserve huzzahs.
(Photo: Rupert Grint as Ron Weasley and Daniel Radcliffe as Harry Potter in Warner Bros. Pictures’ fantasy adventure “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1,” a Warner Bros. Pictures release. Photo by Jaap Buitendijk)
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{ 6 comments… read them below or add one }
Inception has enough action and excitement to override the exposition. It also has the years best score. Monsters had stupid looking creatures – and no I don’t mean the humans – but the best apocalyptic scenario in memory. I haven’t seen the rest but I’ll insert Frozen for you.
Just ‘cos the desperate-to-be-cool Sundance set liked it doesn’t mean it’s good.
Wow, Toto, couldn’t agree more on “Joan Rivers: A Piece of Work”! I was so looking forward to this film what with all the Kudos from the professional film critics.
I watched Don Rickles “Mr. Warmth” which was great, especially in comparision. There are no friends from the past with Rivers, no people telling cute stories and almost no comics telling stories. It is all clearly about money money money with Rivers.
She also stinks in dealing with hecklers. If you love comedy, you will learn nothing of any value from this film which is clearly filmed by a director who was enthralled with the star.
Ditto on most especally Easy A, did anyone who writes these dumb films ever go to high school or college? There more an exercise in teen sex fantasy then anything else. Who else thinks that Emma Stones career will take a nosedive next year when she tries to do drama?
However, Inception which was an amazing film all around. The perfomances, the story, the music, But hey, thats why people differ.
I would add Scott Pilgram and Tron to this list simply because I think both films tried too hard to tap into the so called geek culture which is more and more mainstream and didn’t have either stories or performances which were all that noteworthy. If you can’t get the so called geeks to embrace these films, how do you expect anyone else to?
I might even add Robin Hood to the list simply because the film left so much to be desired.
I haven’t seen “Easy A,” but the trailer immediately turned me off. The girl who is too smart to be popular, sluts it up, turns the sexual tails (or tales) on her detractors don’t forget the standard appearance of the preachy, 50s, moralist Promise Ringer. I didn’t see anything in there remotely interesting or hasn’t been covered in every teen movie since “Porky’s.” If I missed something, let me know.
Scott Pilgrim needs to be on this list, it was the stupidest concept and the worst acted movie I have seen in a long time. Add in bad dialog and a cheesy script and you have a movie that TBS will be playing every week for the next ten years.
Not a bad choice, Aleric. Talk about a film demanding a short attention span …