Most underrated and overrated movies ever

Arden

Blackwing Lair Raider
2,648
1,941
Mulholland drive has an 8 on IMDB and tops many critics list for best film of that decade.

It gets its due from critics, I don't disagree, but it's consistently underrated/misunderstood by audiences. Lost Highway has a higher audience score the MD, for example, even though MD is a significantly better movie.

Also, it deserves more than an 8 imo. I admit it isn't exactly an undiscovered gem, but I think it deserves to be higher on the all time lists than it is.
 
  • 1Solidarity
Reactions: 1 user

Arden

Blackwing Lair Raider
2,648
1,941
"Most underrated and overrated movies ever, and why the most overrated movie is always There Will Be Blood"

Was literally just making this argument the other day. I missed it when it first came out and finally saw it a couple months ago. Daniel Day Lewis 100% carries that movie. He was amazing in it, to be sure, but if you take him out of that movie, it goes from "pretty good" to "pretty boring" really fast.
 
  • 1Solidarity
Reactions: 1 user

kegkilla

The Big Mod
<Banned>
11,320
14,738
It gets its due from critics, I don't disagree, but it's consistently underrated/misunderstood by audiences. Lost Highway has a higher audience score the MD, for example, even though MD is a significantly better movie.

Also, it deserves more than an 8 imo. I admit it isn't exactly an undiscovered gem, but I think it deserves to be higher on the all time lists than it is.
After looking at some of the piece of shit movies above 8 on IMDB I would agree. I need to watch it again but there currently is not a 4K version of it, probably because Lynch is a prick.
 

Big Phoenix

Pronouns: zie/zhem/zer
<Gold Donor>
44,653
93,309
"Most underrated and overrated movies ever, and why the most overrated movie is always There Will Be Blood"
There Will Be Blood was certainly better than No Country For Old Men. Now that was a fucking overrated movie dunno how the hell it won best picture that year.
 
  • 3Seriously?
  • 2Solidarity
  • 1WTF
Reactions: 7 users

Cybsled

Avatar of War Slayer
16,461
12,103
There are lots of "good" movies that are rated that way because they're basically well written, have maybe 1 standout actor, and some good cinematography...but ultimately they aren't very entertaining or even memorable in many cases. I sort of liken it to appreciating a painting vs. appreciating an experience. A painting can be nice to look at, maybe it makes you think a bit...but an experience usually sticks with you much longer and resonates more with you. Too many critical darling films are paintings vs. experiences. I would rather watch Saving Private Ryan or Shawshank Redemption for the 20th time vs. watching something like There Will Be Blood more than once.
 
  • 3Like
  • 1Solidarity
Reactions: 3 users

Sevens

Log Wizard
5,004
15,260
There are lots of "good" movies that are rated that way because they're basically well written, have maybe 1 standout actor, and some good cinematography...but ultimately they aren't very entertaining or even memorable in many cases. I sort of liken it to appreciating a painting vs. appreciating an experience. A painting can be nice to look at, maybe it makes you think a bit...but an experience usually sticks with you much longer and resonates more with you. Too many critical darling films are paintings vs. experiences. I would rather watch Saving Private Ryan or Shawshank Redemption for the 20th time vs. watching something like There Will Be Blood more than once.
I just never got the whole hype over Saving Private Ryan, just never got into it.
 
  • 1Like
Reactions: 1 user

Fadaar

That guy
10,469
11,409
There Will Be Blood was certainly better than No Country For Old Men. Now that was a fucking overrated movie dunno how the hell it won best picture that year.

Now that's a sentiment I can agree with. I thought There Will Be Blood was a far superior movie and should have gotten the Oscar.
 
  • 1WTF
  • 1Solidarity
Reactions: 1 users

Blitz

<Bronze Donator>
5,661
6,179
Where do I get a ticket to the "Mulholland Dr is actually one of the best movies ever" train? Movie blew my mind away, and was really my first exposure, outside of Twin Peaks, to Lynch. Sadly, I felt none of his other movies ever really got close to Mulholland Dr.
 
  • 2Like
Reactions: 1 users

Arden

Blackwing Lair Raider
2,648
1,941
Where do I get a ticket to the "Mulholland Dr is actually one of the best movies ever" train? Movie blew my mind away, and was really my first exposure, outside of Twin Peaks, to Lynch. Sadly, I felt none of his other movies ever really got close to Mulholland Dr.

This is why I said it's underrated even though it has an 8 on IMDB (which honestly doesn't mean much, as others have pointed out). IMO it should be in every Top 10 or Top 20 movies of all time conversation. A surprising number of people I know have never even seen it, even friends of mine who consider themselves movie buffs. I didn't see it in the theater myself, and I'm a big Lynch fan. I was trying to figure out wtf was going on that so many people missed such a great movie from a director who was (by then) plenty famous. Then I realized, Mulholland Drive dropped in the theaters the month after 9/11... I think it got passed over by audiences in the insanity that followed. People have picked it up subsequently, especially critics, but it missed the exposure it initially could have with audiences due to unfortunate timing.

Not that it was ever going to be a universal audience pleaser anyway. The movie is as deep as a glacial lake. It's an intricate puzzle, and Lynch doesn't even let you look at the box top while you're trying to figure it out.
 
  • 1Like
Reactions: 1 user

chaos

Buzzfeed Editor
17,324
4,839
alien resurrection was better than 3
giphy.gif
 
  • 2Worf
  • 1Solidarity
Reactions: 2 users

chaos

Buzzfeed Editor
17,324
4,839
This is why I said it's underrated even though it has an 8 on IMDB (which honestly doesn't mean much, as others have pointed out). IMO it should be in every Top 10 or Top 20 movies of all time conversation. A surprising number of people I know have never even seen it, even friends of mine who consider themselves movie buffs. I didn't see it in the theater myself, and I'm a big Lynch fan. I was trying to figure out wtf was going on that so many people missed such a great movie from a director who was (by then) plenty famous. Then I realized, Mulholland Drive dropped in the theaters the month after 9/11... I think it got passed over by audiences in the insanity that followed. People have picked it up subsequently, especially critics, but it missed the exposure it initially could have with audiences due to unfortunate timing.

Not that it was ever going to be a universal audience pleaser anyway. The movie is as deep as a glacial lake. It's an intricate puzzle, and Lynch doesn't even let you look at the box top while you're trying to figure it out.
I love Lynch, a whole lot. But sometimes I just fucking can't with his bullshit. Twin Peaks and Mullholland Drive and Lost Highway are great. But then stuff like Inland Empire is just impossible to comprehend.
 

fanaskin

Well known agitator
<Silver Donator>
55,853
137,951
Yeah 3 was bad. But 4 was so, so, so bad. It's the clear worst of the series. Including all the AvP shit.

resurrection frequently beats 3 on top 10 lists so maybe it's just you
 
  • 1Like
Reactions: 1 user

Arden

Blackwing Lair Raider
2,648
1,941
I love Lynch, a whole lot. But sometimes I just fucking can't with his bullshit. Twin Peaks and Mullholland Drive and Lost Highway are great. But then stuff like Inland Empire is just impossible to comprehend.

Don't disagree, actually. In his heart, Lynch is an abstract artist. He happens to use film as his medium, but he could just as easily be putting bizarre but evocative sculptures in art galleries. Lynch's movies are always a tug of war between producing a work of fine art and producing a good movie. I guess for some people, those two things aren't disparate. For me though, if a movie doesn't tell a cogent story, it isn't a good movie. Maybe it could still be a "good art film," but it wouldn't meet my definition of "good movie."

Again though, that's why I say MD was his best. He took the artistic elements of film making as far as you can take them without losing the ability to tell a cogent (albeit enigmatic) story. The result was fucking brilliant. Hauntingly brilliant. In MD, Lynch achieved that perfect cinematic balance that he'll almost certainly never be able to achieve again.

Anyway, here is an example of a Lynch production clearly on the "art" end of the film spectrum: David Lynch Directs Bugs Crawling on Cheese in Bizarre Short ‘Ant Head’ — Watch
 

Chanur

Shit Posting Professional
<Gold Donor>
26,647
38,867
Overrated: Aliens (Alien 2). Pretty simple shoot-em up that gutted the original's cool idea for an ultimately fairly medicore 'Nam in Space 1980s action flick.

Underrated: Alien 3. It clearly has flaws, but brought existential horror back to the franchise (if only shortly). Subverting the suger-coated happy ending of Aliens right at the start was a genius move among others.
They were literally writing Alien 3 as they filmed. Now I don't hate it but its nothing compared to the original script or 2. Get fucked.
 
  • 4Solidarity
  • 1Like
Reactions: 4 users