Here are films I believe are very underrated.




First Reformed


The mosquito coast


The United States of Leland.. it's filmed beautifully and in a very similar fashion to Donnie darko very dream like.


Rain over me.


The cable guy.. This film is popular but in my opinion the funniest Jim Carrey comedy.


Mud


Kwaidan


The Grey... Apart from the exaggerated CGI wolves the film is very moving and an intense ride.


The station agent. This is a quirky drama that stars Peter Dinklage who plays a character who fines at hard to relate and connect with people.


It's such a beautiful day.. This is honestly one of the most unique films you will ever see.


Maborosi


The sunset limited.. This film is painfully underrated and is a very deep and philosophical film and most of all very well written.


Love Liza


The fisher king


Number one... Last life in the universe. I didn't realize how obscure this film was until I joined to this site and a lot of people saying they've never heard of it. It's an absolute gem of a film that I recommend. it's a Japanese film. Half of it being filmed in Thailand. It follows a Japanese man who forms a bond with a Thai woman whom which they have both recently experience tragedy.






Now for the movies I think are overrated.


Midsummer... There are parts of this film I really like but I found the third act very weak and maybe it's just me but I felt the movie dragged in some places.


V For Vendetta.. The concept is clever but i just found the script and acting cringeworthy.


Scott pilgrim vs The world.


The Blair witch project


Deadpool


Every Disney Star Wars film.


Some like it hot.

Re: Overrated and underrated films
 

Here are films I consider underrated:
Black Cop (2017)
Cats (2019)
Cuties (2020)
Heaven Is for Real (2014)
Into the Woods (2014)
The Prom (2020)
Spring Breakers (2012)
A Wrinkle in Time (2018)

Films I consider overrated:
The Big Lebowski (1998)
Good Will Hunting (1997)
Heat (1995)
Incendies (2010)
Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998)
Mary and Max (2009)
Stand by Me (1986)
Trainspotting (1996)

Re: Overrated and underrated films
 

Not a fan of the terms overrated and underrated. There are, of course, a number of popular films I don't care for and a (smaller) number of poorly received films I enjoy. The issue though is those terms come with implications that other people who have the opposite opinion towards those films are wrong for enjoying/not enjoying them.

Cuties... Yikes

Underneath the title I wrote I BELIEVE are overrated 😉

I genuinely believe it is a very well made film and would be worthy of a Criterion release. May I ask, have you seen the film and didn't like it or are you going based on what you have heard about it?

I saw the trailer and the way those young girls were dressed. There's no excuse to dress girls of that age like that, and have them act sexual on camera. The trailer pretty much confirmed what people were complaining about and Netflix rightfully lost a lot of money by having it on their streaming service.

To clarify, I'm not calling you out, nor do I think you or anyone else in this thread is trying to minimize people who think differently towards the aforementioned films. I'm sure most people on this forum try to avoid that. My point is just that, though one can say they don't think people are wrong for liking/not liking certain films, the word overrated does carry that implication, whether you want it to or not. It does explicitly mean that something is rated or valued too highly, and saying "I believe" or "I think" doesn't erase that implication.

Again, not calling anyone here out or looking down on anyone who participates in this thread by any means. Just providing my own thoughts on those words and I why I don't care for them.

But can you accurately judge a film based on the trailer alone? I don't think so. The girls outfits and dancing is a part of the story and is meant to make the audience uncomfortable. The film is not condoning or promoting that type of behaviour. There is a lot more to the film than just the scenes from the trailer.

Yes there is...profits.


The sexual taboo hype got an unknown director with a modest budget movie to get world wide attention. I think that's schmucky. But it seems controversial and shocking creates a buzz and sells tickets. I did see the movie and it had some good points and some redeeming qualities.

No I definitely get what you're saying. I use the term I believe to water it down because yes I agree just using that word alone can make anyone sound opinionated.

If a film/show aims to criticize sexual behavior, it has to walk a certain line with how much sexual content it can show and how frequently it depicts it. The more of it you have, the more dispersed your commentary gets and the more it seems like depicting sexual content is all you want to show. That's part of why Cuties fell apart. I think ueno's review worded this the best.

For what it's worth, I think this only becomes a problem when people who use those words get condescending, snarky, or make strong assumptions towards fans/critics of what they're referring to. When that isn't the case, while I still don't care for the usages of those words, I don't think it's inappropriate for people to use overrated/underrated by any means.

I think you could get those points across though without actually showing the sexualization of .... 🤷

Yeah I'm with you on that.

Re: Overrated and underrated films
 

Here are the 10 most overrated movies:

Blade Runner
The Seventh Seal
Kwaidan
Stalker
Paris, Texas
Metropolis
The Shining
Apocalypse Now
Taxi Driver
The Lighthouse

😂 I see you visited my profile

I'll visit your profile:p
These are all Perfectly Rated
https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w94_and_h...xPQ8lbr3Wj.jpg https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w94_and_h...F50XpTiv75.jpg https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w94_and_h...hQziba75Ij.jpg https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w94_and_h...vAGoMQpigz.jpg https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w94_and_h...AX8479T4UB.jpg
https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w94_and_h...5SW3v9hzcu.jpg https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w94_and_h...Poj9QroTIu.jpg https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w94_and_h...bUJX3kAhvA.jpg https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w94_and_h...n1a2Opz0N8.jpg https://image.tmdb.org/t/p/w94_and_h...xHYPWd32YH.jpg
They're perfectly rated because you like them!


My favorites out of those would be: Blade Runner but only the original theatrical cut...Stalker and Metropolis is pretty good too now that they found the missing scenes and restored it.

Re: Overrated and underrated films
 

The Blair Witch Project is a movie that has aged very poorly. At the time it was revolutionary and people were legitimately shocked by it. It was a fresh and unique idea and I can see how an audience in 1999 would be scared by it. By the time I saw it years later in college, it just didn't work anymore. It just came across as a few idiots running around in the woods with no real payoff. A huge part of the thrill is believing it is real. Once you know it isn't, it loses luster.

Re: Overrated and underrated films
 

Gummo has only been gaining respect over the last twenty years or so, but still underrated. One of the best films America has made in decades.


Shawshank is always going to be the most overrated movie in the world to me. It is the absolute epitome of average. Well made. Enjoyable. But also, who gives a ****. It's so competent and underwhelming it deserves way more hate from me than I actually give it.

Overrated? Sure. But it's still great! ;)

There were plenty of people who felt that way at the time. I was desperate to see it and when a mate got me a copy he handed it to me with the words, "don't blame me. You wanted it." :D Now I knew it was made up when I saw it (the most revolutionary thing about it was the marketing online which is what led some to think it was real) but I still really enjoyed it. It was (I don't know it still is) a real Marmite film which really polarised most who saw it.

Star Wars most overrated. The acting, plot and writing aren't great. The visuals are dated.

It was incredibly innovative at its time, but it has aged poorly because many of the sci-fi movies/tv shows influenced by it have done it better.

Great Topic....Going to break this up into 5 top ten lists from different generations....

Recent films (2009-2023)

Avatar The Way of the Water (2023)
Black Panther (2018)
Paddington 2 (2017)
Ghostbusters (2016)
Moonlight (2016)
Green Room (2015)
The Worlds End (2013)
It's Such a Beautiful Day (2012)
Precious (2009)
Avatar (2009)


-Avatar films are fine but they aren't the films at the all-time top of the box office quality wise. Ghostbuser 2016 is unwatchable and poorly paced. Paddington 2 is good, the best of the films on that list but it's universal praise is silly. Moonlight everyone hates the third act yet it's considered a classic. Precious is just a Passolini film without subtlety. It's Such a Beautiful Day is fine for an experimental film but it gets too much praise. Green Room is a good horror film that is poorly shot and blocked could have been better. The Worlds End is a pathetic end of one of the best trilogies of the modern era. Black Panther is fine for what it was but the FX at points of the film are already dated and a sign of Marvel's phase four sloppiness.

Everyone's Childhood (2002-1980)
Napoleon Dynamite (2004)
The Bourne Identity (2002)
Yi Yi (2000)
The Piano (1993)
A Brighter Summer Day (1991)
Close Up (1990)
The Monster Squad (1987)
Down by Law (1986)
Red Dawn (1984)
Stripes (1981)

The only film I actively hate on this list is Down by Law an annoying silly stupid film. The arthouse films from this generation are long boring and forgettable. The Bourne Idenity is the most annoying spy work in the entire genre. Monster Squad and Red Dawn are great concepts with poor execution. Stripes and Napoleon Dynamite and generational comedies that really aren't all that great.



The "auteur" generation

Star Wars (1977)
Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce 1080 Bruxelles (1975)
Nashville (1975)
Amarcord (1973)
First Blood (1972)
The Last House on the Left (1972)
The Leopard (1963)
Journey to Italy (1954)
Rebel Without a Cause (1955)
Tokyo Story (1953)

Tokyo Story isn't bad but it's not a top ten film of all-time, Ozu's films are fairly dull and if one film should have become the classic it should be Good Morning. Rebel Without a Cause is Deans worst film by far but seems to be the most popular one. Some films are offensively boring. I could put a lot of Altman films on this list...but Nashville is his classic so that's the one I hate the most. I could put a lot of horror films on this list but Last House on the Left is the worst of all the bad rape films. First Blood is pretentious and dumb and looks even worse compared to the later fun Rambo films. Star Wars is a good film but it is to science fiction flms what Bond films are to spy films but Star Wars gets singled out as a great version of the film and it's just okay.


The First Generation
The Wolf Man (1941)
How Green was My Valley (1941)
Mr Smith Goes to Washington (1939)
Stagecoach (1939)
The Ghoul (1933)
Wings (1927)
Kurosawa's first couple films
Hitchcock's Silents (minus The Lodger)

Hitch and Kurosawa both started off with some of the most unwatchable films you'll ever see. For horror The Wolf Man might get better as the series progressed but the first one is a clunker. Some terrible BP winners came out that year but Fords Valley is no Citizen Kane and feels like a punch line. Wings and Stagecoach are spectacles with horrible scripts they were the Avatar's of their days. Capra is make or miss for me but Mr Deeds and Mr Smith are not good films

Re: Overrated and underrated films
 

Most recent ventures in this vein are Casualties of War and The Deer Hunter, both war movies that draw their characters, themes and plot out too long.

Now let's move onto the underrated films...


Babylon (2022)
The Last Jedi (2017)
42 (2013)
Cloud Atlas (2012)
Prometheus (2012)
Undercover Brother (2002)
Josie and the Pussycats (2001)
My Dog Skip (2000)
Con Air (1997)
Event Horizon (1997)
Starship Troopers (1997)
Batman Returns(1992)
Halloween IV (1988)
Caligula (1979)
Myra Breckinridge (1970)
Beyond the Valley of the Dolls (1970)
Shadows (1959)
Raintree County (1957)
Marilyn Monroes films from 1953-1956

• Niagara (1953)
• Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953)
• How to Marry a Millionaire (1953)
• There's No Business Like Show Business (1954)
• The Seven Year Itch (1955)
• Bus Stop (1956)

The Good Earth (1937)
Anthony Adverse (1936)

"If you look straight into the sun and lose your sight don't blame the sun, but your eyes."

It was a great twist at the time and a very well written film. I agree it is very slightly on the overrated side but overall I think it gets the respect it deserves. I reckon if you make yourself a cup of tea lay back and watch it by yourself you may appreciate it more. Who knows 🙂

Re: Overrated and underrated films
 

Overrated:
Fight Club
American Psycho
The Machinist

Underrated:
Das Boot
The Gentlemen
Insomnia

Re: Overrated and underrated films
 

Anyway, I generally dislike both terms, and I feel more often than not they are used by some people to elevate their personal feelings about certain films to "absolutes", as in "nobody likes this, but ME" = underrated, or "why does everybody likes this when *I* don't like it?" = overrated. Whoever wants to use the terms, more power to ya, especially if it leads to fruitful and insightful discussions. Personally, I try to avoid using them.

I think fight club really speaks to today's young men and how masculinity is often labeled as being toxic when it should be embraced. Obviously fight club takes it to the extreme but I think it's natural that more young men relate to fight club today than ever before. So I would say fight club deserves it's popularity.


Christian Bails performance in The Machinist and the way the film was directed in a very Gothic lighting really made the film stand out to me. So I think The Machinist deserves its popularity as well. Personally I find Christian Bails weight transformation really inspirational and it shows the insane depths that you can go if your disciplined enough.


Das Boot... I definitely agree on that one


Insomnia... I agree too

Hey, buddy. We have different views on Fight Club. I think the male/female relationship there is purely symbolic. I mean, there's no such woman, we're talking about a character inside a schizophrenic man, but I agree with you that it criticizes toxic relationships today. Should the events in the background of a movie affect the quality of the movie? I don't know. I think it's Bale's outstanding performance rather than the movie.

Isn't Fight Club a parody of this kind of lame-o chest thumping masculinity?


Yes, it's also critiquing consumer culture where we have suppressed our more instinctual impulses in the pursuit of acquiring pointless garbage.


But it isn't embracing the behavior of those in the fight club. It's criticizing it. It has more than one target for ridicule.

Re: Overrated and underrated films
 

Overrated
Gladiator (2000)
American Pie (1999)
Top Gun (1986)
Free Guy (2021)
Ralph breaks the internet (2018)
Forrest Gump (1994)

underrated
Magnolia (1999)
Trainspotting (1996)
Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010)
Memento (2000)
Election (1999)
Panic Room (2002)

Free Guy (2021) is overrated? I've never heard of it before?

Magnolia (1999), Trainspotting (1996), Memento (2000) Underrated? Not here there's a lot of love for those movies.

Just IMO:) and :up: for including the years of the movies.