(Pls. don't hate) Movies that I find overrated at best, crap at worst

As I write this, I'm bracing myself for your tomatoes or eggs. Fine, whatever. I know that my tastes don't align with popular opinion.

- The Matrix (it's a videogame, not a movie ... #1 in my worst movie list)

- Titanic (could have been great, but they decided to make it a "love story" ... worse, they put Leonardo DiCaprio in it, not just in it but in a lead role)

- That Johnny Depp musical movie about killing people (now there's an overrated actor if there ever was one ... I want my 2 hours back !)

- Black Swan (did the director manage to influence people's ratings via telepathic mind control or something ?)

It's just my opinion, folks. Share your opinions/thoughts, but please don't hate

I hate Titanic with a passion, as far as I'm concerned it's one of the worst movies ever made.

Don't agree on the others though. The Matrix was my favorite film as a teenager and I've seen it a gazillion times so I can't exactly be non-biased, but I will always have affection for it. Sweeney Todd I enjoyed, and Black Swan I absolutely loved. Then again, I'm a sucker for anything that's about ballet.

Thank you for being both honest and civil in your response

I've seen some pretty nasty discussions on iMDB forums ... LOL.

What do you hate about Titanic ? Do elaborate (don't just say "everything") !

I feel the same about Titanic - for a really good movie about the actual tragedy check out A Night to Remember (1958).

Yes, thank you for the recommendation ! I did watch it in the 90s and remember thinking this is way better than the James Cameron overhyped version.

This is hardly controversial. I attacked more sacred cows in my Top 12 film disappointments thread.

That being said, thank you for sharing.

EDIT: Slight correction. It was my disappointments and not overrated movie thread.

Thank you !

(Now, heading to your Top 12 list ... )

I think it's maudlin, over-the-top in the worst way, and the "romance" is cringe-inducing. Furthermore, listening to Celine Dion makes me feel homicidal.

The only thing I like about it is seeing Kate Winslet in the buff.

According to my parents, Titanic was the first movie I saw.

I'm still waiting for an apology

It did introduce me to Kate Winslet so it's not all bad. Cringe inducing but not all bad.

Matrix is cool, I'm not crazy for it. Sweeney Todd I liked but I'm a sucker for Burton (well, less so now).

Black Swan is cool too, IMO. It's like the perfect marriage of Polanski and Argento (horrible mental image).

@escapist
I hate you.

Just kidding, but what was it about the movies specifically that you didn't like? I'd consider all four of those to be pretty great flicks (can't speak to Titanic as accurately given that it's been probably a decade since I've seen it though).

__________________
It's what you learn after you know it all that counts. - John Wooden
My IMDb page

I did mention, in my original post, what I disliked about each of the movies.

The Matrix is just a videogame with special FX. Crap story (if there is one, couldn't tell).

Titanic had potential to be a great movie by a great director, but instead of focusing on the tragedy, they focused on a "love story" between two lesbians (yes, the one you think is the male lead is actually a female ... just pull her pants down).

Sweeney Todd ... I have no words other than ... I'd rather be cleaning toilets for two hours than watch something like that ... waste waste waste of my time.

Black Swan ... I got nothing from it. No entertainment, no shock, no nothing, no emotional content. Just blah ... fell flat.

I forgot to mention Fight Club in my original list. Total crap.

mark f - So ... you seem to be the comedian here, am I right ?

I won't get into the awkward lesbian comment. I will say that, as far as film criticism goes, the goal is to focus on why something didn't work rather than just stating that it didn't. So really what I was asking was for you to elaborate a bit.

"Matrix - crap story" what made it crappy? why is x (the reason you think it's crappy) a negative?

Why is Titanic's emphasis on a love story a bad thing?

Hmm, a challenge. Okay. I guess I need to elaborate.

About The Matrix - I dislike the overuse of special effects in any movie of any kind. These days, I find that a lot of directors overuse them to compensate for the lack of a solid story or for a crap story.

The Matrix, to me, seems to appeal to a lot of folks because they see cool effects on screen ... people flying around and stuff, wearing expensive sunglasses.

To me, none of that is interesting or appealing. To me, a good movie is built on top of a good story. Now, what is a good story is certainly subjective. The Matrix certainly was NOT a good story, to me. Beyond that, explaining why I don't like it is like explaining why I don't like apples - taste.

The emphasis in The Titanic on the love story, to me, is a negative, because, I, as a viewer, watch the movie with a certain expectation - in this case, a movie about the Titanic tragedy. And, I expect most, if not all, of what happens on screen, to be directly connected to the tragedy. The Titanic does not fulfill that expectation. That's just me, though ... maybe you don't mind a movie about 9/11 being about a truckload of tomatoes getting stolen from a shop in India, but to me, if a movie is titled "9/11" and talks about the events of 9/11 in some way, I don't want to see something totally unrelated to that event being shown in the movie.

Plus, the male lead in The Titanic is just not someone I find believable in any way, shape, or form. I just cannot see him on screen and believe anything he says/does. He has no depth, in my opinion. So, those are my two main reasons.

Again, Tweeney Sod ... no words. I just wouldn't know where to start. Sorry to disappoint you ... I have no meaningful critique for this movie But, that doesn't mean I can't state that I find it to be total crap. That still stands.

Those are still some pretty vague reasons - you haven't explained exactly why you think the story is crap and what exactly you consider good about stories that The Matrix fails to do. I guess you can sum it up as standard Hero With A Thousand Faces stuff, but it's worth considering exactly what it does differently to the countless other iterations on that same basic framework. Some people may just see the film as a superficial action thriller, but it's not just that - it's got enough layers to it that it can't be shrugged off as a vacuous crowd-pleaser. For your consideration, here's a recent video essay I saw about The Matrix that offers some insight into its greater narrative and thematic significance that would explain why its appeal has extended beyond the surface-level cool that you don't personally like.

__________________
Iro's Top 100 Movies v3.0

Thanks, I agree that I am unable to provide a very insightful critique of The Matrix. At the same time, I also feel like I don't need to I'm not trying to prove anything to anyone.

There definitely ARE movies that I can say a LOT about (one of them being House of Sand and Fog, which I reviewed a few days ago) because their stories just speak to me and then the words just flow out of my mouth. I just can't say much about The Matrix other than what I already did. I feel like saying any more (if I had more to say) would be a bigger waste of time than the 2 hours I wasted in the theater all those years ago

I will take a look at that YouTube video later. Thanks for the link.

Fair enough. It's just worth keeping in mind that if you do want to express your dislike of a generally acclaimed film, then it's more than likely that people will want to know why - especially if you start a whole thread about it.

Mtrix - I was thoroughly entertained by the first one
Titanic - never seen it other than trailers
Sweeney Todd - I lasted until the first outburst of singing and my ears started bleeding so I had to leave
Black Swan - I loved it and thought bout it for days, but a girlfriend HATED it with a vengeance. She hated it so much she couldnt even tell me why she hated it.
Fight Club - why do you think it was crap? I really loved it. Not for everyone, ofcourse. I;m just curious.