Most Over Hyped Movies/Actors

[mariab]

Yeah, that's exactly what I thought.

[sdreid]

Movies back then often had scene photos along the bottom of the poster that were in color even if the movie was in black and white. Sometimes there were even photos of scenes under the poster that had wound up on the cutting room floor and weren't even in the movie.

[mariab]

I'd really like to see the original Cape Fear. Was it in black and white? Because I've seen pictures from it mostly in black and white (and they look impressive), but there are some others in color online. Are they colorized? (Or maybe it was posters.)
I've heard that the Scorsece remake refers also to The night of the hunter, where Mitchum played another killer. I haven't yet seen any of these oldies.

[sleekviper]

Original Cape Fear was a true Classic. There were some scenes that had to shock audiences at the time, because they still cause a shudder today. Mitchum was brilliant as a scary psycho, the type guy that can smile so nice at you, while ripping your heart out.

[mariab]

I Agree Maria - Ray Milland is a superb actor and there is a smouldering sex appeal about him too.

Wow, thought so too, in Dial “M“ for murder. He definitely had nuances. The other guy (Grace Kelly's paramour) was so blah.

[mariab]

The remake by Scorsece also casted Mitchum and Peck in short parts (as the police lieutenant and as the conservative lawyer (uttering biblical passages) who helped the bad guy (de Niro) try to disbar Nolte.

[Limehouse]

Wow, for me too! I don't find him as charming and irresistible as he's supposed to be. For a similar type, I very much like Ray Milland (in Dial “M“ for murder). Plus I've always wanted to see the original Cape fear, it appears much more clever and atmospheric than the Scorsese remake (from the pictures and from what I've heard).

I Agree Maria - Ray Milland is a superb actor and there is a smouldering sex appeal about him too.

[Robert]

Well, I heard that they picked Robert Mitchum because he was one of the very few actors who could believably intimidate Gregory Peck. I seem to remember it as a good film.

[mariab]

Wow, for me too! I don't find him as charming and irresistible as he's supposed to be. For a similar type, I very much like Ray Milland (in Dial “M“ for murder). Plus I've always wanted to see the original Cape fear, it appears much more clever and atmospheric than the Scorsese remake (from the pictures and from what I've heard).

[Robert]

A kind of drowsiness steals over me if Cary Grant appears on the screen.

[mariab]

Totally agree. And it's the same with Humphrey Bogart, and Sean Connery, and Steve Mc Queen. And Brando totally overplays, and mumbles his words too. ;-)

[Bob Hinton]

Worst actor

One of them has got to be Marlon Brando, who overacted in everything he did. People talk about John Wayne being a bad actor but he never was an actor, if you take an actor to be a person who can make you believe he or she is the character they're playing.

John Wayne was always an entertainer, whatever film he was in you got John Wayne albeit wearing different clothes, and in that he was great.

[sleekviper]

Marshall? Dog Soldiers was great!

[OctavBotnar]

Sexy Beast- v disappointing
Anything from Neil Marshall and Danny Boyle -wildly overhyped
There's a lot more...

[mariab]

Halloween is so terrifying that it took me 4 tries to watch it--I kept falling asleep about half way through

The exact same thing happens to me with Clockwork orange. Everytime I try to see it, it puts me out like a baby in about 5'min. Then I wake up, see Malcolm Mc Dowell's gang walking by the Thames supposedly menacingly, in ridiculous sack-like outfits, in super slow motion with Rossini ouvertures super loudly in the background (which for me is super-grinding and incoherent, as I'm a Rossini specialist in my field of work), I go back to sleep, wake back quite a bit later to the exact same scene (the gang walking in slow mo by the Thames in their sacks over Rossini), then I wake up all rested around the end of the movie, finding out that Malcolm Mc Dowell's being rehabilitated or whatnot with the help of Beethoven's music.
Similar with The Blair witch project, which came off as even more insignificant after all the hype promoting it. I think the movie lost me when I saw the completely moronic wannabe researchers get lost in the woods, reach a stream, and it doesn't dawn on them to simply follow the stream to get back to civilization. I think the only original thought in that flick was the extreme close up where her nose is running, which has been nicely spoofed in other movies. By the way I ADORE spoof movies, even the most silly ones. Often I prefer them to the originals.
As for Halloween, what's impressive about the movie is that it was done on a string-shoe budget, it uses lighting to create atmosphere instead of overblown effects, and it was where from a new genre generated. (Although I think The Texas chain massacre was done before Halloween.) The scene that's always bothered me in Halloween is when Michael Myers pins the boyfriend to the door and observes his dying motions. The scene requires the actor playing Michael Myers to imitate the behaviour of a cat/feline who's caught a mouse, but what's completely ridiculous about the scene is, it goes completely against every law of physics. That's why I think I despise shlasher movies and prefer thrillers and action movies. The slasher genre is so far removed from reality, it's comedic. (Plus, I dislike being manipulated into being tense by some fancy movie director. As an athlete, even amateur, it's essential being relaxed at all times.)

Angelina Jolie is great in action/genre flicks, but she keeps trying to establish herself as a "serious" actress, usually with disastrous results. Same with Keanu--as long as he's playing Keanu, he's okay.

The only non action/non thriller flicks I'm aware of with Angelina is Changeling and Girl, interrupted, plus that sexy flick she once did with Antonio Banderas (which is a free adaptation of Truffaut's La sirene du Mississipi, with Catherine Deneuve and Jean-Paul Belmondo).
Keanu was SO horrible trying to surf in Pointbreak. This movie's cute, but (as all surf flicks, from Big Wednesday to North Shore) is a chucklefest for real surfers. Only Apocalypse, now and Blue Crush get it right.

Woody Allen is the most over-rated director in the history of film.

I think the standard actresses in Woody Allen's movies are super-overated. Plus almost every single Woody Allen movie is a stolen plot from an oldie movie or a “reception of older cinematic tradition“ (depending on one's point of view!). The films by him which have impressed me are Manhattan (amazing social study of N.Y. in the 1970s), Radio days (the same for the 1940s), The purple rose of Cairo, Zelling (which steals Truffaut), and Husbands and wives (which is hilarious and very realistic).

With many apologies for the super long post.