Most Over Hyped Movies/Actors

[mariab]

Jodie Foster is a good actress and I thought she was fine in Silence of the lambs (which required her to be intense), but she definitely overplayed in Nell (stupidest movie of all) and when she tried to convey the scientist/academic in Contact.
Angelina Jolie is a good actress. She has made some turkeys, but this doesn't interfere with her acting ability. Jodie Foster has done tons of turkeys too.
Any movie casting Ben Affleck, Meg Ryan, or Tom Cruise is a must miss.
(OK, for the latter, Born on the 4th of July and A few good men were exceptions to the rule.)

[Steadmund Brand]

Funny how you picked Born on the 4th of July as one of the standouts, I say that because just the other day I was talking about films with a friend and we were saying how we don't *want* to like Oliver Stone... but most of his films are darn good... and Born on the 4TH OF July was one of the exceptions we came up with on the other said hahaha that is one of the few of his films we both said was bad

such good picks everyone..like I said I hate being negative, but all those listed really are BAD... fun thread!!!

[mariab]

Yes, I'd say that Born on the 4th of July is one of the weakest results by Stone, still, it's probably the best movie Tom Cruise was ever in, he he. (Different standards. ;-))

[sleekviper]

Most over hyped film ever had to be Godzilla. That thing ran ads in every major paper for months, thank goodness Toho is looking to do it right in 2012.

[kensei]

"No Country for Old Men." Why did this movie win the Oscar for Best Picture? It has no ending! Seriously, there are things still to resolve and then it just suddenly stops.

[Magpie]

John Carpenter's Halloween is the best modern horror film.

Halloween is so terrifying that it took me 4 tries to watch it--I kept falling asleep about half way through It was, however, better than Friday the 13th though. In retrospect, I think the much vaunted "golden age" of horror from the 'eighties is largely overrated, except for Cronenburg. Carpenter's best movie was "The Fog"

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.

I think Adam Sandler is immensely overrated, and I say that because I finally saw a movie of his that made me laugh (Zohan) and I realize that that's never happened before (although I though "The Longest Yard" was passable)

[Magpie]

Oh, and not an actor, but I think quentin Tarantino is grossly overrated as a director/writer, as are Ang Lee, The Coen Brothers, and Oliver Stone.

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

[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.

[OctavBotnar]

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

[sleekviper]

Marshall? Dog Soldiers was great!

[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.

[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. ;-)

[Robert]

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

[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]

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.