Stop the hate!

Whilst perusing the Empire Online website I stumbled upon a blog entitled: 'Academy of the Overrated'. In which the blogger began to say what he thought to be overrated in cinema today. Commentors then went on a frenzy afterwards listing all the films they hated.

Initially I like the way things were going. I have always felt that people have been very elitist in their approach to films and accept some films and filmmakers to be undisputed classics. And if anyone would be so bold as to say that they didn't like a particular film, then they would become the outcasts of cinema. So is this a golden opportunity for us to come out of hiding and for once voice our opinions without fear of reproach? I'm afraid not.

When it comes to saying that films are overrated, we begin to make exactly the same mistake as the aforementioned elitists. We criticise them. For example, I think that Quentin Tarantino's films are vastly overrated (with the exception of Jackie Brown which I think is his best film and is ironically forgotten by most). I could easily continue to tear into Pulp Fiction, Reservoir Dogs and Kill Bill and those who close-mindedly assume they are factually the best films ever made. I would be making the same mistake as them by saying that these films are crap and no one can say otherwise.

What everyone forgets in their whirlwind of opinion is that films are enjoyed by just that - opinion. All films are works of art and as such, different people relate to them in different ways. We cannot assume that a film is good or bad in itself, but we can say why we like or dislike it. It's that simple.

Yes I think that Tarantino, Kubrik and Hitchcock are overrated, but my definition of 'overrated' has changed to: closed-mindedly considered perfect without any room for difference of opinion.

So having said that, here goes my Academy of the Overrated:
-Pulp Fiction (brilliant manipulation of narrative, but that's about it)
-Reservoir Dogs (boring and characters lack any reality, like Pulp Fiction)
-2001: A Space Odyssey (felt like a very long introduction before a nonexistent inciting incident)
-Donnie Darko (thought I had missed something, but after repeated viewings realised that was it)
-The Departed (a remake that had made sure I didn't care about the characters or what was going on. And Scorcese gets all the credit for doing a rubbish version of a little-known original. Hollywood should be ashamed.)

All these are my opinion, but I think people should think twice for belittling someone else's.