movies

Just read an interesting online article from 'Premiere Magazine', a
magazine which is all about movies. It was titled 'The 20 Most Over-
rated Movies of All Time' . I have not seen 1/2 of the movies listed,
heck, I hadn't even heard of 6 of them. But on this so-called list, I
focused my attention on 2 of them. At the top was 'American Beauty',
whose opening music sequence happens to be the ringtone on my
cell phone! It is not my ringtone because I liked the movie, but just
because I think the music is cool. I could never understand the
media hype and adoration this movie received; Kevin Spacey, as in
all the movies he makes, was simply wonderful. But the film itself
was slow and it's plot way too confusing; midlife crisis gone wrong,
or the true meaning of life and relationships? So I was quite glad to
see it was at the top of the overrated list, as it kind of justified my
reasoning. But the movie at #20 is a shocker to me....'Gone with the
Wind'!!! What on earth? Yes, it was a bit too long, and at times, you
just wanted to slap Melanie for being too nice and to beat up Scarlett
for being such a self-absorbed witch. But it is a classic, and when one
considers that it was made in the 30's, then one must admit the
cinematography is fantastic. The acting was also superb; Vivian Leigh,
who wasn't even an American, was the perfect spoiled Southern belle.
And Olivia de Havilland and Clark Gable played their roles to a T.
A few movies that I think should of made the overrated list - 'Dances
With Wolves', 'Titanic', and 'Gladiator'. These 3 films suffer either
from bad acting (DiCaprio, Crowe), unrealistic stories or settings,
and slow, crawling plots which dragged the films out too long
('Dances with Wolves' especially). I hope 'Premiere' puts out a top
20 underrated film list, I would love to see that and then rant and
rave about those picks too!