James Berardinelli's 5 Most Overrated Films of the Year
http://www.reelviews.net/reelthoughts/reelthought_1514729800
Once more unto the breach, dear friends...one last time looking back through the haze of the fast-departing year. One final list before turning my attention to the bleak tundra of January and February's films.share
Everyone has their own idea of what constitutes "overrated." For me, it's a film that, regardless of whether I liked it or not, has been over-praised in the general conversation, often by my fellow critics. This year, I decided to pick through the debris of the releases and select the five titles I felt were lauded far beyond what they deserved. As with any list, this is highly subjective. You may agree or disagree. You may think I'm out to lunch on all five choices. You may believe my #1 film of the year, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri belongs on an "overrated" list. The intent of a list like this (any list, really) isn't to provide a definitive roster of titles but to provoke rumination and discussion. Rather than discussing the merits of the films on this list, I'll provide a short explanation of why I think they're overrated. Some of the reasons may irk those with a PC-oriented mindset. I don't have sacred cows, except maybe Luke Skywalker. These are alphabetical, not ranked numerically.
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All the Money in the World: (Rating: Two and one-half out of three stars.) Boy are critics stumbling over themselves to leap plaudits on Ridley Scott's latest, a middling thriller with a single memorable performance. The irony is, of course, that said performance is by an actor who wasn't in the original cast. Was Kevin Spacey as good as Christopher Plummer? We'll never know. I'm not sure why the Tomatometer is fresh for this one. I guess it's because critics are impressed that Scott was able to pull off such an impressive act of chicanery at the 11th hour, although that seems a poor reason to praise a movie. Or maybe this is being used as the anti-Spacey poster child. Whatever the case, it seems that external issues are impinging on the film's critical reception.