Overrated Films of 2006 (1-5)

Here comes the nasty Freak.....

Little Children – Absolutely laughable. Idiotic symbolism, blatant exposition, piles of literary references to highlight the completely obvious; the most immature kind of filmmaking there is. It’s basically American Beauty but not half as excruciating to watch and easy to make fun of. The Haley flyers, the pool scene, the masturbating, and the corny dream sequences make American Beauty’s floating bag looks like credible filmmaking. My most hated of the year.

V for Vendetta – The difference between Sin City and V for Vendetta is that Sin City is about nothing and it knows it. V for Vendetta is about nothing and it doesn’t know it….the blatant attempt at dramatic depth of the lead character’s unfortunate past. Deep stuff. And how about the absolutely horrible visuals, about as creative as lego blocks; films like The Matrix at least constructs a convincingly futuristic vision of dystopian society. But wait, the lead character is a masked hero who spews pseudo-literature dialogue. Let’s all have an early Halloween and go buy V masks!!!!

Babel – Another film which uses a fabricated tagline as an anchor to mask its shallowness… the miscommunication nonsense that tries to convince us that three such coincidental stories actually have anything to do with each other. Inarritu clearly understands how to connect the dots, but his directorial progression is about as skewed as Haggis’s and his storytelling as about as natural as Crash’s dialogue.

Letters From Iwo Jima – Frightening how Eastwood is still doing the very same thing he’s been criticized endlessly for. He has yet to progress as a director, still doing the same old “flashback narratives,” character monologues about their “unfortunate pasts,” and some easily defined undertones of honor and courage; vintage sentimental American filmmaking as its best. Hire a damn screenwriter Clint.

The Queen – Perhaps the film doesn’t really think much of itself, but it just strikes me as inconsequential. How many times do I have to hear “Good morning, your majesty” or watch a display of English mannerisms over and over again? Maybe there’s a few character archs into Mirren’s insecure character, but those aside, this is a highly forgettable film with an overrated leading performance. They’ll just be another one next year. I’ll just go and watch a Sam Mendes in the meantime.