A few months ago, James Rolfe made a video where he listed the Top 10 Movies He Doesn’t Love. By this, I mean movies that he doesn’t hate but thinks they are overrated. If you want to see his list, check it out in the link below:
youtu.be/YneqewcVLVYNow for your enjoyment, here is my list of the Top 10 Movies I don’t love, and my reasoning behind each:
#10 - Napoleon Dynamite (2004)I decided to put this one at the bottom of my list because I actually do enjoy this movie a lot. In fact, I consider it one of the greatest comedies of the 2000’s. However, I think this movie is far from a masterpiece, yet every other fan of this movie thinks it deserves 5 stars out of 5. It’s like every time I watch it with friends, there are jokes that I would find mildly funny, but everyone else is laughing their heads off. It’s like every little thing that Napoleon says and does, everyone views it as comedic gold. There are even some lines where I don’t even understand how they’re supposed to be funny like when Napoleon’s Grandma tells him to make himself a quesadilla; I mean how does that rank with the greatest movie quotes of all time? Regardless, it’s still a fun movie, and to be fair, this came out during the time when the Internet was becoming a larger source for entertainment, and people of my generation could get easily amused by the simplest things, so this movie is sort of a salute to that, and I respect that.
#9 - Zootopia (2016)Let me start off by saying I had very high expectations about this movie when it was announced, and I couldn’t wait to see it, but when I did go see it in the theaters, something didn’t seem right to me. It felt cliche and didn’t meet my expectations, but it was still very good. However, everyone else in the world was saying that the movie was perfect, and they were praising it like it was Jesus! I was like, “What am I missing here?” I mean, it’s a good movie, but it’s no masterpiece. Still, the whole world continued to rave about it. The movie won the Oscar for Best Animated Feature, and the whole world rejoiced over it like you wouldn’t believe! Just recently, the movie had its 2nd anniversary, and there was an explosion of fan arts all over DeviantArt and Furaffinity to celebrate the occasion! Seriously, the fan base is WAY too obsessed with this movie! I put this one low on my list because after a little time, the movie did grow on me a little bit, and I now have a better appreciation for it. Still, there are way too many fans of this movie that act like their life depends on it! I’m willing to bet a huge percentage of this movie’s fanbase are part of the furry community. Apparently the critics agree because it has a 98% on Rotten Tomatoes, and a sequel is rumored. Still, enough is enough.
#8 - The Silence of the Lambs (1991)Highly regarded as one of the greatest horror films of the 90’s. It swept the Academy Awards including the win for Best Picture, and as of the time I’m posting this, it is currently ranked as #23 on IMDb. The American Film Institute even ranked Hannibal Lector as the #1 greatest movie villain of all time. That’s quite a lot of accomplishments for a movie that isn’t even that old! I mean, I know the movie is almost 30 years old, but considering I was around when it came out, I didn’t think it was possible to make history again in the film industry. I thought that time was over, but apparently not. As for the movie itself, I respect it, but it’s not my cup of tea.
#7 - Fight Club (1999)This is a movie I don’t understand why it’s so great. There was a time when I was in college where some friends of mine had this running gag where they kept saying, “The #1 rule about Fight Club: You don’t talk about Fight Club!” I didn’t know if that was a quote from the movie or if it’s a way to not spoil anything for people who haven’t seen it yet. From what I saw, it was just a typical coming of age drama, but it apparently did something right because it did extremely well in theaters, Wikipedia goes into great detail in the making of this film, and it’s currently ranked as #10 on IMDb! It got mixed reviews from critics and moviegoers, but putting it as one of the top greatest films of all time? There are certainly better ones out there!
#6 - Avatar (2009)James Cameron has a reputation of making some of the most highly-acclaimed films of our time, and this one is no exception.
Avatar is probably Cameron’s most famous film next to
Titanic, but I don’t understand what’s so great about it. It’s a sci-fi fantasy film with great special effects, I’ll give it that, but the story isn’t all that engaging, and I don’t have the patience to watch a 3 and a half hour movie of all that! Not to mention, the title is very misleading since it bears the same name as a very beloved animated series, which it holds no relation to whatsoever. I’m not gonna lie: I just don’t get it.
#5 - Transformers (2007)Now to be fair, in recent days, Michael Bay has sort of become a subject of joke since he’s become most known for making the Transformers movies. Usually, when a movie comes out that is a revamp of an old cartoon, it usually gets bashed by a lot of people. You know, Scooby-Doo, Yogi Bear, Rocky & Bullwinkle, and so on. This movie, however, was one exception. Everyone thought it was awesome, and it spawn off a line of sequels that got similar responses. I don’t really see what was so great about it though. First of all, I’m not a Transformers fan, but you would think a movie that’s called “Transformers” would be focused on the Transformers, but we don’t see them until almost an hour into the movie! I mean, I’m all for build-up, but they took WAY too long to get to the Transformers. Even when they do show up, the Transformers action is really lacking. A majority of the film is focused on Sam and his life issues. I don’t care about Sam, and the jokes in the movie are not funny. This movie is misleading on so many levels! It would be like if
Who Framed Roger Rabbit was called “Mickey Mouse Meets Bugs Bunny”! I just don’t know what the fans of this movie saw, but I don’t even think it would appeal to Transformers fans, but it somehow did. I just fail to see the pros.
#4 - Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)I viewed this movie as a side story filler to tide people over while they are waiting for the next installment to the Star Wars saga, but really it’s more of a bridge that links episodes 3 and 4. When this movie came out, everyone was telling me, “Dude! This movie is incredible! You have to see it!” So I checked it out out of curiosity’s sake, and to be honest, I wasn’t all that impressed with it. It just didn’t feel like a Star Wars movie to me. I mean, there are a couple Star Wars movies that I don’t care much for, but at least they feel like Star Wars movies. This one, however, didn’t. I feel like it was pointless. It didn’t need to be made. Though everyone else seems to think the opposite, and I’m sure
Solo: A Star Wars Story will get similar if not better reception when it comes out, because as we all know: If it’s Star Wars, it sells!
#3 - Toy Story 3 (2010)I’m sorry, but I had to put this on my list. Let me start off by saying the first
Toy Story movie is one of my favorite films of all time. The sequel is decent, but what killed it for me were the jokes and the pop culture references, though a lot of people say it’s better than the original; I don’t know why. Then comes the third installment. When this movie was announced, there was a lot of massive hype for it. Expectations were high. I on the other hand was the complete opposite. My expectations were low. I was expecting this movie to be garbage because that’s usually what happens with movie trilogies: the third installment is the worst of the trilogy. When I went to see it, I had a closed mind. I wanted to hate the movie...but I just couldn’t! It turns out everyone thought this movie was a masterpiece, so much so that’s often treated as the
Citizen Kane Of Animated Films! I think that’s a bit of a stretch, especially considering it’s a second sequel. Though I’m sure Pixar was aware of how second sequels often fail, so that’s why they took their time with this movie. If they released 3 right after 2, it would have sucked. I’m willing to bet they spent the whole decade working on this movie! I know I may sound like I’m being too positive while I’m on my #3 entry, but to tell the truth, all the
Toy Story movies are solid A+ pictures. 10 out of 10, 5 stars out of 5, whatever, and I’m sure the upcoming fourth installment will not disappoint. Toy Story movies have to be perfect. That should be Pixar’s #1 rule. The reason I put this one so high on my list is because I just think it’s a bit of a stretch to call it the
Citizen Kane Of Animated Films, especially considering how recent it is.
2 - The Dark Knight (2008)I don’t have much to say about this movie other than it’s a crime drama with Batman, but dang did people praise the hell out of this movie when it came out! Its even #4 on IMDb as of today! Everyone was constantly shoving this movie into my face branding it as the greatest movie of all time! I can understand Batman fans loving this movie, but having it higher than all the other greats? Understandably, Batman is the most popular superhero, at least in the DC Universe. The one thing about this movie that everyone was talking about would have to be Heath Ledger’s performance as the Joker, whom they are all saying is the best Joker ever. He was definitely much different than any of the other Jokers I’ve seen in other incarnations of Batman, but I’ve never seen any get as much praise as Heath Ledger! The strangest thing is Heath Ledger died just months before this movie was released, so I’m not sure if they were praising him so much just because he was dead or what, but I’m sure that could have some impact on it. No doubt if he were still alive, he probably would have reprised his role in
The Dark Knight Rises. Anyway, it just annoyed me so much that this movie was constantly getting shoved into my face as the “Greatest Movie of All Time”, especially considering it is a sequel to a movie and is based on a franchise that has been around for ages.
#1 - The Godfather (1971)Yeah, I know this may seem shocking to you since this is highly-regarded as one of the greatest films of all time. It’s even ranked as #2 on IMDb right under
The Shawshank Redemption, and its sequel is right under it! The reason I put this at the top of my list is because I don’t see why it’s so amazing. I don’t see how it revolutionized film as we know it today. I will admit Marlon Brando and Al Pacino deliver some outstanding performances, but overall, the movie is just quite disturbing. There’s so much violence, blood, sudden deaths, crying babies, and not to mention a horse’s decapitated head. Above all, the movie is close to three hours in length, and boy does the story drag! I have yet to see the sequels. The second part is probably about the same based on what I’ve heard about it, but I was told that the third part was a waste of time, it was released a decade and half after Part 2 and was a complete reversal of what Pixar did with
Toy Story. Overall, I totally respect the impact that
The Godfather left in the world of cinema, but it’s not one that I will be putting in my list of favorite films of all time.