Overhyped books / movies / music?

[D_Gunther Snotpole]

I never read Out of Africa. The movie turned me off completely. That patronizing bit, "I beg you to take care of my Kikuyu," was so patronizing and told me all I want to know about Dinesen. Maybe I'm wrong.

I think you are. There was something quite wonderful about her style, imo ... though I have a feeling that she's probably starting to date quite badly.
I liked her Seven Gothic Tales ... but I read them as a teenager and I would half dread starting to leaf through the book again.
My hunch is that nothing would work as it once seemed to do.
Literature's center of gravity has shifted hugely since she was writing, and I have a feeling she was one of those sadly marooned by changing times and shifting tastes.
(Truth is, I haven't read her in a couple of decades ... but I do think Out of Africa would still be a good read.)

Hemingway's perpetual fascination with machismo bores me. I find his ability to find heroism in defeat pointless because he seems to do nothing but say, "This is what a REAL man does!" He's one of those people who says, "If it's worth doing then it's worth doing well," without realizing that no, not everything has to be done well. We have to choose what we devote our time to with discretion because otherwise we'll find personal defeat in refilling a Kleenex dispenser the wrong way. He never looks at the wider picture.

I think you are reducing him a bit further than you fairly can.
The machismo thing is a bit absurd, of course.
In fact, the man's whole posture towards life, while comprehensible as an expression of a now-passé mode of feeling, is hard to take seriously nowadays.
But there is something in the prose ...
No point in arguing about Hemingway, though. He was one of the most influential American writers from the 1930s till some time past his death in 1961, but I know that he is a writer you either 'get' or you don't.
The noted critic Rex2000, no phool he, is entirely tone deaf in terms of appreciating Hemingway... looks at me like I'm a complete jackass phool when I praise Dr. Hemingstein ...
And Jason, you know I am not a complete phool.
Don't you?
So there you go.
Different strokes for different folks, I guess.

Like I said, Raging Bull is beautiful 100 different ways but it's not entertaining. I respect that you think so and know many others who do too. I'm not big on boxing anyway. I think it's a stupid sport. Getting punched in the face and body on purpose seems so completely counterintuitive to me that I question the intelligence of anyone who wants to turn their brain to jelly on purpose.

I can't imagine any reason why anyone would choose to be a boxer.
The fact is that the 'sweet science' has lost most of its prestige in the last few decades.
But I think my feelings about the sport are irrelevant in making an assessment of the movie.
The movie has a bit of a superficial documentary feel to it, and, as you say, the characters are not, for the most part, all that attractive.
But for me, and for many others, it just works.
It's just what it needs to be.
And I can't really analyze that.

 

[jason_els]

Then you'll love this. From First Encounters: A Book of Memorable Meetings by Nancy and Edward Sorel:

On the fifth of February, 1959, Carson McCullers gave a luncheon. She seldom entertained any more, her health was so precarious, but Isak Dinesen was in town - New York, that is - for the first (and only) time, and there were two women she wanted to meet. McCullers was one. The other was Marilyn Monroe.

Dinesen mentioned this to McCullers when they were introduced at a literary function, and Carson said nothing could be easier. She knew Marilyn and there was Arthur Miller at the next table; she would ask a few old friends as well. It was a little disconcerting to learn that "Tanya", as Dinesen preferred being called, lived on oysters and white grapes, washed down with champagne - so perhaps a souffle, too, McCullers told her cook, in case the other guests found that fare meager.

On the day, the Millers called for Dinesen in their car, late - when was it otherwise with Marilyn? But Monroe did look luscious in her black sheath with the pronounced decolletage and fur collar. Tanya, who weighted eighty-odd pounds, wore an elegantly grey suit, her head swathed in a turban. After lunch, she told one of her tales - about being young in Kenya and killing her first lion and sending the skin to the King of Denmark. It was a hard act to follow. But Marilyn had a story, too, if a less heroic one: she was giving a dinner party, using her mother-in-law's recipe for noodles, but it got late, the guests arrived and she had to finish off the noddles with a hair dryer. Marilyn was always best in comic parts. Then Carson, as she told it later, put a record on the phonograph, and she, Tanya and Marilyn danced together - on top of the black marble dining table, she said.

Blame it on the oysters and champagne. Illusion prevailed that day: Karen Blixen and Norma Jean Baker were submerged in the myths of Dinesen and Monroe. Marilyn had not disappointed Dinesen, who compared her to a lion cub, all unbounded vitality and innocence. There was a natural sympathy between them; McCullers, watching them, even called it love.
​

 

[D_Gunther Snotpole]

That's a beautiful story, Jason. Thanks for posting it.
I might note that a number of people thought that Dinesen had a tendency to improve on the poverty of God's own imagination.
You take what she says with a grain of salt.

 

[SpeedoGuy]

God am I wasting a lot of time reading, and enjoying, all the posts and banter here.

 

[ZOS23xy]

Yes, I agree with Twilight. It's very over hyped. But, I'm still going to go see every movie when it comes out in theaters, lol.

I am very happy to see them RE issue NEAR DARK with Twilight style graphics on the cover. Maybe it will scare the crap out of them Twilight fans. A far far better film.

Any Eddie Murphy film of the last decade would be vastly improved by the addition of a flesh eating zombie.

 

[elegant20]

Eddie Murphy has been going downhill since 1998...when has been relevant at all?

 

[Bbucko]

For some reason, I dunno why, I truly loathed the film Pecker.

//Frantically searches in vain for a clutch-pearls emoticon//

Pecker rewards seeing it again. Cry Baby does not. But then, too few true geniuses live up to their initial promise; personally I thought Waters took a wrong turn after Polyester and just kept going.

But the most overhyped auteur for hipsters everywhere has to be Christopher Guest. His movies are 2% fun and 98% dull-witted improv. Best in Show was maybe the best of a lame series of satires, all of which have been bettered by reality TV.

 

[justmeincal]

Any Eddie Murphy film of the last decade would be vastly improved by the addition of a flesh eating zombie.

Any Eddie Murphy film of the last decade would be vastly improved if Eddie Murphy wasn't in it.

 

[elegant20]

Don't forget any of the Tommy Lee Jones flicks.....he also got boring in the last decade or so. He is playing the same dull character everyday.

 

[MissPretty]

The Blair Witch Project.

Just boring...completely dumb.

 

[Pendlum]

I agree that 'There Will Be Blood' was overrated. However, I loved the ending. Him being all whacked out and beating that annoying manipulative creepy preacher kid to death with a wooden bowling pin. I DRINK YOUR MILKSHAKE, I DRINK IT UP!

Another one that has been said that I'm torn sort of is Dan Brown books. I like them in that they are fast paced and that makes reading them fairly easy, which is may be one of the reasons they are so popular. However, after you read one, you can pretty much guess what is going to happen in the rest. It's the same formula. Main character meets love interest after being called to help with some sort of crisis. They figure something out that isn't supposed to be, and they are targeted for it by someone is very good at killing, just not quite good enough to get them. They manage to figure everything else, only to discover someone important who they thought was on there side turns out to be the bad guy, and the one who tried to get them killed! Bad guy fails, they expose whatever they discovered, and live happily ever after together, usually.

I think the 'Fast & the Furious' movies are overrated.

Twilight.. Ugh, oh my god. They filmed that in my state, so I had to hear about it even MORE than usual. Vampires these just suck. They are no longer cool. They always try to make them human, but in the worst kind of way, they are always angsty and shit. I know most of you probably don't follow anime/manga, but it is the same in those too. Pretty much any anime/manga involving vampires is utter trash. They always make the vampires ridiculously feminine. The except to this sucky trend would be from Jo Jo's Bizarre Adventure, with Dio Brando. Best villain ever. If anybody here is a fan of Heroes (I'm not, I think it is overrated. ;P), the Japanese kid from the first season who had the power to stop or slow down time, his power and catch phrase are based on Dio Brando. Jo Jo's Bizarre Adventure is very violent, unlike everything else these days with Vampires. Except Blade I guess, but come on, only the first one was okay.

Again for anime, Code Geass is overrated, and Naruto. HABEEB IT.

 

[D_Gunther Snotpole]

Pecker rewards seeing it again. Cry Baby does not. But then, too few true geniuses live up to their initial promise; personally I thought Waters took a wrong turn after Polyester and just kept going.

You're more acquainted with Waters than I am, obviously.
You know, Bbuckz ... let me just say this: I know I'm unfair to Pecker.
I was practically PMSing when I saw it.
Any charm it had was wasted on me.
Happens to me.
I remember once watching Bunuel's That Obscure Object of Desire and not noticing that there actually were two different actresses playing Conchita. Really depressed that evening, thirty years ago.
I just sorta thought I was hallucinating.

But the most overhyped auteur for hipsters everywhere has to be Christopher Guest. His movies are 2% fun and 98% dull-witted improv. Best in Show was maybe the best of a lame series of satires, all of which have been bettered by reality TV.

Well, I say bingo.
I don't get the guy at all.
So join the club.

 

[Cougar]

this perenial issue is not that of over-hype (we live in an age of media hyperbole) but of lack of judgement on our behalf. Writers, directors, even actors have abrogated all self respect; they will happily promote a product even though in private they find disappointing or rubbish. Once over they would have kept their own counsel. Nepotism is rife within the media, real talent is being stifled on an unparalleld scale. Films in particular have become formulaic courtesy of hollywood, the brits follow like puppies. Some worthy talent is still coming out of europe. Fritter your money away on trash if you must: It is your free choice. But why do you have to see a movie, read a book within 3 days of its first review. In most cases you'd be better off waiting until it is shown on tv or get your smug backsides off your over upholstered sofas and visit the public library.

exactly!!!

 

[Bbucko]

You're more acquainted with Waters than I am, obviously.
You know, Bbuckz ... let me just say this: I know I'm unfair to Pecker.
I was practically PMSing when I saw it.
Any charm it had was wasted on me.

It's a B-minus effort, really. But calling the lesbian strip club "The Pelt Room" made up for some serious casting flaws: Christina Ricci? Really?

I remember once watching Bunuel's That Obscure Object of Desire and not noticing that there actually were two different actresses playing Conchita. Really depressed that evening, thirty years ago.
I just sorta thought I was hallucinating.

The whole time I mused on a reply I was thinking of The Discrete Charm of the Bourgeoisie, of which I remember practically nothing. Bunuel was an absurdist anyway, so I'm not sure it actually matters. I always preferred Fassbinder, myself.

Well, I say bingo.
I don't get the guy at all.
So join the club.

I had a rather tepid multi-month fling with a much younger man (young enough to be my son, easily), who swooned over Guest, declaring him the most-ut in cinematic auteurs. When he finally slithered out of my life he reclaimed the copy of Liquid Sky he'd given me for my birthday and left in its place Drop Dead Gorgeous. When I finally get around to writing about him, he'll be referred to as The Skinny Bitch, or TSB. He will always be officially unforgivable.