2014 Most Hated or Vastly Overrated Movies

I want to get this out before the Oscars this Sunday, so I am going to do brief reviews of movies I thought were horrible and vastly overrated in 2014.  Use this as your guide for what not to watch.

Most Hated or the Vastly Overrated of 2014

The Badadook

Called by many a savior of the horror genre, The Babadook just seemed loud to me.  Perhaps, I have outgrown scary movies.  Via a child's book, a monster takes occupancy in the home of a troubled young boy and his equally troubled mother.  Is it real?  Is it a figment of the mind?  Is it the ghost of the boy's dead father?  Doesn't matter.  All you have to do is yell at it and it will go away.  Yep.  Dead Snow 2:  Red vs. Dead was much more fun.

Birdman

Aside from the commendable editing to make the film look like one continuous take, Birdman is over-hyped, long and boring.  It will likely win Best Picture as it is about acting - if there was ever a non-XXX version of a stroke-fest on the silver screen, this is it.  Want to see a great movie about someone slowly going insane?  Check out The Conversation.


Boyhood

I can appreciate the fact that Richard Linklater shot this movie over 12 years - filming the same actors during one boy's
journey from adolescence to young adulthood is certainly an interesting concept.  It would have been better if the story was more interesting, not to mention how distracting it was to watch main character get goofier looking as he aged.  After the initial introduction, I was aware of all 165 minutes the film lasted.  Ouch.



Fury

Not at all what I expected it to be.  Yes, we all know American soldiers weren't always the saints we were taught they were.  Was a 45-minute scene in a German apartment necessary to drive this point home?  Good ending, the rest was average.



A Most Violent Year 

A movie I could not wait for it to end.  It's the 80s, it's New York, it's gritty and dirty.  Scorsese does this so much better.  Nothing Earth shattering.  Not sure why this got so much critical love and adoration.  Looks like and is a little better than American Hustle.  I absolutely hated that movie.


Noah

And on the eighth day, God created a really shitty movie.  Those protesting the movie because it took liberty with the Bible's version should be happy they didn't have to shell out $15 to see it (as with most protesters of film, I'd bet many didn't even take the time to watch before criticizing).  Then again, bad PR is free PR.  A precursor to the marketing strategy for The Interview?




Selma

Is it an important movie?  Yes.  Is it a good movie?  Yes.  Is it one of the best of 2014?  No.  A movie that had a lot of hype behind it, however I believe that once time passes and people revisit this film, they will see it for what it really is:  a decent film about a very important time and person in American history.  See also Saving Private Ryan.



St. Vincent

Bill Murray as the salty curmudgeon with a sort-of heart of gold in a role you've seen a hundred times before.  Not a horrible film that has some funny moments, but move along, nothing new to see here.  Has Melissa McCarthy's fifteen minutes expired yet?  The movie redeems itself with a touching ending.


Unbroken

Another WWII film that failed to live up to lofty expectations.  Full of cliche and schmaltzy writing (trust your audience, we don't need everything told to us), the most exciting part of this movie was the approximately 40 minutes of three survivors floating on a life raft in the middle of the ocean.  Similar to The Railway Man, a movie that does a similar story so much better.  I have yet to read the book Unbroken is based from - it is sitting on my kitchen table.  I hear it is excellent.  The same cannot be said about the movie.


Wild

To be fair, I don't like Reese Witherspoon.  Something about her irks me - I can't put my finger on it.  I tried to give this movie a fair shake.  It just wasn't good.  Oh, you're a drug addict.  Oh, you're a lady with no morals.  Oh, now you're going to show your boobs.  If that's all it takes to get nominated for a Best Actress award, then I understand why there are so many cars at the Encore (they belong to casting agents, right?).  Nothing special about this one.