While I’m rooting for many of the 2007 films winning and/or vying for awards—among others, I loved Atonement, Juno, Sweeney Todd, and the lovely-scary Spanish film The Orphanage—I must admit: I completely disagree whenever I see There Will Be Blood listed on the ubiquitous "Best of 2007" lists. I thought the performances were histrionic, and the disjointed story about the rise of a California oil tycoon could have been told in far less than (an interminable) 2 hours and 40 minutes. Blood clearly had a far different impact on almost every reviewer I’ve come across (including EW’s own Lisa Schwarzbaum), yet I simply know that I enjoyed very little about it. (I felt the same disconnect back in 2000 when praise rained down on Joaquin Phoenix for what I thought was a laughably hammy—and ultimately Oscar-nominated—performance in Gladiator.)
I figure I can’t be alone on this one. Did There Will Be Blood leave any of you feeling cold? Or is there some other recent case of an allegedly excellent movie or performance turning you into Marian the Contrarian? Let’s hear about it!
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Lewis is an amazing actor but what is with the Park Ranger hat? Is he chasing after Yogi in this film?
“Or is there some other recent case of an allegedly excellent movie or performance turning you into Marian the Contrarian?”
While I wouldn’t call it an excellent movie, I’d have to go with “Superbad”. My girlfriend and I just didn’t think it was THAT funny. Whenever we dare to bring this up with people we know, they act like we just crash landed from another planet.
The McLovin bits were infinitely better than the stuff with the leads. Jonah Hill spent 80 percent of his performance screaming profanities like a maniac and (blasphemy alert!) while I LOVE Michael Cera, my gf was dead on in pointing out that he’s giving the same performance over and over again. I can see how some people would think it was funny…but not “One of the 10 best movies of the year” funny. I liked Harold and Kumar better.
As for “There will be blood”, haven’t seen it because it’s not out in Tampa yet, and I’m looking forward to it, though I can easily see it being what Christine described
I couldn’t disagree more about Superbad! Not that it was overrated, because Knocked Up was far funnier and had more heart, but about the McLovin bits. That was a one note joke that deserved 10 minutes of screentime dragged out over an hour. Ok, we get it, the cops are inexplicably zany. And the kid’s ID says “McLovin”. Funny the first time, not so much the 76th. The stuff with Cera and Jonah Hill was much better, especially the first party they go to with the crazy guy. That was 25 minutes of pure comedy gold, I cant remember the last time I laughed that hard as I did when they made Cera sing that song in the bedroom, classic! As for a movie I find unbearably overrated that everyone else loves, how about Shrek? Mike Myers doing his EXACT SAME “If its not Scottish it’s CRAP!!”/Fat Bastard scottish accent he’s done 500 times before, to go with stale Matrix jokes and an annoying donkey. Also, I cant stand “It’s a Wonderful Life”. Boring as hell.
THANK YOU for this post Christine Fenno – are you new to EW? This is the first time I’ve seen your byline.
I have ZERO interest in seeing this film — and your post has given me validation.
I don’t know how many reviews I’ve read from critics falling over themselves to annoint this a “masterpiece”… so glad there is a dissenting voice besides my own!
Oh I forgot to mention: I hate Juno and haven’t even seen it yet. Wow, another movie about an unnaturally precocious and smart mouthed teen who knows more then everyone around her. Great. “Is this Juno?” “No, its Morgan Freeman.” BWAAAHAHAHAH…….hilarious!! Let the rolling in the aisles begin.
Daniel Day-Lewis in a period piece? Stunning!
I LOVED There Will Be Blood. I do, however, understand how you feel whenever I see that people have put Atonement on their lists, which I thought was a waste of film and a waste of my time.
Everyone thought 300 was the action movie of the year, but I was bored. I mean seriously bored by it. It was like when you think you’re going to a party, but it turns out your friends are just playing video games and expect you want to watch them. I thought the History channel’s depiction was much better.
After reading another glowing review of There Will be Blood that made it obvious that I should want to see the movie but that I don’t actually want to, I told my husband that it seems to be a movie for film critics/reviewers, but not necessarily for regular folk (even if the regular folk are more or less discerning moviegoers).
hey hutchy! go see Juno- its better than youd think… i’m not shocked about the hate for “there will be blood”… its a p.t. anderson movie and as much fans he has, he has as much detractors. go see it for yourself. p.s. i f***in hate gladiator!
Yeah, SUPERBAD is a overrated. Indeed, it was funnier than KNOCKED UP but it didn’t have as much heart as the other. I mean, KNOCKED UP was more than just a comedy about an unplanned pregnancy. It had a message in it. (This reminds me when people were saying THE WEDDING CRASHERS was the best comedy of the year when I thought THE 40 YEAROLD VIRGIN was much funnier and better. WEDDING CRASHERS was a disappointment because it wasn’t funny.)
More overrated movies: SPIDER-MAN 3 and SHREK THE THIRD. NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN left me cold.
I’m so glad someone else is saying this. When I mentioned that I’ve seen it to people I recoined the movie “There Will Be Boredom”. The performances are great but Daniel Day Lewis could make art out of reading the phonebook. I don’t get all this exctiemnet from critics. It feels misplaced. Also if a movie is 2 hours and 37 minutes long it should be earned. The opening 10-15 minutes had no dialogue and could have easily been condensed. If the movie was and hour and a half it might have been a better film.
All the critic loved Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead. I hated it. I thought Phillip Seymour Hoffman and Ethan Hawke gave amazing performances, but the movie left me cold. These were a bunch of despicable people doing despicable things. I didn’t care if they lived or died.
Hutchy, do you even watch these movies. First of all–the “McLovin” bit DID last about 10 minutes, the rest of it was cops showing that they can be cool. Secondly, Juno is AMAZING! It’s about a a teenager that THINKS she knows it all, only to be disappointed when the world throws her a curve ball.
I consider myself a big movie buff, and each year I generally agree with critics in terms of awards and nominations. But for some reason I don’t get the love for No Country For Old Men. It was decent, but I walked out of it feeling completely indifferent. As it keeps popping up on all these Best of 2007 lists, I’m wondering if maybe I need to see it again.