As much as we evidently love you, our glorious readers (why else would we toil so hard over such a breathtaking array of year-end features, for one thing), there is perhaps a group of people we love even more. And that is our contributors, who throughout the year give The Playlist its inimitable, sometimes cacophonous but always lively voice, and who help us to deliver the goods to you every day in the manner of a vigilant cat laying the eviscerated mouse of the day’s hot movie topics at your feet. Every day, we thank our lucky stars to have secured the services of such a talented and committed bunch, and every day we try to cherish them in the manner they deserve.
Except today.
Today, with the grim predictability of the uncle at Christmas dinner who is super cool the rest of the year but has one sherry too many and is suddenly off on a booze-addled rant that points to an otherwise untapped volcanic wellspring of bitterness within, today we hang our contributors, through the simple medium of giving them enough rope.
Yes, it is our annual, ever-controversial roundup of the most outré outlying opinions that our little coven harbors, when they each get to pick one overrated and one underrated title, and defend their choices. Here, they emerge from behind the protective shield of the Playlist’s collective “we” and publish possibly indictable first-person opinions under their own names. Ordinarily, we stand behind everything printed in these pages, but today we cannot stress just how far we’d like to distance ourselves from some of the below.
Part of the friction derives from the various understandings of the terms involved, but we know from previous years that no matter how we try to define the words, the insanity leaks through. So instead this year, we ‘re pursuing a policy of ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ and letting it all hang out. The methodology is suspect, the selection highly dubious and the opinions frequently batshit: Enjoy!
Click here for our full coverage of the best of 2017, including Best TV, Best Scores & Soundtracks, Best Cinematography, Posters, Trailers, Horror, Action Sequences, our Best Films Of The Year, Worst Films of the Year, Best Performances and the 100 Most Anticipated Films Of 2018.
Will Ashton
Overrated: “Beauty and the Beast”
Disney is actively capitalizing on our childhood nostalgia. Your favorite Marvel heroes? See them together on the big screen! You love “Star Wars,” right? Bring the kids and return to a galaxy far, far away! The results are mixed, but when it’s right, it’s charming, rewarding and even profound, as it was with Rian Johnson’s meaningful “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” last week. But when it’s wrong, you get Bill Condon’s empty, bureaucratic “Beauty and the Beast” remake. Banking on your fondness and affection for the Best Picture-nominated 1991 animated sensation, this cold, sluggish, unoriginal bore lacks the warmth, imagination and heart that made Disney’s first attempt at the material so instantly adored. The soundtrack is lackluster. The length is needlessly prolonged. The performances aren’t necessarily terrible — though God only knows what the hell Ewan McGregor is trying to do here — but they don’t leave the same impression. And the whole movie is dour, lacking the rich color and vibrancy found in the animation. Worst of all, however, this “Beauty and the Beast” isn’t even willing to challenge the material, which makes the whole point of bringing this classic tale to the 21st century almost pointless. Disney isn’t afraid to bring back our favorites, but this sad remake lacks a non-financial purpose.
Underrated: “Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie”
It’s easy to be dismissive of “Captain Underpants: The First Epic Movie” based on its brash title. It’s juvenile, silly and seemingly asinine — the type of generic garbage peddled out to dumb kids on a biweekly basis. And you must have some nerve to be so bold and cocky as to KNOW — not just assume — that you’ll get a sequel, to the point where you’ll put it right there in the title (that worked out so well for “Doug’s 1st Movie,” right?) Surprisingly and wonderfully, however, “Captain Underpants” is more than worthy of such audacity. A gleefully goofy, delightfully devious and perpetually potty-minded romp that’s more witty and heartfelt than you’d ever imagine such a low-brow animated effort would be, David Soren’s wacky middle-school farce made me feel like a kid again. This nostalgic, nicely naughty DreamWorks Animation production is one of the studio’s best and most visually and comically inventive movies in years. It not only does absolute justice to Dav Pilkey’s beloved graphic novel franchise, a children’s book series I grew up on, but it lifted the burden of our soul-crushing times far better than any other piece of media I consumed in 2017. Don’t let the title fool you: ‘Captain Underpants’ is a delight for all.
Joe Blessing
Overrated: “Colossal”
Most metaphors don’t deserve to be made into feature films, and“Colossal” proves that, taking the idea of destructive personal behavior destroying a city like Godzilla, and stretching beyond any rationality in this genre-mix gone wrong, where neither element satisfies and neither really makes any sense. The only idea that truly comes across is the offensively narcissistic modern tendency to see one’s quotidian problems in world-historical terms (choosing Seoul makes it offensively American-centric as well). You shouldn’t have to inflict nuclear-level damage on a major city to realize you have a drinking problem! Nacho Vigalondo bends over backwards to craft an ending where Gloria can be “heroic,” even though she’s already presumably killed tens of thousands, and it’s not exactly a bold moral choice to choose NOT to inflict (more) wanton destruction upon Seoul (I choose that everyday!). This is an example of mixing genres to find the worst of both worlds.
Underrated: “Roman J. Israel, Esq.”
As a huge fan of Dan Gilroy’s “Nightcrawler”, I was thrilled to see his follow-up and then surprised that the world had ignored this imperfect but ambitious movie. Yes, it’s messy, but so is modern morality, and this is a cautionary tale about seeing the world in black and white, without recognizing the moral shades of gray in between. Roman (Denzel Washington) sees himself as fully a force for good, only to discover upon his partner’s death that ethically dubious kickbacks bankrolled his work. With his moral foundations shaken and unable to understand compromise, he decides that he should profit from injustice as others do and he breaches ethics for a quick payday. The stinging irony is that only afterwards does he discover the positive influence he’s exerted on the flawed but struggling people around him. Roman is sometimes more an idea than a real human, but Denzel is great and this is an intelligent movie about trying to be a good person — we could use more of those.
Reese Conner
Overrated: “Wonder Woman”
So, a caveat: I was positively hyped on the hype about “Wonder Woman,” so I readily admit my reaction may be partially informed by unmet expectations. Still, as I watched, I felt as if a cruel hocus-pocus was at work, camouflaging what was supposed to be one of the best films of the year as some humdrum superhero flick. Let’s take a look: Does our hero fight a CGI-mess in the third act? Yup. Is the villain simplified to a single (and stupid) motivation? Uh huh. Do the side characters resemble caricatures (Ludendorff and Dr. Maru) or outright stereotypes (uh, The Chief)? Check. Seriously, Danny Huston and Elena Anaya clearly thought this was a Joel Schumacher film, right? Beyond those things, Wonder Woman’s bag of powers seemed curiously flexible, adjusting and escalating to whatever the movie demanded. And Gal Gadot’s robotic fish-out-of-water routine, while genuinely humorous, began to look more like a necessity than a choice, particularly when she needed to deliver authentic emotions – unfortunately, those moments felt stilted and robotic, too.
Underrated: “Okja”
I know, I know: “Okja” received largely positive reviews both from critics and salt-of-the-earth moviegoers. And yet, it is still somewhat asterisked off as quote-unquote “only” a Netflix movie, which is unfortunate. If “Okja” had a theatrical release, I’m not sure if more people would have ultimately seen it or if it would have been more financially successful, but I am confident the grassroots perception would be that it is a fantastic movie, not just a fantastic movie for a Netflix original. That little addendum gets tacitly attached to all Netflix movies, undercutting their potential by capping it with a caveat. Anyways, what I’m trying to say is “Okja” deserves better than that because it is simultaneously heartwarming and heart-wrenching; it is affecting but not preachy; and it doesn’t kowtow to your deepest hope for a happy-ever-after ending. More than that, it has clear purchase in the real world, forcing viewers to confront the possibility that they would not be Okja’s protector, but, instead, would be the oblivious public that happily dines on her family and friends. Nom nom nom.
