The PDC Staff Picks the Most Overrated and Underrated Movies of 2014

Hype. The single most important word in the film industry. I know you’re thinking, "John, you’re wrong it’s obviously money!". Nay, nay I say, without the hype there is no money. Hype is the reason that we have movie trailers, and now teasers of movie trailers, and sneak peak shots of the teasers of movie trailers. You get the point. It doesn’t stop when the movie is released though. The hype train continues right on through the theatrical release to home video, and sometimes, into history. This whole aspect of Hollywood always leaves you with a few films that just don’t fit the buzz they were assigned. Some great films are just passed over while other highly lauded films leave you thinking the world is high as a kite and they forgot to pass you the doobie. We’ve got the whole of the PDC together for this list as we visit what we think to be the most overrated and underrated films of 2014.

When you're done, be sure to check out all of our end-of-year coverage here!

John Nolan

OVERRATED
 
Lucy

I know, I know, it’s kind of a weak pick. Half of you are probably sitting at your computers saying “What the hell was Lucy?”. You know, that completely forgettable movie with Scarlett Johannson where the big hook was “What happens when someone uses more than 10% of their brain?!?”, yeah…that one. I’m kind of an easy sell, if you give me something that’s halfway enjoyable I’m not going to trash it. I completely trashed this movie. I can’t remember a longer 90 minute stretch of my life than sitting through this absurdly nonsensical oxymoron of a film (how can you be full of action, yet completely boring?). No big deal, forget it and move on…and, stay with me, here’s where it earns it’s place on the list, then the reviews start coming out and people are praising it! Not in waves, mind you, but they are out there, enough to earn a fresh score on rotten tomatoes. Lucy. Overrated. Understatement.

UNDERRATED

Robocop
Something told me this one was going to be alright. I’m not exactly on my own in thinking that but it’s far from the popular consensus. I guess the original was just a case of the right movie at the right time and this remake, as good as it was, had to much of the 80s in it. Well, we are living in an 80s world and I am an 80s girl….err…guy. That’s the argument I have to make because Robocop not being universally loved makes no sense to me. As far as remakes go this should be a template. Other than a few forced call backs to the original they did everything perfectly, updating not just the look, but the story and feel to our modern world. The sad thing is, if the original Robocop had never been released, then you release this exact same movie people would have praised it, going so far as to call it prophetic. The thing is, the world created in the 1987 Robocop was implausible…a sci-fi fever dream coated in blood. The 2014 version is not only possible, but in many ways plausible. Past all this it was just a whole lot of fun, sure I could have used more blood but I can say that about anything (I’m a blast at dinner parties).

Roxana Hadadi

OVERRATED

St. Vincent

The Bill Murray hipster resurgence is exhausting. Not everything Bill Murray touches is gold, and St. Vincent is absolutely proof of that. A frustratingly formulaic movie built around on the been-there-done-that premise of "grumpy old man befriends charming child; charming child befriends grumpy old man; everyone wins or whatever," the movie asked very little of Murray and he gave very little back. And that supporting cast? Please. Melissa McCarthy has had a year full of misfires and Naomi Watts, with her terrible accent and caricature of a Russian prostitute character, did absolutely nothing to deserve that Screen Actors Guild nomination. And yet this film has somehow made $44 million, because ugh.

UNDERRATED

Foxcatcher
Foxcatcher came out strong in film festival competition, yielding a Best Director win at Cannes for Bennett Miller, tons of critical hype, and then ... nothing. The film opened quietly the same weekend as The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 1, and since then has struggled to find an audience, making only about $3 million. But this film has haunted me for the weeks since I've seen it - all of its weirdness and quietness, all of its unanswered questions, all of its critiques about the nature of inherited wealth and the myth of American dominance and the masculine desire to prove oneself before anyone and everyone who asks. Why haven't more people seen this movie? Why hasn't it received more award-season nominations? As John DuPont, Steve Carell's performance is determinedly, effectively off-kilter. As Olympic-gold-winning wrestler Mark Schultz, Channing Tatum is flawed and tragic. As Mark's even-more-celebrated older brother Dave Schultz, Mark Ruffalo is likable and, because the world is a terrible place, doomed. This movie will linger over you like a dark cloud, and more people should join me under it.

Julian Lytle

OVERRATED

Edge of Tomorrow

You know this one here for me is clouded by the fact that I read the manga adaptation of the original story All You Need Is Kill. I tried to go into this with an open mind and it’s also a reason I try not read a story before viewing a film version. I see many people enjoyed this movie and while I can see where it can be enjoyable too many things bother me about it. My main problem with the movie is that it totally destroys that character of Rita Vrataski. In the entire movie she only does two things helps Tom Cruise’s character get better and then just becomes a damsel in distress. You never really see how bad ass she is supposed to be at most she’s just like a person drill sergent for Cruise’s William Cage. Also I think the movie made the aliens needlessly difficult in how they work. It just doesn’t work for me, like they wanted to make a Halo Groundhog Day. In the end I’m like "really"?

UNDERRATED

Godzilla
GODZILLA 2014 IS LIFE! See I never understood what people were expecting. Folk complaining how come there wasn’t that much of the monsters fighting? Why was there so much human story? Clearly all those people either never saw a Godzilla movie or being that they were children only paid attention to the last 15 minutes when the Godzilla was wrecking. This film did a modern interpretation of 70s superhero Godzilla. He wasn’t destroying the city on purpose, he had a foe and was ready to kill them. Godzilla doesn’t half step. He befriended Quicksilver (Aaron Johnson) crashed on downtown to sleep off his bar fight and bounced in the morning like any good homie. Not only that they had great winks to Mothra and Kiryu in the film. So many folks need to get familiar.

Mae Abdulbaki 

OVERRATED

How to Train Your Dragon 2

 It doesn't really matter what many say, this sequel to the very well made How to Train Your Dragon is disappointing and doesn't live up to the original at all. A lot of people liked it, it made almost $50 million its opening weekend alone, but there's something about it that just doesn't sit well with me. Perhaps it's the fact that Toothless kills Hiccup's father and everything is hunky dory about two minutes later. Don't get me wrong, the animation itself is stunning and visually beautiful, but the film doesn't carry the same torch as the original. The inclusion of Hiccup's mother only feels like a replacement for his father, who is offed so his son can become the leader he's always wanted him to be. But I mean, if Hiccup never wanted to be a leader, don't force him into it. Astrid would have been a much better choice anyway. Sigh

UNDERRATED

Get on Up
Show of hands, who actually saw Get on Up? I hear the crickets chirping. If you did, great, because this movie is frankly not given enough love. It's not a perfect film, but it retells the story of music legend and icon James Brown, played by rising star Chadwick Boseman, in a non-linear fashion that immediately takes you into the story and keeps you there. We visit several different parts of Brown's life, but it always comes back to his present. A montage that cuts between Boseman performing and Brown's actual performances is very well done really makes you feel like you're at a concert. The wonderful performances by Boseman and the rest of the cast, which includes Viola Davis and Octavia Spencer, is well worth the watch. Definitely a film that should've been seen by more people.
.
Travis Hopson

OVERRATED

Still Alice

Hey, I get it. We all love Julianne Moore. I do, too! She’s a redhead, of course I love her. Oh, and she’s an amazing actress, and is pretty great in Still Alice. But did anybody notice that none of the consequences of her character having Alzheimer’s is actually dealt with in ANY way, shape, or form? Like not at all. Her kids possibly inheriting the disease? Nope. Her career-driven husband’s awesome new job getting put on hold because he has to care for her? Nope. It’s like co-directors/writers Richard Glatzer and Wash West are averse to the very idea of confronting anything. Maybe that’s how the story plays out in the book but it doesn’t matter. I have a feeling it has to do with the lousy adaptation from the same guys who somehow made a biopic on philandering Errol Flynn (The Last of Robin Hood) boring and drab. How is that even possible? Anyway, Still Alice isn’t terrible; it’s just mediocre. Still love you, Julianne. Call me.

UNDERRATED

The Skeleton Twins
Only one movie could make me put Starship’s “Nothing’s Gonna Stop Us Now” on my playlist. When I first saw The Skeleton Twins at Sundance it struck me like a thunderbolt for a number of reasons. This sweet, affecting dramedy about two highly-dysfuctional siblings features amazing performances by Kristen Wiig and Bill Hader. The SNL vets know one another so well their chemistry is flawless, all while venturing into the most dramatic territory of their careers. The film manages to stay light and funny while dealing with some heavy subjects (suicide, infidelity), a credit to up ‘n coming director Craig Johnson. I thought this film would have done more upon release but it kind of vanished in the blink of an eye, so grab someone close to you and check this movie out on Blu-Ray. You won’t be disappointed.

Read More

Box Office: 'Guardians of the Galaxy' Tops the Slowest Weekend of 2014

1. Guardians of the Galaxy- $10.1M/$294.5M
And you thought last week was terrible for new released? This week brings only one and it's a film nobody has ever heard about and apparently didn't show up for. That one will be seen much further down the list as this week sees the six-week-old Guardians of the Galaxy remaining on top with $10.1M. It's already the highest-grossing film of 2014 and  has spent five weeks at the top of the chart. Worldwide it sits with a mighty $586M.  Next week isn't exactly a powerhouse, either, with Dolphin Tale 2 and the Idris Elba thriller No Good Deed the only major new releases. One of those will probably knock Guardians of its perch, but would anybody be surprised if they couldn't?
2. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles- $6.5M/$174.6M
3. If I Stay- $5.7M/$39.6M
4. Let's Be Cops- $5.4M/$66.5M
The sleeper hit of the summer, no doubt. 
5. The November Man- $4.2M/$17.8M
Pierce Brosnan's espionage thriller The November Man didn't really bounce back in week #2, slipping 57% and earning $4.2M. Not the best way to start a franchise.

6. As Above, So Below- $3.72M/$15.5M
7. When the Game Stands Tall- $3.7M/$23.4M
8. The Giver- $3.5M/$37.8M
9. The Hundred-Foot Journey- $3.2M/$45.6M
10. Lucy- $1.95M/$121.2M

So not all of the faith-based movies can be gems, right? The week's only new release is The Identical,  an atrocious piece of junk that speculates what would happen if Elvis Presley's stillborn twin brother had survived and couldn't live up to his potential. It's actually a pretty nifty concept but was cheaply-made and dumped unceremoniously into 1,956 theaters. Hardly a wide release but the $1.9M it earned shows audiences wouldn't have turned out if it were 3,000. 

Read More

Box Office: 'Guardians of the Galaxy' Blasts Off with Record-Breaking $94M Debut

1. Guardians of the Galaxy- $94M
Remember when Marvel's Guardians of the Galaxy was deemed their greatest gamble? Well, Marvel just dropped their shorts all over the nay-sayers with the film's $94M debut, the third highest of the year behind Captain America: The Winter Soldier (Marvel must be poppin' corks everywhere today) and Transformers: Age of Extinction, both of which went on to do pretty well ($700M and $1B respectively) at the box office. It's also the biggest August opening in history, blowing past The Bourne Legacy's $69M. The film got off to an incredible start with an $11M Thursday night, followed by another $11.7M solely in IMAX showings. The space-comedy also played well overseas with another $66M tacked on internationally, so the $170M film should be putting a little more coin in Marvel's coffers. Most important is that audiences and critics dug the film and its cast of irreverent unknown heroes. It currently holds an 'A' Cinemascore and a 92% on Rotten Tomatoes, and the solid buzz is why a sequel was formally announced last week at Comic-Con. Now the question is whether it can maintain this level or if it will suffer a severe second-week drop like Godzilla, which had a similar debut but then slumped across the $200M mark.
2. Lucy- $18.2M/$79.5M
Obviously, Lucy was going to take a tumble since most of the sci-fi flick's audience would be drawn to Guardians of the Galaxy, but at $79M against a $40M budget Luc Besson and Universal are definitely happy. 
3. Get On Up- $14M
The James Brown biopic Get On Up got on up to a $14M debut, a respectable if somewhat underwhelming total. It's not bad, but it falls way short of the $27M opening weekend for 42, which starred Chadwick Boseman as Jackie Robinson. Much of the marketing for Get On Up has focused on one thing and that is Boseman's electrifying performance as Brown, which some are calling potentially Oscar-worthy. But they said the same thing about 42 and Boseman was left largely ignored come awards season. We'll just have to wait and see if that changes this time around.
4. Hercules- $10.7M/$52.3M
Not even the box office might of Dwayne Johnson could prevent Hercules from suffering a huge 65% tumble in week number two. The $100M film isn't doing much domestically but is fairing a bit better overseas with $56M, giving it a $108M total haul.
5. Dawn of the Planet of the Apes- $8.7M/$189.3M
6. Planes: Fire & Rescue- $6.4M/$47.5M
7. The Purge: Anarchy- $5.5M/$62.9M
8. Sex Tape- $3.5M/$33.9M
9. And So It Goes- $3.3M/$10.4M
10. A Most Wanted Man- $3.3M/$7M
The John Le Carre adaptation A Most Wanted Man, which also features the last non-Hunger Games performance by Philip Seymour Hoffman, expanded to over 700 theaters and performed well with a $4,500 per site average.

Read More

Review: Lucy starring Scarlett Johannson and Morgan Freeman

The average person only users 10% of their brain, an interesting little trivia tidbit we’ve all heard before. It’s been proven incorrect by science but that’s beside the point…we don’t need science for our movie plots to work (I’m looking at you Jurassic Park franchise), also the film has a clever way to explain why this is different from the traditional 10% as they present it that we only use 10% of our brains capacity, simply meaning that we all use all of the parts of our brain, just not to the level or efficiency we could, similar to how my muscles have the same potential as a bodybuilders but are being held back by my comical aversion to physical activity. Enough preamble, let’s get to some plot, shall we?

Lucy (Scarlett Johannson) is a student in Taiwan with some questionable social circles. After being forced to deliver a suitcase to a crime lord by her obviously scummy boyfriend (seriously, in a movie with a telekinetic woman the fact that she’s dating this dude is the most unrealistic aspect), Lucy is kidnapped and drugged. She wakes to find that the bad guys have surgically implanted a bag of C4b3h2 (that’s a total guess, but it was something along those lines), a brand new designer drug, in her intestines. She’s then given a passport and ticket along with three other unwilling mules who will all be flown to different parts of Europe to distribute the drug. Unfortunately for Lucy the low level goons didn’t get the memo about a plastic bag of highly potent drugs being put in her stomach, so they proceed to kick her in the gut when she’s shackled in a holding room. The bag breaks releasing the drug in extremely high doses into her system, which causes severe toxicity leading to an almost immediate and painful death. Wait, that doesn’t seem right…OH, my mistake, she doesn’t die; she’s given superpowers as the drug unlocks the potential of her brain allowing her to use a higher and higher percentage. During all of this the film is intercut with scenes of Professor Samuel Norman speaking at a lecture on the potential of the human brain. Highlights include a step by step listing of possible abilities that come with a corresponding percentage, things like at 20% you can control your body completely, at 30% you can control other people, at 40% you can control machines and so on and so on.  Lucy becomes fixated on retrieving the rest of the drug packets and unlocking the full 100% as well as seeking revenge on the people that did this to her.

Scarlett Johannson is the shining light of this flick and it’s a good thing because without her there would be nothing. She actually gets to stretch some acting legs, believe it or not, as she goes from a convincingly trashy and unintelligent party girl to an intelligent robot on a mission. Maybe robot isn’t the best description for why her performance is something to see, as she begins starting to use more and more of her brain she adapts a performance style that seems very similar to how autism is usually portrayed in film with a far off look in her eyes that comes close to a blank expression but is different in a very slight way that makes you understand that she’s just got a lot more going on inside her head. The film plays quickly too, once the drugs enter her system the movie doesn’t slow down until the credits roll, which ends up being a saving grace since much of the movie makes little sense and doesn’t deliver on many of the promises made in the trailer. There is quite a bit of action but very little involves Lucy, once she becomes more powerful her interactions with the bad guys consist of waving her hand to make them all pass out, or levitate. There are some good gun battles involving the side characters and she does get to take the wheel in a car chase that Michael Bay would be jealous of, but that’s about it as far as ScarJo is concerned.

I think “weird” is probably the most apt description of the movie that I can come to, it’s not bad per say, it’s just very odd for the most part. I guess this is par for the course when you’re talking about a Luc Besson movie. The guy is heralded for his action and a good percentage of his films are widely enjoyed but there’s always an under belly of odd in his flicks. Look at The Professional, probably his most lauded film and for good reason, but at the base it’s a film about a hitman teaching his craft to a pre-teen girl whom he may or may not be in love with. To illustrate what I mean, one of the main “what?” aspects is how he intercuts scenes of nature to illustrate what’s going on in the story…so when Lucy is about to be kidnapped by the gangsters the film switches to a scene of an animal being stalked by a cheetah. Again, not a huge deal but it does take you out of the moment completely. Past that there are a number of logic jumps and missing points, such as how there’s zero learning curve with her new abilities and no “What’s happening to me?!?” moment, I guess that can be chalked up to the increase in understanding and brainpower or even something as simple as not slowing the film down. Lastly there’s the weird forced romantic angle between Lucy and the French cop who she’s paired up with in the second half of the film. Speaking of, the fact that she becomes a ruthless killer and breaks any number of laws including stealing drugs from the police, makes the ask no questions relationship between Lucy and the cop even more odd. I can forgive this kind of stuff with a movie like Crank that is, in no way, trying to be something serious, but Lucy is trying to say something profound…at least I think it is, honestly it’s kind of hard to tell. Let’s just say that the beginning and the end of the movie show a look at time from now to the first Neanderthal so at least the impression of something deep and large is there.

With the number of large budget, high-quality films out right now there’s no way I can, in good conscience, recommend you go to the theater for Lucy. It isn’t without its merits, and I do think some will enjoy it, but it’s strictly a rental. ScarJo is beautiful and talented so if that’s what you’re yearning for this weekend I’d say renting Under the Skin is a far better choice. 

2 Out of 5 Guttenbergs

Read More

Scarlett Johansson Encounters Oldboy in New 'Lucy' Clip

How can you tell that Luc Besson's latest film, the action-thriller Lucy, is really close to hitting theaters? Because the clips just won't stop, that's how. We just up one with Scarlett Johansson engaged in a pretty cool car chase throughout Paris, and now comes another one from Empire that has her meeting up with Oldboy himself, Choi Min-sik. He plays the baddie, some sort of crime boss, and in this clip taken from early on in the film we see he's a guy who likes to take precaution. That's especially true when the case Lucy is carrying may hold a bomb. Must be nice to have an army of goons with blast shields.

Also starring Morgan Freeman and Analeigh Tipton, Lucy opens on July 25th.

Read More

Scarlett Johansson Rips Through Paris in Car Chase Scene from 'Lucy'

The Professional, La Femme Nikita, The Fifth Element, Adele Blanc Sec....Luc Besson loves his butt-kicking femme fatales and has basically built a career bringing them to the screen, and that doesn't even include the films he's written (like Colombiana) featuring tough as nails ladies. Will Scarlett Johansson be his next great one in the sci-fi action flick, Lucy? Take a look at the latest clip and judge for yourself.

Johansson brings the sexy and the attitude as a drug mule who accidentally digests the drug she's carrying and becomes gifted with incredible powers, powers that give her the ability to use her full brain capacity. So what does that mean? Increased knowledge absorption, telepathy, telekinesis, and apparently the ability to push around inept French cops. Basically this rather long clip has everything we've come to expect from Besson. Energetic but generic soundtrack backing a car chase through the Paris streets, the aforementioned inept cop, and one pouty-lipped heroine with a mean streak.  Sign me up.

Lucy hits theaters on July 25th.


Scarlett Johansson's Incredible Driving Scene From "Lucy" by celebritywire

Read More

Scarlett Johansson Uses Her Brain in 'Lucy' Red Band Clip

One of the cooler things about Scarlett Johansson's performance as Black Widow is that she's playing one of the few Avengers without any powers. She has to rely on other skills to get by, and by extension Johansson has to be more subtle than most of her co-stars who have all sorts of CGI fireworks accompanying them. But in Luc Besson's new action flick, Lucy, Johansson will have all the superpowers she can handle and some kickass guns, too.

Basically resembling a sci-fi La Femme Nikita, Lucy has Johansson as a drug mule who gains extraordinary abilities after she absorbs the substance into her system. It allows her to use more than 10% of her brain and as the capacity grows, so do her powers, which she uses to exact bloody revenge on those who held her captive.

A return to form for Luc Besson or just another high-profile dud? We'll find out when Lucy opens on July 25th.

Read More

New International Trailer for 'Lucy' Starring Scarlett Johansson

We won't get to see Scarlett Johansson hanging out with her Avengers pals this summer, but she'll still be starring in a film full of super powers. A new international trailer has been released for Luc Besson's action flick, Lucy, which has Johansson as a woman forced to become a drug mule, only to have some of the narcotics seep into her body. Rather than a drug overdose, she's gifted with incredible powers that ramp up her brain power to uncharted levels, while also granting her the powers of telekinesis and increased pain tolerance. Basically she becomes an ass-kicking machine and sets out for some sort of revenge with Morgan Freeman aiding her and Choi Min-Sik (Oldboy) as the target.

Besson certainly gives the film a kinetic visual look but there's no denying his films of late have left a lot to be desired. But with Johannson headlining, mere months after starring in Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Lucy is poised to do some damage on August 8th. 


LUCY : Official International #2 by itsartmag

Read More

Scarlett Johansson Uses Brains and Brawn in Trailer for Luc Besson's 'Lucy'

This is the year of Scarlett Johansson kicking ass and taking names. Audiences around the world have already begun to see what she can do in Captain America: The Winter Soldier, namely beating guys up and looking sexy while doing it, and this summer she'll do it again for Luc Besson in sci-fi action flick, Lucy.

The first trailer for Lucy has been released and...look, this fits right in with the cinematic oeuvre of Besson, the guy best known for La Femme Nikita, The Professional, and The Fifth Element, all films with tough female leads. Johansson plays a woman forced to be a drug mule, only to have the nasty blue gunk ooze into her system. Morgan Freeman is nice enough to inform us that it allows her to use more of her brain capacity than the average human, allowing for telekinesis, clairvoyance, and a resistance to pain. Unfortunately it also seems to be doing something to her emotions.

Honestly, this looks like the best thing Besson has done in awhile, and Johansson is firmly establishing herself as the top female action star in Hollywood. Maybe we can get her and Gina Carano to team up some day?  Lucy hits theaters on August 8th.

Read More

Scarlett Johansson is Luc Besson's 'Lucy' in First Look Photo

Say what you want about Luc Besson, and certainly there is plenty to say about his mediocre movies of late, but he knows how to write some kick-ass female characters. And this summer he's going to give us one more in the action flick, Lucy, and he's got none other than Black Widow bringing the pain.

EW has the first look at Scarlett Johansson in Lucy, which starts off sounding like Maria Full of Grace but winds up sounding like Chronicle. She stars as a drug mule who ingests the substance somehow, only to discover that it's given her superhuman powers. She becomes impervious to pain and gains telekinetic and telepathic abilities. Pretty cool.

Between this and next week's Captain America: The Winter Soldier it's going to be a lot of Johansson punching and shooting things. Lucy opens on August 8th.

Read More

Fifth 'Bourne' Film Slated for August 2015; Justin Lin Confirmed to Direct

Jeremy Renner's debut as the latest mind-altered super agent in The Bourne Legacy may not have set the world on fire, but it was enough to get Universal moving on a fifth film in the franchise. While there were some early rumors of Paul Greengrass possibly returning, those were replaced last month when Fast & Furious 6 helmer Justin Lin was reportedly close to signing on. Now the ink is dry and Universal has added the film to the crowded 2015 slate.

Lin will direct the untitled fifty Bourne movie for release August 14th 2015. Renner will return as Aaron Cross, and it's unclear if any of the other cast members will be joining him. Don't expect to see series scribe and 'Legacy' director Tony Gilroy tagging along, either, as he has totally moved on from the franchise.

As of now that places Bourne in a showdown with The Smurfs 3, so parents can send their kids to that while going to watch Renner kick some butt. 

Universal has also dated Luc Besson's next action flick, titled Lucy, for August 8th 2014. Starring Scarlett Johansson and Morgan Freeman, the film centers on "a woman accidentally caught in a dark deal who turns the tables on her captors and transforms into a merciless warrior evolved beyond human logic."

Read More