This is the easiest overrated section in years – so many over-rewarded films of negligible value … I don’t even have The Hobbit or Hunger Games on this list.
The Dark Knight Rises
Good heavens, one of the most overrated films in years – perhaps a testimony to how important Christopher Nolan is as a filmmaker. I don’t mind that part. The part I mind is this Batman film is dreary and unpleasant and long. I appreciate it as art and little more. Did Nolan get so wrapped up in telling the tale he wanted to tell that he forgot to add something we might like? On the recipient end, we loved this film long before it came out and were clearly too embarrassed to admit there isn’t a single moment in Dark Knight Rises worth watching a second time.
The Bourne Legacy
The Bourne tales have always been confusing. This one is no different. Substituting Renner for Damon makes me not remember Renner, but instead the Columbine-like scene where Zeljko Ivanek executes his co-workers one-by-one. It’s spooky, but hardly a reason to love a film.
A Separation (Jodaeiye Nader az Simin)
The standards are clearly much lower for films with taboo subject matter (given relative time/place). You want to tell me you truly found Brokeback Mountain entertaining? Not important, entertaining. Well, I didn’t.
Beasts of the Southern Wild
Amour
Had these films not been nominated for best picture, I’d have nothing to say here. Once, however, they get elevated to “Best” status … oh, you’ve got to be kidding me. I lay the odds that either Benh Zeitlin or Michael Haneke ever making another film nominated for Best Picture at roughly 250-1 against. That may be generous.
Skyfall
Oh, but we want to love Bond soooooo much. Honestly, I envy you folks, the ones who made this film #1 for so long, especially in the U.K. Your imagination devised a film that was clearly far superior to the one that found theaters. I’m not sure how you managed to turn such mediocrity 
into box office gold, but congrats; your imaginations are much better than mine.
The Grey
Makes me blue.
The Vow
Makes me drop trou.
Anna Karenina
I swear, you make a period piece, gather some costumes and shoot some outdoor cinematography and there is a throng who will enjoy it no matter what story you tell.
Zero Dark Thirty
At some point, we are going to look back on the overwhelming popularity of ZDT and wonder, “what were we thinking?” True or not, the film is pure propaganda. I hate the protagonist; there is no villain and the denouement is extremely one-sided. And throughout it all is torture and a theme that terrorism fills in all gaps left by compliance. The same thing could have been accomplished by a well-made documentary, and I wouldn’t have to suffer Jessica Chastain in the process.
Let me put this very clearly: disliking Zero Dark Thirty is not evidence of treason. Nor is the blindly rah-rah evidence of good taste.
