Under Appreciated movies

[Guest Spaceman Spiff]

Clue.

For once, I agree w/ you 100%

 

I *love* Clue. Even have it on DVD.

[Guest dreamer420]

Ed Wood.

 

Sorry if this has been mentioned all ready.

[Guest C.H.U.D.]

Did this movie come out on DVD, like, ever?

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detai...?v=glance&s=dvd

 

You're welcome.

If you like Dark City, then get that DVD. It kicks ass. Multi commentaries, deleted scenes and a great widescreen transfer.

[Guest Anorak]

The Straight Story

 

A really understated and gentle film that was enjoyable and touching without laying on the sentimentality too thick. I'd take it over most of Lynch's trademark weird stuff anyday. If you liked The Elephant Man its definately in a similar vein in many ways. Sometimes less can be more in films as much as anything else. A fantastic score as well, the soundtrack is just a wonderfully peaceful piece of music.

[Guest notJames]

You asked for it, you got it...

 

The Golden Child - Eddie Murphy's red-headed stepchild of a movie (although his recent output would provide suitable siblings for it). So bad it goes past good, steps on bad's head and jumps back into good. Guilty pleasure for those of Asian decent. "My brother Numsie has forgiven me!"

 

Trees Lounge - Written, directed, and starring Steve Buscemi. I'd be surprised if anyone saw this, but it's such a great indy film with a fine ensemble cast that gets no love at the box office while Hollywood continues to churn out the crapola. Features Chloe Sevigny who always delivers a great performance.

 

American Movie - If my friend Michael hadn't suggested seeing this film, I never would have even noticed it. But now I pimp it to everyone. It's a documentary about a very small-time filmmaker struggling to create his grand opus in the midst of poverty and lack of support. At first I thought it was a Spinal Tap-esque mockumentary, but it eventually reveals itself as a poignant tableau of depression, failure, and eventual (if minimal) triumph. You'll never say the word "coven" the same way again.

 

Buffalo '66 - 1999 was a great movie-watching year, and this one made it all the more memorable in the fact that it barely made a blip on the radar, which makes it that much more of an unearthed gem. Depressing, ridiculous, infuriating, and ultimately endearing in a dirty pathetic kind of way, you will grow to despise and love Vincent Gallo's ne'er-do-well Billy in so many ways. Also features surprising performances by Christina Ricci as Billy's erstwhile "girlfriend" and Anjelica Huston and Ben Gazzara as the parents who wish he'd never been born.

 

Flawless - Robert Deniro as a homophobic stroke victim, and Philip Seymour Hoffman as the flamboyant drag queen singing coach who nurses him back from the brink of muteness. Llike Laurel and Hardy with a twist of lemon. Smart and witty, but not preachy, and the two co-stars are worth their weight in gold lamé.

 

Hedwig and the Angry Inch - Another transvestite story, this one adapted from an off-Broadway musical... this musical "documentary" follows the career of a cross-dressing rock singer with a slight... deformity. Great music and awesome story for those who are into that sort of thing... not that there's anything wrong with that...

 

Waiting for Guffman and Best In Show - A double shot of mockumentary goodness (it should be fairly obvious what my tastes are by now), both brought to you by the unsung genius of Christopher Guest. The former follows a small-town community theatre troupe seeking glory and fame where there is none, while the latter gives an inside look at the dog show circuit and the animal owners who love them. Both are too cool for school, and will leave you laughing out loud, especially if you've been exposed to either of the two worlds.

 

Pecker - Y'know, I hated Edward Furlong in Terminator 2, but he's actually grown on me as a decent young actor, and this is no exception. Great ensemble cast (as usual with most John Waters films), it's definitely for those who can appreciate the quirky and the bizarre. Also check out Crybaby, where the ever-brooding Johnny Depp tries his hand at offbeat comedy in another great ensemble feature. Goofy, outlandish, and light-hearted. Not to be taken seriously by any means (not like an Adam Sandler vehicle, but in the good way)

[Guest Anorak]

I enjoyed 'Trees Lounge' a lot, am I right in thinking Buscemi hasn't directed anything since? If so, then thats a shame because his undoubted talent would be better served making another personal film rather than having comedy cameo roles in nothing films. I think the critics gave the film a general thumbs up but that didn't help it become a decent breakout hit like some other modestly budgeted films of recent history.

 

'American Movie' was laugh out loud funny on some occasions and I really enjoyed it. I saw it at the local 'arthouse' type cinema and I've not seen it once since on either video, DVD or anything anywhere at all. I may have to order it from somewhere to ever see it again which is annoying because it did recieve a decent bit of attention for a small documentary here in the UK.

 

Did you think the film came off as an affectionate portrait of a lovable eccentric or as an easy laugh at a white trash loser? I thought the former but some critics thought the filmmakers were laughing at him rather than with him. Sometimes highbrow critics are overly cynical while not giving enough credit or favor to filmmakers intentions or general audience perception.

 

The directors best mate was a riot but a vintage example of the old saying...DONT DO DRUGS KIDS!!

[Guest Kotzenjunge]

Falling Down gets mild mentions, but no one really understands how much it rules the world.

 

Fo sheez,

Kotzenjunge

[Guest notJames]

'American Movie' was laugh out loud funny on some occasions and I really enjoyed it. I saw it at the local 'arthouse' type cinema and I've not seen it once since on either video, DVD or anything anywhere at all. I may have to order it from somewhere to ever see it again which is annoying because it did recieve a decent bit of attention for a small documentary here in the UK.

 

Did you think the film came off as an affectionate portrait of a lovable eccentric or as an easy laugh at a white trash loser? I thought the former but some critics thought the filmmakers were laughing at him rather than with him. Sometimes highbrow critics are overly cynical while not giving enough credit or favor to filmmakers intentions or general audience perception.

The jury's still out on that one. There were obvious moments of pathos, especially when they showed Mark's various struggles (his job as the cemetary groundskeeper, his broken family life, having to put his "real work" on hold). But then they intersperse it with scenes with his inept assistant, the absurdity of the Coven filming scenes, his overall slack-jawed yokel characterization... I'm not so sure the documentarians (?) weren't so subtle with revealing all of that. But I think it worked well that way. They got you to laugh int he beginning, drawing you into Mark's slightly off-kilter worldview, then they hit you with the heavy, serious stuff, to the point where you really empathize with him and want him to succeed.

 

I thought the film was a tad too long, but it worked for me. And yes, I agree with your assessment of high-brow critics. They either assume you're privy to their litany of film knowledge, or that you're not worthy to borrow their week-old copy of the New York Times. Can't have it both ways, boyos.

[Guest NaturalBornThriller4:20]

Office Space.

 

Not many people ran to Theatres to see this, but this is one of the funniest Movies ever. It never gets any praise.

[Guest Kotzenjunge]

Actually, almost every person I know has seen and keeps extolling the virtues of Office Space except me.

 

Fo sheez,

Kotzenjunge

[Guest NaturalBornThriller4:20]

Black Hawk Down.

 

This was an EXCELLENT Film, but not many people seem to talk about it.

[Guest Anorak]

I'm not sure about elsewhere but 'Office Space' is loved to death by loads of people on this particular board. Its the same deal with 'BaseketBall'. Both pretty quotable films as well.

[Guest saturnmark4life]

I've only really watched baseketball in a half-assed-paraletically-drunken manner, but it didn't seem all that great to me. I haven't seen Clue since i was a kid, but i liked it. And DEATH RACE 2000 KICKS ASS~% And incidentally, i just watched 'Analyse this' for about the third time and still really enjoyed it.

[Guest Flyboy]

Misery.

[Guest kingkamala]

Call me crazy but I really liked Reign of Fire, it was a really fun popcorn action movie. They don't make hardly any of those anydays, but Reign of Fire was a good action movie.

[Guest El Satanico]

Call me crazy but I really liked Reign of Fire, it was a really fun popcorn action movie. They don't make hardly any of those anydays, but Reign of Fire was a good action movie.

Huh? Nearly all action movies are now mindless popcorn movies. It's actually the "smart" action movies which are now rare.

[Guest C.H.U.D.]

Black Hawk Down.

 

This was an EXCELLENT Film, but not many people seem to talk about it.

Well, it made $110 million in the U.S., and it was nominated for 3 or 4 Academy Awards, so I wouldn't call it underrated.

[Guest cabbageboy]

I didn't like Black Hawk Down at all. The movie had absolutely nothing in the way of characters that were interesting, and most of it was mind numbing and incoherent shooting in the streets of Mogadishu.

 

To tie this to the Bond thread, I'd say the somewhat more obscure Bond movie On Her Majesty's Secret Service is underrated. That is mainly due to Lazenby being Bond and not Connery. The movie itself is terrific and features some actual (gasp) character development from Bond.

[Guest raptor]

All of Kevin Smith's movies get little praise. I can always pop one in and be in comedic heaven. I guess I might be biased, since he's one of my heroes.

[Guest razazteca]

John Carpentars They Live and the THING

[Guest CoreyLazarus416]

ALL of Carpenter's work is great. Seriously! I have not seen a SINGLE Carpenter piece I didn't enjoy...

 

Well, okay, Escape From LA sucked balls, but it had a great ending. "Welcome to the human race..."

 

Another underrated movie: The Running Man. I know it's pretty different from the book, but I still LOVE this movie.

[Guest ant_7000]

Running Man was pretty good.

 

Falling Down- I thought it was a good comedy/drama

 

Im Going to Getcha Sucka- This is best Wayans family parody movie that they put out IMO, about 70's blaxpotation movies.

 

Dead Presidents- This was pretty good action/drama

 

Bloodsport- Best Van Damme movie

[Guest Banky]

Where to start

 

Cable Guy

Dead Presidents

Mumford

Joe Dirt

Frailty

Dazed and Confused

Heartbreakers

Cape Fear '91

BASEketball

Fletch Lives

Vegas & European Vacation

 

I didn't include Fletch, Office Space, Mallrats, or Chasing Amy because all of those are mainly well liked by the masses.

 

And before you critisize my choices remember that ia m the hugest Chevy fan - hence my love for his 'crappier' work.

[Guest godthedog]

check out the orson welles tcm thread for some great underappreciated movies.

 

speaking of 'dazed and confused'...

 

there were 2 awesome movies richard linklater did that nobody ever remembers/saw, 'suburbia' (which made me a giovanni ribisi fan, before he started doing crap) and 'before sunrise' (best romantic comedy ever). he also did 'waking life', but that got huge amounts of praise from almost everybody, so i can't really call it underappreciated.

 

linklater in general is unbelievably good with making characters that are actually smart & 3-dimensional, and he's got a GREAT ear for dialogue. i actually like it better than tarantino's, cause it's not trying so hard to be clever & the people tend to talk about important things, not just stupid little shit.

[Guest El Satanico]

Solaris (1972): I've never heard it mentioned. In fact I had never even heard of it until seeing it on TCM like 6 months ago.

 

I found it to be a good movie, but you never hear about it. However the original isn't a movie for everyone. It's extremely long, slowly paced, and is in Russian with subtitles. It's alot like 2001 and in fact it was made after the director had seen and hated 2001.

[Guest ElectricRaccoon]

linklater in general is unbelievably good with making characters that are actually smart & 3-dimensional, and he's got a GREAT ear for dialogue. i actually like it better than tarantino's, cause it's not trying so hard to be clever & the people tend to talk about important things, not just stupid little shit.

You have my full agreement here. Dissection of pop culture and intricate networks of obscure references are good, but only to an extent. Additionally, there's the problem of walking the razor between "an entertaining look back" and "completely dated" ten years later. That's what's great about Dazed and Confused. A movie made in 1993 and set in the 70s, but it still holds its own, because he nailed the style and cadence of high-school dialogue perfectly. And Waking Life...damn, that was so good I'm still trying to get my head around it. Linklater is an outstanding writer/director.

[Guest Special K]

Thou shalt not kill... Except is beautiful with the audio commentary. (Bruce Campbell.)

 

I don't think anyone's seen 7 Samurai anymore, though that doesn't really make it underrated.

 

There's some good horror flicks few have heard of like Near Dark, Suspiria.

 

Death Race 2000 and Buckaroo Banzai are indeed great, in the same vein (though not as gloriously great) is Six-String Samurai, in which the lead is Buddy Holly weilding a sword and guitar in a postapocalyptic world.

[Guest Smell the ratings!!!]

Dead Presidents

Frailty

BASEketball

these movies rule you.

[Guest Kotzenjunge]

Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels. Just got it on DVD yesterday, and I love it. Don't hear a lot of talk about it though.

 

Fo sheez,

Kotzenjunge

[Guest notJames]

Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels. Just got it on DVD yesterday, and I love it. Don't hear a lot of talk about it though.

 

Fo sheez,

Kotzenjunge

Lock, Stock... is loved by serious moviegoers, and I daresay it's that much better than Mr. Madonna's follow-up Snatch.

 

And I agree with godthedog about subUrbia... one of the great modern, unsung films about disaffected youth.

 

I'll also chime in with Swingers, even though most people I know who saw it universally loved it.