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What films do you think are underrated? (1 Viewer)

Winston T. Boogie

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So, we have an overrated list I thought it would be cool to have a list of underrated films.


What films do you think deserve more attention and a larger audience?


Here are some I think should be seen:


Saint Jack - A very underrated and mostly unknown film from Peter Bogdanovich.


Prince of the City - One from the great Sidney Lumet that I don't think gets anywhere near the attention it deserves.


Kafka - An early effort from Steven Soderbergh. In fact I think a lot of his films are underrated. The Limey and his Solaris remake to name just two others.


After Dark My Sweet - Directed by James Foley, based on a Jim Thompson novel, and featuring an excellent cast this is a very nice slow burn color noir.


Drugstore Cowboy - An outstanding early effort from Gus Van Sant that features the best performance of Matt Dillon's career.


You'll note nothing above has yet made it to Blu-ray.
 

TravisR

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By no means am I saying that these are all time classics, they're just movies that I enjoy and feel deserve a better reputation than they have.


Death Proof

The Faculty

Funny People

Lost Highway

Summer Of Sam


A few years ago, I'd have put Dressed To Kill and Blow Out at the top of the list but thanks to a Criterion release, people now see them as classic films. Similarly, U-Turn is another movie I'd have put on this list but it now has a new coat of respectability thanks to Twilight Time.
 

Josh Steinberg

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Wonder Boys

Wonderful cast, perfect script, great direction, fantastic soundtrack. Paramount didn't know how to market it in 2000, and it flopped despite incredible reviews. They knew they screwed up the marketing so the studio took the almost unprecedented step of re-releasing it later that same year with a different marketing campaign, but that one was terrible too, and it flopped again. But it is an utterly fantastic movie filled with characters you want to spend more time with, played by actors you'd happily watch reading the phone book.

Unfortunately there's no HD version available either on disc or streaming, but the DVD version can be had for under $6 new on Amazon.

I give this movie my highest recommendation.
 

Edwin-S

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I really think this topic should be in movies. It would probably get a lot more responses there than it will in After Hours.


CARS for a start.
 

Worth

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Josh Steinberg said:
Wonder Boys

Wonderful cast, perfect script, great direction, fantastic soundtrack. Paramount didn't know how to market it in 2000, and it flopped despite incredible reviews. They knew they screwed up the marketing so the studio took the almost unprecedented step of re-releasing it later that same year with a different marketing campaign, but that one was terrible too, and it flopped again. But it is an utterly fantastic movie filled with characters you want to spend more time with, played by actors you'd happily watch reading the phone book.

Unfortunately there's no HD version available either on disc or streaming, but the DVD version can be had for under $6 new on Amazon.

I give this movie my highest recommendation.

Agreed on the film. But it actually is available in HD for rent and for sale on iTunes and VUDU.


A few other favourites that rarely get mentioned are The Year of Living Dangerously, Careful He Might Hear You and Patrice Leconte's The Girl on the Bridge.
 

Josh Steinberg

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Worth said:
Agreed on the film. But it actually is available in HD for rent and for sale on iTunes and VUDU.

That must have just been added within the past couple months - last time I checked it wasn't, but that's fantastic news. Now that an HD master exists, there's a far greater chance it'll pop up on Blu-ray someday. And if not, at least I can have access to it in HD that way. Thanks for making my day!
 

Walter Kittel

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BTW, Wonder Boys has been playing in HD on the Encore channel.


I'm not sure if these are underrated as they have their fans, but taking a cue from Travis, films that I really like that maybe should have wider recognition...


Zodiac - Seems like this gets the least recognition of David Fincher's works, but maybe I'm wrong.

The Beast of War - Story of a Soviet tank crew lost in Afghanistan, battling the Mujahadeen. I always like survival stories and this one has always stuck with me.

Eve's Bayou - Roger Ebert's #1 film from 1997 that is seemingly forgotten at this point.

Quiz Show - Great period piece from Robert Redford dealing with game show scandals of the late '50s.

Fearless - One of Jeff Bridge's best performances in this film from Peter Weir.

Sunshine - Yeah, the final act is kind of a mess; but up until that point it is a strong film with some dazzling cinematography and production design.

Session 9 - Great atmospheric thriller from Brad Anderson.


Some of these features have not been that well represented on home video.


- Walter.
 

TravisR

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Walter Kittel said:
Zodiac - Seems like this gets the least recognition of David Fincher's works, but maybe I'm wrong.
I think a lot of movie fans already recognize the greatness of Zodiac but in 10 or 20 years, it's going to be a movie that is frequently on or even at the top of many critics' top 10 of the 00's lists.


Edwin-S said:
CARS for a start.
A great choice for a list like this. I think people decided that it sucked sight unseen because they don't like NASCAR and they ended up depriving themselves of a movie that is a kindhearted tribute to small town life.
 

Vic Pardo

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Judging from the titles listed so far, I'd have thought this was an overrated films thread. I mean, ZODIAC? Everyone raves about that, but it's an absolute slog to sit through.


My own recommendations for underrated films (i.e films that got negative reviews and get trashed regularly on the internet, but I thought were quite spectacular through and through):

THE LONG KISS GOODNIGHT (1996);

MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE 2 (2000);

TRANSFORMERS 3: DARK OF THE MOON (2011);

THE EXPENDABLES 2 (2012);

THE EXPENDABLES 3 (2014).


:P
 

Scott Burke

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The assassination of Jesse James by the coward Robert Ford. This is my favorite movie by far and no-one knows anything about it when I talk about it.
 

Aaron Silverman

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Lone Star is a great flick but I think a lot of people have forgotten it on purpose 'cause the ending is kinda icky. :)


People are naming too many movies here that are not super-popular but I wouldn't call them underrated. (I mean, Lone Star has a 93% rating on the Tomatometer.) I'm gonna throw Pluto Nash, an honest-to-goodness science fiction film (at 5%! :D), out there. :)
 

Winston T. Boogie

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Well, like determining if a film is overrated, I think we could state why we think a film is underrated. You could use how professional critics reacted to the film or you could use the size of the audience the film found and if the film seems to come up when people list films they love.


One thing I always hope for when I am reading an underrated list is maybe a film I have not seen and someone else expressing their love for it motivates me to see it.


The small list of films I posted are all films I love and that seem to not get discussed much, plus have not received blu-ray releases. To me that makes them "underrated" because when people discuss the work of Sidney Lumet, for example, they tend not to bring up Prince of the City but it is really an epic and very moving film that I think should be discussed as one of his best works.


Josh listed Wonder Boys and I feel like that is a perfect definition for an "underrated" film. It features great performances by the cast, tells an excellent story, and is a film you can watch again and again and enjoy more each time. However, even though critics seemed to like it audiences avoided it and missed an excellent film.


Edwin listed Cars, and I believe he means the animated film, and honestly I thought that film was well known and successful...I was not sure why Cars would be listed as "underrated" but then Travis backed him up on that and so, I must have missed that this was not a popular film.
 

Winston T. Boogie

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David's choice of Night Moves is another film that I think defines "underrated" as it is an excellent film from Arthur Penn with a cast that knocks it out of the park. I have long hoped this film would turn up on blu-ray. Hackman is wonderful in the picture, as usual, and it is another of the "sunshine Noirs" that emerged in the 1970s. If you have never seen it I highly recommend it. Really a lost classic that should be mentioned in the same breath as films like Chinatown or The Long Goodbye.​
 

Winston T. Boogie

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Walter mentions several films I really love. Zodiac and Fearless are both excellent films that thankfully are available on blu-ray for people to discover. The Beast of War is a very good film that probably a lot of people have never seen or heard of.


Session 9 is the one that really caught my eye as it is one of the best horror films I have seen...well...probably since Kubrick's The Shining. Really a creepy ride in a truly eerie setting and again the cast nails this one. Needs to appear on blu-ray and if you love horror films and have not seen this...what are you waiting for? Honestly I think if you are making a list of the "Best Horror Films of All Time" this should be on the list.
 

TravisR

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Reggie W said:
Edwin listed Cars, and I believe he means the animated film, and honestly I thought that film was well known and successful...I was not sure why Cars would be listed as "underrated" but then Travis backed him up on that and so, I must have missed that this was not a popular film.
In terms of Pixar movies, Cars did pretty well at the box office and it made a huge amount of money in merchandising (I think more than a billion dollars now) but when people discuss Pixar movies, it's frequently cited as one of their weakest efforts and I think it's one of their best.
 

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