Most Underrated Films

[Dis]

I found Blade Runner boring when I was a kid.

But I really enjoyed this film when I watched it about 5 months ago. It's worth another look.

[connorkimbro]

underrated? mkay. . .

AI
K-Pax
Pay it Forward


esp the last one. amazing movie that never got much attention.

[PLATO]

The most underated film ever is Once upon a time in America. Great cast, great acting, great story. Shoul rival The Godfather IMHO.

[Ogie Oglethorpe]

Once Upon a Time in America - Absolutely.

[St Leo]

Austin Powers III - It's a great postmodernist film when viewed together with the first two.

[Imran Siddiqui]

ugh... I HATED Austin Powers III.

Austin Powers I, now, that was a great flick!

[Ted Striker]

I thought Thin Red Line was way underrated

I HATED it the first time I watched it.

But I watched it a few more times and I like it more and more every single time. It's an awesome film, with alot of good performances and alot of surreal imagery.

I really like that movie.

[Imran Siddiqui]

Ted: Good flick!

[molly bloom]

Originally posted by mindseye
Don't Look Back - excellent, creepy ESP movie set in crumbling Venice. Donald Sutherland is terrific.
This Quiet Earth - Bruno Lawrence (great actor) wakes up from a coma to discover he is the only person left alive on Earth.
The Navigator - dark, interesting film about the Bubonic Plague and medieval time travel.
Carnival of Souls - very cool, very spooky. Filmed at a dilapidated Salt Lake resort.
The Wicker Man - paganism and a missing girl lead a policeman to a wonderfully terrifying conclusion

Don't Look Back is the Pennebaker Bob Dylan film. 'Don't Look Now' is the Nicholas Roeg psychological thriller, with Donald Sutherland's best performance outside of 'Klute'.

I liked 'Carnival of Souls' too- a limited budget but a clever use of available landscape to evoke an eerie unsettling atmosphere.

Anyway some of my choices:

'Assault on Precinct 13'- edgy John Carpenter modern western with a police station in thethores of being closed and relocated under siege from do or die urban gangs. A lovely electronic soundtrack from Mr. Carpenter too.

'Trouble in Mind'- Divine's frist straight role as the gangster Hilly Blue in a Seattle of the future, with great performances from the likes of Genevieve Bujold and Keith Carradine, and Marianne Faithfull's sublime rendition of the blues song of the title on the soundtrack.

'Tampopo' -comedy and food and sex with food- an irresistible combination from Juzo Itami. Only watch if you've eaten- or you'll end up hungry...

'A World Apart'- three stand out female performances from Barbara Hershey as South African anti-apartheid activist Ruth First, Jodhi May as her daughter, and Linda Mvusi as their maid. Beats 'Dry White Season' and 'Cry Freedom into a cocked hat'.

A Jim Thompson adaptation- Jason Patric as a brain damaged ex-boxer duped into a kidnapping scheme, in 'After Dark, My Sweet', and the neo-noir of 'The Last Seduction', with Linda Fiorentino outstanding as a woman on her way up who won't let little things like marital fidelity and murder by automobile get in her way.

'Running on Empty'- shows what potential River Phoenix had as an actor when in cast in a film (and role) with some substance.

'Earth'- a great film from a trilogy set in pre and post partition India/Pakistan, exploring what the human costs of political ambitions are, as a group of religiously mixed friends is sundered by the communal strife following independence.

'The Wedding Banquet' -explores the complex relationships in mixed race partnerships, culture clashes and how the closet is no place to be if you're Chinese of Anglo...

But there's so many more- 'Electra Glide in Blue', 'Death in a French Garden', 'Coup de Torchon', 'Les Yeux Sans Visage', the Dutch/French 'The Vanishing', 'City of Lost Children', 'Race With the Devil', John Huston's 'The Dead', 'The Stranger', 'Horror Hotel', 'Night of the Demon', 'The Decline of the American Empire' ...

[Sikander]

Originally posted by Dissident
Freeway. This is the movie that got me into Reese Witherspoon. I have fallen in love with her. . It's kind of cheesy in parts, but Reese saves this movie. I love her and want her to bear my children. Whatever you do, avoid freeway2.

Election. Another underrated Reese film. Kind of a dark ending, but I liked it.

Being John Malkovich. While I didn't like it that much, it still was a good film that doesn't get much praise.

12 Monkeys- well it has some success, but I still feel it is underrated.

I agree that all of these movies were either good or great. Freeway rocks! Reese is great of course, but it was Kiefer Sutherland who stole the show for me. Brooke Shields was also good in her small part.

Election is even better than Freeway, though for the same reasons. Good writing and an excellent cast doing their jobs very well. This one is really funny IMO.

BJM is probably my least favorite film of these four. IMO much of its impact is used up the first time you see it, and it doesn't repeat all that well. That said, it will have an impact on you, and that alone is worth the price of admission. Again a stellar cast, and a lot of interesting shots and cuts that for once don't detract from the atmosphere of the film.

12 Monkeys is another great film. Again its cast is superlative, with Bruce Willis, Madaleine Stowe and Bradd Pitt all doing fine work. It has the usual Gilliam grandiosity visually, which recommends it to me, though some people tire of it. A very interesting story, with characters you can care about as well as laugh at.

[Sikander]

Originally posted by Zkribbler
Here's some that haven't been mentioned:

King of Hearts
Stone Boy
They Might be Giants
French Kiss
American President
A Thousand Clowns
Fistful of Dollars

Interesting phenomenon:
I loved Brazil on the big screen but hated it on small screen.
I hated The Fifth Element on the big screen but loved it on the small screen.

Thanks for reminding me about A Thousand Clowns. I'll never forget the cheerful camper speech done in the early moring on the stoop.

[Harry Seldon]

This Quiet Earth - Bruno Lawrence (great actor) wakes up from a coma to discover he is the only person left alive on Earth.

I've been dying to see this movie but it was stolen from the local video store. They just pulled the box from the shelves.

[gunkulator]

I haven't seen anyone mention Office Space yet. It has something of a cult following now but it was almost completely ignored when it came out. Simply the best satire about the modern working world.

[Japher]

It is sad how many movies I watch...

Everyone is mentioning some really good one's...

Glad to see someone threw up Nick of Time

I want to point out Cadence with Martin and Charlie Sheen... I think it was a straight to video, but I thought it was really good.

[Bugs ****ing Bunny]

There are an awful lot of films being selected that aren't underrated at all...

I'm going for Kevin Costner's "The Postman". And "Pretty in pink".