• Welcome! The TrekBBS is the number one place to chat about Star Trek with like-minded fans.
    If you are not already a member then please register an account and join in the discussion!

twenty most underrated movies, per IMDB

S

stj

Rear Admiral
Rear Admiral
I don't think I've seen this before, so it may be new here too.
As such lists go, it's not too bad, judging from the ones I've seen.

Miller's Crossing
The Thin Red Line
The Sweet Hereafter
The 25th Hour
Jackie Brown
Bottle Rocket
Into the Wild
Safe
Big Night
Leaving Las Vegas
Falling Down
Naked
Dead Again
Before Sunrise
Equilibrium
Zodiac
Truly, Madly, Deeply
American Movie
Orlando
Confessions of a Dangerous Mind

Miller's Crossing, Falling Down, Dead Again, Truly Madly Deeply and Orlando are all superb films which don't get nearly enough praise, if they're even remembered at all. Praising Tarantino is obligatory but Jackie Brown is a superb movie with heart as well as brains (both supplied mostly by Elmore Leonard.) As the peak of Tarantino's career it doesn't get nearly the love it deserves.

The Thin Red Line has one of the most stunning battle sequences I've ever seen, while Zodiac was astonishingly suspenseful, considering the script was so gullible about the source material.

Of the ones I've seen, the only one I wouldn't rate very highly would be Equilibrium, Christian Bale's screen test for Batman. His generally poor performance as Batman in the Nolan movies obviously has to be attributed to poor script and direction. Bale should have at least insisted that Nolan make the Batman action half as good as the gun kata in Equilibrium.

But what say those of you who've seen more of these movies than I have?
 
How did this list come about? Discrepancy between box office return and user ratings?

The only films on the list I've seen are The Sweet Hereafter, Zodiac and The Thin Red Line.

The latter is masterful and far superior fare to Saving Private Ryan. Also, the description of the film as depicting "a class of second-year philosophy students invading Guadalcanal" never gets old. :guffaw:

It's not the sort of war film that self-described fans of war films like. Which is ok, because most of those films are trash.

Zodiac ... eh. The craft is there, and it's fairly gripping the first time around, but the lethargic pacing is trying on subsequent viewings. Give me 90s-era Fincher any day.

The Sweet Hereafter I recall as a quiet, fairly unmemorable film, although there's some specific imagery from it that sticks with me. It's not a patch on Atom Egoyan's earlier masterpiece Exotica, though, which is one of the most affecting films I've ever seen.
 
From the ones I've seen:

The 25th Hour - I remember it being a pretty awesome movie. Edward Norton is the man.

Leaving Las Vegas - Also remember that being really good, but it's been forever since I've seen it. Didn't Nicholas Cage win a best actor Oscar for this? Doesn't that kind of disqualify it as underrated?

Into the Wild - Good, but not utterly spectacular.

Falling Down - All levels of awesome, and all too relevant.

Equilibrium - Stupid stupid cheap looking movie. Words can't describe how disappointed I was when I finally watched this movie.
 
Miller's Crossing
The Thin Red Line
The Sweet Hereafter
The 25th Hour - good movie
Jackie Brown - ok movie
Bottle Rocket - never seen it
Into the Wild - one of my favorites
Safe - never heard of it
Big Night - never heard of it
Leaving Las Vegas - never seen it
Falling Down - never heard of it
Naked - never heard of it
Dead Again - never heard of it
Before Sunrise - never seen it
Equilibrium - never seen it
Zodiac- one of my favorites
Truly, Madly, Deeply - isn't this a Savage Garden song?
American Movie - never heard of it
Orlando - never heard of it
Confessions of a Dangerous Mind - ok
 
Of the movies mentioned in the OP, I've only seen Dead Again and Truly, Madly, Deeply - both of which are, IMO, quite brilliant.

Starbreaker said:
Truly, Madly, Deeply - isn't this a Savage Garden song?
Click to expand...
That, too, unfortunately. Even by Savage Garden's "standards" - incredibly limited as they were - it's a spectacularly shittacular excuse for a song. It's a pity such a good movie shares a title with that saccharine piece of garbage.
 
I'd definitely agree with Dead Again.

Kenneth Branagh, Emma Thompson, Robin Williams, Andy Garcia, Wayne Knight, and Derek Jacobi.

I first saw it when I was still a kid and it scared me to death. Really good flick. And Netflix currently has it On Demand, so it's worth a look for anyone that's a member.
 
I might have to check some of these out I haven't seen many.

I remember Leaving Las Vegas as being pretty decent but I haven't seen it in a long time. It was the start of a long road of Nicolas Cage impressions among some of my friends.

Equilibrium isn't underrated IMO, it is a decent little movie which I think got sufficient praise for what it was.

Jackie Brown is a great movie though. I've watched that numerous times and it always seems to suck me in if I'm flipping channels and see it's on. It's got a cool caper story but at a street level but the atmosphere is just through the roof. Leave it to Tarantino to find a terrific performance from 70's blaxploitation queen Pam Grier which is just as great as Travolta in Pulp Fiction. There's an undercurrent about getting older and out of touch and final chances throughout that might not appeal to everyone.
 
Miller's Crossing - A great movie but under-rated? It got plenty of critical acclaim on release and continues to be regarded as one of the Coens' finest.

The Thin Red Line - haven't seen it but it recently was voted one of the 25 best ever war movies by The Guardian and again attracted great reviews on release.

The Sweet Hereafter - Can't say.

The 25th Hour - I remember it getting good reviews, haven't seen it.

Jackie Brown - Quite possibly. It's QT's most mature movie and is overlooked in favour of the more flashy, more Tarantino-esque ones.

Bottle Rocket - Good little movie all right; not sure if I'd say it's in the top 20 under-rated movies. Again, it got good reviews.

Into the Wild, Safe, Big Night - haven't seen them but I do recall ITW and BN getting rave reviews

Leaving Las Vegas - An Oscar for its leading man, a nomination for its leading lady among other award recognitions. Is it really under-rated?

Falling Down - yeah, I'd say so. Great 'state-of-the-nation' movie with a fine performance from Douglas and a reminder that Joel Schumacher can be a bloody good director when he wants to be.

Naked - haven't seen it but it got great reviews and regularly turns up on lists of the best ever British movies. IIRC, it won awards in Cannes? So, under-rated?

Dead Again - It got sucky reviews on release; personally, I enjoyed it. Not sure if it's in the top 20 under-rated movies, but it is under-rated.

Before Sunrise - haven't seen it.

Equilibrium - Um, wtf? I like sci-fi, I like Bale but this was not a particularly good or memorable movie. Deserves its lack of recognition, IMHO.

Zodiac - got ecstatic reviews, even if it didn't win awards. How is it under-rated?

Truly, Madly, Deeply, American Movie, Orlando - haven't seen them

Confessions of a Dangerous Mind - it did get good reviews but I tend to think that Sam Rockwell never gets the recognition he deserves. So yeah, I'll go for it.
 
Thrilled to see Big Night here. Tony Shaloub's best role imo. It's basically a selling your soul to the devil allegory and a commentary on the place of artistry in the modern world, centered around fine Italian cooking.

Always liked Jackie Brown a lot. Haven't seen Falling Down in years.

I don't get the love for Bottle Rocket. I think it's easily the worst Wes Anderson movie. Owen Wilson is incredibly annoying in it (I know that's the point, but still).
 
The Thin Red Line is about the best film I have ever seen. I love it, it's awesome.

Equilibrium is pretty cool, too.

I haven't seen any of the others, I think.
 
Miller's Crossing - brilliant movie

The Thin Red Line - OK, considering how unfilmable the book is, but really needs to lose all the random wildlife shots.

The Sweet Hereafter - Never heard of it

The 25th Hour - Never heard of it

Jackie Brown - Tarantino sticks to a plot, bloody hell. Great movie, and I wish he'd do something of this tone again.

Bottle Rocket - Never heard of it

Into the Wild - haven't seen it

Safe - Never heard of it

Big Night - never heard of it

Leaving Las Vegas - Its OK

Falling Down - great stuff, though a little dated by now

Naked - Crap

Dead Again - Crap

Before Sunrise - Never heard of it

Equilibrium - I've tried to make it through this, but just can't

Zodiac - fantastic movie

Truly, Madly, Deeply - pretty decent, and Alan Rickman is great in a role rather different than his usual screen image

American Movie - never heard of it

Orlando - It's OK

Confessions of a Dangerous Mind - disappointing, considering what I expected from it.
 
IndyJones said:
I'd definitely agree with Dead Again.

Kenneth Branagh, Emma Thompson, Robin Williams, Andy Garcia, Wayne Knight, and Derek Jacobi.

I first saw it when I was still a kid and it scared me to death. Really good flick. And Netflix currently has it On Demand, so it's worth a look for anyone that's a member.
Click to expand...

This, this this.... I loved the movie. Sadly, after all the hype I built up for my wife to see it, when she did, she promptly fell asleep.. Geez..

I'd add to the list: Local Hero.. Such a neat little film.
 
Oh yeah, I watched Zodiac at the cinema. It's cool...but my main reason for going to see it was the lead actor. So there you have it. :rolleyes:
 
You know, I can't help noticing that there's probably not a single movie on this list that was made before the eighties, and certainly not any old black-and-white movies.

Sigh. It's like there's an entire generation that thinks that movie history began in the seventies . . . and that any movie made before they were born doesn't count.

End of rant.
 
Greg Cox said:
You know, I can't help noticing that there's probably not a single movie on this list that was made before the eighties, and certainly not any old black-and-white movies.

Sigh. It's like there's an entire generation that thinks that movie history began in the seventies . . . and that any movie made before they were born doesn't count.

End of rant.
Click to expand...

We call it 'progress'.

EDIT: No ... that's not fair. Times change. The medium evolves and it's difficult to go back when you were never there in the first place. If you were born in 1990 and can watch The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari without reaching for the fast-forward and mute buttons, great, but I don't think it's reasonable to expect that any more than it is to expect schoolchildren to read books written in the 14th century in a form of English that is barely comprehensible to modern eyes. Given the constant production of new films, and the ever-increasing accumulation of the past, it's only natural that that past becomes compressed until - for all but the most dedicated - only the highlights remain. It's unsurprisingly that a list about underrated movies features no films from the (relatively) distant past. The only 40s films modern audiences know about aren't underrated at all, they're the widely-acknowledged cream of the crop. In contrast, our experience with more recent films is vastly more diverse.
 
Last edited:
Then maybe they should have labeled the list "The Twenty Most Underrated Modern Movies." It would have been more honest.

Alas, this always happens these days. Pretty much anytime you see an article on the "Twenty Best Horror Films/Comedies/Action Films/Romances/Science Fiction Films/whatever," you can probably bet that almost all of them will have been filmed after 1975--and probably more much recently than that. With maybe one token b/w movie thrown in for credibility's sake.

It's like they think people won't recognize any movie before JAWS or THE GODFATHER . . . and the rest of Hollywood history can be swept under the rug.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
If you are not already a member then please register an account and join in the discussion!

Sign up / Register


Back
Top