Underrated Movies

[Gov Kodos]

"Last Man Standing" was fun, in spite of the voice over, a very enjoyable remake of Yojimbo and A Fist Full of Dollars.

 

[Lonemagpie]

"Last Man Standing" was fun, in spite of the voice over, a very enjoyable remake of Yojimbo and A Fist Full of Dollars.

And actually a far more faithful adaptation of the original novel (Dashiell Hammet's Red Harvest)... I love it.

Mars Attacks is great also - the only bit in it that I *don't* like is Tom Jones's line "I saw him fight once in Cardiff, Wales." Nobody talks like that - who adds the country after the name of a place?

 

[stj]

^^^Someone who doesn't want the Yanks to think "Cardiff? Ah, England."

 

[Lonemagpie]

^^^Someone who doesn't want the Yanks to think "Cardiff? Ah, England."

No, he'd just say Cardiff. Or Wales. The line as written and spoken is how it'd be when printed in a reference book or newspaper, not a line to be spoken.

 

[stj]

^^^Cardiff, England, it is then.

 

[the G-man]

Another underrated comedy (and fantasy,) The Frighteners.

Not a lot of comedy in that film as I recall but it is a great film.

A film I never expected to enjoy, but really did, was the Way, starring Martin Sheen and directed by Emilio Estevez:

• A father heads overseas to recover the body of his estranged son who died while traveling the "El camino de Santiago," and decides to take the pilgrimage himself.

The poster, unfortunately, makes it look like a sequel to "Little Miss Sunshine" but its actually a very inspiring film about loss and the re-ignition of faith.

 

[Greg Cox]

Another underrated comedy (and fantasy,) The Frighteners.
.

Agreed. That was also the movie that convinced me that we now had the technology to do a really kick-ass version of The Spectre.

(Get on it, Warner Bros.)

 

[the G-man]

A Spectre movie? Hmmm. It might work if you treated it as a horror film, adapted the Fleischer stories, told it from the POV of the reporter investigating Corrigan.

 

[captcalhoun]

^^^Someone who doesn't want the Yanks to think "Cardiff? Ah, England."

No, he'd just say Cardiff. Or Wales. The line as written and spoken is how it'd be when printed in a reference book or newspaper, not a line to be spoken.

it was written by Yanks, who always like to tell you which state thier town's in.

"in Westfield, Oklahoma!" or "From Omaha, Nebraska!" or "Back home in Buttfuck, Alabama!"

it's what comes of having 50 states with a stunning lack of originality in half the place names.

 

[Greg Cox]

it's what comes of having 50 states with a stunning lack of originality in half the place names.

Don't be silly (he says from Oxford, Pennsylvania).

What? There's another Oxford out there?

 

[Flying Spaghetti Monster]

I have to put a vote to Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins. A fun movie. Though locked in the very trappings of the eighties, it has some awesome characters.

 

[Holdfast]

The 1993 Three Musketeers is indeed a brilliant movie (I also like the earlier 1970s Michael York versions too).!

The old 1940's version with Gene Kelly, Vincent Price, and Lana Turner is great, too.

Althought the 1970's Richard Lester version is probably the best.

By amazing coincidence, the 93 version was on TV earlier today, though I had to go out so only caught a bit of it. But still, Rebecca de Mornay in a bodice...

First time I'd seen any of it in many years, so it was fun to revisit. Chris O'Donnell is the weak link; he doesn't convince as D'Artagnan. But the rest of the cast really do have tremendous fun in their roles, with Richelieu, Athos and Porthos being wonderful portrayals. It isn't Dumas, but it IS fun, and so the spirit of Dumas lives on in it.

 

[EmoBorg]

Enemy Mine was a great sci fi movie about two enemies forced to work together on a desolate planet and survive. They become friends eventually. It performed poorly at the box office but i would rate it as one of my top ten sci fi movies of all time.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r1niSpaWtEw

 

[Allyn Gibson]

The Clive Owen King Arthur. The film's only weak link is Keira Knightley. Otherwise, I think the film looks great, the performances are solid, the story is compelling, and Hans Zimmer turns in a nicely percussive score.

 

[captcalhoun]

^shame the history's so completely wrong given their claims to accuracy. Roman Knights? do me a lemon.

 

[Starkers]

I think the idea has some merit, the legend of Arthur had to come from somewhere, and given the romans only left a hundred or so years before Arthur is supposed to have shown up it isn't that unbelievable. It's a notion that also cropped up in the film The Last Legion as well.

 

[Allyn Gibson]

^shame the history's so completely wrong given their claims to accuracy. Roman Knights? do me a lemon.

The Sarmatian knights have an historical basis, as does Lucius Artorius Castus. However, they weren't contemporary with Pelagius or Germanus. The history in King Arthur is all nonsense, but I don't let that detract from what I think is an enjoyable film.

 

[Holdfast]

For me personally when ever someone mentions Underrated Movie, my goto always is Thirteenth Warrior. Yes, it was somewhat of a bomb, with reshoots and the Director getting fired. However it has some really good action, the humor is well done without being over the top. Antonio Banderas actually gives one of his better performances and how can you go wrong with Vikings going on a quest.

its a great film. one that is often quoted among my friends and i.

This was on telly yesterday, so I tuned in after remembering reading these thread comments.

I wasn't terribly impressed, to be honest. It was OK though, and parts quite fun. A decent adventure movie with some nice set-pieces but I'd be pushed to rate it more than 3-3.5/5. Banderas is the best thing about it.

 

[Trekker4747]

Pluto Nash.

Hold on, hold on... Hear me out.

I've seen this movie a few times and I can certainly see the problems people may have with it. But, I enjoyed it. It's certainly not a great Eddie Murphy comedy (but at least it didn't involve him in multiple fat suits acting against himself) by any means but I liked the tone/feel of it. Yeah some humor is forced and needless but, I dunno, I liked it. In particular I liked Randy Quad as the robot "body guard."

The movie gets beat on a lot up there with Batman and Robin and, really, I don't think this movie quite deserves it because it's not nearly as ridiculous.

Pluto Nash, very underrated but, again, hardly great or anything.

 

[doubleohfive]

Unbreakable - Shyamalan's best and most overlooked film, before he started getting self-indulgent. Shame the planned trilogy never materialized, though given his recent track record, that's probably for the best now.

The Incredible Hulk - Seen by some as the worst of the Marvel Avenger's lead-up film, this was actually my favorite after Iron Man.

Dead Again - A cool but little known reincarnation / murder mystery by Kenneth Branagh.

Enemy of the State - Can be seen as an unofficial sequel to Gene Hackman's excellent 70s surveillance drama The Conversation.

The Illusionist - Not as good as Nolan's similarly themed Prestige, but a nice film on its own merits.

The Cable Guy - Loses the funny in the final act in favor of dark social commentary, which puts some people off, but up until then one of the most hilarious movies ever.

Agreed on all these... especially Dead Again. Love that one!