Underrated Movies

[the G-man]

The Game: I think this is amazing, very convincing narrative the first time you see it, and a great character piece every time after that.

Yes.

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

Yes.

Zodiac - Highly critically acclaimed, it sadly underperformed at the box office.

Yes.

 

[Lonemagpie]

Is Fast Five really underrated? It did the best business of the series and got generally good reviews....

 

[Flying Spaghetti Monster]

I agree about Hudson Hawk (how can you go wrong where there is a scene where Bruce Willis is stealing something from the Vatican, escapes to the roof, and dangles on a TV antenna that's connected to the Pope's room wherein the pope is watching Mr. Ed dubbed in Italian, is desperately trying to get the signal back, or a bunch of former CIA agents are all named after candy bars, or Butterfinger, while in Rome, keeps asking for French Fries, or people in Rome eat canned spaghetti, or two thieves use skateboards to sneak past the guards, or.... well the movie was just so damn witty).

I also agree about Zodiac,. I am not a fan of serial killer movies, and this is one of my favorite movies overall, ever. everyone simple becomes the character that they play. I forget that it's a movie and think I'm watching the events as they happen. For those that liked Mark Rufallo in The Avengers, check out this film. His performance as the detective that was the inspiration for Dirty Harry is spot-on.

 

[lurok]

Mystery Men - silly but fun
In The Mouth of Madness - love all Carpenter's films (yes, even the bad ones). Just started reading Lovecraft and can see influences on this.
Raising Cain & Obsession - have similar fondness for oddball de Palma films
Dune

recently saw that weird Walter Hill sci-fi films for first time and thought wasn't as bad as rep suggested (if a little derivative).

 

[Kemaiku]

I agree about Hudson Hawk (how can you go wrong where there is a scene where Bruce Willis is stealing something from the Vatican, .

I forgot that scene, the Pope trying to get the TV working by banging it with the Papal staff.

 

[Greg Cox]

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

Yes.

.

I remember liking this. I should see it again.

 

[1001001]

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.

Agreed. I thought Unbreakable was beautifully done, all the way around.

My nominee is Dragonfly. Kevin Costner is a doctor who believes his dead wife is trying to communicate with him from beyond the grave, but no one believes him.

My wife and I saw this in the theaters, and I swear I was crying so hard at the end I had to get my shit together before driving home.



Everyone we showed it too had that same reaction: that was great, why haven't I heard of that before?

If you like tearjerkers with a twist, check it out.

 

[Flying Spaghetti Monster]

I agree about Hudson Hawk (how can you go wrong where there is a scene where Bruce Willis is stealing something from the Vatican, .

I forgot that scene, the Pope trying to get the TV working by banging it with the Papal staff.

It's all kinds of funny. Again, the Pope is watching Mr. Ed dubbed in Italian. That is really subversive. Or, how about the scene where Hawk meets the leader of the Candy Bars, in the middle of Rome. He's like "Ah, Rome, I did my first bare-handed strangulation here.' Actually that whole scene (which begins with Willis at the phone booth and ends with "Thanks Yogi,) is my favorite in the film. look at the brilliance of David Caruso's silent Kit Kat character as he mimics Willis throughout the scene. Really subversive stuff.

Or, how about the Vatican using electronic "spy' crucifixes to communicate with agents?

 

[Kemaiku]

There are a lot of subtle elements like that throughout the film that I love. The dialogue might be silly but it is still funny.

Actually as a list of weird/odd films I love that people have or haven't mentioned:

Rocky Horror Picture Show
Repo! The Genetic Opera
Clue
Oscar
Noises Off
Last Action Hero
The Crow
The Evil Dead trilogy
SWAT
Loaded Weapon 1

 

[captcalhoun]

SWAT? the colin farrell/SLJ one? what's odd about that?

underrated, yeah, odd, not so much...

 

[Kemaiku]

SWAT? the colin farrell/SLJ one? what's odd about that?

underrated, yeah, odd, not so much...

I thought it was, the few times I've seen it discussed at all online it was usually being bashed for being lousy.

 

[captcalhoun]

i liked it. fun movie.

 

[Kemaiku]

i liked it. fun movie.

Yup, Jeremy Renner is pretty good as the villain.

 

[barnaclelapse]

Halloween III: Season of the Witch - Most people automatically hate this movie because Michael Myers is nowhere to be seen (well, actually he is... on a TV in a bar) but aside from this, the movie is creepy as fuck and good luck getting the "*insert number of days here* to Halloween" Silver Shamrock song out of your head after watching it. I like Tom Atkins in it and Dan O'Herlihy is kind of a douche as the CEO of Silver Shamrock. I'm a fan of horror movies, but this movie has one of THE creepiest and disturbing deaths out of all the movies I've seen (where the mask is tested out on the kid).

Saw I - VII - A lot of people dismiss these movies as torture porn, and while they can be a bit gruesome and the acting a bit wooden, I still like them all the same. All the movies build on the events of the others and story threads are carried over through multiple films, and the end of Saw 3D is pretty badass. For movies that were cranked out one per year, the traps are pretty inventive and the plot twists pretty shocking.

I love Halloween III. The only sin it's guilty of that I can see is that it has a III at the end of it.

 

[Saga]

Last Action Hero

yes! i've always liked that movie. its just a fun film and one that a movie buff would love. also, Arnold saying rubber baby buggy bumpers always cracks me up for some reason.

 

[Flying Spaghetti Monster]

Last Action Hero

yes! i've always liked that movie. its just a fun film and one that a movie buff would love. also, Arnold saying rubber baby buggy bumpers always cracks me up for some reason.

I always had a crush on his daughter in the film. Love how she beats up a guy while acting like she needed help.


A movie I would add to this that is more recent is Young Adult. Thought she's a big star, Charlize Theron really becomes the high school girl you wanted to forget. Ironically, a single woman, writer, slob is like me. I'm the male version of her but I'm not going to do what she chose to do here.

 

[Magellan]

Regarding recent under rated movies two come readily to mind.

Pandorum was pretty much critically panned but I thought it rather interesting and somewhat novel. I cant possibly describe it as bad in anyway. I could understand maybe saying it wasnt original or compelling enough but it is almost certainly serviceable.

Also

Terminator Salvation. I just dont understand the hate. It was absolutely better the T3 and personally, I prefer it to T2's sappy crap. Also A-10's kicking but alone justify this movie.

 

[Enterprise is Great]

Yeah, Terminator Salvation was pretty good. Not great but good...nowhere near as bad as it's reputation.

 

[Orac Zen]

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

Agreed - a terrific movie with a terrific cast (I usually cannot stand Robin Williams, but he's almost bearable in this). It ought to be better known than it is.

Speaking of Branagh, I thought Mary Shelley's Frankenstein was nowhere near as dreadful as it was made out to be at the time. It's not a masterpiece, either, and Branagh has made better movies, but I'd still call it underrated.

 

[Gov Kodos]

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.

I loved 'The Thirteenth Warrior', I've always been surprised folks ignore it. Not that they're underrated but I also have a soft spot for his Mariachi gun fight movies 'El Mariachi' 'Desperado', and 'Once upon a Time in Mexico.' In similar spirit, 'Machete' is a lot of fun as well.

Switching to comedy, 'Into the Night' was a fun Jewel theft/chase. It was a lot of fun back in the 80's as well as 'My Favorite Year' and 'The Stuntman' two great performances by Peter O'Toole.