Anyone ever see "Children of Men"? I thought that movie was just incredible. Reminded me of "Blade Runner" in terms of thought-provoking Science Fiction. Unfortunately, while it got good reviews it kind of just died after release. Great soundtrack too.
This thread could get lengthy depending on what you mean by "underrated". Do you mean at initial release?or after they released? ex: Blade Runner or even Princess Bride didn't do well at the box office and were considered underrated until they grew a huge cult following long after release.
Apart from those 2 i have to slot "The Usual Suspects" as WAY underrated, brilliant film. I'll delay any more listings until i know for sure what you're looking for. And i agree, "Children of Men" was a good film, *spoiler part coming*, almost cried when Michael Cain's character was killed.
Agreed, all three films mentioned here are well worth a look...one that's probably had a bit more attention but definitely is worth revisiting is another Hunter S Thompson adap starring Depp (and the awesome Benicio Del Toro from Usual Suspects) is Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas... terrifyingly hilarious. Don't take drugs, kids.
On that theme, Richard Linklater's adap of A Scanner Darkly is absolutely brilliant and savagely underappreciated. Another one i'll throw in there is a terrific Aussie western called The Proposition. John Hillcoat directed, Nick Cave wrote it, and Guy Pearce, Ray Winstone and Danny Huston star...bleak, brutal and well worth a watch.
13 Warriors with Antonio Banderas was badly under-rated; had a great feeling of being about a party of adventurers; also agreeing with @Arkynomicon on Dark City
Films which are not known as widely as they should be (as far as I know).
The Station Agent (starring Peter Dinklage, The Imp in Game of Thrones) A loner with dwarfism moves into an abandoned rural train depot after inheriting it following the death of his only friend.
Beowulf and Grendel - very recent and maybe it isn't that unknown. Came out around the same time as the horrendous CGI version of Beowulf, filmed in Iceland (so the setting is amazing) and is an attempt to tell the Grendel story in a "this is how it could have happened irl" kind of way, with Grendel as a kind of last lingering Neanderthal, though strangely his mother is still unarguably a troll. Not a masterpiece or anything like that, but sadly unknown in my experience. Most people I mention a Beowulf film to immediately become Nauseous as they think I am referring to the CGI version.
Most Verner Herzog films. Again, hardly underrated but have enough people seen his films? Grizzly man, The Wide Blue Yonder, Encounters at the Edge of the World, all phenomenal films.
The Hour of the Pig - Medieval tale starring Colin Firth, Ian Holm and Nicol Williamson (amongst others), based around real accounts of medieval life, particularly a trial involving a pig. If you are interested in medieval life then this film is for you, it's fanciful but amazing.
Rescue Dawn with Christian Bale, I dont know whether it was underrated or not, but its a damn good movie. I have a feeling that Kingdom of Heaven was pretty underrated. Personally i think its brilliant. @HaHaCharade I will follow your recomendation and will watch Children of men later on today:)
@HaHaCharade: that movie had one of the best tracking shots of all time. No one even really notices it, but the scene where they are in the car and get ambushed? Go look into that. They had to build this insanely elaborate car-mounted camera thingy so that they didn't have to break shot. It's amazing. The cinematography in that flick is gorgeous and ground-breaking.
As for me, the most underrated movie I've seen in awhile was Scott Pilgrim vs. The World. Most nerds know about it, but outside of the it's cult following, no one ever bothered with it. I saw it in theaters a bunch of times and can't think of a single time I saw anyone leave the theater sad they went to see it.
@HaHaCharade: that movie had one of the best tracking shots of all time. No one even really notices it, but the scene where they are in the car and get ambushed? Go look into that. They had to build this insanely elaborate car-mounted camera thingy so that they didn't have to break shot. It's amazing. The cinematography in that flick is gorgeous and ground-breaking.../blockquote>
Yes! Scene is crazy. Just totally intense and awesome, I agree.
@HaHaCharade: that movie had one of the best tracking shots of all time. No one even really notices it, but the scene where they are in the car and get ambushed? Go look into that. They had to build this insanely elaborate car-mounted camera thingy so that they didn't have to break shot. It's amazing. The cinematography in that flick is gorgeous and ground-breaking.../blockquote>
Yes! Scene is crazy. Just totally intense and awesome, I agree.
Yes! one of the first things that cought my attention was these shots, I have seen the movie yesterday for the first time, and this scene was a huge jawdropper(i dont know is that a word?:) Also the whole getto runaway was really intense, camera operating was truly dynamic. Good movie
As for me, the most underrated movie I've seen in awhile was Scott Pilgrim vs. The World. Most nerds know about it, but outside of the it's cult following, no one ever bothered with it. I saw it in theaters a bunch of times and can't think of a single time I saw anyone leave the theater sad they went to see it.
Yes. Yes. YESSSSS!! Okay yes you beat me to what I was thinking the second I entered this thread. :P Good job!
My favorite movie of all time. It did not disappoint in the slightest. Action, comedy, and romance. And none of it felt forced or stale. Just an incredible movie.
I also recommend The Counterfeiters(Die Falscher) It is a German movie based on true story about the biggest counterfeiting operation ever made. Its available with english subs, really worth watching. Another one i like is The Traitor with Don Cheadle, i guess its pretty popular though.
I can't remember the last time I saw a film I was genuinely enthusiastic about. Probably "The Kings Speech" i guess. For me, the HBO style series has killed the film. A story that can adequately be told in 90 mins is usually not the sort of story I'd be interested in.
Yeah! The Mist is great I was looking out for it as I saw a great TV review of it when it came out, but had never seen it and accidentally picked up a copy of The Fog instead, when I had cleared the up fragments of the DVD and admonished myself for my error I went out and got a copy of the RIGHT FILM.
Children of Men is definitely one of my favourite. I'm surprised so far heard of it.
Another one that comes to mind is 'Ink'. The first few minutes put me off a bit, as it looked a bit low budget, but the movie really pulled me in afterwards. Most original movie I've seen in a long time.
Probably one of the best movies, and deffinatly not seen by many are:
- Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind. a mind blowing movie! - Southland Tales, i went totally WTF on that movie! - Pan's Labyrinth, even if its spanish its an awesome fantasy
and i could go on, but i guess thats not the point of this topic. More as in a "if you havent seen these, watch them!" but so far ive nearly all mentioned and i agree on most of m, except the scott pilgrim one, couldnt watch it at all, turned it off halway through!
- Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind. a mind blowing movie!
Absolutely, I adore this movie. It's such a quiet, classy movie that hardly anyone's seen, despite Kate Winslet, Elijah Wood, Jim Carrey and Kirstin Dunst in the leads (which should garner some attention regardless of the topic). It's a beautiful film.
My Dinner with Andre (1981) - an action/adventure extraordinaire featuring Wallace Shawn and Andre Gregory. Definitely one of my favorite films and most people I meet have never seen it.
- Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind. a mind blowing movie!
Absolutely, I adore this movie. It's such a quiet, classy movie that hardly anyone's seen, despite Kate Winslet, Elijah Wood, Jim Carrey and Kirstin Dunst in the leads (which should garner some attention regardless of the topic). It's a beautiful film.
I think that is cause it never came in the teathers. (Not in Europe anyways) And afaik it wasnt in the US (and if it was, it wasnt a big nation wide release) But my god it so beautifull!
@zraenian, YES thank you for mentioning that gem of a movie called "pan's labyrinth". Rarely does a movie make me feel emotions like that one, specially the hatred i had towards one of the main characters(trying to avoid spoilers). I don't mind the subtitles though i knew enough of the language to understand most of it without having to read all of them. I'll add 2 other films that critics didn't like(those are usually the movies i know i'll enjoy hehe) and many may disagree, but i thought they were good if you're into underrated artsy films. Mirromask and Solaris with Clooney and my Natasha....errr i mean Natasha Mcelhone. Those 2 aren't for everyone but i did enjoy them...the music in itself in solaris was appealing.
I must have a cheekbone fetish cause i have a big crush on Natasha Mcelhone and Olivia Wilde in that sexy outfit in tron:legacy lol
Comments
Apart from those 2 i have to slot "The Usual Suspects" as WAY underrated, brilliant film. I'll delay any more listings until i know for sure what you're looking for. And i agree, "Children of Men" was a good film, *spoiler part coming*, almost cried when Michael Cain's character was killed.
On that theme, Richard Linklater's adap of A Scanner Darkly is absolutely brilliant and savagely underappreciated. Another one i'll throw in there is a terrific Aussie western called The Proposition. John Hillcoat directed, Nick Cave wrote it, and Guy Pearce, Ray Winstone and Danny Huston star...bleak, brutal and well worth a watch.
The Station Agent (starring Peter Dinklage, The Imp in Game of Thrones) A loner with dwarfism moves into an abandoned rural train depot after inheriting it following the death of his only friend.
Beowulf and Grendel - very recent and maybe it isn't that unknown. Came out around the same time as the horrendous CGI version of Beowulf, filmed in Iceland (so the setting is amazing) and is an attempt to tell the Grendel story in a "this is how it could have happened irl" kind of way, with Grendel as a kind of last lingering Neanderthal, though strangely his mother is still unarguably a troll. Not a masterpiece or anything like that, but sadly unknown in my experience. Most people I mention a Beowulf film to immediately become Nauseous as they think I am referring to the CGI version.
Most Verner Herzog films. Again, hardly underrated but have enough people seen his films? Grizzly man, The Wide Blue Yonder, Encounters at the Edge of the World, all phenomenal films.
The Hour of the Pig - Medieval tale starring Colin Firth, Ian Holm and Nicol Williamson (amongst others), based around real accounts of medieval life, particularly a trial involving a pig. If you are interested in medieval life then this film is for you, it's fanciful but amazing.
I have a feeling that Kingdom of Heaven was pretty underrated. Personally i think its brilliant.
@HaHaCharade I will follow your recomendation and will watch Children of men later on today:)
I rather enjoy the directors cut version of Kingdom of Heaven a lot.
As for me, the most underrated movie I've seen in awhile was Scott Pilgrim vs. The World. Most nerds know about it, but outside of the it's cult following, no one ever bothered with it. I saw it in theaters a bunch of times and can't think of a single time I saw anyone leave the theater sad they went to see it.
@HaHaCharade: that movie had one of the best tracking shots of all time. No one even really notices it, but the scene where they are in the car and get ambushed? Go look into that. They had to build this insanely elaborate car-mounted camera thingy so that they didn't have to break shot. It's amazing. The cinematography in that flick is gorgeous and ground-breaking.../blockquote>
Yes! Scene is crazy. Just totally intense and awesome, I agree.
Yes! one of the first things that cought my attention was these shots, I have seen the movie yesterday for the first time, and this scene was a huge jawdropper(i dont know is that a word?:) Also the whole getto runaway was really intense, camera operating was truly dynamic. Good movie
My favorite movie of all time. It did not disappoint in the slightest. Action, comedy, and romance. And none of it felt forced or stale. Just an incredible movie.
Another one i like is The Traitor with Don Cheadle, i guess its pretty popular though.
Also, Vanilla Sky, American Beauty, Lost in Translation, and Life Aquatic.
American Beauty is underrated?
A story that can adequately be told in 90 mins is usually not the sort of story I'd be interested in.
Another one that comes to mind is 'Ink'. The first few minutes put me off a bit, as it looked a bit low budget, but the movie really pulled me in afterwards. Most original movie I've seen in a long time.
- Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind. a mind blowing movie!
- Southland Tales, i went totally WTF on that movie!
- Pan's Labyrinth, even if its spanish its an awesome fantasy
and i could go on, but i guess thats not the point of this topic. More as in a "if you havent seen these, watch them!" but so far ive nearly all mentioned and i agree on most of m, except the scott pilgrim one, couldnt watch it at all, turned it off halway through!
It's a beautiful film.
But my god it so beautifull!
I must have a cheekbone fetish cause i have a big crush on Natasha Mcelhone and Olivia Wilde in that sexy outfit in tron:legacy lol
Awesome cast, and flat out hilarious.