Slashdot Asks: What's Your Favorite Underappreciated Movie? 893
What's one movie that is lesser-known or underappreciated that you really enjoyed -- or found insightful? Last time we asked this question, it was 2003!
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"The fundamental principle of science, the definition almost, is this: the sole test of the validity of any idea is experiment." -- Richard P. Feynman
Blow up (Score:3)
I like it, it's slow, not much talk, relaxing.
Re: Mod Parent up! (Score:5, Informative)
I never understood why Equilibrium wasn't as known. It's a fantastic movie who's premise is as interesting as Truman Show
Re: Mod Parent up! (Score:5, Informative)
"The Dish" and "Nobody's Fool" (Score:2)
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Re:"The Dish" and "Nobody's Fool" (Score:4, Insightful)
Max Headroom.
Body Banks are underappreciated!
Top Secret! (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Top Secret! (Score:5, Interesting)
Re: Top Secret! (Score:3)
In that genre I'd have to go with Spies Like Us. One of the best spy spoof movies in my opinion, with great performances by Dan Aykroyd and Chevy Chase.
Battle Beneath the Earth (Score:3)
Pure cold war crap, with a predictable plot and 1967 mindset. Great to watch and make fun of in a MST3000K way.
The Family Stone (Score:2)
Great cast, funny and poignant at the same time.
Re:The Family Stone (Score:4, Funny)
Sounds like a pretty sly movie...
True Romance (Score:4, Interesting)
That movie never made it big, but the acting, the cast, the scenes, the cinematography is really good.
Plus, its a love story.
The Shadow (Score:4, Interesting)
Re: (Score:2)
I enjoyed this movie as well.
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Yes. I also like this movie. Don't buy the Universal Studios blu-ray, though. The Shout Factory release is much better.
Speed Racer (Score:5, Interesting)
It's a lot better than you've heard. Get a bucket of popcorn (or go for the skittles, it'll match the color scheme), sit back and enjoy.
The casting is perfect to the anime, the over-the-top attitude is just right, and it felt like an extended episode (or rather pair -- there were a lot of 2-part stories). The dialog was delivered like the machinegun-fast dubbing, it never took itself seriously and it's truly fun.
I told this to a previous boss, and he fired me on the spot (he was kidding).
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Re: Speed Racer (Score:2)
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I actually enjoyed Speed Racer quite a bit, but it’s definitely a “turn your brain off and enjoy it” sort of movie.
Which is also exactly how I feel about “The Warrior’s Way”.
Both are, by any objective standard, bad movies. But if I’m in a certain frame of mind, I can really enjoy rewatching them every once in a while.
That balls punching midget with funny mustache... (Score:2)
Re: That balls punching midget with funny mustache (Score:2)
Pentagon Wars (Score:5, Insightful)
I feel like anyone who works in software, especially defense or really any of the more big industry/government type sectors can relate to much of this movie.
Closetland (Score:3)
Closetland staring Alan Rickman and Madeline Stowe about a children's book author who is suspected of writing subversive material so kids would rise up against the Gov't. It was partially funded by Amnesty International and had a message at the end about how the US is one of only a few countries left in the world that still uses torture to interrogate it's own citizens. Very interesting and dramatic and it takes place with just two people and one room.
Re: Closetland (Score:2)
and Madeline Stowe
Her cousin is a friend of a friend. Motherfucker had an IQ of about 85. But damn did his cousin look hot in one of those movies... probably Stakeout.
Re: (Score:3)
Although you may could be considered correct by technicality it would be about as accurate to say that United States citizens are serial killers. Your comments are incredibly misleading in multiple ways.
The reason that wikipedia article is long isn't because there are an abundance of information on domestic torture in modern times, but rather this is a document that covers a whole range of things related to the United States and torture both domestic and abroad, and also throughout its history which of cou
Glengarry Glen Ross (Score:5, Interesting)
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Deep Cover (Score:3)
Deep Cover, starring Laurence Fishburne, Jeff Goldblum, Charles Martin Smith, and an absolute murderer's row of brilliant character actors.
It's not a flawless movie by any means. But, boy, is it underrated. I think it's one of the first films that ever really unleashed the weirdness that is Jeff Goldblum. He plays a Delmore Schwartz-quoting suburban coke dealer. I don't know if he was actually high on cocaine throughout the filming of this movie, but it wouldn't surprise me to learn that he was. And, of course, it also has Laurence Fishburne, who at that time was one of the best actors around.
Bad Ass (Score:2)
Where's the Girl? The Motion Picture (Score:2)
Recently rewatched Spartan (2004). David Mamet's dialogue has a certain quality to it, almost as catchy as Tarantino's.
The President's daughter has vanished. At least, that's "obviously" who she is, but no one ever says so. A great strength of this movie is how much is left unstated, because what's unstated is usually something you don't need to hear, because you've heard it a hundred times before in other cop/detective dramas.
I'm linking a couple clips in her
Two: Falling Down and Eye in the Sky (Score:4, Interesting)
Re: (Score:2)
Definitely underappreciated (Score:5, Insightful)
Cloud Atlas [youtube.com]
The movie was based on a book by David Mitchell [wikipedia.org]. It's a series of six stories layered together like a Matryoshka Doll, where each story is interrupted about halfway by the next, except the sixth story, which, when fully completed, then references back the latter halves of each prior story. Needless to say, turning that into a movie would be an incredibly difficult task, but they pulled it off amazingly.
Not to mention, an all-star cast of Tom Hanks, Halle Barry, Jim Broadbent, and many others, and directed by The Wachowskis and by Tom Tykwer.
But, due to the story's complexity, and it's length (3 hours), it was not your average movie-goer experience, didn't do well in theaters, and cost about 10 million more than it made.
In my opinion, one of the most brilliant movies ever made.
Re:Definitely underappreciated (Score:4, Informative)
>"Cloud Atlas"
+1
It was fantastic. Intense, full of drama, mystery, action, thriller, love, conflict, thought, and a great story. Not many movies get a 5 star from me... it earned it, easily. Yes, it was hard to follow and complex, and they didn't "spoon feed" the audience, and that probably led to it being not as popular as it could be. It was also long, but WORTH THE TIME. I would never have shortened it, not a bit.
>"In my opinion, one of the most brilliant movies ever made."
Absolutely.
I don't care that it wasn't a blockbuster, I am just glad it was made I got to see it. And I watched it 3 times now. The 2nd time, about 9 months later, helped clear up a few things for me. The 3rd viewing was just for fun, I think another year later or so. I SO much wish for more movies like it.
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I think it was dumbed down for the movie, not trusting the audience to make connections to things happening 20 mins or more apart, so it jumped back and forth to make sure you could follow it even if you had just a 3 min attention span. This also meant that each i
Moon (2009) (Score:5, Insightful)
Re: (Score:3)
Yes to moon, Ex Machina, Iron Sky, memento (Score:3)
Loved moon. Too bad it now carries a taint due to one of the actor's destroyed reputation in personal life. It has an atmosphere like Ex Machina
and speaking of moons.
Iron Sky is awesome in the same way John Dies at the End is hilarious. By the way the 2nd Iron Sky is finally out. It's not as nearly as good as the first, due to the bigger budget I supsect, but still a goof.
In the drama movie realm: Man From Earth is a great essentially single room play thought piece all dialog. It's older but has final
Re: (Score:3)
One of his accusers appears to have forged ecidence and withdrew the law suit. It's a bit more ambiguous now about the harrassment part. The other cases seem more human relations issue than harrassment.
"Jupiter Ascending" (Score:3)
Redmayne's portrayal of Balem Abrasax aside that is... holy fuck, that was awful. There's just no other words for it.
But that one notably bad performance notwithstanding, I otherwise really liked the film, and would have gone to see a sequel if it had been made.
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The Spirit (2008) (Score:3, Interesting)
Comedy Category: Baseket ball (Score:5, Funny)
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0... [imdb.com]
For sheer stupid comedy this is one of my favorites. Same category as airplane, just ramped up and modernized a bit. Yet no one I've met seems to like it.
The Hudsucker Proxy (Score:4, Interesting)
The Big Kahuna (Score:2)
"Locke" and "Mr Turner" (Score:2)
OMFG... (Score:2)
Species (Score:2)
OK, there is much about it that sucks but as a subtle and ingenious, as well as practical way to invade the planet, it works.
Comment removed (Score:5, Interesting)
Re: (Score:2)
I don't think I'd call it "Underappreciated".
That movie is an Oscar winning classic.
"Clue" and "Murder by Death" (Score:5, Insightful)
"Clue" is a very funny movie, one that I quote and misquote almost as much as "The Princess Bride."
Mustard: You tell them it isn't true.
Scarlett: It isn't true.
Plum: Is that true?
Scarlett: It isn't true.
Mustard: How many husbands have you had?
White: Mine or other women's?
Mustard: Yours.
White: Five.
Mustard: Five?
White: Yes, just the five. I believe husbands should be like tissue -- soft, strong and disposable.
The movie is filled with lines like these.
"Murder by Death" is a spoof on many of the old detective movies and books, but it really helps to have seen or read them to appreciate the spoof.
Destination Moon (1950) (Score:2)
Hudson Hawk (Score:5, Interesting)
One of many movies that are good despite the presence of Andie MacDowell.
A great action comedy that was marketed as an action movie.
The Director's commentary is just various people saying "The movie did really well in Europe" over and over again.
I LOVE this movie.
Grosse Pointe Blank (Score:5, Insightful)
What's Up Doc? (Score:3)
Has one of the best chase scenes ever!
"I am Hugh"
"You are me?"
"No, I am Hugh!"
Zen Noir (Score:3)
It’s a Zen Buddhist noir romance comedy murder mystery koan.
Also the movie version of “Rosencrantz and Gildenstern are Dead”
Plus: Rosencrantz and Gildenstern are Undead
Anything with Ben Foster (Score:2)
He's a gift and everything he's done is underrated.
The Mechanic: smart film about hired assassins. Also, underrated Jason Statham.
Hell or High Water: Acting clinic. Each frame is a work of art.
Leave No Trace: I dare you not to cry at the end of this one.
Several (Score:3)
Brazil (Score:5, Insightful)
Re: (Score:3)
This movie also has one of the most underrated scenes. The meal the three women have. All order something different. But when the food arrives it looks all the same. But each has a picture attached to it showing what they ordered. That's a great message on how their society works. You may think you can be an individual because you're rich. But even your decisions are ultimately made for you.
Meet The Feebles (Score:4, Insightful)
If you've never seen this film, here's the best way to do it:
Alone.
*Then*, get a bunch of friends together, and tell them (and this is true) "A rare film from Peter Jackson. You know, the guy who did all the Lord of the Rings films"
Then sit back and play it. Don't watch the film (you've seen it already) rather, watch the reactions and facial expressions on your friends.
That's the best part...
Re: (Score:3)
This is such a funny perspective to me. Peter Jackson was famous in the 1990s.. or rather, he was "famous", as in he was well known to people who like certain types of movies. Then this ridiculous rumor came out, I mean a rumor so so absurdly, stupidly unbelievable that there was no way it could be true. Supposedly the guy who made Bad Taste, Meet the Feebles and Dead Alive (which I later
Baraka (1992) (Score:3)
No plot, no characters, no dialog but plenty of amazing visuals and themes.
The BluRay on Plasma or OLED is a treat.
The Prestige (Score:4, Insightful)
The Prestige was great. Great cast, and a fairly cerebral mind bender of a plot.
Primer (Score:4, Insightful)
Shane Caruth's excellent movie about time travel, paradox, possibility, deception, greed, engineers... Filmed on a miniscule budget.
It's interior, imperfect, but a complete mindfsck.
You'll need a few sheets of paper if you want to diagram the action: a few people have tried, but watch it before you look it up.
Older Jackie Chan stuff (Score:5, Insightful)
Most people are familiar with his more recent work, but Chan's older movies from the 80s and early 90s are incredible.
Meals on Wheels is a good place to start, and Police Story. Nobody does fight scenes as well as he does - a lot of people don't realize how great an on-screen fight can be because they have only ever seen the badly edited stuff in western movies. Those movies are often pretty funny too.
Silent Running (Score:5, Insightful)
... is the only correct answer.
Bowfinger (1999) (Score:3, Interesting)
Sneakers (Score:5, Insightful)
Great cast, great story.. and hey, even MORE relevant in 2019 than it was in '92.
The Guard (Score:3)
No-one ever seems to talk about John Michael McDonagh's *dark* comedy masterpiece The Guard https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org] Starring Brendan Gleeson, Don Cheadle, Mark Strong, and Liam Cunningham, with Dominique McElligott (from The Boys). Cheadle is the perfect straighter-than-straightman.
I just want more people to watch it, so I can browbeat them my personal "it's magical realism and Boyle is an actual Fae" theories.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?... [youtube.com]
Real Genius (1985) (Score:3, Funny)
Mitch Taylor: Something strange happened to me this morning.
Chris Knight: Was it a dream where you see yourself standing in sort of sun-god robes on a pyramid with a thousand naked women screaming and throwing little pickles at you?
Mitch Taylor: No.
Chris Knight: Why am I the only person that has that dream?
Blazing Saddles (Score:4, Informative)
Re: (Score:3)
p51d007 Johnson is right!!!
Snatch (Score:4, Interesting)
A crime comedy with some of the most amusing and memorable monologues I've seen. I don't care if it's patterned after Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels; I consider that to be the test run for a much better product. Alan Ford's portrayal of a ruthlessly evil character is also about perfect.
Bonjour!
Americathon (Score:3)
Plus an absolute who's who of 1970's comedy.
It seriously can't get any better, or worse.
The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th D (Score:4, Insightful)
The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension.
similar to Doc Savage, also underappreciated.
Re: (Score:3)
Absolutely one of the best, but I think it is well known in geek circles, when the local brew-theater had a special event showing it was packed. That said, one of the most quotable movies ever.
Lord of War. (Score:4, Insightful)
I guess I am old (Score:3)
A lot of the other movies in this thread are highly rated, and pretty well known
One of my favorite underrated movies is Cyborg 2087 (1966)
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0... [imdb.com]
I also enjoyed Kamikaze Girls (2004)
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0... [imdb.com]
City of Lost Children (Score:4, Informative)
With an early Ron Perlman, movie by Caro & Jeunet.
The razors edge (Score:3)
Somerset Maugham story about a young man in and after ww1.
Bill Murray showing he had serious acting chops long before lost in translation.
Thank You for Smoking (Score:5, Insightful)
1) Since Slashdot did this in 2003, it should exclude any movie made before then.
2) This movie is definitely underappreciated.
Popeye (Score:5, Insightful)
The plot's largely nonsensical and the songs are rubbish, but the sets are fantastic and every character is perfectly cast.
It's based much more heavily on the Thimble Theater comics than on the cartoons, so much of the audience was confused by characters like Geezil and the Taxing Man.
Watch it on DVD with the subtitles on, and all of Robin Williams's muttering is spelled out.
84 Charlie Mopic (Score:3)
Watchmen. (Score:4, Informative)
Amelie (Score:3)
A delightfully quirky movie about simply being human.. One of my all time favourites..
Dark City (Score:5, Insightful)
Prince of Darkness (Score:4, Interesting)
Safety not Guaranteed (Score:3)
Strange Days (Score:3, Insightful)
Strangely, a complete commercial failure
Children of Men (Score:4, Insightful)
Starship Troopers, Fifth Element (Score:3)
The other, Fifth Element. Just a solid popcorn film.
Death Race 2000. (Score:3)
Not only was Death Race 2000 campy as hell and darkly funny, without it we probably wouldn't have gotten Carmageddon, or maybe even the whole GTA series. It should be better appreciated for that alone.
There was this Tom Cruise movie... (Score:3)
Edge of Tomorrow. It was about the same day repeating, over and over...
Edge of Tomorrow. It was about the same day repeating, over and over...
Edge of Tomorrow. It was about the same day repeating, over and over...
Much like this Slashdot article...
Edge of Tomorrow. It was about the same day repeating, over and over...
Edge of Tomorrow. It was about the same day repeating, over and over...
Edge of Tomorrow. It was about the same day repeating, over and over...
Re:The series "Firefly" and movie "Serenity" (Score:5, Insightful)
I always suspected that "Serenity" was meant as a sneaky, under-the-radar satire of the mental health industry. A chemical called "Paxilon" which makes most of the population docile, but turns 0.1% of them into raving lunatics? Sounds like someone in the writer's room had a bad experience with Paxil. The opening scene, where a smarmy and patronizing teacher tells her student "We're not telling you what to think, we're just showing you how"? Seems like a satire of cognitive-behavioral therapy to me.
Actually, maybe it's not sneaky at all; maybe the satirical intent was obvious.
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Too soon?
Re: (Score:3)
The Quiet Man (what I think was John Wayne's best movie)
I'm glad to see I'm not the only person on earth to feel this way. But I am ambivalent about labelling it as "underappreciated". (Its a borderline case...)
The Return of the Pink Panther
No way this belongs under underappreciated. You'd have to lump in 10K old movies.
The Sting
Again, ridiculous. It was a huge hit in its time. I'd have to lump in another 1K movies that were underappreciated, but had comparable box office records.
(Have to have a Disney flick here)
No you don't. Probably the most egregious cancer to great classic literature and fables.
Re: (Score:3)
When it comes to modern interpretations of past content, I have to go with the African Queen https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/... [wikipedia.org], for me the best movie when it comes to laying out the strengths and weaknesses of males and females and the interplay between those strengths and weaknesses and how they can counter balance each other to produce a mutual outcome that neither can achieve alone. Everyday imperfect people being heroes, old run down and not particularly attractive.
Re: (Score:3)
It's based on a book, The Club Dumas. Some of the book's plot lines are more muddled and off the wall, but I'd also argue the conclusion is better. Worth a read if you like the movie.