Most underrated film

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What films have you watched, been absolutely blown away by, then find out that not many other people have heard of it, nevermind watched it?

For me it's Dead Mans Shoes by Shane Meadows. The film is absolutely brilliant. It's so raw and realistic and the guy playing the lead role does a fantastic job. It's well up there in the list of best films I've seen, yet when I try and tell people about it, I usually get "I've never heard of it, so it can't be that good!"

 

Last Night for me. Don McKellar made a wonderful movie that's so touching, yet very few have heard of it, let alone seen it.

 

That's a very interesting idea for a thread. If you are interested in old movies you can find some overlooked masterpieces. I don't know if that's what you have in mind.

For instance everybody is raving about some old movies with Humphrey Bogart but my favourite movie with this actor is In A Lonely Place by Nicholas Ray. If you haven't seen it and like old classics you won't be disappointed. It is a first rate movie and Bogart's performance is awesome.

A very good movie which has been overlooked and deserves some recognition is After The Fox by Vittorio De Sica. Peter Sellers is incredibly funny. IMHO it's much better than even What's New *****cat or the Pink Panther series.

In a totally different category I have to list More by Barbet Schroeder. The soundtrack was composed by Pink Floyd. It deals with addiction and love. It's sensual, disquieting and tragic.

Last but not least, there is Five Fingers by Mankiewicz. This spy movie set during WW2 shows James Mason at his finest. The movie itself is well conceived taking up and using shots, music and acting to further its themes. I believe it's as good as The Third Man.

I could list a few other movies that are real gems but I'll limit myself for now.

 

This one is kind of cheating maybe, but the Japanese film "After Life" is one that comes to mind. A great story about what happens between dying and going to the afterlife. (But most people I know haven't seen it since it's a subtitled, foreign film.)

Also, as uncool as it may be to say so, I think "Willow" is underrated, I think it got unfairly dissed when it came out as being a Lucas movie but not as good as the Star Wars trilogy. But it's better than the prequels, at least IMHO.

-D

 

The original "get carter" from the '70s starring michael caine. He just absolutely goes off on everybody.

 

Willow was pretty cool. There is a category of movies that got bad reviews, but a lot of people know (like Willow). Films I like from that category are Waterworld, Underworld and The Boondock Saints (going by its Tomato score of 18%), just to name a few.

I think it is a little bit harder to names movies which I like, but not a whole lot of people have seen, as I usually don't have a clue how popular a movie is. An easy one is Wristcutters: A Love Story. It is an surreal indy movie about an afterlife where everybody committed suicide. I really liked it, and I bet you haven't seen it Two other fairly recent movies which I like are Kiss Kiss Bang Bang and Stranger Than Fiction. They are without a doubt more known than Wristcutters (they are also bigger productions), but I think they have been overlooked by the general audience.

 

These are on Forbe's List of the most underrated movies and I tend to agree:

The Lord of the Flies (1963)
To Have and Have Not
Touch of Evil

 

The Fountain.

Great, powerful, if a bit odd.

 

A House of Sand and Fog

Dragonslayer

 

The latest Macbeth movie (modern, gang-land Melbourne) was fantastic, but it didn't seem to tickle many other people's fancy.

 

I like this thread, really good idea Barmy!

The original Get Carter is not underrated, it's a classic! I'm going to forgive martaug for the only reason that I listed a few classic movies myself.

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang is a really good buddy movie (Val Kilmer and Robert Downey Jr are really cool). It's hilarious.

Touch of Evil is a masterpiece and it's been recut in a new edition (all the bit about drugs has aged a little but the atmosphere is really gripping).

 

I thought that Hudson Hawk with Bruce Willis was hilarious, but I guess I'm in a minority there...

 

I enjoyed it as well, it was quite some time since I saw it but I remember enjoying it.

 

Yeah, Hudson Hawk is a seriously underrated movie considering that it was enjoyable. Not the best underrated movie ever, but better than any filmcritic would lead you to believe.

 

The Indian Runner.

 

I love The Pentagon Wars with Kelsey Gramer, it deals with the development of the Bradley troop carrier. Absolutely hilarious, its portrayal of bureaucracy gone mad really strikes a chord. The carrier may be years late and billions over budget, but everyone involved is committed to finally pushing it through so that they will be rewarded for completing a successful project. The fact that the vehicle is a complete death trap for any solider unfortunate enough to be in it is completely incidental to all involved.

 

I'd go with a movie titled "Unknown" which seems to be aptly titled as it remained an unknown to a lot of people. It stars Jim Caviezel, Barry Pepper, Greg Kinnier, Joe Pantoliano and Bridget Moynahan.

 

Another one that I loved was Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins.