# What movies do you think are underrated?



## Albert7 (Nov 16, 2014)

Benny's Video is one of the most underrated movies ever. Few people probably have seen it. It's a great indictment of mass media.


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## Pantheon (Jun 9, 2013)

Anything by the director who made _La Pianiste_ is worth seeing in my book! Thanks for sharing 

For me the film Sunshine (1999) (not the terrible B movie!) is quite underrated. Perhaps because the film director is Hungarian so it hasn't received international recognition... 
Not many people have heard of it, at least from what I've seen.

Watch it


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## Chronochromie (May 17, 2014)

The Assassination of Jesse James by the coward Robert Ford.


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## Vronsky (Jan 5, 2015)

The Matrix is a little bit underrated. 

Shutter Island is great movie. Willem Dafoe was much better choice for the leading role.


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## Morimur (Jan 23, 2014)

Shepard Fairey said:


> The Matrix is a little bit underrated.
> 
> Shutter Island is great movie. Willem Dafoe was much better choice for the leading role.


You've been brainwashed by the hollywood machine, Shepard. The Matrix (all three films) were atrocious, and Shutter Island was yet another pedestrian Scorsese production.


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## Morimur (Jan 23, 2014)

*Shoah (1985) Dir. Claude Lanzmann*

9 hours and 10 minutes of horror and heartbreak. Definitely underrated.


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## Albert7 (Nov 16, 2014)

Der Leiermann said:


> The Assassination of Jesse James by the coward Robert Ford.


Yep that movie was so so awesome. Also chalk in the director's next movie too... Killing Them Softly which I love even better.


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## GreenMamba (Oct 14, 2012)

*The Friends of Eddie Coyle*, dir. Peter Yates, with Robert Mitchum, Peter Boyle, Steven Keats, Joe Santos. One of my favorite '70s movies that gets lost in the shuffle of a great decade.


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## JACE (Jul 18, 2014)

Pantheon said:


> For me the film Sunshine (1999) (not the terrible B movie!) is quite underrated. Perhaps because the film director is Hungarian so it hasn't received international recognition...
> Not many people have heard of it, at least from what I've seen.
> 
> Watch it


Yes! Great call, Pantheon! _Sunshine_ is a GREAT film, with a script that's idiosyncratic and unexpected in the best way. At times, there's something almost fairy tale-like or mythic about it. Plus, Ralph Fiennes' acting -- as _three_ characters -- is superlative. Jennifer Ehle and Rachel Weisz give excellent performances too.


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## JACE (Jul 18, 2014)

Morimur said:


> 9 hours and 10 minutes of horror and heartbreak. Definitely underrated.


I will watch this.


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## JACE (Jul 18, 2014)

_*The Mission*_ (1986; directed by Roland Joffé, screenplay by Robert Bolt) is one of my favorite films. I don't think it's particularly well-known. The performances by Robert De Niro & Jeremy Irons are unforgettable -- some of the best in their exceptional careers. Excellent score by Ennio Morricone too.










I've never seen a film that so honestly conveys what it's like to be _forgiven_.


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## JACE (Jul 18, 2014)

Morimur said:


> You've been brainwashed by the hollywood machine, Shepard. The Matrix (all three films) were atrocious, and Shutter Island was yet another pedestrian Scorsese production.


Sheesh, Morimur. I didn't particularly like _The Matrix_ either -- but other folks whose opinions I respect really dug it.

Isn't it possible that your point of view might not be the only one?

Not trying to start anything. Respectfully. I'm just sayin'.


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## Albert7 (Nov 16, 2014)

All movies by Stan Brakhage are underrated:










I definitely wouldn't be getting any dates soon if I brought a gal to these films.


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## Morimur (Jan 23, 2014)

Albert7 said:


> All movies by Stan Brakhage are underrated:
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Take any future dates to a screening of 'Last Tango in Paris'. They'll enjoy it, I am sure.


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## Pantheon (Jun 9, 2013)

JACE said:


> Yes! Great call, Pantheon! _Sunshine_ is a GREAT film, with a script that's idiosyncratic and unexpected in the best way. At times, there's something almost fairy tale-like or mythic about it. Plus, Ralph Fiennes' acting -- as _two_ characters -- is superlative. Jennifer Ehle and Rachel Weisz give excellent performances too.


What I find great is the chronology, the transition from the _Belle époque_ to the First World War, then the inter-war period, the Second World War and finally the revolution of 1956.
Also I didn't know that Jennifer Ehle (young Valerie) and Rosemary Harris (older Valerie) were related. 
Ralph Fiennes was brilliant in this film. I really do love Fiennes' repertoire, from the Reader to the Grand Budapest Hotel.

Oh and Morimur, I personally liked Shutter Island and the Matrix series. Shutter Island was quite faithful to the book and the setting was close to what I imagined when I read it. 
As for the Matrix, I agree that some scenes weren't necessary, some dialogue was incoherent and superfluous but I found the concept quite entertaining at the time. Quite a bit of philosophy in there, though it did get messy at the end. It's slightly unfair to presume, purely based on my tastes, that I have been brainwashed by Hollywood. I think anything is likable or dislikable for as long as you explain why with some solid ideas.


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## Templeton (Dec 20, 2014)

Already some excellent suggestions, although everything inevitably pales in comparison with Morimur's suggestion of 'Shoah', given the significance of its subject matter.

A few more 'lighter' suggestions:

Another one from Peter Yates is his 1979 film, 'Breaking Away'. Quintessentially American but made by a Brit; go figure.

Spike Lee has made several very good films, but 'Crooklyn', his semi-autobiographical account of growing up in 1970s Brooklyn is absolutely beautiful, imho.

Another underrated New York based film is 'The Saint of Fort Washington', with Matt Dillon and Danny Glover, with one of the most heartbreaking finales to any film that I have ever seen.

Not normally a Jack Nicholson fan but two of his best are also his least known; 'The Pledge, in which he plays an alcoholic police officer, trying to track down a child killer. Great film and great performance from Nicholson. Also, try to track down his 1975 Antonioni film, 'The Passenger', in which he plays a journalist, who assumes another's identity; a haunting performance.

Hal Ashby's 'Being There' was nominated for several Oscars but is rarely mentioned these days and has a wonderful performance from Peter Sellers, in his penultimate role. A lovely, gentle and thoughtful film.

Lots of others that I can think of too but don't want to take over the discussion.


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## aajj (Dec 28, 2014)

^^^ 
I agree about _Breaking Away_. Wonderful 'coming of age' movie that became a surprise hit at the time. Plus, Mendelssohn on the soundtrack.

I think two Coen Brothers movies are under-rated.

_The Hudsucker Proxy is _a take-off on '30s and '40s movies, with Tim Robbins as a small town bumpkin in the big city, Jennifer Jason-Leigh as a hard-hitting newspaper reporter, who acts and speaks as a cross between Katherine Hepburn and Rosalind Russell, and Paul Newman as a diabolical industrialist.

The other is_ A Serious Man_, set in the '60s about a man searching for meaning as his personal and professional life is falling apart. It's thought-provoking and, in spite of the premise, often very amusing.


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## Morimur (Jan 23, 2014)

JACE said:


> Sheesh, Morimur. I didn't particularly like _The Matrix_ either -- but other folks whose opinions I respect really dug it.
> 
> Isn't it possible that your point of view might not be the only one?
> 
> Not trying to start anything. Respectfully. I'm just sayin'.


What!? You mean there are other people on this planet!?


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## norman bates (Aug 18, 2010)

two italian movies from the seventies that everybody here consider as classics and very few people knows outside Italy for some mysterious reason.
I can't think of a more hilarious movie of The second tragic Fantozzi. Grotesque, ferocious and probably the most funny movie I've ever seen. And still out of the country is barely known. 
And talking of horror movies, The house of the laughing windows is maybe the greatest horror made by an italian director, but outside italy nobody seems to know it. If someone talks of italian horror, he will mention Suspiria, maybe Deep red and even inferior works like those of Fulci or even terrible stuff like Dellamorte Dellamore.


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## Albert7 (Nov 16, 2014)

Another underrated film is von Trier's Manderlay... very full of critique of American society.


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## Morimur (Jan 23, 2014)

norman bates said:


> two italian movies from the seventies that everybody here consider as classics and very few people knows outside Italy for some mysterious reason.
> I can't think of a more hilarious movie of The second tragic Fantozzi. Grotesque, ferocious and probably the most funny movie I've ever seen. And still out of the country is barely known.
> And talking of horror movies, The house of the laughing windows is maybe the greatest horror made by an italian director, but outside italy nobody seems to know it. If someone talks of italian horror, he will mention Suspiria, maybe Deep red and even inferior works like those of Fulci or even terrible stuff like Dellamorte Dellamore.


Them Italians can sure make funny films. Haven't seen the ones you mentioned but I did love "Swept Away" the 1974 version of course, not that horrid remake with Madonna.


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## Albert7 (Nov 16, 2014)

Another one which is highly underrated is Pasolini's final movie Salo or the 120 Days of Sodom. For many years I had a really hard time locating a DVD copy of it until Criterion Collection managed to do a two DVD box set of it a few years ago and I snatched that up as quickly as I could.


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## Albert7 (Nov 16, 2014)

Another pair of movies which is criminally underrated are Godard's two movies, Weekend and Numero Deux.


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## Weston (Jul 11, 2008)

One little known and highly underrated movie is "The Man from Earth," the final work of writer Jerome Bixby.

The entire movie involves a group of people sitting around a fire talking, doing a kind of thought experiment. That may sound dull but it is one of the most riveting things I ever seen.










CAVEAT: This film _will_ offend many people of devout faith. That is not its reason for being, nor what makes it good, but consider yourselves warned.


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## Loge (Oct 30, 2014)

Albert7 said:


> Another one which is highly underrated is Pasolini's final movie Salo or the 120 Days of Sodom. For many years I had a really hard time locating a DVD copy of it until Criterion Collection managed to do a two DVD box set of it a few years ago and I snatched that up as quickly as I could.


That is the sickest movie I have ever seen. Only challenged by Martyrs (2008), which is pretty sick.

Anyway, try Talos the Mummy, it has the best cast of any movie. Heck even Gerald Butler is in it.


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## Albert7 (Nov 16, 2014)

Loge said:


> That is the sickest movie I have ever seen. Only challenged by Martyrs (2008), which is pretty sick.
> 
> Anyway, try Talos the Mummy, it has the best cast of any movie. Heck even Gerald Butler is in it.


Actually Salo is not as bad as people make it out to be. I saw it with my friend and my stepdad here and my stepdad was like that's boring since he has seen the real stuff happen in real life rather than on screen...

On the other hand, I won't be seeing this flick:










For me, that one film that is actually totally offensive and gross.


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## GreenMamba (Oct 14, 2012)

*The Anderson Tapes.* Not considered one of Sidney Lumet's better films, but I liked it a lot. Nice cast: Sean Connery, a young Christopher Walken, Dyan Cannon, Alan King as a mob boss.

It was based on a best-selling novel about surveillance, but Lumet doesn't seem to care about that. Instead, he makes more about New York, specifically the robbery of an upscale NY hotel. The victims sympathize with the robbers a bit, so it sort of pre-figures Dog Day Afternoon in that regard.


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## Blancrocher (Jul 6, 2013)

Götz Spielmann's "Revanche" is a great movie I'd recommend to anybody. Don't let the glowing reviews from the critics put you off!


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## norman bates (Aug 18, 2010)

Loge said:


> That is the sickest movie I have ever seen. Only challenged by Martyrs (2008), which is pretty sick.


the difference between a great movie (that actually is sick more his deadly atmosphere than for what it shows) and a mediocre horror. 
Another of my favorite movies ever is Dead of summer (ondata di calore), directed by Nelo Risi (brother of the much more famous Dino Risi) with a gorgeous Jean Seberg. Think of a hipnotic mix of Nouvelle vague and Polanski in a african landscape made of desert and brutalist architecture.
It's a truly hiddem gem and wildly underrated movie, even in Italy is completely unknown. For those who know the italian language, it is on youtube.


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## Albert7 (Nov 16, 2014)

Wes Anderson's most underrated flick I think.










At least it's on Criterion Collection.


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## Albert7 (Nov 16, 2014)

El Topo is definitely one of the most underrated films ever. Few people have heard of it.


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## Albert7 (Nov 16, 2014)

Ken Russell's Mahler looks to be a fun treat.


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## AnotherSpin (Apr 9, 2015)

JACE said:


> Yes! Great call, Pantheon! _Sunshine_ is a GREAT film, with a script that's idiosyncratic and unexpected in the best way. At times, there's something almost fairy tale-like or mythic about it. Plus, Ralph Fiennes' acting -- as _three_ characters -- is superlative. Jennifer Ehle and Rachel Weisz give excellent performances too.


Very good movie by István Szabó. I would suggest to check his other movies, such as Taking Sides (Furtwangler case in post-war Germany) or Meeting Venus (Tannhäuser production in Paris). And, of course, Mephisto.


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## AnotherSpin (Apr 9, 2015)

And, Ralph Fiennes was starring in wonderful movie The Reader - I would suggest it without slightest reservation.


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## Albert7 (Nov 16, 2014)

The Mirror remains one of Tarkovsky's underrated films. Its glacial pace has caused many a viewer to walk away. However, this is cinema at its finest, influencing perhaps Malick in his slow and meditative films.


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## Albert7 (Nov 16, 2014)

Spike Lee's Bamboozled is one of his most underrated films. Caused a ruckus when it first came out awhile back.


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## Cesare Impalatore (Apr 16, 2015)

You may laugh now but I consider Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith to be an underrated masterpiece. Some critics called it _operatic_ and I agree with this idea (when it's intended as a positive adjective).


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## Albert7 (Nov 16, 2014)

Cesare Impalatore said:


> You may laugh now but I consider Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith to be an underrated masterpiece. Some critics called it _operatic_ and I agree with this idea (when it's intended as a positive adjective).


Smart move. At least you didn't select the episode with the infamous Jar Jar Binks.


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