>>Savage Messiah<<
Hell, most of Russell’s films are below the radar these days.
If there were ever a Criterion box set that needs to happen (while he’s still alive to do dome commentaries), it’s a Russell box set.
But Warner Bros would apparently prefer to the KR’s films gather dust in a vault (especially THE DEVILS) than be released.
Raising Victor Vargas, Passion Fish, Brother From Another Planet and Take Care Of My Cat all leap to mind.
Take Care Of My Cat gets a fair amount of praise here, and critics dug it, but it’s not very widely seen, and it’s really a remarkable film.
Passion Fish is one of John Sayles’ more precisely drawn films.
BFAP – another John Sayels film – has plenty of flaws, but Joe Morton’s performance is breathtaking.
RVV got some great reviews when it appeared, and then it fell off everyone’s radar, which is too bad – as slice-of-life films go, it’s a fine one. It’s at the more Sayles-like end of the US indie film spectrum, which is to say, it’s quiet and dialogue driven, and I think its’ lack of quirk (or inner-city cliches) probably doomed it to certain amount of unfortunate obscurity.
In 2008: Pineapple Express (a brilliant critique of the buddy movie genre in the vein of Altman’s California Split and a joyous celebration and exagerration of male friendship) and Burn After Reading (a fucking funny, funny movie with two of their best characters, Harry Pfarrar and Osbourne Cox).
For a Few Dollars More
The King of Comedy
Big Fish
Shaun of the Dead
Hot Fuzz, I laughed my balls off at this movie
Bill Paxton’s “Frailty”
Alfred Hitchcock’s “Blackmail”
Brad Bird’s “The Iron Giant”
Woody Allen’s “The Purple Rose of Cairo”
A Mighty Hearth by Michael Winterbottom
One of the best films about the collateral damage caused by “the war on terror”. It is also about Journalism and the boundaries that have been broken, and the loss of respect for human lives in the post 911 era. This is also the story of a woman searching for answers upon the disapearance of her husband. One my top 5 for 2007.
I admit some of these are big among certain circles, and I am a bit biased when it comes to Woody Allen.
Bad Santa
Deconstructing Harry
The Dreamers
Jackie Brown
The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou
Pickup on South Street
Shadows and Fog
…and most of all SCOOP
I think David Fincher’s Panic Room is underrated. Sure, the script may not be top notch, but it’s a technical masterpiece.
The Secret Adventures Of Tom Thumb. Directed by Dave Borthwick Rarely mentioned yet one of the best fantasy films I have ever seen.
eyes wide shut is so underrated!
Dreamchild starring Ian Holm. I adore that film but I’ve never seen it discussed anywhere and it’s not available on DVD <*sniff*>
Let’s not nominate films that have actually been included in the list of films on this website.
underseen, underknown, underrated. All of the following should be given some more love.
THE CARETAKER – Pinter’s play directed by Clive Donner – I think it’s known in the US under the weak title The Visitor. One of the best British films ever made, it features career-best performances from two great actors: Donald Pleasance and Robert Shaw. Photographed by Nicolas Roeg. Available on DVD from the BFI.
MIRACLE MILE – directed by Steve de Jarnatt (?). The less you know about this film before you see it, the better. Even the image on the DVD gives too much away. Suffice to say it fits into the Bad Night Out mini-genre that also includes After Hours, Into the Night and Eyes Wide Shut
THE MUSIC ROOM – Satyajit Ray
KANSAS CITY – Robert Altman
THE LUSTY MEN and WIND ACROSS THE EVERGLADES – Nicholas Ray
THINGS CHANGE and HOMICIDE by David Mamet
THE LEGEND OF THE HOLY DRINKER Ermanno Olmi
POSSESSION Andrzej Zulawski
LOVE STREAMS by John Cassavetes
SUNSET ACROSS THE BAY – outstanding TV movie by Alan Bennett, directed by Stephen Frears
EL – Luis Bunuel
NUTS IN MAY – maybe Mike Leigh’s best film! Even fewer people have seen the also excellent GROWN UPS
WAITING FOR GUFFMAN by Christopher Guest. Loads of people have seen Best in Show, yet hardly any have even heard of this far funnier film. Annoyingly the UK DVD doesn’t include the deleted scenes, many of which ought never to have been ‘deleted’ in the first place.
PARK ROW Samuel Fuller
I HIRED A CONTRACT KILLER – Aki Kaurismaki
O MEGALEXANDROS Theo Angelopoulos
FAMILY LIFE Ken Loach
THE VERDICT Sidney Lumet
SHOCKPROOF Douglas Sirk (written by Sam Fuller)
CONTRABAND Michael Powell
THE TIGER AND THE SNOW Roberto Benigni
YOUNG ADAM David Mackenzie
THE MIST Frank Darabont
THE RAID – Hugo Fregonese
ODDS AGAINST TOMORROW – Robert Wise
FIVE GRAVES TO CAIRO and KISS ME STUPID and ONE TWO THREE – Billy Wilder
ORPHANS – Peter Mullan
TO LIVE AND DIE IN L.A. – William Friedkin
UNFAITHFULLY YOURS and THE MIRACLE AT MORGAN’S CREEK and THE SIN OF HAROLD DIDDLEBOCK by Preston Sturges
THE RED AND THE WHITE and THE ROUND-UP – Miklos Jancso
CUL-DE-SAC – Roman Polanski
THE FLAVOUR OF GREEN TEA OVER RICE – Yasujiro Ozu
BELLS ARE RINGING – Vincente Minnelli
INVINCIBLE or COBRA VERDE by Werner Herzog (not to mention numerous of his documentaries. ok I’ll mention one: THE WHITE DIAMOND)
STEAMBOAT ROUND THE BEND John Ford
THE BIG CLOCK – John Farrow
and I wouldn’t say it was criminally underrated, but I enjoyed Woody Allen’s THE CURSE OF THE JADE SCORPION far more than I was expecting to.
I also really like four films for which a lot of people reserve special scorn: Eyes Wide Shut, A.I., The Gangs of New York, Titanic
Human Nature – Michel Gondry. Better than any others of his.
- Les Grands Ducs / Patrice Leconte
- Avanti ! / Billy Wilder
- Boom, Secret Ceremony, Modesty Blaise / Joseph Losey
- There Was A Crooked Man / J.L Mankiewicz
- Mouth of Madness / John Carpenter
- The Relic / Peter Hyams
…..
Reservoir Dogs. That to me is a classic.
Whisper of the Heart – Studio Ghibli
The Thin Red Line
Voices of a Distant Star
Sam Booth mentioned TO LIVE AND DIE IN L.A. I second that.
CAREFUL HE MIGHT HEAR YOU is a great Australian movie almost unknown in this country.
CONAN THE BARBARIAN was panned by critics who made their decisions BEFORE they saw the movie. It’s very well written, has great performances by Max Von Sydow and James Earl Jones and even Arnold Schwarzenegger who is a very good physical actor though not very good at lines. It also has the greatest portrayal of a female warrior ever by Sandahl Bergman. The movie has a great portrayal of a religious cult. It has a very strong theme of friendship and what friends are willing to do for each other. There is a lot more subtlety to this movie than it might at first seem. For example, while you’re watching this movie, ask yourself who the leader of the Conan’s group is. It isn’t Conan. If you watch closely and think about it carefully you’ll reach the same conclusion I did. It’s clearly Valeria (Sandahl Bergman).
A couple of Otto Preminger films — Daisy Kenyon from 1947 and Bonjour Tristesse, both of which have low ratings on the imdb which I just can’t understand.
Also Scorsese’s “The Age of Innocence”
Three Burials was awful. Well shot but a pointless and uneven script.
Is Onibaba underrated?
Saboteur!
Electra Glide in Blue
the most beautiful movie ever made with an astonishing soundtrack … and actors that don’t act … they just are …
PEE WEE’S BIG ADVENTURE
Yes Joe!
Lucky Number Slevin
Loved Dreamchild! Sadly I haven’t seen it since it first ran in 1985(?)
THE BIG BLUE (Luc Besson)
I love Dreamchild. I taped it from tv years ago, but got rid of all my VHS stuff a while back…
I second Sam Booth with frank Darabont’s The Mist.
David Ehrenstein
Savage Messiah