Underrated movies
The best movies you've probably never seen.
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21 titles
- DirectorSidney LumetStarsSean ConneryTrevor HowardVivien MerchantA burnt-out British police detective finally snaps whilst interrogating a suspected child molester.Audiences hated Sean Connery's first post-James Bond film, a bleak thriller about a sex crimes detective who is filled with the same darkness as the rapists and pedophiles he arrests. Audiences are wrong sometimes. Connery knocks it out of the park as a man being eaten alive by the beast within, and Ian Bannen does a nicely sinister turn as a suspected serial rapist who delights in playing with the detective's fragile mind.
- DirectorAnthony MinghellaStarsMatt DamonGwyneth PaltrowJude LawIn late 1950s New York, a young underachiever named Tom Ripley is sent to Italy to retrieve Dickie Greenleaf, a rich and spoiled millionaire playboy. But when the errand fails, Ripley takes extreme measures.This adaptation of Patricia Highsmith's brilliant novel about a sociopath who steals a rich man's identity is a little slow, and so loose that it practically takes the source material as a suggestion. But at its best this is a fascinating, unnerving thriller, buoyed by gorgeous cinematography, a beautiful score and the best performance of Matt Damon's career.
- DirectorMike FiggisStarsWesley SnipesNastassja KinskiKyle MacLachlanMax/W.Snipes has a one night stand with Karen/N.Kinski in NYC. He returns to his wife, 2 kids and career in LA but is affected. A year later, Max and Karen meet again by chance, but this time they're with their spouses.This quiet, layered ensemble drama about infidelity and unhappiness in the big city might turn off people who like optimistic stories with likable characters. I am fortunately not one of those people, so I really enjoyed watching a bunch of talented actors (and Wesley Snipes) playing people I didn't really like, but could still relate to. Robert Downey Jr. is amazing as an AIDS patient who is determined to die with a smile on his face.
- DirectorJoshua SeftelStarsJohn CusackMarisa TomeiHilary DuffA corporation hires a professional assassin to pose as its trade show representative who must organize the wedding of a Middle Eastern pop star, which will allow him the opportunity to kill a Middle Eastern politician.John Cusack once again headlines a black comedy about a hit man, this time a satire about geopolitics and "pre-emptive war". It's no "Grosse Point Blank", but it still has enough wit and charm to occupy a low rank in any list of Cusack's best movies. The cherry on top: Dan Aykroyd as a vice president who is willing to kill millions of people so his oil stock can go up a few points. Sounds kinda familiar...
- DirectorDavid LynchStarsBill PullmanPatricia ArquetteJohn RoseliusAnonymous videotapes presage a musician's murder conviction, and a gangster's girlfriend leads a mechanic astray.You could argue that David Lynch makes the same movie over and over again. I would counter that, as long as that movie is a dark, sexy head trip like "Lost Highway", he can make it as many times as he wants. Maybe the story doesn't make much sense, but it's a lot of fun to try to figure it out. Future murder suspect Robert Blake gives one of the creepiest performances ever as the shadowy "Mystery Man".
- DirectorMick GarrisStarsAnthony PerkinsCCH PounderHenry ThomasNorman Bates recalls his childhood with his abusive mother while fearing his unborn child will inherit his split personality disorder.A fitting epilogue to the "Psycho" movie franchise. The other "Psycho" sequels were little more than cheap slasher flicks, but "Psycho IV" is a return to form: a scary pulp horror story with overtones of tragedy. In his final performance, Anthony Perkins gives a new level of depth to Norman Bates as he tries to overcome the homicidal voices in his head, while Olivia Hussey as his unhappy, rage-filled mother is at once hateful and pitiful.
- DirectorBill PaxtonStarsBill PaxtonMatthew McConaugheyPowers BootheA mysterious man arrives at the offices of an FBI agent and recounts his childhood: how his religious fanatic father received visions telling him to destroy people who were in fact "demons."Bill Paxton's directorial debut was ignored by audiences and largely dismissed by critics, but this gothic horror film about a father who enlists his sons in killing people he believes are possessed by demons is quietly disturbing and really entertaining. Matthew McConoughey gives the first indication that he can actually act with a performance of hauntingly understated creepiness that foreshadows his work in "True Detective".
- DirectorDavid JacobsonStarsJeremy RennerBruce DavisonArtel GreatBiopic about notorious American serial killer Jeffrey Dahmer, taking place in both the past and the present.This gripping and perversely entertaining film takes us inside Jeffrey Dahmer's madness, and asks us to understand him. Jeremy Renner is incredible as the titular cannibal, playing the notorious serial killer as a monster with faint stirrings of a soul. We pity him even as he commits unspeakable crimes, and we wish he had turned out differently. By far the best film in the serial killer biopic genre.
- DirectorTamra DavisStarsChris RockAllen PayneDeezer DA guy makes a documentary of the rap band CB4 by following them. CB4 got popular by stealing Gusto's name, background and image. He wants them dead.Brilliant satire of gangsta rap, with Chris Rock as a middle-class emcee playing at being a thug to cash in on the bad boy fantasies of suburban white kids. Sharp dialogue and spot-on observational humor complement a first-class cast, including Khandi Alexander as a gold-digging groupie and the immortal Phil Hartman as a fatuous senator leading a self-serving "crusade" against violent lyrics.
- DirectorUbaldo RagonaSidney SalkowStarsVincent PriceFranca BettoiaEmma DanieliWhen a disease turns all of humanity into the living dead, the last man on earth becomes a reluctant vampire hunter.If you can forgive the creaky dialogue and rock-bottom production values, this adaptation of "I Am Legend" is one of the more effective horror films of the 1960s. An atmosphere of dread pervades the film, and Vincent Price gives one of the best performances of his career, perfectly capturing the unbearable isolation of being literally alone in the world. (He cries! Vincent Price cries!)
- DirectorSidney LumetStarsMichael CaineChristopher ReeveDyan CannonA Broadway playwright puts murder in his plan to take credit for a student's play.Fun, twisty murder mystery about two unscrupulous playwrights who would literally kill for a hit show. Michael Caine is wonderfully smarmy, and Christopher Reeve is surprisingly convincing as a calculating sociopath. The cast has a great time with the acidic dialogue and over-the-top plot twists, and so will you if you can suspend your disbelief to the breaking point. Mindless entertainment at its best.
- DirectorSavage Steve HollandStarsJohn CusackDavid Ogden StiersKim DarbyAfter his girlfriend ditches him for a boorish ski jock, Lane decides that suicide is the only answer. However, his increasingly inept attempts bring him only more agony and embarrassment. Filled with the wildest teen nightmares.Sure, this black comedy about a suicidal teenager would have been terrible - even exploitative - without John Cusack. Fortunately, he's in it, so it's darkly hilarious and disarmingly sweet thanks to his charisma and comic chops. Maybe you had to have been a depressed teenager to love this movie, but odds are you were, so kick back and embrace your inner mope.
- DirectorNicolas RoegStarsDavid BowieRip TornCandy ClarkAn alien must pose as a human to save his dying planet, but a woman and greed of other men create complications.Because David Bowie as an alien, that's why.
- DirectorTerry GilliamStarsJeff BridgesJennifer TillyJodelle FerlandBecause of the actions of her irresponsible parents, a young girl is left alone on a decrepit country estate and survives inside her fantastic imagination.This may be the ultimate "love it or hate it" film, and most critics were in the latter camp. Well, the hell with them - I think it's one of Terry Gilliam's better movies, a spare, spooky Southern Gothic story of childhood isolation and the line between fantasy and insanity. Nothing much happens, but it doesn't need to; this is a movie about what lies festering beneath the silence.
- DirectorM. Night ShyamalanStarsMel GibsonJoaquin PhoenixRory CulkinA widowed former reverend living with his children and brother on a Pennsylvania farm finds mysterious crop circles in their fields, which suggests something more frightening to come.It's not as good as "The Sixth Sense", but it still deserves kudos for taking on the challenge of combining science fiction with Hitchcockian thriller-mystery, and succeeding. Like Hitchcock, M. Night Shyamalan knows how to scare an audience with the unseen, and he pours on the tension an inch thick. Mel Gibson, in his last performance before he lost his mind, is the perfect mix of hero and everyman.
- DirectorSpike LeeStarsJohn LeguizamoAdrien BrodyMira SorvinoSpike Lee's take on the "Son of Sam" murders in New York City during the summer of 1977 centering on the residents of an Italian-American Northeast Bronx neighborhood who live in fear and distrust of one another.Spike Lee's loud, busy tale of a neighborhood imploding during serial killer David Berkowitz's reign of terror throws in everything but the kitchen sink: sex, racial tension, punk rock, disco, orgies and Catholic guilt. Somewhere in all the sound and fury is a morality play about mob mentality and the horrible things we're capable of when we're scared. The scenes in which Berkowitz's dog tells him to kill are beyond description.
- DirectorMatthew BrightStarsReese WitherspoonKiefer SutherlandBokeem WoodbineA twisted take on "Little Red Riding Hood", with a teenage juvenile delinquent on the run from a social worker travelling to her grandmother's house and being hounded by a charming, but sadistic, serial killer and pedophile.It's "Little Red Riding Hood", if Red was an illiterate trailer park delinquent and the Big Bad Wolf was a serial killer. If you like black humor of the dead baby joke variety, "Freeway" is for you. Reese Witherspoon is all fire and spit as a truly indomitable heroine, and Kiefer Sutherland is terrifying and loathsome as a human monster.
- DirectorQuentin TarantinoStarsPam GrierSamuel L. JacksonRobert ForsterA flight attendant with a criminal past gets nabbed by the ATF for smuggling. Under pressure to become an informant against the illegal arms dealer she works for, she must find a way to secure her future without getting killed."Jackie Brown" is unfairly tagged as one of Quentin Tarantino's lesser films simply because it's not "Reservoir Dogs" or "Pulp Fiction". As long as you don't set the bar that impossibly high, you'll have a great time with this pulpy noir comedy that nails the spirit of the Elmore Leonard novel it's based on. Pam Grier is hot in all senses of the word, Samuel L. Jackson is both menacing and cool as hell, and Bridget Fonda and Robert de Niro are hilarious as a burned-out beach bunny and the ex-con who lusts after her.
- DirectorKelly MakinStarsDave FoleyBruce McCullochKevin McDonaldA pharmaceutical scientist creates a pill that makes people remember their happiest memory, and although it's successful, it has unfortunate side effects.No one - not even the Kids themselves - liked this feature-length sketch about mind-altering drugs. While the material falls short of the original show, the movie still has the same surreal, anarchic energy that makes KITH one of the best comedy troupes ever. How can you go wrong with coming out of the closet in a musical number, heavy metal songs about pie, and Mark McKinney's dead-on Lorne Michaels impression?
- DirectorPeter SegalStarsChris FarleyDavid SpadeBrian DennehyAfter his auto-parts tycoon father dies, the overweight, underachieving son teams up with a snide accountant to try and save the family business.Sure, it's stupid - but in a wonderful way. The story is so thin it's not even worth mentioning, but it gives Chris Farley and David Spade a chance to make us bust a gut laughing with sight gags, prat falls, and their one-of-a-kind comedic chemistry. This is Farley at his best: loud, weird, and so lovable you just wanna hug him. It's also a nice reminder of a time in which Spade was more than an unfunny parody of himself.
- DirectorTod WilliamsStarsJohn CusackSamuel L. JacksonIsabelle FuhrmanWhen a mysterious cell phone signal causes apocalyptic chaos, an artist is determined to reunite with his young son in New England.Critics and audiences alike hated this Stephen King adaptation - about a pandemic that turns cell phone users into homicidal zombies - and I don't know why. You ask me, it's one of the best of the "zombie apocalypse" films to come out since the genre became so popular in the last decade or so. It's grim, haunting, and spare, relying more on character than blood and guts, and Cusack's understated yet heartfelt performance is one of his best. I'll take it over "Cujo" or "Pet Semetary" any day.