View Full Version : Movies which deserve more attention
http://www.minmaxboards.com/index.php?topic=10990.0
As some of you may or may not know I write film reviews for a book. I'm looking for films people love that we may not have included. We have wide release, mainstream stuff so I'm looking for foreign, indie, direct to video, etc. Uncommon or unknown films that are good enough to deserve a wider audience. The only limit is the film must be longer than 60 minutes, and it must be for sale/rent in the United States.
And obviously it can't be x rated.
Link to companion thread at the minmaxboards is above so you can see what has already been suggested there.
Dumbledore lives
2013-08-17, 06:40 PM
Existenz is a fun movie. The three colors trilogy is a classic french film series. I don't know if you want animated but the Triplets of Belleville is fantastic and doesn't get enough attention.
LokeyITP
2013-08-17, 06:44 PM
Thinking of one or two indie, but they're more in the watchable despite being made for $100 by 5 people category.
I didn't see Munchausen http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0096764/?ref_=sr_2 listed nor Dead Man http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0112817/?ref_=sr_3 but the first probably falls into mainstream/wide release and maybe the second :)
I hear really good things about Del Toro's The Devil's Backbone, but haven't gotten around to yet. I guess wide-release covers Mel Brook's stuff too.
Pokonic
2013-08-17, 07:13 PM
Let The Right One In, both the english and swedish versions, are good movies. Best vampire movie of the 2000's, probably.
thompur
2013-08-17, 08:13 PM
Eve's Bayou is a wonderful film that was criminally ignored by critics.
Serpentine
2013-08-18, 03:22 AM
Australian film in general. So main recommendations there would be... (note, I haven't seen all of these)
Two Hands - one of Heath Ledger's early roles.
Lantana
Priscilla, Queen of the Desert - but that might be too well-known.
Various "quirky" Aussie lowest-common-denominator comedies: The Castle is the most well-known, but there's also The Dish (about Australia's role in broadcasting the moon landing), Crackerjack, The Craik, The Nugget (I know someone who's in that :smallbiggrin:), and several others.
Undead - a really weird, cheap zombie movie.
Dating the Enemy - a body-swapping rom-com.
Various really depressing movies about aboriginals - Rabbit Proof Fence, Samson and Delilah, Deadly Unnah, Yulunga Boy, Jedda, The Tracker
Ten Canoes - one of the few non-depressing aboriginal movies. Highly recommend this one, it DEFINITELY needs more attention. A number of the shots are direct reproductions of a fairly famous set of old photographs, all of the actors are aboriginal, it's a fun movie, etc.
Picnic at Hanging Rock
The Shiralee
Wog Boy
He Died With A Falafel In His Hand
Mullet
The Proposition - An Australian western.
The Rage In Placid Lake - an Australian indie musician plays the son of hippies who runs away to corporate America.
SuperPanda
2013-08-18, 04:40 AM
A very unique film experience which was a definitive bomb in the mainstream but never-the-less worthy of remembering (to me anyway) is the 2005 film Stay.
I find the cinemetography, editing, technical work, and writing to be on a level completely different from the rest of hollywood (whether it is better or worse is up to your interpretation, but it feels fundamentally different from other movies.
Its not anywhere on your list. I find you need to watch it a couple times before you begin to see just how well it was made, if you only plan to watch it once it probably won't be enjoyable.
Kindablue
2013-08-18, 05:04 AM
Off the top of my head and in no particular order:
Love.
Timecrimes.
Beyond the Black Rainbow.
Upstream Color.
Drunken Angel.
The Machine that Kills Bad People.
Brick.
The Passion of Joan of Arc.
Mary and Max.
The Naked City.
Berkley Square.
The Devil's Backbone is great, by the way. I didn't list any horror movies because Bhu has seen all of them that have ever been made ever.
McStabbington
2013-08-18, 11:47 AM
I've got three. One is a movie that was lost in the recent past despite being really good, and the other two are oldies that younger people have never heard of, but should.
The former is called Frailty. It's a gothic horror made in . . . I want to say 2001. It stars Bill Paxton, Powers Boothe and Matthew McConaughey (who does an absolutely stunning turn. Really). It's one of the scariest films of the last 20 years, and it has a final turn of the screw worthy of the Twilight Zone. Unfortunately, it got lost after release and kind of disappeared into the ether, because it's horror is far more cerebral than the visceral horror common to the time.
The first of the latter two is a Western by the name of The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance. It's John Ford's last Western, and his last collaboration with John Wayne. People today don't like it because, let's face it, John Wayne is ridiculously uncool among kids these days. But let me say this honestly: forget True Grit, this is his finest, most Oscar-worthy performance. What is more, I have never seen a person yet, Western fan or not, who wasn't absolutely floored by this movie. One of the best tragedies ever written, but it was lost at the time because it was marketed improperly, and lost now because Westerns have lost their popularity. But this movie was Unforgiven before Unforgiven was Unforgiven.
The second one is Errol Flynn's The Sea Hawk. People today know it only by the fact that it was the movie Sloth was watching while he was chained up in the basement in The Goonies. What they miss is that it was one of the first template blockbusters, and still one of the most intelligent and thoughtfully written such movies ever. Directed by the same guy who directed Casablanca, it's expertly staged, the stuntwork and fight choreography is great, and it tells a pretty gripping story, with only a few moments that haven't aged well.
Existenz is a fun movie. The three colors trilogy is a classic french film series. I don't know if you want animated but the Triplets of Belleville is fantastic and doesn't get enough attention.
Wow the responses were better than I'd hoped for! Animate is okay as long as it's sufficient length. We have the trilogy and Existenz, we do not appear to have Triplets.
Thinking of one or two indie, but they're more in the watchable despite being made for $100 by 5 people category.
I didn't see Munchausen http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0096764/?ref_=sr_2 listed nor Dead Man http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0112817/?ref_=sr_3 but the first probably falls into mainstream/wide release and maybe the second :)
I hear really good things about Del Toro's The Devil's Backbone, but haven't gotten around to yet. I guess wide-release covers Mel Brook's stuff too.
We have The Devil's Backbone, Dead Man, and Munchausen.
Let The Right One In, both the english and swedish versions, are good movies. Best vampire movie of the 2000's, probably.
I was a huge fan of both so I made sure we had them.
Eve's Bayou is a wonderful film that was criminally ignored by critics.
we have it
A very unique film experience which was a definitive bomb in the mainstream but never-the-less worthy of remembering (to me anyway) is the 2005 film Stay.
we got it too
Off the top of my head and in no particular order:
Love.
Timecrimes.
Beyond the Black Rainbow.
Upstream Color.
Drunken Angel.
The Machine that Kills Bad People.
Brick.
The Passion of Joan Arc.
Mary and Max.
The Naked City.
Berkley Square.
The Devil's Backbone is great, by the way. I didn't list any horror movies because Bhu has seen all of them that have ever been made ever.
We have Timecrimes, The Devil's Backbone, Upstream Color, Drunken Angel, and Mary and Max.
We don't have Beyond the Black Rainbow, The Machine that Kills Bad People, The Passion of Joan Arc, or Berkley Square.
There's a few films named Love, and The Naked City which ones do you mean? And believe it or not theres hundreds of horror films i havent seen. They release a hundred or more of them worldwide each year. Granted a lot of them are crap...
I've got three. One is a movie that was lost in the recent past despite being really good, and the other two are oldies that younger people have never heard of, but should.
We have all 3.
I'll peek for yours after work Serp! I'm a fan of Australian and New Zealand cinema so I hope to find a few I haven't seen.
GoblinArchmage
2013-08-18, 09:34 PM
I really enjoyed Kontroll (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0373981/). It's a Hungarian thriller about Budapest Metro ticket inspectors.
Australian film in general. So main recommendations there would be... (note, I haven't seen all of these)
Two Hands - one of Heath Ledger's early roles.
Lantana
Priscilla, Queen of the Desert - but that might be too well-known.
Various "quirky" Aussie lowest-common-denominator comedies: The Castle is the most well-known, but there's also The Dish (about Australia's role in broadcasting the moon landing), Crackerjack, The Craik, The Nugget (I know someone who's in that :smallbiggrin:), and several others.
Undead - a really weird, cheap zombie movie.
Dating the Enemy - a body-swapping rom-com.
Various really depressing movies about aboriginals - Rabbit Proof Fence, Samson and Delilah, Deadly Unnah, Yulunga Boy, Jedda, The Tracker
Ten Canoes - one of the few non-depressing aboriginal movies. Highly recommend this one, it DEFINITELY needs more attention. A number of the shots are direct reproductions of a fairly famous set of old photographs, all of the actors are aboriginal, it's a fun movie, etc.
Picnic at Hanging Rock
The Shiralee
Wog Boy
He Died With A Falafel In His Hand
Mullet
The Proposition - An Australian western.
The Rage In Placid Lake - an Australian indie musician plays the son of hippies who runs away to corporate America.
There's a bunch of films named The Castle, The Proposition, or Samson and Delilah, what year are they from?
We don't have The Craik, Rabbit Proof Fence, Deadly Unnah, Yulunga Boy, Jedda, Ten Canoes, Wog Boy, He Died With A Falafel In His Hand, Mullet, or The Rage In Placid Lake. I'll see if they're available here.
I really enjoyed Kontroll (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0373981/). It's a Hungarian thriller about Budapest Metro ticket inspectors.
We have Kontroll. That was unexpected.
Kindablue
2013-08-19, 01:38 AM
We have Timecrimes, The Devil's Backbone, Upstream Color, Drunken Angel, and Mary and Max.
We don't have Beyond the Black Rainbow, The Machine that Kills Bad People, The Passion of Joan Arc, or Berkley Square.
There's a few films named Love, and The Naked City which ones do you mean? And believe it or not theres hundreds of horror films i havent seen. They release a hundred or more of them worldwide each year. Granted a lot of them are crap...
Love (2011), about an astronaut who slowly loses his grip on reality after being abandoned alone on the International Space Station.
The Naked City (1948), about New York City detectives trying to solve a complicated murder case, was filmed almost entirely on-location, which the producer of the film, Mark Hellinger, repeatedly breaks the forth wall to tell you as he narrates the action.
And I misspelled Berkeley Square (1933). I saw it on television some time last year, but I'd heard of it years before that, while trapped in the high walled labyrinth of Wikipedia, that it was H.P. Lovecraft's favorite movie.
One more:
The Gazebo (1959), about a television crime drama writer who tries to use his knowledge of fake murder to get away with a real one. Also it's a comedy.
Kawaii Soldier
2013-08-19, 01:50 AM
Trick r Treat is a great horror film if it's not among the ones you have listed.
Brother Oni
2013-08-19, 06:18 AM
Not very well know films outside of the Chinese community and/or niche HK market:
Farewell My Concubine - follows an opera troupe from the Japanese occupation of China to post Cultural Revolution.
Mr Vampire - action horror comedy featuring a vengeful Chinese vampire.
Uproar in Heaven - animation of the Monkey King's battle and victory over Heaven.
All have subtitles and are available in the US - suggest that the dub of Mr Vampire is avoided unless you're immune to typically atrocious HK dubbing.
Edit: just remembered one that slipped under my radar on release: Eastern Promises with Viggo Mortenson which was a rather brutal look at a Russian organised crime family operating in London.
Feytalist
2013-08-19, 07:32 AM
I have two lesser-known movies I have found not many people know about. 'Course, if you're a film reviewer, chances are you've heard of these:
Welcome to the Rileys: Subdued indie drama starring James Gandolfini and Kristen Stewart. (I usually point to this one as proof that she actually can act.) Amazing movie, if a bit depressing.
The Kingdom: Sort of war on terror/action crime drama mashup, starring Jamie Foxx, Chris Cooper, Jennifer Garner and Jason Bateman. The movie was mostly decent, but its whole atmosphere is what got to me.
Then a few more just off the top of my head: Sunshine is probably really familiar if you're into Danny Boyle at all. The atmosphere in that one is great too. Jarhead is a great war movie. How to Rob a Bank is a really smart indie crime movie. Age of the Dragons is Moby **** with Dragons! and Danny Glover.
Eldan
2013-08-19, 07:39 AM
Four Lions is a strange movie. A British comedy about four inept islamic terrorists. I can only imagine it would be far stranger to an American.
Four Lions is a strange movie. A British comedy about four inept islamic terrorists. I can only imagine it would be far stranger to an American.
Try watching it as an Israeli.
If foreign movies are what you're looking for, there's a brilliant new Israeli one called Hunting Elephants (Latzud Pilim) (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3xnHUrlZgnw), which even has an awesomely mustachio'd Patrick Stewart in a supporting role. It should be relatively widely available in a few months. It's a bad trailer, but I couldn't find a good one w/ english subtitles.
WIll update shortly. I've been busy a few days reviewing horrible bad shark movies from syfy...
JoshL
2013-08-23, 12:49 AM
Feytalist, your description of Age of the Dragons just sold me 100% on the film.
Okay, other stuff. Enter The Void is one of the most riveting films I've seen in years. This Must Be the Place is charming and sad (reminds me of True Stories, another great film). The Forbidden Zone is classic weirdness. Anything Lynch, but particularly Inland Empire (such a beautiful film about a tough subject).
Have we all seen Wild Strawberries? Kurosawa's Dreams? Jacob's Ladder? Those are "must see" films as far as I'm concerned, up there with Taxi Driver and Do The Right Thing. More recently Everything Is Illuminated is a must see.
And you know what film is deeper than it gets credit for? Sucker Punch. Stay with me for a moment...it's superficially an exploitation action film, but it's about the exploitation of the women in the asylum. The overall message is "yes, this action stuff is cool, but let's bear in mind the awful things that lie beneath it". It's close (maybe a single rewrite and keeping in some of the cut stuff) to Brazil. Oh, speaking of uncomfortable films, Tideland is brilliant!
Movies. I like 'em.
Also:
WIll update shortly. I've been busy a few days reviewing horrible bad shark movies from syfy...
You are just encouraging them....
Love will take some tracking. There's a lot of films that begin with that word and our search engine gets wonky when there are too many results.
We have The Naked City, The Gazebo, Trick r Treat, Mr Vampire, Farewell My Concubine (if its the 1993 version), Age of the Dragons, How to Rob a Bank, Jarhead, The Kingdom, Welcome to the Rileys, Sunshine, Four Lions, Tideland, Sucker Punch, Wild Strawberries, Jacob's Ladder, Taxi Driver, Do The Right Thing, Everything Is Illuminated, Inland Empire, The Forbidden Zone, True Stories (if it's the 1986 film), This Must Be the Place, and Enter The Void
We don't have Berkeley Square, Kurosawa's Dreams. I shall have to rectify that if they're available.
Uproar in Heaven isn't available in the US.
Brother Oni
2013-08-25, 07:58 PM
Uproar in Heaven isn't available in the US.
That's very odd as I had to order my copy from the US.
After doing some checking there's some shenanigans going on here. I had assumed that it because a US vendor was selling the DVD, it was a region 1 (US) DVD, but apparently it's a PAL Region 0 DVD.
I've also forgotten that this version doesn't have English subtitles - I know that there's a fan restoration version going around (the original print of the second act had been badly damaged so they simply cut the scenes out in the anniversary DVD), but I don't think you can use something like this for your purposes.
Serpentine
2013-08-26, 09:19 AM
There's a bunch of films named The Castle, The Proposition, or Samson and Delilah, what year are they from?The Australian ones...
The Castle with Eric Bana (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118826/)
The Proposition with Guy Pierce (and written by Nick Cave) (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0421238)
Samson and Delilah with... uh... unknown aboriginal kids (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1340123)
Ravens_cry
2013-08-26, 10:30 AM
Outland, with Sean Connery. It makes a few mistakes, but otherwise is a pretty darn hard science fiction movie with special effects that are still mostly workable. I really love it as a quite gritty example of science fiction, without feeling over the top. Just to note, there is some nudity as well as quite a bit of violence.
WoodStock_PV
2013-08-28, 05:21 PM
This old short movie is a masterpiece that appears in several polls as one of the best of all time. The english subtitles are quite hard to see, but there are several other versions in youtube, including subbed ones. I myself like the original portuguese voiceover in all its glorious monotony, brilliant!
Isle of Flowers:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gF0C67bavMY
Hope you guys enjoy it!
Haruki-kun
2013-08-28, 07:49 PM
Clue (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clue_%28film%29) is a comedy mystery film and one of my favorite movies ever. It is, as you might have gathered, based on the board game, Clue.
It's a fantastic film. If you're going to base a film on a board game, this is a good way to do it.
The Australian ones...
The Castle with Eric Bana (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118826/)
The Proposition with Guy Pierce (and written by Nick Cave) (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0421238)
Samson and Delilah with... uh... unknown aboriginal kids (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1340123)
We have the Castle and the Proposition, I will see if Samson and Delilah is available.
We have Outland, Isle of Flowers, and Clue.
Clyner
2013-08-29, 06:16 PM
Robot and Frank (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1990314/) is a movie about an old jewel thief and his robotic caretaker. The plot is good, and i really felt for the characters at the end. Definitely worth a watch if you have the time :smallsmile:
Evolution starring David Duchovny, Orlando Jones...
Not sure how it's rated, but I know no one ever talks about it. Super funny if you've never seen it.
Would the forum rules disallow my posting the book I work on?
We have Robot and Frank and Evolution.
Empedocles
2013-08-30, 11:16 PM
Super, starring Rainn Wilson as Kick Ass. It's on Netflix.
I pushed for SUper to be included when it was released :D
Lvl45DM!
2013-09-02, 11:03 AM
Super, starring Rainn Wilson as Kick Ass. It's on Netflix.
That movie was disturbing on every possible level. Watch Kick-Ass instead it does every thing Super wants to do better.
Empedocles
2013-09-02, 11:51 AM
That movie was disturbing on every possible level. Watch Kick-Ass instead it does every thing Super wants to do better.
Yeah...no. Kick-Ass ended up embracing the superhero genre, instead of analyzing it. Super was disturbing, but only in the way a movie about a man who dresses up in a costume to fight people anonymously should be.
Psyren
2013-09-03, 12:15 PM
CLOUD ATLAS
This movie deserves every iota of recognition I can heap on it. It's art, sheer and simple, and more importantly is both fun to watch and thought-provoking.
Serpentine
2013-09-04, 09:51 PM
I've barely heard anything about it aside from someone happening to put it on, but All Superheroes Must Die (I think it was) is pretty cool.
I forget, was Pontypool mentioned? Canadian indie zombie movie, very neat.
Return to Oz! Not enough people know about it, and it's so dark :smallbiggrin:
We have Pontypool, Cloud Atlas, and I just added All Superheroes must die last month.
Is Return to Oz the 60's or the 80's film?
Serpentine
2013-09-05, 09:29 AM
The '80s one.
SlyGuyMcFly
2013-09-05, 10:37 AM
CLOUD ATLAS
This movie deserves every iota of recognition I can heap on it. It's art, sheer and simple, and more importantly is both fun to watch and thought-provoking.
Couldn't agree more. The movie is an absolute must-see.
Sunfall
2013-09-05, 12:13 PM
Hmmm, let's see.
How about Suspiria (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suspiria)? It's a pretty great Italian horror movie from 1977.
Then there's The Raven (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Raven_(1963_film)), (the 1963 one, with Vincent Price), although I'm assuming you've already got that one.
Wolfen (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolfen_(film)), from 1981.
And there's Freaks (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freaks), a charming little circus story from 1932. I think you can find it on Youtube.
And (pretty obscure): World on a Wire (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Welt_am_Draht), a German two-part movie about a computer generated reality which very elegantly preceded the Matrix by some 30 years. It has been released in the UK, so I'm assuming it's been dubbed into English.
Dare I also mention Moon, Silent Running, The Court Jester and the original (1973) Wicker Man? (Thinking you might already have those on your list...)
+++
@Serpentine: Love that Return to Oz movie! So creepy.
We have Return to Oz, Suspiria, Wolfen, Moon, The Raven, Freaks, World on a Wire, Silent Running, The Court Jester, and both Wicker Mans (and the Wicker Tree sequel).
You guys has excellent taste :smallbiggrin:
I shall be editing in everything discussed so far that we do not have today but feel free to keep em coming.
Lord_Gareth
2013-09-05, 04:32 PM
Tideland - This movie will do things to your mind.
Mirrormask - One of my favorite films of all time, still haven't found an actual review of it.
We has Tideland and Mirrormask
Sunfall
2013-09-05, 05:20 PM
You have World on a Wire? Well, color me impressed... :smallcool:
The Gatekeepers is an amazing film, though really explaining it is against forum policy :smallbiggrin:
DOn't need to explain it, just say whether it's deserving of exposure :smallbiggrin:
It's available in the US and fairly new so we may not have it yet. I will add if we do not.
Lord_Gareth
2013-09-07, 03:26 PM
Do let us know what you thought of Tideland once you watch it, my friend. That movie violated me.
JoshL
2013-09-07, 08:58 PM
Tideland. Man, what a film! My better half loves it, thinks it's an amazing film and doesn't ever want to see it again. I love it, but it doesn't hit quite the same buttons for me, so I can rewatch it (and do). Mirrormask is also really solid (in the Neil Gaiman re-writing Alice In Wonderland sort of way, which he does often and well).
Do let us know what you thought of Tideland once you watch it, my friend. That movie violated me.
It was good. Creepy and a lil depressing but good.
Powered by vBulletin® Copyright © 2024 vBulletin Solutions, Inc. All rights reserved.