Underrated Movies

[Wet Cement]

[COLOR=DarkOrange]Every year, new movies come out with all kinds of hype and Oscar buzz. Sometimes, they turn out alright, and sometimes they turn out to be not so great. But it seems that sometimes the best movies are the ones that no one seems to notice. This is a thread for these movies. List you're favourite under-the-radar flicks, old or new.

[B]Screamers[/B] - Ok, it's no [I]Alien[/I] and the effects are pretty B-movie, but Screamers is a cool sci-fi movie with a lot of great action sequences and some of the creepiest bad guys in the history of cinema. Adapted from a Philip K. Dick short-story.

[B]Johnny Mnemonic[/B] - Another bit of B-grade sci-fi gold. Stars Keanu Reeves in a role designed for him - an empty-headed, emotionless man who's carrying information in his head that's going to kill him if he can't get rid of it.

[B]Bubba Ho-Tep[/B] - Like everything else Bruce Campbell did in his life, this was so freakin' underrated. What happens when an aging Elvis Presley and a black man who thinks he's JFK meet in an old-folks home and team up to bring down a soul-sucking mummy? Got good reviews but never got the exposure.

[B]Darkman[/B] - Sam Raimi's least-appreciated work is IMO his second-best (Behind Army of Darkness, which isn't really underrated anymore). Liam Neeson gets his face melted off, so he builds himself a new one and becomes a sort-of-superhero, kicking all kinds of *****. Man, B-movies are so awesome.
[B]
Heavy Metal[/B] - Ok, so maybe a Canadian anime made in the 80's based on a German magazine seems like just a nerdy guilty pleasure... and that's why I love it so much. Completely irreverent, funny and entertaining, Heavy Metal is just plain fun to watch... unless you're one of them plot-nazis.

So, what are your favourite underrated movies? I could go on forever (Santa With Muscles, anyone?) but I'll spare ya.[/COLOR]

[Sara]

[color=#db2007]These both generated a lot of hype before/when they came out, so I don't know that they really qualify as being "under the radar," but here's my two cents.

Two movies that I think get dismissed too easily are [i]Corpse Bride[/i] and [i]Lady in the Water[/i]. I don't know how they were received overall, but the people I've talked to seem to have pretty low opinions of them, and I think a lot of that is simply because when they went into the theater, they were expecting something else.

[i][b]Corpse Bride[/b][/i] certainly isn't [i]The Nightmare Before Christmas[/i], but it's quite good. The people I went to see it with (who, like everyone in our generation, were huge TNBC fans) were all very disappointed in it, which surprised me, because I had a great time watching the film.

I get the same impression with [i][b]Lady In The Water[/b][/i]. Everyone I've talked to who really disliked it complained about "the lame twist," or something along those lines. It's not [i]The Sixth Sense[/i], and it's not meant to be. I thought watching it was a lovely experience?it was a simple story, and one I'm happy to watch multiple times. [/color]

[Nehszriah]

[QUOTE=Sara][color=#db2007]
[i][b]Corpse Bride[/b][/i] certainly isn't [i]The Nightmare Before Christmas[/i], but it's quite good. The people I went to see it with (who, like everyone in our generation, were huge TNBC fans) were all very disappointed in it, which surprised me, because I had a great time watching the film.
[/color][/QUOTE]


I agree with the underrating of Corpse Bride. I've had people tell me it was bad because it "tried to be like Nightmare Before Christmas" and I just scoffed and rolled my eyes. It's just really morbid fun. Besides, stop-motion animation that makes it to the silver screen is always fun to watch, no matter how "lame" the story. You just don't get that kind of quality in CGI movies.

[r2vq]

[color=#ff7520][quote name='Nehszriah']I've had people tell me it was bad because it "tried to be like Nightmare Before Christmas" and I just scoffed and rolled my eyes.[/quote][/color][color=#007520]Well, I've never actually seen TNBC but I still didn't enjoy [i][b]The Corpse Bride[/b][/i] very much. Don't get me wrong, I loved the stop motion animation to death, and some scenes were breathtaking, I just didn't have much fun watching that movie... the story seemed weak. lol.

I will agree with Sara's other choice, though. [i][b]Lady in the Water[/b][/i], like the grimy ethnic restaurant down the street, surprised me with its enjoyable fairytale-like story. The story didn't seem lame or derivative, but more classic and almost nostalgic.

I don't know if this counts since it's in the top 250 at IMDB right now is [i][b]Hot Fuzz[/b][/i]. I'm adding it here because most of the people I talk to haven't even heard of it, and it wasn't even in theatres (here) for very long. :( In my opinion one of the (if not [i]the[/i]) best movie this year. It is an action movie spoof that is also intelligent and silly, full of action, and just plain fun to watch.

As a server I have to mention [i][b]Waiting[/b][/i]. If you'd like to know what goes on at a restaurant, watch that movie, I've seen (or heard of) variations of all the actions in that movie. Not a [i]great[/i] movie, but definately a good one, especially if you're a waiter/server like myself.

Three movies I want to mention are [i][b]Kiss Kiss Bang Bang[/b][/i], [b][i]Brick[/i][/b], and [i][b]The Sting[/b][/i]. Unfortunately they've [i]all[/i] won many, many awards, so I wont. :3

-r2[/color]