Overlooked Films

The Raw Shark

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Anyone remember Priest?

It gave me hope that I can see a red cross tattooed on a person's face and not want to either puke or make sure they're standing under a nuke the next time I see them from orbit
 

Vendor-Lazarus

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<link=https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/49049-dredd>Dredd (2012), of course.
Thanks to passionate fans keeping the memory alive, a TV-Show spinoff is in the works.

<link=https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/1948-crank>Crank and <link=https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/15092-crank-high-voltage>Crank: High Voltage.
High-speed comedy-action with Jason Statham. Just the right amount of dark humor and over-the top action.

<link=https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/13363-the-man-from-earth>The Man From Earth.
No matter how you describe the movie, it just doesn't do it justice.
Lets just say that it creates a tangible suspense and takes your imagination for a ride.
Despite, yes despite, it being a low-budget-single room-philosophical movie you really shouldn't hold it against it.
Watch it!

<link=https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/1946-existenz>eXistenZ.
Inception before inception. A real mind-ride.

<link=https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/8952-i-love-you-phillip-morris>I Love You Philip Morris.
Jim carrey and Ewan McGregor show of their acting talent with a villain couple you'll come to root for in this based-on-true-events comedy.
 

Phoenixmgs_v1legacy

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Overlooked films are kinda hard because I guess once a movie becomes a cult classic, I think it ceases being overlooked as I think the majority of people become aware of it. I don't think stuff like Big Trouble in Little China to the more recent Cornetto Trilogy (Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, The World's End) would be considered overlooked anymore. I also think a lot of people are aware foreign movies nowadays like The Raids, Battle Royale, Drunken Masters, etc.

-The Brothers Bloom
This is just a great little con movie. It has a stellar cast of Mark Ruffalo, Adrien Brody, and Rachel Weisz. And the one that steals every scene is Rinko Kikuchi (from Pacific Rim) and she hardly has a line, she's always doing something interesting on camera and focusing on her in pretty much every scene is probably the best way to watch the movie.

-Mr. Right
I think the best way to describe the movie is an action romantic comedy. It's about an eccentric hitman (Sam Rockwell) in his prime with some over-the-top hitman skills getting into a relationship with a woman played by Anna Kendrick. The action scenes are pretty fun, they are different and creative enough to keep your interest. Sam and Anna have good chemistry. And, I guess you kinda know what movie to expect when RZA plays a character called Shotgun Steve. Lastly, the film has a great soundtrack, I discovered Paloma Faith (great debut album) due to this movie.

-Everly
Just a great action genre movie. The movie stars the still gorgeous Selma Hayek as a prostitute working with the police to take down her overlord, which is of course discovered so that the action can commence. The interesting concept of the movie is that all action takes place in the same apartment room and the aftermath of each scene then plays into the next scene. The movie is pretty video game-y in the sense that an escalating series of foes is sent Selma's way to dispatch in gory delight.

-Lucky Number Slevin
This movie seemed to get tagged as a poor man's Tarantino movie as it is similar in style and subject manner. I just adore this movie which has a great cast starring Josh Hartnett, Lucy Liu, Bruce Willis, Morgan Freeman, and Ben Kingsley. Josh Hartnett's character is seemingly finds himself in the wrong place at the wrong time with 2 crime bosses interested in him. The plot twists and turns a bit slowly revealing itself. I found it to be a real fun movie with some great characters and humor.

-Fantastic Mr. Fox
Just a great stop-motion animated movie by Wes Anderson starring a family of foxes starring some great voice talent like George Clooney and Bill Murray. George Clooney is the father of the family and must go on one last epic heist to save his family.

-The Prestige
I guess it's kinda hard to make a case for any Christopher Nolan movie being overlooked nowadays, but The Prestige is possibly my favorite movie of all-time and I don't even like magic much. The movie is basically Batman (Christian Bale) vs Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) in a very complicated game of magic. The movie features the great David Bowie as Nicolai Tesla. Saying anything more about the plot basically runs into spoiler territory. I feel The Prestige is Nolan's best movie and perhaps his most overlooked movie (this or Insomnia) as everyone knows about Momento, Inception, and his Batman Trilogy.

-Cabin in the Woods
I'm not sure if this qualifies for overlooked especially on a forum like this but Cabin in the Woods is so awesome just go see it if you haven't. It's a deconstruction of horror movie tropes in probably the most humorous manner possible and it was written by Joss Whedon.

-Infernal Affairs
If this movie wasn't overlooked before, it definitely is now because of the horribly inferior remake Scorsese did called The Departed. The premise is that a undercover cop in a gang is tasked with finding a mole (from that gang) in the police department while that police mole is tasked with finding the undercover cop. The movie is basically a series of high tension scenes of cat and mouse between the two main characters. The problem with The Departed was that it lowers the tension dramatically in every scene while adding in so much filler like a stupid love triangle while ruining the ending. Infernal Affairs has such focus on the core of the movie that there's no filler, every moment is purposeful, and accomplishes so much more tension and character development than The Departed while being 50 minutes shorter.

-Survive Style 5+
If there's just one weird Japanese movie you ever see, make it this one. It's a movie hard to explain since it's a "weird Japanese movie" but it's one of those movies with several (in this case 5) interconnected storylines. Really, all I can say is that the Japanese humor translates really well to other cultures and it's just a joy to watch. And Vinnie Jones is in the movie yelling at Japanese people along with a piece of broccoli, "What is your function in life?"

Pallindromemordnillap said:
A film called The Fall by Tarsem Singh. Lee Pace and his amazing eyebrows are in the hospital with a broken spine, and he encounters the best goddamn child actor you are ever going to watch. He starts telling her stories to befriend her, since he has ulterior motives (non-paedophilic ones, thankfully), and we see the story from the point of view from her imagination and oh my god it is beautiful...
I've been meaning to see The Fall for a couple years now, I just never gotten around to it like a bunch of movies. It's just so easy (especially recently) to find a really good TV show and you do get more out of watching 2-3 episodes vs a movie that probably will disappoint as I just find so many movies to be OK to fine.

PsychedelicDiamond said:
Batman v Superman

I know I keep bringing this up but it's a misunderstood masterpiece and I stand by that. It's an astoundingly subversive critical examination of its titular characters and the current socio-political climatethey exist in. It does for the 10s what Watchmen back in the day did for the 80s. Telling a story about how american capitalism is inevitably leading into fascism, how justice becomes corrupted when men try to take it into their own hands, how the absence of god leads to the creation of idols and how twisted our worldview has become in the last 10 years. It salvages the the authoritarian fever dream that Nolan made of the Batman mythos by turning its grim, post Noland Batman into a standin for the increasingly radicalized american society, easily manipulated by the cabal of national-capitalist hatepreachers turning them against their fellow men and yet redeems him at the end. It's an amazing movie that went way over the heads of most critics.
Not a single plot point in the entire movie makes any kind of logical sense.

tippy2k2 said:
I speak of Hardcore Henry [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.945357-tippy2k2-tells-you-what-to-think-Hardcore-Henry].
Hardcore Henry was awesome. There's just one thing I sorta had issue with...
When didn't the guy just telekinesis Henry's ass off the roof at the end?
 

Kyrian007

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PsychedelicDiamond said:
Aww man, contrarian time:

Southland Tales

It's a surprisingly overlooked dystopian science fiction movie that was initially meant as a satire of Bush's America but somehow only became more relevant as time went on. It's an extremely intelligent, extremely witty movie in the vain of Thomas Pynchon, Philipp K. Dick and David Foster Wallace, a postmodernist take on the end times as filtered through the cultural sensibilities of mid 00s America and its political and social landscape. It's darkly funny, thought provoking and has a lot to say about just what the hell went wrong after 9/11.
I certainly don't agree with BvS or Speed Racer... but I was wondering if anyone liked Southland Tales besides me. He's never made a movie that made money, but I don't think Richard Kelly has made a bad movie. Southland Tales is especially fun because the cast seems to have been chosen to fail spectacularly, to make an assured box office bomb... and they made something very special with one of the worst ensemble casts I could envision. Even parts where good actors were chosen, they were hugely miscast... but the sum of the parts and each of the performances were really well done.
 

Dr.Susse

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What a song/series!

OT: It's such a beautiful day: by Don Hertzfeldt feels a bit overlooked to me. It's probably too much on the arty side to ever be mainstream popular, but I've never had any form of media stop me like it did. I really recommend it if you're in a reflective mood. (It's also currently my avatar because I am the worst)
 

Fox12

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Whale Rider

A story about a hawaiian girl who attempts to uphold her families cultural traditions by taking a traditionally masculine role. It's a nuanced look at gender roles wherein the grandfather is resistant to change within his society, because he believes change insults his ancestors. And yet him and his granddaughter are still quite close. Very good. On Netflix right now.
 
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I really liked Super. It got pretty massively overlooked, I think because it came out around the same time as Kickass and that got the buzz. As a deconstruction of the genre it's great. It'll make you laugh and then it'll make you feel like a piece of shit for doing so. Definitely not boring.
 

iamzim101

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Fox12 said:
Whale Rider

A story about a hawaiian girl who attempts to uphold her families cultural traditions by taking a traditionally masculine role. It's a nuanced look at gender roles wherein the grandfather is resistant to change within his society, because he believes change insults his ancestors. And yet him and his granddaughter are still quite close. Very good. On Netflix right now.
Whale riders is about maori's.
Hawki said:
Ender's Game

I'm not going to spend too much time on this one, because I can actually understand why this was overlooked. It's a story adaptation of a YA novel in a time where YA fatigue was starting to creep up, said novel being written by an author with...certain views on the LGBT community, with fans of said novel being put off by the film due to its deviations from the novel. So, on one hand, I understand why this made a plop in the ocean. But, I quite like this film. I wish it had more of an impact, but that's the way the cookie crumbles.
As someone who is a fan of Ender's game I am actually glad that the film is overlooked as I believe it doesn't do any justice to the source material.

As for underrated films 'Boy' from Taika Waititi I have never heard discussed outside New Zealand.
 

Dr.Susse

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iamzim101 said:
As for underrated films 'Boy' from Taika Waititi I have never heard discussed outside New Zealand.
His film 'What we do in the shadows' was so bloody good. Apparently he's working on a second film called 'We're wolves.'
 

stroopwafel

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I really love the Robocop 'reboot' from 2014. Sure, it compares unfavorably to Verhoeven's classic but on it's own I thought this movie was really enjoyable. I espescially like it's element of transhumanism which was pretty well developed for an action movie. Also that opening scene with the patrolling robot army alone looks like a peek into the future.
 

the December King

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Dr.Susse said:
iamzim101 said:
As for underrated films 'Boy' from Taika Waititi I have never heard discussed outside New Zealand.
His film 'What we do in the shadows' was so bloody good. Apparently he's working on a second film called 'We're wolves.'
I am really looking forward to anything that gives us some more of the What We Do in The Shadows universe. That was a great little film.

I can't think of anything else at the moment, really... I loved Incident At Loch Ness (2004), it was amusing, but really, I think you're looking for more mainstream fare that went largely unsung? FUBAR (2002) was a hilarious mockumantary serving as a sort of ode to This is Spinal Tap (1984), but I doubt it got a big release.

So I'm not sure...

maybe Cop Land (1997)?
 

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Saelune said:
Does A Knight's Tale count? I dont even know why, but I love that movie. The Joker, Vision, Robert Baratheon, and the droid from Rogue One team up to be a jousting team.
Was that overlooked? I thought it was reasonably well known.

Anyway, I liked the movie. It's excessive, it's over the top, it's cheesy, but damn if it isn't enjoyable.

KissingSunlight said:
On topic: My facebook page is a weekly tribute of overlooked movies. So, I'll keep it to the movies this year. I would recommend The Belko Experiment and Baby Driver.
Baby Driver was overlooked? It got rave reviews, and people were talking about it for quite a bit in my experience.

Anyway, I saw it today actually. Of this year's movies, it takes the #9 spot at this time of writing, basically a case of great directing and editing compensating for an average story. Not as good as The Nice Guys (which it kind of reminded me of), but I guess good, even though I didn't like it that much personally. Though...

Seriously, what was with Doc just deciding "okay Miles, you screwed me over, but I'm going to let myself be killed for you because why not? I mean, it's not as if I threatened harm to everyone you cared about if you didn't keep working for me...wait..."

Oh, and Deborah really needs to get a new boyfriend - good boyfriends don't drag you along while they're being pursued by the police and psychopaths.

Fox12 said:
Whale Rider

A story about a hawaiian girl who attempts to uphold her families cultural traditions by taking a traditionally masculine role. It's a nuanced look at gender roles wherein the grandfather is resistant to change within his society, because he believes change insults his ancestors. And yet him and his granddaughter are still quite close. Very good. On Netflix right now.
That's Maori, you twat!

Anyway, I saw the film years ago when it came out. It's...okay, I guess. It strikes me as less of a conventional story and more a...not exactly an examination of Maori culture, but more a depiction, if that makes sense. Also, for a film named Whale Rider, there aren't that many whales or whale riding.

Just saying...

iamzim101 said:
As someone who is a fan of Ender's game I am actually glad that the film is overlooked as I believe it doesn't do any justice to the source material.
I consider the book to be excellent myself, but I still like the film. Even if it doesn't do the book justice per se, I think it's quite decent. It captures the book's spirit, if not its intricacies.
 

hermes

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Hawki said:
KissingSunlight said:
On topic: My facebook page is a weekly tribute of overlooked movies. So, I'll keep it to the movies this year. I would recommend The Belko Experiment and Baby Driver.
Baby Driver was overlooked? It got rave reviews, and people were talking about it for quite a bit in my experience.
On my experience, the movie was exhibit in only 1 theater screen in the entire city, and it was at 23:00 PM. So, while it has gather some attention in some niche circles, the general public is not aware of it.

Which leads me to my recommendation: Scott Pilgrim vs The World. While the Cornetto trilogy is more beloved, and in general are better movies, this one is also very good, and it is the point were the director/editor particular style grew, and the plot is very well suited for it.
 

KissingSunlight

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Hawki said:
KissingSunlight said:
On topic: My facebook page is a weekly tribute of overlooked movies. So, I'll keep it to the movies this year. I would recommend The Belko Experiment and Baby Driver.
Baby Driver was overlooked? It got rave reviews, and people were talking about it for quite a bit in my experience.

Anyway, I saw it today actually. Of this year's movies, it takes the #9 spot at this time of writing, basically a case of great directing and editing compensating for an average story. Not as good as The Nice Guys (which it kind of reminded me of), but I guess good, even though I didn't like it that much personally. Though...
It was released the same time as bigger blockbuster movies. It did alright holding it's own against them. However, I do feel it should have been more popular.

As for the story, I don't mind if it's a story that has been told before. However, if they tell the story in an unique way that keeps you engaged throughout the movie. That deserves some praise. Honestly, Baby Driver is my favorite movie this year, because everything in this movie is top notch. So, I don't mind the "good" boy gets caught up with a bad gang trope.
 

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Whatever, just wash your hands.
Moon, I don't think I ever heard anyone talk about this movie but its so good and really plays with expectations.
 

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iamzim101 said:
Fox12 said:
Whale Rider

A story about a hawaiian girl who attempts to uphold her families cultural traditions by taking a traditionally masculine role. It's a nuanced look at gender roles wherein the grandfather is resistant to change within his society, because he believes change insults his ancestors. And yet him and his granddaughter are still quite close. Very good. On Netflix right now.
Whale riders is about maori's.
All this Maori talk remind me of Once Were Warriors. When I was around 11, I used to 'sneakily' turn the VCR on to tape movies I wasn't meant to watch. Id wake up at 4 in the morning to watch them. I saw Aliens 3 first because of this. The Fly and The Thing I didn't find scary.

Then I watched Once Were Warriors. It felt more real then most of the movies I saw before and made a big impression. The threat felt more real. There are movies that make me feel uncomfortable that I only ever watch once. Requiem for a Dream and 8MM and this.
 

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Saelune said:
Does A Knight's Tale count? I dont even know why, but I love that movie. The Joker, Vision, Robert Baratheon, and the droid from Rogue One team up to be a jousting team.
Good choice! I know it isn't extremely popular but it's one of those movies I go back to every year or so and it still manages to make me laugh. It does start to drag a little at the end in my opinion but I definitely agree in calling it overlooked. I rarely talk to anyone who's heard of it.

Sexual Harassment Panda said:
I really liked Super. It got pretty massively overlooked, I think because it came out around the same time as Kickass and that got the buzz. As a deconstruction of the genre it's great. It'll make you laugh and then it'll make you feel like a piece of shit for doing so. Definitely not boring.
I think you and I might be 2 of the like 6 people who saw this movie. Super is genuinely great and mixes comedy and melancholy into a story that highlights the inherent ridiculousness of a man who dresses up in a costume to fight crime. Rain Wilson did an amazing job in this movie.

As for a new contribution? I have to go with Rush. It's a Ron Howard movie with Liam Hemsworth about Formula 1 racing in the 70s. Maybe that's a little too niche but I thought it was quite a bit more funny than it had any right to be and the racing itself was well shot and tense.
 
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JUMBO PALACE said:
Good choice! I know it isn't extremely popular but it's one of those movies I go back to every year or so and it still manages to make me laugh. It does start to drag a little at the end in my opinion but I definitely agree in calling it overlooked. I rarely talk to anyone who's heard of it.
Probably counts as a "guilty pleasure" too, since it is fairly cornball.

My personal pick like this (and I would say it's overlooked too at this point) would be Shanghai Noon. I keep going back to it. For whatever reason I find it enormously charismatic.

I think you and I might be 2 of the like 6 people who saw this movie. Super is genuinely great and mixes comedy and melancholy into a story that highlights the inherent ridiculousness of a man who dresses up in a costume to fight crime. Rain Wilson did an amazing job in this movie.

As for a new contribution? I have to go with Rush. It's a Ron Howard movie with Liam Hemsworth about Formula 1 racing in the 70s. Maybe that's a little too niche but I thought it was quite a bit more funny than it had any right to be and the racing itself was well shot and tense.
I did my part to raise awareness. I lent my copy out a lot, eventually to someone who hastily moved away before giving it back. If it weren't on netflix I would definitely have bought it again by now.

Rush was surprisingly great, I agree.

Both 'Kiss kiss bang bang' and 'The nice guys' really surprised me with how funny they were, and it seems neither did well. Seems to be true for "In Bruges" and "The guard" too.


Worgen said:
Moon, I don't think I ever heard anyone talk about this movie but its so good and really plays with expectations.
Absolutely underrated. My brother turned me onto it a few years back and I was pretty surprised I hadn't somehow heard of it at that point.

Phoenixmgs said:
-Everly
Just a great action genre movie. The movie stars the still gorgeous Selma Hayek as a prostitute working with the police to take down her overlord, which is of course discovered so that the action can commence. The interesting concept of the movie is that all action takes place in the same apartment room and the aftermath of each scene then plays into the next scene. The movie is pretty video game-y in the sense that an escalating series of foes is sent Selma's way to dispatch in gory delight.
Yes.

I watched this largely because I love Salma Hayek and have a bit of a penchant for b-movie shlock too. I was fully expecting it to not succeed even on those terms, but I enjoyed it a lot.


-Infernal Affairs
If this movie wasn't overlooked before, it definitely is now because of the horribly inferior remake Scorsese did called The Departed. The premise is that a undercover cop in a gang is tasked with finding a mole (from that gang) in the police department while that police mole is tasked with finding the undercover cop. The movie is basically a series of high tension scenes of cat and mouse between the two main characters. The problem with The Departed was that it lowers the tension dramatically in every scene while adding in so much filler like a stupid love triangle while ruining the ending. Infernal Affairs has such focus on the core of the movie that there's no filler, every moment is purposeful, and accomplishes so much more tension and character development than The Departed while being 50 minutes shorter.
Yes.

I don't know if I agree that 'The departed' is inferior (it's bloody great!) but 'Infernal affairs' is definitely worth seeing.