Topic: Underrated Movies

[DJ Doena]

Hi,

there are always movies where the public / a lot of people say it's no good.

But you think it's not that bad as people say or it's even a very good movie.

Have you such movies and which one?

(I'll tell you of mine later)

[Najemikon]

Cool idea, Karsten...

Underworld.

I really enjoyed it. The sequel is certainly ropey, but the first one was ambitious and fun. Now lets look at the facts:

It has vampires.
It has werewolves.
It has guns.
It has vampires and werewolves kicking the sh*t out of each other.
It has Bill Nighy, chewing scenery and breaking someones jaw with style.
It has Kate Beckinsale.
In leather... 

Why do people have such a downer on it? It's merely a victim of it's makers limited talents, and I can't condemn it for trying, and looking cool while it did so.

Compare with contempories; it's look was accused of ripping off The Matrix, but the sequels were horrendously bad compared to this and Evolution for that matter. Paul W.S. Anderson made a similar, bad-but-fun film in Resident Evil. He also made Aliens v Predator and he can't be forgiven for that because of the scared source material. But this and Evil have no such source material and can just have fun.

Bring on the third! 

[DJ Doena]

Waterworld



I don't know what happend after "Dances with Wolves" but somehow there are a lot of people out there who don't like any new Kevin Costner movie. I never understood why.

And while the setting of "Waterworld" is quite impossible (if Dryland were to be the last dry place in the world it would have to be the Mount Everest and the water would be 8500 meters higher than now) - but hey, it's a post apocalyptic movie, they don't depend on scientific fact.

Other than that I think it's a good PA movie with a lot of great ideas (the atolls, the Mariner's boat, the "Exxon Valdez") and I really like it. It has also a good deal of humor in it.


Soldier



Everybody is comparing Todd and Snake Plissken. Just because both don't talk much doesn't mean they are comparable. That said and getting in dangerous waters here, I watched "Escape from NY" and didn't like it much. It was ok, but no movie where I had to say "must have it".

I think Russell plays the role of the soldier who was trained to fight and has done nothing else in his life very believable and I love it when he takes the "new generation" of soldiers apart.

[Touti]

Lost in Translation.

I really liked that movie.  To me it really conveyed the feeling of being homesick, lost in a completely different culture.

[Najemikon]

Lost In Translation isn't underrated... it's Marmite!  I loved it too.

I agree with both of yours, Karsten. You mentioned Escape From LA, and I haven't seen it, but I think that's allowed to be underrated on the basis it was obviously done just for money. That insults the audience. The movies we've picked so far definitely don't.

[Najemikon]

I've got another...

Terminator 3

Nowhere near as good as the first two, but at least they tried to advance the story and there's a lot of seriously cool stuff in it.

[Touti]

I've got another...

Terminator 3

Nowhere near as good as the first two, but at least they tried to advance the story and there's a lot of seriously cool stuff in it.

I think it was bettern than the 2nd specifically because it had a story.  The 2nd seemed to me like an attempt to outperform the 1st one from a visual aspect but without much concern for plot.

[goodguy]

Lost in Translation.

Underrated? It won the screenplay Oscar, was nominated in a few other major Oscar categories, won 3 Golden Globes, not to mention the very long list of other awards, both in US and around the world - AND it was a big financial success.

[Touti]

I don't follow Oscars and other awards but everyone I talked to about this movie said they hated it, that is was heavy, long, boring and anything other bad thing you can imagine.  I was the only one in my circle who liked it.

[m.cellophane]

I've always liked Defending Your Life. I had to stop recommending it to people because they started getting hostile. 

[goodguy]

I'm not sure what qualifies as "underrated". Many of my favorite movies have been shown only at film festivals or with a limited theatrical release. Does that make them underrated? Others like the aformentioned "Lost in Translation" were both a critical and financial success, but, like Touti said, the average block buster audience still didn't appreciate them.

[Achim]

You mentioned Escape From LA, and I haven't seen it, but I think that's allowed to be underrated on the basis it was obviously done just for money. That insults the audience. The movies we've picked so far definitely don't.

I'd agree with you...

But read it again:

That said and getting in dangerous waters here, I watched "Escape from NY" and didn't like it much. It was ok, but no movie where I had to say "must have it".

I haven't seen Soldier and I certainly don't fancy Escape from LA too much, but I like Escape from NY a lot. However, seeing that its action is fairly moderate in parts (it's a lot about characters too; it's a carpenter film), I can understand why someone may not have the same affection for it.

Now, I may have to get over my objections towards Soldier and watch it at some point...

[Najemikon]

 

[richierich]

Lost in Translation.

I really liked that movie.  To me it really conveyed the feeling of being homesick, lost in a completely different culture.

I'd slot this into the other thread - overrated 

I've just thought I 'didn't get it' because I am English, but whatever it is I hated this movie 

[richierich]

I'd like to add 'The World's Fastest Indian'

Stupid title for a film which totally confused everyone over it's content, this true story feel-good movie with Anthony Hopkins was a pleasant viewing surprise.