Underrated movies...

[Erik Rutins]

Ok, a recent discussion on a sub-forum inspired me to start this topic.

Movies (of any genre) that you think were underrated/underreviewed/underappreciated.

I'll start it off with:

1. 13th Warrior
2. Big Trouble in Little China

[pasternakski]

Many of these are by no means great, but they sure deserved better than they got from the critics and box office:

-In Harm's Way
-Starship Troopers
-Blade Runner
-Barry Lyndon
-Goin' South
-Dune (yes, definitely in the "not great" category, but better than the "dusty mess" it was described by some to be)
-The Missouri Breaks
-A Clockwork Orange
-Help!
-MacArthur

[E]

Strange Brew (so stupid it's a comedic masterpiece)
They Call Me Trinity (one of the "other" spaghetti westerns, but a slapstick comedy)
Parenthood (you have to have been a parent)
The Great Waldo Pepper (most everything in it is true*... but pieced together for one story)
Pitch Black (atypical throwaway monster movie, has more than just a monster going on)
Galaxy Quest (you have to be familiar with stories behind Star Trek to really appreciate it)
The Worlds Fastest Indian (a semi-naive New Zealander comes to America)
The Wild Geese (mercenaries got caught up in an African cause)
etc,
etc,
etc,
etc,

* Ernst Kessler was a bit of a reverse-storied Ernst Udet (Udet was saluted and did not initiate the saluting)

[Titanwarrior89]

I would agree with you on both of them. I liked both of them.

ORIGINAL: Erik Rutins

Ok, a recent discussion on a sub-forum inspired me to start this topic.

Movies (of any genre) that you think were underrated/underreviewed/underappreciated.

I'll start it off with:

1. 13th Warrior
2. Big Trouble in Little China

[Titanwarrior89]

AAAAHHH Yes! Stormship Troopers. I loved it. My wife and sister hated it.[:D] The bugs reminded me of Zerg in Starcraft.[X(]

Note: I liked the follow up movies as well (two and three).

ORIGINAL: pasternakski

Many of these are by no means great, but they sure deserved better than they got from the critics and box office:

-In Harm's Way
-Starship Troopers
-Blade Runner
-Barry Lyndon
-Goin' South
-Dune (yes, definitely in the "not great" category, but better than the "dusty mess" it was described by some to be)
-The Missouri Breaks
-A Clockwork Orange
-Help!
-MacArthur

[E]

ORIGINAL: pasternakski

Many of these are by no means great, but they sure deserved better than they got from the critics and box office:

-Starship Troopers

I agree it was underrated, but not by much. There's a CGI/cartoon series called roughnecks, that is much better (even has skinnies).

ORIGINAL: pasternakski
-Blade Runner

That one's in my grossly overrated category. Didn't know it was underrated by anyone.

ORIGINAL: pasternakski
-Dune (yes, definitely in the "not great" category, but better than the "dusty mess" it was described by some to be)

I'd have to call any of the dune movies (in any version of each) abominations. But my view was prejudiced by my enjoyment of the book.

ORIGINAL: pasternakski
-A Clockwork Orange

I thought that one was highly rated? (BTW, saw Malcolm McDowell at a convention last year... one of the best speakers and a consumate professional.)

[Titanwarrior89]

Another underrated movie that was well made and kept you on the edge of your seat was-Descent. [X(] Seen it two or three times. Not recommended for young kids.

[pasternakski]

ORIGINAL: E
-Starship Troopers
I agree it was underrated, but not by much. There's a CGI/cartoon series called roughnecks, that is much better (even has skinnies).

I liked it as long as it saw itself as "campy" (like Rico's love interest's episode with bug dissection in high school). Anytime it took itself at all seriously, it stunk.

-Blade Runner
That one's in my grossly overrated category. Didn't know it was underrated by anyone.

This got roasted and toasted by the critics, but established a "look" for sci-fi movies (particularly the "future society" ones) that is still de jour.

-Dune (yes, definitely in the "not great" category, but better than the "dusty mess" it was described by some to be)

I'd have to call any of the dune movies (in any version of each) abominations. But my view was prejudiced by my enjoyment of the book.

Me, too. But what else have we got?

-A Clockwork Orange
I thought that one was highly rated? (BTW, saw Malcolm McDowell at a convention last year... one of the best speakers and a consumate professional.)

"Clockwork Orange" is the movie most critics loved to hate. Malcolm McDowell? Loved him as the narrator of "Compleat Beatles." Hated his attempted foray into American prime-time TV.

[Prince of Eckmühl]

I suspect that a lot of our readers have never heard of this film, but my vote goes to "The Mission:"

http://www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi502333721/

PoE (aka ivanmoe)

[rogueusmc]

Hudson Hawk - It got trashed by the critics. Most the mistakes they trashed it for were intentional tongue in cheek. It was pure imaginative fun (besides, Andie McDowell had it goin' on)

[Obsolete]

-Dune (yes, definitely in the "not great" category, but better than the "dusty mess" it was described by some to be)


Very hard to consider this under-rated since Frank Herbert's masterpiece is still one of the most popular sci-fi movies.. actually wasn't it rate #1 of all-time since 1980? 

However!  There is a new generation out there who wasn't even bothered to see it, instead focusing on Star Wars, so in that regards you are right.

It definitely doens't help though that David Lynch didn't work on Children of Dune... and switching to computer effects just turned out to be so cheezy.  No wonder they skipped making the third.

[E]

ORIGINAL: pasternakski

ORIGINAL: E
-Starship Troopers
I agree it was underrated, but not by much. There's a CGI/cartoon series called roughnecks, that is much better (even has skinnies).

I liked it as long as it saw itself as "campy" (like Rico's love interest's episode with bug dissection in high school). Anytime it took itself at all seriously, it stunk.

I think the trick is to try and remember what the book was like when you were a single-digit youngster (as I was when I read the book), and to then view the movie and the cartoon with those eyes. As much older adults, we start looking for things like plot, character development, etc. Starship Troopers was about blasting bugs and using power armor. *grin*

-Blade Runner
That one's in my grossly overrated category. Didn't know it was underrated by anyone.

ORIGINAL: pasternakskiThis got roasted and toasted by the critics, but established a "look" for sci-fi movies (particularly the "future society" ones) that is still de jour.

I don't recall a single review that didn't include the word visionary (excepting those reviewers who obviously didn't "get" sci-fi at all... and you knew them when you read them).

-Dune
I'd have to call any of the dune movies (in any version of each) abominations. But my view was prejudiced by my enjoyment of the book.

ORIGINAL: pasternakski
Me, too. But what else have we got?

The really sad thing is that I remember thinking it would make a great movie when I read it. This may be why I don't gamble.

-A Clockwork Orange
I thought that one was highly rated? (BTW, saw Malcolm McDowell at a convention last year... one of the best speakers and a consumate professional.)

ORIGINAL: pasternakski
"Clockwork Orange" is the movie most critics loved to hate. Malcolm McDowell? Loved him as the narrator of "Compleat Beatles." Hated his attempted foray into American prime-time TV.

I thought they all loved it? We must read different reviews! *grin* I can't speak to the TV deal, as I completely gave up TV about 15+ years ago, although I started watching TV shows on DVD a couple years ago. So I have to amend my "I don't watch TV" to "I don't watch broadcast TV." (honestly, I could never go back to watching broadcast TV with commercials, etc. Now all cliffhangers are movies, restroom breaks are where I want them and for how long I want them, etc, etc.)

[Hertston]

Judge Dredd. I enjoyed it and went to see it with a couple of die-hard 2000AD fans who also loved it. Being realistic, they did about the best they could with the subject matter, IMHO.

They Might be Giants. Forget 'Patton', this was George C. Scott's finest hour and one of the best movies nobody has heard of.

Silent Running. Anybody who thinks cute movie robots originated with R2D2 needs to watch this one. A classic sci-fi eco-cautionary tale to make grown men cry.

[JudgeDredd]

I loved Silent Running...Huey, Duey and Luey (spelling?)...brought a tear to my eye.

Also, PoE - The Mission was an awesome movie and had probably one of the best soundtracks of any movie...it fitted so well.

[undercovergeek]

i wasnt really aware of its box office reception until recently - particularly as it made such a comeback on DVD but Shawshank Redemption is one of my favourite films - apparently it wasnt received well at all on release

[Tomus]

"Man on Fire" with Denzel Washington. It was panned by critics but I thought the film was brilliant. It certainly deserved better reviews, in fact all the things the critics hated such as the storyline, cinematography etc I loved.#

Definitely an underrated classic.

[Arsan]

Hi!

Its interesting to see how a lot of movies that were trounced by the critics or had not so good box offices (like Blade Runner for example or many others on Pasternatski list) are now considered classics or at least cult movies.
I bet nobody remembers (or cares about) half of the top films of the box office lists form 10, 20 or 30 years ago.

One movie i like very much and that has received very bad critics and internet buzz is Oliver Stone's Alexander.

IMHO is a great historical movie, very true to history, have excellent visual reconstruction of the era and the most realistic and engaging ancient times battle scenes i've ever seen (even if there aren't many in the film).
I guess the "problem" with the film is that it depicts Alexander as what the sources tell us it was: bisexual. Something very common back then but difficult to understand for a big part of the today's audience that can't stand that the "conqueror hero" has some gay relationships between battles [8|]
Not very "Hollywood" like [;)]

Cheers!

[TulliusDetritus]

Pasternakski, it's curious that you mention two Kubrick's works. "Barry Lyndon" and "A Clockwork Orange". To me almost masterpieces. A lot of people and / or critics didn't like them? Ok. But I don't think they are going to say "that's rubbish cinema" (if they say so, they should only watch TV films). Just like Citizen Kane or Dersu Uzala. Lots of people may not like them... but it's great cinema. And great cinema is far beyond this "underrated" thing [:)]

I mean, to use this analogy: Homer (Greek poet, not the Simpson guy [:D]) or Alighieri cannot be underrated. Never [8D]

Titanwarrior, you are right about the Descent movie. Shocking! Possibly the best horror movie made recently.

[JudgeDredd]

I thought Descent was a very good movie in terms of horror movies...made me jump several times!
 
Also I'm not surprised that alot of films panned by critics are respected by so many people - critics are, after all, only human. They are meant to be unnatached and objective, but I tend to think they are not. I try hard not to let reviews I hear from critics to affect whether I should see a movie or not, though sometimes I do (Alexander being one, though in my defence, even the lead actor slated it when I heard him speak of it!)

[TulliusDetritus]

Since we mention the Descent movie, humm... maybe it is underrated because all the personages (except the guy who dies in the car) are females (which per se is original and different)?