Which is your favourite under-rated film, and actor?
Asked by
NewZen (
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)
November 21st, 2009
I have always like Jodie Foster, e.g., and think that some of her films have gotten wrongly trashed: Contact and Nell, in particular.
Do you have a favourite film that everyone else seems to think is crap?
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53 Answers
I think Emille Hirsh is an amazing actor. I don’t think he’s recieved the attention he deserves.
I know a lot of people hated it but I LOVED The Postman
Hey @Judi You have a perfect 15000 – cool. Just wanted to say that I also like the postman and even waterworld.
Owning Mahoney, with Phillip Seymour Hoffman in perhaps his least-known but finest role.
Solaris. I absolutely love it.
Two of my all time favourite films are Gia and The Elephant Man and I think they are both underrated.
There is a British actress called Julie Graham (William and Mary, At Home With the Braithwaites, Survivors 2008) that I think is extremely underrated.
As usual lately, when I try to recall something, it ain’t there. I know there are others but one of my favorite recent ones was 500 Days of Summer. Joseph Gordon Leavitt was excellent in it.
To not actually answer the question posed, I am a huge Terry Gilliam fan, even though I can’t remember the last time he directed a hit.
And his film The Adventures of Baron Munchausen , which was one of the biggest failures in Hollywood history, is terrific!
The Man Who Wasn’t There is a Coen brothers film, but it didn’t get wide distribution. RottenTomatoes.com says total box office was only $7,408,031.
The cast included Billy Bob Thornton, Frances McDormand, Scarlett Johansson, James Gandolfini, and I especially liked Tony Shalhoub as an overpriced lawyer
@jaytkay After the Coens did Fargo, I was excited to see The Big Lebowski , but it didn’t play in the county I live in. In the end, it cost $15 mill to make, and only made $17.5 mill. The film is now widely regarded as being one of the best comedies ever, and a big hit on DVD, but it was killed by it’s distributors.
Phantom of the Paradise is definitely my favorite. My favorite actor is probably gotta be Keanu Reeves though…yum.
John Cusack….I feel he really has never been given the kudos he deserves.
I hear (have not seen it) that “2012” is a dud….which is a shame. Here he is in a major blockbuster….that is a bit O.T.T.
“Reds”....that movie was superb and it didn’t win Best Picture (lost to “Chariots of Fire”) and was really a small masterpiece. Warren Beatty did an amazing job as director, actor and he was in his top form. Beatty has never really gotten the kudos he has deserved either….he is a great creative talent.
Robert Knepper, the guy who played Tea Bag on Prison break and who is playing Samuel on Heroes is on a roll. I think we will see a lot of him in the future. His characters make people well with rage. That’s a good thing for an actor.
I’m going to have to say Joesph Gordon Levitt too. Sure, he’s in cutesy teen comedies, but he blew me away in Brick.
Sunshine is a movie that not many people have seen, but it’s absolutely brilliant, even though it’s by a director who normally does horror. Beautiful film.
@pdworkin Phillip Seymour Hoffman is one of the greatest actors of our time. @AstroChuck I saw him on The Actor’s Studio, strangely enough, without yet having seen any of his movies. @DarlingRhadamanthus Agreed about Cusack. @gemiwing Solaris is awesome!
@gemiwing I love both the Russian and American versions of Solaris. Which one are you refering to?
@NewZen I agree Contact is terrific, and bady maligned.
Steve Buscemi used to be in everything. Now he is in nothing. I always enjoy watching him.
The Rocketeer is one of my favorite movies, and gets zero respect from critics.
Citizen Kane, Orson Welles.
@ratboy If anything that is perhaps the most overrated movie of all time. That’s like calling Joe Dimaggio and Babe Ruth underrated.
@pdworkin Kane is the best movie ever made, period. How can it be overrated?
Pink Floyd the wall and Eyes Wide shut
@pdworkin: Well, Joe Dimaggio nailed Marlyn Monroe. What the hell did a stinkin’ candy bar ever accomplish?
How about Showgirls?
Oh yeah that movie too!
Thanks for reminding me, RareDenver
I think Chris Cooper is a very underrated actor. I guess his biggest role was in Adaptation in which he was incredible as the orchid hunter but he’s amazing in pretty much every film he does. Phillip Baker Hall is underrated- amazing dramatic actor but especially in comedy- he played the Library cop on Seinfeld. I think Gary Sinese is pretty underrated- he just has to be on cop type shows now and doesn’t show his range. Marcia Gay-Harden is a pretty awesome actress you don’t see much of. Oh, wait, seems she’s won an Oscar. What about Diane Wiest? I’ve loved her in everything I’ve seen with her. Or Frances McDormund? This list could go on forever.
In the Mouth of Madness is a great horror flick that no one seems to have seen.
@jamielynn2328 I’ve seen it and can’t remember what I thought of it which tells me it was crap
I liked this movie, but most people hate it.
Really like Laura Linney in just about everything she’s in; The Savages with her and Philip Seymour Hoffman was a great, nearly neglected film.
I remember that movie! Wasn’t that Helen Hunt playing the girl? Good movie!
Throne of Blood, and Toshiro Mifune.
@ratboy Showgirls is indeed an “important” film – but that depends on your age when you see it.
;-)
Throne of Blood is great, but Mifune’s best are Rashomon and Yojimbo.
@filmfann Yojimbo, ehh. It was fun, but I could never see what all the hullabaloo was about. Agreed on Rashomon. However, the question is about underrated movies and actors, and almost no one knows about Throne. And while many may see Mifune in the famous ones like Seven Samurai and Rashomon, few could tell you his name or even realize that it’s the same guy.
They showed Throne of Blood in my son’s Shakespeare class. He was very impressed by it.
And Mifune is essentially the Japanese John Wayne. Easily the best known Japanese actor in history. HIs competition would be Miyoshi Umeki, who won an oscar for Sayonara.
@filmfann Oh duh. That was really ethnocentric of me. Silly potato. Of course he’s well known – in Japan. As far as Throne goes, I too was introduced to it in a Shakespeare class. When I bring it up to people outside that class as an awesome movie, even if they are acquainted with some of Kurosawa’s work, they have never heard of it. That’s what gives me the impression that it’s not as well known as it ought to be.
@SuperMouse- nice call on the Waterdance… I don’t think I’ve met anyone else whose even seen that movie! At least it’s never come up in conversation. It’s heartbreaking.
Underrated: Breaking Away.
Yeah- I’m not sure what the threshold is here for rating, etc. Pretty subjective.
@rovdog thanks and right back at you for Breaking Away, that is one of my favorite movies of all time. “Mama, mama, the Italians are coming!”
@filmfann yes, Helen Hunt did play Wesley Snipes’ girlfriend! That might have been pre-Mad About You.
@filmfann I haven’t seen the Russian version yet. Now it’s on the list-thanks!
I haven’t seen Waterdance since it was in theaters, but I am pretty sure Helen Hunt was Eric Stoltz’s married gf.
The only thing I remember about Snipes was that hysterical hat he was wearing. It caught the whole character.
Leonard Part 6 starring Bill Cosby
@filmfann that’s what I get for answering a question at 2:30 a.m., Helen Hunt was Eric Stolz’s married girlfriend. I knew that, I really did! Snipes’ wife was leaving him after he broke his neck, and his character was infatuated with a strpper named Annabelle Lee. One of the things I loved about that movie was that it wasn’t all neat and pretty.
I wonder what ever happened to Neal Jimenez.
two underrated movies i love are wristcutters: a love story great soundtrack, and teeth….
@Evil2: Cool- I liked that movie. I knew some people associated with the project so I saw it for that reason. It was quite a small film I think. best part though is the Gogol Bordello song “Through the roof and underground” Awesome and sort of hilarious. Love Gypsy Punk rock.
Oh- I never read the sub question to this question. My favorite film that I like and other people think is crap has to be Point Break, hands down. I don’t know whether I love it in a kitchy way or whether I just love it. I think maybe I just love it. There are some amazing sequences in it, like the Swayze/Reeves footchase! But usually if I bring this film up in conversation people think I’m not being serious, since I’m not much an action fan and especially if they haven’t seen it!
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