Lynne's list of movies that havent gotten enough attention:





A Room With a View - Wonderful adaptation of E.M. Forester's classic 
novel that examines social class and romance in turn of the century 
England. Stars Maggie Smith, Judi Dench, Helena Bonham Carter and 
Daniel Day-Lewis in his best role ever. 

Party Girl - starring Parker Posey as a club hopping woman lured into 
the exciting field of library science. My friend Terry's brother is in 
this, credited as one of "the it twins" 

Bad Influence - Creepy movie with James Spader and Rob Lowe. It always 
makes me think of my friend Michael. I wont say why. 

Secretary - Speaking of James Spader. This was a very oddly charming 
movie. I never would have suspected an S & M film could be so touching. 

Dance Craze - ska documentary. My first introduction to ska. I love 
ska. It's my party and I will ska if I want to. 

Harold and Maude - Yeah it is a cult classic but it still deserves 
more. It is really funny. I love the car. 

Trainspotting - It will make you laugh at really horrible heroin 
addiction. Not many movies can claim that. Stars Ewan McGregor

American History X- tripped out story with Edward Norton as a crazy 
white supremist. 

Passion Fish - I just saw this. I cant believe that I had never heard 
of this movie before. It was really good. 

Red Rock West - Dennis Hopper is amazing in this one. Really scary. 
eep. 



So what movies do you think are really good but never got the attention 
they deserved?

144 responses total.

I also liked Pashion Fish (available from from aadl).
They also have Shall We Dance, a Japanese ballroom dancing movie, and a
Singapore spoof of Saturday Night Fever (Saturday Night Forever?) where the
characters are actually nice to each other, and the other brother is not a
priest but a closet would-be-transexual who really does not want to be a
doctor for his parents.  I liked it much better than the original.

I think "A Room with a View" got a decent amount of attention when it
came out, including some Academy nominations.

The only other movies on your list that I've seen are "Secretary" and
"Red Rock West".  I agree with you on both.

The director of "Red Rock West", John Dahl, has made a couple of other
unjustly neglected films - "Kill Me Again" and "The Last Seduction".
They're both neo-film-noir and the latter is particularly good.  It
stars Linda Fiorentino as a sociopathic femme fatale with murder on
her mind.

Get me started on unjustly neglected films and I could go on for quite
a while and probably will eventually.  For now I'll close with three
films by Hal Hartley, who's been making thoughtful movies with a comic
twist since the late 1980s:  "The Unbelievable Truth" (1989), "Trust"
(1990), and "Simple Men" (1992).

I saw a little bit of "Feeling Minnesota" on TV last night, and thought as
much as I saw was pretty peculiar, with a comedy slant on murder (and
whatever else was to come) involving what I might call social riff-raff.
But I'm intrigued enough to consider renting it. Has it gotten much
notice?

Trainspotting; Under-appreciated? That movie got nothing but just deserved
praise..

As far as cheap-humour goes; I think mallrats was under-appreciated in the
cinema but was a blast on vhs. 

slynne, do you have a copy of dance craze?  I've actually never seen 
the movie, but have had the soundtrack for about 15 years.  I'd love to 
see it.

  I've never seen the movie either, despite having a fair-sized
  collection of Two Tone ska.

resp:5 - No. I havent seen it in years. I first saw it at the Punch and 
Judy theater in Grosse Pointe when I was a teenager and I *think* I 
might have rented it once since then but I am not sure. It isnt 
available at netflix though so it probably hasnt been released on DVD. 

American History X is to me one of the most profound movies about racism that
I've ever seen.  Amazing acting, well written - I don't think it was that
underappreciated.

I think "Cable Guy" is an underrated film.  It came out in the wake of
the Ace Ventura films, and a lot of people were disappointed because
it's not the same kind of zany comedy.  Now that we've had films like
"The Truman Show", though, it makes a lot more sense.

American History X was cheesy/tacky.

resp:8 - I listed it as an underappreciated movie because I had never 
heard of it until I was pawing through a former roommate's video 
collection and noticed that it had Edward Norton. I asked her if it was 
any good and then she made me watch it. I have asked a lot of other 
people and you would be surprised at the number of people who not only 
havent seen this movie, but havent even heard of it. 

Three movies from director Gus Van Sant, IMO one of the best directors
working today--

1. ELEPHANT-- this came out last year and it doesn't seem like a lot of
people saw it.  It was a movie basically about the Columbine High School
massacre with the names/locations changed.  Van Sant did the
non-chronological thing where he had scenes occurring out of sequence,
which some people don't like, but I thought the moving was quite
moving/disturbing and wish more people saw it

2. DRUGSTORE COWBOY-- IMO one of the best movies of the last twenty five
years, the story of a band of drug junkies up in Seattle led by Matt
Dillon, who narrates the movie.  I think this is probably the best movie
ever made about the drug culture in this country and drug addiction.  

3. MY OWN PRIVATE IDAHO-- This was Van Sant's followup to Drugstore
Cowboy, a story of two male hustlers living on the streets of Portlant
(Keanu Reeves and River Phoenix) and their friendship.  Phoenix's
character, who suffers from narcolepsy and keeps passing out when he gets
too excited, is obsessed with finding his mother.  Reeves character is a
rich high society boy who has taken to the streets because he wants to run
AWAY from his father and his heritage.  One friend trying to find his
identity, and the other friend to run away with his.  

These are three great movies by the same director, Gus Van Sant, and were
all box office busts because they were not commercial films.  Thus a lot
of people haven't seen them.  A lot more people saw two other Van Sant
films which weren't as good, Good Will Hunting and the remake of Psycho.
But I recommend these three highly.

Hm, I thought that "My Private Idaho" was fairly successful.  I remember
seeing it in a crowded Ann Arbor theater.

For a truly obscure, yet very interesting, Gus Van Sant film, I'd recommend
"Gerry".  Two characters named Gerry, played by Matt Damon and Casey
Affleck, get lost in the desert and spend the entire film trying to find
their way out.  Lots of bleak desert scenes, shot in various locations
around the world, very little dialog, very little that "happens".  Yet
I found it remarkably involving and touching.

I personally think that "American History X" should be required viewing in
every high school in America.

Tank Girl; Just You and Me

Steve Martin's "Roxanne," a resetting of Cyrano de Bergerac in a small
New England town, with Steve Martin as the guy with the big nose and
Daryl Hannah as the object of his interest.  The restaging of the 
balcony scene is laugh-until-it-hurts funny.

  I thought "Roxanne" was set in the west, probably among the Sierra Nevada,
  possily in the Cascades.

This response has been erased.

I'd agree with both of those films.

Oh yeah. I loved Roxanne. I dont think I have seen Jungle Fever. 

Roxanne was filmed in Nelson, B.C.  It's principly a ski-resort town.

I liked Roxanne a lot too.  We used "Ermore sessions by sleeving" as our
Trivia name at one point.

I don't know if it is truly underappreciated or anything, but I really think
that "The Princess Bride" is a little gem.

I think it is underappreciated, and it's also a little gem.

Yeah, it is a great movie. 

  The book was much better, I thought.  But it might be
  one of those cases where you prefer whichever you
  encountered first..

I prefer the book but I also think that the movie is an especially good 
adaptation of the book. 

RICH KIDS.  Probably due to the really awful title, it was a commercial
flop, but a really nice little movie.  Similar to, but much better than,
Kramer vs. Kramer.

I have never heard of that one. I'll have to look into it. Thanks, 
Larry :)

1. How I won the war.
I mean, its got John Lennon as the main character. What more do you need???

  Which reminds me..

  It's not one I'd call a great movie, but it's certainly "underappreciated";
  in fact, in many cases it's downright reviled.. 

  I'm talking, of course, about the bizarre but entertainingly campy movie
  "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" starring those world famous
  musicians [wait..  what do you mean the Beatles won't do another movie?
  oh well, I guess we can use..] the Bee Gees.

WINGS OF DESIRE-- This is a film from back in 1987 by Wim Wenders that
didn't do big box office and a lot of people may not have heard of.  It is
the story of an angel (bruno ganz) who falls in love with a beautiful
trapeze artist who he is watching over from heaven.  The angel starts to
slowly realize that he wants to be human, that he wants to be mortal.  The
movie also stars Peter Falk (one of my favorite actors) as himself believe
it or not.  The actor Peter Falk is working on a movie in Berlin and comes
into contact with this angel.  Wenders is one of my favorite directors.

 But watch out for the American remake, starring Nicholas Cage and Meg Ryan.
 I believe it was called "City of Angels" or something like that..

ur right mcnally. But, the name of the movie wasnt sgt. peppers lonely hearts
club band. It was "Yellow Submarine" Sgt. peppers lonely hearts club band was
the name of the band that was captured byt he "blue meanies", (which are
taking over pepper land) the beatles come to save sgt. peppers lonely hearts
club band and in the end defeat the blue meanies. But yeah, mcnally, it was
a great movie

and btw, the bee gees are nothing compaird to the beatles. how dare u ;)

mcnally and starship are talking about two completely different movies.

Tombstone.
Beautiful cinematography. Engaging storytelling. Outstanding cast, 
including Val Kilmer at his very finest.
Essentially ignored at awards time, due in large part to being released 
the same year as Schindler's List.
Seriously under-appreciated. Go forth and buy it. Now.

I second that.

I'll be your huckleberry.

- Backtalk version 1.3.30 - Copyright 1996-2006, Jan Wolter and Steve Weiss