Off the back of @swoodley overrated movies thread I thought I might start an underrated one.
There are lots of hidden classics or films that for some reason or another get forgotten about despite how good they are. Then there are genre’s like action or horror that don’t get the critical acclaim or respect that other genre’s receive purely because they are frowned upon for reasons that are unknown to me.
I was going to kick it off with the incredibly underrated Ridley Scott gangster film American Gangster but the fact that it was nominated for two academy awards probably rules it out.
Sticking with Denzel but this time going with Tony Scott rather than Ridley I am going to nominate Man on Fire. It’s arguable that its underrated but it rarely if ever gets mentioned on here so thats good enough for me.
Because Denzel does a lot of action films you could make an argument that a lot of his films are underrated. He’s one of the best actors in the business but since 2000 has only been nominated for four oscars having won just the one.
And sticking to underrated and comparing the Scott brothers Ridley gets most of the accolades due to films like Blade Runner and Alien but Tony has made some of the greatest action films ever made and rarely gets mentioned in the same breath. Unstoppable was a fitting farewell for him as I believe it to be another underrated film that doesn’t get the respect it deserves.
Anyway, over to you guys. What fits the bill and doesn’t get discussed nearly enough or is unfairly judged because it doesn’t meet the w@nky criteria of other films?
Thoroughly well scripted and acted. My quintessential underrated movie. Mention it to someone and I’d wager the overwhelming majority don’t even know it exists despite the blockbuster cast and production team.
‘Christine’ & ‘Prince of Darkness’ from my favourite director John Carpenter are two of his I think get overlooked his filmography. It seems the likes of Big Trouble… The Mouth of Madness & They Live, have all received their overdue reassessment in recent years but the aforementioned two rarely get bought up.
In terms of movies that are underrated because they don’t get discussed as much as the director’s other movies, yet are great, some underrated movies off the top of my head are:
Jacky Brown (probably my second favourite Tarantino movie)
Unbreakable (M Night Shyamalan’s second movie - though that has likely been discussed more due to his Glass movie)
Insomnia (the Nolan movie everyone forgets he made. Hell, people seem to talk more about Following than this movie)
Always thought Fracture was a very smart movie and even despite its star cast of Anthony Hopkins and Ryan Gosling, it doesn’t seem to be talked about much.
The vidiot from UHF. Weird Al at his best with great cameos from Cramer and the Nanny before they were famous. It’s a very funny movie that rarely gets a mention anywhere. I still can’t listen to money for nothing without singing "Beverly Hillbillies’
To this list I’ll also add Gattaca. Heavily rated by those who have seen it, who don’t seem to be too many. Masterpiece.
Wag the Dog. The smartest comedy movie i have ever seen. Killer cast too - DeNiro and Hoffman in their only movie together, as well as William H Macy, Woody Harrelson, Dennie Leary, and even Willie Nelson as himself. Stand up brilliant movie and very few have heard of it.