Underrated flicks

Batutta

Batutta

Major Contributor
This is different from my thread on unsung gems, which I consider low profile films that may have escaped notice, but are surprisingly good. No, I'm talking about big films I think have been unfairly maligned, sometimes for decades. I saw two recently that stuck out. I've been filling in gaps in my Bond collection, and watched a couple I haven't yet seen. The Man With the Golden Gun is often cited as one of the worst Bond films but I found it to be highly underrated. One, any Bond movie with a John Barry score can't be all bad. Two, it has for my money one of the most effective Bond villains in Christopher Lee's Scaramanga. The writers do a good job of painting him as the shadowy version of Bond and it really works well, and Lee plays him great. Also, this was Roger Moore's second Bond and he still had his testicles attached at this point in the series. Later he got too prissy and self mocking. I thought it was a lot of fun and I'd take it over any of the Brosnan Bonds.

The other film is Star Trek: The Motion Picture. I think this movie has some of the best acting of the bunch, is staged the most cinematically, and is the only one that qualifies as an honest to god science fiction story. The others were just action oriented space operas. Jerry Goldsmith's score is one his best, and one of the best period. Magnificent work that tells a story all its own. Sure the introduction of the new Enterprise goes on forever and ever, and that would normally bother me if the score and special effects weren't so goddamn spectacular here. It's Enterprise porn, but I like the Enterprise and I like porn so it's a win, win for me. And Persis Khambatta. I have nothing to say about her, I just like saying her name. It's one of those names that has an ear satisfying phonetic progression. I think Trek I unfairly gets lumped with the worst Trek movies, when I'd easily watch it over Trek III, V and even VI. It has a majesty the other films lack, often an over abundance of majesty, but I'll take that over none at all.
 
Last edited:
Brother From Another Planet - John Sayles

No dialog for lead actor (Joe Morton) for whole film. 109 minutes.
 
Oh wow, that *was* Joe Morton, in Brother...

The Good Thief, Intacto, Wish You Were Here, Kontrol

I'm not sure about Star Trek: TMP. A few months ago there was a retrospective at the Egyptian, with the cleanest print they could find...and the compositing was just horrendous. And what the hell was the deal with the endless use of split-field diopters? Were the sets just not big enough and lights too dim...?

But all that aside...it was still big-screen old-school Star Trek!
 
Sad Max said:
[/I]I'm not sure about Star Trek: TMP. A few months ago there was a retrospective at the Egyptian, with the cleanest print they could find...and the compositing was just horrendous. And what the hell was the deal with the endless use of split-field diopters? Were the sets just not big enough and lights too dim...?

But all that aside...it was still big-screen old-school Star Trek!
Click to expand...

I never meant to say it's a great film, just much better than its reputation...underrated.
 
Point Break. One of Kathryn Bigelow's early works. Has a healthy dose of cliche, but the characters and setting are engaging, it has a fantastic foot chase, good surfing action, tense bank robberies, and an amazing skydiving sequence. Keanu didn't win any acting awards for this one but he's well cast. Busey looks like he's having a lot of fun. Lory Petty has never looked lovelier (which the retrospective doc in the special features makes painfully evident). And Patrick Swayze is surprisingly understated in his role as a zen surf guru. The story may seem familiar if you've seen any Fast & The Furious movie as they basically used this plot as a template, but this is the original.
 
I never meant to say it's a great film, just much better than its reputation...underrated.
Click to expand...
I will allow as that I found I knew every line of dialog, and remembered the shot structure well enough to anticipate each cut accurately.

So it evidently had made an impression.

I ran into Lori Petty in the emergency room at Cedars Sinai back in 1990. She was hawt.
 
Sad Max said:
I ran into Lori Petty in the emergency room at Cedars Sinai back in 1990. She was hawt.
Click to expand...

She was a cute, spunky little thing. But man...when I saw her in the special features...sadness. The lighting wasn't too flattering either.
 
The Breakfast Club.

I watched this last week and I just could not turn away. I am not sure if it's underrated or not, but It is a great film in my humble opinion.
 
Batutta said:
Point Break. One of Kathryn Bigelow's early works. Has a healthy dose of cliche, but the characters and setting are engaging, it has a fantastic foot chase, good surfing action, tense bank robberies, and an amazing skydiving sequence. Keanu didn't win any acting awards for this one but he's well cast. Busey looks like he's having a lot of fun. Lory Petty has never looked lovelier (which the retrospective doc in the special features makes painfully evident). And Patrick Swayze is surprisingly understated in his role as a zen surf guru. The story may seem familiar if you've seen any Fast & The Furious movie as they basically used this plot as a template, but this is the original.
Click to expand...

Totally agree with that.
 
'Breakfast Club', 'Point Break' ... ya'll showing your age my friends
what's next? Pump Up The Volume? Heathers? The Game?
:laugh:
 
azharrison said:
Office Space, Safe House, Kissing Jessica Stein...
Click to expand...

Office Space is a cult c;assic; def not underrated

TheMacB said:
Reds
Click to expand...

This won Best Picture, didn't it ?

Batutta said:
Point Break. One of Kathryn Bigelow's early works. Has a healthy dose of cliche, but the characters and setting are engaging, it has a fantastic foot chase, good surfing action, tense bank robberies, and an amazing skydiving sequence. Keanu didn't win any acting awards for this one but he's well cast. Busey looks like he's having a lot of fun. Lory Petty has never looked lovelier (which the retrospective doc in the special features makes painfully evident). And Patrick Swayze is surprisingly understated in his role as a zen surf guru. The story may seem familiar if you've seen any Fast & The Furious movie as they basically used this plot as a template, but this is the original.
Click to expand...

Agreed. epic.

Richard J. Johnson said:
The Breakfast Club.

I watched this last week and I just could not turn away. I am not sure if it's underrated or not, but It is a great film in my humble opinion.
Click to expand...

Another Cult Classic and an 80's icon

None of these really underrated ? Are they ?

My first pick

The 13th Warrior.
 
I mentioned Elaine May's Ishtar. Her film Mikey and Nicky was released a year-and-a-half late and way over budget. Paramount fired her. She actually hid two reels of the negative until the studio acquiesced. It, like Ishtar, failed at the box office. After recently viewing it again, I'd have to say it's a pretty good film.
 
True Romance. we all know who's in it, we all know who wrote it, we all know who directed it....yet, i deem it as underrated.

oh, and a personal favorite of mine, "Swimming with Sharks"...this movie got no love. but it still holds up for me.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top