Movies That Are Underrated.....

The recent Film 'Bernie' with Jack Black has some real Coen brothers humor, also not making as much noise as I'd of expected.

And though it's been mentioned before, I feel the need to point out that May was one of the very best horror movies of the last ten years. So check it out.

Doug Liman's Go (1999) got generally good reviews, just nobody went to see it in the theater for some reason. It came out in April and very quietly only made about $4-million its opening weekend. It wound up with close to $17-million domestically, which did manage to more than cover its budget (around $7-million).

It wasn't underrated really, it was just terribly underseen. When I saw it opening day there were only three or four other people in the entire theater. But at least it found its audience on video.

The Royal Tenenbaums, Oldboy, and Jacob's Ladder come to mind.

Rango -

You might thing this is a weird choice considering a lot of people do like it and it won a "Best Animated Feature" Oscar but I have heard quite a lot people criticise the film that find it weird.

I think the people that don't get it don't appreciate its style and it doesn't suit them. if you're expecting to see some lovely kids animation that has a lovable story like that you'd expect from Pixar then you're not going to get that with "Rango". In fact Rango is very much an adult film only set in a fantastic animated world with some brilliantly digitally designed characters and locations.

I loved Rango because it's filled with references to tons of films, the humour is great and adult orientated as well. Even films that I haven't seen I could get the references, we get loads of Westerns such as "High Noon" and the "Dollars trilogy", the villain and plot is similar to "Chinatown", then there's the likes of "Apocalypse Now" and "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas". Even the closing credits play a song that is based on Misirlou, the opening song of "Pulp Fiction".

We even get to see the appearance of a Clint Eastwood like character with this scene,symbolise much of what to expect from the film - it is bizarre and combines animation with a classic film and plot from old westerns, and Clint's words 'If this was heaven we'd be eating pop tarts with Kim Novak' perfectly sums up the strange yet brilliant style of dialogue and humour. Every time I watch this film I appreciate it more and more, spotting something new that I love. Although the plot is pretty straightforward and predictable it's an extremely enjoyable film for children as well who will enjoy that more than the dialogue and humour.

Other films I find underrated (not massively, but I think I rate much higher than most):

Boyz n the Hood -

Maybe it's the lack of special effects and that, it's just a simple story that sticks to it's emotional core and doesn't throw in cheap or fake scenes, a fantastic film.

White Men Can't Jump -

A 6.5 IMDB rating shows what the majority think about this film however when I watched it I was very impressed. It's more than just a silly basketball story, it has an emotional centre and I found it to be enjoyable and clever.

Kung Fu Panda 2 -

I actually found this film stronger than the first, although I found the first one decent I thought this was much stronger. The voice cast is excellent again but the main plus from this film is the story which is much better, involving and enjoyable than the first film.

Cars 2 -

Still one of the weaker Pixar films but I actually found "Cars 2" more enjoyable than I thought. Once again my thoughts are similar to "Kung Fu Panda 2" as I feel this film that takes a new story gives us something more involving and enjoyable than the first.

The Terminal -

Far from Spielberg's best but that does not mean to say that this is a bad film, in doesn't intend to be some grand masterpiece and instead succeeds at being a charming and enjoyable film with a great performance from Tom Hanks.

Sin City -

You might think this is an odd choice but I just don't think this film gets enough credit for how good it is. Sure you can't compare it to classics like The Wizard of Oz, Casablanca, Citizen Kane etc. but when reviewing films like this you shouldn't. For what it sets out to do Sin City is a masterpiece in film making, one of my favourite films, the film plays like a real life comic brought to life in such a visually fantastic and enthralling way with a great cast

A Fistful of Dynamite -

No one ever seems to mention this Leone film but I rate it was one of my favourites. Unlike his other films (OUATIA aside) this one takes an alternative route focussing on the Mexican Revolution with the likeable James Coburn portraying the main character, an IRA explosive expert at the centre of the revolution. This film is great fun and although you can see flaws in the way it's put together in editing terms some of the film making is as brilliant as anything else from Leone.

Bad Santa -

A Christmas film that comes as filthy as possible, filled with crude and vulgar scenes, bad language and much more, "Bad Santa" is incredibly funny film that has many laughs and a kind of emotional centre which makes for a decent end.

Mean Streets -

Whilst it has its flaws that come with a smaller production (than Scorsese's future films) it still makes for an excellent gangster film. It combines many elements to make for a successful and enjoyable film. Harvey Keitel is the main man with Robert De Niro supporting, something that is later reversed (Taxi Driver) which is unsurprising with an outstanding psychopathic performance from De Niro as Johnny Boy.

Yeah, there's no body mutilation in it