Sleeper keeper

'kay, you know what I'm talking about. Those out of the mainstream movies that no one rents 'cause they don't know they're good. You rent them 'cause there's nothing else, then you say "Dang, that was a good movie! Who knew?"

Post 'em here:[green]

• Ravenous
• A Simple Plan
• That movie about the bus load of children that's like the Pied Piper.
• Limbo, no one understands, the ending is supposed to leave you.. in limbo, duh.
• Pi, everyone on this board has prolly heard of it but non moviephiles haven't. Great movie.

[/green]

The movie about the bus crash is called The Sweet Hereafter (1997), directed by Atom Egoyan, starring Ian Holm, Bruce Greenwood and Sarah Polley.

"Sleepers" and "Cult Films" are tricky to define, since to so many poeple, anything that doesn't star Mel Gibson or Julia Roberts or get profiled on "Entertainment Tonight" is considered out of the mainstream.

For example, of your list, A Simple Plan (1998 - Sam Raimi), while not a 'hit' at the boxoffice, received many award nominations, including two Oscars (Billy Bob Thornton for Best Supporting Actor, and Scott B. Smith for adapting his own novel into a screenplay). The Sweet Hereafter also received two Oscar nominations (Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay - both for Atom Egoyan) and it got raves and multiple awards at Cannes.

Can films that receive so much recognition and accalim be considred "sleepers"? I dunno.

Whatever the broad ever-expansive definition is, I'll nominate these (even though by my own terms, some of these aren't 'sleepers'), because they are personal favorites that I find many haven't seen (or sometimes even heard of)....

After Hours (1985 - Marty Scorsese)
Prime Cut (1972 - Michael Ritchie)
Parents (1989 - Bob Balaban)
The Music of Chance (1993 - Philip Haas)
Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia (1974 - Peckinpah)
The Rapture (1991 - Michael Tolkin)
One False Move (1991 - Carl Franklin)
Schizopolis (1996 - Soderbergh)
Bottle Rocket (1996 - Wes Anderson)
A Boy & His Dog (1975 - L.Q. Jones)
Touch (1997 - Paul Schrader)
Chinese Box (1997 - Wayne Wang)
Quick Change (1990 - Franklin & Murray)
They All Laughed (1981 - Peter Bogdanovich)
The Beast (1988 - Kevin Reynolds)
The Life & Times of Judge Roy Bean (1972 - John Huston)
Men with Guns (1997 - John Sayles)
Near Dark (1987 - Katherine Bigelow)
Fandango (1985 - Kevin Reynolds)
Cutter's Way (1981 - Ivan Passer)
The Survivors (1983 - Michael Ritchie)


Now, I don't think I would lable any film by Scorsese or Huston or Peckinpah 'sleepers', not even their lesser-known works. But there's my list, just the same.

YAY! Ravenous!!

Four Rooms would go on my list. Can't think of much else right now.

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I second "A Simple Plan." Ironically, it's a simple movie...but still very entertaining. It always makes me feel bad, though. So depressing to think about guilt and lies and such.

My list (these are all GREAT movies):

• O Brother Where Art Thou? - I love this movie. It's funny in a way I can't put my finger on. It's clever. The music is *amazing*. I don't like blue grass, but I liked this soundtrack anyway. Fabulous movie.
  
• The Hudsucker Proxy - Very funny...another Coen brothers classic. Several significant names, too. Very fast moving...fast talking and everything. Really captures the period as well.
  
• Cube - Weird. The ending left me unsatisfied, but it's worth seeing. Could have been better in several ways, but the concept alone makes it worth renting.
  
• Memento - I know it doesn't seem like a sleeper to most of us, but that's because we're all big movie fans. Great movie...several plot holes, I think, but not the kind that spoil it for you. Good "puzzle" movie, as someone I know likes to call such flicks.
  
• The Apostle - WOW! Around the third time I saw this, I thought to myself: whoa, Robert Duvall is ACTING. He's pretending!

Hmmm...that's all for now. The Usual Suspects used to be a bit of a sleeper, but it's gained a lot of fame over time. I might have to come back and post some more...I have a feeling I'll remember some others later.

Yi Yi- some chinese mvie about a family, its acutslly good.

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"Who comes at 12:00 on a Sunday night to rent Butch Cassady and the Sundance Kid?"
-Hollywood Video rental guy to me

Yi Yi, is that the movie with the little boy whos always takin pictures of the backs of peoples heads? That was a pretty good movie!

The Rapture, I dunno if I like it. I think I was disappointed, it was too low key. I guess I wanted to see the whole apocalypse thing with the war of the angels & devils & the great Hor of Babylon & all that.

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Wow! I didn't know those had won awards!
Sweet Hereafter! That's the one. Thought of some more

• Idle Hands
• Saving Silverman
• Shall we Dance 1996 Directed by Masayuki Suo about that Japanese businessman

I haven't seen any of the ones you listed Holden so I guess they're "sleepers"

Cube, was that the one where those people are trapped in the Borg sphere and have to move from cube to cube? I liked it.
The Apostle, good one!
Yi Yi sounds like something I'd like.

Yeah, good call, Saving Silverman was pretty good. Some parts were stupid, but overall it was a really FUN movie. Reasonably funny, and not without wit either. Very underrated.

I HATED Saving Silverman.

I saw it a sneak preview earlier this year, before it actually opened. I was looking forward to it because first and foremost I think Jack Black is a bonafide genius. From Tenacious D to "Mr. Show with Bob & David" through his scene-stealing walk-ons on every manner of movie and TV show, the guy is a perfect comedian! I'm glad that with his showcase role in High Fidelity he finally got some mainstream recognition. And I've liked Steve Zahn in just about everything I've seen him in too, especially Out of Sight and Happy, Texas. AND I think Amanda Peet is incredibly gorgeous. I fell in love with her during a guest shot on NBC's "Law & Order" back in '95, before she started working in movies. And man, did she steal the limp The Whole Nine Yards away from Willis and Perry - and not just because of her glorious nudity (though that didn't hurt).

ANYway, so I was poised to really like Saving Silverman. But then I saw the blasted thing. HORRIBLE. Black and Zahn have moments where they are naturally funny despite the completely uninspired material and witless direction, and I liked looking at Peet in revealing outfits, but overall this was a HUGE stinker that completely missed for me. Completely. Lame stuff.

But maybe it's simply not my cup of tea? I thought There's Something About Mary was completely without laughs too (also despite an inherently talented cast), and Saving Silverman was obviously and painfully straining for the same Farrelly audience. I was actually happy when Saving Silverman became the boxoffice dud it did. It renewed some microscopic glimmer of faith in American audiences for me.

But to each their own, I reckon.

Holden Pike, I think you may be a good friend of mine...
But you cannot be, because he'd recognize the name of the Sultan...
He'd have a really stupid name too.
That I would pick out.
But you remind me of him.
An example I have: Mystery, Alaska
That's a good movie.
Especially if you like hockey.

I liked Mystery, Alaska a lot. It was funny, witty, and an all around good movie.

O Brother, Where Art Thou? was a great movie. Why it didn't win crowds like it did is beyond me. People that have seen it 5 times before keep coming in and renting it cause they love it so much.

Memento. This movie was awesome. A lot of people won't get it due to the fact of the direction it goes, backwards. In fact, a lot of people have commented on the fact that it put them to sleep, and it will if you let it, but if you let it draw you in you won't fall asleep.

Leon the Professional. This is the International version of the Professional. If you haven't seen it go look for it and buy it. Well worth it. A lot of people didn't really get the fact with a 12 year old wanting a 40 some year old guy to sleep with her, as to why the American version leaves that part out. Very good though.

Unbreakable. Although it had a very well known director behind the wheel, not too many people liked this movie due to the way it went and how it ended.

Those are a few, and I really can't think of any others right now, but most of the people come in rent just about everything and like only the ones that can keep even a 2 year old interested.

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"I was walking down the street with my friend and he said, "I hear music", as if there is any other way you can take it in. You're not special, that's how I receive it too. I tried to taste it but it did not work." - Mitch Hedberg

SOME UNBREAKABLE SPOILERS





I love Unbreakable. The ending is misunderstood. It's supposed to imitate a comic book, with the text and such. I think it fits quite well.

I loved,LOVED Bottle Rocket! Someone mentioned it(holden?)It was so funny and sweet.Awe,wonderful.Glenngary Glennross was a sleeper...and so good! I really liked the Gift too.

Glengary Glennross was good if you can stand to hear people yell for two hours. I suggest you turn the volume down. But good movie!

A lot of people tend to not want movies that ponder the notion for deep thought. I have noticed this. They'll ask if this one is a good movie and I will say yes, but you have to watch it pretty closely or something like that...oh...and puts it back on the shelf.

Usual Suspects is a very good movie, not too many people like it cause it's long and can't hold their attention for very long, but it's a great movie. MUST SEE IT IF YOU HAVEN'T!!

Fight Club is another one of those movies few people pick up on. Great movie, great story, people just don't get it. When it throws em at the end they are like huh. As a teacher used to tell me...Beer Kills Brain Cells...maybe they should stop tippin back a few while watching movies of this nature.

Snatch and Lock, Stock are two movies very few people have liked due to the fact that the people in them aren't American. So they instinctively think oh I ain't gonna like this crap. Foreign films are usually the movies worth watching more than the ones from America.

Hmmm...I dunno about that. I haven't seen tons of foreign films, but of what I have seen, I haven't been too impressed. Their budgets just can't compare, and let's be honest: good film, nice sets, and other such things, DO make the movie more enjoyable.

I forgot one on my original list.Rushmore.It was so dang good.As far as foreign movies are concerned,it isn't right to compare the two.People of course are going to respond to movies they can relate to and have actors they can identify and recognize.I happen to love that about foreign films...a breath of fresh air from hollywood pollutions...i.e.Julia Roberts.

Whoa, who says movies need budget to look good?
City of Lost Children is the most aesthetic movie ever...
18 million dollars.
Eat it.

$18 million is a sizable amount, Sultanman! Anyway, no one said it needed a budget to look good -- you must've imagined that part. What I did say, however (basically), is that while good acting and a solid storyline is important, a budget should not be underestimated...high-quality film, and realistic sets/locations, can be VERY important to the mood and realism of a movie.

Well, some of the more well known Foreign Films is what I meant. Crouching Tiger, Snatch, Lock Stock, you know. Those are the ones I meant. I know that most Foreign Films lack the money to produce a picture such as one that is produced in America. Not saying that other countries dont have good taste, just dont have the passion for movies like we do in the US.