101 Underrated Films

There is enough symbolism here to keep a whole team of cinematic existentialists busy for months. At its core, it's a film about a man who gets trapped in a hole. Too simplistic? Probably. It's the story of an entomologist who gets captured by a group of villagers and is forced to shovel sand along side the beautiful Kyoko Kishida (I could think of far worse fates). He spends most of his waking hours plotting his escape, but the longer he's there the more he feels obligated to his hole-mate. Is he falling in love? Is he learning the meaning of true freedom? Can he figure out a way to escape? Does he really want to? Is he an 'everyman' and the hole a representation of an oppressive society? Can I find a clever way to end this review?

This may be one of the most overlooked and under appreciated classics of all time. A box office flop when first released, this film was simply too far ahead of its own era.

Told in a manner that is part film noir and part Gothic horror, the story steadily becomes more nightmarish and less anchored in reality as it progresses. Sets, over the course of the film, become more stage than screen (some of the backdrops are obviously one-dimensional). They're often silhouetted with unnatural back lighting, adding to the overall ominous feel of the picture. Other scenes, most notably Willa Harper (Shelley Winters) at the bottom of the lake, are shot with an awareness of cinematography that is nothing short of brilliance.

Robert Mitchum is suburb as the villainous Harry Powell, rivaling his equally evil but dimensionally different character in Cape Fear. The Night of the Hunter ranks among my all-time top 100 films and should not be missed.

I don't recall ever seeing a more powerful anti-war film. The transformation of Florya (Aleksei Kravchenko) from an innocent boy into a battle-hardened soldier is something that must be witnessed in order to be fully appreciated.

A stark, unflinching portrayal of rouge journalism and how one man's ambition can overtake and smother ethics and decency. A box office flop when it was released in 1951, this may well be Kirk Douglas at his absolute best.

Director/Writer/Producer Billy Wilder sends his main character, newspaper reporter Chuck Tatum (Douglas), down a hole, literally as well as figuratively, and presents a tale that is wonderful, brutal, dark and unapologetic. A must-see film.

Pedro Almodóvar continues to confound and amaze me. He can take the most peculiar circumstances, the most perverse scenarios, and extract incredible, romantic love stories. I'm not certain how he does it, but after viewing several of his films I have formed a hypothesis: he views situations without prejudice. He ignores preconceived notions. Instead of focusing on the differences, Almodóvar concentrates on the commonality, thus encouraging us (his audience) to see the world with an unjaundice eye. In the end, what might have appalled us is now cause for reflection, maybe even celebration.

Confounding and amazing...

I postponed seeing this because, for some reason, I thought it was just another 'chick-flick'. I couldn't have been more wrong.

Four stars (teetering on four and a half)

...and a great soundtrack!

For me, this is the quintessential sci-fi film, second only to 2001. It's got everything you'd ever want from a good science fiction classic. There is a menacing alien, ray guns, a space ship, the best robot ever to grace the silver screen (sorry C-3PO), and it's all set on a distant planet in a galaxy far, far away. Oh, and did I mention the beautiful damsel in distress (Anne Francis)? This is how William Shakespeare would do 'The Tempest', if he had grown up in the 50's reading Flash Gordon Comics and listening to 'Space Ranger' radio serials.

Gene Tierney's character gets my vote as the most cold-hearted, sociopathic, beautifully packaged villain to ever grace the silver screen. On a scale of pure evil she's right up there with Hannibal Lector and the shark from Jaws.

A crusty, war-weary infantry sergeant teams up with a Korean orphan boy and a rag-tag, disheveled group of American soldiers enroute to an abandoned Buddhist temple in order to establish a forward observation post for artillery. Once there they capture a North Korean major who is intent on dividing them along racial lines.

Shot on a shoe-string budget in 10 days at the height of the Korean war and the McCarthy era "red scare", The Steel Helmet proves beyond any doubt that director Samuel Fuller had enormous testicles. Very few, if any, Hollywood executives would have taken on the Korean conflict (and the American propaganda machine) with such candor and honesty. If all you know about America's fight with North Korea comes from watching episodes of M*A*S*H on TV then this one is a must-see. Easily one of the best American war films ever made.

Underrated and all but forgotten. I'm not a "huge" fan of Mike Nichols but this is a satirical masterpiece.

Groundbreaking horror that opened the door for films like Night of the Living Dead.

Paul Muni is so good I'd have to invent a new vocabulary to adequately describe his performance. Fantabulous. Outstandnistic. Wonderical.

A beautiful Colombian teenager discovers that 'easy money' isn't always so easy when she gets lured into the harsh, dangerous world of drug trafficking.

In order for a so-called 'message film' to work there has to be at least one character that an audience can really care about, Maria Full of Grace has an abundance of them. A talented cast and no-nonsense scripting elevate this somewhat predictable storyline to something meaningful and moving. Four Stars.

David Lynch comes at you on two levels. His rendition of Wild at Heart plays to both the conscious and the subconscious. You'll watch Diane Ladd confront Nicolas Cage in a men's room, but later you'll flashback to the overhead shot of the toilet. You'll be engrossed by the conversation between Laura Dern and Willem Dafoe in a motel, but it's the extreme closeup of Dafoe's teeth that will haunt you later. It's the surreal imagery that makes Lynch's work so bizarre and so utterly fantastic.

Though I've never been a fan of The Sex Pistols I did, years ago, read a biography of Nancy Spungen that was written by her mother. Therefore I had a bit of empathetic preconception about what this film was about and where it was going to lead me. In a nutshell, it's the tragically true story of two social misfits who spiral downward on a drug induced odyssey of music, methadone and melodrama. Sort of a '70's version of Romeo & Juliet, if Juliet were a punk rock groupie and Romeo a tar heroine addict. This was indeed a match made in heaven destined for a life of hell.

Of course Gary Oldman did a spectacular job becoming Sex Pistols' front man Sid Vicious. Were it not for his physical characteristics that vaguely remind us it's Gary Oldman, he'd completely disappear into the character. He's just that good. What pleasantly surprised me was how Chloe Webb gave Nancy a deserving degree of likeability. I got the sense that, had she made some better choices in her life, Nancy would have been someone who was charismatic and utterly loveable. Webb's humanistic portrayal gives Oldman the reign to express Sid's romantic co-dependency on a whole new level. Great synergy in two outstanding performances (and the film's not bad either!).

This is one of those rare films where the whole is greater than the sum of it's parts. The budget is low, the acting is suspect, the editing is choppy, and the makeup is downright cheesy - and yet Carnival of Souls is wonderfully creepy. A horror classic.

If it is true that Hitchcock's Psycho would have been less effective if it had been filmed in color then the opposite could be said for Dario Argento's Suspiria. It is the abnormally bright hues, especially the reds, that help give the entire picture a surreal sort of feel and atmosphere.

Released in 1977, it has lost some of its initial shock value. In fact, modern "gore-mongers" who enjoy graphic offerings like Saw and Hostel will no doubt find the violence soft-core and perhaps even a little comical. Still, Suspiria is an important, if not timeless, genre classic.

Finally, a Gloria Grahame film in which she's NOT a promiscuous 'ho' (i.e. The Bad and the Beautiful, It's a Wonderful Life, Oklahoma!, etc., etc., etc...).

Okay, I'm resolving to stop reading the synopsis before I watch a 'cutting edge' film. I postponed viewing this incredible 'little' movie because I have an aversion to incest. Not to mention that the title put me off a trite as well. Let's be real, I knew this wasn't going to be a zoology piece on the discipline of arboreal primates. The point is, if you can get past your own neorotic hangups and lingering emotional baggage left over from your dysfunctional childhood, you'll see that Spanking the Monkey is rather good.

*NOTE: Just to save you some time, as soon as you see Jeremy Davies you're going to wonder where the heck you've seen him before... Saving Private Ryan.

I first saw this one in 1972 and enjoyed it very much. Now, some 36 years later, I can honestly say that it's stood the test of time. It's a film that's shot mostly, if not entirely, on location so it never has that "studio" feel about it. It's gritty, it's unpolished, and it's wonderfully understated. You don't have to like westerns in order to enjoy and appreciate this one.

Playing in real time, The Set-Up is the story of a washed up prizefighter looking for one last shot at glory. According to IMDb, the screenplay was actually based on a poem about a black boxer named Pansy Jones. The author, Joseph March, was reportedly unhappy about his character being changed to Stoker Thompson, a white man.

Unlike most films about boxing, the fight scenes here seem raw and unchoreographed. Robert Ryan (who, by the way, was a boxer at Dartmouth) is completely believable in his portrayal and director Robert Wise manages to make the dark tension of the piece tangible. You can almost feel the punches and smell the sweat.

A sentimental but powerful film with more memorable moments and classic one liners than you can shake a stick at. Undoubtedly ranks among the greatest westerns to ever come out of Hollywood.

Solid, character driven social drama about two impoverished single moms living on the US/Canadian border who become entangled in the smuggling of illegal aliens into the United States. Top notch independent film-making. Good story, good direction, no frills and GREAT performances.

High on my list of the best westerns ever made!!

Underrated classic. Robert Duvall at his best.

This is one of those gems that few have seen and hardly anyone ever talks about. I liked this film the first time I saw it, loved it the second time, and now, after three viewings, I'm thinking about asking it to marry me.

This one could have easily been titled Mexican-American History X. It's a little less polished but every bit as captivating.

70's Gothic piece that's part crime drama and part supernatural horror. Thirty (+) years have done little to diminish this wonderfully creepy little film that's critically acclaimed but rarely discussed.

Precursor to later episodic horror (i.e. TV's Night Gallery and The Twilight Zone). Five house guests recount their nightmares to each other with each one a little more sinister than the last. A spine-tingling horror classic that scared me as a child and still today creeps me out.

Hard to find on DVD. In my opinion, it's the BEST Titanic film ever made.

Top notch science fiction with mind blowing special effects, especially when you consider that this film was released in 1957!

This one is hard to find on DVD but well worth the effort to search it out. Gary Cooper is absolutely fantastic but it's the ensemble of Albert Dekker, Brian Donlevey, Broderick Crawford and Ray Milland that makes the whole thing work. Oh, and don't forget to check out a very young and very beautiful Susan Hayward in a supporting role.

Arguably Eastwood's most underrated western. Had it been made at the end of his career, as was Unforgiven, I dare say that THIS might be the film everyone talks about.

Director William Wyler is known for getting the best from his actors and The Children's Hour is certainly no exception. James Garner, Audrey Hepburn and (especially) Shirley MacLaine are at the top of their game.

I don't know why this film doesn't get more press. Maybe the taboo nature of the material got it swept under the proverbial rug? It was certainly ahead of its time in terms of social statement and point-of-view. Or maybe it's just that schmucks like me don't shout its praises loudly enough. Whatever the reason, this is a film that should not be missed.

I'm beginning to wonder if Kirk Douglas ever gave a bad performance. If you only know him from Spartacus then you don't know what you're missing. His lesser known films, like Ace in the Hole, Champion, The Bad and the Beautiful, Paths of Glory, and Lonely are the Brave are a testament to his talent and his enormous contributions to the art of movie making.

In order to wage war, in order for human beings to kill other human beings on a massive scale, there must be some rationalization. Historically, we, as warriors, create in our minds a caricature of those we call our enemies. It's a phenomenon that's universal and cross-cultural. We see those who oppose us as less than human, as men who don't laugh, men who don't shed tears, men who are essentially evil. In this manner they become non-people. In this manner we need not have sympathy or guilt when we destroy them. The Burmese Harp, a product of post-war Japan released in 1956, breaks down this wall of propaganda and reminds us of the toll that war takes on the souls of men.

Its been called an "anti-war" film but I'm not so sure that was foremost in the minds of those who brought this story to the screen. It seems, in retrospect, to be more of a soldier's portrait that has been stripped of its patriotic facade. Whatever their intent, the film makers have given us an under-rated gem that should not be missed.

Released at the height of the cold war, Stanley Kramer's On the Beach is the story of a submarine crew forced to deal with the post-apocalyptic realization that the human race is about to become extinct. As with most of Kramer's endeavors, this one is forceful and direct. Casting is spot-on perfect with Hollywood legends Gregory Peck, Ava Gardner, Anthony Perkins and Fred Astaire. By my reckoning, this is one film that is vastly under-appreciated

This one is disturbing for all the right reasons. Watching Andy Griffith play a money-grubbing, amoral, unlikeable bastard is like watching Mister Rogers play Hannibal Lector. After all, this is the same Andy that kept the streets of Mayberry safe for all those years and the same Andy that taught Opie how to fish and throw a curve ball. It's even more unnerving because Griffith does it so well.

Don't you just love the way Burt Lancaster always plays Burt Lancaster, no matter the circumstance, the setting or even the nationality of the character? What would be a detriment to most other actors seems to only strengthen his popularity.

Here, in this classic WWII drama, Lancaster is a "FRENCH" engineer in charge of the railroad traffic in and out of Paris. He is also covertly intent on sabotaging the occupational German army every chance he gets. While those around him, be they French or German, speak with fluid accents, Burt never waivers from his trademark American dialect. The best part is that we, his legions of adoring fans, don't seem to mind one bit. It's not the words that fuel his performance, it's the emotion behind them. In The Train there is no actor less French than Burt Lancaster, and yet I can't imagine anyone better suited for the part.

The best boxing movie you've never heard of. Kirk Douglas is under the radar but at the top of his game.

Great films distinguish themselves in a number of different ways. Some of them are perfectly cast. Others have tremendous cinematography. Still others may have great scripting, direction or editing. I Want to Live stands out for one reason, Susan Hayward's performance.

Hayward shines in this true story about a woman convicted of murder and sentenced to die in California's gas chamber. There are numerous supporting characters in this dramatization but it's Susan Hayward's heart-wrenching portrayal that will haunt you even after the credits roll.

Bjork, an Icelander, plays a young Czech woman who has immigrated to the United States in hope of a better life for herself and her son.

A most unconventional film. One that draws from old styles yet remains avant garde. Sad and utterly mesmerizing.

"The pain and loneliness of death frighten me. But Dr. Niide looks at it differently. He looks into their hearts as well as their bodies."

Kurosawa does such a magnificent job of infusing the virtues of decency and humanity into the story that they almost become concrete, tangible characters. The fact that Red Beard is rarely, if ever, listed as one of Akira's cinematic milestones has me a little perplexed. Highly underrated.

I'll admit, I've done some pretty stupid things in the haze of a drunken stupor. I went for a walk in my underwear. I climbed a four story water tower to paint 'class of 1980'. I even woke up in the middle of a cemetery with a wreath around my neck that said 'Rest In Peace'. But I've never been so intoxicated that I thought that kidnapping an eight year old boy and running off to Tijuana was a good idea.

This little gem of a film works because it's performance driven. Tilda Swinton and Kate del Castillo shine. Not since The Lost Weekend have I felt this much empathy for such self destructive characters. A memorable, memorable motion picture.

Terrence Malick has crafted two characters that treat robbery and murder as incidental mishaps and necessities. Martin Sheen's character is sociopathic and cold-blooded but yet still likeable. Sissy Spacek, as his young accomplice, is fully aware of his atrocities, yet she retains her innocent charm. This bizarre intermingling of murder and manners, of the brutal and the benign, is why Badlands is unnerving and unforgettable.

Say what you want about it's controversial subject matter or it's questionable place in cinematic history, Baby Doll is just one Marlon Brando away from being a top 100 film. As it is, I wouldn't classify it as anything less than a minor masterpiece.

All the elements are here, Elia Kazan's direction, Tennessee Williams' screenplay, Karl Malden's performance. Were it not for a couple of serious lapses in marketing judgment we might be talking about this film the way we talk about A Streetcar Named Desire or Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. You just don't put a provocatively posed adolescent girl on the poster and then release the film at Christmas! Especially not in 1956. It's as if they were daring the Catholic League of Decency to denounce the film (which they did).

I'm not saying that this picture is as good as Streetcar, but it's oh-so-close.

If I hadn't known it was David Lynch I wouldn't have known it was David Lynch. Touching and inspirational.

WWII through the eyes of an average, somewhat inept British foot soldier. Director Stuart Cooper effectively interlaces real war footage with scenes of the infantryman's more mundane daily routines. We get to know the character by vicariously sharing his hardship and even witnessing his frequent daydreams.

Though released in 1975, this has an even older feel to it. A nice combination of post-war sensibility anchored deep in 1944's harsh reality. Definitely a film that warrants more discussion and deserves much more recognition.

A cerebral sci-fi gem that almost slipped under my radar.

An astronaut, alone on the moon, is nearing the end of his three year mission. He passes the time by maintaining the mining station, conversing with his helpful software sidekick (voiced by Kevin Spacey) and sending video messages to his lovely wife and daughter back on earth. All he has to do is maintain this routine for two more weeks...

Sam Rockwell, so often cast as the villainous heavy, is astonishingly adept at playing a flawed but likable hero. His character anchors about 99% of the screen time, a task that would wilt a less talented performer.

Solid, exemplary and off-beat science fiction.

The leave of a young Russian soldier is sidetracked by his own kindness and humanity. A story of human decency set against a backdrop of destruction and devastation. Poignant and sad but still inspirational.

Gripping anti-war offering from director Luis Mandoki. Innocent Voices shows us the civil war in El Salvador through the eyes of a child. Mandoki presents a harsh but accurate indictment of the war and of the U.S. involvement in it.

Long, freaky, misunderstood, and grossly underrated.

Sometimes, even Texas oil billionaires have to stop and smell the seaweed.

A clever little morality tale about Scotland and meteor showers and women with webbed toes. This one is really starting to grow on me.

Kurosawa's High and Low plays like two distinctly separate films. The first part being the dramatic moral dilemma of a corporate tycoon forced to choose between his own financial security and the life of a child. The latter part being a complex police drama outlining the excruciating detail of detectives on the trail of a psychotic kidnapper.

I love the way the director stages his scenes here, particularly "junkie alley" where the addicts converge like so many zombies on anyone who strays into their midst. This could have easily been an inspiration for Romero's Night of the Living Dead.

This is essential viewing for anyone who appreciates a good crime drama, Japanese cinema and/or Akira Kurosawa's body of work. Good stuff!

There are films that you watch for sheer entertainment. One's that afford you an hour and a half of escapism, returning you safely to reality with a happy conclusion and the rolling of the credits. This is not one of those films.

Stephanie Daley is a snippet of adolescent reality presented without embellishment or agenda. It's exceptionally written, superbly cast and, due to it's content, damn hard to watch.

One of the first films to depict the horrors of the holocaust. Gillo Pontecorvo's blunt, realistic style is perfectly suited for such grim subject matter. Not nearly as well known as his other films, Kapò is a fantastic little hidden gem that's anything but uplifting.

This is one of those little gems that almost escaped my notice. Outstanding and highly recommended!

Off-beat gender bender that's at times funny, at times poignant, and always entertaining. Ma Vie En Rose manages to vilify our collective ignorance without insulting our sensibilities. A truly remarkable film.

*High marks for set decoration and cinematography as well as casting and direction.

Not only is Olivia de Havilland utterly brilliant as the 'plain' heiress who may or may not be falling victim to an unscrupulous suitor, but the entire cast (especially Montgomery Clift) seems perfectly suited for their respective roles. An underrated CLASSIC from director William Wyler.

An underrated gem. It's all about the performance and de Havilland's is utterly brilliant!

Hard core. This film takes you into Henry's world in a way you won't soon forget. Dark and disturbing.

I honestly thought I was going to hate this film. A friend of mine convinced me to rent it and frankly, after reading the synopsis, I was prepared to send it back unopened. I am so glad I didn't. This is a wonderful film. It reminds me of All About My Mother but it's a little more edgy and a lot more in-your-face. Yes, I really couldn't identify with the lifestyles, but that's part of the beauty of film. It allows us to get inside the head of diverse characters and in the end we discover that we're not so different after all.

An unsettling take on the tragic phenomenon of suicide. Great performances (Sissy Spacek and Anne Bancroft) but it's hard to overlook a screenplay that seems better suited for the stage. The back-story could have been better told through a series of flashbacks rather than thick dialog. But still, a fascinating study of the dysfunctional relationship between mothers and daughters.

Cult-ish zombie bizarreness that never takes itself too seriously. Dellamorte Dellamore runs the entire gamut, from 'absurd' to 'fantastic' and just about everything in between.

I know it's set in North Carolina but this could just as easily be Oklahoma (with a few minor adjustments in dialect). I see so much of my own family in this film that it's downright spooky! Very nicely done.

A superb and highly underrated little road film. Unique, sexually charged and intelligently written.

Last Night takes an absurd concept and turns it into something personal and endearing. An intelligent and somewhat subtle apocalypse.

Terrific old Canadian war film made before the United States decided to enter World War II. The producers thought 49th Parallel, a scathing indictment of Nazi Germany, would hasten America's involvement in the war. In spite of it's propagandist intent, it's held up extremely well.

Painfully realistic portrayal of one mother's struggle to raise her child in a penitentiary for women. Director Pablo Trapero doesn't pull any punches and Martina Gusman's performance is utterly fantastic.

This is a film that crawls around inside your head long after the credits have rolled and the lights have come back on. A person could spend hours analyzing and dissecting the symbolism and social commentary.

A tragic love story set against the colorful backdrop of a Chinese dye mill. The fantastic cinematography makes Ju-Dou a treat for the eyes even though the story is heartbreaking and sad. Highly recommended!

I recently finished reading Sherman Alexie's "The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian" and felt compelled to revisit Smoke Signals for about the 8th or 9th time. I love this film a little more every time I view it, which is easy to do considering that the first time I saw it I just wasn't that impressed. I had felt that, in their quest to have the first "All Indian" movie, they had sacrificed a little quality and technical expertise. Maybe I still feel that's true but it's not something I notice much any more. Now I find myself engrossed in the rich characters, especially Arnold (Evan Adams). Arnold is a misfit and yet he might be the most 'indian' character in the entire ensemble. He's bright, he's introspective, and he's terribly, terribly honest. Even when he's embellishing stories he is still exposing truths.

Much like it's screenwriter, Smoke Signals is deceptively deep, intelligent and philosophical even if it's not perfectly crafted. .

Tae-suk is making his way through life by being where other people aren't. Sun-hwa is a battered wife in desperate need of rescue. 3-Iron is the story of how these two unlikely lovers find each other and the lengths they go through to be together. An unusual love story told with an economy of dialog that enhances the visual beauty of the film. Intelligent, original and utterly fantastic.

Von Trier is nothing if he's not courageous. His high-risk transparent stage style is at first off-putting but it soon works its magic. What a director. What a cast. What a film.

An obsessed surgeon becomes a serial killer in order to provide his disfigured daughter with skin grafts. Exquisitely gruesome.

Stunning performances from Sean Penn (as expected) and Michael J. Fox (completely unexpected). An underrated and disturbing Vietnam war film based on actual events.

The camera work alone creates a stunning visual work of art, but add to that a remarkable script adapted from Ballard's epic novel, great performances from Christian Bale, John Malkovich and Miranda Richardson and the usual superb Spielberg direction and you've got a film that seems to only get better with time.

"You see someone on the street, and essentially what you notice about them is the flaw." -Diane Arbus

A provocative tribute to misunderstood genius, Fur is one part biography and two parts fairy tale. Ominous yet oddly endearing.

Blissfully bizarre! Exactly how Lewis Carroll would have envisioned it had he been a crack addicted taxidermist with a fetish for sock puppets.

Funny and very, very sweet! Sort of a Romeo & Juliet for nerds (like me!)

Here it is, 60 years after the release of this cinematic pearl, and I'm just now discovering it. The only thing that beats watching a film noir classic again and again is watching one for the very first time. Thank you John Garfield.

Good stuff. It's been quite a few years since the last time I saw a Harry Belafonte film, I had forgotten just what a tremendous actor he really is (was). This is a noir classic that will hold your attention wire to wire.

Note: Did the ending remind anyone else of White Heat? ("Top of the world, Ma!")

Welcome to the bizarre world of Samuel Fuller - where a black man is the Imperial Wizard of the KKK and being locked in a room full of hot nymphomaniacs is a 'bad' thing.

There's a plethora of morals and conclusions to be drawn from Carol Reed's timeless Odd Man Out. A saga of hope vs. hopelessness in a duel to the bitter end. Absolutely brilliant.

Fredric March leads his small circus troupe in a daring escape from Soviet occupied Czechoslovakia.

Say what you want about Elia Kazan and his shameful role in Joseph McCarthy's witch-hunt, the man could direct with the best of 'em. Man on a Tightrope could have easily become cliché ridden propagandistic tripe but Kazan has crafted it into something of substance.

...and nobody but nobody plays an opportunistic slut like the magnificent Miss Gloria Grahame!

Interesting confluence of live action and animation coupled with imaginative (albeit bizarre) scripting.

Not since Schindler's List has a film made me so happy to be a goy.

If you only know Olivier from dignified Shakespearian performances prepare yourself for an epiphany of colossal proportion.

Whit Stillman's subtle but profound take on the fallacy of indulgent self importance. Don't let the title put you off, The Last Days of Disco is an underrated gem!

Starts out like low budget community theater but that's probably part of its charm. Bagdad Cafe has substance and heart that reveals itself in a slow-burn of oddball characters and intelligent scripting.

Most of the disparagement that has been heaped on Jim Jarmusch's Dead Man is unjust and undeserved. What an under-appreciated gem of a film.

Once in a great while a film comes along that is not only brilliant and artistic but meaningfully important. This is one of those films.

Surprisingly engaging and philosophical. One of science fiction's hidden gems.

A new-waveish beatnik sociopolitical commentary that gets far less recognition than it deserves.