By Popular Demand: Are There Any Films You Love Whose Unpopularity Or Relative Obscurity You Cannot Fathom?
I'm quite surprised by the overwhelming response to a post of mine that I thought rather quotidian. I seem to have struck a nerve.
When I asked, "Are There Any Highly Regarded Films Whose Popularity You Cannot Fathom?", I deliberately refrained from phrasing the question in the usual way, i.e., "Which films are the most overrated?" because I wanted to avoid hearing folks repeat something they read once in a film guide or in a movie critic's retrospective. I wanted to hear about the films that the rest of the world seems to love, but that the commenter just doesn't "get", that doesn't "grab" him, that bores him, that leaves him cold. As some have noted, this can reveal something interesting about the dissenter.
There have been requests to open a thread on the most underrated films. But, again, allow me to pose the question in a slightly different way: Which are some films that you have discovered and treasure, and yet have not found a large audience or great acclaim? We're less interested in hearing about how, contrary to the critics' opinions, you found Porky's 3 hysterical, and more interested in hearing about the real gems that got lost in the shuffle of the marketplace but that touched you deeply or entertained you immensely--and why.
For me, a good example is Local Hero. It is a comedy--with broad humor at times--and yet I consider its message profound and bittersweet. (Mild spoiler ahead.) The final scene, in which Peter Riegert's character MacIntyre returns to his apartment in Houston, removes beach shells from his pockets, and calls the (empty) telephone booth in Furness, Scotland, is heartbreaking to me. It never fails to elicit moisture in the ocular region.
I believe the reason is that, the first time I saw the movie (during its theatrical release), I was undergoing a wrenching time at the end of college and the cusp of employment. I was on a trajectory toward a job in the oil business, like MacIntyre's, and I was deeply ambivalent about it. And what college student doesn't dream of forgoing a "traditional" career and instead living in a picturesque seaside town as an innkeeper, or a fisherman, or a minister, or a marine biologist who may or may not be a mermaid?
- Comment (247)
- · Quote
- · UnfollowFollow (13)
Comments:
Aug '10
Re: By Popular Demand: Are There Any Films You Love Whose Unpopularity Or Relative Obscurity You Cannot Fathom?
American Pop
IMHO, simply the greatest animated feature film ever produced in the United States.
Aug '11
Re: By Popular Demand: Are There Any Films You Love Whose Unpopularity Or Relative Obscurity You Cannot Fathom?
Idiotocracy
Politically incorrect. Ridiculous. Layers and layers of funny.
Dec '10
Re: By Popular Demand: Are There Any Films You Love Whose Unpopularity Or Relative Obscurity You Cannot Fathom?
Educating Rita staring Michael Cain has always been one of my favorites. What do we really get out of learning? What's won and what is lost in the process? Bottom line is that it's all about choices. This especially hit home with me this past year after finally completing my Master's.
Sep '10
Re: By Popular Demand: Are There Any Films You Love Whose Unpopularity Or Relative Obscurity You Cannot Fathom?
I have a soft spot for Better Off Dead, an early John Cusack comedy. Nothing profound or heart-warming about it, I just think it's very funny. And no one else seems to have heard of it.
Edited on December 29, 2011 at 6:40pmMay '10
Re: By Popular Demand: Are There Any Films You Love Whose Unpopularity Or Relative Obscurity You Cannot Fathom?
But Kevin, Porkys 3 is a real gem!
Since I came too late to the previous thread, I'd like to put in my nomination for most inexplicably acclaimed film: Schindler's List. The plasticity that Spielberg brings to all his work spoiled the pathos.
Meanwhile, I just discovered a fine Korean comedy called Castaway on the Moon. A young man jumps off a bridge over the Han River in Seoul and washes up on a tiny island. He's surrounded by a great city, but because of a phobia about swimming, he can't escape. It's a Robinson Caruso for the clueless salarymen generation. I've only seen the first half but I feel very confident in recommending the movie.
Edited on December 29, 2011 at 6:18pmJul '10
Re: By Popular Demand: Are There Any Films You Love Whose Unpopularity Or Relative Obscurity You Cannot Fathom?
Roller Boogie
Sep '10
Re: By Popular Demand: Are There Any Films You Love Whose Unpopularity Or Relative Obscurity You Cannot Fathom?
In the Shadow of the Moon, a superb British documentary consisting entirely of interviews with surviving Apollo astronauts, interspersed with historical footage. It appeared briefly in theaters and then went to DVD. Even if you're not a space geek like me, you should see it: the astronauts are funny, intelligent men--who knew?--who tell fascinating stories.
Edited on December 29, 2011 at 6:38pmAug '10
Re: By Popular Demand: Are There Any Films You Love Whose Unpopularity Or Relative Obscurity You Cannot Fathom?
Glory Daze
If you know of a better, more honest movie about the conflicted, bittersweet emotions that surround one's final week of college, speak up.
Aug '10
Re: By Popular Demand: Are There Any Films You Love Whose Unpopularity Or Relative Obscurity You Cannot Fathom?
My Father's Glory and My Mother's Castle are two wonderful French movies from 1990 about a young boy's life in turn of the century France. They are films the entire family can enjoy together - not children's movies. Absent the artificial drama or offensive material found in so many films, they portray a fully functional family where the father is not a dunce.
Edited on December 29, 2011 at 7:10pmJun '10
Re: By Popular Demand: Are There Any Films You Love Whose Unpopularity Or Relative Obscurity You Cannot Fathom?
Frozen Chosen: My Father's Glory and My Mother's Castle are two wonderful French movies from 1990 about a young boy's life in turn of the century France. They are films the entire family can enjoy together - not children's movies. Absent the artificial drama or offensive material found in so many films, they portray a fully functional familiy where the father is not a dunce. · Dec 29 at 9:41am
Edited on Dec 29 at 09:43 am
Could not agree more. These two gems are simply some of the best films ever done.
Jul '11
Re: By Popular Demand: Are There Any Films You Love Whose Unpopularity Or Relative Obscurity You Cannot Fathom?
The Night of the Iguana. Burton and Gardner are just brilliant and Tennessee Williams script is both profound and highly comedic.
The Fifth Element. One of the best sci-fi films of all time.
Dec '11
Re: By Popular Demand: Are There Any Films You Love Whose Unpopularity Or Relative Obscurity You Cannot Fathom?
Restrepo. Sebastian Junger's documentary about a platoon of the 173rd Airborne in the godforsaken mountains of Afghanistan is at once inspirational and infuriating. Required watching for anyone still laboring under the delusion that Afghanistan is worth a single American life.
By the way, Peter Robinson interviewed Junger for Uncommon Knowledge.
Dec '10
Re: By Popular Demand: Are There Any Films You Love Whose Unpopularity Or Relative Obscurity You Cannot Fathom?
Hear! Hear!
And don't forget Hudson Hawk. Comedic genius. I do want to teach the handicapped how to yodel.
Dec '10
Re: By Popular Demand: Are There Any Films You Love Whose Unpopularity Or Relative Obscurity You Cannot Fathom?
Nobody's Perfect: Restrepo. Sebastian Junger's documentary about a platoon of the 173rd Airborne in the godforsaken mountains of Afghanistan is at once inspirational and infuriating. Required watching for anyone still laboring under the delusion that Afghanistan is worth a single American life.
By the way, Peter Robinson interviewed Junger for Uncommon Knowledge. · Dec 29 at 9:57am
The film is available on netflix. Highly recommended. I came to it via the UK interview.
Aug '10
Re: By Popular Demand: Are There Any Films You Love Whose Unpopularity Or Relative Obscurity You Cannot Fathom?
The may be a frivolous entry, but The Living Daylights is my favourite James Bond movie.
It has everything one could want in a Bond movie:
Jun '10
Re: By Popular Demand: Are There Any Films You Love Whose Unpopularity Or Relative Obscurity You Cannot Fathom?
"High Tide" with Judy Davis. Youtube has the whole movie. And Netflix has it on Instant Watch. The descriptions in IMDB and Netflix are terrible. Please don't read them as the plot on this is very interesting and they give away too much and also mislead on the Elvis stuff. I don't want to say more except that the young girl (Claudia Karvan) gives a very moving performance and Judy Davis is super as always.
"The Deep End" with Tilda Swinton. Incredible story. Very interesting plot twist with the bad guy, too. I absolutely love Swinton.
Jul '11
Re: By Popular Demand: Are There Any Films You Love Whose Unpopularity Or Relative Obscurity You Cannot Fathom?
Larry Koler:
"The Deep End" with Tilda Swinton. Incredible story. Very interesting plot twist with the bad guy, too. I absolutely love Swinton. · Dec 29 at 10:10am
Agree.
Edited on December 30, 2011 at 2:01amAug '10
Re: By Popular Demand: Are There Any Films You Love Whose Unpopularity Or Relative Obscurity You Cannot Fathom?
Raising Arizona is pure comic genius from the Coen Brothers. If you haven't seen this classic watch it this weekend so you can enjoy timeless lines like:
Dec '10
Re: By Popular Demand: Are There Any Films You Love Whose Unpopularity Or Relative Obscurity You Cannot Fathom?
Well, Glory Daze and My Father's Glory have been posted, so I'll go with plain old Glory. This is by far the best movie I've ever seen on the Civil War, one of the best war movies period, and is probably my personal number one overall.
It was considered a moderate success, and Denzel Washington won a Best Supporting Actor for it, but so many people seem to have never heard of it. That surprises me because the primary subject matter - the first all black regiment in the Union army, the 54th Massachusetts - would seem to be right up the Hollywood alley. When you also consider that it has Washington, Morgan Freeman, Matthew Broderick and Carey Elwes as the leads, the "moderate" tag is even more surprising.
Dec '10
Re: By Popular Demand: Are There Any Films You Love Whose Unpopularity Or Relative Obscurity You Cannot Fathom?
Frozen Chosen: Raising Arizona is pure comic genius from the Coen Brothers. If you haven't seen this classic watch it this weekend so you can enjoy timeless lines like: · Dec 29 at 10:28am
Funny, I was going to post this one on the other topic. This movie is where my loathing of Nicolas Cage started.