In other words: What’s a hidden gem I probably haven’t seen but totally should? And why is it a must-watch?
Rubber.
Submitted 1 month ago by original_reader@lemm.ee to movies@lemm.ee
In other words: What’s a hidden gem I probably haven’t seen but totally should? And why is it a must-watch?
Jacob’s Ladder.
A largely forgotten psychological horror film from 1990 with Tim Robbins and Macaulay Culkin.
Saw it on TV once by chance and loved it ever since.
Upgrade (Cyberpunk movie from Australia)
I was about to say this, that movie is such a gem. Saw it in theater without knowing what it would be.
Is it about the pimp from Idiocracy?
It weirdly felt like a Venom movie, and what made it even more weird - it came out around the same time as the actual Venom movie, and even the main hero looked somewhat like a discount version of Tom Hardy😅
The Nice Guys
This movie drove me crazy
Everyone they are supposed to help and save, gets killed, but they play it off like a victory
These are some of my favourite, in no particular order:
The Phantasm series
Dale and Tucker Fight Evil
Cabin in the woods
Snowpiercer
Equilibrium
A bitter sweet life
The man from nowhere
I saw the Devil (you may not want to watch this one)
Train to Busan (1 and 2)
Lady Vengence/Sympathy for Lady vengence
Sympathy for Mr Vengence
OldBoy (the Korean version - you may also not want to watch this)
Wrath of man
The Family (DeNiro and Pheiffer)
Keeping up with the Joneses
Gran Torino
Boondock Saints
Layer Cake
RocknRolla
Operation Fortune
Lucky Number Slevin
A man called Otto
Stand up guys
King of New York
The Dead Zone
7 Psychopaths
Biloxi Blues
In Bruges
The Matador
From Paris with love
Rocknrolla but not snatch or lock stock and two smoking barrels!? It’s been a very long time but I distinctly remember being disappointed in rocknrolla when compared to the other two I mentioned.
Love Guy Ritchie!
Same! I think the only one I didn’t really care for was Covenant, I felt it wasn’t paced the same as his other movies, but I’d still watch it again if it was streaming.
In regards to Snatch and Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, also two of my favorite movies, thanks for pointing them out, defintely a fun time!
There is a Train to Busan sequel?!?!?
That infromation just made my day, loved the first one.
+1 for In Bruges. Love Martin McDonagh’s films and this one might be my favorite. At first glance, it looks like a kinda generic action movie, but that’s not the case at all.
Snowpiercer looked like such a dumb action movie, but I read so many good reviews of it that I decided to try it. Was not disappointed at all!
Repo: A Genetic Opera
I own Repo on disk and watch a few times a year ❤️
A decent number of folks have still never seen “Primer”, since it was kind of an indie classic before it got a cult following.
It’s a a must watch because:
A. It’s just really well made. B. It’s delightfully mind bending.
Flight of the Navigator
Known to horror aficionados, but not to general movie watchers: Lake Mungo (2008)
I highly recommend you don’t read up on it. Besides the fact that the film just works so much better when you come to it fresh, most reviews - both in print and YouTube videos - spoil pivotal scenes, including in the artwork they choose to use as a thumbnail/heading. Just watch it. Even if the horror doesn’t work for you (many people report being bored by the film), it’s still a great film with surprising depth and heart. It’s worth checking off your list for sure.
The basics: It’s a mockumentary set in Australia, made by a director/writer who hasn’t done anything before or since, featuring actors who probably aren’t known to you, even if you’re an Aussie. Much of the dialogue is improvised, so it feels very real and natural.
Try to watch it alone, in the dark, with no distractions (turn off your phone). This will help maximise your chances of being one of the lucky people the film has managed to scare in a profound way. I’m one of those lucky people, I’m happy to say!
In no particular order:
Jojo Rabbit, 2019 - a comedic coming of age in Nazi Germany. Jojo and his imaginary friend, Hitler, face a complicated and rapidly changing world.
The Mitchells versus the Machines, 2021 - animated family adventure for fun with the whole family.
Rise of Leslie Vernon, 2006 - mocumentary following slasher killer Leslie Vernon.
Bunny and the Bull, 2009 - an, in my opinion, gorgeously set film about a road trip in Spain.
Parallel Mothers (Madras Paralelas), 2021 - not a hidden gem if you know anything about Spanish cinema, but maybe you don’t. Penolpe Cruz is a new mother whose life becomes intertwined with another women’s when they give birth in the same hospital.
Hero (英雄), 2002 - again, if you know Wuxia film then this isn’t a hidden gem. A pinnacle of the genre, a Chinese Rashomon with wire fights.
Blow Up, 1966 - British New Wave classic. A photographer used to a free and casual 60s life becomes certain he has accidentally photographed evidence of a murder.
Berberian Sound Studio, 2012 - exploration of sound and feeling. A mild mannered amateurish British sound technician gets a big job working on the sound effects for a giallo film in Italy.
Perfume: Story of a Murderer
The book is so much better.
I want to say Kin-Dza-Dza. It’s a very silly and memorable work of Soviet science fiction.
Yessss this one is so fun
It’s a small budget indie movie, and if you don’t like people talking and prefer action, then maybe this isn’t for you. Buut, for me, it was a great movie. It only uses one set, a room or two, for the entire movie. And it’s still great.
Huh, I need ti actually rewatch I’ve been suggesting it so much lol
My favorite: Stranger than Fiction
Also, Fandango, Passengers, Life or Something Like it, Birdy, Home Office
Some can be hard to find.
Snatch mighhhhht be well known? It is hilarious and just fun to watch!
It’s a Guy Ritchie movie that follows a few groups of people and how they all come to be involved in either chasing or having been in the presence of a diamond that was stolen. It’s a lot of fun to see the interaction between the different groups they follow and some of the lines are absolutely hilarious.
Pecker 1998
A talented young photographer, who enjoys snapping photos of his satirical, perverted Baltimore neighborhood and his wacky family, gets dragged into a world of pretentious artists from New York City and finds newfound fame.
Written and directed by John Waters.
Starring Edward Furlong, Christina Ricci and Bess Armstrong.
Smoke 'Em If You Got 'Em is a 1988 Australian short feature about an underground party held in post-apocalyptic Melbourne. The film is a product of nuclear anxiety at the height of the Cold War.
Director: Ray Boseley. Cast: Rob Howard, Nique Needles, Polly Croke, Daniel Lillford, Fred Dugina, Maddog Bott, George Huxley, Chris Windmill, Ian ‘Quinsy’ Maclean, Lindsay Brundson, Clayton Jacobson, Adam Learner, Myrtle Woods, Bill Johnston, Smiley Rowe, John F. Howard, Claire Bordas, John Flaus, Wayne ullman, Dennis Tupicoff, Peter Lane, Wain Fimo, Bruce Barnes, Angus Algie, Loretta Bell, Grant Barling, Claire Boseley, Julian Faull, Zlatko Kasumovic, Anthony Kay, Ollie Martin, Penny McKimm, Dennis Prosser, Adrian Scully, Aleksi Vellis.
Wong Kar-Wai’s films, particularly his 90s Hong Kong vibes of Chungking Express and its spiritual counterpart Fallen Angels.
The question was about “lesser-known movies”, but Wong Kar-Wai and his movies are (for obvious reasons) very well-known.
I saw Snowpiercer on another comment so I assumed we were scraping the surface lol
Tomorrowland
I’m so glad I watched this movie before reading reviews.
I think no one has mentioned “the man from earth”, it is a great movie that got a lot of success thanks to piracy, enough that it allowed it to even get a sequel (I haven’t watched it it seems to be far less recommended).
I recommend to just watch it without looking too much at the theme or plot. I’ll just say that it’s a movie with a lot of conversations and basically no action at all. You could compare it in that sense to the classic “12 angry men”, not in plot or theme, but style, mostly something that happens between a small cast of actors through dialogue.
Iceman is a 2017 German-Italian-Austrian adventure drama film written and directed by Felix Randau. It is a fictional story about the life of Ötzi, a natural mummy of a man discovered on 19 September 1991 in the Ötzal Alps.
The film, which was filmed in the Tyrolean and Bavarian Alps features almost no dialogue, with a minimal amount in untranslated language based on reconstructed Rhaetian, created for the film by a linguist.
The Slammin Salmon. Same group that did super troopers and beerfest. Great comedy, I don’t see people ever talk about it. Enjoy!
I’ve forgotten about that movie! It’s as if every fear, and suspicion, I had about the people working in restaurants came true 😂. It’s been a while since I’ve seen it’s memes…going to have to dig into the old meme folder and get posting
Pontypool, a Canadian indie film with a unique take on zombies
I’m always surprised at how few people have seen “Oh brother where art thou”
Also manborg
Rustlers Rhapsody. A comedy western that mixes eras and has a genre savvy protagonist.
@original_reader I feel like no one talks about Deerskin, which was an excellent low-key comedy/horror/satire/weird-ass film from a few years back.
The three tensest films I’ve seen -
Flight of the Phoenix (original B&W one)
Duel (Spielberg’s first film)
And one with David Wotsisname that plays Poirot but he’s a terrorist on a plane
Executive Decision?
Detective Heart of America: The Final Freedom is a comedy film that will either be the funniest thing ever or an absolute cringefest, depending on your opinion of Jason Steele’s brand of humor. There is no in-between. It’s available to watch for free on YouTube, or whatever alternative frontend you use.
Jason Steele, AKA FilmCow, you may recognize from YouTube series such as Charlie the Unicorn or Llamas with Hats. Yeah. That guy. Imagine 70 minutes of that.
The film is a sequel to a pair of 4 minute long shorts (here and here). The film contains characters from these shorts and references events from them. So watching the film without watching the shorts first leads to some characters showing up out of nowhere with unexplained details. But that’s how every other character in the movie is, so… whatever, lmao.
I still recommend watching the shorts first. If nothing else they can serve as an appetizer for you, to decide whether or not it’s your cup of tea. The film is the same vibe as the shorts, just longer. If you hate the shorts you will despise the film.
It’s unironically my favorite film, so, I hope you get some amusement out of it. But if you bounce right off, I won’t be surprised. If you like it, enjoy quoting every line of it for the next month. If you hate it, sorry for wasting your time.
Donjuanme@lemmy.world 1 month ago
Rampage, it’s such a good popcorn flick. It’s so over the top that I wouldn’t blame you for writing it off without watching it, but give it a chance, it’s ultimate action silliness.
Cabin in the woods, its a top 2 horror satire, but you may have heard of that one
Tucker and Dale vs evil, maybe watch this one before cabin in the woods, it’s the best horror satire.
Galaxy quest, easily the best star trek movie ever made, one of the top 5 movies ever made.
I’m not sure how many of these are hidden gems, it depends on your viewing habits (not many people would consider horror to contain much good cinema)
MajorHavoc@programming.dev 1 month ago
Yeah. Tucker and Dale vs evil gets way too little love.
Hugin@lemmy.world 1 month ago
“We’ve got your friend!”
Semjaza@lemmynsfw.com 1 month ago
As a horror fan, I disagree.
The premise gets old fairly fast and then the twist doesn’t really add anything or accentuate the spoofiness, just makes the film more generic.
If you’re a fan of a certain era of teen slashers, sure go for it.
《Little Monsters》 and 《The Rise of Leslie Vernon 》are recent takes on horror films I personally prefer.
zcd@lemmy.ca 1 month ago
By Grabthar’s hammer, what a list!
smokin_shinobi@lemmy.world 1 month ago
Barring Rampage these are massive cult classics.
Donjuanme@lemmy.world 1 month ago
Which is generally defined as a lesser known movie that people consider worth watching?
Donjuanme@lemmy.world 1 month ago
(don’t want to edit my post so adding another in the reply)
Another somewhat mainstream movie that was very easily missed, “forward unto dawn”, if you know much about the Halo universe you’ll know this story pretty well, but if you’ve only heard of Halo in passing this is a great place to start (and probably stop unless you’re going to play the games or read the books) the series.