Category: Underappreciated Movies

Every Monday, each of us will suggest a film that we feel too few people have seen.

Windy’s Pick of the Week: The Game

Michael Douglas and Sean Penn star in this mind-fuck film.  Sean Penn is the younger brother of a wealthy family with a tragic history.  Sean has been a mess his entire life, but suddenly shows up on Michael Douglas birthday a new man – almost evangelical in his desire to help his brother change his life for the better.  So Sean gives his brother a birthday present – and Michael’s life starts to go rapidly out of control.

Melissa’s Pick of the Week: Antiviral

David Cronenberg’s son, Brandon Cronenberg, helmed this 2012 near-future biohorror sci-fi film that features a world where people willingly infect themselves with “designer” viruses: viruses that have previously inhabited celebrities, which are then harvested and copyrighted and sold. This amazing premise drives a D.O.A.-style plot wherein a virus salesman is infected with a deadly celebrity disease, and must unravel a mystery before he dies. While the film has its flaws (the biggest one being languid pacing), Brandon Cronenberg delivers a creepy, brainy, stylish film that is quite worthy of the Cronenberg name.

Every Monday, each of us will suggest a film that we feel too few people have seen.

Melissa’s Pick of the Week: Eega (aka Makkhi, aka Naan Ee)

Eega is a Bollywood movie about a murder victim who is reincarnated as a fly… with a vendetta. Yes, there are dance numbers, explosions, pretty people, and a Rocky-style training sequence starring a fly. It’s madness. It’s hilarious. It’s awesome. It’s on Netflix Streaming under the title Makkhi. Why aren’t you watching it already?

Windy’s Pick of the Week: Jeepers Creepers

A horror film that keeps it small and very creepy, establishes the premise and doesn’t waste a lot of time trying to justify it:  I like that in a film!  Starring the very personable Justin Long, this is essentially a 3-person (plus creepy critter) film.  As in any B-movie horror, stupid things are done, but there are some nice switchups in the tropes.  A great little popcorn flick that delivers some nice popcorn-flying scares.

Every Monday, each of us will suggest a film that we feel too few people have seen.

Windy’s Pick of the Week: Cover Girl

Everybody’s seen Singin’ in the Rain, but this gem with Rita Hayworth gets overlooked. If all you know of Hayworth is her stop-a-bus sexuality, you might not know she was a helluva hoofer. Also, Gene showcases his inventiveness doing a dance number with his own reflection. Bonus points for the Xanadu connection: Gene Kelly’s character name in this is Danny McGuire.

Melissa’s Pick of the Week: The Bus 174 Trilogy (Bus 174, Elite Squad, and Elite Squad: The Enemy Within)

Okay, I’m not trying to cheat by bringing up an entire trilogy of films. I’m doing this because Jose Padilha directed these three amazing movies, and I feel like I need to clear his name in the wake of the fanboy grousing about the Robocop remake (which he also directed).

The Bus 174 trilogy is the only trilogy I know of that consists of both documentary and fictional films. Together, the three take a microscopic and kaleidoscopic look at systemic corruption in Rio de Janeiro. The three movies are also highly engrossing, packed with action, intrigue, and fascinating people.

Bus 174 is a documentary about an incident in Rio de Janeiro where a man took a city bus hostage; it investigates both what makes a person do such a thing, as well as how the city botched the response. Elite Squad takes the narrative into a fictionalized (but highly researched) study into how and why the cops in Rio de Janeiro behave as they do. The final film, Elite Squad: The Enemy Within, plunges into the political machine that keeps the whole corrupt system in place.

The L.A. Times likens the three films to Dog Day Afternoon, Dirty Harry, and Serpico, respectively. I can think of no better endorsement than that.

Every Monday, each of us will suggest a film that we feel too few people have seen.

Melissa’s Pick of the Week: Stingray Sam (2009)

Stingray Sam is a delightful micro-budget black-and-white sci-fi western comedy musical (!) from the mind of cult director/musician Cory McAbee. It was initially released as a six-episode series via the Internet, but as a film, Stingray Sam plays like an old serial, with a black-clad space cowboy and his space cowboy sidekick chasing down an interplanetary kidnapper in a string of imaginative and often hilarious vignettes. The whole shebang is narrated by David Hyde Pierce, who manages to steal the movie every time he says, “Durango.” The music is great, too. Stingray Sam is easily available on most streaming video services.

Windy’s Pick of the Week: Trick ‘R Treat (2007)

A delicious horror treat that harkens back to the Creepshow anthology vibe of the 80’s!  Several interwoven tales of Halloween horror, and the most adorable nightmare ever, named Sam, roams through them all dragging his little bag behind.  Anna Paquin is the big name here, but there’s some satisfying scenery chewing by Brian Cox and Dylan Baker. Tahmoh Penikett also makes an appearance! If you like your horror satisfyingly bloody, but with a wink and a nod to the classic movie monsters, turn out the lights and turn on this gem!

Welcome to our first Underappreciated Movies post! Every Monday, each of us will suggest a film that we feel too few people have seen.

Windy’s Pick of the Week: The River Wild (1994)

I feel like nobody’s heard of it, and it’s really fun and awesome.  Meryl Streep doing her streepy best, joined by Kevin Bacon just sleezing all over the joint.  At the center of the movie is the estranged relationship between Meryl and her husband David Strathairn who feels like he’s always competing and losing to his successful and amazing wife. And the setting is white water rafting!

Melissa’s Pick of the Week: Blancanieves (2012)

This film hit the art-house theaters for about 12 miliseconds last year and vanished, but now it’s on Netflix Streaming and you can feed it to your eyeballs right now. I wrote about Blancanieves at length last year on my other blog, but, really, all you need to know is that it’s a Spanish love letter to the silent era of filmmaking that turns the story of Snow White into a tale about bullfighters. Yes, that means there are dwarves. It also means that Maribel Veridu (from Pan’s Labyrinth and Y Tu Mama Tambien) gets to play an evil stepmother, and that is something you want to see.