Category: Underappreciated Movies

Oct 13 2014

This Week’s Underappreciated Movies

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

nehlle-pe-dehlla

Windy’s Pick of the Week: Nehlle Pe Dehlla

Another Bollywood recommendation! This is the Bollywood “Weekend at Bernie’s” AND “Weekend at Bernie’s 2” combined and thrown into an Bolly-blender of music and comedy and voodoo! I don’t what more I need to do to convince you – that really ought to be enough! It’s delightful and jaw-droppingly insane!

redrockwest

Melissa’s Pick of the Week: Red Rock West

I will admit, I hadn’t seen Red Rock West until a couple weeks ago. I hadn’t even heard of it, believe it or not, but I ran across it because I am currently on a mission to watch every Nicolas Cage movie. The exact reason I do stuff like marathon Nicolas Cage movies because I occasionally run into stuff like Red Rock West.

Red Rock West is a wonderful, twisty-turny neo-noir flick from 1993, starring folks like Lara Flynn Boyle, Dennis Hopper, J. T. Walsh, and of course Nic Cage. Cage plays an unemployed man who is travelling the barren rural Southwest looking for a job. When he is mistaken for a professional hitman, he takes the job… and then warns the target. Too bad that the real hitman soon shows up. The plot is loaded with surprises, the direction is deft and compact, and whole movie is a satisfying treat.

Oct 06 2014

This Week’s Underappreciated Movies

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

Sholay

Melissa’s Pick of the Week: Sholay

This Hindi film from 1975 is perhaps best described as what happens when Bollywood wants to make a Sergio Leone western. It’s also a musical, a comedy, a family film, and an allegory. While this film isn’t heard about much in the U.S. (and is even difficult to find on DVD), it is often cited as one of the greatest films of all time in India. It is also one of the highest grossing films ever in its home country (it was even shown in one theater continuously for five years). As such, it is the wellspring of many cinema traditions that you still see today in modern Indian films. The reason that Sholay is all these things is that it is an enormously entertaining movie. Definitely worth tracking down.

gotcha

Windy’s Pick of the Week: Gotcha!

Do we all remember Gotcha!? Anthony Edwards (after Revenge of the Nerds, and before Top Gun… or E.R.) is his everyman-adorkable self as a college student going on a European trip. A chance encounter with a lovely and exotic Linda Fiorentino soon entangles him in Cold War-era espionage. Good thing he was super good at that stalking paintball game on campus!

Sep 29 2014

This Week’s Underappreciated Movies

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

cloakanddagger

Windy’s Pick of the Week: Cloak & Dagger

Another family friendly entry from the mid-80s – sort of The Goonies meets Gotcha (and there’s another movie to remind you about!). Child star Henry Thomas is the central character – a lonely, motherless child who loses himself in video games. Dabney Coleman plays his imaginary friend, the star of his spy game. When our young hero accidentally comes into possession of actual spy secrets, he must use everything he’s learned from the game, and the advice of his imaginary pal, to save the day.

GoldDiggers

Melissa’s Pick of the Week: Gold Diggers of 1933

This film is one of the strangest musicals I have ever seen. On the surface, it looks like almost every other musical of its time: the “hey, let’s make a Broadway show!” plot, the dazzling Busby Berkeley dance numbers, and the occasional still-famous tune (namely, “We’re In the Money”). However, there is an underlying darkness to the movie called The Great Depression. While many musicals of this film’s time were an escape from the Depression, this one openly deals with it. The story begins with four actresses, who are struggling to pay rent. A show they have been rehearsing has shut down because it ran out of money. The lives of the people in the film are unglamorous. And while the bulk of the film’s running time is relentlessly upbeat, the final number takes a startling left turn into the Reality Zone that dropped my jaw to the floor when I first saw it. If you want to see what happens when Busby Berkeley gets socially conscious and turns to German Expressionism, this is the movie for you.

Sep 22 2014

This Week’s Underappreciated Movies

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

ipcress

Melissa’s Pick of the Week: The Ipcress File

If you are unfamiliar with Michael Caine’s acting career during his younger days, you owe it to yourself to see the 1965 spy flick The Ipcress File. The film was made as a reaction to the high-fashion, sexy James Bond series, detailing the day-to-day life of a more realistic screen spy named Harry Palmer (played by Caine). Palmer lives in an apartment, deals with bureaucracy, and navigates departmental politics while he unravels a complicated plot involving the kidnapping of an esteemed scientist. The film is a slow burn, and you have to pay attention, but I assure you it’s worth the trip to get to the extraordinarily strange ending. Oh, and here’s some strange trivia: even though this film was a reaction to James Bond, it was produced by Harry Saltzman, who himself co-produced the Bond series through 1974.

The-Company-of-Wolves

Windy’s Pick of the Week: The Company of Wolves

Angela Lansbury anchors this moody anthology piece about the loss of innocence and the awakening of sexuality. The central werewolf theme is played out in a variety of forms, and the movie feels more like a fever dream than a coherent story. But it sticks with you, and it definitely entertains. Besides, it offers the very valuable advice: “Never trust a man whose eyebrows grow together.”

Sep 15 2014

This Week’s Underappreciated Movies

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

sinbad3

Windy’s Pick of the Week: Sinbad and the Eye of the Tiger

Patrick Wayne (John’s son, yes) stars as the swashbuckling Sinbad in this Ray Harryhausen classic. The lovely Jane Seymour is his love interest as they embark on an adventure to save her brother, the Prince, who has been turned into a baboon (no, really!). (Doctor Who fans will enjoy Patrick Troughton’s appearance as well.) The special effects are epic – not just the baboon, but giant wasps, a minotaur, plus the sabre-tooth tiger of the title. A trip riddled with magic and mystery!

bedazzled 2

Melissa’s Pick of the Week: Bedazzled (1967)

While many of us are familiar with the unfortunate remake of this film, few have seen the original, which features the talents of Dudley Moore and Peter Cook at the height of their powers. Set in swingin’ 60s London, Bedazzled focuses on a meek diner cook (Dudley Moore), who meets Satan (Peter Cook) during a bungled suicide attempt. In a Faustian pact, the devil promises to grant seven wishes in return for the man’s soul. Of course, the devil twists every wish. Along the way, we meet the seven deadly sins (including Raquel Welch as Lust), and a lot of silly things happen (like nuns on trampolines). Oh, and did I mention that this whole thing was directed by Stanley Donen of Singin’ in the Rain fame? Yup.

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