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.