Underrated Films

Upon seeing a film and forming my own judgment of it, I often go to a review site and see how similar or varying my views on the film are compared to professional critics.
And although I often recognise good films and often predict the ratings well, sometimes I am taken by surprise when I love a film to bits and see that it was torn apart by reviewers. Often I feel it is unfair.
These are some of the most critically under-appreciated films I've ever watched.

Sleeping with the Enemy

Following Julia Roberts as she escapes her somewhat psychotic, abusive husband can be downright terrifying. You look at her life with him, see his materialistic nature and extreme aggression towards her. You empathise with her right from the very start, and as soon as she finally gets away, slowly but surely you see him slowly begin to creep back into her life as he tracks her down. The film is gripping from start to finish. My only issue is the somewhat cliched ending which is too conclusive, and something more out-of-the-ordinary would have served it better.
Nonetheless, this film deserved a somewhat fairer critical response.


Six Days Seven Nights

I don't understand the reviews for this. Sure it's a Hollywood title, and yes you can see how the romance is going to play out but that alone isn't a reason for bashing it.
The film smoothly crosses over both terrains of action/adventure, romance and comedy and dishes out a good amount of each. The great thing about it is the romance involves the most unlikely of people, people with no connection nor respect for each other until they become stranded on a deserted island and their need for survival brings them closer together. The locations are beautiful and the chemistry between the characters is gold. There are far-fetched elements but you truly feel the sense of urgency in the intense moments. The cinematography and editing at times truly excentuates the beauty, the ferocity and the intimacy of key moments in the film, and although it's not going to go down in history, it's still a film that one can find themselves watching again and again and still finding themselves captivated.


Along Came A Spider

It must be said that the film hasn't aged well... even for its time the (rare) use of CGI looked rather poor. And yes there are a few generic aspects to the film. But from time to time there is some sheer unpredictability that can leave you in shock. The film follows Morgan Freeman, a cop, and his partner Jezzie, as they look into the case of the kidnapping of a congressman's daughter. Even for her young age Mika Boorem, though a nearly unknown actress, has an exceptional performance.
The film sadly flopped in ratings... and yes kidnapping thrillers have been done before, but this is a film that does it well.

All the negative reviews for this movie should be a crime. Though I do agree that the film would have been slightly better if they left the ending open for the audience to decide, but that's just my opinion. I'm still scratching my head as to why critics even hate this movie? I mean it's not the best movie ever made or anything, but it's a pretty solid film. I bet if it was an indie film, critics would have been more forgiving. Whether you may or may not like the film, it's still worth the watch.

Ghost Rider and Jennifer's Body are two recent underrated films that come to mind. Ghost Rider is campy fun and I think it does somewhat recognize how campy it is. Everything about it is over-the-top, and I feel like that was intentional. As for Jennifer's Body, most reviews said "ZOMG THIS IS A SHITTY HORROR MOVIE," and uh . . . it's not a horror movie. It's a comedy. And it's not half-bad.

Ghost Rider was terrible. Not because it was campy, but mainly because it was badly written and directed. Plus Nicolas Cage sucked as Johnny Blaze. FACT. If this was call anything but Ghost Rider then I would have been okay with him. Also I was very disappointed with Blackheart, he didn't look anything like he did in the comic books.
I thought he was going to transform by the end of the film, but he never did.

TheCinemaJack wrote:

Ghost Rider and Jennifer's Body are two recent underrated films that come to mind. Ghost Rider is campy fun and I think it does somewhat recognize how campy it is. Everything about it is over-the-top, and I feel like that was intentional. As for Jennifer's Body, most reviews said "ZOMG THIS IS A SHITTY HORROR MOVIE," and uh . . . it's not a horror movie. It's a comedy. And it's not half-bad.

....Uhhhhhhhhh...

Ghost Rider falls under the "so bad it's good" category for me. Yes, the writing and direction are awful, but that's why I find it so damn appealing. Nicolas Cage is freaking great in it. He's so over-the-top, I just love Nicolas Cage's crazy schtick.

It's not a good film by any means, but I just think it's a hilariously entertaining piece of camp.

^
Problem with that is where do you draw the line?

I mean you said the same about Piranha 3D and that actually rated decently, probably because people recognized the same points that you made. Then Piranha 3DD came out and scored horrendously, because they tried to milk it.

So does this whole "so-bad-its-good"/campy thing only work if a film does it once? Like The Room.

ghost rider sucked and we have a thread for this topic

Lykos wrote:

^
Problem with that is where do you draw the line?

I mean you said the same about Piranha 3D and that actually rated decently, probably because people recognized the same points that you made. Then Piranha 3DD came out and scored horrendously, because they tried to milk it.

So does this whole "so-bad-its-good"/campy thing only work if a film does it once? Like The Room.

I couldn't tell you explicitly where I draw the line, but a film like Piranha 3DD was not campy. It was just dull. Piranha 3D was pretty funny, but yeah, like you said, Piranha 3DD milked it, tried too hard to be campy, and ended up throwing a bunch of blood and gore and it amounted to nothing. Honestly, as far as The Room goes, I see nothing redeeming about it, even in camp territory.

Whether or not you find something campy is difficult to explain, and it varies based on each person. Whereas most people found Ghost Rider boring, I found it to be mildly entertaining.

^

Oh but I wouldn't call The Room an even slightly decent film. I think its downright atrocious, the only this is, instead of telling people to avoid it I want everyone to see it

And coolio.

The King of Comedy

Way better than Taxi Driver and The Departed.

Iron Man 3

Way better than Man of Steel and X-Men: DOFP.

I would say Manhunter is also very underrated. It's almost better than it's successor known as The Silence of the Lambs. ALMOST. The Silence of the Lambs is a near perfect film with stronger performances. But Manhunter has an overall better story, more interesting characters, and a great visual style.

RamboOnRedBull wrote:

Iron Man 3

Way better than Man of Steel and X-Men: DOFP.

Gr8 b8 m8 I r8 it 8/8

^
is 8 alr8 if I masturb8

The Master by PTA is an underrated masterpiece, with Philip Seymour Hoffman's best performance. It's also got an amazingly tight script, despite being confusing at times.  

Oh, and it's the most gorgeous-looking American film since the 2010s. :)

Punch-Drunk Love is quite underrated as well. I even see it as one of the smartest romance movies that I've seen all year. 

Go, Anderson, Go!

I haven't seen Punch-Drunk Love in many years. But yeah, it is a pretty good film. Almost bought a rare DVD edition of it at the dollar store for just $5. Didn't end up buying it though.

Wasn't a huge fan of Punch-Drunk Love. I thought it was ok at parts, with PSH having a few scenes of really good acting, but I didn't really like it too much.

Archduke wrote:

Wasn't a huge fan of Punch-Drunk Love. I thought it was ok at parts, with PSH having a few scenes of really good acting, but I didn't really like it too much.

Sorry it didn't have enough explosions for ya

RamboOnRedBull wrote:

Archduke wrote:

Wasn't a huge fan of Punch-Drunk Love. I thought it was ok at parts, with PSH having a few scenes of really good acting, but I didn't really like it too much.

Sorry it didn't have enough explosions for ya

Hahaha yes!

But seriously, it was just kinda boring and hard to watch at times. I guess I'm just not used to watching Adam Sandler play these kinds of roles in films. I'm used to the terrible, mediocre, trying-too-hard-to-be-funny performances that he's known for doing in the past. Still, it's good to see him do movies like this.

Archduke wrote:

RamboOnRedBull wrote:

Archduke wrote:

Wasn't a huge fan of Punch-Drunk Love. I thought it was ok at parts, with PSH having a few scenes of really good acting, but I didn't really like it too much.

Sorry it didn't have enough explosions for ya

Hahaha yes!

But seriously, it was just kinda boring and hard to watch at times. I guess I'm just not used to watching Adam Sandler play these kinds of roles in films. I'm used to the terrible, mediocre, trying-too-hard-to-be-funny performances that he's known for doing in the past. Still, it's good to see him do movies like this.

I thought you were going to take it seriously, lol. 

Glad to see you're a good sport :)

Bottle Rocket is criminally underrated as well, if I must say. Can't believe it almost ruined Wes' career.

I never thought I'll ever have to say this, but... Only God Forgives is an underrated gem.

@Rambo Good. Now try re-watching Man of Steel again and lets see where that goes. :)