Missed Gems, Great films (and games) that have been largely passed over

[Drong]

Last night I watched a French film called ?Renaissance? which was entirely shot in a simply stunning visual style all black and white but with no grey, it really has to be seen to be believed, the story is fairly standard noir/sci-fi and not bad but nothing to write home about but still I would strongly recommend seeing this film as it?s a real treat for the eyes.

Dark City also arrived and I?m going to have to pull myself away from GTA for long enough to watch it as I have heard great things about it.

I?m also a big fan of Darren Aronofsky and Miike Takashi, not to say I just watch artsy films as I sometimes love a loud and dumb blockbuster but I?ve only heard about these films through word of mouth and was wondering if any of you had any gems (films or games) that are either cult or largely ignored by the general public.

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

Renaissance was a great film, but the acting was just short of Channel 5. Very nice twist though.

 

[DasTechnoviking]

Ok get a sammich and a beer (or coke or whatever you fancy) Here is all the movies you have not watched but should;

Boondock Saints, This one got around the town I used to live in by word of mouth alone, small film, amazing, must see,great writing, good actors, plus see Ron Jeremy in the only non adult film I have ever seen him in. everyone who I had watch it went out and bought a copy the next day. Bonus points if you have Irish ancestry or are from Boston you will love this film, love it

Equilibrium, a great look at society if we were all logical, maybe too logical. Great style, good actors (Christian Bale) very good script, lots of action too

Sunshine, a newer sci-fi film. Very smart dark and creepy, a little reminiscent of the original Alien movie (which was fantastic but does not seem to be aging well, still love it though!)

Death Note, a Japanese film based off the manga series of the same name which also spawned an anime series. So anime fans and Death Note fans in particular find this live action movie, very smart film (and lots of hot Japanese girls woohoo!) also had a sequel, Death Note: the Last Name, which ends at an earlier place than the manga or anime but ends in a differnt fashion from either of those. I think the Last Name was a little better than the first film but both are excellent nonetheless

Old Boy, based on the manga of the same name,a Korean film about revenge from a man that was wrongfully imprisioned for 15 years. Great movie not for the faint of heart it's intense!

Brotherhood of the Wolf, French film based on an old legend from France, just before the French Revolution, it ends the old legend that no one could solve back in the day. Brilliant movie, very moody and tense, really you owe it to yourself to watch this one.

Ok I'm gonna shut up now

 

[nightfish]

Renaissance was a great film, but the acting was just short of Channel 5. Very nice twist though.

thanks for that - i was wondering what it was like

 

[Anarchemitis]

The Sting [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rbTozgoj9OQ]. And Sneakers [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0105435/]. You must watch them. I command you.

 

[Cousin_IT]

The Vengence Trilogy: Of which Oldboy is the 2nd between Sympathy for Mr Vengence & Sympathy for Lady Vengence. All great films taking different angles on revenge.

Black Snake Moan [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lge2ps3bAjw]

Come & See: Russian war drama & one of the most disturbing war films I have ever seen

Boiling Point: Makes every American action movie pale in comparrison. Completely over the top but absolutely amazing.

The Spook who sat by the door: A CIA trained African American leads a gurilla war against the state. 'nuff said

Running with Scissors: Its worth seeing for Brian Cox's performance alone.

If...: Malcolm McDowlls first feature film. Teenage rebellion in a public school

Anything directed by Terry Gillingham

The Trois Coleurs triology: theyre not great films, but Still very much worth seeing,

Le Dernier Combat: Luc Bessons first film, & absolutely bizarre. Be warned: very much an university student arthouse movie.

The Warriors: Everyone knows about it, but im surprised by how few have actually seen it (same with The Crow). "Can you dig it, suckers?"

The Warrior (with Ifran Khan): Indian movie about an enforcer for a corrupt local Raj who attempts to attone for his crimes. Before you ask, no, it isnt a steriotypical bollywood film

My son the Fanatic: Om Puri is a taxi driver who has "assimilated" into British culture but has to deal with his son coming under the influence of a radical Islamic group

Im speaking more about films that have been passed over by the public than by critics. Indeed, Any foreign film except Amilie can really be added to this list

 

[Strafe Mcgee]

The Vengence Trilogy: Of which Oldboy is the 2nd between Sympathy for Mr Vengence & Sympathy for Lady Vengence. All great films taking different angles on revenge.

Hell yeah. Best movies of the past 20 years. Also:

The Descent: Top notch brit-horror from the guy who made Dog Soldiers.
Brick: A film-noir style high school film. It's fantastic, much better than it sounds.
Grizzly Man: A documentary about Timothy Treadwell, a nutter that spent thirteen summers living with Grizzly bears in Alaska. Astonishing stuff.
Little Miss Sunshine: Black comedy about a dysfunctional family's road trip across America to see their youngest one take part in a beauty pageant.

They may not be the most underground films, but they're all great and didn't do too well at the box office.

 

[ThaBenMan]

I'll definitely agree about Dark City, Boondock Saints, Black Snake Moan, and Little Miss Sunshine, great movies all.

I'll add any Kurosawa film. Akira Kurosawa was a director from Japan who made some awesome films in the 50's. They're mostly black & white and in japanese with english subtitles, but if you can deal with that they're great. Awesome stories and characters and amazing cinematography.

some of them are -
Seven Samurai (very good, I have the dvd. The Magnificent Seven is a western adaptation)
The Hidden Fortress (one of the inspirations for Star Wars)
Rashomon (a murder mystery told from several different character's perspectives)
Yojimbo (remade as the western Fistful of Dollars)

note: I haven't actually seen the latter two, but I've heard they're very good.

 

[Drong]

Thanks everyone, I watched Dark City last night and really enjoyed it, it was moody, intersting and original, do you know the way to shell beach?

Boondock saints is another favourite of mine, I've watched that film tons of times it's become something of a St Patricks day tradition.

I'll have to go do some shopping online now and start working through the others reccomended, makes me glad dvd prices have come down so far

 

[elffymon]

yes! brotherhood of the wolf was great, i am a real fan of French film or at least the French film that reaches NZ shore, so also you should see 'the city of lost children' and anything with jean reno or gerard depardieu. ^__^

 

[Uskis]

One of the films I regard as some of the best I've ever seen is the french "Le Couperet" or "The ax" in English. It's extremely well acted and has a great feel to it. Great plot twist in the end as well

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0422015/

 

[DeVoyd]

I am a fan of foreign film. La Haine, Le Hussard sur le toit, and Le Grand Bleu all great french films. One of the main reasons I like foreign film is that they are often tragedies rather than happy-ending hollywood gloss. Old Boy, Hard Boiled, Infernal Affairs, lots of Hong Kong cinema that do stuff way beyond Hollywood as well.

Games: psychonauts, beyond good and evil.

 

[Drong]

While I'm on the subject I'll give some other's that in my opinion are must see

Pi - Darren Aronofsky's first film about a brilliant mathmaticians descent into madness

Happiness of the Katakuris - plays like 'The Sound of Music' meets 'Texas Chainsaw Massacre', my favourite Takashi film since the incredibly brutal 'Itchi'

Big Fish - Beautiful film, Tim Burton at his best blurring the lines between dreams and reality

Dogville - A woman on the run takes refuge in a small town only to be taken advantage of and abused by the seemingly 'nice' locals, no buildings and very bare sets make this an interesting cross between theatre and film

City of God - ok so not really missed but still one of the best gangster films ever, trying to survive in the slums of Brazil

Taxi (and the sequels) - The original by Luc Besson not the terrible Hollywood remake, very funny, very French, brings a smile to my face every time.

 

[Shieldsy]

I'll drop a few (what i think are anyway) gems as well:

Of Mice And Men: From what i remember this was a good movie i haven't seen it in years, it is a drama though. And it's the only movie I've watched and cried during.

Leon: Film with a young Natalie Portman in it, great movie. More of an action flick

Dragon Tiger Gate: If you're a fan of Chinese martial arts movies, this is one for you, i enjoyed it. Some of the physics are over exaggerated, but it's a Chinese martial arts movie, it wouldn't be one if it was bound by the laws of physics.

I can't think of any others right now.

Cheers

Shieldsy

 

[the monopoly guy]

Metal Arms Gltich in the system was an underated gem of a game but thats a game
as for movies, I thought Kung Fu Hussle was amazing, and there's another movie...but I can;t think of the name right now...I really like "Gandhi" (shut up) but I don't know if thats really under rated

 

[the monopoly guy]

Metal Arms Gltich in the system was an underated gem of a game but thats a game
as for movies, I thought Kung Fu Hussle was amazing, and there's another movie...but I can;t think of the name right now...I really like "Gandhi", hell I loved it (shut up) but I don't know if thats really under rated

**the double post is a screw up sorry**

 

[Seldon2639]

Movies:

Deja Vu: The advertisements made it look like absolute crap, but the movie itself is good. My brother and I got it on a lark and watched it one night. It was surprisingly compelling, and deals with the concepts of time paradox in really interesting ways

Gattaca: Ethan Hawke, Uma Thurman, both of them actually acting. It's the future, and we can select the best possible fetus to give birth to, which means that we create a society based on who has the best DNA. What happens when someone without the best DNA wants to go into outerspace? He may not have the DNA, but he has the indomitable will.

Saved: Picture Juno if it weren't pretentious about being hip and cool. Teenage born-again Christian becomes pregnant after trying to "cure" her homosexual boyfriend after hallucinating seeing jesus while she was drowning. I didn't make that up.

Donnie Darko: It's really messed up (probably even more than Pan's Labyrinth, which is saying something). At first glance, it's about time-travel, except maybe not. If you really think about it, though, it's all about the effects we have on other people's lives. Here's the big question:

Spoiler

if the only way you could save the love of your life was to die, and thus have never met them, would you?

MirrorMask: It's Neil Gaiman writing a movie. It's funny, psychological, and really sweet at times. Did I mention it's Neil Gaiman?

Television:

The Dresden Files: I originally avoided it because it wasn't true to the books. If you can divorce yourself from the books and appreciate the series on its own merits, it's fantastic.

X-Men (Evolution): I know, it's a kid's show. It was on the WB, for goodness' sake, but the amazing thing: it was good. It was probably the best treatment of the X-men I've seen (including the movies). Yes, it can tend toward a bit of melodrama at times, but that's keeping in line with the comics themselves.

Games:

Fire Emblem (any of them): Extraordinarily difficult turn-based strategy RPGs, they have complex, deep, plots, and some of the most endearing characters I've seen. It's all text-based conversation (very little voice acting), but it reads like a JRR Tolkien story.

Books:

The Dresden Files: Picture Harry Potter mixed with film noir, and you've got a good idea

John Dies at the End: Funny, irreverent, well-written, and occasionally though provoking. Read it, I command you

 

[smallharmlesskitten]

my vote would go to big fish, pretty damn good

but the best movie evar is a movie called 'Freddy got fingered' , starring Tom Green, i know about 6 people who have seen it, it;s the funniest movie ever made, Tom must have been high or something to make it

for those who want a little teaser, let me tell you about the opening sequence, Tom's skating through the mall being chased by a sucrity guard, he gets away pulling off some sweet moves and then he smacks face first into a door that opens the other way

 

[Evil Lawyer]

One movie I've found underappreciated is American Psycho. It is an entertaining, gorey detailed vision of a psychopaths mind and probably one of Christian Bale's best acting jobs.