Underated Movies that are Amazing

[Dizeazedkiller]

Okay so towards the start of this year i watched The Next Three Days, which was a pretty damn good movie. Soon after that i watched Stone and although it had two of my favourite actors in it (Milla Jovovich and Ed Norton) i didn't enjoy it, although i knew it was a good movie (just not my cup of tea). Finally, i watched Super (2010) a week ago and holy fuck it was a good movie. I mean it was goddam amazing.
The point I'm trying to get at is that most movies we see in the cinema are good, with a few exceptions being either bad or great. Blockbusters seem to stay at this same level, above average, and don't change at all. On the other hand these movies that i've been watching that never hit the big screens were either really REALLY good, or really really bad.

So i want some people's opinions, out of curiosity yes but also because my list of animes and movies to watch is dwindling. What movies that haven't been big blockbusters have you watched and really enjoyed, that you think probably deserved to be on the big screen more than an expensive as hell movie like, say, avatar

P.S I'm not using Avatar as an example because i think its shit (IMO fern gulley was better). I'm using it as an example because it was a pretty average movie, and if i'd used something like Mission Impossible 4 as my example then you could pretty much say any non-blockbuster movie deserves a slot in cinemas more than it, because MI4 and MI in general is shit.

 

[Les Awesome]

Batman Returns!
Best Gothic Action Film Ever

 

[wooty]

Four Lions, its a British film about home grown extremism/terrorism and it is hilarious. Definately recommend you try and get hold of that if you already havn't.

 

[Thaluikhain]

Batman Returns!
Best Gothic Action Film Ever

Best of the Batman movies, IMHO...or at least the serious ones.

 

[Soulkiller3]

spirited away

 

[putowtin]

Hudson Hawk, seriously under-rated!

Stranger Than Fiction, Will Ferrell can act!

 

[jakko12345]

Oldboy - Best south Korean film ever made
District 13 - Awesome french parkour film

That's all i can think of at the moment

Edit: actually they are both quite highly rated, but no-one i know has heard of them.

 

[Bluntman1138]

The 5th Element.

 

[Skeptic]

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U9NC53irkyk] by far. Excellent story, acting, dialogue, humor, editing, etc., and no credit whatsoever. Shame.


Edit: Trailer embedded.

 

[Daniel Ferguson]

Scott Pilgrim. Everyone hates Michael Cera, so that gets in the way of all my friends enjoying - hell, even seeing - one of only two movies to give me an emotional reaction last year.

 

[babinro]

Undisputed - It's awesomely watchable like Rocky 2,3 and 4 but the final battle doesn't have any magic. Still, a great movie with excellent build up and sequences.

Fracture - One of the few great that I've seen in the last 5 years. Anthony Hopkins and Ryan Gosling play off each other extremely well. The film admittedly tries to hard but the overall product is fantastic.

 

[xplosive59]

The first Highlander film is amazing which very few people I know have watched. Falling Down is also an amazing film which very few people I know have heard of.

 

[SangRahl]

Last Action Hero - Nothing like a genre film that loves to make fun of it's own genre.

 

[Worgen]

Lake Placid,it showed up around the time when allot of the giant animal attack movies were hot, or at least the one with the giant snake and was actually a stupid movie. Lake Placid on the other hand was smart funny and just a really good movie.

 

[Bobic]

Three Lions, its a British film about home grown extremism/terrorism and it is hilarious. Definately recommend you try and get hold of that if you already havn't.

You need to recount those lions. It's Four Lions. Though I do whole heartedly agree that that film is absolutely awesome, and should be watched by many.

 

[Winthrop]

Soldier. A good scifi film next to no one has seen.

 

[wooty]

Four Lions, its a British film about home grown extremism/terrorism and it is hilarious. Definately recommend you try and get hold of that if you already havn't.

You need to recount those lions. It's Four Lions. Though I do whole heartedly agree that that film is absolutely awesome, and should be watched by many.

Fixed, thanks for pointing that out. I must of got confused with watching the football build up at the same time.

 

[NorthernStar]

The Fountain.

It was presented as an art house movie, I originally only went because Hugh Jackman was in it, but ended up loving the movie and its themes. It'll never be a successful million dollar movie, but I loved its themes and intertwining story lines. Plus, the hand drawn effects are so pretty!

Perfect Blue was pretty cool as well. It's an anime with a seriously haunting atmosphere.

Oh and yes, as mentioned before, Scott Pillgrim VS The World. Every gamer should watch that film at least once, it is fricking awesome!

EDIT: Can't believe I forgot this one. Amélie (or: Le fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain) is such a great feel good movie. It's in French, so imagine that'd keep a lot of people from watching it (it made me quite hesitant at first), but this is such an original, quirky and lovely movie that it's totally worth it!

 

[redisforever]

Amelia.

About Amelia Earhart. With two of my favorite actors, Ewan McGregor, and Christopher Eccleston. Bit boring, but good overall.

 

[Marter]

Stone, The Next Three Days and Super all hit the big screen.

Stone peaked at 125 theaters, The Next Three Days actually got a wide release at over 2,500 theaters, while Super peaked at 39. From your question, you make it seem like you want indie films that were too poor to get a theatrical release, or just any direct-to-DVD film. Or just non-blockbusers, even though one of your examples (The Next Three Days) is one.

But your examples don't make sense, as they all made it to theaters, and they all had at least two well-known actors. Stone had three, with Jovovich, De Niro, and Norton. The Next Three Days had Russell Crowe and Liam Neeson (and Elizabeth Banks/Olivia Wilde, if they count as "big names"). Super had Ellen Page and Kevin Bacon (and Liv Tyler, Nathan Fillion, etc).

So, explain the criteria better, and I'll give you some of mine, from whatever criteria you actually want. I'm just confused by what you want, that's all.