Thread for good movies that people may not have heard of

[darthseinfeld]

Back in the 70's there were several "made for TV movies" that were very good that are virtually unheard of today...

"Bad Ronald" - A young mentally disturbed kid who lives with his mother accidently kills a young girl and his mother "hides" him away in the house through the use of a secret room. The mother dies and a new family moves into the house not knowing about their hidden guest.

"Smile" - The story of a small town beauty pageant that has numerous interesting twists. Innocent and funny.

"Snow Beast" - An aggressive bigfoot runs amok on a ski resort in Colorado.

And here's one that was a theatrical release which was shot near Dallas...

"Drive-in". Sometimes it's referred to as "Texas Drive-in". A great period piece from the mid-70's that mocks the disaster film genre of that era. Luv the film.

HBO had a really good run in the 90's with theire orginal movies

 

[BigStar]

"Street Thief" Mockumentary following a professional burglar who disappears under "odd" circumstances. Pretty good: 8/10

 

[JohnnyTheFox]

Anything from Werner Herzog with Klaus Kinski......

 

[Fritsch_the_cat]

The Earthling




Little Big Man






Master and Commander is just excellent.

 

[the_h0wey]

Showgirls

 

[MichaelWinicki]

Little Big Man

Great flick!

Faye Dunaway was hot!

Richard Mulligan played a rather inaccurate but rather entertaining George Armstrong Custer.

The regimental band playing "Gary Owen" while the cavalry storms the village is epic.

 

[Reverend Conehead]

Dang, other than Master and Commander, haven't heard much of any of these. Good recommendations to explore. Thanks!

Off the top of my head, two John Sayles movies:

A small, quiet, intimate one filmed in Ireland; The Secret of Roan Inish. (just re-watched it yesterday), and

Also a soliloquy on Borders, set in Texas; Lone Star.



The Lone Star trailer is doubleA awful, so no linkage.

Will have to do some pondering on favored foreign films.

Thanks for the heads up. I'm going to check out The Secret of Roan Inish.

 

[Reverend Conehead]

Showgirls

That one got trashed in its reviews, but I thought it was better than it was given credit for.

 

[BigStar]

Spun (2007) Jason Schwartzman, Mickey Rourke (cook), and Brittney Murphy (RIP): Takes place in small town Oregon about how the meth addiction has spread to these rural/town areas throughout the country.

 

[BigStar]

Hobo with a Shotgun (2011) *gratuitous violence

 

[EGTuna]

Off the top of my here are some great ones that have yet to be mentioned:

Suicide Kings (Chris Walken strapped to a chair for most of the movie..come on. Can't believe this is almost 20 years old. It's clearly from a time where everyone wanted to imitate Tarantino, but this one does a good job).
Blue Ruin (recent, slow-building thriller)
Gommorrah (Italian gangster flick)
A Most Violent Year (recent flick that takes place in the early 80s amid corruption, crooks, real estate purchases)
99 Homes (a much more personal, and character driven look at the housing crisis. Michael Shannon is amazing as usual).
Shotgun Stories (southern gothic drama also starring Shannon that is terrific)
Primer (indie sci-fi time travel flick that's extremely subtle, but very compelling)
Elite Squad 2: Enemy Within (don't let the cheesey name fool you. It's a Brazillian movie starring the guy who plays Escobar on Narcos about corrupt cops, politicians, etc. It's basically The Shield meets the Wire meets Narcos with subtitles).

 

[Denim Chicken]

A Most Violent Year (recent flick that takes place in the early 80s amid corruption, crooks, real estate purchases)

I wanted to like this, but it was so boring.

 

[arglebargle]

Just caught this a couple of months ago: The Dead Lands. A New Zealand Maori martial arts movie. Great acting, story, fight choreography, sets, setting, background, etc

 

[Roadtrip635]

Just caught this a couple of months ago: The Dead Lands. A New Zealand Maori martial arts movie. Great acting, story, fight choreography, sets, setting, background, etc

Great movie, saw about about a year ago. I'd love to see more movies in this genre.


The Voices
Ryan Reynolds, Anna Kendrick, Gemma Atkinson. It's a dark comedy about a happy go-lucky guy that just also happens to be very, very disturbed. His pets talk to him, the evil cat trying to get him to do bad things and his good dog that tries to talk him out of the bad things. Kinda quirky, can be really funny at times and deeply dark at others, plus there's also an oriental Elvis impersonator, so how could you go wrong?



Cold In July
Michael C. Hall (Dexter), Sam Shepard and Don Johnson This is a well written and crafted thriller and the acting is exceptional. This thriller takes place in East Texas in the 80's, the story really keeps you engaged the whole time. I don't want to give too much away, but all three actors are absolutely top-notch in this movie.