Underappreciated Movie Gems

58   6.4   7.3 

From a period of time where Sci-fi actually meant it was a movie that made you think. Short-lived, unfortunately, but an interesting story, and one written by Michael Chrichton.

Elfflame's rating:

74   6.4   6.3 

This one particularly shocks me that it's so under-listed on this site. There was a time when it was highly listed on many lists.

Bette Midler makes this movie, making it well worth watching, and Barbara Hershey's range in this movie is excellent.

Elfflame's rating:

47   7   7 

This one's a difficult one, because while I think it's an excellently told story, it's painful to watch because of the subject matter. Satire or not, seeing people so easily taken in by these sorts of tricks and tactics leaves me a bit ill, to be honest.

Elfflame's rating:

75   6.6   7 

An interesting look into the business of news. An excellent cast, an interesting story, and one that's well worth at least one watch.

Elfflame's rating:

8   5.7   6.3 

A little-known movie with an amazing cast. I'm not a big one for military/war movies, but the interactions in this story make it well worth seeing.

Elfflame's rating:

29   7.1   6.4 

Still one of the best Arthurian movies out there, and a must-watch for everyone who likes Arthurian stories, musicals, Richard Harris or Vanessa Redgrave.

Elfflame's rating:

32   7   7.1 

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18   6.5   6.3 

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95   7.3   7.8 

One of the great sci-fi classics. Based on Shakespeare's The Tempest, and well worth a watch for anyone who likes Science Fiction.

Elfflame's rating:

62   5.5   6.1 

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29   6.3   5.8 

Possibly the best book-to-movie translations I ever had. Natasha Richardson is perfect in the title role. And the rest of the cast is excellent as well.

Elfflame's rating:

9   6.3   5.2 

As is probably obvious from the other movies on this list, I tend to be drawn to movies by who's in them. In this case, Bob Hoskins, Denzel Washington, and Chloe Webb. The story tackles a few things that might make some people uncomfortable--Hoskin's character is incredibly racist at the beginning, but his journey in the story makes it worth dealing with his early slurs in the story. As does Denzel's character.

Elfflame's rating:

59   6.1   6.3 

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63   6.2   6.7 

Excellent cast doing an Oscar Wilde play. What's not to enjoy? More light-hearted than Dorian Grey, but less so than The Importance of Being Ernest. Good for a quiet, rainy afternoon.

Elfflame's rating:

84   7.3   7.2 

One of the better movies to explore the multiple-story type of storytelling. What makes this one work for me is that it does an excellent job of showing not only the different points of view, but also the time-periods each story takes place in.

The cast is excellently chosen as well, and I thought they did a wonderful job of helping us empathize with each character.

Elfflame's rating:

91   5   5.3 

Whoopie Goldberg is what makes this movie worth watching. If she had not been the star, the story would just have gotten lost in a flood of the other mediocre movies that flooded Hollywood about the same time.

Elfflame's rating:

48   7.1   7.5 

An Oscar-winning film based on the book by Manuel Puig. The story is dark and sad, but the acting makes it well worth watching. Hurt, Julia and Braga all show their talent to the best effect in this story.

Elfflame's rating:

10   6.6   6.4 

Another Dreyfuss gem with a ton of great actors, but not much funding, so it wasn't heavily advertised.

Dreyfuss plays a compulsive gambler with marital problems who has a very good day at the track.

Elfflame's rating:

12   6.4   6.7 

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4   7   6.1 

I'm a sucker for afterlife films, and this one does an excellent job of making the idea their own.

Timothy Hutton and Kelly McGillis make this movie well worth watching.

Elfflame's rating:

85   7   7.1 

A wonderful unsung movie with an excellent cast. This is the sort of storytelling that really appeals to me--one that plays with the conventions of storytelling enough to help the viewer forget for a time. In this case, it's not easily obvious, but the whole movie takes place in about 24 hours.

Elfflame's rating:

8   5.2   5.7 

A fun movie with a basic premise--impostor looks so much like political official that the person behind the throne decides to use them when said official becomes incapacitated.

In this case, Dreyfuss plays the dictator of a small Central American country, and also an actor who comes to his country while he's filming.

Raul Julia plays the power behind the throne, and Sonia Braga plays the dictator's mistress a la Evita.

A great, silly movie, and well worth a watch.

Elfflame's rating:

43   7.2   7.6 

To be honest, this one shocks me. I'm surprised so few people on this site have ranked this movie. This has always been one of my favorite musicals, and just hearing the music can put me into a great mood.

Elfflame's rating:

60   7.5   6.9 

This movie is one of my all-time favorites. Tilda Swinton plays Virginia Woolfe's sex-changing hero who lives an extra-long life and spends most of the time trying to understand the differences between men and women, and sex, love, and life.

It has a bit of a surreal, dream-like quality, but it's definitely worth a watch.

Elfflame's rating:

56   6.2   6.4 

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70   6.9   7.1 

This one surprises me less than most. If it weren't a subject (or more accurately, a few subjects) that I was interested in, I likely never would have heard of it.

Consider this a good sequel to Shakespeare in Love--Billy Crudup plays one of the final actors who specialized in female roles on the English stage, and Clare Danes plays his dresser who decides to go against the English law stating that women are not allowed to act on stage.

There is a good bit of sexual content, including some of a homosexual nature, and also a bit of what could be considered blackface (the play they focus on in the movie is Othello), but if you can get past those two points, it's well worth watching.

Elfflame's rating:

34   6.4   7.2 

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62   7.6   7.5 

One of those movies that not enough people know about because it's so outside the Author's usual sort of story. Like Brokeback Mountain, The Wedding Banquet deals with gay issues. But where Brokeback is solemn, Banquet is humorous. But either way, the story shows that people are more complicated than we tend to give them credit for.

Definitely worth a watch if you like Ang Lee or Brokeback Mountain.

Elfflame's rating:

79   7.2   7.2 

My all-time favorite Christmas movie. How can you go wrong with one of the best-known and best-loved Christmas songs combined with Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye, and Rosemary Clooney?

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20   6.6   6.8 

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49   6.1   6.5 

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5   5   5.1 

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15   5.6   5.6 

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28   7.6   7.1 

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23   6.4   6.3 

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47   7   7.3 

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74   6.3   6.3 

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78   6.1   6.3 

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83   7.1   7.8 

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86   6.6   6.9 

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86   6.8   6.9 

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93   6.3   6.4 

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98   6.4   7.1 

One of those movies with the theme "don't judge a book by its cover." Cher plays the mother of a boy with the same genetic disability as the Elephant Man, but struggles to give him a normal life, despite everything. Sweet and heartbreaking.

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