Basic Instinct II. It's a riot.

Totally agree re Sound of Music. It reduces me to a weaping heap every time, and I think it's quality, not crap. Fuck you, Pauline Kael.

"Inside Daisy Clover."

Yes, I know they changed the time period from the 1950s to the 30s, cut almost all of Natalie Wood's narration, plus her "Back Lot Kid" number and dubbed most of her singing.

But Natalie's perceptive, tough/tender performance shows how strongly she identified with the role and the film is so chock-ful of roman-a-clef screen lore (Robert Redford as a version of Montgomery Clift, Jennifer Jones' bedroom waterfall)that the film is fascinating, haunting at times.

And hopefully it will lead viewers to Gavin Lambert's superbly written novel "Inside Daisy Clover," funny and moving and very clear-eyed about Hollywood history and an era when the studios were crumbling.

In fact, smart readers will go to read Lambert's biographies (Natalie Wood, Norma Shearer, Nazimova, Lindsay Anderson) short stories ("The Slide Area," "The Goodbye People") and novels ("Running Time").

man i total agree with you..

Movies Episodes

Here are some more that won the Best Picture Oscar, and deservedly so, but conventional wisdom these days says they were not worthy:

The Greatest Show on Earth. One of the most moving show-business stories ever put on film. The last half-hour (from the train wreck to the final parade) is perfect.

Around the World in 80 Days. Just for that cast alone, but it also features one of the most beautiful scored ever written for a movie, by Victor Young. He died before he could collect the Oscar he won for it.

some modern ones, mainstream I guess
Gattaca
Jesus' Son
True Confessions

Agree on Sound of Music and Greatest Show on Earth.

The dialogue in Greatest Show was a little corny but it was a visual delight and all the stars were great. I'll be that was the last time Dorothy Lamour got into a size 8.

Shortbus

OC & Stiggs

The Witnesses

City of Women

The Green Room

Detective (Godard)

Hurlevent (Rivette's version of Wuthering Heights)

Pennies From Heaven. The public wasn't ready for Steve Martin in a dramatic role. A movie musical light years ahead of its time.

after seeing the sound of music -- at the 30th time, i have to turn and say, can you stop showing your child that other shit as well??

"Mother Jugs & Speed"

Play It As It Lays, still unavailable on dvd. Under appreciated like most of Tuesday Weld's work, this poison pen letter to Hollywood still stuns me, seen again this year on a double bill with another stellar female performance, the practically forgotten Puzzle of a Downfall Child. And how about Middle of the Night with Kim Novak and Fredric March.Safe with Julienne Moore.

The black-comedy cult classic, Something For Everyone (1973) starring Michael York and Angela Lansbury - written by Hugh Wheeler (who wrote the book for A Little Night Music) and the first film directed and produced by Harold Prince. It's a hoot.

The VHS has been out of print for 15 years (I own a copy) and it's never been available on DVD.

On the other end of the spectrum, speaking of A Little Night Music, there's the dreadful film version (also directed by Prince) that butchered Sondheim's glorious score, altered the story and setting, and made such a hopeless mess of it that even (or in spite of) Liz Taylor, it was pronounced by many as the 1970's worse piece of drek.

I concur. Awful!

I'd love to get my hands on "Something For Everyone" and see it again!

If anyone has any ideas of how I can do so, please help.

xxx

Netflix has "Something for Everyone" on file, but the DVD's availability date is "Unknown"

Sorry!

The Honeymoon Killers. SUBLIME!

Terribly underrated? Do you mean those didn't deserve underrating?

Dogfight, with Lili Taylor and River Phoenix.

Parting Glances, if only to see Limelight back in the day...

I'm gonna go with "The Stuntman" starring Peter O'Toole, Barbara Hershey, and Steve Railsback. Loved that movie but it never went anywhere.

Whenever I watch The Sound of Music again, I'm struck by how deadly serious it is. We tend to think of it as this chirpy, smiley, kids-on-speed kind of movie, but the bulk of it is played totally straight, and the threat of Nazi invasion is never dumbed down into something trivial. There are real stakes here, and Robert Wise deserves major kudos for keeping the cheese in check.

The third installment of The Exorcist. It was basically another story based on the Zodiac Killer. It had George C. Scott and Brad Dourif who carry the film.

The King of Comedy by Scorcese. Amazing his work gets underrated because really love Milo Forman's work more than his and nobody thinks he is one of the greats. Anyway DeNiro basically has used that whole character in many of his 'comedic' roles that followed but isolate yourself and watch its original genius.

THX 1138- This pre-Star Wars George Lucas with Robert Duvall as our protagonist as a Winston Smith figure in an incredibly reasonable length (86 minutes) dystopian sci-fi movie with shades of Kubrick. To me this was Lucas' strongest screenplay on his own, believe me if you read his original conception of The Trilogy you would agree.

Jonathan Demme's Beloved. I have read the book and it is incredibly tough source material for what Morrison details alone. I like that Demme turned it into a true haunting movie.

Niagara- A young Marilyn Monroe and her lover try to kill her husband Joseph Cotton in the most romantic place on earth, Niagara Falls. Find this movie and show it to anybody who could not believe Marilyn could act. Companion this movie with Bus Stop and The Misfits as well.

Welcome To The Dollhouse- I have never related to a coming of age story so much. Ignore its semi-sequel Palindromes because it kinda ruins the story.

Shortbus- Amazing.

The Fearless Vampire Killers- Sharon Tate is so beautiful in this film, Polanski is actually an adequate comedic actor and director.

The Last American Virgin and Lucas- Two teen movies that you wish ended on Scene X because the ending leaves you unfulfilled as it is all too real.

Scrooged- One of my favorite Christmas films and a fresh take on a contemporary Scrooge.

Clue- One of the best comedic ensembles and really it was ahead of its time. Now everybody is adapting from the source material of board/video games.

times square 1980

all those hammer horror movies starring peter cushing and cris lee....and pam grier directed by jack hill aip movies....scumbags like sarris/kael refused to even watch such classics!

Dolores Claiborne.
A melodramatic masterpiece by Stephen King with truly breathtaking performances by Kathy Bates, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Judy Parfitt, Christopher Plummer and David Strathairn.
Full of quotable lines and visually stunning.
Taylor Hackford directed a classy Sirkian "Women's Movie" for our times and it's hugely undervalued.
It's an edge of the seat treasure and joy.

MARY REILLY

HEART OF MIDNIGHT (Horror flick with Jennifer Jason Leigh's best performance. Seems to have disappeared forever)

Ditto PENNIES FROM HEAVEN and TIMES SQUARE

SHOOT THE MOON...incredible Hollywood movie that feels like a foreign film. Sublime cast.

PALINDROMES

THE DEVILS (The LAWRENCE OF ARABIA of exploitation movies. STILL unavailable on DVD)

Mike Judges' recent EXTRACT which I think is as good as anything he's done.

SPANGLISH

"Pecker' (1998)
John Water's very fun look at the art world,
and the dangers of instant fame.
-a great cast:
Edward Furlong
Christina Ricci
Lili Taylor
Mary Kay Place
Patricia Hearst
Mink Stole
tea-bagging at the gay bar
lesbian dancers at the titty bar
-and even some good songs like
"Don't Drop the Soap (For Anyone Else But Me)"
In the end,
all the Art World snobs get their comeuppance,
and the love it.

never forget:
PHANTASM

The Yakuza,Runaway Train,Lord Love A Duck,Scorpio,Spartan,They All Laughed,Burn,Junior Bonner,Women In Love...

Brando considered Burn his best acting performance. There's a lot of people who too often dismiss Brando's work in the 60s.

Some more that popped up:
Unconditional Love- Kathy Bates, Jonathan Pryce, a dwarf, Rupert Everett, Lynn Redgrave, Julie Andrews, Dan Akroyd, Barry Manilow, and Sally Jessie Rafael. The cast only intrigued me but the whole relationship of a connection to an artist despite him being queerer than a $3 bill, I thought was dead-on.

Suddenly, Last Summer- It is one of the best adaptations of Williams that was able to stick the original story still firm to the source material despite the censors. Poor Monty was in his post-surgery period, but Liz and Kit electrified the screen. I tip my hat to Gore Vidal's screenplay in handling the Sebastian plot. It is forgotten in terms of what we consider great Taylor and Hepburn performances let alone Tennessee Williams adaptations.

I might be the only person on Earth who adores Steven Spielberg's Hook.

second the stuntman.

lust/caution. bad title, great movie.

the night of the hunter still doesn't get the respect it deserves..

"Maniac Cop 2" - William Lustig's great with stunts and chase sequences. Fun trash.

"Nobody's Fool" is my favorite Paul Newman film and I find that many people have never even heard of it let alone seen it.

Something For Everyone is on youtube - as are Play It As It Lays and Puzzle...

I got The Devils on DVD a year ago, so it is available

Mahler, and The Lair of the White Worm, both from that mad genius, Ken Russell
The Last Tycoon - a great cast, very enigmatic, but it absolutely bombed with the critics (and audience)- I loved it!

Observe & Report - this movies was written off by both the American public and film snobs as an offensive goofball mall-cop comedy. Meanwhile it is a highly-evocative, epically-soundtracked, and psychologically complex melodramedy, and is the first truly great post-9/11 movie not about NYC (which would be another underrated movie - 25th Hour). http://www.mograbs.com/mograbs/blog/index.php/observe-and-report-2009-jody-hill/

Observe & Report was this decade's The Cable Guy. I thought it was darkest a dark comedy could go and certainly the date rape controversy did not help matters. But it is one of the few Seth Rogen films where I was not bothered specifically by Seth Rogen.

Bad Lieutenant with Keitel is dark and fantastic.

The Opposite of Love--fantastic. makes me cry every time.

Ricci wuz robbed of the oscar nom.

I'm going out out here on a high limb, but That Hagan Girl with Shirley Temple and Ronald Reagan I don't care if both of them hated the film, that it consistently shows up on the 10 worse films ever made lists. I love it. It's one of the few films that actually explores what it's like to e adopted. Even with the goofy parts.

'Near Dark' the first film directed by Kathryn Bigelow. The REAL Twilight.

Sid & Nancy, a comic masterpiece and epic tragedy in one. As an ex-punk, this rang completely true to me - and the final scene is a killer.

Barry Lyndon. Kubrick - 'nuff said.

'Madeleine' and 'Hobson's Choice'. Everyone loves Lawrence and Kwai yet David Lean is THE most underrated director ever.

The most underrated Bond film? 'On Her Majesty's Secret Service'

I think Jackie Brown is shockingly underrated. It is like a forgotten Tarantino film. Even From Dusk 'Til Dawn and Natural Born Killers get more publicity and QT did not even direct those movies.

Barry Lyndon's great but long and people always complain about long movies.

Once Upon A Time In America, a victim of the American production company ruining Leone's original cut. All because of its length.

American Gangster is in the same boat, arguably Denzel's best performance as Frank Lucas and incredibly thorough about how he became the Drug Kingpin of Harlem under everybody's noise, no pun intended. It puts all films on the subject to shame and probably the best Ridley Scott movie of this decade yet it did not even get nominated for Best Picture.

Hello,nice post thanks for sharing…. I just joined and I am going to catch up by reading for a while. I hope I can join in soon