Deserving of a broader audience
by JetFred | created - 15 May 2012 | updated - 3 months ago | PublicThese are some assorted movies I think more people should see. Sometimes when I like a movie that is a bit obscure, I am tempted to throw it onto my favorites list just to remind myself how surprisingly good or boldly experimental it was. I have this list as a place to keep some of those when I realize they are noteworthy but still not as personally meaningful as my top tier list. Still, a few of these are by my favorite directors, and a few more are really fantastic filmmaking, not merely better than my low expectations. A couple of these made some decent money, but since some time has passed, not many people know or talk about them.
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1. Delicatessen (1991)
R | 99 min | Comedy, Crime
Post-apocalyptic surrealist black comedy about the landlord of an apartment building who occasionally prepares a delicacy for his odd tenants.
Directors: Marc Caro, Jean-Pierre Jeunet | Stars: Marie-Laure Dougnac, Dominique Pinon, Pascal Benezech, Jean-Claude Dreyfus
Votes: 90,090 | Gross: $1.79M
2. The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc (1999)
R | 148 min | Adventure, Biography, Drama
A young girl receives a vision that drives her to rid France of its oppressors.
Director: Luc Besson | Stars: Milla Jovovich, John Malkovich, Rab Affleck, Stéphane Algoud
Votes: 69,727 | Gross: $14.28M
3. Sunshine (2007)
R | 107 min | Sci-Fi, Thriller
A team of international astronauts is sent on a dangerous mission to reignite the dying Sun with a nuclear fission bomb in 2057.
Director: Danny Boyle | Stars: Cillian Murphy, Rose Byrne, Chris Evans, Cliff Curtis
Votes: 267,659 | Gross: $3.68M
4. Keeping Mum (2005)
R | 99 min | Comedy, Crime
A pastor preoccupied with writing the perfect sermon fails to realize that his wife is having an affair, and his children are up to no good.
Director: Niall Johnson | Stars: Rowan Atkinson, Kristin Scott Thomas, Maggie Smith, Patrick Swayze
Votes: 35,939 | Gross: $1.62M
5. Moon (2009)
R | 97 min | Drama, Mystery, Sci-Fi
Astronaut Sam Bell has a quintessentially personal encounter toward the end of his three-year stint on the Moon, where he, working alongside his computer, GERTY, sends back to Earth parcels of a resource that has helped diminish our planet's power problems.
Director: Duncan Jones | Stars: Sam Rockwell, Kevin Spacey, Dominique McElligott, Rosie Shaw
Votes: 376,858 | Gross: $5.01M
6. Troll Hunter (2010)
PG-13 | 103 min | Drama, Fantasy, Thriller
A group of students investigates a series of mysterious bear killings, but learns that there are much more dangerous things going on. They start to follow a mysterious hunter, learning that he is actually a troll hunter.
Director: André Øvredal | Stars: Otto Jespersen, Robert Stoltenberg, Knut Nærum, Glenn Erland Tosterud
Votes: 79,593 | Gross: $0.25M
7. Sleep Dealer (2008)
PG-13 | 90 min | Drama, Romance, Sci-Fi
The near future. Like tomorrow. In a world marked by closed borders, corporate warriors, and a global computer network, three strangers risk their lives to connect, break through the barriers of technology, and unseal their fates.
Director: Alex Rivera | Stars: Luis Fernando Peña, Leonor Varela, Jacob Vargas, Metztli Adamina
Votes: 6,687 | Gross: $0.08M
8. Nine Queens (2000)
R | 114 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
Two con artists try to swindle a stamp collector by selling him a sheet of counterfeit rare stamps (the "nine queens").
Director: Fabián Bielinsky | Stars: Ricardo Darín, Gastón Pauls, Graciela Tenenbaum, María Mercedes Villagra
Votes: 57,173 | Gross: $1.22M
9. Ink (I) (2009)
Not Rated | 107 min | Action, Drama, Fantasy
A mysterious creature, known as Ink, steals a child's soul in hopes of using it as a bargaining chip to join the Incubi - the group of supernatural beings responsible for creating nightmares.
Director: Jamin Winans | Stars: Christopher Soren Kelly, Quinn Hunchar, Jessica Duffy, Jennifer Batter
Votes: 22,389
10. The Spanish Prisoner (1997)
PG | 110 min | Drama, Mystery, Thriller
An employee who develops a lucrative secret process for his corporation is tempted to betray the company when higher ups attempt to take the process from him. Dastardly intrigue ensues.
Director: David Mamet | Stars: Steve Martin, Ben Gazzara, Campbell Scott, Ricky Jay
Votes: 25,872 | Gross: $10.20M
11. Let the Right One In (2008)
R | 114 min | Drama, Fantasy, Horror
Oskar, an overlooked and bullied boy, finds love and revenge through Eli, a beautiful but peculiar girl.
Director: Tomas Alfredson | Stars: Kåre Hedebrant, Lina Leandersson, Per Ragnar, Henrik Dahl
Votes: 226,882 | Gross: $2.12M
12. Fierce Creatures (1997)
PG-13 | 93 min | Comedy
Zookeepers struggle to deal with the policies of changing directors.
Directors: Robert Young, Fred Schepisi | Stars: John Cleese, Jamie Lee Curtis, Kevin Kline, Michael Palin
Votes: 25,644 | Gross: $9.38M
13. Slaughterhouse-Five (1972)
R | 104 min | Comedy, Drama, Sci-Fi
Billy Pilgrim has mysteriously become unstuck in time. He goes on an uncontrollable trip back and forth from his birth in New York to life on a distant planet and back again to the horrors of the 1945 fire-bombing of Dresden.
Director: George Roy Hill | Stars: Michael Sacks, Ron Leibman, Eugene Roche, Sharon Gans
Votes: 13,917 | Gross: $0.57M
14. eXistenZ (1999)
R | 97 min | Horror, Mystery, Sci-Fi
A game designer on the run from assassins must play her latest virtual reality creation with a marketing trainee to determine if the game has been damaged.
Director: David Cronenberg | Stars: Jude Law, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Ian Holm, Willem Dafoe
Votes: 107,271 | Gross: $2.84M
15. The Million Dollar Hotel (2000)
R | 122 min | Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Tragi-comic, romantic whodunnit set in a run down hotel which plays host to mentally ill people too poor to afford medical insurance.
Director: Wim Wenders | Stars: Jeremy Davies, Milla Jovovich, Mel Gibson, Jimmy Smits
Votes: 22,479 | Gross: $0.05M
16. Cronos (1992)
R | 94 min | Drama, Fantasy, Horror
A mysterious device designed to provide its owner with eternal life resurfaces after four hundred years, leaving a trail of destruction in its path.
Director: Guillermo del Toro | Stars: Federico Luppi, Ron Perlman, Claudio Brook, Margarita Isabel
Votes: 33,147 | Gross: $0.62M
17. The Orphanage (2007)
R | 105 min | Drama, Horror, Mystery
A woman brings her family back to her childhood home, which used to be an orphanage for handicapped children. Before long, her son starts to communicate with an invisible new friend.
Director: J.A. Bayona | Stars: Belén Rueda, Fernando Cayo, Roger Príncep, Mabel Rivera
Votes: 163,678 | Gross: $7.16M
18. The Proposition (2005)
R | 104 min | Crime, Drama, Western
A lawman apprehends a notorious outlaw and gives him nine days to kill his older brother, or else they'll execute his younger brother.
Director: John Hillcoat | Stars: Ray Winstone, Guy Pearce, Emily Watson, Richard Wilson
Votes: 54,996 | Gross: $1.90M
19. In the Loop (2009)
Not Rated | 106 min | Comedy
A political satire about a group of skeptical American and British operatives attempting to prevent a war between two countries.
Director: Armando Iannucci | Stars: Tom Hollander, Peter Capaldi, James Gandolfini, Harry Hadden-Paton
Votes: 61,611 | Gross: $2.38M
20. Death at a Funeral (2007)
R | 90 min | Comedy
Chaos ensues when a man tries to expose a dark secret regarding a recently deceased patriarch of a dysfunctional British family.
Director: Frank Oz | Stars: Matthew Macfadyen, Peter Dinklage, Ewen Bremner, Keeley Hawes
Votes: 121,032 | Gross: $8.58M
21. Being There (1979)
PG | 130 min | Comedy, Drama
After the death of his employer forces him out of the only home he's ever known, a simpleminded, sheltered gardener becomes an unlikely trusted advisor to a powerful tycoon and an insider in Washington politics.
Director: Hal Ashby | Stars: Peter Sellers, Shirley MacLaine, Melvyn Douglas, Jack Warden
Votes: 77,710 | Gross: $30.18M
22. Kill the Irishman (2011)
R | 106 min | Biography, Crime, Drama
The true story of Danny Greene, a tough Irish thug working for mobsters in Cleveland during the 1970's.
Director: Jonathan Hensleigh | Stars: Ray Stevenson, Christopher Walken, Vincent D'Onofrio, Val Kilmer
Votes: 51,375 | Gross: $1.19M
23. Dark City (1998)
R | 100 min | Fantasy, Mystery, Sci-Fi
A man struggles with memories of his past, which include a wife he cannot remember and a nightmarish world no one else ever seems to wake up from.
Director: Alex Proyas | Stars: Rufus Sewell, Kiefer Sutherland, Jennifer Connelly, William Hurt
Votes: 212,412 | Gross: $14.38M
24. Death Watch (1980)
R | 117 min | Drama, Sci-Fi, Thriller
In a future where dying of illness is exceedingly rare, a terminally ill woman becomes a celebrity and a man with camera implants goes to secretly record her for a morbid TV show.
Director: Bertrand Tavernier | Stars: Romy Schneider, Harvey Keitel, Harry Dean Stanton, Thérèse Liotard
Votes: 3,466
25. Forgotten Silver (1995 TV Movie)
53 min | Comedy
The film deals with the career of a supposedly forgotten pioneer of international cinema, Colin McKenzie, who was allegedly born in rural New Zealand in 1888.
Directors: Costa Botes, Peter Jackson | Stars: Peter Jackson, Jeffrey Thomas, Costa Botes, Leonard Maltin
Votes: 6,318 | Gross: $0.03M
26. In Bruges (2008)
R | 107 min | Comedy, Crime, Drama
After a job gone wrong, hitman Ray and his partner await orders from their ruthless boss in Bruges, Belgium, the last place in the world Ray wants to be.
Director: Martin McDonagh | Stars: Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleeson, Ciarán Hinds, Elizabeth Berrington
Votes: 461,784 | Gross: $7.76M
27. Rise of the Footsoldier (2007)
R | 119 min | Action, Biography, Crime
The life of career criminal Carlton Leach.
Director: Julian Gilbey | Stars: Ricci Harnett, Terry Stone, Craig Fairbrass, Roland Manookian
Votes: 21,756
28. Alice in the Cities (1974)
Not Rated | 113 min | Drama
A German journalist is saddled with a nine-year-old girl after encountering her mother at a New York airport.
Director: Wim Wenders | Stars: Yella Rottländer, Rüdiger Vogler, Lisa Kreuzer, Edda Köchl
Votes: 13,287
29. The Straight Story (1999)
G | 112 min | Biography, Drama
An old man makes a long journey by lawnmower to mend his relationship with an ill brother.
Director: David Lynch | Stars: Richard Farnsworth, Sissy Spacek, Jane Galloway Heitz, Joseph A. Carpenter
Votes: 97,548 | Gross: $6.20M
30. Killing Them Softly (2012)
R | 97 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
Jackie Cogan is an enforcer hired to restore order after three dumb guys rob a Mob protected card game, causing the local criminal economy to collapse.
Director: Andrew Dominik | Stars: Brad Pitt, Ray Liotta, Richard Jenkins, Scoot McNairy
Votes: 153,238 | Gross: $15.03M
31. Night Watch (2004)
R | 114 min | Action, Fantasy, Horror
A fantasy-horror set in present-day Moscow where the respective forces that control daytime and nighttime do battle.
Director: Timur Bekmambetov | Stars: Konstantin Khabenskiy, Vladimir Menshov, Mariya Poroshina, Valeriy Zolotukhin
Votes: 55,401 | Gross: $1.49M
32. The Name of the Rose (1986)
R | 130 min | Drama, Mystery, Thriller
An intellectually nonconformist friar investigates a series of mysterious deaths in an isolated abbey.
Director: Jean-Jacques Annaud | Stars: Sean Connery, Christian Slater, Helmut Qualtinger, Elya Baskin
Votes: 117,355 | Gross: $7.15M
33. The Elephant Man (1980)
PG | 124 min | Biography, Drama
A Victorian surgeon rescues a heavily disfigured man who is mistreated while scraping a living as a side-show freak. Behind his monstrous façade, there is revealed a person of kindness, intelligence and sophistication.
Director: David Lynch | Stars: Anthony Hopkins, John Hurt, Anne Bancroft, John Gielgud
Votes: 258,619
34. Black Death (2010)
R | 102 min | Action, Drama, History
Set during the time of the first outbreak of bubonic plague in England, a young monk is given the task of learning the truth about reports of people being brought back to life in a small village.
Director: Christopher Smith | Stars: Eddie Redmayne, Sean Bean, Carice van Houten, Kimberley Nixon
Votes: 51,257 | Gross: $0.02M
35. Code 46 (2003)
R | 93 min | Drama, Romance, Sci-Fi
A futuristic Brief Encounter (1945), this is a love story in which the romance is doomed by genetic incompatibility.
Director: Michael Winterbottom | Stars: Tim Robbins, Samantha Morton, Om Puri, Togo Igawa
Votes: 21,133 | Gross: $0.20M
36. Trance (I) (2013)
R | 101 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
An art auctioneer becomes mixed up with a group of criminals partners with a hypnotherapist in order to recover a lost painting.
Director: Danny Boyle | Stars: James McAvoy, Rosario Dawson, Vincent Cassel, Danny Sapani
Votes: 117,768 | Gross: $2.32M
37. Computer Chess (2013)
Not Rated | 92 min | Comedy
A 1980s-set story centered around a man vs. machine chess tournament.
Director: Andrew Bujalski | Stars: Kriss Schludermann, Tom Fletcher, Wiley Wiggins, Patrick Riester
Votes: 4,851 | Gross: $0.10M
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