movies

Rampage, it's such a good popcorn flick. It's so over the top that I wouldn't blame you for writing it off without watching it, but give it a chance, it's ultimate action silliness.

Cabin in the woods, its a top 2 horror satire, but you may have heard of that one

Tucker and Dale vs evil, maybe watch this one before cabin in the woods, it's the best horror satire.

Galaxy quest, easily the best star trek movie ever made, one of the top 5 movies ever made.

I'm not sure how many of these are hidden gems, it depends on your viewing habits (not many people would consider horror to contain much good cinema)

Rubber.

Jacob’s Ladder.

A largely forgotten psychological horror film from 1990 with Tim Robbins and Macaulay Culkin.

Saw it on TV once by chance and loved it ever since.

I’d say it’s must-watch for being influential despite its moderate success and being incredibly gripping as you try to get your head around what’s actually going on.

The Nice Guys

Upgrade (Cyberpunk movie from Australia)

Repo: A Genetic Opera

These are some of my favourite, in no particular order:
The Phantasm series
Dale and Tucker Fight Evil
Cabin in the woods
Snowpiercer
Equilibrium
A bitter sweet life
The man from nowhere
I saw the Devil (you may not want to watch this one)
Train to Busan (1 and 2)
Lady Vengence/Sympathy for Lady vengence
Sympathy for Mr Vengence
OldBoy (the Korean version - you may also not want to watch this)
Wrath of man
The Family (DeNiro and Pheiffer)
Keeping up with the Joneses
Gran Torino
Boondock Saints
Layer Cake
RocknRolla
Operation Fortune
Lucky Number Slevin
A man called Otto
Stand up guys
King of New York
The Dead Zone
7 Psychopaths
Biloxi Blues
In Bruges
The Matador
From Paris with love

A decent number of folks have still never seen "Primer", since it was kind of an indie classic before it got a cult following.

It's a a must watch because:

A. It's just really well made. B. It's delightfully mind bending.

Known to horror aficionados, but not to general movie watchers: Lake Mungo (2008)

I highly recommend you don't read up on it. Besides the fact that the film just works so much better when you come to it fresh, most reviews - both in print and YouTube videos - spoil pivotal scenes, including in the artwork they choose to use as a thumbnail/heading. Just watch it. Even if the horror doesn't work for you (many people report being bored by the film), it's still a great film with surprising depth and heart. It's worth checking off your list for sure.

The basics: It's a mockumentary set in Australia, made by a director/writer who hasn't done anything before or since, featuring actors who probably aren't known to you, even if you're an Aussie. Much of the dialogue is improvised, so it feels very real and natural.

Try to watch it alone, in the dark, with no distractions (turn off your phone). This will help maximise your chances of being one of the lucky people the film has managed to scare in a profound way. I'm one of those lucky people, I'm happy to say!

Flight of the Navigator

Tomorrowland

Perfume: Story of a Murderer

Cashback I feel is pretty unknown. Maybe not but still very good. Also Gentleman Broncos is fantastic if you’re into the napoleon dynamite style of comedy, same creators.

Pecker 1998

A talented young photographer, who enjoys snapping photos of his satirical, perverted Baltimore neighborhood and his wacky family, gets dragged into a world of pretentious artists from New York City and finds newfound fame.

Written and directed by John Waters.

Starring Edward Furlong, Christina Ricci and Bess Armstrong.

The Man from Earth

It's a small budget indie movie, and if you don't like people talking and prefer action, then maybe this isn't for you. Buut, for me, it was a great movie. It only uses one set, a room or two, for the entire movie. And it's still great.

Huh, I need ti actually rewatch I've been suggesting it so much lol

Edit "Timecrimes" was a good one imo as well iirc https://m.imdb.com/title/tt0480669/

My favorite: Stranger than Fiction

Also, Fandango, Passengers, Life or Something Like it, Birdy, Home Office

Some can be hard to find.

Wong Kar-Wai’s films, particularly his 90s Hong Kong vibes of Chungking Express and its spiritual counterpart Fallen Angels.

The Slammin Salmon. Same group that did super troopers and beerfest. Great comedy, I don't see people ever talk about it. Enjoy!

I think no one has mentioned "the man from earth", it is a great movie that got a lot of success thanks to piracy, enough that it allowed it to even get a sequel (I haven't watched it it seems to be far less recommended).

I recommend to just watch it without looking too much at the theme or plot. I'll just say that it's a movie with a lot of conversations and basically no action at all. You could compare it in that sense to the classic "12 angry men", not in plot or theme, but style, mostly something that happens between a small cast of actors through dialogue.

Edit: and just a few minutes before me someone did actually share it...

Gummo https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119237/?ref_=ext_shr_lnk

I’m always surprised at how few people have seen “Oh brother where art thou”

Also manborg

Iceman is a 2017 German-Italian-Austrian adventure drama film written and directed by Felix Randau. It is a fictional story about the life of Ötzi, a natural mummy of a man discovered on 19 September 1991 in the Ötzal Alps.

The film, which was filmed in the Tyrolean and Bavarian Alps features almost no dialogue, with a minimal amount in untranslated language based on reconstructed Rhaetian, created for the film by a linguist.

Pontypool, a Canadian indie film with a unique take on zombies

Smoke 'Em If You Got 'Em

Smoke 'Em If You Got 'Em is a 1988 Australian short feature about an underground party held in post-apocalyptic Melbourne. The film is a product of nuclear anxiety at the height of the Cold War.

Director: Ray Boseley. Cast: Rob Howard, Nique Needles, Polly Croke, Daniel Lillford, Fred Dugina, Maddog Bott, George Huxley, Chris Windmill, Ian 'Quinsy' Maclean, Lindsay Brundson, Clayton Jacobson, Adam Learner, Myrtle Woods, Bill Johnston, Smiley Rowe, John F. Howard, Claire Bordas, John Flaus, Wayne ullman, Dennis Tupicoff, Peter Lane, Wain Fimo, Bruce Barnes, Angus Algie, Loretta Bell, Grant Barling, Claire Boseley, Julian Faull, Zlatko Kasumovic, Anthony Kay, Ollie Martin, Penny McKimm, Dennis Prosser, Adrian Scully, Aleksi Vellis.

Oh goodness, too many to count: Boy Kills World, I Saw The TV Glow, American Fiction, Kalki 2898-AD, Leave The World Behind, Dirty Girls, and I didn't love it but I think The Beast/La Bete is worth watching as well for its stunningly accurate depiction of what it's like to be lonely while in love and how that affects both men and women over time.

It depends on what "lesser-known" is to you, as we don't know how avid a movie watcher you are. But assuming you mean films that aren't necessarily obscure but aren't too mainstream, I'd suggest:

• Wind River

• The Handmaiden (Korean)

• Incendies

• Blue Ruin

Do you have a favorite genre?

Here are a few movies from my Jellyfin server that I loved and that seem less popular:

• Blow the Man Down
• The Holdovers
• Jojo Rabbit
  • This movie made me shriek at points. Like, not because I was scared, but just from... I dunno, delighted outrage?
• Me and You and Everyone We Know
  • ))<>((
  • If you haven't seen the movie, don't look this up.

Dersu Uzala (1080p, Eng subtitles)

Based on the work of the scientist and writer, famous traveler and explorer of the Far East V. Arseniev. The story of his friendship with the guide Dersu Uzala with extraordinary personal qualities. Their journey through the taiga-forest, full of dangerous adventures, is the plot of the film, but the meaning of the story goes far beyond the plot: it's a story about the brotherhood of people, that we are all children of the same land.

Year of production: 1975

Directed by: Akira Kurosawa
Screenwriters: Yuri Nagibin, Akira Kurosawa
Composer: Schwartz Isaac
Cinematographers: Gantman Yuri, Dobronravov Fedor, Nakai Asakazu
Production Designer: Raksha Yuri
Cast: Yuri Solomin, Alexander Pyatkov, Maxim Munzuk, Vladimir Kremena, Svetlana Danilchenko, Suymenkul Chokmorov, Mikhail Bychkov, Dima Korshikov, Nikolay Volkov, Igor Sykhra, Janis Yakobson, Alexander Baranov

Prizes and awards:
1975 - FIPRESCI Prize at the IX IFF in Moscow
1975 - gold prize at the IX IFF in Moscow
1976 - "Oscar" by the American Film Academy in Los Angeles (USA) for the best foreign film
1976 - diploma of the II degree "for achieving the best results in the artistic, visual and technical solution of the film" at the I All-Union competition for the best use of domestic negative color films when shooting feature films
1976 - participation diploma at the XIV New York International Film Festival (USA)
1977 - Special Prize of the National Association of Screenwriters of Spain, for the best foreign film shown in the country
1977 - diploma of participation at the IFF in Brussels (Belgium)
1977 - honorary award to producer Krichevsky Georges (posthumously) at the IFF in Brussels (Belgium)
1978 - M. Munzuku French critics' award "for the best acting work"
1976 - diploma of participation at the IFF in Vienna (Austria)
1977 - International Cinema Prize "David di Donatello" (Italy) for the best foreign film shown in Italy

Wake in Fright.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0067541/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1

An Aussie movie from the 70's that was thought lost until a print was discovered and a restored version was released.

I'm not going to spoil it, it's well worth a look but there are scenes of a real-life kangaroo hunt which might put some people off.

I few are talking about lesser-known movies then

Gloria Bell

The movie is a remake of a 2013 film and is directed by the same guy who made the original.

It's about a middle-aged woman living in LA (or it New York? Idrc) and dating.

The reason it's one of my fav movies of all time is that Julianne Moore gives a performance that is so human that you can see yourself and everyone else and all our normal human experiences in just one woman who is living her life and dating, it's a beautiful experience.