Underrated Movies That Deserve A Second Look

BY BLUE KAUFMAN

With over 2000 movies released each year, it’s no surprise that some films get left in the dust. The sad truth is that while action-packed movies such as Avatar and Transformers continue to dominate movie screens across the world, more and more decent films slip under the radar without receiving the credit or praise they deserve. Here are four films that didn’t get much attention when they were in theaters, yet deserve a second look.

THE GAME

Deeper than Seven and vastly more entertaining then The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, The Game – also directed by David Fincher – unjustly received negative reviews. In the movie, Nicholas Van Orton (Michael Douglas) has convinced himself that he’s content with life because of his generous paychecks. That is until he gets a strange birthday present from his brother, Conrad (Sean Penn). Now his life is all about “the game,” an action event that devours his life. The visuals are incredible, the plot is ingenious and above all, The Game has an underlying quizzical theme that leaves you pondering long after it ends.

FEVER PITCH

The guy loves baseball, but the girl he likes doesn’t. The girl has a busy job that makes him irritated. It might sound petty, but it’s really not. Fever Pitch is one of the least known movies directed by the Farrelly brothers (Dumb And Dumber, There’s Something About Mary), but in reality, it’s one of their best. Drew Barrymore and Jimmy Fallon have great chemistry together and unlike other insubstantial romantic comedies, Fever Pitch is a love story with a twist. It’s undeniably unique, laugh-out-loud funny and will leave you smiling.

CAST AWAY

One can only see so many pitiful movies starring Tom Hanks before reaching their limit. However, somewhere in the mix of The Terminal and The Divinci Code, Cast Away has been unfairly caught in the shuffle. Cast Away, a story about Chuck Noland (Tom Hanks), a Fed Ex Engineer who lives his life on a strict schedule. After a horrendous storm causes his plane to crash into the Pacific, Chuck finds himself stranded on a remote island alone with a handful of packages. He lacks food, water and shelter, yet he survives there for 1500 days and nights. For the duration of this 2 hour and 40 minute film, Hanks is basically the only human on screen and he unwaveringly keeps the audience’s eyes glued to his every move, anxious to see his fate and fight for survival. Any movie that can keep a crowd interested with one character and one location is miraculous feat in itself.

MEMENTO

In Memento, Leonard Shelby (Guy Pearce) wants to get revenge on the person who murdered his wife. There is one minor complication: he has a short-term memory condition that prevents him from remembering anything for more than 10 minutes. He can meet the same person a hundred times and won’t know their name or who they are. To help him recall important events, Leonard tattoos himself to remind him of his goal and what he previously learned. As Leonard draws closer to the killer, he struggles to avoid being manipulated in a world where he can easily become anyone’s pawn.

Memento doesn’t just stop with a great foundation. Actually, what really makes this film superior is its structure. Director Christopher Nolan (The Dark Knight, Inception) tells the story backwards, starting at the end and finishing near the beginning. This is a technique that many believe is just a way of making a simple plot more confusing, but in Memento, it couldn’t be any more ideal. By presenting Memento in reverse order, you can actually get into the mindset of the main character (never having a clear indication of what happened previously). Overall, the entire movie is radical, innovative and completely and utterly brilliant.