Nicole's Top 10 Movies Living In Obscurity
Feb 16 '08 (Updated Dec 02 '09)
The Bottom Line a.k.a some that I totally love
Everyone has a handful of movies in their collection that they absolutely love, end of story. It doesn’t matter that your best buddy think it has some of the worst acting ever, your mom thinks it’s the most violent movie she’s seen, or you know for a fact that it has the best special effects $20 could buy. It’s a great movie and you know which aspects about it make it great.
Here are ten movies that live in obscurity for the reasons above, because they were poorly publicized, or they were simply not right for that point in time. Whatever the case, I love these movies, weirdness, flaws, and all.
Note: I’m not sure if some of these actually qualify as cult films, but A.) I know at least a few of them definitely do and B.) This was the best spot for this particular Top 10 list.
1. Mirrormask
This is one of those movies that a person will either love or completely reject. Moreover, you never know who will be a fan. The girl I called at Best Buy had no idea what it was – the guy at the register had the reaction of “Oh Mirrormask, yes! I love this movie” and proceeded to tell his fellow cashier what a great movie it was. I never expected it. Haters of the movie fall into the “Bad special effects!” or “It’s a Labyrinth ripoff!” categories. I believe neither. It’s fantastical, unique, has a sparkling soundtrack, and I love the dialogue and characters. I recommend this movie to anyone and I don’t even care if they were to come up later and state how much they hated it. *shrug* Your loss.
2.) City of God
The reason this movie isn’t so well known is because this wasn’t made in the States. It’s not Hollywood born, it doesn’t have actors you’ll know, and it’s going to be subtitled. Nevertheless, this is a fantastic movie that has the complexity of Crash, makes no apologies for the content or violence, and has a tense, raw feeling to it the whole way through. I was blown away by this movie when I saw it years ago in college, and still love it now. The last time I saw it was the night of my graduation when I found it on IFC. I recall squealing in excitement and immediately plopping down to watch it.
3.) Legend
I know; this movie is corny. It has Tom Cruise in it (and he’s a dork). The special effects need some work. It doesn’t exactly flow the way it should. I could go on about what makes this movie lame, but it’s precisely those things that I love about this movie, right alongside the rest of it. Tell me Tim Curry wasn’t awesome as the Lord of Darkness. Tell me you didn’t take one look at those unicorns and think those 1985 special effects were sweet enough that you wanted unicorns to be real. Tell me you didn’t love the hokey, love/light conquers all ending with the Tangerine Dream music? Yeah, I thought so.
4.) Mortal Kombat
Even though my sister and I have come up with numerous ways this movie could be improved (as well as how the second one could have been infinitely better), when we first bought this movie on VHS years ago, I watched it every day for around two weeks. No joke. I loved it, as ridiculous as it was. It was fun, had some great action, had Mortal Kombat characters using their Back, Back, Low Punch attacks. Mindless amusement of an arcade game brought to life. I still have the VHS tape to this day.
5.) The Game
I remember my reaction to certain movie trailers when I realize I want to see them. This is one of those movies. I remember Michael Douglass freaking out and Sean Penn yelling, “I paid them more to make it stop!” Interesting. While some people find themselves unable to suspend their disbelief for this movie (there are a few plot holes and “I don’t think that could happen” situations), those who decide to let it side will be pleased they did so. Sure, a few things get ludicrous, but it’s still going to keep you on the edge of your seat and get your adrenaline pumping. And I love their choice for the ending credits song, Jefferson Airplane’s “White Rabbit.”
6.) The Outsider
I am the biggest sucker for bad boys who keep their darker sides even as they fall in love with the right woman. That’s exactly what we have here, with extra flavor. Johnny Gault, gunfighter + Rebecca Yoder, Quaker woman. Johnny doesn’t exactly fit in, but Rebecca doesn’t exactly want to kick him out. What? Gunfighting and passion? Sign me up! Tim Daly is suddenly very hot and you’ll be yelling at Rebecca to forget those old extra-religious and judgmental men who want to deny her true love just because Johnny’s different. No tolerance! Losers! Anyway, this is mostly a chick flick set back in Western times, but hey, maybe you’ll get your guy to watch it with you if you tell him there’s some shooting and killing involved. Yay!
7.) Willow
Now this movie definitely has a bit of a cult following. While critics and viewers alike rejected it back in the 80s, all of us that were young enough to appreciate it’s magic have grown up loving it and know Warwick Davis when we see him (*coughHarryPottercough*). People who compare it to The Hobbit don’t know enough about Bilbo Baggins or Willow to make that kind of statement. Here you get laugh-out-loud moments, sword fighting, trolls, a few monsters, a future princess, Brownies that get drunk on booze or fairy love dust, heroism, love, evil sorcery, and more. And yes, we all agree that Madmartigan is indeed the greatest swordsman that ever lived.
8.) The Saint
Apparently Madmartigan was reincarnated into a boy who grew up in London as an orphan and eventually became rather James Bond-like. (yep, more Val Kilmer!) While I don’t rave about this movie with all the passion I have the way I do about Mirrormask and Willow, I do support it and I love it in a mellow, adored way. A quiet love. I like it because it’s unique with its plot and characters, and after years of seeing things take place either in worlds that don’t exist or in America, I found myself awed and excited that the setting was in Moscow. Honestly, before this movie I don’t think I’d ever seen a movie set up in a place like Moscow, or at least nothing I remembered or reacted to. Elisabeth Shue and Kilmer are so sweet together, and the bad guys are more like mobsters than anything else. It’s just different, and that makes it nice and refreshing.
9.) Dave
I first saw this years ago as a freshman in speech class. We watched it because there were speeches. Since then, I’ll still take time to watch it if I see it on TV. I like Kevin Kline, and part of me enjoys this movie so much just because I really, really, really wish we had a president like him. Someone who would go through a ton of budgeting stuff and cut out all the crap we don’t need, someone who would set up a feasible plan of action and start getting it done, and so forth. He’s the president we all wish we had, no matter what party we affiliate ourselves with (if any). Maybe it’s too idyllic, but it’s a pleasant movie to watch, and I think it’s underrated more than it should be.
10.) The Edge
I associate this movie with The Man Who Would Be King because they both have great actors involved and yet failed to do anything fantastic in the box office (at least that I’m aware of), and in time simply faded away. We rented this movie on a whim, and I think Anthony Hopkins is a brilliant actor, so it was a treat to watch him in this film. This isn’t just a group of men getting lost in the wilderness; there’s more going on that we eventually find out. It’s somewhere between plot and character based, because while we have the renegade bear looking for easy snacks, we also have the characters realizing different things about one another. Has some fantastic scenery and music that makes me want to cry.
If you haven’t heard of these movies, check them out. If you’ve seen them, I wouldn’t be surprised if you were nodding your head and grinning like an idiot at some of them. They’re random, they’re obscure, they can be ridiculous, and they may not have broken any records at the box office, but they have their high points, and as long as you enjoy them, Oscars be damned.
NT
Nicole’s Top 10 Top 10 Lists
Top 10 Dumb But Fun Movies
Top 10 Feel Good Romance Movies
Top 10 Die Laughing Movies
Top 10 Love ‘Em / Hate ‘Em Movies
Top 10 Hell Yeah! Movies
Top 10 Fun for Fun Movies
Top 10 Animated Goodness Movies
Top 10 Back Then Movies
Top 10 Movies the Award Goes To...
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Epinions.com ID:
ssjakira1
|
 - Top 500 |
|
Member: Nicole Taft
Location: Blue Springs, MO
Reviews written: 746
Trusted by: 190 members
About Me:
Yes, I'm on a fantasy kick. Get over it. XD
|
|
|
© 1999-2009 Shopping.com, Inc.