Lesser Known But Good Films (Vol.2)

Joe 2013
Starring: Nicolas Cage, Tye Sheridan, Gary Poulter
An ex-con, who is the unlikeliest of role models, meets a 15-year-old boy and is faced with the choice of redemption or ruin.

Cage certainly misses more than he hits, but when he hits - he hits. Compelling, rewarding drama.

Lawless 2012
Starring: Tom Hardy, Shia Laboeuf, Guy Pearce
Set in Depression-era Franklin County, Virginia, a trio of bootlegging brothers are threatened by a new special deputy and other authorities angling for a cut of their profits.

Mid90s 2018
Starring: Sunny Suljic, Katherine Waterston, Lucas Hedges
Follows Stevie, a thirteen-year-old in 1990s-era Los Angeles who spends his summer navigating between his troubled home life and a group of new friends that he meets at a Motor Avenue skate shop.

Out of the Furnace 2013
Starring: Christian Bale, Casey Affleck, Zoe Saldana
When Rodney Baze mysteriously disappears and law enforcement doesn't follow through fast enough, his older brother, Russell, takes matters into his own hands to find justice.

Polytechnique 2009
Starring: Maxime Gaudette, Sebastien Huberdeau, Karine Vanasse
(An early Denis Villeneuve film) A dramatization of the 1989 Montréal Massacre, during which several female engineering students were murdered by an unstable misogynist.

Shallow Grave 1994
Starring: Kerry Fox, Christopher Eccleston, Ewan McGregor
(An early Danny Boyle film) Three friends discover their new flatmate dead but loaded with cash.

Spotlight 2015
Starring: Mark Ruffalo, Michael Keaton, Rachel McAdams, Liev Schreiber
The true story of how the Boston Globe uncovered the massive scandal of child molestation and cover-up within the local Catholic Archdiocese, shaking the entire Catholic Church to its core.

Stoker 2013
Starring: Mia Wasikowska, Nicole Kidman, Matthew Goode
(A classic Park Chan Wook film) After India's father dies, her Uncle Charlie, whom she never knew existed, comes to live with her and her unstable mother. She comes to suspect this mysterious, charming man has ulterior motives and becomes increasingly infatuated with him.

The American 2010
Starring: George Clooney, Paolo Bonacelli, Violante Placido
An assassin hides out in Italy for one last assignment.

I'm a sucker for classy spy/assassin/crime films.

The Florida Project 2017
Starring: Brooklyn Prince, Bria Vinaite, Willem Dafoe
Set over one summer, the film follows precocious six-year-old Moonee as she courts mischief and adventure with her ragtag playmates and bonds with her rebellious but caring mother, all while living in the shadows of Walt Disney World.

The Kings of Summer 2013
Starring: Nick Robinson, Gabriel Basso, Moises Arias
Three teenage friends, in the ultimate act of independence, decide to spend their summer building a house in the woods and living off the land.

The One I Love 2014
Starring: Mark Duplass, Elisabeth Moss, Ted Danson
A troubled couple vacate to a beautiful getaway, but bizarre circumstances further complicate their situation. (mindf*ck)

Spoorloos (The Vanishing) 1988
Starring: Bernard-Pierre Donnadieu, Gene Bervoets, Johanna ter Steege
(This film was remade into a much, much lesser version with Jeff Bridges and Kieffer Sutherland but the original, above, is superior in all ways)
Rex and Saskia, a young couple in love, are on vacation. They stop at a busy service station and Saskia is abducted. After three years and no sign of Saskia, Rex begins receiving letters from the abductor.

Thelma 2017
Starring: Eili Harboe, Kaya Wilkins, Henrik Rafaelsen
A confused religious girl tries to deny her feelings for a female friend who's in love with her. This causes her suppressed subconsciously-controlled psychokinetic powers to reemerge with devastating results.

Uncanny 2015
Starring: Mark Webber, David Clayton Rogers, Lucy Griffiths
The world's first "perfect" Artificial Intelligence begins to exhibit startling and unnerving emergent behavior when a reporter begins a relationship with the scientist who created it.

You Were Never Really Here 2017
Starring: Joaquin Phoenix, Judith Roberts, Ekaterina Samsonov
A traumatized veteran unafraid of violence tracks down missing girls for a living. When a job spins out of control, Joe's nightmares overtake him as a conspiracy is uncovered leading to what could be his death trip or his awakening.