10 great movies you might not have seen

1. Brazil (1985)

“This is your receipt for your husband, and this is my receipt for your receipt.”

For starters, this list isn’t trying to be a definitive ranking of greatness. It’s not a top 10 of all time, or even of any particular category. It’s just 10 of my favorite movies that seem to me to be a bit less well known than they should be. I’ve mostly skipped classics and modern hits, but at the same time I can’t promise these will all be particularly obscure for you. I just hope I include one or two you hadn’t thought much of before and might now be willing to give them a try. The only objective cutoff I could think of was box office take so these all made less than $100 million in ticket sales, with one exception. Oh, and I’m ordering them in chronological order because I can’t rank my children.

Anyway. Brazil. This movie is one hell of a mindfuck. You may have skimmed over it on lists of top sci-fi thinker or fancy-pants art films but I promise you it’s worth watching even if you’re not trying to up your geek quotient. It’s a dark, savage laugh in a broken world that dares its audience to keep going even when things swing in utterly unpredictable directions, and it’s incredibly entertaining all the while. Equal parts hilarious and disturbing, you’ll leave feeling like a cat chased a laser pointer around your brain, and you’ll get even more out of it with subsequent viewings. Plus it’s hilarious to watch your friends’ reactions when you show it to them. I’m not surprised it only took in $9.9 million as it’s very much not your usual blockbuster, but if you go in expecting something strange, you’ll leave with a good handle on its dark magic.

2. Twelfth Night (1996)

“Dost thou think, because thou art virtuous, there shall be no more cakes and ale?”

Starring Helena Bonham Carter and Ben Kingsley (as well as Imelda Staunton long before she became Umbridge), it’s positively criminal that this moving only made $588,000. A pretty straightforward telling of Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night, this movie makes the Bard come alive with sheer force of acting. Even if you’re not a Shakespeare buff, this is well worth watching as any gaps in comprehension are easily filled by the physicality of the action. Plus it’s hilarious to boot.

3. Dark City (1998)

“Do you know the way to Shell Beach?”

The Matrix before The Matrix was a thing, Dark City was ahead of its time (by one year, to be precise). Rufus Sewell, Kiefer Sutherland, William Hurt, and Jennifer Connelly tell the tale of a man who wakes up in a seedy motel without any memory of who he is in an ouroborean city smothering in perpetual night. With tense chases, brooding dramatic moments, troubling questions of identity and purpose, understated relationships, and a final confrontation of tremendous spectacle, it’s a shame it only raked in $27.2 million, barely breaking even.

Oh, and pro tip: if you don’t have the director’s cut, mute the movie until Kiefer Sutherland starts to walk. The studio forced in an annoying monologue that does nothing except spoil the reveal. Best to skip it.

4. The Road to El Dorado (2000)

“Miguel, if I believed in fate, I wouldn't be playing with loaded dice.”

Of all the movies on this list, I’d guess this is likely one of the ones you’ve probably already seen, but I’m including it anyway because it tends to be overshadowed by its Disney cousins. An epic bromance and throwback to the old Bob Hope and Bing Crosby “Road” movies, El Dorado mixes gorgeous Mesoamerican-inspired animation with witty dialogue, amazing characters, a story positively Shakespearean in scope, and a soundtrack by Elton John that will stick with you for years, if not decades. Coming in at $76.4 million at the box office, this movie didn’t manage to make back its budget, but that’s ok because it’s streaming on Netflix right this very second.

5. O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000)

“Damn! We’re in a tight spot!”

What would a hipster movie list be without something from the Coen Brothers? I know their stuff isn’t everyone’s cup of tea but trust me: it’s worth giving this movie a shot. Set in the depression-era south, it’s a very loose retelling of the Odyssey, with our hero Ulysses Everett McGill (played with perfect verisimilitude and verbosity by George Clooney) breaking out of a chain gang with Pete (John Turturro) and Delmar O’Donnel (Tim Blake Nelson) at his side almost every step of the way in a hunt for some treasure that’s about to be destroyed by a new dam. The movie that popularized sepia tones (and one of the few to use them correctly), O Brother’s soundtrack is also a master stroke, winding its way through the movie like a dust storm. It made $71.9 million, well exceeding its budget, and it’s well worth your 107 minutes to watch.

6. The Majestic (2001)

“You remember movies but you don't remember your life?”

Another movie about an amnesiac searching for his identity, but this time starring Jim Carrey in an uncommon dramatic turn across from the lovely Laurie Holden. Set in California during the Red Scare, Peter Appleton is a rising star in the movie industry when the suspicion of Communist sympathies settles onto his shoulders and he finds himself effectively blacklisted. Throw in a blow to the head, a case of mistaken identity, and a sleepy seaside town still trying to heal from losing many of its young men to the battlefields of WWII and you’ve got yourself a wonderfully heartwarming story of an unlikely hero growing into himself. It gets a little cloying and didactically patriotic near the end, but who doesn’t love a little naïve optimism from time to time? Well, audiences in 2001, apparently, as the movie only made back $37.3 million, barely half its budget.

7. The Movie Hero (2003)

“Thou movie, which art on screen, hallowed be they name. The time has come. Thou will be shown in theaters as well as home.”

One of the best movies no one’s ever heard of. With the fourth wall placed firmly behind wherever you’re sitting, this is the story of Blake, a struggling actor in Hollywood who just wants to entertain his audience: us. Blake spends the movie talking directly to the camera as he lampshades exposition and titillation, asks advice about what to do about his Love Interest, surveils the Suspicious Character, gets a Sidekick who probably has a better backstory than him, and generally searches for (or has maybe already found?) his purpose in life. A rumination around everything movies are and could be, as well as just a bitingly good comedy, this movie has heart bursting out of every seam. And I can’t even tell you how well or poorly it did at the box office because it tragically yet understandable went straight to DVD. If you love (or even just like) movies, though, you will love this film as well.

8. Big Fish (2003)

“I was never much for being at home, Will. It's too confining. And this, here... being stuck in bed. Dying is the worst thing that ever happened to me.”

Yes, I know, you’ve heard a million stories about sons reconnecting with their estranged fathers, but you’ve never seen it told as well as this. Edward Bloom (played by Albert Finney, as well as Ewan McGregor in flashbacks) is dying of cancer and his son Will has come home for the first time after many years of not even talking over the phone to try to get some kind of closure for them. Edward was a salesman by trade but a colorful storyteller by inclination, constantly ready with tall tales and wild exaggerations for any situation. He told so many fish stories about his life (all portrayed on screen in beautiful technicolor) that Will feels he doesn’t know even the first thing about him.

So that’s the premise. But why should you care, other than that it’s some random internet stranger’s favorite movie of all time? If Ewan McGregor’s turn as a dapper, determined, love-struck wheeler-and-dealer doesn’t appeal to you, how about a plot that can make you both laugh until you cry and cry until you laugh, but the solid kind of crying, the kind that makes you feel more put-together than you were before it? This movie is a rollercoaster ride without the jerkiness and jarring or the falls. It will take you everywhere in the universe but keep you warm the whole way through. It is amazing in every way and I felt the need to include it even though it made $122.9 million. This movie will change the way you think about life.

9. Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow (2004)

“It's only a movie, Mr. Paley. I'll bring you some popcorn.”

And now for something completely different! Sky Captain isn’t going to change your life and it isn’t one of the best movies ever made. Its characters are not particularly innovative, nor does its plot ever rise much above the level of cliché, but *damn* if it isn’t entertaining as all get-out. An art deco, dieselpunk, pulp action-adventure pastiche with trilling air battles, evil giant robots, plucky reporters, suspicious German scientists, a hidden island filled with arcane and bizarre treasures, and the fate of the world at stake, what more could you ask from 106 minutes of CGI action? Shot almost entirely on green screen with some big star power (Jude Law, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Angelina Jolie in a bit part), it’s so disappointing that Sky Captain only made back $58 million of its $70 million budget. It was always going to be a hard sell as pulp adventure wasn’t all that popular back in 2004, but today I really think it’s worth giving it a chance. Again, this is probably the least important movie on this list, but you will have fun watching it. At least, I know *I* always do!

10. The Song of the Sea (2014)

“Are you really a selkie?”

This movie (by the same people who made The Secret of Kells) was nominated for the Oscar in 2015 but I’m not surprised it didn’t win. Making only $841,000 in ticket sales, barely anyone saw it when it was in theaters and that’s honestly a tragedy. The Song of the Sea is the story of two young siblings, Ben and Saoirse, trying to get back to their lighthouse home after what seemed to be an accident compelled their grandmother to abscond with them to the city. The journey quickly takes on a more urgent edge when they learn that Saoirse is actually a Selkie and needs to be reunited with her seal skin in order to save all the fae from a fate worse than death. It is a heartbreakingly beautiful movie on every level: the visual style is breathtaking, the music is haunting and gorgeous, and story is simple but could not be more sublime. The Song of the Sea is especially cutting if you have siblings or enjoy Irish mythology, but you’ll have a beautiful time if you have any heart beating in your chest.

Seriously, see this movie. If you take nothing else from this post, see The Song of the Sea. It is a truly amazing work of art.

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