This ain’t no Game! I unabashedly LOVE this movie. It was way ahead of its time and still holds up today. Always TRUST THE FUNGUS! Show some love for the Extremely Underrated Super Mario Bros movie (1993).

William Friedkin: "The knife is just an extension of the arm."

Day 13 of my retrospective journey into underrated films.

William Friedkin's The Hunted (2003) completely rejects Hollywood clichés to deliver a raw, stripped down exercise in survival physics. Audiences completely fumbled this movie because they expected a glossy, predictable chase thriller, but it is actually a cold, uncompromising look at lethal blade mechanics and psychological desolation.

As a dedicated practitioner of knife and stick fighting as well as muay thai and bjj this particular film had me completely locked in. Friedkin brought in Thomas Kier and Rafael Kayanan of Sayoc Kali to orchestrate the combat geometry. They completely threw out standard cinematic flair in favor of authentic Filipino blade tactics, focusing heavily on severe biomechanical targeting and fluid counter cutting tracks. The way they utilize the live blade mechanics to shut down an opponent’s structural posture is pure field realism.

The emotional gravity of the piece hinges entirely on the raw tracking dynamic between Tommy Lee Jones and Benicio del Toro. Del Toro completely submerged himself into the mindset of a broken, highly trained elite military assassin fleeing his own past. To prepare for the shoot, the actors underwent intensive tactical training guided by real martial arts experts to master the Sayoc Kali close quarters blade system. They didn't just learn fake movie fights, they learned how to express pure survival instincts through spatial leverage and functional defensive guards. That dedication pays off in the legendary final knife fight in the wilderness. The movements are clumsy, terrifying, and completely grounded in real combat physics, proving you don't need wire fu or explosions to keep an audience frozen in their seats.

Visually, Friedkin operates with total director discipline. The camera tracking loops through the dense, rain soaked Pacific Northwest forests are tight, claustrophobic, and entirely stripped of Hollywood glare. The film manages to beautifully balance the raw cruelty of a hunt against the unstoppable will of the human spirit, avoiding standard Hollywood cliché. While it was a commercial box office failure, grossing only thirty four million against a fifty five million budget, the absolute realism of the hand to hand choreography cements its pedigree for real film buffs.

One of the finest tactical thrillers ever made, In my humble opinion.

On his first night on the job at a Hollywood hotel, Ted is asked to help a coven of witches, gets involved in a domestic argument, takes care of a gangster's child and referees a ghastly wager.

Dear god rotten tomatoes does not like this film, only 13% lol.

I have lost count of the amount of times I have watched this. I watched it a lot when it 1st came out. Was a mad wee film to watch when high.

I give Four Rooms 70%, feck you rotten tomatoes.

Damon Wayans and David Alan Grier really shine in this one. Really love the creative use of junk to make weapons and other gadgets too. It pairs really well with other similar films like Mystery Men and The Meteor Man. Super underrated!

I watched the movie around 2 years ago and thought it was really good, I’ve just never met anybody who has ever seen it. I also haven’t been able to find much talk about it online. I get that it’s super low budget and the only characters are just Matt Damon and Casey Affleck walking around, but I thought it was really well shot and had some funny moments as well as profound ones.

Wondering if anybody else has seen it and what they think of it.

A beautiful Iranian film. Iranian cinema is often overlooked. But this is one out of many that demonstrates how heartfelt Iranian cinema can be.

I just finished watching "How to Make a Killing" with the man-of-the-year, Glen Powell. I do like him and do like his run on Hollywood. Yet, this mildly entertaining, C+ movie reminded of something more "underrated".

I went back to rewatch Michael Caine in "Shock to the System". It's a film I remember fondly, though I'm not sure how it ages. It's a slow build and features Caine's classic, ever British, pronounced theater style acting of a forgone era. I'm not sure how it will resonate with younger audiences. It's a 1990 film, but the dialogue sounds audibly more like 70s/80s features.

Regardless, if you allow the build up and allow your self to sink, this flick is a dark comedy banger, about hacking your way up the corporate ladder (with amazing one-liners).

Watch it through.

For Michael Caine fans, it's a no-brainer.

If you are too young to know the name, he's Alfred from Nolan's Batman venture.

who here has watched this movie?? you are missing out on it if you haven’t. It was an amazing watch and i was sad to know that not many people around me know about it. 10/10 recommend

"I am a dead man already." … Nikolai Luzhin, Eastern Promises

Despite an Academy Award nomination for its lead performance, David Cronenberg’s Eastern Promises (2007) remains completely overlooked by mainstream audiences. It pulled a mere $56.1 million worldwide against a production budget of $27 million, barely breaking even after global marketing logistics.

The film follows Anna, a dedicated London midwife played beautifully by Naomi Watts, who delivers the baby of a homeless Russian teenager who dies in childbirth. Watts brings a desperate, focused emotional weight to the screen as she is dragged directly into the crosshairs of the Vory V Zakone, the elite and brutal Russian mafia operating in the dark corners of the city, all while trying to decode the girl's diary to find the child's family.

Viggo Mortensen is brilliant as Nikolai, playing the stoic mob enforcer with a stunned, sleepwalking numbness that hides a massive, high stakes secret. The mafia patriarch Semyon, played by Armin Mueller-Stahl, acts as a terrifying corporate anchor, masking a vicious, psychopathic nature behind the warm exterior of a gentle family restaurateur. Even the smaller character dynamics hold massive pedigree; Anna's mother Helen is played with a warm, protective maternal gravity by Sinéad Cusack, grounding the family household as a sharp contrast to the cold violence of the criminal underworld.

The narrative weight of the syndicate is entirely driven by the structural importance of their tattoos. Cronenberg treats the ink on Nikolai's skin not as cheap decoration, but as a mandatory criminal ledger where every marking represents a literal corporate contract, prison sentence, or execution history.

This leads directly into the absolute peak sequence of the entire film: the brutal bathhouse fight. Having trained heavily in BJJ, Muay Thai, and knife and stick myself, I feel that this is one of the most realistic fight sequences ever put on screen. Cronenberg completely avoids flashy Hollywood nonsense and instead highlights the raw, visceral reality of close quarters combat, where slips on wet tile, desperate guard retention, and the clumsy, terrifying mechanics of curved linoleum utility knives create a scenario that is purely brutal and honest to real world violence.

Look at that heavy closing sequence where the baby is about to be drowned and cast straight into the freezing river water. It is a deeply touching and unexpected moment of genuine humanity in a universe that is completely devoid of it. Nikolai tells Kirill "we don't kill babies" and watching the erratic son Kirill break down completely under the torture of having to dispose of an innocent child reveals a massive crack in his volatile tattooed skin. It gives the character a fleeting flash of real soul right before he snaps right back to being a normal, drunk asshole. The sudden emotional shift is staggering. This is as realistic as possible an adventure into the underworld that forces a raw, uncompromising brilliance.

In my humble opinion.

For those who want a much deeper dive into the technical execution, lens setups, and raw physical mechanics of filmmaking without boring the casual feeds, I have opened an expanded permanent archive over at r/PureUncutCinema. See you on the runway. Cheers.

I don’t even know what to say. I just watched this movie and wow.
Rutger Hauer absolutely kills in this role. Figuratively and literally. I’ve never seen a villain as sadistic as him on film before. The way he meticulously sets up the “journey” for Thomas Howells character Jim is just insane. The shit he puts him through this gut wrenching.
The setup is so simple but pays off so well by the end. I really do think this is Rutger’s and Howells greatest performances ever. The ending is so rewarding but I’d like the bring up another thing.
The vibe. So many long shots, so beautifully shot but also the score too. There’s a few scenes that really say a lot without any dialogue. It’s so eery. Generally some insane buildups in the movie. What’s nice is what’s not shown or said. It’d be absolutely lame if there was a backstory for John Ryder or if they showed more of how he planned his attacks. Just phenomenal. You can see how this film influences many pieces of media. I’m surprised I never heard of it before today. It absolutely lives up today.

Long Pigs is a 2007 Canadian comedy-horror mockumentary film about two documentary filmmakers who follow a serial killer who has a taste for cooking with human flesh. The story is conveyed via found footage.

I really enjoyed this one. Good acting, good story and the film is able to throw comedy into a story which is pretty gory, sick and horrific at times considering Its about a guy who kills and cooks people. Even a kid.

It reminded me of Mr In-between, only it's about an active cannibal.

This suspenseful thriller stars Kevin Costner as a retired Navy pilot who falls for the wife of a crime boss who happens to be his friend. It’s directed by Tony Scott right after he did Top Gun and you can feel some familiar cinematography. It also stars Anthony Quinn as the husband and Madeline Stowe as the love interest. They all give a solid performance, making for an interesting and intriguing movie. Usually not among Costner movies to watch since he did Dances with Wolves, Robin Hood, JFK, A Perfect World, Water World and a few other more notable films in the 90s as well.

Easily one of Martin Short’s best performances and a truly underrated gem. Charles Grodin and Mary Steenburgen are at their best as well. Add to the fact that it also fits into that dino-mania era as well. All Clifford wanted was to go Dinosaur World! 😂

>A family opens a mountain inn where their first guest commits suicide. Suddenly all their guests befall horrible fates.

The Quiet Family is a kind of twisted black comedy where every attempt to cover up one disaster creates an even bigger one and so on. Think Korean Shallow Grave meets Fargo.

It's also the directorial debut of Kim Jee-woon who went on to make the infamous "I Saw the Devil" and "A Bitter Sweet Life" which is part of what makes it underrated imo as those two really overshadowed this. Another reason it's underrated imo is the incredible cast (if you've seen Parasite, Memories of Murder or Oldboy you'll recognise some faces).

And honestly I think some viewers just didn't know what to make of it at the time, farcical horror comedy but also part crime thriller.

It's an odd one but well worth a watch.

Residents of a small Australian fishing village become zombies following a meteor shower. Those who managed to avoid the fate of the others must band together in order to find a way out.

A fun zombie flick. Gore is decent.

Had to print the best quote in Bruce Willis career

Another letterboxd find. An Indian indie that pokes at the innocence of childhood. It’s very restrained and lets you bake in its glow of pursuit for happiness.

It’s not so operatic but is visceral in its own way of delivering the feels which is why I believe it remains under the radar. I could draw parallels with many Iranian or European films with child protagonists.

Day 12 of my retrospective journey into underrated films.

"I belong to the warrior in whom the old ways have joined the new." ... Katsumoto

"The perfect blossom is a rare thing. You could spend your life looking for one, and it would not be a wasted life." ... Katsumoto

This is one of those films that should have received far more accolades than it did. It was nominated for four Oscars and walked away with diddly squat. (No insult intended to Jeremy Clarkson or his farm). The standard Hollywood dismissal of The Last Samurai is one of the laziest pieces of film criticism from the 2000s. People love to reduce the movie to a simple white savior meme.

They completely miss the fact that Tom Cruise isn't even playing the title character. Katsumoto, vividly portrayed by Ken Watanabe, is the leader of the last samurai. In fact, if anyone understands the language or the culture, they know the word "Samurai" here is plural, the title is directly talking about Katsumoto and his entire village clan as a tragic collective, not a singular American star. The studio marketers completely dropped the ball on this one by making the posters and advertising campaigns lean heavily into that basic star vehicle narrative, which permanently skewed public perception before anyone even sat in a theater seat. When you strip away that lazy analysis, you find a performance of absolute physical and dramatic commitment that Hollywood completely undervalued.

Cruise spent nearly two years mastering traditional kenjutsu. He gained fifteen pounds of muscle to handle the actual weight of the armor. When you watch the long take choreography, like the rain slicked ambush against the assassins, that isn't clever editing or a stunt double hiding an actor's limitations. It is Cruise executing highly technical, full contact katana work at actual speed. Hiroyuki Sanada is equally brilliant here, with his extensive martial arts and kendo background bringing an intense, terrifyingly precise physical authority to Ujio that makes every single sparring match feel completely dangerous.

His dramatic range here is the real standout. Nathan Algren is a deeply broken, self loathing alcoholic wrecked by PTSD after Wounded Knee. Cruise completely kills his trademark movie star smile. He plays the withdrawal scenes in the village with a raw, unglamorous desperation. He isn't there to save a culture. The samurai do not need saving. He is just a broken man adapting to their rigid lifestyle to save himself from his own internal rot. It remains one of the most punishing and artistically disciplined roles of his career.

And one final point. Am I the only one that thinks Billy Connolly is John Cleese's long lost doppelganger?

This movie is a phenomenal watch. In my humble opinion

For those who want a much deeper dive into the technical execution, lens setups, and raw physical mechanics of filmmaking without boring the casual feeds, I have opened an expanded permanent archive over at r/PureUncutCinema. See you on the runway. Cheers.

An excellent crime-legal thriller, turned chiller. Always felt completely overshadowed by "Fatal Attraction" for Glenn Close and other films in the 90s for Jeff Bridges.

Close got top billing, despite more credits and career to Bridges, thanks to coming off three Oscar nominations for "The World According to Garp", "The Big Chill" and "The Natural" and after this would cement A-list fame with the Michael Douglas classic. And Jeff Bridges had starred in several movies in the 80s and 70s, some larger or more notable than others, the biggest of which prior to this would've been "King Kong" with Jessica Lange and an Oscar nom for "Starman". But both actors would have their biggest box office later in the 90s and 2000s.

The also underrated Peter Coyote ("E.T.") and veteran Robert Loggia (nominated for an Academy Award for his fantastic performance) star too.

Loved the San Fran setting and Close's home and family dynamic moments too.

Watch for the shock opening and ending.

[Publicity still: ©️ 1985 Columbia Pictures Industries, Inc. All Rights Reserved].

The Favor feels underrated in my view because its clever, messy premise about suburban boredom is overshadowed by its studio's bankruptcy, causing people to miss out on a uniquely nostalgic '90s comedy, that lets you watch future superstars like Brad Pitt and Bill Pullman before they completely took over Hollywood.

Day 11 of my retorspective journey into under rated films.

“A plan is just a list of things that don't happen”… Mr. Parker

Decided to drop some serious knowledge for the Saturday night crowd with an absolute crime masterpiece that mainstream critics completely thrashed and fumbled back in 2000. Christopher McQuarrie wrote The Usual Suspects, and for his directorial debut here, he stripped away all the glossy romanticized Hollywood gangster bullshit and gave us a raw cynical and hyper realistic neo noir flick that completely punches the genre right in the nuts.

The story follows two cold professional low life drifters played flawlessly by Benicio del Toro and Ryan Phillippe who kidnap a surrogate mother carrying a baby for a wealthy corrupt businessman. There are zero clean heroes or overblown excursions into morality syndrome here; it is just bad people fighting worse people in a brutal spiral of greed. The chemistry between the leads is completely lethal and deadpan, and James Caan shows up to absolutely dominate his scenes with old school veteran swagger.

What completely separates this film from the lazy crime thrillers of the era is the pristine realism. McQuarrie’s brother was a real world Navy seal, and it shows in every single frame of the choreography. The actors don't do ridiculous flips; they utilize actual military weapon manipulation, realistic cover and concealment tactics, and proper reloading. Fun little piece of trivia: the actors spent months training at the Gunsite Academy, and they used actual live ammunition during practice so they wouldn't look like total nubes holding a weapon on screen. During the filming of the opening confrontation, Ryan Phillippe accidentally punched Silverman in the face for real, knocking her to the floor and leaving a massive bruise. The final shootout in the Mexican fountain courtyard is a masterclass in tension, utilizing spatial awareness and practical squibs instead of lazy digital muzzle flashes that look like crap. It is a gritty unforgiving piece of cinema, perfect for a Saturday night romp.

In my humble opinion.

For those who want a much deeper dive into the technical execution, lens setups, and raw physical mechanics of filmmaking without boring the casual feeds, I have opened an expanded permanent archive over at r/PureUncutCinema. See you on the runway. Cheers.

This is a recommendation.

It follows lonely college freshman who misses home spends one long night walking around campus with his RA, and they just talk. That's basically the whole movie, and it's great. Cooper Raiff wrote, directed and starred in it when he was around 22, and it won the top prize at SXSW.

It feels like a Gen-Z Before Sunrise. If you like small, honest movies about loneliness and connection, watch it.

A Louis Vuitton bag stuffed full of cash and a whole bunch of greedy characters who want to get their hands on it, including fish mongering gangsters, greasy cops, an "innocent" gym cleaner and a scheming prostitute.

Suspenseful, stylish, dark humour and a bit cynical. Well worth a watch imo.

Not entirely dissimilar to early Guy Ritchie, Coen Brothers, Tarantino type ensemble capers.