Obscure/Lesser Known Movie Recommendations

Don't think there's been a thread for these (apologies if there has been)...

Would be nice to have some recommendations for good/great movies that you know of, which are either old/obscure - or more recent, but have somehow passed underneath the radar.

One obscure one I'd recommend trying to get hold of is this...

The Hospital
A very dark comedy, with an excellent lead performance from George C Scott.

Two more recent low-budget indies I'd recommend are...

Love Liza
A lovely little tragi-comedy starring Philip Seymour Hoffman (and written by his brother), with a great performance from Kathy Bates as well.

Also...

The Good Girl
A very funny small-town comedy featuring an excellent lead performance from Jennifer Aniston as a bored make-up counter supermarket worker. Shows that she really can act. A excellent cast features Jake Gyllenhaal, John C Reilly and Tim Blake Nelson. It also has a really good soundtrack.

The Good Girl is great! It has been a favourite of mine since it came out. I'll have to have a good long think on my own recommends. Hmm...

Dear Frankie comes to mind, if you can get past Gerard Butler being in it. Great soundtrack here too.

Christie Malry's Own Double-Entry. Not great, but good, and with a great score by the mighty Luke Haines.

I'd also recommend the David Mamnet films Heist, State and Maine and The Spanish Prisoner.

Swimming With Sharks starring Kevin Spacey. A young Hollywood executive becomes the assistant to a big time movie producer who is the worst boss imaginable: abusive, abrasive and cruel. But soon things turn around when the young executive kidnaps his boss and visits all the cruelties back on him

Fearless starring Jeff Bridges. After a terrible air disaster, survivor Max Klein emerges a changed person. Unable to connect to his former life or to wife Laura, he feels godlike and invulnerable. When psychologist Bill Perlman is unable to help Max, he has Max meet another survivor, Carla Rodrigo, who is racked with grief and guilt since her baby died in the crash which she and Max survived.

Dead Man's Shoes. Richard returns home from military service to a small town in the Midlands. He has one thing on his mind: revenge.

Good thread Tim. Here are a few gems worth unearthing -

City of Lost Children - one of the few French movies I can stomach and an absolute masterpiece

Romeo is Bleeding - Gary Oldman is a sleazy New York cop. Full of twists and turns and sleaze. Love this movie.

The Getaway - the original 60's Steve McQueen version. Could have been made yesterday, bonkers and brilliant.

Swimming With Sharks is a brilliant little film, shot in something like 18 days, with a first-time writer/director. If you're getting the DVD, try to get the version with the director's commentary (who had to pay himself to be allowed to do one) - he has some very interesting things to say about the nightmare of being of directing with no experience.

White Oleander. It's one of my faves and has a very impressive cast.

I also recommend the Anime classic Space Adventure Cobra and violent but genius Japanese masterpiece Battle Royale (not the second one, that sucks).

Quote: Renegade Carpark @ September 1 2009, 4:44 PM BST

City of Lost Children - one of the few French movies I can stomach and an absolute masterpiece

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Never got round to seeing this. Isn't it by the same guys who made Delicatessen?

La Haine (aka The Hate). Injured by a police inspector during an interrogation, Abdel is at a hospital, almost dead. In the suburbs where he lives, some riots happened during the night, and one policeman lost his gun. One of Abdel's friends, Vinz, finds it. Vinz and his two pals, Said and Hubert, have nothing to do so they try to kill time. Vinz swears that if Abdel dies, he will shoot a policeman...

Quote: Tim Walker @ September 1 2009, 4:45 PM BST

Swimming With Sharks is a brilliant little film, shot in something like 18 days, with a first-time writer/director. If you're getting the DVD, try to get the version with the director's commentary (who had to pay himself to be allowed to do one) - he has some very interesting things to say about the nightmare of being of directing with no experience.

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I'll have to see if mine has the commentary, not sure it does.

Quote: Nil Putters @ September 1 2009, 4:41 PM BST

Dead Man's Shoes. Richard returns home from military service to a small town in the Midlands. He has one thing on his mind: revenge.

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This is also a brilliant film. Paddy Considine is chillingly good in this. Thought this was as good, if not better, than This Is England.

Quote: Tim Walker @ September 1 2009, 4:46 PM BST

Never got round to seeing this. Isn't it by the same guys who made Delicatessen?

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I believe so (too lazy to IMDB it), he also made the very patchy Alien 4. Don't be put off by it's slightly arty Frenchiness, this is a proper good movie, like a nightmarish Disney film.

Quote: Tim Walker @ September 1 2009, 4:48 PM BST

This is also a brilliant film. Paddy Considine is chillingly good in this. Thought this was as good, if not better, than This Is England.

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It's a great film with a nice little twist. Haven't watched This Is England yet.

'Pi' By Darren Aronofsky.

'Cube'

'Following' By Chris Nolan.

Quote: RubyMae - Glamourous Snowdrop at Large @ September 1 2009, 4:46 PM BST

genius Japanese masterpiece Battle Royale (not the second one, that sucks).

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\O/ +1 on Battle Royale, it is super fantastic Japanese craziness. Love it. I hope more people see it so my American Idol / Battle Royale joke gets more laughs.

Quote: Tim Walker @ September 1 2009, 4:48 PM BST

This is also a brilliant film. Paddy Considine is chillingly good in this. Thought this was as good, if not better, than This Is England.

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Better, I think, yeah; though they're both great. Apparently Meadows is making a four part series following on from 'This Is England' with the same cast.