Diversion: Top 10 Most Underappreciated Films

Busy schedules prevented The Tofu Trio from getting together, and without Jon and Vanessa to keep him in line, Joey forces a self-described filler episode onto his listeners and viewers where he lists his top 10 most underappreciated films. Joey's taste in movies may be questionable, but one thing that's not in question is that he's badly in need of a thesaurus. My God, does he know any adjectives other than "great"? Jon and Vanessa can't return to the show soon enough.

Vegans Talking Shit is hosted by Joey Di Girolamo, Jon Missirlian, and Vanessa Silva. Main podcast image artwork by Diego Orellana. Theme song "Flying" by TrackTribe. Visit @veganstalkingshit on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube and @vegans.talking.sh on TikTok. Send questions, comments, and topic ideas to veganstalkingshit@gmail.com, and you may get your email read during the show.

Transcript

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Hey everybody, welcome to Vegans Talking Shit. I'm Joey, and no John, no Vanessa. I'm doing this solo because uh well schedules can be crazy sometimes, and I always like to have an episode that I can use whenever we can't get around to making one, uh, the three of us together. So this is kind of uh one of those episodes. Uh hopefully we'll have John and Vanessa back next week. And uh yeah, so this week we're gonna do something a little bit different. Uh I am, oh, by the way, excuse this bizarre setup. I know that my background is terrible. Actually, that would imply that there is a background. Uh so yeah, there isn't even a background. You're gonna probably hear my dog Khaleesi snoring. Uh, but yes, uh, yeah, this is all kind of weird, but um, this isn't a typical solo episode where I just say whatever's on my mind. Um, instead, I decided to actually have a topic, but it's a diversion of sorts. Uh, it's going to be my, and this is my list, uh, my top 10, yeah, top 10 most underappreciated films. And the criteria is basically it has to be a movie that's somewhat well known. You know, I didn't want to get obscure uh and get into like independent films or foreign films. I wanted to get into films that most people have heard of, maybe, or at least they kind of may have heard something about it. Uh, I also wanted it to be a somewhat recent movie. Um, none of the movies on this list are more than 30 years old. Uh now, I mean, I guess it's all relative. Uh my uh my nephew, my little nephew, um will think that anything that's you know from 1990 is ancient. Uh, but yeah, that's uh yeah, I think the oldest movie on this list is from 1998. So yeah, let's let's do this. Number 10, Interstellar. I know that everyone is like, okay, that's not an underappreciated movie. I disagree. I think it is an underappreciated movie. This is not an unappreciated movie list, it's an under-appreciated movie list. And I do think that this movie is appreciated, but my god, Interstellar, yes, it's it was a successful movie, um, and people still talk about it, but I think that despite that, it's nowhere near the level of appreciation that it should be. I mean, this this movie uh directed by Christopher Nolan, and uh he got together with astrophysicist Kip Thorne to come up with the science. And this movie, I mean, the way we envision wormholes and black holes has completely changed because of this movie. It accurately uh showed us what a black hole looks like, and when a photograph was actually taken uh of a black hole through, I forgot the way it was like all these telescopes from around the world, they work together to to take a picture of a black hole. Um, and yeah, this movie had it right. Uh it was uh like I remember Star Trek Deep Space Nine. I love Star Trek Deep Space Nine. Um out of all the Star Trek, that one's my favorite. I think it was way ahead of its time, and it just to this day, I mean, it's an incredible, incredible TV series. Um, but the wormhole shown in Star Trek Deep Space Nine is is like a whirlpool in space. And yeah, now you look at that and it's like what are they thinking? Interstellar changed that. Interstellar, just a great, great movie. Fine. I know it's it's it's appreciated, but I still say it's underappreciated. So yeah, this is number 10. This is number nine, the 2010 remake of I Spit on Your Grave. Now, this I don't think it's an obscure movie. I mean, I grew up on horror movies, uh, revenge movies, uh cult films. In the 80s, I mean, it was a it was a messed up time as far as uh slasher films and horror and gore and all that. Um, I remember seeing uh you know, going to the video store and renting the 1978 version of I Spit on Your Grave. Um it it at the time it was like, oh my god, they're actually showing a guy getting his dick cut off. You know, that was like the thing. It was like this horrific moment in the movie. Uh, it was directed by uh Mir Zaki, I believe. Uh it starred um Camille Keaton, who I believe was a distant cousin of uh silent film legend uh Buster Keaton. But this is the 2010 remake, which I think is much better than the original. The original is good, but it's very, very low budget, and there isn't much to it. Whereas this 2010 remake, it's it's a horrific story. Like if you the first like half an hour, 45 minutes, gut-wrenching because you're seeing this woman, you know, an innocent woman uh who is raped, assaulted, beaten, left for dead. But oh man, her revenge is so sweet. Like John Wick would have a lot of respect for this woman because her kills are not just kills. Like she kills in a very creative way, um, based on that person and what that person did to her. I just think this is a very creatively done remake, uh, well written. Uh, the woman who plays uh the main character, uh, her name is Sarah Butler. Um this movie was directed by Steven Monroe, who I don't think has really done much since this movie came out, but I think this is a great movie. If you like horror movies, um actually this is more revenge, just like revenge/slash horror. Oh man, great. This is great, but it is hard to stomach the first uh half hour, 45 minutes. Number eight, Gone Baby Gone. This is Ben Affleck's directorial debut. When this movie came out, Ben Affleck was kind of a joke, no one really took him seriously anymore. Um, he was doing really he was making well, he was acting in really bad movies. Uh just one flop after another. He was a laughing stock because of Geely. Um and he went on to direct this movie. It's a great movie, super dark, very like there are certain moments where it's like you feel like you need to take a shower after because it's just grimy stuff. Um, but yeah, this movie is based on the book by uh Dennis Lahane. Um, he has a series of books, uh, the the Patrick Kenzie uh Angie Gennaro books. It's a series of books, and this is the fourth book. Um, but you don't have to have read any of the previous books. I actually did read the series of books. Um, but yeah, this is a great movie. Um a great cast. I mean, Casey Effleck, Michelle Monaghan, uh Morgan Freeman, Ed Harris, Titus Wulliver, uh a whole bunch of people. Oh, um uh recent Oscar winner Amy Madigan, who played Aunt Gladys in uh Weapons. She has a small role. Um, and uh Eddie Catheggi, he was Mr. Terrific in Superman. Uh anyway, yeah, great movie. Uh Ben Affleck went on to direct uh The Town, another great movie. And then after that, he directed Argo, um, which went on to win the Oscar for Best Picture. So he's a hell of a director. You can say what you want about Ben Affleck as an actor. I actually think he is a good actor, but I think he's a great director. And uh the most recent uh movie he directed, I believe, was Air. Was it Air? It was the one about the Michael Jordan Nike shoe deal. Yeah, great, another great movie. But this is my favorite. This is my favorite Ben Affleck movie. Just gone, baby, gone. The ending is is people have debated the ending. Uh I don't want to give any spoilers, but I will only say that I am on the side of Michelle Monaghan's character, Angie Gennaro. That's all I'll say. Number seven. This is a Spike Lee movie called Bamboozled. Just for those of you watching on YouTube, I'm holding up the cover. Uh, just looking at the cover of this uh Criterion Collection DVD, you can actually, this is a Blu-ray. Excuse me, it's a Blu-ray. Is it Blu ray or is it 4K? Well, it's a Blu-ray. Um uh yeah, this is wow. I mean, I love Spike Lee's movies, especially his earlier movies. Um, she's gotta have it, school days, uh Do the Right Thing, of course. Um, Crooklin, um, yeah, just one great movie after another. Jesus, uh Jungle Fever, Malcolm X. But I think this is his most underappreciated movie by far. It's it's definitely more powerful, and you know what? It's a close call. Uh Do the Right Thing, very powerful movie, very incendiary movie, and Bamboozled may actually be even more powerful and incendiary. But I mean, just look at this cover. You have these two men in blackface. Um, Spike Lee. Wow. Uh this is this is a tough movie to watch, even though it's a comedy, because Spike Lee, uh, he's a funny guy. You know, uh, he's got a lot to say, clearly, but he usually does it with some kind of uh, you know, like an edgy humor. And I I'm not a big fan of Damon Wayans in this movie. He's actually the male lead. I I I think his he's he plays more of a caricature than a character. Um for me, dancer and Tony Award-winning cinematographer cinematographer Jesus, uh, choreographer, Tony Award-winning choreographer, Sevian Glover, uh, just steals this movie. He's he plays a heartbreaking character. Just um, I don't know if he's done a lot of acting. He's known primarily as a dancer and choreographer, but just a heartbreaking character. Um, Michael Rappaport's also in the movie. He basically plays Michael Rappaport. Um, but yeah, great movie, just hard to watch at times, gut-wrenching at times, um, but deep and powerful. Check it out. Bamboozled. Spike Lee film. Er, Spike Lee Joint. Number six, Let Me In. Let Me In is uh written and directed by Matt Reeves, who would go on to direct uh The Batman, the one with uh Robert Pattinson. I I love the Batman. Uh I mean there's okay, I was about to say there's never been a bad Batman movie, but Batman Forever and Batman and Robin are abominations. Um but anyway, uh Let Me In. Uh great movie. It came out around the time of the Twilight movies, so I'm not sure this. I feel like this one got buried in that whole Twilight thing. Uh definitely not a fan of the Twilight movies or books. Um but yeah, Let Me In. It's a vampire movie. It's about this uh very um very introverted uh kid who befriends a girl. Uh, and that girl turns out to be a vampire. Cast includes Cody Smith McPhee, Chloe Grace Moretz, Richard Jenkins, uh Elias Koteas. Um this is uh an American remake of a Swedish film. And uh what was a Swedish film? Uh Let the Right One In. Yeah, Let the Right One In. Uh I saw the Swedish film. I actually read the book that this is based on, and I would say that the American remake is actually truer to the book, strangely, but yeah, this is a great movie. Um very good performance, especially by Chloe Grace Moretz. She's so good. Um it's it's a sad movie, but it's also a very satisfying movie. It's it's I I think it would categorically be called horror, but I don't think it's that scary. Does have some scary moments, I guess, but I I wouldn't say it's a scary movie. I just think it's kind of a sweet, but just a very dark, dark movie, which shouldn't shock you if you've seen The Batman. But yeah, good stuff. I love this movie. I just wish more people knew about it and um loved it as much as it deserves to be loved. And now number five, Pleasantville. Pleasantville, I did not expect to like this movie as much as I did. Uh when it came out, I kind of thought it looked silly. You know, 1990s teenagers are somehow transported into a black and white 1950s sitcom, and they kind of change the outlook there, and the black and white world turns into color. But my god, the movie is so much deeper than that. This is a very poignant movie, um, has a pretty impressive cast, though at the time they weren't very well known. Toby Maguire, Reese Witherspoon, Paul Walker. Like these were not people who were household names at that point. But uh, yeah, this was before Toby Maguire did Spider-Man and before Reese Witherspoon did Legally Blonde. Uh, but yeah, this is a really good movie. Uh a lot, there's a lot to say about racism and how uh you know the idealistic 1950s were perhaps not that idealistic in the way that sitcoms uh made that era uh appear to be. Um yeah, uh there are a lot of uh allusions to To Kill a Mockingbird in this movie. Um brilliantly done, uh, written and directed by Gary Ross, who would go on to direct the Hunger Games. Um just great movie. Love this movie, and yeah, highly, highly recommend this movie. This is an incredible movie. And now we get to number four, Bumblebee. Um, I am not a fan of the Transformers movies. I thought the first one was pretty good, the second one was awful, and I just refuse to watch any after that. The second one was so bad. The first one was okay. Um, but I decided to see Bumblebee just because it looked cute, you know, and uh I'm a fan of the director, Travis Knight. He's the son of Nike uh co-founder and CEO uh Phil Knight. Um, so yeah, a bit of a nepotism, well, not really nepotism, you know, shoemaker and uh director, but uh anyway, uh the son, uh Travis Knight. He is out, he's the CEO of uh Leica Entertainment. Uh that's the studio they made Paranorman, Coraline, Kubo and the Two Strings, um, the Box Trolls. So uh yeah, Travis Knight is the founder of that studio. So he's got some talent. He's good, definitely a creative guy, and as a director, I this this is a movie that should not have been as good as it actually is. Really good, a great performance by um uh Haley Steinfeld, who blew everyone away. And uh uh why am I not remembering the name? Sinners. Jesus. Uh yeah, the Ryan Kugler film Sinners. Um, yeah. Haley Steinfeld's great in this movie and just a very entertaining, family-friendly. I mean, I'm not usually into family like family movies. If you notice, most of the movies on my list are pretty dark. Um, but this is just, you know, it got me. And I think it's really, really good. It's a cute movie. It's one to watch with the kids if you have kids. If you don't have kids, it's still pretty damn good. I like it. It's just didn't do well in the box office. I think everyone expected Transformers numbers. It wasn't anywhere close to that. But critics and fans did like it, the ones who saw it. And yeah, it's just underappreciated if you ask me. Check it out, Bumblebee. Alright, we are now in the top three, and number three is Dread. Dread is a really, really, really good movie. I think that it flopped because most people thought it was going to be like the 1995 uh movie Judge Dread, uh, which starred Sylvester Stallone and the unfunny Rob Schneider. Um, yeah, that was a terrible movie, and it really had nothing to do with the comic book. Dread, the one that came out in 2012, was very true to the comic book. And the performance by Carl Urban as Judge Dredd is pitch perfect. Um his sidekick in the movie is uh I forgot her name, don't remember the name of the character, but the actress's name is Olivia Thoroughby. Um yeah, when this movie came out, it came out a short time after uh the movie The Raid, which has a similar plot. Just if you don't know The Raid, it's uh I believe it's an Indonesian film. Uh it's like a it's a it's like a police movie, like it's a it's a police story, but there's a lot of martial arts. Uh it's like a I think it was Indonesian. Anyway, the raid is a great movie. Um, but the script written by Alex Garland, who great writer, director. Um, he wrote and directed Ex Machina, um, Civil War, Annihilation. He's a great writer um and director. But this was um directed by uh Pete Travis, I believe. But anyway, yeah, um, written by Alex Garland, who wrote the script before um the raid was written. So even though the raid came out first, the script for Dread was written first, and people still think that Dread is a ripoff of the raid, but it's not. Um I'm not saying that the raid is a ripoff of Dread. I think it's just a coincidence, kind of like Deep Impact and Armageddon, you know. Um, what was that one with the volcanoes? Volcano and Dante's Peak. Yeah, just that shit kind of just happens. So Dread is a very, very good co I think it's the only comic book movie on my in my top 10. Yeah, I think so. Hmm. Okay, so yeah, a comic book movie managed to make it. Uh so yeah, check out Dread. Um, when I saw it theatrically, I saw it in 3D, and it was incredible in 3D. The drug that um the the drug used in the movie is called Slow Mo. And so when the cam when the when the film takes the perspective of the person who is high on the slow-mo, it looks very cool, but especially in 3D. Um, so this is a Blu-ray 3D disc. I don't actually have a Blu-ray 3D player anymore. I have the 4K player, and 4K for some reason, they don't have 3D options, but what a shame. Anyway, yeah, Dread is a great movie. I love it, highly recommend it. And yeah, just ignore the Sylvester Stallone movie from 1995. That's a piece of shit. This is the one to watch. So, number two, Jennifer's Body. I really wish this movie had more respect. Um, it deserves so much more respect. Uh, it was written by Diablo Cody. Uh, it came out shortly after Diablo Cody won the uh Oscar for best original screenplay for Juno. I think you know, Juno was one of those movies that was popular when it came out, but then after some time, people for whatever reason started hating on it. So when Jennifer's Body came out, you know, there was that going on, and also Megan Fox, people weren't taking her seriously. Um, and also this movie was billed as just a slasher film. It is so much more than that. Jennifer's Body is probably well, I mean, it's on my list as being one of the most underappreciated movies uh, you know, of the last 30 years. But um, yeah, I think this one is truly unappreciated. This movie is a very, very deep movie. It's got a lot to say about the patriarchy and uh high school social dynamics, and um I just think it's a very good, very entertaining, very deep movie, and it's got some pretty scary moments. Uh, it's directed by um Karen Kusama. Karen, yeah, I think it's Karen Kusama. Um she, I mean, I kind of feel sorry for her. Her debut, her directorial debut was Girl Fight, uh, starring Michelle Rodriguez, and it was critically acclaimed, people loved it. Then her second movie was Aeon Flux, based on the old uh cartoon on MTV, uh Liquid Television. That did not do well. Everyone kind of was disappointed by it. I certainly was disappointed by it. I had very high expectations. And then Karen Kusana's third movie was Jennifer's Body, which was also a big flop critically panned. I think the time has been good to this movie. I think that if it had come out after the Me Too movement, it would have gotten more love. And I do think that people now realize that this movie is a lot more than what they originally thought it was. And I think Diablo Cody's working on a sequel. I'm not sure I want that. I think that the ending is kind of perfect. I mean, it ends in a way so that there could be the further adventures of kind of thing, but I just think this is a great movie. Jennifer's Body, just great, great movie. Megan Fox, uh, I I don't think anyone's gonna say that she's an Oscar-winning actress type of person, but she was really good in this movie and perfectly cast. Uh Amanda Sefried's also great. They're great together, great chemistry. I love this movie. I want you to watch it. You're gonna love it. Jennifer's Body. Give it some love. This is a great movie. And finally, the moment you've all been waiting for. Drumroll, please. Yeah, I'm no drum roll. My number one pick for the most underappreciated movie is The Secret Life of Walter Middy. Now, like I said earlier, most of my movies on this list are all pretty dark. I happen to prefer movies that are a little on the dark side. Uh The Secret Life of Walter Middy is not dark. It is an extremely uplifting movie. Um, it's directed by Ben Stiller, who also stars in the movie. It's based on the short story by James Thurber. Um, I read the short story, I actually saw the 1947 film starring Danny Kay. I didn't really like the the book, or I'm sorry, the movie. Um, the short story was pretty good, but what Ben Stiller did. Um, and and this is interesting because I think it was promoted as like this comedy. Uh it's you know, they have those scenes where Walter Middy is having these fantastical uh uh little things going on in his head. It's it's like the little secret life he's living to make himself feel better about his own life. And it's got a pretty comedy-heavy cast. I mean, Ben Stiller, Kristen Wig, um Adam Scott, Katherine Hahn. Um, it's it's all like people known for comedies. And I think this being promoted as a comedy, people thought that it would be just, you know, something like uh there's something about Mary. It is definitely not that. This is a much more serious movie. Um, it does have funny moments, I mean, really funny moments, but it's it's mostly just a very, very deep movie as far as like um well, you know what? I don't want to say that it's uh it's motivational, but it kind of is. It kinda is. I mean, if you're the kind of person who you know kind of wishes you were more adventurous, maybe this will be the perfect uh movie for you. My dog is really loud right now.

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Oh my god.

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Khaleesi, I'm using this new microphone and I feel like it's picking up every sound she's making. Oh my god. Ugh, this dog. I love her though. She's so cute. Khaleesi. You're a good girl. Yeah. Okay, anyway, yeah, The Secret Life of Walter Middy. It is pro Yeah, it is probably the most uh I mean, even just objectively, I feel like it's the most underappreciated movie because this movie it wasn't a huge hit. Critics didn't exactly love it, um, but it's it's a really, really grandiose and just very, very good movie. Highly, highly, highly recommend it. And if I'm being honest, um this movie and Jennifer's body are kind of like interchangeable as far as which can be number one, which can be number two. Um, yeah. I would say you can't go wrong with these two. These two are great movies, highly underappreciated movies, but honestly, everything on my list, um, I think they are all deserving of more love, more appreciation, and more respect. But yeah. For now, my number one is The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, directed by Ben Stiller. Strong, strong love for this movie. Yeah. So there you go. So that's it. That's it. That's all this episode is. Sorry to disappoint you if you wanted something vegan-ish. Uh we need Vanessa for that because I'm more likely to go into tangents about movies and comic books. So I figured, why fake it? You know, just get into the movies. And I was thinking about doing a list like this to post on Facebook or something, but then I figured, you know, I need a filler episode for when John and Vanessa can't uh take part or when I'm too busy, you know. It happens, sure. Uh so yeah, uh, I urge all of you to check us out on social media. Um, we're on Facebook, we're on Instagram, TikTok, YouTube. Just search for vegans talking shit. Um, you can email us at veganstalking shit at gmail.com. Uh, we do have our Shopify store. I will leave it uh in the episode description. And yeah, that's it. Next week we'll have John and Vanessa, so it'll be the tofu trio back together again. So yeah. Okay. I I I I don't know what else to say. Yeah. Okay. This is why you shouldn't be doing this shit alone. That is all. Bye, everyone.