Underrated Movies Need Love Too

Ricky and Brandon defend the films despised by audiences and critics alike. Nobody is talking about these movies anymore, so they will!

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:19

Hello, hello, and welcome to another episode of a moat film podcast. We are the lovers of the low-rated, the uplifters of the underdogs, the supporters of supposed subpar. My name is Brandon, and with me as always is Ricky. Ricky, how are you today?

SPEAKER_01 0:40

Alright, so you you were bragging about that intro, and I gotta say it was pretty good.

SPEAKER_02 0:49

And and say the other thing I asked you to say. No, no.

SPEAKER_01 0:53

That no, we're not gonna go that far, but it was alright.

SPEAKER_02 0:59

If you want to know what I asked Ricky, press one.

SPEAKER_01 1:03

Subscribe.

SPEAKER_02 1:06

Uh Ricky, actually, I want to tell you about some personal stuff that happened yesterday. It felt like it was out of a movie.

SPEAKER_01 1:12

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 1:13

Um, so I was having a fun, like busy, stressful day at work, and I was like, alright, it's fine. I'm gonna everything's gonna be fine. And then all of a sudden I hear uh and that sound was uh a bunch of water leaked out from our washing machine, went into our vent, and went into our HVAC duct and split open, so water started spilling out into my crawl space. Felt like a beautiful metaphor. It's gorgeous. It was a wonderful moment in Brandon cinema.

SPEAKER_01 1:42

Thank you. As if this day couldn't get any better.

SPEAKER_02 1:46

I mean, if anything, got me a few hours off work. So thanks, Water Leak. Super fun. All taken care of, but it did really feel like a movie moment where it's like, oh, this is definitely gonna be like an Anoah Bombach film or something.

SPEAKER_01 2:03

It's like you just freak freak out like like crazy.

SPEAKER_02 2:08

Yeah. Yeah. Ricky, what are we talking about today?

SPEAKER_01 2:13

We are talking about I guess we should preface this, like, well, I mean, we're we're gonna talk about the idea of underrated films, and um, I guess some of our personal picks were underrated.

SPEAKER_02 2:30

Yeah. Well, let's let's start with the idea then. So what do you consider to be underrated? Because by definition, it just means you think something is not as appreciated as it should be. So theoretically, something like The Godfather could be underrated to you if you think that it's not loved enough.

SPEAKER_01 2:48

I mean, I Yeah, I I guess like that that's kind of like. I mean, you'll get a slap to the face. Yeah, yeah. It's like it's kind of a stretch there. What I what I w went by when I was pre-preparing for this episode was I looked at IMDB rating, which is kind of like, you know, I view that as like a general public thing. Um Rotten Tomatoes, which covers like the critics. And then I didn't really I don't really focus on box office too much, but you know, I think that that can uh play a part too. It's like if it like bombed at the box office.

SPEAKER_02 3:29

Um Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. It's funny, I kind of did the exact same thing. I mostly compared Rotten Tomatoes mixed with their critic score and their audience score, because I felt like a lot of the movies that I was looking at that I would consider underrated, very rarely were they both the same. It was always like the audience loved it, but the critics hated it, or vice versa. Although there was a few where I have both where I'm like, you're both wrong. It's actually great. Uh I also have some thoughts of movies that I think were rated well, maybe even had good box office numbers, but I feel like people don't talk about anymore. Where it was just this is really great, we all love it, and now we're never gonna discuss it again. That still almost feels underrated to me in a way. I if it's out of the conversation.

SPEAKER_01 4:17

Yeah, I did think about that too, because there are like like some classic movies like maybe from like the 30s. Um like um, you know, the older ones that I think like as Cenophiles and stuff, you might like sear search them out. But even then it's like um some of them I just like randomly heard of, like some people love them. So I like found them and I'm like, oh, this is like really awesome. I love di this movie. But yeah, it's like even then they don't get talked about much.

SPEAKER_02 4:48

Um so uh if there's anything you want to talk about in particular, if you want to start with a movie, or if you're just a general idea, please, Ricky, you have the floor, we'll we'll give you the the first say here.

SPEAKER_01 5:03

Um well there there's one in part particular um that I thought of from uh 2022. Um I don't believe you've seen it yet. But this is Babylon from Damien Chiselle.

SPEAKER_02 5:26

Wow. Uh no, I I did not watch Babylon. Uh I remember it getting okay reviews.

SPEAKER_01 5:37

So it has a 7.1 on IMDB. It's okay. Yeah, that that's that's pretty solid. Alright. And it's got a 57% from critics on Rotten Tomatoes.

SPEAKER_02 5:52

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 5:53

And honestly, so it says it cost like 78 to 80 million, and it made sixty-four point nine million. So I mean it's not a huge failure, still a failure, but I mean there have been much bigger.

SPEAKER_02 6:09

Oh, for sure, bigger bombs.

SPEAKER_01 6:11

Yeah, but I wanted to read like like the critic's consensus on Rotten Tomatoes, because it is considered rotten, um, with 57% from 363. Love it. It says Babylon's overwhelming muchness is exhausting. But much like the industry it honors, it's well acted, well-crafted glitz and glamour can often be an effective distraction. Which is kind of weird because it's like it's like throwing shade at at like how like how much there there is, but but then it's like, oh, but it but it's good. Like, you know, it's like, alright, well. Um I I didn't see it when it first came out, but like I saw it like a year or two ago. And um I I loved it. Um it takes place, it starts off in 1926, Hollywood, and um there are like three main characters, I guess. There's Margot Robbie who's like trying to break into the industry. There's Diego Calva who's also trying to like break in, but like he's like um Margo's trying to break in as an actress, and then Diego Calva's like trying to get in through like any job he can, like like just to like work on, you know, sets or for like per producers or whatever. And then there's Brad Pitt who's like an aging actor who's kind of like aging out, and it's like you know, it kind of carries through to like the uh classic y you know, from silent films to talkies. Gotcha. And like it's it's long, I think it's over three hours. So I mean that is that is asking a lot from an audience. And I mean it's like crazy, like like the uh beginning of the movie starts out at like this party and it's like a crazy party, like people are having sex everywhere, and like it's just like you know, like too. But it's like I I feel like it kind of like I'm a sucker for it because it takes place in the early like like Hollywood and everything, and it's taking you through, and for how much I love film and everything, it's like I'm I'm here for it. Um, but the acting's great, it's got like a really cool ensemble cast, um, and it's cool too because it has uh Margot Robbie and Samara weaving like in scenes together, and like it's like cause everyone says they they look alike, so it's like um Yeah, Samara's like an actress, and then Margot's coming up, so so it's like it's like Margot's kind of like taking her spot and everything. Um it's got uh Toby m Maguire as a super super creepy dude. Like he's like a drugged out uh producer, I believe. Um yeah, it's just it's very, very fun. Um and I think the biggest thing was the the length, I guess, because I mean like and like the the type of film that it is, it's like um it's not an action film. I feel like a lot of times if there's a lot to like keep an audience like you know, like engaged, I guess. Or like I mean I was engaged like like throughout this.

SPEAKER_02 9:55

But it's definitely like a time period that you said that you're already in for.

SPEAKER_01 10:00

Yeah, like I love l learning about that, and it's like I don't care like how historically accurate it is, it's still like just fun like thinking about like Hollywood like like this, and it's like, yeah, this probably was like because you you don't hear about craziness from like the early 20s of Hollywood really, but it's like yeah, this was probably like super crazy. Um but yeah, I just uh I think I gave it a nine. Wow. Um yeah, I I I really love it, and like going back to it, I still like enjoy it a lot. Um so yeah, that that is a big one for for me, and it still got some like Oscar nominations, but I think like like before it came out everyone was like expecting it to like get get all these nominations and be really competitive out of the Oscars, and then it just like flopped. Um Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 10:55

Yeah, it's funny because I think Damien Chazelle, who wrote and directed it, he typically does a lot of love letter style movies. So La La Land being a love letter to really cinema itself. I guess this is just another love letter to cinema, but earlier uh Whiplash being a love letter to probably music and jazz specifically, so like he really seems to get these fascinations with a topic and just dives into them. And if you don't like the topic, you might just go, Yeah, I'm not really into this. Would you say like the story of itself is something that people can enjoy even if they aren't already a huge Cinephile or a big fan of that time period?

SPEAKER_01 11:37

I I think so, because like the cast is just so good and like Margot Robbie, that's probably one of my favorite per performances of hers. Really? And um, yeah, it's uh and also I mean it's just I feel like it's relatable because it's like, you know, these like normal people just trying to go for like their their dreams and everything. Um and also uh Jovna Depo plays this uh this jazz mu musician and it's like he's also kind of like coming up. He's like the uh fourth like main character, I guess. Um and he's coming up, and there's like a scene in there where like um he's he's not black enough, so like they like make him paint his face Oh my god like like blacker and it's like an i it it's a crazy scene, but it's like I I've heard, you know, it's like you've you've heard stuff like like that. It's like, you know, I guess I don't really remember like why. I think it's like something to like do with the uh camera and everything. Um but it's like he's like he's so conflicted there, and it's like that is like a great scene, and there are like multiple like great great scenes in there. It's like mainly a comedy, but there like are definitely like some serious moments in there and that um make you think about how early Hollywood was. Um so yeah, I mean, even if like you don't really know anything or you might not be interested, you might actually c come through like like really enjoying like just finding out something new and like oh that is that is really cool. Um, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 13:37

Alright, I I you know what I'll throw that on my watch list. It's funny because anytime I think of Babylon, when you first said it, it took me a second because I always for some reason conflate Babylon with Mega Opolis, the Adam and that movie, speaking of absolute bombs, that movie we did horribly critically and financially. Um but then I'm that's kind of as you were speaking speaking. I was like, okay, I think Babylon was actually the one that got decent reviews and had a a really super cool cast.

SPEAKER_01 14:06

And yeah, I've tried watching Megalopolis a couple times. I haven't like stuck with it. Like like it's been interesting so far, but like, yeah, that one's definitely that one, even more so um was just a huge failure. Like everyone like hates on that. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 14:27

Well, that's actually a very first good movie to start with because when I was looking through my lists and all my rankings and everything, I saw a very common theme, which is a lot of my underrated movies were actually more horror and comedy. I could not find very many dramas that I would go, okay, I think this is an underrated drama, at least by my criteria. Typically, my ratings would more or less match with the general consensus, whether it was IMDB or Rotten Tomatoes. So most of my movies really were comedy or horror.

SPEAKER_01 15:01

I I think I kind of ran into that too. I had a lot of that. I'm like, so I was like, oh man, it's like I know we have like some some horror episodes we we definitely want to do. So it's like I could talk about these, but I don't want to like spoil all a lot of stuff. So like, yeah, but there are like like horror, definitely.

SPEAKER_02 15:23

I'll I'll start with one that is uh kind of straddles the line here of horror or uh drama. This this might be one of the closest ones I have for drama. Um it is a film from I believe 2004. Yes, 2004. Uh it is a Julianne Moore film called The Forgotten. And I've never seen this. So I I we we really could do actually an episode of like our first DVDs we owned or our first personal movies, and for some reason I owned this movie. I don't know why. I didn't see it in theaters, I didn't see it on TV, I just had the DVD. I don't know if I got it from some secondhand place, no clue, but it was one of my first DVDs I owned, so maybe it holds holds a special place in my heart for that reason. But The Forgotten is a mystery drama movie where Julianne Moore is in therapy because her child has passed away, and so she's constantly trying to get some uh you know, help for it, some reassurance to help her get through this time. And then as the movie goes on, she starts seems to be forgetting things, and then everyone starts telling her, You never had a child. What are you talking about? And they they tell her that no, you actually had uh a miscarriage and you know you're actually going a little wacky, and medically speaking, and and of course she's saying, Well, no, this is crazy. Like, I literally have pictures of this kid, and then like she goes to photo albums and opens up the photo albums that we've already seen with her and the kid, and the kid's no longer there. And so as the movie progresses, uh I'll spoil it, it's it's a 22-year-old movie, it ends up being an alien film. This is a sci-fi film out of nowhere, not really out of nowhere, but it is not really advertised as one. One thing I love about this movie is it really clips along super quickly. I think within the first 15 minutes, it's already showing like your kid never existed, sorry. So it's not like this is a big reveal super late in the movie. Because the plot is her and this other man whose daughter uh yeah, whose daughter uh passes away or disappears. They both are like, no, we had kids and we have to remember them. Why are we the ones who remember them? And then as the movie continues, things like her husband doesn't even remember her being married to her, and so basically people are just getting their memories changed and altered, and it turns out it's a whole alien thing. Why are they doing this? Never really explained super well. Aliens are bored and they just think it'll be fun to, you know, fuck with humans, I guess, to be like, what if we make them think they never had a kid? Um I I think it's like kind of implied that they've uh abducted the kids and so they need to make the people forget so they can just have the kids without people looking into the aliens. But also, why you're aliens, you could just fly away and no one will ever catch you. You know what's gonna but what I remember the most about it is one, there's like mysterious music playing the entire time. So just they'll be walking in a park, and you'll just hear it's like That's how you know this is a mysterious movie. I know it sounds like I'm making fun of it, and I am, but I do genuinely think it's a fun movie, and I kind of like it a lot. I think it's really good. Uh Rotten Tomatoes gave it a 31%, the audience score is a 36%. I think it's at least a 7 out of 10. I think it's really fun. Julian Moore is great in it. There are some genuine jump scares that will kind of fuck with you. There's some great moments where people just get like pulled into the air out of nowhere and just go, oh shit. I honestly, if you go into it thinking that it's like an X-Files episode, you're gonna have a good time. Where it's like a little campy, a little uh blunt dialogue at moments, it's great. Just enjoy that and have a good time. Uh and I will say I love the ending because it's a little hokey where the only way to defeat the aliens is with a mother's love. Because she has the ability to remember her kid and that defeats the aliens. Ugh. Like fucking signs had to use water. Nah, just mother's love.

SPEAKER_01 20:13

Yeah, really.

SPEAKER_02 20:14

Just do it. Yeah, I'm a big fan.

SPEAKER_01 20:16

I really hope this was a response to signs.

SPEAKER_02 20:24

Yeah, I I would I hope it was. I really do. Yeah, who else is that?

SPEAKER_01 20:29

I'll have to check that one out.

SPEAKER_02 20:31

Yeah, it's uh directed by Joseph Rubin, who uh apparently that's the only movie of his eye seen. Looks like he's also done Sleeping with the Enemies, what he's known for, uh The Good Sun, which I believe was a Macaulay Culkin film. Uh, and a movie called Dreamscape. Which apparently has Dennis Quaid in it. Beautiful. So he seems like he's an amazing prolific director. I'm gonna watch all of his stuff now because I think The Forgotten is pretty great.

SPEAKER_01 21:01

You better not forget it.

SPEAKER_02 21:03

I I remembered a lot more. I don't think I've seen that movie since maybe early high school or somewhere pre-2009 where I might have just been playing it on DVD. I remembered a lot about it for not seeing it for over 20 years.

SPEAKER_01 21:18

Did uh you watch it a lot?

SPEAKER_02 21:21

I had to have. I mean, it was it was one of my few DVDs. I know I owned that, I Am Legend, Disturbia, the number 23. I really liked deep, edgy movies, like mysterious movies, which is weird because I always felt that I was more of a silly fun boy, but I always picked like let's watch a movie where people are just sad and dying and their kids are missing. I'm like, yep, that's how I want to spend my Saturday.

SPEAKER_01 21:48

Get ready to laugh, everyone.

SPEAKER_02 21:53

You're gonna go watch Super Bad. I'm gonna go watch Julian Moore cry.

SPEAKER_01 21:58

I'm gonna feel super bad. Am I right, guys?

SPEAKER_02 22:03

Ricky with the slam dunk.

SPEAKER_01 22:05

Got um.

SPEAKER_02 22:09

Ricky, what's another movie you want to discuss here? What's another underrated gym?

SPEAKER_01 22:14

This one, uh, I have a feeling you would not have guessed um in a million years. But I just re-watched it. Um, still love it. Um, this is from 2001.

SPEAKER_02 22:29

Okay. Is it a space Odyssey?

SPEAKER_01 22:31

No. It's a comedy. Um comedies. Okay. It's got a 32% on the Rotten Tomatoes. And on IMDB, it has a 5.8.

SPEAKER_02 22:50

It might be a scary movie.

SPEAKER_01 22:53

No. You are it is not another teen movie.

SPEAKER_02 22:58

Oh, that is an underrated film. I'm I love that for you.

SPEAKER_01 23:02

So I feel like this is kind of like our humor. It's like, um, it's so dumb, but like, gosh, it's it's so fun. Um, and I feel like it does such a great job of poking fun at those teen comedies. Oh yeah. Um what the critic's consensus reads here is not another not another teen movie has some funny moments, but the movie requires the audience to have familiarity with the movies being spoofed, and a tolerance for toilet and sexual humor to be truly effective. I don't agree w with that. There's like one big like toilet joke. Sure. Um there's definitely sexual humor, but it's not like over the top, I'd say. Like like um there are like some other movies that are like way, way more over the top. Um and like it helps if you know like what it's spoofing, sure.

SPEAKER_02 24:19

But like There's definitely a lot of jokes in there that you can enjoy without knowing the the exact references.

SPEAKER_01 24:27

Yeah, and it's just it's just fun and like yeah, they're they're like stupid ass moments that that um they like pause at like the uh characters like realize how stupid they are. They're like, what are you doing? Like what? Um like Eric Christian Olsen uh says let let's uh let's act like a tree and branch out of here or or something. Like Shyler Lee and him are just like staring at each other like for an extended period of time, like trying to figure out what the hell's going on.

SPEAKER_02 25:06

There's been so many lines in that movie I've quoted forever. The one that I can think of that I always would quote, which was looks like little miss run home to her daddy ran home to her daddy. Such a good line. And you're right, they always kind of make a quick like was that was that a clever? Yeah, we'll move on.

SPEAKER_01 25:29

Like maybe my my favorite moment is the uh slow clap. There's a guy in it who's like just trying to figure out the perfect moment to do a slow clap. So like he like does it at the pool party, and then Melissa Joan Hart makes a cameo, like just saying, like, no, this is not the right time. And then he's like, How do I know? And then she's like, Trust me, you'll just know. And then it's like um, what's his name? Billy Bob or or whatever, he like he gets another concussion or or something, and like the uh Chris Chris Evans, the the uh the the football player like screws up again and then he tries to win the slow clap again, and it's not the right moment. And then, spoiler in uh the end, he like figures out the perfect moment, and then the uh nerdy guy steals it from him, so then he just starts kicking his ass.

SPEAKER_02 26:29

That's so good. Yeah, that slow clap guy was a guy named Kyle Ces. He was a stand-up comedian for a while that I really liked. He had an album, I think, called One Dimple, that I loved first like it just clicked with me as a kick, so it was just super fast, wacky humor. I think he's a motivational speaker now, weirdly enough. Um there's there's so many jokes I think about from that movie. They do the bring it on parody, which I can't quote all of it, but but I was like, oh shit, they actually said the N-word in this.

SPEAKER_01 27:01

Like, I was like, that does not change very well. It still I think is very funny.

SPEAKER_02 27:07

Yes, yes, it's the white white cheerleaders steal the cheer from the black cheerleaders, and one of the lines they say is just like, we ain't white, we ain't white, we definitely ain't white.

SPEAKER_01 27:16

Yeah, that is like the funny very b beginning of it because like it's a bringing on parody, and like they've like stole it from from the uh black cheerleaders, and Jamie Presley uh is playing the uh lead white white cheer cheerleader, and they're like, Hey, you you you stole our re routine, and then she's like, No, we didn't. And then it's so obvious, like from the very beginning, that that they stole it, and it's so good.

SPEAKER_02 27:44

And then the announcer has a great follow-up line, which I will not quote.

SPEAKER_01 27:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 27:50

Yeah, there's I mean, there are good parodies that you again like you don't have to know them, but it it can add some extra flavor. But there's the one where they're doing the Breakfast Club parody where it's I love that one. They're doing the do you are you done? No, and they just keep rhyming, it's like your mother is a ho famous clown, Bobo. And then has the other guy just go, Mitch, stop doing like the best Molly Ring Wall impression. So funny. Yeah, that's that is a great choice. Oh, I gotta rewatch. Did you rewatch that one recently?

SPEAKER_01 28:24

Yeah, so I started it the other day and I just finished it to today. Oh, it's so funny. Yeah, it's on Tubi right right now.

SPEAKER_02 28:34

Yeah. I think we even talked about it a little bit during a parody episode a couple weeks back. Yeah, great, great choice. Uh I'm 100% watching that today. So funny. Uh, my next one, you know what? Let's stay in the alien genre. We're gonna go with an alien film, I believe, from 2009, if I recall correctly. Uh stars Mila Jofovich.

SPEAKER_01 29:04

Oh, you like told me about this one years ago, and I did watch it. I don't remember what you gave it? Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 29:15

It is called The Fourth Kind. Again, one of the other random movies I for some reason owned as uh a young, young lad, and this movie, re-watching it, I still think is very good. I still have a good time with it. I think it's a very fun, unique movie. Rotten Tomatoes gives it an 18%. The audience score gives it a 41%. But when I was looking up this movie on Wikipedia the other day, it has gotten kind of a revival and kind of a cult following. Because apparently last year or so, for some reason on TikTok it started trending, and people were discovering this movie and were freaked out by it and thought it was incredible. So I love that, you know, this movie almost 20 years later, that was really despised by critics and uh kind of audiences, people are now thinking is very fun and good, and I really like it. It starts off in a way that I don't think I've ever seen a movie start before, which is the actors come out, or I think it's just Mila is talking at the beginning, and she's just saying, What you're about to see is a movie, but it's based on real events, the people in the stories, like, and they're they're kind of like prepping the movie, like, hey, just so you know, this is fucked up. I'm an actor and I'm portraying this real event. I've never seen a movie that starts off with an actor saying, Hey, I'm just an actor just doing this. Uh, it's very fun to watch because the camera is just on her, but the background is just spinning the entire time, just to make it more like disorienting and like spooky. And I I know it wasn't gonna happen, but I wanted Mila to just be like, and these are very true, horrifying events, and also I'm getting very dizzy right now, and I might throw up.

SPEAKER_00 31:02

That was like the way it'd say it.

SPEAKER_02 31:04

Yeah, what this movie does that I thought was really cool, is that it tries to tie in reenactment footage with the real footage. So the reenactment footage is Mila and all the actors, but it splits screens where on the other side they're showing what they are claiming is the real footage of these interviews of people who spoke with uh, you know, who had these experiences with aliens or abductions. And it does add this weird level of intensity to it, because you're going, oh, that's real. This is acting, we know that's a movie, but this is the real thing. And so they're like overlapping their dialogue, and it does actually feel almost like a found footage, but on just one side of the movie. And I thought that was a very unique way to do that. Now, obviously, as you may or may not know, it's all bullshit, like it's they're all actors, but just the presentation of it really does make things a bit tense. I would actually argue that anytime it cuts to that found footage or real footage uh sections, those are the scariest moments, and they are very uncomfortable at times. There's a hostage scene situation that happens later in the movie that is very upsetting to watch, and then I remember being kind of burnt into my brain a bit. Um definitely a movie to watch with subtitles on, because for some reason Mila is whispering when nobody else is. And like she whisper whispers in this movie at times. Like, she'll really just be like, Girl, speak up. Like, and her kids are like, but mom, I have soccer practice. I just want someone to just go, what?

SPEAKER_01 32:56

Mom, you you you can't say that.

unknown 33:01

What do you say?

SPEAKER_02 33:03

I'm not saying like this movie's gonna blow everybody away and like it's a 10 out of 10, but Rotten Tomatoes giving it an 18% is fucking wild to me. That seems insanely low. IMDB has it around a six, and I think that's a pretty fair assessment. I would give it a six to like at most a seven.

SPEAKER_01 33:21

Yeah, I I gave it a six. Um, I don't remember a ton about it. I remember not loving it, but it's one of those that I need to go back and watch. Um I don't re remember what I did really enjoy about it. I feel like there were like definitely some scary moments. Um I bet it was the live footage.

SPEAKER_02 33:45

I bet if you go back and watch those, you'll yeah, you'll see what I'm talking about.

SPEAKER_01 33:49

Yeah, because I mean I I love, you know, the found footage genre, probably my favorite horror genre. Um yeah, I uh saw uh one of the re reviews there on IMDb, it said um Blair Witch for the alien genre.

SPEAKER_02 34:08

Yeah, I would kind of agree because they really don't show a lot. It is a lot of uh leave up to your imagination to freak yourself out. They'll have a couple moments where the actors are just going through hypnotism to try to remember what happened because essentially the plot of the movie is that uh Mila is a therapist, she is helping all of her patients in Gnome Alaska, which uh does factually have something like 3,000 missing person cases or something, like it was some crazy high number. Uh and when she's interviewing these people, they all kind of have the same story of oh, I keep seeing this owl outside my window and it just stares and stares at me, and so she puts them under hypnosis, and then they kind of remember their abductions, and then when they're having their remembering, they freak out, and it's very upsetting. So it is fun and creepy in that way. I I mean I can be nitpicky and say, like, they do like a lot of hypnotism scenes in a very short period of time, so that can kind of detract, but it's still a fun movie that I think is underrated for the fact that Rotten Tomatoes gave it an 18. That's insane.

SPEAKER_01 35:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 35:23

So I would definitely say go watch it. Just go on an alien binge.

SPEAKER_01 35:29

I feel like there are a lot of um horror films that um because like I mean, we always say, like, you know, the Oscars too. It's like just horror films aren't very r respected. So I feel like there are a lot of horror films um that you you can always find that um probably have like pretty bad re reviews, but it's like, oh, this is actually like really enjoyable.

SPEAKER_02 35:59

Yeah, no, I I absolutely have a couple horror films on here that are either uh reviled by critics or audiences, and I think they're really good and really fun.

SPEAKER_01 36:10

Um I can actually talk about one.

SPEAKER_02 36:13

Please.

SPEAKER_01 36:14

I'll kind of talk about two, I guess. Um, I wonder if This is one that both of us love.

SPEAKER_02 36:23

I wrote this down too.

SPEAKER_01 36:24

A great deal. Um the first is from 2011. Yep. And then the second is from 2012. Oh yeah. This is Grave Encounters.

SPEAKER_02 36:35

Grave Encounters one and two.

SPEAKER_01 36:38

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 36:39

I I wrote this down too because Rotten Tomatoes gave Grave Encounters 1 a 65, which okay, it's not too bad. Grave Encounters 2, they gave a 9. Yeah. 9%. Um And I think one is better. Like, I would prefer to watch one. I watch that movie probably once a year. I love Grave Encounters. But Grave Encounters 2 is still great.

SPEAKER_01 37:03

Yeah, um, I feel like a lot of people just haven't seen it. Um because like on Rotten Tomatoes, it's 65% the first one based on 17 reviews. So I mean it's like there aren't like, you know, many re reviews at all for it. And um yeah, I'm checking here, like, top critics, like there's six, I think. So it's like, yeah, I mean, it it's just very like under the the radar.

SPEAKER_02 37:41

It's so strange because maybe we also run in you know horror circles, so there are we definitely know a lot of people who probably have watched this movie and like it or at least are aware of it.

SPEAKER_01 37:52

I can't re-remember if when when we watched it, if I had known about it or if you introduced it to me. I can't I can't remember. Remember because we we had people watch it in college and uh Oh yeah. Yeah, because I think they liked it.

SPEAKER_02 38:09

I remember them being kind of freaked out.

SPEAKER_01 38:12

So what it is is like this team of ghost hunters, it's very much like ghost adventures, it's like yeah, they're like going to supposed haunted um l locations and like filming, but it's like you like realize very early on that they're like fucking with the audience. They're like setting up the escares, it's like they're like conning um the people, but then they go to this l location and it ends up that uh yeah, um shit goes down for real. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 38:48

Yeah, it's it's funny because in the very first one, I think what makes the first one so great, and I do like the second one as well, but what makes the first one I I would say at worst a nine out of ten for me, I love it, is they do a really good job introducing you to the ghost hunting crew and how they're like a little sleazy, but they're kind of fun, they're silly, and but as you said, they're liars for the most part. There's a part in the earlier one where he asks a groundskeeper, like, hey, have you seen any ghosts? And they go, No, I haven't seen any ghosts. And then he they cut it, they give, they pay him like 10 bucks and they go, Have you seen a ghost? And the guy just goes, Yeah, I saw a ghost right there. Wow, saw a ghost right there. Great. Like it's so funny. It it does an amazing job for being such a low-budget horror film, too, to have some really unnerving stuff. The ghosts, I think, are some of my favorite ghosts in a movie. They're really the second that girl screams in the corner, that is so upsetting and well done, and I think about it all the time. Oh, it's so good. Yeah, it it's such a great movie because it it really sets it up so fast to go, oh, these people are fucked. There's there's a couple moments where you just go, they are fucked, fucked, fucked, and that's all I'm watching is I'm just gonna watch these people be screwed over for the next hour here. Oh no.

SPEAKER_01 40:16

And it's so fun. And like I think what is so two, I didn't realize two came out the the the the year after. But yeah, quick turnaround. So like two picks up like pretty much where the uh first l left off. Spoiler, you know, it's like the uh crew is screwed in the first one, like you know doesn't go well for them. So like the uh second one, it's like these younger uh teenagers, this one in part particular, like like he's like fascinated with like the Grave Encounters crew and everything. And um he ends up like going to like investigate the uh same place where where the uh first one took took place. Um and so like it's a whole new crew. Um and like the second one does like some really cool things where like I love it when like they like this is kind of a spoiler, but they like think they're out of the place, but then it turns out they're still in the place, and yeah, I think that is.

SPEAKER_02 41:29

The hallway again. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 41:31

It's like, oh man. And it has one of the one of the most uh upsetting, I think, moments like like the ending. Um Yeah. When uh one person kills another person and it's very brutal and uh it's hard to watch. And um yeah, sure it's it's uh big bang quite upsetting.

SPEAKER_02 41:56

Um it's I I would say these movies actually open the door for a very similar movie. Have you ever seen Deadstream? Yeah. Okay, yeah. Uh another movie I think is very good, and it's I it's hard to say if it's underrated or not. Rotten Tomatoes had that one at a 92. Um, so people like it, but it's the same kind of thing of a uh this person was uh I believe also a ghost hunter, or if they were just not, they were maybe just a streamer.

SPEAKER_01 42:21

He was a content creator, yeah. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 42:24

And I guess he got caught doing fake stuff or whatever, and then no, he um he like did something like that. More immoral.

SPEAKER_01 42:34

Yeah, yeah. Um, because he was like constantly like making like these crazy videos, and then he like took it too far. Gotcha. Um then people like got really uh upset with him.

SPEAKER_02 42:46

And so he goes into a haunted house to try to like live stream and then turns out it was haunted and gets kind of fucked over. And I I wonder if there is a a perverse joy in things like Grave Encounters and Deadstream where there's kind of douchey characters that were kind of okay seen get completely haunted. Although I think Grave Encounters has a lot more likable characters, they're just trying to do their spooky show.

SPEAKER_01 43:11

Yeah. Um yeah, like like Grave Encounters came out around the same time as the V V VHS series. Um and like the the VHS series has definitely like, you know, um gained popularity over the the the years. Um I wish the Grave Encounters series had as well. Like I feel like I had read like at some point that they were gonna do a third, but I don't know. Yeah, it's just wishful thinking.

SPEAKER_02 43:46

It it would be nice because I mean, yeah, I I I remember you and I were pretty early adopters on VHS, and I remember us showing that to everybody in college and being like, No, you gotta watch this, it's really fun. And then I think after that, Grave Encounters. Was a big one. Hell House, I think, kind of got its some legs of its own as a Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 44:04

Hell House, Hell House, I think is even more popular than Grave Encounters because they're on like the fifth or something, I think, of that.

SPEAKER_02 44:13

Yeah, they're up there. But you know what? This is actually a good segue into one of my other underrated films. It is a horror film that I really, really loved. Again, I'm seeing a theme here, just gonna keep it in theme, of movies that I for some reason owned as a kid. This one I do remember seeing either at a friend's house or on TV or something, and then said I want it and I want to just watch it. 2005, excuse me. Uh 2005 horror film, The Exorcism of Emily Rose. Good movie. Yeah. I really think this is an underrated film. Uh Rotten Tomatoes has it, I think, at a 46 audience score. Gave it a 60, so audience was a bit more into it, so thank goodness. What blew me away about this movie was one, Jennifer Carpenter's performance, as said Emily Rose, because apparently all of the contortion and screams that happened to this character, that's just her. That is, I think, very little editing and very little audio magic. Apparently, this was her able to do these screams where she could access multiple vocal cords at once and have these like low and high sounds come out and scream. Basically, for those who don't know, it's not just a horror film, it's a law movie. It is a courtroom movie, which I fucking adore. I'm I'm weirdly a sucker for courtroom movies. I used to watch so much Law and Order with some friends. I would uh one of my other weird underrated movies would be Runaway Jury with John Cusack. I used to watch that all the time.

SPEAKER_01 45:48

I always wanted to see that when I was younger.

SPEAKER_02 45:51

It's so strange, like the movies you see when you're a kid and you just kind of latch on to.

SPEAKER_00 45:55

Right.

SPEAKER_02 45:56

But something that I love about a lot of horror films that I can even tie this into The Forgotten is when you as the audience aren't sure if the horror is real or if it is in someone's head or if there is like a logical explanation. So an exorcism of Emily Rose, we see the horror scenes, but they're typically described to us by the people who are saying that they're happening. So the Emily Rose's family is saying, This is what happened, and then we see the horror scene and it's spooky and fun and creepy, but we really follow Laura Linney's character, who's a lawyer, who is trying to uh defend Tom Wilkinson's character uh in court because he did an exorcism, Emily Rose dies, and so he's getting in trouble and he's trying to say, Hey, this is what happened. And you really don't know if they are quote unquote telling the truth or what it is, because there is science that says, Well, we weren't there, but this is what could have someone access multiple vocal cords. This is what can cause someone to contort and scream the way that you're claiming she did that was a demon, but no, it's science. And that to me, I I just always love that as a dichotomy is the the clash between the mystical and fabricated and spiritual to science and hard evidence and logic. And I think that's what always sets up a really cool movie is how much is your faith versus how much is grounded reality. And I think this movie does a great job balancing it out, and I never hear people talk about it, and they're fucking wrong because it's so good.

SPEAKER_01 47:37

Yeah, the that is a good pick. Like, um I re remember really enjoying it. That is another one that I need to re rewatch. I've maybe only seen it once. But I I I think I hadn't seen it, um, and you had like told me how much you loved it, so I checked it out and yeah. I so I didn't remember, I just looked it up. I totally didn't realize that Scott Derrickkson directed it. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Um he has done some uh very fun horror films.

SPEAKER_02 48:13

For those who don't know, he directed The Black Phone, directed Sinister, which still has maybe the most intense jump scare I've ever seen in a movie.

SPEAKER_01 48:22

So we can actually talk about Sinister quick, because I I was re-watching that one too. Cause like whenever I um whenever I think of Well, whenever I look at like scariest horror films or everything, like Sinister's never on there. And I mean I understand Sinister's not perfect, but I think it's such a cool idea where like um this writer is researching these um real crimes that that took place and he moves into the uh house. Um I don't r remember like I wasn't like paying a ton of attention this time around. If all of them took place at this house, maybe they they did. But it's like he like finds this uh these tapes in the attic, which is like videos of like these crimes where like families were were killed, and still it still holds up like for for me, I think it's like the most uncomfortable, scariest scene in a horror film for for me. I won't spoil it, but it involves a lawnmower and um I think about it every time I mow. Just like like I know it's coming. Like I've seen it mul multiple times.

SPEAKER_02 49:55

Here it goes.

SPEAKER_01 49:57

But it's like it's still like I was watching it like yesterday, I think, and I was like okay, like I know it's coming, and then it's it's like it's perfect with like the sound effects um used, like Ethan Hawke's reaction, it's just everything kind of blends in for like a perfect scare in that moment. Um and yeah, I mean it's it's kind of slow. Um it's like you know, the main thing is just Ethan Hawk like watching these uh tapes. Um and uh like there is like his son um s sleepwalks and has like night terrors, I guess. Um and there's one scene where like he's in a box and he like pops out of a box and that that is a creepy that's really upsetting moment too. Um so yeah, I I I still think that it deserves more r recognition than it gets.

SPEAKER_02 51:05

Yeah, I mean it I would agree that it would I would consider it underrated, even though it I just looked up the box office, it crushed on a very tiny budget too. But yeah, I I feel like I'm with you. I don't hear people talk about that movie ever, and I talk to a lot of horror fans and they don't bring up Sinister. Maybe because it didn't have a huge franchise. I think it had one sequel, maybe.

SPEAKER_01 51:26

Yeah, and the sequel didn't do well at all. I still haven't seen it, but that one like really critics hated that one.

SPEAKER_02 51:34

Yeah. Man, God I want it to be October so we can talk more about specific horror films.

SPEAKER_01 51:40

Yeah, well probably when October comes around, we'll just do like a month of like horror episodes.

SPEAKER_02 51:47

Yeah. Uh well then we'll do a quick uh rundown here because I have some other movies of just things to throw out there. So as I said before, a lot of my movies actually were horror or comedy. I really didn't have any dramas, and I don't think I've discussed any comedies out of my list today. Um, but I'll say drama. There was a I think I brought it up recently called The Tale, which has uh Laura Dern. I think that is a completely underrated drama film. It's actually one of the most realistic uh depictions of the aftermath of like childhood sexual abuse. Don't worry, we'll get to the comedies. We start with this one first. Um I'm I'm a very stickler for that kind of stuff because a lot of times they want to make it be like, it's super miserable and depressing and awful, and this movie doesn't necessarily do that. It takes a really good angle at it, which I think is truly well written because of it, and the the writers and everyone should be applauded for that one. Uh, but let's talk about some comedies that I think are underrated for a quick moment. Uh some that I wrote down here, uh Scary Movie 3, because I still think it's underrated. Uh Rotten Tomatoes gave it a 35. Um 35%, right? Crazy.

SPEAKER_00 53:02

God.

SPEAKER_02 53:03

Uh I will also say A Million Ways to Die in the West. I love that movie. I think it's still very funny. Yeah, there's some jokes that were pretty edgy back then and still are edgy now that you can go, oh, I don't know how I feel about that. Um people die at the fair. But I think I just love Seth McFarlane in it, where he's very charming and just felt like it was just a nice passion project of I want to make a goofy Western comedy. And um That's a really good pick, yeah. Yeah. I I have two movies here that I think are underrated in the fact that I don't hear people talk about them, and that's Girls Trip and Joyride. Movies that both I think did pretty okay financially and critically. Although I think Joyride was a budget of five million uh and got fifteen million, so you know, made its money back in some, but yeah, and I know critics love them. Yeah, and I I think they're both insanely funny films. Uh Girls Trip was my introduction officially to Tiffany Haddish, who was a lot of people, yeah. Yeah, who she crushed it in that movie. She's very funny in it, but I don't hear people talk about it. But I put I didn't re-watch them recently, but I did put like a best comedic scenes on uh for each movie and was having a very, very good time. Uh just dying and having a uh there's a scene where Tiffany Hattish and Girls Trip has smuggled, uh I think she just smuggles weed or something, and then she's just like, hey, I'm smuggling weed. And her friend's like, Oh, well, where do you have it? Actually, don't tell me. She's like, it's where the sun don't shine. You know, most people think that's the pussy, but it's actually could also be the butthole. And she's just like, big, like insane eye contact, big smile, like, yeah, I'm a genius. It's just such a good delivery and a good characterization of that person. Uh other fun comedies I love, or I used to love, I haven't seen in a while, but so forgive me, but I remember liking Saving Silverman. I remember thinking was very fun and silly. Ron Tomatoes has that in an 18%. Uh, there was a movie called How to Be a Latin Lover, which I think was very, very funny. What's that?

SPEAKER_01 55:14

I've heard of that one.

SPEAKER_02 55:16

Yeah. Uh How to Be a Latin Lover is uh Sama Hayek is in it, and uh Ken Marino directed it from the state. Oh, really? Yeah. That's the reason I threw it on because I knew Ken Marino. I was like, oh, I'm sure it'll be good. And it's really, really funny. And it's basically just this guy used to be a uh you know, sexy young Latin man, and he would seduce older women and basically just be a trophy husband, and then eventually he gets to the point where as he's older, he finally gets divorced, and now he's just some kinda sort of shlubby dude and no longer has to basically has to relearn how to seduce women in order to get his cozy life back. Very silly, very ridiculous. Totally worth a watch. I haven't seen it in a while, and I need to rewatch because I remember very much enjoying it. But that's just a quick rundown of some comedy films that I thought were underrated. Um I have one that I wrote down that I was surprised you haven't brought up because I know you've I think you really liked it. Uh Springbreakers, would you say that's underrated?

SPEAKER_01 56:25

Actually, it gets Do people love it now? Out of love, yeah. Um that one I need to re rewatch. Cause like Harmony Korean, it's like he's he's a very interesting director. It's like that that movie's so wild. Um yeah, we uh saw saw that one with a group in college. Um and uh yeah, um, I think it's actually grown maybe like a cult following kind of. Yeah. I mean it says it has a 67%, a 38% popcorn meter, which I think is their like audience. Yeah, the audience score did not like it.

SPEAKER_02 57:17

All I know is we walked around for weeks going spring break. Yeah. I think for years. Yeah, we've been for awful spring break forever.

SPEAKER_01 57:28

And then his name's uh Aileen.

unknown 57:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 57:32

Yeah, that that I don't know what accent James Franco is doing in that movie, but it's really fun. I wish he would have gotten an Oscar nomination for that.

SPEAKER_01 57:41

That would have been so amazing. There was some distance. There really was you're alive. Maybe Gucci Mane could have gotten in there too. Um yeah. She's getting clowned Gucci Mane. Oh, it's so good. Oh my god.

SPEAKER_02 58:01

Uh yeah, the you actually, speaking of Ti Tiffany Haddish, uh Keanu is um Yeah, I forgot she was in that until after I saw because I think I saw Keanu before girls' trip.

SPEAKER_01 58:14

And then Yeah, it actually did come out before girls' trip, I believe.

unknown 58:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 58:20

It's crazy.

SPEAKER_02 58:22

Um and when I went back and watched Keanu, I was like, oh my god, Tiffany Haddish, was she always in this?

SPEAKER_01 58:27

Yeah. She sure was. Um I've rewatched uh Keanu a couple times recently. Um it's so much fun.

SPEAKER_02 58:35

Uh I I need to rewatch it. The only scene I really remember is Keegan Michael Key has all the gangsters in his car, and then George, was it George Michael comes on or wham?

SPEAKER_01 58:44

He's he he's telling them about George Michael and how gangster George Michael is, and like uh, what is this?

SPEAKER_02 58:53

He's like, and starts acting like, no, this guy goes hard.

SPEAKER_01 58:57

Yeah, I mean it's like just like these two like uh like um just suburban guys. Yeah, and like Keegan has like a family and everything, and it's like and then it's like they're like throwing into the uh gangster world, and like the them trying to be gangster just kills me. Um and Keanu the uh cat is just so adorable. Um so yeah, that that is such a fun movie. Um, have you ever seen Mr. Megorium's Wonder Emporium?

SPEAKER_02 59:31

I have not, but please tell me it's your favorite movie of all time.

SPEAKER_01 59:35

So the this was a movie from 2007 with Dustin Hoffman, Natalie Portman, right, and Jason Bateman. And uh so it takes place in like a toy store, uh Mr. Magoriam's Wonder Emporium, and uh Dustin Hoffman is Mr. M Magorium, and it's like he's like doing this like wacky accent, he's kinda like a Willy Wonka type. Um and uh Natalie Portman like w works at his toy store, and then there's like this young young boy who always comes there, um, and he's like, you know, uh an uncool kid. He doesn't really have any friends, he doesn't you know, like know how to like get along. But he's hanging out with Dustin Hoffman at Mr. McGorium's Wondering War. And he's hanging out with Natalie Portman, um, what I was getting being friends with Natalie Portman, you know. But um, yeah, and then it's like uh Jason Bateman comes in and he's like trying to like he's like an accountant, um, and they they they call him a mutant, so they always call him the the the mutant. But like this movie's just so like cute. Whimsical whimsical and it's like it's just fun. Like, like I mean, it doesn't do anything like spectacular, like like the uh special effects are are cool, but it's like it takes place in a toy store, and like sometimes like movies like like this, it's like oh they're not groundbreaking or anything, but it's just like a fun just good time, yeah, yeah. Like like um and so yeah, I I re-watched it the other day and I still enjoy it. It's still I I give it like a seven. Um it's a good good movie.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:24

Um I love that the title, you don't have to change anything, and it still sounds like a porno.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:29

Yeah, right.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:31

Don't even need to try to play that game with it.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:33

Yeah, it's like the uh porn parody, uh people like get that confused all the time. Like, oh my god, what the hell?

SPEAKER_02 1:01:40

Someone rents the actual movies like there's no where's the sex?

SPEAKER_01 1:01:44

Yeah, it's like when uh Butters is trying to watch Lord of the Rings on some of the things. That's right. That's right.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:51

They put a porn tape in the Lord of the Rings.

SPEAKER_01 1:01:55

So uh but but yeah, it's a fun little movie from the late two 2000s.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:02

I I will add that to the the backlog. That sounds like a you know what? I maybe I need some more whimsy my life. My my movies were all like sad, depressing, heavy things. So maybe I do just need to watch like you know, I'll watch that in like spy kids, do a double feature of whimsical wackiness.

SPEAKER_01 1:02:20

Yeah, yeah, that that is a good call. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:23

Ricky, any final thoughts on the idea of an underrated film? Any other films that you think are truly underrated you want to talk about real quick?

SPEAKER_01 1:02:32

No, I mean there there are definitely some that I covered like the uh big ones for for me, and I'm sure there are like some that I would like rewatch and be like, oh my gosh, like how did I miss this one?

SPEAKER_02 1:02:45

There was one that I thought it was gonna be an underrated movie, and then I looked it up, and it seemed like it did pretty well both critically and financially, but in my mind I didn't think it would have, and that was Undercover Brother. Did it really? Yeah, that was a movie that uh I thought, like, okay, I saw this all the time on Comedy Central. There's no way it has good reviews. Oh, you're you're so cool.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:11

I I I loved it.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:13

No, I like that movie. I think Eddie Griffin's really funny in it. Uh it that movie is the reason I still refer to like mayonnaise as like a common like white person stereotype. Uh but Ron Tomatoes has it at a 78%.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:28

What?

unknown 1:03:28

Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:32

That's insane. 78% for Undercover Brother. And so like I'm happy. I'm happy for it, so I can't I guess I can't say it's an underrated film. People like it. And I just assumed people wouldn't have. So, way to go, Eddie Griffin.

SPEAKER_01 1:03:49

I like to think it went up after 12 Years a Slave. Because if you don't know, John Ridley wrote 12 Years a Slave and Undercover Brother.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:02

So I love that. I love when people just say, Yeah, I can write a silly comedy and also the most depressing movie about slavery.

SPEAKER_01 1:04:12

Like Yeah. Who else can say? And now that's a double feature again.

SPEAKER_02 1:04:19

And with that, thank you for listening to another episode of a mostly film podcast. I've been Brandon. With me as always, is Ricky. Now please go watch some movies.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:31

Bye.