The Most Underrated Films Ever

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IMO, I think Fruitvale Station was one of the best movies of 2013, but I think many people didn't see it because of the controversy centered around the film's accuracy.

Cars - everyone considers this their least favorite Pixar film (until Cars 2 came along) but it turned out to be a bit better than I expected it to be. I am in agreement with the terribleness of Cars 2 though. Making a spy movie around Mater was a terrible idea.

Dreamworks 2D animated films - only four were ever made but they took traditional animation to levels that outdid Disney. I highly recommend Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron. It's my favorite of the four and it has very beautiful animation. It's the kind of animated western I've always wanted to see. Something that captured the beauty of the American West instead of cartoon-izing it like Home on the Range did.

The Princess and the Frog - I think it's still better than Tangled

Anastasia - Everyone hates this film for its historical inaccuracy but everyone's forgetting that this was not based on history but on a legend. Historical legends are just that folks, legends. They're not meant to be based in reality. Anyway it was quite an improvement for Don Bluth compared to the rest of his 90s films which were all disasters.

The Ghost and the Darkness

While the special effects (mostly the full body shots of the lions killing people) look fake today, the movie has an amazing atmosphere. There are scenes that are genuinely frightening, the sets are superb and Val Kilmer actually showed that he could act. Easily an 8/10 movie.



I dare to say it's even better than Jaws...

IMO:

Catwoman (Halle Berry)
Wagons East
Repo! The Genetic Opera
Showgirls
Foxfire
Barb Wire
Killer Clowns From Outer Space
Carrie (2002 remake)
The Lord of the Rings (1978 animated version)
Bride of Chucky

Gidget
She-Devil
Zombie Apocalypse
Mortuary
Zombies of Mass Destruction
Drop Dead Gorgeous

Bring It On

Pitch Perfect

Constantine
Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang
Sexy Beast
Cronos
Beavis and Butt-head Do America
Solaris

Frozen
The Hunger Games: Catching Fire

I think people are way too hard on the movie Cars. Granted it's not the best film ever made but I still liked it better than Ratatouille, Brave,...or dare I say Up.

Cars 2 on the other hand, is worthy of its panning. That sequel was just ridiculous.

Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull was quite impressive for a sequel done way past the trilogy's time.

I'm not sure what counts as 'underrated', but there's a gem of a film called Igby Goes Down, 2002 - Kieran Culkin, Claire Danes, Susan Sarandon, Jeff Goldblum, Jared Harris - that I think gets far too little attention. A fine angsty young man film, as close to putting Holden Caulfield on the screen as anyone has yet managed. Good acting, snappy writing and some beautiful cinematography. Comes in at about 90 minutes, which is a blessing - I'd far sooner want more of a film than less.

Blade Runner (1982)
Blazing Saddles (1974)
Brian's Song (1971)
City Island (2009)
Dangerous Liaisons (1988)
Dark City (1998)
Dawn of the Dead (2004)
Dirty Harry (1971)
Duck Soup (1933)
Ed Wood (1994)
Escape from Alcatraz (1979)
Ghost in the Shell (1995)
Groundhog Day (1993)
Harvey (1950)
Land of the Lost (2009)
Life of Brian (1979)
Mad Max (1979)
MASH (1970)
Memento (2000)
Metropolis (1927)
Moon (2009)
Prometheus (I) (2012)
Quiz Show (1994)
Requiem for a Dream (2000)
Seven Samurai (1954)
Stalag 17 (1953)
The Illusionist (2006)
The Killer (1989)
The Lives of Others (2006)
The NeverEnding Story (1984)
The Omen (1976)
The Prestige (2006)
The Searchers (1956)
The Shining (1980)
The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
The Thing (1982)
The Way Back (2010)
Twelve Monkeys (1995)
Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971)
Yojimbo (1961)

Crystal skull had many sequences that were well done, and some that weren't (i.e the monkey scene). I thought it was pretty good overall. Indiy's interplay with Mutt was one of the highlights.

The odd Star Trek movie's up to 7 have a reputation for being bad, but I like them as much as the evens. Even Final Frontier. The character development and dialogue is some of the best out of any Trek film. The only negative is that many of the effects are not up to the standard of the other movies.

Here are some other movies that I think are underrated because I never hear them mentioned, but they deserve to be.

Mother Night-- Nick Nolte, from a story by Kurt Vonnegut.

Who'll Stop the Rain-- Nick Nolte.

In Bruges-- dir Martin Mcdonagh

Seven Psychopaths-- dir Martin Mcdonagh

Gun Shy-- Liam Neeson.

We Own the Night-- Joaquin Phoenix, Mark Wahlburg, Robert Duvall

TimeCop-- VanDamne

a lot of movies that are underrated did not have good marketing. Classic example is Dark City(which is my favorite movie), It was marketed as a horror movie, but it was more of a crime noir type movie. It did not reach it's audience at the time it was released just because of marketing.
City Island is another example of a movie where there was virtually no marketing for it, so not many people have heard of it.

I guess this is what distinguishes cult films from underrated films. Like the Big Lebowski has such a huge cult base, i.e. a lot of people know about its existence.

Also people know about blatant rip-offs of movies. For example Cruel Intentions, is a blatant rip-off of Dangerous Liasons.