Ive seen a few of the older asian movies, inclusing some rediculous slapstick I keep forgetting the name of. Ah I remember....

Kung Pow: Enter The Fist (2002)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0240468/

Some of the older ones do really bore me though, ones like Jet Li, The Enforcer.

Hmm while some of these may not be hardly known (some are just outright classics)  they may have been fogotten...well at least by Steve

Few picks out of my collection....


State of Grace (1990)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0100685/

7.1/10

Tagline: A family ripped apart by violence. A love corrupted by betrayal. A friendship stained by blood.
Plot Outline: Terry Noonan returns home to New Yorks Hells Kitchen after a ten year absence. He soon hooks up with childhood pal Jackie who is involved in the Irish mob run by his brother Frankie. Terry also rekindles an old flame with Jackies sister Kathleen. Soon, however, Terry is torn between his loyalty to his friends and his loyalties to others.

Director: Phil Joanou
Starring: Sean Penn, Ed Harris, Gary Oldman


21 Grams (2003)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0315733/

7.9/10

Tagline: Difference between dead and life
Plot Outline: This is the story of three gentle persons: Paul Rivers (Penn) an ailing mathematician lovelessly married to an English emigré (Gainsbourg), Christina Peck, an upper-middle-class suburban housewife, happily married and mother of two little girls, and Jack Jordan (Del Toro), an ex-convict who has found in his Christian faith the strength to raise a family. They will be brought together by a terrible accident that will change their lives. By the final frame, none of them will be the same as they will learn harsh truths about love, faith, courage, desire and guilt, and how chance can change our worlds irretrievably, forever.

Director: Alejandro González Iñárritu
Starring: Sean Penn, Naomi Watts, Benicio Del Toro



Memento (2000)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0209144/

8.6/10 (Top 250: #27)

Tagline: Some memories are best forgotten
Plot outline: A man, suffering from short-term memory loss, uses notes and tattoos to hunt for the man he thinks killed his wife.

Director: Christopher Nolan
Starring: Guy Pearce, Carrie-Anne Moss, Teddy Gammell

At this point Id like to say you need to watch all of Christopher Nolans movies, they are all excellent. 3 out of 6 of his movies are in the IMDB top 250. Quick list (and if you can watch them in this order, you may enjoy the experience more of seeing him develop his craft):

Following (1998 )
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0154506/
7.6/10

Memento as mentioned before (2000)

Insomnia (2002)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0278504/
7.2/10 (Al Pacino, Robbin Williams)

Batman Begins (2005)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0372784/
8.3/10 (Top 250: #95)

The Prestige (2006) as youve already mentioned
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0482571/
8.4/`0 (Top 250: #90)


I know some of the ones Ive just mentioned are hardly hard to find, but just in case Steve isnt aware he needs to catch up on his Nolan viewing



Oldboy (2003)
http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0364569/

8.3/10 (Top 250: #117)

Tagline: 15 years of imprisonment, five days of vengeance
Plot Outline: An average man is kidnapped and imprisoned in a shabby cell for 15 years without explanation. He then is released, equipped with money, a cellphone and expensive clothes. As he strives to explain his imprisonment and get his reveng, he soon finds out that not only his kidnapper has still plans for him, but that those plans will serve as the even worse finale to 15 years of imprisonment.

Director: Chan-wook Park
Starring: Min-sik Choi, Woo-jin Lee


If you like Fear & Loathing you may be interested in Darren Aronokskys work, although it tends to be much darker/grittier...

Pi (1998 )
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0138704/

7.5/10

Tagline: faith in chaos
Plot Outline: A paranoid mathematician searches for a key number that will unlock the universal patterns found in nature.

Starring: Sean Gullette


Requiem for a Dream ( 2000)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0180093/

8.3/10 (Top 250: #63)

Plot Outline: The hopes and dreams of four ambitious people are shattered when their drug addictions begin spiraling out of control.

Starring: Ellen Burstyn, Jared Leto, Jennifer Connelly, Marlon Wayans


And you may remember Sam mentioning The Fountain (2006) recently:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0414993/




Things to Do in Denver When Youre Dead (1995)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0114660/

6.5/10

Tagline: They can die quickly. They can die slowly. But they must die!
Plot Outline: Five different criminals face imminent death after botching a job quite badly.

Director: Gary Fleder
Starring: Andy Garcia, Christopher Walken, Steve Buscemi


The Insider (1999)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0140352/

7.9/10

Tagline: Warning: Exposing the Truth May Be Hazardous
Plot Outline: A research chemist comes under personal and professional attack when he decides to appear in a "60 Minutes" expose on Big Tobacco.

Director: Michael Mann
Starring: Al Pacino, Russell Crowe


Wildcard classic 80s comedy.....

Trading Places (1983)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086465/

7.3/10

Tagline: Theyre not just getting rich... Theyre getting even.
Plot Outline: A snobbish investor and a wily street con artist find their positions reversed as part of a bet by two callous millionaires.

Director: John Landis
Starring: Dan Aykroyd, Eddie Murphy


Twelve Monkeys (1995)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0114746/

8.0/10 (Top 250: #194)

Tagline: The future is history
Plot Outline: In a future world devastated by disease, a convict is sent back in time to gather information about the man-made virus that wiped out most of the human population on the planet.

Director: Terry Gilliam
Starring: Bruce Willis, Madeleine Stowe


The following from Terry Gilliam is also very good:

Brazil (1985)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088846/

8.0/10

Tagline: Tagline: Its only a state of mind.
Plot Outline: A bureaucrat in a retro-future world tries to correct an administrative error and himself becomes an enemy of the state.

Starring: Robert De Niro, Bob Hoskins, Michael Palin



And finally...

Very Bad Things (1995)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0124198/

5.8/10

Tagline: For boys who should know better...
Plot Outline: A prostitute is killed during a bachelor party and the attendees turn on each other as the wedding approaches.

Director: Peter Berg
Starring: Jon Favreau, Leland Orser, Cameron Diaz, Christian Slater, Jeremy Piven


Ive never understood Very Bad Things low rating, I think its one of the best black comedies out there, so Id suggest screw the rating and watch it because I loved it.



See what you think of those... Ive focused on Drame, Crime, Sci Fi, Black Comedies, but if you like those then Ill recommend some others out the 500 remain I have

good stuff guys

Quote from: M3ta7h3ad

how are they hardly known?!

Constantine was a cinema hit. Boondock saints is a famous as the big labowski. lol.

If you dont see the difference between boondock and films that had big ratings at the cinema then Im not sure what else to say...

Hopefully most of the other readers of the forums will understand.

Go ask 10 people if theyve heard of the Boondock saints and I bet most havent seen of it.  The Big Lebowski wouldnt be a terrible suggestion for this thread actually in much the same way as Clockwork Orange, Fear and Loathing, etc would work.  Personally, Id say those are a little too successful/well-known but theyre on the right lines of what Im looking for.

While you may indeed be a guru of films, I suspect a lot of people on here dont tend to hear about films that didnt get released at the cinema or have big studio/advertisement backing.  I dont believe describing the ones above as hardly known is an unfair statement tbh.


Off the top of my head - more general known ones would be:
 * Battle Royale
 * The Cube
 * Taxi
 * The Prestige (that probably is too well known)


This isnt a challenge to find the most obscure film in the universe.  Its to suggest slightly unusual alternatives for people to check out.

Seems others in here are of the opinion that people are giving quite common film names. Was just an observation after all.

If The Cube interests you, then check out: The Cube 2: Hypercube.

Shooting Fish... or is that too well known?

Hero (2002)
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0299977/
(This will either bore you to death or amaze you)

Thats an awesome film, I love the thing with the different colours.

Trailer Park Boys

Set in a separate storyline not related to the "Trailer Park Boys" Television show, but with the same lovable characters. The boys get arrested for robbing an ATM machine and spend 18 months in jail. When the get out, they decide to pull off "The Big Dirty" which is to steal a large amount of coins because they are untraceable and quit their life of crime forever.

Hotel Rwanda

A true story of a man who fought impossible odds to save everyone he could and created a place where hope survived.

Lady in the Water

Cleveland Heep, a stuttering apartment superintendent, encounters a girl named Story swimming in the complexs pool. He soon learns that she comes from the Blue World, and has a message for mankind. Will he be able to help her complete her mission?

Bear posted about this one ages ago. Its a hate it or love it one.

I thought this thread was for Hardly Known films  :shock:

Goodbye Lenin
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0301357/

The film is set in the East Berlin of 1989 . Alexander Kerners mother, Christiane Kerner, an ardent supporter of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany, suffers a heart attack when she sees Alex being arrested in an anti-government demonstration and falls into a coma shortly before the fall of the Berlin Wall. After eight months she awakes, but is severely weakened both physically and mentally, and doctors say that any shock may cause another, possibly fatal, attack. Alex realises that her discovery of recent events would be too much for her to bear, and so sets out to maintain the illusion that things are as normal in the German Democratic Republic. To this end, he and his family revert the flat to its previous drab decor, dress in their old clothes, and feed the bed-ridden Christiane new, Western produce from old labeled jars. For a time the deception works, but gradually becomes increasingly complicated and elaborate.

seconded, brilliant story, sad yet hilarious at the same time.

Reign Over Me anyone?

Ive not seen it being mentioned much, definitly worth a watch with Adam Sandler and Don Cheadle.

Zwartboek (Black Book) is another one to watch, a brilliant story of the Dutch underground resistance during WW2 and a story of betrayal, loyalty and love.

Soldaat van Oranje (Soldier Of Orange) is along the same lines, another must see