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This compilation explores a variety of amazing films that, for one reason or another, most audiences missed. Discover the compelling stories and brilliant performances you've been missing out on.
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00:00Now, I know what you're thinking. You're prepared to look at this list and go,
00:02Josh, who do you think I am? Don't you presume to know what I have and have not seen?
00:08With the following picks, I really have tried to dish out gems that the majority definitely wouldn't have seen.
00:13I mean, hell, there's one on here that made $6,000 at the box office.
00:18So, with that in mind, I'm Josh.
00:20I'm Ewan.
00:21And I'm Ellie with What Culture?
00:22These are awesome films you've probably never seen.
00:25Bug.
00:26Like a lot of the biggest directors of the 1970s, William Friedkin's more recent work has kind of fallen under
00:32the radar.
00:33That's a shame, though, as The Exorcist director has continued to deliver button-pushing work that's kept up with the
00:39times.
00:39Case in point, Bug, a hugely underrated and totally unhinged psychological thriller from the late 2000s.
00:46Dripping with anxious intensity, Bug follows the meeting and subsequent infatuation of two lost souls,
00:52played by Ashley Judd and Michael Shannon.
00:54Judd's character Agnes takes to Shannon's Peter, as the two form a close bond.
00:58The thing is, Peter himself is a little bit, let's say, traumatized.
01:03Convinced that the army is following him and trying to capture him and take him back to experiment on.
01:08He says he's infested with bugs, something the audience nor Agnes initially ever see.
01:13As the pair fall into this delusion together, though, the mania starts as the paranoia threatens to consume everything.
01:20The two leads are incredibly committed to the material and manage to elevate the somewhat goofy premise.
01:25It is something genuinely unsettling.
01:28It's great stuff.
01:30Regeneration.
01:31Adapted from Pat Barker's brilliant novel of the same name, Regeneration is a very different,
01:36but no less harrowing kind of war movie, focusing on the mental toll of the conflict for those involved.
01:42Also, a great play, the more you know.
01:44The plot centers on several British Army officers brought together at Craig Lockhart War Hospital,
01:50where soldiers were treated for shell shock and other traumas linked to their experiences on the front lines of the
01:55Western Front.
01:56Blending fact with fiction, the psychiatric facility is home to real-life patients and famous poets like Siegfried Sassoon and
02:04Wilfred Owen,
02:05as well as several other characters created as part of the story.
02:08The always brilliant Jonathan Price takes center stage as the real-life Captain William Rivers,
02:14the doctor and psychiatrist tasked with rehabilitating these poor young men.
02:19James Wilby shines as soon, while Johnny Lee Miller delivers an impressive early performance in a supporting role.
02:26Escaping indictment of the war and the treatment of countless young men who fought in it,
02:30Regeneration isn't always an easy watch, but it remains a compelling and emotive one
02:36that serves as a reminder of the power of poetry and the futility of conflict.
02:41Girl Fight
02:42The likes of Best in Show and Bring It On may have parodied the tropes of sports competition movies,
02:48but that doesn't mean that 2000 wasn't capable of bringing us a gripping, serious drama about fighting
02:54and overcoming obstacles both in and out of the boxing ring.
02:57While it follows the classic boxing movie story of the sport allowing an avenue for a troubled
03:02and violent young person to find a productive outlet for their desire to lash out and punch things,
03:07Karin Kusama's Girl Fight shakes things up by making its boxing hero a teenage girl,
03:12giving her a load of additional hurdles and expectations to overcome.
03:16Kusama's secret weapon is her leading lady, with the director insistent on casting a Latina actress
03:22as the troubled Brooklynite at the heart of Girl Fight and finding professional actors too pampered
03:27and polished, Kusama turned to Michelle Rodriguez, who had no real experience in either acting or boxing.
03:33Rodriguez's performance is sensational and the real reason for seeing this film.
03:38She is magnetic, seething with aggression, determination and dynamism.
03:42The role made Rodriguez Hollywood's go-to tough girl,
03:46immediately landing her apart in The Fast and the Furious,
03:48but she has still never been better than she was here.
03:51Machete Kills
03:52Robert Rodriguez writes, scores, edits and shoots his own films,
03:56so you're always seeing one man's vision as opposed to a film made by committee.
04:01You might care for that, or you might not,
04:02but if you don't, at least have the courtesy to not give him greed for it
04:05in a world where Transformers Age of Extinction exists.
04:09This sequel to 2010's Machete has the same mission as every Rodriguez film,
04:13it just wants to give you a good time.
04:15Alas, the simple act of enjoying Danny Trejo indulge in a spot of murder
04:19didn't resonate with audiences at the time,
04:22and as a result, Machete Kills has one of the worst theatrical openings ever.
04:26Which is a shame, because there's a ton of crazy stuff to enjoy here.
04:29You've got machine gun bras, you've got a hitman who disguises himself as
04:33Walden Goggins, Lady Gaga, Antonio Banderas and more,
04:37and it's more fun than Robert Rodriguez's Sin City sequel, so check it out.
04:41Johnny Got His Gun
04:42Written and directed by James Dalton Trumbo,
04:45the screenwriter behind Spartacus,
04:47who was blacklisted in Hollywood after refusing to testify
04:50to the House of Un-American Activities Committee
04:53during the McCarthy-era communist witch hunts of the 1940s and 50s,
04:57Johnny Got His Gun is a film you've probably seen in bits
05:00without even realizing it,
05:02as it featured heavily in the video to the classic Metallica track,
05:05One, which is a banger.
05:07As powerful and unflinching an anti-war film as you are ever likely to find,
05:12Johnny Got His Gun told the story of Joe, played by Timothy Bottoms,
05:15a soldier who, after being hit by an artillery shell in World War I,
05:20wakes to find himself a quadruple amputee who has lost his eyes, ears, mouth and nose.
05:27Trapped inside his body with only the memories of his former life for company,
05:31Joe forms a bond with a sympathetic nurse who he hopes will end his living nightmare.
05:36Johnny Got His Gun is ultimately a grim, unrelenting warning of the dangers of war,
05:42and it's also notable for featuring an appearance from Donald Sutherland as Jesus,
05:46so it has that going for it too.
05:48Joint Security Area
05:50This 2000 mystery thriller was the breakthrough movie
05:53for one of the new Korean cinema movement's most distinctive voices,
05:57Vengeance Trilogy Helmer Park Chang-wook.
06:00A whodunit set in one of the most politically volatile spots on Earth,
06:04Joint Security Area sees Lee Young A, Park's Lady Vengeance,
06:08as the neutral Swiss investigator having to make sense of the divergent stories
06:12on different sides when a North Korean border guard is shot within a demilitarized zone
06:17between North and South Korea.
06:19Compared to the wild genre-bending of the director's later work,
06:23Joint Security Area is a fairly conventional mystery-solving exercise,
06:27but one that is expertly directed with real suspense
06:30and the feeling that the slightest misstep doesn't just mean failing to solve the puzzle,
06:34but also causing a major international incident.
06:37Joint Security Area was the biggest film ever at the Korean box office at the time.
06:41It deserves to be seen just as much by audiences in the rest of the world as well.
06:46Blue Jay
06:46We all have that one person from our past that we just occasionally think about, don't we?
06:52Whether it was a high school sweetheart we never quite got over,
06:54or that friendship that was a little more than a friendship,
06:57though never quite blossomed into a fuller relationship for whatever reason,
07:00there's always somewhat.
07:02Blue Jay is a movie about that connection,
07:04and what happens when two people reconnect years later,
07:07all grown up and more world-weary.
07:09Headed up by the always brilliant Sarah Paulson and Mark Duplass,
07:12Blue Jay is a low-key movie focused mostly on one night shared between these former lovers.
07:18The specific pains of reconnection are all brilliantly captured here though.
07:21The wistfulness of trying to relive your youth combined with the reality that that kind of
07:25living just isn't sustainable after years of being ground down by real life.
07:30The drama is tender, the chemistry is great,
07:32and if you're a fan of mumblecore-esque romantic dramas,
07:34then you absolutely need to give Blue Jay a chance.
07:38And at the time of recording, you can find it on Netflix.
07:41Tigerland
07:41People who only know Joel Schumacher as the man who ruined Batman are really missing out.
07:46Not only on the hyper-stylized 80s movies that made his name,
07:50but also on a brief post-Batman-and-Robin career renaissance as a director of relatively
07:55restrained dramatic movies.
07:57Tigerland was the last stopping point for US infantrymen before shipping out to Vietnam,
08:02a training camp in Louisiana,
08:04whose humid climate was supposed to replicate the environmental conditions of Southeast Asia.
08:09In Tigerland the movie, Colin Farrell plays a rebellious drafted soldier newly arrived at the camp,
08:15and desperate to do what he can to get kicked out.
08:17Unfortunately, his ability to think for himself sees him flagged up as a potential leader instead.
08:23The movie doesn't break any particular new ground as a story of the dehumanizing process
08:27that turns individuals into soldiers,
08:29but Schumacher brought a gritty, grainy documentary feel
08:32a million miles from his high-camp Batman,
08:35which makes for a well-crafted movie.
08:38Meanwhile, the then-unknown Farrell marked himself out as one to watch with a performance
08:42that is charismatic, intense, and engaging.
08:45It may have been a massive box office bomb,
08:47losing virtually all of its $10 million budget,
08:50but Tigerland deserves to be rediscovered today.
08:53The Trench
08:54This little gem of a British war film is well worth a watch,
08:58not least for the fact it features a whole lot of what were then up-and-coming stars.
09:02At the heart of the action is a fresh-faced Daniel Craig as the battle-hardened Sergeant Winter,
09:07the leader of a platoon of fresh-faced young soldiers ill-equipped for fighting in the trenches.
09:13Set on the eve of a massive battle,
09:14much of the focus on the film rests on Paul Nichols' character Billy McFarlane,
09:19a patriotic volunteer torn between fear, restlessness,
09:23and a creeping sense of panic at what lies ahead.
09:26Killeen Murphy, Ben Whishaw, and Danny Dyer all feature on the recruits,
09:29facing almost insurmountable odds too.
09:31Ultimately, The Trench is an emotional portrait of young men facing an unimaginable fate
09:37and serves as a stark reminder of the cruel senselessness that underpinned so much of the First World War.
09:43Cockneys vs. Zombies
09:45Moving swiftly from one genre to another,
09:49if Shaun of the Dead was a quaint British film that just happened to feature walking cadavers,
09:53Cockneys vs. Zombies is its East End cousin.
09:56The ruder, cruder, and decidedly lewder relative
09:59that's more interested in exploding heads than romantic subplots.
10:02When the dead start to rise,
10:04Andy and Terry immediately fear for the safety of Ray,
10:07the grandfather that raised them after their hippie parents
10:10unwisely took on police marksmen with assault rifles.
10:13So, with the end of the world finally here,
10:16they decide to set off on a rescue mission,
10:18little realizing that Ray is safely enclosed
10:20inside of a retirement home with a cache of assault rifles
10:23and some hard-as-nails OAPs.
10:26This is The Walking Dead by way of, like, a BBC comedy.
10:30And your enjoyment will, of course, depend upon watching British TV veterans
10:33portraying octogenarian zombie killers with walking frames and AK-47s.
10:39Gone, a Shaun of the Dead's Crick-O-Batson genre-savvy satire,
10:42and in come big, bold decapitations, loud humor,
10:45plus samurai sword-wielding locksmiths, because why not, I guess?
10:49It ain't subtle, but it certainly is a good time.
10:51Before Night Falls
10:52Most people really became aware of the talents of Javier Bardem
10:56with his chilling performance as the monstrous Anton Chigurh
10:59in the Coen brothers' No Country for Old Men.
11:01Years earlier, however, he had become the first Spaniard
11:04ever nominated for a Best Actor Oscar
11:06with his first English-language role.
11:09If it's remembered today, then it's mostly as the movie with Johnny Depp in drag,
11:13but Before Night Falls has a real great deal more to offer
11:16than the A-listers' attention-grabbing supporting role.
11:20Painter-turned-director Julian Schnabel has made a career
11:22out of innovative and artfully shot true-life stories
11:25of other artists and writers,
11:27and here turned that approach to an impressionistic biopic
11:30of gay Cuban poet Ronaldo Arenas.
11:33The fragmentary narrative leaping back and forth
11:36between the poet's youth, his years in and out of prison
11:38for his sexuality and dying of AIDS in the US,
11:41is held together by Bardem's poignant, romantic,
11:44soulful, central performance.
11:46Despite the Oscar nod, it would take a few more years
11:48for Bardem to become a star in English-language film,
11:51but here his whole incredible acting range is on show.
11:55Joyeux Noël
11:56Four years before Inglourious Bastards,
11:59co-stars Diane Kruger and Daniel Brühl teamed up
12:02for an altogether different kind of war movie.
12:04Joyeux Noël might have come off as corny
12:07or overly sentimental in the wrong hands,
12:09but French director Christian Carrion does a dev job
12:13of imbuing a well-known story with poignancy.
12:16It's a quietly powerful watching experience,
12:19celebrating an extraordinary moment in history and humankind
12:23when numerous sections of the Western Front
12:25called an informal and unauthorized truce to mark Christmas.
12:28Soldiers from the French, British, and German armies
12:31came together in No Man's Land for a December 25th
12:35with a difference.
12:36A rare moment of peace and goodwill
12:37to contrast the fighting that came before and after,
12:41it's a sensitively rendered experience
12:43that offers a fascinating dramatized glimpse
12:45of what unfolded over those magical hours.
12:48On one level, Joyeux Noël is a Christmas film,
12:51but that fails to do justice to the movie's wider themes
12:54around the celebration of human resilience
12:55and the common traits that exist between people of all nations.
13:00Sing Street
13:00I'm always a little bit trepidatious
13:03when people recommend a modern musical.
13:05It's not that I hate the genre or anything.
13:07I mean, I've loved stuff like La La Land
13:09and by all accounts, West Side Story's remake absolutely bangs,
13:13but there's just so much guff in there
13:15that the odds of finding a gem aren't always in your favor.
13:18So with that in mind, please trust me when I say
13:20that Sing Street, an overlooked gem set in Dublin,
13:23is absolutely worth your time.
13:25With a great coming-of-age story
13:27and charming infectious tunes,
13:29it's the kind of feel-good hidden film
13:31that you'll be telling everyone about after you see it.
13:34The premise is simple.
13:35It's 1985 and Connor has been forced to move school
13:38and to offset his home life falling apart.
13:41He decides to start a band
13:42in order to get closer to the girl he fancies
13:44and hopefully prove himself to be more cool
13:47in the eyes of his new classmates.
13:49Where the true charm comes from though
13:51is Connor's band figuring out
13:52what kind of music they actually want to make.
13:55We've all had phases in our lives where we discover
13:57a new band or genre
13:59and then that just becomes our life.
14:02And that's reflected great in the music here
14:04as Connor attempts to imitate his heroes,
14:06often to hilarious results.
14:08As a coming-of-age tale,
14:09it's full of personality
14:10and as a musical,
14:12it'll have your toe tapping.
14:13Package it up in a nostalgic throwback
14:15that cycles through genres
14:16and even successfully parodies them
14:18and Sing Street is far more memorable
14:20than may initially appear.
14:21Gangster No. 1
14:23With the likes of Snatch and Sexy Beast,
14:252000 was very much the peak
14:27of the post-Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels era
14:30of British gangster film.
14:32This punchy retro example of the genre
14:34may have only made a matter of tens of thousands
14:36in the box office,
14:37but is deserving of mention
14:39in the same breath as those bigger hitters.
14:41Adapted from a play by Sexy Beast writers
14:43Louis Mellis and David Sinto,
14:45Gangster No. 1 is the story
14:47of the rise of a gangster
14:48in swinging 60s London.
14:50Framed by a present-day narrative
14:52of the gangster learning
14:53of his former mentor-turned-rivals
14:55released from prison.
14:56Former photographer Paul McGuigan,
14:58these days best known for his work
15:00as director on TV shows like Sherlock,
15:02makes this a slick, visually stylish
15:04and brutally violent genre exercise.
15:07But the movie is chiefly worth revisiting
15:09for the twin central performances
15:11as the titular gangster
15:13across the movie's two time periods.
15:15As the ageing crime lord version,
15:17Malcolm McDowell is in full
15:19clockwork orange unhinged psycho mode.
15:21But it is Paul Bettany
15:23as his younger self
15:24who really steals the show.
15:25A chillingly vicious,
15:27cold-hearted,
15:28ambitious sociopath,
15:30Bettany's gangster is every bit
15:31as compellingly monstrous
15:33as any of the gangster movie greats.
15:35See You Up There
15:37Arguably one of the most underrated
15:39or at least underseen
15:40World War 1 movies ever made,
15:42See You Up There earned rave reviews
15:44upon its release in 2017
15:46and it's not difficult to see why,
15:49with filmmaker Albert Dupontel
15:50delivering a film of searing originality
15:53and bold inventiveness.
15:55Set in the final days of the Great War
15:57and over the two years that followed,
15:59the film opens with a blistering
16:01wartime action scene.
16:02Sent off on one final futile charge
16:04in the enemy lines
16:05against a harrowing backdrop
16:06of bombs, blood, guts
16:08and artillery fire,
16:10a pair of French soldiers
16:12find their lives intrinsically linked
16:14after one saves the other
16:15from certain death,
16:16only to then suffer
16:18a life-altering disfigurement
16:19in the process.
16:21Bound together by fate
16:22and assumed dead
16:23by their loved ones,
16:24the pair decide to take revenge
16:26on a society they believe
16:27has more sympathy
16:28of its war dead
16:29than its war living.
16:31They hit upon a scam
16:32to sell monuments
16:33to invented war heroes
16:35across every city
16:36and village in France,
16:37only to then pocket
16:38the commission
16:39without delivering
16:40a single statue or plinth.
16:42Based on Pierre Lemaitre's novel
16:44The Great Swindle,
16:45See You Up There delivers
16:46a stunningly realistic portrait
16:48of the war's final days
16:49as part of a film
16:50that pulls no punches,
16:52blending dark themes
16:53with jet black humour
16:54for an effective end result.
16:56Brawl in Cell Block 99
16:58Have you ever been sat down
16:59and thought,
17:00you know what,
17:01I really wouldn't mind right now
17:02seeing Vince Vaughn
17:03just kick someone's head in?
17:05Well, buddy,
17:06have I got the movie for you.
17:08Brought to you
17:08by the director
17:09responsible for the brutal,
17:10incredible Bourne Tomahawk,
17:12Brawl in Cell Block 99
17:13completely transformed
17:14the aforementioned Vaughn's image.
17:17While already having
17:17a few dramatic roles
17:18under his belt,
17:19similar to, say,
17:20Adam Sandler,
17:21Vaughn is decidedly known more
17:23for his comedic work.
17:24So, to see him bald
17:26and beefed up in this,
17:27absolutely smoking fools
17:29in some of the most
17:29grossly violent action scenes
17:31in recent memory,
17:32sure is a shock.
17:34Fortunately,
17:35the movie itself
17:35is more than this gimmick.
17:37Following Vaughn's Bradley Thomas,
17:38a crook who finds himself
17:40inside a jail cell
17:41with some very angry
17:42and very dangerous people
17:44breathing down his neck.
17:45It's brainless ultraviolence
17:47in a lot of ways,
17:47but hey,
17:48sometimes that's all you need.
17:49In the Mood for Love
17:50Once declared by the BBC
17:52the second greatest film
17:54of the entire 21st century,
17:56Wong Kar-wai's 1960s set
17:58Hong Kong romantic drama
18:00certainly isn't underrated
18:02in terms of its reputation
18:03amongst professional film critics,
18:05but it remains underseen
18:06when it comes to
18:07wider movie audiences.
18:09The story of neighbours
18:10who begin to suspect
18:11that their spouses
18:12are having an affair
18:13with each other
18:13and so form a connection
18:15of their own,
18:16In the Mood for Love
18:17is a heartbreaking story
18:18of love, yearning, regret
18:20and missed opportunity.
18:22Beautifully shot
18:22in saturated reds,
18:24deep shadows
18:24and wisps of noirish cigarette smoke,
18:27In the Mood for Love
18:27has a classical
18:28old school elegance.
18:30Like many of the best
18:31tragically unfulfilled romances,
18:33this is a story
18:34as much about the things unsaid
18:35than what actually occurs
18:37with the cheating spouses,
18:38never seen
18:39but casting a huge shadow
18:41over everything that happens.
18:42Perhaps if more people saw it,
18:44then they too would consider
18:45In the Mood for Love
18:46as one of the defining classics
18:48of our current century.
18:49Ace is High
18:50Five years on
18:51from A Clockwork Orange,
18:53Malcolm McDowell
18:54delivered another brilliant turn
18:55in this intelligent reworking
18:57of R.C. Sheriff's
18:58classic World War I play,
19:00Journey's End.
19:01Filmmaker Jack Gold
19:02transfers the action
19:03from the play's
19:04original setting
19:04in the trenches
19:05to the skies
19:06over the ensuing conflict
19:07and for what remains
19:08a meditation
19:09on the horrors of war
19:11and the humanity lost
19:12as a result.
19:12Ace is High
19:13sees McDowell's star
19:15as Major Gresham,
19:16a Daredevil fighter pilot
19:17overseeing a squadron
19:18of young recruits
19:19facing the insurmountable odds
19:21those involved in aerial conflict
19:23faced at the time.
19:24Gresham's situation
19:25is soon changed, however,
19:27when former acquaintance
19:28Lieutenant Croft,
19:29Peter Firth,
19:30joins his ranks.
19:31The connection between the two
19:32is that Croft attended Eton
19:34a few years below Gresham
19:35and idolized him
19:37as something of a hero.
19:39But that image
19:40is soon changed
19:41when he witnesses firsthand
19:42and the changes brought about
19:43in Gresham's behaviour
19:44as a result of his death-defying
19:46antics in the skies.
19:48Ace is High
19:49is one of the most underrated
19:50war films of the 1970s,
19:52unique for being
19:53bogged and exhilarating
19:54all-action film
19:55as well as a heartfelt
19:56and harrowing drama.
19:58It also boasts
19:58a stellar cast
19:59that includes
20:00amongst its ranks
20:01Christopher Plummer.
20:02So, yeah,
20:03definitely watch this one.
20:04It's really good.
20:05Rogue
20:06Rogue is Greg McLean's
20:08follow-up to Wolf Creek.
20:09And if you've never heard of it,
20:10don't worry.
20:11That's because Dimension Films
20:13released the movie
20:13in only 10 cinemas
20:15before burying it on DVD.
20:17It's hard to fathom
20:18their lack of faith
20:19in the film though
20:19because not only
20:21is there a solid cast
20:22of up-and-coming
20:23Australian actors
20:24including Sam Worthington,
20:25Radha Mitchell
20:26and Mia Wasikowska,
20:28but it's also
20:28a decent creature feature
20:30in its own right.
20:31There's the usual group
20:32of tourists stranded
20:33on an island
20:33with the tide rising
20:34and darkness creeping in,
20:36but the arrival
20:36of an enormous crocodile
20:38rules out
20:38swimming to safety.
20:40Perhaps Dimension
20:40were mindful of
20:41The Asylum's
20:42cheap creature features
20:43and figured that
20:43people might not pay
20:45to see something
20:45that they could just
20:46watch on television
20:47for free,
20:47but whatever their reasoning,
20:49they definitely passed
20:50on a good movie.
20:51Amores Peros.
20:52Visionary Mexican director
20:54Alejandro González
20:55Inaritu
20:55may have won a pair
20:57of back-to-back
20:57Best Director Oscars
20:58in recent years,
20:59but he has rarely
21:00been better
21:01than the vibrant,
21:02violent world
21:03of his breakthrough
21:04debut feature.
21:05The movie is a
21:06Pulp Fiction-style
21:07triptych of different
21:08stories cutting across
21:09class divides
21:10in Mexico City.
21:11A young man is in love
21:13with his brother's wife
21:14and tries to make the money
21:15to run away with her
21:16through dogfighting.
21:17A model loses her own dog
21:19beneath the floorboards
21:20and destroys her leg
21:21and thus her career
21:22rescuing it.
21:23A vagrant hitman
21:24cares for mongrel dogs
21:25and tries to reconnect
21:26with his daughter.
21:27All of these threads
21:28come literally crashing
21:29together in a car accident
21:31that is the movie's
21:32centerpiece.
21:32Everything is filled
21:34with an intense vibrancy,
21:35savage violence
21:36and emotional intensity.
21:38Inaritu would use
21:39the same multi-stranded
21:41story structure
21:41for his more meditative
21:43follow-up 21 grams,
21:44his English language debut,
21:46but rarely again
21:47would he make anything
21:48with this raw energy.
21:50Tyrell
21:50Tyrell is a movie
21:52that my friends
21:53and colleagues
21:53are absolutely sick
21:55to death of hearing
21:56me recommend to them.
21:57I'll bring this movie
21:58up every single
21:59opportunity I get
22:00without fail,
22:01to the point where
22:02the likes of poor
22:03old Adam Nicholas
22:03are probably never
22:04going to even watch it
22:05just out of mere spite.
22:07So now I come to all you,
22:09the endless audience
22:10of YouTube,
22:11to say please,
22:12please watch this movie.
22:14Now I should probably
22:15explain what it's about
22:16so I can sell you on it
22:17and well,
22:18it's ostensibly about
22:19a man called Tyler
22:20who's on a trip
22:21as a plus one
22:22with his best friend
22:23to see his best friend's
22:24best friends,
22:25people that he
22:26hasn't met before.
22:27He's the only black man
22:29meeting this all-white
22:30group of people
22:31which feeds into
22:32the already awkward
22:33dynamic of being
22:34a friend of a friend
22:35and having to spend
22:35a weekend surrounded
22:37by idiots.
22:38Overall,
22:39it's a great portrait
22:40of male friendships,
22:41long weekends
22:42that overstay their welcome
22:43and just how piss-frightening
22:45the band R.E.M. can be.
22:46It's low-key
22:47and you could argue
22:47that not much happens
22:48but it's a cute depiction
22:50of social anxieties
22:51and how dynamics change
22:52when interacting
22:53with old friends
22:54and the person
22:54you used to be
22:55is pitch perfect.
22:56Jason Mitchell is awesome
22:58in the lead role
22:59while a solid supporting cast
23:00of the best character
23:01actor freaks today
23:03like Caleb Landry-Jones
23:04and Christopher Abbott
23:05make this one
23:06a must-watch.
23:07Shadow of the Vampire
23:09Purporting to show
23:10the true behind-the-scenes
23:11story of quite what
23:13made F.W. Murnau's
23:14silent vampire horror
23:15Nosferatu such a classic
23:17and it's
23:18ersatz Dracula Count
23:19Orlok such a disturbing
23:21monster,
23:22this bizarre
23:22metafictional
23:23horror comedy
23:24is that rare film
23:25which actually provides
23:26a fresh take
23:27on the endlessly adapted
23:29Dracula character.
23:31Shadow of the Vampire
23:31proposes that the
23:32ultra-demanding Murnau
23:34recruited an actual vampire
23:35to play Orlok
23:36and willingly put the rest
23:38of his cast in harm's way
23:39to get the most convincing
23:41vampire film possible.
23:43Directed by
23:43experimental art house
23:45horror director
23:45and frequent Marilyn Manson
23:47collaborator
23:48E. Elias Merridge
23:49Shadow of the Vampire
23:50is an odd tonal melange
23:52that encompasses
23:52behind-the-scenes satire,
23:54silent movie pastiche
23:56and genuine scares
23:57all helped by some
23:58perfect casting.
24:00John Malkovich is
24:01enjoyably full-on
24:02as the dictatorial Murnau
24:04but it is Willem Dafoe
24:05who is the real star
24:06of the piece
24:07combining a perfect
24:08facsimile of Max Schreck's
24:10original performance
24:11with something eccentric,
24:13disturbing
24:13but also full of pathos.
24:15There has never been
24:16a more engagingly weird movie
24:18about the filmmaking process
24:20and the lengths
24:21that some hauteurs
24:21will go to
24:22for their art.
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