Unusual Favourites
by GuiltyVictim | created - 24 Dec 2013 | updated - 24 Dec 2013 | PublicA list of unusual films that may not have found main stream success, but are definitely worth a watch.
- Instant Watch Options
- Genres
- Movies or TV
- IMDb Rating
- In Theaters
- Release Year
- Keywords
1. Griff the Invisible (2010)
PG-13 | 90 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
Griff, office worker by day, superhero by night, has his world turned upside down when he meets Melody, a beautiful young scientist who shares his passion for the impossible.
Director: Leon Ford | Stars: Ryan Kwanten, Maeve Dermody, Marshall Napier, Patrick Brammall
Votes: 5,027
A socially awkward Griff struggles with bullies all his life, and a family that cannot understand him. Meanwhile an equally awkward Melody sees straight through him, and the two goes on an unusual adventure about reality, destiny and love.
2. Catfish (2010)
PG-13 | 87 min | Documentary, Drama, Mystery
Young filmmakers document their colleague's budding online friendship with a young woman and her family which leads to an unexpected series of discoveries.
Directors: Henry Joost, Ariel Schulman | Stars: Nev Schulman, Ariel Schulman, Henry Joost, Angela Wesselman-Pierce
Votes: 43,734 | Gross: $3.23M
A strange documentary about a guy's unusual friendships with a young gifted artist, her loving mother, and her beautiful sister - over the internet.
3. 3-Iron (2004)
R | 88 min | Crime, Drama, Romance
A transient young man breaks into empty homes to partake of the vacationing residents' lives for a few days.
Director: Kim Ki-duk | Stars: Lee Seung-yun, Jae Hee, Hyuk-ho Kwon, Joo Jin-mo
Votes: 58,234 | Gross: $0.24M
A young man breaks into empty homes to live while the occupants are on vacations. Everything changes when he falls for the wife of an abusive husband.
4. The Science of Sleep (2006)
R | 105 min | Comedy, Drama, Fantasy
A man entranced by his dreams and imagination is love-struck with a French woman and feels he can show her his world.
Director: Michel Gondry | Stars: Gael García Bernal, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Miou-Miou, Alain Chabat
Votes: 70,869 | Gross: $4.66M
Director Michel Gondry returns to the dream world in this quirky film about a young man who struggles to differentiate between the real world and the dream world. No matrix actions involved.
5. Pellet (2000)
88 min | Drama
Alfredo is a kid who begins in a new new school where he makes a friend, Pablo. Alfredo realizes that Pablo is a victim of home abuse by his father, and decides to involve his own family in order to help his friend.
Director: Achero Mañas | Stars: Juan José Ballesta, Pablo Galán, Alberto Jiménez, Manuel Morón
Votes: 6,963
Pellet tries hard to stay disconnected from those around him. However a bond is created between him and his new classmate, and the dark reasons behind his behaviour is gradually unveiled.
This films does an amazing job at showing the reality of the subject matter, and the emotional impact on those it involves.
6. Lost in Translation (2003)
R | 102 min | Comedy, Drama
A faded movie star and a neglected young woman form an unlikely bond after crossing paths in Tokyo.
Director: Sofia Coppola | Stars: Bill Murray, Scarlett Johansson, Giovanni Ribisi, Anna Faris
Votes: 488,053 | Gross: $44.59M
Bill Murray... no wait, Bob Harris, an ageing Hollywood actor is going through a mid-life crisis while working in Japan. He encounters and forms a quick friendship with young Charlotte through their shared sense of emptiness and disconnection with their respective spouses.
7. Lucky Number Slevin (2006)
R | 110 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
A case of mistaken identity lands Slevin into the middle of a war being plotted by two of the city's most rival crime bosses. Under constant surveillance by Detective Brikowski and assassin Goodkat, he must get them before they get him.
Director: Paul McGuigan | Stars: Josh Hartnett, Ben Kingsley, Morgan Freeman, Lucy Liu
Votes: 325,496 | Gross: $22.50M
A stylish thriller about the unlucky Slevin getting caught between the city's two rival crime bosses while visiting his friend to stay. He quickly landed the help from his friend's neighbour who's excited to solve the mystery amidst the danger he's in.
8. The Mist (2007)
R | 126 min | Horror, Sci-Fi, Thriller
A freak storm unleashes a species of bloodthirsty creatures on a small town, where a small band of citizens hole up in a supermarket and fight for their lives.
Director: Frank Darabont | Stars: Thomas Jane, Marcia Gay Harden, Laurie Holden, Andre Braugher
Votes: 339,905 | Gross: $25.59M
A thick mist descents upon a town, bringing with it unearthly creatures that seeks to kill and destroy everything within. A small group of shoppers hole up in a supermarket and tries to find a way out.
A rare creature horror that offers chills.
9. The Adjustment Bureau (2011)
PG-13 | 106 min | Crime, Drama, Mystery
The affair between a politician and a contemporary dancer is affected by mysterious forces keeping the lovers apart.
Director: George Nolfi | Stars: Matt Damon, Emily Blunt, Lisa Thoreson, Florence Kastriner
Votes: 270,019 | Gross: $62.50M
In this oddly charming love film, we see a good hearted politician fighting fate to be with a dancer he felt instantly connected to.
10. Hesher (2010)
R | 106 min | Comedy, Drama
A young boy has lost his mother and is losing touch with his father and the world around him. Then he meets Hesher who manages to make his life even more chaotic.
Director: Spencer Susser | Stars: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Devin Brochu, Natalie Portman, Rainn Wilson
Votes: 54,074 | Gross: $0.38M
11. Four Lions (2010)
R | 97 min | Comedy, Crime, Drama
Four incompetent British terrorists set out to train for and commit an act of terror.
Director: Christopher Morris | Stars: Will Adamsdale, Riz Ahmed, Adeel Akhtar, Kayvan Novak
Votes: 85,223 | Gross: $0.30M
12. Drive (I) (2011)
R | 100 min | Action, Drama
A mysterious Hollywood action film stuntman gets in trouble with gangsters when he tries to help his neighbor's husband rob a pawn shop while serving as his getaway driver.
Director: Nicolas Winding Refn | Stars: Ryan Gosling, Carey Mulligan, Bryan Cranston, Albert Brooks
Votes: 703,702 | Gross: $35.06M
13. The Machinist (2004)
R | 101 min | Drama, Thriller
An industrial worker who hasn't slept in a year begins to doubt his own sanity.
Director: Brad Anderson | Stars: Christian Bale, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Aitana Sánchez-Gijón, John Sharian
Votes: 415,188 | Gross: $1.08M
14. Cube (1997)
R | 90 min | Horror, Mystery, Sci-Fi
A group of strangers awaken to find themselves placed in a giant cube. Each one of them is gifted with a special skill and they must work together to escape an endless maze of deadly traps.
Director: Vincenzo Natali | Stars: Nicole de Boer, Maurice Dean Wint, David Hewlett, Andrew Miller
Votes: 247,459 | Gross: $0.50M
15. Blue Valentine (2010)
R | 112 min | Drama, Romance
The relationship of a contemporary married couple, charting their evolution over a span of years by cross-cutting between time periods.
Director: Derek Cianfrance | Stars: Ryan Gosling, Michelle Williams, John Doman, Faith Wladyka
Votes: 211,191 | Gross: $9.74M
16. Happy-Go-Lucky (2008)
R | 118 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
A look at a few chapters in the life of Poppy, a cheery, colorful, North London schoolteacher whose optimism tends to exasperate those around her.
Director: Mike Leigh | Stars: Sally Hawkins, Alexis Zegerman, Samuel Roukin, Elliot Cowan
Votes: 41,046 | Gross: $3.49M
17. Big Fish (2003)
PG-13 | 125 min | Adventure, Drama, Fantasy
A frustrated son tries to determine the fact from fiction in his dying father's life.
Director: Tim Burton | Stars: Ewan McGregor, Albert Finney, Billy Crudup, Jessica Lange
Votes: 458,637 | Gross: $66.26M
18. In Bruges (2008)
R | 107 min | Comedy, Crime, Drama
After a job gone wrong, hitman Ray and his partner await orders from their ruthless boss in Bruges, Belgium, the last place in the world Ray wants to be.
Director: Martin McDonagh | Stars: Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleeson, Ciarán Hinds, Elizabeth Berrington
Votes: 461,110 | Gross: $7.76M
19. Son of Rambow (2007)
PG-13 | 96 min | Action, Adventure, Comedy
During a long English summer in the early 1980s, two schoolboys from differing backgrounds set out to make a film inspired by First Blood (1982).
Director: Garth Jennings | Stars: Bill Milner, Will Poulter, Jessica Hynes, Anna Wing
Votes: 32,963 | Gross: $1.78M
20. I Heart Huckabees (2004)
R | 107 min | Comedy
A husband-and-wife team play detective, but not in the traditional sense. Instead, the happy duo helps others solve their existential issues, the kind that keep you up at night, wondering what it all means.
Director: David O. Russell | Stars: Jason Schwartzman, Jude Law, Naomi Watts, Mark Wahlberg
Votes: 66,256 | Gross: $12.78M
21. Brother (I) (2000)
R | 114 min | Crime, Drama, Thriller
A Japanese gangster is exiled to Los Angeles where his brother lives with a small but respectable multi-racial gang, who he inspires to expand their influence.
Director: Takeshi Kitano | Stars: Takeshi Kitano, Claude Maki, Omar Epps, Masaya Katô
Votes: 24,367 | Gross: $0.45M
22. Brazil (1985)
R | 132 min | Drama, Sci-Fi, Thriller
A bureaucrat in a dystopic society becomes an enemy of the state as he pursues the woman of his dreams.
Director: Terry Gilliam | Stars: Jonathan Pryce, Kim Greist, Robert De Niro, Katherine Helmond
Votes: 211,093 | Gross: $9.93M
23. Submarine (2010)
R | 97 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
15-year-old Oliver Tate has two objectives: to lose his virginity before his next birthday, and to extinguish the flame between his mother and an ex-lover who has resurfaced in her life.
Director: Richard Ayoade | Stars: Craig Roberts, Sally Hawkins, Paddy Considine, Noah Taylor
Votes: 96,468 | Gross: $0.47M
24. The Iron Giant (1999)
PG | 86 min | Animation, Action, Adventure
A young boy befriends a giant robot from outer space that a paranoid government agent wants to destroy.
Director: Brad Bird | Stars: Eli Marienthal, Harry Connick Jr., Jennifer Aniston, Vin Diesel
Votes: 227,058 | Gross: $23.16M
25. Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998)
R | 107 min | Action, Comedy, Crime
Eddy persuades his three pals to pool money for a vital poker game against a powerful local mobster, Hatchet Harry. Eddy loses, after which Harry gives him a week to pay back 500,000 pounds.
Director: Guy Ritchie | Stars: Jason Flemyng, Dexter Fletcher, Nick Moran, Jason Statham
Votes: 615,801 | Gross: $3.90M
26. Léon: The Professional (1994)
R | 110 min | Action, Crime, Drama
12-year-old Mathilda is reluctantly taken in by Léon, a professional assassin, after her family is murdered. An unusual relationship forms as she becomes his protégée and learns the assassin's trade.
Director: Luc Besson | Stars: Jean Reno, Gary Oldman, Natalie Portman, Danny Aiello
Votes: 1,244,223 | Gross: $19.50M
27. Sliding Doors (1998)
PG-13 | 99 min | Comedy, Drama, Fantasy
After personal and professional setbacks, a woman experiences an alternate reality.
Director: Peter Howitt | Stars: Gwyneth Paltrow, John Hannah, John Lynch, Jeanne Tripplehorn
Votes: 71,454 | Gross: $11.88M
28. The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004)
R | 119 min | Action, Adventure, Comedy
With a plan to exact revenge on a legendary shark that killed his partner, oceanographer Steve Zissou (Bill Murray) rallies a crew that includes his estranged wife, a journalist, and a man who may or may not be his son.
Director: Wes Anderson | Stars: Bill Murray, Owen Wilson, Anjelica Huston, Cate Blanchett
Votes: 210,819 | Gross: $24.01M
Tell Your Friends