The Wonderful Unloved
Movies rated less than 6.0 on the IMDb which are wonderful. (<6.0 at the time of writing, lets move them up people!)
Wonder here I use both in the sense of bringing surprised joy (some of the films below are simply wonderful) and in the sense that James Ellroy defined it as term in his early novel "Clandestine", and which is found in profusion in his later novels, particularly the famous LA quartet. Wonder which is an ecstatic fascination with the extent of the depravity of others.
I list Cremaster 1 here separately from the other movies in the Cycle as it is the only one blow 6.0. In various other lists of mine the Cremaster Cycle is listed as a whole. La Peste is listed here, the last time I watched it was 25 or so years ago, and I would love to be able to see it again; due to time elapsed it does not figure in my main favourites list; please can we have a restoration!
Graduated above 5.9 since I started: Water Wrackets (1975 - Peter Greenaway)
Wonder here I use both in the sense of bringing surprised joy (some of the films below are simply wonderful) and in the sense that James Ellroy defined it as term in his early novel "Clandestine", and which is found in profusion in his later novels, particularly the famous LA quartet. Wonder which is an ecstatic fascination with the extent of the depravity of others.
I list Cremaster 1 here separately from the other movies in the Cycle as it is the only one blow 6.0. In various other lists of mine the Cremaster Cycle is listed as a whole. La Peste is listed here, the last time I watched it was 25 or so years ago, and I would love to be able to see it again; due to time elapsed it does not figure in my main favourites list; please can we have a restoration!
Graduated above 5.9 since I started: Water Wrackets (1975 - Peter Greenaway)
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- DirectorLarry JordanAn experimental short from Larry Jordan in which a horse rider and gymnast are filmed.
- DirectorBryan ForbesStarsMichael CaineGiovanna RalliEric PortmanCat burglar Henry Clarke and his accomplices, the Moreaus, attempt to steal diamonds from the château of millionaire Salinas. However, Henry's partners in crime aren't the most emotionally stable people.
- DirectorAngela SchanelecStarsAliocha SchneiderAgathe BonitzerMarisha TriantafyllidouAbandoned as a baby, Jon finds himself in prison on a manslaughter charge. He falls in love with prison guard Iro, unaware of their fateful connection.
- DirectorBrady CorbetStarsNatalie PortmanJude LawStacy MartinAn unusual set of circumstances brings unexpected success to a pop star.
- DirectorJazmín LópezStarsJulia VolpatoPablo SigalMacarena del CorroFive young people are involved in a serious car accident that leaves four of them dead. Isabel, the youngest, is the only survivor and helps her four friends realize they have passed on.
- DirectorPanos CosmatosStarsEva BourneMichael J RogersScott HylandsDespite being under heavy sedation, a young woman tries to make her way out of the Arboria Institute, a secluded, quasifuturistic commune.
- DirectorSteven ArnoldStarsRuth WeissAn experimental short film by Steven Arnold in which manikins in a department store come to life.
- DirectorOlivier AssayasStarsConnie NielsenGina GershonChloë SevignyA French corporation goes head-to-head with an American web media company for the rights to a 3-D manga pornography studio, resulting in a power struggle that culminates in violence and espionage.
- DirectorMichael MannStarsScott GlennIan McKellenAlberta WatsonNazis are forced to turn to a Jewish historian for help in battling the ancient demon they have inadvertently freed from its prison.
- DirectorJohn BoormanStarsSean ConneryCharlotte RamplingSara KestelmanIn the late 23rd century, a savage trained only to kill finds a way into the community of bored immortals that alone preserves humanity's achievements.
- DirectorLewis KlahrA feature-length animated collage in six episodes, Circumstantial Pleasures is a dazzlingly upcycled treasure trove of found materials. Utilizing a variety of surprising techniques-from cut-out and stop-motion to live-action-Lewis Klahr crafts an indignant mosaic of late-capitalist iconography.
- DirectorPatrick ConradStarsCharlotte RamplingMichael SarrazinDerek de LintTranssexual murders being investigated by the man who committed thema police detective.
- DirectorAdolfo ArrietaStarsAnne WiazemskyAdolfo ArrietaXavier GrandèsIn the Monkey Island, populated by men and frog women, spies covet sacred frogs.
- DirectorDave FleischerMyron WaldmanStarsJack MercerA short film about a mother and her son, she teaches him life skills later on the son gets niked by a man so the young donkey can be his work slave and his mother saves him.
- DirectorJesús FrancoStarsDiana LorysPaul MullerJack TaylorTwo exotic dancers embark on a erotic friendship which takes a turn when one of them begins having recurring nightmares of her killing people in which the line between realty and fantasy begins to blur to the most extreme.
- DirectorAndrew DominikStarsAna de ArmasLily FisherJulianne NicholsonThe story of American actress Marilyn Monroe, covering her love and professional lives.
- DirectorHenrik HellströmFredrik WenzelStarsSebastian EklundJörgen SvenssonHannes SandahlAn eleven-year-old boy observes his neighborhood as its surface orderliness rots away.
- DirectorLukas FeigelfeldStarsAleksandra CwenCelina PeterClaudia MartiniAfter the loss of her tormented mother, the erratic behavior of a 15th century woman living in an isolated mountain village becomes a threat to the safety of her infant child.
- DirectorJean RollinStarsBrigitte LahaieAlain DuclosDominique JournetFuturistic asylum residents in a skyscraper suffer insanity, amnesia. Blank-eyed inmates roam halls of "Black Tower" as tension escalates and bodies pile up.
- DirectorHenry JaglomStarsMichael EmilKaren BlackMichael MargottaZee is walking up and down Manhattan streets, talking to herself and to the husband who has just left her. At a sidewalk café she runs into Eli. A very unlikely, funny and touching relationship develops between two lost souls in the big city, which is the third major character in this film.
- DirectorOz PerkinsStarsRuth WilsonPaula PrentissBob BalabanA young nurse takes care of an elderly author who lives in a haunted house.
- DirectorWhit StillmanStarsGreta GerwigAdam BrodyLio TiptonA trio of girls set out to change the male-dominated environment of the Seven Oaks college campus, and to rescue their fellow students from depression, grunge and low standards of every kind.
- DirectorMatthew ChapmanStarsJennifer Jason LeighBrenda VaccaroJack HallettCarol inherits a night club from her weird uncle. She moves into the place, only to find out just how weird her uncle really was. She begins to remember more about her very special relationship with her uncle as she battles her memories and her surroundings in her new home.
- DirectorLuis PuenzoStarsWilliam HurtSandrine BonnaireJean-Marc BarrIn the 1990s, a South American city suffers the outbreak of a plague. The people react in different ways: Dr. Rieux tries to cure the sick, two French journalists expect sensational headlines, pious believers lament this God-given scourge.
- DirectorAlex CoxStarsSy RichardsonJoe StrummerDick RudeA gang of bank robbers with a suitcase full of money go to the desert to hide out. After burying the loot, they find their way to a surreal town full of cowboys who drink an awful lot of coffee. The townspeople are hostile to the outsiders at first, but seem to accept them once they've killed a couple of people. After a while, a mysterious man named Dade arrives, who seems to have unpleasant business to settle with the robbers. A free-for-all shoot-em-up ensues.
- DirectorStephan ElliottStarsEwan McGregorAshley JuddPatrick BerginA private eye shadows a female serial killer of men all over the U.S. without her knowing as he, strangely enough, occasionally acts as her guardian angel.
- DirectorHarmony KorineStarsVanessa HudgensSelena GomezAshley BensonFour college girls hold up a restaurant in order to fund their spring break vacation. While partying, drinking, and taking drugs, they are arrested, only to be bailed out by a drug and arms dealer.
- DirectorMatthew BarneyStarsMarti DominationGemma Bourdon SmithKathleen CrepeauAn experimental short film from the Cremaster series which alludes to the position of the reproductive organs during the embryonic development process.
- DirectorHarmony KorineStarsRachel KorineBrian KotzurTravis NicholsonFollows the lives of a small group of sociopathic elderly people in Nashville, Tennessee.
- DirectorBruno DumontStarsYekaterina GolubevaDavid WissakDavid, an American photographer, and his Russian girlfriend Katia are scouting locations for a photo shoot. During the day, they drive through some of the wildest, most bizarre desert landscapes, but their luck begins to run out.
- DirectorHarmony KorineStarsMatthew McConaugheySnoop DoggIsla FisherA rebellious stoner named Moondog lives life by his own rules.
- DirectorKaren ArthurStarsLee GrantCarol KaneWill GeerEllen, a successful astronomer, cares for her mentally-ill sister, Cissy, who keeps a variety of primates in the home they inherited from their anthropologist father. When Ellen begins a romance, Cissy's jealousy proves deadly.
- DirectorJean-Marie StraubStarsBarbara UlrichJoseph RottnerJean-Marie StraubTwo men on a walk. We see their back, we hear their voices, from time to time the sand creaks.
- DirectorGeorge CukorStarsSophia LorenAnthony QuinnMargaret O'BrienStory of theatrical troupe that travels through the Old West.
- DirectorPaolo TavianiVittorio TavianiStarsLello ArenaPaola CortellesiCarolina Crescentini10 young friends hide out from a deadly disease in the countryside during the 1300s.
- DirectorBen WheatleyStarsTom HiddlestonJeremy IronsSienna MillerLife for the residents of a tower block begins to run out of control.
- DirectorDavid CronenbergStarsRonald MlodzikJack MessingerPaul MulhollandA group of Canadian university students agree to partake in a grisly psychological experiment, which renders them incapable of speech but able to communicate telepathically.
- DirectorSteven ShainbergStarsElias KoteasLaure MarsacJay LeggettSonny lives with his intellectually disabled older brother, and works as a bellhop at a second-rate hotel. This changes when Monique a beautiful, suicidal nut-case checks in. Sonny is offered a part in a heist that goes wrong.
- DirectorClaire DenisStarsVincent GalloTricia VesseyBéatrice DalleTwo American newlyweds in Paris experience a love so strong, it almost devours them.
- DirectorFrank MillerStarsGabriel MachtSamuel L. JacksonScarlett JohanssonRookie cop Denny Colt returns from the beyond as The Spirit, a hero whose mission is to fight against the bad forces in Central City.
- DirectorJean-Daniel PolletA short film documenting the seas and shores of the Mediterranean Sea.
- DirectorJeffrey BloomStarsLouise FletcherVictoria TennantKristy SwansonChildren are hidden away under an attic by their conspiring mother and grandmother.
- DirectorMike FiggisStarsKevin AndersonBill PullmanKim NovakThe successful writer and professor of architecture Nick Kaminsky returns from New York to Elderstown to visit his biological mother Lillian Anderson Munnsen that is terminal. Nick does not know Lilian since he was adopted when he was a child but he pays the bill for her to stay in a private room in the hospital. While walking on the street, Nick stumbles upon his former college friend Paul Kessler, who is demolishing with his team an old department store building where a murder and a suicide happened many years ago. While talking to Paul, there is an accident and Nick saves his life. Paul invites Nick to go to the birthday party of his wife Jane Kessler. Nick feels attracted by the building that is built in cast iron and asks Paul to visit it. Meanwhile Jane, who is a photographer, decides to take photos of the same building. They get close to each other and Nick learns that Jane was also adopted. Along the following days, Jane and Nick have a love affair and Nick discloses hidden secrets from their past.
- DirectorMichael OblowitzStarsBilly ZaneGina GershonChristian DurangoIn 1950s, two incestuous lovers, a depraved suave journalist and his equally depraved prostitute sister, plan to get rich through seduction and murder. Things complicate when their feeble-minded mother begins to suspect something.
- DirectorRobert FuestStarsJon FinchJenny RunacreSterling HaydenA trio of scientists plan to create a self-replicating, immortal, hermaphrodite using the Final Programme developed by a dead, Nobel Prize-winning scientist.
- DirectorWalerian BorowczykA bizarre, semi-abstract animated film, based around the theme of angels being processed by a nightmarish factory. It has been interpreted as an allegory of the concentration camp experience and as a portrait of the industrialisation and collectivisation of the Soviet period.
- DirectorTerrence MalickStarsChristian BaleCate BlanchettNatalie PortmanA writer indulging in all that Los Angeles and Las Vegas have to offer, undertakes a search for love and self via a series of adventures with six different women.
- DirectorRebecca HornStarsDonald SutherlandGeraldine ChaplinValentina CorteseA young woman obsessed with Buster Keaton visits the private sanatorium where the actor was supposedly once a patient, but everyone there seem a little nuts, especially the chief physician, and the gardener is trying to bury something.
- DirectorLukas MoodyssonStarsThorsten FlinckBjörn AlmrothSanna BrådingIn a decript apartment, a young man watches as his father and a friend shoot an amateur porn film. Issues of morality, reality TV and friendship are explored.
- DirectorChristopher MaclaineA short film which documents a Scottish dance festival.
- DirectorYann GonzalezStarsKate MoranNiels SchneiderNicolas MauryAround midnight, a young couple and their transvestite maid prepare for an orgy. Their guests will be The Slut, The Star, The Stud and The Teen.
- DirectorAleksandr PtushkoStarsBoris AndreyevShukur BurkhanovAndrei AbrikosovA mythical knight goes on an epic journey and fights barbarian hordes in an ancient land.
- DirectorJean-Luc GodardStarsLaurent TerzieffAurelle DoazanJean-Pierre LéaudAt a Paris hotel, a hotel detective fired after a murder took place there continues to investigate, helped by his inspector nephew and girlfriend. A boxing manager, owing money to a couple and the mafia, rides on a match next day.
- DirectorSofia CoppolaStarsKatie ChangIsrael BroussardEmma WatsonInspired by actual events, a group of fame-obsessed teenagers use the internet to track celebrities' whereabouts in order to rob their homes.
- DirectorAleksandr ZeldovichStarsMaksim SukhanovJustine WaddellVitaliy KishchenkoIn 2020, a group of wealthy Muscovites traveling to a complex of abandoned astrophysics, where rumors say they have enough power to stop the aging process.
- DirectorOz PerkinsStarsSophia LillisSamuel LeakeyAlice KrigeA long time ago in a distant fairy tale countryside, a young girl leads her little brother into a dark wood in desperate search of food and work, only to stumble upon a nexus of terrifying evil.
- DirectorChris CookeStarsRupert ProcterGregory ChisholmMark DevenportOne for the Road follows Jimmy, Paul, Richard and Mark who meet on a rehabilitation course for drink drivers. Jimmy is young, ambitious and desperate to sell his late father's business; Paul has been salesman of the year three times running, however, that was five years ago; Richard is a retired millionaire property developer and Mark is a taxi driver with a weakness for weed and philosophy. Very quickly they realize the course is the networking opportunity of a lifetime as Paul, Mark and Jimmy plot to relieve Richard of some of his wealth...
- DirectorHélène CattetBruno ForzaniStarsKlaus TangeUrsula BedenaJoe KoenerReturning home from a business trip to discover his wife missing, a man delves deeper and deeper into a surreal kaleidoscope of half-baked leads, seduction, deceit, and murder. Does anyone in the building know something?
- DirectorJohn HyamsStarsJean-Claude Van DammeDolph LundgrenScott AdkinsJohn looks to take down Luc Deveraux after a home invasion claims his wife and daughter. The fight pits John against Andrew Scott and an army of genetically enhanced warriors; meanwhile, he must contend with a UniSol in relentless pursuit.
- DirectorOren MovermanStarsWoody HarrelsonBen FosterSigourney WeaverSet in 1999 Los Angeles, veteran police officer Dave Brown, the last of the renegade cops, works to take care of his family, and struggles for his own survival.
- DirectorDario ArgentoStarsAsia ArgentoCristian SolimenoAdam JamesAn American art student in Rome accidentally triggers the return of Mater Lachrymarum - the Third Mother - and must use her latent magical powers to end the witch's reign of terror.
- DirectorMichael WinterbottomStarsAva AcresDaniel BrühlKate BeckinsaleBoth a journalist and a documentary filmmaker chase the story of a murder and its prime suspect.
- DirectorJeannot SzwarcStarsHelen SlaterFaye DunawayPeter O'TooleAfter losing a powerful orb, Kara Zor-El, Superman's cousin, comes to Earth to retrieve it and instead finds herself up against a wicked witch.
- DirectorAndré TéchinéStarsPierre DeladonchampsCéline SalletteGrégoire Leprince-RinguetBased on a true story, a soldier deserts during WWI and dresses as a woman to escape the law. This triggers upheavals in his sexual behaviour and couple.
- DirectorNicolas RoegStarsTheresa RussellGary OldmanChristopher LloydLinda is still tormented by giving up a baby for adoption at 15. She wants a baby, but her husband has enough in his model trains, mistress and being a doctor.
- DirectorBen HechtStarsJudith AndersonMichael ChekhovIvan KirovBallet dancer Andre Sanine (Ivan Kirov) may have murdered his first wife. A detective thinks so, and he's not the only one. Andre is charming, if a little peculiar. Haidi (Viola Essen), a ballerina, marries him. The company takes its new production on tour. But Andre's control seems to be slipping.
- DirectorJesús FrancoStarsSoledad MirandaDennis PricePaul MullerAn erotic horror tale about a vixen vampiress seducing and killing women to appease her insatiable thirst for female blood.
- DirectorKurt KrenA meadow, a lake, the silhouette of a hill, trees. 21 days of the same view in Saarland. 21 days with five different cut-outs in a mask before the camera, which finally reveals a complete panorama. The landscape changes with the advancing seasons and becomes slowly delirious in its technical alienation. (Claus Philipp)
- DirectorFrank TashlinStarsTony RandallRobert MorleyAnita EkbergHercule Poirot investigates a series of murders in London in which the victims are killed according to their initials.
- DirectorJames BroughtonStarsHenry TaylorMargo St. JamesDiane NelsonExperimental film about a man who embarks on a journey to a mysterious island.
- DirectorRoger CormanStarsBob CorffElaine GiftosBud CortA gas is let loose upon the world that kills anyone over 25 years old.
- DirectorRoger CormanStarsMark DamonWilliam CampbellLuana AndersA former race car driver-turned-writer attempts to expose a ruthless, womanizing Grand Prix racer - who may actually be sensitive and misunderstood.
- DirectorTomonari NishikawaA collected series of images of Bangkok's Lumphini Park.
- DirectorPaul SchraderStarsLindsay LohanJames DeenNolan Gerard FunkWhen Christian, an LA trust-fund kid with casual ties to Hollywood, learns of a secret affair between Tara and the lead of his film project, Ryan, he spirals out of control, and his cruel mind games escalate into an act of bloody violence.
- DirectorPaul WendkosStarsJames FranciscusElizabeth ShepherdRonald AllenAn American commander, serving under the British Royal Navy in 1942, is assigned to blockade the island of Malta and told to formulate a plan to destroy the Nazi arsenal in Sicily.
- DirectorHerschell Gordon LewisStarsConnie MasonWilliam KerwinJeffrey AllenSix people are lured into a small Deep South town for a Centennial celebration where the residents proceed to kill them one by one as revenge for the town's destruction during the Civil War.
- DirectorWes CravenStarsMichael MurphyMitch PileggiJohn TeshAfter being sent to the electric chair, a serial killer uses electricity to come back from the dead and carry out his vengeance on the football player who turned him in to the police.
- DirectorAlan RudolphStarsMatthew ModineLara Flynn BoyleFred WardTwins, separated at birth and living opposite lives, are about to learn of each other- and the substantial inheritance they are entitled to.
- DirectorAlbert PyunStarsJean-Claude Van DammeDeborah RichterVincent KlynA martial artist hunts a killer in a plague-infested urban dump of the future.
- DirectorRuggero DeodatoStarsAl CliverSilvia DionisioJohn SteinerA young couple becomes embroiled with the personal problems of another couple on a yacht moored off Sicily during a turbulent weekend of fun, games, sex games, betrayal, spouse abuse, and murder.
- DirectorRoman PolanskiStarsMarcello MastroianniSydne RomeHugh GriffithDuring her Italian vacation, a young and beautiful American tourist finds herself as a guest in a coastal villa inhabited by some odd people.
- DirectorTommy Lee WallaceStarsTom AtkinsStacey NelkinDan O'HerlihyKids all over America want Silver Shamrock masks for Halloween. Doctor Daniel Challis seeks to uncover a plot by Silver Shamrock owner Conal Cochran.
- DirectorJames BroughtonStarsAnna HalprinWelland LathropPoems narrate four afternoon vignettes; each protagonist is older than the one in the previous sketch. As a girl skips rope in "Game Little Gladys," she sings a jingle about who she might marry. In a park, ten men appear atop low pedestals. Is one her future? In "Gardener's Son," a teen wakes outdoors; thinking about love, he goes about his chores, passing by classical statues and slightly-older women. In "Princess Printemps," a spring poem accompanies a somewhat addled princess as an equally silly suitor pursues her. In "The Aging Balletomane," a man rocking on a porch looks about him, remembers his youth, and sees an apparition of a woman. She dances. He reaches for her. She disappears.
- DirectorLukas MoodyssonStarsJena MalonePeter LorentzonMariha ÅbergPoetic, experimental and different, Container is described by Lukas Moodysson as "a black and white silent movie with sound" and with the following words; "A woman in a man's body. A man in a woman's body. Jesus in Mary's stomach. The water breaks. It floods into me. I can't close the lid. My heart is full."
- DirectorRussell MulcahyStarsDolph LundgrenGina BellmanConrad DunnWaxman is a former Special Forces soldier who is now working as a heavily armed assassin for a top secret government agency. When a covert mission goes terribly wrong, Waxman and fellow assassin Clegg become that agency's prime targets.
- DirectorIrvin KershnerStarsPeter WellerNancy AllenBelinda BauerRoboCop returns to protect the citizens of old Detroit but faces a deadly challenge when a rogue OCP member secretly creates a new, evil RoboCop 2.
- DirectorBernard RoseStarsDanny HustonElisabeth RöhmMatthew Yang KingBased on "The Kreutzer Sonata" by Leo Tolstoy.
- DirectorJane CampionStarsMeg RyanMark RuffaloJennifer Jason LeighNew York City writing professor, Frannie Avery, has an affair with a police detective who is investigating the murder of a beautiful young woman in her neighborhood.
- DirectorAlbert PyunStarsChristopher LambertNatasha HenstridgeNorbert WeisserA bioweapon leaks in Eastern Europe and spreads west. It mutates in a quarantine area, creating a killer monster. Can a group of cops stop it and the new virus?
- DirectorIrwin AllenStarsMichael CaineSally FieldTelly SavalasAn extension of the previous film, wherein a group of adventurers return to the overturned ship to seek several fortunes.
- DirectorRingo LamStarsJean-Claude Van DammeMichael RookerCatherine DentScientists create a genetic clone of a serial killer in order to help catch the killer, teaming up with two cops.
- DirectorTom KalinStarsJulianne MooreEddie RedmayneStephen DillaneA dramatization of the shocking Barbara Daly Baekeland murder case, which happened in a posh London flat on Friday 17 November 1972. The bloody crime caused a stir on both sides of the Atlantic and remains one of the most memorable American Tragedies...