A film podcast I listen to put out a challenge: have them review a film they haven’t seen before. That’s kind of a problem since they’ve been doing a film review show for twenty years. But as I get older, I have to focus on films I love that people forgot they watched.
So many films that I love (that are relatively obscure) are only beloved in my memory because I watched them in that “magic time” of 12-16. By most objective views, they’re not great, but because I watched them at a time I was discovering films, I thought they were amazing! Big Trouble in Little China still tops the charts as one of my favorite films, but a lot of other people would argue that’s good as well, so let me get into REAL obscure-ville for films I like but no one else does:
2010: The Year We Make Contact (1984)
The sequel to 2001: A Space Odyssey that no one asked for. Monoliths around Jupiter. Giant Space Baby. Roy Scheider. This is a colossal hard sci-fi film that had one major flaw… it wasn’t Kubrick’s 2001. It made money, but no one ever bothered to film 2061: Odyssey Three. It was a film that was enjoyed, but forgotten. It was forgotten because one of the main plots was two warring powers–the US and the Soviet Union–had to came together in face of this alien event. Then the Soviet Union collapsed in 1991 and the movie wasn’t relevant anymore. Neither was PanAm Airlines, so this film became very dated, very quick. Still love the story, the acting (Helen Mirram as the Russian pilot is awesome), and the effects, but no one remembers this film.
Freejack (1992)
I grew up loving cyberpunk, so this film really hits it hard for me, since there are very few films in this subgenre. Most people remember this film as “Oh, yeah–wasn’t that the one with Mick Jagger?” Yes, and he’s frickin’ phenomenal in it. This was near the end of Emilio Estavez’s success, so again, a lot of people saw this film… but few people remember it. The main flaw with this film is that they set it not far enough in the future (2009) for most of this stuff to happen, but it’s a wonderful cyberpunk romp with time travel instead of virtual hackers. Anthony Hopkins does a great job… for the limited amount of time he’s on screen, and Rene Russo is frickin’ hot, even if you have trouble believing that she’s 18 in the beginning of the film.
Predator 2 (1990)
This is cyberpunk light, so it still has a soft spot in my heart. Again, not far enough in the future–1997–but pretty believable like watching Demolition Man. This film gets forgotten because… well, it wasn’t Predator, but still has a lot of great acting (by the supporting cast), great action, and chasing the alien around LA is awesome. Danny Glover is… well, playing Danny Glover. Bill Paxton plays… well, Bill Paxton, and yes, he gets killed by the alien. But you had some great goofy bug hunt, and even if it’s not great, I still love this film.
So what films do you love that everyone else has forgotten about? Let me know in the comments below! And after you get tired of films, why not pick up one of my books. However, if $1.99 is too rich for your blood, go ahead and download one of my stories for free. Remember, Ripper, I wasn’t testing you… I was testing the machine. (And it works.) 🙂
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