Somebody call the cops because these movies are criminally underrated

pt 1 (we're trying to cut down on article length over here at okaymoviereviews)

Alrighty folks, gird your loins because I've got another list for you. I've rounded up 20 of the most underrated movies I could think of, and today we'll be discussing the first 10. I literally just went through my list of all the movies I've seen and chose the ones I thought were unjustly ignored by the world. Even though most of the music films from my last post were prettttyyy damn underrated, I wont be adding them to the list because I've already mentioned them and who wants to hear me regurgitate that shit again. Also if there are any films you think are missing from the list, please let me know since I'm always down for some reckies (sorry for that). Now please enjoy...

1. Short Term 12 (Dir. Destin Daniel Cretton, 2013)

So this is actually the film that inspired this post. I saw a tweet today (hmu @lashe00, or don't your choice) about how Short Term 12 was easily one of the best movies of 2013 as well as one of the most underrated movies of all time, and I agree. The film is about a group of counselors working at a halfway house for at-risk kids and the relationships they develop with the teens, so you know my mom's going to hate it (AKA, it's going to fuck you up big time). Short Term 12 is fabulously acted by Brie Larson, John Gallagher Jr., Kaitlyn Denver, and LaKeith Stanfield just to name a few. I haven't seen Room yet, but I feel like Brie's performance in this film was equally as amazing. John brings the lightheartedness that this film desperately needs. LaKeith is, as we One-Directioners would say, Phenomi-Niall. Like so so so so so so so goooodddd. I feel like we've gotten used to seeing him play these odd-damn-ball characters in Atlanta or Sorry to Bother You, but his role is this film is heartbreaking and insanely well acted, and I love that I get to think of this film when I think of him. I literally want to cry thinking about his performance. I'm still not really understanding how this film got so overlooked, being that is a fantastically acted and well written movie. If you're into insanely heartbreaking movies with not so heartbreaking endings then this is the movie for you. Please, I beg of you, go watch Short Term 12, I promise you wont be disappointed.

Marcus... sighhhhhhhh

2. Weekend (Dir. Andrew Haigh, 2011)

You know when you read a really good book and you can't help but let out a long sustained sigh? Well if you're looking for the movie version of that feeling then look no further. Weekend is about two guys who meet at a club on Friday and spend the rest of the weekend together before one of them departs for America on Sunday. I went into this movie expecting to cry at the end, and then as it went on I was like "maybe we're not going to cry", and then it got to the end and I was in full on Niagara mode. Being that is a British indie of the 2000's, the film takes on a Dogme-esque (we're gettin pretentious y'allll!!) cinematography style which is super stark and realism driven. Yet the film is still able to create this amazingly dreamy world despite what it looks like. I honestly believe that the characters are over in the UK right now living their lives, maybe they're together maybe they're not, but that's the magic of Andrew Haigh's writing. I feel like I can't express how fantastic this movie is/ I've over expressed how fantastic it is. I will forever wish I could experience this movie again for the first time. If you're due for a good cry, or sigh, then this is the movie for you. (PS sorry this review sucks so bad, I just love this movie so much that I couldn't figure out what to say.)

ughhhhhhhhh (this is a loving ughhh, not a gross ughhh)

3. Anything & Everything Jeff Nichols has ever made

It is a well known fact that I am in love with Jeff Nichols. I've seen all 5 of his films, which I believe qualifies me to be the Official Jeff Nichols fan of the universe. He's perfected the dark-southern-thriller, but can also make one hell of a genre bender. Lately he's been venturing into some sci-fi and romancey biopics, and I can't say I'm disappointed. Shotgun Stories, Take Shelter, Midnight Special, and Loving are all well worth your time, but the main movie we're here to talk about today would have to be Mud. Mud is easily one of my favorite movies because it's got everything, shirtless Mcconaughey, cute ass boys that my 8th grade self was in love with, Reece Witherspoon in a non-cutesy role, a shootout, a boat in a tree, Sammm Shepparddddd. I mean what more could you ask for. I love the way Jeff (we're on a first name basis) is able to perfectly blend revenge thriller, with romance, with coming of age, and adventure. Mud is basically what you would get if you mixed Stand by Me with Huck Finn and also something to do with revenge. I particularly love this movie because I went into it expecting to hate it. I remember sitting there after the movie ended like "well, I was wrong" because it was just that great. I need y'all to go out and watch all these movies so that my boy Jeff can finally get the love and respect he deserves.

4. The Conversation (Dir. Francis Ford Coppola, 1974)

In my quest to see all 6 of Meryl Streep and I's boyfriend, John Cazale's films, I discovered that The Conversation was the only one I had left to watch ( I'm not watching Deer Hunter because I can't handle shit like that). All I have to say is that this movie is great, and why aren't people watching it. The Conversation is a thriller that stars Gene Hackman as Henry, a surveillance/wire tapping expert that has been hired to record a mysterious couple's conversations. The film is so cleverly written and well acted. Gene is amazing, and so is John even if he's still playing a supporting character. I feel like the reason this movie is so underrated is because of its unfortunate release date. The Conversation came out right in between both of the Godfather movies and was sadly overshadowed by their Godfatherness. This movie really stands out to me, because when I think Coppola I think of his 10 hour long epics, but with The Conversation you get a tight and amazing story line in way less time than his other films.

Phone Booth: the prequel

5. Warrior (Dir. Gavin O'Connor, 2011)

I watched Warrior for the first time in 10th grade for a film class I was taking. We watched it as part of our "sports" unit which consisted of this and Rocky. I, like every other American, enjoy Rocky, but I was definitely not in the mood to watch a movie that was billed to me as "MMA Rocky" being that I am a person of morals and don't care about MMA/UFC/WTF. So I go into Warrior expecting to hate it, and like pretty much every other movie I go into expecting to hate, 15 minutes in I found myself very into it. Was I into it because of Tom Hardy and Joel Edgerton? Probably, but who cares. Sure there's lots of fighting in the movie but its also got plenty of straight up drama for those of us who aren't down with the UFC. My teacher prefaced the movie by telling us that every year it's been her students favorite movie and I agree. Warrior almost made me shed a goddam tear in class, which is a major no no in the Lily Ashendorf public conduct handbook. I've never heard anyone else talk about this movie and I like to think that its fanbase is made up entirely of students of Ms. Cates Lit and Film class. The Warrior fan club is open to new members, so if your interested all you have to do is go out and watch Tom and Joel beat the shit out of each other. Watch it, it'll be fun!!

this ain't a spoiler cuz you knew they were gonna fight each other

6. A Single Man (Dir. Tom Ford, 2009)

Tom Ford, you sir have made a fine ass movie. I loooOOOoooooVVVVvveeee this movie.

A Single Man is about Colin Firth (we're not looking up character names) a college professor who is planning on killing himself following the death of his boyfriend (a very very handsome Matthew Goode). The film takes place over one day and follows Colin's interactions with friends (Julianne Fuckin Moore), student/love interests (Okmovie's fav Nicholas Hoult) and an attractive Spanish hustler whose name I am to lazy to look up. I definitely get an American Beauty vibe off of this movie partly because it involves an older guy gettin together with an attractive younger person, but mainly because the ending sneaks the hell up on you and rips your heart out afterwards. When I watched A Single Man for the second time, I went into it remembering that the ending was sad but not that it was bawl my goddam fucking eyes out to the point of dehydration sad. Ford's other film Nocturnal Animals was good but it read more like a fashion ad than a movie, and don't get me wrong, A Single Man was just as chic and stylish (we expect only the best from Mr. Ford) but it also had heart (I'm sorry for saying a movie had "heart" but it needed to be said). If you're into crying, attractive men, 60's shit, and/or Ms. Moore then get your ass up and go watch this movie.

I'm very into everything going on in this shot

7. The Florida Project (Dir. Sean Baker, 2017)

I hope y'alls tearducts are still working because boy do I have another sad movie for you. I don't necessarily want to call The Florida Project sad, because it's actually the cutest lovliest thing ever, but I also consider it to be the Moonlight of 2017, so you can decide what you want to do with that information. I think we can all agree that movies/Hollywood peaked in 2016, so in 2017 when all the films were almost/equally as good as the year before, nothing really stood out. That is until I saw this movie. The Florida Project is basically just an hour and 45 minutes of the cutest, most magical, lovely, and adorable thing you'll ever watch, to the point where you never want it to end and you just want to keep running around with Moonee and her friends. The last ten minutes are the other reason why you don't want it to end because they are, to keep it short, fucking hellacious, like really really really awful. And not in a bad way quality wise, just in an all of the sadness of Moonlight rolled into 10 minutes kind of awful. Brooklynn Prince was amazing as Moonee, a 7 year old girl living with her mom in a motel outside of Disney World. Her Oscar snub was the 2017 version of Elsie Fisher's snub for Eighth Grade, so y'all know she was robbed. Willem Dafoe was also really really great and received the film's ONLY (tragic, I know) Oscar nomination. Since I can't get a certain reader of this blog to watch this movie, I request that y'all watch The Florida Project so I can have someone to talk to about it. Thank you.

sooooooooooooooo cuteeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee

8. Days of Heaven (Dir. Terrence Malick, 1978)

Guy guys guys guys guys guys guy, this movie...this is where it's at. I went into Days of Heaven expecting to not like it because I hate period pieces and the 1910's are literally the most boring decade ever, so why would I ever want to watch it. But I was capital R wrong. I'm pretty sure the reason why I love this movie so much is because it's just 90 minutes of young Richard Gere and Sam Shepard duking it out with each other over Richard's girlfriend. Aside from the attractiveness of its talent, Days of Heaven is just a downright good movie. The story's great, cinematography? great. The acting, you guessed it, great. I really loved Sam's performance because he usually plays these angry ass hothead characters, but with this role he's all moody and sensitive and dreamy. I ready somewhere (wikipedia) that Al Pachino and Dustin Hoffman were originally supposed to play the main roles, and as anyone who has seen this film would know that those two in this movie is a big N.O. Days of Heaven is kind of weird, and a little bitttt pretentious, but totally worth the watch. If anything, do it for Sam (RIPPPPP), it's what he would have wanted.

the level of handsomness in this movie goes to 11

9. Seven Psychopaths (Dir. Martin McDonagh, 2012)

As I have mentioned before, McDonagh kinda effed up with 3 Billboards, but Seven Psycho's is the absolute opposite. This movie's a goddam trainwreck in the best way possible. Everything in this movie's so wrong and so weird yet so right. The plot revolves around Colin Farrell who's struggling to write his screenplay which is also titled Seven Psychopaths (this is some meta shit right here folks). Add in Christopher Walken, a very batshit Sam Rockwell, and a shih tzu loving Woody Harrelson, and you've got all the makings for a trip of a film. It's hard to explain the plot of Seven Psychopaths without spoiling the plot, so I'm just gonna let you go watch it yourself. 3 Billboards felt very tame in comparison to Marty's other films, and I was disappointed with the lack of batshittery that it had. While In Bruges is amazing and crazy, Seven Psycopaths brings the off-the-walls goddam craziness that I signed up for. Also that Michael Pitt cameo might be the greatest 30 seconds of the entire movie (I shit you not, one time I rewatched the entire movie just for the cameo, because I have no life).

try and tell me you don't find this intriguing

10. Raw (Dir. Julia Ducournau, 2016)

If you're looking for the cool French horror movie of your dreams, then this is the movie for you. Raw has everything, veterinary school, cannibalism, raw rabbit kidneys, *Stefan voice* BLoooooooooddDDDD. I usually don't do horror because I don't have the cardiac capacity for stuff jumping out at me, but with Raw we get the much appreciated non-jumpy psychological horror treatment as well as a healthy dose of gore. And I mean lots and lots of gore. Like brain eating, leg feasting, biting your sisters cheek off gore. I also don't do bloody stuff so I don't actually know why I love this movie as much as I do, but here we are. Let's be real, this movie is fucking disgusting, but it's French so it's okay. If anything, you should see this movie for the ending alone. I remember finishing this movie and having to silently pace around my room at 3:00 in the morning to process what i just saw. The only other person I've been able to talk about this movie with was a classmate who also experienced the same response to the ending that I had. If you have the stomach for feminist cannibalism, then I would appreciate if you could watch this movie so I can add another person to my list of contacts for discussing Raw with.

j'adore Garance, ygg!

We sadly have reached the end of pt 1, but don't worry pt 2 is gonna get posted at some point, so stay frosty folks.