Lesser Known Movies you must watch - 34

                                            The Endless (2017)

            Cast: Aaron Moorhead, Justin Benson, Callie Hernandez

The Endless (2017) is a low‑budget science‑fiction film that quietly plays with ideas of time, belief, repetition, and free will. It never announces itself as complex, but the more it progresses, the deeper it pulls you into its strange and unsettling world.

The story follows two brothers who escaped a cult many years ago. Now living an aimless life, they receive a mysterious videotape from the same cult, suggesting that something is still unfinished. Curiosity—and perhaps guilt—brings them back to the isolated community they once fled.

At first, the cult appears harmless, almost peaceful. People seem content, routines are calm, and nothing feels overtly dangerous. But slowly, very small details start to feel wrong. Conversations repeat, time behaves strangely, and certain unexplained phenomena suggest that there is something far larger at play.

What makes The Endless truly engaging is how patient it is. The film never rushes to explain its rules or mythology. Instead, it lets tension build naturally while revealing information in fragments. The mystery grows not from shock moments, but from realization.

Performances are subtle and grounded, especially considering the film’s limited scope. The chemistry between the brothers adds emotional weight, making the story feel personal rather than abstract. The sci‑fi elements remain restrained, focusing more on consequences than spectacle.

Without giving much away, The Endless slowly transforms from a simple cult mystery into something far more philosophical, questioning whether knowing the truth is always better than ignorance. By the time the film ends, it leaves you thinking — not just about the story, but about choice, cycles, and control.

This is one of those films that never reached a wide audience because it doesn’t fit cleanly into a genre. But for viewers who enjoy idea‑driven science fiction with a slow, thoughtful approach, The Endless is a rewarding and memorable watch.

Lesser Known Movies you must watch - 33

                                         The Fare

Back after a span of 6 Years- Its difficult to find these rare gems which are watchable and are lesser known as well. But there are some good additions to this list. Lets start with the first one or i should say 33rd one. 

Cast: Gino Anthony Pesi, Brinna Kelly

The Fare (2018) is a very small, low‑budget independent film, but what it lacks in scale it more than compensates with a strong concept, emotional depth, and intelligent storytelling. Running at just under 85 minutes, the movie carefully unfolds its mystery without unnecessary distractions, keeping the viewer fully engaged with minimal characters and locations.

The beauty of films like The Fare lies in the fact that they trust the audience. Instead of relying on visual effects or loud background scores, the movie focuses heavily on dialogue, atmosphere, and timing. It slowly builds its narrative, making you curious about what is really happening beneath what looks like a simple late‑night taxi ride.

The story begins with a cab driver who picks up a woman for what appears to be a routine ride through dark, empty streets. Their conversation starts casually, but gradually things feel… off. The surroundings keep changing, the destination never seems to arrive, and a strange familiarity starts to creep in between the two characters. As the ride continues, time, distance, and reality begin to blur in subtle ways.

What makes The Fare work so well is how it balances science‑fiction ideas with genuine human emotion. The film is not interested in explaining things immediately; instead, it lets small details and repeated moments slowly connect. Performances from both leads are restrained yet effective, carrying the entire movie without ever feeling theatrical or forced.

Without giving away too much, the film eventually reveals its true nature through a series of realizations rather than a single dramatic twist. By the time the credits roll, The Fare leaves you quietly reflective — replaying moments in your head and appreciating how everything was placed intentionally.

This is not a movie that shouts for attention. It’s a movie that rewards patience, proving once again that strong writing and a clear vision can create a powerful impact, even with the smallest of budgets — if only it reaches the right audience.

SM MOVIE GEEKS

Lesser Known Movies you must watch - 32

Triangle (Another exciting Time Travel movie)
 

Cast: Melissa George, Michael Dorman ,Liam Hemsworth

Triangle(2009) is not a big budget movie (1.2 Million USD) but has a very strong screenplay and story that makes it total entertainment of 99 minutes with the unexpected climax that makes it even more fascinating to watch. The best part about these movies is that the concept is so strong that even with a small budget they can make a big impact if being made aware to the right audience. Although this movie is a psychological thriller but in its own way is smartly narrated and has credible performances from Melissa George. The movie begins with a single mother whose son is suffering from Autism and is preparing to go on a boating trip with few friends hears a doorbell at her house (Watch out for climax). The scene immediately changes, and the same woman arrives at harbor informing that her son is at school and she will be going alone on the fishing trip. She meets few more friends on the boat and at the middle of their trip they are encountered with a big storm that capsizes their boat and leave them stranded in middle of the sea.

This is where it get’s interesting as the group sees a big ocean liner heading their way that they board but find it deserted. On roaming and exploring the liner they find fresh food in the big hall but no one responding to their calls. Some ultimate turn of events happens (that you would have to see on your own) that leads to all her 4 friends dying. When she tries to confront the person, who has killed her friends , the person tell her that “she needs to kill her friends as it’s the only way to get home” and falls from the liner. Now immediately she hears yelling and sees herself and other’s alive on the same overturned boat that she was on some time back. This is where I will leave you to watch the movie as their will be series of events that would happen which will unfold the stories and link all the missing pieces of the story with the ultimate climax of what has happened in the beginning. The movie will keep you engage for entire 90 minutes and you would feel satisfied in the end scratching your head understanding what has happened in that one and half hour.

 

SM Movie Geeks

 

Lesser Known Movies you must watch - 31

Unthinkable

Cast: Samuel L Jackson (he is everywhere), Michael Sheen, Carrie -Anne Moss (Trinity – Matrix)

 

Well you would have seen lot of thriller movies related to a threatening on the entire nation by a single person/terrorist/insider but still we would like to recommend this movie to you merely for the sheer torture that is being shown i.e. how far can you go to save life’s of millions of people. This movie will show you the power of a government in dire need and the unfathomable power of a nation. This movie is a sheer spectacle in terms of acting special of Sam Jackson (MR. Everywhere) and Mr. Sheen for whom I have a new perspective now and am surely going to see his other movies. Although this movie has a decent IMDB Rating of 7.2 (80+ Thousand reviews) and Metacritic score of over 60 , we still think that this movie has got its fare share of appreciation that it should have received considering so many purposeless movies become a decent hit.

This movie will tell you that in case of emergency and a threat upon you and your family, you might stop behaving like a human being, hence will allow you to take a good look at your values. Movie begins with a man Yusuf (Sheen) creating a video tape of telling that he has setup 3 nuclear bombs across USA in 3 different cities. Then comes 90 minutes of interrogation to find the location of the bomb’s as well as the extreme level of torture which is not suggested for faint hearted where not only the body parts will be cut-off, but families will be killed. The way ‘H’ (Jackson’s character) a special interrogator question’s Yusuf by threatening his family and special agent Brody (Moss Character) playing a good cap and his last to meticulous planning will give you a school of thought until the very end as to if it’s the religion issue or a propaganda issue or something else. I would also recommend watching the extended version of this movie as it is awesome and will surely close the movie the way you want it to end.

 

 

SM MOVIE GEEKS

Lesser Known Movies you must watch - 30

The Accused

Cast: Kelly Mcgills, Jodie Foster (Her first Oscar worthy/winning performance)

 

The Accused is a legal film and apparently the film that made Jodie Foster a critically acclaimed actress even though she was acting since 1968 (As a child actor) and Accused came 20 years later. What made Accused interesting and controversial at the same time is its storyline of a young waitress challenging and prosecution of not only her rapists but all the Men who encouraged it at the time of the horrid incident.

The movie begins with aftermath of the entire scene where Sarah Tobias (Foster) is rescued and brought into the hospital to be examined by different authorities where its revealed that she was intoxicated during the entire incident. Her district attorney Kathryn Murphy (McGills) helps her in identifying two of the accused as well as the third accused is caught by the police but its been informed to her that all the accused have been released on bail.    

During the first trial a deal is cut between Kathryn and rapist lawyers to sentence them 2.5 years in prison that enrages Sarah who become damaging and psychological. But the movie takes the u-turn when one of the spectators who was present at the time of event chases Sarah and taunts her, harass her over the incident. Now the movie goes on whether the spectators are actually to be blamed for not stopping the gruesome incident that happened, and actually encouraging and shouting (whole thing is revealed in flashback – and its not for faint hearted) at them to proceed. "It is not the crime of criminal solicitation to silently watch a rape. But it is the crime of criminal solicitation to command, induce, entreat or otherwise persuade another person to commit a rape". For Bollywood movie lovers a hint of “Pink” you would find in the end of the movie. Watch this movie to see how talented actress Jodie Foster is and why she has always been in limelight for bringing such strong roles on screen. Do leave your review and comments.

 

SM Movie Geeks

 

Lesser Known Movies you must watch - 29

Coherence

Cast: No big star-cast to mention here, even budget of the movie is USD 50,000 but you are in for a treat

 

When I started writing this blog, I thought I will introduce you to those movies that must be watched not only because they didn’t get the sheer credit but also to give appreciations to some of the genius ideas that are not getting saleable even if they are presented so subtly. This is one of those movies which even though I have watched recently but have become a huge fan and will surely rate it amongst the top movies that I have seen. Now, before I jump further, please note that this movie is made with a mere budget of 50 K in the year 2013 which means you cannot expect too much of visual effect’s from this but when I tell you that this is truly one of the best presented science fiction thriller , I mean each and every word of it.

Coherence in English dictionary means quality of being logical and consistent which will be subtly presented in this move with the help of a fictional miller’s comet (Similar to Haley’s comet) that is passing over California with a group of Eight friends reunited after a long time to have dinner. Now, you guys would have to go through the concept of Schrodinger Cat which is a paradoxical experiment devised by Erwin Schrodinger in mid-19 century to understand a little bit of what will happen in the movie , although you can avoid it as the reference will be given in the movie as well. Now, coming back to the plot, as these friends have their dinner discussing about what’s going on within their lives a power cut occurs which starts unfolding things as the power cut occurs everywhere except one house that is two blocks down the street. One of the character Hugh whose brother is a scientist warned him to contact him immediately if any uncertain events happens during Comet passing by. But, due to power cut, no phones (they are broken due to the comet phenomenon), no internet and only one house at the end of the street having electricity , Hugh decide to take help of them so that he can call his brother story starts getting messy from here. Be prepared to find some untidy camera work as it’s a very low budget movie but the concept itself will keep you to the edge of your seat for full 85 minutes.

In the end I can say, you don’t need a big budget to present an idea that is strong an powerful and Hollywood really does that by bringing in such movies once in a while. Do watch this and share your reviews comments.

 

 

SM MOVIE GEEKS

 

Lesser Known Movies you must watch - 28

Monsieur Verdoux (One murder makes a villain; millions, a hero)
 

Cast: Charlie Chaplin (Director, Producer, Screenplay writer, Actor – One Man Show)

Monsieur Verdoux (1947) is one of the movies close to my heart as it is one of the movies where Charlie Chaplin not only enacted (silent movie) but actually spoke (There are other movies also in which he spoke like Limelight, Great Dictator and boy he spoke well in these). Most of us knows about Great Dictator although I would surely write a review of that movie as well in coming days but Monsieur Verdoux is one of the big time unknown movies as everybody relates Charlie Chaplin with either Modern Times or Circus or Gold Rush but the interesting part is that this is one of those movies for which he received Academy Nomination for Best Screenplay. Now why Monsieur Verdoux is one of the finest Black n White sound film is because Charlie Chaplin himself played a cynical man that supports his family by trying to lure rich women for their money and murdering them (this story is loosely based on serial killer Henri Landru if you are interested in reading about). This is a complete end to end entertaining black comedy and you will find the range of Charlie Chaplin who although is known for his comic timing will show the other side of his i.e. dark, raunchy side.

Also, Mr. Chaplin has made much better movies in his later years of acting carrier although those movies were not recognized this being one of them. Movie begin with Henry Verdoux being Bank-teller is being laid off and to support his family he turns on the ruinous path of marrying and murdering wealthy widows. One of the family becomes suspicious of this in the very beginning but doesn’t have any identity of Monsieur Verdoux. Throughout the 120 minutes of screen time you will see Mr. Chaplin running around and trying to lure some more girls. He will also try to create a drug that can help him killing the person without raising any suspicion of the them being murdered but them dying of natural causes.

Monsieur Verdoux will meet a girl who has just lost her husband and has been released from prison on whom he will try to use the poison but realizing that she had been a devoted wife during the time her husband was helpless, he will help her with money and food showing his good side. During the next 30-40 minutes final sequence which I will leave for you to watch , once Verdoux is captured finally and is being sentenced in the courtroom , the final speech of his about comparing the murder’s with the ones that happens during wars ,is stunning and will change your perspective. Enjoy the movie and share your comments and reviews.

 

SM Movie Geeks

Lesser Known Movies you must watch - 27

Death at the Funeral – Last Rites…and Wrongs (Yes that’s the tagline)

Cast: Rupert Greeves, Matthew Macfadyen, Keely Hawes, Daisy Donnavan, Kris Marshall (All British Cast except…Peter Dinklage)

Now, just to be clear, there are two Death at the Funeral and the only commonality amongst them is Peter Dinklage but this is the Original one that I am giving review of (as this is better than the American Death at the Funeral- Even though their star cast is much bigger and well known). Even a Hindi Remake (Daddy Cool) has been made on this movie. This is a black comedy where a funeral can be a perfect setting to create a silly and hysterical situation. Plus believe it, put Mr. Dinklage in anything and everyone is going to watch it without any reviews. But since, you have read it this far, let me write a review anyhow.

Movie begins with a husband Daniel (Mcfadyen) and wife Jane (Hawes), arranging their Father Funeral without Daniel Brother Robert (Graves) helping him in any of the finances. Along with bunch of cousins who themselves are in kind of awkward situation creates a chaotic situation all around. As, the story further unfolds a series of events and take a rapid turn when a Man named Peter (Mr. Dinklage) comes up and tells the family that he was a secret lover of their dead father and even bring photographs as a proofs and threaten them to pay 15000 Pound to save grace (Multiple things have already happened which will make the situation even more intricate). Now ,with all the panic and chaos Peter is been gagged and been forced with what is imagined as a drug (for muscle relaxation) but in that chaos but he dies while freeing himself. Now what should the family do , as they are in catch-22 kind of situation which is unsolvable. The situation leads to kind of comic actions that you cannot afford to miss. Do watch this 90 mins of end to end comedy and share your reviews and comments.

SM MOVIE GEEKS

Lesser Known Movies you must watch - 26

The Experiment

Cast: Adrian Broody (The Pianist), Forest Whitaker (The last king of Scotland), Maggie Grace, Fisher Stevens

(90 Mins running time , easily available on you-tube as well)

There is an advantage if you have done regular MBA, the case studies that you read or go through to understand the perspective in different fields of Management i.e. Marketing, Human Resource, Organizational Behavior etc. I came across a concept one of my OB class which led to me watching this movie. The concept is based upon an experiment that was conducted by Professor Zimbardo in Standford Prison with a research group of Standford university in 1971. This was conducted to understand the psychological effect of perceived power if given to anyone.

The movie is loosely based on the same experiment (hence the name) and is actually a remake of German film (Das Experiment). Movie begins with a group of volunteers arriving for a Phycological study that will be conducted on them where these groups will be divided into two subgroups of prison guards and criminals i.e. inmates. Travis (Brody) who is an anti-war protestor becomes one of the inmates and Michael Barris (Whittaker) who still lives with his mother who is dominating becomes one of the guards. Basic rules of the prison are aligned for them where they will get 3 meals a day, 30 minutes of recreation and other rules like staying within your cell or using designated areas. The experiment is being told to go on for 15 days and if they are able to manage to the same they will be given 14000 USD.

Now what do you think should happen? Task is pretty simple right, just act as per your roles and responsibilities and make the easy money. But things are never simple as they seems. Also, when you are given some power , even if you don’t want to use it , you will use it as its yours whereas on the other-hand when you are powerless , even if you are the strongest person you will find yourself unable to offer any help when needed. Just watch the movie and realize if human beings really are the higher in the chain of evolution than monkeys. Do share and leave your comments

SM Movie Geeks

Lesser Known Movies you must watch - 25

FREEWAY

Cast: Reese Witherspoon (Very young and beautiful Reese I should say), Kiefer Sutherland, Brooke Shields

This week movie is one of my personal favorite because of the actor in it i.e. Reese. This was 5^th Movie of Reese but the first critical acclaimed movie where she actually not only played a lead role but dominated the entire 100 minutes with her acting. This movie showed a star in the making which was proven later at so many other iconic roles, most recent being Madeline Mackenzie in Big Little lies. Alongside Reese, we have a very short but powerful role of Mr. Sutherland who most of you know from 24 (that’s right- Jack Bauer). Now this movie is a dark comedy and is about exploitation of rich and how the underlying crime takes place.

Movie is about a 16 year old girl  named Vanessa Lutz (Reese) who is illiterate and live in a shady environment with her Mother (who is a prostitute) and Stepfather (Who is a child abuser). When they both get arrested , she decides to run away and live with her Grandmother in the West USA who is not even aware of her existence. But destiny had other plans for her , as her car breaks down and she is picked by Bob (Kiefer) who is a psychology teacher who decides to help her to drop to LA. Now comes, 20 mins of dialogue delivery which you would fascinate you and keep you at the edge of your seats. But believe me , movie doesn’t end here as Vanessa get’s arrested for attacking/attempting to kill Bob who reveals himself to be a child abuser’s / molester /serial killer to her. Although this doesn’t’ get proven in court which results in Vanessa going to jail and be tried in Adult court for the horrendous attack she made on Bob. Well, I will leave you here to go and watch the movie to see the fate of Vanessa and if Bob actually get’s caught or not in this entire facade.

One thing , I can guarantee is you will not get bored and you will see how amazing Reese was playing this character who was foul mouthed , short tempered but still lovable and kind, also not to forgot that her timing in the entire movie was spot on. Full marks to the supporting character’s as well in them movie. Do watch and share!!!

SM MOVIE GEEKS

Lesser Known Movies you must watch - 24

My Left Foot

Cast: Daniel Day Lewis (his first Oscar), Fiona Shaw, Ryan McAnally, Brenda Fricker

This movie is a biography of a person named Christy Brown, who was born with Cerebral Palsy (Permanent Movement Disorder) and can control only his left foot. It takes us to a beautiful journey of how we should keep thanking God for what we have is more than sufficient and if we use it to our best of potential, we can bring wonders. This story is also one of the great stories which showcases human courage and determination. We personally feel that this would be amongst the top or most inspiring movies of all time.

Also, I don’t think anyone other than the great Daniel Day Lewis would have done the justice to the role of Christy brown, his mannerism , intelligence, sense of humor and courage. Mr. Lewis will lead to fall in love with this person.

The movie begin in some 1932 , taking us through the journey of Christy who was born in a big family and was discovered to have movement disorder. Being neglected by most of his family members except his mother, one day when his mother falls of the stairs, he was able to alert the neighbors by using his left foot to write the word “mother” with a piece of chalk which also made his father believe in him and his so called upcoming potential.

Christy started seeking hobby of painting with the only limb that works. He becomes popular in his neighborhood and is included in the activities. He paints lot of amazing pictures, is funny and full of life. His mother is able to save some money and get him a wheelchair. He meets a girl who helps in setting up an art exhibition for all his amazing work whom later he fell in love and comes to know that she is engaged and to be married soon. This pace of movie is not too fast , not too slow but just the right amount to keep audience engaged for 100 odd minutes. Do watch this movie and you will know why Mr. Lewis is the greatest living actor of all time and his three Best Actor Oscars have not come as a fluke. This movie will show that anyone can be gifted and inspiring and all we need is to discover and nurture that gift and inspire others.

SM MOVIE GEEKS

Lesser Known Movies you must watch -23

EYE IN THE SKY

Cast: Alan Rickman, Helen Mirren, Monica Dolan, Ian Glen, Phoebe Fox, Barkhad Abdi

We are back with some more unknown movies that you may have not seen and if not , you are surely going to appreciate them post seeing them via the review’s we would give. Today movie actually is really good due to multiple reasons, one of those reason is that it’s Alan’s Rickman (Severus Snape-Harry Potter Movies) last movie before his untimely death and he has again shown why his dialogue delivery , screen acting is still one of the most power-filled , awe-inspiring things that our generation has seen. The other reason to watch this movie is to see the ethics involved i.e. even if you are at war with someone , you will leave no stones unturned to ensure that its played according to the rules both legally and politically. The movie is full of power packed performances from Aaron Paul (Breaking Bad), Ian Glen (Game of Thrones- Sir Jorah), Monica Dolan, Phoebe Fox and most importantly the queen herself – Helen Mirren.

The entire movie plot/flow is happening on the same day and the interactions between the characters is at a whole different level. The movie will also showcase the technology that is available with developed nations using which they can take any necessary action without you realizing the same. The storyline is to catch top most terrorist in East Africa (Nairobi, Kenya)  using Surveillance via drones and help of local undercover agents. The Defence team sitting across different location is following the order of lieutenant General Frank (Rickman) of British Intelligence who is sitting with Government Ministers and controlling the proceedings legally and ethically. The entire mission goes wayward when they realize that instead of two top terrorist there are more terrorist hiding in the same location and are planning for a suicide attack in different places. This is where Frank and his deputy Colonel Katherine Powell (Mirren) has to convince the ministry to change their decision of capturing the terrorist to killing them. But the problem is that there is a civilian population particularly, a young girl selling bread, who will also die if the missile attack is launched to eliminate those terrorists. The rest of the movie is about whether they should save 1 life and risk the 80-100 other’s who will get killed in that suicide attack or the other way around. “Never tell a soldier that he doesn’t now the cost of war” is the message of the movie which is both thunderous and inspiring. So ,there you go. That’s the movie we suggest for you to watch this week. Do let us know in comments if you liked the movie.

SM Movie Geeks

Lesser Known Movies you must watch - 22

Margin Call

Cast: Kevin Spacey, Jeremy Irons, Paul Bettany, Stanley Tucci, Zachary Quinto, Simon Baker, Demi Moore (big star cast with mere 3.5 Million budget)

When we talk about movies made on 2008 Recession of sub-prime (financial) crisis , we think about The Big Short or Wall Street or Inside Job but there is one movie which shows the impact of recession from the other side i.e. on the investment banks specifically just one bank who realizes that it will be a victim of financial collapse and takes a decision to sell off its assets within 24 hours before market realizing the risk.

The reason for such a big star cast was mainly to show the emotions and ensuring that the financial talks between the actors are compelling. The movie has done justice and scored full marks practically in all the areas specially considering the fact that it’s a directorial debut for J.C.Chandor who was accoladed by an academy nomination for Best Original Screenplay for this movie. The best part about the movie is that the financial bank is never named throughout even though you would find similarities with falling of Goldman Sachs and Lehman brothers during financial crisis.

The movie begin with the usual mass layoffs happening in the bank where the head of risk management  Dave (Stanley Tucci) is also requested to go. When he leaves, he is handed over a USB drive by one of the risk Analysts Peter Sullivan (Zachary Quinto) to investigate. Sullivan while working on Dave’s project discovers that company’s current volatility of market securities has exceeded its levels and due to the company’s excess leverage if the firm assets are decreased by 25% , the loss for the firm is greater than its total value i.e. firm will go bankrupt.

In starts the round of meetings between Floor head Sam (Kevin Spacey) , Divison heads Jared (Simon Baker) , Chief Risk Management Officer Sarah (Demi Moore), and CEO John tudd (Jeremy Irons) hindsight how it had happened and why was it not reported. The discussion is to sell the firm toxic assets to save their grace which would mean creating lot of enemies in the financial market or finding other alternatives to stop the crisis or minimize its impact. The dialogues between Spacey and Irons are breath-taking  specially seeing Spacey on the other side who is opposing the sale of assets. This movie also shows that gains and losses are part of economic cycle along with the layoff’s and there are just few people who would gain from such catastrophe. Do watch our 22^nd Recommended movie for yourself to see if they succeeded in selling the assets and to which limit they went to sell-off the same.

SM Movie Geeks

Lesser Known Movies you must watch - 21

Eddie The Eagle

Cast: Taron Egerton , Hugh Jackman, Christopher Walken, Jim Broadbent

This week movie mention (21st) is a biographical sports comedy-drama about a loser who with his determination and positive spirit became a public hero. This movie is about a Britain first competitor (Eddie Edwards) in Olympic Ski Jumping since 1928 (after 6 decades) who even against all the odds went on to participate in the winter Olympics and was able to record his jump successfully.

We are going to begin with a dialogue from the movie between the winner of 1988 Ski Jumping event and Eddie Edwards, where the winner before the 90m jump tells Eddie that “You and I are like one o'clock and eleven o'clock. You see, we are closer to each other than to others. Winning, losing, all that stuff is for the little people. Men like us, we jump to free our souls. We are the only two jumpers with a chance to make history today. If we do less than our best with the whole world watching, it will kill us inside. For all time.”

The movie begins, with 10-year-old Eddie dreams of Olympics and tries his luck in various sports but fails miserably in all of them. He gets support from his mother, but his father discourages him calling it a waste of time. As an adolescent he decides to participate in Winter games instead of summer games in the Skiing event. Although he is decent at sport, he is rejected by the officials due to lack of manners and irrational behavior. He Stills doesn’t give up his dream and instead goes to Germany to self train himself in the training facility with other seasoned jumpers.

In the camp he meets an alcoholic snow jumper Bronson Peary who himself was former American champion but left the sports due to conflicts with his coach. He reluctantly agrees to train him by using the most unorthodox techniques that one can think of (you will literally laugh at some of the scenes). Eddie is able to 40 m hill but to qualify for the Olympics he would have to successfully complete one jump from 70-meter hill. He does complete that but the officials due to his behavior and being afraid that he might spoil the games decides to change the rules to a jump of 61 meters at-least to qualify for the Olympics.

This is where we would leave you to see the movie for yourself to know how was he able to qualify with a 61 meter jump when he was merely reaching 40 meters during training sessions. Once again, you will feel a sense of happiness and energetic with the climax scene and the ending. Hugh Jackman like always has been brilliant in his role (this man can do hardly anything wrong)  and Taron Egerton is amazing as Eddie. See this movie , and you will get the feeling that giving your 100% will give you more satisfaction than winning.

SM Movie Geeks

Lesser Known Movies you must watch - 20

Nightcrawler

Cast: Jake Gyllenhaal, Rene Russo, Bill Paxton, Riz Ahmed

Nightcrawler was a directorial debut for Dan Gilroy (brother of Tony Gilroy- Michael Clayton) and is one of the low budget movies like Man from Earth where most of the movie was shot at midnight before sunrise. The main tone of the movie is not to let its visuals take over but to show it as close to reality as they could which is why you would see a wide-angle lens camera is being used.

Jake Gyllenhaal is a gem of an actor who has showed his versatile acting skills from Brokeback Mountain to Donny Darko to Source Code to Nocturnal animals but I think Nightcrawler was the one where he was truly snubbed by Academy for not nominating him. He was acclaimed by every critic for his acting skills shown in this movie specially the scenes with Rene Russo.

The movie starts with a thief lou (Jake) who is caught stealing from a security guard in Los Angeles. While looking for a job and getting rejected from the places Lou on one night sees a car crash where photojournalist (Freelance) are trying to record the entire proceedings. On conversing with one of them, Lou finds out that they are selling this footage to local news stations and earning money.

Lou gets into the same profession by stealing a bicycle and exchanges it for a camcorder and police radio scanner. After few unsuccessful attempts Lou gets his hands on the footage of carjacking and sells the same to a news channel (KWLA6). The news director Nina (Rene Russo) tells him that she is interested in such violent news accidents. This is where story gets interesting where Lou to gain popularity starts tampering the accident scenes for creating a good footage. With all the money, he buys better equipment and car to cover more areas.

He gets into a sexual relationship with the director who when not getting a good footage reprimands him for getting more footage. Lou to keep his reputation he sabotages another freelancer Rick’s (Riz Ahmed) van by getting into a tussle with him and records the accident. The movie gets further interesting when Lou gets the chance to record a footage of gunman leaving in SUV and of victims in the house (Case of home invasion) and Nina plans to show the footage even though the staff is anxious over the ethics of the footage. The story gets further interesting when but Lou and Rick plans to catch hold of gunmen who killed the family in the home invasion.  We will leave it for you to see what becomes of Lou on the dark path he has taken. The story is all about betrayal, struggle and survival in the city of fallen angels. Riz Ahmed and Rene Russo have portrayed their character’s to perfection and Gyllenhaal has been compared with Robert D Niro of Taxi driver by some critics for his portrayal as Lou in this movie.

Let us know your views on our 20th recommended movie.

SM Movie Geeks

Lesser Known Movies you must watch - 19

Escape from Alcatraz

Cast: Clint Eastwood (no other name is required)

When we ask the viewers can they name any prison movie that they have seen, the only name that comes up is Shawshank Redemption, probably because it is the greatest movie ever been made in its own time. But, there have been few other lesser known movies that were Prison thrillers and must also be appreciated because they were made well ahead of their time. Escape from Alcatraz is one of those movies based on a novel with the same name directed by famous Don Siegal who casted Clint Eastwood (5^th Collaboration between both) for this master thriller.

1962 prison escape from the famous Alcatraz prison, Clint Eastwood in his late 40’s (living legends) and the cool cinematic elegance is what you would see in this movie. The movie starts when Frank Morris (Clint Eastwood) who is prisoned in Alcatraz and had been informed by the warden that no prisoner had ever escaped.

In the prison, Morris make acquaintance with 3 other prisoners and enemies with one of the prisoner (Wolf) who is on trial for raping someone who harasses him and even attacks him with knife. Things unfold in prison where Morris sees how the prison is controlled by warden and without him no proceedings can happen (not going into details as we want you to watch them). When Morris notices that the cell walls are weak and can be chipped away , he plans for an escape with his friends by digging through the weak walls with spoons, make Paper dummies to act as their imitations and construct rafts out of raincoats.

On the night of June 11,1962 Morris and the other inmates decides to bring the plan into action (Prison Break and Shawshank Redemption coming all together in the same movie). Wolf also intercepts their plan and prepares to stab Morris with a knife. The other inmates also plan to meet Morris at the rendezvous point where one of them had a cold feet. With all the excitement in the final 30 mins of escape – we leave for you to watch if the escape was successful or if Morris was attacked by Wolf even before meeting the other inmates. If they were able to escape the cells, how did they manage to escape the search lights running around the prison at night to keep a watch on the prisoners and if they somehow managed that, how were they able to cross the barbwire and use their raincoats as rafts. With so much of excitement we would want you to watch this movie and just see it for yourself why Clint Eastwood is called the masterpiece and legend of all times not only because of his direction but also of his acting skills. This will be our nineteenth recommended movie.

SM Movie Geeks

Lesser Known Movies you must watch - 18

Snowpiercer

Cast: Chris Evans, Tilda Swinton, Ed Harris, Jamie Bell, Octavia Spencer, John Hurt

A famous South Korean Director, French graphic novel that brings Captain America/Ancient One/Men in Black together on the same screen is our 18th recommended movie. Snowpiercer is one of those underrated movies which hasn’t received all the credits and acknowledgement from the viewers even though it was critically acclaimed for its vision, direction and performances. The production house decisions who planned it for limited release initially can be one of the main reasons of this movie having lack of viewership.

This is a pure Science Action Film based on a dystopian future which is setup somewhere in 2031. This movie looks so real because of the future created by the attempt to prevent global warming through climatic engineering which backfires and thus creates an ice age kind of situation in 2014 which leads to global extinction of most forms of life including animals (only those survived who can live below sub-zero temperatures), plants and most of human race. By 2031 only survivors are the one who live on a train Snowpiercer which is travelling on a created by an inventor named Wilford to enable the train running in a circular track. The Train cars are divided into two parts where the front cars are extravagant, and inhabitants are called elites and the rear end cars inhabitants are called Scums who lives under brutal conditions and are only being fed upon protein bars to survive.

With such an intriguing concept the movie is about the “Scum” lead by Gilliam (John Hurt), Curtis (Chris Evans) along with Edgar (Jamie Bell) plans to lead the passenger to take control of the engine. Mason (Tilda Swinton) who is one of the accomplice of Wilford comes to take over two children and easily able to defeat the passengers and amputating the arm of the father of those children by pushing it out of the train in brutal weather, Curtis decides to initiate their plan. Curtis and other passengers can overrun the guards realizing their guns are empty and are able to take over Security and prison cars.

Now starts the real fight where one by one Curtis and his team plans to take over water supply car so that they can negotiate with Wilford, gets some of their friends killed in multiple battles (intense battle scenes which you cannot miss), goes through other luxurious cars uptill the gate of the engine. This is where we leave you to see the movie where a breath-taking conversations happens between Curtis and Wilford where he reveals his real intentions of such an order and chaos in the train. We will surely uncover other questions on whether the life outside is inhospitable or if it’s just another strategy by rich to rule the poor in state of anarchy. Do watch and let us know your thoughts!

SM Movie Geeks

Lesser Known Movies you must watch - 17

Wonder

Cast: Jacob Tremblay (11 year old genius from the movie room), Julia Roberts, Owen Wilson, Mandy Patinkin

The next movie (seventeenth) is a very sweet American drama cum comedy film which is based on a novel. This movie is a sheer brilliance because of the cast and their acting specially Jacob Tremblay who had already impressed everyone in the movie Room. All other cast members have supported Jacob to their best potential and special mention needs to be given to Mandy Patinkin for his role. Although the movie was nominated for Academy in best Makeup and Hairstyling, we feel it could have easily been nominated in other categories as well.

This story starts with 10 year old boy “August” who lives in New York with his parent and older sister and has a rare face deformity due to which he has to undergo 27 surgeries since his birth. He is been home schooled by his mother who has left her job to teach him. As he approaches fifth grade, his parents decide to enrol him to a public school whose principal (Mandy Patinkin) is very supportive and arranges a tour with three other students to let August feel confident. The students reject him except one named jack who becomes close friend with August.

August starts feeling comfortable in school but during Halloween when he dresses as Ghost face into the school and no one recognizes his disguise including Jack who makes fun of him along with other of his friends. He becomes sick on coming back home and her sister convinces him to go trick-treat with him even though her day with their mom was ruined. In school, Auggie forms a new friendship with a girl name Summer who reveals her about his splitting with Jack. When Jack realizes his mistake and try to rectify by choosing Auggie as his partner in the school science fair, Julian (The bully) gets upset and gets into a fight with Jack when he calls Auggie a freak. Jack apologizes to principal who suspends him only for two days realizing he was trying to defend his friend.

There is a parallel story between Auggie’s older sister Via and her best friend Miranda going on which is as sweet as this one.

Auggie continues to be bullied by Julian and his friends which is finally discovered by one of the teacher who informs the principal. Mr Browne call Julian parents and shows the evidence to Julian Parents about his bulling Auggie to which there defend his actions by saying boys like Auggie should not be put in a regular school. This is where we leave you to decide whether Jack parents are right in their thought process that boys like Auggie are freak and should be put in special schools with other children with disabilities. Watch until the very end as Mandy Patinkin will steal the show with his speech.

SM Movie Geeks

Lesser Known Movies you must watch - 16

Megamind

Cast (Voice): Will Ferrell, Brad Pitt, Jonah Hill, Tina Fey, David Cross

Megamind will be our sixteenth recommended movie, an 3D animation comedy film about a super-villain who is engaged in a never-ending battle with superhero in a city which gives his life a purpose of moving forward every day. But when he defeats his foe, he loses that purpose and thus plan to create a new superhero on his own which turns out to be a super-villain. 

This 90 minutes comedy has very strong visuals which would be a selling point of this movie and with the cast chosen for voice adds extra spice to the same. The movie starts with a quick background of a Superhero and a Super-villain who invaded the earth as Infants and have been each other rivals. When Megamind creates a new plan to kidnap a reporter (Roxane Ritchie) and hold her hostage inside Copper Lined Observatory. When Megamind realizes that Metro-Man is weekend by the copper, he finally gets his sweet revenge and kills him with the death ray and takes over the city.

After taking over the city , Megamind realizes he has nothing else to achieve and his life has no purpose now. While wandering around in the city one day, he disguises himself as another person (Bernard) and starts interacting with Roxanne and immediately gets attracted to her. He gets an idea from Roxanne, where he would create a new superhero to fight him. Megamind creates a serum using Metro Man DNA and injects it to Roxanne proclaimed boyfriend Hal Jordan and convinces him to become a superhero “Titan” to fight Megamind.

Things go wrong when Titan is not able to woo Roxanne and realizes that she is on date with Bernard and leaves. Megamind also reveals her identity to Roxanne who leaves. Titan, also fights Megamind realizing he is being used for all this mess and is unaffected by the copper-lined trap which killed Metro-man becoming a new super-villain. Megamind seeks help of Roxanne who reluctantly takes him to Metro Man headquarters where they are both surprised to see Metroman healthy and alive. He faked his death to take retirement from being a superhero and declines to help Megamind.

Megamind on his own now decides to take up the fight with the super strong HAL now. And we enter in to last 30 minutes of climax fight which is truly visually stunning (The Incredibles level). But, the question lies how can Megamind defeat someone who has been created to defeat him and will he get any help from Metro-Man who has been hiding and relaxing all this time. Although this movie has received mix reviews saying this is the same old superhero vs super-villain story i.e. served in a new package we would still recommend this for its stunning visual effects and dialogues. Do watch the movie and let us know your comments.

SM Movie Geeks

Lesser Known Movies you must watch - 15

                               Edge of Seventeen

               Cast: Hailee Steinfeld, Woody Harrelson, Blake Jenner, Haley Richardson

The next recommended movie is a typical American drama film with a flavor of comedy in it but that’s because of the sheer acting brilliance of Woody and Hailee. Also, with a mere $9 Million budget and loads of positive reviews this movie is a must watch.

The movie begins with Nadine Franklin (Hailee) typical high school kid of west United States informs her teacher Mr. Bruner (Woody) that she is going to commit suicide. On asking her the reason for the same, she narrates her story about how her life has progressed so far. She told him about the regular fights between her brother (Since the age of 7) who is popular, about her theatrical mother who always favor her brother and its only her father whom she feels she is close to. But when he dies by heart attack she is left alone with just one friend Krista (Haley) whom she can communicate.

On one night, when Nadine and Krista are at home drunk and asleep, her brother throws a pool party. When Nadine wakes up and found Krista in bed with her brother she gets tormented about the same. Things take a U-turn when due to her sister when Darian and Krista think not to do it again but ends up becoming a couple. All this time Nadine feels all alone and turns to her classmate Ervin who has a crush on her. Even though, him being someone having great sense of humor and of kind nature, Nadine is attracted towards an older student Nick.

When Krista tries to break the ice between Nadine and her brother by inviting her to come along with them in a party, things don’t work out as Nadine is unable to talk to anyone and ends up going back home alone. She confronts with Krista to choose between her or her brother to which she refuses to which she ends their friendship.

There are lot of things happening in this teenager life where she ends up sending a sexual text to the same senior boy on whom she had a crush (Nick) and this is where her narration ends with Mr. Burner who tries to keep her calm. On receiving a text back from the senior boy, she feels excited but ends up knowing the truth behind her being invited. This is where we leave you to watch the movie and let us know if you liked it or not.

This movie is not like the thriller or a sci-fi action or fantasy movie that we usually are attracted to but a story of a teenager which feels real as it is all about coming of age where you might be able to relate some of the incidents with your life or life of someone you know.

SM Movie Geeks