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.

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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!

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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.

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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.

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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.

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Lesser Known Movies you must watch - 14

Predestination

Cast: Ethan Hawke, Sarah Snook

The 14th movie that we are proposing is a science fiction based on a concept called predestination paradox. Although this movie has lot of views on IMDB (more than 2 lakhs), we still feel that movie has not been appreciated to an extent to which it should have been in actual.

Now, if you are aware of the concept you would be able to predict the movie either at the very beginning or somewhere in the middle, but if you are not aware of the concept, we would suggest you to watch this movie first and then read about the concept as it will give you sense of appreciation for the writers and actors as they have done complete justice to the same. The best part of the movie is its pace i.e. 95 minutes which means there won’t be even a single scene or moment where you would feel it was not required at all.

The movie begins from between with an agent trying to disarm a bomb by putting it in a case which explodes and burns his face. He tries to catch hold of his time traveling case which lies far away from him and with the help of someone (important person) grasp it and travel to his own time in a hospital. Agent undergoes face reconstruction in an hospital and its revealed that he was trying to stop a “Fizzle Bomber” attack in New-York in the year 1975. After reconstruction of his face and a new identity, the agent is given final tasks post which his device will be decommissioned and he will retire from his role.

The agent has moved to the year 1970 in New York and is working as a bar-tender where he encounters one of the customers and starts a conversation with him. It is revealed that the customer writes articles named “True Confessions” under the name ‘Unmarried Mother”. He tells his own story that he grew up as a women named “Jane” in 1945 and excelled in studies. She wanted to join a program called “Space Corp” for a secret organization which lead candidates travel to space as Astronaut if they clear all the tests. She did well in test but was expelled due to a fight with another candidate and some physical tests which told that she had a medical condition (not revealed).

She takes up a normal life trying to fit in and eventually meet a man somewhere in 1963 and fell in love with him. They had a fling but the man leaves her discloses that they are part of a Temporal Agency and would like to recruit her now but eventually broke the contract when they discover that Jane is pregnant. During the delivery, doctors had to perform a C-Section on Jane but they discover that Jane is actually an intersex having both Male and Female reproductive organs and due to the delivery her female organs are destroyed and now she has to undergo few more surgeries to become John, the man in the bar.

The agent impressed with John’s story offers to take him back in time to take revenge with the man who destroyed her life. Now comes the series of excellent screenplay moments which would reveal who these characters are and what is their true purpose. What is the true purpose of the agent and why does he want to help John? Will John agree to go back in time with Agent to take revenge or not is for you to see it and get amazed your self.

SM Movie Geeks

Lesser Known Movies you must watch - 13

ZATHURA: Space Adventure

          Cast: Josh Hutcherson, Dax Shepard, Kirsten Stewart, Tim Robbins

The 13th movie that we are going for is a sci fi space adventure film which can be called as a sequel to Jumanji (90’s classic) where two brother Walter and Danny play a board game and gets transported to outer space along with their sister and the only way to return is to finish the game. Now, you would probably think, what could be different from the 90’s Jumanji , so our answer would be that first of all this movie is directed by Jon Favreau (Iron Man , Jungle Book) who is a very good director in terms of using the visual effects to its best. And being a fantasy movie, this movie will surely be loved by little Kids as it will directly connect to them.

This movie begins with 2 brothers who don’t get along with each other are living in their home with their older sister in charge. Their father has gone away for work. The younger brother Danny discovers a board game which is based on space theme named “Zathura”. The rules are simple where the player must reach the final space on the board. Danny convinces his elder brother Walter to play the game with him which is when the adventure begins.

As soon as Danny plays his turn and get his card which says Meteor Shower, they realize that the game has actually turned into reality and there house is actually floating in the space. Danny being afraid doesn’t want to play this game anymore but Walter concludes the only way to return everything to normal is to finish the game. This is where Danny and Walter cards brings them face to face with a robot, too close to Sun-Like Planet, attacks by Aliens, and an Astronaut stuck in space coming to their rescue.

Full of ups and downs for the next 30-40 mins, where the boys would accuse each other of cheating, getting ejected into space, Astronaut telling them his story of how he and his brother have played this game and how he got stuck in the same forever due to one wrong wish that he made. Also, Lisa, their sister, realizing that they are really in an altered reality and then coming to the boys’ rescue helping them to finish the game. Obviously, the big climax scene / reveal of who actually that Astronaut was, we would see a strong relationship getting established between the siblings. Whether the siblings are able to complete the game or not is for you to see.

We will recommend this movie for it sheer elegance as Jon Favreau has tried not to use the CGI but the actual robots, aliens. There are very minimal green screens used in the movie which would make you aww in the end wondering how much effort the special effects team has put in the movie.

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