Via Alex Knapp, here's a list of the Box Office Prophets "Top 50 Underappreciated Recent Films", though as I point out in some of my comments, some of these films are neither recent nor underappreciated. Go figure.

Anyway, here are my thoughts on their selections, and whether or not I agreed with their inclusion:

American History X (agree)

A pretty good film, well-acted by Ed Norton, but ultimately, inevitably preachy.

Being John Malkovich (disagree)

I thought this was one of the most over-rated recent films, filled with pseudo-intellectual cuteness and pap, no real story, and hardly anything really funny or thought-provoking.

Best in Show (agree)

Made me smile a few times, but was pretty uneven.

Big Lebowski, The (disagree)

Not one of the better Coen Bros. efforts. Pretty mediocre, but still with some interesting stuff.

Bottle Rocket (agree)

I laughed my ass off at this movie. Then, I recommended it to my parents, who hated it.

Bound (agree)

Jilted back-stabbing lesbians with guns? What more could you want?

Chaplin (disagree)

I couldn't sit through all of this one. Bored me out of my mind.

Dark City (disagree)

I remember reading Ebert's review, and he thought it was the best thing since sliced bread. I liked aspects of it (the little kid-aliens were genuinely creepy), but the whole Philip K. Dick, your-reality-is-not-reality gig has been filmed to death recently (Truman Show, Matrix, etc.), so it hardly felt very original. And it just resorts to a goofy mind-energy fight at the end.

Dazed and Confused (agree)

I don't remember the particulars of this film very much, but I do remember liking it quite a bit.

Deep Cover (disagree)

This movie was pure cheese. Jeff Goldblum is way over the top here, and it's a pretty standard under-cover cop movie in most respects.

Frighteners, The (disagree)

Oh, come on! This movie sucked. Hard. Just because you loved the Lord of the Rings trilogy, it doesn't retroactively make all of Peter Jackson's films good...especially not this one. Pure crap.

Glengarry Glen Ross (agree)

I guess they consider 20 years "recent". Anyway, this was a great film. Like some of the others that have become cult classics, I'd also take exception to the "underrated" descriptor. Everybody I know and all the critics I've read loved this film.

Go (agree)

Yes...very funny film.

Heavenly Creatures (disagree)

This film, touted as wonderful by so many critics, and so many people...didn't do a damn thing for me. Two massively screwed up, codependent girls fall in love and senselessly murder one of thier mothers. Along the way we get treated to special-effect sequences of their delusions. Great.

Iron Giant, The (agree)

Again, good film, but was it really underrated? I thought it was reasonably successful.

King of the Hill (agree)

Yes, good film. I reviewed this one for the Daily Texan in college.

Limey, The (disagree)

Thought it was silly and as boring as dirt. Couldn't finish it.

Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrells (agree)

Like "Go" this was definitely one of the Tarantino-derivative films, but it was still well-done and pretty damned funny.

Lone Star (agree)

Yeah, this was a very quiet film that not many people have seen, and it was very good. But the director, John Sayles, pissed me off so much with the next film of his I saw, the atrocious "Limbo", that I'm not sure I ever want to see another one of his films.

Mallrats (disagree)

Okay, "Clerks" was funny, but "Mallrats" was just lame.

Office Space (agree)

Very funny movie, but it's been recommended to me about a thousand times, so again, is it really underrated?

Player, The (agree)

This was one of the few Altman films that I've actually liked.

Quick and the Dead, The (disagree)

Star-studded cheese. This film was just completely silly. The gunfights were staged with less believability than WWF chain matches. And yet it starred Gene Hackman, Sharon Stone, Leonardo DeCaprio, Russell Crowe, and Gary Sinise! What the hell was all this talent doing in something this cornball?

Rounders (disagree)

I like John Malkovich, but his goofy, Russian, Oreo-licking poker villain here was just absurd. I kind of enjoyed this film, but there were too many unintentional laughs and the showdown at the end undermined the whole film.

Rushmore (agree)

Yes...quirky, weird, and funny.

Searching for Bobby Fisher (agree)

This is one of my favorite films. I thought it did pretty well at the box office and in video, though.

Sling Blade (agree)

A good film, but it won tons of awards, including Best Adapted Screenplay. How is this underrated?

This Boy's Life (agree)

Another film I reviewed while working for the U.T. newspaper. Good film.

Wonder Boys (agree)

Yeah, I really liked this film. Based on the Michael Chabon novel.


Zero Effect (agree)

I watched this while I was in Japan. Hadn't heard a thing about it. And yeah, it was good.

Haven't Seen:

Babe: Pig in the City
Barn of the Blood Llama
Beautiful Girls
Before Sunrise
Big Trouble
Billy Elliott
Devil in a Blue Dress
Dick
Election
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
George Washington
Ref, The
Requiem for a Dream
Safe
Singles
Sliding Doors
Sweet Hereafter, The
Virgin Suicides, The
Waking the Dead
You Can Count on Me

Actually, there are very few on my "Haven't Seen" list that I'd actually want to see. Hm.