Lil4X
Elio Addict
There are thousands of movies now available online, most of which are forgettable, with a number of blockbusters among the detritus of Hollywood. Often overlooked among these are a few gems that didn't get the promotion they needed, whether for lack of marketing, or cost overruns in production. Here are some of our favorites, please add your own "Hidden Gems".
- "The Dish" - a low-to mid-budget film about the coming of a NASA tracking station to Parkes, NSW, a rural Australian town during the early years of the US Apollo program. It's a hoot with the interplay between American nerds and bureaucrats and their quirky new neighbors. The culture clash between them drives the movie, as the sheep-ranching community first rejects, then joins the excitement of the Apollo 11 lunar mission, and their participation in a great cover-up that gets the station working and saves careers. The mix of understated, gentle humor is largely based on a set of odd characters that would be quite at home in an English comedy - the Vicar of Dibley comes to mind. People are hysterically funny without being aware of it. It's a good story, entirely plausible, and in fact, based on a true story that combines some of the story of another Aussie tracking station, Honeysuckle, into the composite. Not a blockbuster, roll on the floor comedy but a fine evening's entertainment.
- "Bubba Ho-Tep" - A favorite of ours, this movie answers the question of whatever happened to Elvis. It turns out he was replaced by an impersonator before "he" died and the original EP is living in an East Texas "rest home" (mental institution) along with John Kennedy. With Bruce Campbell (Burn Notice) as Elvis and Ossie Davis as JFK, the pair set about solving the mystery of an undead Egyptian mummy who is preying on other residents of the facility. Played completely straight, the film is hysterically funny, seeming to revel in its b-movie cheesiness as Elvis and Jack pursue the Ho-tep. OK, the budget was low - as low as a half-million bucks, but that doesn't detract from the film. The real Elvis is never seen, nor are any of his hits heard (the rights would have cost far more than the entire movie) but it is a good outing for some pretty convincing Elvis impersonators in background sequences and on the sound track performing soundalikes. A real treat for lovers of pop movie culture.
- "Secondhand Lions" - Still one of my all-time favorites, starring Robert Duvall and Michael Caine as brothers with a shadowy past of untold global adventures - how much is fact and how much is fiction is left to the final reel. When their young nephew (Haley Joel Osmet in his first major outing) is dumped in their laps, these two old codgers wind up raising the youngster - in their isolated world of odd bemusement. Set in the hills of Central Texas, this combination mystery and coming-of-age movie sort of redefines the conventional limits of eccentric characters in Duvall and Caine whose major entertainment sitting on the front porch also seems to involve traveling salesmen and firearms. With seemingly limitless resources, the brothers first occupy their retirement years whittling - but with the appearance of their young charge, start a vegetable patch, then tiring of that hobby, buy a broken-down old lion - their idea is to shoot it and hang it's head in their ramshackle home. Of course the lion becomes a pet - along with a pack of mixed-breed dogs that seem to hang round the porch. For me, the real payoff is in the original ending that appears on the DVD. It never appears in the movie channel cut, but it alone is worth the rental or purchase of the DVD. It's a rich, quirky mystery that combines intrigue, family, dry humor and high adventure and an all-star cast that includes a small part played by Kira Sedgwick, as the mess of a Mom. Another outstanding movie suitable for the whole family.
- "Escanaba in da Moonlight". Particularly if you are an outdoorsman, or have friends who are, this tale of a frustrated deer hunter is hysterically funny. Originally written for the stage by Jeff Daniels, and using the talents of many of the original stage cast, it is best called a low-brow, low-budget movie that features the "rustic" characters of the U.P. (that's Upper Penninsula for all you non-Michiganders) and their unique culture that seems to be based on a systematic reduction of wildlife of all kinds. The inability of Daniel's character to bag a buck has become a source of embarrassment and a sign of failure to the entire community, and THIS year all are determined to change all that. Because the budget was spent on production rather than promotion, this movie got little if any attention when it was released in '01 - but it has gathered a following, reaching cult status in the years since.
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