20 movies that never got the recognition they deserve

In the pantheon of war films, people often rank Saving Private Ryan and other acclaimed blockbusters among their best, but one of the greatest war movies ever made is a small production based in Australia. Following two best friends as they race through the tumult of WWII, this lyrically dazzling production from Australian New Wave master Peter Weir understands it's human connection and emotion that makes for cinema's greatest battlefield. The final freeze frame shows these soldiers as merely another shrimp on the barbie- a heartbreaking realization that human lives in war are just pieces of meat to be fried for a meaningless cause.

Rental Family made very little money at the box office, was snubbed from all Oscar noms, and barely made an impact on cinema culture, but the impact it made on me was astronomical. Like the great Japanese director Yasujiro Ozu, this indie comedy about people being hired to pretend to be family members in Tokyo embraces the minuscule moments —the banal, everyday experiences — that make the biggest impact on our lives. Beautiful, tender, and touching, this is a winning movie for the whole family, even if they're hired to sit on the couch next to you.

In space, no one can hear you laugh in ecstatic entertainment. In The Right Stuff, the space race becomes an epic, hilarious popcorn flick about the perils of astronauts, their family lives, and the race to be the fastest pilot ever. It's Top Gun before Top Gun, and a shot of jet fuel for movie watchers at home.

A rom-com that isn't particularly romantic or funny, Heathers is an edgy alternative to the high school fluff of John Hughes. Centering on school shootings, bullying, emo angst, and societal norms, there's a reason this perversely clever comedy never made the cultural explosion of others of its pleaded skirt-like-- it actually had something to say.

Two words: Ryan Gosling. It's crazy to call a movie from cinema's most beloved actor underrated, but not enough people have seen this laconic thriller about a getaway driver getting revenge. Unfolding in the vein of a Jean Pierre Melville heist, this is a slow-burn movie that speaks in silences and moves in shadows.

While the Western world has slowly begun exploring Studio Ghibli's ouvre, there still remains a sleeper of the bunch. With Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind, the great Hayao Miyazaki showcased his trademark hand-drawn animation, poetic details, and lovable characters within a story that essentially truncated Luke Skywalker's entire trajectory into a single film.

This tale of Nazi-occupied Austria is part Sound of Music, part Life Is Beautiful. A moving ode to moral resistance that's powerful enough to move mountains and rain from the heavens like Alp waterfalls, Terrence Malick's return to form is one of the most beautiful movies of the century, period.

Robert De Niro in a comedy? Yes, the method actor, known for even treating his sushi restaurant, Nobu, with the utmost intensity, stars in a genuinely hilarious buddy comedy. As he drives a criminal across the country, Midnight Run turns into Tommy Boy with Tommy guns, a riveting road movie that never runs out of comedic fuel.

You would think that with the rise of White Lotus and lavish vacations gone awry on screen, more people would be talking about the key influence, Alain Delon and La Piscine. A simmering heat wave where Delon and his girlfriend get hot and bothered on the Riviera, La Piscine opens as cinema's most transporting vacation and builds to a truly shocking twist.

In the scripts of meta movie history, you often see Deadpool, The Player, and 8 1/2, but rarely does this biting satire on movie-making, scripts, and fragile actors make the cut. That's a shame, since this hilariously bonkers script-turned-real-life-action-extravaganza remains shocking, vulgar, and shockingly witty. 

More Peter Weir! The greatest example of the Australian New Wave, Picnic at Hanging Rock may be the greatest example of the movie mystery, as a group of schoolgirls goes missing on a picnic in the Outback. Was it planned, supernatural, or a kidnapping--the ambiguous answers linger in the mind long after the credits roll.

The Holiday made tons of money, but not everyone appreciates it for the cinematic gift it truly is. Wrapped in rom-com clichés, you can easily dismiss this movie about women swapping homes for Christmas as a trite trifle, yet the direction of Nora Ephron decorates the metaphoric Christmas tree with abundant color and artistic flair.

There's nothing underrated about Brian De Palma's direction, which walks the knife's edge between Alfred Hitchcock and art cinema. What's most underrated about his career is the perverse black-and-white thriller Sisters, about Siamese twins who get caught up in a conspiracy to commit murder. Directed with psychoanalytic undertones, this is De Palma's most layered thriller, cutting into Freud's writings with ghastly fervor.

Speaking of underrated thrillers, The Vanishing was once called "the scariest movie ever made" by Stanley Kubrick, who saw this psychological thriller for what it was. A realistic tragedy about a wife gone missing, The Vanishing burrows into the darkest depths of the human mind,  looking into the rearview of trauma with unblinking ferocity.

How about a movie from this year! Sam Raimi's trashy plane crash thriller is unabashedly gory, silly, and whimsical, following an insufferable tech bro and his humiliated employee who gets sweet, sweet revenge. Send Help is a knife to the balls of cruel misogynists who can't hide behind daddy forever.

It's a tale as old as art--boy meets balloon, boy falls in love with balloon, boy takes balloon on a romantic stroll through Paris. In this magical-realist masterclass, a boy takes his magical balloon on one of the most delightful and emotional journeys in cinema.

When two hitmen wait for their next assignment in Bruges, they bicker over beers in one of the strangest yet most entertaining movies of the century. Part comedy, part tragedy, In Bruges hits its genre-bending target with each unforeseeable twist.

The movie is forever known for Emma Stone shaving her head, sure, yet there are few movies that speak to our current moment quite like Bugonia. That's a film critic cliché, but it's true--the conspiracy-minded society we live in can relate to the need to pry into government mistrust, in this case the corporate mastermind who may or may not be an alien.

The action movie genre is carried by Liam Neeson, yet there's another old guy getting revenge on those who wronged his family. From the creators of John Wick, Nobody is an explosively entertaining revenge flick that proves you should never mess with a loving father's children.

The whimsical slapstick of Jacques Tati has inspired everything from Wes Anderson to Barbie. In this cute, innocent, and wonderful comedy about a cool uncle watching his sister's child, the beloved auteurial sensibility of Tati shines like a Parisian summer sunset.