I had a few others in my post?
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Interesting trailer. I sort of liked his previous movie, The Cell (with J Lo aka Jenny From The Block) and this one looks just as visually compelling. David Fincher and Spike Jonze? Why have I never heard of The Fall?
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I see what you’ve done there.
You’ve conflated the initial film of a rebooted series of films with a film that somehow embodies ‘rebootness’ by being the first film of a rebooted series of films.
It’s easily done and not least so often by those as are oft likely to wag their gums in spite.
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Star Trek Into Darkness is neither “the initial film of a rebooted series of films” nor “the first film of a rebooted series of films,” but I would agree that it is easy to conflate these two things since your definition of both appears to be functionally identical.
The first Abrams Star Trek is called the reboot not only because it rebooted the franchise but because it is simply called Star Trek and without some sort of adjective it’s unclear which Star Trek you might be talking about. The subsequent Cumberbatch film has an actual name: Star Trek Into Darkness.
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In college I was part of the group on campus that played second-run 35mm films on 1950’s-era projectors in a theater-size lecture hall on campus with a cool large movie screen that descended from the ceiling each weekend (the university gave the group a huge budget to do this to provide something reliable for students to do on weekends besides drink). Because the movies were chosen by a bunch of movie nerds like myself, in addition to popular stuff we also got all sorts of fantastic less-known stuff.
Often with those sorts of movies, only a few people would show up. That was the case for The Fountain, as I recall. I sat by myself in the prime spot in the theater with maybe ten other people spread around. The kinda-shitty projection and beat-up prints we usually got very often entranced me by itself, but combined with the film it clearly put us all in a strange state. Nobody said a word after the movie ended and everyone left in silence.
I barely remember the movie at all (haven’t seen it again) other than a vague recollection of the tree-climbing stuff, but it was a great movie experience.
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I might have some suggestions, and some comments.
I want to mention Brazil, because if I’m remembering correctly it was on one person’s underrated list, and one person’s overrated list. That sounds about right 
I think the film is brilliant; certainly not flawless but about as good as it could possibly be I think - especially since a film done like that now might be easier to execute in theory, but destined to fail. The charm and extreme absurdity only work (and still amaze) because they aren’t computer effects. That’s where a film like Big Fish falls short - though I enjoyed that one too.
In Brazil Robert DeNiro gets most of the cameo praise (and his character is brilliant), but though it’s a also a very small part I love Michael Palin’s role even more. He wasn’t cast just because he’s Terry Gilliam’s friend and past co-worker, he was cast for those reasons but also because Palin so perfectly plays the part (actually… the part was probably written specifically for him now that I think about it, but it is essential to the movie working and isn’t frivolous).
Anyway, for a controversial overrated film I’ll offer Spartacus. Now, this is undoubtedly a great film for its own reasons, but a lot of it - especially the acting and even the writing in several scenes - is laughably dated, sometimes worse than the other sword and sandal epics of the era.
A non-controversial underrated film (in other words, underrated in the “not seen enough” sense) is Alfred Hitchcock’s Rope. Not all of Hitchcock’s pre-VistaVision films are as great as some people say (though many are excellent and most are worth seeing) but I love this one. I don’t think the tension and suspense of this very simple film has really ever been topped, even by the master of suspense himself.
On that point, someone mentioned North by Northwest as maybe being overrated. Indeed it does seem to get mentioned far too often at the expense of other great films (in the way that Gone With The Wind and a few other films are). However, it stands up to scrutiny. It isn’t over- or under- rated, it’s… “rated”. It’s unbelievably entertaining, while remaining very intelligent - an impossibly hard balancing act to pull off.
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Did you guys know that character, Harry Tuttle, is a direct reference to the AT&T monopoly?
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I mentioned North by Northwest, but not as over-rated. I think it’s one of the films that seems to be critically under-rated because of its broad popular/commercial appeal (Groundhog Day is similar in this respect). Critics like it, but they don’t really go to bat for it like they do for a ‘serious,’ and perhaps underseen film like Vertigo.
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I updated that with your previous suggestions.
Anyone else catch errors just let me know and I’ll edit the mega list post.
I’m going to let the thread go on a bit more then I’ll update again with the later editions; it’ll be tedious to edit it every time a new post comes up.
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A film that I just recently saw, and am putting up as underrated because I don’t recall anybody I know talking about it: Never Let Me Go. Something about it just… gripped me. I never got around to reading the book (though I think it’s on the bookshelf at home in the “To Read” section), but now I really want to.
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Terry Gilliam really had to fight to get a non-butchered version of Brazil out there.
I only recently watched North by Northwest, I liked it. Vertigo, on the other hand, is ludicrous. Best thing about that film is the Saul Bass poster.
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Indonesian film The Raid, which I loved (martial arts splatter job), is hugely underrated / unknown, and has a sequel, and good sounds are being made:
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Yes on Vertigo.
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Ah yeah, I get what you mean. And I do think Vertigo is very good, but definitely overhyped.
@daneel - agreed about the poster, heh. The film does have beautiful cinematography (and perhaps the only time the “vertigo” pull-zoom effect has ever been used effectively) and builds up a wonderful atmosphere, but IMO it falls a bit flat with the story. I love Jimmy Stewart and he pulls out all the stops, but the story just doesn’t hit the right chords for me (whereas Rear Window does, even with the silly confrontation with Raymond Burr at the end that nearly ruins it).
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I assume this is something different, then.
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Ha, should have expected that kind of response. So then there are two times - the original in Vertigo, and then a very creative and effective application in Jaws 
- I’m sure there are other times it’s been used well, but it’s usually just a gimmick.
I think actually in retrospect, the Jaws shot is better. In Vertigo they were clearly relying on it being something the audience had never seen before (I’m not sure it’s actually the first film it was used in, but still) and I think some modern audiences probably consider it a bit silly in context. In Jaws it’s totally unexpected, and perfectly communicates the character’s mental state in that moment, creating a tiny flood of terror in the viewer.
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Soderbergh used it in Sex, Lies, and Videotape, and although I’m no fan of the shot I thought it worked well there. Of course, he never knew if he would ever get a chance to make another film, so he did everything in his debut… and has since said he wouldn’t have done the shot if he had to make it again.
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The first Abrams Star Trek is called the reboot not only because it rebooted the franchise but because it is simply called Star Trek and without some sort of adjective it’s unclear which Star Trek you might be talking about. The subsequent Cumberbatch film has an actual name: Star Trek Into Darkness
…and as such is a part of the ‘reboot’.
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Right. Why don’t we call every post-Reeves Superman “Superman Reboot”? Or every Batman since the original “Batman Reboot”? Same with every new Spiderman, Hulk, etc.? We can call dozens of films the same thing because they’re all reboots. That Batman Reboot sucked! But then that other Batman Reboot was great!
Movies have names. Use them. Abrams’s first Star Trek is popularly known as the reboot because it’s proper name is simply Star Trek. Star Trek Into Darkness is not. Calling a movie “Star Trek Reboot” (with a capital ‘R’) is going to make people think of the 2009 film, not some random unidentified film in the post-Abrams era.
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I was on my school’s film committee, too ＼（＾∀＾）メ（＾∀＾）ノ
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