Film critics might provide an invaluable filter
between audiences and bad movies, but they don't always get it right. In the case of these secretly amazing movies,
most reviewers majorly missed the mark. For those that put stock in the Rotten Tomatoes
score before ponying up ticket fare, these are the movies you might've missed the first
time around. And be warned, there are spoilers ahead. The Cell Directed by Tarsem Singh, The Cell is not
a movie for everyone. But critics who accused the movie of being
shallow and derivative might have been a bit too harsh in retrospect. The film tells the story of Catherine Deane,
a child psychologist who uses some impressive tech to enter the subconscious of a comatose
boy, hoping to bring him back into the real world. Thanks to her unique set of skills, she's
asked by an FBI agent to explore the mind of an unconscious MAN who'd imprisoned a girl
in a bizarre death trap before having a seizure. Now, she only has hours left to live, so Deane
is tasked with finding her whereabouts. But this is easier said than done, since his
subconscious is a nightmare world of torture devices, horned monsters, and living dolls
that resemble his victims. It's an S&M fever dream where corpses are
bathed in blood, horses are dissected with glass slides, and men have their intestines
slowly pulled from their bodies. So, The Cell is full of depravity, but it's
still pretty gorgeous to look at, thanks to some horrific tributes to artists like Damien
Hirst, Odd Nerdrum, and H.R. Giger. And the costume game is at its finest with
designer Eiko Ishioka's array of jumpsuits, demonic purple wings, and sadistic sci-fi
masks. Better still, the sets are practical, the
performances are on point, and the result is something big, bloody, and perversely beautiful. Of course, they didn't all get it wrong. Roger Ebert was one of the few critics who
actually liked it and in fact declared it was "one of the best films of the year." The Hunted When it comes to nail-biters, William Friedkin
is one of the best in the business. After all, he's the guy who made films like
The French Connection and The Exorcist. In The Hunted, he gives us a chase movie for
the ages, even if critics weren't too impressed. The story follows a tired tracker named L.T. Bonham who used to teach Special Ops soldiers,
but unfortunately, his training was a little too good. After seeing some pretty horrible things overseas,
an old pupil has lost his mind and now spends his time picking off deer hunters. So Bonham is brought in to give his student
one last lesson. Tommy Lee Jones is amazing as the weary survivalist,
a man who knows what he has to do, but that doesn't mean he has to enjoy it. "This yours?" "What the…" As for Benecio Del Toro, he's both scary and
sympathetic as a man who's seen and spilled far too much blood. Friedkin expertly follows these two as they
chase each other down, and when it comes down to the final showdown, there are no showy
ninja moves here. It's painful, brutal, and in your face, which
pretty much sums up the entire feel of this underrated thriller. Constantine When Constantine was released in 2005, it
had a devil of a time with moviegoers. It lost money at the domestic box office,
and critics did their best to exorcise the film from theaters. But those reviewers must've been in league
with Lucifer because Constantine is one hell of a movie. Granted, it doesn't have much in common with
Hellblazer—the comic it's loosely based on—but nevertheless, it's an amazingly fun
film noir about a chain-smoking cynic who deports demons for entirely selfish reasons. As a kid, he tried to take his own life, and
now he's damned for all eternity. So his plan is to exorcise his way to heaven,
and he finally gets a chance at saving his soul when a cop asks him to take on a strange
case. Directed by Francis Lawrence, Constantine
plunges our hero into a world where otherworldly beings spend their evenings at a supernatural
club, and heroes blast demons with a crucifix shotguns. In this freaky film, cats can guide you to
the underworld, holy water is stored in five-gallon jugs, and angels dress to the nines in killer
pinstripe suits. John Constantine is one of Reeves' best performances. The man is playing a mash-up between Sam Spade
and Neo from The Matrix, expertly blending a snarky sense of humor, detached detective
cool, and secret side of antihero empathy. Then there's Tilda Swinton as an incredibly
suave Gabriel and Peter Stormare as the sleaziest Satan of all time. With all that awesomeness, it's baffling the
movie did so poorly, but to all the critics who've hated this film, Constantine has a
little message for you… Knowing There's no denying that Nicolas Cage has had
a checkered cinematic career… "huh HAAAA!" ...but faithful fans are rewarded every so
often with a legitimately great movie like Joe, Adaptation, Bad Lieutenant… and Knowing. Though almost every film critic wishes the
last movie would disappear in an extinction-level event, Knowing is genuinely thrilling and
poses some interesting philosophical questions. When it's not freaking you out, it's making
you think, which is why Roger Ebert was the lone holdout who declared it was one of "the
best science-fiction films" he'd ever seen. The plot revolves around a rational professor,
played by Cage, whose son discovers a 50-year-old document covered in numbers. Despite his skepticism, Koestler realizes
these numbers are a code predicting the dates and body counts of major disasters. And as he digs deeper into the mystery, he
realizes something bad is looming on the horizon. With the unsettling appearance of some otherworldly
strangers, Koestler begins questioning everything he's ever known about the universe. With director Alex Proyas at the helm, Knowing
is just brimming with dread, the same creeping kind of fear you'd find in a movie like Signs. Plus, the film grapples with concepts like
free will versus predestination, a deterministic universe versus a random one. You might not like where the movie eventually
sides, but it's a film that takes chances and generates ideas that are well worth exploring
after the credits roll. "And you have to do it. You have to. Or I'll fire you. Do you understand?" Super Before directing Guardians of the Galaxy,
James Gunn put his stamp on the superhero genre with Super, an upbeat version of Taxi
Driver where the supposed heroes take out drug dealers with pipe bombs and claws. If you can stomach the gore, then you'll find
yourself nervously chuckling along with one of the best—and nastiest—superhero satires. The plot follows a schlubby cook named Frank
whose wife has just left him for the world's sleaziest drug dealer. But after receiving a vision from God—one
involving razor blades and tentacles—Frank believes it's his divine mission to become
a superhero, fight crime, and rescue his wife. And accompanying him on his quest is a comic
book nerd who has way too much fun breaking legs and bashing heads. Disguised as the Crimson Bolt, Frank uses
a pipe wrench to punish both child molesters and people who cut in line. The violence is shockingly hard to watch,
and as a result, Super feels like we're watching a schizophrenic madman who's building towards
something terrible. And it's that over-the-top bloodshed that
angered so many critics. But the violence here is kind of the point. If superheroes existed in real-life, they
wouldn't be the most stable people on the planet, so Super is a savage and side-splitting
response to every comic book movie to ever come out of Hollywood… which is kind of
ironic considering what Gunn would later sign up to direct. "Face the wrath of the Crimson Bolt!" The Majestic In between Stephen King adaptations, Frank
Darabont decided to make a movie in the style of Frank Capra. The result was The Majestic, a film so sweet
and nostalgic that it's shocking to think the same director would later make The Mist. But while that grisly creature feature is
about as pessimistic as movies get, The Majestic believes in old-fashioned ideas like right
and wrong and freedom of speech. The story follows a blacklisted screenwriter
named Peter Appleton who get amnesia and winds up in a sleepy little town where he's mistaken
for a long-lost World War II vet. And since he can't remember who he is or where
he came from, Peter accepts the story and bonds with his new dad and a wary love interest. Eventually, Peter's memories come flooding
back, threatening his new existence, and things get even more complicated when he's called
upon to testify before the House Un-American Activities Committee. But Peter rises to the occasion and delivers
a rousing speech in defense of the right to say and believe whatever you want. Jim Carrey is on the top of his game here,
delivering a dramatic performance that's right up there with his roles in The Truman Show
and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. And The Majestic is an inspiring little film,
the kind we hardly see anymore. Vanilla Sky The world of Vanilla Sky is filled with Monet
sunsets and Bob Dylan streets, but that doesn't mean you'd want to live there. Why not? Well, it's also a world of crazy stalkers,
creepy face masks, and a dreadful feeling that something awful is waiting in the dark. Based on the 1998 Spanish film Open Your Eyes,
Cameron Crowe's fifth feature marks the spot where many believe he started losing his touch. Despite its reputation, this Tom Cruise film
is a massive mindbender with more layers than Inception and more twists than Memento. And Cruise is really earning his paycheck
here as David Ames, an ultra-rich playboy who has his life ripped apart and then starts
losing his mind…maybe. The superstar really sells David's growing
fear and paranoia, and his relationships with the women of the film are masterfully crafted,
highlighting two very different sides of the same man. The movie is also filled with some pretty
horrific images and genuinely disturbing moments, from bizarre bedroom body-swaps to grotesque
shots of Cruise's face. There's also a fantastic soundtrack that features
one of the most disturbing uses of a Beach Boys song you'll ever hear. The Book of Eli This movie starts off with Denzel Washington
shooting and eating a feral housecat... and it only gets crazier from there. Set in a post-apocalyptic world, The Book
of Eli takes place in a time when moist towelettes are used as currency, people pay to charge
their iPods, and the local saloons make their money selling water. It's a dusty and depressing realm where those
who can read hold all the power, and faith is more powerful than a loaded gun. The sci-fi western follows Washington as Eli,
a holy warrior wandering across what's left of the United States. Accompanied by a machete and Mila Kunis, Eli is carrying the last remaining copy of the King James Bible, and he hopes
to get the holy book to a safe place on the coast. Unfortunately, a small-town dictator wants
the book for himself, knowing it can help him establish his evil empire. Only Eli isn't giving up the Good Book so
easily, and instead of turning the other cheek, he's prepared to take eye for an eye to make
sure the relic makes it safely across America. In addition to some masterful action scenes—The
Book of Eli is a powerful commentary on the power of religion, but ultimately, it's a
story that's also all about the power of the written word, and how books can shape entire
civilizations. Thanks for watching! Click the Looper icon to subscribe to our
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