5 Great Movies No One Has Seen

There is a marred fate of films that are painful; Even very badly. Especially when the works are largely gaining critical acclaim, which is never too late to leave Sulfateus. We still have examples in mind of Steven Spielberg’s West Side Story, albeit overshadowed by positive press reviews, the biggest failure of the filmmaker’s career.

Guillermo del Toro’s Nightmare Alley was also devastating. And what about the colossal failure of Ridley Scott’s last duel? Barely 400,000 viewers in France. Only $10 million was raised in the United States, less than $20 million in the rest of the world. A dramatic flop in theaters for a production that cost more than $100 million to produce. “Why didn’t it work? It’s the fault of those millennials and their perverted cell phones!” Scott snapped angrily.

The regular divorce between critics and (general) public taste is not a new phenomenon either. In France, Luc Besson knows something about this… Nevertheless, the commercial failure of some works is deeply unfair, despite their many qualities. Fortunately, but not always, time vindicates them. Here are five great, critically acclaimed films that were unfortunately torpedoed during their theatrical careers.

blood simple

A little gem of a neo-noir film, populated by a gallery of stylish redneck characters, each one more deviant than the other, full of humor (black and brutal, of course), Blood Simple (aka “Blood for Blood” VF) marked the Coen brothers’ first foray into directing.

The film features Dan Hedaya as a jealous husband who hires Privet (The Great Emmett Walsh) to get rid of his cheating wife (Frances McDormand). But a series of unfortunate complications mean nothing goes according to plan…

Presented at many festivals, including the Sundance Festival, from where it was crowned with the Jury Prize for the Brothers Directors, it is praised by American critics for the quality of its staging and interpretation, but is still widely shunned by the public. and collected over $1.6 million in revenue on US soil.

Overseas, it fared slightly better: $1.03 million. A total of 2.73 sad and derisive million movies which cost 1.5 million already. Fortunately, time took its toll, and audiences have since widely re-appreciated the Coens’ first film, elevating it to cult status.

blade runner 2049

It can’t be said that the announcement of the start of construction on the sequel to Blade Runner, the seminal SF film that marked the history of cinema, was greeted with pitchforks at first sight by fans. What is the point of an already perfect work, whose richness we have not yet exhausted?

However, Denis Villeneuve was able to see the legacy of his great boss 35 years earlier with a bewildering insight. “While the original Blade Runner was (finally) recognized for its unrealized potential, its sequel ranks among the greatest sci-fi films of all time.” Excited Diversity Review, Peter DeBrugge.

Watch the movie trailer…

What does it really matter if? Ridley Scott found the movie “too long”Or that the producer of the first film, Michael Dill, takes Villeneuve’s work by the throat with a friendly “cThis is at least self-abnegation, perhaps arrogance and a crime.”

Hypnotic and sometimes contemplative, with a soundtrack that knows how to be elegiac, with sublimated photography signed by the great cinematographer Roger Deakins, who will win an Oscar for his fabulous work, this Blade Runner 2049 is great cinema. And there was an obvious pleasure in finding Harrison Ford in the role that also made him a legend alongside Han Solo.

But it was a box office flop, not even making $100 million in the US. And that’s not nearly $260 million for the worldwide soundtrack, which would be able to absorb the film’s $150 million, minus the marketing budget. He even lost $80 million to the film’s production company that owned the rights, Alcon Entertainment. The film’s two Oscars and generally very positive reviews did little to save the film. Tent movie; That is, a franchise that can generate huge profits.

Villeneuve’s desire to direct a sequel may remain a pipe dream for a while… even if the rights holders have since blessed the animated series Blade Runner – Black Lotus, as well as the series that is actually being made, Blade. Runner 2099. Companies that are still cheaper than a big One Shot on the big screen.

children of men

In 2013, Alfonso Cuarón surprised the audience with his big tour, which was Gravity. Crowned with seven Oscars, including Best Director, the film grossed more than $723 million at the worldwide box office.

It is enough to erase the painful memory of his previous film, Sons of Man, a huge failure. Unanimously hailed as one of the greatest sci-fi films of recent years, it still flopped at the American market, grossing just $35 million against a $76 million budget; Same at the international level.

Watch its trailer…

Set in 2027, the film stars Clive Owen, aka Theodore Farron, a former activist responsible for protecting a pregnant woman who represents humanity’s last hope, who has become sterile, trapped by Chaos, and is living out her last moments.

The film’s adoration from critics has blown up the production enough to collect three Oscar citations, including Best Adapted Screenplay. Unfortunately, nothing will save his domestic career. If a film has a large following now, it would still benefit from more (re)awareness.

The Lost City of Z

Between the box office and James Grey, unfortunately, there’s always a failed honeymoon. “My generation, I despise” He bitterly launched himself into 2021, expressing his opinion on the current state of Hollywood cinema and particularly lamenting the fact that many of his colleagues have too easily succumbed to the sirens of superhero movies…

2017’s excellent adventure film, The Lost City of Z, was unfortunately a sore failure in cinemas with over 391,000 viewers in France. It didn’t even make $20 million at the worldwide box office. The same could be said of the violence of the slap, which had the power of an uppercut… a cruel injustice, so much so that Gray’s powerful work is not lacking in assets.

Starting with its very solid cast: Sienna Miller, Tom Holland, Robert Pattinson and of course Charlie Hunnam in the lead role of Colonel Percival Fawcett, the explorer behind the Amazon myth.

Fawcett’s eight expeditions into the heart of the Amazon represent one of the most extraordinary adventures of the 20th century. The captain, then a colonel in the British army, the prototype of the English explorer, who was visionary and phlegmatic, Fawcett vowed to himself – based on ancient Portuguese chronicles and the instructions of the seer – to find the ruins of an ancient city that is buried. The darkness of the Brazilian jungle.

Ironically, the one we thought of as a whimsical adventurer may have been right: in 2018, huge ruins were discovered in the region where he disappeared, which may be the city he so dreamed of and sought after.

Gray’s film is enhanced by the sumptuous photography of one of the greatest cinematographers, Darius Khonji; It was also shot under very difficult conditions, as James Gray told us when we met him when he arrived in Paris, and we drew striking parallels with the work. in the heart of darkness by Joseph Conrad, adapted for the film by Coppola Apocalypse Now…

To be honest, a film we carefully place next to another offbeat adventure film in the same vein (a must see!!!), Bob Rafelson’s Aux Sources du Nil. The work, which has become rare, has never been released to us on DVD, or even Blu-ray. If a random editor could look at the question…

The assassination of Jesse James by the coward Robert Ford

In 2000, New Zealand filmmaker Andrew Dominick removed a grenade that was thrown at an audience dumbfounded by the violence of his first film, Chopper. Directed by the incredible Eric Bana, the film evokes the bloody authentic story of Mark Read, one of Australia’s greatest serial killers, nicknamed “Chopper” for his penchant for mutilation, including himself.

A rare filmmaker, Dominique returned to cinema after only seven years with a dazzling work: The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford. Co-produced by Brad Pitt and starring the legendary figure of the American West opposite Casey Affleck, this river Western is as brooding as it is poetic and melancholic, in which time seems to expand, tempered by a wondrous winter. The photography is ‘tremendous Roger DeakinsIt’s him again.

An aesthetic approach as sublime as it is inspiring: Dominik’s film figures prominently among Rockstar studio’s glorious influences in its extraordinary video game western, Red Dead Redemption II.

Here’s the trailer again…

To say that this extraordinary film was overlooked in theaters in 2007 is an understatement: it grossed just under $3.9 million domestically and $11 million internationally. Figures that pale in comparison to the film’s $30 million budget. In France, it didn’t even attract 300,000 spectators, despite the promise of its headliner.

“A dazzling fresco that draws its characters to their tragic fate with the unforgiving character of Greek tragedy” wrote Variety. “The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford is a wonderful throwback to a time when filmmakers found every way possible to transform one of Hollywood’s oldest and most enduring genres.” A better tribute could not be written. You know what to do if you’ve never seen it.