I have been using my quarantine days to finish new screenplays and watch a bunch of different director's entire filmographies. It's been kind of fun to scour the filmographies of Tony Scott, Jane Campion, and Alexander Payne. 

You get the good, the bad, and the somewhere in between. 


For every Zodiac, there's an Aliens 3

While everyone knows ET and Raiders of the Lost Ark, how many people have sat down to revisit Always lately? 

So, here's the debate that I originally saw and participated in on Twitter...

"What's a movie that you consider to be an underrated or rarely-seen gem from a filmmaker that is otherwise well-known? What's your hidden fav that you feel slipped through the cracks that more people need to see?"

What Famous Directors' Movie is Their Best Hidden Gem? 

When I first participated, my gut went right to Millions by Danny Boyle. I think it's a movie that could make you a better person if you watched it, and I think it gets lost in the noise around Boyle's later hits. 

My buddy, Justin Kremer, went with Promised Land from Gus Van Sant.

I think that's a good pick, too. Not just because Justin gives me notes on my screenplays, but because it takes someone famous for many other things and highlights one that it feels like no one really talks about anymore. 

I like Alexander Payne's The Descendents a lot. I think it has an amazing score and a depth other movies do not carry. 

But most people want to talk about his work on Election and About Schmidt

Famed critic Matt Zoller Seitz chimed in with a great list from a ton of diverse and interesting filmmakers as well. 

Challenges like this are hard because you need someone who has not only made a lot of movies, but also has so much fervor around their career that one or two titles could be lost. 

For instance, Sam Mendes made Away We Go, which I think got no play when it came out and wound up being a movie I go back to all the time. 

So this brings us to the part where you chime in...

What are your picks for the underrated gems? 

What are some movies from famous filmmakers you think are unheralded and that everyone should check out? 

Let us know in the comments.