The Man Who Wasn't There (2001) - always goes under the radar where the Coens are concerned. It's perhaps almost "the film that wasn't there" .

Really dark, sad but humerous stuff. The Coens at their best.

Ehhhhh too artificial for me. It's them playing in their sandbox, and I never felt the film had a beating heart at its center

The usual damned suspect is Showgirls and, really, the time has come to retire this movie as my go-to film when it comes to virtually anything.

So this:

The Man Who Wasn't There is at the very least overlooked if not out-and-out great. It edges up to greatness as a direct existentialist genre piece, small by Coen standards and about as a good as a combination of Albert Camus: Greatest Hits and B-List Noir could be.

Others, too.

I wasn't in the target demographic for TMNT--I was 28 when the movie came out and had never watched the TV show or read the comic. But I happened to watch it on TV a few years later one night when there wasn't anything else on that looked attractive to me, and my reaction was, "dang, this is actually a good movie".

My 12-year-old self still can't forgive the filmmakers of the original TMNT trilogy for totally changing Raphael's (probably my favorite in the cartoon series) character from the group wiseass to a brooding loner whom the others didn't care for all that much (and making Donatello into the wiseass instead).

The movie didn't change anything. Raphael was adapted more or less faithfully from his depiction in the original comics. The cartoon changed Raph into a wiseass, I guess because they figured kids would be confused by his angst and not buy his action figure.

That's not to say that the movie was an unimpeachable masterwork, but this is one issue for which it can't really be blamed.

Let the Right One In and the remake Let Me In

James,

Great list and great topic. You hit on some of my favorites. Here are some nominees from me that you didn't mention:

Kisses: A sweet tale of young love
Into the Wild: Not totally unsung but not given enough credit.
The Brothers Bloom: A fun heist flick that I seem to be in the minority in liking
Mary & Max: A must see animated film
Monsters: A great debut sci-fi flick
Moon: see above. Sam Rockwell is awesome as always
Still Walking: A gripping film from Japan
Adventureland: I loved this, many thought it was just ok
High Fidelity: Great novel. Great film.
Beginners: One of the finest films of the past two years
Blue Valentine: Painful, emotional and excellent
Take this Waltz: Sarah Polley is making great films that not enough people see
Me, and You and Everyone we Know: Miranda July just killed this
We Don't Live here Anymore: Solid Couples drama
Closer: I can watch this over and over and feel the pain each time
You Can Count on Me: Linney and Ruffalo are great
Blueberry Nights: Overlooked English language Wong Kar Wei
The Damned United: Really good football film
Definitely, Maybe: Sweet film
Please Give: Catherine Keener always hooks me
Hunger: Has one of the best long continuous shots I've ever seen
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang: The rebirth of RDJ
Layer Cake: Daniel Craig became Bond thanks to this
Brick: If you haven't seen this, do so now before Looper comes out
Mysterious Skin: Wait, that's the kid from 3rd Rock from the Sun???!!!
Michael Clayton: Solid tense drama
Out of Sight: Clooney flashes what he would become and Lopez can act???
The Prestige: A really good Nolan film that no one talks about enough
Scott Pilgrim vs the World: For that special kind of nerd...like me
Stranger than Fiction: A really good Will Ferrell film
Two Lovers: Phoenix is great in this
The Visitor: Jenkins shines in a leading role

Got this one from your recommendation and it's lovely.



Great call. Best SciFi film in years.

Would we call this a "great movie?" I liked it well enough, and more than I was expecting to, but c'mon



And is much more than just that scene

Fair enough--Definitely, Maybe isn't great, but I just watched it again and it was fresh on my mind