10 Amazing Movies Nobody Knows About

We as modern movie fans are suffering from an embarrassment of riches

There are simply more great films available at our fingertips at any moment

than anyone can realistically watch in a lifetime. And so it's inevitable that some movies end up slipping through the cracks

and getting passed by for one of many reasons. Perhaps most commonly that they just didn't have enough marketing might

to stand out in a crowded field. But on purely their own merits away from the business side of the industry

these 10 incredible movies absolutely need to be seen by as many film lovers as possible

So with that in mind, I'm Ellie with WhatCulture here with an amazing movies nobody knows about

Brick. It's truly bizarre that despite Rian Johnson becoming a household name

thanks to both Star Wars The Last Jedi and the Knives Out franchise, that his 2005 directorial debut Brick hasn't been rediscovered in recent years

A staggeringly fearless and audacious first film, Brick is a beguiling mystery thriller in which high school student Brendan investigates the disappearance of his ex-girlfriend Emily

The genius hook of Johnson's film is that it's effectively a classically styled film noir transplanted onto a modern high school setting, made most evident by the intentionally affected hard-boiled dialogue

While it would be easy for such a concept to fall flat on its face or feel a bit student filmy

Johnson's atmospheric direction, twisty storytelling and the efforts of a remarkable ensemble cast

make this a rich, fiercely original take on the contemporary thriller. Even with all the success that Johnson has had in recent years

there's a fair argument to be made that Brick remains his very best film

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Thunder Road. Adapted from filmmaker Jim Cummings' own award-winning 2016 short of the same name

Thunder Road is an excellent dramedy about a grieving, rage-filled police officer, Jim

struggling to cope with both the death of his mother and recent divorce. As director, writer and star, Cummings proves himself to be a terrifically talented man

bringing pathos and nuance to a prickly character who audiences might not be immediately compelled to sympathise with

Cummings' razor-sharp performance as a man wrangling with his own masculinity is buffeted by some truly excellent filmmaking

especially his daring use of single takes for many of the grandstanding dramatic exchanges

a trick borrowed from his original short which was shot in a single 13 take For as magnificently crafted as Thunder Road is for its mere budget it not known by nearly enough film lovers

Beyond the Infinite Two Minutes Beyond the Infinite Two Minutes is something of a spiritual successor to 2017's One Cut

of the Dead, another low-budget Japanese genre film centred around supernatural phenomena

unfolding over a seemingly single take. But this film is sci-fi rather than horror

following a cafe owner who discovers that his apartment's computer monitor can display two minutes into the future

from the perspective of a TV in his cafe downstairs, while the cafe TV displays events from two minutes in the past

It's a brain-breaking concept which sends the central characters on a mesmerising odyssey as they discover inventive ways

to create larger windows into both the past and the future. Combined with the film being near seamlessly presented as a single take

it results in a technically virtuosic piece of work in spite of its meagre budget

Shot on an iPhone and clocking in at a drum-tight 71 minutes

this is a no-nonsense affair that again proves that creativity will prevail

no matter the scant resources a filmmaker might otherwise be working with

The Woodsman. Though it isn't difficult to deduce why this brilliant Kevin Bacon starring drama

wasn't exactly a multiplex hit, it's nevertheless a laudably bold and provocative meditation

on a deeply disturbing subject. In The Woodsman, Bacon stars as Walter

a convicted child molester who returns home after 12 years in prison

and attempts to start his life anew. Naturally, many simply aren't interested in watching a movie

from the point of view of someone who has committed such horrible acts, but such is the very point of the movie

Are you able to sympathise with this man? And despite this enormous emotional hurdle for audiences, Kevin Bacon's Oscar-worthy performance ensures the film largely succeeds, lending humanity to a person who would be keenly dehumanised as a monster by most

To be clear, this is certainly a deeply uncomfortable and squirm-inducing film at times, and one that probably wouldn't get made in 2023

It's not a film you'll want to watch often, if even more than once

but it is an exceptionally brave character study with a magnificent lead performance from Bacon

The Wackness. In 2008's The Wackness, Josh Peck stars as Luke Shapiro

a troubled young man who deals weed to Dr. Jeffrey Squires in exchange for therapy sessions

all while developing a crush on Squires' stepdaughter, Steph. This film absolutely nails the vibe and atmosphere of a summer in mid-90s New York City

but what truly makes it sing is the typically remarkable work from Ben Kingsley and more unexpectedly at the time Peck who fresh off of his tenure on Drake and Josh gives a perceptive performance atypical of this well genre Even if you can directly identify with Luke own journey

there's still plenty to relate to here for anyone who's ever struggled with transitioning into adulthood

That is, basically everyone. Thanks to its witty dialogue and sharp performances

The Wackness is a rare coming-of-age film which truly transcends the formula

to deliver something that feels distinct and very much its own thing

Europa Report. Audiences often decry the lack of truly imaginative sci-fi fare out there

But then, did anyone show up to support Europa Report when it came out a whole decade ago

A rare sci-fi outing produced for just $10 million, this film cannily adopts the found footage format

to document humanity's first crewed mission to Jupiter's moon Europa, where they intend to seek out sources of life

It's a tricky concept to pull off with such little money, yet the director evidently makes every penny count

delivering an impressively stylish, tense and ultimately terrifying piece of work. Aided by thoroughly plausible performances from its cast and a subdued naturalistic tone

this is a found footage film which keeps its feet on the ground for the most part

and in turn proves all the more unnerving as a result. As a testament to the pulse-quickening fear of the unknown beyond the bounds of Earth

this is compulsively effective. Mean Creek. Despite receiving two independent spirit awards

2004's coming-of-age drama Mean Creek pretty much fell off the face of the earth

within a few short years of its release. Yet it remains one of cinema's most savagely authentic

and well-crafted depictions of bullying, revolving around a group of teenagers whose plan to get revenge on their bully goes horribly wrong

Undeniably inspired by the works of Stephen King, especially Stand By Me

this is a disturbingly frank examination of teenage strife whose potentially heightened melodramatic through-line

is brought straight back down to earth by the efforts of a first-rate cast

A haunting dark drama that pulls no punches all the way to its chilling conclusion

Mean Creek is a film that desperately deserves more eyes on it per its unflinching narrative and deep characterisation

The Man From Earth 2007 sci-fi drama The Man From Earth is a fascinating beast indeed

The $200,000 film did enjoy something of an uptick in popularity due to a pirate copy leaking online mere weeks before its official release

with even producer Eric D. Wilkinson thanking pirates for raising the movie's profile

Indeed, the movie, about a university professor who claims to be 14,000 years old

was illicitly distributed online by pirates which in conjunction with rave reviews led to it enjoying a brief but fleeting period of buzz Yet the movie is more or less forgotten which considering the quality of its enigmatic screenplay

and brilliantly ambiguous central performance, is an absolute travesty. Though a sequel was eventually released in 2017

it failed to make much of a dent at all, in part because the original movie

had largely evaporated from the cultural consciousness and also the fact that it was a huge step down

in quality from the first. Spontaneous. It's easy to picture another timeline where Spontaneous was a breakout hit at the speciality box office and cemented its status as a cult classic

Yet this fantastic coming-of-age black comedy had the misfortune of being quietly dumped on streaming by Paramount in late 2020

It makes little sense that the studio barely gave this thing a theatrical release at all given the timelines of its subject matter

pertaining to both the then-raging pandemic and also America's never-ending issues with gun violence in schools

Ignore the movie's undeniably terrible posters, which bafflingly paint it as a cloying teen rom-com

because Spontaneous's attention-grabbing hook sees students at a high school randomly start exploding from the inside out

for seemingly no rhyme or reason. Filmmaker Brian Duffield uses this delirious setup

to explore mortality and fear of the unknown in a highly original way

girded by excellent central performances from Catherine Langford and Charlie Plummer as two star-crossed teens caught in the middle of the bloodily explosive epidemic

Yet for all its creativity and how expertly it mines emotion from an inherently absurd concept

it's infuriating how Paramount simply sent it out to die. Tyrannosaur. If you can get over its portentous title

which likely didn't help it find an audience at all, Paddy Considine's Tyrannosaur is one of the most evocative

British directorial debuts of the century so far. This bleak but brilliant drama follows a self-destructive widower, Joseph

who crosses paths with Hannah, a kindly charity shop worker who is herself struggling to escape an abusive marriage

So Tyrannosaur isn't exactly feel-good filmmaking, and fair warning, not one but two dogs die in it

but it is an uncommonly transfixing study of two deeply wounded people

from wildly different walks of life forging an unexpected bond. As a picture of uncontrolled rage, Peter Mullen gives an awards-worthy performance as Joseph

and Olivia Colman typically delivers as a picture of fraught compassion. And Eddie Marson is also terrifying as Hannah's abusive husband, James

It's easy to see why Tyrannosaur flew under the radar per its tricky subject matter

but in his debut, Considine proved himself a tremendously skilled dramatist willing to go down some deeply unpleasant rabbit holes