My Top Three Underrated Movies

Bug (2007) Starring Ashley Judd and Michael Shannon. Judd plays Aggie a lonely sad waitress with a troubled past and an ex con for a husband played by Harry Connick Jr. A friend introduces her to a new man in town named Peter(Shannon) and the two find themselves attracted to each other they get to know one another over the course of the next few days. It is in those days that the effect of not taking his prescribed medication starts to haunt Peter and his paranoia about the "Bugs" come to light. He thinks that he was part of a government experiment that left aphids crawling inside his skin. He manages to make Aggie believe this as well and the two of them lose themselves completely to insanity and paranoia in a very short amount of time.

I turned this movie on by mistake about twenty-five minutes into it and never turned away. It was a surreal, gripping look into the mind of a truly paranoid man. The movie will leave you with a feeling of despair and maybe just maybe the feeling that aphids are crawling all over you. Truly very underrated. I never heard of this and caught it by mistake one day. I missed the first part so I watched the beginning of it the next time it came on just to see what I might have missed. Such a brilliantly down movie most of it is done in one motel room which brings about a very claustrophobic feeling and helps us the viewer to feel a little bit more of the paranoia that they are feeling. Judd as usual is superb in this role she really makes you believe she is the woman in this film. Shannon also does a wonderful job, actually there is no one in my mind who could have played this role but him. He acted from his head to his toes every part of him was that paranoid man on film. From everything to the movement in their facial expressions to the knife wielding hand it was well acted, well written, and directed and well worth watching to anyone how is a fan of psychological dramas.

Falling Down (1993) Now this one was just completely forgotten about, it got some recognition when it first appeared but has been largely forgotten about since. It stars Michael Douglas and Robert Duvall. Douglas plays William Foster a man who has no job, is divorced and is suddenly fed up with it all. Who then decides to go on a violent rampage after he gets stuck on the freeway trying to get to his daughters birthday party; he just gets out of his car and walks off and thus begins his descent into madness and he takes it out on others along the way as he sees fit. Duvall plays Prendergast an LAPD Sergeant who is retiring and it's supposed to be his last day. The chaos along the city caused by Foster catches his attention and has him on one last LAPD hunt and a quest for some real police work before he ends his last day .

This is the film that made Douglas a star (my opinion). There is such sadness in his rage and much truth to it as well. Half the time you agree with what angers him and think to yourself he might be onto something there; it's the way he goes about it that's wrong. Duvall as always plays the perfect supporting role in this film. It's witty clever and almost funny at times a film for anyone who understands the strength it takes to hold back when you just want to let go. I highly recommend this.

Colors (1988) This stars Sean Penn and Robert Duvall; it's about two cops trying to keep the gang violence between the Crips and Bloods hence the title "Colors" under control in East Los Angeles. Sean Penn is the rookie cop (Danny Mcgavin,- Pac Man) partnered with the more experienced cop Duvall(Bob Hodges). Penn plays a hot head. He is an adrenaline junkie who does not care that his actions cause him and his partner to be looked down upon. Duvall tries dealing with the gangs calmly and he serves as a sort of preacher to them. He understands that everything the cops do is scrutinized.

This movie seems to me to have been forgotten about since the making of so many other gang violence films; yet this one is a must see for anyone who has ever been a fan of those kind of movies. This one serves more as a view point of the cops than the gang members themselves but the characters are still very compelling. It is directed by Dennis Hopper and features some notable stars in their early career such as Don Cheadle and Damon Wayans. Very well acted all around a very realistic look into the dangers police men face everyday trying to stop the violence on the streets of LA. Well worth the time to watch at least once. It is very eighties so the times have changed much in the way of fashion and that places a bit of a comical aspect on the film that was not meant to be there, none the less I recommend it.