Top Ten Tuesdays: Unpopular Films I Happen to Like

Here are ten films that went unregistered by either critics or audiences (or both) that I think are pretty good, if not excellent, or at least... not deserving of their undying criticism. Just imagine, this is where Inception (2010) would be if it hadn't made $220 M worldwide in the past two weeks. One or two spoilers ahead.

10. Osmosis Jones (2001) -- This is the only funny "body humor" film I've ever seen, mostly because it has the advantage of turning gross body-parts into analogous aspects of city-life, very cleverly. Case in point: zits become night clubs, stomachs become airports, and saliva glands become border-patrol. Add in a not-too-shabby buddy-cop story and you've got a great film. Why it lost $62 M at the box-office, I'll never understand.

9. The Hudsucker Proxy (1994) -- So I didn't even know people don't like this film until I tried looking up lists of the purported "worst films ever made" online. Apparently, this Capra-esque comedy is too weird for the older crowd and too, well, Capra-esque for the youngsters. Nevermind that it's one of the Coen Brothers' funniest films.

8. Alien Resurrection (1997) -- Boo to the naysayers! This film wasn't afraid to be its own animal, and that animal is the most unapologetically fun alien film in the franchise. Ripley died in the previous film; it was about time she cut back and mellowed out a bit. I couldn't think of a better writer for the project than Joss Whedon, whose delightfully whimsical black-comedy script is aided tremendously by director Jean-Pierre Jeunet (who, admittedly, spoke no English).

7. Batman and Robin (1997) -- Because I have more important things in life about which to complain, I can sit through a screening of this and honestly enjoy its madcap absurdities, the highlight, of course, being Arnold Schwarzenegger screaming out weather-related puns.



6. Angels & Demons (2009) -- Yes, it's got a twist-for-the-sake-of-having-a-twist twist at the end, but beyond that, this is a very slick near-real-time thriller with a very old school "our main character is on a quest and you don't need to know his backstory" thing going on. Also, the conflict revolves around Renaissance art, and if anyone can ever make such a topic the subject of an action movie, my hat's off to you.

5. Serenity (2005) -- On this list for one reason only: it didn't gross a billion dollars. And it should've.

4. Showgirls (1995) -- Regular readers have heard me go on at length about how I think this film is a brilliantly ballsy satire which is revered in private but publically ridiculed. It seems every other day some reviewer not only attacks the film, but the brilliant director who crafted it, and that's not cool.

3. The Godfather Part III (1990) -- Sure, it casts no shadow over the other two, but it was nominated for Best Picture for a reason, wasn't it? Sophia Coppola was no smart choice, but with DVD you can rewind and watch her getting gunned down over and over again!

2. Hulk (2003) -- Now, what was so unforgiveably awful about this movie? Its epic fight-scenes? It's old-school sins-of-the-father central conflict? A cast filled with awesome actors? The mind-bogglingly real CGI? Its deliberate, cerebral execution? What? WHAT?!

1. The Chronicles of Riddick (2004) -- Dude, look up the prototypical monomyth followed by every great storyteller from all of history and Riddick's quest to rid the galaxy of the evil Necromongers lines up perfectly. From the first-act call to adventure, the subsequent denial of the call, the revelation which kick-starts the journey, the trials, the low-point, the great boon, and finally the return home. It's all there, man, with lots of fight-scenes and a scaly leopard-thing along the way!

--Serge