What are the most underrated films of all time?

[Alcibiades]

Wonder Boys: One of my favourite films ever. I usually can’t stand Michael Douglas, but he puts in such a wonderful performance here. The movie is extremely funny in a quite subtle way, and surprisingly moving. More than anything, I don’t think I have ever seen a film which has better recreated the specific milieu it is set in; in Wonder Boys’ case, the college campus and literary world. To top it all off, Bob Dylan provided the soundtrack with a terrific original song, “Things Have Changed”. The movie doesn’t set out to say something incredibly profound or tell an extraordinary tale. It simply recounts an interesting story in an extremely captivating manner. It is a quiet masterpiece.

Raising Arizona: I don’t know if this is necessarily that underrated, but I think it is often overlooked in comparison to the Coen Brothers’ other films, whereas it is probably my favourite of theirs. Very funny, never pretentious in spite of its left-field approach, and consequently that rarest of things, a genuinely charming film.