10 Underrated 2015 Manly Movies You May Have Missed

Following on from the top five manliest movies of 2015, basically the cream of the crop is going to be an added list of lesser, yet still fairly good movies.  There will probably be a ‘worst movies of 2015’ list too.  The following movies are sort of lesser known and somewhat underrated.  They’re not masterpieces, but still, you might want to consider them.

Black Sea

During WW2 a German submarine packed to the gills with Soviet gold sinks in the Black Sea for unknown reasons.  The Black Sea is also known as the Dead Sea, so the wreck is in pretty good condition.  Not many know about the loot, but the Georgian government is zeroing in on it, among others.

A private company then, hires old sea dog Jude Law (Cpt. Robinson) to lead a crew of ex-submariners to head down to the wreck and retrieve the gold in a decrepit retired Soviet sub.  Half the crew are Russian, which leads to tensions.  More tensions arrise over disputes among all about the share per man handed out.  To sweeten the deal, they must sneak in beneath the Russian Black Sea fleet, probably the most lethal naval formation outside a U.S. Navy carrier group.

Black Sea is a unique and interesting thriller, with atmosphere to spare.

Deutschland ’83

I can’t recommend 1983: The Brink of Apocalypse as a documentary enough, as a preceding starter for this series, if you plan on watching Deutschland ’83.  The documentary shows us just how close the world came to nuclear destruction in 1983, probably closer than the Cuban Missile Crisis.  With that said, this series builds up to that, with a young Soviet, Martin (Jonas Nay), a border patrol guard from East Germany, who goes undercover in West Germany as an aide-de-camp to General Edel (Ulrich Noethen).

He must gather information about the upcoming NATO operation covertly, such as scaling walls to break into bedrooms and planting bugs under lampshades.  It’s fun, but only for people interested in this genre.  If you are, there are plenty of hours to be found here.

Cop Car

The film sees two kids run away from home then steal a cop car that is suspiciously abandoned in the countryside.  The car belongs to corrupt cop Kevin Bacon, who is up to no good.  Now he must retrieve the vee-hickle before dispatch finds out what he was up to.  Because you know, two midget COD players running rampant in your squad car isn’t going to help.  The two child actors in this movie, James Freedson-Jackson and Hays Well feature prominently in this movie for the first 15 minutes or so. 

It almost appeared like it was going to be a Stand By Me-type coming of age drama.  But then Kevin Bacon shows up ramming a dead body down a shaft…

Slow West

Slow West features Kodi Smit-McPhee as a wet behind the ears manlet traversing alone through ruthless bandit territory in the old American west, to link up with his sweetheart and old man.  At any minute, the kid is about to be predatored by Injuns, varmants or assorted trash.  Hollow eyed killer Michael Fassbender spots the greenhorn and sees the inevitable, and decides to escort McPhee for a princely sum of 50 dollars.

Don’t miss this one.  What a humble yet engaging western.  Unpredictable and well written, although to reveal more about the plot would basically spoil the movie.  The trailer did not strike me because it seemed almost to suggest that the movie was a comedy, but it isn’t, rather an old-time western with a streak of black and morbid humour running up its back.  McPhee is fine as the weedy kid, dodgy Scottish accent aside.  But Fassbender is the star of the show, playing a gruff black-hole of an outlaw/bounty hunter, yet still managing to handle the humour effectively.

Run All Night

Almost an old ’70s type slow burner here.  Hardly Neeson or Harris’ finest hours, but really not deserving of the somewhat poor reaction.

The best parts of the movie though feature Ed Harris and Liam Neeson.  There’s good chemistry between the two and they’ve been around the block enough to pull off this gangster shit quite convincingly, even if there’s an assassin from some type of Van Damme movie in there.  Anyone remember State of Grace (1990) where Harris played a cold mob boss?  These guys save the movie, even if the story pushes its luck with logic and believability going into the second half.

Good Kill

Good Kill may be a more controversial selection here, but I found the movie to be more or less decent.

The movie covers, or attacks, the US policy of attacking potential insurgents and the disconnect of using drones, operated from thousands of miles away to do it.  In reality, it’s only a critique of blowing up civilians.  I.e. if a man is spotted with a weapon, blow his ass to hell, even if 75% of the population carries weapons.  Then, when the funeral is held for the baddie, blow it up too, because the victim’s military cohorts are likely to be in attendance.

But what happens when you sit all day watching people in a steel hut in Arizona, where it’s patently obvious they’re just farmers, and a call from the CIA comes in ordering you to kill ’em all?  And the guy is telling you to do it with increasing frequency?

Cut Bank

It has a weird start, this one.  And yet few people have seen this and probably few may have even heard of it.  The tone is odd at first, until things get rolling.  It’s a surreal black comedy and men like Thornton, Malkovich and Dern were made for this type of thing.  They deliver with the fine and nuanced trolling.  But for me it’s Bruce Dern who steals the show.  I can tell you man that I genuinely laughed out loud when Bruce Dern, master troll who looks about four hundred years old, denounces the rampaging psycho as a ‘fucking mongoloid’ to his face.  Laughing now, just thinking about it.

Black Mass

You can never really get enough gangster movies and it was always going to be interesting when Johnny Depp ditched that silly pirate crap and got serious with a cold and bloody mob thriller.  This movie reminds me that the man is a good actor and although it isn’t particularly special, Black Mass is a good outing that is just about worth watching.

The serious writing often dances the thin line between thriller and farce, which may have been picked up on by Bacon and Edgerton especially, who fly close to the border of trolldom.  Give it a try.

The Man In The High Castle

Alright, so this is the second TV series on the list, but what the hell.  It’s also the first season, so you don’t have to wade through four years of back story like other good TV shows.  Now is your chance to get in early.  A story about a world in where the Axis were victorious.

The Man in the High Castle looks a million dollars.  It also has a very interesting premise, like this one, also based on a book of the same name. Were you a fan of Fatherland, a TV movie (also) adapted from a book, covering life under German rule after they actually won?  If so you should check this one out.

Bound

Alright, let’s round this one down with some trash.  But the good kind of trash, if you’re a red blooded male.  Bound is not a good movie.  But it has Charisma Carpenter getting as close to porn as you’re ever going to get.

In this movie, Charisma Carpenter is a single mother.  And she takes her daughter to a restaurant for a meal.  While eating, some dude gives Charisma the lustful eye.  Shortly afterwards, hell, straight away, she takes her daughter home to finish some homework.  Then, like a dog in heat, Carpenter returns to the restaurant to seek out that one guy, things progress and well, she becomes his sex slave, as he shows her the world of BDSM.  Asylum finally got their shit together… because they hired Charisma Carpenter but also managed to write good dialogue (from our point of view).  ‘I am your God’.  ‘Yes master’… comes the response.  High five!