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8 Underrated Dramas You Need to Watch This Week

Posted by movie guru

Hot Take

These eight dramas score like classics and get treated like deep cuts. Pick one, clear a night, and put your phone in another room.

Number one is the third movie in a franchise, and the most moving one here.

  1. 8The Lobster poster
    The Lobster (2015)7.6
    A dystopia where being single is illegal. Uncomfortably relatable.
    Rachel Weisz narrates it like a nature documentary, and the silent woodland dance party is the funniest scene here. A reported $4 million budget, 82 on Metacritic.
  2. 7Wind River poster
    Wind River (2017)8.5
    Elizabeth Olsen and Jeremy Renner, minus the capes, at their best.
    A murder investigation on a frozen Wyoming reservation, and Taylor Sheridan never treats it like a puzzle. Audiences rank it above 91% of notable movies, yet it has just 321,759 IMDb votes.
  3. 6Almost Famous poster
    Almost Famous (2000)8.9
    Frances McDormand's mom steals a rock and roll movie.
    Critics rank it above 93% of notable movies. Kate Hudson's Penny Lane gets the poster, but McDormand gets every laugh, phoning hotels to protect her kid.
  4. 5Atonement poster
    Atonement (2007)8.5
    The most gorgeous movie here, and the cruelest.
    A young girl's mistake upends two lives, and Joe Wright films the fallout like a painting. Keira Knightley's green dress deserves its own credit. Audiences rank it above 95% of notable movies.
  5. 4Cinema Paradiso poster
    Cinema Paradiso (1988)9.3
    Alfredo is the best movie mentor ever written.
    174 minutes, a 9.3 movie.guru score, and an 8.5 on IMDb from only 321,913 votes. A small town cinema becomes the whole town's living room.
  6. 3The Wrestler poster
    The Wrestler (2008)9.2
    Darren Aronofsky's most human movie, and his best.
    Mickey Rourke plays an aging wrestler whose body is quitting before he does. Critics rank it above 94% of notable movies, it cost a reported $6 million, and there's not one false note.
  7. 2Before Sunset poster
    Before Sunset (2004)9.4
    Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy have the best chemistry ever filmed.
    The highest movie.guru score here, a 9.5, on a reported $2 to $2.7 million budget. It's the rare sequel that makes the first movie better in hindsight.
  8. 1War for the Planet of the Apes poster
    The best trilogy closer of the decade, and it's about apes.
    Matt Reeves shoots 140 minutes like an old Hollywood war epic, snow and all, and Woody Harrelson's colonel is chilling. Critics rank it above 92% of notable movies.
Change my mind. Which of these would you show a friend who says dramas are boring?

$766 says you text someone a Before Sunset link before Sunday and act like you discovered it.

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