In any year, there is a multitude of marvellous movies that the masses miss.

These are the forgotten, the neglected and the lost that need to be remembered, regarded and resurrected.

Over a ton of them are are given restorative review in 101 MARVELLOUS MOVIES YOU MAY HAVE MISSED by David Stratton.

From 1980 to the almost present, Stratton cites a century plus one of underappreciated cinema, some very small but decidedly high impact productions, and some, somewhat surprisingly, forgotten films that star very famous and popular actors including Dustin Hoffman, Sean Connery, Clint Eastwood, Jack Nicholson, Meryl Streep and Cate Blanchett and directed by luminaries like Lumet, Lynch and Ang Lee.

It is extraordinary, for instance, that two films directed by Sean Penn and starring Jack Nicholson, The Crossing Guard and The Pledge, did not ignite a blaze in the box office.

Nineteen “pure” Australian films are listed among the hundred and one plus three co-productions made in collaboration with three other countries.

It’s interesting to see how many of them feature Ben Mendelssohn, now quite a success in American productions and a staple of US TV and film.

All but one are in the English language and all kinds of genres are represented – comedies, westerns, musicals, thrillers and romances.

In his introduction to 101 MARVELLOUS MOVIES YOU MAY HAVE MISSED, Stratton says that in researching the book it became clear that the political film is probably the most difficult to market in the cinema. “Audiences, it seems, aren’t very keen to go to the cinema to see political films, and, given that reality, it’s interesting that so many are still being produced.”
One fears that the brilliant current film, VICE may fall foul of this box office truism and find itself featured in the book’s sequel.

Recent research shows we are a nation of binge viewers, a phenomenon forged from the proliferation of superior television from HBO and their prodigy.

101 MARVELLOUS MOVIES YOU MAY HAVE MISSED is your ideal guide to binge watch these original, audacious, overlooked and obscure films that deserve a wider audience and communal consideration.

101 MARVELLOUS MOVIES YOU MAY HAVE MISSED by David Stratton is published by Allen & Unwin.