8 Inspiring Movies That Are Underrated
1. Sing
OK, this movie is incredibly underrated. If there’s any kind of leader I aspire to be, it’s Buster Moon, who is the protagonist played by Matthew McConaughey. The themes of this movie are resilience and friendship. The best scene is when the rehearsal space loses power because Moon couldn’t afford to pay the electricity bill and how he handles and solves this problem. Love that scene! I don’t want to provide too much detail and give it away.
“Buster Moon: My theater's been going through some pretty rough times lately. So, what do I do?
Eddie Noodleman: Quit?
Buster Moon: No, my next show is going to be, drumroll please— a singing competition!”
2. The Founder
It is never too late to achieve what you want. At an age when most people are preparing for retirement Ray Kroc, at 52, was hustling to turn McDonald’s to the largest restaurant business industry in the world. This film teaches entrepreneurship and leadership lessons. It earnestly captures the ruthless business mindset that Kroc exhibited, which drove a lot of McDonald’s success.
“It’s easy to have principles when you’re rich. The important thing is to have principles when you’re poor.”
3. Catch Me If You Can
An incredibly fun crime drama with Leonardo DiCaprio that reminds you how large life can be. Your world is as big or small as you dream of it to be.
“Two little mice fell in a bucket of cream. The first mouse quickly gave up and drowned. The second mouse, wouldn't quit. He struggled so hard that eventually he churned that cream into butter and crawled out. Gentlemen, as of this moment, I am that second mouse.”
4. The Lost Interview
I love everything Steve Jobs. While there are a handful of documentaries and movies produced about his life and about Apple, this one is my favorites because of his raw responses. Jobs was remarkable and watching him think and react is something I personally enjoy. In this interview, you can learn a lot about growing teams and organizations as he talks about Apple and its employees and even gives a brief analysis on other companies like Xerox.
“When you get really good people, they know they’re really good, and you don’t have to baby people’s egos so much. And what really matters is the work, and everybody knows that.”
5. The Pixar Story
Oh yeah, I meant it. I am obsessed with Steve Jobs and everything he’s built. Toy Story, Monsters Inc, and Finding Nemo were actually some of my favorite movies as a child. Learning the story about how the artists, illustrators, and animators persevered to create Pixar into what it is today is moving. It shows us the beautiful intersection of animation - where technology and art meet. I really hope you enjoy this one as much as I did :’)
“Everything I do and everything Pixar does is based on a simple rule: Quality is the best business plan, period.”
6. Erin Brockovich
A real freakin’ empowering biographical movie about a single mother of 3 kids and who’s work was critical in a legal case against a giant corporation. It’s a story about strong self belief and hard work. After watching this, it made me want to close my laptop and get some work done. (OK maybe I re-opened my laptop since a lot of my work is on here but I digress)
“Theresa: We started off on the wrong foot here…
Brockovich: That’s all you got lady. Two wrong feet and fucking ugly shoes.”
7. Hidden Figures
I naturally gravitate towards movies with math or missions involved and this one had both. The untold story about the African American female mathematicians who worked at NASA during the early years of the U.S. Space Program. It’s a solid combination of feel-good and feel-motivated.
“We go from being our father's daughters, to our husband's wives to our babies' mothers.”
8. War Dogs
A so-crazy-it-must-be-true crime drama about 2 international arms dealers during the Iraq war. The best parts of this movie are when David Packouz has these light bulb moments on how his longtime best friend, Efraim Diveroli, would use behavioral psychology and how he’d flex his personality to get what he wants in these deals.
“That was Efraim’s genius: he would figure out who someone wanted him to be and he would become that person.”
If you can’t find these movies on Netflix, YouTube has them for purchase.