Spurred by some of the threads here, I prepared my own Favorite Movies list. Most are familiar favorites which I won’t bore you by listing, but some are “dark horses”:
Flower Drum Song
Whale Rider
Crash (2004)
The Third Miracle
To Live and Die in L.A.
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Across the Universe
Dial M for Murder
I’m just curious to see if I get “Yes! One of my favorites too” or “Strange choice. Why?” I’ll guess that Crash, Third Miracle, and Live/Die L.A. may seem especially peculiar choices.
Quite honestly, the only film on that list I’ve seen is Dial M for Murder, which is a real classic. I’m not knocking the others, I’m just saying they’ve never been on my “Must see!” list.
I adore the film The Third Miracle. Love Ed Harris, but then I’m a sucker for a troubled priest story. Back when the IMDB had their discussion boards, the question came up “what WAS the third miracle,” and no one (except me) got it.
Dial M for Murder, too. I love Grace Kelly coming out of the bedroom to answer the phone in that perfectly tailored nightgown. Can you REALLY stab a man fatally through an overcoat and a sportcoat with just a pair of scissors? Maybe if you’re in fear for your life you can. Great film!
Checking my IMDb ratings, I thought Whale Rider was alright (7), but I hated Crash (1). I remembered hating the latter, but I didn’t remember hating it that much. I may have to search here to see if I ever mentioned what I hated about it so much. That’s Gladiator territory.
Sure, if you enjoy two hours of people screaming at each other. If I want that, I can go visit my in-laws.
I won’t call these great movies, but these are ten of my favorites that I think are under-appreciated:
Antz
Clerks II
Daybreakers
Dodgeball
Josie and the Pussycats
Mystery Men
Near Dark
The Professionals
7 Faces of Dr Lao
Twelve Monkeys
This is a pretty off the top of my head list. I’m sure I could name ten more if I took some time.
Your Dark Horses are pretty well known. I don’t have a proper Top 35 list, but some dark horses I like that I think lots of people have not seen are:
Possession (1981)
I Want To Eat Your Pancreas (anime)
Peppermint Candy
The Sisters Brothers
The White Diamond
Did you watch any others in OP? I’m so glad you liked these two movies. It would be an effort to explain in essay why doubtful and ambiguous Third Miracle belongs on a Top 30 list, but it does.
I wasn’t sure what the 3rd Miracle was. My guess:The Ed Harris character regaining his Faith.
I hate “preachy” movies. I can develop my own opinions on contemporary morals by myself, thank you. I’ll guess some opposition to Crash (2004) is due to it seeming “preachy.” But Crash is NOT preachy. It’s a powerful story of human interactions where racism often plays major roles, but the movie doesn’t preach, it leaves ambiguities in place.
On another day I might promote some heist and adventure films, and demote Who’s Afraid of VW off the list. But this master psychodrama played out between Liz Taylor and Rich. Burton is, IMHO, far greater than far more famous films including GWTW, Citizen Kane, etc.
I notice my list in OP is quite diverse. No two films on the list are even remotely similar to each other!
Oh! I’d call them all must-sees! 
No, that’s not it. I’m going to PM you. 
I couldn’t find English subtltles for The Third Miracle online, but I found French. There is a sole utterance in the final scene where the count of miracles is mentioned:
[spoiler]
Saving Maria’s life was one miracle and saving Bystrica from bombardment was the other. Helen actually saved Maria’s life twice but, it seems, under the rules — and fairly so!? — however many savings of the same life counts as only a single miracle.
I still think the “3rd Miracle” of the title, albeit irrelevant to the prosecution for St. Helen, is the restoration Frank’s faith.[/spoiler]
I’ve seen many of these
Flower Drum Song – Surprisingly good musical. Dated in its stereotypes, but a real R&H sleeper, with one of their better scores.
Whale Rider – Great film all round.
Crash (2004) – deserved its Oscar. People sneer at it, but I’ve yet to see anyone who did and who understood what it was saying.
Across the Universe – Other than the Beatles songs, just so-so.
Dial M for Murder – OK, but not one of Hitchcock’s best.
I like listening to the Beatles. The story is quite fun and sentimental: Better story than Sound of Music, Wizard of Oz, etc.
I’m not a big fan of Hitchcock. Instead of *Psycho, Birds, Notorious or North by Northwest, *my 2nd-favorite Hitchcock might be Vertigo.
Live and Die in LA has a great soundtrack and ending.
Twelve Monkeys is a great movie. Daybreakers is an underappreciated alternative take on the vampire movie which started really well, but kind of faded a bit in execution.
I’m 99% sure the third miracle has something to do with the Cardinal and what happened when he was a soldier in that truck. I remember very vividly (if not clearly) that when this thing (that I can’t exactly remember) was revealed, it was a huge, gratifying *AHA! *moment. “So THAT’S the Third Miracle they’ve been looking for!” It’s not Ed getting his faith back. He got his faith back BECAUSE of the revelation of what the third miracle (needed for canonization) was. I’ll watch the movie again and get back to you.
My understanding (having now reviewed my earlier comments on it): “Racisim is bad! It’s just so bad! It’s so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so, so bad!”
ETA: And for what it’s worth, even the director disagrees with your “deserved its Oscar” sentiment.
Nice list…Josie and the Pussycats and 12 Monkeys are both in my top 5…the 7 Faces of Dr. Lao is wonderful…and I love Near Dark, but Strange Days is my favourite Bigelow film.
Even setting aside the fact that racism is bad :), let’s listen to OP:
Crash has humor, suspense, great dialog, huge sentimental appeal, and good story-lines. Several of the scenes are masterpieces. The heroin addict’s relationship with her two sons is poignant: Does racism have anything to do with that?
Is racism the linchpin that connects the stories? Sure: Great stories need something besides Dick-and-Jane tales. Suspend the prejudice that you’re being preached at, and watch it again.
Watched “To Live and Die in L.A.” a few months ago. One of the few DVDs I own for some reason. While I have always like it, it is sooooo stuck in the 80s!