4 overlooked movies you can still catch on pay cable

These movies keep popping up on my gazillion free movie channels (gotta love the Dish!), and I am always sucked into watching them again:

1. V for Vendetta (2006) - this really should have made my TOP TEN list (not as a measly 'honorable mention.') Sure, it has two strikes against it:
1) it's based on a comic book -- excuse me, "graphic novel"!!; and 2) it hides its political message in a loud, action-packed, mass-market entertainment vehicle.

But a message it does have: and like a 'serious' movie that came out during award season and garnered much more praise ("Children of Men"), it is a strong indictment of Post-9/11 governments running amok over civil liberties and the Constitution. Great cast, too.

2. "The Weather Man" (2005) - Nicolas Cage seemingly makes five movies per year, and four of them are pure crap ("Gone in 60 Seconds" and "Ghost Rider" come to mind), but The Weather Man was the 1 good one! At first glance, he's playing another hapless, sad-sack character that he should have patented by now. But instead of covering that familiar ground, the movie is a perceptive character study, with a well-written voice-over narration, and a clever soundtrack. What's surprising is the creative team behind it all: director Gore Verbinski (the 'Pirates' dude!) and composer Hans Zimmer (the old boy has some originality in him still!).

3. Stay (2005) - I'm going to beat this particular drum until someone tells me they have actually seen it! It lasted a nanosecond in theaters (poor marketing: the ads make it out to be a horror movie), despite its pedigree: directed by Marc Forster, fresh off "Finding Neverland;" starring Ewan Magregor and the lovely Naomi Watts (and the lovely Bob Hoskins, for that matter!). And in a break-out performance, Mr. 'Half Nelson' himself . . . RYAN GOSLING!

Sure, it is experimental: scene do not cut so much as they morph into different ones; backgrounds change at will; and the flashbacks and flash forwards are dizzying. But the disorienting effect is intentional, and masterful. And the music and end-credits are hypnotic. Worth a rental and repeat viewings (but PAY ATTENTION, people: don't 'Netflix it' while you fold the clothes!!) (you know who you are).

4. "Kingdom of Heaven" (2005) - not one of Ridley Scott's best efforts (but nowhere near his worst!) this historical epic is more historically suspect than "Becoming Jane" (the screenwriters may have made-up her romance out of whole cloth, but at least they didn't turn Jane Austen into a blood-thirsty murderer of non-Christian civilians, as Kingdom did to real-life figures Guy de Lusignan and Raynald of Chatillon... thank you, wikipedia, for the history lesson). [I hope I haven't provided some Hollywood hack the idea for his next 'pitch': "Kingdom of Jane".]

But the movie is beautiful to watch. I didn't like Edward Norton's portrayal of the leprous king of Jerusalem on first viewing, but it grows on me every time I see it; and Liam Neeson and Jeremy Irons should be cast in every historical epic for as long as they continue to work. Along with the French-lovely Eva Green ("Casino Royale"), for that matter! I'm looking forward to seeing it one more time, because I just learned that "Rome" star Kevin McKidd (Lucius Voernus, for you fans) is also in the cast. Gotta love the Dish!