Nightly, OMWC and I look at each other and try to decide on the evening’s movie viewing…and are usually stuck. Everything we can think of is either something one of us has seen previously, or is “not available to stream” from the usual providers. And browsing, even the “secret” genre codes, usually turns up stuff that makes us shrug and say “meh.”
So, help us out. In the comments on this post, please list a movie or two that you’d recommend. I’ll link this post in the permanent navigation under Entertainment so we can all find it when we need a movie suggestion. It’s my hope that the community will continue to add to it over time so we’ll have a pretty good list going forward.
If we can all stick to just movie recs, it will stay useful, so NO SPOILERS and NO OFF TOPIC POSTS.
Don’t make me stop this car.
Ready? Go!
Comments
217 responses to “Movie List”
Deep cover with Lawrence Fishburne and Jeff Goldblum.
^this is a very good movie
Thanks. I wonder if merits a very good GIF.
Into The Night with Jeff Goldblum and Michelle Pfeiffer.
Yeah, that’s a good one.
I’ve only gotten two posts in, but I have to ask:
Did I read the requirements wrong? Is this for any movie, or only Jeff Goldblum movies?
If I have to stick to Jeff Goldblum, an off the radar movie of his that was very enjoyable was Earth Girls Are Easy.
I saw it many years ago, though, and I’m not sure if it aged well. It had a lot of MTV-style in-jokes, back when MTV was a channel that played music videos. The main driver behind it was the funny MTV Julie Brown, not the downtown MTV Julie Brown. Also a still-young Geena Davis, a very young and pre-famous Jim Carrey, and one of the Wayans brothers, IIRC.
Earth Girls was a fun, silly movie- plus Geena Davis. It is a good choice for some drink liquor, eat popcorn and vegging while watchin a movie. Another movie in that category is “Spirit of 76”. It is set for July 4, 1976 by a time travelling David Carridine. If you remember the Bicentennial and our awful food, fashions and trends this movie is for you. It is Sophia Coppola’s first direction. Also features, Rae Dawn Chong, Cheech, Julie Brown as Lady Liberty, and the music of that summer.
Let your kids and grand kids see chuka boots, mood rings, bicentennial bongs, the Pacer & Pinto and Grand Funk Railroad. Damn we were awesome.
Don’t forget Death Wish (his first movie) and The Sentinel (where he had a very small role, but it’s one of the best horror films of all time).
Any movie. It just so happens two of my favorites have Goldblum from relatively early in his career.
Late to the game as usual, but for underrated Jeff Goldblum movies, you can do a lot worse than Mister Frost.
Raising Cain. DePalma before he got boring. John Lithgow in multiple roles. Do it.
What do you think of the DePalma’s Body Double? A Hitchcock homage (I know, a lot of his movies are) that essentially combined Vertigo and Rear Window into an erotic thriller. A young Melanie Griffith was in it, right in her Something Wild days, almost always naked, her role being an apparently lonely rich woman doing strip-club dances for herself in front of a window that Craig Wasson can’t keep from watching through his telescope. Bonus points for being the movie that debuted Frankie Goes to Hollywood singing “Relax”, supposedly as the music for a porn shoot.
I remember liking it a lot but I haven’t seen it in decades. But I love DePalma’s early period.
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing Missouri.
It should win every single award they make. It won’t, but it should.
Never heard of it. Outstanding cast.
Just watch the trailer (Red Band trailer, but the only thing wrong with it is language). Movie itself is amazing.
OMG that looks great.
The Live of Others. Period piece about a Stasi spy in 80s East Germany. Kind of soap opera-y. A little fun, a little terrifying.
National Review ranked that as their #1 conservative film of the 25 years a few years back, IIRC.
You can see their thoughts, and the rest of the list, here.
Interesting. Bookmarked for later reading.
John Nolte has an interesting list in progress— top 165(!) American movies. Short blurbs on each, but really like the “see also” on about half of them for similar movies if you liked that one.
TLoO’s is fantastic. Careful about recommending it to SJW’s since they will regard it as an instructional film and not a cautionary tale.
Oh my god, +1000.
YES!
Older movie recommendation that I’m sure most of you have seen: Americathon.
The opening sequence.. sublime.
The movie came out in ’79. Watched it on VHS as a kid.
Excellent! Thank you for these. I’ve never seen any of them.
Big Trouble in Little China, Kurt russel and a Young Kim Cattrall, great fun!
The ‘Burbs, all Star cast, and tons of Easter Eggs
mmmm young Kim Cattrall
Oh Dude! Green eyes!
Paging Crow T Robot…
Every time Roman Holiday shows up on TCM, I find myself watching it. No one’s idea of a “serious” film, but Audrey Hepburn is cute as a button, and the scenery works as a travel guide to the Eternal City.
I see no requirement above for “serious” films only! I haven’t seen that in years.
SP, I highly recommend, The Man from Earth, a twister to be sure, (heh)
That sounds interesting – and another one I’ve never heard of
The Eric Banna one?
Which reminds me, stay away from The Man Who Fell To Earth. Pretentious drivel.
Is that the one with Lou Reed?
See everything else Nicholas Roeg directed or shot. Don’t Look Now, Walkabout, Bad Timing, Performance…
On some of his cinematography credits Roeg is, or may as well be directing: Masque of the Red Death for one. He shot the “sheep leap” scene in Far From the Madding Crowd.
Repo Man
Dr. Caligari (1989 version, not the silent Cabinet of Dr. Caligari)
Waiting for Guffman
Orgazmo
Cannibal: The Musical
(these last two done by the South Park guys before they got famous with South Park)
+ Pablo Picasso
I’ll see your Orgazmo and raise you one Baseketball.
This.
Great call on Repo Man.
Repo Man, for better or worse, is one of those movies you’ll find yourself quoting at random as you go through life.
Plate of Shrimp.
John Wayne was a fag.
Put it on a plate, son, you’ll enjoy it more.
Want me to check the trunk, sir?
Look at those assholes, ordinary fucking people. I hate ’em.
+1 pine tree air freshener
… Hobbit
Sometimes people just explode. Natural causes.
*bookmarked*
I’ve gotten some great suggestions from y’all over the years. I still haven’t seen A Fish Called Wanda, which Pro Libertate referenced often.
I’ll submit Waking Ned Divine. It’s fun and suitable for the kids too. Which brings up a related question I’ve been wanting to ask, and hopefully isn’t too much of a hijack, which movies are a must-see for the young’uns?
Shutcho mouth. Holy crap run out and see it now. OK, maybe stream it somewhere. One of the best comedies every made.
Will do. I was just thinking of making time for your other recommendation, Interstellar, tomorrow, but maybe I’ll go with that. Another comedy I dug was Sean of the Dead.
How old are the kids?
My kids (one each girl and boy) couldn’t get enough of “The Secret Garden” (1993 Maggie Smith version) and “A Little Princess” (1995). Also, of course, “The Princess Bride.” They also loved “Doc Hollywood” with Michael J Fox because they have a thing for pigs.
In the same spirit as Waking Ned Devine, I have to submit Local Hero – almost kid-friendly because of inclusion of a partially-spelled ‘motherfucker’.
Waiting for Guffman
a mighty wind
Best in Show
All ensemble cast, Christopher Guest/Spinal Tap Feel, Mockumentaries
“If you get tired, pull over! If you get hungry, eat something!”
That always cracks me up, because that’s the exact kind of stuff I hear from my southern family.
Interstellar in case you missed it. Best recent sci-fi I’ve seen. McConaughey is great. The soundtrack is outstanding. Make sure you clear 3 hours.
“I for one, believe Her”
MATT DAMON
Matt Damon was in two movies that same year in which he played an asshole astronaut marooned alone on a planet.
Must have been typecasting.
Interstellar had a happier ending for Matt (from my perspective).
Believe it or not I just thought that was someone who sort of looked like him the first time I saw Interstellar. I went in cold – no idea about the cast or anything. But I have to say he was good in it.
Moon
Is superior in all respects to interstellar as a work of hard science fiction and makes Interstellar look retarded in comparison.
SP, you ashed for Glib Movies, I guess you got em!
/Make a List
Asked, edit Fairy!!
‘Eyes Wide Shut’- most underrated Stanley Kubrick movie. Also, my favorite Christmas movie
Every Stanley Kubrick film is over rated.
Dr,StrangeLove, Sorry bro
Every single one is over rated.
You have got to be shitting me. Full Metal Jacket took all the sheen off of war. If film school professors love it, I don’t care. I’m no one’s idea of a film critic and even I recognized it was extraordinary.
besides ‘me love you long time’ the entire second half of the movie has faded into obscurity. And if not for the performances in the first half the film would be forgotten.
Deciding to just let R. Lee Ermy go to town in that movie may be one of the best directing choices ever made.
He was brought in to be an advisor to the original actor.
Bobarian LMD: And if I remember correctly, one of the few people allowed to ad-lib in a Kubrick film. But I do agree that the second half of the movie is just meh.
My late Uncle Jack, Marine Recon at Hue, thought the 2nd half of FMJ was the single best movie portrayal of War
I agree with Yusef on the good doctor.
You’re crazy. Like legitimately crazy
He really is nuts
I didn’t say ‘not good’, but the way they are revered in film schools, they are over rated. (someone who went to film school)
Like Fellini overrated? Cause that’s just avant garde trash. At least Kubrick’s movies are enjoyable
Like in film school I wrote a paper on Kubrick and because I criticized him I got a barely passing grade. He is a god to those lonely film school professors, and any criticism as seen as an attack on them personally.
Are you a Tarkovsky fan?
that’s a trick question, don’t answer it.
I don’t believe I have seen any of his films. But looking at wikipedia, I might have the same problem with him I have with Kubrick, “His films are characterized by metaphysical themes, extremely long takes,” The staticness of Kubrick is my big problem with him. So ‘extremely long takes’ doesn’t sound good to me.
his movies are sort of a litmus test for ‘people who think of themselves as exclusively interested in ‘high cinema’.
its the hipster-apex of movie-snobs.
I did do a whole semester on Ingmar Bergman. And the most crazy film snob thing was ‘What does the squirrel that appears on the stump in the Seventh Seal mean?’
Duh. Everyone knows that.
The prof who taught that class was an old german guy. When I showed up without a notebook and put my feet up on the seat in front of me, he thought I was a soft target; then when he called on me the first time I gave him the answer he was looking for. After that when no one else could answer his questions he’d ask me. He turned out to be a sweet guy, the only prof who was concerned when I had to leave to attend my grandmother’s funeral. He gave out butter cookies during finals. Good guy.
Solaris is great.
Also impressive is how he made a set in outer space with almost no money.
City of God and Dr. Strangelove and Lawrence of Arabia are movies I can re-watch often without getting sick of them, in case there’s anyone out there who somehow hasn’t seen them.
does City of God stack up to the other 2? they are my go to Good movies of all time
Being more contemporary, it’s hard to compare it to them stylistically. Also I’m not much of a film snob, I just know what I like (I’ve seen the first Pirates of the Caribbean numerous times, too). I’d like to hear what others think of CoG, and let them answer your question. I will say I thought some of the actors were so good it was like I experienced Brazil myself, but ymmv.
Brazil the Movie? I do Hvac
City of God is absolutely brilliant. If you want a taste of favela drug wars it can’t be beat. I spent almost 3 years in Brazil and I would say it is quite true to life.
City of God is great to look at, tells an exciting story, and has one of the most memorable movie villains in the loathsome Lil’ Ze. I recommend it to everyone who hasn’t seen it.
‘Burn!’ starring Marlon Brando. Hard to find movie, but well worth it. Made by the same director that made ‘The Battle of Algiers’ (also a great movie). Details the work of a English mercenary sent to stir a revolt on an island controlled by the Portuguese and then sent back to put down the same revolt once the English have established control.
If you haven’t seen Better off Dead you won’t get any interaction between Tundra and I. Have you watched Ed Wood yet?
Ed wood was Great
Ed Wood is awesome. If you’ve ever been someone that tried something that you weren’t very good at or very successful, yet kept at it because you loved it, you will really appreciate the movie that much more.
No? /SP ducks before CPRM narrows his gaze at her for delaying his previous recommendation
Seriously, it’s on the list for next weekend.
As long as we get this arranged marriage thing worked out I can overlook this.
I want my two dollars!
CPRM is correct. This is a crazy good movie.
Merry Christmas Tundra.
‘10,000 Motels’ by Frank Zappa.
Cheesy 80’s fantasy movies which I recall being entertaining and watching several times as a teenager but haven’t watched in a while so buyer beware:
Beastmaster
Krull
The Sword and the Sorcerer
all good
Conan the Barbarian
The Dark Crystal
Gremlins
The Goonies
Also ‘The Bicycle Thief’ if you want to get all euro artsy and depressing.
+1 Excellent
Along the same lines of euro trash, ‘Cinema Paradiso’ (prepare for subtitles with both movies). The ending is simple yet powerful
Ichi the Killer
Battle Royale
Machine Girl
Infection – more J-horror
Vampire Girl vs. Frankenstein Girl — hilariously politically incorrect
Dead Sushi — a parody of the genre, that also pokes fun at classic kaiju
Ronin is one of my favorites, and one that I find new things in it when I rewatch it, but at the same time it’s a flawed movie that doesn’t live up to its potential.
My other rewatch films: The Manchurian Candidate, Where Eagles Dare, The Dirty Dozen, The Longest Day, and Big Trouble in Little China.
Takeshi Kitano’s Outrage trilogy (Outrage, Beyond Outrage, Outrage Coda) is now complete with the release of the final movie in October. A simple yakuza story that makes more sense as Kitano came up with death scenes and built the film(s) around it. Might as well put his directorial debut Violent Cop in here as well, with the copious use of Gnossienne No 1 throughout.
^Ronin is also a great fun film i think has been under-seen.
Where Eagles Dare is one of my fave action-suspense films of all time. The Burton+Eastwood pairing was great character mix. multiple reversals. 100s of dead nazis.
Ronin has the best car chase scene ever.
That’s one of the things that rewatching has led me to appreciate. I used to think it went on too long, but considering how many accidents had to be staged & cars destroyed– wow! It’s amazing.
Fight Club, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Better Off Dead, One Crazy Summer,The 5th Element, Dark City, Highlander
The City of Lost Children is a beautiful film. Just don’t go into it with the thinking I had the time, “It stars Ron Perlman, he can’t speak french, so it must not be in french”, he plays a mute.
Anything By Michel Gondry other than the Green Hornet.
Cutest movie i’ve ever seen w/o it being absurdly saccherine:
Le Roi Du Coeur / The King of Hearts.
WWI british soldier is sent to see if town germans are retreating from is safe to enter.
as germans leave, the local insane asylum is left open, and the town becomes populated w/ crazy people.
Soldier shows up and can’t figure out why no one seems concerned about the war. in fact they don’t even understand what the purpose of it is.
gradually he comes to appreciate this pov.
Seconded. Excellent movie that holds up through multiple watches.
In Bruges
Harakiri
pretty much anything directed by Kurosawa, but especially his samurai movies with Takeshi Mifune
Shane
High Noon (the original)
Stalingrad
I’m already way past the one or two per post, so I’ll stop here, but man, oh man, there are so many good movies.
In Bruges, absolutely!
What’s in Bruges?
It’s the source of one of my all-time favorite movie quotes: “If I grew up on a farm, and was retarded, Bruges might impress me, but I didn’t, so it doesn’t.”
“Wait, would all the black midgets in the world be fighting all the white midgets in the world?”
Stalingrad only if you are referring to the Wolfgang Peterson version (1993). That movie is outstanding, the Russian 2013 version is a loose stool from a sick dog.
Oh, totally the Peterson version. Yeah, the Russian one is a pile.
Midnight Run.
Damn near a perfect movie.
That was a fun film.
For a fairly believable action movie try Above The Law. The fight sequences were completely believable. The plot (yes it had a plot) made sense. And it all happened before Steven Segal gained a hundred pounds and lost his marbles.
Recently watched The Man from Reno. Ayako Fujitani is a cutie, but I just kept seeing her man in her face. The movie itself was also good.
I’m not a huge fan of subtitled films but I greatly enjoyed Monsieur Hire and La Femme Nikita.
The original Luc Besson La Femme Nikita, along with The Professional. Try and get the European version of the latter – the US version has scenes cut that add some useful context.
If you like art-house, then The cook, the thief, his wife and her lover is entertaining, but not suitable for the kiddies.
Brazil – OF COURSE
And I’m quite a fan of the Burton/Hurt version of 1984.
There is no way that OMWC doesn’t have The Professional on a constant loop in his house.
*ESPECIALLY* the European version.
ZARDOZ (because I don’t want to be cleansed and I’m pretty sure hecis watching)
They Might Be Giants – a made-for-TV movie starring George C. Scott and Joanne Woodward, back in the very early 70s if memory serves
Searching for Bobby Fischer – child chess prodigy, but so much more
Eating Raoul; “Amazing what you can do with a cheap piece of meat”
Another vote for the movie Ronin, with one of the best Maguffins in movie history
Gifted; fab movie about another child prodigy, saw it on the plane to France in September
North by Northwest is my absolute favorite movie of all time, I never get tired of watching it, and I’m not exaggerating when I say I think I’ve seen it several dozen times.
Three weeks ago my wife gave me a birthday present, knowing what a fan I am — North by Northwest screened in San Francisco’s Symphony Hall, with the SF Symphony playing the music soundtrack live and perfectly synced with the film. Great fun.
You really can’t go wrong with pretty much any Hitchcock film. Most people who haven’t dived too far into the Hitchcock library might think of Hitch as a horror director, because of Psycho and The Birds, but those were really a departure for him and not replicated in his other films. The more standard Hitchcock film has a wisecracking leading man who somehow gets mixed up in a dangerous situation and has to go on the lam, leading to a rollicking road trip with plenty of suspense and a beautiful woman he meets along the way, leading to nice romance as the two of them get in and out of scrapes trying to outwit the bad guys. North by Northwest follows this basic formula, as does The Thirteen Steps, The Lady Vanishes, Foreign Correspondent, Saboteur, and several others.
You may know that North by Northwest ends with a chase scene across the Mount Rushmore monument, but there’s a similar chase scene many years earlier in Saboteur, on top of the Statue of Liberty!
Rope and Lifeboat are my favorite Hitchcock films; simply because of the artistry involved in making one location so interesting.
And Rope even more amazing because it’s done with one continuous camera shot.
Rope has a trick cut because they weren’t t3chnically able to manage the film hardware for a single featurelength cut. Russian Ark is the first unbroken single take feature film. Beautiful but a tad dry depending on your interests.
Ack! Forgot about North by Northwest, that’s another one of my frequent rewatch movies. From the start of the Saul Bass graphics to the end, truly wonderful.
Why oh why is Amtrak not like the 20th Century LTD in NbyNW? I’d share my room with her.
Right on. I also love Hitchcock and saw that the SF Symphony was doing NbNW but couldn’t go that nite. I hope they do some more Hitchcock.
oh yeah:
Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels
It’s like Snatch, but better (IMO)
Snatch, Lock Stock and Rock n’ Rolla, all good films. If it weren’t for the Madonna thing Guy Richie would be seen as a true auteur.
Love Snatch as well.
And it was a good movie, too.
/Rimshot
“The Big Lebowski” is great, but probably everybody has seen it- but nobody has seen it enough.
“Good Fellas” or “Casino” – Everybody has seen “The Godfather” for good reason, these also catch the era as well as any movie.
“Blazing Saddles” Mel Brooks near the top of his game and totally unmake-able today. Indians speaking Yiddish, who knew?
“We Were Soldiers” gets rid of war as glory, but remembers soldiers can be honorable fighting for each other.
“The Lion in Winter” (1968 version) with Kate Hepburn and Peter O’Toole. The two fight it out as Eleanor of Aragon and King Henry II. If you don’t learn some classic verbal barbs from this movie, you were sleeping.
“In the Shadow of the Moon”- A great documentary made of nothing but NASA archival footage and interviews with the surviving astronauts-less Armstrong. “Armstrong is the first to walk on the moon but Aldrin’s first will leave you speechless.” to quote too many clickbait teasers.
“Captain Ron”- Will never win an Oscar but if you like boats, Kurt Russell, Mary Kay Place, and Martin Short you will have fun with your rum drink.
“Milagro Beanfield War” is a great study of place and the importance of community and water. Stunning NM scenery and stunning Sonia Braga with Christopher Walken, Rueben Blades, James Gammon, Freddy Fender. The soundtrack won the Oscar and the music is both touching and evocative of the SW United States.
I also endorse the previously mentioned: The Lives of Others, Dr Strangelove, Earthgirls…, Stalingrad (1993), Snatch, Lawrence of Arabia.
I was forced to read that in college. I wanted to burn it.
OMG… I love that whole trilogy.
It’s a trilogy? Urge to kill….rising.
I enjoyed them as a window to a world this South Florida sailor kid could never imagine. Although now, upon looking the author up, Wiki tells me he is 1st cousin to Gelded Weld. Now I feel shame.
My wife Jenna and I recently went out to the movies, so this one is pretty current. ‘Loving Vincent’
It’s a kind of documentary about Vincent Van Gogh wrapped in a mystery wherein the son of one of Van Gogh’s friends is attempting to deliver a letter to V VG’s brother Theo. The whole movie is done in a series of paintings (over 65,000) that are all done in his style, and each scene and the characters in them, are based on one of his actual paintings. It has the view of stop motion but looks way better. It is touching and beautiful and I really really enjoyed it.
There are a bunch of movies I re-watch often, and you guys have listed many I have never seen. Thanks. I will list two of mine:
Chef if you like food and family. I think it has an awesome soundtrack and story. It might not be great for the high fallutin artsy crowd but I sure enjoy it.
The Outlaw Josey Wales because buzzards gotta eat, same as worms.
A few in no particular order:
A Thousand Clowns
Henry V (Branaugh)
Richard III (Ian McCellan)
Titus
The Missouri Breaks
One (Formula One documentary)
The Ruling Class
Dead Man
Thank you all! This is a treasure trove!
Bull Durham
The Apartment, Sunset Blvd.
Streetcar
Fletch
Stockholm
Delicacy
The Distinguished Citizen
The Little Prince
Here’s a few slightly off-beat ones you may have missed. They may not all be high art, but they are all very enjoyable:
Ong-Bak: The Thai Warrior (2003) Its a martial arts movie made by some people that grew up worshiping Bruce Lee and Sammo Hung, and it shows. The plot is no more complex than any shlocky 80’s movie, but Tony Jaa has the charisma and skills to make it work. In a just world, he would have come of age in the late 80s and been everywhere.
The Punisher (2004) and Punisher: War Zone (2008) Are two highly underrated movies. The 2004 makes much, much more sense if you know its secret – its a Western. The story structure is straight-up, classic western. The visuals are a hybrid of Western + Mob movie. Thomas Jane is a very competent actor playing a character he loves. He used this as a springboard to land a gig writing Punisher comic books that were above average.
War Zone is a very different move, but it too is a genre bender. Its a slasher movie told from the point of view of the slasher, instead of from the victim. Also, it descends into ridiculousness toward the end in a way that I liked. Kept things from getting bogged down.
Out of the Furnace (2013) This movie is a love letter to the pre-fracking-boom Ohio Valley the same way The Deer Hunter was a love letter to the late 70’s Ohio Valley. The set design is incredibly authentic. The visuals, especially in the early establishment shots, brought back all the feelings of economic depression, family, depression, and texture I knew growing up in that area. What’s more interesting than the aesthetics is the accuracy of the characters to mimic the people and values I recognize. There’s the dichotomy of the hard-working, struggling blue collar ideal juxtaposed with the shitty, small town dysfunctional family problems in the main character’s family are mirrored in the larger community. Christian Bale is phenomenal. Woody Harrelson is terrifying, which I don’t say lightly but go read about his dad. Its hard to say how much of this was acting and how much was muscle memory.
+1 out of the furnace. Didn’t realize the deer hunter thing, but you’re right.
As always I recommend anything reviewed on my YouTube channel – unless otherwise noted. May have more time for notes later – but Predestination dir. By the Spierig brothers is amazing. I’m in the process of reviewing their first feature – undead.
In no order:
Crimes and Misdemeanors
Adaptation.
A Few Good Men
Where’s Marlowe?
Free Enterprise
The Baxter
The Spanish Prisoner
Brain Donors
Swingers
The Daytrippers
Just watched The Killer on Netflix. Bleak, graphic violence in the Sonoran desert. A touch of surrealism, maybe? Pretty dark, but interesting story – did not see a couple of plot twists coming.
I watched Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang a couple of nights ago. Much, much better than I* expected.
Also, a crazy thing called Free Fire. Very entertaining.
Grosse Pointe Blank
Tom Horn
Our holiday movie list (aka college break with our son):
And Justice For All
The Last Detail
Shadow of a Doubt
Strangers on a Train
Better Off Dead (I see above and “third” the selection)
Say Anything
Stalag 17
The Third Man
The Graduate
Close Encounters (must serve mashed potatoes +/- 24 hrs of viewing)
Eat, Drink, Man, Woman (best opening scene in a food movie)
Stalag 17 is great. Too bad the TV was made for yucks.
“The Big Night” The 1950’s immigration experience, food to die for, family, budding adult love and a fantastic soundtrack.
“Conspiracy” an HBO movie on how much evil can come from a business meeting. The movie is of the Wannsee Conference and most of the dialogue is straight from the only surviving transcript. Some niggling historical details are off but Tucci and Branaugh are both excellent.
“Ferris Beuller’s Day Off” Because sometimes you just need a break.
It ain’t a movie, but its still excellent motion-picture gold: I suggest Peaky Blinders.
It’s British post-WWI gangster story and its amazing. I highly recommend drinking a nice scotch or whisky while viewing. Available on Netflix (its a Netflix Original).
Some of my favorites (in no particular order)
Comedies:
Army of Darkness – Third in a series, but you can jump right in here. Bruce Campbell at his most Bruce Campbell
Say Anything – An 80’s John Cusack film
Grosse Pointe Blank – A fan theory has this as the sequel to Say Anything.
Tucker and Dale Vs. Evil – A comedy horror film full of mistaken identity.
Clue – A classic farce with Tim Curry as the butler
Wet Hot American Summer – A spoof of an 80’s film, now with a sequel and prequel series on Netflix.
Hot Fuzz – A London police officer is sent to a small town, where he struggles to fit in.
Horror films:
Cube – People wake up in a mysterious trapped cube and are trying to find a way out.
Night of the Living Dead – A classic, included just in case you haven’t seen it.
Rosemary’s Baby – A classic, included just in case you haven’t seen it.
The Babadook – A well done creepy film that shows what can happen when your kid is kind of a dick.
The Others – A nice atmospheric ghost story
Miscellaneous:
Sherlock – Technically a TV Series, but each episode is ~90 minutes
Heathers – Classic film about a dark troubled kid coming to a new school
The Big Short – A slightly dramatized version of the book.
Hard Candy – Although, with OMWC’s predilections, perhaps this shouldn’t be watched.
Exam – A group of people are applying for a job. Only one of them can get it. Could be tossed under horror, possibly.
I’ll need to look over the movies I have at home to see if there’s any others that slipped my mind at the present.
Oh crap… some easy ones I missed.
Shaolin Soccer – Best. Sports. Movie. Ever. It is a mashup of Kung-fu and sports film.
Kung-Fu Hustle – Comedy kung-fu film from the same director as Shaolin Soccer
+1 for both of these. Stephen Chow is genius.
But for my money Shaolin Soccer is better & endlessly re-watchable. The soundtrack is ridiculously wonderful, too. You’ll laugh, you’ll cry… and then laugh some more.
I’ll see your The Others (agree – it’s wonderful) and raise you the far creepier The Other. There are twins. It doesn’t get any creepier than twins. Plus great performances from Uta Hagen and a young Doctor Pulaski.
Early Peter Sellers:
The Wrong Arm of the Law (just watched it recently on Amazon)
I’m All Right, Jack
That whole Boulting Brothers’ trilogy – Private’s Progress, I’m All Right Jack, and Heavens Above! are some of my all time favorites and I watch them several times per year.
Blaxploitation Proud
While I don’t think I dislike any of the genre, two of my particular standouts are the following.
Get Down And Boogie (also released as Darktown Strutters) – Wherein black psychedelic bikers (with Roger Mosley, TC from Television’s Magnum P.I.) riding tricked out fiberglass trikes tangle with Klan bikers on dirtbikes, goofy cops in a pigmobile, and uncover a dastardly plot to enslave black folk.
And Cotton Comes To Harlem – The 1st major studio film shot in Harlem is a gritty slice of life of NYC in 1971. Ossie Davis directs (and co-wrote the screenplay) for this buddy cop/heist film that crosses over into camp territory just enough to be a great time. Also, topless Judy Pace.
I suppose i should give an honorable mention to my favorite Roger Moore Bond iteration, Live And Let Die. While technically not blaxploitation, it tries very hard to be so and is quite wonderful as a result. Bonus for me, I previously lived 3 blocks down from the French Quarter location of the Fillet Of Soul and the first murdered agent. I often miss living in NOLA.
If you’re in the mood for a western, Silverado
My faves that SP would never watch:
Polyester
Pink Flamingos
Female Trouble
Multiple Maniacs
Motel Hell
Videodrome
Asian Nurses 7
You should invite HM over . He loves Asian Nurses 7.
No, he said he loved 7 Asian Nurses. But then, who doesn’t?
I think both are right.
Best Comedy Ever: It’s A Gift (wonderfully misogynist and cynical)
First Runner Up: Million Dollar Legs (wonderfully surreal)
The Seventh Cross
I’m not a huge Spencer Tracy fan but this is not a typical Tracy Role. Hume Cronyn is superb.
Hot Fuzz and The World’s End are fun, too.
Someone mentioned auto racing movies and I liked Grand Prix with James Gardner and Le Mans with Steve McQueen. The former has a bit better story and the latter has bit better racing sequences.
… Hobbit
^He’s right on the racing movies^
See Grand Prix
Here’s some more:
13 Assassins
Bringing up Baby (everyone’s seen this, but I’m listing it because I’ll stop whatever I’m doing to watch it if it’s on)
It Happened One Night
Knightriders
W C Fields- You Can’t Cheat an Honest Man
“In the Heat of the Night” (1967) classic Sidney Poitier and Rod Steiger. “They call me MISTER TIBBS.”…….”Now listen, hear me good mama. Please. Don’t make me have to send you to jail… There’s white time in jail and there’s colored time in jail. The worst kind of time you can do is colored time.”
Two of the greatest propaganda movies of all time. “Casablanca” The next time you watch the battle of the bands scene recall that MAJ Strasser was played by an (((exiled))) German and that the people singing the French Anthem are French exiles singing not knowing if they will ever go home. “Triumph of the Will” You have seen the numerous clips, now watch them masterly assembled. Just leave your keys with someone so you don’t decide to “visit” Poland.
The Spencer Tracy mention reminded me, It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World is always worth repeat viewing.
Everyone should see Eraser Head once. Weird to the point of brutal.
The Sixth Sense. M.Knight drove the shtick into the ground, but he knocked it out of the park on this one.
The Outlaw Josey Wales. One liners for days.
The Pink Panther series. 10 year old me laughed so hard, I threw up.
Amelie. A different kind of RomCom that is not hurt at all by sub-titles.
If It’s Tuesday, It Must Be Belgium (mmm… Susanne Pleshette) and I’ll Take Sweden (mmm… Bob Hope) are some nice silly ’60s rom-coms.
Also, the 1940 or ’41 version of Charlie’s Aunt starring Jack Benny is fantastic.
The films that Klaus Kinski did with Werner Herzog are all damn good. The standouts are Fitzcarraldo, Aguirre: The Wrath of God, and Nosferatu. The first two are both shot on site in South American jungles under extreme conditions and deal with men obsessed to reach their goals under any price. Mosferatu is obviously the 70’s remake of the vampire classic. Kinski is so frigging creepy it is amazing.
It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World is always worth repeat viewing.
Absolutely.
Stardust.
Pretty fluffy, but features a delectable young Claire Danes.
One of my favorite movie anecdotes is that Hugh Dancy saw Stardust and got a crush on her, and supposedly had the poster, etc And years later they met and are now married w/kids
So, never tell anyone they’ll never meet that girl/boy they have a crush on as a teen. It could happen!
In a Lonely Place
Haven’t seen it mentioned here and it is an absolutely great Bogie movie.
COMEDY:
Kentucky Fried Movie
Planes, Trains and Automobiles
The Out of Towners (the original only)
The In Laws (original only)
the Cheap Detective
Dramas
Days of Wine and Roses
The Hustler
Days of Wine and Roses reminded me of these booze-infused gems:
The Lost Weekend (I love Ray Milland)
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Which reminds me of Barfly.
Blues Brothers (original only)
Yojimbo / A Fistful of Dollars / Last Man Standing
back-to-back-to-back
Yojimbo is on our list of movies we haven’t seen – thanks for the recommendation.
If I may be so bold as to suggest adding the Baby Cart Series and any of the Zatoichi The Blind Swordsman iterations.
War Movies
i must wholehearted agree with the inclusion of Stalag 17, the commentary track is worth a listen as well; Neville Brand (Duke in the film) was awarded a Silver Star for killing 25 Germans with rifle fire then bayonet thereby saving his platoon.
Mr. Roberts is, to me, the best portrayal of the lesser known horror of war – the interminable drudgery of waiting for things to happen.
The Great Escape and The Sand Pebbles – Steve McQueen, ’nuff said.
Operation Mad Ball – Jack Lemmon commits egregious waste, fraud, and abuse of the War Department just to get a date with a WAC. Bonus performances turned in by Mickey Rooney and Dick York as cousins from Louisiana.
See Here, Private Hargrove Based upon the book of the same name. Dim-witted journalist joins Army to sell stories about camp life to hometown paper; a charming fish-out-of-water yarn.
No Time For Sergeants The always wonderful Andy Griffith as a freakishly strong but none too bright hillbilly drafted into the Army Air Corps; hilarity ensues.
“Mr Roberts” is outstanding for the reasons you mention. James Cagney, Henry Fonda and a young Jack Lemmon are excellent. (My local sail racing area is where it was filmed.)
Ditto your comments for the two Steve McQueen movies.
“Cross of Iron” Sam Peckinpah’s last film was set on the East Front in the post-Stalingrad period and gets excellent performances from all. It is all you expect from Peckinpah.
“Zulu” is outstanding and stands up to time well. How men under intense pressure place issues aside to fight together against overwhelming odds. “Zulu Dawn” is not as good but is interesting to see what happens when they don’t pull together. Both fights were the same day.
“Master and Commander” As a dedicated fan of O’Brian’s series this is not from M&C (1st book of the series) but gives a peek into the age of wooden ships and iron men.
Chicken Run – for a charming story and a pretty funny animated take/parody on the Great Escape.
“Me life passed before me eyes!…. It was boring.”
The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)
The Devil’s Rock (2011)
From New Zealand film industry. Supernatural horror, WWII setting. Great acting, writing, costumes, & effects. Cast is small & film takes place in a single setting. Classic tropes – occult, demons, Nazis – but done very well.
Les Enfants du Paradis (a.k.a. Children of Paradise, French w/ subtitles)
Nobody Knows (Japanese w/ subs)
Mulan
I wish I had bothered to remember names some of the great movies I stumbled upon as a kid, but there’s a few of my all-time favorites.
For a different take on Westerns look up the Terence Hill movies, the two Trinity ones and My Name is Nobody.
… Hobbit
I haven’t seen it in ages, but the VANISHING/Sporloos (Dutch/Frech version) haunts me to this day There’s a remake with a young Kiefer Sutherland, but watch the European version. It’s … quiet but devastating. Don’t watch if you’ve recently lost someone you love.
Ththat movie is indeed super spooky.
Pretty much everybody besides me who has ever seen it, including the cast and crew, absolutely loathe it, but Drowning Mona is an underrated classic, IMO. To that list add The End, Couch Trip, Real Men, Night Shift, and How to Kill Your Neighbor’s Dog. Perhaps I have a shitty sense of humor.
A few others that you maybe haven’t seen a thousand times:
Tin Men
Start The Revolution Without Me
UHF
Where The Buffalo Roam (AKA: the other Hunter S. Thompson movie that doesn’t have Johnny Depp)
Throw Momma From the Train
Pi (pre-Requiem for a Dream Aronofsky)
Pacific Heights
The Killing (because CPRM is wrong about Kubrick)
John Wayne classic – The Quiet Man
Seconded.
For now, I’ll add (sorry for any repeats since I haven’t been able to read the entire thread)
Black Robe (1991) — story of Jesuits coming to the New World. Directed by Bruce Beresford.
Singing in the Rain (1952) — Yes, this damned musical holds up quite well and is truly funny.
Cinema Paradiso (1988)
Kung Fu Hustle (2004)
Dark City (1998)
Zero Effect (1998)
CQ. Not sure how to describe it. So here’s the trailer.
My favorite movie is the animated kid’s flick How To Train Your Dragon. The story is good but the music and lighting effects are fantastic. It’s the only movie for which I’ve bought the soundtrack. The action and the music are closely intertwined like early Loony Tunes cartoons. Small kids may find some of the dragons scary.
I recently bought a Blu-ray copy of ZARDOZ to get the director’s commentary. It explains a few things. All hail ZARDOZ!
The Loved One