100 More Favourite Films
Films that didn't make or were knocked off my top 100.
List activity
273 views
• 0 this weekCreate a new list
List your movie, TV & celebrity picks.
65 titles
- DirectorStephen FrearsStarsJohn CusackIben HjejleTodd LouisoRob, a record store owner and compulsive list maker, recounts his top five breakups, including the one in progress.Lists man. The films about the Male obsession with putting stupid *beep* in order like 'your favorite Velvet Underground songs' while the rest of your life is so NOT in order, it's embarrassing. Something I can obviously relate to as right now I'm supposed to be sorting out corporation Tax for Purple Camera Media as opposed to writing this essentially for myself.
also... Shameless plug! CHECK IT! http://purplecameramedia.wordpress.com - DirectorDavid CronenbergStarsJeff GoldblumGeena DavisJohn GetzA brilliant but eccentric scientist begins to transform into a giant man/fly hybrid after one of his experiments goes horribly wrong.It takes a director like Cronenberg to take a premise this stupid and make such a powerful piece of drama out of it.
Plot is -> Man makes teleportation device
Man teleports with fly in device
Man merges with fly.
*beep* dumb, sounds like a plot from a 50's sci-fi, cause it is http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0051622/?ref_=nv_sr_2
But honestly... it's powerful. I've never been so choked up by a scene with so much Grue in it as I was with the film's finale. - DirectorHans WeingartnerStarsDaniel BrühlJulia JentschStipe ErcegThree activists cobble together a kidnapping plot after they encounter a businessman in his home.Berlin is the perfect setting for a film about divides between people. The thing that separates the characters of 'The Edukators' however is not their economic system but their economic standing. Sort of a modern day Robin Hood/Banksy story, the film follows two young lads who break into rich folk's houses, rearrange their furniture, don't steal anything and leave a message proclaiming themselves as 'The Edukators'.
All goes well until they start to bend their rules and it all goes Pete Tong. Not wanting to spoil anything, but what happens next provides the audience with some fascinating brain food about the transistion from liberal youth to Conservative middle age.
Watch it with someone in your family who is a generational gap away from you and you'll have a hell of an interesting political discussion afterwards. - DirectorPaul GreengrassStarsMatt DamonFranka PotenteJoan AllenWhen Jason Bourne is framed for a CIA operation gone awry, he is forced to resume his former life as a trained assassin to survive.Whenever I travel through the London Underground I always play 'Extreme Ways' on my iPod and pretend I'm Jason Bourne. Ideally played in a row, the Bourne trilogy strike a happy medium between the bureaucratic (Tinker Tailor) and the fantastical (Bond) spy genre.
The set pieces that really stand out (despite all the great fights and car chases) are the scenes in which Bourne simply walks around evading police/SWAT teams/Hit men. They're great cause he just walks calmly, stays in control, Real professional like.
Also not showing off or anything but I actually sort of worked on them. (I say worked, did some paperwork for Ultimatum) I'm glad I did cause the other film I worked on was the *beep* Golden Compass and I'm not exactly proud of that. - DirectorChristopher MorrisStarsWill AdamsdaleRiz AhmedAdeel AkhtarFour incompetent British terrorists set out to train for and commit an act of terror.Oh Chris Morris, you do like to rattle the cage. A comedy about suicide bombers; not the greatest pitch. I believe 'The Daily Mail described it with words like 'Tedious Political correctness mixed with the poorest of taste' I always like to look up their reviews of left wing films, their bitter anger is always fairly amusing. The Kick-ass review was particually funny becuase the reviewer clearly liked the film a lot, but had to spend half the time talking of how morally bankrupt Hit Girl was. The premise of 'Four Lions' does tend to ditract attention away from the actual film which is a shame becuase it is the funniest thing to come out of British Cinema since 'Shaun of the Dead'. The finalie is an incredible balancing act of sadness, tension and hilarity.
- DirectorRichard KellyStarsDwayne JohnsonSarah Michelle GellarSeann William ScottDuring a three-day heat wave just before a huge 4th of July celebration, an action star stricken with amnesia meets up with a porn star who is developing her own reality TV project, and a policeman who holds the key to a vast conspiracy.I've never met anyone else who likes it.
Come to think of it, I don't think I've met anyone thats seen it.
Richard Kelly, a lovely bloke, came off Donnie Darko and decided he wanted to make his epic. Southland Tales was the twisted result. First of all I want to say that I'm not a David Kelly fan boy, I thought 'The Box' was a convoluted mess, but I truly think Southland Tales is a great film. It is certainly not broad popcorn entertainment, its complicated, there's a lot of characters and a lot of stuff happens, no getting around that, but its never boring, a lot of its really funny, something it has in common with Donnie Darko. Its also one of the best puzzle films I've ever seen and although its arguable that the pay off isn't worth it, the journeys a lot of fun. - DirectorMike LeighStarsSally HawkinsAlexis ZegermanSamuel RoukinA look at a few chapters in the life of Poppy, a cheery, colorful, North London schoolteacher whose optimism tends to exasperate those around her.There's a Reality Show in England called 'Big Brother' in which a load of people from the entire social spectrum are locked in a house together in a way that is deliberately trying to incite conflict. I say this because Big Brother is basically the poor man's Mike Leigh film. He throws people together from different social classes (Naked), races (Secrets and Lies) and in 'Happy-Go-Lucky's case, outlooks.
Eddie Marsden (who you've probably seen in something at some point) is terrifying in this as an angry frustrated bigot who butts heads with the Poppy the optimistic 'happy-go-lucky' lady of the title. You can really see why Marsden was the go to bad guy for a bit until Mark Strong showed up. - DirectorJohn LasseterStarsTom HanksTim AllenDon RicklesA cowboy doll is profoundly threatened and jealous when a new spaceman action figure supplants him as top toy in a boy's bedroom.Nowardays I realise it was co-written by Joss Whedon, I notice that that guy from Princess Bride voiced Rex and I understand all the 'adult' jokes.
Back in 1995, all I saw was Magic.
Most films from my childhood make me want to jump off high buildings, but Toy Story stands up - DirectorTakashi MiikeStarsTadanobu AsanoNao ÔmoriShin'ya TsukamotoAs sadomasochistic yakuza enforcer Kakihara searches for his missing boss he comes across Ichi, a repressed and psychotic killer who may be able to inflict levels of pain that Kakihara has only dreamed of achieving.I've seen Ichi the Killer. But only once, I'm not sick.
Anyway, I'm not even sure if I do like it, I certainly enjoyed seeing how far Miike would go. This film breaks every taboo and then keeps bloody going, likes it Forest *beep* Gump. Child killing, masochism, sadomasochism, violence against women, torture on a level which makes Hostel look like it should be on Nickolodeon. I guess the best way to enjoy Ichi the Killer is to treat it like seeing one of those shock websites.
Its okay though, its a foreign film so obviously you don't have to feel guilty about watching it or anything - DirectorLucky McKeeStarsAngela BettisJeremy SistoAnna FarisA socially awkward veterinary assistant with a lazy eye and obsession with perfection descends into depravity after developing a crush on a boy with perfect hands.So, there was a Carrie remake recently, it's actually the 2nd remake, the first came out in 2002 and stared Angela Bettis who also starred in 'May' the same year. Bettis is extremely good casting for Carrie because there is something a little off about the way she looks; which of course makes her perfect for this particular dark, creepy little film.
It follows May, an oddball who is just looking for a human connection, so far, so indie. But May gets so dark and so weird so fast it'll make your head spin. Always one I recommend to horror fans cause it's relatively low on most folk's radars. - DirectorWes AndersonStarsGene HackmanGwyneth PaltrowAnjelica HustonThe eccentric members of a dysfunctional family reluctantly gather under the same roof for various reasons.
- DirectorAndrew DominikStarsBrad PittRay LiottaRichard JenkinsJackie Cogan is an enforcer hired to restore order after three dumb guys rob a Mob protected card game, causing the local criminal economy to collapse.Roger Corman said 'No film should be longer than 90 minutes unless it has Papal dispensation'. A lesson that Andrew Dominik ignored while making *Deep Breath* 'The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford' which ran for 160 minutes. For his next project 'Killing them Softly' a gangster period piece (set in 2008, but very much a period piece) exploring the death of the American dream, everyone expected similar. But no, BAM 90 minutes. great performances, great set pieces, strong plot, gets out. NO LOO BREAKS.
- DirectorEugene JareckiStarsEugene JareckiDavid SimonShanequa BenitezFrom the dealer to the narcotics officer, the inmate to the federal judge, a penetrating look inside America's criminal justice system, revealing the profound human rights implications of U.S. drug policy.The only documentary I've got on here, shame on me etc. 'The house I live in' is a fantastically detailed and objective look at America's war on drugs.
Before watching 'The House I Live In' most of the documentaries I had seen were frustratingly one sided, usually left wing attacks on corporations, public figures or politicians. But 'The House I live in' gives a far wider and frankly far more informed look at an incredibly broken system which has become a vicious cycle, without really pushing for an agenda or pretending it has an answer. - DirectorGeorge Roy HillStarsPaul NewmanRobert RedfordKatharine RossIn 1890s Wyoming, Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid lead a band of outlaws. When a train robbery goes wrong, they find themselves on the run with a posse hard on their heels. After considering their options, they escape to South America.The pacing in this movie is brilliant! It's like the most fun you can have with a Western. There's crooked card games, grand-scale horse chases, montages and some of the best shoot outs this side of The Wild Bunch.
Also Robert Redford is in it! and it's not a boring political drama! :P - DirectorWes CravenStarsNeve CampbellCourteney CoxDavid ArquetteA year after the murder of her mother, a teenage girl is terrorized by a masked killer who targets her and her friends by using scary movies as part of a deadly game.
- DirectorWes CravenStarsNeve CampbellCourteney CoxDavid ArquetteTwo years after the first series of murders, as Sidney acclimates to college life, someone donning the Ghostface costume begins a new string of killings.I know its not very intelligent to put a sequel slasher film on the list, but its my list, so there! A lot of me actually prefered the sequel. Not for very sophisticated reasons:
1. Buffy was in it.
2. It genuinally kept me guessing as to who the killer was.
3. Buffy was in it.
4. The scene where Dewey and Gail were being chased was genius.
5. I think Randy is awesome.
6. Also Buffy was in it. - DirectorPaul VerhoevenStarsElizabeth BerkleyKyle MacLachlanGina GershonA mysterious young drifter who calls herself Nomi Malone hitches a ride to Las Vegas, Nevada, and begins working as a strip club dancer, and sets about clawing her way to the top of the Vegas showgirls.Bare with me.
Showgirls is a misunderstood epic about the pursuit of fame, it is also an extremely entertaining, titillating film which is a lot of things but you could never accuse it of being boring.
Paul Verhoeven films are basically smart movies dressed up as trash. 'Robocop' for example is a satire with a huge amount of violence in it where as 'Showgirls' is a epic with a huge amount of sex in it.
I think because America is far more at home with violence than it is with sex the film has always taken a bad wrap, but seriously this film is everything I like and sits here on my top 100 completely un-ironically, albeit in last place. - DirectorJ BlakesonStarsGemma ArtertonEddie MarsanMartin CompstonA rich man's daughter is held captive in an abandoned apartment by two former convicts who abducted her and hold her ransom in exchange for her father's money.In one word, the film is 'tight'. The writing, the cinematography, the pacing. It is a well oiled twisty thriller and it flies by. It starts with an efficient professional kidnapping, but revelations and feelings get in the way and soon *beep* hits the fan and when I say soon, I really mean soon, it's like the director was terrified that we would get bored and he really cuts to the chase. Excellent little British gem.
- DirectorArmando IannucciStarsTom HollanderPeter CapaldiJames GandolfiniA political satire about a group of skeptical American and British operatives attempting to prevent a war between two countries.Simon Foster: Tobes, I don't want to have to read you the riot act but I am going to have to read you some extracts from the riot act, like section one, paragraph one: don't leave your boss twisting in the wind and then burst in late, smelling like a pissed seaside donkey.
Toby Wright: Look, alright, I was late for the meeting, Simon, I am sorry, but it's not like I threw up in there, is it?
Simon Foster: No, you're right, I'm being unfair. I should be thanking you for not throwing up. Well done, you're a star. You didn't wet yourself, did you? You're in the right city. You didn't say anything overtly racist. You didn't pull your cock out and start plucking it and shouting "Willy Banjo". No, I'm being really unfair. You'd got so much right, without actually being there in the beginning of one of the most important moments of my career. Thanks, you're a legend. - DirectorJean-Pierre JeunetStarsAudrey TautouMathieu KassovitzRufusDespite being caught in her imaginative world, Amelie, a young waitress, decides to help people find happiness. Her quest to spread joy leads her on a journey where she finds true love.Because I only have 100 places, Amelie is here representing all of Jean-Pierre Jeunet's work, Delicatessen through to micmacs. (ignoring a certain xenomorph related incident.)
Anyway I watch as much world cinema as i can get my hands on, but I've always had something against French films. Maybe it's just cause I'm British, but I think they're just a bit dull, I love the ideas behind 'Breathless' but I never find myself enjoying it.
It's just my personal opinion but I think that for a long time French New wave stoped World cinema from flourishing in the main stream; people assumed that because a film wasn't in English it was black and white art house flare. This attitude seems to have been curved in recent years, due to hits like 'crouching Tiger', 'Pan's Labyrinth' and of course 'Amelie'.
'Amelie' is a world away from Goddard's work, but still feels distinctly arthouse, this is a film that seems to take place inside it's protagonist's day dreams. Audrey Tautou gives an excellent performance, her Amelie feels profoundly real and is on the right side of quirky. A voice of god narration, points out idiosyncratic details bringing secondary characters to life and bringing to mind Wes Anderson's better work. I can't think of another film with colours this rich or a look this distinctive; it's a perfect package and a perfect 10. - DirectorGuy RitchieStarsJason StathamBrad PittStephen GrahamUnscrupulous boxing promoters, violent bookmakers, a Russian gangster, incompetent amateur robbers and supposedly Jewish jewelers fight to track down a priceless stolen diamond.The most quotable movie of all time? Maybe, all i know is that I'm really glad Guy Ritchie is back on form after his seven year disaster streak because 'Snatch' and 'Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels' are Great British cinema. Snatch may be an ensemble piece but any of the characters on display could carry their own films, Bullet Tooth Tony, Mickey, Turkish and the unforgetable Brick Top. Theres also got to be some achievement for making subject matter like disposing of a body by feeding it to pigs so uproarishly funny.
Also Check Out: Layer Cake - DirectorMikkel NørgaardStarsFrank HvamCasper ChristensenMarcuz Jess PetersenIn order to prove his fatherhood potential to his pregnant girlfriend, Frank 'kidnaps' her 12-year-old nephew and tags along on his best friend Casper's debauched weekend canoe trip.Comedy films often go too far nowadays. They push the boundaries of taste and it can reflect badly on the rest of the film.
Klown seems to be unaware of these boundaries. In the first ten minutes it casually saunters past them and then spends the rest of the film pioneering in the extreme comedy wilderness.
Although the comedy is extreme it's not particularly dark and there are big belly laughs to be had here.
It also may have the best ending of all time.
Also Check Out: Peep Show - DirectorGuy RitchieStarsJason FlemyngDexter FletcherNick MoranEddy persuades his three pals to pool money for a vital poker game against a powerful local mobster, Hatchet Harry. Eddy loses, after which Harry gives him a week to pay back 500,000 pounds.LUNDUN! home of cockney geezers, drug lords, gangsters & vinnie Jones and by christ, is it entertaining. Guy Ritchie made his first feature on a smaller budget than Snatch, but he still manages to get across a great deal of visual flare, the slo-mo and sound design being particually memorable. It's also a more focused film, the script tighter, characters, more developed. The films also very layered, I think I must have seen it about three or four times and I find new things to enjoy every time. If this was a list of films I could watch on a loop, 'Lock, Stock' would take the gold.
Also Check out: Snatch - DirectorJohn HughesStarsEmilio EstevezJudd NelsonMolly RingwaldFive high school students meet in Saturday detention and discover how they have a great deal more in common than they thought.The Breakfast Club is AMAZING! Theres a idiot and a weirdo and a bitch and a nerd and an *beep* and through an hour and a half's worth of talking they realize they're all like 'the same' but also they're all kind of 'different' (spoiler alert, sorry...)
Also Check Out: Ferris Bueller's Day Off - DirectorTodd SolondzStarsJane AdamsJon LovitzPhilip Seymour HoffmanThe lives of several individuals intertwine as they go about their lives in their own unique ways, engaging in acts which society as a whole might find disturbing in a desperate search for human connection.This is the blackest humour I have ever seen in a film. You know in 'The Office' when theres the 'awkward moments', this is talking one of those and dragging it out for two hours, everything you watch from behind your barely opened fingers. It is so excruciatingly awkward and taboo, I think that watching it with your mum could be used as an alternative to prison time.
When you get over this however, you get one of the great ensemble pieces of the 90's.
Also Check Out: Man Bites Dog - DirectorKathryn BigelowStarsJeremy RennerAnthony MackieBrian GeraghtyDuring the Iraq War, a Sergeant recently assigned to an army bomb squad is put at odds with his squad mates due to his maverick way of handling his work.I watched 'The Hurt Locker' on a plane and it was a nail biting, sweaty, tense experience. Without wanting to spoil anything this is a film where the characters might not make it out at the end and it makes this clear from the off. The story follows a bomb disposal expert during his term in Iraq, what makes it different from other war movies is that it flirts with the taboo aspect of war as a drug. The adrenaline rush of knowing that in the next second you could be dead, 'The Hurt Locker is the closest you can come to the feeling without cutting the red wire yourself.
Also Check Out: American Sniper - DirectorDon CoscarelliStarsChase WilliamsonRob MayesPaul GiamattiA new street drug that sends its users across time and dimensions has one drawback: some people return no longer human. Can two college drop-outs save humanity from this silent, otherworldly invasion?This is the kind of film which always gets that response 'What were they on when they made that?'
However there is a big difference between an incoherent film and a deliberately incoherent one and this is the later. Narratively speaking the film is straight out of the gate bizarre and I was impressed that I didn't know where the *beep* it was going next. Definitely one that I would recommend with caution, I liked it, but I like Lynchian, structualy-experimental monstrosities. So a normie would probably be better suited to watching John Carter/Wick instead. - DirectorJoseph KahnStarsMartin HendersonIce CubeMonet MazurA biker returns from Thailand to set things straight with his girlfriend. One gang leader wants him for delivery of 2 motorbikes filled with crystal meth and another gang leader wants him for murdering his brother.I love Torque.
Joseph Kahn, the director says it better that I can. He said of Torque 'the studio wanted Fast and the Furious on motorcycles. I hate those movies. I’m sorry, you might like them, but I just think they’re ridiculous. [laughs] They’re predicated on this idea that there’s this really cool, real world with real action and real people, and I don’t get it. Like, who the *beep* are these people? This is so ridiculous and so fake, so if I do my version of it, why don’t I make it super fake and super everything? Why don’t I make my hyper-real, Japanese animation, self-reflexive comedy version of a biker movie with Ice Cube?' - DirectorFede AlvarezStarsJane LevyShiloh FernandezJessica LucasFive friends head to a remote cabin, where the discovery of a Book of the Dead leads them to unwittingly summon up demons living in the nearby woods.When the original 'Evil Dead' came out in 1981 it was so shocking it was banned in the UK. Watching it now, it seems almost quaint so it was up to the remake to crank up the horror and give us the equivalent experience of being a BBFC member in 1981.
*beep* shocking, but by turns hilarious the remake is flat out brilliant. Seeing it in a packed theater watching everyone's reactions was also priceless.
Also Check Out: Inside - DirectorRob ReinerStarsWil WheatonRiver PhoenixCorey FeldmanA writer recounts a childhood journey with his friends to find the body of a missing boy.When I was eleven it was 2003, yet 'Stand by Me' still made me feel nostalgic for the 60's. It seems to actually understand what its like being a kid, as opposed to Hannah Montana, where the creators seem to have watched kids through glass 3 inches thick.
A big fat nostalgia trip and I was raised 4000 miles away, 32 years later.
Also Check Out: The Big Chill - DirectorAndrew DominikStarsEric BanaSimon LyndonVince ColosimoChopper tells the intense story of Mark "Chopper" Read, a legendary criminal who wrote his autobiography while serving a jail sentence in prison. His book, "From the Inside", upon which the film is based, was a best-seller.Way more fun, far less pretentious and an all around better film than it's British cousin 'Bronson'. Australian made 'Chopper' tells the true story of Mark Read; an absolute bloody psychopath.
Eric Bana's performance captures Read's twitchy, violent and extremely charming personality and acts as our narrator for a film which like the autobiography source material is extremely easy to get through, if a little morally dubious to enjoy.
Also Check Out: Bronson - DirectorHal AshbyStarsRuth GordonBud CortVivian PicklesYoung, rich, and obsessed with death, Harold finds himself changed forever when he meets lively septuagenarian Maude at a funeral.I think that a lot of Rom-coms would be more interesting if they just mixed it up a little bit. What sounds more interesting Gerard Butler and jennifer Anniston or Ellen Page and Andre the Giant There would be queues round the block.
Anyway before Hal Ashby went and made 'Being There' (which is also brilliant) he had a stab at mixing up the genre. The screen couple here were a 19 year old teenage boy and a 79 year old woman. They create a fascinating pair to watch, Harold is obbsessed with death, Maude with life. Its a film of contrasts, old age vs youth, life vs death, Image vs personality. Its how these movies should have been made.
Also Check Out: Being There - DirectorLars von TrierStarsCharlotte GainsbourgStellan SkarsgårdStacy MartinA self-diagnosed nymphomaniac recounts her erotic experiences to the man who saved her after a beating.Someone recounts their life story to a stranger. Unlike 'Forest Gump' however, 'Nympomaniac' is more a series of vignettes about a life rather than a blanket covering of one. There's also a lot less vaginas in 'Forest Gump'.
The film's tone and genre bounce all over the place, going from comedy to drama to horror within a few moves. It also has room for plenty of controversial Lars Von Trier-isms, at one point he sticks up for paedophiles for example. All of this keeps the pace up and four hours fly by.
Also I get a kick out of the fact that calling it 'very entertaining' would piss Lars off no end.
Also check out: Shame - DirectorBrian YuznaStarsBilly WarlockConcetta D'AgneseBen SlackAn ordinary teenage boy discovers his family is part of a gruesome orgy cult for the social elite.Imagine if Eyes wide shut was really funny, really gross and made a decade previous with about 2% of it's final budget; you've just imagined Society. Brian Yuzna, the mad auteur who emerged from the VHS boom of the 1980s manages to produce the same feeling of dread present in Kubrick's final work but also manages to elicit quite a few massive laughs. The finale is famous in horror circles for reasons that will become EXTREMELY apparent when you watch it.
Also check out: Return of the Living Dead - DirectorPaul Thomas AndersonStarsPhilip Baker HallJohn C. ReillyGwyneth PaltrowProfessional gambler Sydney teaches John the tricks of the trade. John does well until he falls for cocktail waitress Clementine.PT Anderson showing a lot of promise of what's to come with his debut about the sleazy Las Vegas underbelly. Shot in his tight, stark symmetrical style (which you can read a lot of boring articles about if you wish) it's probably the most pure example of his style going and it's only 90 minutes, thank god.
Also Check Out: Boogie Nights - DirectorRichard LinklaterStarsEthan HawkeJulie DelpyVernon DobtcheffNine years after Jesse and Celine first met, they encounter each other again on the French leg of Jesse's book tour.
- DirectorTakashi MiikeStarsRyo IshibashiEihi ShiinaTetsu SawakiA widower takes an offer to screen girls at a special audition, arranged for him by a friend to find him a new wife. The one he fancies is not who she appears to be after all.Ah Audition, I wanted to see this film for ages and eventually found it in a charity shop, which was a bit bizzare, considering the content. Anyway I don't even want to reveal a plot synopsis of Audition, the best way to watch it is to go in completely cold without having read a single word about it. (which if you are reading this you have already failed to do) If you do this you will have a lovely squelchy horror experience that will stay in your head for weeks.
Side Note- This is the NUMBER ONE movie to watch after a break-up.
Also check out: Ichi the Killer - DirectorJonathan GlazerStarsRay WinstoneBen KingsleyIan McShaneBrutal gangster Don Logan recruits "retired" safecracker Gal for one last job, but it goes badly for both of them.I really hate that imdb has censored my commentary here cause it makes quotes from Sexy Beast like 'You're the problem! You're the *beep* problem you *beep* Dr White honkin' jam-rag *beep* spunk-bubble!' quite a lot less hilarious.
Jonathan Glazer who is mainly known for his superb music videos for Massive Attack/Radiohead directs the hell out of this. It's funny, it's sharp and amazingly it did something fresh with the whole Quirky, sweary gangster genre. Quite impressive considering at the time it was made said genre was being done to death.
Also Check Out: Get Carter - DirectorCharles ChaplinStarsCharles ChaplinPaulette GoddardHenry BergmanThe Tramp struggles to live in modern industrial society with the help of a young homeless woman.Partially out of guilt from the fact I had nothing on here pre-1966 Modern Times! I'm still not hugely familiar with silent comedy, I really liked the Marx brothers, but they came a little later, so I've dipped into the genre, but still need to do more research, mainly cause I loved Modern Times. If you're on the fence about watching it I urge you to check out the automatic feeding machine on youtube because when I watched it I woke my partner up because I was laughing so hard.
Also Check out: The Gold Rush - DirectorMary LambertStarsDale MidkiffDenise CrosbyFred GwynneAfter tragedy strikes, a grieving father discovers an ancient burial ground behind his home with the power to raise the dead.Not the best but certainly the most *beep* your pants' adaptation of a Stephen King novel. 'Pet Sematary' has tropes from all over the 'King' cannon (to name which ones would be spoilers) and until they sort out 'The Dark Tower' adaptation it'll probably be the closest we get to a 'King' mash up. Surprisingly fairly under the radar the film holds up and should get more attention.
Also Check out: Misery - DirectorVincent ParonnaudMarjane SatrapiStarsChiara MastroianniCatherine DeneuveGena RowlandsA precocious and outspoken Iranian girl grows up during the Islamic Revolution.Never has a film taught me so much while still keeping me so thoroughly entertained. Its got this great kenetic style and as well as giving us this backdrop of the civil war in Iran, its main focus is a coming of age story. I love films like this, which can juggle themes like liberty, war, religion and the terrors of teen dating.
Also Check Out: Waltz with Bashir - DirectorNimród AntalStarsSándor CsányiEszter BallaZoltán MucsiA tale about a strange young man, Bulcsú, the fellow inspectors on his team, all without exception likable characters, a rival ticket inspection team and racing along the tracks - and a tale about love.This is an undiscovered gem. The director has long since sold out and moved to Hollywood, which is a shame cause this debut effort shows a lot of promise. It follows a group of ticket inspectors on the Budapest subway system as they go about their lives while also trying to track down a killer. I can't believe the film has gone under the radar for this long.
Also Check Out: Night Watch - DirectorDuke JohnsonCharlie KaufmanStarsDavid ThewlisJennifer Jason LeighTom NoonanA man crippled by the mundanity of his life experiences something out of the ordinary.Anomolisa contains one of the effective dramatic devices I've ever seen. It uses one man to voice every supporting character, reinforcing the idea our protagonist sees everyone as the same. It uses this device to at first make us sympathise with his plight before pulling the rug from under us in a dramatic 3rd act.
Coming from the mind of Charlie Kaufman, this is his most accessible film since Eternal Sunshine and despite it's deliberate uncanny-valley effect it also proves to be his most human.
Also check out: Moral Orel - DirectorMartin ScorseseStarsAndrew GarfieldAdam DriverLiam NeesonIn the 17th century, two Portuguese Jesuit priests travel to Japan in an attempt to locate their mentor, who is rumored to have committed apostasy, and to propagate Catholicism.
- DirectorMichael LehmannStarsWinona RyderChristian SlaterShannen DohertyAt Westerburg High where cliques rule, jocks dominate and all the popular girls are named Heather, it's going to take a Veronica and mysterious new kid to give teen angst a body count.'I love my dead gay son!'
Heathers was made by people who loved and hated all those John Hughes movies. Heathers could even be viewed as a cynical, dark and hilarious middle finger to 80's high school films in general.
I promise you that this film wouldn't get made now, post columbine and 9/11. The reason for this is the incredibly un-PC plot following Slater's sexy high school misfit as he goes around knocking off jocks and cheerleaders. I love the fact it doesn't take the premise seriously at all, it's pretty much straight-up goofball with murders thrown in.
You can find the same DNA in films like Election and Mean Girls, so if you like those then be sure to check it out.
Also check out: Jawbreaker - DirectorBrian De PalmaStarsPaul WilliamsWilliam FinleyJessica HarperA disfigured composer sells his soul for the woman he loves so that she will perform his music. However, an evil record tycoon betrays him and steals his music to open his rock palace, The Paradise.Brian De Palma is GOD. Scarface, Carrie, Carlito's Way, Blow Out, The untouchables and of course 'Phantom of the Paradise'. Basically a re-do of Phantom of the Opera for the Rock and Roll generation, I was suprised about how obscure the film is. The way the film is shot in terms of camera angles and editing is extremely modern, scenes aren't long, (a courtroom scene consists of one shot) they're cut very quickly and stylistically.
It used to be shown on a double bill with 'Rocky Horror' shame, this deserved the cult.
Also check out: Danger Diabolik - DirectorWim WendersStarsHarry Dean StantonNastassja KinskiDean StockwellTravis Henderson, an aimless drifter who has been missing for four years, wanders out of the desert and must reconnect with society, himself, his life, and his family.Like 'Seven Samurai', you feel very familiar watching 'Paris, Texas' because a bunch of people ripped it off afterwards, specifically in terms of it's stark cinematography.
You can see echoes of it in everything from the Coen's work (Whose Texas based debut 'Blood Simple' launched the same year) to Breaking Bad's sweeping New Mexico landscapes.
Performances in this are particularly strong and surprisingly it doesn't feel it's length.
Also Check out: Wings of Desire - DirectorJean-Jacques BeineixStarsJean-Hugues AngladeBéatrice DalleGérard DarmonA lackadaisical handyman and aspiring novelist tries to support his younger girlfriend as she slowly succumbs to madness.
- DirectorRian JohnsonStarsJoseph Gordon-LevittLukas HaasEmilie de RavinA teenage loner pushes his way into the underworld of a high school crime ring to investigate the disappearance of his ex-girlfriend.I go on the record. I didn't have a clue what anyone was saying in Brick. Also for some bizzare reason the DVD doesn't have subtitles. Of any DVD I own, including the foriegn ones, 'Brick' is a DVD that DEFINATELY NEEDS SUBTITLES. What the *beep* does 'The ape blows or I clam' mean? I gave up watching the DVD and ended up recording the film which I already owned off the TV, which was a bit bizzare, anyway the film makes a lot more sense when you can read what these people are saying and I actually really enjoyed watching it, the premise is its a film noir but in a modern high school setting, Which actually kind of works after a while. Cruelly given an R rating by the MPAA this deserved to reach a wider audience.
Also Check out: Double Idemnity - DirectorBong Joon HoStarsKim Hye-jaWon BinJin GooA mother desperately searches for the killer who framed her son for a girl's horrific murder.
- DirectorGus Van SantStarsRobin WilliamsMatt DamonBen AffleckWill Hunting, a janitor at M.I.T., has a gift for mathematics, but needs help from a psychologist to find direction in his life.Watching a film at the right time can make all the difference. I wish I would have left 'American Beauty' till middle age or watched the Studio Ghibli output pre-teen. Just once though, I got the timing perfect...
Good Will Hunting has scenes of dialogue more thrilling than most car chases. Quick cut exchanges which leave the audience breathless. Will Hunting's rhetoric is as bad-ass as Bourne's physicality, he rips others to shreds at the drop of a hat. But beneath the anger and interlect lies a very tortured soul and I can't think of a film before or since which has explored circumstance vs potential so well.
Also Check out: Dead Poet's Society - DirectorAnthony MinghellaStarsMatt DamonGwyneth PaltrowJude LawIn late 1950s New York, a young underachiever named Tom Ripley is sent to Italy to retrieve Dickie Greenleaf, a rich and spoiled millionaire playboy. But when the errand fails, Ripley takes extreme measures.The Talented Mr. Ripley wouldn't be out of place on the top 250. It's got all the ingredients; the period setting, the great performances, it's exciting and clever and would appeal to the mainstream cinema buff. One scene which takes place outside of a Café is so clever that I wanted to stand up and start clapping.
I genuinely think the reason that it isn't held in such high regard is that it got caught up in the great 'bad cinema drought' of 1999, In which masterpieces were ten a penny and what was essentially a throw back was unfortunately swept under the rug.
Also Check Out: Anything by Hitchcock - DirectorDanny BoyleStarsCillian MurphyNaomie HarrisChristopher EcclestonFour weeks after a mysterious, incurable virus spreads throughout the UK, a handful of survivors try to find sanctuary.2002; British Horror was back from the grave. With virtually no money Danny Boyle twisting the conventions of the Romero age and creating an ugly rough nasty movie, but one with fully formed, believable protagonists. These were zombies (and yes they are zombies) like the world had never seen; THEY RAN!! It was terrifying! However this wasn't the smartest trick Boyle pulled; In the climax of the film, the Infected are almost sympathised with, like all great horrors the real monsters are human.
- DirectorDarren AronofskyStarsNatalie PortmanMila KunisVincent CasselNina is a talented but unstable ballerina on the verge of stardom. Pushed to the breaking point by her artistic director and a seductive rival, Nina's grip on reality slips, plunging her into a waking nightmare.Since Darren Aronofsky made his debut in 1998 with 'Pi' he's always been one to watch and his resulting work has been never short of interesting; 'Requim for a Dream' and The 'Wrestler' being two of the best films of the decade. his hyper cut surrealist dream like imagery made him perfect for 'Black Swan' The tale of a ballerina gradually going loopy. What I really like about the film is that it is so ugly, the whole thing has this nasty grain and the frame is filled with things that make you feel subtley uncomfortable; toe nail clipings, nylon, greasy skin, hard surfaces. It is a difficult and rewarding watch.
Also check out: Safe - DirectorShane CarruthStarsShane CarruthDavid SullivanCasey GoodenFour friends/fledgling entrepreneurs, knowing that there's something bigger and more innovative than the different error-checking devices they've built, wrestle over their new invention.Think of the most complicated film you know and I can assure you Primer makes mincemeat out of it. The plot is something like two men invent a machine by accident that if you turn on at 9am and turn it off at noon, climb inside and stay there for three hours, you will return to 9am. This is the very basic premise, like saying that Indiana Jones is about a man who wears a hat. After this is established there is a lot of stuff to do with the stock market, alternative realities, overlapping time periods and shaping the future. Made for a ridiculous budget of about $5000, the film will either challenge your ideas of the boundries of cinema or give you a headache.
Also Check Out: Upstream Color - DirectorTi WestStarsJocelin DonahueTom NoonanMary WoronovIn 1983, financially struggling college student Samantha Hughes takes a strange babysitting job that coincides with a full lunar eclipse. She slowly realizes her clients harbor a terrifying secret, putting her life in mortal danger.Restraint is a quality not found in most modern horror, barely any horror for that matter and that is really what gives house of the Devil it's power. Shot with a kind of faux 80's VHS look, it's quite unsettling because most horrors that ACTUALLY looked like that knew as much about restraint as they did about production values.
But I digress, film follows a young college student who answers a dodgy baby sitting application and ends up in extremely dodgy territory with and extremely dodgy man. Most of the film simply follows her wandering around this creepy house killing time, which doesn't sound like a wild night at the pictures but makes for a butt tightening experience in practice.
Of course when it lets the *beep* hit the fan, it kind of blows it's load, but it's forgiven cause by that point you're just begging it to blow it's load... right in your face.
Also Check Out: Rosemary's Baby - DirectorLuc BessonStarsBruce WillisMilla JovovichGary OldmanIn the colorful future, a cab driver unwittingly becomes the central figure in the search for a legendary cosmic weapon to keep Evil and Mr. Zorg at bay.
- DirectorNeil JordanStarsStephen ReaJaye DavidsonForest WhitakerA British soldier kidnapped by the IRA soon befriends one of his captors, who then becomes drawn into the soldier's world.This was one of the films that really kicked off the independent scene of the 90's.
If you know nothing about it, then don't even do the most basic of research on it. Don't click it's imdb page, don't read wikipedia, don't even read the DVD blurb. Trust me, go and watch it. Come back and thank me.
Also Check Out: Sex, Lies and Videotape - DirectorDavid FincherStarsJake GyllenhaalRobert Downey Jr.Mark RuffaloBetween 1968 and 1983, a San Francisco cartoonist becomes an amateur detective obsessed with tracking down the Zodiac Killer, an unidentified individual who terrorizes Northern California with a killing spree.Would it be a stretch to call this Fincher's masterpiece?
An almost three hour epic about the hunt for an elusive killer, the film spans decades and isn't really even about the killer, it's more about obsession and the need to know. This makes the ambiguous ending ever more frustrating but it remains tonally perfect, putting you in the boots of all the investigators that were so close, yet so far.
Also check out: Mindhunter - DirectorIsao TakahataStarsTsutomu TatsumiAyano ShiraishiAkemi YamaguchiA young boy and his little sister struggle to survive in Japan during World War II.A war film which focuses not on soldiers but on a boy and his sister as they try to survive in extreme poverty.
Commonly sighted as one of the saddest films in history. I didn't cry, but it left me feeling empty and numb.
Any of those stupid extreme movies you hear talked about won't elicit half the emotional response that this film has.
It is to put it simply a gut punch.
Also Check Out : Dear Zachary - DirectorMike LeighStarsJim BroadbentRuth SheenLesley ManvilleA look at four seasons in the lives of a happily married couple and their relationships with their family and friends.Just to clarify this film made me feel awful. It follows a successful, nice couple as they try to deal with their kooky friends and although that sounds like a crap sitcom, said kooks include alcoholism, grief, anger and depression.
Mike Leigh has again created such strong characters that I was genuinely surprised to see pictures of these actors in real life. This is England, warts and all and although the film is tough to get through, it's rewards are many.
Also Check Out: Naked - DirectorDan GilroyStarsJake GyllenhaalRene RussoBill PaxtonWhen Louis Bloom, a con man desperate for work, muscles into the world of L.A. crime journalism, he blurs the line between observer and participant to become the star of his own story.Heart-in-your-mouth stuff. This movie was punchy, short and had something to say. It's one of the most scathing, cynical take-downs of the news since Network. Jake Gyllenhaal gives absolutely everything to his performance, adding to a collection of work that shows he really is the most interesting actor out there.
Also check out: Enemy - DirectorHal HartleyStarsAdrienne ShellyMartin DonovanRebecca NelsonAfter being thrown out of her house, Maria encounters a married woman who complains of not having children. Maria ends up in an abandoned house, where she meets Matthew. When a baby is kidnapped Maria sets out to find the woman.At the heart of the film is the question should high school drop-out Maria keep or abort her pregnancy? At the start of the film she wants to keep the baby and get married, but soon that dream begins to crumble and she is left with the cold reality of real life. The film is an examination of how family *beep* you up, exploring the roots of *beep* marriages and loveless couples. The script isn't patronising or subjective and it explores every outcome, usually via secondary characters who've made mistakes in the past.
I think the film is dark, sad and hard-going, but it also has moments of strange dark comedy sprinkled throughout making it a seriously unique piece of work.
Also check out: Harold and Maude - DirectorJohn WatersStarsKathleen TurnerSam WaterstonRicki LakeShe's the perfect all-American parent: a great cook and homemaker, a devoted recycler, and a woman who'll literally kill to keep her children happy.Two people in particular make this film fantastic, first of all the ever amazing John Waters, the all American Auteur that America wanted nothing to do with. He revels in subverting the white picket fence suburban myth and even if by this point he had toned his films down they still were pitch black by anyone else's standards.
Secondly Kathleen Turner whose wild-eyed, demented, winking at the camera performance is absolutely hilarious. She looks like she is having all kinds of fun switching between perfect housewife and cold blooded psychopath.
A lot of these 'murder for minor transgressions' films like Falling Down and God Bless America fail because they make the victims to a certain extent horrible people and they make their protagonists somewhat sympathetic. None of this in Serial Mom, she is *beep* insane flat out and she kills people for the stupidest of reasons. It's like everyone involved with Serial Mom knows it's premise is bonkers and it is 100% better off for it.
Also check out: Pink Flamingos - DirectorNeil LaButeStarsAaron EckhartMatt MalloyStacy EdwardsTwo business executives--one an avowed misogynist, the other recently emotionally wounded by his love interest--set out to exact revenge on the female gender by seeking out the most innocent, uncorrupted girl they can find and ruining her life.The remake of 'The Wicker Man' being bad was a big surprise to me because the director Neil labute made one of the smartest black comedies ever in 'In the Company of Men'
The film has this really dark heart to it. Two business men decide to ruin the most innocent woman's life they can find. It's heart breaking but also quite amusing, simply for the extremes it goes too.
Also Check out: Happiness