Films people may not have seen but should

[IainC]

So to balance the awful movies thread, here's a thread where people post great films that may have slipped under the radar. This is not a 'my favourite movie' thread but a 'I think more people should watch this' thread. I have a feeling it's going to devolve into tentacle cartoons but we'll see.

Anyhow, here's my opener:

Man Bites Dog

Ultra low budget Belgian film shot in black and white (because they got the film for free). A darker than dark mockumentary about a serial killer. In French with subtitles and enormously funny.

[apocrypha]

Nice idea :)  I've been told that Man Bites Dog rocks, many times, for many years, but never yet got around to seeing it. I shall rectify that.

The Brotherhood of the Wolf is one of my odd favourites. A touch of schlock werewolf movie with some great atmosphere.

[DraconianOne]

Man Bites Dog

Ultra low budget Belgian film shot in black and white (because they got the film for free). A darker than dark mockumentary about a serial killer. In French with subtitles and enormously funny.

I love this film. The second time I saw it in the cinema, I went with a friend and we were both tripping (which meant that I saw the last ten minutes of a black and white film in colour).  We were in absolute hysterics all the way through.  Anyway...

Also, "Dead Baby Boys" is one of the best drinking games bar none.

The Brotherhood of the Wolf is one of my odd favourites. A touch of schlock werewolf movie with some great atmosphere.

And Monica Belluci.

[Trippy]

The Big Hit

[schild]

Why is this in the movies forum?

[schild]

Mr. Canton and Lady Rose (released here as Miracles) - Probably Jackie Chan's best movie.

Tampopo - Just freaking amazing.

Kikujiro - Maybe my favorite Takeshi "Beat" Kitano flick.

Survive Style +5 - It's best, imo, to just watch it. Enjoy it for all it's worth, you can only see it for the "first time" once.

In Bruges - There's a thread about it, but I figured I should just bring it up again.

The Fall - Maybe the most beautiful movie I've ever seen along with...

Sukiyaki Western Django - Tale of the Genji meets A Fistful of Dollars meets Django meets a tolerable Tarantino. Fucking amazing.

Batman Returns - watch it in succession after watching Metropolis, Caligari and Nosferatu. You'll appreciate it a whole lot fucking more. If you don't, you're ten flavors of broken.

Edit: And back to Gen Disc with ye!

[Cyrrex]

Drunken Master 2

[Signe]

Run, Lola, Run. (Lola rennt)  Possibly my favourite film ever.  Even I fell in love with Franka Potente.  I also loved Man Bites Dog. 

[Rendakor]

Primer
Indy flick about time travel; excellent movie.


Run Lola Run is a great movie; probably the only thing I enjoyed in High School german class.

[IainC]

The Brotherhood of the Wolf is one of my odd favourites. A touch of schlock werewolf movie with some great atmosphere.

I had a feeling that one would show up here. I was living in Paris when it was came out and it was a major release in Europe. I guess it was too foreign to go to general release in the US though.

[Ookii]

Roger Dodger - Some of the best dialogue

Wasabi - Written by Luc Besson and starring Jean Reno in Japan, great silly over the top action.

[Nevermore]

Run, Lola, Run. (Lola rennt)  Possibly my favourite film ever.  Even I fell in love with Franka Potente.

I love that movie! 

[schild]

The Brotherhood of the Wolf is one of my odd favourites. A touch of schlock werewolf movie with some great atmosphere.

I had a feeling that one would show up here. I was living in Paris when it was came out and it was a major release in Europe. I guess it was too foreign to go to general release in the US though.

It got a wide enough release here. Wide enough to be shown at my college theater and 2 other local theaters (that weren't art houses) and that was just in College Park / Silver Spring, MD.

I praise the shit out of that move. The topic title implies "obscure" though, so I tried to avoid things like Brotherhood and Run Lola Run, but my idea of obscure is pretty fucked compared to most. Though I did list Batman Returns, sort of.

[Hindenburg]

13 Tzameti

Group Russian Roulette.

Skip the first 20min or so.

[Engels]

Primer
Indy flick about time travel; excellent movie.

I second this. Excellent movie, particularly if you like time travel paradoxes. It is -the- movie about time paradoxes. Makes the Terminator series seem like a sesame street 'The Count' skit compared to say, calculus.

My input is The Nameless. A psychological creepfest about abducted children.

[stray]

I've watched Man Bites Dog many times. Most people I know can't finish it... they take it seriously. I think it's a great comedy.

Same goes for that other Dogme flick, the Idiots. Talk about going full retard...

[Bunk]

Actually just bought the 3 disc version of Brotherhood of the Wolf on the weekend (for $15!). Always enjoyed that movie. Also a big fan of Run, Lola Run.

I tend to like odd movies, so my advice in this thread must be taken with care. Gingersnaps 1,2,and 3 for example. Those were hard to find on dvd, but I did. I'm also a big fan of Josie and the Pussycats, so, yea.

Dog Soldiers, though I think most people here have seen it.

La Femme Nikita, rather than the horrible American remake.

[Cyrrex]

La Femme Nikita, rather than the horrible American remake.

I thought of that one too.  Much better than the American version.

[DraconianOne]

The topic title implies "obscure" though

Does it?

My first thought when I saw the title was "Lawrence of Arabia" because I'm constantly surprised by how many people haven't seen it. (Obviously it's best seeing it in the theatre on a 70mm print but still).  It's a glorious film that defines the word "epic".  Similarly classics like Sunset Boulevard, Some Like It Hot and All About Eve are films that are worth watching but many people haven't because, gasp!, they're black and white    I could come up with a lengthy list of old films that people should see but I don't think of any of them as particularly obscure.

The rest of this thread reads like the contents of my dvd library though.  Apart from your post which has at least two films I haven't seen.

[Merusk]

The topic title implies "obscure" though

Does it?

My first thought when I saw the title was "Lawrence of Arabia" because I'm constantly surprised by how many people haven't seen it. (Obviously it's best seeing it in the theatre on a 70mm print but still).  It's a glorious film that defines the word "epic".  Similarly classics like Sunset Boulevard, Some Like It Hot and All About Eve are films that are worth watching but many people haven't because, gasp!, they're black and white    I could come up with a lengthy list of old films that people should see but I don't think of any of them as particularly obscure.

The rest of this thread reads like the contents of my dvd library though.  Apart from your post which has at least two films I haven't seen.

There's a TON of old films most folks haven't seen.  My mom was a big fan of The Thin Man movies, and those were good. The only reason I saw them was she liked them. (Black & white? eww.)  You can put The Ten Commandments and Cleopatra right there next to films most folks under 40 haven't seen, but were spectacular and should be seen.  All old media fades away.

In fact, the old films are what I've started dropping on my Neftlix to check out, and advise more folks do it.  Just ran through Kurosawa's big ones and I loved Ran.  I never would have seen it otherwise, though.

[stu]

I like a movie called Welcome to Woop Woop.

[Nebu]

There's a TON of old films most folks haven't seen.  My mom was a big fan of The Thin Man movies, and those were good. The only reason I saw them was she liked them. (Black & white? eww.)  You can put The Ten Commandments and Cleopatra right there next to films most folks under 40 haven't seen, but were spectacular and should be seen.  All old media fades away.

In fact, the old films are what I've started dropping on my Neftlix to check out, and advise more folks do it.  Just ran through Kurosawa's big ones and I loved Ran.  I never would have seen it otherwise, though.

I think people under 40 don't appreciate the older films because a) black and white and b) acting styles were VERY different.  If you look at the performances in the 40's and 50's that won academy awards and compare them to the work of today, you'd wonder how the "greats" were ever considered great. 

I can list piles of older movies that I find fantastic, but I'm sure most of you would mock me for it. 

[Murgos]

The Fog of War: Eleven Lessons from the Life of Robert S. McNamara

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0317910/

[stu]

I watched Night of the Hunter recently (1955). That movie was way more intense than I expected it to be. When I was a kid, I used to watch a lot more older flicks than I do now, just becuase the Disney channel was always showing those.

[HaemishM]

I third the recommendations on Primer. That movie is seventeen flavors of awesome and intellectual.

I'd also recommend Tampopo. I saw it over a decade ago on Bravo (back when they weren't the gay and rich people's reality show lifestyle channel) and thought it was a really quirky, cool movie.

Alpha Dog and Southland Tales - don't let the fact that Justin Timberlake are in these movies throw you. He can act and these are both good movies. Southland Tales is like a cyberpunk mixture of Donnie Darko and Total Recall.

[stray]

I liked Alpha Dog better when it was Bully. But I agree, Timberlake doesn't ruin it or anything.

[schild]

There's a TON of old films most folks haven't seen.  My mom was a big fan of The Thin Man movies, and those were good. The only reason I saw them was she liked them. (Black & white? eww.)  You can put The Ten Commandments and Cleopatra right there next to films most folks under 40 haven't seen, but were spectacular and should be seen.  All old media fades away.

In fact, the old films are what I've started dropping on my Neftlix to check out, and advise more folks do it.  Just ran through Kurosawa's big ones and I loved Ran.  I never would have seen it otherwise, though.

I think people under 40 don't appreciate the older films because a) black and white and b) acting styles were VERY different.  If you look at the performances in the 40's and 50's that won academy awards and compare them to the work of today, you'd wonder how the "greats" were ever considered great. 

I can list piles of older movies that I find fantastic, but I'm sure most of you would mock me for it. 

I agree when it comes to Hitchcock, Kurosawa and a few other directors - who could get great performances out of total dead wood. But there was just as much shit back then as there is now. Ratio is about the same I'd say.

[Nevermore]

Speaking of Hitchcock, I remember years ago watching Rope.  While not a great movie, it was very interesting the way it was filmed.  Hitchcock wanted the movie to have the illusion of being shot in one long, continuous take.

[Tarami]

The Station Agent. A slow kinda movie about a dwarf (as in, very short person) who moves into an old train station he inherits from a friend and how he befriends the colourful locals.

[Sir T]

The Night Caller. A really old black and white British sci -fi film. Not brilliant and some bits are unintentionally hilarious, but it has a real sense of atmosphere and menace through out

[Stormwaltz]

Sweet Smell of Success, a 1957 noir starring Burt Lancaster and Tony Curtis.

Dialogue so sharp you could cut yourself on it.

[Riggswolfe]

A brief comment on older movies:

It's not the black and white that turns me off, it's the mono sound. It rips me out of the movie. That said I own Casablanca on DVD because it's just that good.

[Jain Zar]

Gamera, Guardian of the Universe.

One of the best giant monster movies out there.  Maybe only slightly under the original Gojira.

[Sir T]

I know people will drop dead at this, but here's another one - Priest.

Its a film about a homosexual priest struggling with serious issues and his own alignment in an inner city parish. It is moving and extremely powerful. While forgotten by the press (who realized when they actually watched it that it was not actually attacking the Church like they wanted to to be) it is a powerful drama and the performances are just wonderful. It explored some issues that needed to be talked about and shows the good and the bad. The Scenes with the Eucharist are some of the most beautiful I have ever seen. It does not shy about showing the bad with the church but does not shy about showing the good either, which is a very rare mix. In the same way, it does not hold back on the homosexuals either. All in all its a film that shows people making serious mistakes, struggling with serious issues (including child sexual abuse), and moral dilemma's that you could really see happening. It is moving and powerful and comes highly recommended.

[craan]

Session 9 was interesting and nobody I knew had ever heard of it.  So far everyone I've browbeaten to watch it has liked it.