Three somewhat obscure movies, everyone should see

[Lefty]

I agree about True Romance. It's top 2 QT for me. I read somewhere that he wrote both it and Reservoir Dogs at the same time and after both were given the go ahead, he was given his choice by the studio between the 2 as for which he would direct and as we know he chose the latter. Ridley Scott's less heralded brother Tony, then got the gig directing True Romance and did it justice. QT had less influence in those days. If he submitted those two scripts today the studio heads would be falling all over themselves to get him directing both.

[pdogg]

DT, i agree about the new Sherlock Holmes movies. Boring.

But...best movie ever? Godfather 2. Hands down

I fell asleep during the Sherlock movie. Went with Soc99 and Kahuna and they both liked it; go figure.

Godfather 2 is one of my all time favorites, but if push comes to shove I'll give Godfather 1 the edge.

Looks like we have similar tastes Seven.

[pdogg]

The Wicker Man

Gotta check that out JIm as I thought Neil LaBute's very first film, In The Company Of Men, was chilling. One of the lowest budget movies out there but powerful and disturbing.

[Jimslim]

Make sure you watch the original with Christopher Lee and Edward Woodward PD the re make with Nickolas Cage is complete shit .

[Hefe]

seven, 21 Grams & Amores Perros were both tremendous movies that I thought about for days afterwards.... thanks for reminding me to check out his other films. It's so hard to find movies made for adults like this these days, most seem to involve men in masks & tights & a barrage of trying-too-hard special effects & catch phrases.

I want to go to a theatre sometimes but there is rarely anything I want to see when I scan the multiplex offerings.

[seven]

It's so hard to find movies made for adults like this these days, most seem to involve men in masks & tights & a barrage of trying-too-hard special effects & catch phrases.

I agree, Hefe. When in Thailand I've given up. They only get Avengers, Ironman and Avatar, type of movies i´m totally indifferent to. I sat through MIssion Impossible 4 this last spring, and it was just shit. If that wasn't bad enough, my lb friend took me to see Underworld 4 in 3D. Good grief...it sucked.

After the Godfather movies , 21 grams is probably my favorite. Sean Penn and, Naomi Watts, Benicio Del Toro are just brilliant. I know what you mean, this movie will stay with you for a long time..

[anthony70]

Seven pages and not one mention of Ken Loach.

british obscure films.

start with

Riff Raff.

and then go for

Kes.

Raining Stones.

Looking for Eric

My name is joe.

Sweet sixteen.

you dont know what you,ve been missing.

[Lone Ranger]

An other for me would be Carlito's way with Al Pacino and Sean Penn bouncing off each other with the script

[Lefty]

seven, 21 Grams & Amores Perros were both tremendous movies that I thought about for days afterwards.... thanks for reminding me to check out his other films. It's so hard to find movies made for adults like this these days, most seem to involve men in masks & tights & a barrage of trying-too-hard special effects & catch phrases.

I want to go to a theatre sometimes but there is rarely anything I want to see when I scan the multiplex offerings.

I totally agree with that sentiment. I do not care one bit for spectacular Transformer and Avatar type of special effects,. They are used to keep the attention of immature minds, so they can sit there for 2 hours straight, thinking "Oh wow", and "how cool", and not get bored. I like unique clever plots and memorable dialog. One comparison of the extremes I made a couple years ago, because I saw them each for the first time in the same month, was Avatar vs In Bruges. The former had a budget to produce that had to be conservatively 100 times higher than the latter. The former had a very time worn plot, just spiced up and put into a futuristic setting for current young audiences. The latter had a very unusual plot IMO, and the kind of dialog that stays with you for years. However, for me the relatively small budget movie, In Bruges, was 100 times over the better movie.

[deepthroat]

Anybody remember Zardoz with Sean Connery? I loved it years ago but wonder if it would still hold up today.

Same for Outland, also with Sean Connery. It was a remake of High Noon set in outer space. Loved it then but not certain it would still hold up today.

[Lefty]

When I am first watching what I perceive to be a movie similar to the many of ones discussed here, the obscure, unique plot, clever dialog types of movies, I prefer to watch them alone and on my computer and find it is better for following the story and not be distracted. Rather than watching them in a cinema and/or with a group of people.

Would you agree this makes any difference or not?

[Lefty]

Anybody remember Zardoz with Sean Connery? I loved it years ago but wonder if it would still hold up today.

Same for Outland, also with Sean Connery. It was a remake of High Noon set in outer space. Loved it then but not certain it would still hold up today.

You ever see a movie called Neon City? I generally don't like futuristic settings, but the actress Vanity was in it, and I thought she was hotter than a pistol. I saw this movie immediately as a remake of Stagecoach, right down to the characters having similar characteristics, but nothing else I ever read made a connection between the two.

[dixon cox]

A few more gripping movies which I've being trying to recall have sprung to mind:-

Primal Fear (1996) - Edward Norton and Richard Gere - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0117381/

American History X (1998) - Edward Norton - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120586/

Felon (2008) - Val Kilmer and Stephen Dorff - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1117385/

As can be seen from those above, another movie genre I adore is jail, prison and the penal system, which is why I'm surprised The Shawshank Redemption hasn't been mentioned, but it's hardly obscure.

Anthony mentioned "Kes" above, which is excellent, so that got me thinking of some of my favourite British movies from several decades ago of which three excellent British actors appeared early in their careers, Ray Winstone, Tim Roth and Gary Oldman:

Scum (1979) - Ray Winstone - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0079871/

Made In Britain (1882) - Tim Roth - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0084287/

Meantime (1984) - Gary Oldman and Tim Roth - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0082727/

The Firm (1989) - Gary Oldman and Phil Davies - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0095158/

Nil By Mouth (1997) - Ray Winstone (written/directed by Oldman) - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119792/

If you're a fan of British movies then the above 5 are must sees

[anthony70]

London to Brighton.

Rita Sue and Bob too.

East is East.

The final cut. (ray winstone, jude law, and all that london crew)

more british great films.

[Jimslim]

Seven pages and not one mention of Ken Loach.

you dont know what you,ve been missing.

Correct all his movies are excellent even the non UK based ones , Land And Freedom (Spanish Civil War ) and The Wind That Shakes The Barley (Irish War of Independence ) are great movies .

[katana57]

Denzel does "mockney"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P46rQthxtfU

[dazedandconfused]

Only allowed three?

Not all that obscure but not watched so much these days.......

1. City of God (one of the best films EVER? Slum/Gang life in Rio de Janerio with an awesome soundtrack)

2. Come and See (WW2 film set in Belarus - harrowing tbh)

3. Collateral (Tom Cruise but don't get put off by that, he's great in it and LA at night looks amazing in the film)

[Lefty]

I liked Collateral too, Very good and entertaining movie.

One more obscure movie, and would definitely be in my top 5 WWII movies of all time, is Cross of Iron

[Hefe]

+1 for Collateral.... excellent flick

While folks here are split a bit on the Godfathers, Coppola did a couple of cool obscurities around the same time: Rumblefish, & especially the terrific The Conversation.

We could do a thread just on great movies of the 70s, seemed to be a bit of a golden age I think.

[williethepimp]

Only allowed three?

Not all that obscure but not watched so much these days.......

1. City of God (one of the best films EVER? Slum/Gang life in Rio de Janerio with an awesome soundtrack)

2. Come and See (WW2 film set in Belarus - harrowing tbh)

3. Collateral (Tom Cruise but don't get put off by that, he's great in it and LA at night looks amazing in the film)

City of God-fantastic film....

never saw the other 2,but I'll try and check them out....

Secrets and Lies by Mike Leigh.....

What about Jean de Florette and Manon de source.?....Gerard Depardieu in one of his first films...modern classics

[seven]

While folks here are split a bit on the Godfathers, Coppola did a couple of cool obscurities around the same time: Rumblefish, & especially the terrific The Conversation.

Yes, i watched Rumble Fish so many times. A young Mickey Rourke, Nick Cage, Dennis Hopper. I had a crush on Diane Lane after that movie. I watched it again a few years ago and it didn't hold up well.

He did a similar movie before that, Outsiders, with all the young stars to be. Cruise, Estevez , Matt Dillon; Swayze, Frank Macchio etc.

[pdogg]

I like unique clever plots and memorable dialog.

I'm with my bro lefty here. Special effects are lost on me.

Also important to actually care about the characters and what happens in the film

[pacman]

He said Pulp Fiction was the worst most overrated movie ever. Yet he also said he walked out after 15 minutes and demanded a refund of his ticket cost. Before I'd call any movie the worst ever I like to think I'd watch more than the first 15 minutes. Crabby's idea of a good movie was Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter, etc. Either of those would bore me to tears. But as we say in the old country...DSFDF.

I hate to hear someone say they walked out of a movie early & then proceed to rubbish it as if they know all about it. I loved Pulp Fiction but it did take time to hit its straps. A while longer than 15 minutes. I would have expressed my displeasure with Crabby in no uncertain terms.

I had a friend who delighted in criticising anything I recommended. I loved the movie Life Is Beautiful, the 1997 Italian film by Roberto Benigni who also starred & won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in it. I was telling my ex-friend what a great film it was & he started screaming that it was the stupidest thing he had ever seen in his life. And told me he fled after 10 minutes.

Now for anyone who has never seen it, the first half hour of the film are quite strange. It is almost a fantasy dream sequence & I was feeling I had made a big mistake in coming & was wondering what on earth the critics had been smoking to rate it so highly. But I stuck with it because nothing was making any sense & I wanted to see where they went with the story line. I mean, on reflection, I can hardly blame someone wanting to leave the theatre, it was that odd.

But then it changed into a completely different film. Not just a twist in the plot, this was as if someone spliced two separate films together. And then it all fell into place & I was just mesmerised by the incredible story of how a father (Benigni) looked after his son in a German Concentration Camp during the war.

I tried to explain to my "friend" what he had missed but he would have nothing of it & delighted in mocking my taste every time I saw him. He stopped being my friend after that, I realised I had put up with so much shit from this idiot for so long that I felt a weight lifted off me once I wiped him out of my life. I owe Mr Benigni a favour.

[pacman]

Lastly - you have to be shitting me with "Hangover II". I thought they liked the first film so much they just made it a second time, but without the humor and surprises.

I agree. Not funny but worse than that, not even slightly ironic when the story offered up so many opportunities to be clever & ironic. Just a waste of my time & money.

[pacman]

I have been scrolling through this thread & I have to ask, apart from some notable exceptions, where are the obscure films? Some posts read like a list of most popular films of all time.

One obscure film I enjoyed this year was the Iranian film A Separation. It took out the Best Foreign Language Academy Award this year so it isn't exactly obscure but I doubt many here have seen it. And please note, despite my liking it, I won't recommend it because I suspect I would be leaving myself wide open to criticism.

It is the antithesis of a Hollywood movie. It runs at a slow pace & the plot does take time to develop. But it presents the main character with an absolutely exquisite dilemma over what to do, does he obey his religion or does he do the right thing. And the director wrings it out for all its worth.

The cast are for the most part amazing. There are times when I felt I was witnessing some real life documentary, there was not the slightest hint that anyone was acting. They were completely real to me & their plight affected as if it was happening to neighbours next door.

I don't want anyone to watch this on my say-so. I have been a fan of foreign movies all my life & I know what to expect. Or I don't expect anything, I want to view the world through someone else's eyes.

So has anyone seen A Separation? And does anyone enjoy really obscure movies? Or am I talking to myself..... again...