Ok, I have a lot of movies I need to watch. But I’m unsure which ones I should start with.
Casino
Clockstoppers
Dark City
Gothika
How High
Lost in Translation
Master and Commander
S.W.A.T.
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (new version)
48 Hours
Animal House
Eyes Wide Shut
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
Meet the Feebles
The Patriot
The Sum of All Fears
Vanilla Sky
That I have seen…
Casino
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
Dark City
Master and Commander
The Sum of All Fears
The Patriot (assuming you mean the Mel Gibson one, not the Steven Seagal one)
Master and Commander
Lost in Translation
48 Hours
Animal House
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
Dark City
Gothika
Eyes Wide Shut
Casino
The Patriot
Vanilla Sky
(the last two being among the most detestable films I’ve seen in recent years)
(Haven’t seen Clockstoppers, How High, Meet the Feebles, The Sum of All Fears, S.W.A.T., or The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (new version))
The ones I’ve seen:
Lost in Translation
Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas
Master & Commander
Eyes Wide Shut
Vanilla Sky
How High
The Patriot
Gothika
Let’s just put it this way: I laughed at all of the bottom three, and only one is supposed to be a comedy.
In as scientific a method as I could come up with, this is how I would view them:
Master and Commander
Meet the Feebles
Clockstoppers
Casino
Dark City
Animal House
Gothika
Lost in Translation
SWAT
The Sum of All Fears
The Patriot
Chainsaw Massacre
Vanilla Sky
Eyes Wide Shut
48 Hours
Fear and Loathing
How High
Dark City
Casino
Master and Commander
Lost in Translation
Animal House
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
The Sum of All Fears
Vanilla Sky
Eyes Wide Shut
The Patriot
Texas Chainsaw Massacre
SWAT
Gothika
How High
Haven’t seen the rest, but I hear Meet the Feebles is a classic. Also, I wouldn’t say you necessarily need to see How High at all.
Nobody should die without seeing Animal House, for the influence on pop culture alone.
Of those I’ve seen:
Dark City
The Patriot
Vanilla Sky
48 Hours (might be higher if I’d seen it within the past 15 years)
Animal House (" ")
Lost in Translation
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (couldn’t even finish it!)
Of the ones I haven’t seen yet, this is the order I would watch them, based on how interested I am after trailers and word of mouth:
Gothika
S.W.A.T. (attractive actor bonus points. but sometimes you see bad movies this way.)
Clockstoppers (" ")
Master and Commander (eh)
The Sum of All Fears
How High (probably never going to see it)
Eyes Wide Shut (probably never going to see it)
Casino (probably never going to see it)
Texas Chainsaw Massacre (definitely never going to see it)
Of those I’ve seen:
Animal House - Not necessarily the best, but the most required from a cultural standpoint. Besides it’s a hoot.
Dark City - Great, stylish sci-fi noir with an interesting premise.
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas - I love Gilliam’s creations. This one isn’t my favorite, but it really is amazingly true to the book ( both spirit and the limited plot ), with great lead performances. Which can make it slightly difficult :D.
Lost in Translation - Folks seem to either be entranced by it or bored out of their skull. My friends split 50/50. Me, I was entranced.
Casino - Not Goodfellas, but better than I think it is often given credit for. Also it was the film that convinced me that, at least under certain circumstances and when properly cast, Sharon Stone can act. Certainly her finest performance ( faint praise, really, but she is surprisingly good considering the talent she’s up against ).
Meet the Feebles - Good sick fun. Not for those that loathe the weird and deranged :p.
Eyes Wide Shut - I found it a bit overwrought and draggy, but many disagree. Not without it’s good points, but one of Kubrick’s weaker films IMO.
48 Hours - Tied with the above, pretty much. I used to like it more than I do now. It can be good kinetic fun, but if I was going to watch a Walter Hill film, I’d rather it were The Warriors or Southern Comfort.
The Patriot - Did little for me.
Oops, I flipped two - Casino should be #4 and LiT #5.
Have Seen:
Dark City - Smart and stylish, a stunning visual achievement. One of the most underrated films I have seen.
Lost in Translation – Great movie, with a brilliant, subtle performance from Murray.
Vanilla Sky – Loved the first part of the movie, did not like the ending. Thought Cruise did a good acting job though, and I really enjoyed this movies’ visuals and choice of music.
S.W.A.T. – I found this movie to be unbelievable, and underwhelming. Could not bring myself to care about characters.
The Patriot – I enjoyed parts of it, but the blatant pandering left a bad taste in my mouth. I felt emotionally manipulated afterwards.
Plan to See:
Master and Commander – Looks exciting, smart, and fun.
Casino - Scorsese may be the greatest living director. I will have to see this sometime. (And De Niro is in it)
Eyes Wide Shut – Kubrick’s last movie, I want to watch it eventually.
Sum of All Fears – Looks like it might be an entertaining thriller.
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas – Gilliam’s Brazil is possible my favorite movie of all time. However, the few minutes I saw of this movie did not really make me want to see more.
The rest of the movies: I either have not heard of them or plan to avoid them.
Friends don’t let friends watch Lost in Translation.
All of these people telling you to see it are joking. It really is the worst movie ever made. Not only can Sofia Coppola not act, she can’t write, either.
Bad movie. Baaaaaaaaaaaaaaad. Oh so very bad. Shoulda been called “Lost in Straight to Video.”
Casino = kicks ass. Seriously, it’s great.
Clockstoppers - never seen. Shame about that bloke off Terminator.
Dark City - seen bits of it, looked a bit shite, but many seem to think it’s cool
Gothika - never seen, reportedly shite
How High - eh? Is that a film?
Lost in Translation - no idea
Master and Commander - not bad at all. Crowe remains annoying but continues foitin his way around the world. Great explosions and stuff. BOOM! CRASH! THUMP! Unexpectedly heterosexual, given that they are such a very long way from home. Features a hobbit.
S.W.A.T. - never seen, reportedly shite, I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s shite
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (new version) - never seen. Is this shite? I think we should be told.
48 Hours - seem to remember this being one of the funniest movies I’d seen in ages, when I saw it. Eddie Murphy is almost always worth watching.
Animal House - no idea. Probably involves a house, or animals or something.
Eyes Wide Shut - I’ve never seen this but going by what friends have said, it’s the biggest chunk of steaming sewage ever to schlup forlornly onto a cinema screen.
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas - never seen, looks kind of cool
Meet the Feebles - very surprised anyone would own and not have watched this. I’ve never seen it, looks a bit depressing.
The Patriot - long, self-important Braveheart sequel. Same deal, same enemy, different accent. Blah blah. Still quite entertaining, and very expensive-looking, if essentially shite.
The Sum of All Fears - I enjoyed this but that bloody Affleck does not belong in the role. I’m not hard but I could kick his butt.
Vanilla Sky - do you really want to a watch a film whose entire premise can be revealed in just one spoiler? Oh, I suppose it was quite entertaining. I watched it all the way through, anyway. See if you can guess the end.
Wrong. So verrrrryyy wrong. I saw this movie once, without hearing about any of the hoopla surrounding it. I simply saw it because I love Bill Murray, and I had never heard of this movie. Although it was not what I expected (and my expectations were simply based on the fact that Murray was in it), I was absolutely blown away by the movie. It was gorgeous. It was subtle. It was funny. It was smart. I have nothing bad to say about it.
I don’t understand the complaints about it being boring. At no point in the movie was I uninterested in the characters or what was going on on-screen. I thought I had a relatively short attention span, but judging by the reaction of others who have seen this movie, I’m apparently Mr. Concentration.
I saw this movie once, without hearing about any of the hoopla surrounding it. I simply saw it because I love Bill Murray, and I had never heard of this movie.
Same here. And I still think it sucked.
Of the ones I’ve seen:
Must-sees (no particular order):
Casino
Dark City
Lost in Translation
Master and Commander
Animal House
Worth a look:
48 Hours
Eyes Wide Shut
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
Soul-destroying shite:
The Patriot
The Sum of All Fears
Texas Chainsaw Massacre (new version)
Is it a generational thing or what? Animal House is probably the best comedy ever made. Sophomoric-- yes, cringe-worthy in a couple of places, but funny all the way through.
The ones that I’ve seen:
Dark City
Lost in Translation
Casino
Animal House
48 Hours
Vanilla Sky
Meet the Feebles
The Patriot
The ones that I haven’t seen:
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
Clockstoppers
Master and Commander
Gothika
Eyes Wide Shut
S.W.A.T.
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (new version)
The Sum of All Fears
How High