# Clever movies **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 31, 2018, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clever-movies/815217 "2018-05-31T19:52:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2018, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clever-movies/815217/41 "2018-06-01T16:36:38Z")
A couple of television series have been mentioned, so I recommend Slings & Arrows, a Canadian series set in a theater festival (something like Stratford Shakespeare Festival). During each of the three seasons, the theater troupe in the show is performing a Shakespeare play, and the plot of the play reflects in what’s occurring to the characters in the theater troupe. And given Harvey Weinstein’s crimes, Shakespeare in Love is probably disliked by some, but I liked it and found it clever. ---
**Author:** ![Ashtura](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ashtura/32/2963_2.png) [@Ashtura](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ashtura)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2018, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clever-movies/815217/42 "2018-06-01T16:47:03Z")
I used to think The Usual Suspects was a clever film. Still love it, but I am now of the opinion that “unreliable narrator” is a very cheap way to pull off a twist ending. So is cheap misdirection. For example, killing off a suspect (faking their death), only to have them be the perpetrator later on (Christie did this with 10 Little Indians). One of the brilliant things about The Sixth Sense is they left little clues throughout the film so you could figure it out before the reveal if you were paying attention and a little clever yourself. ---
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2018, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clever-movies/815217/43 "2018-06-01T16:57:09Z")
> [@Enright3](#): > > I’ve never seen verifiable evidence that there is a DVD option to see Memento in the correct sequence! (LOL, this might end up in Great Debates!) Watch it in chronological order here: [https://vimeo.com/194394156](https://vimeo.com/194394156) ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2018, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clever-movies/815217/44 "2018-06-01T17:18:23Z")
> [@Snowboarder\_Bo](#): > > And I can’t forget The Monkees’ [Head](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0063049/?ref_=fn_al_tt_2) which, like the other two, is not only clever- it’s brilliant. Let’s agree to disagree on that one. ---
**Author:** ![TRC4941](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trc4941/32/6792_2.png) [@TRC4941](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TRC4941)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2018, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clever-movies/815217/45 "2018-06-01T18:20:46Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > We mock him now, but M. Night Shyamalan did a great job with _The Sixth Sense_. The clues were there throughout the movie but he successfully misdirected our attention. I nominate The Sixth Sense too ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2018, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clever-movies/815217/46 "2018-06-01T19:08:15Z")
> [@TRC4941](#): > > I nominate The Sixth Sense too _Unbreakable_ can also go in that bucket. ---
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2018, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clever-movies/815217/47 "2018-06-01T19:09:29Z")
> [@CookingWithGas](#): > > Before I opened the thread I read the title and thought _Memento_. > > I thought _Looper_ did a better job with time-travel paradoxes than most. Dang, I got all the way to your post before I discovered that I was beaten to _Looper_. I thought it was clever. And speaking of time-traveling Bruce Willis and twist endings, _12 Monkeys_ belongs in the conversation also. ---
**Author:** ![Dropo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ce7236/32.png) [@Dropo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dropo)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2018, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clever-movies/815217/48 "2018-06-01T19:56:50Z")
_Anaconda_ (1997) Cited solely for the scene in which John Voight is swallowed and regurgitated by a giant CG-anaconda; the most clever use of John Voight ever, imo. _The Battle Wizard_ (1977) Twice the fun and four times the imagination of the same year’s _Star Wars_. “Clever” is but one of many adjectives that apply to this indescribable Hong Kong martial arts fantasy, including (but not limited to): mind-blowing, surreal, action-and-visual effects-packed, cheesy and amazingly inventive. And it has a kung fu fightin’ gorilla! _The Black Book_ (1949) – A clever merging of period piece and film noir aesthetics results in a beautifully lit and shot thriller set during the French Revolution with some audacious sequences probably designed by producer William Cameron Menzies. _Brotherhood of the Wolf_ (2001) A clever and compelling mix of elements tells the story of the Beast of Gevaudan. _Dog Day_ (1984) Obscure French-made elegy to the American gangster has Lee Marvin on the lam in France with stolen loot interacting with a family of degenerates. Clever and unpredictable (except for the end) with always-awesome Miou-Miou, Tina Louise and scene-stealing David Bennett (the kid from _The Tin Drum_ – arguably the greatest child actor of his time). _Fabulous World of Jules Verne_ (1958), _The Fabulous Baron Munchhausen_ (1962), _The Stolen Airship_ (1967) Karel Zeman films in Mystimation; the quintessence of clever. Don’t miss them. _Grand Budapest Hotel_ (2014) The very clever adventures of a debonair concierge. _Last Days of Man on Earth_, a.k.a. _The Final Programme_ (1973) Perhaps too clever – and still ahead of its time – adaptation of Moorcock’s Jerry Cornelius stories is not for all tastes. _The Magnetic Monster_ (1953) Unusual sci-fi cleverly uses footage from the big budget German film _Gold_ (1934) for its awesome climax. _The Saragossa Manuscript_ (1965) Classic Polish film intertwining tales of intrigue, fantasy and the bizarre. Brilliantly plotted and cleverly filmed. _Sleeping Car to Trieste_ (1948) This superior remake of _Rome Express_ (1932) boasts better train intrigue and an upgraded climax in story of a stolen diary that could start WWIII. Witty, clever and very entertaining. ---
**Author:** ![ivylass](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/9de053/32.png) [@ivylass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ivylass)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2018, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clever-movies/815217/49 "2018-06-01T21:21:13Z")
> [@Ashtura](#): > > One of the brilliant things about The Sixth Sense is they left little clues throughout the film so you could figure it out before the reveal if you were paying attention and a little clever yourself. I saw this movie a little later, so I’d heard the buzz about the twist, but not what it was. So I went into it with the twist about you know what in the back of my head, and I picked up little clues along the way. Like you think his wife is pissed he showed up to their anniversary dinner late, but you realize she’s sad. I read something that was pointed out in the last Harry Potter movie, when Hermione takes the polyjuice potion to become Bellatrix to get into her vault at Gringott’s. So you have Helena Bonham Carter pretending to be Emma Watson pretending to be Hermione pretending to be Bellatrix. It took some extra work between the two ladies but it’s executed flawlessly, so kudoes to both of them. ---
**Author:** ![Snowboarder\_Bo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowboarder_bo/32/229_2.png) [@Snowboarder\_Bo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snowboarder_Bo)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2018, 9:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clever-movies/815217/50 "2018-06-01T21:28:29Z")
[Aaah! Zombies!!](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1027762/) is a very clever movie about zombies. The clever part is that it’s told from the zombies’ point of view. ---
**Author:** ![Lamoral](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lamoral/32/16078_2.png) [@Lamoral](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamoral)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2018, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clever-movies/815217/51 "2018-06-02T21:17:29Z")
I would put everything Wes Anderson ever directed in the “clever movie” category because I love how he always comes up with a cohesive visual aesthetic. And not only that, a cohesive “vibe” for all the characters as well…it’s always a vast comedy of manners with every character like they’re part of a matched set or something, where everything fits together just so. My favorite is _Moonrise Kingdom_ but he nails it with everything, even _Fantastic Mr. Fox_ which is a cartoon. Or maybe it was made with actual models that were physically constructed, I am not sure. But it’s ingenious. ---
**Author:** ![FoieGrasIsEvil](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/foiegrasisevil/32/16638_2.png) [@FoieGrasIsEvil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FoieGrasIsEvil)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2018, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clever-movies/815217/52 "2018-06-02T22:01:41Z")
> [@Eonwe](#): > > _Rosencrantz And Guildenstern Are Dead_. This is what I came to say. It’s extremely clever, and hilarious. The dialogue is incredible. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [June 2, 2018, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clever-movies/815217/53 "2018-06-02T22:56:52Z")
> [@DCnDC](#): > > Being John Malkovich And by the same writer, [Adaptation](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0268126/). Which is intricate and brilliant and which I’m going to have to watch again since I got what Kaufman was doing only about half way through the movie. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2018, 1:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clever-movies/815217/54 "2018-06-03T01:37:17Z")
Personally, I was very disappointed by _Inception_. There’s all this hype about how it’s layers within layers of dreams within dreams, and yet in the movie itself, three layers is considered unprecedented and amazing? I’ve had dreams seven layers deep before, and it was no big deal. And they never really take full advantage of the potential of a dreamscape-- The only times it really got “dreamy” were when the characters were doing “don’t do that”. Like, that freight train down the middle of the street? That should have been what passed for normal, in a dreamscape. It felt like the dream mechanic was just an excuse to cram in over-the-top action-movieism and to handwave it away as being consequence-free. But I’m surprised that I’m only the second to mention _12 Monkeys_. It’s really hard to make a time travel story that holds together (_Back to the Future_, for instance, most certainly does not), but so far as I can tell, _12 Monkeys_ handled it flawlessly. ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2018, 5:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clever-movies/815217/55 "2018-06-03T05:31:28Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > But I’m surprised that I’m only the second to mention _12 Monkeys_. It’s really hard to make a time travel story that holds together (_Back to the Future_, for instance, most certainly does not), but so far as I can tell, _12 Monkeys_ handled it flawlessly. Let me be the third person. Time travel’s already been addressed but another clever aspect of the movie is how it compares the spread of viruses and ideas. ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2018, 6:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clever-movies/815217/56 "2018-06-03T06:47:06Z")
I’m partial to _Cloud Atlas_. The way the six stories interlock with each other in a mirrored pattern makes it clever. It helps to know the symmetrical arching structure from the book. The movie chops all six timelines into bits and scrambles them. It reassembles them cleverly to bring out various interconnections bridging across the timelines. ---
**Author:** ![Lamoral](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lamoral/32/16078_2.png) [@Lamoral](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamoral)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2018, 7:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clever-movies/815217/57 "2018-06-03T07:05:30Z")
I think there’s a fine line between “clever” and “fucked-up, overly-confusing, pretentious nonsense.” Especially when the concept of time travel and multiple timelines is involved. I actually think one of the BEST movies in the “alternate timelines” genre is actually _ **The Butterfly Effect,** _ which I think a lot of people have written off simply because it was a vehicle for Ashton Kutcher. I don’t really give a damn about that, the movie would be compelling with ANY actor or actress in that lead role. The key is that it doesn’t TRY to pretend there’s some scientific or logical explanation for the traveling between alternate timelines. It’s just presented as sort of supernatural. Maybe some people would consider that a cop-out, but I actually don’t. The heart of the movie is the abstract idea of changing your past in order to change your future, and it explores this idea in a very interesting (and very sinister) way. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2018, 12:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clever-movies/815217/58 "2018-06-03T12:20:37Z")
I don’t expect much scientific rigor in an explanation for the mechanics of time travel. If you want to make it magical, then fine, make it magical. But I do care about how the consequences are explored. For comparison, J. K. Rowling did a good job of it with the Time-Turners. Though of course that was just a small portion of one book: It’s a lot harder to do right when it’s the entire focus of a story. ---
**Author:** ![GreenWyvern](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/greenwyvern/32/2834_2.png) [@GreenWyvern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreenWyvern)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2018, 1:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clever-movies/815217/59 "2018-06-03T13:01:14Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > For comparison, J. K. Rowling did a good job of it with the Time-Turners. Though of course that was just a small portion of one book: It’s a lot harder to do right when it’s the entire focus of a story. What about J.K. Rowling’s _ **Harry Potter and the Cursed Child** _? I haven’t seen the play, but I’ve read the script. In this case the focus of the whole story is time-travel and alternate realities, and it works well. ---
**Author:** ![enipla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/54ee81/32.png) [@enipla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/enipla)\ **Post date:** [June 3, 2018, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clever-movies/815217/60 "2018-06-03T13:21:17Z")
> [@Jacquernagy](#): > > I think there’s a fine line between “clever” and “fucked-up, overly-confusing, pretentious nonsense.” Especially when the concept of time travel and multiple timelines is involved. > > I actually think one of the BEST movies in the “alternate timelines” genre is actually _ **The Butterfly Effect,** _ which I think a lot of people have written off simply because it was a vehicle for Ashton Kutcher. I don’t really give a damn about that, the movie would be compelling with ANY actor or actress in that lead role. The key is that it doesn’t TRY to pretend there’s some scientific or logical explanation for the traveling between alternate timelines. It’s just presented as sort of supernatural. Maybe some people would consider that a cop-out, but I actually don’t. The heart of the movie is the abstract idea of changing your past in order to change your future, and it explores this idea in a very interesting (and very sinister) way. Oh yes. This movie handles it great. And I do also like that the how is not really explained. It would be too much, and unnecessary. The WHAT would happen is done very well. I also like that it is easy to relate to for most people. In my case it certainly is. There are a number of choices that I can pinpoint in my life that got me to where I am today. If I had made other seemingly simple choices my life would be wildly different than it is. I think that’s true for all of us. For instance, if I hadn’t taken one simple elective class in high school back in 1977, I would be in an absolutely, completely, different (and possibly desperate) situation. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clever-movies/815217.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/clever-movies/815217.md?page=4)