DVD/VHS picks

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

This board must be better than any “employee picks” section at Blockbuster or Hollywood video. Just trolling for ideas, these are mine:

DARK CITY-- Great pictures and sound, plot fades a bit at the end.

JACKIE BROWN-- I know Tarantino is a bit played out, but the movie is based on an Elmore Leonard book and stars De Niro and Samuel Jackson.

WHEN WE WERE KINGS-- Ali vs. Foreman in Zaire. More about the U.S. in the early 70’s than about the fight.

FEAR AND LOATHING IN LAS VEGAS-- The best film adaptation possible from a Hunter S. Thompson book.

“I am He as you are He as you are me and we are all together” – John Lennon

2

Some random picks from my home library:

One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest - “Mmmm, Juicyfruit”

Dune - “Long live the fighters!”

The Graduate - “Do you want me to seduce you?”

The Deer Hunter - “Mao!”

Basketball Diaries - “Me. I move like a cheetah.”

Friday - “He got knocked the fuck out!”

White Squall - “You’re the glue.”

Akira - “Kaneda!!!”

The Usual Suspects - “Who is Kaiser Sose?”(sp?)

West Side Story - “Could be…who knows?”

Platoon - “Feeling good’s all that matters.”

3

I have two films that I recommend watching on DVD:

Galaxy Quest. Has a lot of extra goodies that mke the DVD preferable over the VHS version.

Boys Don’t Cry. I watched the movie with the director’s commetary on it and it really cleared up my confusion on why two plot points didn’t mesh with a documentary that was produced a few years before the movie. Frustratingly, there is no explanation as to why the third murder victim wasn’t included in the movie.

(an aside: Has anyone watched Muppets in Space an got the Muppet Commentary track to work? I couldn’t.)

VHS picks (I haven’t watched these yet on DVD)

[ul]
[li]Shawshank Redemption[/li][li]The Mission[/li][li]Persuasion (the BBC version with Amanda Root)[/li][li]Amistad[/li][li]Goodbye Girl[/li][li]Casablanca[/li][li]Dolores Claiborne[/li][/ul]

4

Three Kings

Apollo 13

Those two are great, with very informative commentaries.

5

Shawshank Redemption

The Game

6

These would be my “Blockbuster” picks (except we never, ever go to there!):

DVD (DVD contains “goodies”)

“The Abyss” - Wow.
“Stir of Echos” - Kevin Bacon, terribly under rated film; deserved much more recognition and attention (IMHO). It keeps you guessing, which is always good. Plus, the explanations/demonstrations on how certain things were achieved were great.
“Life” - 1999 Eddie Murphy/Martin Lawrence; to me these guys can be really on or really off in their movies; this was definitely an “on” movie for both (as was, to my surprise, “Bowfinger” for Murphy and Steve Martin).
“American Pie” - I’m not a big “teen-sex-comedy” type person, but this movie had a few great moments and the commentary track was a riot (imho).
DVD or VHS (whichever is available)

“American History X” - disturbing, but amazing
“Being John Malkovich” - heady, but really well-done (John Malkovich was a terrific sport)
“The Red Violin” - a beautifully made film
“The Iron Giant”
“Babe” and “Babe: Pig in the City” - I prefer the original

“Star Wars: The Phantom Menace” - what can I say, I’m my husband’s wife. Plus, I’m a huge Liam Neeson fan, which brings me to older favorites…

(Don’t they have shelves at most video stores where they say: “If you liked Liam Neeson in ‘Star Wars’ check out these films…”)

“Schindler’s List” - this is just an amazing film (beyond or bigger than than the performances/work of Neeson, Spielberg, etc.)
“Nell”
“Rob Roy”
“Les Miserables”
“Michael Collins”
“Darkman” and “Leap of Faith” - I guess not everyone likes these two films as much as I always have; I’ve always thought they were well done, and I have an evangelical background which keys into the latter film.

Enjoyed the surprises (or surprised to find I really enjoyed these…)

“The Matrix” - (very zen) and “The Mummy” - while the effects were so vehemently lauded, I was glad to see that the plot also had
“Thomas Crown Affair” - the new version (not usually a big Pierce Bronson fan)
“Entrapment” - Oh come on, its hard to make a bad Sean Connery film (and SO didn’t mind watching Catherine Z. Jones either).

A Few Old Favorites

(See if YOU can find a pattern :slight_smile: )
“Bull Durham”
“Field of Dreams”
“8 Men Out”
“A League of their Own”

That’s a good starter list!

7

…an integral place in and impact on these eye candy films.