Brazil
That bureaucracy blows my mind
Office Space
Can you spare a flair?
Barton Fink
Man, it’s hot in here
Next: Running away
Dark City
John Murdoch flees police, Strangers
Midnight Run
DeNiro, Grodin, coast to coast
The Fugitive
Dr. Kimble uncovers murderous conspiracy
Next up:
Three great murder mysteries
Murder on the Orient Express
Where everyone has a motive
Rear Window
Flash bulbs to the rescue
LA Confidential
It’s all on Rollo Tomasi
Next: Young adult movies
Young adult movies
My Girl
Reverse Love Story, with adolescents.
Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret
Margaret navigates an awkward adolescence.
The Breakfast Club
Stereotypes enter, and individuals emerge.
Next:
Movies where horse racing is important to the plot
The Quiet Man
Townsfolk deceive rich, gullible brute
Seabiscuit
Tobey Maguire rides inspirational horse
Hidalgo
Cowboy races across Arabian desert
Next: Movies filmed in Australia
My Brilliant Career
How I loved this movie!
The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert
How I loved this movie!
Proof
Eh, this was good too.
NEXT: American films where a major character mostly or entirely speaks something besides English
American films where a major character mostly or entirely speaks something besides English
The Godfather Part II
Young Vito speaks only Italian.
Dances with Wolves
The Sioux know no English.
Star Wars episodes IV, V, VI
R2-D2 only speaks in beeps.
Next:
Summer Blockbusters
Jaws
Is it safe yet? Nope.
Grease
A nice girl turns slutty
Independence Day
Russell has something for you!
Next: Horses in movies: not one, not two, but lots and lots of horses
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
Ten thousand Rohirrim kick ass!
Breaker Morant
Impressive dawn raid by Boers
Waterloo
French cavalrymen charge, die, fail
Next:
Offbeat war movies
Kelly’s Heroes
Offbeat characters pull off heist
Apocalypse Now
Conrad turns over in grave
Battle for the Planet of the Apes
Mercifully, the last ‘Ape’ movie
Next:
Film Noir
D.O.A.
Man seeks who poisoned him
Le Samouraï
Alain Delon’s epic French thriller
The Maltese Falcon
Bogart, the hard-boiled dick
Next: MacGuffins
Casablanca
“Letters of transit”? Implausible; important.
Pulp Fiction
Glowing briefcase contained… who knows?
Star Wars
Death Star plans eagerly sought.
Next:
More MacGuffins
Rosemary’s Baby
The baby is a Macguffin
Catch-22
That ever-elusive quota of missions
Raiders of the Lost Ark
Described as “beautiful” — then deadly
Next: Concert films
Do you mean just a film of a live concert, or a narrative film that has footage of a real band in performance?
I had Stop Making Sense in mind, but I’ll accept whichever way people want to go.
The main criteria is that it had to have been released in theaters, or streamed as a feature.
Stop Making Sense
David Byrne, big suit costar.
The Last Waltz
The Band’s farewell concert… not.
U2 3D
Simply awesome, musically and visually
Next up:
Bad movies that you still like
The Magic Christian
Peter Sellers “adopts” Ringo Starr
Hell House LLC
Hell of an opening night!
The Golden Voyage of Sinbad
The magic of Ray Harryhausen
Next: Movies with stop-motion sequences
Terminator 2
Last big one-- then, CGI.
King Kong (1933)
First big one-- audiences amazed.
The Wrong Trousers
Wallace and Gromit classic (fingerprints!)
NEXT: Unusual ways to die
The Omen
A fallen priest is impaled
Braveheart
The prince’s advisor is defenestrated
This Is Spinal Tap
Drummer spontaneously combusts while onstage
Next: Birthing scenes in movies
Gone with the Wind
Prissy, scared, “don’t know nothin’”
Excalibur
Arthur is born, taken away
Alien
Very unpleasant birthing scene indeed
Next up:
Non-violent death scenes