of listed movies I have seen: 18
that I consider to be fine fine movies: 16 (In the Company of Men and High Art just didn’t do it for me…shrug)
And adding The Hudsucker Proxy by the Coen brothers–for some reason people tend to skip over this one.
I’ve Heard the Mermaids Singing
Stealing Beauty rules! Great flick.
Better Off Dead was on Comedy Channel last night - bizzare movie, but good. Anything with John Cusack is good. Anyone see **Grosse Pointe Blank[b/]? Love it!
Oh, yeah… Zeiram is a lot of fun, even so. I’ve only seen the dub, which adds a certain surreal flavor by giving Tamiya, who looks a little like a Japanese Dean Stockwell, a voice actor who sounds like Dean Stockwell…
Even better is that the apparent comedy relief turns out to be reasonably competent and useful to the heroine, while remaining comedy relief.
For even more fun, watch Zeiram back-to-back with the anime that it inspired (not the other way around): Iria: Zeiram the Animation.
Now, to steer this back onto topic…
Ten Things I Hate About You. Although now every time I see Julia Stiles mentioned for her current works they include the title of this film as a reference, as I recall it disappeared without a ripple when it was released. A fun and funny updating of “Taming of the Shrew” without any of the antifeminist/antiwoman baggage of the original. The “stadium serenade” scene by itself is worth a rental.
– Bob
Saw The Minus Man last night. Not sure if anyone mentioned it earlier, but I liked it. Understated, quiet… but still creepy. Owen Wilson was very good, but as usual Janeane Garofolo stole the show. 
Underappreciated yeg great movies that others have mentioned that I was going to mention:
Shakes the Clown
Cube
Fearless (Jeff Bridges can do no wrong.)
Leningrad Cowboys Go America
Pi
My Neighbor Totoro
Run Lola Run (Lola Rennt)(I own the soundtrack; it’s a must-have.)
Pyrrho12 mentioned Highway 61, which I was going to bring up. A Canadian friend of mine tells me that nearly all Canadian-produced film and TV is crap. Maybe that’s true, but this movie certainly is not crap. It’s one of the sweetest pictures I’ve ever seen; I feel all gushy just thinking about it.
A Polish Vampire in Burbank. My sister and I were up late one night and this just came on. It’s full of cheap special effects and stupid jokes. It’s a camp classic. I’ve been looking for a copy, but no luck so far.
They Might Be Giants. This is a 1971 film starring George C. Scott as a lawyer who goes insane and thinks he’s Sherlock Holmes. I saw it because it’s where my favorite band got its name, but really, the movie stands up very well by itself.
Roadside Prophets. One of the great cameo movies of all times. It’s got bit parts of Timothy Leary, John Cusak, Arlo Guthrie and others whom I can’t recall at the moment. It’s about a spiritual quest on motorcycles through the Nevada desert, from 1991. Rent it now.
Shop Around the Corner. Jimmy Stewart and Margaret Sullivan, from the 1930s. My uncle showed it to me just before I met in real life the first person I ever met on line, in 1996. It was remade with You’ve Got Mail, but I’ve never seen the remake. I love the original too much.
Lisbon Story. Wim Wenders never fails to disappoint. If you rent this one, just make sure you’ve got three hours free and that you’re not hungry for a lot of action in your movie.
Elephant Parts. An hour and a half of sketches, directed by Mike Nesmith, 1981. Hilarious.
Quiz Show. All about the rigged TV game show Twenty-One. Not exactly unknown, but underappreciated. I love this one.
Penn & Teller Get Killed. I love Penn & Teller.
Flatliners. Good picture. Science-fiction movies so often disappoint, but this one doesn’t.
Buffalo 66. This came out in 1998, I think. Small cast, very intense, and a couple of classic Yes tunes in the soundtrack. Great writing and great characters. If I ever write something as good as this, I’ll be proud.
Meet the Feebles is disgusting, but I enjoyed it. My favorite scene was the one where the two creatures were golfing and the one throws up on the other, just to distract him. Great picture.
Phyrro, I fully intend to see Joint Security Area ASAP. I haven’t heard a single review of it that wasn’t wildly positive. Unfortunately Korean movies are still pretty hard to find with subs. Thankfully the movie is going to be released in Hong Kong, where everything is subtitled. I’ve really been enjoying Korean movies lately, though they’re hard to come by. I know these are FAR from “movie apparently nobody else has seen” in the context of Korean cinema, but I really liked-loved Nowhere to Hide, Attack the Gas Station, Shiri, Tell Me Something, and Bichunmo.
Okay, I saw The City of Lost Children, and I loved it. That was a great movie. Now for my own. Okay, there is this one Really bad horror flick called Dolls. It is horrible in the horror flick department, but it does have all you classic, Creepy house, car stalling in woods, and spooky couple living in house. Not great horror, but that movie makes me laugh. It had got some hugely funny parts in it. Also Evil Dead 3: Army of Darkness I LOVED this movie. It was hilarious, but no one I know has seen it and my video store doesn’t even carry it, sigh. Great Movie.
Woah, woah! He did Bottle Rocket years before Shanghai Noon or Armageddon. Sure, he took some big budget roles, but the two movies he actually worked on were excellent.
A couple of people have mentioned City Of Lost Children. If you liked that film, you really should check out an earlier film by the same guys (Jeunet and Caro), Delicatesen. Just as odd and enjoyable.
BobSchroeck- Sorry if it sounded like I was coming down on Zeiram… I didn’t mean to. I enjoyed the movie (and subsequent anime) very much. I just wish that Zeiram himself looked a little better.
BTW, I’ve heard something about a live action sequel to Zeiram. Know anything about that?
Bichunmo was amazing. It’s hard to believe that this was the first wire-action movie ever produced on Korean soil. In case you don’t know the background of this movie, it’s based on a comic series by Kim Hyerim which was extremely popular among teenage girls throughout the 80s and 90s. When I watched the film with my SO, it was practically a religious experience for her. I expect the same kind of reaction when the Tae-Kwon-V movie is released later this year.
Another Korean movie to look for is The Foul King, if you’re in the mood for a pro-wrestling self-delusional comedy.
I know what you mean, but he’s not as bad as some Japanese SF movie critters. Besides, I saw the anime first, and I was just too impressed at how well the two resembled each other to really worry about it. <grin>
Interesting that you should ask, because it was just a couple weeks ago I was looking at the Zeram page on the IMDB, and I discovered that it lists two live sequels. Same cast, too – looks like Tepphei and Kamiya (or, as we here like to call them, Stan and Ollie) keep working with her… I’ve yet to see either sequel in the US, though, either officially released or as bootlegs.
– Bob
Waiiiiiiiiiit a second, here…
No one you know has seen it? I bet there are more people who have seen Army of Darkness than have seen either the first or the second Evil Dead movies. AoD had a bigger budget and much more promotion. Having worked in retail for many moons, I know there were countless people who rented AoD and had no idea it was part of a trilogy! And your video store doesn’t carry it? Wow, they suck! No, seriously… you are looking under “A,” right? 
I always mention “Time After Time” on these type threads. An excellent movie starring Malcolm McDowell as H.G. Wells chasing David Warner as Jack the Ripper to 1980’s San Francisco in Well’s Time Machine. It’s sounds like a hokey plot line, but the movie is superb. Except for the people I took to see it, I’d only met one other person who saw it. The last time I mentioned it on the Boards, two Dopers agreed with me.
This is one movie worth seeing.
Yeah, I saw The Foul King. it was pretty good. I like that actor… (the only names that’ve been drilled into my head in my short Korean viewing career are Han Suk-Kyu) Bichunmo I actually saw without subs, but it was so action-packed I could still tell it was cool. I can’t really appraise the movie properly since I barely understand more than about three Korean phrases, but even if everything about it other than the action was terrible, (and it is kind of hard to take a period piece that uses heavy metal seriously!) it is probably the most action-packed movie of its kind. I have seen some decent beat-em-up stuff in Korean movies, but they made a good call recruiting Hong Kong’s Ma Yuk-Shing for the choreography. The swordplay is generally up to par with the best HK wuxia films. The movie is set to be released in HK soon, which means an English-subbed DVD is probably in our future. Same goes for JSA.
First off, if you haven’t yet, check these out:
Quick Change: one of Bill Murray’s best.
The Chase: Kristy Swanson, yummy!
The Arrival: just see it. It rocks!
Langoliers: a miniseries based on a Stephen King short story. One of the best movies ever!
Starstruck: another TV movie. My favorite romantic flick of all time!
“The Sean Astin Trilogy” ***
Rudy: overachieving college football player defies all odds in order to fulfill his dream: play with the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. Inspiring movie.
Toy Soldiers: terrorists take school, ad hoc commando constituted by up-to-the-task group of students sets out a valiant effort to stop them. I know, sounds stupid. Believe me, it’s not.
The Goonies: Kids go on treasure haunt. Loved this one as a kid. Haven’t seen it since. Guess a trip to the video store is due.
*** For all of you wondering who the hell is Sean Astin, he costarred in Encino Man, alongside Brendan Fraser and Pauly Shore.
Yep, Sean Penn is the bro. Isn’t he directing or producing the new Jack Nicholson flick “The Pledge”?
Echoing your opinions, what a nice movie The Game was!
The 13th floor is an amazing movie; the only element distancing it from the incommensurable greatness that is The Matrix is the far out special effects. And yes, Dark City is another fantastic movie.
[FWIW]
Among similar thematic lines, I have been told that Strange Days is a very good movie.
[/FWIW]
Don’t forget about the “memorable” The Haunting. Not even Catherine Zeta Jones’ statuesque anatomy could save that atrocity.
Thanks for reminding me about The Cube. I had been told great things about it, was going to rent it and somehow forgot. After reading yours and almost everybody else’s recommendations, I can’t wait to rent it this weekend.
All that I expected The Sixth Day to be but wasn’t. Besides the clever names and the genetic controversy context, there is no comparison between Arnold’s mediocre, brainless action flick and the soon-to-become-a-classic that is Gattaca.
LOL. Modifying a bit what you said:
Where’d you get La puta?
Or, translating from Spanish, Where’d you get The Whore?
I’ll shut up now.
The post with no sig.
My friends had the same reaction. I’m pretty sure Miyazaki was referring to the flying island Laputa in Swift’s Gulliver’s Travels. Now, as for what Swift was referring to when he came up with the name, that’s a good question.
–sublight.
Seconded. Excellent movie–really enjoyed it.
Judge Dee and the Monastery Murders
Made-for-TV movie based on Robert Hans van Gulik’s 5th century Chinese Judge-Detective. Written and directed by the underappreciated Nicholas Meyer, the king of TV movies. Wonderfully faithful to the book (rare), with a cast of actors all with Asian ancestry (even rarer in a TV movie – no Caucasians. No Warner Oland fake orientals). A beautifully set up mystery. The first time I saw it I was called away BEFORE THE END. It was Years before I finally saw the whole thing, and in the meantime I’d sought out the entire Judge Dee series and read them all.
Judge Dee was a real historical character, and Van Gulik got intio writing the series after translating a Chinese biography of him. Paul Veerhoeven, the director who did Robocop and Total Recall (as well as a lot of lesser pictures) was supposedly interested in doing a Judge Dee film. It’s too bad he never did. There WAS a British TV series based on the Judge Dee books, but I’ve never seen any of them. I’ve always suspected that they helped inspire the Judge Dredd comic series.
AFAIK, Judge Dee and the Monastery Murders isn’t commercially available on videotape, but I have a ciopy Kevinleec taped off TV for me. Thanx.
I’d like to add “The King of Comedy” - 1983.
Since its a Scorcese/DeNiro collaboration, and almost mentioned as one of their great ones, I neglected to watch it until last night. But this movie was brilliant, and had 3 incredible performances by DeNiro (as always), Jerry Lewis, and Sandra Bernhardt (probably the best acting job of her career).