I’ve been on a roll rewatching my favorite stuff from the past - Goodfellas, Money Ball, Big Short, Wolf of Wall Street, Social Network, and even some of the West Wing. I’ve watched a lot from these same directors/writers and in a weird way love everything about these “smartest guys in the room showing up everyone” kind of movies. I love the narration, the pace, the outside the box thinking.
Anyone have suggestions from lesser known directors/writers along the same lines? I feel like the well is dry now that I’ve seen all the Scorcese movies, read all the Michael Lewis books, and seen most everything Sorkin has done.
These aren’t necessarily written/directed by unknowns, but I think they fall into the range of movies described in the OP and if you haven’t seen them, they’re all what I think of as “smart” movies with an action bent helmed by skilled directors:
*Spartan *(2004), written and directed by David Mamet (Mamet-esque dialog and a very quick pace)
*Ronin *(1998), directed by John Frankenheimer (very smart actioner, with an outstanding cast)
*Haywire *(2011), directed by Steven Soderbergh – it’s not quite as good as it could have been, but still worth the watch. Soderbergh’s remake of Ocean’s Eleven (2001), if you haven’t seen it, is pretty slick; the sequels are too self-aware, but the first one is great.
I have to disagree on Syriana. I didn’t think it was dumb, but it was pointless and filled with detestable characters. I know that was part of the point it was making, but it was a wretched experience to watch that film.
Donnie Brasco. The last great Al Pacino movie, and a sad reminder of just how good Johnny Depp used to be before he became a clown in whiteface. The scene where Pacino silently takes off his jewellery gets me every time.
From a generation earlier, Coppola’s The Conversation is tight, twisty, and staggeringly good. Gene Hackman is outstanding. I can watch the scene where Gene Hackman throws away the envelope again and again: a lesser director - and a lesser actor - would have done it in close-up, but even in long shot you can read exactly what Hackman is thinking.
For my money, though, The Day of the Jackal is the smartest, tautest, most intelligent thriller ever made: this movie is just a master-class in tense economy: half of you is cheering for the killer to succeed, the other half is yelling “For Christ’s sake stop him!”. Bonus points for being a police procedural that actually shows just how real policing works, ie hard work.
As courtroom dramas go, PRIMAL FEAR is especially good at having Richard Gere and Laura Linney do the whole I-Know-That-You-Know-That-I-Know schtick on each other as rival lawyers, though it’s Edward Norton who earned that Oscar nomination.
I feel like the OP is looking more for dialogue-heavy movies than, necessarily, smart movies. It would probably make the most sense to look for movies based on stage plays.
Mamet, I believe, is just as much a playwright as screenwriter, so as others suggest his films would be a good option.
Some plays that I can think of which became good movies are: