Boondock Saints - A cult classic about two Irish men who decide to go vigilante justice. It’s got William Dafoe and many memorable scenes.
The Red Violin - This one has Samuel L. Jackson as a violin antique appraiser and it follows the life of a violin and the drama it “saw” in its life. A brilliant movie.
Another vote here for The Hidden, a funny, smart, freaky but oft-overlooked masterpiece of scifi/horror.
I’d also vote for Breaker Morant, a movie about Australian soldiers court-martialed for war crimes during the Boer War. Edward Woodward stars. It’s a great courtroom drama and military adventure; the closing scenes are wrenching. This is a movie that will stay with you for a long time.
I have two, both dealing with mafia type things.
The first is one I have never heard discussed before, but it’s pretty good: Amongst Friends. It’s gripping, enthralling, and over-all realistic. More realistic than most mafia movies I have seen, it follows close friends who grow up together who weave in and out of the mafia lifestyle. Of course, I haven’t seen “Mean Streets” just yet, but this movie would still be solid if it ripped off some elements from Scorsese.
Also, a great early role by Mira Sorvino.
The second, one I bet people have seen before on here, is Things to Do In Denver When You’re Dead. It’s a lot more popular than the above, but I bet in a lot of circles it is still labeled as “unknown”.
This is another amazingly realistic mafia movie. Sure, some elements are pure Hollywood, but that is going to happen with a film of this type.
The best parts, for me, were the relationship, the dialouge, and the characters. With this film, there isn’t some tacked-on B-subplot of how Jimmy gets a girl - it is played perfectly, highlighting everything wrong with Jimmy’s lifestyle and Jimmy himself. It also makes the ending all-the-more tragic.
The dialouge was simply amazing. Not quite Pulp Fiction, but it was more than solid in a lot of parts. Things like, “I am Godzilla! You are Japan!” pop up throughout, just charming gems that should have mass cult appeal.
Finally, the characters. Critical Bill, Easy Wind, Jimmy the Saint- the characters are all incredibly realistic at being larger than life. Every character is developed perfectly, with not too much or too little background info given. It also has a young Steve Buscemi as the creepy-as-hell “Mister Shh” who never talks, only assasinates, and Christopher Walken, “The Man With a Plan.” Those are both actual character titles, and it fits beautifully within the film.
I’ll also second Buffalo '66, one my top 50 movies of all time, most likely.
Shoot, where do I start? Hmmm…
Of Freaks and Men - A disturbing, sepia-toned excursion into the underworld of pornography in turn of the century St. Petersburg. Not for all tastes, but if you’re cinematically adventurous, go for it.
I’ll throw out Disney’s overlooked masterpiece, The Emperor’s New Groove.
Premise: Emperor Kuzco (David Spade), 18-year-old ruler of an unnamed Central American nation, is targeted for assassination by his aged advisor, Yzma (Eartha Kitt). However, due to a screwup, Kuzco is turned into a llama, and needs the help of a lowly peasant named Pacha (John Goodman) to get him home and restore his former self. Complicating the matter is that Kuzco is determined to raze Pacha’s home to build a theme park for himself, and Yzma’s machinations against Kuzco’s return.
What makes it wonderful: While the premise sounds like Yet Another Retreaded Predictable Disney Animated Movie, the execution is of an irreverent, zany, slapstick-filled comedy farce, one part Marx Brothers and two parts Chuck Jones. Yzma’s dum-bulbed assistant Krunk (Patrick Walburton) steals the show, but everyone shines here, including Pacha’s loving family and Bucky the squirrel. The entire movie is one entertaining thrill ride, capped off with a climactic chase and runaround at the end that’s worth the price of admission alone.
“Why do we even have that lever?!”
Center of the World - 2001
Molly Parker, Peter Sarsgaard
A tech-boom millionaire hires a poor waitress to spend time with him in Vegas. Sexual acts are also involved in the deal, but only at her discretion. Of course, their relationship develops from there and Sarsgaard’s character ends up falling for Parker. Won’t give away the ending, but it’s a wonderful character study about the different ways men and women view love and sex. It’s a wonderfully accurate portrayal of how hard it is to have a sexual relationship without emotions getting involved.
You forgot “comedy.”
I’ll cast my vote for The Big Bus , the grandaddy of all those Airplane and Scary Movie spoofs you see around.
My favorite quote from the bar fight scene…“Look out he’s got a broken candle! Look out, He’s got a broken Milk Carton!”
Badly paraphrased because I haven’t seen the movie in about 30 years.
Obscure tho’ it is, the greatest, most artistically successful, and most important movie ever made is, obviously, Arise!
I loved the movie,Funny Bones with Oliver Platt and Jerry Lewis.Yes,Jerry Lewis.
Its odd,funny,edgy and one can learn a lot about comedy and people with “funny bones”…
I swear Comedy Central used to play it on weekends all the time in the early/mid 90s.
Holy crap I loved this movie. I havent seen it in years, I mean maybe twenty years. I was only small, spoof did not register, I watched it as a completley serious movie. I really though that man was going to drown when the coke fountain tap broke and the room filled to the top with cola… I REALLY thought he would drown. Straight to Amazon to purchase this!
Ill thro in Enemy Mine, with Dennis Quaid. Still looks pretty good, and Louis Gossetts Make-up is still brilliant after all these years. Curse you, Drakk!
And maybe not as forgotten as it needs to be to make this list, but not as well known as it should be, Quick Change. What kind of clown are you? The crying on the inside kind, I guess.
The documentary “The Thin Blue Line”, about the murder of a Dallas, Texas police officer in 1976. An innocent man was convicted of the crime and was sentenced to death. The film is notable because it features interviews with virtually all of the principal subjects in the case, and because of the many realistic re-enactments of the crime. Absolutetly riveting. It should have a profound effect on anyone interested on how the justice system really works. Not at all like your typical documentary. This film was instrumental in bringing the case to public attention and resulted in the eventual reversal of a terrible miscarriage of justice.
These two links about the case contain “spoilers”, in the sense that they contain information about the final disposition of the case, subsequent to the 1988 release of the film.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Thin_Blue_Line_(documentary)
http://www.txexecutions.org/reports/323.asp
(The second link’s relevance to this case becomes apparent in the 4th paragraph from the end)
Sorry, the first link does not work; just look up “The Thin Blue Line” on wikipedia.
I’ll agree with that. I had given it a pass, but saw it last summer on video at a friend’s house and was pleasantly surprised with the whole movie.
One of my favorite 80’s movies was Choose Me. It’s been 10+ years since I’ve seen it so I can’t really summarize the plot adequately, but it’s just a fine little movie.
I heard an interview with the director of the documentary- year later the man he helped free accosted him and demanded a cut from the profits of the movie. The director looked at him and said “Sure, you owe me five grand then. I LOST money on that movie!”
I love a not very famous David Lean movie: Hobson’s Choice from 1954, starring the wonderful Charles Laughton. He’s an alcoholic bootmaker in turn-of-the-century northern England, and rules his three daughters with an iron fist. They are free labor for him, and he wants to prevent them from marrying. His eldest daughter, though, has different ideas for herself and for her father’s best employee and bootmaker. The employee and the daughter are played wonderfully by John Mills and Brenda De Banzie, respectively. In fact, they’re played so well that they almost steal the show from Charles Laughton, a near impossible task. I almost never see this movie shown on television, which is puzzling. I think I’ll have to buy a copy, if I can find one on DVD.
**Smilla’s Sense of Snow ** is a rather nifty little thriller with an unusual Denmark/Iceland setting. It stars an unbelievably beautiful Julia Ormond as an icy, brilliant, vulnerable bitch. I’m not usually good at telling whether or not women are sexy, but I’m pretty sure she’s extremely hot in this movie. Anyway, it’s a very intelligent and intriguing suspense/mystery movie until about 10 mintues from the end, when it just gets goofy. Still, worth watching if you haven’t seen it.
