I love this one. They run it every once in awhile on one of the “Women’s Movie” (Lifetime or Oxygen runs it, I think) channels, for some reason that I can’t begin to fathom.
I’d like to add Zeppelin (at least, I think it’s obscure). A Michael York WWI thriller. Fun, and it has an odd little element in that—
[spoiler]The double-agent hero, despite his best efforts, doesn’t really manage to foil the Germans’ plans. And the Germans, despite their best efforts, end up failing their mission anyway, out of sheer bad luck.
And it has gas-masked German proto-commandoes (proto-brandenburgers?) using mustard gas and bolt-action Mausers in a raid to steal the Magna Carta. God, that was practically *steampunk. *[/spoiler]
Never seen? :dubious:
Steve Guttenburg and his cohorts touted this movie on the Tonught show as well as others on the talk show circuit. :rolleyes:
It’s not exactly a movie no one’s seen; it’s more a movie no one remembers. :smack:
Aria–Ten directors each take a favorite operatic aria and make a short film about it. When I saw it, the theater wittily added an eleventh–“What’s Opera, Doc?” w. Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd, by Chuck Jones. IIRC, Aria was Bridget Fonda’s screen debut.
Working Girls–Not the one with Melanie Griffith. This was a day-in-the-life movie about a guelling shift at an upscale Manhattan brothel.
It’s funny, because many of these movies - like Buckaroo Banzai and Repo Man - have huge cult followings, or are known to many people.
My picks -
Summer with Monika - a Bergman, but apparently one that’s never been available for purchase in the US in any form. Even big Bergman fans I’ve met haven’t seen it.
Gymkata - A bizarre martial arts film in which the protagonist uses a gymnastics-based form of fighting.
Great flick! Mr. singular & I are fond of saying “Well, what family doesn’t have it’s ups and downs?” while doing the Hepburn bobblehead. But it’s not all that obscure - Glenn Close just won a Golden Globe for her portrayal of Eleanor in the TV remake (currently in third place on my Netflix queue).
If you liked this , run to a video store and get Sodbusters. Even better, in the same absurd vein.
I’ve seen most of these at least once. I’d like to throw in Cold Feet, with a great performance by Tom Waits (who also did the music for another terrific little flick, One From The Heart.
Actually, I’ll offer up anything with Tom Waits, especially Down by Law, Queens Logic, Short Cuts & Coffee & Cigarettes.
And a young Sela Ward! Great take on classic Western vs . Looks like I’m now the town root junkie.
Clockwatchers - Kind of an unfunny Office Space about a bunch temps (IFC staples Toni Collette and Parker Posey and Friends Lisa Kudrow, also bit parts by Jamie Kenedy and the mom from That 70s Show) and their miserable lives.
Ghost World - (Scarlett Johanson, Steve Buscemi) has a similar tone. It’s about these two odd girls sort of floating around figuring out what to do after high school.
Basically I enjoy movies about people with lives or jobs more boring and pathetic than mine.
Gymkata - A bizarre martial arts film in which the protagonist uses a gymnastics-based form of fighting.
Martin Mull & Tommy Smothers are in that, right? I saw it on TV years ago & I sure don’t remember gay biker Chris Lee!
But that also reminds me- THE MAGIC CHRISTIAN starring Peter Sellers & Ringo Starr, w/ a cameo by Chris Lee
Also. some film about an Alien invasion in which Spaceships hover above Earth broadcasting signals which induce suicidal depression, so millions are killing themselves. Lee is the Evil Alien Commander.
A European-made low budget Shelley-faithful FRANKENSTEIN, which is titled either TERROR OF FRANKENSTEIN or VIKTOR FRANKENSTEIN.
I’m a huge Anthony Hopkins fan, so I search for some of his older films that are hard to find at the video store. Nobody I know in real life knows about these movies, which is a shame because I thought they were quite good:
Magic, a 1978 film about a magican/ventriloquist (Anthony Hopkins) who can’t seperate himself from the personality of his dummy, Fats. Sometimes it can be quite corny (but that’s a given since it’s a movie dealing with ventriloquism), but entertaining.
The Bunker: A TV movie from 1980 where Hopkins plays Adolf Hitler during his last days. He won an Emmy for it and it’s one of the best portrayls of Hitler I’ve seen. But as this is a movie about Hitler and Nazis, it’s not a multiple viewings type of movie.
The Bounty: Made in 1984 and stars Hopkins as Bligh and Mel Gibson as Fletcher Christian.
The Hunchback of Notre Dame: Another early 1980s movie. Hopkins is Quasimodo (completely unrecognizable) and Derek Jacobi is Claude Frollo.
Well, you have now.
I absolutely love that movie.
Some friends of mine also quite enjoyed it.
I think it is one of those movies that just missed everybody’s radar.
Back when the late, lamented MovieCritic website was still just a kiosk at my local video store, I used to play with the program, and I kept getting this film at the top of my list. I never would have watched it otherwise, because the packaging kind of turned me off, and I HATED director Denys Arcand’s previous film, The Decline of the American Empire. But the more films I plugged in to MovieCritic, the more resolutely this stayed at the top.
I finally rented it, and it is one of my all-time favorites.
Great movies. I would add Fishing with John a movie which the host goes fishing with Tom Waits, Dennis Hopper, et al.
I am going through this thread adding movies to my Netflix que. I hang with a crowd that doesn’t get out much. My actual contributions include The Man Who Wasn’t There and Mulholland Drive.
I’ve seen The Way of the Gun and was pretty underwhelmed. Then again, I really dislike Ryan Phillipe.
Two movies I’ve seen and LOVE, that no one in my personal universe seems to have even heard of: Nate and Hayes, cheesy pirate movie with an early career Tommy Lee Jones, and Suicide Kings with Denis Leary and Christopher Walken. A mobster flick with a twist.
Now that I think about it, two more in the so-bad-they’re good category: Finders Keepers, with Lou Gosset Jr, Beverly D’angelo, and Micheal O’keefe, and Out on a Limb, with Matthew Broderick. (“Well, Jim was named after dad, and Jim was named after Grandpa…”)
*[/spoiler]
