Besides the LOTR trilogy, which Big Budget Hollywood films of the last 10 years or so are worth watching? I usually avoid these like the plague, but am wondering if my snobbery is causing me to miss out on something legitimately great.
in a sequential thread title sort of way your question has been answered. “The Departed - run don’t walk to see this movie.”
Are you only looking for Big Budget Hollywood recommendations?
What movies do you like, for an idea of what you’re looking for?
The Incredibles.
I can watch anything except musicals and early screwball comedies, but my favs are 40’s-50’s noir and Euro crime films like Le Voyou, Le Circle Rouge, etc. I have been told that I am “missing out” by automatically discounting anything recent and big budget American, and am willing to give some a try, but yes, preferably crime related.
Brick. A tongue-in-cheek–though rarely on the surface; the surface is all business–noir parody. A hardboiled noir private-eye picture, set in a Southern California highschool. As unwatchable as that sounds, it works. Largely because everyone involved is so straight-faced about it. We have the impossibly overwritten dialog, a la The Maltese Falcon and The Big Sleep–no one talks that way, but in a movie like this they must–we even have the blustery cop who lets the private dick off the hook, for now, on the condition that he shows some results the cop can take credit for (in this case as a cameo by Richard Roundtree as the highschool principal). I think the humor oversteps in a couple places–the drug dealer lives at home with his mother, who pours juice during his war council–but overall, almost everything works.
Not big hollywood; Sundance favorite. But recent, and right up your alley.
Then, Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang–the most fun you’ll have for a while. A crime comedy that works on all levels. Very much in the tradition of the great accidental-PI flicks of the past, but with the highly (sometimes over-)polished screenplay by Shane Black, and the best chemistry since Tracy and Hepburn -pairing of Downey Jr. and Kilmer. Seriously, not to be missed. This, yes, is Big Hollywood at its best. (Couple of insupportable logical leaps in the crime solving, but they’re forgivable in context.)
You may enjoy Memento (2000). IMDb says “A man, suffering from short-term memory loss, uses notes and tattoos to hunt for the man he thinks killed his wife.” The storyline runs backwards in time, which is fun.
Just in under the last-10-years wire: LA Confidential (1997).
Oh, and I kind of enjoyed Spike Lee’s Inside Man. Also, *Hollywoodland *is not terrible.
I’m like you - I usually go for classics, foreign, or independent films.
Mainstream, big budget, huh? Hmmm.
Gladiator
Master and Commander: Far Side of the World
Toy Story
Gangs of New York
Chicago
The Aviator
Kill Bill
House of Sand and Fog
V for Vendetta
A Very Long Engagement
Y Tu Mama Tambien
The Dangerous Lives of Alter Boys
Clerks II
Grizzly Man
Brokeback Mountain
I’m mostly drawing a blank but these are some of my favorite recent “pop” movies.
Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World. Very big budget; great movie.
I really enjoyed *Brick *and I think the OP will, too, but it’s certainly not a big budget picture. It was shot for well under 100k, IIRC.
Charlie’s Angels 2: Full Throttle soured me on big-budget movies for a long time, and halfway convinced me that those Dogme 95 guys had the right idea. A few movies have warmed me up to the big budget, though, but the best of them (King Kong, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkeban) really aren’t from America.
What kind of budget was Firefly made with?
I agree about the Harry Potter films…I am not at all the type who you would normally expect to watch those films…I am as old as dirt and have never read any of the books…but I am always amazed to see people like me in the theater watching the films as well. And no, I am not a pedophile.
The storyline is good, the acting is decent and the effects are fun…all in all, worth watching despite the fact they are really nothing more than far-better-than-average popcorn films. Rent the series in order and decide for yourself.
Pirates Of the Carribean: I watched it for the enteenth time the other night, and there’s always something new to enjoy: a smart script, brilliant one-liners, great characters who always manage to somehow subvert your expectations {Commodore Norrington, as well as being a kick-arse naval commander, is a decent, honourable man; Captain Barbossa is weirdly sympathetic}, and Johnny Depp should have had the Oscar for that year - Jack Sparrow is one of the great characters, as well as having the best film entrance in living memory. And it has underwater zombie pirates fighting the Royal Navy.
[Barbossa] {incredulously} “I…feel! {sadly} …cold…”[/Barbossa]
There are very few movies that straddle both the “big budget Hollywood” and “snob-worthy” categories in the past decade, but I’d say you shouldn’t miss the following:
As Good as it Gets
Brokeback Mountain
Election
Fargo
Fight Club
L.A. Confidential
Magnolia (you will either love or hate)
The Matrix
O Brother Where Art Thou?
Rushmore
Saving Private Ryan
The Sixth Sense
Syriana
Wonder Boys
And granted I’m going more by mainstream “very wide release” than “big budget” per se. If you limit it only to the real blockbuster big budget movies, then you’re left with Saving Private Ryan and the Matrix, IMHO. The rest you can safely skip. And even these two just barely make my list of shouldn’t-miss.
Good big Hollywood movies, but not quite snob-worthy:
American History X
The Birdcage
Chicago
Gangs of New York
A History of Violence
The Insider
King Kong
Memento
Moulin Rouge
Road to Perdition
There’s Something About Mary
Titanic
United 93
Many of the movies listed are about as far from big budget as you can possibly get. Memento? Y Tu Mama Tambien? Both of those were probably made for $100 combined, with some change coming back. Also, I doubt The Incredibles cost very much, being all CGI and voice acting.
Using the-numbers as a reference for big budgets, here’s a list of some that you may find watchable. I bolded the ones I consider to be fan-fucking-tastic:
ACTION
Braveheart
The Fifth Element
Gladiator
Pirates of the Caribbean (first one only)
Troy (may annoy the snob in you by its re-imagining, but I liked it for what it was)
War of the Worlds
COMIC BOOKS
Batman Begins
Spiderman (the whole franchise)
X-Men (the whole franchise)
DRAMA
Ali (never saw it, but have been meaning to)
Cinderalla Man
The Last Samurai
The Patriot
The Perfect Storm
Seabisuit
OTHER
Ocean’s Eleven (first one only)
I haven’t seen many on the big budget list that look promising, like for example Munich. As for the four I bolded, Seabisuit and Cinderella Man are a cut above in that they’re not just personal favorites (like the Fifth Element,) but are solid by pretty much any criteria.
Oh, anything by Wes Anderson. He usually does just good enough to get a wide release - kind of like Kevin Smith - so I think he should fit the OP.
You should watch movies before recommending them. It’s dreadful.
Quite right. Even though I qualified, it was still a poor decision. Especially because I had it mixed up with Ray, which I do want to see. Ali? Not so much.
You’re including the LOTR trilogy IN the big budget movies worth watching? Would have been my first example of the ones not worth wasting the time on.
mm