Of the movies that have been listed here: Brazil, Blade Runner, Citizen Kane, Dark City, What Dreams May Come, and Waking Life are all visually amazing.
To suggest an old classic: The Third Man, starring Orson Welles and Joseph Cotten, is set in the visually stunning city of Vienna, still partly in ruins from World War II, and features some of the most beautiful film noir style cinematography ever captured on film. (Not to mention great acting and a fantastic script)
I second Koyaanisqatsi. Pure visual genius.
I’d say 2001: A Space Odyssey - Directory Stanley Kubrick and his crew did some great things visually in this, especially considering it debuted in 1968. And I think it still holds up visually today.
I will third that and add that it has taken YEARS to get this released on DVD. I would love to see people buy this in droves and prove that it was worth it for them to release it.
The Fifth Element
The City of Lost Children
I’m also on board with:
City of Lost Children
Blade Runner
What Dreams May Come
Munchaussen
LotR:FotR
Legend seems to have been left out though.
** Titanic **
Anything by Ken Russell, who was a sucker for a cool visual – I’d especially recommend The Boyfriend, for its all-round surrealism.
Another guy who can do a good visuals is David Cronenberg – how about M. Butterfly?
Anything directed by Terry Gilliam (Brazil, Twelve Monkeys, etc).
I’ll second City of Lost Children, and any Jenuet movies…
Ma Vie En Rose is an insanely brightly colored movie with some cool special effects.
Godzilla vs. Biollante and Wrath of Daimajin are two giant monster movies from Japan that look absolutely amazing, seriously.
Velvet Goldmine is pretty dang colorful, and it has a nekkid Ewan McGregor in it as well.
Suspiria is quite colorful as well, although it’s a fairly violent horror movie and that might not be your cup of tea.
Casablanca. Almost every frame is a worthy of being made into a poster. The lighting is superb. It has some artistic ideas in its use of light and shadow. Camera angles are interesting and almost always suit the storyline. Considering how quickly it was shot, director of photography must have been a natural genius.
Castaway, if just for the airplane scene. Must be seen on a large cinema screen to be appreciated. I was literally in awe.
Nobody’s mentioned it yet, so I thought I’d throw in Ridley Scott’s Legend. It’s not necessarily a great movie, but it’s visually amazing. You’ll want to see it on the biggest screen you can.
**Horseman on the roof ** Visually lush. I cannot really recall the plot to much as there were subtitles involved.
koyaanisqatsi. Is that correct spelling? I Usually see a movie that I like a few times but I only had one chance to see this and it was at least 20 yrs ago. All I remember about it was that you should watch it.
Man with a Movie Camera by Vertov is an oldie, but very visually impressive. A film before its time!
Days of Heaven
Days of Heaven. The most visually stunning film every made. I’m not talking cheap flash; I mean one amazingly beautiful shot after another. Good story, too. Take a look and see why Hollywood considers Terrence Malick a genius.
Microcosm
those 50s technicolor spectaculars, especially Westerns with great scenery – How The West Was Won, etc.
Any Star Wars movie
Also a couple of softcore nekkid recommendations:
The Mistress Club
Playtime
In both cases, the leads have gorgeous bodies and they’re beautifully photographed. I didn’t really think the Mistress Club was all that hot, I just noticed its leads (whom I’ve seen photographed less effectively in other Skinamax films) looked especially gorgeous in Mistress Club. Playtime, OTOH, is very sexy for a Skinamax film.
Taken is a hardcore flick with a more mature Ginger Allen that has an excellent outdoor sex scene set on a lakeside, very nice color.
Also, there’s a Jenna Jameson pirate movie XXX that’s got some nice pirate ship shots, but it’s not that well cinemagraphed.
Watched Taxi Driver last night for the first time in a long time. Still visually stunning on the small box. (Saw it in a Real Theater 20+ years ago.)