Tell us four of your favorite movies and any of us should feel free to make one or two suggestions for further viewing based on your list. If you make more than one list, please put it in a separate post.
Some of my favorites are:
Doctor Zhivago
Amelie
Room with A View
Frida
Are there kindred spirits out there?
I’m with you Zoe on Amelie.
Also,
Breakfast at Tiffany’s
Monty Python’s The Holy Grail
My Fair Lady
The Big Lebowski
The Usual Suspects
Snatch
Fight Club
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Lost in Translation
Fargo
Being John Malkovich
Eraserhead
Miller’s Crossing
Pulp Fiction
Memento
Zoe, I’ll recommend these, based on your list:
Doctor Zhivago suggests:
[ul]Lawrence of Arabia
[li]Return of the King[/li][li]Intolerance[/ul]Hmm. Amelie:[/li][ul]Truly, Madly, Deeply
[li]The Awful Truth[/li][/ul]
Room with a View:
[ul]House of Mirth
[li]Howard’s End[/li][li]Emma[/li][/ul] Haven’t seen *Frida * yet, but I *loved * Basqiat, another painter biopic.
Jayelle, I was happy to discover that the restaurant where “Amelie” worked is not a movie set, but a real cafe in Montmarte – one block over and one block up for the Moulin Rouge. I hear busiess has improved! I’m going there for onion soup and a little daydreaming in April. I liked all of your recommendations.
Since you like Amelie, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, and My Fair Lady, you might like Charade, Funny Face, Two for the Road, and the 1957 version of Sabrina. (I am such an Audrey Hepburn fan.)
I think that you would like Chocolat – the one with Juliette Binoche.
Audrey Tautou (who played "Amelie) has a new movie on DVD called Pretty Ugly Things. It is quite different from her more famous role, but it shows that she is very, very good. And the movie is a good thriller.
(The dress Audrey Heburn wore to the races in MFL is going to be up for sale. It is smaller than a size zero.
Lessener, you are right on target with Lawrence, Howard’s End, Emma, House of Mirth, Truly Madly Deeply. So I will check into Intolerance and The Awful Truth. Thanks!
If you liked these, you might also like Wings of the Dove, Impromptu amd Carrington.
Gadfly, Have you seen The Zero Effect? Perhaps Dirty, Pretty Things too.
Bringing up Baby
Vertigo
Nine to Five
The Bridge on the River Kwai
Gadfly, I loved all your movies except the two I haven’t seen (Snatch and Eraserhead). Some more of my favorites that may apply to you:
Bottle Rocket
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
In America
The Commitments
State and Main
High Fidelity
I wouldn’t be surprised if you said you’ve already seen all these movies and hated them. 
I think you’ve seen all the Coen brothers films, but see Barton Fink if you haven’t already.
Versatile critter, aren’t you!
I’ll have to take them individually.
For Bringing Up Baby, I would recommend Holiday. (I think that’s the name of it. I will double check. Katharine Hepburn and Cary Grant from about the same time period. Try Grant’s Arsenic and Old Lace too.
Vertigo is on my husband’s top five list and there is just nothing like it. You’ve probably seen it already, but I think the other Hitchcock that vies for primo honors is Rear Window. It also stars James Stewart. (BTW, I have a photograph of my great-grandmother from the mid-Nineteenth Century wearing a pair of earrings – and I have the earrings. I’ve always wanted to do a sort of Carlotta/Madelyn/Kim Novak thing with a portrait.)
Nine to Five – So much depends of the reasons that you like that movie. I like movies about women and find Strangers in Good Company fascinating. It’s not upbeat the same way that 9 to 5 is however.
Another hilarious office movie is Office Space. Be sure it is the one from four or five years ago. There is one older than that.
Bridge on the River Kwai – You might like another David Lean film called A Passage to India, but I’ll bet that you would like Cool Hand Luke more.
There is another about a women’s prison camp in the Phillipines during WWII that is excellent. Does anyone remember the title?
I’m off to IMDB to see if I can find it.
I suppose a movie set in the Phillipines was in error. The one I was thinking of was a TV series A Town Like Alice. It may be out on tape or DVD. It is set in a Japanese prison camp for women in Malaya in 1941.
There is another that I had forgotten about that is similar, but also good. Paradise Road is set in Sumatra and is about a female prisoner-of-war choir.
I miss knowing that Sir Alec is still making movies.
*Sophie’s Choice
Steel Magnolias
GiGi
My Fair Lady
LoTR *(all of them)
The Hunt for Red October
Bram Stoker’s Dracula (shut up, I just like it.)
The Last of the Mohicans
Difficult to narrow it down to four, but these would be some of my favorites:
North By Northwest - classic & Cary Grant!
Little Man Tate - cathartic.
Nothing To Lose - funny, even if you don’t speak “jive”.
Awakenings or The Shawshank Redemption - tear jerkers.
Have you seen the more recent version of Doctor Zhivago, Zoe? It was on PBS not too long ago, I really enjoyed it.
Hmmm…four of my favorite movies…
Casablanca
Unforgiven
The LOTR series (it’s really one movie, so…)
Saving Private Ryan
My list is quite similar to Gadfly’s, except for the ones I havent seen: Eraserhead, Fargo, ans Eternal Sunshine(It’s JUST came out though…).
In addition to those, I like:
12 Monkeys
Reservoir Dogs
The Way of the Gun
Donnie Darko
Just last week, in fact! Netflix has it on DVD. I was amazed to discovered that the woman playing Laura was 16-17 years old during the filming. It was well done considering the smaller budget.
For your choices:
North By Northwest – Notorious, To Catch a Thief and “Suspicion” (All good Cary Grant films)
There is also a fairly recent version of Rebecca that was on PBS that you might like. I think it compares favorably with the original movie. It’s on DVD.
Little Man Tate – Kramer vs. Kramer (And read A Prayer for Owen Meany!)
Nothing To Lose – I don’t know this one! (But some of my favorite “jive talking” movies are Boys in the Hood and Do the Right Thing. I also confess to liking Barbershop.
Awakenings or The Shawshank Redemption – These are tough. Awakenings is a true story. The doctor’s real name is Oliver Sachs or Sacks. He did some documentaries for TV 2 or 3 years ago that were fascinating. There is another true story of a young woman who spent most of her life in a mental institution. It was a television movie called Nobody’s Child with Marlo Thomas. Keep an eye out for it. I don’t think it’s out on tape or DVD. Good performance by Thomas.
If you have never seen One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, I think that it relates in some ways to both of these films.
(My grandmother was a victim of encephalitis and was in a coma. I’m not certain how long. She died in the 1930’s. A day or so before she died, she sat up in bed and sang a hymn. So Awakenings is also of particular interest to me.)
Phèdre nó Delaunay’s movies:
Sophie’s Choice
Steel Magnolias
GiGi
My Fair Lady
LoTR (all of them)
The Hunt for Red October
Bram Stoker’s Dracula (shut up, I just like it.)
The Last of the Mohicans
(I think that Meryl Streep’s performance in Sophie’s Choice is the best on film, bar none.)
The Hunt for Red October – See the German film Das Boot (The Boat). Believe me, you will forget that it has subtitles. Incredible suspense and also set on a submarine.
Gigi and My Fair Lady – Nothing quite captures the elegance of these two musicals. But you might like The Umbrellas of Cherbourg from the 1960’s. It is a French love story – and sung discreetly (no big productions) all the way through. Very tender. The ones that I recommended for MFL earlier in the thread should be considered. Another Leslie Caron musical set in France is the glorious An American in Paris.
Try the original Dracula with Bela Lugosi. It seems a little campy now, it’s still a classic. My favorite version of Dracula is the film from 1979 with Peter Langella in the title role.
The Last of the Mohicans – I can’t come up with a movie right off the bat, but I think you might like readying The Tracker by Tom Brown, wilderness guide.
Since you seem not to mind movies that could earn the description saga, be sure that you have seen Dances with Wolves and Doctor Zhivago.
If you like Steel Magnolias, try the previously mentioned Nine to Five.
RikWriter –
Casablanca – There IS nothing to compare with it. But another Bogart movie with clever dialogue – and sometimes shown as a double feature with Casablanca – is The Maltese Falcon
Unforgiven – Consider the original series Lonesome Dove. (Not the regular television series, but shown on television. It is one of the best tellings of a Western story that I can think of. Tombstone is another. So much depends of why you like Unforgiven.
If you are ever in the mood for a rather unusual Western, try Silverado. It is not as intense, however. But really entertaining.
The LOTR series (it’s really one movie, so…) – And it is one of a kind – Or should I say “three of a kind”? I don’t think there’s ever been anything nearly like it as carefully done on such a grand scale – and with such meaning. (And I’m not even a fan!)
Saving Private Ryan – In my opinion, the best war film ever made was Apocalypse Now. Others found Platoon more moving. If it is World War II that particularly interests you, I highly recommend the television series Band of Brothers. It is based on true stories of the 101st Airborne who jumped behind enemy lines during the invasion of Normandy. Some of these men are still living. It’s available on DVD and the extras are also superb.
gyt_fx:
12 Monkeys
Reservoir Dogs
The Way of the Gun
Donnie Darko
I have seen 12 Monkeys and Reservoir Dogs, but it has been so long that I can’t remember much about them. Generally, they were not my cup of tea. But if you haven’t seen Fight Club, I think you might want to.
The other two I am unfamiliar with.
Sorry that I can’t be of more help! Maybe someone else can make suggestions!
Lisa-go-blind, I am at such a loss with your list! I have seen only The Committments. But oh, was it goo! (I have the soundtrack.)
I was told that the male lead singer was only fourteen when he made the film. How can that be so?
I hope that someone has suggestions for you.
At this point I will have to admit that this task is more difficult than I thought it would be. If others want to contribute suggestions, please do. But I’ve run out of steam…
Thanks, all!
Some recent ones…
I love Sam and Beautiful Mind