The cast for that one is kind of amazing: Brendan Gleeson, Bill Pullman, Oliver Platt, Bridget Fonda, and … Betty White!
Films I rated 9/10 stars on IMDB that I thought were “odd little” but maybe not “stupid” It was a grear decade for such films.
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Valerie Flake (1999)
Bubba Ho-Tep (2002)
Night Train (I) (1998) Brenda Blethyn
Attention Shoppers (2000)
Sunday (1997)
Little Fish (2005)
Imaginary Crimes (1994)
Millennium Mambo (2001)
Buffalo '66 (1998)
Taxman (1998)
Last Night (I) (1998) SSandra Oh
Dancing in September (2000)
Naked (1993)
Palookaville (1995)
The Promise (1996)
Strictly Ballroom (1992)
Any movie with both Ashley Judd and Natalie Portman is going to get a long look from me. All I remember about it was that Judd and Portman look startlingly similar - like they’re supposed to be long-lost sisters? And I was put off by the main character’s name “Novalee”, which seemed made up. Caught it somewhere in the middle on cable TV and watched to the end, so it wasn’t terrible.
“Go” rules, and holds up very well to repeated viewings. Geena Davis really sells “Long Kiss Goodnight” - I recommend it.
Yeah, it really should have done better.
I love Lake Placid! Bill Pullman trying to make sense of Bridget Fonda’s rants was hilarious.
Also, I don’t care what anyone says…a western that plays lie a videogame , “The Quick and the Dead”…and with that cast!!
Tremors is a fantastic movie! We saw it at the drive-in as part of a triple bill and it was awesome. No one wanted to get out of the car and we were planning on how to get to the snack bar by jumping car to car!
This is a cult classic!
I gotta nominate Kingpin. It’s an absolutely brilliantly written comedy with stellar performances from Bill Murray and Woody Harrelson.
A personal favourite is *Whale Music (1994) *based on the book by Paul Quarrington and Rheostatics providing the soundtrack.
Grosse Pointe Blank.
‘Happiness’, 1998 and ‘Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead’, 2007.
Both feature Phillip Seymour Hoffman.
I’ll second a bunch already mentioned.
I don’t see too many horror films, so maybe I wasn’t desensitized, but I found The Blair Witch Project to be pretty damn scary. That last scene, down in the basement of the old house… brrrr.
Enemy at the Gates was a perfectly decent WWII movie; Ed Harris was particularly good as the German sniper.
Blade was silly, portentous, schlocky vampire-fighting fun (didn’t see any of the sequels).
The Long Kiss Goodnight is a perfectly good spy-with-amnesia action flick. Geena Davis does well in the lead role.
Bedazzled is a fun make-a-deal-with-the-Devil comedy. Elizabeth Hurley has never been more tempting.
Con Air crosses the line from stoopid to fun, and then back again, at least a dozen times. And an all-star cast chews the scenery with great gusto.
And I’ll add Outbreak, appropriate for the times in which we find ourselves, with Dustin Hoffman, Morgan Freeman, Rene Russo, Donald Sutherland, Cuba Gooding Jr. and Kevin Spacey as Army medicos fighting an ebola-like outbreak in a small American town. A bit farfetched at times, and certainly no Casablanca, but good scary fun.
If you haven’t seen it, I highly recommend the original version, written by and starring Peter Cook and Dudley Moore. It hasn’t got the big budget effects, but it’s got great writing. And it’s got Raquel Welch playing “Lust”
“It’s a terrible bunch of Sins I have working for me,” says Peter Cook (the Devil). “Must be the Wages.”
Mystery Men (1999) - A really enjoyable comedy/action movie about a group of second string superheroes.
City Slickers
Mitch: Hi Curly, kill anyone today?
Curly: Day ain’t over yet
City Slickers 2
Duke: My Ma died last year, she was 95. Stabbed in a bar fight.
I have. I actually prefer the remake, although IIRC the original has that nice scene where Satan suggests that Moore to dance around him on his throne, singing his praises, and when Moore has done that for a little bit and says he’s tired of it and would like a turn on the throne himself, Satan says with satisfaction, “That’s just what I said to God!”
Yes! My favorite line: “We’ve got a blind date with Destiny, and it looks like she just ordered the lobster.”
I really don’t know here but would it be accurate to say that you want movies that were both humble in their means and pretensions while also doing at great job? Like someone who has a blue-collar job and does it well because they care?
Songwriter - Willie and Kris being, well, Willie and Kris. Rip Torn chews so much scenery he makes Shatner look Shakespearean. Roger Ebert said:
“Songwriter” is one of those movies that grows on you. It doesn’t have a big point to prove, and it isn’t all locked into the requirements of its plot. It’s about spending some time with some country musicians who are not much crazier than most country musicians, and are probably nicer than some. It also has a lot of good music.
A little movie, but not stupid so I guess it fits -Girls Town with the always wonderful Lili Taylor.
Mystery Men gets a big thumbs up for me.
If you want to get your crazy serial killer groove on, how 'bout The Stepfather (1987, I hear that there was a remake in the two thousands but I’ve never seen it) and, for something really harrowing, Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer?
Dark City (1998) is one of the few movies I enjoy enough to watch it over again every couple years. Donnie Darko (2001) & Kelly’s Heroes (1970) also fall into that category.
“Rock Star” starring Mark Wahlberg as a tribute performer who becomes lead singer of his favorite heavy metal band. Loosely based on the similar tale of the guy who became lead singer for Judas Priest after Rob Halford left the band. I’ve always been a sucker for these sorts of rise-and-fall showbiz stories. Also, it’s great seeing Dominic West (aka McNulty from “The Wire”) in long curly mane and full hair metal regalia.
And in the so-bad-it’s-good category, one I’ve mentioned on this message board multiple times - “On Deadly Ground,” starring Steven Seagal as an ex-special forces eco-warrior. Yeah, the movie is dumber than hell, but it’s worth a viewing to see Michael Caine in a scenery-chewing turn as a sinister bolo-tie wearing oilman. Also to hear R. Lee Ermey deliver the following soliloquy about what a badass Seagal’s character is.