Suggest Movies to Me Based on my Netflix Ratings

Cafe Society
1

Because the Netflix reccomendation algorithm sucks.

Of the 270 movies I’ve so far rated, there are 11 that I gave five stars, 32 I gave four, and probably a good 150 or more were given three. So why is it that I have about 12 recommendations that never change and are all based on the same 6 movies?

It’s really frustrating as someone that’s never been much of a movie watcher (most of these rated films were watched while growing up) and doesn’t want to spend all his time clicking on titles that might look interesting in hopes of finding a decent flick.

So I turn to you. Based on the following films (the 43 I gave four and five stars to), can you please suggest other films I might enjoy? I know that by showing you some of these titles, I am going to open myself up to mockery but please be gentle… I do not claim to have good taste in anything other than Star Trek.
Five Star
[ul][li]American History X (1998)[/ul][ul][/li][li]Braveheart (1995)[/ul][ul][/li][li]Death to Smoochy (2002)[/ul][ul][/li][li]Fargo (1996)[/ul][ul][/li][li]Fight Club (1999)[/ul][ul][/li][li]Garden State (2004)[/ul][ul][/li][li]The Last Samurai (2003)[/ul][ul][/li][li]Schindler’s List (1993)[/ul][ul][/li][li]Sling Blade (1996)[/ul][ul][/li][li]Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986)[/ul][ul][/li][li]Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991)[/ul][/li]Four Star
[ul][li]12 Monkeys (1995)[/ul][ul][/li][li]25th Hour (2002)[/ul][ul][/li][li]American Beauty (1999)[/ul][ul][/li][li]Big Fish (2003)[/ul][ul][/li][li]Blow (2001)[/ul][ul][/li][li]Catch Me If You Can (2002)[/ul][ul][/li][li]Chasing Amy (1997)[/ul][ul][/li][li]Clerks (1994)[/ul][ul][/li][li]Collateral (2004)[/ul][ul][/li][li]Coyote Ugly (2000)[/ul][ul][/li][li]Election (1999)[/ul][ul][/li][li]Forrest Gump (1994)[/ul][ul][/li][li]Ghost (1990)[/ul][ul][/li][li]The Green Mile (1999)[/ul][ul][/li][li]Groundhog Day (1993)[/ul][ul][/li][li]Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring (2001)[/ul][ul][/li][li]Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)[/ul][ul][/li][li]Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002)[/ul][ul][/li][li]Mystic River (2003)[/ul][ul][/li][li]Ocean’s Eleven (2001)[/ul][ul][/li][li]The Princess Bride (1987)[/ul][ul][/li][li]Saved! (2004)[/ul][ul][/li][li]Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982)[/ul][ul][/li][li]Star Trek: First Contact (1996)[/ul][ul][/li][li]The Terminal (2004)[/ul][ul][/li][li]Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)[/ul][ul][/li][li]Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003)[/ul][ul][/li][li]Trekkies (1999)[/ul][ul][/li][li]The Wedding Singer (1998)[/ul][ul][/li][li]What About Bob? (1991)[/ul][ul][/li][li]What’s Eating Gilbert Grape (1993)[/ul][ul][/li][li]X2: X-Men United (2003)[/ul][/li]And for what it may be worth, I watched The Ladykillers and Raising Arizona earlier and both got 2s which, in my ranking system, denotes apathy and/or boredom.

2

Well, there’s Trekkies 2.

3

I saw Fargo and was going to suggest several Cohen bros movies, then I noticed you didn’t like Ladykillers or Raising Arizona…So ill only recommend one,
The Big Lebowski.

I see a lot of SciFi stuff on your list, so Id definitely recommend(in order)
Blade Runner
Aliens
Alien
2001(asterisk-love or hate type movie)
THe Fifth Element(make that a definite maybe)

Others based on movies you liked…
CHasing Amy/CLerks–>Dogma
Braveheart–>Gladiator
Election–>The Royal Tennenbaums, Being John Malkovich
Green Mile–>Shawshank Redemtion
Blow–>Traffic (I constantly get these two confused, I thought one was good, the other very good).
Some random movies that you might like…
Heat
LA Confidential
The Usual Suspects
Good Fellas
Matchstick Men
^^These are all Actiony crime type stories, but with good plots and character development. This is my favorite genre, and these are some of the best, IMO.
The Sixth Sense
Memento

Sorry if many of these are the ones netflix keeps recommending, and double sorry if you saw these and thought they were 2-3’s. Its hard to suggest comedies, I find that who I watch it with and when really influences my experience, so there aren’t too many here. (ok, ok, The Jerk). And AFI has lists of best action, thriller, drama, etc. online. When I get stuck for flicks on my queue, i usually can find something that has slipped my mind on one of the lists.

Good luck.

4

Brazil is another fine Terry Gilliam film, and definitely worth seeing. I’ll second the recommendation for The Fifth Element, and suggest the Evil Dead trilogy if you haven’t seen that already.

5

I’ve gone through Netflix and rated over 5,000 titles. Many of those were just ‘Not Interested’ on documentaries, concert videos, kid’s fare - but I find that the recommendations Netflix gives me are usually solid - within about a star’s worth of variance. Just go in, Rate More Titles, and things should shape up a bit.

6

This is my very favorite kind of thread.

I’m going to assume, for purposes of my response, that you have only ever seen the movies you mentioned in the OP. I’m also going to assume that all mentioned movies (except the two caveats) were films you liked about the same, which is to say a lot.

I’m also going to ignore the other replies, because to incorporate “seconds” and “thirds” would make this task more time consuming than it already is.

[ul][li]Braveheart (1995)[/li][li]Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring (2001)[/li][li]Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003)[/li][li]Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers (2002)[/li][li]The Last Samurai (2003)[/ul][/li]I can tell by these, (mostly by Braveheart), that you would probably enjoy Rob Roy. I refer to this movie as “Braveheart Lite”, but since Liam Neeson is one of the coolest actors ever, Rob Roy is quite fun. For sword battles, First Knight is a halfway decent revisionist King Arthur tale, though I admit I dug it almost exclusively for Julia Ormond. (Plus Sean Connery’s plea at the climactic battle.) For the real deal, try Excalibre. (As an added bonus, Patrick Stewart is in it.) But now that I’ve said “swords” I must include Kill Bill, despite a glaring lack of Tarentino anywhere on your list.

[ul][li]Sling Blade (1996)[/li][li]25th Hour (2002)[/li][li]American Beauty (1999)[/li][li]Garden State (2004)[/li][li]The Terminal (2004)[/li][li]Fargo (1996)[/li][li]Election (1999)[/li][li]What’s Eating Gilbert Grape (1993)[/li][li]The Green Mile (1999)[/ul][/li]These indicate that you might like Ghost World, The Ice Storm, and Lost In Translation. Also, you’d probably like Wonder Boys and Levity. I am a big fan of The Royal Tenenbaums; you might like it as well. And the obligatory mention of Seabisuit is that I thought I’d be bored to tears by it, but I found it riveting. I have not yet seen Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, but you may want to check it out along with The Truman Show. Also worth mentioning is Donnie Darko and Leaving Las Vegas. And lest we forget, (as I see you have some non-silly Adam Sandler mentioned) give Punch Drunk Love a shot. You might only consider it lukewarm, but it is unique, which is gratification enough in a movie, no? And finally, give a look to American Splendor. Some mentioned are darker than others, but all are fairly dark.

[ul][li]Death to Smoochy (2002)[/li][li]Coyote Ugly (2000)[/ul][/li]These indicate to me that you have no taste in movies, and are worthy of scorn. Even so, liking these, you may enjoy Big Trouble.

[ul][li]American History X (1998)[/li][li]Fight Club (1999)[/ul][/li]Top drawer selections. Along these lines, check out Requiem for a Dream. Sleepers is also a good flick, albeit disturbing. (Pedo-erotic, anyone? gags) Also, you might might like The Professional.

[ul][li]12 Monkeys (1995)[/ul][/li]You should give The Fifth Element a shot.

[ul][li]Blow (2001)[/li][li]Catch Me If You Can (2002)[/ul][/li]You should definately check out Wonderland, it’s a solid flick. You might enjoy Traffic, though I wasn’t a huge fan of it. For an obscure (indie) selection, check out Cherish.

[ul][li]Chasing Amy (1997)[/li][li]The Wedding Singer (1998)[/li][li]Groundhog Day (1993)[/ul][/li]Excellent taste you have. For feel-good romances, I’d highly recommend Love, Actually. I haven’t seen 50 First Dates yet for fear it will sour me on The Wedding Singer, which I love dearly. I didn’t hate Gigli, which I call a poor man’s Chasing Amy, irony be damned. And if you haven’t seen it 100 times already, Overboard is required viewing. Mr. Deeds is nowhere near as good as The Wedding Singer, but for hardcore fans of Winona Ryder like me, it was worth it.

[ul][li]Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986)[/li][li]Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991)[/li][li]Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (1982)[/li][li]Star Trek: First Contact (1996)[/ul][/li]Check out Solaris, which is completely unlike Star Trek in every way. But judging by your other selections, plus this ability to enjoy sci-fi, you might really like it. It is a George Clooney remake of an apparently excellent film which I have never seen, but I liked the remake an awful lot.

[ul][li]Ghost (1990)[/ul][/li]Perhaps you’d enjoy Kate & Leopold, or even Serendipity.

[ul][li]Big Fish (2003)[/li][li]The Princess Bride (1987)[/li][li]Forrest Gump (1994)[/ul][/li]Meh. The fact that Forrest Gump is on your list and Pulp Fiction is not makes me vomit into my mouth a little. Different strokes, I guess. I don’t know of any others in this genre offhand.

[ul][li]X2: X-Men United (2003)[/ul][/li]Obligatory mention of the Spiderman franchise.

[ul][li]Ocean’s Eleven (2001)[/ul][/li]Not nearly as good, and much longer than it needs to be, Heat might be of interest to you. For an indie take on organized, non-mafia crime, try Killing Zoe.

[ul][li]Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)[/li][li]Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines (2003)[/ul][/li]Interesting that the third movie made your list while the first did not. If it’s because you haven’t seen it, you should.

[ul][li]What About Bob? (1991)[/li][li]Schindler’s List (1993)[/li][li]Clerks (1994)[/li][li]Trekkies (1999)[/ul][/li]No recommendation based on these, nor could I fit them into any of the other categories. The fact that I have put them in a single list here oogs me out.

[ul][li]Collateral (2004)[/li][li]Mystic River (2003)[/li][li]Saved! (2004)[/ul][/li]Don’t know these.

Several genres I love are comletely missing from your list, which frustrates me. No sexy (as opposed to erotic or adult) movies, no war movies, no gangster movies, and no gritty crime movies. Oh well, maybe somebody else will ask.

Tangent: Thanks for this thread, which has taught me how to use bullet points. If you don’t want blank lines between list items, only use a single set of list tags for each list, once at the beginning and once at the end.

7

Pardon the convoluted nature of this post but assuming anyone still wants to offer any suggestions, I thought this would help give a better idea as to my tastes.

Going on these recommendations and reading their synopses, I’ve added: Alien, Aliens, Being John Malkovich, Heat, LA Confidential, Brazil, Rob Roy, The Ice Storm, Wonder Boys, Levity, Seabiscuit, Requiem for a Dream, Cherish, Wonderland, The Truman Show, and Leaving Las Vegas.

I already had Trekkies 2, Gladiator, The Shawshank Redemption, Good Fellas, Matchstick Men, Ghost World, Punch Drunk Love, Sleepers, 50 First Dates, Love Actually, and *Gigli *in my queue.

Most of the rest, I’ve already seen. Their rankings are as follows:

[ul][li]Blade Runner ***** (literally put me to sleep)[/ul] [/li][ul][li]The Fifth Element *****[/ul][/li][ul][li]Dogma *****[/ul][/li][ul][li]The Royal Tennenbaums ****** (loved the idea of the movie but not it itself)[/ul] [/li][ul][li]The Usual Suspects *****[/ul][/li][ul][li]The Sixth Sense *******[/ul][/li][ul][li]First Knight *******[/ul][/li][ul][li]Lost In Translation ***** (wanted to love it but could not)[/ul] [/li][ul][li]Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind ****** (in queue as it needs rewatching; had food poisoning while watching it)[/ul][/li][ul][li]Donnie Darko *******[/ul][/li][ul][li]Mr. Deeds ******[/ul][/li][ul][li]Spiderman *******[/ul][/li][ul][li]Spiderman 2 ******[/ul][/li][ul][li]Terminator ******* (would get 3.5 stars if it were allowable)[/ul][/li]

Coyote Ugly is actually the movie that prompted the “please be gentle” line in my OP. I realize it’s fluff and know I should feel contempt for it but love it for some reason.

Death to Smoochy, on the other hand, is truly awesome and anyone that disagrees dresses and/or smells funny. While romantic comedies are my guilty pleasure, black comedies are my Verhoeven.

Tarantino doesn’t do much for me. His pseudospeak and stylized violence just turn me off for some reason.

It fell just shy of four stars. Depending on my mood, it can sometimes be ranked alongside it but I generally prefer the latter two in the trilogy.

*Collateral *and Mystic River are both character driven crime movies. Saved! is a satirical Christian movie. Considering your comments, I’d recommend the first two to you.

I have no idea what a sexy movie is but I do have some war movies and crime movies in my queue and would consider Mystic River, Fargo, and *Collateral *to be in that genre as well.

Not too fond of gangster movies. Or westerns. I hate westerns.

You’re welcome. And the spaces were intentional… it took a couple minutes of toying around with the coding to figure out how to do it.

8

I hope my jovial insults to your taste were taken in the manner they were intended – all in good fun. In re-reading, they sound kind of harsher than I meant them to be. After both, please imagine a :p, and I apologize if I offended you. (I don’t thnk I did, as you seem to be in good humor, but just in case.)

I hated The Fifth Element the first time I watched it, but since then I have grown to be quite fond of it. If you’ve only seen it once, maybe give it another shot. If you’ve seen it more than once, you’ve already given it a fair shake. Actually, once is generally a fair enough shake, I just mean that that particular movie gets better with repeat viewings.

As far as Tarentino, yeah, many do not like his work. My dig regarding Pulp Fiction was a reference to the Oscars of that year more than a dig at you. Again, my prose was unclear, and likely far too subtle for my own good.

Oh yeah, that was obvious, and the reason I put the first dig in. If it makes you feel any better, I already admitted to liking Gigli.

Now see, your teasing is blatantly good-natured. I need to learn that skill.

“black comedies are my Verhoeven”

BWAHAHAHAHAH!!!

Actually, that reminds me, if you liked Death to Smootchie, you might like Death Becomes Her.

I’m making a note to check out all three, as Dogma is a personal favorite and in my collection, and is a satirical Christian movie as well. Or did you mean something else?

Think Bound for sexy movies. Yowza.

I was thinking more along gritty crime movies, which includes titles like Killing Zoe, Lock, Stock & Two Smoking Barrels, and Shallow Grave. Think of them as a cross between Ocean’s Eleven and Trainspotting.

9

Yeesh, are you saying that Forrest Gump and Pulp Fiction are in the same movie genre? How is that? (I liked both movies, for what that’s worth.)

10

Oh, and to the OP, I know you said you hate weaterns, but you might check out Unforgiven. Got to be one of my favorite flics.

11

Forrest Gump beat out Pulp Fiction for best movie that year at the Oscars.

12

It’s been in my queue for about a week. I put it on there after seeing Mystic River, which Eastwood also directed. Between that and all the buzz I remember about it as a kid, I figured I’d give it a shot and see if it’s the exception to the rule.

No. It was a an obvious joke and there was no offense. I fully expected someone to trash me for Coyote Ugly and would have been oddly dissapointed if I hadn’t been.

I’ll add it then. I don’t really remember much about it other than wanting to maim Chris Tucker, actually. And that was years ago so my tastes may’ve changed a little.

:smiley:

Dogma’s more mean-spirited and snarky but there’s a definite similarity. The ending is too cliche though and that might take away from your enjoyment. Myself, I like that type of ending so it didn’t bother me so much.

Ah. Movies like Fight Club, AHX, and *Braveheart *notwithstanding, I’m not too fond of ultra-violence and am easily turned off by it, even if heavily stylized. Blood and/or gore make me squeamish.

Any more suggestions anyone? Maybe if I post Cervaise’s name, he’ll pop in and give me some suggestions so long as they aren’t Uzbekistani films about gay French cowboys eating pudding.

13

Have you tried IMDB recommendations yet? I find that most people don’t know about it. Here is what you would get for Fargo, an interesting assortment.

14

In discussing The Fifth Element, which we both hated the first time around…

Exactly. I simply could not stomach Chris Tucker; every scene with him was like nails on a chalkboard. Plus the Gary Oldman scenes, especially with the aliens, I found to be horrendously awful.

In subsequent viewings, I’ve grown quite fond of Oldman’s scenes, in particular with the aliens. Milla Jovovich telling the counterperson that she has a “multipass”, and Bruce Willis trying to explain that she doesn’t care, is pure gold. I always loved the countless nods to Heavy Metal, which is a fun animated movie you should check out if you haven’t seen.

Still, I find the Chris Tucker part annoying as ever. It just bugs me, as I’m sure it will you, too. I try to think of the movie as nothing more than the scenes with Bruce Willis, Milla Jovovich, or Gary Oldman, and when I succeed, I love the movie. It has become one of the movies I simply cannot turn away from if I run across it on cable.

Yeah, stay away from Lock, Stock… then, for sure. Killing Zoe is borderline, but you might like it. I’m in love with Julie Delpy, and a big fan of Eric Stoltz, so it’s one of my alltime favorites.

I also found it had an interesting edit. One of the most jarring scenes to me involved a guy sitting around smoking a cigarette in the aftermath of a death. A pool of blood is nearby, and when he finishes his smoke, he tosses the butt into the blood like you would normally aim for any puddle. Jarring in the extreme, in an incredibly understated way. They recently showed the movie on basic cable, and the pool of blood had been digitally removed, confirming for me that I wasn’t the only person to find it jarring.

And I absolutely love the way the French police are depicted. Do not commit a crime in France.

Just some random movies I like, that you might also:

[ul][li]She’s The One[/li][li]Your Friends And Neighbors[/li][li]The Good Girl (I’d forgotten this; it should be in the same recommendation section as The Ice Storm)[/li][li] The Opposite of Sex[/li][li] Beautiful Girls[/li][li] Short Cuts[/li][li] 200 Cigarettes[/li][li] Rounders[/li][li] Go (1999)[/li][li] The Weight of Water[/li][li] Vanilla Sky[/li][li] Four Rooms[/li][li] Mumford[/li][li] Things To Do In Denver When You’re Dead[/li][li] Big Daddy[/li][li] Dazed and Confused[/li][li] Sliding Doors[/li][li] The Anniversary Party[/li][li] The Pallbearer[/li] High Art[/ul]That’s a bit of an odd grouping, not to mention ordering, but I liked them all, and judging by your taste, you might as well.

15

You’ve already seen 270 movies!? Didn’t you just sign-up with Netflix a few weeks ago? I’m in awe. You live next door to the distribution center or something?

16

I’ve added everything you suggested sans Dazed and Confused, which just didn’t sound interesting, and The Good Girl, Rounders, Vanilla Sky, and The Pallbearer, all of which I’ve seen and given three stars.

What’s interesting is that three of those movies – The Opposite of Sex, Four Rooms, and Things to Do in Denver When You’re Dead – I’ve run across a couple times while idly surfing through the choices but never put in my queue for whatever reason. At your suggestion though, I finally put them in.

Reminds me of the scene in AHX where Norton’s character tells the man that just broke in his house to bite the curb and then you see his foot coming down. It doesn’t actually show anything but that scene still gives me chills years later… I literally jumped back a good foot from the TV when I saw it.

One of the worst scenes ever.

17

Heh. I have a lot of times on my hands but not that much. The 270 I’ve ranked are movies I’ve seen over my entire lifetime and remember enough about to give a fair ranking to.

In the two and a half (three?) weeks I’ve been a part of Netflix, I’ve watched twelve movies – 25th Hour, Big Fish, Blow, Free Enterprise, Intolerable Cruelty, The Ladykillers, Mystic River, Raising Arizona, Rear Window, The Royal Tenenbaums, Saved!, and What’s Eating Gilbert Grape – which is still a lot of movies, but not quite 270, which I don’t think is even possible.

I’m definitely getting my money’s worth though.

18

IMDB crashed my browsers and ate my clipboard, so I lost a longish post. Grrr. I will attempt to recreate, though it will be shorter.

Dazed… isn’t great, but has the distinction of involving a large cast of young (virtual) unknowns. Kevin Smith recruited heavily from the cast for his movies.

The Opposite… isn’t the best movie ever, but I became a fan of Lisa Kudrow after seeing her great performance in it. She’s also excellent in Wonderland.

Things To Do… is pretty good, though it seems that I like it more than other people. Great scenes with Christopher Walken and Steve Buscemi, but Treat Williams steals the movie.

I had the exact same reaction. Reminds me of the NY news guy who reported, and I quote:

“Residents would rather give J-Lo a curb job than a blow j…erm…uh…I’m sorry.”

That’s some hardcore reporting. A curb job is what Ed did in that scene. The noise was one of the things that made it so chilling, IMO. (I forget what the residents were pissed at J-Lo for.)

I thought of a couple more:

Freeway - far and away Reese Witherspoon’s best work. Also, it vaulted Kiefer Sutherland out of Brat Pack status.

HurlyBurly - Kevin Spacey, Chazz Palminteri, and Anna Paquin are excellent. Sean Penn is okay. Dialogue a bit too frenetic for my taste, but a decent movie. And anything with Gary Shandling is aces in my book. (Not to mention Meg Ryan in a non-romantic comedy, and a bit part to boot, is refreshing.)

What Planet Are You From? - Speaking of Gary Shandling, if you like him, this is a must-see. (The Larry Sanders Show is one of my all-time favorite TV shows.)

Yeah, I know, this is the shorter version? Believe it or not, yes it is.

19

Also, after seeing a bunch of these, perhaps you’d come back and share your ratings of them? I’m sure you’ll find them all at least watchable, but would be kind of curious to see which you would label “meh” and which you would rate “excellent find”.

20

I’ve seen What Planet Are You From?; it got ******. The other two were added though.

And I’ll intersperse six to ten of your suggestions in the top thirty or so slots of my queue and should be able to get back to you in a month, month and a half at my current rate of six to nine movies a week.