Good one Ponch8. I love this movie. There are so many hilarious moments. I still can’t drive through a toll gate without smiling. 
Just out on DVD: “Bernie.” Worth it because it is practically a documentary on Texas bizarro culture/Southern Gothic AND because Jack Black in the title role definitely deserves an Oscar.
The Big Hit, a hilarious action comedy starring Mark Wahlberg as an overworked hit man who just wants people to like him.
State and Main, the interactions of a Hollywood film crew and small town Americana. Somewhat marred by an unfortunate continuity error and the fact that the female lead is… not a great actress (it helps to be married to the writer), but Philip Seymour Hoffman, the rest of the cast, and the David Mamet script make this one of my favorite movies.
Shooting Fish, a lighthearted British comedy about two con men.
Seconded. Watched it in a movie theater in “The People’s Republic of Austin” while visiting family. Very fun. Very real. Very odd.
What is the continuity error?
I’ll second After Hours, The King of Comedy and Head.
I really liked Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, but most people I’ve known, even Terry Gilliam fans, can’t stand it.
Another one that I fully realize isn’t for everyone but should at least be a cult favorite is Steven Soderbergh’s Schizopolis. I also though his The Informant! was underrated.
After Dark, My Sweet. Great noir/pulp fiction (based on the novel by the great pulp writer Jim Thompson) with amazing performances by Jason Patric, Rachel Ward (no, really!) and Bruce Dern. Wonderful.
[spoiler]They show someone accidentally erasing the big calendar board with “Dinner with the Mayor” on it, then re-writing it on the correct day.
Later, they show that the board got erased and the new writing was on the wrong day, causing them to miss the dinner, which turns the mayor’s wife against them.
Now, you could argue that someone else offscreen accidentally erased the board and wrote it on the wrong day, but that’s clearly not what they were going for. And a significant number of the people I’ve shown this movie to have noticed the mistake, and said something like “Wait, I thought she wrote it back on the correct day?!”
Not the end of the world, but pretty sloppy, considering it’s a semi-major plot point.[/spoiler]
I am going to throw Star Wars Episode III into the ring. Easily the third best movie of the saga.
Someone mentioned Elmore Leonard in general but I am going to specify Get Shorty. Funny as hell, full of colorful characters, a great soundtrack and has that back stage Hollywood stuff I love. One of my favorite movies ever and hardly anyone remembers it. The sequel Be Cool is forgettable, however.
Lots of great movies mentioned in this thread!
Oooh, I’m thrilled that others besides me are mentioning this movie! I couldn’t get enough of it and I saw it 5 times in the theater, It stands at this moment as my 2nd favorite film of the year so far (Moonrise Kingdom is still #1). I think that Black deserves an Oscar nomination, which he won’t get, though even if he did get one, he couldn’t win over Joaquin Phoenix and Daniel Day Lewis. His best shot might be a Golden Globe for Musical/Comedy.
BrassyPhrase, what was the reaction to the"5 States of Texas" bit? I’m as liberal as they come, and I still laugh every time. I love that guy.
Big Trouble - based on the Dave Barry comedic novel, and starring Tim Allen and Rene Russo. It’s a fun little romp.
28 Days Later was widely considered to be a great horror movie. It’s 88% on Rotten Tomatoes (Weeks is 71%), and every horror fan I’ve talked to about it loved it.
28 Weeks Later has some serious flaws in my opinion (“Oh no, there’s an outbreak, what should we do?!” “Let’s put everyone down in the dark behind a weak fence with a few infected”), but is a fair sequel. A little bit smarter writing and it would have been great, IMHO.
My favorite movies are pretty much all action movies. I have two action movie selections which most people have never even heard of, yet star some pretty well known actors, which I thought never got the recognition they deserved :
Equilibrium - starring Christian Bale and Taye Diggs. A cross between Matrix and 1984, you have Bale doing Matrix type moves as he fights against an Orwellian big brother society.
Spartan - starring Val Kilmer and Derek Luke. Val in his stocky, but not yet completely fat days, plays a govt operative trying to rescue the daughter of a govt official. If you liked Taken with Liam Neeson, you will probably like this.
Man that takes me back to my teen years, I would also mention Romper Stomper and Malcolm. Two great aussie movies.
A lot of Spartan’s greatness is due to Mamet. Good movie.
Another vote for Bernie. A great movie, even with Shirley MacLaine (who I positively can. not. stand). Jack Black is very impressive- he could easily have devalued the story by overplaying his part, but handled it perfectly, taking it just far enough. He certainly merits an Oscar nomination.
My fellow duffers on the SDMB may have noticed that the AARP magazine just recommended Bernie as one of the year’s best movies.
Someone at AARP has great and twisted sense of humor! Who would have expected them to choose a black Jack Black comedy? Do you have a link to what they said about it?
I looked long and hard, couldn’t find it online, so I hope it’s short enough to not violate the Board’s long-quote rule.
From the AARP Magazine, August/September 2012, page 42
Death And Texas
One of 2012’s Funniest Films
Among the year’s most unexpected cinema gems is Bernie, a dark comedy starring Jack Black as a small-town funeral director and Shirley MacLaine as the mean-spirited local doyenne who befriends him and then takes over his life. Now on DVD, it’s based on a true story, and director Richard Linklater ingeniously cast actual residents of Carthage, Texas, to play themselves. –Bill Newcott
Thanks for that. Unexpected gems is right.
Just watched this last night. A little gem of a movie. Jack Black played it very well. One of the best “based on a true story” movies in a while.