Legion World Forums LEGION COMPANION The Anywhere Machine Five Movies you Love

This IS NOT a TOP 5 list -- pick five movies you love that are not obvious choices or big blockbusters or classics, movies that don't even qualify as a cult film. Movies you're either embarassed to love or that you feel just doesn't get the recognition it deserves.

My 5:
-- "Quiz Show": subtle performances, layered script, a message about the country and about the characters as people. There's almost always two or three things going on in each scene beyond the surface.

-- "Red Rock West": Nick Cage before he was action man. A real noir thriller about a guy caught up in something over his head, a femme fatale and JT Walsh at his finest (he was maybe my fav character actor ever).

-- "Welcome Home Roxy Carmichael": Damn, I loved it when Winona Ryder played freaky outsiders. I wish I had the guts to talk to girls like that in high school.

-- "Midnight Run": My favorite buddy flick after "48 Hours". DeNiro being really funny without being cartoonish ("Analyze That"). The chemistry and lines between DeNiro and Grodin are fun to watch over and over. They're like the odd couple if Oscar was a bounty hunter and Felix was an escaped felon. And then there's Dennis Farina threating to "stab you in the heart with a fuckin' pencil", "bury this fuckin' phone in your skull" or just "...eat a sandwich, do some fuckin' thing!"

... I'll have to think more about my fifth...

Donnie Darko
Heathers
Cruel Intentions
Batman
Halloween

What's that Johnny Depp movie about the PLAN 9 FROM OUTER SPACE guy? I *love* that movie! ED EOOD! That's it! Great stuff!

THE EVIL DEAD

TRUTH OR DARE

All John Waters movies

Time Bandits

Heathers

Edward Scissorhands

Shallow Grave

Any film with a scene in which Brendan Fraser appears at least shirtless.

SHALLOW GRAVE has been a fave of mine forever! What a great movie! You're the only other person I've ever seen mention it in one of these threads!

Army of Darkness (if someone said Evil Dead then this movie applies too)

Mr. Destiny (kinda hokey, but I like it for some reason)

All six of the Horatio Hornblower Movies that aired on A&E a few years back are excellent. I highly recommend them, and I'm really not into that sort of thing either.

Ground Hog Day

Carlito's Way

Yes, Shallow Grave was a delightfully twisted affair. And I have no resistance to things delightfully twisted.

Oh?

Shallow Grave, Donnie Darko and Ed Wood are great picks.

I'll go with:

Blue velvet
The Last Emperor
Far From Heaven
Inside Monkey Zetterland
Waiting For Guffman

Well, after much thought, here's mine.

Waiting for Guffman - anyone who's EVER done any sort of regional or local theater will get a HUGE HOOT out of this one, and it's my fave of all the Christopher Guest-and-co. mockumentaries.

This movie may be too big for this thread, but I really did love The Hours.

Hedwig and the Angry Inch! WHAT a movie!!!

From WAY back in my past, I'm going to say Dead Poets Society, though now I don't think it holds up as well as it did back then.

And keeping the Robin Williams going, my #5 will be The Fisher King. Could Mercedes Ruehl be any more FLAWLESS in that movie?!? I think not.

In not particular order and off the top of my head:

The Great Escape. I just watched this one on Saturday. What an astounding "manly-man" cast.

Rear Window. My all-time favorite Hitchcock movie. Grace Kelly just glows in this one.

Planes, Trains and Automobiles. I've seen this movie countless times back in my drinking and hanging out with friends days.

Star Wars (not Episode IV, but Star Wars, the one where HAN SHOT FIRST! NOT GREEDO!!! DAMN YOU LUCASS!!!!)

ehem

randomly thinking...

The Commitments. All drinking, all fighting, all soul all the time. With Irish people no less.

Ask me tomorrow and you'd get 5 other movies probably.

EXACTLY!! All the special doo-dads and the extra Jabba scene meant absolutely nothing because having Greedo shoot first totally makes me hate all the changes! Aside from the fact that it looked really stupid and fake, it completely ruined that scene. I loved that scene when I was a kid, because Han was a badass -- now all I see is Lucas turning into a doddering old pussy-boy!

Oh yeah, I forgot -- my fifth film (I got side-tracked by the Star Wars rant). Here's one I love and never hear get mentioned *anywhere*:

"Rock & Rule" -- animated post apocalyptic tale of a boy and his girl (mutated dog-like people actually) who are in a band, but the girl gets seduced by some crazy mutant Steven Tyler lookin' piker who wants to use her voice to open the doorway to hell. It has great music from Lou Reed, Cheap Trick, Debbie Harry and Iggy Pop.

Never heard of Rock & Rule but it sounds good....

My top 5 (embarrassing) films, at this moment:

My Fair Lady
101 Dalmations
Black Cat, White Cat (not embarassing really)
Major League I
K Pax

Certainly no reason to be embarrased by "My Fair Lady" -- it's a classic! I love Audrey Hepburn.

I love Time Bandits almost as much as The Adventures of Baron Munchausen...!

Also, you get to see Robin Williams all nekkid an' stuff. Not sure if that's a plus or not, tho. Dude sure is hairy...!

Lilo & Stitch was charming and I loved the hand-painted, watercolor backgrounds.

Another sentimental favorite of mine, and one of the only black and white movies I like (other than Casablanca), is The Ghost and Mrs. Muir. Unlike the cheesy TV show, the movie is actually a good balance of drama, melodrama, and gentle humor.

My Neighbor Tortoro - The best animated film ever made.

This Is Spinal Tap - obvious maybe, but maybe the all-time great rock satire.

Ghost World

Mystery Train

Being John Malkovich

My Fair Lady (definitely a classic and I still love the music)
Ocean's 11 (Clooney's version)
Desparado
The Breakfast Club
The Lost Boys

NOT my favorite part of the movie, by a long shot.

Seeing Robin Williams naked is like seeing a chimpanzee naked. How can you tell?

Have you seen the trailer for "Once Upon a Time in Mexico"? (there's a website) They've definitely ratcheted up the action and Johnny Depp seems to be playing a full-on action badass role. I'm sure he'll make it more interesting than that somehow.

I've already downloaded the trailer. My two current favorite actors are Depp and Bandares (sp?). The only other movie I'm anticipating more is Return of the King.

Hmm, top 5 non-classic/blockbuster type movies:

The Court Jester
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty - I love Dannny Kaye

The Count of Monte Cristo - the new version. Very different from the book, but I felt the changes were logical for adapting a 1000+ page book to a feature length film. They really captured the feel of it, though.

Brotherhood of the Wolf - excellent horror movie that really understood the difference betwen "horror" and "thriller".

Rock and Rule! - I can't believe I'd forgotten about that one. I used watch it endlessly on beta. Thanks, Drake.

Arachne, I can't believe you love Danny Kaye! I think my favorite was The Inspector General. He is absolutely my favorite of the old time comedians. I just wish I could convince Caroline. She can't stand to watch his stuff.

Fuckin' A! Someone else who groks my spock! I had to watch the film again after I wrote the post and it still holds up -- that Mok was such a great movie villain in the classic sense! Totally evil, machiavellian, sexy, mysterious, humorous in a dry kind of way, and even androgynous (as a lot of classic villains were back in the day when homosexuality was seen as "disturbing") in a glam-rock kinda way.

"The magic of one voice, one heart, one song ... but there is *no one*..."

What? Even the hat scene from Walter Mitty? How can anyone resist that one?

Do you have the lyrics to the final song? The duet?
It's been driving me nuts! I've still go the tune in my head, but not the words!

These may not be my top five ever (although they're close in there) but they're five that I can quite happily watch and watch again over and over (and in fact do).

Gentlemen Prefer Blondes . It's by far the best Marilyn film (I prefer it to Some Like It Hot, even though that is great too) and makes me cry laughing every time I watch it. Jane Russell is fabulous, the songs are genius and the whole thing just looks so... lush. The costumes, the sets, everything. And the bit where Marilyn is bouncing on the bed while Daddy is trying to talk seriously to her has me creased up every time. That and the bit where she's stuck in the porthole with Henry Spafford the Third pretending to be her body. Pure comic genius and a fine example of how bloody good an actress Marilyn actually was.

The Misfits Another Marilyn film and much underated I think. Sure she's very clearly drugged up to her eyeballs throughout but her breakdown when she learns what they do to the horses is just one of the most heartbreaking scenes in films ever. Notable for being Montgomery Clift and Clark Gable's last films as well (in fact Gable's insistence that he do his own stunts probably led to his death earlier than it should have happened).

Lilo & Stitch Yay! Bestest film to come out of the Disney studio in, like, forever and clear proof that 2D animation is not dead if done well and with a great story. Absolutely adore it. Some of the best lines ever ("My friends must be punished" and "This is my family. It is small, and broken, but still good"), fabulously funny and soooo sad (when Stitch is alone in the woods and lost I feel like crying every time I see it).

Momento Damn I love this film. One of the cleverest things I've seen in years, absolutely compelling and Guy Pierce semi-naked during large parts. Now that's what I call a good film.

Hedwig and the Angry Inch Chris and I went to see it at the cinema and apart fro us there were only four other people in there, a lesbian couple and another gay male couple, and it really annoyed me in a way that so few people actually saw it. It's a great film, very funny and very sad at the same time. And the music is just brilliant. I loved Wig In A Box (especially the audience participation bit) and Origin Of love is one of the most beautiful rock songs I've heard for ages. Plus I really liked the way that they used animation during sections of it. The soundtrack is well worth buying too.

And then there are others too. Muppets Treasure Island is a film I watch every time I'm feeling a bit narked and want cheering up (especially Benjamina Gunn's first appearance and Flaubert. He he he), Rocky Horror I never tire of and Requiem For A Dream is just amazing. Not a comfortable film to watch but it blew me away completely.

Damn, now i wanna go home and watch a good film again. Hmm, might have to be Lilio and Stitch since I haven't watched it in... ooh, weeks.

I'll have to get back to you on that -- my vcr is currently busy taping "Henry V" and that's a long movie ...

I know the first line though:
"Oh what will the signal be
For your eyes to see me?"

Here you go:

SEND LOVE THROUGH
Performed by Debbie Harry


Ah ah ah
(echo)

Oh, what will the signal be
For your eyes to see me?
(echo)

So I still will set the stage
Send my thoughts to you

(duet)
We're receiving every wave
This song sends love through

Now as one we're gonna show
It's our one desire
From this day we'll always know
How our love grows higher
Now as one we'll set the stage
Focus love on you
Now we're sending every wave
This song sends love through

Now for all you'll ever know
That you'd never see me
And someday you're gonna show
What your one desire means
So I still will set the stage
Send my thoughts to you
I'm receiving every wave
This song sends love through

Now as one we're gonna show
It's our one desire
From this day we'll always know
How our love grows higher
Now as one we'll set the stage
Focus love on you
Now we're sending every wave
This song sends love through

Send love through
In the out, up the down
Send love through
Simple things become confused
Under pressure, boiling steam
On the edge, you'll bust your dreams

Send love through
Give it all, it's up to you
Send love through
I'm just true to you
I want to send my love to you
Are you sure you're in the mood?

Ahhh, ahhh, ahhh, ahhh
Send my love to you
Ahhh, ahhh, ahhh, ahhh

Send love through
Music is so much to you
Guys are you sure you're in the mood?
Send love through
You gotta come through
Me and you
Me and you
Our love is goin' through
My love to you
Send love through
Me and you

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

whoa -- good goin' LL! Where'd you find that?

This here site has the lyrics and some MP3's from the movie.

Awesome -- thanks, LL .... I thought about searching the web, but didn't suspect there'd be this much out there.

The web continues to amaze me with its amount of useless knowledge. Of course, it isn't useless to us.

Wow! Thank's LL, that's very cool.

Looks like I've come to this thread a bit late. Nevermind here goes...

Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown - I love all of Almodavar's movies but this one I could watch again and again and again.

The Umberellas of Cherbourg - love and song in a french umberella shop...what more do you need in a movie? Giant robots! Seriously though this always brings a tear to my eye.

Evil Dead 2 - no explanation needed.

Big Wednesday - a great chill out movie with fantastic surfing scenes.

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly - great music, wonderfully shot.

Three of mine for now, idiosyncrasies perhaps, commercial failures certainly, but I love them all.

The Scarlet Letter -- Yes, the version with Demi Moore (Hester Prynne), Gary Oldman (Dimmesdale), and Robert Duvall (Chillingsworth). I don't care about the critics having blasted it. It has astonishing, passionate acting, a spark-generating supporting cast, beautiful settings.

Moore creates a Hester that is making a New World all on her own, resisting religious tyranny and the shame others want to impose upon her. (Much more believably than Winona Ryder does in "The Crucible," released the same year.) This is her finest performance. Oldman is beautifully conflicted as her minister and lover. Duvall is frozen cold in his matter-of-fact religious intensity. It's not really close to Hawthorne's tale, except from mid-movie to nearly the end. They've expanded the story's setting and scope, and it's far more than a morality play.

'Til There Was You -- An unconventional love story, going against expectations. Two parallel stories, really, with Jeanne Tripplehorn and Dylan McDermott having coincidences where, out of the passions of their separate lives, their paths cross -- yet they don't know it, until the end. One of my favorite characters in literature, Howard Roark, was written as musing, "To say 'I love you,' one must first know how to say the 'I'" -- and that's what these two people learn, playing with and off of those around them.

Tripplehorn does it with an almost mystically beautiful apartment building home that she finds, and with her neighbors there. McDermott does it with a lover who's a wizened former child star, playing on illusions (Sarah Jessica Parker). The story is magic, binding up "the awful truth" -- playing on meanings of that phrase -- with swirls of cigarette smoke and comic despair. You'll root for each one of them.

Xanadu -- Disco-era, yep, but it has life in it, brilliant music from the Electric Light Orchestra, and Gene Kelly's last performance. Olivia Newton-John is the Muse of the dance, Terpsichore, come to Earth to inspire an artist or two, one of them Kelly's character long ago, one in the present.

These two men end up opening a combined disco and Big Band dance emporium. I know it sounds absurd, but it works! You've got to see and hear how the music makes it come together, as it's really impossible to describe -- though the soundtrack album makes a stab at it.

... Two or three more when I have some time.

Find that time yet Grey?

I thought I'd dig up this thread to mention two of my favs from big directors that aren't usually mentioned.

"Ikiru" -- directed by Akira Kurosawa. This isn't a samurai epic or even a period piece. It's about a middle management civil servant who re-evaluates his life when he finds out he has cancer. It's a beautiful movie about a man trying to really live the last months of his life despite the fact that he doesn't really know how (lack of practice).

"Stardust Memories" -- directed by Woody Allen. Even though the film's as much Bergman as it is Allen he tells a bittersweet human story that (once again) mirrors Allen's life. There's a repeating joke about how people keep coming up to his character (a filmmaker) and telling him that they liked him better when he made funny movies. It's a funny line, but underscored by a painful truth.

Hows about the following, in no particular order:-

Aliens
Leon
Trainspotting
Seven Samurai
Monty Pythons Life of Brian.

And then there's :-

The Fifth Element
Fight Club
The Green Mile
Pulp Fiction
This Is Spinal Tap
Unbreakable
Mystery Men

Sorry, but I couldn't limit it to the first 5 I thought of. And I'm sure I could think of a few more given another minute or two, so I'll stop there.

Since it's been awhile...

I thought of a few more movies to add to my list:

Brain Donors starring John Tuturro (sp?) in a Groucho Marx type role.


Grand Tour:Disaster in Time starring Jeff Daniels. It stars Jeff as a bed n breakfast owner who hosts a bunch of time travellers who have come back through time to watch the "spectacle" of any disaster because their future no longer has anything quite so exciting.

Dumb and Dumber This movie is just one of those I can put in the DVD player and laugh and laugh and laugh and (you get the idea)

Time Cop One of the better cop/sci fi movies ever made.

Oliver! When this came on when I was a kid, I just found that me and my sisters would never turn the channel. It may be a classic, but I don't think it gets the recognition it deserves so I put it on my list.

Dangerous Liasons--the greatest period piece of all time? Malkovich was simply brilliant!

Strange Brew: It's a jelly.

Life of Brian--the most underappreciated of Python films. The best, in my book.

The Hunger: David Bowie? Catherine Deneuve (sp?)? Susan Saradon? Susan and Catherine having hot lesbian vampire sex? Right on, baby!

Romeo and Juliet, Baz Luhrman version. Sure, the leads aren't the best, but the vision and the supporting characters are FLAWLESS. Best. Mercutio. Ever.

The Lost Boys - What did you do to Nanook?!? It has so many cories and good lines...

Transformers, the movie - I saw this when I was like I dunno, 5 or 6? I was bawling like a baby when all those bots die. In the summer of 2003 my friends and I almost memorized the whole theme song "You Got The Touch!" Sad...so sad

Singing In the Rain - "Good Morning" is my fav. song.

Sorority Boys - Sometimes a bad teen movie, other times freakin' hilarious - dildo sword fighting? priceless.

Rushmore - Fun kooky movie with a great soundtrack.

I'll add a couple more, with more generally familiar plots ...

Steel Magnolias -- This comedy/drama has become a punching bag in many ways, the archetypical "chick movie that guys can't stand," supposedly. My own bank, Washington Mutual, lampoons it in a new TV ad about one of its customers becoming suddenly all honest at his poker game, liking it instead of action movies. (Getting free checking supposedly does that to you!)

I don't care about the bashing -- especially since this whole chicks-vs.-guys distinction is bogus, anyway. It's a superior and intricately balanced ensemble cast, playing off of personal quirks and tragedies without quite getting maudlin or excessive, despite its reputation. All six women show their acting chops and make you feel for them. Especially, and surprisingly, Dolly Parton, consistently underrated when she was acting.

When Sally Field is speeding past the Texaco station out in a bayou, after a death in the family, to reach and hold her grandson, that's one of the most desolate and haunting movie images I've ever seen.

Star Trek: The Motion Picture -- The last of the old-time-style science fiction epics, following from "Metropolis," "Forbidden Planet," and "2001." The later "Trek" films have all been much more like extended TV episodes in tone. This one, though, shows grandeur and a sense of the mystery of the universe being wrapped around its characters. As intelligent and compelling as "Next Generation" was, on small and large screens, I never got that sense of immersion from the newer cast.

If you haven't seen this in the last quarter-century, get your hands on the notably improved DVD "Director's Edition," supervised by Robert Wise. It makes many scenes more compact, updates the sound mix (also removing intrusive computer voices), and finishes many of the special effects as they were planned in 1979 but were never carried out, due to lack of time before its release. It has well-turned documentaries on the second disc about the movie, its re-doing, and the underrated phenomenon it had been all along.

If I had to guess why there was a change in tone of the Trek franchise between the first and second series, I'd say that by the time "TNG" came out, space was blase. We became a nation much more interested in navel gazing and examining ourselves (which is why there were so many Data stories) rather than seeking "new life".

And in terms of the movies, there became a bigger need to throw in more action, which was never the main point of Star Trek.

By the way, did anyone else notice a resemblance between "Master and Commander" and "Star Trek II"? Since "Master" was based on books, I'd guess the writers of "ST II" read them and based a lot of the Kirk/Khan maneuvering on that (aside from the battle there's also the "Genesis/Galapagos" parallel, Scottie's nephew/ that boy who gets killed, the Reliant ruse used by Khan that Crowe's character uses etc...)

Lessee... I'm gonna bend the rules a bit and choose a couple of movies that, while considered 'classics', aren't the most famous or oft-discussed pieces by the director or star.

1). SHADOW OF A DOUBT: Hitchcock's favorite of his own films, this at first seems a sweet little story evoking small-town America... but it's got bite. Starring the criminally undervalued Teresa White, this is a great movie to watch if you're in the mood for a little mystery and creepiness that isn't obvious.

You'll have to like black and white movies, though... if you don't, I don't really wanna talk to ya (kidding... sort of).

2). WINTER LIGHT: Ingmar Bergman's 'chamber piece' about a minister whose faith is slowly dying is deliberate, slow-moving and deeply sad in a way that doesn't hit you so much as you watch it, but stays with you long after.

This one ain't for everybody... I wouldn't even exactly call it entertaining, but I've never been able to forget it. This one's also in black and white AND it's subtitled (or dubbed, I guess, though I don't know why anyone would choose dubbing over subtitles, but that's just me...)

3). STAR!... a sixties musical featuring Julie Andrews as famous London actress Gertrude Lawrence that has a very bad reputation. The movie, not Miss Lawrence... though she got around, at least if you believe this biopic.

Anyway, there are scenes from another musical, one in which Miss Lawrence was a star, called LADY IN THE DARK. One song, "The Saga of Jenny" (by Kurt Weill), I just adore. To me, that song alone is worth watching the whole dang movie.

Ginger Rogers did an earlier version of the song, which pales in comparison.

There are other things to like about STAR!, but there are some definite dead spots.

4). BEAUTIFUL THING: a well-told British-made love story between two young men who live in a project.

5). PSYCHO BEACH PARTY: I wouldn't say this is one of my all-time favorites, but this silly send-up of BEACH BLANKET BINGO, etc. was a lot of fun and I needed something light and goofy to round out the list.

TN

Other movies I cannot resist:

PARTY GIRL

CLUELESS

ROMY & MICHELLE'S HIGH SCHOOL REUNION

JAY & SILENT BOB STRIKE BACK

CHASING AMY

Lots to choose from, but today's five...

Metropolis
Micmacs
The Ghoul (Karloff version)
Brazil
Rashomon

It's going to be tough to choose, but I'll go with:

An American Werewolf in London
After Hours
Fright Night
Blue Velvet
The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

Sleeping Beauty
The Bat
Revolutionary Girl Utena ~ Adolescence of Utena
A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child
Hold That Ghost

The Last of the Mohicans (1992)
Aliens
Thor (2011)
Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country
Suspiria

Naked Lunch
Donnie Darko
Exotica
Mullholland Drive
Fargo

12 Angry Men
It's a Wonderful Life
To Sir With Love
Monty Python and the Holy Grail
Stepmom (a tear jerker starring Susan Sarandon and Julia Roberts)

The Great Muppet Caper
Victor/Victoria
Monkey Business
Airplane
Chicago

Empire Strikes Back
Wrath of Khan
Kill Bill (I consider them both 1 movie)
It's a Wonderful Life

and either 40 Year-Old Virgin or Talladega Nights (hard to choose between them for sheer goofy fun!)