Hello, everyone at Paizo.com!
Being long-time fans of cinema, my wife and I are starting a weekly Double Feature Movie Night. We'll be showing two movies every Sunday, rain or shine, for any of our friends who feel like showing up (even if it ends up being just us some nights). The two of us have seen lots of movies over the years, many of which we'd love to watch again (especially if sharing them with new viewers), and there are still plenty of movies (classics and obscure titles alike) that we have yet to see. So recommend me some of your best!
I'd love to hear what movies you all recommend seeing. I think we'll be focusing mostly on horror movies (the good and the bad), but not entirely. I'm looking for classics, cult classics, good movies, bad movies, scary movies, funny movies, so-bad-it's-good movies, American movies, foreign movies, pretty much anything you think is worth watching. But, most importantly, if you recommend a movie, please tell me WHY you're recommending it! Does this particular movie have a great ending? (No spoilers, please!) Does it have an ending that's so bad you'll remember it for the rest of your life? Is the production value great? Is the production value terrible? Is there a line or a bunch of lines that are eternally quotable?
I want to hear everything you all recommend! I'm looking forward to watching all of your favorites!
"Grave of the Fireflies" - animated Japanese movie from 1988. It is based on a semi-autobiographical novel intended as an apology to the author's sister. It is heartrendingly sad, but deeply moving and filled with a haunting beauty.
"Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon" - Chinese wuxia movie from 2000 with excellent production and choreography. Numerous awards adorn this movie, odds are you have seen it - but it would be a pleasure to see it again.
"Run Lola Run" - a German crime-thriller from 1998, with a quantum-reality-esque many universe depiction of Lola's attempt to rescue her boyfriend. Intense, action, compelling characters.
If you want so-bad-it's-good, go for The Room, the movie by Tommy Wiseau.
Arguably, it's so-bad-it's-horrible though.
"Four Rooms" - a US comedy from 1995, this movie was directed by four directors, each responsible for one of the four rooms of the title. Failed abysmally with the critics - but audiences are warm to this movie that is willing to stretch and redefine comic boundaries and conventions.
Humor : Eight Heads in a Duffle Bag. There's a scene with 8 heads singing 'Hey mister hitman' to the tune of 'Hey Mr. Sandman'. It's incredibly bad good funny humor. Joe Pesci, Buffy the Slayer (movie version), and the tanned guy who played a vampire. Yeah, I'm too lazy to go look it up, sue me. :)
Humor/Romance/Action : A Knight's Tale. Heath Ledger. Enough said.
Anime : Kinichei : The Mightiest Disciple. Series, very funny, PG 13 humor. 50 episodes.
Anime : Avatar : The Last Airbender. Series. 36 episodes (I think). Very good.
Suspense/Mystery/Psychological Thriller : The Game. Michael Douglas and Sean Penn. Head games until the very end. Is Sean playing a trick on his brother, or is someone trying to kill him? Who knows?
Supernatural/Martial Arts : The Crow. Brandon Lee's final film. :(
Martial Arts/Foreign : Any Zatochi movie. Ranges from PG 17 to R. Very bloody.
If you want so-bad-it's-good, go for The Room, the movie by Tommy Wiseau.
Arguably, it's so-bad-it's-horrible though.
As a matter of fact, that's one of my favorite movies. :-P Speaking of which, my wife got me a painting for Christmas that was painted by the girl who played Lisa in the film- along with her autograph and a personalized note and everything. And it's a painting of a spoon, which has certain significance to the cult following of the film. All in all, a priceless and amazing gift.
Speaking of anime: Both seasons as well as the movie around "The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya" phenomenon. Based on a series of Japanese light novels the animated features have become tremendously popular in Japan, Eastern Asia and English-speaking countries world wide.
The movie is incredible, but presupposes that you've seen the two series - both of which are milestones in anime entertainment.
FullMetal Alchemist and then FullMetal Alchemist - Brotherhood. Trust me on the order of watching these series.
Also, Ghost in the Shell is good.
Didn't like Full Metal Alchemist - Brotherhood. Liked FMA, but not the ending (blech).
I'm looking for classics, cult classics, good movies, bad movies, scary movies, funny movies, so-bad-it's-good movies, American movies, foreign movies, pretty much anything you think is worth watching. But, most importantly, if you recommend a movie, please tell me WHY you're recommending it! Does this particular movie have a great ending? (No spoilers, please!) Does it have an ending that's so bad you'll remember it for the rest of your life? Is the production value great? Is the production value terrible? Is there a line or a bunch of lines that are eternally quotable?
I want to hear everything you all recommend! I'm looking forward to watching all of your favorites!
Classics--The Big Sleep
This movie's got tons of great lines, great sexytime flirtations between Bogart and, well, anything with a skirt and a pretty modern, gritty look at the seedier aspects of life. The plot is so convoluted that William Faulkner, who was adapting the book for film, had to call up the author, Raymond Chandler and ask him who killed one of the characters. Chandler famously answered that he didn't know!
Cult Classic--Repo Man
More great one-liners, more crazy action, vaguely sci-fi, vaguely political, and a great triumph for Harry Dean Stanton, of whom it is said that any movie he was in was worth watching.
Good Movie--Matewan
There doesn't appear to be a trailer, so I'll just link one of my favorite scenes. NSFW. Even if you don't share my political opinions, this movie kicks ass as a time-period Appalachian drama. The sheriff even a member of the infamous Hatfield family!
I'm not sure if this movie is really bad, because I love it. Just watch the trailer.
Scary--Rosemary's Baby
The young Mia Farrow was gorgeous and Hail Satan!
Here endeth Part One of Doodlebug Anklebiter's Film Recommendations
Funny--Rushmore
This is another one of my favorite movies of all-time. Some of Wes Anderson's later ones kind of disappeared up his own bum, but with Rushmore all that self-absorbent attention to detail is channelled to tell the story and it feels like punk. Plenty of quotables, too.
So-Bad-It's-Good--Dark Star
John Carpenter's first film was a quasi-spoof on 2001: A Space Odyssey about hippies in space on an interplanetary mission to blow shiznit up. The budget for this flick was non-existent, but what the filmmakers didn't have in money, they made up for in care: look at that alien! IIRC, the guy who wrote Alien helped write this.
American--Citizen Kane
This daring film about transsexual tycoons made Orson Welles anathema around Hollywood for decades.
Foreign--Les enfants du paradis
This movie is quintessentially French--it's beautifully shot, wittily scripted, has a courtesan for its main romantic female role and--sacre bleu!--it even has a frickin' mime in it! Highly recommended.
Anything You Think Is Worth Watching--Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia
Because of its title!
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I have to second a few of Commie Anklebiter's suggestions.
Repo Man could easily be paired with Suburbia (1983) or The Decline of Western Civilization (both cult flicks) for a good punk rock night. Not exactly large buget flicks but entertaining.
Also in the vein of counter-culture - Romper Stomper and This is England would both be a fun night of skinhead mayhem.
Plan 9 From Outer Space/Brain from Planet Arous/Robot Monster/Astro Zombies are all great films - combine in any order and they are good for some laughs.
Giant Insect/B-Movie night: Them! is a classic, so you probably have already seen it (giant ants). Can easily be combined with the Black Scorpion (1957), Tarantula (1955, with a small cameo by clint Eastwood) as a fun night of atomic age horror.
For some western/weirdo crossover you can have a showing of Billy the Kid vs Dracula, Jesse James Meets Frankenstein's Daughter with a bonus of The Valley of Gwangi (cowboys vs. dinosaurs!) for a full bill.
For some Post-apocalyptic fun you can go with classics like Mad Max and the Road Warrior, but for something different try Def-Con 4 and Damnation Alley. A Boy and His Dog plus Delicatessen would also be good for a night PA laughs.
Obscure Alien Invasion Night: Day of the Triffids/Invaders From Mars - two classic invasion flicks not readily know outside of sci-fi circles.
That's it for now. I need to look at my wall of movies at home to get some more ideas.
Hmmm. If I were to double-feature my recommendations, I'd do the following:
The Big Sleep with either The Maltese Falcon or The Treasure of the Sierra Madre to continue the theme of Bogart.
Repo Man, I think, would be profitably enjoyed next to Tremors.
For more strike movies, I'd watch Matewan along side The Molly Maguires.
The Night of the Creeps and Bubba-hotep would make a pleasant evening's watching.
Rosemary's Baby--either another Polanski film (have you seen his Macbeth?) or another evil Satan-baby flick, probably The Exorcist.
I personally would watch Rushmore alongside the old Jack Lemmon/Shirley Maclaine film The Apartment, but the theme there would just be favorite flicks of mine.
Dark Star, if you've got the time, would be best watched next to 2001.
Citizen Kane should be watched next to any of the John Waters films with Divine in them.
Les enfants du paradis and, hmmm, A bout le souffle would make quintessential French viewing.
I'd just watch Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia twice in a row, it's so awesome!
Strike movies? I didn't know that was a genre :P
Under foreign films, a french number called Ridicule, and Pathfinder from Norway (original title Ofelas, not the Karl Urban sweaty-viking-indian-yell-fest, not that there's anything wrong with that).
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What's your weirdness threshold and how sensitive is your stomach?
House is a 1977 Japanese light horror movie that plays like an acid trip. It's freaky good, and kind of silly.
The Happiness of the Katakuris, directed by Takashi Miike, is more light horror, but it's got musical numbers, karaoke and singing zombies. In other words, it's awesome.
Here's where things get really weird and/or offensive...
The Reflecting Skin (if you can find a copy) is bizarre, oppressive, haunting and brilliant. It's about a young boy who lives in a supremely creepy rural Idaho farming community, circa 1950, and comes to believe his new neighbor is a 200-yr-old vampire.
The Human Centipede: First and Full Sequence...actually, maybe you shouldn't watch either of these. I mean, I think they're awesome, but then, I also really liked...
...Antichrist, which is a masterfully crafted, psychological horror film featuring graphic genital mutilations and a fox...ya know what, I'm not going to give that scene away. Watch this back to back with The Passion of the Christ for the ultimate torture-porn double-feature.
Those look like some creepy movies, VZ.
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They are, my little Doodlebug...they are. Muahahahah!
For less creepy, more accessible horror viewing, I might recommend Dead Girl, Teeth or YellowBrickRoad. Then again, Dead Girl is about two teen boys who discover an undead girl and use her for sex and Teeth is about a girl with teeth in her, uh, special area, so those might still be too creepy. Maybe just stick with YellowBrickRoad. It's only kind of twisted.
And I was being facetious with the torture porn comment. Some scenes in Antichrist are shocking and painful to watch but, as a whole, the film is really nowhere near the bloodbath of The Passion of the Christ. Antichrist, in my opinion, is actually less disturbing to watch because I never had the feeling any of the violence veiled an agenda.