What's a really good movie no one really talks about?

WON*

Leave No Trace: Absolutely beautiful

Women at War: Icelandic. Delightful.

If you like gay coming of age movies: Big Boys (out this year). Shelter (gay cross cultural surfer movie). Wonderful

All Good Things

Smile. 1970s pageant take-off. The first Drop Dead Gorgeous.

Come for Bruce Dern, stay for Barbara Feldon, who is surprisingly good.

House of Games

Do people still talk about River's Edge? I loved that movie.

Could you say why you liked it?

R6 haunting movie

I've said this before in another thread. Even though I don't like Kevin Costner, sports movies, or golf, Tin Cup is one of my favorite movies.

I love Sunset Boulevard and I really enjoy the fabulous funny and scuzzy riff on it, Heat.

James Mangold's film debut "Heavy" (1995), starring Pruitt Taylor Vince, Liv Tyler, Shelley Winters, and Debbie Harry. It is set in a sleepy upstate New York roadhouse where a new young waitress (Tyler) is hired and completely disrupts the rhythm of the establishment, specifically enchanting the overweight, depressed, pathologically shy cook (Vince). Evan Dando of the Lemonheads has a small part as Tyler's boyfriend.

It is honestly one of my favorite movies, and I've never met a single person who has seen it. There is not much to the story, but the characters all feel very lived in, and the atmosphere has a strong familiarity about it—it's a "slice of life" type of movie, but a lot more moving than most. Tyler is wonderful in it and plays her character sensitively. Winters is batshit as usual, and Harry plays a steely and suspicious longtime waitress in the restaurant (and delivers some cunty lines)—but, as is the case with all of the characters in it, even she has a heart. It is a beautiful movie. Highly recommended.

A Company of Wolves is a favorite of mine that seems largely forgotten.

I've always thought that Cloud Atlas doesn't get nearly as much credit as it deserves although it's not a brilliant movie by any means. It certainly is better than people would have you believe it is.

Room at the Top. Like a British “A Place in the Sun,” and really racy for 1959. Adult melodrama, in the finest sense. Simone Signoret in her Oscar-winning performance. Makes you think these were better times, culturally, for film. More direct.

I'm not sure if anyone talks about it, but Topsy-Turvy from Mike Leigh really takes you into the world of Gilbert and Sullivan. It's fascinating, but difficult to find. It has amazing performances and incredible production values.

THE Company of Wolves, not A Company

Femme Fatale by Brian Depalma. Critics largely took it seriously instead of surrendering to its charm. Shame as it’s gorgeous and a fun homage to 60s eurothrillers.

Walkabout set in the Australian Outback.

[quote]Femme Fatale by Brian Depalma

Rebecca Romijn’s dancing in front of that bar patron is one of the sexiest things I’ve ever seen.

If you think you'd enjoy Michelle Pfeiffer & Rupert Friend in a sexy little period romp you'll love this one...

Octane (2003). An odd mix of road thriller, horror and surrealism. The plot might be incoherent, but I think that's what makes the film unique.

If u like comedy Ruthless People is my all time favourite.

Stealing Home

I think David Fincher’s Zodiac is one of the great movies of modern times. Just everything about it. The acting from a huge ensemble cast is outstanding, right across the board, from bit parts to leads. It’s stylish but realistically depicted., even gritty.The camera-work is stellar. The attention to period detail is flawless. The cinematography is beautiful. The soundtrack is perfect. There are scenes where the tension I builds to such a degree that you almost can’t bear it.

I don’t know how it didn’t sweep The Oscars that year. I think it’s one of those movies that will only grow in reputation and stature as time goes on.

Men Don’t Leave

Moon

R11

I loved it, too.

Thunder Road

I love Funny Bones, with Oliver Platt, Leslie Caron, Oliver Reed, and Jerry Lewis. It’s about an American comedian who dies onstage (metaphorically) and goes to Blackpool to basically find comedy that he can buy and pass off as his own. And it goes on from there. It’s very English and I honestly can’t compare it to any other movie I’ve ever seen.

I can only think of bad movies that everyone talks about….

The Ghost and Mrs. Muir--visually stunning in black and white, lovely score by Bernard Herrmann, witty and romantic script and direction, melancholy but not sappy "ghost" romance, and Rex Harrison and Gene Tierney at their best. A film I can watch countess time. The final shot gets me every time.

Gidget Goes Hawaiian

Heaven Help Us. Was marketed as a bawdy teen sex romp when in reality its a haunting and at times terribly moving tale of first love full of gritty melancholy.

It takes place in Brooklyn in the early 60s and shot on location. Great soundtrack.

Others (some mentioned already): Rivers Edge, Near Dark, Men Dont Leave, Trespass, Fresh, 25th Hour

R33 Was going to mention 25th Hour as well. It really captured post-9/11 NYC.

Choose Me -- an intense drama with Lesley Ann Warren, Genevieve Bujold, and Keith Carradine with a side of Rae Dawn Chong. Directed by Alan Rudolph.

BTW, R5 -- I'm also a big fan of House of Games.

“Games”(1967)

Gas, Food, Lodging directed by Allison Anders from the mid 90s. It’s stars Brooke Adams as a waitress out west, with two teenage daughters, Ione Skye and Fairuza Balk. It’s wonderful.

Excellent movie r37.

“Melancholia” by Lars von Trier. It’s about depression and the literal end of the world. Kirsten Dunst gives a command performance.

[R26] Directed by Duncan Jones, David Bowie's son. It was my first thought seeing the title of this thread, so you beat me to it.

Some might dismiss it as a Kubrick ripoff - the friend/foe computer voiced in this instance by Kevin Spacey - but it's nothing like Kubrick's 2001 and has a plot twist you don't see coming. Visually stunning as well with a fraction of the Space Odyssey budget.

Great vehicle for Sam Rockwell too. See it!

Land starring Robin Wright who also directed.

Heaven

Cate Blanchett and Giovanni Ribisi

Passion Fish

THE KING OF COMEDY (1983). Scorsese. Robert DeNiro, Jerry Lewis , Sandra Bernhard.

and Shelley Hack you mother fucker

The Upside of Anger, with a powerful performance by Joan Allen. Kevin Costner is in a rare role as a lovable loser neighbor, who in the end, makes good.

The daughters are all adorable too. One of my favorites.

The brilliant Cider House Rules.

“The Gift” with Cate Blanchett as a psychic who reads cards, and gets embroiled in a local murder. Directed by Sam Raimi, it has a great cast, including Keanu Reeves as a redneck hot head, and Giovanni Ribisi as a man troubled by secrets. Scary at times, but also moving. Beautiful score byvChristopher Young.

[R31]: Totally agree with you. And raise you with “Lady in White,” a marvelous film that’s scary, funny, and very sweet. Also with an excellent score.

OMG I just watched The Gift. FUCKING BRILLIANT. Every performance in that movie was an A+. Even Katie fucking Holmes. Keanu was so sexy.

I love the two Sean Penn-directed films with Jack Nicholson and Robin Wright. Really well made crime dramas -- the kind of mid-budget, adult films that aren't made anymore. Today, streaming limited series like True Detective are probably the heirs to these types of films.

The first was... The Crossing Guard...

....and the second was The Pledge....

R49 why did the Gift escape buzz? I've never heard of it.

R47 People talk about that movie and it won awards.

Well, this really is one you may not have ever heard of and it's been a while since I've seen it but I remember as it being pretty good. English comedy, 1954. The Bells of St. Trianians. English schoolgirls more interested in racing horses and getting rich than school. Alistair Sim plays two parts, one as as the headmistress and the other as her brother..

Winnie starring Meredith Baxter-Birney

[italic]The Seven-Ups.[/italic]

I never, ever hear/see anyone bring up this gritty NYC drama starring Roy Scheider (in the only performance of his I've ever liked), a young Ken Kercheval, the always-wonderful Tony Lo Bianco, and the sublimely creepy Richard Lynch. Features the best car chase sequence ever filmed (and yes, that includes The French Connection and Bullitt).

I've loved it for over 40 years now, and it never ever gets old; it's the type of film nobody makes anymore.

This was terrifying, in a psychological-thriller way. Titled "The Golden Egg" when I saw it, this is the original Dutch production with subtitles.

The Vanishing (Spoorloos)

R34 I've always considered that Ed Norton deserved an Oscar nomination for "The 25th Hour" instead of Daniel Day Lewis for that boredom shitfest of "Gangs of New York".

[quote] THE KING OF COMEDY (1983). Scorsese. Robert DeNiro, Jerry Lewis , Sandra Bernhard.

What? The King of Comedy is a classic and gets its due.

Anything that's classified as a "romp," I'm not interested in.

The Quick and the Dead is a movie I've watched several times. Sharon Stone was probably the weakest spot, but she was good enough. I loved the wild west theme and loved Gene Hackman (the bad, de facto sheriff), Russell Crowe, and all the character actors. Leo DiCaprio was in it, as well.

Robert Altman's The Player. It's fun, sexy, clever, and sharp—featuring lots of cameos of stars playing themselves.

The Furies (1950). Directed by Anthony Mann (Winchester 73), and starring Barbara Stanwyck, Walter Huston, Gilbert Rowland, Judith Anderson, and unfortunately, Wendell Corey. A "western noir" with creepy undertones. Lots of camp...you'll have to see what Stanwyck does with those scissors.

R59, The King of Comedy was a colossal bomb when it came out. It's better known and seen today, but no one talks about it.

"Mother," starring Debbie Reynolds as "Mother." Albert Brooks and Rob Morrow star as her sons. Brooks' character just got divorced and goes back home (mom's house) to figure out how it all went wrong, why he can't be successful with women (mom being the first woman in his life). Morrow is the younger, favorite, mama's boy who is jealous when Brooks moves in with Mom.

Outside Man.

Early 70s Los Angeles grit. The cast is very effective, even Georgia Engel from the MTM show.

They Shall Have Music. A hidden gem.

[quote]and unfortunately, Wendell Corey.

I adore you, R63.😂

A 1977 Robert Altman movie no one's heard of, Three Women, with Shelley Duvall, Sissy Spacek (the only time I could stand her) and Janis Rule. It's a very complicated psychological drama, and fascinating.

Another Altman movie from 1978, A Wedding. Old Money marrying New Money, with an all star cast. It needs a good 30 minutes cut out, but it's still a lot of fun.

[quote]The Vanishing

A great movie, but so deeply upsetting I won't ever recommend it.

Omfg R66! I was sure my sister and I were the only ones who've ever seen this film. We've loved and talked about it for several decades.

And "gem" is an understatement. Plus a gorgeous young Joel McCrea.

The Piano Teacher with Isabelle Huppert.

[quote]The King of Comedy was a colossal bomb when it came out. It's better known and seen today, but no one talks about it.

I feel like it is talked about quite often, as of the last few years. It's had a big reputational come-up. I remember a lot of discourse about how "Joker" was essentially a rip-off of "The King of Comedy," back when the former first came out.

Apropos of nothing, two of the films mentioned feature performances that won best actress at Cannes—Shelley Duvall in "3 Women" and Kirsten Dunst in "Melancholia."

White Oleander staring Michelle Pfeiffer. This movie has sort of been forgotten about but it has a great script and cast. It’s also a perfect time capsule of the late 90s / early 00s.

Enemies: A Love Story. A grim tragi-comedy, but it’s a movie I still think about more than 30 years later. Great cast and one of Paul Mazursky’s best films.

Match Point

Raise the Red Lantern. The third wife/concubine is a (retired IIRC) opera singer who sounds like a bird.

Beautiful cinematography, very moody, very much worth watching. (Appears to be on YouTube and on Amazon Prime)

The School of Flesh. Fashion executive Dominique's obsession for Quentin, a young bisexual hustler, fills her desire for physical love but leaves her taxed emotionally.

Wristcutters: A Love Story

Between Two Worlds. Juliette Binoche goes undercover as a cleaner to expose rising precarity in French society.

Watched any of these, OP?

Lots of great choices: Smile (1975), Passion Fish, Room at the Top, The King of Comedy, River's Edge, Walkabout and David Fincher's Zodiac.

I would recommend 1999s Go! and Citizen Ruth (1996) a brilliant satire with a fearless performance by Laura Dern.

"It is quite simply the boldest satire out of Hollywood since, roughly, the year one"-John Simon

I disliked "Smile." Skip it, OP.

Bell, Book, and Candle

Who You Think I Am. Claire, a 50-year-old divorced teacher, creates a fake Facebook profile of a 24-year-old woman to catfish Alex, the roommate of her former lover, Ludo.

Shirley Valentine

Top Five starring Chris Rock

Death and the Maiden with Sigourney Weaver and Ben Kingsley, both were amazing.

Joseph Losey's The Servant (1963) It has a 94 Metascore on IMDb.

"Glaciers might be melting, the polar caps might be crumbling, but not even the passage of half a century has taken the frozen edge of this brilliantly icy film."- Kenneth Turan LOS ANGELES TIMES

Dodsworth. A retired auto manufacturer and his wife take a long-planned European vacation only to find that they want very different things from life.

"Love Serenade" And I mean NO one talks about this one. Set in an Australian outback town along the Murray river, two seriously unsocialized sisters vie for the attention of a neighbor. It's hilarious, original, even shocking. The score is Barry White but I rented one dvd years ago and they had replaced it with something else, don't know why so make sure you get Barry, it's crucial..."the lyrics of the songs are matched perfectly to the scenes they're used in. The movie's title comes from a Barry White hit that the writer/director calls the "creepiest seduction song" that she has ever heard."

"Passion Fish--probably the best of John Sayles' films

"Heaven Help Us"---Andrew McCarthy almost acts and Donald Sutherland has a great small part.

"Radio Days"---the most nostalgic of Woody Allen's films, full of great vignettes and character parts. The only time Mia didn't seem like an irriatating waif.

Gone With The Wind. It's too long and can get treacly but it has sweep and sucks you in.

Great thread.

A Taste of Honey, and similar kitchen sink dramas from the UK. Also The Entertainer, but specifically Roger Livesey’s performance.

Hobson’s Choice is another one.

R92 I heard of that one. My aunt says it was something her grandmother used to love in the olden days. It was filmed during the Civil War and is really an achievement to have color film back then.

Smile (1975) is an underrated gem

The Nest from 2020 or so. it stars Carrie Coon and Jude Law.

Absolutely one of my favorite films.

It is shot and feels like a horror film, but it is really a family drama.

It resonated with me and both Coon and Law were exceptional. (his best role since Ripley 20 years prior)

it seems many hated it. I loved it-

Night Moves - 1975. Gene Hackman, Jennifer Warren, and a very nubile 14 year old Melanie Griffith.

Oleanna(1994) starring William H. Macy

Kiss Me, Deadly (1955) Robert (Baby Jane, The Dirty Dozen, Autumn Leaves) Adrich's ultimate film noir. Brutal and explosive. Great b/w cinematography and LA locations.

Another 70's Gene Hackman movie - THE CONVERSATION - with John Cazale and young Harrison Ford.

Friends of Eddie Coyle - Robert Mitchum, Peter Boyle, great Boston locations.

Six Weeks (1982), starring Mary(‘s)Tyler & Dudley (Healey) Moore. Mary Healey steals the picture.

Oleanna is a talky slog.

Thanks for really talking about it with me, r103!

The Unbearable Lightness of Being (1988) with Daniel Day Lewis & Juliette Binoche.

I also found the ending of the indie Open Water (2003) to be so powerful. I still think about it today.

Fassbinder. It's obvious that he's slightly crypo-fascist by the end of his meth life, but The Marriage of Maria Braun is in my top-five.

Of those I've seen, my favorite Fassbinder is Fox and His Friends.

Edmond (2005) Written by Mamet and directed by Stuart 'The Reanimator' Gordon. A nervy performance by Macy and a shocking film. This 82-minute film is not the type to attract a wide audience, but it will stay with you. Viva Styles, Richards and Suvari.

R98, as a former instructor at community colleges, Oleanna made the hair on the back of my neck stand up.

That's one of those movies I'll never watch again.

Hamlet 2 is one of my go-to movies when I need to get myself out of a funk. It's overtly silly, but if you pay attention to the dialogue, it has some really sublime moments.

"Raise the Red Lantern. The third wife/concubine is a (retired IIRC) opera singer who sounds like a bird."

Love this movie

It doesn't work on film, and I found Oleanna to be a bit of a slog as well. I love House of Cards and was riveted by the disturbing Edmond.

David Mamet's Oleanna, adapted from his two-character play, is about sexual harassment, but it's the audience for this movie that gets harassed. Mamet must mean for this movie to be as enjoyable as fingernails scraping a blackboard. For both men and women, watching it is intended as an act of penance for all our sexist, elitist, feminist, patriarchal ills.-Los Angeles Times Peter Rainer

October Sky (1999). Jake Gyllenhaal was so adorable in it.

reflections of evil

Grease

I think this is an underrated gem in Woody Allen's filmography. Quite funny and charming, beautifully filmed and brilliantly scored.

One of my favorite Isabelle Huppert movies was my first experience with foreign language cinema- “Entre Nous” (confusingly now called “Coup de Foudre” when I saw recently that it is on Kanopy) from the 1980s. It’s about two women friends trapped in marriages in the 1950s when basically men had all the rights and made all the decisions. Miou-Miou (remember her?) is the other woman and it is quite excellent. Directed by Diane Kurys who seems forgotten today as well.

One of the main reasons I like it is because Huppert plays a character very different than what is now her stock role: the neurotic, dominating, sexually perverse older woman. I don’t understand why this film seems so little known among Huppert’s films.

R36 I saw Games (1967) on TV in the 70s and was surprised to discover that it was a theatrical release. It felt low budget and padded to me but watchable, nonetheless. Vincent Canby in The NY Times agrees but gave it a positive review.

r89, in the late 90's I was walking past an open door to a rehearsal studio and saw Christine Ebersole standing there. They were doing a reading of a musical version of Dodsworth. If I ever run into her my first question will be "So, were you Ruth Chatterton or Mary Astor?"

The Big Short. A very clever and frightening expose of the financial collapse of 2008. Don't let the subject matter throw you, it's a thriller with some fantastic breaking of the 4th wall that explains things as you go.

“Imaginary Crimes” (1994). It stars Harvey Keitel as a con artist widower attempting to raise his two daughters (Fairuza Balk and Elisabeth Moss) in 1960s Portland, OR. It is based on a semi-autobiographical novel of the same name. It has a fantastic supporting cast including Kelly Lynch, Seymour Cassel, Vincent D’Onofrio, Annette O’Toole, Diane Baker, and Chris Penn. Not groundbreaking, but a solid and overlooked drama.

Cookie’s Fortune, one of Robert Altman’s later films that is little-remembered and not celebrated enough. Glenn Close and Julianne Moore star and are fantastic in it. Liv Tyler and Chris O’Donnell costar with Charles Dutton, Ned Beatty, and Patricia Neal. It’s a great black comedy.

Doug Liman’s “Go” starring Sarah Polley, Katie Holmes, Scott Wolf, Timothy Olyphant, and a million other recognizable names. One of my absolute favorite movies that has flown under the radar for way too long. When I started dating my partner a decade ago I made him watch it with me and he said “This is great. Why have I never heard of this?”

Love that one, r123. Back when Jay Mohr was hot.

Changeling

A Walk on the Moon with Viggo, Liev, Tovah and Diane Lane. It’s about a bored housewife in the 1960s. Great acting.

Perfume

From 1949, The Heiress, with Olivia DeHaviland and Monty Clift. Sir Ralph Richardson was perfectly cast as the cruel father. The handsome Montgomery Clift was just smarmy enough without being overly obnoxious. Olivia DeHaviland was also well cast as the awkward, homely girl that falls for Clift and later comes into her own. I'll watch this any time I see it listed. Always a favorite that never gets old.

[quote]r15 Topsy-Turvy from Mike Leigh really takes you into the world of Gilbert and Sullivan.

I’m not a historian, but it also seems to be a more authentic depiction of that era (clothes, sets, props) than you usually see.

Now the Halloween is around the corner my favorite haunted house films: The Haunting (1963), The Innocents (1961) and The Changeling (1980)

"The Yards" (2000) by James Gray.

One of the starriest casts in a film you've never heard of. Faye Dunaway, James Caan, Charlize Theron, Joaquin Phoenix, Ellen Burstyn and Mark Wahlberg. A thinking man's mob movie. And a family drama/tragedy that is Aristotelian in scope. Shot by the late, great Harris Savides. Young Charlize is especially luminous and heartbreaking.

[quote]r100 THE CONVERSATION - with John Cazale and young Harrison Ford.

And young Shirley Feeney! Miss big, fat movie star! Miss rotten, stinking actress! Press a button, ring a bell and she thinks the whole damn world comes running, don't she?

I like lots of these (I second the touching gay film, "Shelter"). I don't know if I could watch them again, but some of the films that came out of the 2008 recession were very good, including "Thanks" and "Up in the Air", yet perhaps because they were so much of that moment in history in which so many people lost so much so quickly and a good deal of our middle class was eviscerated, never to return, I think we're still trying to sweep that time under the rug and maybe no one wants to relive that time in the films made about it.

Probably a lot of people here would pooh pooh it, but I thought "Paradise" with Don Johnson and Melanie Griffith and a VERY young Elijah Woods was a touching film with beautiful cinematography.

I don’t think I’ve ever seen a true undiscovered gem. Every film mentioned here has been lauded in some circle or another - and some are classics.

The last movie Paul Verhoeven made before going Hollywood is funny and sexy - but I can’t say no one talks about it. It was an art house hit.

There’s tons of British movies that could be posted here. This is one I stumbled across. About 3 old ladies who escape the nursing home.

Paper Girls.

Union Station 1950. A woman spots a man with a gun on a train and alerts the police to a kidnap case involving a blind heiress.

Walking Out

I pick this one because it's a movie I didn't expect to be moved by the way I was.

It stars Matt Bomer, who I never took seriously as an actor before, as a father living in the wilderness and estranged from his suburbanized son.

The son comes out to visit, but they struggle to connect as they go out big game hunting.

Then things go wrong.

Enchanted April (1991):

[Quote]four dissimilar women in 1920s England leave their rainy, grey environments to go on holiday in Italy....The four women come together at the castle and, after many unexpected twists and turns, find rejuvenation in the tranquil beauty of their surroundings, rediscovering hope and love.

This was the era of the Merchant-Ivory costume dramas, so it seemed like it would be a pale imitation of those films, but it was really quite charming on its own.

Entertaining Mr Sloane. Beryl Reid at her finest. The Brits may know it, but I'd be surprised if many Americans do.

[quote] Femme Fatale by Brian Depalma. Critics largely took it seriously instead of surrendering to its charm. Shame as it’s gorgeous and a fun homage to 60s eurothrillers.

This is one of the few movies I've seen that gets better and better with each subsequent viewing. And except for Bolero (which I usually love), I love the score as well.

R99, my favorite ending of all time.

R141 I LOVE Entertaining Mr. Sloan Peter McEnery is outrageously sexy and the other3 leads are diabolically good. That ending!

R140 Enchanted April is one of my favorite films. I have the DVD.

R33- Heaven Help Us was set in the Bronx not Brooklyn.

R145, I just borrowed the book from the library and now I'll have to watch the movie again.

Reckless

Ruben and Ed starring Crispin Glover, Karen Black and Howard Hessman.

There's been 'lots of talk' about Enchanted April, The Heiress, The Big Short, Raise the Red Lantern, The Unbearable Lightness of Being, The King of Comedy, The Conversation (Gene Hackman).

Try to stick to the homework assignment people.

Irreconcilable Differences

r150 Also Zodiac. David Fincher's filmography is always talked about. Personally I think he is vastly overrated. He peaked early with Madonna's Express Yourself video.

R152 I was going to include Zodiac but couldn't remember if it was just me and my partner who talked about it lol.

Clouds of Sils Maria

Vengeance (2022, B. J.Novak)

I love "The World of Henry Orient."

Peter Sellers is hysterical as a concert pianist in New York who is chased and stalked by two very funny and smart teenaged girls one of whom has a crush on him. Sellers is trying to seduce Paula Prentiss, and Sellers thinks that her husband is orchestrating the teenage stalkers.

It is free to watch the complete movie on YouTube! It is from 1964 and is dated in absolutely the best way, and as usual Peter Sellers is brilliant.

R146: It was shot in Brooklyn.

"The Little Stranger" with Charlotte Rampling, Domhnall Gleeson & Ruth Wilson is Ruth Wilson is kind of gloomy, costume drama that's quite entertaining, particularly for Halloween

"The Night of the Hunter"

starring Robert Mitchum, Shelly Winters, and Lillian Gish

a really remarkable movie

R115 Grease gets TONS of fanfare

R158 yes- Cape Fear stole from it

Ladybug Ladybug

Take Shelter

Bug

The Big Tease

Paper House.

Utterly brilliant. It was in theaters for exactly one week (when I saw it). Can't find in on BlueRay Region 1 DVD anywhere.

Which Bug, r162?

Harold and Maude

The King of Hearts

Once upon a time I would have included The Paper Chase. But since then seeing so many dumbass graduates in Congress now makes it watch like a self-conscious burlesque. Legally Blonde has aged better.

The Night of the Hunter is talked about so much it went from initial negative reviews to being reappraised as one of the greatest movies of all time.

[quote]Harold and Maude

[quote]The King of Hearts

Really, r165...

Hateship Loveship is one I recommended a few years ago here.

R168 I watched the trailer, it looks good and so does Guy Pierce. I just finished watching him in 'A Spy Among Friends'.

How about Nicolas Roeg’s Eureka? That movie made me feel like I was high. Especially Theresa Russell’s courtroom monologue.

[quote]Clouds of Sils Maria

As far as Olivier Assayas films go, a movie of his I adore that I truly never hear anyone talk about is Summer Hours.

Another one I'd recommend, is Hope and Glory. Was made in the late 80s, taking place in London during WWII, told from the perspective of the young son in an English family, it's really quite good, and it's not a typical war movie, but definitely worth watching.

Night of the Hunter is visually astounding. Of course you have to understand the state of cinema at the time it was made to appreciate that which I'm sure most people under 40 will completely miss.

No one ever talks about it, but I love Martin Scorsese's "Kundun," about the little boy chosen to be the next Dalai Lama and then has to flee from Tibet to India to escape the Chinese. So powerful, beautiful to watch. Very few people saw it.

R172: "Hope and Glory" was really good--war from a child's eyes. "Belfast" was similar in that regard.

"Brewster McCloud": A very odd Altman film. Sally Kellerman had a role that seemed destined for Karen Black.

Troll

The Stepfather

Session 9. It’s one of the best horror movies I’ve ever seen and I barely hear anybody talk about it

Hustler White also A Dark Song. A Dark song is the closest thing to real magic I’ve ever seen in film.

Earth Girls Are Easy

Set on a chaotic night in a trendy London restaurant, [bold]Boiling Point[/bold] stars Stephen Graham as a chef on a downward spiral. Brilliantly acted and filmed in one continuous take, it is about as tense and anxiety-inducing as the best thrillers.

Woody Allen’s “September” from 1987 with Mia, Sam Waterston, Elaine Stritch, Dianne Weiss, and Jack Warden. It’s Chekhov’s “Uncle Vanya” with a twist: a very brassy Elaine Stritch as Mia’s mother who’s channeling Lana Turner, with Mia as Cheryl, and of course, what happened to Johnny Stomponato. The critics didn’t like it.

Alain Resnais’ “Providence” from 1977. So many layers. Geilgud as a dying author plotting his last novel in his head. Is his family really terrible or is it his bitter, scabrous take on them? Dirk Bogarde, a very young Ellen Burstyn, and again, Elaine Stritch. The critics loved it, audiences did not.

Herbert Ross’s 1981 “Pennies From Heaven.” Incredible performances and production and a commercial flop. Nobody - critics or audiences - liked it. Or as Steve Martin said, “The people who get the movie are, in general, wise and intelligent; the people who don’t are ignorant scum.” We saw it in a huge, empty theater. We were the only two people there. We later saw the MPAAS’s restored print: it is visually stunning.

More recently, Armando Iannucci’s 2017 “The Death of Stalin.” Steve Buscemi’s Khrushchev and Jason Isaac’s Zhukov steal the movie. Based (obviously) on Stalin’s death in 1953, it eerily reminds us that while much has changed in Russia, some things never will.

Another vote for “The Friends of Eddie Coyle.” One of Mitchum’s great performances. Based on George V. Higgins novel. No one has ever captured the low-life vernacular of a small-time hood like he did.

Summer Queefs

Series 7: The Contenders (2001) A TV program selects people at random to kill one another for fame and their freedom. It's apparently out-of-print.

"The most devastating spoof of reality TV since Albert Brools' 1978 Real Life"- Lou Lumenick NY POST

You're a one trick pony, r182.

A film that should be a classic but no one knows, sadly: Intruder in the Dust (1949) from a novel by William Faulkner. Brilliant and just seemed to fall through the cracks. Juano Hernandez plays probably the first powerful unapologetic black man on screen, and is fantastic. Also with I Love Lucy's Mrs. Trumble, Elizabeth Patterson in a really scene stealer of a role.

"Caché" (Hidden) 2005. Written and directed by y Michael Haneke and starring Daniel Auteuil and Juliette Binoche. One of my favorite movies and I usually detest Haneke.

Does anyone talk about The Onion Field? I watched it today for the first time and liked it a lot:

Thanks, R15, for the reminder about Topsy Turvy. I love Gilbert and Sullivan. Haven't seen that on cable in ages. Found it on MAX and am re-watching it now.

r187 - It, like The Heart is a Lonely Hunter and They Shoot Horses, is a film I saw when it first came out and haven't wanted to watch since.

"Topsy-Turvy" is one of the best films that is never spoken about. I'm guessing it's because "The Mikado" is considered racist now? Either way, you cannot find a more entertaining movie that is also almost a time machine into the Victorian era.

A heartfelt thank you to the people who recommended "They Shall Have Music" and "Alive and Kicking".

I'd like to recommend "A Soldier's Daughter Never Cries", a forgotten Merchant-Ivory film. It's based on the semi-autobiographical novel by Kaylie Jones, daughter of the novelist James Jones. It's a great film about family, identity, and grief. The sections of the film set in France are the most engaging, but overall, it's a great film, with great performances from LeeLee Sobieski, Kris Kristofferson, and Barbara Hershey. You can watch the entire film on youtube.

Another great film you can watch on Youtube is "Flirting". This film was released in 1991, and it featuresa very young Nicole Kidman, Noah Taylor, and Thandiwe (then Thandie) Newton. It's a boarding school film, with an all boys boarding school across a lake from an all girl's boarding school. It's a beautiful coming of age film.

This is the second film of what I believe was supposed to be a trilogy from John Duigan. The first film is another gem, "The Year My Voice Broke" (1987)

Hell on Heels

High Art—Lisa Cholodenko's film with Ally Sheedy's character navigating the art/drug scene in 90s NYC, featuring a great turn by Patricia Clarkson as a German lesbian. I had never heard of it before catching a screening of it a year or so ago. I enjoyed it.

R170 I think "Don't Look Now" is Nicolas Roeg's reigning masterpiece (and honestly in probably my top 10 favorite films of all time), but "Eureka" is a real oddity and quite frankly fucking insane. The whole thing plays like a warped fever dream from beginning to end. The opening sequence with Gene Hackman stumbling across the brothel in the Klondike during a snowstorm is beyond surreal, and then later you have the voodoo ritual-turned-orgy sequence, followed by the extremely disturbing murder scene—and yes, Russell's courtroom monologue. It is an extremely weird movie.

Some of Roeg's other later works that I think are good but not often discussed are "Insignificance", which a lot of people loathed, pointing out Theresa Russell's portrayal of Marilyn Monroe (I actually think she handled it quite well, even though she doesn't look like her). "Track 29" is also quite good (and weird), and stars Russell, Gary Oldman, Christopher Lloyd, and Sandra Bernhard.

"Eureka" is available to stream on Tubi, by the way:

"Alain Resnais’ “Providence” from 1977...a very young Ellen Burstyn"

Ellen Burstyn was never young.

R196 - Nicolas Roeg's films with Theresa Russell should never be talked about. They are unbearable.

Aw, r196, sure she was...

Ace in the Hole. Billy Wilder's prescient take on tabloid journalism. Kirk Douglas at his smirky best but Jan Sterling steals the movie from under him.

I've read some complaints about the age difference between the main characters (so it has been discussed) but I loved the story plus cinematography of this film. It's a little long but very much worth the experience. I love any feast for the eyes and it is that for sure.

Horse Whisperer with young Scarlett, directed by Robert Redford was pretty well known.

Ass in the hole?

While so many wonderful films are suggested in this thread, I can't watch them all. So if upthread, someone mentions a hidden gem that you loved as well, please post your agreement and reasons. I'm prioritizing films by the ones that get voted up more than once.

Mahalo

Apartment Zero

I love the 2002 movie Roger Dodger starring Campbell Scott and Jesse Eisenberg. It made less than $2 million at the box office so I think it fits the thread well.

R205 Thank you. I'm a Campbell Scott fan and look forward to watching the film.

R203 Charles Laughton's The Night of the Hunter is a remarkable and unique. Not quite like any other film I can think of. Mitchum is terrifying and the b/w cinematography is fantastic.

Two good ones from Joan Micklin Silver: CHILLY SCENES OF WINTER, with John Heard, Mary Beth Hurt and Peter Riegert. Sometimes under the title HEAD OVER HEELS. Also, BETWEEN THE LINES, a nice ensemble cast, again with John Heard, Lindsay Crouse, Jeff Goldblum and Jill Eilenberry.

GIRLFRIENDS, directed by Claudia Weill, with Melanie Mayron, Eli Wallach, Bob Balaban and Christopher Guest.

RETURN OF THE SEACAUCUS SEVEN, directed by John Sayles. A precursor to THE BIG CHILL and a lot better. His films THE BROTHER FROM ANOTHER PLANET and BABY, IT's YOU are also great.

LOCAL HERO. I don't think it was ever a mainstream movie or talked about but it is worth a watch.

R54 I always liked Alistair Sim in A Christmas Carol as Scrooge. He had something that guy. Kind of a depth to his portrayals. As I said I have not seen it in years but it is that English humor so different from our movies, far more subtle than the U.S. and this film being in the 50s it's more subtle than what we would have now by far. The wild rowdy irreverent schoolgirls had I thought adorable English accents. I'm not really able to say why I liked it but maybe because it was set in an old English school with lovely old antique settings. Made me want to escape to it rather than our austere looking schools with the so called clean modern lines but I found dreary as hell. Was taken from the cartoonist Ronald Searle about the school and is I see one of TCM's classic movies, which I did not know.

I'm including a real reviewer's thoughts on it because they do pretty much nail my own. Oh, and it has a horse in it, a racehorse, and I love horses.

When's the last time you talked about "Enchanted April", R150? I mean, sooner than 30 years ago?

“The Tenant,” directed by Roman Polanski.

The Tenant is part of Polanski's apartment trilogy along with Repulsion and Rosemary's Baby. Though not his best it has some very creepy scenes.

No one talks about Enchanted April. They talk about A Room With a View or Mayrice, if they're gay.

Maurice, obviously

The Mary’s coming on here to scold others for their choices need to lay off. Obviously what the OP proposed is open to interpretation. I read it as basically talking about some underrated gems.that you enjoy. Nobody on here has picked Gone With The Wind or Titanic or the like.

Lucy

A Midnight Clear (1992) with Ethan Hawke, Gary Sinise, Peter Berg, Kevin Dillon, Frank Whaley, John C. McGinley. They finally released it on widescreen on Bluray in the US, before it was only 4:3 pan & scan version.

That grand musical that took two years to capture on film, "Mame", with Lucille Ball and Bea Arthur...

Was Lucy's mame a box office hit? It looks fucking horrible. Why the fuck would it take two years to film?

R155 Sellers is OK but hardly brilliant. The film's greatest asset is the NYC locations of the NY that was and the relationship of the 2 girls. Sellers is brilliant in Kubrick's Lolita (1962)

Bitter Moon (1992). Directed by Roman Polanski. Starring Hugh Grant, Kristin Scott Thomas, Peter Coyote and Emmanuelle Seigner.

I think Coyote should've received an Oscar nomination for his performance. Also it features an lovely score by Vangelis.

I really liked The other side of Midnight, written by Sidney Sheldon. The book was a big hit but the movie was overshadowed by Star Wars. Personally I thought it was great. A story of romance set during WWII and across the continents and Michael LeGrande's music was beautiful. Had a good cast, Marie-France Pisier, John Beck, Susan Sarandon and Howard Hessman was in it believe it or not. French girl falls for a pilot who is a rake and promises when he leaves to return. Marie-Francis Pisier, deeply in love, plays Noelle and will do anything to get him back. I found her touching and very very beautiful. It's hard not to love Noelle.

The theme by Michael LeGrande for Noelle should have been played in this little video which is a tribute to Pisier but it is not. You should at least hear that theme.

Noelle's theme.

R216. Thank you for defending some of these posts. It's a good thread with interesting suggestions. Sometimes "Mary" gets overwrought.

R221 I thought Sellers was miscast as Quilty but I can't think of someone else who might have fit the role at the time.

R216 please see R92

[R15] I saw Topsy-Turvy when it was released at a theater in Santa Barbara. I was so taken by its theme and performances, I saw it a second time. Years later, I was working in Albany and saw an ad for a production of The Mikado that was using the sets and costumes from Topsy-Turvy. It was a unique experience to see the production in the flesh.

I always have loved "Max Dugan Returns," with Marsha Mason, Jason Robards and Donald Sutherland. It's a charming little comedy with terrific performances. Mason plays a put-upon schoolteacher who suddenly finds herself harboring her long-lost, fugitive father, played by Robards as Max Dugan. And, boy, does he have secrets. The movie also features a very young Matthew Broderick in his first movie role.

Completely forgotten is WAIT TILL THE SUN SHINES, NELLIE a Technicolor Fox film of 1952 starring David Wayne and Jean Peters. It sounds like one of those turn-of-the century musicals so popular in the 1940s but it is a surprisingly melancholic and affecting dramas of the small time life and career of a barber and his frustrated wife. Directed by Henry King. Wayne is exceptionally fine as its Peters, who is always an interesting actress.

R226 Errol Flynn

and yes, I know, he was dead by then but he would've been perfect, imho.

R231 Good choice! Yes, Flynn would have been a great Quilty but there's still no one who comes to mind who was alive at the time...

R220, Lucy broke her leg skiing and they waited for it to heal.

Jeepers, I didn't realize there are rules!! I think older films are often ones that 'are not talked about' ... why? because they are older films. Most people are talking about new films. You know, like BARBIE. Ok? Ok!

The rules are basically about movies that are really good but escaped awards and buzz for whatever reason.

The Andromeda Strain ( 1971)

Bigger Than Life

In a similar vein, does anyone know why Francois Truffaut has dropped off the radar so severely? He used to be one of the main auteurs of European cinema; I wonder if any of his films get watched nowadays except maybe “The 400 Blows” in first year cinema studies courses. Perhaps it’s a reality of the passage of time and more and more films and new films available constantly. I loved “Day for Night” and “The Story of Adele H.”.

R236 I didn't know there were 'rules' to this thread. Sorry for breaking them.

^ Live & learn.

Good thread. Many hours of discover ahead for moi. Thanks everyone.

In this thread, does getting lots of ww's mean you failed to provide a movie no one really talks about?

"Knife In The Water"

Sheena, Queen of the Jungle (1984) starring Tanya Roberts and Ted Wass. It has a gorgeous score by Vangelis and made an instant international star out of Miss Roberts. It was a great all-around family film with colorful action adventure for the kiddies, sweeping romance for Mom and casual nudity for Dad.

R240, R243 it's just a way for me and people to discover good movies that go under the under the radar. That's it! Enjoy yourself! There's nothing to defend or apologize for. All poking on DL is mostly good ribbing, and I love it. I'm being nice to you in case you have autism.

No rules! The WW IDK. Who cares about WW anyway? It's not like they're redeemed for money and you'll never meet the people who gave them, so who gives a fuck.

The Salton Sea.

La Cérémonie, with Isabelle Huppert, Sandrine Bonnaire and Jacqueline Bisset, about two maids who...well, watch the movie and see! It was partly based on Jean Genet's The Maids.

A few R80. Writing the rest down.

The New adventures of Pippi Longstocking, featuring Miss Eileen Brennan. I remember as a child stumbling on a website theorizing that Pippi was the antichrist and I was scared my parents wouldn’t let me watch it anymore.

Christine (2016). The story of Christine Chubbuck, a 1970s TV reporter struggling with depression and professional frustrations as she tries to advance her career. Rebecca Hall was expected to get an Oscar nomination but that didn't happen and the film was a flop.

A cinema classic.

Any Madea movie . I especially liked Madea Family Reunion where Blair Underwood gets his comeuppance from a pot of grits cooking on the stove .

"COLOSSUS - The Forbin Project" Remarkably prescient for our times. A true gem.

The Other Side of the Mountain. Beautiful theme sung by Olivia to go with it.

The Others. A classic, simple ghost story with Nicole Kidman.

Agreed r256. I remember being surprised by the simplicity of it yet how effective it as. I haven’t seen it since it came out, maybe I’ll watch again. Soon.

One of the most terrifying opening sequences in a movie was the 2012 Denzel Washington movie FLIGHT. While the story goes off into a personal journey of tragedy and denial, it is an excellent film with a superb performance by Washington.

In Bruges with Colin Farrell

Return of the Secaucus Seven.

(Big Chill totally ripped it off.)

Little Voice. Michael Caine, young Ewan McGregor, Brenda Blethlyn. Pigeons.

R259 In what shit hole country or deep flyoverstan hell hole is In Bruges an obscure movie? Congo? Rural Alabama?

Morvern Callar, Lynne Ramsay's second film—and my favorite of hers—featuring a wonderful performance from Samantha Morton.

I would be remiss if i also didn't high recommend R182's Summer Queefs

Enchanting

NOTHING IN COMMON. Starring Tom Hanks, Eva Marie Saint and Jackie Gleason in his final film. Characterized by one critic as “an effective male soap opera”. Loved Eva in this. Tom was at his physical height in this as well, absolutely adorable.

Jane Horrocks was amazing in LV, r261, but I guess Hollywood didn't really know what to do with her.

Great thread. I have a few:

1. Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (steve martin and michael caine),one of the funniest movies of all time

2. The Man Who Would be King (michael caine and sean connery), also one of the funniest movies of all time

3.The Last Emperor, a complete and utter masterpiece by Bertolucci, the first time westerners were permitted to shoot a film in China, with the chinese government helping arrange massive scenes in the imperial city with thousands of extras.

4.In The Soup (steve buscemi and vincent cassel), a quintessential early 90’s movie that is hilarious and disturbing at the same time.

The Man Who Would Be King trailer if anyone is interested :)

Same Time Next Year (Alan Alda, Ellen Burstyn)

Leaving Normal (Christine Lahti, Meg Tilly)

Planes, Trains & Automobiles (Steve Martin, John Candy)

All lighthearted fun.

Hard to find a movie more acclaimed than The Last Emperor.

I'm embarrassed because it was Joan Chen slowly eating the flowers.

In Your Hands Original title: Contre toi (2010). OB-GYN Anna (Kristin Scott Thomas) is kidnapped and held captive by a patient's husband, Yann (Pio Marmaï) out for revenge. Of course he is gorgeous too.

Trees Lounge. Written and directed by Steve Buscemi. Funny and odd. With Steve, Carol Kane, Anthony Lapaglia, Lorraine Bracco and a whole bunch of Soprano cast members.

Open Your Eyes. Perfect film.

R274 Gosh, Eduardo Noriega was so damn hot in that film. You can also watch him on "Thesis" (1996).

1971's black comedy Something for Everyone stars Michael York as an extremely ambitious young man who wants to live in a castle and the dastardly things he does to achieve that end. Also stars Angela Lansbury as royal who has retreated from reality. She gives a good performance.

Kudos to whoever it is that brought up Nothing in Common. Brilliant movie. I'll bring up Only the Lonely. Both John and Maureen deserved Oscars for that. Especially Maureen.

“The Last Seduction”

Ok whoever recommended Heavy can cut that out. I'm looking for feel good movies, interesting movies, not something bleak with problems that can be solved with a gym membership.

Bitter Moon by Roman Polanski. Fucking batshit movie, one of the greatest black comedy dramas ever released.

ooh I've got one! Comfort of Strangers. Strange, nasty little movie about 2 British tourists in Venice who make all the wrong choices.

Billy Liar - Tom Courtenay and a beautiful Julie Christie

Seance on a Wet Afternoon - great thriller.

R281 Comfort of Strangers really sneaks up on you! Great choice.

R283, I saw it as a 12 year old in 1964 and was entranced.

R279 Well for a feel good movie I really liked The world of Henry Orient, but it was not exactly unheard of. In his review for The New York Times, Bosley Crowther wrote that it was "one of the most joyous and comforting movies about teenagers that we've had in a long time."

The original story was inspired in part by the writer, Nora Johnson's. Her own experiences as a schoolgirl, as well as by a real-life incident involving singer Tony Bennett and two teenage fans. She wrote it with Rex Harrison in mind but he felt the part too small and instead Peter Sellers signed to play the male lead. It would be his first American movie. Harrison really would've been fantastic in that movie, with that sarcastic and/or quizzical look when he chose to use in a scene.

A lot of stars, including Peter Sellers, Paula Prentiss, Angela Lansbury and Tom Bosley. Lansbury is particularly good, her acting finesse really shines through, imho after seeing her as a warm loving person in Murder she wrote. She's not in this one.

Oh dear. That should be 'Nora Johnson'.

I love that movie, r286, in spite of Peter Sellers, who seems to be in a completely different film. It would have been so much better with Harrison. Otherwise, everyone else is great, and I just fell in love with Tippy Walker.

R288, Tippy Walker became the blonde ingenue on “Peyton Place” after Mia Farrow left the show.

“Get Shorty”

I liked night of the hunter. The underwater scene and the shot of the bullfrog as the boat went by were haunting. Director was ahead of their time.

One Night in Paris (Hilton)

Katherine Hepburn's Summertime

The Reincarnation of Peter Proud

[quote]Director was ahead of their time.

R291 The director was Charles Laughton. He continued acting but never directed another film. I've always been curious about that.

The Night Of the Hunter was not a successful film when it was released. However over the years it has been included among many critics best films lists.

The Omega Man (1971)

R296 Many good movies were not successful upon release. I'm just grateful that they find an audience at some point and are not completely forgotten. Ace in the Hole and Night of the Hunter are two great examples.

The Omega Man (1971) is preferable to I Am Legend (2007) which credits the writers of the 1971 film and the novel's author Richard Matheson

Bill Forsyth's Housekeeping (1987)

In a land where the people are narrow and suspicious, where do they draw the line between madness and sweetness? Between those who are unable to conform to society’s norm and those who simply choose not to, because their dreamy private world is more alluring? That is one of the many questions asked, and not exactly answered, in Bill Forsyth’s “Housekeeping,” which is one of the strangest and best films of the year.-Roger Ebert

V for Vendetta

Luis Buñuel's 𝐄𝐥 𝐚́𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐥 𝐞𝐱𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐝𝐨𝐫 (1962). I first became acquainted with it in the middle 90's, when TCM's Robert Osborne was having guest celebs each pick a film, which they aired and then discussed. 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐄𝐱𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐀𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐥 was guest Mia Farrow's choice. I found it quite thought-provoking, and re-watch it every few years.

Thanks r302. It looks like Clue in Spain.

Oh, it's not like 'Clue' - not at all. It's not a comedy (which is not to say you won't laugh at points), and in fact some consider it a horror film. It's weird, and once you've seen it, I'm sure you'll admit there's nothing else quite like it.

This link is supposed to have the film, but you have to sign in to Youtube for the age restriction.

The Pledge - Good murder mystery. Jack Nicholson plays his age, Sean Penn directs. Quite a cast in small roles - Mickey Rourke, Harry Dean Stanton, Helen Mirren, Patricia Clarkson.

Secrets and Lies

The Exterminating Angel has been talked about quite frequently as of late, as it's partly the basis for Stephen Sondheim's final musical.

The Marathon Man (1976) was acclaimed at the time. Great cast and a very tense movie.

R308: Dentists with a sense of humor will recall lines from it. The novel was quite good, too.

R309, My dentist had “Is it safe?” t-shirts printed for his patients.

ELEGY - Ben Kingsley, Penelope Cruz and Patricia Clarkson. Written by Philip Roth and Nicholas Meyer

A LATE QUARTET - Christopher Walken, Catherine Keener and the late great Philip Seymour Hoffman

[quote]R307: The Exterminating Angel has been talked about quite frequently as of late, as it's partly the basis for Stephen Sondheim's final musical.

Oh, you mean the musical that was never made? Was the talk actually about 'The Exterminating Angel,' or was it more about Sondheim?

R312 The musical is performing in New York at the moment. It is titled 'Here We Are'.

Celebration (the 1993 Danish film). Saw it for the first time on Criterion.

R295 his movie was thought of as weird when it came out. Here's a NYT review from 1955:

By Bosley Crowther Sept. 30, 1955 The New York Times Archives

A WEIRD and intriguing endeavor to put across something more in the way of a horror story involving children than the mere menace of a bogeyman is made in "The Night of the Hunter," a film based on the novel of Davis Grubb and directed by Actor Charles Laughton, which came to the Mayfair yesterday. Paul Gregory produced this audacious film.The trenchant and troubling proposition they are obviously aiming to convey is that being a child in the midst of sordid adults is a terrible experience. Innocent, sweet and trusting youngsters are sorely torn in a world of greed and hate. Withal, the authors assure us, the strength of little children abides.This is a difficult thesis to render both forceful and profound in an hour and a half of tangled traffic with both melodramatic and allegorical forms. And the fact that Mr. Laughton, undertaking his first film directorial job, has not brought forth a wholly shattering picture is easy to understand.

The story that Mr. Grubb provided is a dark and horrifying account of the torment a fake evangelist inflicts upon a couple of kids. In a frenzy to discover where a hanged bank robber has hidden $10,000 in stolen bills, ??? perambulating back-country preacher insinuates himself into the home of the robber's family, marries his moronic widow, murders her and then persecutes her kids (the only ones who know where the money is hidden) until he drives them forth into the world.

All this has been crisply compacted into clear screen drama by the late James Agee and it is put forth under the direction of Mr. Laughton in stark, rigid visual terms. The locale is crushingly rural, the atmosphere of "the sticks" is intense, and Robert Mitchum plays the murderous minister with an icy unctuousness that gives you the chills. There is more than malevolence and menace in his character. There is a strong trace of Freudian aberration, fanaticism and iniquity.

Credit Mr. Laughton with a clever and exceptionally effective job of catching the ugliness and terror of certain ignorant, small-town types. He has got out of Shelley Winters a grueling performance as the vapid widow and wife. The scene of the wedding-night of Miss Winters and the preacher is one of the most devastating of its sort since Von Stroheim's "Greed." And Evelyn Varden's and Don Beddoe's performances as village gossips and busy-bodies are edged with a sharp and treacherous cruelty that shows through the appearance of homely farce.

But unfortunately the story and the thesis presented by Mr. Grubb had to be carried through by Mr. Laughton to a finish—and it is here that he goes wrong. For the evolution of the melodrama, after the threatened, frightened children flee home, angles off into that allegorical contrast of the forces of Evil and Good. Strange, misty scenes composed of shadows and unrealistic silhouettes suggest the transition to abstraction. When the children find sanctuary in the home of a little old lady who befriends orphans, the idea comes across. The preacher, pursuing, is the Devil; the little old lady is Goodness and Love.

All this is handled with obvious pretense. Lillian Gish is sweet but wispy in the role of the benefactress of orphans, and Billy Chapin and Sally Jane Bruce, who are fine as the youngsters through most of the picture, become posey and incredible in the later scenes. The toughness of the grain of the story goes soft and porous toward the end. The conclusion is an uncontestable statement that children, God bless them, will endure.

R313, how does any of that serve discussion about 'The Exterminating Angel' (1962) as a film? The whole claim of 'based upon' seems incredibly thin. Supposedly the collaborators watched two Buñuel films back in 1982 and talked about developing them into a musical. At points, they dropped one film, then another. Different participants dropped out (finally, Sondheim died), and in the end, what they came up with bears no resemblance to the 1962 film. The only reason you're pressing this is as an effort to make out that my posting of the film on this thread is unjustified. Petty, and typical of borrowed grievance (your actual beef is something else, from the past).

Truth is, no one is talking about the film. It is a forgotten gem.

And you haven't ever even watched it, have you?

R316 Golly, I have no idea why you will die alone.

▲ Bitter sock, projecting.

R317 and r318 please conduct yourselves without telling people they're going to die alone. When it's too close to home it's not snarky and funny. Loneliness is awful. It's just fucking mean. Stay on the topic of movies without the personal attacks, please and thank you.

THE LONG WALK HOME…underrated drama with Whoopi Goldberg and Sissy Spacek about the relationship between a white woman and her black maid in 1955 Montgomery Alabama on the eve of the famous bus boycott. One of Whoopi’s better dramatic performances post THE COLOR PURPLE.

R319, I'm not the one who said it, or anything like it. The borrowed hostility is all on the other side, and always has been. (The "both of you" trolling is noted.)

Someone lost an argument long ago, about the existence of Jesus Christ most likely, and damn near not a day goes by here on the DL without a sock of that user having a petty go at me over it.

Stepping Out with Liza Minelli teaching a community tap class with Shelley Winters at the piano and Steve Irwin, Jane Krakowski and Julie Waters among the students.

Not certain if it qualifies but The Dying Gaul never fails to rivet me. Campbell Scott, Peter Sarsgaard and a truly gobsmacking performance from Patricia Clarkson.

Dogfight

Dogfight is excellent. Great performances by River Phoenix & Lili Taylor.

I Spit on Your Grave

The Paper with Michael Keaton and Glenn Close. Very funny and interesting story set in what is obviously the NY Post.

Spitfire Grill

R322 - Stepping gives Liza a Broadway style private solo .

SCRATCH, Helen Lawson’s last project before she was sent to Shady Lady Nursing Home with alcohol and LSD induced dementia.

Helen is Ann Trent, freshly moved into an upscale retirement community, Rusty Commons. She quickly succumbs to the charms of Beau Teak, played by Frank Converse, the local lothario of the community. Thinking she has finally found love after divorce and widowhood, she’s nonplussed to find out that she’s become part of Beau’s list of booty calls. And she’s contracted an STD which causes severe itching. Several other women in the community have the same symptoms. Enraged, Ann goes to Beau’s house to confront him, only to find him dead, face down on the bed with her marital aid in his rear. She joins forces with his other conquests to race against the clock to find Beau’s killer while romancing the doctor at the free clinic who treated her STD. You can tell that Helen is in her cups in several scenes and clearly reading cue cards. Still, it’s nice to see her in her element, a meaty role that only Helen can play…

R321 No, I just find you an arrogant cunt, with little to back it up.

Little to back 𝑤ℎ𝑎𝑡 up, R331? Whatever your issue is, it's not from this thread.

And arrogance? You're projecting.

Purple Noon/Plein Soleil (1960) with Alain Delon in his first major film role. Based on the novel "The Talented Mm Mr Ripley", this film predates Matt Damon's efforts. Terrific film. Unfortunately, I never saw the Matt Damon film, so I can't compare the two

I love Alain Delon in Purple Noon R333.

R331 and r332 if you're not going to contribute movie gold, would you kindly consider opening your own thread and trading insults there as much as you want?

Kissed, the Canadian necrophilia film.

No Mans Land. The stupidity of War.

Butterflies are Free. 🦋🦋🦋🦋🦋

[quote]R335: would you kindly consider opening your own thread and trading insults there...

Again, OP, there's no "trade" going on here. I offered a film, and this sock poster (using two accounts), triggered by my mere participation in the thread, attacked. I have not responded in kind.

The whole "girls, girls - you're both cunts" thing is a trope usually perpetrated by yet another sock of the antagonist, to continue the smear of the targeted poster. It's disappointing (but not really surprising) to see you taking part in it. Your 'policing' of the thread is intended to allow the aggressor to continue without disclosing the nature of the grievance.

Trolls frequently start threads to ostensibly explore a common cultural interest, but then use socks to cultivate their own narrow opinions up and down the thread, and to attack posters, drawn in by interest in the subject, whom they don't like.

Another thought-provoking film, again in Spanish, would be Nacho Vigalondo's 𝐓𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐬 (2007):

Girls, your both fat whores.

I love Dick.

A movie that never fails to have me sobbing by the end is The Search, the first movie of Montgomery Clift and Fred Zinnemann.

R339 who gives a fuck? Movies, not you!

[quote] your both fat whores

Oh, DEAR

The Trouble With Angels.

I'm not kidding. I just saw this a week or so ago and loved it. It's one of those sappy stories you're supposed to roll your eyes at. But you can't. It sucks you in.

R345, Saw it as a 13-year-old gayling in 1966 and went home wanting to be Hayley Mills.

Rosalind Russell was sublime in this movie. Especially when she catches the girls making fun of the German nun and she explains how she rescued a whole lot of Jewish children during the war. Was caught and sent to a concentration camp. The way Rosalind just ends her talk "and the indignities she suffered." Then when she mourned the death of said nun. It was just a great movie. I guess not every great movie has to be high art.

"Red State" (2011). I really thought Kevin Smith was going to become A-list after this, but no.

R346, Directed by Ida Lupino.

The Leather Boys

I agree about "The Leather Boys" R350. It probably was quite groundbreaking at the time (advocating kindness toward homosexuals) but the ending is a downer, that is to say realistic for the time period. Maybe that's why it's not better remembered today. Most people prefer pap like "Heartstopper".

The first part of the film is interestingly a satire of working-class values surrounding love & marriage and Rita Tushingham is wonderful.

R341 Dick prompted a walkout when a friend and I went to see it in a theater. It's an over extended SNL sketch that wears thin and goes nowhere.

The System directed by Michael (Death Wish) Winner aka The Girl Getters. For its time a surprisingly frank and unsentimental coming of age film. Oliver Reed was probably never more sympathetic than he is here. Compare it to the innocence of American Graffiti(1973)

R343, that's not a movie. Difficulty sticking to your own principles, huh?

At R339, I listed a movie.

(For the thread):

Here's another, 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐏𝐚𝐜𝐤 (1977), which profiles and capitalizes on the kind of panic created in ABC MotW 'Where Have All The People Gone?' over dogs that go feral. I saw a restored version of it a few weeks ago on TCM. It had me on the edge of my seat.

R341, I agree — DICK is a great movie.

So many of my faves are listed above.

╱▔▔▔▔▔╲⠀⠀⠀ ⠀╱⠀⠀╱▔╲╲╲▏⠀⠀⠀ ╱⠀⠀╱━╱▔▔▔▔▔╲━╮⠀⠀ ▏⠀▕┃▕╱▔╲╱▔╲▕╮┃⠀⠀ ▏⠀▕╰━▏▊▕▕▋▕▕━╯⠀⠀ ╲⠀⠀╲╱▔╭╮▔▔┳╲╲⠀⠀⠀ ⠀╲⠀⠀▏╭━━━━╯▕▕⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀╲⠀╲▂▂▂▂▂▂╱╱⠀⠀⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀▏⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀╲⠀ ⠀⠀⠀⠀▏⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀▕╲⠀⠀╲ ⠀╱▔╲▏⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀▕╱▔╲▕ ⠀▏ ⠀⠀⠀╰⠀⠀⠀⠀╯⠀⠀⠀▕▕ ⠀╲⠀⠀⠀╲⠀⠀⠀⠀╱⠀⠀⠀╱⠀╲ ⠀⠀╲⠀⠀▕▔▔▔▔▏⠀⠀╱╲╲╲▏ ⠀╱▔⠀⠀▕⠀⠀⠀⠀▏⠀⠀▔╲▔▔ ⠀╲▂▂▂╱⠀⠀⠀⠀╲▂▂▂╱

[Quote] DICK is a great movie.

The limp title says it all-Manohla Dargis LA Weekly

The Reivers. A very different Steve McQueen. But a really good story.

R354 Rate your top 10 favorite, popular or unpopular movies of all time. I'm curious.

𝑀𝑦 favorites, OP/R359? Tough to do, since what's in my top ten fluctuates from day to day, year to year, and they don't necessarily have a pecking order. Confining the list to just ten is pretty constraining. And it is sometimes difficult for me to distinguish between films that I love to watch, which mean something to me, and those I esteem as being excellent as films. So, off the top of my head, as of this moment:

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐓𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐌𝐚𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐞 (1960)

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐖𝐢𝐳𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐨𝐟 𝐎𝐳 (1939)

𝐀 𝐅𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐟𝐮𝐥 𝐨𝐟 𝐃𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐚𝐫𝐬 (1964)

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐆𝐨𝐨𝐝, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐁𝐚𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐔𝐠𝐥𝐲 (1966)

𝐈𝐧𝐯𝐚𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐁𝐨𝐝𝐲 𝐒𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐬 (1978)

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐒𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐧𝐠 (1980)

𝐃𝐚𝐰𝐧 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐃𝐞𝐚𝐝 (1978)

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐋𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐇𝐞𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐧 (1980)

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐁𝐥𝐚𝐜𝐤 𝐂𝐚𝐭 (1934)

𝐊𝐮𝐧𝐠 𝐅𝐮 𝐇𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐥𝐞 (2004)

In turn, let's have your pick of ten.

Disney's Dumbo from 1941. People only talk about it now to decry its racism and call for its cancellation.

1 Sunset Boulevard

2 Forbidden Games

3 Amores Perros

4 The Heiress

5 Goodfellas

6 Whiplash

7 Kiss Me, Deadly

8 The Miracle Worker

9 Beyond the Valley of the Dolls

10 Rosemary's Baby

Something Wild (1986). Maybe people do talk about it, but so many that I mention it to haven't seen it. It's Ray Liotta's first substantive film role, he is so insanely great in it, worth seeing for his performance alone. But I also think it's some of the best performances from Melanie Griffith & Jeff Daniels as well. It's deliberately quirky Jonathan Demme, and captures a certain late 80's NYC downtown vibe.

The forgotten Peter Jackson film, Meet The Feebles. It is gross and childish and stupid and utterly should be a DL favourite. The Sodomy song is delicious. And the AIDS stuff.

R364 Fuck, here it is.

R362 Review the assignment and resubmit.

--- Schoolmarm

R363, We also get to see Jeff Daniels’ bare butt, adorable in 1986.

Storytelling (2001)

Postcards From the Edge

IT' TWIRLED UP! or "Never let them see you ache. Or was that ass? Never let them see your ass?"

me and friends used those lines forever. The whole movie is just that rare script of one liner after one liner that merge perfectly to create a great script.

This really IS a great movie, very 'feel good' called The Hundred-Foot Journey, came out in 2014, Helen Mirren stars in it, very very enjoyable. Will change you to a good mood and that is really good medicine. Produced by Juliet Blake, Steven Spielberg, Oprah Winfrey. Be prepared to wish you could have a French restaurant nearby.

R369 “Any more people in here and we’re going to need a lubricant” Rob Reiner as Joe Pierce in PFTE.

I have used that line to great effect in a crowded elevator.

R369 Love “Postcards”! For all the reasons you stated but also because it has one of my favourite Meryl performances. She’s so down-to-earth, relatable and funny. The showdown between mother and daughter where she sings You Don’t Know Me to Shirley MacLaine’s I’m Still Here is one of the best examples of character development through song that I can think of. The yearning for understanding. The pleading for forgiveness and healing. It all shines through. Just movie magic!

From my body to your plate

The Dead. Anjelica never looked better.

Likewise Angelica, Annette Bening and John Cusack in “The Grifters.”

It’s all a con.

"Groove" (2000)

A film depicting the underground rave music scene of the late 90s-early 2000s.

R375 The Grifters, so good! The 3 lead performances are legendary. So brilliantly dark and uncompromising.

“ Get off the grift Roy. You don’t have the stomach for it!”

Great question, OP, except you shouldn't have added "transported you to another place and time." Lots of great movies don't do that, because they're not intended to.

13 Tzameti. In french with english subtitles. Can’t believe this was not remade in English. . Creepy unsettling film

Fateh Akim's "Head On". Heartbreaking.

Pat Hingle was incredible in THE GRIFTERS; every time he showed up, my heart rate started hammering!!

[quote] Great question, OP, except you shouldn't have added "transported you to another place and time." Lots of great movies don't do that, because they're not intended to.

Oh just shut up already, Alan

R377, That’s where Warren first saw Annette naked.

None of your business, pig

Ever After. Modest hit when it came out, good reviews, mostly forgotten today.

But still a well made film and Drew Barrymore's only good acting performance imo.

[quote]13 Tzameti. In french with english subtitles. Can’t believe this was not remade in English.

It was R379. It was made by the same director (Géla Babluani) and starred Sam Riley, 50 Cent, Mickey Rourke and Jason Statham.

I actually don't have a list R360. Whoopsie!

Bridge Over River Kwai would be in it though.

Nine Queens - really good twisty thriller. from Argentina.

Men Don't Leave

and

The Music Box

R386, thankyou. I will check it out

Christine (2016)

-Rebecca Hall should have had an Oscar nomination.

[quote]OP/R387: I actually don't have a list [R360]. Whoopsie!

I didn't either, when you asked. I thought about it, and made one on the spot.

C'mon - make an effort.

R389 I was just reading an article in the latest GQ about Nazi hunters and it made me think of The Music Box. Actually anytime I hear about Nazi hunters I think about The Music Box. I haven’t seen it since it came out, so I don’t actually remember all of the plot details but what’s really stuck with me all these years later is Jessica Lange inconsolable sobbing after the big reveal. Powerful performance. Very deserving of her Oscar nomination.

Joe

They Shoot Horses, Don't They?

Brian De Palma's Hi! Mom!-Sisters-The Phantom of the Paradise

The Baby

Lord Love a Duck

The Loved One

Trouble in Paradise

William Wyler's The Collector

Homebodies (1974)

Brassed Off. With baby Ewen and Carson!

Dog Soldiers with baby Kevin.

The powerful House of Sand and Fog with superb performances all around

NO DOWN PAYMENT (1957) directed by Martin Ritt. Completekly forgotten lFox drama, about unhappy California surburbia, a bit soapy but with fantastic performances by Joanne Woodward, Tony Randall as an alcoholic husband - he's really good, and unlike his usual light comic fey persona. Sheree North (excellent) as his frustrated wife. Pat Hingle and Barbara Rush as a married couple dealing with racial prejudice against a Japanese-American who wishes to move to the neighborhood. The weak links as are bland newlyweds Jeffrey Husband and Patricia Owens

This film is truly a gem that deserves to be made available to more viewers. It's a real period piece that gives an authentic, contemporary feeling of what life would have been like for married couples in a post-war housing development. A large number of what we now think of as Fifties clichés are shown in their simple, day to day reality, such as the cocktail parties and barbecues, the raising of children the new modern way, ( one mother is constantly quoting her pediatrician on everything from too much television to not enough orange juice in kids' lives), and the desire to get ahead warring with the need to conform. ( Barbara Rush is upset that husband Pat Hingle never attends church, and washes the car on Sundays, where all the neighbors can see him).

Excellent performances from all the cast, with especially strong turns by Joanne Woodward and Cameron Mitchell. The real surprise is Tony Randall. He plays a character who seems just a few degrees removed from his later neurotic comic persona, but a lot more down to earth and uncomfortably real. He seems both the classic alcoholic in denial, and also one of those dreamers, like Willy Loman, whose grandiose talk of success is clearly never going to be fulfilled. He's actually disturbing to watch, when he literally runs out the back, leaving his embarrassed wife to deal with his embarrassed employer, who has come to get back the money from a car sale that should never have been made in the first place. He never again played such a believable, flawed character, but settled for a niche as a nervous, fussy little man in largely forgettable comedies.

For anyone interested in Fifties lifestyle and popular culture, and a genuine historic snapshot of those times, this is a fascinating movie. On the level of fine performances alone, it deserves to be seen as an absorbing drama of love, ambition and disillusionment, that does not cop out into a happy ending.

David Bowie, upon receiving his first fan letter from America in 1967, wrote the fan back and mentioned this film: "I hope one day to get to America. My manager tells me lots about it as he has been there many times with other acts he manages. I was watching an old film on TV the other night called 'No Down Payment', a great film, but rather depressing if it is a true reflection of The American Way Of Life."

Wonderstruck

Luis Bunuel's harrowing, surreal and indelible study of juvenile delinquency in the slums of Mexico Los Olvidados (1950)

Champagne for Caesar. 1950

A New Leaf. 1971

Between the overrated Butch Cassidy and the overrated The Sting George Roy Hill made a very good film based on Vonnegut's novel with an able assist from editor Dede Allen

Butch Cassidy was very good. The Sting wasn't.

Butch Cassidy created slash fiction before slash fiction was a thing! Imagining a Redford/Newman pairing got many a gay man through many a cold night.

I hate that Clue has the big cult following and Murder By Death is all but forgotten when it's so much funnier.

I think I'm the only person alive who loves the movie Johnny Suede, starring Brad Pitt. I've seen it over a dozen times.

Another great film, with terrific performances all around: Georgia starring Mare Winningham, Jennifer Jason Leigh, and an amazing turn by Max Perlich.

Another for the Woody agonists, Crimes and Misdemeanors. It never gets old for me.

R407 from the director of Johnny Suede Tom DiCillo's 1995s Living in Oblivion with James Le Gross playing an actor supposedly modeled on Brad Pitt.

Agatha (1979). December 1926, Agatha Christie's husband asks for a divorce. She leaves her car and goes missing 11 days. She books into a hotel as Mrs. Neele. Fiction: A US reporter looks for her and investigates.

The Life of David Gale starring Kevin Spacey and Kate Winslet. I just looked it up and was surprised it was panned so hard by critics. The ending of this film has never left me.

R412, I prefer happy endings.

Drew Barrymore was good as Edie Beale.

Memorias del Subdesarrollo 1968

Black Girl 1966

[quote]The New adventures of Pippi Longstocking, featuring Miss Eileen Brennan

r250, I'm sure it was just an unfortunate editing error that kept my name out of your post. Tami Erin IS Pippi Longstocking FOREVER!

The Trip to Bountiful

Geraldine Page was a genius.

Living in Oblivion was very interesting. Thank you r410.

R417: Page's hamminess makes the film nauseating.

Citizen Ruth-great black comedy about abortion

Cat People (1982)

A KISS BEFORE DYING, the remake with Matt Dillon and Sean Young.

Honorable mention for the remake of THE BLOB, with Kevin Dillon and the awful Shawnee Smith.

INTO THE BLUE, which was better than I thought it would be.

A very Irish black dramedy, Calvary (2014). Similar setting to the more recent Banshees, a good cast with Brendan Gleason also in the lead. The black humor compliments darker elements of the story. When I first I saw it, I surprised myself by how ferocious my sobbing was in the final scene and through the credits.

Forget Scorsese's overrated The Departed and watch John Boorman's The General (1998) starring Brendan Gleason

Hard Candy (2005) with Patrick Wilson and (the late) Ellen Page.

It will chill you gentleman to the bone, so to speak.

Always

Had that hot piece of ass Brad Johnson in his prime. One of the most beautiful men that ever lived. Oh, and Audrey Hepburn.

[quote] Geraldine Page was a genius.

She's a good actress, but I'd hardly call her a genius.

Page was a total hambone--occasionally it worked as in "Sweet Bird of Youth" but often it didn't. That kind of heavy duty emoting probably works better on stage than in film. Her endless "Boun-TEE-ful" enunciation in "Trip to Bountiful" is reason enough to be annoyed with her.

Geraldine had so many tics and mannerisms in her acting.

I didn't really appreciate Page in Bountiful until I saw Lois Smith do it onstage. She made the character so annoying and unlikeable, you ended up rooting for the daughter-in-law.

I saw Cicely Tyson play it on Broadway. She brought heart and subtlety, unlike Page.

[quote] Page was a total hambone--occasionally it worked

I think it worked for her in Interiors. And maybe that Truman Capote Christmas teleplay.

It also worked for her in [bold]What Ever Happened to Aunt Alice?[/bold] and [bold]The Beguiled[/bold]. The more unhinged and neurotic the character, the better Geraldine was.

[bold]The Beguiled[/bold], especially, fits this thread. A Civil War-set Southern Gothic, it's not talked about much, probably because Clint plays a manipulative, unheroic character who gets put in his place by a school full of girls. It's certainly one of the most unusual films in his filmography.

The Commitments (1991). My go to recommendation.

YES!! I love that film and listen to that GREAT soundtrack to this day!!!

Are there ANY movies recommended here that aren't 50+ years old or more and almost impossible to find?

The Spitfire Grill!! Has anyone else seen this? Possibly my favorite Marcia Gay Harden performance.

Any good ones?

R436 Yes. The General (1998) Go! (1999) Citizen Ruth (1996) Amores Perros (2000)

I recently tried watching the acclaimed Hereditary, but couldn't get the initial shock scene. Maybe it was Toni Collette's wailing.

^couldn't get past

R440 saw hereditary in a theater and grew tired of Collette's perpetually dreary face. It's a terrible film.

Yes she is box office poison to me too. Will only try something if there is someone else in the cast I must see.

“Without a Trace” with Kate Nelligan, Judd Hirsch and Stockard Channing in a thankless role. Really, she had nominé to thank.

“Mother” with Debbie Reynolds is terrific. Great scene in the grocery. Fun Time Ice Cream!

Elena.

“The Deep End”

Thank you, R447 Terrific film, that I'd forgotten about. A sleeper that I saw in a theater. Also, your post reminded me of another extraordinary film 1970s Deep End

another coming-of-age film with Jane Asher 1961s Loss of Innocence aka The Greenage Summer with Susanah York looking remarkably like Michelle Pfeiffer

(^.^) Loss of Innocence

Never understood why Paul favored Linda over Jane Asher but if it's true he was a control freak maybe she was easier to control.

R451, John favored Yoko over Cynthia. Go figure.

Chen Kaige's "The Emperor and the Assassin", written by Chinese playwright and poet Wang Peigong, is one of my favorite films, but has yet to come out on Blu-ray or in HD streaming. At the time of its release, in 1998, it was the most expensive Chinese then produced, costing a whopping $20 million. It's a thoughtful, emotionally poignant and powerful, beautifully shot film that didn't please Chinese authorities much upon its release because of its spin on the on historical tale of the assassination attempt on the King of Qin. (When I first watched it I was blown away, and something in the mood and perspective reminded me of another fantastic film that almost zero people have seen, called Warrior Lanling, which, it turned out, was also written by Wang Peigong .) Terrific cast and performance, including Gong Li

1978s Straight Time directed by Ulu Grosbard. One of the best and most overlooked films of the 70s. Hoffman as Max Dembo has never been better, and the entire supporting cast is superb: M. Emmet Walsh, Harry Dean Stanton, Gary Busey, Teresa Russell who's surprisingly effective as a girl who becomes romantically involved with Hoffman's ex con and Kathy Bates at her slimmest.

Straight Time is not a movie to raise the spirits. It is so cool it would leave a chill where it not done with such precision and control that we remain fascinated by a rat in spite of ourselves. Vincent Canby NYTIMES

I’m sorry. There is no such thing.

"4x4" (2019). An Argentine film about a thief who gets trapped on an highly armored SUV.

R454 WHET Theresa Russell?

Russell last credits are from 2014. Though apparently no longer married to famed director- cinematography Nicolas Roeg with whom she made a series of films never seen by me: Bad Timing, Eureka, Insignicance and lived with him in England. I'm familiar with her American made films Straight Time as well as The Last Tycoon, Wild Things and Black Widow with Debra Winger. She also appeared in Whore, Liz & Dick, Impulse, The Believer and Spider-Man 3.

R458 Thanks for the update. I always loved her voice and delivery.

Dementia

Alpha Dog, starring Justin Timberlake, Bruce Willis, and Anton Yelchin.

Bell, Book, and Candle

Cloud Atlas. Based on a good book. Visually stunning. Amazing soundtrack. Interesting story. Great performances and direction. Such an underrated film.

Prometheus. Yes. It is good. You can get lost in it. Some stupid scene, surely, but it is a stunning film.

And I recognize I’ll get shit for this, but yes, Tim Burton’s Planet of the Apes. You are in the world he created. A fun film.

13 Conversations About One Thing (2001). Opened in art houses, and then vanished.

[Quote] Opened in art houses, and then vanished.

I can't for the life of me understand why!

R460 I’ll skip that one

R451: Linda was a grasping groupie like Yoko. She controlled Paul, not the other way around.

"Cloud Atlas" was boring and pretensious.

Without a Trace would have been the perfect movie but suffered major damage with the hokey ending.

THE LOBSTER, with Colin Farrell, Olivia Colman and John C. Reilly.

R469 That's 2 hours I'll never get back. As they say.

I liked The Lobster! But I've liked every one of his films that I've had the chance to see.

Try Dogtooth.

I'll wait for the Emma Stone sexual adventure film. Are Ruffalo and Dafoe captured in full frontal flagrante?

Hotline (1982) starring Lynda Carter.

R468, But, it was based on a true story.

Down and Out in Beverly Hills.

Everyone is very good in it but the dog Matisse steals the movie.

Without a Trace is loosely, very loosely, based on the Etan Patz case. He never came back. Was never found. At least his body. This type of in the air ending was written and shot. However, TPTB wanted a happy ending. Still love the move, until the ending because it was such a Lifetime ending. Totally out of sync with the rest of the movie.

Shane. Plus I hate to make such a blanket statement, and this is the only actress I'll do it for, anything with Gene Arthur. The subtlety she expresses, or well doesn't, in Shane is something every acting student should watch.

Does anyone still talk about Ruthless People? It was popular at the time, but good lord, whata funny movie. Great comedies never get the credit they deserve.

1956’s BHOWANI JUNCTION. One of Ava Gardner’s best performances. One of the first films to use the word ‘rape’, harkening the relaxation of the notorious Hollywood Production Code. Had the underrated and sexy Bill Travers as one of her paramours. Directed by George Cukor.

As I remember, Topsy-Turvy got great reviews, but other than the recreation of the period, which was well done, I didn't like it at all. Something about the whole tone of the movie that was very strange and not at all entertaining, -- also, as I recall, there was very little humor in it.

High Season with Jackie Bisset- Pauline Kael loved it!

Julian Schnabel's "The Diving Bell and The Butterfly". A French man suffers a massive stroke and wakes up with locked-in syndrome. He and his nurses develop a system so he can communicate. The nurses would slowly say the letters of the alphabet ordered according to how common they were in French. He would blink his eye when the nurse said the letter he wanted. Thus he would slowly spell out words and communicate. Fascinating, touching movie. Interesting how the mother of his children and his last girlfriend react to his situation.

Btw, "The Diving Bell and The Butterfly" appeared on many critics' top ten lists for the year it was released (2007).

[quote]I hate to make such a blanket statement, and this is the only actress I'll do it for, anything with Gene Arthur.

If you love her that much, you might want to learn to spell her first name correctly. Also, what do you mean by "the subtlety she expresses, or well doesn't, in Shane is something every acting student should watch?" I'm having trouble interpreting that statement.

In the nicest way possible, r480, your taste level is highly suspect.

Right back at ya, R485. For what it's worth, although I do remember TOPSY-TURVY getting excellent reviews, it seems to me that nobody talks about the movie anymore, And in fact, I can't remember the last time I even read or heard it mentioned before the title came up in this thread.

For comic book adaptations, the Wachowski's Speed Racer is fathoms better anything that Marvel/Disney has released to the present. On that note, as is Dick Tracy & the Rocketeer (Disney's first foray into comic adaptations).

I've seen and loved Secrets & Lies but had never seen Topsy-Turvy till it was recommended in this thread, so I'm there with you R486.

“”Midnight Run” (1988) starring Robert DeNiro and Charles Grodin is one of my favorite buddy movies. Great chemistry between the leads and lots of outstanding character actors to lend support (Joe Pantoliano, Yaphet Kotto, and Dennis Farina, among others). It also has a great score by DL Fave Danny Elfman.

Love that money, R489. Charles Grodin and Robert De Niro are great together.

The Stranger, released 2 years after Gaslight, in my opinion a superior entry in the gaslighting suspense genre.

As much as I love Ingrid, GASLIGHT was overrated as a film, her performance in particular. THE STRANGER is a great film too.

“Mary and Tim” a television film with Candice Bergen and Thomas McCarthy. It’s a remake of the movie “Tim” thss as t starred Piper Laurie and Mel Gibson. She’s an older widow lady who befriends a mildly retardéd and hot young man. It’s very good. Mel Gibson cavorted in cut off denim shorts and muscle tees. Oh, watch “Tim” instead!

When I first came across "Tim", I thought surely this must have been conceived and produced by a gay man. Gibson is just such live BAIT.

R491 A good reminder that at one time Welles was actually hot.

“Let The Right One In.”

Catch it for Halloween — even for free, streaming with ads just before the beginning, regardless — just make sure it’s not the version in badly dubbed English.

Cast a Giant Shadow, and very apropos of today

A Face in the Crowd, starring Andy Griffith as a drifter musician who rises to prominence as a radio personality who gets too big for his britches.

Otto Preminger's best film 1959s Anatomy of a Murder. One of the finest courtroom dramas ever with a top notch cast at their best: Jimmy Stewart, Lee Remick, George C. Scott and Ben Gazzara

No Man Of Her Own (1950), The Search (1948), The River (1951), Bend Of the River (1952).

And a Duke Ellington soundtrack, r499!

Love that money = Love that movie

Are there any movies about a place where everyone is gay and being straight is seen as odd?

R102, “Six Weeks”??? 🤮

A WARM DECEMBER.

Late to the party, but:

Avalon, The Winter Guest, Truly Madly Deeply, Shoot the Moon, The Winslow Boy, The Spanish Prisoner, The Secret Lives of Dentists, Rodger Dodger, Lie With Me

Pumpkin

Whiplash (2014) Won 3 Oscars and was a Best Picture nominee as well. Intense film. Simmons and Teller are terrific. There non-sexual relationship is full out S-M. Forget 50 Shades of Gray.

A FAE IN THE CROWD is shown frequently and discussed on TCM. Andy Griffith is great in it.

does TCM exist anymore? I saw the film many years ag but never hear it discussed.

Basic cable on almost every system in the USA, I believe. Also on Roku. We finally got the high-def version a couple years ago.

A Face in the Crowd is not available on Netflix, Prime and The Criterion Channel.

They don't always have long discussions about every film, but their hosts like Ben Mankiewicz usually have interesting little factoids at the beginning and end of the film.

But then they have "guest programmers" like TONIGHT, with Mario Cantone - a double feature of 1978's MAGIC, with Anthony Hopkins, followed by DL fave EYES OF LAURA MARS!! And Mankiewicz just sits there and lets Cantone RIP!

hopefully Mario ripped those 2 films apart. Magic is dull and The Eyes of Laura Mars preposterous.

The Dead, John Huston's final film. It's based on the short story by James Joyce and takes place in one evening at a party in Dublin in the early 1900s. Anjelica Huston is beautiful in this and gives a great performance. I love the narration and how each character at the party seems fully realised. The whole movie is on youtube

R515 Meet R374. You might have something to talk about.

John Huston's Wise Blood

It is so eccentric, so funny, so surprising and so haunting that it is difficult to believe it is not the first film of some enfant terrible instead of the 33rd feature of a man who is now in his 70s-Vincent Canby NYTimes

TCM is still selectable as a "Brand Spotlight" on the MAX streaming service, but there continue to be rumblings that Discovery will eventually shutter or integrate it fully - because network execs seem to believe that killing off established brands like HBO & TCM, with large loyal fan bases, is why they're paid the obscenely big bucks.

David Lynch's Blue Velvet

One of my favourite films. It is no. 85 on Sight and Sound's list of the greatest films of all time. Dennis Hopper is brilliant as the villain.

R475 have a look at the original French - Boudu sauvé des eaux

I'd like to mention a really good movie that no one talk about because, unfortunately, very few people know about it. The title is GAYBY, and it's a small indie about a gay guy and his female bestie who decide to have a baby together. Hilariously funny but also very sweet and touching in the end.

Any stupid comedies Madea, Adam Sandler movies, Jim Carrey Dumb and Dumber?

After the depressing list of movies here I need some brainless levity.

R473 love that one

When She Was Bad starring Cheryl Ladd 1979

Next Stop, Greenwich Village (1976).

"Fresh out of college, Larry Lapinsky (Lenny Baker) leaves Brooklyn and moves to Greenwich Village. Larry comes from a traditional Jewish home, and though his mother, Faye (Shelley Winters), wants him to get a steady job, he tries to make it as an actor."

Lenny Baker didn't live long, unfortunately. Winters gives a poignant, hilarious performance. With Christopher Walken, Ellen Greene, Lois Smith, Jeff Goldblum, Lou Jacobi, Mike Kellin. Directed by Paul Mazurski.

R525 I saw that recently for the first time. An excellent film.

Great! I saw it in 1976. Glad it holds up.

I'm guessing "Bad movies no one ever talks about" is a separate thread, R522, but the really bad ones DO get talked about by MST3K.

All I Desire (1953) starring Barbara Stanwyck, directed by Douglas Sirk. About a mother who revisits the family she deserted.

Love Liza

SHAME. Hasn't been on cable in years. Michael Fassbender and Carey Mulligan are great. The montage of him fucking his way through the city in one night is incredible.

R531 That was a good movie. But, it's probably too controversial some people these days.

Plus DL is outraged by Carey's "New York New York".

R533 My impression was that outrage or revulsion was the point.

R531--it was pretty controversial when it was released.

North Sea Texas (2011) Coming-of-age gay film from Belgium.

"Captain Volkogonov Escaped" got double-dinged with the Covid lockdowns and the Russian invasion backlash, but it's fantastic. A surreal, darkly comic chase movie set amid Stalin's purges, following a member of the goon squad looking for redemption. This clip, frankly, doesn't give you much of use but it does preview the great cinematography.

Glad to see all of love for passion fish the cinematography was breathtaking

The German film, Freier Fall or Free Fall 2013. Ill-fated gay romance, with quite good acting, believable storyline, and attractive cast.

Yes, “Passion Fish!” I didn’t ask for the anal probe! I didn’t ASK for the anal probe. I didn’t ask for the ANAL probe!

George Roy Hill's Slapshot 1977 Newman is terrific and the film is funny and profane

Rolling Stone

Rowdy, raunchy, hilarious, absurd, deeply depressing and profoundly human – often all at the same time – Slap Shot is refreshingly devoid of phony uplift or showy monologues. There's no jerking of tears or pulling of heartstrings, no big lessons to be learned beyond the harsh reminder that sports is a business; the passion of its fans and the heroics of its players are ultimately less important than the clang of the cash register. It's the rare combination of both team-spirit uplift and period-appropriate downer.

Ulee's Gold

Never Let Me Go

Very grim, depressing storyline but Andrew Garfield and Carey Mulligan’s performances were heartbreaking.

Slap Shot is one of my favorite sports movies and I agree no one really talks about it. Another great hockey movie was Youngblood with Rob Lowe.

R541 I remember my then crush Michael Ontkean, skating bare-assed in a jockstrap was nearly too much for me to take at the time. I got all swoony, while everyone around me was laughing at the scene, I was struggling to keep it together and breathe.

^^^ It's hotter than anything in Making Love 1982

R544 I agree that the bare bums of Rob Lowe and Michael Ontkean in jockstraps would elevate ANY movie!

Tex (1982). I recently re-watched it and it held up great. Based on an S. E. Hinton YA novel. Matt Dillon is so good in it. It was produced by Disney but has no Disney-ness about it. Directed and co-written by Tim Hinter with Charles Haas. Tim Hunter also directed Over The Edge and River's Edge. (Despite that, he's directed mostly TV, like Homicide, Twin Peaks, Bosch, Riverdale, etc.)

My Bodyguard. Pops up on cable once in a while but largely forgotten.

R228, the rendition of "It Came Upon a Midnight Clear", sang by Sam Phillips, which closes that film, is one of my favorite songs.

It's heartbreaking

(* I meant heartrending)

I just saw The Station Agent for the first time. Heard great things about it. I thought it was good. Not great.

Fatherland

One of Woody's best films.

"At 84 minutes, it's short but nearly every one of those minutes is blissful"-NY Times Vincent Canby

The accountant

The Mountain

"Rent-A-Pal" (2020)

For the people who love 'Topsy Turvy', here's Mike Leigh's brilliant biopic about JMW Turner.

'Shattered Glass' is an amazing true-life story. This may be Hayden Christensen's best performance but Peter Saarsgard steals the film from under him. The whole cast was brilliant and the film is a winner in every department: script, acting, editing, direction.

I love David Lynch's weird and wonderful movies but my favourite is his quiet elegy, 'The Straight Story'. Simple, poetic, very zen.

"To Leslie" was robbed! It should have won every award, including for my performance.

The Ghost Writer directed by Roman Polanski

r23 Stealing Home brings back memories, when I was a young teenager it was constantly playing on HBO

The Zero Effect. Comedy/Mystery

The world's greatest detective Daryl Zero (Bill Pullman) aided by his associate Steve Arlo (Ben Stiller) investigates a complex and mysterious case of blackmail and missing keys for shady tycoon Gregory Stark (the late unlamented Ryan O'Neal) who is less than forthcoming about what is really happening.

National Treasure had really great history lessons and a fascinating treasure hunt.

People talk about national treasure

In what universe is National Treasure a good movie and not just a bland ripoff of Raiders of the Lost Ark?

Roller Gator. 🐊

La Vendedora de Rosa's (The Rose Seller). I couldn't find a trailer in English. Sadly, many of the actors passed away at a young age.

DICK is a comedy that didn't ever get enough attention. The stars are remarkable: Kirsten Dunst and Michelle Williams get to show their gift at light coemdy they rarely get to exhibit, and Dan Hedaya does noe of the best Nixon performances I've ever seen.

Urban Cowboy.

[Quote] DICK is a comedy that didn't ever get enough attention.

it's a limp comedy. An an over extended SNL sketch. The fun peters out after the first 30 minutes

DICK is a limp comedy. hahaha

"House of Sand" (2005), by Brazilian Andrucha Waddington. He directed both his wife and mother-in-law (playing several generations themselves). It's a favorite of mine. And for some reason, I don't know anyone personally who has seen it.

Two S. E. Hinton adaptations are really underrated - both starring Matt Dillon: Tex, and Rumble Fish.

“Everybody’s Fine” slipped through the cracks. An excellent movie starring Robert Deniro. Also, “Rango.”

Here

And here

Just watched "True Confessions" (1981, Robert DeNiro as a priest, Rob't Duvall as his police sergeant brother) for the first time. I watched it twice, actually. Lots of flaws, I'd say. However, definitely worth watching.

DeNiro and Duvall were supposed to have grown up in LA. DeNiro can never shake his NY accent.

Duvall was the star, really. He was really good in this. DeNiro was very handsome in some scenes.

I think they should have done more to develop the characters' sibling background. The one scene with their mother could have been cut. (It was a useless scene.)

Lots of good character actors.

Production looked expensive. There was a "Godfather"-type wedding involving the main antagonist (a rich, corrupt Catholic church donor). Antagonist was father of the bride. The church and grounds where DeNiro's character lived were lovely.

Burgess Meredith played a non-corrupt priest who was put out to pasture in the desert.

I'm pretty dense when watching movies and need things spelled out, but when they spelled out who killed the prostitute (Black Dahlia-based), it was a bit too spelled-out.

Girl with a Pearl Earring

Street Smart, starring Christopher Reeve, Kathy Baker, and Morgan Freeman.

R579 I had never heard of this movie before your post. From the subject matter and the cast, I wondered if it might have been written by Paul Shrader. Turns out the writing credits are Joan Didion and her husband John Dunne, based on his novel. Definitely going to check it out.

R582, would love if you checked out True Confessions and posted here what you thought. Yes, it was Joan Didion and John Dunne. The movie is 1 hour, 48 minutes. I always like when a movie is less than 2 hours.

The only developed female character, Brenda, is played by Rose Gregorio, the director's wife.

I might read the book, by Dunne.

I wish the movie had more of an LA feel.

I think DeNiro does so much with the small details of a character. There was a scene I loved where he was removing his vestments (priest). One reviewer groused that it was his best scene (i.e., the movie could have been and should have been so much better).

Will do. I see it's available on amz prime.

R584 I found the film talky, overly long, slow.

So why does the movie version, with Robert Duvall as Tom and Robert De Niro as Des, proceed at the sluggish pace of a Sodality novena? Perhaps because Dunne's collaborator on the screenplay was his wife, the Empress of Angst, Novelist Joan Didion. Onscreen, characters who should percolate with rage simply simmer. Two exciting, dangerous actors have little to do: Duvall spends too much time pacing and waiting;

De Niro's big scene has him hanging up his vestments- TIME Richard Corliss

Just saw this old movie I never heard of, The Walls Of Jericho (1948). Not a masterpiece, I guess, but it kept me hooked all the way through and the story wasn’t predictable and kept me guessing. Small town (Kansas) drama with nice atmosphere of the Teddy Roosevelt era. Cornel Wilde, Linda Darnell, Anne Baxter, Kirk Douglas and Ann Dvorak were the stars.

Whit Stillman's METROPOLITAN. I love this film, can't really explain why.

I like his other films too, BARCELONA and THE LAST DAYS OF DISCO, but METROPOLITAN is the best one IMO.

Saving Mr banks

[quote] the Empress of Angst, Novelist Joan Didion

Looking at her IMDB page I was surprised by how few screenplays she was involved with, although she has writer's credit for the 2 modern remakes of A Star Is Born.

The fact that her non-fiction is so singularly exceptional, it's always a mystery why her fiction - and maybe her script work - just don't seem to measure up.

John and Joan wrote the screenplay for Frank Perry's Play It As It Lays (1972) based on Joan's angst ridden novel

After being wowed by Slouching and the White Album, I struggled to get through Play It As It Lays, possibly her most accessible novel, but never managed to.