Hey all. I want to start a thread to identify the 10 greatest movies I've never seen. I'm moving to a new apartment in 2 months, and at that time, I won't be able to afford to splurge on my beloved Netflix, so I want to go out with a bang. What I'm looking to do with this thread is see if we can come up with a (relatively) definitive list of the top 10 greatest movies available on DVD. I'll eliminate those that I've already seen. Thanks!
A Clockwork Orange Casablanca From Here to Eternity La Femme Nikita (original version) The Seven Samurai It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World Animal House Amores Perros Dr. Strangelove Quadrophinia
I've seen Animal house, but none of the others mentioned in this or the previous post, which would make the current list as (in no particular order): 1- Vertigo 2- Fight Club 3- Requiem For A Dream 4- A Clockwork Orange 5- Casablanca 6- From Here to Eternity 7- La Femme Nikita 8- The Seven Samurai 9- It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World 10- Amores Perros 11- Dr. Strangelove 12- Quadrophinia The goal is to form a definitive top ten. Anybody else out there have some suggestions? Any 2 of the above movies seem lower than the others? Also, for what it's work, A Clockwork Orange was already en route from Netflix, so that one was on my personal list as well.
It really depends on what you're looking for. What do you see as quality? Quirky (i.e. Cohen Bros) or hard boiled (Fincher) or eh, foreign (Almodovar)?
I'd stick Tri-Colors (Blue/White/Red) in there and count it as 1. Dump Clockwork Orange. Add Blue Velvet. Add Miller's Crossing. But you probably have seen those already anyway.
Dammit, I wish I hadn't given away my record collection so many years ago. I really wanna hear Quadrophenia right now. "Can you see the real me, can ya? CAN YA?"...
Asking for the "10 Best" is asking for trouble. I'll recomend 10 that are must see that there's a chance you've missed. 1. Rififi (d. Jules Dassin) Simply the best heist movie ever. Classic noir. A true masterpiece from one of the great directors who was totally ************ed by the Hollywood blacklist. Our loss was europe's gain. His other films are excellent too, notably "Brute Force" and "The Naked City". 2. Brazil (d. Terry Gilliam) Epic flick by the ex Python that is probably his best. Make sure you get the directors cut if you can. Distopian bureauracracy runs rampant in a future that looks like the past. Gilliam crams more into a single frame than a lot of directors put into their whole movie. 3. Rockers (d. Theodore Bafolukous) I put this on instead of "The Harder They Come" simply because this is the less well known of the two Jamacian music/ganster/JA life flicks. The soundtrack is deadly and it's a great portrait of life at street level in JA in the 70s. It's pretty funny too. "Man, dem teeb mya bike!" 4. Miller's Crossing (d. Coen Brothers) In my opinion this is their best film. And that's saying something. There's a whole 'nother thread wherein many fine folks from this forum debate the merits of the various Coen Brothers movies, but this is the one that does it for me. Stylish to a fault, with some of the best lines ever committed to celluloid. Tom Regan is one of the most complex and cool figures in recent memory. 5. The Third Man (d. Carol Reed) Excellent suspense movie set in post war Vienna. Fine acting from Joseph Cotton and Orson Wells (together again). The story is extremely engaging and who can forget the title tune or the chase scene through the sewers? If you haven't seen this yet, you're doing yourself a great disservice. 6. Mr. Vampire (d. Ricki Lau) Had to throw one curveball in here. Wacky, out there and a far out good time. Ostenisbly a horror/vampire flick but is actually a comedy (it is intended as such really). It's interesting to see a different cultures take of the vampire myth. In China/HK vampires suck your blood through their extra long nails, and are repelled by real chicken blood, long grained rice, or prayers tacked to their heads. If one finds you stop breathing! This became a whole movie franchise in Hong Kong. When you find another Mr.V fan you'll both be able to riff for quite a while on this. 7. How To Get Ahead in Advertising (d. Bruce Robinson) Richard E. Grant is the rant machine in this oft overlooked classic about everything that is wrong with the modern world of the hype machine. If this movie moves you to watch "Withnail and I" so much the better. 8. The Seventh Seal (d. Igmar Bergman) Devestating but not without humor. This film is iconic enough to have had the piss taken out of it on many occassions. Still it's a very moving and thought provoking picture. Mark Pauline of Survival Research Labratories said all intelligent people should be concerned with sex and death. This movie points a laser guided beam at the later (though there is a bit of hanky panky between the actor and the blacksmith's wife). 9. The Brothers Quay Collection (d. Brothers Quay) I was hesitant to put this on here because this really isn't for everyone, but those that like these films absolutely love them. The Quay Brothers are identical twins from Philadelphia who now live in London. These are all stop motion animation shorts (the longest piece is about 20 minutes) with the rare bit of live action, usually in the set up ("Street of Crocodiles"). Surreal, textured, and dark, sinister and at turns playful these stunning works of film art will worm their way into your subconcious. Wow that sounded pretty pretentious. Anyhow, many of the scores were done by Polish composer Lezek Jankowski and are very engaging if you're at all a fan of avant classical. This collection is some of my absolute favorite moving making of all time. 10. Down By Law (d. Jim Jarmusch) A very funny movie with stellar acting jobs by 2 musicians (Tom Waits and John Lurie) and a future Oscar winner (Roberto Begnini). Languid and beautifully shot, just trust me and rent it. "You trow d cueball agiansta me, I trow d cueball againta you".
Dump Down by Law and put Dead Man Stranger Than Paradise or Ghostdog: The way of the samarai Dead Man is really a great movie. I like Ghostdog and Stranger just because I like the characters much better than Down by Law, which to me was kind of a downer of a flick, the hiccuping notwithstanding.