Films More People Should See (Spoilers Likely)

[Mick]

Used Cars (1980)

Before Marty McFly went Back to the Future, before we watched a drunk detective help out some psychotic clients, before we were all able to quote a mildly retarded war hero and All-American, before we realized that Carl Sagan should have nothing to do with movies, and before Tom Hanks lost his mind by talking to a volleyball, Robert Zemeckis wrote and directed Used Cars. Kurt Russell is Rudy Russo, a used cars salesman with dreams of being a politician. Jack Warden is in a double role as Luke Fuchs, the frail and elderly owner of the New Deal Used Car Lot where Rudy works, and is Roy L. Fuchs, Luke's greedy bastard of a brother that runs the Roy L. Fuchs auto exchange. Roy wants Luke's lot. Bastardry ensues, in one of the fucking funniest movies I have ever seen. Watch this movie, you will not be disappointed.

Trust me.

[Jimmy]

I really like Terrence Malick, but I just couldn't get into The Thin Red Line. Maybe I need to re-watch it, but I was just bored. I dig most of his other stuff though. That said, I liked Days of Heaven, but it didn't live up to the insane hype.

All of Gorka's suggestions are good. But then again, I would've thought most people have seen Moon. Tyrannosaur is brutal.

[Regia]

SLC Punk! (1998)

Genre: Comedy-Drama

Availability (UK): Netflix/DVD (US Import)

The film outlines the daily lives of two punks in Salt Lake City, Utah in the fall of 1985: Stevo (Matthew Lillard) and his best friend, "Heroin" Bob (Michael A. Goorjian).Throughout the film Stevo ridicules other youth subcultures and defends punk-anarchism as a world-life view. A series of tragic events unfold that reveal the implausibility of punk-anarchism.

A film I really enjoy, and have watched several times. Also has Jason Segel in one of his first acting roles. While you can only get it as a US Import on DVD, it is available on the UK Netflix (don't think it is on the US one though.)

[DMN in the House]

High Tension (2003

A French (that's the original poster up there) slasher film, High Tension crazy violent, but also lived up to it's name. There's a lot of controversially 'out there' style violence, and a twist ending which I did not see coming. I'm not usually a fan of these type of films, by which I mean horror/slasher, not French, but this one stuck with me. I'm not absolutely sure it'd live up to a second viewing, but I'd definitely recommend a first, if the genre is your thing.

[Regia]

Timecrimes (Spanish: Los Cronocrímenes) [2007]

Genre: Sci-fi/Thriller

Availablity (UK): DVD/Amazon Instant Video

In the Spanish countryside, a middle-aged man named Héctor (Karra Elejalde) and his wife (Candela Fernández) live in a home that they are renovating. Héctor looks at the forest behind their house with binoculars, when he sees someone who turns out to be a young woman undressing. His wife leaves to go shopping so he investigates, only to be stabbed and chased by a mysterious man wearing pink bandages on his face. After fleeing and breaking into a mysterious building, Héctor is contacted by a scientist (Nacho Vigalondo), who warns him of the bandaged man and guides him to his location, promising safety. The scientist convinces Héctor to hide from the bandaged man in a large mechanical device. However, when he leaves the machine, he discovers that he has traveled approximately an hour back in time.

A very interesting Spanish language film, that I originally watched in College, and I enjoyed it enough to go out and buy the DVD. Personally, I think it makes good use of the Time-loop plot device.

[Plubby]

I really really enjoyed Intacto. The plot is a little wacky and fanciful, but I kinda like that when it's done right.

[Benjamin]

I really like Terrence Malick, but I just couldn't get into The Thin Red Line. Maybe I need to re-watch it, but I was just bored. I dig most of his other stuff though. That said, I liked Days of Heaven, but it didn't live up to the insane hype.

All of Gorka's suggestions are good. But then again, I would've thought most people have seen Moon. Tyrannosaur is brutal.

Out of curiosity, was it the pacing that got you bored of The Thin Red Line? From what I remember, sometimes the movie would slow down too much, so that when the action began it felt sluggish, but that's the only problem I had with it. It's really amazing, to me, I could watch it everyday.

[SRN]

Moon is fucking fantastic, one of my absolute favorite sci-fi movies of today.

Kingdom of Heaven: DIRECTOR'S CUT

dir: RIdley Scott

Orlando Bloom, Liam Neeson, Kevin McKidd, Philip Glenister, David Thewlis, Brendan Gleeson, Jeremy Irons, Edward Norton (uncredited) and plenty of other familiar faces.

No spoilers here. Lots of people watched the cinema release and it was kinda ok. Thing is, the Director's Cut, with 46 more minutes made it fantastic. Really really good. It brought in characters than had been removed on the studio's initial request (they feared marketing another long epic), added depth to others and made weird storyline plotholes make sense. It's glorious. If you've not seen the Director's Cut please track it down. Don't watch the Theatrical Release.

I remember watching the theatrical release and through it was pretty dumb. So I'll take you up on this and hope it doesn't disappoint.

[Benji]

Seconding SRN's suggestion of Sympathy For Mr Vengeance. Probably the weakest of the trilogy, but still a great film. Ditto Hammy's suggestions for 3:10 To Yuma (fantasically underplayed acting considering the men involved) and Kingdom of Heaven Director's Cut (which is so much bafflingly better than the original that it bemuses you that they managed to cut literally a quarter of the damn film).

[zero]

The Last Will and Testament of Rosalind Leigh - Good, atmospheric horror. On Netflix.

Jug Face - has a terrible poster on Netflix, but a great, original horror movie, that doesn't play by the typical rules. On Netflix.

The Battery - Zombie movie made for $5,000 that's better than most zombie movies with million-dollar budgets. Available for $5, DRM free on the official site.

Violet & Daisy - Weird little movie that probably won't be everyone's cup of tea, but also one of James Gandolfini's final films. On Netflix.

Alyce Kills - Gross, weird, and ridiculous. On Netflix

+1 - Great concept, not the best execution, but fun time travel horror flick. On Netflix.

Losers Take All - Rare case where the music of a fictional band lives up to its narrative hype. On Netflix.

[Jimmy]

I really like Terrence Malick, but I just couldn't get into The Thin Red Line. Maybe I need to re-watch it, but I was just bored. I dig most of his other stuff though. That said, I liked Days of Heaven, but it didn't live up to the insane hype.

All of Gorka's suggestions are good. But then again, I would've thought most people have seen Moon. Tyrannosaur is brutal.

Out of curiosity, was it the pacing that got you bored of The Thin Red Line? From what I remember, sometimes the movie would slow down too much, so that when the action began it felt sluggish, but that's the only problem I had with it. It's really amazing, to me, I could watch it everyday.

I can't remember too well. I think I felt kind of uninterested and unattached to a lot of the things going on. It was beautifully shot, but really struggled to care about what was going on. I'm probably due a re-watch as it was over two years ago, but there are other 3 hour films I need to watch more.

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

I really like Intacto. It's a pretty cool luck at the concept of luck...and has Max von Sydow.

Another luck-focussed film is the rather groovy "The Cooler" starring William H. Macy, a hugely unlucky man who is employed by a casino to suck the luck out of patrons who are winning too much.

Oh and on the subject of casinos, I've always liked Croupier with Clive Owen.

[EddieG]

The Cooler, yes! Recently re-watched this, it's great.