Movie(s) you recommend to people

[Gargamel]

What movies that are at least somewhat obscure have you recommended to people and you think are good. I'm lookin for ideas.

I've loaned "To Live And Die In L.A." (Willem Dafoe, William Peterson) and "At Close Range" (Penn & Walken) to a handful of people. "The Commitments" and "Trees Lounge" are other ones I like that a lot of people haven't seen.

 

[GoGoGadget]

New York, New York -- Critically panned 1974 Scorsese flick starring Robert DeNiro and Liza Minelli. Usually looked at as a musical, though I don't personally think it fits the bill. More of a drama that revolves around two musicians and, therefore, includes music. My very favorite film ever.

Down By Law -- Hilarious 1986 Jim Jarmusch film starring Tom Waits, John Lurie and Roberto Benigni. Beautiful black & white photography, typical Jarmusch pacing (read: slow), great script. My second favorite film ever.

eXistenZ -- 1999 David Cronenberg weirdness starring Jude Law and Jennifer Jason Leigh. I know people who hate this one with a passion, but I thought it was very underrated.

High Art -- 1998 drama starring Ally Sheedy and Rhada Mitchell. Usually gets categorized as just being a lesbian flick, but stands alone as a very compelling drama. I've had to practically force people to watch this one, but they've all enjoyed it.

Suicide Kings -- 1997 comedy/drama/thriller/? ensemble piece. Biggest names are Christopher Walken and Denis Leary. Good performances, the thriller aspect is fairly engrossing, and a few genuine laughs.

The Adventures of Baron Munchausen -- 1988, directed by Terry Gilliam. Don't know if it really counts as obscure, but I watched it last week for the first time in years, and it reminded me how much I love it. Just plain fun.

That's all I can think of off the top of my head. Check into Jim Jarmusch and John Waters -- two of my favorite directors, and overflowing with obscurity.

 

[pdxKingsFan]

That's all I can think of off the top of my head. Check into Jim Jarmusch and John Waters -- two of my favorite directors, and overflowing with obscurity.

I absolutely love Waters and Jarmusch to a lesser extent (Dean Man in particular) but I'd put Suicide Kings in my worst 10 ever.

I also absolutely love The Commitments.

Here's a few I'd recommend:
Near Dark - the western meets the vampire flick, and the superior vampire flick of the summer of 1987
Haute (High) Tension - Fun French grindhouse horror
Dig - interesting look at the bizarre relationship between two indie rock bands heading in different directions
LA Confidential - not "obscure" but one of my all time favorites that seems terribly underappreciated
Out of Sight - I found both Clooney and JLo enjoybable in this one, which says something.

Pi and Requiem for a Dream - these aren't for everyone but both are great flicks from a promising if somewhat pretentious director (Aronofsky).

 

[KingKong]

What do you mean, obscure as in esoteric, or not known to many?

Anyway here are a few of my favourite Asian films:

Yi Yi (2000)- Edward Yang

In the Mood for Love (1999)- Wong Kar Wai

Tokyo monogatori (Tokyo Story)- Yasujiro Ozu (1953)

These films require a little bit of patience and open mindedness from the viewer. But they are ultimately so rewarding, that you'll thank me for it.

 

[NoBonus]

Let's see...

Pecker - A Jon Waters film with Edward Furlong and Christina Ricci... always worth a laugh.

Pee-Wee's Big Adventure - For the kid in all of us, right?

Cannibal! The Musical - From the guys who created South Park. It is there first movie; they made it in college. It is a musical version of the wild west story of convicted cannibal Alfred Packer; hilarious.

Tron - Watch this movie in the dark... nice.

The City of Lost Children - Yes it is all in French, but is a cool sci-fi flick nonetheless.

There are more, I just cannot recall them right now...

 

[NoBonus]

I think I have a couple more:

Moving Violations - An 80's traffic school comedy

UHF - The second of two "Weird" Al Yankovic films... classic... features Michael Richards, Fran Drescher, and Victoria Jackson.

The "Complete" Al - The first of two "Weird" Al Yankovic films... hilarious. (Especially when Al gets a job as a tester in a nasal decongestant factory).

 

[Spike]

You should add "Transformers: The Movie" to this list. The great Orson Wells, Robert Stack, Eric Idle, Judd Nelson, Leonard Nemoy, among others lend their voices to the cartoon adaptation. Great soundtrack for those of us into hair metal.
Hopefully the new 2007 movie does the series justice.

 

[StevenHW]

What movies that are at least somewhat obscure have you recommended to people and you think are good. I'm lookin for ideas.

I've loaned "To Live And Die In L.A." (Willem Dafoe, William Peterson)...[snip]...

"To Live And Die In L.A." is "somewhat obscure"? It couldn't be that hard to find at a video rental store.

 

[coolhandluke]

Obscure?? It's a word with lots of meanings... Here I take it for films with obscure stories/charaters/concepts that are suitable for people with a flexible mindset.

Quirky storylines/characters
"Dead Man" by Jim Jarmusch (either you love it or hate it)
"A Taste of Tea" by Katsuhito Ishii

Positively absurd/goofy
"Forbidden City Cop" by Stephen Chow
"Men Suddenly in Black" by Ho-Cheung Pang (partly parodies "The Infernal Affairs")
"Goodbye Pork Pie" by Geoff Murphy

Children/Family/Drama (not that obscure)
"Children of Heaven" by Majid Majidi
"Anjali" by Mani Ratnam

Animation (not for the little ones)
"The Grave of the Fireflies" by Isao Takahata (hugely underrated director)

Romance/Easy watching
"A Moment to Remember" by John H. Lee
"Love Letter" by Shunji Iwai

Dark/Twisted/Drama/Thriller
"Peppermint Candy" by Chang-dong Lee
Vengeance Trilogy by Chan-wook Park (mainstream)

 

[LilMissDiva]

One that is out right now at the Tower Theatre is "Little Miss Sunshine". Pete Carrill and Toni Collette are in it. If you like comedies - go see it. You'll love it, and PS - not for children.

 

[Evenstar]

life as a house
my first mister

 

[HndsmCelt]

Well the real question is how far out there do you want to get for off the wall and obscure?

In the Not hard to find but little known catagory
1. Picking up the Pieces- most ireverent comedy ever with an all star cast
2. Dark City- one of the best kept secrets in sci-fi (See Keifer act for a change)
3. Walker- One of Alex Cox lesser known films and maybe his best
4. Salton Sea (saw some publicty on relase but never got the props it deserves)
5. Ghost Dog- not JJ's most obscure but one of his slickest

Thats a quick 5 out of mainstream but easy to find films, but like I said how far down the rabit hole of obscure art film do you want to go?

 

[pdxKingsFan]

I almost threw Dark City out there as well when going through my DVD collection. Given the original poster's examples I think semi-obscure/mainstream but possibly overlooked is what he is going for.

I think I also left out Body Heat from my list, I had been given this years ago by my mother shortly before I banned her from ever buying me another DVD (Weekend at Bernie's 2 broke the camel's back). I wrote it off as some silly sex thriller a la Basic Instinct without watching it for years until one night I started going through all my unopened DVDs and discovered one of the few truly great neo-noirs. It also helped establish just about the entire main cast.

 

[HndsmCelt]

We could start a whole thread on film noir... Body Heat is just about the perfect film noir... absolutly love that film.

 

[GoGoGadget]

We could start a whole thread on film noir... Body Heat is just about the perfect film noir... absolutly love that film.

I'd give that title to Orson Wells' Touch of Evil. Released on DVD a few years ago, beautifully remastered and worth looking for. Charlton Heston chews the scenery rather blatantly, as usual, and his casting as a Mexican police officer is laughable, but the film itself is just brilliant.

Good call on The Salton Sea, by the way. I thought that one was very underrated. And I just love Val Kilmer.

Another semi-obscure one worth looking for is Ravenous starring Guy Pearce and Robert Carlysle. Very, VERY dark comedy/thriller that didn't get anywhere near the respect it deserved.

 

[HndsmCelt]

Preachin to choir here on Touch of Evil... nothing like seeing a die hard Republican play a Mexican Attorney! Have to say if we are talking clasic Noir besides the obvious Hwks fair and Sunset Blvd a MUST see is Night Of the Hunter with Robert Mitchem as the diabolical preacher (tats of L-O-V-E and H-A-T-E on the fingers of each hand)

 

[IVote4Replay]

Greenstreet Hooligans- w/ Elijah Wood, Claire Forlani. This is very good indie film giving a detailed look at European Football (soccer) firms.. I enjoyed this film a lot. If you like Fight Club of football, you'll like this one..

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang- w/ Robert Downey Jr., Val Kilmer, Michelle Monaghan. This is an unexpectedly funny indie film, a modern detective mystery.

these are both very new films, made with the last 2 years...

 

[pdxKingsFan]

Yes yes yes to both Ravenous and Night of the Hunter. Out of the Past is another one of my favorite classic noirs, also featuring Mitchum (unfortunately remade as Against All Odds which is pretty high up there on the list of worst remakes ever).

There is another movie about soccer hooligans that I liked but the name escapes me.

eta: Speaking of Heston, The Celluloid Closet (book and later documentary on gay cinema) offers up quite an interesting take on Ben Hur from Gore Vidal although Heston himself disputes the claims and Stephen Boyd has long passed.

 

[loopymitch]

The only one that comes to mind for me is an old Mel Gibson movie-Gallipoli. Excellent movie.

 

[RoyalDiva]

Preachin to choir here on Touch of Evil... nothing like seeing a die hard Republican play a Mexican Attorney! Have to say if we are talking clasic Noir besides the obvious Hwks fair and Sunset Blvd a MUST see is Night Of the Hunter with Robert Mitchem as the diabolical preacher (tats of L-O-V-E and H-A-T-E on the fingers of each hand)

Saw Night of the Hunter recently. Boy, was that one freaky, well-done movie! Very psychologically scary and the camera work was awesome.

 

[meow]

The Children of Heaven by Majid Majidi
Ping Pong

 

[NoBonus]

I just remembered some more crazy and obscure films...

First, I always recommend Evil Dead, Evil Dead II, and Army of Darkness.

Second, Troma Team makes crazy films (Toxic Avenger, Sgt. Kaubukki-Man NYPD, Tromeo and Juliet, etc) and these films are always fun for an evening of discussion and viewing.

Third, any older Jon Waters film (Pink Flamingos, Lust in the Dust, Polyester, etc...) or even the newer ones (Cry Baby, Hairspray, Pecker, etc...)... they are all great in their own way. Just be sure to read some reviews first before you rent them... you may not know what you are getting yourself into...

 

[Gargamel]

"To Live And Die In L.A." is "somewhat obscure"? It couldn't be that hard to find at a video rental store.

Obscure in that when you go up to a person and ask if they've seen it, they usually haven't or haven't even heard of it. I've told people about that movie for over ten years and hardly anyone has seen it.

And to get technical, older titles are difficult to find in a rental store that packs only DVDs because it isn't advantageous for every store to completely rehaul its entire collection just like that. New stuff sells.

 

[Gargamel]

You should add "Transformers: The Movie" to this list. The great Orson Wells, Robert Stack, Eric Idle, Judd Nelson, Leonard Nemoy, among others lend their voices to the cartoon adaptation. Great soundtrack for those of us into hair metal.
Hopefully the new 2007 movie does the series justice.

Lol. You a child of the 80s too? I went to go see it when it came out, scary to think that was 20 years ago.

 

[Gargamel]

I think I also left out Body Heat from my list, I had been given this years ago by my mother shortly before I banned her from ever buying me another DVD (Weekend at Bernie's 2 broke the camel's back). I wrote it off as some silly sex thriller a la Basic Instinct without watching it for years until one night I started going through all my unopened DVDs and discovered one of the few truly great neo-noirs. It also helped establish just about the entire main cast.

It's also nice to discover how hot Kathleen Turner was 25 years ago.

 

[NoBonus]

Lol. You a child of the 80s too? I went to go see it when it came out, scary to think that was 20 years ago.

I remember the shock and controversy when one of the Transformers swore in that movie... that helped define my childhood..

 

[bibbinator]

Anything by Todd Solondz.

"Welcome to the Dollhouse" is probably his most famous, an afterschool special style coming of age story, gone very wrong.

"Happiness" is almost too much. Needless to say, it isn't about happiness. It's a good comedy for misanthropes. Phillip Seymour Hoffman plays an obsessive obscene phone caller / stalker.

"Palindromes" is his latest. It's the story of a 13 year old girl whose greatest dream is to have a baby. She manages to get pregnant but is forced into having an abortion by her parents. The abortion is botched making her permanently infertile. Of course, she is not told about this. Hilarity ensues. Highlights include a singing and dancing band of handicapped children( they really are good). The girl is played by 8 different actors. This is probably the most uplifting of his films.

There are a couple of others too.

 

[AleksandarN]

12 angry men the orginal black and white version with Henry fonda, Jack Lemmon and Ozzie Davis. That movie one of all-time my favorites along with Miracle on 34th Street

 

[Ryle]

I remember the shock and controversy when one of the Transformers swore in that movie... that helped define my childhood..

A couple of years back my son rented it and I just happened to walk by the TV during the scene and I was like "WTF did I just hear"

 

[nancgo]

Joe Versus the Volcano - Tom Hanks and yes, little Miss Sunshine, Meg Ryan. As cheesy as it is, I like the follow your heart message. And of course the "brain cloud".....I feel like I have that all the time!!!