In no particular order (I'm getting the IMDb to help me out with this one):
*Pulp Fiction (1994) - Hilarious, atmospheric, thought provoking, gripping, intelligent, arty and a great cast.
*The Man Who Copied (Portuguese: O Homem Que Copiava) (2003) - This is a great Brazillian film about an introvert who photocopies money to (indirectly) get to know better a girl he 'meets' while spyglassing with a pair of binoculars on his apartment balcony. You get the picture.
*The Best of Youth (Italian: La Meglio gioventù) (2003) - A family drama divided into 4 90 minute films that spans four decades, from the 60s to the present, focusing on two brothers and their family, simultaneously dealing with the issues that Italy faced during the periods depicted. I can honestly say I've never felt so much for characters before. This is nothing like a big screen soap opera, it's not cheesey and it's very believable.
*Delicatessen (1991) - A surreal French film set some time in the post apocalyptic future, concerning a butcher who advertisers for a worker, kills him unawares and distributes the meat among the people in the building he lives with, as there is a shortage of food. The new guy falls in love with the butchers daughter, and lots of crazy stuff happens. It's beautifully atmospheric, and has very likeable characters. It's like a piece of art, and the subject matter gave it high critical acclaim for innovation at the time of it's release.
*Analyse That (2002) - I'm not going to go into detail about this. It's just a dumb American movie that happen's to be extremely funny. It stars Robert De Niro and Billy Crystal.
*Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Curse (2006) - Another American film, I really enjoyed watching this. Most people here are familiar with the story, so I won't go into that. There are lots of beautiful, surreal scenes, such as the one where Jack Sparrow, Will and Norrington somehow end up fighting one another on a detached waterwheel, or the beginning where Turks are throwing coffins into the sea in the dead of night. A little over the top violence and just the right number of inappropriate jokes (such as when Jack uses a decaying human leg as an oar - people in the cinema took a while to laugh at that). Tia Dalma, an exaggeratedly surreal character with metallic teeth and blue saliva, worthy of much masturbation (sexy!) justifies seeing the movie on her own. An impromptu ending involving an apple rounds the movie up beautifully. My only complaint is that there isn't enough Barbossa, my favourite character in the last film.
Alien3 (1992) - A dark, haunting film which offers no release from it's thick, heavy atmosphere from beginning to end. The third, and often most maligned film in the 'quadrology', it is probably the best (although I'm not discounting the original Alien). The characters are rough, bald and unlikeable, most of whom have dirty pasts - yet these people come across as more human than the stock standard mushy Hollywood characters evident in most American movies (such as "Aliens" (1986)). Ripley, the main character, shaves her head and kills herself through the course of the film. The film compares her with Jesus, and brings back that gritty side of religion that is so lost in the middle-class fantasy. You probably won't enjoy watching it until after the film has finished.
Underground (Serbian:Bila jednom jedna zemlja) (1995) - A beautiful Yugoslavian epic which spans the time period of 1941 to 1995. It tells the story of two friends, Marko and Blacky. During the Nazi occupation of Belgrade, Blacky goes underground, and Marko is left above ground to shmooze over Blacky's (forced) wife. Marko never tells Blacky or his cellar companions that the wars over for the love of Natalija (Blacky's wife). In the end, catastrophe occurs. It's surreal and it has a great soundtrack, despite it's political motives.
Star Trek: First Contact (1996) - This is this the only Star Trek movie I think a non-Trek fan would enjoy. Star Trek TNG was so cheesey as far as Star Trek series go, this did a good job at acknowledged that, and also acknowledging the failability of a lot of the characters (Diana and Riker were given thankfully minor parts). Also, it has James Cromwell in it, and a movie can't go wrong with James Cromwell.
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005) - Tim Burton's creative license is not unwelcome. The movie is so detailed and hiddenly satirical and cruel that you'll more likely than not notice something new each time you watch it. Deep Roy should be mentioned, because his performance partly made the film. And is it just me, or does the girl who played Violet Beauregarde get a lot of strange, ambiguously sexual lines? "I'm much more flexible now." "I can feel it running down my throat.' Depp:'Good, why don't you spit it out?"
That wasn't easy, and if I can think of another good movie I really liked I think I'll replace Analyze That.
Comments