What are your favorite films that no one else ever notices?
For me:
Groundhog Day
Frequency
I just realized both have non-traditional timelines. (GD is one day over and over, and boy, that is really an achievement, that every minute feels new; Frequency takes place in both 1969 and 1999-- hey, come on, the aurora borealis causes time travel, don't you know that? Or maybe it's the Mets winning the pennant, though they only did that in 69.)
I love It's a Wonderful Life, but everyone knows that one.
What are yours? Hmm. I love Lion in Winter too, but that might be everyone's favorite. Kate Hepburn! Plantagenets! Peter O'Toole! Castles! Dialogue!
Come on-- favorite films no one else will mention. You cannot say:
Godfather 1 or 2 (you can say 3, but I bet you won't)
Citizen Kane
Gone with the Wind
Anything French or Japanese that none of us have seen
Lawrence of Arabia
I remember one of my kids (now a film student) saw Independence Day probably 200 times, and I'm not kidding. I can probably recite most of it. Judd Hirsch was great in it. :) I wonder now that he's been watching Bunuel and Godard if he will admit to loving that movie.
If you're a woman, you can't say Princess Bride.
If you're a man, you can't say Cool Hand Luke. :)
Alicia
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34 comments:
Roman Holiday = Perfect romance.
Day of the Dead never gets any love (the 1985 one - don't even waste your time on the remake)
'Home for the Holidays' and 'The Family Stone' are two recent ones, and 'Gnome Mobile' for an old one. I used to fall asleep watching that one on the floor at the foot of my grandmothers bed. The best of times!
I love Frequency! I also love all the old musicals but when I admit to it, most people don't recognize any of the names.
I love Frequency!
But I have a list of films people overlook because for past year, I've watched only old Hollywood movies.
Dude Where's My Car? It's SOOO dumb, but it makes me smile whenever I watch it.
Groundhog Day is brilliant.
Top Gun. I feel the need...the need for speed! (my college students today don't get it at all)
Oh I have so many. *sigh* I always like movies nobody's ever heard of.
First on that popped into my head was Dark Passages with Humphrey Bogart, Lauren Bacall and Agnes Morehead. I swear it was the precursor to The Fugitive. But talk about an awesome 1st person perspective film, not to mention a pretty darned good mystery.
Second was Pat and Mike with Spencer Tracey and Katherine Hepburn.
Third was Hidalgo with Viggo Mortensen. What an awesome movie. Add to it that its based on a true story and yay! :)
Other underrated ones that came to mind were Fool's Gold with Matthew McConaughey and Kate Hudson, Godzilla with Matthew Broderick, Serendipity with John Cusack and Kate Beckenisale (the ending where John Cusack reads his own eulogy kills me every time -- very well done). Shattered with Tom Berenger was totally overlooked because it came out at the same time at Goldie Hawn's Deceit, which garnered all the attention at the time.
JT
I love Frequency!
Favorite movies:
*Rio Bravo (John Wayne, Angie Dickenson... c'mon.)
*Walk, Don't Run (Cary Grant's last movie.)
*The Dish (Awesome movie about a radio telescope in a sheep paddock that received the moon walk video.)
*Galaxy Quest (Sam Rockwell makes me laugh EVERY time.)
Oooo!
Jewel, Pat and Mike made me think of Desk Set. That's one of my favorite Tracy/ Hepburn movies.
And speaking of an entirely different Hepburn, How to Steal a Million with Audrey Hepburn is another favorite.
I'll stop now...
The Thomas Crown Affair with Pierce Brosnan and Renee Russo.... magic! Their on-screen chemistry is incredible and I can watch it over and over. *Le grand sigh*
I'll put these in my queue!
Someday I'll outline Groundhog Day to figure out how it works-- how Bill Murray changes-- when his dark moment is.
Old films-- I am going to watch Notorious soon. Love Hitchcock.
Oh, The Talented Mr. Ripley has that amazing story, the whole Power of POV thing (I want him to get away with it!), Rupert Evert, and Jude Law. Wow.
What else?? My Netflix queue is almost empty.
Alicia
The Philadelphia Story had a huge impact on me when I was in high school - I've easily seen it 50 times. Kate Hepburn!! Cary Grant!! More great dialogue!
Also, The Spanish Prisoner - I love the puzzle. Big Fish is another puzzle sort of film that I loved. And 12 Monkeys!
I always liked Sahara: the idea of a few good men standing up for something and fending off hundreds of enemies. Its that grass roots brains against brawn and extreme heroism thing.
So many! My current top is "Becoming Jane" ... a must for Jane Austen fans!
My kids have me watch "Bridge to Terabithia" over and over ... always draws a tear.
And an old, outside runner is "The Castle" - an Aussie classic. Dry humour and belly laughs all the way!
Terminator 2. Just brilliant. Okay, a little cheesy at the end there, with the thumb's up, but otherwise brilliant. I used to show it to my students and make 'em write a paper on it.
My favorite is 10th Kingdom. I loved the idea of finding out what happened after "happily ever after".
That thing you do - great pick me up movie. Nothing better than when Tom Everett Scott asks Liv Tyler when is the last time she was really good and kissed.
Possession based on AS Byatt's book. Has to romances in different times running parallel.
I could go ok and on, but I'll stop with Sliding Doors and A River Runs Through It.
I remember that the first time I saw Brad Pitt was in A River Runs Through It, and I was convinced he was Robert Redford's (the director) love child. They looked so much alike then.
Alicia
Somewhere in time. I just loved that movie!:)
Sabrina with Harrison Ford, Greg Kinear, and Julia Ormond. Great movie! So funny in a subtle way.
The Exorcism of Emily Rose--very spiritual movie, rather than horror-ish.
Maverick with Mel Gibson, James Garner, and Jodie Foster. HILARIOUS.
A Fish Called Wanda. It just makes me laugh, K-K-K-Ken.
And Best In Show. I tell people who've never been to a dog show that it is a documentary.
"The Long Goodbye" by Robert Altman -- a neo-noir Philip Marlowe adaptation updated to the '70s starring Elliott Gould and featuring Arnold Schwarzenegger's first (nonspeaking) film role! -ae
What dreams may come is my all time favorite.
Sarah, Desk Set is one of my all time favs. I almost added it to my list but I went with the "lesser known" of the two (at least in my opinion). Sexiest line in that movie had to be when Spencer Tracey told Katherine H's character how and why he broke up with his girlfriend many years ago (she was a craptastic letter writer when he was in the war) and just as Katherine goes to get up and leave, he catches her arm and gives her this smoldering look and says, "I bet you write great letters."
I just about swooned.
JT
"The Changeling" (the version starring George C. Scott). One of the scariest movies ever made, but seems to have slipped into obscurity.
Hudson Hawk and Fifth Element. Despite beeing cheesy, or maybe because of it. The constant action, the numerous references - I love these movies. And I loved Bruce Willis, back then.
Lilly
Bunny. Ball-ball. ;)
JT
Wonderboys:
Michael Douglas, Katie Holmes, Toby McGuire, Robert Downy Jr., Frances McDormand and Rip Torn. Michael Douglas plays a writer, RD Jr. is his agent. Could it get any better than that?
Bethany
Hope and Glory.
The Big Sleep with Bogey and Bacall. Great dialogue, great mystery!
American Dreamer. I love how just when you think it's ending -- it doesn't!
Flight of the Navigator still makes me laugh.
Wanda in AL
I almost added American Dreamer to my list! I still remember seeing that in the theater and it hit that part in the end where everybody thought it was the end, people started getting up to leave (literally) and the film kept going. Everybody paused and sat back down and I laughed.
I have that on DVD. I should watch it. It's been years.
JT
So I Married an Axe Murder--Mike Meyers is adorable. Love the poetry sessions. "Harriet. Oh, Harri-et."
The Wedding Singer--the first thing Adam Sandler did on the small or big screen that I really liked.
The Abyss--the drowning scene with Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio and Ed Harris always makes me hold my breath.
Defending Your Life - Albert Brooks cracks me up. And I always have to watch The Sandlot when it's on. On the flipside, Unfaithful gets me every time I watch it. :)
I love Somewhere in Time and Top Gun.
Also, The Man From Snowy River. The "part two" is very good too.
Love Man From Snowy River. Might hafta dig out the ol' VHS tape. Yes. VHS.
For the really stupid, almost pointless category: *Evolution* with David Duchovney, Orlando Jones and Julianne Moore. One of the absolute BEST romantic lines ever uttered is in this movie: JM to DD: "I would have rocked your world." DD replies: "You already have." Then there's the campy line, "Hey! Let go of my friend, you giant sphincter!" (which is why this movie appeals to my 4 sons...er...my 3 sons and my DH.)
*The American President* with Annette Bening and Michael Douglas. I fell off the couch laughing when MD said, "It's a good thing he said that. Those people were about to buy some Amway products."
*Yours, Mine and Ours* (the original), with Henry Fonda and Lucille Ball.
*Ever After* with Drew Barrymore. (Okay, I'll admit, I'll watch just about anything with Drew in it, including *50 First Dates*, which should go on my list, even tho I'm not particularly fond of Adam Sandler...)
Okay, I'll quit before I write a book about it.
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