Movies that nobody but you have seen, but should

Since one of the news items Certis posts is upcoming DVD releases, I thought it was about time we had a movie thread. We all have them. Whether someone recommended them to us, or we just happened to tune to the International Film Channel at 2am, or we picked up the wrong box at Blockbuster, we all have a few favorite obscure movies. These are movies that didn't have Super Bowl trailers. These are movies that probably didn't even see a darkened theater at Sundance or Cannes. These are movies that may not have ever been shown in public in your country. However, they are movies that have cemented themselves into your top 100 or top 10 or even top 5 lists. Well, since we're not likely to see any tie-in toys with our Happy Meal, you might as well tell us about them now. (And if you're really nice, you'll link it to it's page at imdb.com or something.)

I'll start things rolling with a personal favorite foreign film, Delicatessen. This 1991 French film was directed by Jean-Pierre Jeunet who enjoyed some recent success with the movie Amelie. He also directed Alien: Resurrection, but don't hold that against him, please. Delicatessen takes place in some mysterious future (or past) where war is raged between meat eaters and a vegetarian underground (literally). I can't remember if meat has been banned or is just scarce, but the local butcher always seems to have some fresh cuts for sale, and, coincidently, a room for rent that has just recently become unoccupied. A quirky stranger with an even quirkier past takes up residence and shares some affectionate attentions with the butcher's daughter. The movie revolves around these and the other bizarre characters who live in the building as the war front creeps inexorably closer.

I think I first grabbed this late one night at Blockbuster when it first showed up. I'll admit it. I thought the box was funny looking. It was also during the phase in my life where I thought anything foreign was edgy and cool. It turns out it's a common enough phase for any adolescent in the suburban midwest. It turned out that, at least in this case, it really was edgy and cool. However, I could never convince my friends to give it a whirl. It's probably because they never trusted me after I sprung Terry Gilliam's Brazil on them. But consider this my recommendation. And, after you have watched it and thank me, go rent City of the Lost Children or even Amelie and thank me again.

Now it's your turn.

Branded to Kill and Tokyo Drifter, two visually stunning, artistically brilliant pop-art Yakuza masterpieces from the late 60''s. With each film, the director, Seijun Suzuki, manages to take a standard Yakuza film narrative and transform it into a gorgeous, stylized, Kubrickian masterpiece. With its swingin'' vibe, 60''s J-rock soundtrack and amazing use of color, Tokyo Drifter is probably a better place to start, but in the end, the utterly harrowing Branded to Kill is a better film. Where Tokyo Drifter is like a beautiful dream, Branded starts out strange and rapidly spirals down into the sort of sexually charged, sweatily obsessive nightmare you didn''t think it was possible to capture on film. Track ''em down and watch ''em, they''re both on Criterion.

You might also want to check out Suzuki''s equally brilliant Youth of the Beast, but good luck, its pretty hard to find.

Gangster No. 1 - Its a dark comedy/drama about how a common street thug worked his way to the top of a british mob organization. Very violent, very intense, and at many times disturbingly funny.

A great movie that never saw theatrical release in the U.S. Luckily I got to see it up here in Canada. It is available on DVD all over North America now.

Unfortunately my favorite movie, Office Space, did horribly at the box office, even though it was the funniest movie EVAR.

great movie that never saw theatrical release in the U.S.

Actually, it played in LA for a week. Great movie!

If you want to see an impressive and disturbing movie, go for Das Experiment. ( http://www.apple.com/trailers/samuel... )

I actually came across a pretty good horror movie recently that suprised me. If you like horror Dog Soldiers is worth a watch. Kind of a different take on a werewolf story. Pretty fun movie.

One of my all time fav''s that no one else seems to like though, has got to be The Corsican Brothers. Probably my favorite Cheech and Chong movie. Funny as hell if you get it.

I''ll start things rolling with a personal favorite foreign film, Delicatessen

Definately a cool film, but I''m a big fan of City of Lost Children.

Movies I''d recommend? Not Brotherhood of the Wolf, that movie was about an hour of nifty and about 1 1/2 hours of f*cking boring. (Just watched it)

So I would say: Wet Hot American Summer

It''s out on DVD now, and had a fairly limited release. If you do watch this, do so with a bunch of people, it''s better that way. Then, watch it with the ""Extra Farts"" track. I personally hate fart jokes, but any movie that puts in an extra track dedicated to farting has to be worth it.

Ahh.. Good thread Idea!

First up, Comic Book Villains.
I was channel surfing one evening, and saw that in a mere 2 minutes or so, a movie about comics was gonna start. I''m not a big fan of comics, but the title alone intrigued me as I thought it was a documentary on the great villains of the comics. Well, I was quite surprised when it wasn''t a documentary, but more of a dark comedy about 2 rival comic stores in a small town vying to by the collection of a man who died. This was a great flick, and had never heard of this until I stumbled upon it on the dish. Check out the link I provided if you want more info, but it''s definately a great watch.

Second on the list Sen to Chihiro no kamikakushi (Spirited Away).
If you dig anime at all, and haven''t heard of Spirited Away, then get your hands on this!! The DVD comes out in April (English version of it). It''s about this little girl who stumbles into a magical land (strangely enough, just by going through a tunnel) where animals are the people, and humans are enslaved and/or turned into animals. It''s really hard to describe, but it''s a great anime. From the same people who brought you Princess Mononoke.

Lastly, Pumpkin.
Again, channel surfing one night, I stumbled across this one just before it started, so I figured ''what the hell'' as there was nothing on. Well, this is about a sorority girl (Christina Ricci) who ultimately falls for a disabled guy. Of course, the movie deals with everything that would go along with a situation like that. It''s worth watching in my opinion. It has some really funny parts, and of course, some quite sad parts.

How about A Boy and His Dog. It is an old movie starring Don Johnson way before Miami Vice. The movie takes place in a post-nuclear wasteland scenario. It has a bit of a cult following.

The Princess Bride NOBODY in the UK has seen this film! Funniest film EVER!

Brother excellentTakeshi Kitano film that barely got seen anywhere.

Dark City: Excellently weird sci fi.

Dog Soldiers: Great brit werewolf film (nobody cares about dying just as long as they know the soccer results!)

Drive Excellent above average funny chop socky film(Marc Dacascos also stars in the excellent Brotherhood of the wolf as mentioned by Mumford)

Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead - one of my favorites. Unfortunatley, it still hasn''t found it''s way to DVD. A must-buy title for me when released.

Basically, it''s Hamlet from Rosencrantz'' and Guildenstern''s point of view. Very funny, clever dialogue, great stuff. There are some great gags of Rosencrantz (or is it Guildenstern?) making numerous scientific observations that go wrong when he gets his companion''s attention. But without letterboxing, you miss one gag entirely. Here''s hoping the DVD is eventually released.

Flesh+Blood. It''s a Rutger Hauer pic from 1985. I think it might have also been Paul Verhoven''s first American film, but I may be wrong. Anyway, it''s about a group of German mercenaries in the middle ages (hooray for Landsknechts!) It''s definately a movie for grownups, since it has rape and murder and all that, but I recommend it to anyone who''s a history buff. Oh yeah, it also has Bruno Kirby. What more could you ask for?

An odd foreign film that turned up in our local library:Tampopo. It''s about making the perfect ramen, interspersed with vignettes about the many facets of food-enjoyment.

Maybe more popular than I realized:Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins. Very funny.

Yay! Someone else mentioned Tampopo before I had to! That movie is really fun to watch. I am soooo hungry by the end of that movie, though. Nobuko Miyamoto is evidently one of the director''s favorite actors, since she''s in a bunch of his films. I''ve only see one other, A Taxing Woman, which is also pretty good. Nice catch, MA17.

Kreigshund said

Flesh+Blood

Good call . Happened to catch this on cable last night Great film and I think the first appearance of jennifer Jason Leigh

kegboy, have you forgotten about the classic Fast Times at Ridgemont High? That was three years before Flesh & Blood. Even that wasn''t her earliest according to The One True Website.

By the way, imdb.com would be my pick for the unlikely occurrance of being trapped on a desert island with only one website. Well...okay...maybe second to www.rescuemefromthisdesertislandplea.... GWJ would be third, I promise.

Sway Wrote

kegboy, have you forgotten about the classic Fast Times at Ridgemont High?

Cheers Sway I had actually forgotten about that. Great film and Awesome soundtrack.

Rock ''n'' Roll high School, yeah! go Ramones!

Hmm I''ve seen Flesh N'' Blood, it''s pretty good.
Drive is quite good (Marc Dacascos was also Catscratch from the Wing Commander IV I think game) as is a Jackie Chan made for HBO movie, ""Who Am I?"".

Here''s one that I''m sure most of you have seen, it''s PCU. Too funny.

Another one, that the brits here i''m sure have seen is, Lock, Stock, and 2 Smoking Barrels. Yes, I know that Snatch is it''s kinda sequel, but Lock/Stock is much, much better.

Fuzzy - YEAH! One of my favorite films of all time!

Heads....heads.....heads.....

Six gun Samuari
Russian film ''The Zone''
Citizen Kane- everyone SAYS they have seen it.....
Lawence of Arabia- See Above
Going West - The 2nd funniest Marx Bros. movie and it is never shown. Pity.
The Big Sleep- Bogies best...better than the Maltiese Falcon.

Princess Bride?!? Man I have 2 copies of that.EVERYONE at my work has seen that...well, maybe cuz I stuck it on the house feed for a month....

Oh Oh forgot one....

The Navagator- not that crapola disney film...the one about people from the middle ages that dig a tunnel to present day(huh?!?)...very cool...

Citizen Kane reminded me of some other classic films. If you haven''t seen these yet, you should.
Tora, Tora, Tora
Casablanca (the b+w version of course)
Dirty Dozen
Bridge Over the River Kwai
Guns of Navarone
Force 10 from Navarone

I''m most have seen these, but you never know.

* Trekkies: The documentary

* Koyaanisqatsi

* Baraka

* Amores Perros

* And Seymore Butts'' Merry f*ckin Christmas Porn Special

Oh, by the way, don''t you mean ""Six String Samurai""? That movie was amazing. Elvis, martial arts, midgets, and a postapocalyptic Wizard of Oz-like story. WOW!

""Blood and Donuts"" Weird little indie Canadian vampire flick. Very funny, very Canadian riff on the ""tortured loner"" vampire mythos. Includes a resuscitation-by-jumper-cable. Good stuff.