there are too many.
have you seen Andrei Rublev? there are several memorable sequences in Andrei Rublev, but there is one in particular to me, and probably most who have seen it that sticks out as one of the greatest on fillm. a very mystical film, very elusive, but it seems to encompase everything. watching rublev is like living through a thousand years of history.
here’s another: Children of Paradise. perhaps the most beautiful film ever made. no film has more passion or love poured into it, or out of it. its about three artists who are actors, and all are at the height of their particular style, one is a comedian who longs to do Shakepseare, another is a mime who longs for Garance, Garance who is the focal point for all of the men in the film, and each love her in their own way, and she loves them back in her own way, and in this way she is an actor too. every character in this film is bigger than life, but never bigger than the film, and it has one of the most wonderfully written scripts to ever be filmed. Its about love and love unrequited, and its about one of the most beautifully heartbreaking films ever made. easily the greatest french film ever made, not even La Roue or Napoleon can touch it.
Damnation by Bela Tarr. The more I think about this movie, the higher it climbs on my list of favorite films.
And almost anything Kurosawa did. Bad Sleep Well, Drunken Angel, No Regrets For Our Youth.
Saw Damnation last night, finally! see it.
Night of The Hunter
The Steel Helmet
Ariel
Drifting Clouds
Pick up on South Street
Written in the Wind
Street Fight (Coonskin)
highplains drifter by clint eastwood. savage western film
Agree with Children of Paradise
more recently: Reprise
Fat City
The Silent Partner
Fat City is a great choice. Also, Charley Varrick, great 70s thriller.
Paris, Texas by Wenders is a favorite of mine
Agree with Andrei Rublev entirely – anything Tarkovsky is worth checking out.
A Man Escaped (Bresson)
The Manchurian Candidate (Frankenheimer)
The Wages Of Fear (Clouzot)
Oliver Twist (Lean)
Make Way For Tomorrow (McCarey)
you may or may not have seen the following it is a bit of a shotgun blast of genres but I Highly Recommend the following:
Akira
Important in cinema for being one of the first Japanese aniamtions to garner large critical and public acclaim here in the west
Perfect Blue
Not important but if your not into giant fighting robots or post apocolyptic cyber punk mumbo jumbo of all other anime you can try this tight psychological thriller
Taboo
a story of gay Samurai check it out if you want to see something a little different.
Der Untergang (downfall)
a highly ingrossing and controversial movie of Hitler’s and his third reich’s last days. importatn for being the first german made motion picture to have Hitler as a main character
The Host
a Decent Monster movie that comes out of Korea.
Nosferatu (1922, 1979)
One of the first Vampire movies (and NOT that Twilight Shit) and its excellent remake
The Conformist
just google the conformist and see why it is recommended. I didn’t love the film but its a must for all film buffs
Fat City is gonna be on TCM this week. I third.
Too good to ever pass up……..hmmm……
The Iceman Cometh
Kings of the Road
Port of Shadows
Paper Moon
Amadeus
Days of Heaven
McCabe And Mrs. Miller
Shadow Of A Doubt
Kes
Odd Man Out
The Informer
The Wind Shakes The Barley
Army of Shadows
The Conformist
seen some of those, haven’t seen most…never got much out of Night of the Hunter, i’m sorry to say. maybe i’ll give it a re-watch, but it just screams “bedtime story told in the late ’50s”, as its basically not told as dark as the story actually is…if that makes sense.
Fat City sounds familiar…never heard of Damnnation i don’t think. LOVE Paris, TX…its one i’ll buy and watch every once in a while for sure.
thank for the tips, and keep ‘em coming. i’m sure everyone has one or two they think not enough people have seen.
JULES & JIM
THE HOST
DEATH AT A FUNERAL
THE DARK CRYSTAL
BRAZIL
Family Life
also Sorcerer is just as great as Wages Of Fear in my opinion
The Andrezj Wajda war trilogy — A GENERATION, KANAL, ASHES AND DIAMONDS
i just saw “wages of fear” for the first time this week. it wasn’t nearly as good as i was led to believe. the suspense sequences were weak. because hitchcock’s rules weren’t followed: if there’s no clarity, there’s no suspense.
and the ending was terrible. one of the silliest forced “fatalistic” endings i’ve ever seen.
I’m always reluctant to recommend films ‘cause each equals to two, or three hours of a person’s busy life. But since you asked…
Onibaba – Kaneto Shindo
Bad Day at Black Rock – John Sturges
Nights of Cabiria – Fellini
Out of the Past – Jacques Tourneur
The Tin Drum – Volker Schlondorff
The Professionals – Richard Brooks
City Lights – Chaplin
High & Low – Kurosawa
Phantom of Liberty – Bunuel
Cobra Verde – Herzog
Army of Shadows, Le Samourai and Le Circle Rouge by Melville are all very cool. Also, The Tin Drum, The Bad Sleep Well and Akira are all great, too. Finally, David Lynch (Eraserhead, Blue Velvet, Wild at Heart) is great, but it’s not for everybody.
-East of Eden
-Eyes Wide Shut
-Fanny and Alexander
-Mean Streets
-Nashville
-Ordet
Just a random list of films I love.
@BOBBY, I’ll agree with you on the ending of WAGES…left me feeling very cheated, very played. But we’re not on the same page about the suspense which I remember being quite gut-wrenching at times. For what it’s worth, considering we disagree on that point, I really suggest you check out SORCERER stat, which I was surprised to find a superior viewing experience in basically every way.
Attack of the Killer Tomatoes. Hilarious!
eggman: i saw the sequal a while back and thought it was hilarious. but i heard the first one was crap…like, not even funny, ironic crap, but just plain crap. was i mislead? was it in fact intentionally funny and campy like the second one?
I’m working from memory, so forgive any technical errors.
This is also purely of the moment, which might be a good thing really.
Film Noir: No matter how many times you have seen Double Indemnity, Kiss Of Death, or Kiss Me Deadly,
I think it would be extremely difficult to fully grasp (or become obsessed with)
noir cinema without having seen Robert Siodmak’s 3 masterpieces:
Criss Cross
The Killers
Phantom Lady
(all late forties)
Westerns:
John Ford’s My Darling Clementine, Wagonmaster, and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, in that order,
can make you fall in love with American cinema.
Science Fiction:
The Thing From Another World
Howard Hawks’ editor, Christian Nyby, and to a large extent Hawks himself,
write the book on economical yarn spinning with this brilliant, tight littlle thriller.
Unsurpassed old-school entertainment. Gets too little credit for masterful sound editing, by the way.
Thriller/horror
Bunny Lake Is Missing (1965, Otto Preminger)
Clever, sometimes harrowing mystery with, after a second viewing,
all kinds of how-did-I-miss-that clues and metaphorical possibilities.
Let the Right One In (2008) Amazingly low-key, introspective vampire story
that uses 70s European cinema (and Cronenberg’s best) as its reference vocabulary.
Odds and ends:
Breaking the Waves (1996, Lars von Trier) Stunning melodrama
that works best after a viewing of Dreyer’s The Passion of Joan of Arc.
The Limey (1999, Steven Soderbergh) elegiac, often romantic nod
to L.A. noir that all of a sudden exposes a mean little narrative edge.
The Cranes Are Flying (1957, Mikhail Kalatozov) I Am Cuba is indeed a mindblower,
but I’m starting to see this as a superior work.
Visually daring and lush, unembarrassed about its romanticism.
Stardust Memories (1981) A visual blend of Fellini and Bergman, which sounds like a parlor trick and nothing more,
but actually it’s masterpiece of romantic comedy and narrative invention.
I’m still wondering why Pauline Kael hated it.
and after all these, if you still have a sense of humor, take a bite of the lighter side with preston sturges. i recommend christmas in july which can be watched about six times during the normal run time of a bela tarr film. also the palm beach story is quite hysterical.
then drink in some classic cukor like holiday or the philly story.
and for desert, try his girl friday and bringing up baby, two howard hawks classics.
a perfect recipe for levity after all these wrist-slitters.
Highly recommend?
The Wire - Start from season 1, and then move upwards. One of the most intricate, well-structured, well-acted, and superbly written crime dramas of all time.
I haven’t seen the sequel but personally I liked it, Marq.
Troy Meyers:
You have revealed your wisdom, as Chairman Mao used to say.
I completely forgot the “make’m laugh” rule (except for Stardust Memories).
So, I must recommend:
Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House, which is a bit creaky and wholesome,
but wickedly insightful if you’ve ever built a home.
Young Frankenstein
Life of Brian
Brother Orchid
The Bachelor and the Bobby Soxer
Flirting With Disaster
I’m Alright Jack
Three O’clock High
Real Life
Portions of any of the Marx Bros films co-written by S. J. Perlman.
Alot o' marQ
what movie(s) stand out at you the most? what piece of classic or modern cinema is just too good to ever pass up, ever?!?!?! we should probably stay away from the movies that most people have seen or heard about…like Seven Samurai, Pulp Fiction, The Dark Knight (i’m only half kidding on that last one…)
seriously, what mega, sooper fucking awesome pieces of cinematic history do you think more people (like me, for instance) need to focus their attention on the most? no genre or director or era is off limits…
so, yeah. let us hear what you think.