Surprisingly good movies you've never seen

[steve]

For all the Bostonians looking for a local flavor:

* Mystic River

* Gone Baby Gone

Both are excellent movies, I thought, and both seem "authentic" from a New England perspective.  Obviously, Good Will Hunting belongs in that same category, but I'm assuming everyone has seen it.

Only problem with Mystic River was (SPOILER ALERT) the cops never listened to the 911 call that held the answer to the case until the movie needed to wrap itself up.  It was a stupid lazy part in an otherwise smart movie. 

North by Northwest is a great hitchcock movie. 

[Scott]

To End All Wars starring Robert Carlyle and Kiefer Sutherland
Return To Paradise starring Vince Vaughn and Joaquin Phoenix
1984 starring John Hurt and Richard Burton

Great original horror film, Cube.

Oh, that was a great one.  TP.

[freshinthehouse]

Joan Allen(without a doubt one of the finest actresses of the last 20 years IMO)

The Contender with Joan Allen was great.

Someone just earned themselves a tommy point.  Joan Allen kills in everything she's in.  If you haven't seen The Ice Storm, I cannot recommend it enough.

[MaxPowers]

Usual Suspects-I have never been so suprised at the ending of a movie

Raging Bull-Possibly my favorite film of all time

Equilibrium-I completely agree with this one. I'm a huge fan of everything Bale does & this movie took me completely by suprise by how good it was. I also loved Rescue Dawn.

There Will Be Blood & We Own The Night-Most people that I have talked to about these movies didn't think they lived up to the expectations, but I found both of these movies captivating. Maybe it was the cinematography or just the pacing of the story, but I found the build up to the dramatic and violent sequences in these films breathtaking. The violence was very realistic and horrifying-especially the final scene in TWBB and the car chase scene in WOTN.

[Neurotic Guy]

A few favorites:

Godfather, Parts 1 and 2 (Big Ticket and any others who haven't seen these, please do so by this time next week.  Don't bother with Godfather 3 as it is the biggest sequel fall off in the history of film).

Midnght Express
The Onion Field
The Killing Fields
The Last Emperor
Deer Hunter
'M' (German version with Peter Laurie)

(This is) Spinal Tap

[Scott]

Another Christian Bale one to check out is Empire Of The Sun.

In his first starring role, Bale received a special citation for Best Performance by a Juvenile Actor from the National Board of Review of Motion Pictures, an award specially created for his performance in Empire of the Sun.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Empire_of_the_Sun_(film)

[MaxPowers]

Insert Quote
Another Christian Bale one to check out is Empire Of The Sun.


Quote
In his first starring role, Bale received a special citation for Best Performance by a Juvenile Actor from the National Board of Review of Motion Pictures, an award specially created for his performance in Empire of the Sun.

That's impressive. I wasn't aware of that. I will definately check that out.

I also loved The Killing Fields and Deer Hunter. City of God, Hotel Rwanda & Blood Diamond all had similar effects as Killing Fields on me.

[LB3533]

I still think Bale's best work was done in American Psycho, maybe a cult classic...maybe.....

[Scott]

Motorcycle Diaries
Dog Soldiers
The Day The Earth Stood Still (a classic)
The Insider
The Beast (about the Soviets in Afghanistan)

[Neurotic Guy]

I also enjoyed Empire of the Sun

If you've never seen 'In Cold Blood' the Robert Blake version is an excellent film.   One of the few films in history where the role of a murderer is played by an actual real-life murderer (or at least accused).

[Champzilla]

Godfather is one of the biggest movies of all time, how is it in this topic ?

[EJPLAYA]

Check out "Peaceful Warrior" with Nick Nolte. It is based on a true story and is really one of the great movies out there. One of the best sports movies of all time IMO.

[steve]

I still think Bale's best work was done in American Psycho, maybe a cult classic...maybe.....

Just read the novel.  One of the most disturbing, sick, funny, awesome books of all time.  I liked the movie a lot but you have to read the book to totally get it.   

[jaimsitecom]

saving private ryan will always be a classic to me.

[Redz]

Check out "Peaceful Warrior" with Nick Nolte. It is based on a true story and is really one of the great movies out there. One of the best sports movies of all time IMO.

Yeh. I was curious about that one.  I started reading the book last winter and enjoyed it (I left it somewhere with like 50 pages to go)