Surprisingly good movies you've never seen

[KCattheStripe]

"Primal Fear"- Ed Norton's break out performance overshadows what maybe Richard Gere's best performance.

TP!

What a film. Ed Norton (along with Christian Bale) is one of the only young actors I would actually pay to watch.

I'd have to put Ewan MacGregor and Jude Law on that list.

[celticmaestro]

"Primal Fear"- Ed Norton's break out performance overshadows what maybe Richard Gere's best performance.

TP!

What a film. Ed Norton (along with Christian Bale) is one of the only young actors I would actually pay to watch.

I'd have to put Ewan MacGregor and Jude Law on that list.

Jude Law's best film was Closer, by a mile. Clive Owen was fantastic in that, outperformed Law. Ewan McGregor was great in Trainspotting and various other films, but I'd rate James McAvoy ahead of him. I wouldn't put any of those guys on that list yet, but certainly all deserve a mention in the tier below.

[KCattheStripe]

Jude Law's best film was Closer, by a mile. Clive Owen was fantastic in that, outperformed Law. Ewan McGregor was great in Trainspotting and various other films, but I'd rate James McAvoy ahead of him. I wouldn't put any of those guys on that list yet, but certainly all deserve a mention in the tier below.

Ehhh, wasn't a big Closer fan. I think there's no denying his range as an actor.

You're dead wrong on McGregor though. He is easily one of the top 5 character actors alive. The man is just impressive, whether it's a coked out wastrel in Trainspotting, a man living in his own stories in Big Fish, providing a voice of youthful enthusiasm in Robots, or a seemless rendition of a young Obi-Wan Kenobi in the unfortunate prequels. He melts into his characters the way very few others can.

[RebusRankin]

"Primal Fear"- Ed Norton's break out performance overshadows what maybe Richard Gere's best performance.

TP!

What a film. Ed Norton (along with Christian Bale) is one of the only young actors I would actually pay to watch.

Ryan Gossling. Canadian too. Watch The Believer, The United States of Leland, Lars and the Real Girl or Half Nelson but particularly the first two. One note though, The Believer is disturbing.


I'd have to put Ewan MacGregor and Jude Law on that list.

[Gainesville Celtic]

Interesting topic.... a few comments

ok, i skimmed through the thread, but too many movies to keep total track of...
metropolis - one of my all time favorites. fritz lang was great. all about clashing modernity, humanity, and of course true love. very early sci-fi flick.

The one and only time I saw this was in Minneapolis on the 4th of July about 10 years ago in an old salt factory that had been converted to a community art space.  There was a live band/DJ playing along. Pretty amazing combo... I didn't have the patience to sit in the warm room for the whole movie, but music played was pretty engrossing when matched to the film.

antonia's line - brilliant movie (set in sweden i think) about life and women's ability to control it. fantastic and human story woven around one powerful woman who defeats evil dicks and helps others. story is better than i am writing here. definately a chick-flick sort of movie, which will help all the guys on this site actually find a movie to please their female friends, or wives, or both. 

FANTASTIC movie --- don't ghettoize it by calling it a "chick-flick" (a term I absolutely hate).  If folks love film and great storytelling as much as the length of this post indicates they do, they should see this as a GREAT MOVIE, not just to suck up to wives/girlfriends

TP for mentioning it! 

3 random mentions from me:

Next Stop Wonderland -- Set in Boston, GREAT characters (esp. Phillip Seymour HOffman).  The premise is these 2 folks looking for love keep missing each other, but it's done in a great non-cheesy way and IMO does a great job of showing what we go through (i.e. bad dates, etc) looking for love.

Limbo -- I love most anything by John Sayles, but this has what might be my favorite movie ending of all time... Gasped, then said "Yes!" reflexively when I saw it in the theaters (everyone around us hated it).  Sayles is a terrific storyteller and great filmmaker.

Reprise -- Just saw this in the theater a month or so ago.  Small movie about 2 young Norwegian writers that is visually beautiful and does some interesting things with sound/story.... http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0827517/

[EJPLAYA]

Here's a really good one that I just saw. No Country for Old Men with Tommy Lee Jones. Not what you'd expect as far as story line goes. Excellent show though.

[Weird Facts]

I'm not sure how many people here have seen it.  Often when I ask people if they have seen it, they don't even know what it is.

THE LIFE AQUATIC

Starring: Bill Murray, Owen Wilson, Jeff Goldblum, Willen Dafoe and many more.

Its a Wes Anderson Film, its a dark humor / Drama but its one of my favorite movies.

If you enjoyed "The Royal Tenebaums" or "Rushmore"  I highly suggest seeing this film.

[Mr October]

old men and life aquatic are in my netflix Q. 

I'm also going to throw the new 'Incredible Hulk' into the ring. Not enough people saw it. The movie was really quite good. Much better than the Ang Lee hulk from a few years ago. I'd even say the movie is almost as good as iron man - very different though. It probably had the best fight finale of any of the super hero movies.

[moskqq]

If you liked Matt Damon in the "Bourne Identity" etc. and if you love ACTION movies featuring  the C.I.A. etc. then the following two movies should more than satisfy... Highly entertaining!

"The Assignment"...Aidan Quinn, Donald Sutherland, Ben Kingsley (R)rated...(language, explicit sex, "violence"!)....

"The long Kiss Goodnight"...Geena Davis, Samuel L. Jackson (R) rated (Language, "violence"!)

[Champzilla]

No Country for Old Men won Best Picture.

[Champzilla]

Dark Knight on IMAX and only on IMAX, Jordan's Furniture holla at your boy.

[Champzilla]

Can a movie that won best picture be suprisingly good ?  The Mist was a suprisingly good movie, I thought it was going to stink, it had one of the greatest endings in a movie ever.

[Schupac]

If you liked Matt Damon in the "Bourne Identity" etc. and if you love ACTION movies featuring  the C.I.A. etc. then the following two movies should more than satisfy... Highly entertaining!

"The Assignment"...Aidan Quinn, Donald Sutherland, Ben Kingsley (R)rated...(language, explicit sex, "violence"!)....

"The long Kiss Goodnight"...Geena Davis, Samuel L. Jackson (R) rated (Language, "violence"!)

I know so many people that love Long Kiss Goodnight... but I just don't get it.  Geena Davis was as convincing as an action hero as I am an attractive woman.  IE not at all.



Here's some more I forgot:

Confessions of a Dangerous Mind - about Chuck Barris (creator of The Gong Show among others) and his (purported) secret life as an assassin for the U.S. government.  Kind of a dark comedy.

Labyrinth - 1980s Jim Henson film with David Bowie as the villain.  No, you are not on hallucinogenic drugs, that is the movie.  And it's interesting.

The Program - Movie about college football.  One of my all time favorite sports flicks, touches on a lot of issues including racism, steroids, alcoholism and the star treatment of college athletes.  Also, James Caan.

Don't Look Now - this is an older horror/suspense film.  It's... strange.  Don't buy it, but give it a rent.

Stripes - One of my favorite comedy films.  This is kind of well known, but it bears an endorsement.  The first half of the film is pure gold.

[Edgar]

the sound of music

[Redz]

Can a movie that won best picture be suprisingly good ?  The Mist was a suprisingly good movie, I thought it was going to stink, it had one of the greatest endings in a movie ever.

The ending of the mist was just completely depressing.