Movies - Take Two. Action!

[Poisoned Youth]

To kick this off...


Even though I'm a video/film producer in real life and have always loved the process of creating content, my personal connection to film has always been more of a visceral one than an academic one. In fact, it was never a passion of mine to have to watch all these academic classics back in college. It's kind of ironic considering my sophisticated musical tastes.

One film that comes to mind that will be 25 years old next year is The Shawshank Redemption. This flick qualifies for me as great storytelling combined with compelling performances and is always one of the films that - if you ever come across it on TV - you land there and just watch it again. It never gets old.

What movie favorites do you all have that you never, ever tire of watching?

[NogbadTheBad]

Big Trouble In Little China, if it comes on I have to watch it, that and Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

[Progbear]

Big Trouble In Little China, if it comes on I have to watch it, that and Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

You need to see Zu Warriors from the Magic Mountain, the film that inspired it. I never get tired of it!

[notallwhowander]

Big Trouble In Little China, if it comes on I have to watch it, that and Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

Brother from another mother!

Those are two of my all-time favorites. I would round it off with Time Bandits, which I usually list as my favorite movie when asked.

BTW - I have seen Zu. The editing is terrible, but it is a fun movie and worth seeing: off-beat humor, lots of weirdness, and just about everyone flies around on wires at one point or another.

In a completely different vein:

Has anyone else here seen Hardcore Logo? It is pretty obscure, but a really great band-on-tour film.

[GuitarGeek]

Big Trouble In Little China, .

"I'm a reasonable man who's just seen some very unreasonable things!"
"Who are these people?! Friends of yours? Now, this really pisses me off to no end!"
"Is it too much to ask? Kill me, for me, Thunder!"

Great movie!
A few I always tune in for:

To Be Or Not To Be: The original "Jewish people making fun of Nazis" laugh riot. Jack Benny is a riot as a vainglorious theatrical actor who gets sucked into the Resistance movement as the Nazis move on Poland. The bit where he yawns his way through the "Heil Hitler" then corrects himself, is brilliant. I love how he keeps asking people if they're famliar with "the great stage actor Joseph Tura" (i.e. himself) and the only person who knows who he is a Nazi who says that "What he does to Shakespeare, we are now doing to Poland!

At The Circus: contains my favorite Groucho line, when he notices a woman (one of the antagonists of the story) shoving an envelope full of stolen money down her blouse, he later breaks the four wall and muses, "There must be some way of getting that money back without getting in trouble with the Hayes Office."

The Blues Brothers: One of the greatest comedies ever made, period. ANd it turned me onto the blues too. Too much quotable dialog. "Boys, you're in a lot of trouble".

Sixteen Candles: another movie full of quotable dialog (e.g. "Hey, Howard, there's your Chinaman on the lawn!"). The scene where the grandmother chews out Jake over the phone is great. And I don't care if you're man, woman, gay, straight, whatever, if a piece of you doesn't melt when Jake says "Yeah, you!", I'm sorry, there's is something seriously wrong with you.

Weird Science: Great, great picture. One of Bill Paxton's finest performances. "DO YOU REALIZE IT'S SNOWING IN MY BEDROOM?!?!?!" And I mean, c'mon, Kelly LeBrock!

Heavy Metal: One of the greatest animated feature films ever made. And certainly the best with a rock music score (well, half rock music, half typical Elmer Bernstein orchestral score). More quotable dialog ("You're sorry?! What about me?! I gotta put this asshole back together!!!!").

Rock N Rule: the other great rock oriented animated feature film. Some of the special effects in this movie are dazzling. It's important to know when you watch this or Heavy Metal, computer animation was in it's infancy, and it certainly couldn't do what was done in these pictures, in the early 80's. "Thanks guys! I too love the sound of cats in boiling water!"

Trading Places: The other great Dan Aykroyd vehicle, besides The Blues Brothers. Him and Eddie Murphy are just too over the top in this picture. Sometimes it's not even the dialog. The look Eddie gets on his face, in the men's room, when he realizes the Duke brothers have no intention of keeping him on board, is classic. And it was more or less John Landis' last really really great picture. And it also revived Don Ameche's acting career which had stalled a couple decades earlier, because "they stopped asking me to be in movies", but after Trading Places, he did several more movies, so kudos to Landis for casting him.

Amazon Women On THe Moon: An episodic ode to late night television, circa mid 80's. It's basically a bunch of skits parodying B-movies, TV commercials, and alll that other weird dren you used to see on late night TV. BB King hosting a segment on the Association For Black People Without Soul is one of my favorites. So is the funeral/roast, and the museum fire sale ad ("Matisse! Gaugin! Cezanne! And the chairman of the board himself, Leonard Da Vinci, can all now be yours, priced to move at $29.99! But hurry, because at the Museum Of Metropolitan Art, every Van Gogh must go!"). The Video Pirates segment (featuring actual pirates raiding ships carrying VHS tapes) is another favorite.

Secret Admirer: One of the most indescribable pictures I've ever seen in my life. Chaos and hilarity ensue when two anonymously signed love letters get passed around between a pair of families. A pre Full House Lori Laughlin plays the author of the two notes, and Fred Ward plays a vice cop who thinks his wife is having an affair. All I can say is this one of the funniest movies I've ever seen. Probably the best movie Cliff DeYoung was ever in.

Remo Williams: The Adventure Begins: speaking of Fred Ward, this was probably his best movie ever, playing a cop who gets drafted into a shady espionage outfit who intend to go after the criminals the law can't handle. Joel Grey plays the elderly martial arts expert who trains Remo, and Kate Mulgrew (half between Mrs. Columbo and Star Trek: Voyager) plays a military officer who finds her superiors are involved in some dirty dealing. Oh, and Tommy Shaw has a song that plays over the closing credits. The scene where Remo and several henchmen fight on the scaffolding surrounding the Statue Of Liberty (this was around the time they were renovating it) was actually shot in Mexico City, just before they had a seriously bad earthquake there. The "The Adventure Begins" part of the title was due to the producers expecting to get to make sequels, an window that closed when the picture bombed at the box office.

Head: How can you not love a movie that has The Monkees, Sonny Liston, Annette Funicello, Jack Nicholson, Timothy Carey, Teri Garr, and Victor Mature in it? Anyone who doubts whether the Monkees could actually perform as a band should see the Circle Sky sequence, during which the band are shown playing the song, onstage, and with no backup musicians. When I told Peter Tork Head was one of my favorite movies, his response was, "You have a sick mind!".

Adventures In Babysitting: Another picture that's hard to describe. When a teenage babysitter gets a call from a distressed friend who's stranded at the bus terminal downtown, she's forced to load the kids she's supposed to be watching and descend into another madcap adventure. Albert Collins has a great scene stealing cameo, when the kids wander into a blues club, while Albert is performing. "AIN'T NOBODY LEAVING UNTIL YOU SING THE BLUES!"

National Lampoon's Vacation: another movie where I have the ability to recite most of the dialog ("SHE BREATHED ON ME! A DEAD WOMAN BREATHED ON ME!"). Most of who have probably seen this one, so I shouldn't have to explain it to you.

Going Berserk: John Candy plays a limo driver, who's engaged to daughter of a senator. But some weird religious cult leader, who is being investigated by the senator, tries to brainwash Candy into killing his prospective father-in-law. Yeah, right! "This guy's not an assassin! He's a yutz!". There's a lot of craziness in this movie, all worth sitting through.

Delirious: My other favorite John Candy vehicle, where he plays a soap opera writer who gets into a car accident, and when he wakes, he finds himself trapped inside the soap! And anything he types on his typewriter, actually happens. Raymond Burr is great as the patriarch of the rich family who "owns" the town, pining away about the trouble he's having with his cable TV service ("I've got black bars on 2! AND 11!"). Soap vet Emma Samms plays Burr's daughter, who Candy's character has the hots for, and Muriel Hemingway plays another woman who gets mixed up in the debacle. "Lox and cream cheese on...CINNAMON TOAST?! GET IT OUTTA HERE!"

The Party: I love Peter Sellers, and this is probably my favorite movie of his. Apparently, virtually everything in the picture was improvised. Peter plays an accident prone Indian actor, who, after accidentally destroying the set of a movie he was an extra in, inadvertently gets invited to a party at the house of the owner of the studio who was making the picture Peter's character just destroyed. I saw this movie when I was about 5 years old, but literally the only thing I remembered was "Hey, man! CLOSE THE DOOR!" (if you've seen the movie, you know the scene I'm talking about). Fortunately, A&E, back when they were still into showing watchable stuff, aired this in the early 90's, and I finally found out what that mystery picture I saw when I was a kid was (and I also found out why the four guys were hiding in the closet, and why the guy who says "HEY MAN, CLOSE THE DOOR!" lets out a puff of smoke as he utters his immortal line). Mahogany Frog named a piece of music after an exchange in one scene (Gavin MacLeod tells Peter, "You're mesuggah!", and Peter replies, "I am not your sugar!"). Apparently, the house didn't really exist, it was just a set on a soundstage, but for many years I wanted to live in a house like this one (you'll have to see the movie to understand what was special about the house...trust me, it was very cool, even if it didn't really exist).

Jaws 3: Yeah, yeah, I know, the original Jaws is one of the bona fide classics of modern horror movies. But I like the third one best. You can't top Bess Armstrong in a wetsuit. "Are we talking about some damn shark's mother?!" "We're not blowing it up over some, some, some DAMN FISH!!!!!!!"

[SteveMac]

Big Trouble In Little China, if it comes on I have to watch it, that and Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

Big Trouble, absolutely. ("You know what ol' Jack Burton says at a time like this...")
Holy Grail, also absolutely ("Good idea, Lord...OF COURSE IT'S A GOOD IDEA!!!" Classic)

Also:
Princess Bride
That Thing You Do
Fifth Element
Citizen Kane

[progeezer]

Alastair Sim as Scrooge in the 1951 British version of Dickens "A Christmas Carol". I watch it at least twice every December and always alone for several years now, since I repeat every single line of dialogue as it's being spoken. I have watched it every year for 65 years.

Not "Shawshank", but for me, the best film version of many, of the ultimate redemption story.

[Klonk]

Oh without a doubt The Purge

Shawshank Redemption is a good choice. I always keep that one one when flippin' around the dial. A few off the top of my head I'll never tire of are Apocalypse Now, High Plains Drifter, Slap Shot, definitely Monty Python and the Holy Grail and Die Hard.

Tons of horrors that I can watch over and over, but too many to name.

[Staun]

Chinatown with Jack Nicholson.
Pat Garrett and Billy The Kid with James Coburn and Kris Kristofferson.

[JKL2000]

RE: that list of 100 best horror movies, I've never seen Texas Chainsaw Massacre, but I'm guessing it shouldn't be at number 3. It's better than Psycho? Also, while I loved Alien for a long time, and some of it still works very well, as a horror movie, IMO, much of it doesn't hold up. The last half hour or so, is just repetitive and looks like of cheap, until the very last sequence.

Also, while I like The Thing a lot, I think Rosemary's Baby should be rated higher than The Thing, Alien, and Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

One problem with this list is that there are different types of horror movies. Some are truly scary, and some it's more an underlying horror, atmosphere, etc. Putting Alien up against Rosemary's Baby is kind of ridiculous, IMO.

[Klonk]

RE: that list of 100 best horror movies, I've never seen Texas Chainsaw Massacre, but I'm guessing it shouldn't be at number 3. It's better than Psycho? Also, while I loved Alien for a long time, and some of it still works very well, as a horror movie, IMO, much of it doesn't hold up. The last half hour or so, is just repetitive and looks like of cheap, until the very last sequence.

Also, while I like The Thing a lot, I think Rosemary's Baby should be rated higher than The Thing, Alien, and Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

One problem with this list is that there are different types of horror movies. Some are truly scary, and some it's more an underlying horror, atmosphere, etc. Putting Alien up against Rosemary's Baby is kind of ridiculous, IMO.

I dunno man! Alien terrified me as a kid. Of course it doesn't hold up in terms of special effects today, but at the time it was kick ass. That was my first experience with claustrophobic fear...and I ate it up! The Thing had a similar vibe, but in snow . Rosemary's Baby was a great, slow burning horror, but it definitely didn't scare me like Aliens did.

My brother took me to see Alien and I think I was like 10 That bastard...he did this to me!!

[JKL2000]

I dunno man! Alien terrified me as a kid. Of course it doesn't hold up in terms of special effects today, but at the time it was kick ass. That was my first experience with claustrophobic fear...and I ate it up! The Thing had a similar vibe, but in snow . Rosemary's Baby was a great, slow burning horror, but it definitely didn't scare me like Aliens did.

My brother took me to see Alien and I think I was like 10 That bastard...he did this to me!!

Oh, as I said, I loved Alien - I saw it in a theater when it first came out. I still think the chest bursting scene, and the whole first half of the movie really, is great. But when last watching it (a few years ago) I found it got a bit monotonous toward the end. How much of Ripley walking through those corridors can you watch?

[gojikranz]

Oh, as I said, I loved Alien - I saw it in a theater when it first came out. I still think the chest bursting scene, and the whole first half of the movie really, is great. But when last watching it (a few years ago) I found it got a bit monotonous toward the end. How much of Ripley walking through those corridors can you watch?

have you seen the alternate cut ridley scott put together a few years ago (was labeled a directors cut for advertising purposes although ridley stated the original is still his preferred). unlike many alternate cuts it actually ran a minute shorted but did feature some new footage so I think (though I don't remember exactly what was lost to make room) some of the monotonousness you mention may be trimmed.

one thing that impresses me about alien is that it has managed to stay in the public eye despite long stretches without films as a child of the 90s Alien was still a big thing I recall they put out a line of toys (yes childrens toys based on R rated movies but hey I turned out OK) that made it a pretty big thing amongst us even though we had not seen the movies. somehow we all knew about chest bursters and alien queens etc. and I recall seeing the first part on TV when I was fairly young and being too scared to continue(or maybe my mom shut it off can't say I recall seeing the inside of that egg and being pretty creeped out though) despite my familiarity with the toys.

[GuitarGeek]

one thing that impresses me about alien is that it has managed to stay in the public eye despite long stretches without films as a child of the 90s Alien was still a big thing I recall they put out a line of toys (yes childrens toys based on R rated movies but hey I turned out OK)

They did put out an Alien doll when the first movie came out. I remember my first grade teacher asking us what we wanted for Xmas, and I said "An Alien doll" and she had no clue what I was talking about. But I don't think it faired well on the market, because, well, as you point out, it was merchandise connected to an R rated horror movie. Anyway, as I recall, my parents couldn't find the doll anywhere (or maybe they just decided that it was too disturbing looking or whatever).

Well, looking at Youtube, because I was gonna post the commercial from 1979, which I actually do remember seeing, I see there were also toys for the subsequent movies, which I don't remember at all, but here's the proof:



(Dammit, did I really just reply to a post from 2018?!)

[UnderAGlassMoon]

I dunno man! Alien terrified me as a kid. Of course it doesn't hold up in terms of special effects today, but at the time it was kick ass. That was my first experience with claustrophobic fear...and I ate it up! The Thing had a similar vibe, but in snow . Rosemary's Baby was a great, slow burning horror, but it definitely didn't scare me like Aliens did.

My brother took me to see Alien and I think I was like 10 That bastard...he did this to me!!

I hear you Scott, I had a similar experience with Alien, pretty sure I was 10 as well. First R rated movie I ever saw and the chest burster scene traumatized me for a while. We got ice cream after the movie and I kept replaying that scene over and over in my head. Needless to say, the ice cream didn't stay down long.

Some movies that I will usually watch if they are on:

Goodfellas (if it's uncut since almost every other word out of Pesci's mouth is fuck)
Step Brothers
Old School
Any of the first three Bourne movies
Alien
Aliens
Prometheus ( I know it gets universally panned, but it's grown on me)
Any Tarantino movie except Jackie Brown and Death Proof

There are many more.

[gojikranz]

RE: that list of 100 best horror movies, I've never seen Texas Chainsaw Massacre, but I'm guessing it shouldn't be at number 3. It's better than Psycho? Also, while I loved Alien for a long time, and some of it still works very well, as a horror movie, IMO, much of it doesn't hold up. The last half hour or so, is just repetitive and looks like of cheap, until the very last sequence.

Also, while I like The Thing a lot, I think Rosemary's Baby should be rated higher than The Thing, Alien, and Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

One problem with this list is that there are different types of horror movies. Some are truly scary, and some it's more an underlying horror, atmosphere, etc. Putting Alien up against Rosemary's Baby is kind of ridiculous, IMO.

ya really hard to truly rank em. glanced at the list don't think aliens qualifies as horror, but overall seems a decent list though of course I haven't seen em all. main ones I can think off the top of my head that would easily make my top 100 would be Tenebrae, maybe zombie 2 though if you only get one fulci the beyond is a good pick. I also have a fondness for sleepaway camp as 80's slashers go.

[Klonk]

ya really hard to truly rank em. glanced at the list don't think aliens qualifies as horror, but overall seems a decent list though of course I haven't seen em all. main ones I can think off the top of my head that would easily make my top 100 would be Tenebrae, maybe zombie 2 though if you only get one fulci the beyond is a good pick. I also have a fondness for sleepaway camp as 80's slashers go.

Alien I'd definitely consider horror, but I'd agree Aliens is not. Tenebrae is awesome aint it? Some of those old giallo films are really good and I'm an Argento fan...or was. Suspiria is an all-time favorite. I watch Fulci's The Beyond every Halloween religiously

[Jerjo]

A friend of mine has this running argument with me about the first two Alien movies. He says the first is much, much better. I say they cannot be compared because one is a perfect horror movie, the second is the perfect action thriller (with far more memorable lines).

[nycsteve]

RE: that list of 100 best horror movies, I've never seen Texas Chainsaw Massacre, but I'm guessing it shouldn't be at number 3. It's better than Psycho? Also, while I loved Alien for a long time, and some of it still works very well, as a horror movie, IMO, much of it doesn't hold up. The last half hour or so, is just repetitive and looks like of cheap, until the very last sequence.

Also, while I like The Thing a lot, I think Rosemary's Baby should be rated higher than The Thing, Alien, and Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

One problem with this list is that there are different types of horror movies. Some are truly scary, and some it's more an underlying horror, atmosphere, etc. Putting Alien up against Rosemary's Baby is kind of ridiculous, IMO.

I actually saw the original Texas Chainsaw Mass and it scared me. More than Psycho I think. But Psycho is a way better film. For movies in general , Key Largo is up there. The Great Escape. The Planet of The Apes (1st), The Big Lebowski, Its a Wonderful Life. The Searchers.
Recenly discovered classics , The Breaking Point with John Garfield. Same Hemmingway source material as Bogie's To Have And Have Not , but a different take and in many ways better. And of course The Purge.
On Edit; When Harry Met Sally, Dunkirk, The Anderson Tapes , Bride Of Frankenstien , Wizard Of Oz , Best Years Of Our Lives , The Apartment. The Nice Guys , and for some reason , Fools Gold.

[TheLoony]

I've never seen Texas Chainsaw Massacre.

Er, living under a rock much?

Sorry, just started reading this thread wowed by that statement.

[Buddhabreath]

Er, living under a rock much?

Sorry, just started reading this thread wowed by that statement.

Maybe JKL is smart enough to avoid the POS that is Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Who the fuck needs it? I saw at in th university theater when I was going to school and I still regret it. There's enough pain and shit in the world without it.

[nosebone]

Maybe JKL is smart enough to avoid the POS that is Texas Chainsaw Massacre. Who the fuck needs it? I saw at in th university theater when I was going to school and I still regret it. There's enough pain and shit in the world without it.

If you're a fan of horror, TCM was a game changer.

[Buddhabreath]

If you're a fan of horror, TCM was a game changer.

That's probably true but whether that was a good thing or not depends on you're perspective.

[moecurlythanu]

If you're a fan of horror, TCM was a game changer.

Yeah, but it's just depravity masked as horror. Utter garbage, imo.

[walt]

Paths Of Glory-the futility and pointlessness of war.The last scene of the scared young woman singing a sad song in front of grizzled soldiers who will soon be in combat, is priceless.

Black Robe
The Limey
Tinker,Tailor,Soldier Spy/Smiley's People.....so many more.....