The best films no one has ever seen.

[Lefty]

Three Colors: Red, White and Blue by Polish Director Kieślowski

I did my homework and watched all three in one sitting. It's a great series and ties together nicely.

 

[Moby]

Has anyone deen "Idiocracy"? Made in 2006 and only released to 125 theaters in the US. Very interesting concept. An Army experiment accidently puts a soldier into suspended animation for 500 years and when he wakes up he is tested and found to be the smartest man on earth because of the deterioration of society. The world is starving because all crops are being irrigated with a sports drink. Water is only used in toilets. An interesting and funny movie that takes our current society to its extremes in the future.

 

[Lady Day]

Idooracy is fantastic in theory, but its execution was all wrong. SOMEONE had to be in charge, even if they were a hidden mastermind, because there is no way that society would have done anything without being told to do it.

LD

 

[Doctor Strange]

I agree - that film has a VERY clever premise, but is pretty lamely executed. It makes some good points in imagining today's trends into the future (some of the same points that showed up later in WALL-E), but it's sloppy and scattershot.

 

[Feraud]

The premise of Idiocracy is much better executed in reality.

 

[p51]

"The Ninth Configuration" by William Peter Blatty.
A superb psycho-drama with an excellent ending. Anyone else seen it?

I thought the opening of the movie was promising (a astronaut who goes nuts on the launch pad) but it fizzled into a “you got to kidding me” premise. The scene in the bar was downright silly.
The Wind and the Lion: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0073906/
Waterloo: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0066549/
The Train: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0059825/
Sirens: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0111201/
The Station Agent: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0340377/

 

[dhermann1]

A couple more candidates

I just saw on good old TMC this evening a wonderfully bizarre musical called "Yolanda and the Thief", with Fred Astaire and Lucille Bremer. It was directed by Vincente Minnelli in 1945. Very mediocre songs are not the only shortcoming of this flick, but the art direction is over the moon. Read the comments on IMDB.COM, they pretty much nail it. Very surreal, very luridly colorful, sometimes unintentionally hilarious, but still worth seeing.
The second is "The King of Jazz", 1929. It's a color process the name of which I don't know. They just applied bands of color across the top, middle and bottom. It's just a big splashy review starring the Paul Whitemen Orchestra and all his stars. It has a very, very young Bing Crosby, with the Rhythm Boys, the deliciously adorable 18 year old Jeannie Lang, and all sorts of terrific Whiteman hits of the day. Much fun, a Lounger's dream.

 

[Miss Neecerie]

I did my homework and watched all three in one sitting. It's a great series and ties together nicely.

The Decalogue also seems interesting...I watched a bit of it, but was unfortunately not in the right mindset, so didn't finish it..I need to though.

Its a 10-parter...each part about a commandment...in some way or another. With of course some interlinking of the parts in that they all take place in the same general area and building.

 

[Widebrim]

Abel Gance's Napoleon (1927). I saw this during its theatrical reissue in 1983 and have been raving about it ever since, but rights issues have kept it off DVD in most of the world, so it's very hard to see nowadays.

Probably the greatest film epic ever made, and without a doubt the most awe-inspiring experience I've ever had in a theatre. It's probably just as well that it hasn't been given the DVD treatment, because it really is something you have to see on the big screen to catch the full sweep.

(Yeah, I know this is films that "no one" has ever seen, but me and Kevin Brownlow don't count as anyone, really..)

Yes, I remember seeing it in '83, too, either here in Los Angeles or Glendale. A full orchestra provided the music, and the film (at one point) was projected onto three screens (triptych) to produce a widescreen experience. Incredible film that needs to be seen in a theater.

 

[KY Gentleman]

I thought the opening of the movie was promising (a astronaut who goes nuts on the launch pad) but it fizzled into a “you got to kidding me” premise. The scene in the bar was downright silly.

Wow, that scene was basically the point of the whole movie.

 

[anon`]

Thanks for the recommendation. I really enjoyed this film, although I'd be interrested to know if the jokes work as well when translated as they do in french.

cheers

They worked well enough for me as Englisc subtitles.

Glad to see Dark City getting some love on this thread... it's certainly one of my top three films in that genre and one of my favourites. Love the WB promise to bankroll the last of the production in exchange for most of the film's property.
How about Metropolis?

But most of all: Talvisota. It's sort of like... Finland's Band of Brothers. It's about the Finnish infantry regiment "JR 23" during the so-called Winter War of 30 November 1939 through 13 March 1940. Best of all: the dialogue is in Finnish!

 

[Brooksie]

I love Metropolis!

Brooksie

 

[Lefty]

lighter movies:

Air Guitar Nation - you will laugh, you will cry, you will give up the goat

Who the #$&% is Jackson Pollock? - better than any mystery I've seen

 

[Lady Day]

I
The Station Agent: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0340377/

LOVE this one, love it!

Flipping through my DVD collection, I found another one I love Central Station.

LD

 

[Chas]

I know of only two people (myself and a buddy) who have seen Burn

And whenever I mention this, I get a lot of blank stares: Kwaidan.

 

[Lady Day]

The Apostle

I really like this film, a lot. I enjoy films where character questioned/tried by their faith. Weather you believe or not isnt the issue, its watching their struggle that makes it rewarding.

Great acting too.

LD

 

[Marc Chevalier]

Yes, I remember seeing [Abel Gance's Napoleon] in '83, too, either here in Los Angeles or Glendale. A full orchestra provided the music, and the film (at one point) was projected onto three screens (triptych) to produce a widescreen experience. Incredible film that needs to be seen in a theater.

I saw it too -- at the enormous Shrine Auditorium near downtown Los Angeles. Francis Ford Coppola presented the restored version, and his father Carmine (who composed its new score) also conducted the orchestra ... for about five hours!

.

 

[Lillemor]

I haven't watched it yet but I think I want to watch 'Panic In Year Zero'. I like Frankie's acting in his early years pre-1964 or so. He's not the reason I want to watch it though. I've seen a few clips on youtube and there's something I find appealing. I'd like to watch similar films.

Mughal-E-Azam left a lasting impression on me even though I didn't understand a word of it and it wasn't dubbed or subtitled. I prefer subtitles to dubbing. Dubbing drives me nuts! It has one of my favorite actresses Madhubala in it. I'm not interested in other women in that way but I find her absolutely spell binding the same way Meena Kumari and Vyjayanthimala. They and several of their male contemporaries, the style of film and acting spellbind in a way where language barriers don't matter.

'Mother India' is perhaps the best known Hindi film outside of India though golden Bollywood buffs will have heard of Mughal-E-Azam and Parkeezah (1972 by the time it was completed) too. It didn't impress me as much as I wanted it to. I've watched lesser known Bollywood films from around the same time which titles elude me that were better.

 

[BellyTank]

Mughal-E-Azam

Yes, it's fantastic, I have it on DVD.
The restoration and colorization is great.
16 years in the making!

It's great to here from fans of Indian cinema here.

There are a few relatively recent Bollywood cross-over films which are great,
and everyone should see, for example, Monsoon Wedding, which you no doubt have seen. I actually saw it in Århus, at Paradis- I think I saw Lagaan and Ashoka there, too.


B
T

 

[Lillemor]

Yes, it's fantastic, I have it on DVD.
The restoration and colorization is great.
16 years in the making!

It's great to here from fans of Indian cinema here.

There are a few relatively recent Bollywood cross-over films which are great,
and everyone should see, for example, Monsoon Wedding, which you no doubt have seen. I actually saw it in Århus, at Paradis- I think I saw Lagaan and Ashoka there, too.


B
T

I haven't seen Monsoon Wedding. I liked Bollywood up until the mid 90s. Then it all got a bit rediculous for me and difficult to find the good ones. I've looked at a list of Bollywood films 1930s-present and there are lots of repeat titles. I'd like to watch the same film from different decades and see what I like best.

I'd like to watch the restored Mughal-E-Azam.