Eisenstein's "Ivan the Terrible Pt 1 & 2".  Music by Prokofieff.

The Fall of the Roman Empire

Won Award for Best Film Score 1964

Eraserhead.

 

@noromance: The manager at my video store in the early-2000’s one day asked me what my favorite movie was. A ridiculous question, so I gave her a ridiculous answer: Eraserhead, of course. I recently read that Stanley Kubrick cited it as his all-time favorite movie, and screened it for guests in his home. I have it in the director approved Criterion DVD Special Edition version.

 

@bdp24 It was surreal and "ridiculous" then. Now, not so much. Too many lunatics. 

Other than Eyes Wide Shut I don't think there is a Kubrick film I don't love.

 

@noromance: I didn’t mean for my use of the term ridiculous to be taken literally, as a pejorative dismissal. I love Eraserhead, but I knew the store manager would consider my choice ridiculous. Which she did.

 

@hifiguy42: My favorite of Kubrick’s is Dr. Strangelove.

 

  Fargo !

@bdp24 

 

Dr. Strangelove is my favorite film, period.

 

Yes, 'Madness' is appropriate indeed.

I'm a huge David Lynch fan - he and Stanley Kubrick were always my 2 favorite film-makers; the painter and the still photographer - when he announced a few weeks ago that he'd had emphysema for 4 years and needed oxygen to walk across his living room, I was expecting that sad news at any time.

Lynch and Kubrick were certainly mutual admirers of each other's work.... 

'Mulholland Dr' is my all-time favorite film. Loved 'Dr Strangelove', 'Lolita' and the rest, but my fave Kubrick would be a tie between '2001' and 'A Clockwork Orange'. It's raining, I'm singing. 

 

@winoguy17: Speaking of the Coen Brothers, have you seen The Man Who Wasn't There. Fantastic! A modern Noir instant classic, with the most beautiful B & W cinematography (by Roger Deakins) I've EVER seen. I also love their little-known A Serious Man, which having a Jewish girlfriend was helpful in understanding.

For Billy Wilder it's Sunset Blvd. and The Apartment. For Hitchcock it's Vertigo.

What has become of Jim Jarmusch? I loved his Coffee And Cigarettes, especially the scene with Tom Waits and Iggy Pop.

 

Havent seen TMWWT, thanks for the heads up.

I think Jim Jarmusch is fine, after Down by Law, he is forever cherished in Europe by a big following. 

I would like to make one correction to the above suggestions. The best movie is Dumb and Dumber. Period. Everybody knows it,

 

Okay @grislybutter, I admit it. Dumb And Dumber is a guilty pleasure of mine. Is Bad Santa in that same category? I’m pretty lenient when in comes to movies, though I have to draw the line at super hero and "action" ones.

 

@winoguy17: The Man Who Wasn’t There stars Billy Bob Thornton, Frances McDormand, James Galdolfini, Scarlett Johansson, and Richard Jenkins. A great story, as usual from the Coen brothers. To return to the premise of this thread, there is one guy I sure wish wasn't there. Or anywhere.

 

   ^^^   I just ordered a copy of it ....

@bdp24 I was somewhat joking, about Dumb and Dumber.

I am pretty sure our movie taste varies widely. The smartest movies were made in Eastern Europe in the 60s as a protest again the regime disguised as satire or comedy or documentary. We might soon see Hollywood produce those too.

The music background of "The Leftovers" is a favorite of mine (and the series was good as well).

OT:

I was just able to get "TyouRD" past the AOL Forum censors.

 

DeKay

 

I’m a huge fan of all of the directors mentioned in this post especially Lynch and Kubrick. I’m a movie buff with a huge library of Blu Rays and DVDs with lots of films by Lynch, Kubrick, Billy Wilder, the Coens, Hitchcock, and  Jim Jarmusch.  I’m also a fan of Chaplin and recently felt compelled to purchase a Criterion Blu-Ray copy of his 1940 dark satire featuring his very first speaking role. A time less classic which was extremely relevant when it was released and unfortunately still is.

Hal Ashby’s Harold and Maude

(Cat Stevens Soundtrack)

Thanks for the "Eraserhead" recommendation. One of my favourite David Lynch movies that definitely requires a rewatch.

Stanley Kubrick's "Dr. Strangelove" is top 5 all time. "Mine shaft gap" Brilliant.

As for the Coen Bros.. All are great, but if I want a good laugh it's "Raising Arizona" all day.

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri 

Plan 9 From Outer Space

 

@slaw: Oh yeah Steve, one night a few years back I came across the Three Billboards movie. I hadn't heard of it, and was very pleasantly surprised. Frances McDormand again.

 

Another suggestion, Orson Welles’ Citizen Kane still looks great in black and white on a big screen. A great story, well acted with excellent cinematography.  

The Madness Of King George. Apropos, no?

Perhaps there will be a sequel coming set in more modern times?

 

I tend to gravitate towards foreign films, and primarily dramas. A fair percentage might be considered "art" films, and/or off-beat, especially in contrast to mainstream films. This is a list of many of my favorites, and if you notice any that you have seen and liked, you may find some (or many) of the others to be to your taste, as well.

Unfortunately, most would likely be difficult, if not impossible to find on streaming services. I like to own hard copies of excellent films, so am willing to purchase DVDs and Blu-Rays.

The directors are on the right, for reference.

White Material Claire Denis

Breaker Morant Bruce Beresford

Barbara Christian Petzold

Phoenix Christian Petzold

Jerichow Christian Petzold

Yella Christian Petzold

Rabbit Proof Fence Noyce

I Am Love Guadaguino

Bloody Sunday Greengrass

The Conversation Coppola

In The Fog Loznitsa

Withnail and I Robinson

Dark River Barnard

4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days Mungiu

Winter’s Bone Granik

Klute Pakula

Das Vorspiel Weisse

Lives of Others von Donnersmarck

Couscous Abdellatif Kechiche

Matewan Sayles

Silent Souls Fedorchenko

Western Grisebach

The Past Farhadi

A Separation Farhadi

Applause Zandvliet

Uzak Ceylan

Disobedience Lelio

Biutiful Inorritu

Perfect Days Wender

Like Someone in Love Kiarostam

La Haine Kassovitz

Control Corbijn

Only Lovers Left Alive Jarmusch

Ghost Dog Jarmusch

Vier Minuten Kraus

Red Road Arnold

The White Ribbon Haneke

Compartment No. 6 Juho Kuosmanen

 

 

 

@whipsaw: The Conversation is my favorite of Coppola’s. His "small" movie.

 

Another favorite of mine is The Last Picture Show by Peter Bogdanovich. A great soundtrack too, with lots of Hank Williams.

 

And Tender Mercies with Robert Duvall. A related film is Crazy Heart, with Duvall in a supporting role to Jeff Bridges. Not too bad a singer, and some great songs. Produced by the ubiquitous T Bone Burnett.

 

@bdp24 

Thank you. I agree with the others that you mentioned, as well. All excellent films, and I especially like Tender Mercies.

Another that springs to mind is The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada, starring, and directed by Tommy Lee Jones.

"Sunshine Cleaners"

In no particular order:

Jean de Florette & Manon of the Spring 

The Searchers

Hombre

Donovan's Reef

Knox Goes Away

Lawrence of Arabia

Paths of Glory

Dr. Strangelove

Fail Safe

Interstellar 

The Professionals

The Thing (the original version)

Arrival

Blade Runner 2049

Hell or High Water

You Won't Be Alone  (be prepared for nothing, and everything)

Only Lovers Left Alive

Too many to list makes it impossible to come up with all the good ones so have at it.

All the best,
Nonoise

 

 

The Professional 

Ronin

Post election I'm leaning heavily into the Criterion Collection for relief, tranquility, and determination to escape the grotesquerie of the news cycle.  Criterion was fortunately rescued from AT&T's decimation of Time Warner/HBO properties after acquisition, and for $100/year deserves the subscription of any film lover.  Recent finds include Mark Cousins's impressionistic Orson Wells documentary "The Eyes of Orson Wells" and "Mr. Arkadin" (in two cuts), and Sean Baker's "The Prince of Broadway" and "Starlets"-- the latter a risqué but convincing vindication of the acting skills of a fourth generation of Hemingway women.  Also much enjoyed introducing my wife to Truffaut's "400 Blows."  

 

Today I find myself longing to again see Wings Of Desire. I remember it as being as beautiful a film as I've ever seen.

 

The original Andromeda Strain

If you want a movie that's visually stunning check out "Days of Heaven" directed by Terence Malick and shot by Nestor Almendros, who won the Oscar for cinematography. It stars Richard Gere in one of his earliest film roles, Brooke Adams, Sam Shepard, and a young actress named Linda Manz. The dialogue is very sparse and Manz does a great voiceover narration which was reportedly unscripted. The story takes mostly takes place on a farm in the Texas Panhandle and the farm scenes are gorgeously shot.

After a promising start Linda Manz pretty much dropped out of acting. Another one of hers to catch is Dennis Hopper’s "Out of the Blue"(1980). It’s full of improvised dialog, raw and ponderous, but not far off from Hopper’s Easy Rider in mood. Feels like Hopper was drawing a painfully sharp dividing line between between ’70s and ’80s culture and film making.

"Sunshine Cleaners"

Sunshine Cleaning, maybe? If so, +1 @slaw .

Besides dramas that are about everyday people in everyday scenarios that turn sideways on them (such as A Map Of The World with Sigourney Weaver), I seem to gravitate to dark movies with non gratuitous violence, and if based on factual events--all the better.

In no particular order, I immensely enjoyed Phil Spector, Donnie Brasco (I thought this was Al Pacino's best acting), Wonderland, Black Mass, The Departed, No Country For Old Men (I particularly thought that was a great one!), The Counselor, Gone Baby Gone.

Breaking away from the dark side, I really enjoyed Rushmore, and I can watch that one over again and find some facet I missed before and enjoy it almost as much as the first time I watched it.

 

. . . Michael Clayton kept my attention, House Of Sand And Fog was good enough that I watched it a second time after a year or two, and American Pastoral was another that kept my attention.

And speaking of Al Pacino (which I did last post), although I don't like them as much as Phil Spector or Donnie Brasco, I did enjoy Scent Of A Woman and Paterno.  

 

Here’s a great film entitled "David Lynch Teaches You The Art Of Life---Full Masterclass." It’s almost three hours long, but it’s time well spent to watch it.

 

https://youtu.be/yJqSSE9b90o?si=ZkGNQGuzhULXLGcM

 

+1 for Jean de Florette and its sequel, Manon of the Spring....breathtakingly beautiful and heart-rending

Hear My Song...little known, funny, touching and wonderful music 

Chaplin's City Lights...maybe my all-time favorite

Billy Wilder's The Fortune Cookie...seriously, Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthau at their best

Singin' in the Rain...hmm, maybe this is my all-time favorite

Fritz Lang's Metropolis

Everything by the Coen brothers

Almost everything by Wes Anderson

and about 1,000 others...

 

@77jovian: I haven’t seen The Fortune Cookie, but I sure love Lemmon and Matthau in The Odd Couple. Who doesn’t?!

Agree about the Coen’s, with the exception of Intolerable Cruelty. But then I haven’t seen The Hudsucker Proxy, Burn After Reading, or The Ladykillers (love the original). I love, love, love The Man Who Wasn’t There and A Serious Man. The Ballad Of Buster Scruggs is pretty darn great, and of course it goes without saying so are Fargo and O Brother, Where Art Thou?.

Mean Streets was the first Martin Scorsese film I saw, which may be why it remains my favorite of his (well, it and Taxi Driver).

 

@bdp24  I admit that part of my affection for The Fortune Cookie is because I practiced law for 40 years and the TFC is a perfect send-up of personal injury lawsuits.  And great in other ways, too.  

Probably my career also heightens my appreciation of the Coens' Intolerable Cruelty.  I also loved the Hudsucker Proxy and Burn After Reading.  The Ladykillers is good but not among their bests IMO.  Surprising nobody has mentioned Blood Simple and The Big Lebowski as Coen essentials, too.

 

Yep, forgot about The Big Lebowski, and I really need to rewatch Blood Simple again. I've seen it only once, and that many years ago. I need to see Miller's Crossing again too.

 

While you're completing your tour of the Coens' oeuvre, please watch Barton Fink and then write me and tell me what the Hell that was about!  Interesting how I can so enjoy a movie that I have no understanding of at all (like Lynch's Mulholland Drive).

A couple that used to be my favorites:

Pat Garrett And Billy The Kid

Apocalypse Now

 

I'm with you @77jovian. I have no idea what Barton Fink is about, and it's unlike the Coens to be so abstract. I find this film very disturbing.

Mulholland drive is slightly more understandable, since we know Lynch likes to play around with dream sequences vs. reality. And we expect his films to be abstract.

 

+1 @bdp24 I definitely agree, Wings of Desire is my all time favorite art flick.

 

How about the final scene, where Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds are the band playing in the hotel bar.

Peter Falk … esp at the food cart, that’s one of my favorite scenes also.

Just a lovely film, everything about it, imo.

+1 @quickink Harold and Maude is one of my top 10 favs also. It’s a great film for a number of reasons, but obe of them is the lovely Cat Stevens soundtrack!

How about Rocky Horror Picture Show? Anyone else used to go to the midnight showing on an occasional basis back in my youth in the late 70’s and early 80’s.

It’s a great campy film. Doesn’t get much more fun than that. Pretty great soundtrack and even a hit by Meatloaf as Eddie. My fav song is The Time Warp. What a classic.

Tim Curry was Transexual before it was even a thing, lol.