If I hated the two, I would feel that they got what they deserved with Max Payne.

I love The Game as well. But I must confess it probably would have been a stronger movie if it had ended 5 minutes earlier. The falling from the building scene would have a great way to end the movie.


In a way, the ending of Arlington Road is a little out there too. I mean, in order for the events to have occured they would have had to predict the main character's every move from beginning to end. But I still freaking loved that ending! It might not logically add up, but it was still such a great, punch in the gut, holy crap, I didn't see that coming type of ending.

I personally didn't care for Arlington Road all that much, the ending was just too cheap for my tastes, far too much Fridge Logic for me to buy into it or suspend my disbelief, so as a result the ending felt like less like a gut punch and more like a weak tap on the shoulder.

I finally came up with a list of 20:

"Careful"
"Naked"
"Exotica"
"Heavenly Creatures"
"Liberty Heights"
"24-Hour Party People"
"Cowards Bend the Knee"
"The Saddest Music in the World"
"The Puffy Chair"
"Sweet Land"
"Nine Lives"
"The Fountain"
"Brand Upon the Brain!"
"Breaking and Entering"
"Happy-Go-Lucky"
"Blindness"
"Elegy"
"Nothing But the Truth"
"Mother and Child"
"The Trip"

Great lists -- most of the ones I would have called out have already been nominated.

"Dead Again" is a couple of years too old, alas.

I'll throw "A Bronx Tale" out there as a contender. It's been years since I've seen it, but I remember it fondly and I suspect it's largely forgotten.

Oh God I hated A Bronx Tale. Warmed-over Goodfellas leftovers

The direction (from De Niro) seems pedestrian.

Mission to Mars

I thought his direction of A Bronx Tale was perfectly fine. He let the story tell itself and not do anything too showy which was just fine. On the other hand, he had full command of The Good Shepherd. I thought his direction of that movie was brilliant. But then I thought the movie itself was a near masterpiece.

My additions:

Secretary (2002)
Little Manhattan (2005)
Me and You and Everyone We Know (2005)
The Proposition (2005)
Black Snake Moan (2006)
Boy A (2007)
Two Lovers (2008)
Antichrist (2009)
Mary and Max (2009)
Valhalla Rising (2009)

Of the above I'd say that Two Lovers is the greatest. That movie really surprised me. How many of you have seen it? It's very affecting...

Antichrist is a close second, but I'm sure Reelviewers know all about the pleasure of this one. Chaos Reigns, after all.



I think I'm on record - several times - as agreeing. I'll still agree again, though. O Brother might be my favourite Coen film too. The buffoonery in this one is brilliant and, like most of their movies, it is ridiculously quotable. It's quite influential too. If memory serves, this is the first film to be digitally colour tinted. These days most movies are. One can argue whether the Coens started a good or bad trend...

This one failed because it featured a rare bad performance from Matt Damon. Damon is usually an impeccable actor ("Good Will Hunting," "The Talented Mr. Ripley," "Saving Private Ryan,"), but here he was flat. There's a line between someone who is uncommunicative and keeps their emotions bottled up and someone who simply doesn't speak or show any emotion. Damon was on the wrong side of that.

Also have to add Anaconda. Love it. It's scary despite the fact that its poking fun itself (which is also funny).

I've never understood the appeal of 'self-aware trash.' Why would you watch something that you know full well is crap? Better yet, why would one make something that they know full well is crap?

Well I think it has its place, but I certainly wouldn't put such a film on a "great films" list

Excellent, excellent call here brother Ed. Gotta give credit to Rob Holloways for that one.

Yes! I LOVE this movie. It also contains one of my favorite movie scores of all time. The music, especially the last 10 or so minutes of the movie, is simply beautiful and haunting.

My twenty
‘A.I. Artificial Intelligence’ (Spielberg, 2001)
‘The Big Lebowski’ (Coen, 1998)
‘The Brothers Bloom’ (Johnson, 2009)
‘Dark City’ (Proyas, 1998)
‘Dark Water’ (Nakata, 2002)
‘The Descent’ (Marshall, 2005)
‘Elephant’ (Van Sant, 2003)
‘Eyes Wide Shut’ (Kubrick, 1999)
‘Femme Fatale’ (De Palma, 2002)
‘In Bruges’ (McDonagh, 2008)
‘The Innkeepers’ (West, 2012)
‘Kill Bill’ (Tarantino, 2003/2004)
‘Marie Antoinette’ (Coppola, 2006)
‘Mysterious Skin’ (Araki, 2004)
‘Perfume: The Story of a Murderer’ (Tykwer, 2006)
‘Strange Circus’ (Sono, 2005)
‘Stranger Than Fiction’ (Forster, 2006)
‘Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me’ (Lynch, 1992)
‘We Live in Public’ (Timoner, 2009)
‘Where the Wild Things Are’ (Jonze, 2009)

Other contenders
‘Cure’ (Kurosawa, 1997)
‘Dazed and Confused’ (Linklater, 1993)
‘Ghost in the Shell’ (Oshii, 1996)
‘Heat’ (Mann, 1995)
‘Hostel’ (Roth, 2006) (not great but unfairly unappreciated)
‘The Kids Are All Right’ (Cholodenko, 2010)
‘Lilo & Stitch’ (Sanders/DeBlois, 2002)
‘Lust, Caution’ (Lee, 2007)
‘Mean Girls’ (Waters, 2004)
‘Neon Genesis Evangelion: The End of Evangelion’ (Anno, 1997)
‘Ocean’s Eleven’ (Soderbergh, 2001)
‘Scream’ (Craven, 1996)
‘Se7en’ (Fincher, 1995)
‘Snake Eyes’ (De Palma, 1998)
‘South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut’ (Parker, 1999)
‘Suicide Club’ (Sono, 2002)
‘Sunshine’ (Boyle, 2007)
‘True Romance’ (Scott, 1993)
‘War of the Worlds’ (Spielberg, 2005)

Wow. I never knew how much I didn't respect your taste...

Just kidding. I like some of these movies a lot (some of them showed up on my list too), I just can't believe you added Elephant. For one, it won the goddamn Palme D'or, so it's hardly unsung, and for another, it's terrible. I gave it *

Well I'm afraid I'll have to agree with you. Somehow I wanted to like this movie, but there is so much wrong with it. I think the only good thing about it is Chazz Palmintieri's commanding performance. I also really like "the door test" - that's a classic for me. The rest definitely is lukewarm and somehow dragging along.

Indeed. That's where I got the recommendation. Rob usually steers you in the right direction.

Yay. I love Snake Eyes too. It's such an underrated. Great direction from Brian De Palma, great camera work, and terrific performances from Nic Cage and Gary Sinise!

As far as other Cage movies goes, I had Lord of War and Bringing Out the Dead on my list, but I also loved Next, Red Rock West, 8mm, Windtalkers and I think Seeking Justice is underrated too.