jason smith wrote:

beloveless wrote:Millers Crossing- possibly the second best Movie ever made ever in everdom, best gangster movie , rich and complex with NO DOWNTIME. Cohen Brothers are a safe bet through Fargo...it gets iffy after that.

Have you seen Once Upon a Time in America? I found out about it from agent202's thread, here.


Yes I have. It is definitely in the tops. However I think Millers Crossing is a tighter and more passively enjoyable film for a broader audience. Once upon a time in America requires a very deep personal investment and is in my "Movies that permanently fuck your soul" category along with Chinatown. Millers crossing is poignant and dark but still manages to be a good time.

beloveless wrote: "Movies that permanently fuck your soul".

I would be interested in hearing what other movies you put in this list.

The Thing
The Fish That Saved Pittsburgh
The Bounty
Yellow Submarine
Glory
Black Belt Jones

Sometimes I throw on Pickpocket and literally start to rock back and forth with glee, like an autistic kid, my head nearly exploding as I marvel out loud at how incredible it is. I consider this film to be like Jimi Hendrix's music in that even if it's not your cup of tea (the sort of thing you'd put on regularly), if you can't instinctively appreciate it, if you're not impressed by it, there's something terribly wrong with you. As a human being!

I guess when Pickpocket was originally released, in '59, it was poorly received by the critics, to the extent that Louis Malle felt compelled to write an article in defense of it. Good lord!

As far as repeat viewing goes, I often prefer the most accessible films of the great directors. Pickpocket is one example. So is Tarkovsky's Stalker, Mike Leigh's Naked, Godard's A Woman is a Woman, Wenders' Wings of Desire, Cassavetes' Love Streams, Melville's Le Cercle Rouge, Capra's It Happened One Night, etc. All great films that happen to be an ease to watch. Other, equally good but more demanding and less easily digestible films are best taken in on special occasions. I often find myself watching parts of these films again and again though. (I've got a kick ass modest-sized DVD collection. Everything in it rules.)

WoundedFoot wrote:

Boombats wrote:Naked Lunch (I've nodded out on "bug powder" while watching this as many times as I've seen it sober)

This is on my list as well as Cronenburg's Videodrome. I fucking love both of those films. Roy Schieder, Debbie Harry, what more could you want?

Oh yeah, VDrome is great but it hasn't migrated into my ad nauseam repeat file. I don't even know how the 3 films I mentioned became such repeaters, they just fell into place. I save myfavorite films for special occasions.

WoundedFoot wrote:What was your "bug powder"?

Heroin. Yeah, lame...

I think I've probably seen Jaws more than any other movie. Never gets old.

Seen Ghost World a bunch of times too. There's a scene in it with a pregnant woman smoking and holding a bottle of alcohol, walking behind Scarlet Johansson, that I never noticed before. Comedies have a tendency to get stale quick, but not Ghost World. Probably because it's only slightly a comedy. Oh, and if you wait until the very end of the credits, there's an outtake of Steve Buscemi pummeling the mullet guy.

Pulp Fiction
Reservoir Dogs
Jackie Brown
Mulholland Drive
Ghostbusters
Ghostbusters II
Back to the Future
This is Spinal Tap
Dazed and Confused
Freddy Got Fingered
Repo Man
The Life Aquatic

WoundedFoot wrote:What was your "bug powder"?

Heroin. Yeah, lame...[/quote]

That what I was thinking. Just seems logical if you want a "Burroughs High" (as opposed to a "Kafka High"). Also, I'd suggest reading the novel of Naked Lunch if you have not. Its quite different from the film, but its sort of beautiful, the way it drifts from complete nonsense to being extremely coherent.

karate kid
dodgeball
caddyshack
the burbs
crocodile dundee
predator
die hard
ghost busters
band of brothers (I cheated)
titanic

Goodfellas
I can watch Goodfellas every day