Mars Attacks! is definitely up there on a list of films that everyone should see. Not sure how much you'll get out of it if you're not familiar with some of the specific things that it's spoofing, but if you get the jokes and general line of humor it's an absolute riot. If you don't get it, well, it's worth seeking out and understanding the source material.
Death to Smoochy is sort of a similar animal. If you don't find the idea of a violent battle over children's show mascots to be funny, well, I don't know what to tell you. It also features Robin Williams just before his usual schtick went from "amusing" to "cloying and obnoxious."
Looper may or may not be out on video yet. It's a spectacular film, probably one of the best pieces of time travel fiction in memory, and features both Bruce Willis and Joseph Gordon-Levitt. The former is one of my favorite actors, the latter is swiftly becoming one mostly due to his performance right here. It's a rare soul that can do a scene directly opposite Willis without being overshadowed.
Unbreakable also gets a nod; I loved this movie when I first saw it and still love its slow, insightful take on the superhero genre that never falls into dullness. It's a very gradual film, but it nails so many things so well that I think it stands as the one shining moment left in Shyamalan's career. (You don't want to know what I think about The Sixth Sense.)
The Incredibles, by contrast, is not slow. But it is very insightful, and manages to pack so much into its running time that I find something new to like every time I watch the film. (If you haven't noticed, I like superhero mythology a lot.) For an ostensible children's film, there's a lot packed in under the surface.
Snakes on a Plane is exactly what it says on the tin, and it is the finest example of its type in many years, a film with no pretense or artistry beyond sheer dim-witted affection. This is a film to be watched and mocked with ruthless abandon, but as you watch it you realize that everyone involved was waiting for the jokes. It's the sort of guileless idiocy that makes you long for Joel and the bots.
Walk Hard should be funny to anyone familiar with musical biopics, funnier to people with familiarity with music. It sometimes takes a couple watches for the comedy to really permeate, but the film manages to cover everything from Johnny Cash to Bob Dylan to Brian Wilson, hitting the numerous lows of music with a deft hand.
American Beauty is one of those films that seems like it shouldn't work - one of the central tensions is deflated in the first few moments, and you're mostly left with people acting varying flavors of selfish or dumb for two hours. But it does work wonderfully. If you've watched Six Feet Under, it's the same sense of tiny human drama without the increasing train wreck that episodic television forced on it.
Airplane! needs no introduction; it's one of the funniest films ever made, and it's a parody of a film style that's become more popular and memorable than the material it parodies. Just... you know, ignore the fact that some of the things in it no longer exist in airports.
Total Recall (the original) is a film that manages to be a big dumb 80s action film while being a cerebral look at the ways that memories and perception defines us. I hadn't seen it for a while, but rewatched it recently only to be surprised by how good it really is; even the dumb parts are so hopelessly dumb that you can't help but just laugh and move on.
Joe Versus the Volcano, meanwhile, might be my favorite movie ever.
Really.
I fully admit that sounds ridiculous. It's a 1990 romantic comedy starring Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan. But it's not Sleepless in Seattle; it's almost the polar opposite. It's a film that's warm, touching, genuinely compassionate, filled with allegory and nuggets of wisdom that unpack remarkably well. This is from a time before Tom Hanks was human Play-Doh and Meg Ryan was everyone's friendly aunt, but both still bring a lot of humanity to a film that manages to leave me smiling every time I watch.
Death to Smoochy is sort of a similar animal. If you don't find the idea of a violent battle over children's show mascots to be funny, well, I don't know what to tell you. It also features Robin Williams just before his usual schtick went from "amusing" to "cloying and obnoxious."
Looper may or may not be out on video yet. It's a spectacular film, probably one of the best pieces of time travel fiction in memory, and features both Bruce Willis and Joseph Gordon-Levitt. The former is one of my favorite actors, the latter is swiftly becoming one mostly due to his performance right here. It's a rare soul that can do a scene directly opposite Willis without being overshadowed.
Unbreakable also gets a nod; I loved this movie when I first saw it and still love its slow, insightful take on the superhero genre that never falls into dullness. It's a very gradual film, but it nails so many things so well that I think it stands as the one shining moment left in Shyamalan's career. (You don't want to know what I think about The Sixth Sense.)
The Incredibles, by contrast, is not slow. But it is very insightful, and manages to pack so much into its running time that I find something new to like every time I watch the film. (If you haven't noticed, I like superhero mythology a lot.) For an ostensible children's film, there's a lot packed in under the surface.
Snakes on a Plane is exactly what it says on the tin, and it is the finest example of its type in many years, a film with no pretense or artistry beyond sheer dim-witted affection. This is a film to be watched and mocked with ruthless abandon, but as you watch it you realize that everyone involved was waiting for the jokes. It's the sort of guileless idiocy that makes you long for Joel and the bots.
Walk Hard should be funny to anyone familiar with musical biopics, funnier to people with familiarity with music. It sometimes takes a couple watches for the comedy to really permeate, but the film manages to cover everything from Johnny Cash to Bob Dylan to Brian Wilson, hitting the numerous lows of music with a deft hand.
American Beauty is one of those films that seems like it shouldn't work - one of the central tensions is deflated in the first few moments, and you're mostly left with people acting varying flavors of selfish or dumb for two hours. But it does work wonderfully. If you've watched Six Feet Under, it's the same sense of tiny human drama without the increasing train wreck that episodic television forced on it.
Airplane! needs no introduction; it's one of the funniest films ever made, and it's a parody of a film style that's become more popular and memorable than the material it parodies. Just... you know, ignore the fact that some of the things in it no longer exist in airports.
Total Recall (the original) is a film that manages to be a big dumb 80s action film while being a cerebral look at the ways that memories and perception defines us. I hadn't seen it for a while, but rewatched it recently only to be surprised by how good it really is; even the dumb parts are so hopelessly dumb that you can't help but just laugh and move on.
Joe Versus the Volcano, meanwhile, might be my favorite movie ever.
Really.
I fully admit that sounds ridiculous. It's a 1990 romantic comedy starring Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan. But it's not Sleepless in Seattle; it's almost the polar opposite. It's a film that's warm, touching, genuinely compassionate, filled with allegory and nuggets of wisdom that unpack remarkably well. This is from a time before Tom Hanks was human Play-Doh and Meg Ryan was everyone's friendly aunt, but both still bring a lot of humanity to a film that manages to leave me smiling every time I watch.
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