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Classic Movies I Have Never Seen
Apocalypse Now. ET. Singin’ in the Rain. A Nightmare on Elm Street. Just a few of the very, very, very many classic movies I have never seen. I was never a big movie-goer, and even in this age of Netflix, Sky Movies and on-demand video, I still prefer watching TV shows to movies, with the result that I have yet to see a shitload of movies you all have seen, and are considered classic.
So this is what I’m going to do through this journal. Just like my Classic Albums one, I’ll be watching a movie (no frequency guaranteed, but hopefully one a week, or at best one every two weeks, maybe more if things work out) and then commenting on what I thought of it. There will be no review, no synopsis, just my own observations and input. Did I enjoy it? Was it acted well? Written well? Good direction (how the hell would I know)? Am I glad I watched it or was it a waste? Do I get it now or do I wonder why it’s so lauded as a classic? And so on. You know the deal: no need for me to go on at length. I’ve consulted a list of 1000 movies you should see before you die, and needless to say, there was a huge percentage of those I have not seen. At the same time, there is a certain percentage of them I’m not interested in seeing, and won’t be watching. I’m sure most of you may think that list incomplete or even wrong, so feel free to suggest your own, pursuant to the conditions laid out below. Remember though, just because I haven’t seen a classic movie (or so-called classic) doesn’t mean I actually want to. There has to be something in it for me. Some I’m quite happy never seeing. Certain genres of movie turn me off and I have no interest in them. These include: Slasher/torture porn, so no Saw or Texas Chainsaw Massacre, please Screwball comedies/lowbrow humour, so no Meet the fucking Parents or Porkys or The Hangover or American Pie, or any of that shit. Really scary horror/suspense. This is a tricky one. I will watch some horror, but very dark psychological horror, the kind of thing that is likely to prey on my mind and give me nightmares, is out. So no, for instance, The Ring, no Repulsion, no zombie or Living Dead movies and definitely no fucking Exorcist. David Lynch and the like: I know, I know, but I really doubt I would understand his movies, and I have no real wish to see Naked Lunch, Eraserhead and all that guff. In a very general way, I want to watch movies I can at least understand or get a grip of. Not crazy about light romantic comedies, but I can take some. Actors I will not wish to see in movies include Adam fucking Sandler, Ben Stiller, Jennifer Aniston, Hugh poxy Grant, and others of that nature. Also not mad about musicals, particularly the old Hollywood ones, but sure you never know. World Cinema or “foreign” movies are fine, as long as they have subtitles and I can read them. Overall, my tastes run generally (but not exclusively) to Science Fiction/Fantasy (duh!) Westerns War movies Political thrillers Biopics (some, not all) Historical Comedy (to a point) Horror (very much to a point) Mystery/suspense I’m also not overfond of Superhero movies: too damn much like each other as far as I can see. There are exceptions, of course. Anyway, in the final analysis the choice is mine. Anyone who wishes can suggest or rec up to five movies, but they must be considered classics; don’t just suggest them because you like them. Also, they should, ideally, be something I would enjoy watching, so don’t suggest movies you’ll know I’ll hate. As I say, I have the final say, and I am under no obligation to take your suggestion, though I will try to give all recs due consideration. Finally, no “what? You haven’t seen film X? How is that possible?!!” Just accept it. I said at the beginning I’m not a big film buff, and I know there are hundreds, thousands, who knows, even millions of movies I should be expected to have seen, but have not. Don’t waste time staring in amazement at my list. It’s all true, so deal with it. I’ll give those who wish to a week to submit their movies. Please check the list below and don’t suggest ones that are already on it. However, if you think I’ve chosen a bad movie to put on the list do let me know. This will be an ongoing project, among all my other work, so be patient. When the list is complete I will select a movie from it randomly each time and work on that. So one of yours could come before one on the official list, or you could be left waiting. If someone really wants me to do a movie, I will consider it, so let me know. Please try to give some sort of justification for the movie(s) you’re suggesting, other than just “you have to see this, man”. And if you take offence because I decide not to accept your rec, feel free to fuck off. All right then, before we start rolling, time to start getting your recs in. RECS ARE NOW CLOSED! PLEASE DO NOT SUGGEST FURTHER MOVIES. MY LIST IS NOW COMPLETE. THANKS. That’s lunch, people! https://i.gifer.com/33ol.gif Now Showing... https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...ilm_poster.jpg Next up https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...%281971%29.png THE LIST 12 Years a Slave A Nightmare on Elm Street A Passage to India A Room with a View A Star is Born Akira Alien All Quiet on the Western Front An American in Paris An American Werewolf in London Apocalypse Now The Artist Avatar The Aviator Barry Lyndon Battle of Algiers Battleship Potemkin Ben-Hur The Big Sleep Black Narcissus Black Orpheus Black Swan Boyhood Breakfast at Tiffany’s The Bridge on the River Kwai Brief Encounter A Brighter Summer Day Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia Brokeback Mountain Broken Blossoms Bullet in the Head Carrie Chariots of Fire Children of a Lesser God Cinema Paradiso Clerks A Clockwork Orange The Color Purple Come and See Cool Hand Luke Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon The Crying Game Dangerous Liaisons The Dark Knight Das Boot The Dead Deliverance The Departed District 9 Do the Right Thing Doctor Zhivago Dog Day Afternoon Double Indemnity Dr. Strangelove Dracula Drive Drugstore Cowboy Easy Rider The Elephant Man Enter the Dragon ET Eyes Wide Shut Fantastic Planet Fatal Attraction Frankenstein From here to Eternity Full Metal Jacket Gandhi Gaslight Gentlemen Prefer Blondes Get Out Giant Gigi Glengarry Glen Ross Glory Gone with the Wind The Graduate The Grapes of Wrath Gravity Gunfight at the OK Corral Halloween Hard Boiled Heat Henry: Portrait of a Serial Killer High Society How Green Was My Valley How to Steal a Million The Hurt Locker If… In the Heat of the Night Inglourious Basterds JFK Kill Bill, Vol 1 Kill Bill, Vol 2 The Killer The Killing Fields Kramer vs Kramer LA Confidential Lawrence of Arabia Life of Pi Lincoln The Lion King Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels Lolita Lost in Translation The Lost Weekend The Magnificent Ambersons The Manchurian Candidate Marnie The Masque of the Red Death Meet Me in St. Louis Metropolis Midnight Cowboy Moon Mr. Smith Goes to Washington Mutiny on the Bounty My Own Private Idaho Natural Born Killers No Country for Old Men North by Northwest Notorious Now, Voyager Oldboy On the Waterfront One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest Ordinary People Out of Africa Pan's Labyrinth Paris, Texas Phantom of the Opera Phantom Thread Philadelphia Philadelphia Story The Pianist The Piano Picnic at Hanging Rock Playtime Psycho Pulp Fiction Rain Man A Raisin in the Sun Raising Arizona Rear Window Rebecca Rebel Without a Cause Reservoir Dogs The Revenant Ronin Salvador Saving Private Ryan Scarface Schindler’s List The Searchers Se7en Seven Samurai Sex, Lies and Videotape Shaft Shane Shine The Shining Sideways Singin’ in the Rain Slumdog Millionaire The Social Network Spirited Away Stagecoach Stand by Me Strangers on a Train Straw Dogs A Streetcar Named Desire The Sting Strictly Ballroom Sunset Boulevard Terms of Endearment The Thing The Wild Bunch Thelma and Louise The Theory of Everything There Will Be Blood The Thief of Baghdad The Thin Red Line The Third Man The Thirty-Nine Steps They Live Three Colours: Blue Three Colours: Red Three Colours: White Titanic To Have and Have Not To Kill a Mockingbird Touching the Void True Grit Vertigo Wall-E War Horse West Side Story Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? White Heat Wings of Desire Y TU Mama Tambien |
It might be easier to tell us what movies you have seen so we know what to recommend. In any event these would be the five I'd recommend if you haven't already seen them.
1) Citizen Kane or A Touch of Evil (Orson Welles) 2) Doctor Strangelove (or anything by Kubrick really) 3) Fargo 4) Sunset Boulevard 5) This Is Spinal Tap Looks like a pretty good list overall. Happy watching. |
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Have you seen A Brighter Summer Day?
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Oh and bump Saving Private Ryan to the top of that list. It's war action porn royalty. Firing an MG-42 will always be a bucket list thing for me because of that movie. And it's a great movie in general and stuff.
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But no, I have not. Worth adding? Quote:
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Nah dude Tom Hanks comes correct. It's been a long time since I've seen Band of Brothers but I remember them being two peas in a pod which I'm assuming means Band of Brothers took heavy influence from Saving Private Ryan. And I just never seen a war movie with action that dynamic and intense. I keep looking but keep seeing more proof that whatever you can criticize Steven Spielberg for he's still a once in a generation visual storyteller.
Like I'm not even gonna rec you anything, I just want you to watch Saving Private Ryan cause it's my crack. |
God damn it you convinced me to watch Saving Private Ryan again.
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It's comforting to see an intellectual peer who has also not seen many of the established classics.
I've shared previously that I’ve viewed only a handful of the notorious BuzzFeed 100 essential movies, missing almost all of the generational cornerstone films, (e.g. the Disney movies, the Spielberg films like E.T., Indiana Jones, Star Wars, the Pixar films, the Marvel films, The Simpsons, and all the standard fandom fare). But the sheer scale of my unseen films list makes the task feel insurmountable. I can only handle one or two movies a month at most, which is similarly why I've never gotten into television or podcasts. I can't fathom how people have the time for it all. Just a few I haven't gotten around to from my the Buzzfeed list: - Halloween - Friday the 13th - A Nightmare on Elm Street - Robocop - Mad Max - Die Hard - The Exorcist - Jaws - E.T. - Schindler's List - Close Encounters - Saving Private Ryan - Poltergeist - Gone With the Wind - Raging Bull - The Godfather - King Kong - Tokyo Story - The Third Man - Seven Samurai - Silence of the Lambs - Deliverance - Lord of the Rings - Singin' in the Rain - The Good the Bad and the Ugly - The Fly - The Birds - To Kill a Mockingbird - Suspiria - When Harry Met Sally - Texas Chainsaw Massacre - Fargo - Rosemary's Baby - The Graduate - The Cook The Thief His Wife & Her Lover - M - Scream - Terminator 2 - Pan's Labyrinth - Rocky - Taxi Driver - Blue Velvet - Carrie - Last of the Mohicans - Reservoir Dogs - Lost in Translation - Night of the Living Dead - Requiem for a Dream - Dazed and Confused - Buffalo 66 - Happiness - Sideways - Juno - Pink Flamingos - Passion of the Christ - Black Swan - Mulholland Drive - Blue Velvet - Eraserhead - Dune - the Matrix sequels - most of the Star Wars films - Aliens - Risky Business - Dirty Harry - Once Upon a Time in the West - The Omen - Magnolia - Predator - Kill Bill - Seven - Casablanca - The Usual Suspects - Good Will Hunting - Stand by Me - No Country for Old Men - The Prestige - Ghost in the Shell as well as... - any Pixar film after Toy Story - any of the Studio Ghibli films (Spirited Away - etc) - more than 1-2 superhero films (I saw The Crow) - 90% of the Disney animated classics - and with the exception of a small handful of films, anything produced after the year 2000. I'll try to glean my culture vicariously through your journal. Thank you, TH! |
If you haven't seen The Thin Red Line, it's imo a far superior WWII movie that came out the same year as Saving Private Ryan. None of Spielberg's sentimental schlock or flag waving, but you have to appreciate Terrence Malick's visual poesy in order to enjoy the movie.
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ISB: Glad to see someone else as unversed in popular movies as myself. I hope you enjoy my journey, however as I say, there will be no review, just my comments. Do feel free to ask any question you wish though.
FITA: Yes I had considered adding The Thin Red Line. I'll do so now. Thanks. |
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But propaganda that slaps.
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Slaps like a flaccid penis.
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I think it would be fair to say virtually every war film is propaganda. Few if any show the other side, and the "good guys" are usually shown in the best light possible. An example of an exception (though not in a movie) was the recent The Terror: Infamy series which highlighted the treatment of American-born Japanese at the hands of the USA after the outbreak of WW II. That's not something they tend to talk much about.
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Are you gonna tell me the battle scenes don't tug at your inner fascist?
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They were aight.
Oh, TH you should also watch Battle of Algiers for propaganda that actually slaps. |
OK will add, thanks.
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Bullet in the Head but I've already recommended that to you. Rambo's fun I guess, at least its sniper scene is only marginally stupid.
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I definitely need to see Bullet in the Head but if you're mentioning Rambo then we clearly have entirely different ideas of war shooty porn. Like I'm looking for a level of visceral action spectacle that isn't going to be in the wheelhouse of even the most gonzo 80s action movie. John Wu is literally the only 80s action movie director who I'd even think was capable of it.
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I prefer Rambo because it doesn't take itself as seriously.
Bullet in the Head nails the war realism though, it's like you're witnessing it break out on set. Threads is more bomby than shooty but it might scratch a similar itch for you. |
I'm not so concerned with seriousness as a visceral realization of intense combat that puts you right there on a battlefield. That tends to go with seriousness due to just how tone tends to be in war movies but it doesn't have to be. Action movies just don't do action scenes like war movies either due to budget or the specific tone of action movies being "badass" rather than "visceral". I know you don't play video games but it's kind of the difference between arcade and simulator.
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John Wu is the ****ing man. I remember looking at Stranglehold but never got it. Probably will some day.
Hey, Trollheart nevermind, add these movies by John Wu. Hardboiled The Killer |
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Those two movies were so entertaining that I didn't care about the horrible dubbing. Nobody does shootouts like John Wu. I remember seeing the term "bullet ballet" used to describe his movies. Chow Yun Fat was impervious to bullets in those movies. He has something in common with Rambo. He used gun powder to close his wounds.
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Chow Yun Fat is the absolute ****. Nobody more charismatic.
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It's too bad Replacement Killers got tamed down. I think he would have been huge in the west, had this movie gotten the Hard Boiled treatment.
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Naked Lunch is extra bizarre mainly because of the source material, you might get a kick out of eXistenZ.
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Yeah that's Edgar Rice Burroughs, isn't it?
Oh no wait: William Burroughs. My mistake. :shycouch: Existenz I believe I saw part of one night. Don't recall liking it. |
Are you still taking recs? If so I'll suggest these (some of them were already mentioned by ISB but they should all be well worth adding to your list (probably many more, but I'm no movie buff either)):
Requiem for a Dream Suspiria Billy Elliot Spirited Away (even if you aren't specifically taking recs for animated movies, this one is worth making an exception for) Fish Tank Also, is the Dracula on your list in the OP Coppola's version? |
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