Suggest Good Films

[the_fodder]

Since someone already mentioned the professional make sure you see the Léon version.

it was done in 200 but 'the way of the gun' needs a mention.

[FlowerChild]

Just because nothing can be as good as Kill Bill again doesn't mean Django isn't worth a watch.

No, I HATED Kill Bill. I was including that in his downhill slide. I'd say he never made anything as good as Pulp Fiction again.

Dusk Til Dawn I liked (didn't love it though) as I thought it was a really funny parody of the suspense/thriller genre. He basically directs the first half as the kind of thriller that was popular in the day (something along the lines of Cape Fear), does an excellent job of following the formula, then intentionally blows it out of the water by turning it into extremely cheesy schlock horror. It was like he was saying to the audience "yeah...I could do this kind of crap if I wanted to, but I really don't want to". I remember seeing it in the theaters and was rolling with laughter by the time the "vampires" came out. The second half even served as an excellent parody of the Anne Rice style vampire craze that was happening at the time.

The thing is, pretty much every movie he's done since has been along those lines, basically amounting to an extremely cheesy parody of a different genre, and frankly, the gag has gotten really old now.

Django gave me a *couple* of very specific laughs, namely the big tooth on a spring on top of the wagon, and the totally over the top nature of the gun-fight at the end (the comic ultra-violence of that scene was very much Tarantino from the early days), but I really found the rest to be terribly dull and overly cheezy.

[DaveYanakov]

I'd still watch it again for Christoph Waltz. I dunno why but I really love that guy.

[Xeo]

Two of my favs: (That aren't already on the list)

eXistenZ
Pi

Both kind of suspense/what the fuck is happening movies but done right.

Edit: Oh and The Conversation is another good movie along those lines.

[RezDev]

My recommendations:

For Kurosawa, although a few have been mentioned, along with the influence/remake:

Seven Samurai -- The Magnificent Seven
Yojimbo -- A Fistful of Dollars
Sanjuro
The Hidden Fortress (inspiration for the first Star Wars)
Ran (King Lear)
Throne of Blood (Macbeth)

Young Frankenstein (Mel Brooks)
Stripes

Big Trouble in Little China
The Goonies
The Breakfast Club
Ferris Bueller's Day Off
War Games
The Lost Boys
Stand By Me

Love and a .45
Bottle Rocket
Dazed and Confused

Tales from the Crypt: Demon Knight

Heavy Metal

[JakeZKAM]

Hmmm well lets see, a couple of my favorites

Dogma
History of the world part one
Tremors (The first is the best of the series, the rest are much worse yet I still enjoy them.)
Evil Dead (Original is so bad its good and Army of Darkness is awesome.)
Ferris Bueller's day off
and God Bless America (Not an old movie but not very well known either.)

[Sarelth]

My picks would include:

Running Man
Total Recall (80's version not new one)
Road Warrior
Mad Max
Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome
Little Shop of Horrors
Alien
Aliens
Alien 3
Alien Resurrection
Terminator
Terminator 2
Terminator 3
Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (The old BBC series would be best, but the newer movie is not to bad)

Thats all I can think of for now.

[Jesar]

Thanks for all the reccomendations guys! I certainly have enough here to work with (lol I don't know if I can watch all of these in a reasonable timespan), but if you guys can think of any more classic sci-fi movies that would be great. I love watching a broad range of things, but I have a giant soft spot for science fiction. Thanks again!

[Gilberreke]

Dune

So many reasons, too many reasons...

[FlowerChild]

Dune

So many reasons, too many reasons...

And a great second David Lynch film to ease you into it after Wild At Heart ;)

Dune is probably his most mainstream title of all actually. A lot of fans of the books didn't like it, but I personally loved it and thought the visual style was totally mind-blowing. Awesome sci-fi flic.

Of course, I assume you're talking about the David Lynch version and not the made for TV miniseries one of about 15 years ago ;)

[Gilberreke]

Of course, I assume you're talking about the David Lynch version and not the made for TV miniseries one of about 15 years ago ;)

I wish I was talking about the 14 hour Jean-Paul Gibon version, featuring Dali, Orson Welles, David Carradine and Mick Jagger, with designs by Moebius and HR Giger, but alas, that one failed, so the superb Lynch version will have to do ;)

[DaveYanakov]

I generally assume that people have seen Star Wars but casinodoug taught me that it is wrong to do so. If you've not seen the films yet I recommend the Machete order for people new to it, Episodes 4, 5, 2, 3 then 6. The prequels are actually watchable if you see them as a sort of rose coloured glasses flashback and that order prevents some massive spoilers.

Donnie Darko
The Firefly television series (only 13 episodes) which leads up to Serenity
District 9
Children of Men
Pitch Black
I have a soft spot for Solaris but it's not for everyone
Cube
The Truman Show
Moon
Sunshine

This is of course assuming that you don't require space to call it sci fi =)

[Jesar]

I generally assume that people have seen Star Wars but casinodoug taught me that it is wrong to do so. If you've not seen the films yet I recommend the Machete order for people new to it, Episodes 4, 5, 2, 3 then 6. The prequels are actually watchable if you see them as a sort of rose coloured glasses flashback and that order prevents some massive spoilers.

This is of course assuming that you don't require space to call it sci fi =)

I have seen all of the star wars films and all the firefly episodes and serenity already. Was good all around, though the star wars prequels were certainly the weakest of the franchise by far.

And I certainly don't require space to be sci-fi, but I do find any view of the future without space to be quite pessimistic. :)

[DaveYanakov]

Also assumes you don't require a future setting to consider it sci fi =)

[Gilberreke]

Episodes 4, 5, 2, 3 then 6. The prequels are actually watchable if you see them as a sort of rose coloured glasses flashback and that order prevents some massive spoilers.

No episode 1? That's actually my favorite movie. Apart from nostalgia, the original trilogy just is really bad and I think most people agree that 3 is the weakest of the 6. 2 is rather meh, so 1 is on obvious winner for the best Star Wars movie to me.

I think watching 1 first might be interesting. If you watch 1, 4, 5, 2, 3 then 6, I don't think there's any spoilers and flows rather nicely :)

[FlowerChild]

I'd agree that 3 is the worst by far ("Noooooooooo!"...yeah), but still consider 1 & 2 to be total rubbish. Empire all the way for the best of the series.

Of course, you can't really find the original movies anymore and just get Lucas's fucked-up fuzzy-bunny re-imagining of them. Never forget that Han shot first! :)

My advice for view order: watch IV, V, VI then pretend the other three don't exist.

[DaveYanakov]

I would really like to hear your explanation (somewhere not here) about how Episode 1 can be good if the original trilogy is bad.

I still have my original VHS tapes. Pure release, no special edition touchups.

[August West]

I have two suggestions: Fargo and Harold and Maude. Both excellent movies.

Also, Wes Anderson is a fantastic director and I personally love his movies. Worth checking out.

[jorgebonafe]

[FlowerChild]

Hehe...see, if Lucas had changed it to introduce more moral ambiguity like that, I doubt I would have complained as much :)

[XantyZon]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VgICnbC2-_Y
What if star wars episode one was good?

[tedium]

i have to second "sunshine" as a great sci-fi movie. it's bringing a smile to my face right now thinking about it. definitely worth getting a 1080p version as well. some movies actually are better in HD :)

[tedium]

oh, pandorum is another new sci-fi movie that was great

[HavokSCOUT]

Scanners. I wish they did special effects like they did back then.

[ion]

i'll go with some asian movies that are good and nice to watch:_

Old Boy
Dolls - Takeshi Kitano
3-Iron ( search for Kim Ki Duk he's a bit crazy)
I'm a Cyborg but that's ok

@RezDev great Akira :)