Some favorites, mostly lesser known, in no particular order:
52 Pickup - best of the Elmore Leonard adaptations along with Out of Sight. Truest to the atmosphere of the books. 2nd tier Frankenheimer
Bitter Moon - lesser known Polanski; twisted, entertaining. Great cast with Hugh Grant, Kristen Scott Thomas, Peter Coyote, Emmanuelle Seigner (Polanski's wife). The ending is perfect, yet hard to explain why it works so well.
Full Contact -- my favorite HK action film, grittier than the John Woo stuff. You see why Chow Yun Fat was a star. Director Ringo Lam's City on Fire was the 'inspiration' for Reservoir Dogs
Small Change -- Truffaut, best movie about kids ever made
The Sweet Hereafter/Exotica -- TSH won the Cannes festival, Exotica was director Atom Egoyan's followup. TSH is amazing in the way it gets naturalism to register -- based on a Russell Banks book about a schoolbus accident, the pain the characters walk with is palpable. Exotica covers some similar terrain, but has some more humor -- a wider tonal palette, though not quite the impact.
The 4th Man -- adult entertainment for the Netherlands. The film that got Verhoeven Robocop. Jeroen Krabbe is fantastic. Check out Black Book too, Verhoeven's next film made overseas after several done in hollywood.
The Stunt Man -- keeps you just behind it the whole way, and Peter O'Toole is peerless. Director Richard Rush is a magician.
Miracle Mile -- not everybody's cup of tea, but I think it's great. Highly original in any case, a fever dream of movie with Anthony Edwards and Mare Winningham. Amazing that it was done for 4 mil.
The Right Stuff -- thrilling, satirical; hits all kinds of notes. Captures America as well as any film I've seen and is about the transition from one era to the next. Worth reading William Goldman's account in 'Adventures in the Screen Trade' on how he tried and failed to adapt the book (his draft removed Yeager), and how Philip Kaufman nailed it.
The Unbearable Lightness of Being -- Kaufman's followup to the above, another impossible adaptation that he pulled off. Great, sexy stuff.
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence -- lesser known John Ford, his Western about Westerns and therefore, America. Great cast: John Wayne/Lee Marvin/Jimmy Stewart
Breaking the Waves -- Lars Von Trier's first Dogme 95 movie, just devastating to watch as the central relationship goes south.
Repo Man --
the more you drive, the less intelligent you are hysterical movie, as with the above, shot by the great Robby Muller
Deep Cover -- a modern take on the 'B' crime films they used to crank out in the late 40s/early 50s. Great style and the pairing of Larry Fishburne and Jeff Goldblum works really well.
Once Upon a Time in America -- for those that haven't seen, it's hyper-entertaining for all its four hours. Hits all kinds of notes, just beautiful to watch. Hard to see how someone could love movies and not love this.
12 Monkeys/The Fisher King -- two great movies by Terry Gilliam, TFK particularly has a brilliant script.
The In-Laws -- hysterical pairing of Alan Arkin and Peter Falk.
go with the flow Shel, go with the flow Pretty badly shot, but it doesnt seem to matter much. Fantastic script by Andrew Bergman.
Dirty Rotten Scoundrels -- doesn't reach the heights of the above, but very funny pairing of Steve Martin and Michael Caine. Extremely well directed and shot comedy.
Blow Out -- I'm a DePalma fan, and combining his filmmaking skill with Travolta's performance gives the movie more soul and impact then you usually get in his films. I love Body Double too -- there's more to it than at first glance
A Fish Called Wanda/Soapdish -- really funny films with great Kevin Kline performances. In the first couple of minutes, AFCW lets you know you're in good hands; that you can just sit back and enjoy the ride.
River's Edge -- disturbing movie about teens, Keanu Reaves is excellent in his debut.
Street Smart -- good, tight film from Cannon when they were cranking out the B's (52 Pickup is one of these). Morgan Freeman is incredible, scary as Fast Black and makes you realize, sadly, how limited his choices are.
Q&A -- under the radar Sidney Lumet, Nick Nolte as scary as MF above. And Timothy Hutton manages to hold the screen with him.
North Dallas Forty -- another great Nick Nolte performance and the best football movie ever made.
Three Days of the Condor -- my favorite thriller, relatively low action, but high on tension and intrigue. Robert Redford/Faye Dunaway.
Layer Cake -- best opening 10 mins. of any film in '05, you can see why they chose Daniel Craig for Bond. Great crime movie.
Enough for now
