. The White, The Yellow And The Black (1975)
AKA ‘Samurai’ and ‘Shoot first… Ask Questions Later’. A pretty funny and well written spaghetti western. Worth a watch if your looking for some light entertainment and a few laughs.
. Get Him To The Greek (2010)
Don’t understand why films like ‘Superbad’ (2007) and ‘21 Jump Street’ (2010) become beloved classics while this was forgotten. It’s got the comedy of a raunchy late-2000’s Seth Rogan like film and the action of a James Bond movie. The inclusion of Pedo Diddy didn’t age well but that can be forgiven.
I recently saw this mind bending time travel movie called Primer.
Kidding.
A few indie movies I really like are Ink (2009), Sidewalls (2011), and Cashback (2006). I’ve linked to some trailers but I hope people just jump feet first without knowing or presuming anything.
Ink is super low budget but it’s really one of my all time faves. It starts off sort of like film school assignment early 2000’s dystopian scifi fantasy and ends as tear jerker. The full movie is on YT here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FIdqnPxfzj0
2022’s Vesper was fantastic but I assume a lot of people know this one.
Also, for those looking for some 90s nostalgia, I recently rewatched Singles (1992) for the first time since the nineties and it still holds up.
A few I liked that maybe went under a few radars were The Guest, The Dead Don’t Die, Brick, and Dave Made A Maze.
A Scanner Darkly (2006) is a rotoscoped movie based on a Philip K Dick novel set in future LA with a detective trying to find the supply of a dangerous new drug while being addicted to it and suffering from his addiction. The rotoscoping helps add a vibe of delirium to the movie and it is well acted including probably one of the best uses of Keanu Reeves as an actor.
Checking out more of Richard Linklater’s work is also highly recommended.
Waking Life (2001)
Philosophy and dreams combine for an enlightening journey. It’s a good rewatch if you’ve not seen it in a long while.
Before Sunrise (1995), Before Sunset (2004), Before Midnight (2013, I haven’t seen this one)
Ethan Hawke and Julie Delpy have beautiful explorations of love and the human condition.
‘Screamers’ is a 1995 scifi movie starring Peter Weller. There’s just something about the vibe of this movie that really draws me in. If you like sort of bleak mid budget scifi this is a good one.
‘Hell Comes To Frogtown’, a 1988 movie starring Rowdy Roddy Piper. A post apocalypse where there are frog people and Piper is playing a Mad Max type. It’s an absurd fever dream of a movie. ‘Big Trouble In Little China’ energy.
‘Soldier’ from 1998 starring Kurt Russell. This is like a forgotten Kurt Russell movie. It’s not particularly deep, but it’s a good popcorn movie to watch a simple plot of a super soldier taking out evil super soldiers.
‘The Spy Who Came In From The Cold’ is a 1965 movie. About, of course, a spy. An agent sent not East Germany during the Cold War. It’s not the normal action oriented James Bond kind of spy movie. It’s a lot talkier, and I find it kind of depressing. So if you like that sort of thing, there it is.
‘Observe And Report’ is a Seth Rogan movie about being a mall security guard. It is nothing like the awful ‘Paul Blart’ movies, which everyone assumes when I mention it in real life. This movie is more like Death To Smoochie in its dark comedy sensibilities.
Oscar. It’s a comedy set in the 1930s with Sylvester Stallone as a gangster. Directed by John Landis.
Also starting Marisa Tomei, Tim Curry, Don Ameche, Kirk Douglas, Harry Shearer, Kurtwood Smith, Arleen Sorkin.
Trailer:
