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This weekly thread will focus on getting other people to watch movies we love, but others may not have seen or even know about.

In order to make a recommendation or two, simply let others know an appropriate amount about a movie and why they should give it a chance.

If you want to deeply discuss one, please remember to use Spoiler tags where applicable!

Some Starters (and don’t feel you have to speak on all or any of them if you don’t care to):

  • Great bad movies
  • Hilarious garbage for a big group movie night
  • Best genre movies
  • Underrated films
  • Ace T'KenOPM
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    10 days ago

    A few recommendations for various reasons, some known and some less-so:

    Romance:

    • What Dreams May Come - Robin Williams in a kind of version of Dante’s Inferno. Deals a lot with death and a non-religious afterlife. I’m a stoic 6’4 dude and weep openly every time I watch this.
    • Love Never Dies - Did you know there’s a real official sequel to the musical Phantom of the Opera? There is. It’s okay, not great, but pretty fascinating more as a cultural artifact. I think I remember a decent song, but nothing like the first. It would have been better to make it straight up fucking weird like Starlight Express.
    • The Fountain - This is one of the most artistically-sound and crushing love beyond time movies I’ve ever seen. I’ve watched it about a dozen times and swear there’s at least three movies in here once you understand it. Amazing visuals, and great performances and one of my favourite films of all time period.

    Thriller / Horror:

    • Dave Made a Maze - So a guy makes a spatially-impossible cardboard structure in his house. It’s… fun. There are minotaurs. Also made of cardboard.
    • Cigarette Burns - From the series Masters of Horror. It’s 1 hour long, but is extremely well-done and handles dread amazingly with a great pay off.
    • 1408 - The best version of a “haunted room” movie I’ve ever seen, actually creepy in many places, and one of Sam Jackson’s all-time best “MOTHERFUCKER” moments.
    • Dog Soldiers - This one is a tad more common, but it’s the best werewolf movie I’ve found and gets the monsters 100% correct. Low-budget, but astounding creature effects for werewolves. A lot of Alien vibes.
    • Drag Me To Hell - Another common one, but it’s one of the best things Sam Raimi has done outside the Evil Dead series, and definitely the closest he’s come to Army of Darkness since. If you’re even a casual fan of Evil Dead or horror-comedy, and haven’t seen it, what are you even doing?

    Comedy:

    • The Birdcage - Was big at the time, but I haven’t seen anyone mention it in ages. One of the great Robin Williams performances for both comedy and drama. He runs a drag club with Nathan Lane.

    Action:

    • Equilibrium - Came out roughly the same time as The Matrix and got completely buried. Excellent action scenes. Christian Bale does a 1984 / F451.
    • Batman: Assault on Arkham - One of the best DC Animated movies ever. Yes I know that Mask of the Phantasm is better, but this is still really good and legitimately funny.

    “Bad” Movies That Aren’t At All Bad:

    • The Sorcerer’s Apprentice - Nick Cage does basically a Pirates of the Caribbean and it’s a shitload of fun.
    • Drive Angry - More Nick Cage. It’s needlessly badass in the dumbest way possible and is hilarious.
    • Equilibrium was underrated. I liked it much better than The Matrix (which felt like some pretty shallow people trying to be deep while rehashing SF themes dating back to about the time I was born). I mean Equilibrium wasn’t especially original either (part Brave New World, part 1984, and part Fahrenheit 451) but it didn’t try to pretend to be deeper than it really was.

      Drag Me To Hell was good fun.

      Love Never Dies … I … it never grabbed me. Musically it was weak, IMO, which is fatal for, you know, a musical. (Same for that Rocky Horror Picture Show sequel Shock Therapy.)

      Dog Soldiers was very good indeed; I should probably watch it again.

      The rest are either things I’ve never heard of, or things I’ve heard of but am not interested in.