Best British Comedy
Someone must have mentioned this already, but...

The Man who knew too little.

This remains the best comedy (never mind comedy filmed in UK) that I have ever seen.

Yet no-one has ever heard of it. It's like a secret movie that remains hidden from the general public for fear that they will enjoy themselves too much.

Anyway a brief but about it - Bill Murray plays the lead, a layabout nobody that comes to visit his brother for his birthday. Unfortunately his brother has an important meeting, so convinces Bill to experience a new type of show, one where you are part of the action and the whole performance takes place around London with you dragged along for the ride. A mix-up occurs and he's left in the shoes of a secret agent type going through the standard clichés believing everything around him is fake.

Rarely does a comedy work perfectly. So perfectly that when you watch it again you see every dot, every fact, line up to be so in synch with the plot that it just seems like excellence personified (or rather filmified). This one does. The smallest details all fit.

I only have one criticism of the entire thing. That it didn't finish when the credits start, as the very last two lines said and acting (during the credits) just make it go silly.

Still not running to the rental place?

OK.... it has a police car chase, with Murray in a mini, knocking over all the traffic cones as he goes past.
(Klynton, Fri 18 Jul 2008, 20:32, Reply)

Zardoz
Now, when people think "Sean Connery in a pair of red pants induced to stow away in a huge flying stone head that spews guns in order to break the monotony of an immortal, yet eternally bored race of hyperadvanced twats with his powerful gun and penis combination," they probably usually follow it with "sounds awesome," but Zardoz is a pretty big exception to that rule.

It starts off weird and hilarious, but quickly gets tiresome and rubbish. Most of the footage shown seems to be a bunch of hyperadvanced twats talking in some kind of backwards speak as if it means something, or closing their eyes in a big circle and making noises.

I have no idea how long the film actually is, but let's just say that it helps you to understand just how boring eternity can get, which really gets you inside the heads of the characters and their motivations. For this last point alone, this atrocious film gets ten out of ten from me.
(Slurpy The Frog, Fri 18 Jul 2008, 20:30, 1 reply)

Absolutely 100% must Must MUST! see 'Cyborg Cop 2'
It is both the best and worst film I have ever seen for so many reasons. The first point of stupidity/genius of the film is that despite being called Cyborg Cop 2, there aren't TWO robotic policemen in the film. No, in fact there are none.

Point 2: Our hero Jack Ryan (no, not that one) wears a bum bag throughout the whole film

Point 3: Every fight occurs in slow motion

Point 4: Almost every death sees someone falling from a great height and doing a flip... in slow motion

Point 5: Jack Ryan's catchphrase is "I was born for trouble"

Point 6: Jack Ryan eventually finds the perfect way to defeat a Cyborg; by repeatidly blasting him with a fire extinguisher and welding his face to a car bonnet

Point 7: At one point in the film a telephone is thrown at a wall... in slow motion

Point 8: The final scene of the film sees our hero running from a power station which is about to explode. As he dives for cover the film cuts to a shot of a minature power station which looks nothing like the previously mentioned one explodes... I think the two occurances are supposed to be related, but it's hard to tell
(never said i would, Fri 18 Jul 2008, 20:22, Reply)

Has anyone mentioned Svankmajer yet?
He's surely the most B3ta of film directors. Most of his films are flawed, but he has the wildest imagination. For those who don't know, he's best known as an animator, doing stop-motion stuff. His most famous film is probably Alice, although personally I prefer the earlier short films like Down to the Cellar (I also *hate* the dubbing on Alice)
( flatfrog Staring vacantly into space, Fri 18 Jul 2008, 20:01, 1 reply)

Harold and Maude
In other news, the chick in the Crying Game is really a man.
I mean, man, is that a good movie.
(Razors, Fri 18 Jul 2008, 19:50, Reply)

it looks like you hate humans
the same way I hate having my nipples rubbed with a sander!


(apeloverage committed the vile act of onanism on, Fri 18 Jul 2008, 19:25, 2 replies)

Samir Naga... Naga... Naga... Not gonna work here anymore, anyway
Office Space, done.

And I said, I don't care if they lay me off either, because I told, I told Bill that if they move my desk one more time, then, then I'm quitting, I'm going to quit. And, and I told Don too, because they've moved my desk four times already this year, and I used to be over by the window, and I could see the squirrels, and they were married... But then, they switched from the Swingline to the Boston stapler, but I kept my Swingline stapler because it didn't bind up as much, and I kept the staples for the Swingline stapler and it's not okay because if they take my stapler then I'll, I'll, I'll set the building on fire...
(bakircioglu, Fri 18 Jul 2008, 19:24, Reply)

just got home from a hard day excavating...
and have been needing to share this one with you since lunchtime...

big wednesday

surfing film that's about so much more.
group of friends over a period of maybe 10 or 15 years in california, before during and after vietnam war.

it's got jan michael vincent (who went on to appear in airwolf and then disappear) and a bunch of other folk you'd recognise.

i'm not saying it's a bunch of laughs, cos it's not. in fact it sometimes makes me cry.

you see the group go off in all sorts of directions in their lives but they have a common ground in surfing. it all builds up to "big wednesday" and i have goosebumps now from typing this!

quite an epic film!
( blaireau69 , the Cumbrian Travis Bickle., Fri 18 Jul 2008, 19:01, 1 reply)

Two of the greatest films ever made
and ones that I can't watch too many times: Stir Crazy & See No Evil, Hear No Evil will remain firm favourites of mine for as long as I live.

Perfectly cast, with Gene Wilder & Richard Prior playing off one another as one of the best comedy double acts ever to grace the big screen.

Growing up, my brothers and I would watch these two films almost weekly, and I still laugh myself into a breathless lump each time I settle down in front of either one.
( Moey, Fri 18 Jul 2008, 18:45, 3 replies)

Dark Side of the Rainbow
Many of you have probably heard of this: if you start playing Pink Floyd's "Dark Side of the Moon" over the top of "The Wizard of Oz" (when the lion roars for the third time, I believe), you end up with one long trippy music video and many moments of synchronicity between the two.

What you might not know is that playing the sound track from "The Empire Strikes Back" over the top of the 1925 silent version of "The Phantom of the Opera" is even better (allegedly).

One evening I had a few friends over to watch a video or two. One bloke had brought along a copy of Phantom, the idea being we all swoon at the sheer genius of the production (he was a bit of a nerd). His attempt to educate and astound failed dismally. Instead, we were quite bored and contemplated chucking him out the window, when I had a thought - why not stick on a CD as a soundtrack?

With the thought, the deed. I whipped out my trusty copy of the Empire sound track (can't say why I chose it) and stuck it on. Cue much laughter as tracks synch up with scenes in the film - some appropriately, others with comedic value. Empire is a surprisingly good soundtrack to go with Phantom - especially as the Imperial March comes on just as the scene where we are introduced to the Phantom in his lair starts. Creepy and entirely appropriate.

Buggered if I can remember where you need to start the CD to get them to synchronise, but it was a bloody good film with Empire playing in the background.

Pop, BTW.
( argyleblanket The man on the roof works for me, Fri 18 Jul 2008, 18:39, 1 reply)

Another obscure one
I Married A Strange Person! by Bill Plympton. Don't know who he is? Google him. If you watched MTV in the 90s you'll recognize his work.

The film itself is about as b3ta as you can get, really- very surreal, biting humor, lots of sex, bizarre violence. I won't even try to describe the plotline, as it's too weird and funny.

Side note: I've met Plympton himself. Very tall, soft-spoken, laid back, with a constant smile. An extremely nice guy, not at all what you'd expect from someone who creates the things he does...
( The Resident Loon Not a demographic. Do not measure., Fri 18 Jul 2008, 18:38, 5 replies)

Young Frankenstein
I'm my mind, one of the greatest comedy films ever, and, for my money, certainly Mel Brooks' finest moment.

Everything about it is superb. The black and white photography. The re-use of actual sets from the original Universal movies. Marty Feldman as Igor ("it's pronounced Eye-gor"). Madeline Khan looking, well, just all kinds of ace done up as Elsa Lanchester at the end. The completely bonkers scene of the Monster and Gene Wilder doing 'Putting on the Ritz'. And Gene hackman as the blind man.

Love it love it love it! A mate and I would watch it over and over on a grainy old pirate VHS. We wore the tape out in the end. Then he borrowed my shiny new VHS copy a few years back. I haven't seen either of them since...
( Davros' Granddad a voice of calm reason in a world of spastics., Fri 18 Jul 2008, 18:22, 4 replies)

One to add on the worst ever list
The film Street Fighter with Jean Claude Van Damme as Guile and Kylie Minogue with her horrid attempt at a British accent. The lines are poor and the film itself is badly acted.

The film was so bad it killed Raul Julia (Ok he may not have had the stroke from watching the film but I like to place the blame on this sodding thing).
(mon bison powered by magnets, Fri 18 Jul 2008, 17:26, Reply)

The God's Must Be Crazy
Like a South African version of Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

SFL
( Pope Shax XIII uses Visio for picture editing, does it show?, Fri 18 Jul 2008, 17:24, 3 replies)

"I Want My Two Dollars..."
"Better Off Dead". Not a fashionable choice by far, but is my favourite film. Best comedy of the 80's.
(mcnelson, Fri 18 Jul 2008, 17:07, 2 replies)

I am a film nerd...not a snob, just a nerd
Cinema Paradiso, a beautiful, touching movie.

Ferris Bueller, I hated very minute of school, and was bullied so much I ended up on a shrink's couch. I wanted to be like Ferris.

Lion King, I was about 8 when it came out, and it was probably the first moment of my life that I knew films would have a huge influence on me.

Amelie, it has made me believe that love exists.

Back to the Future. I was 10 days overdue when I was born. I was not very healthy when I was born. During the pregnancy, my mum had had many complications, she was violently ill from about 3 months pregnant til the birth. The doctors were scared of inducing me for fear of killing me. I hadn't been moving much for a few weeks, my mum had been warned of the possibility of us both dying in childbirth.
She had tried everything to start the birth, all the old tricks; eating stupidly hot food, going on really long walks, all the normal things.
Her friends cam round to keep her company and brought her Back to the Future on VHS to try on the new VCR MACHINE! She loved the film, and on the now cult-status line 'Where we're going, we don't need roads' I went fucking mental, I started punching and kicking, and as the credits rolled, her waters broke.
It has remained my favourite film my entire life. As with all 80s/90s kids, I grew up in front of the telly, and between the ages of 1 and 2, I would watch anything, and get bored, fall asleep etc. If Back to the Future was on, I would shut up, and stare constantly at the screen for an hour and a half.
Now, at that age, I wouldn't have understood any of it, but it just did something to me that really, it still does.

Apologies for length, but films mean a lot to me
(bobman500 enjoys a grope as much as the next fella, Fri 18 Jul 2008, 17:07, Reply)

Beep-Beep-Beep-Beep!
With an audible groan of protest from my Shattered self, my right arm arced out of bed to hit the button on top of my incessantly protesting alarm clock, nagging me in it’s desire to inform me that I was about to roll out of a comfortable, warm bed and begin my ritual morning ablutions.

Beep-Beep-Beep-Beep!

Slap! Having slienced the alarm clock, I gathered my thoughts for the day ahead. I stepped over the scattered sheets of A4 paper that constituted The Commitments to my English homework, abandoned in a fit of indecision the previous night. I’d decide that I’d have another crack at my coursework The Hard Way during the morning free period prior to the lesson after lunch. To look back now and think that I actually questioned why I never graded higher than a ‘C’. I suppose I wasn’t alone, a good many of my peers behaved like the immortal Hot Shots we thought we were back then.

An hour later, I was walking towards the bus stop near my home, full of false confidence and hair gel. In truth, I had very little time for the demands of academia, my life was centred around her, My Girl who I knew would be waiting for me at the bus station whereupon we’d walk to college together. As I paced, I lit a cigarette and enjoyed the giddy light headedness as I blew the blue Backdraft of smoke out in front of me.

As I boarded the bus, the folly of my emotional entanglement weighed heavily on my mind. I remembered the advice of my friend Alan, who’d displayed an attitude to monogamy akin to a randy tomcat. “Wild Hearts Can’t Be Broken” he’d chide me, somewhat despairing of the fact that I’d passed up several opportunities to spend time of a horizontal persuasion with girls whom I’d struggle to put a name to name now, several years later. No, at that time it was as if all my Mortal Thoughts were dominated by her porcelain face and tumbling blonde hair and her softly spoken voice with its faintly clipped accent, betraying the country of her birth if you knew what you were listening for.

Finally, we pulled into the concrete monstrosity that was the town’s bus station, stained in various shades of dirty grey by two and a half decades of diesel fumes, rain and graffiti. And then I saw her, waiting for me with that same innocent but strangely attentive expression on her face. She stood there, looking beautiful and representing yet another Undiscovered Country ready to be explored. I was all too aware of the primeval calling of the Jungle Fever coursing through my young veins, guiltily reminding myself of course that Men of Honour had more than a one track mind. Against the backdrop of the dishevelled station, she stood out like a Rambling Rose. I made my way over to see her stood there, burdened with a rucksack full of lever arch files and textbooks.

On our short walk to college, budding trees passed me by, the tiny bundles of leaf ready to spring forth into a world full of hope and devoid of fear, much as I was at that time. Even sat on the bus, I could detect the faint scent of early blossoms, I inhaled deeply, Delirious with the Awakenings and newness of life all around me, full of promise, opportunity and hope.

I could look back fondly at the Days of Being Wild I enjoyed too, but there’s something about the memory of this particular spring that made me feel Close to Eden. When I look at myself and my peers now, at the City Slickers we’ve become, I cannot help but lament the fraternal comfort Brother Future seemed to have in store for me. Many Hours and Times have passed by since and I have every reason to be appreciative for the hand life has dealt me since. However, sometimes I let my mind wander to the past, a welcome distraction from the current Career Opportunities I’m perusing.

Here’s to you, wherever you are, in gratitude for that intoxicating springtime long ago.

And to the rest of you, see if you can name the year by the movie titles.

(Bicycle Repairman "you're also a bit of a wanker", Fri 18 Jul 2008, 17:03, 6 replies)

Can't help it...
..but I love the film '5 Children & It'...... The bit where his dad comes home at the end (sorry if that has now ruined it for everyone else but it is predictable!) - blarting marvo.....
(Senora Veranos cannot and will not so ner..., Fri 18 Jul 2008, 17:01, Reply)

German and probably impossible to translate...
Loriot's feature-length films, Pappa ante Portas and Ödipussi. Absolutely classic, and provides Monty Python-grade quote material (at least in my family), though the style is much more subtle and low-key - the Loriot TV series is a bit more pythonesque (but still more, er, restrained)

Unfortunately, most of you won't be able to watch these. Some of it probably would survive translation, but I doubt anyone's ever bothered.
(julius, Fri 18 Jul 2008, 16:55, 1 reply)

Peter O'Toole. What a cult he turned out to be.
The best film (ever) is ‘Pulp Fiction’. But the best kept secret film is ‘The Ruling Class’ – 1972, Peter O’Toole, Alastair Sim, Harry Andrews and Arthur Lowe. Saw it with three friends in Piccadilly Haymarket and laughed so much people called the manager and we were asked to leave. Went back a week later and the same thing happened. ‘Course we were completely whacked and probably a bit drunk. Both times. Totally recommended state to see it in too.
(foxbean i am a one in ten, Fri 18 Jul 2008, 16:55, Reply)

"Buongiorno Principessa!!"

If you've seen 'Life is Beautiful' then you'll recognise this. I've seen some poor reviews of this, but for me, Mrs G and the Sprog, this is a film that hits all of the right buttons.

The first part is a love story, a Rom-Com. It takes place in Mussolini's Italy before the war; he (Guido) is an Italian Jew - annoying but romantic, she (Dora) is an Italian Catholic, upper-middle class and finally won over. Time skips forward four or five years - they have an adorable little boy and run a book shop, though they are constantly hassled by the fascist authorities. The dad tries to shield his son from the ugly realities:

"Why does that sign say: No Jews, No dogs" he asks
"Well, they just don't like them. What don't you like?"
"I don't like spiders"
"Well, I don't like Visigoths. Tomorrow we'll make a sign for our shop: No Spiders or Visigoths allowed"

It's the way he tells them. Of course, they are taken off to the camps along with his elderly uncle and his wife insists on getting on the train as well. The old uncle is seen getting changed for his 'shower', Guido pretends that the whole thing is a special treat for Giuse's birthday - a kind of game where the winner gets a real, live tank.

There's one scene that a real tear-jerker and reminiscent of the scene in 'The Shawshank Redemption' when he puts the music on the loudspeaker.

I won't say any more except to warn you that it's in Italian with sub-titles, but don't let that put you off. Also, give it a chance - as I said, the first half is like a light Rom-Com, but that's just the set-up for the horrors of the camp.

It's more about one man's love for his wife and child than anything else, but focussing on one human story rather than the impersonal mass makes you really think. In this, it's similar in impact to 'The Pianist', but in a very different way.

I'd be interested to know what you think.
(Che Grimsdale Best before:, Fri 18 Jul 2008, 16:50, 7 replies)

Good question here's 3 of the top of my head
here are some interesting ones

1) THX 1138 (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0066434/)
George Lucas's first film (funded by Coppola), visually brilliant and has echoes of things to come (including a prototype lightsaber) but far far darker.

2) The Quiet Earth (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0089869/) these 'last man on earth' films are making a comeback at the moment, this is a classic one from 1985.

3) Outpost (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0892899/) Only got a limited cinema release this year, very limited budget but the cinematography is awesome and very creepy in places, oh and it contains Nazi Zombies!
(negative armadillo There never was much hope..just a fool's hope., Fri 18 Jul 2008, 16:48, Reply)

Not Sure
But if I was pushed it would have to be Children of Men probably. Everything from the apocalyptic depiction of a world with no children to the concentration camps is brilliant. The camera work is stunning especially when Clive Owen's characted goes in search of the girl just outside the camp (the extended shot with blood on the lense etc).

*SPOILER*
The scene that always brings a tear to my eye is when Clive Owen takes the baby out of the apartment block from the rebels through the army. Although everyone is trying to kill everyone, the cry of the baby just stops everything as people realise the miracle of childbirth for what it really is, a fact we have sadly forgotten in this day and age of technology. Sheer brilliance.

Still fucking hate kids though
(The_Reaper, Fri 18 Jul 2008, 16:46, 2 replies)

Koyaanisqatsi
preferably on the big screen with the Philip Glass ensemble on live accompaniment
( cynfulcynner ...another American nutter, Fri 18 Jul 2008, 16:42, 2 replies)

Best 1/2 film I've ever seen
Zoolander - it was on the movie channel in the hotel but I only got 1/2 through it before I was being shagged senseless by the lovely Irish ex-beauty queen I'd met that night.

Is it a good film..? Probably not, but whenever I think about it, I smile.
(daytripper, Fri 18 Jul 2008, 16:40, Reply)

Not the Usual Suspects
I don't mean, not "The Usual Suspects" (cracking film), but not the usual suspects, as in, no Pythons, Godfathers, Hitchcocks, Shawshanks (never have understood why that always gets ranked *so* highly).

So here's a list of blinding, even life-changing films that might not get so much attention in this QOTW, roughly ordered in "for God's sake get out there and see it NOW" priority (most urgent at the top).

1. Come and See
2. The Seventh Seal
3. A Clockwork Orange
4. Fellini's 8 1/2
5. Fitzcarraldo
6. Breathless
7. Harold & Maude
8. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
9. Once Upon a Time in the West
10. Oldboy
11. O Lucky Man!
12. Brazil
13. The Plague Dogs
(Tarka_the_Frotter, Fri 18 Jul 2008, 16:37, 3 replies)

Oh Captain, My Captain…

I didn’t go to see ‘Dead Poet’s Society’ under the best of conditions. I went with a group of ‘laddish’ lads, we were about 16 years old and obsessed with beer, girls, football, sweariness and general loutery as you would expect.

So we all filed in to the cinema and lined up – every step of the way loudly firing one -liners at each other and yobbishly taking the piss out of everybody and everything around us. We were not about to start taking anything seriously...

Then the film started…slowly but surely…one by one…we all went quiet.

At the end of the movie, when they all stand on their desks, my eyes were filled with tears of pride…and then suddenly the credits started rolling…

‘Shitty holy motherfucking bollock bags!’ I thought to myself – ‘I can’t get caught blarting by the lads, I’ll be a laughing stock!’

As the lights went up I rapidly ran my sleeve across my face with a ‘sniff’ to wipe away my tears…yet as I glanced around to see if I had been rumbled, I noticed every single one of my red-eyed mates doing the exact same thing…

We never spoke of it again.
( Pooflake braces for an onslaught..., Fri 18 Jul 2008, 16:36, 6 replies)

I demand
to have some booze!
(apeloverage committed the vile act of onanism on, Fri 18 Jul 2008, 16:24, 15 replies)

Phenomena (no, not the Travolta with a brain tumour one)
This is an 80's Dario Argento film with her from Labyrinth in.

She has dominion over the insect world and can manipulate varying kinds of bugs.
She has a mate who's a disabled professor who knows about her powers and is looked after by a helper chimpanzee.

The professor? Donald Pleasance :-)

There's murder afoot at the weirdy Euro boarding school where she's been sent (typical Argento beheadings) and she uses her bug powers to solve the series of crimes.

Best scene? When the helper chimp, following the death of Donald Pleasance, goes berserker with a switchblade and saves the day.

Best. Film. Ever

If you don't believe me, here's the trailer

www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Mk6EjlATp4
( the_log_knows ..to pay cheeses, to the leopards in your head, Fri 18 Jul 2008, 16:16, Reply)

12 Angry Men
What can I say about this Sidney Lumet classic that hasn't already been said in a slightly patronisingly smug way by Barry Norman?

Lots. I usually watch this film on my birthday, or if I'm off work really sick or if it's on the telly (as long it's not at silly o'clock in the morning).

If you've not seen it, telling you that it takes place virtually exclusively in a jury room on a hot day in New York and that it's shot in b/w probably won't get you running down the video shop (or whatever you lot do these days to get a film). If I tell you that it is one of the finest pieces of ensemble acting by some of the finest film actors of all time, with a script that sizzles and direction that keeps the drama palpable for the length of the film - you might.

It stars Henry Fonda, but with some scorching support by Lee J Cobb and others. The scene at the end where Cobb breaks down is fantastic and as good as his performance in 'On the Waterfront', if not better.

I won't summarise the 'plot', as there isn't one really; but at the beginning of the film, it looks as if the accused is guilty. A vote of 12 - 0 would send the kid to the chair. Henry Fonda says they should talk about it for a while. Gradually he find reasonable doubt about some of the key witness statements and pieces of evidence, gradually he wins over the other members of the jury...

I'll not spoil the explosive ending, but it's worth waiting for. I can quote huge chunks of this film and sometimes get strange looks from people when I say things like: "...but it's POSSIBLE" or "Rotten kids, you work your LIFE OUT" or "Your horn works, now try your lights" in a simulacrum of an american accent, if they're not as familiar with the film as I am.

Anyway, do yourselves a favour and find a copy and watch it.
(Che Grimsdale Best before:, Fri 18 Jul 2008, 16:09, 3 replies)