Essentially essential.

[w/o horse]

For being here only a short amount of time I've already heard praises for certain movies that I had passed on for looking to bland, and have gone to watch them and been pleasantly surprised.  In this thread I wish for the posters of Xixax to give a list of "Essentially Essential Movies."  That is, the movies which may never make an all-time greatest movies list, but you sure as fuck wouldn't wanted to have not seen.

I will start with an example list of my own, at which point conversation will be open to the general floor:

Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia
Shadow of a Doubt
He Got Game (unless you hate the urban-epic-Lee)
Days of Wine and Roses
Paris, Texas
The Claim
Targets
Exotica
Near Dark
Midnight Express
Silent Running
X: The Man with the X-Ray Eye
Trees Lounge / Animal Factory

[soixante]

An interesting list.  He Got Game is my favorite Spike Lee movie.  Silent Running is cool.  I enjoyed Trees Lounge.

My list would include:

Black and White
Dazed and Confused
Street Smart
8 Million Ways to Die
Star 80
Scarecrow
Semi Tough
Blue Collar
Straight Time
Falcon and Snowman
Q&A
Metropolitan
Soldier's Daughter Never Cries

[Reinhold]

showdown in little tokyo, seriously.

there are others that make my list, but nothing that wasn't on people's top 15's.

[modage]

just a suggestion to make the thread a little more interesting/interactive.  explain why for each selection.  why is it great?  and why do you consider it better than certain acknowledged greats, (and which ones?)

[Brazoliange]

Brazil is awesome on so many levels, symbolically, visually, it's 5 stories in one and aside from the Crit. cut it barely gets recognized on lists worth shit.

but did I need to tell you that?

[soixante]

I guess you could say the films on my list are under-valued.  I love Taxi Driver, but so does everyone else.  There are other movies that get under the radar, but are as good as the high profile critical darlings.  I felt that Star 80 was unjustly snubbed by most critics and the entirety of the American viewing public, but it is one of my favorite films of all time.  Street Smart went against the upbeat Reagan ethos of the mid-80's, but it is a valuable time capsule of the dark side of that era.  Semi-Tough, marketed as another macho Longest Yard broad comedy, is actually a witty poke at America's celebrity worshiping culture, along with the mania for self-help cults that pop up like mushrooms.  Scarecrow was buried in a year with many memorable great films in 1973 (such as Mean Streets and American Graffiti), but it deserves more attention than it initially received.

A Soldier's Daughter Never Cries was ignored even by Merchant-Ivory fans, which is a pity.  Q&A features a brilliant, unrecognized performance by Nick Nolte.  8 Million Ways to Die is Hal Ashby's last film, and sort of a return to his70's form after a few bad 80's films.

Blue Collar was Paul Schrader's first directorial effort, and it is all the more relevant today as we see the working class get screwed over, but in a new way.  Straight Time features one of Dustin Hoffman's best performances, and was completely ignored in 1978 when it was released.  Now it seems like an edgy 90's indie movie about the criminal life, and it no doubt influenced Tarantino (in fact, QT cast Eddie Bunker in Reservoir Dogs -- Bunker wrote the book upon which Straight Time is based).

I've always felt that Falcon and the Snowman was unjustly neglected.  I usually don't like espionage films, but this one kept me fascinated.  I've seen it recently, and it holds up, and Sean Penn gives one of his most eccentric performances -- if it were made today, Johnny Depp would have played the lead.

[MacGuffin]

Radio Times reveals essential film list

The Radio Times has drawn up a list of celluloid masterpieces designed as a "crash course" for the aspiring film buff.

They include 'Casablanca', 'Rear Window', 'High Noon' and 'Bonnie and Clyde'.

But there are also more surprising inclusions sure to spark debate - among them the 1998 blockbuster 'Armageddon'.

The Jerry Bruckheimer hit, which featured Bruce Willis and Ben Affleck battling to save the world from a giant asteroid, made 500 million at the worldwide box office but was derided by critics.

However, Radio Times film editor Andrew Collins, who compiled the list, said: "Snobbery does not belong to the film buff.

"To understand the 1980s/1990s blockbuster, you must accept producer Jerry Bruckheimer into your life. Armageddon is the pinnacle of Bruckheimer excess."

The oldest entry on the list is 1919 German silent movie The Cabinet of Dr Caligari. Quentin Tarantino's Pulp Fiction is included, along with Cary Grant screwball comedy 'Bringing Up Baby', Seventies horror 'The Hills Have Eyes' and cult Mick Jagger film 'Performance'.

The list also features Salvador Dali's 16-minute surrealistic film 'Un Chien Andalou' and nine-hour Holocaust documentary Shoah.

And there is also a place for Heaven's Gate - the biggest flop in cinema history. Directed by Michael Cimino, it cost 40 million to make and made just 3.4 million at the US box office.

Collins described the film as an "ambitious, lengthy, grainy western epic", adding: "It's possible to enjoy it despite knowledge of the budget and chaos going on behind the camera."

The list was compiled to mark this Sunday's relaunch of Film Four as a free-to-air channel.

[Split Infinitive]

Here's the full Radio Times list, courtesy allheadlinenews.com:

Radio Times Top 25 Film Buff's films:

1. Casablanca (1942)
2. The Cabinet Of Dr Caligari (1919)
3. Blade Runner (1982)
4. A Matter Of Life And Death (1946)
5. Build My Gallows High (1947)
6. La Dolce Vita (1960)
7. High Noon (1952)
8. Rear Window (1954)
9. The Hidden Fortress (1958)
10. Bonnie And Clyde (1967)
11. Bringing Up Baby (1938)
12. The Hills Have Eyes (1977)
13. Un Chien Andalou (1928)
14. Armageddon (1998)
15. Heaven's Gate (1980)
16. Annie Hall (1977)
17. Singin' In The Rain (1952)
18. Paths Of Glory (1957)
19. Performance (1970)
20. Bride Of Frankenstein (1935)
21. Blackboards (2000)
22. The Day The Earth Stood Still (1951)
23. Pulp Fiction (1994)
24. Shoah (1985)
25. Winter Light (1962)