The best movie(s) I'd never heard about

[squints]

I've seen all of these. Actually wrote my college thesis on the most obscure one. Not that impressed, guys.

lawlz. Have you seen The Matrix? oh man that shit is craaaazzyyy!

[Stefen]

^who's in it? trailer?

[Jeremy Blackman]

Alright. I gave Pas a new avatar.

[Pas]

Alright. I gave Pas a new avatar.

haha i like it. John Huston is awesome, i'll watch The Kremlin Letter tonight i think.

Ps: wilderesque; good post again. I'd like a small personal "review/preview" of the films but the imdb links and trailers are sweet.

[Stefen]

Is that John Huston? Thought it was Anjelica. HHAHAHAHA.

[Fernando]

I have just seen The List of Adrian Messenger by John Huston. I had never even heard the title mentionned.  It's among the best murder mysteries I've ever seen.

The cameos are beyond awesome too: Kirk Douglas, Frank Sinatra and so much more.

Check it out

what are the odds, TCM just ran this and saw it based on your recommendation, I dont think Kirk qualifies as a cameo, Frank and the others at the end do, btw, seeing they take off their make up at the end is odd, something we wouldn't see in these days.

[ᾦɐļᵲʊʂ]

I just saw Corndog Man for the first time.  I had heard the title before, but holy hell, what a bizarre movie.  Pitch-black comedy, with some genuinely powerful moments because of Noble Willingham basically owning it the whole movie. 

I was going to post the trailer, but it's awful and spoils a lot.  This movie is great to just wander into so the darkness and comedy can speak for themselves.  Basically what's worth knowing is that a boat salesman starts receiving phone calls from an unidentified customer who keeps asking more and more particular questions about a potential boat sale, and gradually these calls morph from specific questions regarding the boat to very personal questions about him.

The upside is: it's on Watch Instantly!

[Pas]

what are the odds, TCM just ran this and saw it based on your recommendation, I dont think Kirk qualifies as a cameo, Frank and the others at the end do, btw, seeing they take off their make up at the end is odd, something we wouldn't see in these days.

like it at all? Some people told me it really wasn't that good haha! I liked the first half definitely more than the second half but still. I don't think George c Scott made a super performance but i was alright and some parts were great. Frank sinatra's cameo was neat. Robert Mitchum too.

When Douglas play the piano and LeBorg looks at knowing he's lost, that was well played

[Fernando]

yeah I liked it, maybe not as much as you to call it on of the best, but I was entertained all the way through, it was actually perfect for a thursday night at home.

[Pas]

I don't know why but the whole list thing did it for me. I'm told this movie is kinda of a Hounds of Baskerville rip-off. Maybe I liked it so much because I didn't see a lot of old school mysteries like this one. I always loved stories about war secrets and conspiracies and whatnot. This one did the trick for me. Plus Adrian Messenger was headed for good old Montreal!

[samsong]

going off of wilderesque's zulawksi rec, possession is fantastic and the only one i've seen.  there's a scene where a young, disheveled sam neil looks uncannily like pta.  this movie's really insane.

the ruggles of red gap - an early leo mccarey comedy, one of the funniest i've seen.  really bizarre performance by charles laughton.

portrait of jennie - william dieterle's paean to artistic inspiration/expression by way of a ghost-cum-love story starring joseph cotton and jennifer jones with a small role for lillian gish.  haunting and beautiful.

el - the first film bunuel made in mexico and one of his best.  could easily be taken as a pre-cursor to vertigo.

will success spoil rock hunter? - frank tashlin's masterpiece, a live action cartoon satire of 1950s america

the ballad of narayama and the profound desire of the gods - my favorite shohei imamura films

[md]

The Sea That Thinks

I saw this at a film festival a long time ago, and it remains one of the most mindblowing movies I've seen. The movie's press emphasizes the optical illusions (no CGI was used), but there's much more to the movie. Think Pi meets Waking Life meets Synechdoche NY. Or something like that.

Here's the trailer:



You can buy the movie on the website, but it's in PAL (not NTSC).

I just checked and there are actually some torrents for the movie (though they may not be seeded well). I'd imagine that's the only way you can see this.

I just found this very good review from the New York Times:

Consciousness, the individual's perception of reality, and humans' place in the universe are among the underlying themes of this philosophical Dutch feature. Bart (Bart Klever) is a screenwriter whose latest project is a script entitled "The Sea That Thinks." What he writes is what's happening around him, and in time what he's writing begins to affect what's around him, as his screenplay becomes layered with increasing levels of notes and observations about the reality of his life. As reality begins to turn on him, Bart finds himself caught in a variety of strange illusions that lead him to wonder just what is real and what is not. While the film's reflexive, self-referential nature straddles a fine line between fiction and reality, this didn't prevent De Zee Die Denkt from winning the VPRO Joris Ivens Award at the 2000 {~International Documentary Film Festival} in Amsterdam. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

Just watched this...its absolutely brilliant and a precursor to Adaptation.  In fact it makes Charlie Kaufman seem pretty tame.  The optical illusions are great, like MC Escher picked up a camera and mindfucked us.  The aerial car driving shot is absurdly clever...still not sure how they pulled that off.

I was able to download it by googling "the sea that thinks hotfile"...actually I've been downloading all my movies that way.  Pay the 8 dollars for a subscription...it so convenient, I prefer it to Netflix Watch instantly. 

[72teeth]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=36TpKMY3ye4&feature=related

the whole thing's on youtube! Hurry up 10pm, i need to get off work to watch this...

[Jeremy Blackman]

Nice... but the aspect ratio looks off.

Probably best to go the filesharing route as md suggested.

[Mr. Merrill Lehrl]

el - the first film bunuel made in mexico and one of his best.  could easily be taken as a pre-cursor to vertigo.

The first film Bunuel made in Mexico was Gran Casino.  It's perhaps the best movie you've never heard about.