Angels and Insects A great period film about an... insectologist (?) and his new wife. She has an icky secret... it's fun to try and guess what it is. It's very well-done and the costumes are great!
Backbeat This is the story of the fifth Beatle, but the best part of it is the love story between Stu and the German artist girl... I love the scene where the Beatles are all having sex in the bunk beds.
Breaking the Waves This was the first von Trier movie I ever saw, but after I got over being freaked out by actually seeing the actors' pores and the camerawork, I liked it. The ending is also kind of a surprise, which I like when I go to a movie. I love the idea of seeing real people in movies and not some yucky airbrushed freaks.
Dancer in the Dark Lars von Trier and Bjork are both geniuses, so naturally when they worked together, they made a wonderful film. This is about a poor mother in the sixties who is going blind. She is scammed out of the money she is saving for her son's eye operation and is then framed for a crime and put on Death Row. I haven't cried at a movie since I saw Dot and the Kangaroo when I was six, but I bawled after this one.
Girlfight The story of a high-school girl who vents her aggression into boxing. I didn't want to watch some movie about a female boxer, since I'm not into sports, but the story and character development in this movie were really well-done.
Hamlet (2000 version with Ethan Hawke) I have a weakness for modernized Shakespeare. Hamlet is portrayed as an amateur filmmaker, which I thought was a really good way to portray a lot of the more difficult scenes.
Jesus' Son This is one of those drug-haze movies starring Billy Crudup or Joaquin Phoenix or one of those types, but it's a very interesting tale of a so-called "on again, off again love affair" between him and Samantha Morton. I think she is very cool. (She's the girl from Sweet and Lowdown.) I wish I could have an on again, off again love affair. Mine are always just on and then off permanently.
Kicking and Screaming This movie is the story of my life. It tells the story of some people who are very, very reluctant to leave college, and has about a million funny lines.
The Low Down This is a British film about a relationship between a guy who makes props for TV game shows and a leasing agent. Everything gradually gets fucked up due to various personality quirks. The director uses a lot of interesting camera-work, focusing in on a lot of details that would normally be overlooked. The plot is a bit slow-moving, but it is realistic and the camera shots make it all worthwhile.
Magnolia I really dig movies with an "ensemble cast" where seemingly disparate people's lives intersect in strange ways. This movie is perfectly written and has a really neat, rainy-sounding soundtrack, though I still have not figured out the frog-thing at the end.
Memento A guy who's lost his short-term memory in an accident tries to solve a mystery. It's best to go into this movie not knowing anything about it. All I can say is that the use of time is really fascinating and different.
My Own Private Idaho Did you know this movie is based on Henry IV and Henry V? We watched it in my "Shakespeare on Film" class and I was amazed that such an old play could be turned into such a movie. Maybe I can do Troilus and Cressida someday...
Niagara, Niagara A kleptomaniac and a girl with Tourette's go on a roadtrip, fall in love, and accidentally commit a few crimes. It has Henry Thomas-- yes, Elliott from ET-- who I think seems very interesting, despite what a friend of mine from San Antonio says. (I think maybe they went to high school together or something.)
Pi A friend recommended this to me, and I said, "Ew. I don't want to watch a movie about math." And he said, "Pi is about math like Pulf Fiction is about a suitcase." (Or maybe it was like Reservoir Dogs is about a suitcase-- it was some Tarantino film.) This film has great camera artistry; the script was well-written, and it makes a great statement about the painfulness of knowledge.
Requiem for a Dream This is Darren Aronofsky's second film, and it's also sublime. It tells the stories of a TV-addicted mother and her drug-addicted son and friends whose lives begin to parallel each other. Interesting camera shots, good acting, etc. I love the way Aronofsky shows the drugs being shot up. Also, the website is quite interesting.
Romeo and Juliet (1997 version) I love modernized Shakespeare movies. They turn me on. I remember when this movie came out, a male friend told me he had "a hard-on with a cheeseburger on the end of it for that movie." It's kind of an unsettling visual image, but I know what he means.
Suburbia (The Richard Linklater one. I haven't seen the punk rock one.) In addition to lots-of-lives-intersect movies, I also love people-standing-around-talking movies. Giovanni Ribisi's in this, and he makes a great disguntled cute nerd. His girlfriend in the movie is a performance artist who does hilarious things, and Parker Posey's in it too.
Titus Another modernized Shakespeare movie. I'm not familiar with the original play, but this movie is really fucking cool. Call me strange, but I really thought the part where the two guys cut off her hands was well done, and I loved Alan Cumming in this.
Whatever This is an unfortunately titled, but excellent film about two high school girls in the late eighties. (There are no Billy Idol or Bangles songs; don't worry.) It's a very realistic depiction of what high school is really like.
Internet Movie Database
