I was recently recommended a DVD movie I'd never heard of: "Haiku Tunnel". There is nothing compelling whatsoever about the title or the packaging, so I'd never rented it. But man, what a funny, enjoyable movie!

The premise, in a nutshell: Josh is a super temporary employee, but when he goes from "temp" to "perm" his performance goes in the tank.

I recommend it highly.

This also got me thinking: anyone else here have some hidden movie "gems"? Films that maybe weren't big budget or heavily promoted but turned out to be surprisingly good?

List 'em here!

My favorite of all time is "The Keep."
I have watched it more times than any other movie.

The acting, lighting, score, special effects are all superb.

It is a clasic story of good vs evil. Set as horror. And all I can say is, you may need to watch it more than once to really get it. ;)

I really liked "Happiness". A bit twisted for some, but if you like writhing with discomfort while laughing ... it's for you.
http://www.hollywood.com/movies/detail/movie/173271

Pi; Requiem For A Dream; Waking Life

Kinda well-known, but definately not found in a multiplex.

I've wanted to see waking life, I think it recently came out on video.

Originally posted by Rotifer
I really liked "Happiness". A bit twisted for some,[/url]

not for this little black duck - I loved that movie... you need to be in the mood for it, that's for sure. :)

Dogs In Space:
http://www.hollywood.com/movies/detail/movie/172326
Michael Hutence's first movie role

Romper Stomper
http://www.hollywood.com/movies/detail/movie/179577
Early(ish) Russel Crowe film

Delicatessen
http://www.foreignfilms.com/films/1236.asp
Bizarre, even for the french

and finally, the best of the best:
Brain Dead (Dead Alive)
http://www.houseofhorrors.com/deadalive.htm
Peter Jackson (aka director of Lord of the Rings) first movie

Greg Moore

I recently saw the Labrynth and thought it was pretty good.. I had never heard of it before...

"Better Off Dead" and "The Princess Bride" are two of my favorites.

Shallow Grave (Ewan McGreggor before he was famous in the US)
Killing Zoe
Dream with Fishes
Ghost World
True Romance
Digging to China (great!)

...and many, many more that I'll think of as soon as I post this.

I used to work for a well known video store that I won't name...

Well ****buster (:)) employee's every week or so get video's that are supposed to get prepped for going onto the store walls for rental...

We get the generic releases etc but, ****buster & Vi*com (their parent company) also produce and distrubute their own movies straight to video...

We usually take these videos and watch them for about 30 minutes just for fun b/c their usually awful B film crap... Ya know bad green screen shots, cheap special effects, horrible actors... We'd just watch them until it just too horrible to watch anymore...

We'll we found a movie called "Boondock Saints" in this pile..

It is one of the coolest movies I've seen in a while...

You'll only be able find it at ****buster Videos, if you can figure out what store it is :D...

"My Dinner With Andre"
"De Duva"

a recent movie (in the last year): "Amelia" [in French with sub-titles), no action, no blood & guts, no special effects, just a great flick.

Run lola run, has to be one of the movies i have ever watched.. if dont speak german. i am sure you can find a DVD that has english text.


Anthony LaMantia
Pen-Testing
www.bia-security.com

drop dead fred
diggstown


both great films :)

I'm with FDrive on pi. that was an excellent show. It is very suspenseful, but not in the usual way. a superbly unique movie. I almost couldn't watch it all in one sitting it was so absorbing.

As for comedy i'd choose Office Space. for a lower budget film it was awesome. all you office workers could relate to it

Originally posted by Rotifer
I've wanted to see waking life, I think it recently came out on video.

Yeah, it did -- try and watch the DVD version if you can -- the special features are really interesting.

Originally posted by BiaSecurity
Run lola run, has to be one of the movies i have ever watched.. if dont speak german. i am sure you can find a DVD that has english text. I don't speak German, but I watch the German version anyway, after having watched the poorly-dubbed English language version once. There's so little dialogue that it's still easy to follow it, and it sounds better. And that "so little dialogue" is in no way a negative criticism!

I'd add to the list, also by Tom Tykwer, The Princess and The Warrior.

And to those who like Pi and so don't mind black and white flicks, look for Following, written by Christopher Nolan before he did Memento.

Current little-known favorite: Donnie Darko. You really have to watch the director's commentary or at least the deleted scenes to appreciate this one fully, but it's worth it. Oh yeah, and check out the website at donniedarko.com, too... but you probably won't get too far until after you've seen the film.

A few more favorites that aren't well-known: The Straight Story, The Sweet Hereafter, and The Big Night. Oh, and if you just want to watch pictures and listen to sound without any plot though still with a story, how about Baraka?

By the way, FDrive, I did see "Requiem" in a multiplex, but it was New York multiplex. Maybe that makes a difference. Personally, though, it didn't make any of my favorites lists.

Dancer in the Dark - Excellent movie!

Akashik,
you got some great picks there.....especially in Romper Stomper and the classic Brain Dead.....although lesser known and kind of the prequel to Brain Dead is "Bad Taste", another Peter Jackson classic.

Originally posted by tn3
a recent movie (in the last year): "Amelia" [in French with sub-titles), no action, no blood & guts, no special effects, just a great flick.

I have to agree with that. It's one of the few highlights in movies of years of travelling overseas. It's a simple movie, with basic themes set around one girl, with nothing overtly outstanding as far as plot goes, and yet it's a truly wonderful movie. I mentioned it to friends of mine and they'd already seen it, and couldn't quite work out why they enjoyed it so much either :)

Greg Moore

My favorite internationl films were probably the Jean de Florette/Manon du Sources duo. Aside from having a great storyline, and an absolutely amazing theme song, they where just a genuinely great and watchable two tragedy/drama films. If you like Classi Greek plays, with a Shakespearian feel, then go seek these two out.

I personally am a big fan of art-house or cult films. Basically anything with Hitchcock or Kubrik's name behind, I liked.

There was another film, that I'd say is the best film to grace my life. It was an Australian comedy that debuted 1988 (89 in USA). Young Einstein, starring Yahoo Serious is indeed the film. It cost I believe $3mil to make, yet somehow generated $80-100mil (Warner Bros claim 100, yet Yahoo Serious could only count up 80).

Somehow nobody these days has heard of it, especially when I talk to Americans.

Originally posted by XEOS

There was another film, that I'd say is the best film to grace my life. It was an Australian comedy that debuted 1988 (89 in USA). Young Einstein, starring Yahoo Serious is indeed the film. It cost I believe $3mil to make, yet somehow generated $80-100mil (Warner Bros claim 100, yet Yahoo Serious could only count up 80).

Somehow nobody these days has heard of it, especially when I talk to Americans.

I remember that one....and I'm from Michigan, USA. Wasn't it a history lesson, of sorts? I don't remember it being good though.

Anyone here ever see the movie Naked Lunch? :eek:

--Tina

Originally posted by AffordableHost
Anyone here ever see the movie Naked Lunch?

Yes! David Cronenberg at his best. Not quite as good as David Lynch's 'Eraserhead' though. :) Even though they're nothing alike I always think of one when I think of the other.

Greg Moore

I found "Eraserhead" too disturbing to watch through to conclusion.

Originally posted by AffordableHost
I remember that one....and I'm from Michigan, USA. Wasn't it a history lesson, of sorts? I don't remember it being good though.Yep, I remember both Young Einstein and Yahoo Serious. It's certainly an original and creative film, but I don't think it has a really wide appeal. Show it to 50 people and I'd bet 20 would hate it, 25 would get bored and walk out, and 5 would think it was the funniest thing they'd ever seen. By the way, I wouldn't be one of those five! :)

Speaking of Lynch, I just got done viewing "Mulholland Drive" on DVD.

Baseketball. I never heard of or saw it, then one day rented it. It has the guys who created South Park in it. Funny as heck IMO