Small Films You Love

[caisson2delta]

Only two really come to mind right now.

Crosses of Iron this an older movie featuring James Coburn and Robert Mason.
Tigerland was also pretty cool but is probably pretty well known.

 

[cardinal biggles]

Crosses of Iron this an older movie featuring James Coburn and Robert Mason.

I'd never heard of this film before, but I really enjoyed Peckinpah's masterpiece The Wild Bunch, so I'll try to check it out.

 

[Mojochi]

Gross Point Blank (1997)
Memento (2000)
Narc (2002)

 

[species5618]

Lots of good 'small' films already listed, I'd like to add:

Brick (2005) Directed by Rian Johnson, starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt.

People seem to either love or hate this film, but I really like how they fused together a surburban high school setting with a hardboiled detective story.

 

[MeanJoePhaser]

.

Not Another Teen Movie- Almost universally panned by critics who couldn't see how devastatingly accurate this parody of too many movies that took themselves way to seriously really was. The film that taught us the wrong times to use the slow clap and what really was wrong with all those Pretty Ugly Girls.

It managed to work in quite a bit while maintaining a main plotline, as opposed to "throw whatever at the screen" like *ick* Meet the Spartans.

Going back to teen movies, "Better Off Dead" is classic. I've heard Cusack hates it. His best film.

 

[Vasquez Rocks]

Matinee (1993) - Loosely based on the filmmaker William Castle who made b-horror movies in the 50s and 60s. He was known for using gimmicks in the theaters his movies played in. One such gimmick was joy buzzers in the theater seats. John Goodman is the lead and does an awesome job. It's one of his best performances and Cathy Moriarty is also great as his assistant/actress/girlfriend. They really play off each other well. There is also a movie within the movie called Mant which is hysterical in the way that it looks just like one of those old b-movies and the one liners are a blast.

Dogfight (1991) - One of River Phoenix's lesser known films. Set in 1963, a group of marines play a game in which they seek a woman for a party and whoever finds the ugliest one wins a prize. Truely underrated and sweet despite what the premise sounds like. Lili Taylor co-stars with Phoenix and they both give great performances.

 

[Kirkman1987]

I've been watching Oliver Stone stuff lately, and a lot of his smaller films are great.

Salvador (this one in particular is excellent)
Talk Radio
U-Turn

Eraserhead

 

[Admiral2]

Blindness
Whip It
The Secret of Kells

 

[Locutus of Bored]

'The Way of the Gun' -
A superb small action/suspense film written and directed by Christopher McQuarrie (the writer of 'The Usual Suspects'), about two small-time crooks looking for a big score who get in over their heads when they kidnap the surrogate mother of a mobster's baby, only to have all of his resources brought to bear against them. It has a good mix of comedic and serious dialogue delivered by an excellent ensemble cast including James Cahn, Juliette Lewis, and Taye Diggs, and some extremely intense and realistic action scenes, like this one. The music is good, the final shoot-out is epic and inspired in no small part by 'Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid' (hence the nicknames the two kidnappers identify themselves by - Parker and Longbaugh). And if you can't stand Sarah Silverman, you'll love the opening scene.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

12:01 P.M.

Not the lameass theatrical film, but the original short from Showtime (the one that starred Kurtwood Smith). Linky

 

[Zulu Romeo]

Local Hero- Makes you think all films should be set in a small Scottish coastal village. A film can really focus on the interactions of a group of people as long as you have witty and engaging script. Doesn't treat the town like something out of the 17th century either.

And if you liked that, try Bill Forsyth's earlier film, Gregory's Girl starring (John) Gordon Sinclair and Clare Grogan. Another sweet little comedy that has all the right ingredients. (But avoid its sequel. Please. )

And if you like your films small, quirky and British, I'd also recommend the John Cleese vehicle Clockwise.

 

[zakkrusz]

I don't know if they won awards or made money or not, but I feel the following are under-appreciated:

Broken Arrow
Frequency
The Fugitive
Last Action Hero
Max Payne
The Punisher (2004)
Starship Troopers
Tremors
True Lies
V For Vendetta

 

[bluedana]

Also from the 90s, I really like the wild and subversive satire on media and class called "Freeway" starring young Reese Witherspoon and Kiefer Sutherland

OMG, yes. Thoroughly twisted and dark -- and absolutely hilarious.

Eve's Bayou. This is a movie that Roger Ebert reviewed and said that when it was over, he bought another ticket and watched it again, right away. He considered it one of the (if not THE) best movies of its year. Its amazing.

 

[Owain Taggart]

Saving Grace, a great British film that's oh so funny. Stars Craig Ferguson.

A widow discovers after her husband's suicide that he has mortgaged everything they own and the banks are ready to foreclose. Faced with impending doom and little working knowledge except her ability to grow plants, she struggles to save her home. Enter her gardener, who is struggling to make a few marijuana plants grow in a hidden location and suggests that she use her green house to help grow the plants and sell them to make the money both need. He is wanting to get married, but needs capital. What he doesn't know is that his girl friend is pregnant and thus fears that they will be busted for growing marijuana. While supposedly working, the whole village including the local constable is well aware of the endeavor and is hoping for their success. When the plants come in, Grace takes the crop to London and tries to sell it to a ruthless, but charming drug dealer. Everything busts loose from there.

 

[RobertScorpio]

Not sure if it was mentioned, by I love THE HIDDEN.

Rob

 

[scotpens]

Peter's Friends

I just LOVE that movie....

My friend, you have taste!

This is going back a bit, but Creation of the Humanoids (1962) is one of my favorite "little" films. Made on a tiny budget with nonstop dialogue, sets that look like stage scenery, and a cast who appear to be soap-opera rejects, it's nonetheless an interesting sci-fi drama with an intelligent script. It's worthy of a remake with modern sets and FX -- although it would probably get turned into a clone of I, Robot or similar crap.

Another favorite of mine is Eight Heads in a Duffel Bag. Not an adolescent gross-out flick as I expected from the title, but a wickedly funny dark comedy. Joe Pesci and Dyan Cannon give standout comic performances. My only complaint is that George Hamilton (who can be VERY funny) wasn't given enough to do.

 

[Tom Hendricks]

The Snapper: Follow up to The Commitments that stars Colm Meaney. Very funny Irish movie about his daughter who gets pregnant and won't tell who the father is.

Ghost Dog: The way of the Samurai. Forrest Whitaker as a samurai hitman. The old Italian mobster whos into rap is a riot.

 

[PKTrekGirl]

I am a Film Movement subscriber, and so I see a fair number of independent/foreign films. Some of my favorites over the years (ones that I have often thought about since) have been:

The Island (Russia) - this was a beautifully photographed film and an almost haunting mystical story about an odd little monk in a remote Russian Orthodox monastery who comes full circle with his own past.

Le Grand Voyage (France/Morocco) - a cross-generational story about a deeply religious Muslim father and his 'modern' non-religious son traveling from France to Mecca for a pilgrimage the father wanted to go on.

For My Father (Israel) - about a would-be suicide bomber who, for various reasons, finds himself having to spend a weekend among the very people he is supposed to blow up.

I love Film Movement films. It's really given me the chance to see lots of films I'd have never even heard of without it!

 

[cardinal biggles]

The Snapper: Follow up to The Commitments that stars Colm Meaney. Very funny Irish movie about his daughter who gets pregnant and won't tell who the father is.

I remember seeing the Siskel & Ebert review of this years ago, and I seem to remember they liked it. Will have to check it out.

Ghost Dog: The way of the Samurai. Forrest Whitaker as a samurai hitman. The old Italian mobster whos into rap is a riot.

My brother keeps trying to get me to watch this. Haven't gotten around to it yet.

 

[Non Sync]

Expiration Date (2006)
Charlie Silvercould III carries around a family curse passed down from his grandfather; death by a milk truck on his 25th birthday. With eight days left, Charlie accepts his fate and starts taking care of his unfinished business, like watering his plants and returning his library books and so on. But while he's out casket hunting, he meets a girl who just won't let him die in peace. (from IMDB)