Lesser known movie rental recommendation thread
 

Anytime I want to rent a movie, I feel like I've seen every movie that I really think I would want to see (I at least feel this way for movies from 1970 onward; still some older ones that I haven't gotten around to seeing but am working on that).

I figured it might help to have a place for people to recommend movies that it's likely a lot of people may not have seen. Even though I'm sure there will be a lot of recommendations for movies that I've already seen (since I watch a ton of movies), it might help others in finding some stuff to rent, and I'm sure I'll find a few good ideas too.

I'll start off with some that I saw of the lesser known movies (may not all be very obscure) I've rented this year that I enjoyed (not saying these are all great movies, but I enjoyed them enough to recommend them):

Uprising (drama about Jews in the Warsaw ghetto)
Shattered Glass
The Statement (Michael Caine)
Charlotte Gray (Cate Blanchett)
The United States of Leland
You Can Count on Me
Good Bye Lenin (German flick)
The Human Stain (Anthony Hopkins)
City of God (Brazilian flick; it's in Portuguese, but even if you don't like foreign flicks, you MUST give this one a chance; one of the best movies to be made in the past few years; probably not that obscure due to Oscar nominations and positive word of mouth)

love me if you dare
before sunrise / before sunset
wonder boys

Great movie. I think the reason I like it so much is that I'm a journalism major.

Inspiried by events at my alma mater!! Oh wait, that's not something to be proud of...


:crazy:

We Married Margo (good luck finding it)
Grand Theft Parsons (funny)
American Movie (amusing documentary)
Full Time Killer (good Jap action flick)
The Storm Riders (another good Jap action flick)
The Duel (^ Ditto)
Slam

Eh I can't think right now. Maybe more will come to me.

Asta!!

Monster man, its a spoof kind of horror movie. It was straight to video, but it was still funny as hell.

"Visitor Q" and "Happiness of the Katakuris" Directed by Takasi Miike.
"The Princess and the Warrior" with the girl from Run Lola Run.

Roller Blade Warriors. A must see :)

I keep seeing that in the video store and passing it up, deciding to rent it later. Might make that my next rental. Thanks for the rec

The Quiet American
The Station Agent
The Ladykillers (the 1955 original)
American Splendor

Agree with all regarding Shattered Glass.
I also recommend:
The Cooler
21 Grams

Beyond the Mat
Pleasantville - not sure if that's not well known enough
Donnie Darko
Happiness

also a wonderful French film I can't think of the name of! I'll look it up and tell you!

the basic plot is - a professional killer kidnaps a brain damaged girl because he believes she can identify him, but he falls in love with (she is utterly responsive, and only seems to care for chocolate.. he ends up killing his girlfriend to protect her)... its a lot more than that, its v good.

Check out Ping Pong

Confidence. A well done "con" movie.

Awesome movie, but I'm not so sure it's lesser known anymore. Seems like everybody has seen it (now at least), but people still think of it as a hidden jem.

You're probably thinking of
chocolat, right ?

Thanks for all great recommendations, everyone.

Here's some of mine [sorry if they're too mainstream, oh well]
Waking life
L.A. Twister [not sure if it's out on dvd yet]
welcome to the dollhouse

nooo....

its a French (or maybe Spanish) movie... (with subtitbles) the main character is a vicious professional killer, and it would be very difficult to think of his relations with the girl in any other terms than sexual abuse...

Im pretty sure chocolat is a romance film.

Agreed. The Japanese movie intustry has produced some movies of very impressive quality ofer the past 8 or so years. I recently enjoyed Star Runner and The Reaturner, both good examples of decent Japense action movies.

Baraka- it has no words, but is fucking amazing, it is mostly a bunch of stunning visuals.

I don't know if your video store has a documentary section, the one i go to has a very respectable one, and it is in this section where i usually end up. The 7 - up series is interesting. It follows the lives of different people, checking in with them every seven years. I think they just recently made 35-up.

Kid Colter - a movie I saw as a teen. It's about a boy that survives on his own in the wilderness after being chased by killers. (or something to that effect)

I've been wanting to see The Returner! A guy at the movie store in another town told me his friend saw it and really enjoyed it. I'm not familiar with Star Runner though. Perhaps I'll have to keep an eye out for it. Japanaction is just so much fresher than the overproduced, overchoreographed action in american big money hollywood blockbusters.

Asta!!

K-Wise, both Returner and Star Runner are available at MOST Blockbuster Video rental stores. Otherwise, they are available from amazon.com.

BTW, Star Runner: From Daniel Lee, director of Jet Li's Black Mask and The Master Swordsman, comes this visceral boxing action drama starring Vanness Wu from the super hit Taiwanese pop group F4 and Korean superstar Kim Hyun-joo. After a heartbreaking romance, Kim travels to Hong Kong to become a language teacher. One of her students, Bond (Wu), is a boxer whose dream is to compete against his idol, Tank, an untouchable fighter in the world of freestyle boxing. Filled with Lee's trademark visual exuberance, bravura editing, and exciting action sequences.

I didn't believe that Vanness Wu from F4 could act either. He surprised me.

MM movies are my passion :-D
Let's see

Four Rooms - I recently watched this movie, and it has a really cool twist because each of the four room sequences were directed by different people :-D
Life as a House (not sure how obscure..but still beautiful)
Johnny Dangerously - I just find it a pleasant change from all this "bathroom humor" in the new comedy movies
CLERKS _::sigh:: I love Kevin Smith (his OLDER stuff)

Oh..if you are looking for incredibly awesome older movies...I would HIGHLY recommend A Streetcar Named Desire. It is an incredible story and unbelievable acting

Wow...it's sad that I really can't think of anything else right now...I'll sleep on it or something

I loved 'Beyond Rangoon' ~ I am not a Patricia Arquette fan, so it took me a while to get bored enough to watch it.... I was so glad I did. It is very moving and an incredible depiction of post 1988 Burma.

Hear My Song -- great British comedy from about ten years ago. A fun "road" movie with a lot of off-the-wall humor. Not real fast or violent, just a real good time.

The Advocate -- Comedy of manners set in medieval times about an idealistic French lawyer who leaves France to practice in the "peaceful" countryside, and runs into murder, sex, witchcraft, gypsies, international cartels, sex, the plague, and sex (and did I say sex?)

Dreamchild -- surreal semi-bio of Lewis Carrol and the "real" Alice in Wonderland, down with mucho flashbacks, reality bending, and giant horrific muppets. Highly recommended.

More good road pictures: Roadside Saints, Smoke Signals, and (what the hell) Chopper Chicks in Zombie Town, a Troma classic that everybody should see, for some reason.

Wow Star Runner sounds awesome. I'm definitely gonna have to see if I can get this movie. The Returner as well.

Asta!!

Someone mentioned Waking Life. That is an awesome film. It's a cartoon, so you go into it expecting to be entertained. However, aproximately five minutes into it, you will need to restart the movie, as it is so intelligent and complex, you will find yourself completely taken off gaurd. It is more serious and thought-provoking than anything else out there. Be prepared to be impressed. And be prepared to pay attention.

"Before the Rain"

Boondock Saints
Equilibrium
Canniable The musical

Lesser known but some of the best.

I think this may be somewhat mainstream but I really enjoyed
'Searching For Bobby Fischer.' and wouldn't hesitate to reccomend it.

Some lesser known B movies at your local video store which pretty good: Poolhall Junkies & Shade

Another vote for boondock saints. Evidently there's a second movie in the works.

If you like Brit thrillers, get your hands on 28days. Guy wakes up in hospital with the place empty. Eerie to see London totally devoid of life.

Another funny werewolf movie is Dog Soldiers with some great chracter acting. Very true to form with all the typical brit accents and footie fan references. Good one for the weekend with some buddies.

My own private Idaho (River Phoenix and Keanu Reeves. Dir. by Gus Van sandt)
Quite a disturbing movie with Phoenix having narcolpepsy where he falls asleep when faced with acute stress. Weird too as a portion of Shakespeare's HenryIV, Part1 is dropped right in the middle of the movie. (Roll up folks, Keanu's other Shakespearean role!) A movie that's guaranteed to leave you feeling much better off about your own fucked-up life. "There, but for the grace of god, go I."

listed in no order as a function of procrastination:

freaks
scent of camphor, fragrance of jasmine
kwaidan
where the wind will take us
wisconsin death trip
wages of fear
le cercle rouge

Tully
Ginger Snaps
Amores Perros

"The Princess and the Warrior" is good, but it isn't as good as "Run Lola Run". On the other hand, "Heaven" (starring Cate Blanchett) is very good, better than Run Lola Run. (All are by the same director). Other movies:

Smiles of a Summer Night
Samurai Fiction
To Have and Have not (first Bogie/Bacall movie)

Saw Heaven a few months ago. Really good. I love Cate Blanchett in anything anyways, but I really enjoyed it.

Strange, I don't think Donnie Darko qualifies. I've heard so many people cream themselves over it that I have an easier time remembering it than movies that I actually WANT to see that are coming out.

Some that aren't so much "lesser known" as just "old and forgotten":

Commando (best one-liners of all time)
Blazing Saddles (Mel Brooks is a genius)
Hot Shots Part Deux (not that old, but I never hear people speak of it)

GREAT movie

the remake, Sorcerer, with Roy Scheider is pretty good too (not nearly as good though)

some great recommendations so far (many of which I've seen, some which I've been meaning to see, and some I never heard of). adding some to my netflix queue now

Blazing Saddles old and forgotten? Old maybe... but never forgotten.

"No thank you: fifteen is my limit on schnitzengruben."