City of the Living Dead (1980)

Directed by Lucio Fulci

One of the best known directors of Italian horror films, Lucio Fulci's signature is over-the-top scenes of all out gore.  This film manages to deliver a bit more substance than that with an incredible dense helping of spooky atmosphere.  The name of the movie (probably intentionally) makes it sound like some sort of Dawn of The Dead spin-off (or rip-off).  This is fairly misleading though and the mismatched expectations are probably the cause of it's somewhat underrated status.  Although it was released on videotape under the name Gates of Hell, which makes quite a bit more sense.  Because you see, this is a supernatural horror tale involving demonic possession and strange unexplained happenings.  No real zombies in a John Romero sense.  It proceeds in the end into something in the manner of an adventurous quest.  Also has a fantastic soundtrack by Fabio Frizzi.

Trancers (1984)

Directed by Charles Band

Excellent sci-fi adventure movie taking influence from Terminator and Bladerunner. Clearly low budget but the story and acting in the main roles are well done. The main role is played by veteran B actor, Tim Thomerson, who largely carries this movie, he is so good in this part.  Playing opposite is Helen Hunt in one of her earliest roles (funny that both Helen Hunt and Paul Reiser who later played together on the sit-com Mad About You, both started in sci-fi movies in the early careers). There have been a whopping FIVE (and a half) sequels.  I'm not going to say I've seen them, the impressions of others seem fairly poor.  Director Charles Band and Helen Hunt (good sport that she is) returned for the second one but had nothing to do with the increasingly poor follow-ups.

Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome (1985)

Directed by George Miller

The third of George Miller's Mad Max movies, it's definitely not as bad as the fanboys regard it today. Modern fans may be surprised that the contemporary reviews were all very positive for this movie which makes sense given that it basically provides much of the style and thrills similar to The Road Warrior. It suffers mostly from a limp second act that seems to have nothing to do with the rest of the movie. But it's made up for fairly well in the third act with a return to a Road Warrior style chase sequence.  It's most successful in the unique post-apocalyptic world it creates further fleshing out ideas from the previous movies.

The Seven-Ups (1973)

Directed by Philip D'Antoni

Something of an unofficial sequel to The French Connection, directed by the producer of that movie as his first shot sitting in the director's chair.  It's fair to say it does not really live up to the quality of the William Friedkin original.  One of the problems is, Roy Scheider with his perfect Southern California tan, never really is that believable as a tough gritty New York cop.  However, the one standout scene in this movie is the thrilling car chase with stunt driver Bill Hickman.  Bill also did the driving in the famous car chase scenes in Bullitt and The French Connection.  For my money, this one is the best of them all and it's not modern fast-editing, shaky camera, computer aided nonsense.  It's just real, bad-ass, stunt driving.

Where Eagles Dare (1968)

Directed by Brian G. Hutton

This is the 2nd of a total of three Alistair MacLean penned WWII films.  The others being Guns of Navarone, and it's sequel Force 10 from Navarone.  It's notable as a very early example of the sort of frenetic breakneck pace action movie we are familiar with today. They definitely don't make WWII movies like this anymore, that's for sure. Don't examine the details too closely, it's no docu-drama, this is an exciting popcorn action flick.  One of the best.

Raging Bull (1980)

Directed by Martin Scorsese

The story of boxer Jake LaMotta from his fighting years to his later years as a nightclub owner.  It might just be Scorsese's best picture.  Great story, great storytelling, looks brilliant.  Uses the black and white to maximum effect.  Scorsese often tells stories about violent characters that don't fit into society that well.  This is one of the best examples.

Spartacus (1960)

Directed by Stanley Kubrick

A huge blockbuster success at the time of it's release and when it was re-released in 1967, you could say it has something of a slightly diminished status today.  It's shelved under that dust covered category known as "classic film" and not much thought of anymore.  This is unfortunate because this is one of the original action filled epics that many others are modeled on.  Watching it today it really doesn't seem dated, everything in the movie looks fantastic, the scenes have all the appropriate impact.  It compares quite favorably to modern films in the epic genre.

Stanley Kubrick had a particularly difficult time working with Kirk Douglas on this film (who was also the producer).  He felt his work was being compromised, and as a result had a sour feeling about the project forever after.  Because of this it is often left out of retrospectives and collections of the director's work.  This is really too bad, it may not be a work of pure vision by Kubrick but it is still an excellent film.  Charles Laughton, Peter Ustinov, and Laurence Olivier all turn in fantastic performances (Ustinov won a best supporting actor Oscar).

So yes, the movie is missing some of the Kubrick style, particularly the script which is what Kubrick had most contention with, but his stamp is definitely evident.  Kubrick's eye for period detail is what really comes through.  The final battle scene is literally awesome. The long shot of thousands of soldiers marching over the hill is very very impressive (especially when seen in a theater with a really big screen). A very good job was done to give the impression of the Romans as the evil empire with a lot of help from Olivier's General Crassus. You can see the influence of this movie on a lot of later big blockbusters like Braveheart, Gladiator, and Conan The Barbarian.

Eight Iron Men (1952)

Directed by Edward Dmytryk

Very rarely seen movie, it doesn't appear to have gotten any sort of proper release on home video.  It's reputation is basically non-existent.  It's actually pretty good, I don't know why it's so poorly distributed and rarely talked about.  This is a human drama with tension and suspense, not a run and gun WWII action flick.  It's in a similar vein to something like Stalag 17.  The characters are well developed and drive the plot along nicely.  Lee Marvin, in his biggest role up to that time, plays the gruff Sergeant of the outfit.

The film is based on a stage play.  Incredibly enough, the guy who played the Sergeant in the stage version was none other than Burt Lancaster.  It was this role that was responsible for him being noticed and working in Hollywood soon after.

The Woman in the Window (1944)

Directed by Fritz Lang

This is one of the best film noir that Fritz Lang directed.  Much better than the over-hyped Scarlet Street which had the same main cast of Ed G. Robinson, Joan Bennett and Dan Duryea.  A great example of the genre, it has all the identifiers associated with film noir and builds to a conversation piece of a conclusion.  Some love it some hate it (the ending that is).  Worth seeing so as to judge for yourself.

All the President's Men (1976)

Directed by Alan J. Pakula

This is the fairly incredible behind the scenes story of how to reporters at The Washington Post broke the Watergate story (and the rest is history).  Here's the the thing about this movie though, it came out basically a year after the events of the Watergate scandal unfolded.  Because the scandal played out in headlines across country, pretty much everyone was very familiar with all the main players in the scandal.  This makes for the main fault of the movie today: If you didn't live through Watergate, read a book about it, or happen to be a poli-sci major, you really don't know who all these players are (and there are a lot of them) and the movie doesn't bother to explain it.  It's not so much the story of the Watergate scandal itself, but the story of the investigative journalism that lead to the story.

Rear Window (1954)

Directed by Alfred Hitchcock

I have a rather big problem with this movie, in that I really just did not find the plot convincing.  To me, the events Stewart's character observes did not spell out any real cause for alarm or any reason to suspect anything.  You really just cannot possibly know what is happening from such small glimpses into another person's life.  

So anyway, even though I didn't really buy the story here, there is so much to admire about this film.  The way it is shown entirely from the perspective of the one character's room, and how there is no music in the movie except what his neighbor (a composer) is playing on the piano. Very clever. And you have to admire the craft of the wonderfully constructed set that comprises the rear window view. It's a small world unto itself.

And of course there is the simple fact of, Jimmy Stewart. 

The Royal Tenenbaums (2001)

Directed by Wes Anderson

Essentially an homage to golden-age Hollywood rise-and-fall epics like Magnificent Ambersons but with a large dose of whimsy. The movie is packed with stylistic ideas that at the time no one had really seen put together in this way.  The writing, like that of his peers Noah Baumbach and Whit Stillman, seems most influenced by the light comedic air of 60s french film.  The retro style, very fresh and inventive at the time, is what Wes Anderson has come to be known for.  This is the original vision where it all first really came together.  And it stands as probably his best film to this day.

It actually manages to deal with some real human themes that ring very true.  The characters all yearn for some idealized past time in their past when everything seemed right.  But they learn that as much as you may want to, the past is gone, you can't go back to it.  In a way, Wes Anderson's idealized 60s/70s style mirrors the character's trip into nostalgia.  He is taking us along on his own nostalgia trip.  But like the Tenenbaum family have to eventually move on from rumination on the past, he acknowledges the past while moving on to something new.

Bonnie and Clyde (1967)

Directed by Arthur Penn

The famous outlaws are given a revisionist treatment that attempts to give them some moral justification and emotional depth that seems to sit more comfortably in the 60s than the 30s.  Watching it today, when we are used to seeing multi-dimensional difficult characters, it's all a little too much to be very believable.  And god, Faye Dunaway is just awful.  She can never just play the part in a way that serves the overall film.  Every scene she's in she tries to steal it with a bunch of pretentious over-acting.

At the time it was seen as shockingly violent.  As much as I hate to build the impression that older things can't measure up to that of today, these days it would merely be par for the course.  No child of the 80s or later would even flinch at anything shown here.

The Bat People (1974)

Directed by Jerry Jameson

This actually has the distinct dishonor of being in the Bottom-100 rated films on IMDB. While yes, it is a bad movie, I wouldn't actually say it's that bad.  Unlike many well known perfectly awful sci-fi and horror movies, there is actually a somewhat coherent plot here, and it does contain some scenes that are genuinely entertaining.  I mean, it has a car chase.  And it's actually a pretty good car chase.  There are of course many unintentionally ridiculous and hilarious moments, but it remains fairly watchable throughout the whole movie.

Mommie Dearest (1981)

Directed by Frank Perry
 

Based on Christina Crawford's tell-all memoir of the same name dealing with her abusive relationship with her mother: Joan Crawford. Faye Dunaway as Joan, gives one of the most dreadfully over-acted performances in history. Instead of trying to give an accurate portrayal of child abuse, or making any attempt at giving a screen legend a fair and balanced portrait, showing her accomplishments along with her faults, what we get is this controversy baiting picture with very little resemblance to the actual subject. People familiar with Crawford's movies won't find much to recognize of the iconic actress here. Dunaway's Crawford is a grotesque cartoon more similar to Cruella de Vil than any real person. Her over-acting is so absurd it succeeds in making a joke of something that should be no laughing matter, the serious subject of child abuse. The validity of the claims of the memoir become irrelevant in the face of such an unbelievably over the top performance. I defy you not to bust out laughing at some of the scenes of this movie. Not surprisingly this has rendered the movie a significant cult hit because like a train-wreck it can be difficult to look away.

Lady In The Lake (1947)

Directed by Robert Montgomery

This Philip Marlowe hard-boiled detective (or whatever you call Marlowe) story is seriously underrated in my oh-so-humble opinion.  It relies on a somewhat gimmicky first person camera technique which some people don't care for.  I thought it was actually done very well (considering the limits of the technology it's amazing really).  Robert Montgomery is a fairly decent Marlowe, he leans heavy on the wise-cracking but that's his wheelhouse and it works for him.  It also doesn't hurt that there's a lot of great looking women in the movie.

Showgirls (1995)

Directed by Paul Verhoeven

There has been so much already said about this movie, it's one of these movies that is surrounded by so much extra discussion and controversy, it's difficult to touch on it all.  Something of a minor cultural phenomenon when released for many reasons it has maintained a legacy of ignominy.  As a person who was there when it came out I can maybe share a little of the response to it at the time.  Controversy baiting from the start, it grabbed attention for two things at the time of it's release: first, it had an almost unheard of NC-17 rating, and second, it starred Elizabeth Berkley who at this time was known for the tween to teen sit-com Saved By The Bell.  It got fairly bad reviews but was mostly known as just being this borderline illicit film for years afterward.

A couple things have happened since, the Rocky Horror crowd have re-framed it as a camp comedy ripe for derision which essentially gave it what you might call, well, fans.  This gave some momentum for cult film fans to take a second look at it.  Verhoeven is already well regarded amongst this group and so people have begun to reassess it.  It can either be seen as his one great fluke or a misunderstood masterpiece.

So is it actually as bad as it's come to be known?  Did Verhoeven and writer Esterhaus intentionally set out to make a trashy camp masterpiece?  Or were they suffering from blood-loss to the head while making a film about exotic dancers?  Probably a bit of both honestly.  They were definitely going for a sort of high production value sex-romp dram-edy.  There are moments of obviously intended comedy that are actually quite funny.  But then there are many elements and scenes that are simply inexplicably awful or just leave you scratching your head.  It creates this hilarious mixed-bag of what-the-hell-were-they-thinking.  You have to view it as an ultimately flawed but fascinating film.

The Fearless Vampire Killers (1967)

Directed by Roman Polanski

Very sort of broad european quality to the humor but nonetheless a fairly great horror/comedy about an absent minded vampire hunter, Professor Abronsius, and his young assistant.  Directed and co-starring Roman Polanski and featuring his future wife Sharon Tate.  Beautifully shot film.  They really created a fantastic character with Professor Abronsius, you will wish there were more vampire movies with him.  How great would it be if Polanski made a sequel to this movie today.

Interstellar (2014)

Directed by Christopher Nolan

Clearly influenced by 2001: A Space Odyssey, and other space epics. Actually does a fairly good job; it's one of the best sci-fi epics in recent years. There are some fantastic cinematic moments. Kind of bungles the ending by drawing it out way too long, stretching suspension of disbelief well beyond the breaking point, all just to drive home some mawkish sentimental nonsense.  But the actual space adventure portion is pretty great.

Flash Gordon (1980)

Directed by Mike Hodges

Very much a spiritual successor to campy space adventure Barbarella with a little bit of Star Wars influence thrown in the mix.  The link would be producer Dino De Laurentiis.  Fun Fun Fun.  Loads of great people in here and a soundtrack by Queen!  One of the films mentioned in the documentary on Jodorowsky's Dune.

Planet of the Vampires (1965)

Directed by Mario Bava

Has the distinction of having some plot elements that seemed to influence Dan O'Bannon when working on Alien.  Even though some like to claim Ridley Scott "ripped off" this movie, in reality it's in no way as similar as that and it's not clear that he was aware of this obscure film (he was not really a sci-fi fan).  Alien must be considered a highly original work any way you look at it.

Other than that, this is a somewhat plodding, dull sci-fi suspense thriller.  Very low budget, and looks it.  Although it does have some half-way interesting production design.  If you want to see an older sci-fi film that still stands up today, I would recommend Forbidden Planet.  It's almost 10 years older than this movie and looks far better.

Isle of the Dead (1945)

Directed by Mark Robson

This is one of a few horror movies that were produced by Val Lewton.  It's an interesting psychological sort of horror film.  You're never sure if things are what they seem or if everyone's just going crazy.

Scarlet Street (1945)

Directed by Fritz Lang

Fritz Lang film-noir that would be all but forgotten if not for a shocking murder scene that got the movie banned in the US for years. The usually dependable Ed G. Robinson puts in one of the poorer performances of his career.

Sunset Blvd. (1950)

Directed by Billy Wilder

Billy Wilder's tale of a desperate screenwriter's reluctant involvement with a faded silent film star has become a classic of american film.  I wont bother explaining all the ways it's permeated popular culture.  The eerie atmosphere full of gloom that hangs over every scene marks it as very noir indeed. Norma Desmond is an eccentric recluse, at once manipulative and pitiful.  Wilder has a habit of maybe trying to tie up all the loose ends a little to tight at the end but it's probably fine here.

The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014)

Directed by Wes Anderson

This was essentially a return for Wes Anderson to the Life Aquatic style ensemble piece.  Like Life Aquatic, it's a bit all over the place with various plot threads until it ends up at a something that draws this age of adventure to a close.  Comparisons will naturally be drawn to the ensemble style of Grand Hotel (1932), the train miniatures (and similar hotel antics) of The Lady Vanishes (1938), and the uniforms from the Prisoner of Zenda (1937).  However, you may be surprised to learn it's all supposed to be based on the real life of author Stefan Zweig.