Independent films worth watching.

[MadKalnod]

Slappy,

"Lock Stock & 2 Smoking Barrels" and "Snatch" are utterly brilliant and hysterical to boot. You've gotta love those English gangsters with colorful names like "Bullet-Tooth Tony" and "Barry the Baptist" (who earned the title by holding debtors underwater until they repent.) I always get an enormous charge out of stories where a half-dozen seemingly unrelated plotlines gradually come closer together until they collide like runaway freight trains by the end.

I was just introduced to a gem called "The Boondock Saints", a black comedy about Irish brothers in South Boston who become vigilantes, and the FBI profiler who isn't sure if he should arrest them or join them. The speech they give at the end warning all those who murder and steal and rape that "One day, ye shall turn and see we three, and on that day, ye shall reap it!" gave me goosebumps. I also love the line where Willem Dafoe as the profiler is examining the crime scene where the Saints have taken out a roomfull of high-level Russian Mafia bosses by (accidentally) dropping through the ceiling vent and opening fire while still hanging upside down from the rope. Flustered, he says: "Bad television is to blame for this. Professionals don't act this way. This James Bond shit just doesn't happen in real life."

 

[Oddjob0226]

Some GREAT titles, there, Slappy! HAPPINESS was so funny and creepy at the same time... seeing Jon Lovitz do drama was neat, too. I don't know if you'd call it independent, but THE YOUNG POISONER'S HANDBOOK was pretty interesting... Did anyone see GHOST WORLD? It came and went so fast.....

 

[Slappy McGee]

thanks....

I appreciate the comments on my movie choices....

I have yet to see ghost world, but have heard good stuff about it... it is out on video now I think..... I'll have to rent it.....

I want to say again how great a movie called "the sweet hereafter" was.... nobody seems to have seen it, or commented on it, but I really liked it... not hard to find... definately check it out...

also, not really an independent film, but considering it was a Disney movie, nobody in their right mind saw "the Straight Story".... until they heard it was a david lynch film, and that it is really great.... if you haven't seen it, check it out... especially if you have siblings... damn movie made me cry 🙂

 

[Slappy McGee]

got another good one for this list....

I saw a movie called "Green" that was really good, check it out if you get the chance.

 

[Nebula45]

Bring it back!

For what my 2 cents is worth, I'd like to add SLC PUNK!, Romper Stomper, The Goonies (is it indie? I wasn't old enough back then to figure out indie films from major studio releases :no points for spelling:🙂, and maybe Full Metal Jacket. SLC Punk! if you like old school punk stuff, Romper Stomper if you like Russel Crowe, Oi music, or Australian stuff, The Goonies is a relly fun movie, and Full Metal Jacket is intense and, at parts funny (sarcasm is my favorite form of comedy).
**A word of caution though, Romper Stomper IS about a$$hole neo-nazi skin heads who pick on Vietnamese immagrants, but in the end, they get theirs, so rest assured**

 

[Ovda]

Chasing Sleep

My brother seems to find all of these independent movies. He came home a few days ago with this rented DVD "Chasing Sleep" starring Jeff Daniels. It was weird.

 

[TicklishPhoebe]

I love indie movies.. that's pretty much all I ever see.
Some of the ones I liked last year were:

Memento (of course)
Scratch
Waking Life
Amores Perros
The Deep End
Hedwig and the Angry Inch
Sexy Beast
Donnie Darko
The Anniversary Party
Series 7

I was unimpressed by Ghost World, but that's just me.
SLC Punk was great!

Pi was awesome, but I think it's because of the Cinematography. If it hadn't been shot in that really stark black and white with all the really tight shots, it wouldn't have had the same impact. I saw it about 6 times.

I loved Lock Stock, Snatch had its moments (Brad Pitt was genius!).

Yes, I'm a *complete* film geek 🙂

 

[P.H. Tickler]

Repo Man

Repo Man (young Emilio Estavez, not sure if it was indie), but it WAS low-budget.)

Gotta agree with SLC punk, great flick, Especially the whole tragic downfall of "Heroin Bob"

Ghost World... ehh, some parts were OK, could have ended better. Maybe they ran out of money and thought the ending adequately wrapped things up.

Bully (not sure if it's indie either) Paints quite the picture of how drugs could screw your life up.

THX1138... YES! Awesome flick, one of the few I decided to buy instead of rent.

Logan's Run... remember that one? c-l-a-s-s-i-c!!

 

[Shaggy]

Here are some "indie" films which I really enjoyed.

Waking Life
Pi
Requiem For A Dream
Novocaine
Amelie
L.I.E. - this one went unnoticed but it was very intriguing highly recommend it but it is definitely not for everyone
Crumb
Mulholland Drive
Eraserhead

 

[Slappy McGee]

I actually just saw ghost world recently and really liked it.... I thought at it's heart it was a story about a girl growing up and realizing there was more to life than she thought....plus, I loved the way steve buscemi's character was so disgusted by all of the "boring" women, reminds me of me!!

 

[Shaggy]

Yes, ghost world was great! I recommend it to everyone.

 

[Flatfoot]

Just a couple movies that come to mind:

Tetsuo: the Iron Man To say this Japanese movie was weird would be the understatement of the year. As I watched it, the lone thought that went through my mind the entire time was, "What the f*ck???" I was confused by everything right down to the dude's "drill penis." (Don't ask. You'd have to see it to understand.) Even though it confused me, I guess it was a pretty cool movie.

Happiness I'm not really sure if this movie was independent or not, but I don't remember seeing it advertised in the theatres. This movie ran a strange sequence of events, similar to Pulp Fiction and Magnolia. I don't really know how to sum this movie up, except to say that it involves a bunch of people who have some serious issues.

Four Rooms A pretty good Quentin Tarantino flick that also had split scenarios, each based on a different room in the same hotel. I'm not quite sure, though, but I think that there was no possible way for the sequence of events to have occurred the way they did in the movie. I'd have to watch it again, to be sure.

 

[TicklishPhoebe]

Tetsuo: the Iron Man To say this Japanese movie was weird would be the understatement of the year.

I love anime!!

Two of my favorites are "Ninja Scroll" and "Wicked City".

There's a new one out, based on Fritz Lang's "Metropolis" that I'm dying to see.

 

[Flatfoot]

Ninja Scroll is one of my favorite animes, too. Unfortunately, I haven't had the opportunity to see Wicked City, yet. Maybe I can find it on Morpheus. The other day, I watched one of the most f*cked up animes I've ever seen. It was called Legend of the Overfiend. I'd have to say it ranks right up there with Tetsuo: the Iron Man in WTF status. Pretty good anime, though.

 

[JohnW]

May I jump in?

I rarely post, but I had to jump in. I also loved Boondock Saints though it was hard to get a copy on DVD after I rented it at the movie store. I also liked Ghostdog:Way of the Samurai. It gets slow in some places, but I liked the overall theme. I don't remember seeing this one posted by anyone, but a good comedy is Happy Texas. I am sure about fifty others will come to mind later but I m blank after these three.

John

 

[babinsky]

.....Wow....Great thread..I'm totally hooked on independant films.
Just about all I watch now are the Sundance Channel and IFC. I can't really add anything to the list that's been mentioned so far, although I saw a good one last nite called "Aimee and Jaguar".Check it out if you get the chance.Also, anything Stanley Kubrick did was considered an independant film.