Recommend me some movies and TV series!

[Stigmata]

It has occurred to me that I don't watch many movies or TV shows. So I'm starting to amass a collection of shows and movies that I want to watch.

I currently have, or am currently legally obtaining*:

Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film For Theaters
Azumanga Daioh (series)
Batman Begins
Being John Malkovich
Brazil
Penn & Teller; Bullshit! (series)
Children of Men
Event Horizon
Firefly (series)
Freakazoid (series)
FLCL (series)
Gattaca
Idiocracy
Leon
The Man From Earth
Memento
The Office (US) (series)
Pan's Labyrinth
Reservoir Dogs
Secretary
Serenity
Shawshank Redemption
Solaris
Stalker
Sunshine

And these are the TV series that I'm planning on obtaining soon:

30 Rock
Battlestar Galactica
Breaking Bad
Dexter
Firefly
Freaks and Geeks
Jericho
Venture Brothers
The Wire

So now I come to you, Helplife2.net, to give me more titles to purchase* and watch. I'm open to all genres and styles, but I ask that every suggestion is a) awesome in at least one way, and b) intellectually stimulating (preferred, but optional; B-movies and comedies are excepted).

*factual accuracy not guaranteed

 

[Tollbooth Willie]

I TOLD YOU TO ****ING DOWNLOAD CRITTERS 1 THROUGH 3!








Bitch.

 

[MFD00M]

I recommend Lost.

 

[Sulkdodds]

Wrong forum, Stig. Surely you know better.

For TV series, I'd really recommend Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex and Neon Genesis Evangelion, even if, especially if, you aren't normally much of an anime fan. They are really rather good. This is even more true of Cowboy Bebop, which has so many western influences and motifs that it hardly feels like a full-blood anime at all, but rather as if it were an american imitation, albeit a consummately wonderful one.

Films? Get hold of Donnie Darko, The Truman Show, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, The War Game (downloadable), Threads, Primer, Shadow of the Vampire, Heat, Rushmore, The Life Aquatic and The Thing - that is, if you haven't already.

 

[:~:FaR:~:AwAy:~:]

I noticed 'action' is a main genra up there. ^^

Resident Evil {one and three are the best. Two is kind of a waste of time but it sets up where three takes place -.-;}

Bleach {anime}

I Am Legend

and there's more, but my mom's deathglaring at me for not doing housework ^^;;;;

 

[Harryz]

And these are the TV series that I'm planning on obtaining soon:

I really recommend Dexter and Arrested Development. Also, someone who enjoyed Soderbergh's Solaris? Such an underrated movie.

 

[B_MAN]

Lost.

 

[Stigmata]

I recommend Lost.

I'm interested, but it's such a massive undertaking (four seasons of hour-long episodes) that it'll have to wait for a bit

Wrong forum, Stig. Surely you know better.

<snip>

Momentary lapse of various critical faculties in the brain

I've seen Evangelion, which was fantastic, and I've seen a few episodes of GitS, which seemed like a show I would enjoy immensely. Cowboy Bebop goes on the list too. I own Donnie Darko (loved it), but about two thirds of the movies you recommended are ones I've been meaning to see for a while. Thanks!

<snip>

Seen them all

I really recommend Dexter and Arrested Development. Also, someone who enjoyed Soderbergh's Solaris? Such an underrated movie.

Dexter goes on the list as well, thanks. I own all three seasons of Arrested Development, and it's probably my favourite sitcom of all time. Solaris is being downloaded but I think I'll like it a lot. Is it anything like Sunshine?

 

[Daggett]

scrubs.

 

[Sulkdodds]

Yeah, I figured there might be some redundancy, especially with stuff like Donnie Darko.

Extra recommendations: Anastasia (the animated film. srsly), Bloody Sunday, Nausicaa of the Valley of the Winds, The Conversation, The Queen, and, if you can find it, the 1973 film of Harold Pinter's The Homecoming.

Also, it's not exactly a film, but now seems like a good time to mention a comic, an absolutely huge one, called Cerebus the Aardvaark. It begins as a fairly poor, if amusing, Conan parody, but quite swiftly becomes an acutely clever and eventually groundbreaking adventure into politics, religion, ideology, and a lot of serious stuff - and at the same time continues getting funnier and funnier. Of course, at 300 issues and 25-odd years long, it could never be kept up, and indeed the author, Dave Sim, eventually went nutso and became a raving misogynist. This affected his work, and Cerebus started lapsing far too often into a leaden treatise of the author's own personal stupid theories. Nevertheless, much of it, especially the early arcs, is worth reading. I would not want to give a lunatic like Dave Sim my money, much less the amount of money that would be required to get hold of every issue of the comic. Luckily, I do believe that if you look around you'll find it's available for download...give it some thought.

 

[Harryz]

Dexter goes on the list as well, thanks. I own all three seasons of Arrested Development, and it's probably my favourite sitcom of all time. Solaris is being downloaded but I think I'll like it a lot. Is it anything like Sunshine?

It has the same sort of atmosphere and its quite slow moving movie that relies on tension, acting and a good script. But Cliff Martinez soundtrack gives it a meditative alien-esque feel to it.

Bloody Sunday, The Conversation, .

Had both of these for a while and been meaning to watch them.

 

[:~:FaR:~:AwAy:~:]

You've seen them all? :O I've seen half of the list ^^^ up there too Firefly, Serenity, Batman Begins, Dexter, Pan's Labyrinth.

 

[Sulkdodds]

Don't forget Downfall and L.A. Confidential.

 

[Emporius]

Weeds - It's such an awesome show. Funny, witty, smart, with just a bit stupidity thrown in for good measure.

 

[Direwolf]

How about hitting some of the classics with the genres you're interested in? Have you ever seen Alien and Aliens? Both are highly recommended.

 

[MJ12]

I TOLD YOU TO ****ING DOWNLOAD CRITTERS 1 THROUGH 3!








Bitch.

I f*cking lol'd

 

[kupocake]

The loss of the following DVDs from the House collection would cause great wailing and we might have to go through the painful process of talking to each other.

Blackadder, Black Books, Brass Eye The Day Today, Futurama, Look Around You, Red Dwarf and Spaced. A big British Bias, but whatever

One programme you may consider purchasing: a little known sitcom called 'The Simpsons'. It's this crazy American show about this big yellow man who is really stupid and he has a spikey son who is bad and a wife with big blue hair and there's this guy with a bone sticking in his head and a teenager with a squeaky voice. Oh you've seen it? But seriously, if someone in my house walks into the lounge when the Simpsons is on they do not leave despite knowing the episode well enough to chant it in a way that would get most Italian families on the phone to their local exorcist. Yes the first three seasons don't hold up, and anything beyond series 8 is very unstable ground, but The Simpsons is still the best sitcom ever created no matter how cool it looks to say otherwise. The episodes from the best seasons are constantly on TV, but the DVDs still get played a heck of a lot.

Then you have the trendy American drama serials that seem to be popular these days and are generally so addictive that I make a concious effort not to watch them, 24 and Lost being the only ones I ever got into. Band of Brothers was great as well, though I feel kind of strangely disrespectful putting it alongside the antics of Jack 'Bad Enough Dude' Bauer.

If you can really stomach anime (shame on you), I could probably recommend something, though in all honesty, I'm crap at recommending any because whilst I've seen a lot, nearly half of it is Gundam and accordingly, nearly half of it is actually, genuinely really just plain rubbish. If I was to recommend something to someone who has seen a little Anime, I'd say The Vision of Escaflowne since no-one I've ever recommended it to has ever disliked it. No one has ever fallen head over heals in love with it either, but that's besides the point. Oh watch some Studio Ghibli films too. You'll end up doing so sooner or later anyway.

 

[Bad^Hat]

Nausicaa of the Valley of the Winds

You can't recommend this without also mentioning Princess Mononoke (my personal fav Ghibli film, not to mention favourite animated anything), Spirited Away (has the best animation and biggest imagination of the Ghibli films imo), and to a lesser extent, Kiki's Delivery Service and Laputa. Howl's Moving Castle isn't bad either, but I thought it was the most cliched of the lot, and it seemed to ride a bit too much on the coattails of the films before it.

Also, holy shit, I nearly forgot Grave of the Fireflies. Get get get.

As for other stuff...

Series - Band of Brothers (DO EET), Black Books, The Office (UK), Little Britain (maybe just the first season). For anime, give Full Metal Alchemist a try, as well as Death Note. Not for everyone but you'll know if you're into them within the first 5-10 episodes (FMA takes a little while to get off the ground after the first 2 eps). If you end up finishing FMA, the movie is essential too.

Movies - Lost In Translation, The Beach, Ringu (the original), Infernal Affairs (again, the original, try to see this one before The Departed), Pleasantville, Three Kings, Battle Royale, City of God, The Castle. Ong-Bak and Fearless are great for some kung-funess. If old samurai flicks are your thing, check out some Akira Kurosawa - Yojimbo and Sanjuro are a good place to start. The Lone Wolf and Cub series of films is also suitably gory, not to mention in colour. Drawing a blank on anything else, even though I've watched my share...

Oh, get some Bill Hicks stand-up if you haven't. One Night Stand, Relentless and Revelations are all good, as well as his audio albums (based on what I've heard).





Hmm.... yep, that should about do it.

 

[Ennui]

Must-have TV series (all of these are essential and ****ing awesome):
Firefly
Battlestar Galactica
Planet Earth
Band of Brothers
Freaks and Geeks
Weeds
Breaking Bad

Movies:
2001 - A Space Odyssey
28 Days Later
28 Weeks Later
300
A Clockwork Orange
A Scanner Darkly
Akira
Aladdin
Alien
Aliens
Altered States
American Beauty
American History X
American Psycho
Apocalypto
Apocalypse Now
Army of Darkness
Battle Royale
Black Hawk Down
Blade Runner
Blood Diamond
The Big Lebowski
Bomb the System
Borat
The Boondock Saints
The Bourne Identity
The Bourne Supremacy
The Bourne Ultimatum
Brazil
Brick
Casino Royale
Children of Men
City of God
Cool Hand Luke
Contact
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
Cube
Cube 2: Hypercube
Cube Zero
Das Boot
Deliverance
The Departed
Donnie Darko
Drugstore Cowboy
Enemy at the Gates
Equilibrium
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
Fight Club
The Fountain
Garden State
The Godfather
The Godfather Part II
Gone in Sixty Seconds
Good Will Hunting
Goodfellas
The Green Mile
Half Baked
Harold and Kumar Go To White Castle
Hero
High Fidelity
Hot Fuzz
Hotel Rwanda
Ichi the Killer
Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
Inside Man
Jurassic Park
Kill Bill Vol. 1
Kill Bill Vol. 2
Knocked Up
La Haine
Little Miss Sunshine
Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels
Lost in Translation
The Lord of the Rings
Magnolia
The Matrix
Memento
Minority Report
The Motorcycle Diaries
O Brother, Where Art Thou
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
Pan’s Labyrinth
Pi
Pirates of the Caribbean
The Princess Bride
Pulp Fiction
Reservoir Dogs
Requiem for a Dream
Saving Private Ryan
Schindler’s List
Serenity
The Shawshank Redemption
Sin City
Snatch
Star Wars
Starship Troopers
Stranger than Fiction
Sunshine
Super Troopers
This Is England
Trainspotting
Twelve Monkeys
Waking Life

 

[MJ12]

Eraserhead.

 

[Daggett]

Army of Darkness could possibly be the greatest movie of all time.
Bruce Campbell is my hero.

Also, if you could get a copy of Johnny Tsunami you need to watch that shit.
but I'm sure every kid ever has seen that.

 

[Dynasty]

Series:
Prison Break
Band Of Brothers

Films:
What Ennui said.

 

[Sulkdodds]

Man when summer comes around I'm just going to use this thread myself.

 

[Eejit]

Series: Rome, Bablyon 5 (gets teh aweshens better after season 1), Father Ted, Stargate, Smallville, Spaced.

Films: Ben Hur, Zulu, Spartacus, The Princess Bride, Willow, The Three Amigos, Goodfellas, The Godfather, Goldeneye, Michael Collins, Ghostbusters.

 

[Lucid]

House M.D. (Hilarious medical drama, I've actually learned quite a bit from this show.)

The Mist(Awesome horror movie, from the guy who did Shawshank Redemption<I have yet to watch this> and Green Mile<Also awesome>)

Se7en(If you've ever played Condemned, this movie wreaks of the atmosphere of the that game.)

Apocalypse Now + Redux(A personal favorite movie for me, the best film I have ever seen. It's a little on the long side... but it's so good, the music... camera work... colors used... all fantastic. If you've ever read Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad, it's based off that book... but set during 'Nam)

Indiana Jones Trilogy(Surely you've seen these?! These are right next to Apocalypse Now as my most favorite films of all time.)

Iron Man(Go see this at the movies. Seriously.)

I'd suggest more but I've got work in half an hour.

 

[Sulkdodds]

You know, I'd really like to watch Redux again, but not all of it, you know? There are some scenes I'd like to see next time I watch Apocalypse Now, but there are others I'd rather not have to trawl through again...it isn't that I dislike any of them particularly on their own, I just don't want to watch ALL the extended bits at the same time.

Don't you wish there was a Make-Your-Own-Apocalypse DVD? Like, a version of Apocalypse Now where you could choose what scenes to have in and what scenes to not have in, remixing the film for your own pleasure, maybe with just one extended scene, maybe with two...that would be nice.

 

[Lucid]

You know, I'd really like to watch Redux again, but not all of it, you know? There are some scenes I'd like to see next time I watch Apocalypse Now, but there are others I'd rather not have to trawl through again...it isn't that I dislike any of them particularly on their own, I just don't want to watch ALL the extended bits at the same time.

Don't you wish there was a Make-Your-Own-Apocalypse DVD? Like, a version of Apocalypse Now where you could choose what scenes to have in and what scenes to not have in, remixing the film for your own pleasure, maybe with just one extended scene, maybe with two...that would be nice.

Not really, I actually prefer Redux, probably because it was the first version that I saw.

The scene at the French Plantation is a personal fav. of mine, it's just interesting hearing them argue.

 

[Deleted member 56031]

For TV series, I'd really recommend Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex and Neon Genesis Evangelion, even if, especially if, you aren't normally much of an anime fan. They are really rather good. This is even more true of Cowboy Bebop, which has so many western influences and motifs that it hardly feels like a full-blood anime at all, but rather as if it were an american imitation, albeit a consummately wonderful one.

This

Also I recommend House M.D. best ****ing show on TV without a doubt :thumbs:

Cube 2: Hypercube
Cube Zero

:| :|

 

[Cavalry]

24
The Killpoint


The Killpoint

do it

The Killpoint
f*cking awesome mini-series The Killpoint was

 

[Lucid]

Don't even bother with 24 unless you're just going to watch Seasons 4 + 5, other than those it's dog shit.

 

[Kadayi]

Plenty of good suggestions down already. TV shows:-

The Wire (best TV Drama that's finished)
LOST
BSG
Mad Men (best TV drama still going)
Deadwood (2nd best TV drama that's finished)

There are more, but there's plenty of watching to be done there.

 

[stintage]

House M.D
A Bit Of Fry And Laurie
Doctor Who
Torchood
Death Note
Futurama
Also If you like Azumanga Then you should watch Pani Poni Dash
Boondocks
Primeval
Ali G Show
A Nightmare On Elm Street (You Can ''Legally Obtain'' The complete collection)
Space Ghost
HEY ARNOLD.....lol
And LOST if you dont mind cliffhangers

 

[Sheepo]

House
The Office (earlier stuff first)
Lost
Band of Brothers

Most everything has already been said

 

[French Ninja]

You will watch these and enjoy them, if only for Atia's glorious tits.

Edit: Or Titus Pullo asskicking

 

[stintage]

 

[Warbie]

The world is divided into those that have Spaced series 1 & 2, and those that haven't. You don't want to fall into the second group

Other than the movies mentioned, Barton Fink and Jacob's Ladder are must sees.

 

[Remus]

I strongly recommend these TV series:

Odyssey 5 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0318236/

Nowhere Man http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0112104/

 

[The Monkey]

 

[knut]

The world is divided into those that have Spaced series 1 & 2, and those that haven't. You don't want to fall into the second group

Other than the movies mentioned, Barton Fink and Jacob's Ladder are must sees.

Yeah, Spaced. Spaced pretty much wins on all accounts.

I had a invisible air-gun fight with some friends the other night in a pub. Should I feel sad? Hell no, Simon Pegg did it. Nuff' said.

 

[Deleted member 56031]

The world is divided into those that have Spaced series 1 & 2, and those that haven't. You don't want to fall into the second group

Oh yes so true

*high fives warbie*

watch this and witness the awesome

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_P7dileY9sY