I've seen 70 off that list -- I suppose I'm a movie junkie...
Here's a baker's dozen of my picks for best rentals. They're mostly older because so am I, and because those few new movies that are any good have already been mentioned up above. I'd also like to apologize in advance to all those directors whose films I could not include due to time and space limitations.
Fellini:
La Dolce Vita -- a twisted look at beautiful people doing wickedly cruel things to each other in Rome, mmmm
La Strada -- Anthony Quinn as a brutally flawed man, bring out the handkerchiefs for this one
Bergman:
The Seventh Seal -- art house classic -- Max von Sydow, a knight on his way home from the Crusades, plays chess with Death... Honest! this is a very trippy, visually stunning movie...
Coppola:
The Conversation -- one of Gene Hackman's finest performances as a detective who spirals into paranoia while having a crisis of conscience; a prescient look at privacy issues and voyeurism
Apocalypse Now -- get the original, not Redux -- the added footage adding nothing of value -- why the hell did FFC want to screw with perfection?
Capra: actually I really dislike Frank Capra, always thought of him as a vile propagandist, but
Arsenic and Old Lace is a work of genius, in no small part due to Cary Grant's incredible performance as the nephew of serial killers that happen to be his very sweet elderly aunts -- this movie brings me to tears every time -- and of course, Peter Lorre is brilliant here...
Antonioni:
Blowup -- David Hemmings as an ultrahip photographer in swinging London trying to unravel the mystery of a very sexy Vanessa Redgrave
Professione: reporter aka
The Passenger -- Jack Nicholson is cooler than the wind in this totally baffling movie -- I've watched the final 20 minutes over a dozen times and still can't tell you exactly how it ends, but who cares? Maria Schneider is sexy, Jack is hot, the story is intriguing (Jack assumes the identity of a dead man -- I'll say no more...), the setting is exotic (North African desert)...
movies with Steve McQueen:
Bullitt -- the movie that created a genre, with a terrific car chase sequence
The Thomas Crown Affair -- the original and still the best (no offense to Pierce Brosnan)
The Great Escape -- great great great POW movie -- get out the popcorn!!!
best double feature: John Sturges's
The Magnificent Seven with the film that inspired it -- Kurosawa's
Seven Samurai -- village hires assassins to protect them from evil bandits -- revenge, honor, redemption, these movies really satisfy...
