Recent Discoveries...

City of Men - Fernando Meirelles sequel to City of God.  More personal, moral-of-the-story is more apparent but not so thick as to be moralistic.  

Before the Devil Knows You're Dead - Long-time director Sydney Lumet's masterpiece of maximum angst.  Two brothers dig a hole much too deep to get out of.  

The Fall - beautiful veneer.  Story within the story is cinematic spectacle.  Characters are charming manikins.  

City of God by (2002) Katia Lund and Fernando Meirelles: Life in a self-governing section of Rio de Janeiro. Documentary included.  
Au Hasard Balthazar (1966) by Robert Bresson
Die Innere Sicherheit (2000), Christian Petzold
The Saddest Music in the World (2003) by Guy Maddin.  Very unusual movie!  
Contempt (Godard, 1963)
Les Fiancés Du Pont Mac Donald (1961), Agnès Varda,
Lilja 4-ever (2002) Lukas Moodysson.  If this doesn't break your heart, get a new one.  
Songs from the second floor, (2000) Roy Andersson
In the Mood For Love
Oldboy (2003), Chan-wook Park Kar Wai Wong, 2000
Alice in Wonderland (1966) Jonathan Miller
Good Bye Lenin! (2003), Wolfgang Becker
Basquiat (1996)
Buffalo '66 (1998)

bladerunner
spun
sherlock, jr.
Modern Times by Charlie Chaplin.  
hate (french)
Character (Netherlands): 
Apocalypse Now: Worse than the war itself?  
The Bicycle Thief: Masterpiece.  Can't help it!  It's the best word.  
sex, lies, and videotape
secrets and lies
the straight story
gods and monsters
blow up
Barry Lyndon by Stanley Kubrick.  Box office sleeper turns out to be a work of art.  I watched it twice in the same evening.  
run lola run
chein adalou

12 monkeys
tokyo story
mystery train
Wild Strawberries by Bergman
Streetcar Named Desire Tennessee Willaims
boogie nights
the adventures of baron von munchausun
my beautiful launderette
on the waterfront
the fisher king
jackie brown
the virgin suicides
the bad seed
drugstore cowboy
hedwig and the angry inch
pi
requiem for a dream
scarface
the godfather
old hitchcock movies
Dark City: what if everything you believed in were utterly false?  
tuvalu
the game
the boondock saints: Righteous vigilantes on the prowl.  
heavenly creatures
Krumm: Terry Zwigoff
Ghost World: Terry Zwigoff
Dead Man: by Jim Jarmusch
Ghost Dog: by Jim Jarmusch
City of Lost Children by Jeanne Pierre-Jeunet
Trainspotting by Danny Boyle (I think...)

Delicatessen: by Jeanne Pierre-Jeunet.  Most unusual movie!  

The 400 Blows by Truffaut
Brazil- Terry Gilliam.  Giant ironies.  Each time you see it more detail surfaces.  
Waking Life- Richard Linklater
Nights of Cabiria- Fellini.  Julliette Massini!!!
Repulsion- Polanski
Rosemary's Baby- Polanski
The Shining- Kubrick
Resevoir Dogs- Tarentino

And some other good ones
Weekend- Godard
Hedwig and the Angry Inch- John Cameron Mitchell
Welcome to the Dollhouse- Todd Solondz
Barton Fink- Coen Bros.
Fargo- coen Brs.
Clockwork Orange-kubrick

  

Canonicals...

Title

Director

 Notes
Mystery Train Jim Jarmusch  

Down by Law

Jim Jarmusch

  

Stranger than Paradise

Jim Jarmusch

  

Ghost World

    

Crumm

    

Bottle Rocket

    

Eraserhead

David Lynch

  

Blue Velvet

David Lynch

  

Modern times

Chaplin

  
Dead Man Jim Jarmusch Sort of an unsentimental take-off on the Hollywood western. Great score by Neil Young, looks like a daguerrotype!
City of Lost Children Jeanne Pierre-Jeunet One of my all-time favorites and my #1 favorite for visuals- a twisted, well-acted fairy tale
Trainspotting Danny Boyle Great acting from Ewan (all his other movies SUCK) in this completely fantastic, disturbing movie. Music is used very well in this film.
The 400 Blows Truffaut Truffaut's best film.another unsentimental portrait of a 12-yr old boy dealing with a society that doesn't care about him.
Brazil Terry Gilliam Classic 1984-style story told very, very well. Morbidly funny
Waking Life richard linklater Unique animation that melts into different styles. A young man wanders around and meets people who give him their various opinions on philosophy and life. A lot of people hate this movie because it's pretentious, but I think it has a lot to say.
Nights of Cabiria Enrico Fellini 8 1/2 goes on for a really, really long time- see this instead, as it's much more coherant. Giulietta Masina is brilliant as Cabiria.
Repulsion Roman Polanski Psychological horror film about a woman who is descending into madness. Weird that rape came up so many times in Polanski's films and then he raped a young girl. Maybe he thought the rules didn't apply to him.
Rosemary's Baby Roman Polanski another psychological horror film from Polanksi about a woman who is convinced she's going crazy. Great build-up of suspense, while lacking the typical "suspenseful" music and shadowy scenes. Ruth Gordon is especially great as the horrifyingly bothersome neighbor.
The Shining Stanley Kubrick Proof that horror movies don't have to be bad- more psychological/descending into madness stories!
Reservoir Dogs Quenten Tarentino My favorite Tarentino film- stylish, well-acted, bloody.  I love Steve Buscemi.
Weekend Godard Mod Alice and Wonderland-like fantasy.
Hedwig and the Angry Inch John Cameron Mitchell Film about the search for a soulmate- beautifully shot and acted with great musical numbers
Welcome to the Dollhouse Todd Solondz stylish black comedy about an uncool girl living in suburbia who wants nothing more than to be liked by her boring parents and have her insufferable ballerina sister dead. Great acting from Heather Matarazzo and Brandon sexton Jr.