I haven’t been sleeping. I wake up long before the sun rises, and I spend the dark hours on the couch watching Netflix. I have long since gone through the desirable items, and have moved on to the second string of poorly acted romantic comedies (Timer, anyone?) and bad 80s movies.
And, it got me thinking about all the amazing, under the radar movies I love, that people may be missing.
So, I complied a list of my five favorites, or at least the ones I could remember while I was eating chocolate pudding cake and watching Cousins (yes. really.) at 4am this morning
1. Beautiful Girls. I watch this movie at least once a month. Maybe this small town girl has an affinity for small town movies, but I relate to it. It could be my town. And, I am not ashamed to admit, in a very, apparently pro-pedophilia fashion, I adore the Marty and Willie dynamic, that is how underage romance is done, Harold and Maude.
2. Penelope. This movie is like creeping into my soul and squatting there for a while, listening to the natives. Magic, love and snouts. I can’t watch this movie and not smile for an entire day after.
3. Waitress. I love any movie that makes pie a character of the story.
4. Temple Grandin. I had no intention of watching this movie. Andy was watching this film as I lay semi passed out next to him on the couch after a wedding, with a bucket next to my face. Between dry heaves, I’d ask, WHO IS TALKING OMG THIS IS THE WORST SOUNDING MOVIE EVER. The next day, it was on again. This story, and that women, is amazing. Watch it.
5. Stealing Beauty. Sigh. Why couldn’t I have come to age in Italy? Everything is always better in Italy.
Ok, so this is where you either completely agree with me, or remind me of the other movies I’ve missed and I groan unnecessarily loud and reevaluate my Netflix queue.
UPDATE: I wanted to add in two guilty pleasure movies that,while not theatrical box office successes, where absolutely brilliant.
6. Saved. There is nothing about this campy movie I don’t adore, especially Mandy Moore’s horrific haircut. But, it reminds me of a time when teen pregnancy was still fun and not all MTV’ed up with black eyeliner and arrest warrants.
7. Drop Dead Goregous. Absolute hilarity, and makes me miss the days Kirstie Alley wasn’t a crazy potato sack wearing recluse.
{ 84 comments… read them below or add one }
omg, I LOVE Temple Grandin! I’ve never come across anyone else who has seen it! Claire Danes is absolutely phenominal in that role. Did you watch the Oscars last year? Temple was there, and fully awesome.
Youtube her TED talk. She is just fucking brilliant.
1000 times YES on Temple Grandin.
There will always be a very soft spot in my heart for the Princess Bride – I can practically quote the whole movie at you. Intellectual? No. But me love it long time.
Um, the best movies are NEVER intellectual. At least….for me.
A few years ago I’d have to pay someone for this infroamotin.
LOVE Beautiful Girls! The writer (who’s from Boston)totally nails the feeling of the small Massachusetts town. I love Rosie O’Donnell’s rant. It’s also, like you said, the only movie where you’ll actually root for a 28 year old to get together with a 13 year old. Then you’ll take a shower to wash the ickiness of the thought off you, but it’s the truth.
Another great, lesser-known movie is Moonlight Mile. Susan Sarandon, Dustin Hoffman, Jake Gyllenhal, and the super whiney chick from Grey’s Anatomy. Great movie.
I love that I didn’t even have to look it up to know that you were talking about Ellen Pompeo.
My top 5 favorite ridiculous and terrible movies:
1. She’s Out of Control (Tony Danza (!) has a nerdy daughter, but she suddenly gets a makeover and is hot and dates allllll the boys. Tony Danza doesn’t know that he likes it. Bad 80′s flick).
2. Dance ’til Dawn (Star-studded cast….Kelsey Grammer, Matthew Perry, Anthony Michael Hall, one of the girls from Charmed, and more! Another bad 80′s flick).
3. Wet Hot American Summer (not a bad 80′s flick, but trying to be one. Another star studded cast, including David Hyde Pierce and Amy Poehler).
4. Coneheads (COME ON THIS MOVIE IS AMAZING).
5. Twister (on a road trip, I went and saw the drive in movie theater that is in the movie Twister. It’s in Oklahoma, if you’re ever there).
Enjoy.
GOD DAMN IT! She’s Out of Control AND Wet Hot American Summer? I think….I just fell in love with you.
I make everyone watch Wet Hot American Summer and they either fucking LOVE it, or they are like…I don’t get it.
It’s GENIUS, ASSHOLES!
i made a friend watch wet hot american summer one time, and they responded with, “ummm, i don’t know. it was kind of like meatballs.” first of all, dumb fucker didn’t get it (i mean, femme bradley cooper? amy pohler? christopher meloni? the entire cast of the state? it’s too much to fathom). second of all, meatballs is AWESOME. what’s not to love about young bill murray being amazing in a camp movie? that shit rules.
I’m sorry, hating MEATBALLS? PUNCH THEM.
Bill Murray is HOT in that. Sigh. I love him.
THE STATE!!!! Heck yes!
Love Wet Hot American Summer
Also, Role Models…. taste the Beast!
HOLY CRAP!!! She’s outta control!!! i watched that movie over and over and over again. i used to picture myself as the daughter, getting the makeover, and then getting all the hot guys. heh
hmm..gotta check if it’s streaming on netflix!
IT IS COMPLETELY GENIUS. THE ASTROPHYSICS SECTION AND CAMP DIRECTING SECTION IN THE LIBRARY ARE OBVIOUSLY RIGHT NEXT TO EACH OTHER.
How is it possible that we love the same movies and have never met…I’ve already shared our mutual affinity for Beautiful Girls with you – I quote it whenever possible and also am completely board with the Marty/Willie dynamic….she’s his Pooh!!
Also – I thought I was the only one that knew about Stealing Beauty!?!?
Have you seen Empire Records…another great one…..
TRUE STORY. This was a list of 6 obscure movies, and Empire Records was #6 (DAMN THE MAN. SAVE THE EMPIRE!) And I went on about how the soundtrack was even better than the film, if that was even possible.
But, I took it off so I didn’t have two Liv Tyler movies on there.
But, YES. YES YES YES.
I fucking love Empire Records. And I am constantly saying “Orange” just like Renee Zelweger when they’re choosing M & M’s to pic music.
this is what I want to know-why did renee zellweger eat a million lemons after this movie? cause she had normal eyes in this movie.
I love empire records and my friends used to say I was a female Lucas-whats with today today?
(i used to always reenact the scene with renee zelweger throwing the pills at liv tyler with tic tacs-theres one for your perfect life, your perfect…etc lots of fun to do at sonic on a crowded friday night-we always thought we were really hilairous!)
also-we used tubesucker(thats the actual name of the software) to make mp3 files of say no more, mon amor, and its now on our ipods-and comes up on shuffle on my husbands remodeling job-he says all the guys sing along to it!
THANK YOU!
I tell everyone her eyes were normal in this movie, and I LOVED when she sang Sugar High on the roof.
WTF happened to her? Have you seen New In Town? Bridget Jones Diary 2? It’s like she should be put down.
Um, Spaceballs.
Also, I keep coming back to this movie called If Lucy Fell with Jessica Parker. I’m not sure what it is about this movie, but it makes me happy enough that I forget to roll my eyes at how skinny Sarah Jessica Parker is.
Stealing Beauty reminds me of college. My college bff LOVED that movie!
Also, Dance Til Dawn – YES!! Alyssa Milano and Christina Applegate! I taped that movie off tv once when I was a preteen and I watched it so many times that the tape wore out!! I thought it was exactly what prom would be like, lol!!
i would feel remiss to not mention a little movie called “get over it” with kirsten dunst about a high school drama production of a musical midsummer night’s dream. well, i think the real story has to do with tom hanks’s son or some other kid and a love story, but the real story is the play with martin short as the drama teacher. it was this movie that inspired me to use “front bum” in my everyday vernacular. oh, and there’s sisqo.
I totally remember this movie!!!
Some of my FAVORITE guilty pleasures are mid 90′s preteen romantic comedies.
Can’t Hardly Wait
Bring It On
She’s All That
Trojan War
10 Things I Hate About You
Drive me Crazy
Clueless
Varsity Blues
Center Stage
All I Wanna Do
I could go on, but I am embarrassing myself.
Empire Records was my high school group’s total favorite. My favorite from the 80′s…Shag. I’m from SC and Myrtle Beach was always the vacation destination.
I love Empire Records, I used to watch it every night before bed in high school.
Secret Jem: Midnight Madness with Michael J Fox, you will not regret it.
Lastly, I loved How to Make an American Quilt, I can’t quite tell you what it is about it, I just love it.
Oh I loved how to make an American Quilt. for the same reasons I loved Yaya Sisterhood. the glance back into the past, the actresses were amazing. PLUS…wasn’t Jake Ryan in that??????
Funny, I just watched this a couple weeks ago via NetFlix. I was surprised at how angsty Winone was, but I still loved it, just in a different way than when I was in high school.
Funny, I just watched this a couple weeks ago via NetFlix. I was surprised at how angsty Winona was, but I still loved it, just in a different way than when I was in high school.
I am completely in love with Penelope. James Mcavoy? SWOON.
Same with Waitress. Great movie.
Chaos Theory with Ryan Reynolds and Emily Mortimer.
OMG I saw this on Netflix this morning, so it’s good???
OMG!
I love Beautiful Girls!
Some of my must watch movies are If Lucy Fell, She’s the One, The Brothers McMullen, Welcome to the Dollhouse, 200 Cigarettes, Singles, About a Boy…I am sure there is more.
I totally forgot about Welcome to the Doll House . . . how can you not love Dawn Weiner!
Oh I totally LOVE About A Boy, and the soundtrack is amazing.
–>About Last Night… is in my queue and I can’t wait to watch it again.
waitress!! yes, loved that movie. the entire movie i wanted to junk punch the douchebag of a husband she had.
haven’t watched Temple Grandin…but i have been wanting too, and you just reminded me to add it to the queue.
movies that i loved:
The Life Before Her Eyes(with uma thurman)- great movie and it’s streaming on netflix
Towelhead- seriously, disturbing YET couldn’t stop watching. VERY good movie!
if you like documentaries, heck even if you don’t you MUST watch
The Wonderful Whites of West Virginia- i just watched this on netflix yesterday, and HOLY SHIT!!! The whole time i was nodding my head in disbelief. seriously…you NEED to watch it
My personal favorite terrible movie to watch is From Justin to Kelly. Forced acting with dancing and singing…always a recipe for a hilarious disaster!
What About Bob? and Groundhog Day – Gotta love Bill Murray
Almost Famous
Clue and Murder by Death – two great movies that I have watched so much that I can say all the lines as I’m watching
The Pink Panther movies with Peter Sellers
I highly recommend “All the Days Before Tomorrow,” I discovered it on Netflix while out of commission with the flu, and it is fantastic. It’s a little slow-paced, but the characters are fabulous and the scenery and cinematography is breathtaking. One of my new favorite romance/friendship movies!!!
while i LOVE some 80′s movies (say anything!) can’t forget the early 90′s… SINGLES!
I love Singles. Love, love, love! I remember seeing it in the theater with my 14 year old bffs and we had a serious discussion about how we all needed to move to Seattle for college. Like, seriously.
I remember watching Singles and THREESOME in the same weekend. Like…I literally thought Threesome was going to be another 90s slacker RomCom….awkward.
I have the same problem with netflix. I swear I’ve watched every moderately decent movie out there. Now I just watch tv series. At the moment I’m surfing between Prison Break, Battlestar Gallactica, and Weeds.
Here’s a little list of some of my favorite movies to revisit:
Cry-Baby
Waiting
Mallrats
Chasing Amy
Clerks
Tank Girl
There’s more, but they are 80% super-cheesy sci-fi fantasy. I’ll spare you.
Some suggestions:
Zombieland
Amelie
Up
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Julie & Julia
OH! You just reminded me to finally watch Amelie!
i watched Penelope for the first time a couple weeks ago on Netflix (holla!) and absolutely adore it. i am sad it took me so long to see it. great picks, i will have to queue up the rest of your picks.
Sordid Lives~ a classic southern comedy w/ funerals,gay children,cross dressers, & bar scenes
Committed w/ Heather Graham
Brittany I stumbled across your blog a few weeks ago and I think I have read every post
– love it – love you!
I don’t know what it is about the old Winona Ryder (I emphasis OLD because the new movie she’s in with Vince Vaughn looks like crap) but I love ‘em especially Mermaids and Welcome Home Roxy Carmichael
I really need to watch Temple Grandin
Um I love YOU.
And DUDE, Roxy Carmichael? HELLO! I loved that movie! Do you know how hard it is to find black carpet!?
Ok, I know it’s cheesy and badly acted, but I kind of loved Timer…and we might be the only two people on the planet who have seen it. -grin-
My go to movies are Dogma, Chasing Amy, Where the Heart Is, Big Fish and Cabaret. Currently I’m watching every episode of Ally McBeal. Pathetic, I know.
Ok I am convinced it just us.
You know what bugged me about Timer, and this is weird, but it bugged me she was just turning 30. I don’t know, maybe it was just because she was so thing, but her face looked too “worked on.” Does that make sense? It would have been like Heather Locklear of TODAY playing that part.
Am I a horrible person?
no you’re not a horrible person. that women is on my favorite guilty pleasure tv show “life unexpected” (on the cw? am i the only person watching it?! sherri appleby from roswell! 90′s swoon)
the expect us to believe that that she is 30 something and it confused the hell out of me. it looks like she has had at least 2 face lifts. don’t get me wrong- to each their own-but play your age.
Ok, no you’re not a horrible person. She does look a little pinched, but I like her from the Buffy days, so I’ll give her a pass. Also, I think having a timer would make things so easy. It would totally eliminate those catty girl fights where they can’t decide who gets the boy. -laugh-
Obviously though, your timer and Andy’s went off at the same time. Lucky bitches.
Great list! I have always wondered the same thing about Stealing Beauty!
Okay, so it’s not a movie, but I started watching Pushing Daisies lately and it is AMAZING. Purely fantastic– all the best parts of mystery + romance + fairytale and humor and I can’t believe I hadn’t seen it until now!
I’m afraid to watch it. I get too attached to things to have them brutally ripped away.
I’M STILL PISSED AT YOU ABOUT DEAD LIKE ME, SHOWTIME.
NOT TO MENTION THE “MOVIE”
I KNOW! I totally got attached and it totally was ripped away from me. But still= benefit totally worth the cost.
Oooh me too!! They ended it so abruptly. BRING BACK Dead Like Me!!!
Pushing Daisies is totally worth the hurt of getting it ripped away though…what’s that thing about better to have loved and lost?? Yeah. It’s like that.
Dakota Skye is a great movie that i can’t stop telling everyone to watch. At first I thought it would be awesome to have her superpower, but then she pointed out how 99.9% of people think mean stuff about you at least once in awhile. Mostly though, I’m a sucker for the adorkable guy in any movie.
LOVE Pushing Daisies! Too bad it didn’t last longer.
Love Waitress and Penelope.
Also love, Empire Records, Cry Baby & I Hope They Serve Beer In Hell (super crude but hey I’ve got crude humor)
A very long time ago my friend and I were dying to lose our V cards and watch a couple of movies to get the losing it mojo going. “Stealing Beauty” was the first and the second was “Mermaids.” Still giggle a little thinking about that time when I re-watch those movies.
Also, I highly recommend “Heartbreakers” for the sheer joy of the fun.
not Star Trek then?
I don’t think I’m ever going to understand girls. And they smell funny
Ugh, boys are SO GROSS.
Temple Grandin – yes, holy shit.
I’ve loved Beautiful Girls so hard, since I saw it in the THEATRE a million years ago. And I immediately knew that little Natalie Portman baby-woman was going to do amazing things… and I was completely right. Just look at that girl now, right? (Um, and Garden State? Swoon.)
I’d forgotten all about Stealing Beauty, and how wonderful that movie is… a Bertolucci film starring Jeremy Irons? In Italy? With a juicy Liv Tyler as it’s ingenue? Eight shades of delicious-awesome right there. LOVE. Man, I need to watch that one again… soon.
I’m not gonna say it.
Ok, fine, I will….WE ARE THE SAME PERSON.
Garden State!! Nat Port in the helmet!
The real Temple Grandin (as in, not Claire Danes) will be in BG in June speaking on Autism… and cows. I’m going to hear her (on Autism… not cows). I can’t wait to meet her…
And you have to admit that that was pretty much the best acting of Claire Danes’ life. She kicked that fucking part out of the park!
I preface this comment by saying that I am a low brow movie junkie!!!
LOOOOVE Penelope. And Waitress wasn’t too bad. I DO like me some Keri Russell.
I remember watching Threesome and Sliver all in one night – WHEW!!!
I like Green Card for a cheesy romantic film. And Don’t forget Bad Boys for come good hot fun! Lars and the Real Girl was a little OFF but still REALLY good. Hello, Ferris Bueller, anyone? I saw that the house is for sale and it has reminded me to once again go back and watch that movie. And a tear jerker for me, although it is a dumb movie, I love it….Batteries not Included.
I am not ashamed to say this, I love all things Mandy Moore.
Saved- LOVED
A walk to remember-Classic
How to deal
Chasing Liberty
Her part in Princess Diaries
All perfect. Like I said, I love me some MM.
If you enjoy Star Wars at all you must watch FanBoys
Also, Girls Just Want to Have Fun
And for some reason I have to watch Day After Tomorrow every time it comes on TV
I also love watching all the same movies I watched when I was little, so A Little Princess, Secret Garden and Little Women are watched frequently.
And because ZOMG AWESOME… NEWSIES!!!
I may be older than you, but ‘Can’t Buy Me Love’ was my ultimate guilty pleasure.
Also, more recently, But I’m a Cheerleader
and more violently, Freeway with Reese Withoutherspooon “Oooowee-looks like someone got hit the ugly stick!”
Umm yeah Empire Records one of my most favorite ever. “My names not Warren. Dude what’s wrong with Warren?” So awesome. I think I still have the soundtrack somewhere. I was also totally in love with Fear in high school. Well I guess I have always loved Marky Mark in some way even though he is hell scary in that movie. Also, Waitress is phenomenal I wish I could personally beat the guy who killed Adrienne Shelly with a big stick of some kind. I can’t imagine what else she could have made.
And a few others:
- Mystic Pizza and Shag- to me they just belong together
- I am always down to watch oh shit the name is umm that one with Amanda Bynes when she goes to London to find her Dad Colin Firth is in it. I love that movie.
- Any Mandy Moore movie is good for a sick day on the couch
- Please PLEASE tell me you have seen Hearts and Souls. It had Robert Downey Jr in it before he went all Robert Downey Jr.
- Step up always works for me
- oh and there was a Liv Tyler movie I watched a lot in high school it had Billy Crudup in it and Joaquin Phoenix. I can’t remember what it was called but she had a slutty Sister (or she was the slutty Sister) and there was a lot of naked. Seemed intriguing with in HS for me!
Empire Records is an awesome movie! LOVE!
If you love pie and movies/tv shows where pie plays a large role, I suggest Pushing Daisies. You can probably find it illegally online somewhere (no, I didn’t just say that). Pie isn’t a character, or even the plot of the whole thing, but there is a HUGE pie (and small pies) in every episode and that’s all I’m saying for now.
Penelope is great. If you continue to be sleepless though, I highly recommend switching to the LOADS of awesome TV shows out there on Netflix.
1. All seven seasons of Buffy and Angel…because if came of age in the 90s and NOT in Italy then you have NO excuse.
2. Skins…The new U.S. version on MTV is trashy and awesome, but the Brits did it first and better. (And with more cursing and nudity)
3. Veronica Mars…Because I have yet to meet anyone who’s been able to encounter the first season DVD and not finish it within a week.
Ok ok, I’m absolutely late to the game, but everyone’s talking about Empire, and all I keep thinking is “where’s SLC Punk?!” Am I the ONLY one that puts those two at the top of my list? I can’t watch one and not follow up with watching the other.
and I have now successfully filled my que. grassyass ladies and gents
dont forget about The Craft! i think that movie was playing in the background at every single sleepover i ever had/went to in highschool!
Great 80′s and 90′s flicks:
Pump Up The Volume
The Big Blue
The Lost Boys
Parents
LA Story
Also, a great Netflix streaming documentary: The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters
I know this is old but Im just seeing it now from your 10 Random Days post. Out of your list, I’ve seen Penelope, Waitress, Saved, and Drop Dead Gorgeous …and I LOVE THEM ALL!! I watch Penelope every time it’s on and Saved…my favorite!! Used to watch it almost every day.
I am absolutely baffled as to why Secretary isn’t on this list.
Drop Dead Gorgeous has forever ingrained the quote ” are we on cops, is this cops?!” which I shout out every time Cops is on…. and my boyfriend has never watched the movie, so he just thinks I have a wierd case of of “COPS Tourettes”
Whats Eating Gilbert Grape
I usually find Juliette Lewis untolerable, but she and Johnny Depp in this movie are magic… and Leo is great in that role!
BEAUTIFUL GIRLS. RULES.