The Movie Watching Project

I first posted this to my facebook notes on September 13, 2011 as "Movie Recommendations for Dave." Dave is my fiancé. The project has been very slow going due to a) his busy schedule and b) his extreme reluctance to watch movies in general. He doesn't like most movies. Rare, but not unheard of. I felt, however, that his limited viewing experience made him unqualified to decide that he wasn't a movie person. Thus this project was born and, much to his annoyance, he is my lab rat.

The following is a list of recommendations compiled from various people. The fact that he has not seen (or even heard of) some of these movies will amaze you. Others are more obscure and are simply on the list because one or more people thought that he should see them. Concerning the groups of movies and directors on the list, he may have seen some of these, but it was easier to just group them together if he hadn't seen most. Some of these movies I also don't like. A few I also have not seen.

Dave gave each viewed movie a rating from 1-5 stars. He also has some very amusing comments for some of them. Enjoy and feel free to contribute.



12 Angry Men

2001: A Space Odyssey

A.I. Artificial Intelligence

A Beautiful Mind

A Christmas Story

Across the Universe

Addams Family Values *** "I give this one an extra half star for Raul Julia's moustache."

Adventures in Babysitting

The Adventures of Baron Munchausen

The Adventures of Mark Twain

Airplane! ***1/2 "Any movie staring Kareem Abdul Jabbar is entertaining."

A Knight's Tale

A League of Their Own

Alexander

Almost Famous

Anchorman * "It's only that highly rated because Steve Carell was funny."

A Nightmare on Elm Street

Animal House

Apocalypto

Arsenic and Old Lace

Bachelor Party

Back to the Future I ** "I liked Christopher Lloyd. He's good at playing crazy anything."

Back to the Future II

Back to the Future III

The Bad News Bears

Bad Santa

Bandits

Batman Begins

Battle Royale

The Beatles movies

Being John Malkovich

The Big Lebowski 1/2 "Because I'm not allowed to give it less than 1/2."

Bill and Ted I & II

The Birdcage **1/2 "Robin Williams and the butler were the only good things in this movie."

Blast from the Past

Boogie Nights

Borat

Boys Don't Cry

Brain Donors

Bram Stoker's Dracula

Brat Pack movies

Brazil

Brewster's Millions

Bridesmaids

Brokeback Mountain

Bruno

But I'm a Cheerleader

Cabaret

Canibal: The Musical

Casablanca

Catch Me if You Can

Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

Charlotte's Web

Chicago

Christopher Guest

Citizen Kane

Coen Brothers

Constantine *1/2 "If Gavin Rossdale gives the best performance of the movie, you know that something is wrong."

Copper Mountain

Crank I & II

Critters

The Crow

The Crying Game

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

The Dark Crystal * "Why do people have such fond memories of this movie?"

Deadpool

Death Becomes Her *** "Better than I expected going into it."

Death of a Salesman

Defending Your Life

The Devil's Rejects

Dick

Dick Tracy

Disney movies

District 9

Dodgeball

Donnie Darko

Dragonheart

Drop Dead Fred

Edward Scissorhands

Ed Wood

The Emperor's New Groove

Encino Man

Entrapment

Equalibrium

E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial

eXistenZ

Face/Off

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

Field of Dreams

Final Destination

Finding Nemo

Firestarter

Flatliners

Flight of the Navigator

Forks Over Knives

Forrest Gump

The Frighteners

From Dusk Till Dawn * "Why the fuck was this on the list?"

Full Metal Jacket

Galaxy Quest

Gangs of New York

Get Him to the Greek

Ghost

Ghostbusters I *1/2 "Insert generic 80s movie here."

Ghostbusters II

Glory

Gone with the Wind

The Goonies

Grandma's Boy

Grease

The Great Dictator

The Great Outdoors

The Green Mile

Gremlins

Groundhog Day **1/2 "Half-hour too long."

Grumpy Old Men

Guardians of the Galaxy **1/2 "The soundtrack annoyed the hell out of me."

Hallpass

The Hangover I & II

Harry and the Hendersons

Harry Potter I ***

Harry Potter II ***

Harry Potter III ***1/2

Harry Potter IV **1/2

Harry Potter V ** "Easily the worst of the bunch."

Harry Potter VI ***

Harry Potter VII ***

Harry Potter VIII ***1/2

Hayao Miyazaki

Heavy Metal

Hellraiser

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey ***

Hook

Hot Shots

Hugo

Idiocracy

I Heart Huckabees

The Illusionist

The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus

Inglorious Basterds

Into the Woods

Iron Man

Iron Sky

It's a Wonderful Life

James Bond movies

The Jerk

John Dies at the End

John Waters

K-Pax

Kill Bill: Vol. 1 *1/2 "Painful to watch."

Kill Bill: Vol. 2 *1/2 "Even more painful to watch."

The Last Unicorn

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen

Legend

The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou ** "Far too meandering. Could have been a lot better."

Life of Brian **1/2 "The one amusing thing that group has ever done."

Little Shop of Horrors

May

Mean Girls

Meatballs

Meet Joe Black

M.I.B. I, II, III

Michael Moore

Milk

Minority Report

The Misfits

Mission: Impossible movies

Mississippi Burning

The Moneypit

Mr. Mom

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington

The Mummy II

The Muppets movies

Napoleon Dynamite

National Lampoon movies

Network

The Neverending Story

No Country for Old Men

O Brother, Where Art Thou? *** "Apparently, George Clooney is actually a good actor."

Ocean's Eleven ** "Eminently forgettable."

Office Space

Old School

Once Bitten

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

The Others

Pan's Labyrinth

Paranormal Activity

Party Monster

The Patriot

Pay It Forward

Phantom of the Paradise

Pineapple Express

Planes, Trains, and Automobiles

Planet of the Apes

Pleasantville

The Postman

Pulp Fiction 1/2 "Only got about a half hour into it. Will someone please explain to me why this guy is considered a good director/writer/actor?"

Reign of Fire

Remote Control

Rent

Repo! The Genetic Opera ****1/2 "One of my favorite movies."

Requiem for a Dream

Reservoir Dogs 1/2 "Even Steve Buscemi couldn't save this cinematic abortion. I got about an hour in before I aborted my viewing of it."

Return to Oz ** "I give it an extra half star for being made by what I assume to be a bunch of crack heads."

Revenge of the Nerds movies

Rocky movies

Role Models

Run Lola Run

Saving Private Ryan

Scent of a Woman

Schindler's List

Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World

Scrooged

The Secret of NIMH

Shadow of the Vampire

Shaun of the Dead * "Bad, but not as bad as The Big Lebowski."

The Shawshank Redemption

Sherlock Holmes I *** "Solid adaptation, but certain things annoyed me."

Sherlock Holmes II *** "Same."

Shock Treatment

The Social Network

Some Like It Hot

Stand By Me

Stanley Kubrick

Star Trek movies

Start the Revolution Without Me

Star Wars II & III

Stranger Than Fiction

Superbad * "The title is fitting."

Super Troopers

Sweeney Todd

Ted * "This is a quality movie, just like Abraxas."

The Terminator movies

There Will Be Blood

Tommy

Top Gun

To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar

The Toy

Toy Story movies

The Town

Tremors

Tromeo and Juliet

Troy

The Truman Show *** "The creepy guy in the bathtub made the movie."

Tucker & Dale vs Evil

Twelve Monkeys

Uncle Buck

The Usual Suspects

Valkyrie

Waiting

Walk the Line

Wall-E

Watchmen

Wedding Crashers

Wes Anderson

What About Bob

What Dreams May Come

What's Eating Gilbert Grape

Who's Harry Crumb

William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet

Witches

The Witches of Eastwick

The Wiz

The Wizard

Wizards

The Wrestler

Young Frankenstein

Young Guns

Zombieland

Zoolander 2 (because Zoolander is one of his favorites)