Your Indulgence Picks

[AlexChristianLovendahl 34]

Many of my favorite films haven't earned universal "love" status yet, and not just the ones from the past few years. The one that's hardly been validated as a legitimately great movie rather than a bizarre antiquity?

 

Zardoz. I love Zardoz. I think Zardoz might be a better movie than most Kubrick movies. I think it's fricking fantastic.

[joel_rosenbaum 1269]

Right? I think something like Singles or even Say Anything... would be more dubious--even though I LOVE the latter dearly.

I love Singles; it would be an indulgence pick for sure, because that is *definitely* not Canon worthy.

 

Despite Eddie Vedder's performance.

[Stein-ErikRutledal 3]

No Retreat No Surrender 2

Profondo Rosso

Karate Kid

[JustinPartridge 5]

Indulgence picks off the top of my head:

 

Speed Racer

Housu

In The Realm of Senses

A Serious Man

 

[ManishMathur 33]

Vicky Cristina Barcelona

[SiSquires-Kasten 37]

Still unsure of the rules for "indulgence," but The Hudsucker Proxy and Casino were the first two movies that came to mind. Buck and the Preacher is also great fun and underrated. Punch-Drunk Love?

 

... I guess all these movies are "minor" works by people I love who have too many classics to justify putting them in otherwise.

[Head Spin 112]

This one is a heavy indulgence, but I'd consider Shogun Assassin.

[ZZZ 63]

Is Ghost World indulgence? I feel like it could have a justifiable episode.

[Shrek & Donkey Kong 4336]

no film has ever made me laugh the way Wet Hot American Summer did, so that's my pick

[Stickman Cinema 28]

Berry Gordy's The Last Dragon

 

My ultimate guilty pleasure but also has a ton of quotes and moments (pretty much anything related to Sho'nuff) that have entered the pop culture lexicon.

[Marsellus_H 118]

Southland Tales!

[Rotmonian 15]

Suspiria

Suspiria shouldn't even be considered an indulgence pick. It should get by on its own merit.

[JJ95 21]

Ok if indulgence is about things you love but are not necessarily great, I would probably nominate "A Knight's Tale" - it just such a wonderful stupid movie. I also have a very soft spot for Mel Gibson's "Maverick" - but I won't even try to argue for that "movie"!

[HoldenMartinson 221]

I think that, as per the description provided by Devin, indulgence picks are just pictures that aren't immediately obvious. Or just films that you think are brilliant, and maybe have been sort of forgotten. Something like that.

[AnthonyGiffen 2]

George Miller's (yes, that George Miller) Babe: Pig in the City and David Lynch's Mulholland Drive.

[nickperkins 52]

UHF. It's one of my favorite movies

 

 

I have to second this one. It is dumb and over-the-top, but damned if I can't stop re-watching it. Michael Richards' Stanley Spadowski is the best special needs character ever put on film. Kevin McCarthy, Billy Barty, Trinidad Silva, all making Weird Al the straight man. Not canon-worthy, but as indulgences go, top of my list.

 

WE DON' NEED NO STINKIN' BADGERS!

[Muthsarah 124]

1. Gosford Park - The under-seen Downton Abbey pilot, but better than any two episodes of that show put together. The proper capper on Altman's career, and as a much a love letter to Agatha Christie or The Rules of the Game as to Upstairs/Downstairs. Also, like almost half of Britain's best actors are in it, even in bit roles, almost like a prestige film response to It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World. OK, it's actually very different when you watch it, but whatever, I can't get enough of it.

 

2. On Her Majesty's Secret Service - Yeah, Amy only wanted the one Bond, but screw it, the series isn't best represented by the Craig era any more than the J.J. Treks are going to define that franchise (or the J.J. anythings, for that matter). The Bond films didn't just use to make a ton of money, they used to define an era in pop entertainment, leading the action/spy trends instead of just copying other films all the time. And while Connery would be the most natural pick for iconic-era Bond, I'm picking the movie that's probably the most ambitious, artsy, and controversial of all of them. 1969, at the end of the decade Bond helped to define, unknown/untrained "actor" George Lazenby did his best with the impossible task of being the first to follow Connery, but surrounded by one of the best-shot, best-scored films of its time (and based on the best book), they still struck gold and gave us the first "realistic" Bond without sacrificing the surface-level cheese. It's flawed, to be sure, but that just shines the spotlight on what the franchise always did best: be an uber-stylish sign-of-the-times pulp adventure that doesn't take itself too seriously. It wouldn't get in, but dammit, I wanna give it its day all the same. Also, it's WAAAAAY better than Goldfinger. Seriously.

 

3. Gate of Hell, Ugetsu, Kuroneko, or Crazed Fruit - There's no doubt Kurosawa's gonna come up in The Canon before any other Japanese director of the era, but I would dearly love to see one of these four put up as well, if only for the discussion of the film itself and not its supposed merit for The Canon. Ugetsu's probably the only one widely known in the West - Scorsese and Ebert each listed it among their favorite films of all time - but it has a far different feel and aesthetic to the (not meaning to be disparaging here) more conventional jidaigeki of Kurosawa, eerie and mystical. Gate of Hell is a full-blown epic historical soap opera with the production values of Gone With the Wind. I'm almost picking it for the colors alone, and while it would be difficult to discuss a film's costumes and production design on a podcast, it can't be harder than talking about special effects and gore. You have to see it to understand. Crazed Fruit is a gorgeously-shot look at post-war Japanese youth, a nice companion piece to Rebel Without a Cause, done as a noir-ish New Wave. Kuroneko is a dark, violent (but not in that splatterhouse way) ghost story; Expressionist kabuki. All of these films are gorgeous, and with a guest knowledgeable of Japanese cinema, I think any of these could make for an enlightening episode to help budding Western cinephiles move beyond Mifune and Godzilla and get into deeper (classical) Japanese cinema.

[CharlieWork 4]

I'd probably try to shove in Michael Dougherty's Trick 'r Treat (2006), a modern holiday classic, or maybe something more divisive like Harmony Korine's Julien Donkey-Boy (1999). This is assuming that directors such as Andrezj Zulawski and Hiroshi Teshigahara could enter the canon on their own. Oh, and Mean Girls.

[KickMuncher3 46]

Perhaps this is too much of an indulgence, but the movie I've probably seen more than any other is 2007's Hot Rod. It's something i'm always in the mood to watch and will probably always find funny, but i don't think it belongs within an mile of the canon.

[HoldenMartinson 221]

Perhaps this is too much of an indulgence, but the movie I've probably seen more than any other is 2007's Hot Rod. It's something i'm always in the mood to watch and will probably always find funny, but i don't think it belongs within an mile of the canon.

I would argue that Hot Rod is canon. It's one of the great homage pictures of the last ten years, this is The Lonely Island's greatest achievement, and this is one of the defining cult films of this newer generation. This is a picture that knows what it's lampooning, and does it with a lot of observation, and with a lot of adoration for these films. I also believe in the argument that quotability is a legitimate factor for canonization, and when half of the script is that recitable, that's the mark of a really memorable picture. Any movie that can take its villain, and make them almost sympathetic through the repetition of "BABE!!!" is worth remembering. Hot Rod is incredible. I mean, you're right. It probably wouldn't make it, but I think it'd be a fun addition into the canon.

[bri-witched 60]

George Miller's (yes, that George Miller) Babe: Pig in the City and David Lynch's Mulholland Drive.

 

Mulholland Drive is my favorite movie ever and 100% canon-worthy. I can't imagine an argument against it.

[RobertBoberts 62]

I guess after listening to this week's episode, I couldn't help but think of my own love for the Return of the Living Dead. Probably not canon, but having never seen Re-Animator before I was also kind of confused as to why it was being considered.

[JeffreyMcDonald 65]

Repo Man

 

If allowed multiple indulgences then also:

Wild at Heart

Brazil (the VHS and current regular Blu Ray theatrical...ish cut. I actually don't like the Criterion "director's" edit.)

Better Off Dead/Three O'clock High (vs. episode)

Lone Wolf and Cub: Baby Cart at the River Styx (i.e. the second one)

Val Lewton's Cat People

Out of the Past

The Big Sleep

 

(the last three aren't really indulgences. I'd think they'd be sure "ins".)

[JeffreyMcDonald 65]

...and, well, given my handle and avatar:

LOTR: The Two Towers

Of the three it might be my favorite, but really any of them.

Maybe RotK, just because I love Éowyn's arc so much. But the battle of Minas Tirith always feels a little flat compared to Helms Deep. But, as much as people complain about the multiple endings (the books have even more), I still get choked up at the end...the final "real" end, I mean.

A triple VS. episode would be most difficult.

[j_scanlon 59]

Looper

Day of the Dead

Deep Red

Robocop

Possession

Spring Breakers

Total Recall

Dogtooth

Pulse (original)