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10 Great Movies Most People Haven’t Seen

Well, the blog is a month old now, and I figure its about time I came up with some form of a weekly series to look forward to. Each week, Mr. Pappagiorgio is going to bring 10 things about anything and everything. I’ll try to keep it fresh and different every week, and hopefully it will turn into a pretty good series and something to look forward to each week. This week’s Ten Things is about Great Movies that you probably didn’t see, maybe you have, and maybe you haven’t, but if you haven’t these are movies I would be pissed if I hadn’t known about or hadn’t gotten to see. Keep in mind these movies aren’t ranked by number, their just listed with numbers because some of us still can’t count, you know who you are! So lets Get on with it…

#1 Memento

Memento is a film by Christopher Nolan, in fact, its his first major Feature Film. You might now him better from his more recent Blockbuster “Batman Begins.” This film is awesome from start to finish, and Guy Pierce turns in an absolutely amazing performance. Basically the movie is about Pierce’s character who you quickly find out has lost his short term memory, and the ability to create new memories. Every day he wakes and has to discover whats going on in his own life, and he has a very intricate system of doing this. That system? Tattooing notes all over his body, and he has to piece them together and figure out whats going on in his life and what he is trying to do. Also, setting this movie apart is its pretty much backwards. You start at the end and end at the beginning. You’ll have to see it to know what I’m talking about, but I highly recommend, and this is definitely a flick you’re going to need to pay attention throughout to get enjoyment from it.

#2 Clerks

So you might have heard of Clerks by now thanks to the 10 year later sequel Clerks II. If you haven’t seen this movie and are a fan of smart comedy, this is a must see. Kevin Smith made this movie while he was working at the Quick Stop. He would apply for credit cards and put that he made $50,000 a year and that he was the manager of the Quick Stop. Since he was the only one there nearly all the time, he was the one who would verify that when the called. He racked up $30,000 on those credit cards to make the movie that he wrote and directed. All these years later, I’d say it payed off as he’s still cranking out the flicks. As a Gas Station Manager myself, I can relate to nearly everything in the movie and maybe that just makes it 1000x more funny to me than it would for others. I don’t know, but what I do know is this is a must watch for anyone with a sense of humor that doesn’t offend easily.

#3 The Big Lebowski

The Big Lebowski is just an absolute must watch movie. It still surprises me every time it comes up in a conversation, and the person has no idea what movie I’m talking about. Baffling. Jeff Bridges in his BEST performance ever as “The Dude” (Jeffrey Lebowski) is a victim of having his rug pee’d on by thugs sent to collect money from his namesake, the other Jeffrey Lebowski. In an effort to collect payment for the rug, the dude seeks out the other Lebowski and gets tangled up in all kinds of chaos and complete hell breaks loose and its an entertaining ride all the way to the end. Must see movie for sure.

#4 Boondock Saints

Brothers (Fraternal Twins) Conner and Murphy McManus accidentally killed a few Mafia guys and turned themselves in, only to be released as heroes. Its at this point they realize they can systematically wipe out all of the evil men in the city. All the while they are being chased by and FBI Agent played brilliantly and somewhat disturbingly by Willem Defoe. Tons of action, great story, nice plot twist at the end, and come on, their speaking accents alone are enough to keep you watching if nothing else. Hell of a flick. Definite Must Watch for action fans.

#5 Private Parts

While this movie might have at least been heard of by a lot of people, I don’t think a lot of people have actually seen it, due to the stigma attached to the greatest radio personality of all time, Howard Stern. This movie has unbelievable performances by not only Howard, but also Paul Giamatti, and Mary McCormack. The movie is actually a brilliant film all the way around, and a lot of times people who dislike Howard come out of this movie liking him. But lets be honest, its pretty hard to get people that hate him to watch it. But like he says in the first minute of the film, he’s completely misunderstood. As an avid listener of his Sirius Satelite Radio show, I tend to agree. Excellent acting, writing, and direction.

#6 Mission to Mars

Mission to Mars came out right around the same time as the movie Red Planet, and kind of got lost in the shuffle. Personally, I’ll watch Red Planet, but I think it completely sucks in comparison to this movie, if I’m going to watch a movie about Mars. The movie stars some really great actors, from Tim Robbins, to Don Cheadle. The movie is about a group going to land on Mars and do tests on the surface for the first time in Human History. Cheadle’s character is on that mission. During that mission a mysterious storm blows through and kills all but Cheadle and Fries all their electronic equipment, giving Cheadle no way to communicate with Mission Control. Robbins is part of the crew heading up the rescue mission and the movie begins when they land on Mars, find Cheadle alive, and breathing air. From there it was just an interesting take on extra terrestrial life and evolution. I enjoyed the fick a lot.

#7 Chasing Amy

Going back to Kevin Smith again. What can I say, his sense of humor is right on par with mine, and he’s an amazing dialogue writer. The movie is about Holden (Ben Affleck) and Banky (Jason Lee) who are comic book artists. Everything’s going good for them until they meet Alyssa, also a comic book artist. Holden falls for her, but his hopes are crushed when he finds out she’s a lesbian. It goes on from there. Its basically about life and love in todays more liberal generation. Its a highly acclaimed movie, not common for Smith outside of this movie and Clerks, but I highly recommend. Affleck and Lee were phenomenal in this flick, and it was before they were the major stars they are today.

#8 Boiler Room

Boiler Room stars Giovanni Ribisi who turns in a phenomenal performance. He plays a character who drops out of school to run a casino out of his apartment until his friend brings over a co-worker and convinces him to come down and work at his firm. Its a pretty interesting take on the whole wall-street thing, and I’m sure scams like the one he got involved in happen all the time. I honestly don’t know much about that stuff, so I can’t say how realistic it is or isn’t, but what I can say is, that its hugely entertaining, very well written, and caster. Our friend Ben Affleck makes an appearance in this movie too, and has one of the greatest monologues in the history of motion pictures.

#9 Rushmore

Jason Schwartzman plays Max, a 15 year old student at Rushmore academy. He heads up about a million different clubs and extra curricular activities, but receives horrible marks in his classes. He loves the school so much he thinks he wants to stay forever. Basically the movie is about a young kid trying to find himself. He gets mixed up in this crazy love triangle between him, his teacher, and the character brilliantly played by Bill Murray. Definitely a niche comedy that will keep you entertained throughout, or at least it did me.

#10 Vegas Vacation

Since people still haven’t seen this flick, YOU MUST WATCH IT! Yes, its where the name “Mr Pappagiorgio” came from. The movie isn’t nearly as bad as people would have you believe, and anything involving Ethan Embry’s Rusty character posing as Nick Pappagiorgio will have you rolling. Mr Pappagiorgio is the single greatest character in movie history and you must check it out next time its on TV or you see it in a store.

Of course there are so many more great films that haven’t found the audience they deserve, but these are Ten Movies that came off the top of my head as I was writing. What are some of your favorite flicks that aren’t exactly mainstream?