Great Movies and Series [Not Sci-Fi]

[Ivan Seeking]

I have a seen a number of great series about women lately.

The Queens Gambit: Loved it!

Set during the Cold War era, orphaned chess prodigy Beth Harmon struggles with addiction in a quest to become the greatest chess player in the world.

The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel:

It's the late 1950s and Miriam "Midge" Maisel has everything she has ever wanted -- the perfect husband, two kids and an elegant apartment on New York's Upper West Side. Her seemingly idyllic life takes a surprising turn when she discovers a hidden talent she didn't previously know she had -- stand-up comedy

Of course this has been around since 2013 and just concluded last year
Orange is the New Black

Piper Chapman is a public relations executive with a career and a fiance when her past suddenly catches up to her. In her mid-30s she is sentenced to spend time in a minimum-security women's prison in Connecticut for her association with a drug runner 10 years earlier.

All on Netflix

 

[MikeeMiracle]

Often referred to as "The best film you have never heard of" by those who see it, I can highly recommend the movie "City of God." It's a gangland style movie based in the slums of Rio in Brazil.

 

[fresh_42]

This is a difficult question. What is great? If I watch great movies in the sense of qualitatively good art, I have to be in the mood for it. It is like food. You cannot have a great dinner without a certain attitude. Instead I usually want to be entertained, the drive-through at McDonalds so to say. I know a lot of of very entertaining movies and series, but can they be called great? I observed that I prefer those with good (funny) side kicks over those with prominent lead actors, and those with strange plots, which touches the definition of sci-fi which you excluded. Are plots which play with the afterlife, like e.g. Pushing Daisies or Dead like me already sci-fi? Is The Pretender sci-fi? They are almost always fiction, so only the scientific part remains as distinction. But scientific are none of them, even the sci-fi movies aren't.

Hence if I exclude all these: too much fiction, too "fast food", and concentrate on real art, then few movies are left. I'd say Finding Forrester and Smilla's Sense of Snow are two examples I'd call great movies. But there are more - only harder than Lucifer to think of when asked.

 

[Buzz Bloom]

I have a large collection of movies on tape which I watch multiple times. The following are my most favorite non-SF favorites, which I consider to be great.
Beat the Devil
Bull Durham
The Horse's Mouth
The Lion in Winter
Pretty Woman
The Red Shoes
A Stranger Among Us
The Turning Point

 

[Janus]

The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel:

All on Netflix

My wife and I love this one. ( though I think is is on Amazon Prime and not Netflix)

Another series we enjoy is

The Kominsky Method With Michael Douglas and Alan Arkin.(Netflix)

 

[BillTre]

I think Matewan is a great movie.
Its from the late 1980's, about unions and coal mining in 1920's in West Virginia.
This movie has it all, great acting, music, gunfights, ...
IMDb

Workers Unite speech.
Climatic Shootout

 

[PeroK]

The Queens Gambit: Loved it!

The funny thing is that all the chess positions are taken from games between male players!

 

[bobob]

"Spotless" on Netflix

 

[Ivan Seeking]

My wife and I love this one. ( though I think is is on Amazon Prime and not Netflix)

I did too. The last I heard, the filming of season 4 was delayed because of Covid [I think it was season 4...]

I read somewhere that it is based loosely on Joan Rivers, which fits.

Another series we enjoy is

The Kominsky Method With Michael Douglas and Alan Arkin.(Netflix)

I will talk a look!

 

[Ivan Seeking]

The funny thing is that all the chess positions are taken from games between male players!

But she's a lot cuter so she wins. :D

 

[fresh_42]

I will talk a look!

Makes sense! First you came here to look for a talk and now it's time to talk for a look.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Dead like me already sci-fi?

That is fantasy, just like Harry Potter. I did very much enjoy Dead Like Me.

I LOVED The OA too. But that is fantasy.

 

[fresh_42]

That is fantasy, just like Harry Potter.

Guess I'm a fantasy fan then: Dead like me, Lucifer, Haven, Pushing Daisies, Charmed (original version), Dr. Who, Warehouse 13, The Librarians ...

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Guess I'm a fantasy fan then: Dead like me, Lucifer, Haven, Pushing Daisies, Charmed (original version), Dr. Who, Warehouse 13, The Librarians ...

Oh no, Dr Who is real.

 

[Jarvis323]

Often referred to as "The best film you have never heard of" by those who see it, I can highly recommend the movie "City of God." It's a gangland style movie based in the slums of Rio in Brazil.

You might like Tsotsi also.

 

[Jarvis323]

Here are a few must see historical films.



An some more recent films worth watching.

 

[Jarvis323]

This one is good, but caution it is disturbing.

 

[phinds]

Oldies but goldies++
The West Wing
Hill Street Blues

 

[Bandersnatch]

on tape

I have heard of those. People of yore used to read movies off of them with a magnifying glass. In-between calling each other on the telegraph and redecorating caves.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

One night I saw Anthony Bourdain and a buddy talking with Bill Murray. They discovered that they are all huge fans of a movie from 1989, called Roadhouse. Bill Murray said he had never met anyone who loves Roadhouse as much as he does. So with a referral like that I had to watch it. It was good, especially for a movie of it's kind. I liked it and normally wouldn't care for a movie with that type of plot. But I didn't see why they thought it was such a great movie. My theory is that they were all doing cocaine at the time and it just seemed like one of the greatest movies ever made.

 

[phinds]

I have heard of those. People of yore used to read movies off of them with a magnifying glass. In-between calling each other on the telegraph and redecorating caves.

Ah yes. Those days when all us guys had to walk to and from school, uphill both ways, in the snow, without shoes, carrying our sisters on our backs and our only toys were sticks and cow patties while living in a one room log cabin with no heating or air conditioning . I remember those days well. I used to tell my children about them often.

 

[mcastillo356]

"Monster", (2003), biographical crime drama with Charlize Theron and Christina Ricci. One of my favourite films.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monster_(2003_film)

 

[Ivan Seeking]

My wife and I love this one. ( though I think is is on Amazon Prime and not Netflix)

Another series we enjoy is

The Kominsky Method With Michael Douglas and Alan Arkin.(Netflix)

Just finished The Kominsky Method. Loved it! They say season 3 is coming.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

PS I didn't even recognize Paul Reiser at first. It was only when I noticed his name in the credits that realized that is him!

Getting old is hell. I feel sorry for all of you people getting old like Paul.

 

[phinds]

I feel sorry for all of you people getting old like Paul.

Are you kidding me? Guy's a spring chicken. He's hardly even moved INTO old yet.

 

[Ivan Seeking]

Are you kidding me? Guy's a spring chicken. He's hardly even moved INTO old yet.

Haha, and I'm younger than Reiser but people keep trying to make me old. I won't do it. I'm 25 and I know there is some numbering system in which I can justify that statement.

 

[fresh_42]

Are you kidding me? Guy's a spring chicken. He's hardly even moved INTO old yet.

If you two now start talking about diseases, who has recently left, and what aches the most ...

 

[phinds]

If you two now start talking about diseases, who has recently left, and what aches the most ...

Oh, don't get me started ...

 

[phinds]

I'm 25 and I know there is some numbering system in which I can justify that statement.

No, change it to 39 and go with Jack Benny.

 

[fresh_42]

No, change it to 39 and go with Jack Benny.

I found a base for 32. Guess I stick with that.