Classic Modern Movies That Don’t Disappoint

[Briar Lee]

My wife and I have a channel on that plays an endless loop of truly great modern movies.

I can watch Clint Eastwood’s Gran Torino a hundred times and enjoy it more each time I watch it.

Clint Eastwood is the only high dollar Hollywood star, there are no special effects to dazzle, and it couldn’t have cost much to make. The 1972 Gran Torino Sport has nearly no collector value. The 1972 Gran Torino I had in 1976 would barely get out of its own way with a 302. Hopefully that one had the 351 HO, but likely not.

There are still excellent movies made.


Just not on an industrial scale.


Why can’t there be more of them?

Others on that channel that are really good are True Grit 2010, Titanic , Twister, The Devil Wears Prada, and anything with Al Pacino, Robert DeNiro, Meryl Streep, Kevin Costner, or Clint Eastwood.

Timeless movies made by living directors and actors.

 

[huntertrw]

I don't know that this would qualify as "classic," but Raising Arizona comes to mind. The fight scene inside of the trailer is extremely funny to my warped sense of humor:

 

[Briar Lee]

I don't know that this would qualify as "classic," but Raising Arizona comes to mind. The fight scene inside of the trailer is extremely funny to my warped sense of humor:

Yes, absolutely a modern classic.

Add Fargo to the list.

And Every Which Way But Loose.

And anything by the Cohen Brothers.

 

[autumnfog]

I absolutely agree on Gran Torino.
Seen it several times, and yes it deserves to be called a modern classic.

Another new-ish movie I really liked is The Wrestler.
Mickey Rourke makes a great performance.

 

[huntertrw]

This isn't modern, but it is a CLASSIC in my eyes, and never disappoints:

An interesting fact concerning this film: its Supervising Director was none other than Leo McCarey, who went from working for Hal Roach to directing Bing Crosby and cast in Going My Way.

 

[fireground_piper]

Bubba Ho-Tep. I try to watch it at least once a year.

 

[bullet08]

Modern and classic really don't go together. I do admit there are good movies But to call them classic? Where's the bygone years' Hollywood glamour? Larger than life characters? Charisma? Current movies just lack certain something to be called classic. Good movies? There are plenty. Clint Eastwood movies are one of those rare gems. "Letters From Iwo Gima", "Million Dollar Baby".. Then there are those characters he played.

 

[sablebrush52]

Oh, so many. One that comes to mind was Finding Neverland.

 

[Briar Lee]

Modern and classic really don't go together. I do admit there are good movies But to call them classic? Where's the bygone years' Hollywood glamour? Larger than life characters? Charisma? Current movies just lack certain something to be called classic. Good movies? There are plenty. Clint Eastwood movies are one of those rare gems. "Letters From Iwo Gima", "Million Dollar Baby".. Then there are those characters he played.

For my purposes there are the Golden Age movies. Think Casablanca, etc.

The actresses are so perfect and beautful you’ll hardly ever find a real life woman to compete. Think Rita Hayworth and Ava Gardner and screen goddesses.

And there’s only one Humphrey Bogart or Clark Gable and they can’t be duplicated.

Then there’s the fifties and sixties movies.

Modern classics are few, but every bit worthy of the term modern classic. The vast majority of modern movies really suck. But a few don’t suck.

Think Jaws, etc.

 

[huntertrw]

Think Jaws, etc.

 

[smudgersmissingleg]

I don't know if it qualifies as it's 30+ years old, but I'd definitely put "Glengarry Glen Ross" on the list.

Pacino, Jack Lemmon, Kevin Spacey, Alec Baldwin, Jonathon Pryce, Ed Harris, Alan Arkin. You'd be hard pressed to find a better cast than that. You add in some incredible dialogue and characters and it all adds up to one brilliant movie.

Definitely my favourite film of the 1990's.

A-B-C.....

 

[Briar Lee]

It’s actually a year older than Jaws but Badlands is one of the first completely modern movies that could be made today or twenty or the fifty years ago that it was.

It’s hard to realize that Caril Ann Fugate is still alive.

Caril Ann Fugate - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

Fifty years ago really isn’t that far back.

 

[serpentx]

Not from Hollywood, but Oldboy (not the lighter, lol) is definitely a modern classic

 

[WerewolfOfLondon]

There Will Be Blood. A stonewall modern classic, and surely the equal of any Western that tells the story of America's founding.

 

[cosmicfolklore]

I'm just not keen on watching a movie that I've already seen, especially with millions of movies that I have yet to see.
Maybe after 20 or so years, when I've decently forgotten most of the movie. Even then, after I get the gist, I will probably stop watching.

Back when movies were on video and then DVD... I was so confused as to why someone would buy one.

 

[bluegrassbrian]

It’s actually a year older than Jaws but Badlands is one of the first completely modern movies that could be made today or twenty or the fifty years ago that it was.

It’s hard to realize that Caril Ann Fugate is still alive.

Caril Ann Fugate - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

Fifty years ago really isn’t that far back.

This one is always fun- it shows on TCM a few times a year.


Another film that seems to be on when I wake up randomly at 330am, maybe twice a year (it was on this morning) is the 1982 film Fanny and Alexander - written and directed by Ingmar Bergman. Fantastical, disturbing, touching, and immersive.

Yesterday, a friend and I were discussing Noir and I was surprised to learn he had never seen the 1992 neo-noir The Player, starring Tim Robbins and a bewildering all-star cast. Seriously- Whoopi Goldberg and Lyle Lovett as detectives is not to be missed. It's got a dialogue that just begs for closed captioning. I'd put it up there, dialogue wise, with The Women (1939) and Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf (1966). All three are among my Top 20 films of the 20th century.

 

[Sir Yak]

I love every scene, line and piece of music in the Coen Bros True Grit

 

[Briar Lee]

I love every scene, line and piece of music in the Coen Bros True Grit

True Grit 2010 is to me a sublime masterpiece and a movie I could watch countless times and enjoy it more each time.

Jeff Bridges is a better John Wayne than the Duke himself was, seriously.

Matt Damon was a better Glen Campbell than Glen Campbell and Halie Steinfeld as Mattie Ross was the star of the film and made the story a timeless classic instead of another John Wayne western.

How in the hell could the Chohen Brothers have heard of Iris DeMint and her 2004 version of Leaning on the Everlasting Arms?

It is an astounding tribute to the Cohen Brothers.

I can’t imagine how they decided to redo a John Wayne movie and it worked out far better than the original, which in it’s own time was magnificent.

 

[rick3wood]

True Grit 2010 is to me a sublime masterpiece and a movie I could watch countless times and enjoy it more each time.

Jeff Bridges is a better John Wayne than the Duke himself was, seriously.

Matt Damon was a better Glen Campbell than Glen Campbell and Halie Steinfeld as Mattie Ross was the star of the film and made the story a timeless classic instead of another John Wayne western.

How in the hell could the Chohen Brothers have heard of Iris DeMint and her 2004 version of Leaning on the Everlasting Arms?

It is an astounding tribute to the Cohen Brothers.

I can’t imagine how they decided to redo a John Wayne movie and it worked out far better than the original, which in its own time was magnificent.

Bridges better than Wayne, lol.. Wayne, Hopper, Duvall now that’s a cast for a movie, but everybody is different

 

[Peter Turbo]

and anything with Al Pacino, Robert DeNiro

Uh yeah, no thanks.