Recommendations

Movies

Thoughtful comedies:

    • Being There (Peter Sellers)
    • Harold and Maude
    • Zelig (Woody Allen)
    • The Gods Must Be Crazy
    • When Harry Met Sally
    • Catch-22

Disturbing science fiction thrillers:

    • Blade Runner (Harrison Ford)
    • Brazil (Original and Director's Cut)
    • Clockwork Orange
    • 1984
    • Rollerball
    • Solaris (The original, not the remake!)
    • The Matrix (Especially on DVD)

Intellectual discussions:

    • My Dinner With Andre
    • Mindwalk
    • The Search for Signs of Intelligent Life in the Universe (Lily Tomlin)

"Confidence" movies:

    • The Sting (and The Sting II)
    • Dirty, Rotten Scoundrels (Steve Martin, Michael Caine)
    • House of Games (Wow)
    • The Spanish Prisoner (David Mamet directing Steve Martin)
    • Maverick
    • Big Hand for a Little Lady (My Father liked it)
    • Grifters (My friend Tim liked it)

Musicals:

    • Man of La Mancha
    • Jesus Christ Superstar
    • The Wall
    • Amadeus (not a "musical" per se)
    • Rocky Horror Picture Show

Not quite real-world adventures:

    • The Thirteenth Floor
    • The Usual Suspects (watch it twice!)
    • The Truman Show
    • Groundhog Day

Other memorable goodies:

    • The Name of the Rose
    • The Professional
    • Oh Brother, Where Art Thou

Movies you have to watch twice:

    • The Sixth Sense (and most movies by M. Night Shamalayan)
    • The Village (and most movies by M. Night Shamalayan)
    • Shutter Island (I can't wait to see it!)
    • Fight Club (so smart, so much better than its first impression)
    • Memento (the scenes are all shown in reverse time sequence)
    • The Usual Suspects
    • Psycho
    • The Others
    • The Game
    • The Crying Game ("don't tell the secret!")
    • Jacob's Ladder (based on "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge")
    • La Riviere du Hibou (based on "An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge")
    • Mulholland Drive
    • Donnie Darko
    • The Moderns (so I'm told)
    • Frailty (so I'm told)
    • Arlington Road (a "Conspiracy Theory" feel)
    • Zero Effect (so I'm told)
    • Perfect Blue (so I'm told)
    • The Last Time They Met (ok, it's a book)
    • Unbreakable
    • The Waking Life (so I'm told)
    • The Cube
    • Anything by Luis Bunuel? (so I'm told)
    • Skeleton Key
    • The Prestige (wow)
    • The Nines (wow)

Music

Obscure albums (yes, they're still albums whether they're in LP format or CD format :-):

    • Songs that Made this Country Great - Stan Ridgway
    • The Future - Leonard Cohen
    • Flood - They Might Be Giants
    • An Evening Wasted With - Tom Lehrer
    • Animals - Pink Floyd
    • Vol. 1 (and the sequel, Vol. 3) - Traveling Wilburys
    • Tower of Song: the songs of Leonard Cohen - various (great) artists
    • Bad Love - Randy Newman

Books

Read at 15; re-read at 40:

    • Cat's Cradle - Kurt Vonnegut
    • Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance - Robert Pirsig
    • Godel, Escher, Bach - Douglas Hofstadter
    • Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman - Richard Feynman
    • The Gods Themselves - Isaac Asimov
    • Hyperion - Dan Simmons