Great films you've seen thanks to the small screen?

Pigman II

I'm interested in getting a list of films that you people currently love but for whatever reason never actually saw in the cinema when they first came out - basically I'm looking for a list of sleeper hits. Films that fell under your personal radar but are now amongst your firm favorites thanks to tv/dvd/vhs etc.

BTW please only include films that were in the cinema at a time when you could have actually gone to see them (so no Citizen Kane's, Taxi Driver's, Godfather's etc here please - unless you're REALLY* old of course that is !). Also if a film was '18's' etc and the only reason you missed it was because you were too young at the time to gain admission then don't include it here either. Finally if you reckon the film you're thinking of didn't get a general release here anyway then don't include it either.

I'm only looking for films that you could easily have seen in the cinema but never did.

Anyway here's some of mine to get the ball rolling
- Cube
- Shawshank Redemption
- Boogie Nights
- High Fidelity
- Run Lola Run
- Big Lebowski
- GlenGarry Glen Ross
- Bound
- Dazed and Confused
- Dancer in the Dark


* = 'stereotypical ageist comment #12' (c) 2004

MrPudding

I have 2 that stick out but I am not sure if they had cinema releases. Did Run Lola Run have a cinema release? IFC I suppose. Anyway here are my 2:

Boondock Saints
Officespace

Like I say, not sure if they had cinema releases but they are little gems.

MrP

Frank Grimes

Originally posted by MrPudding
Did Run Lola Run have a cinema release? IFC I suppose.

It did. I actually saw in the UGC - could have been the Virgin Cinemas still at the time.

dave13

Donnie Darko.
Missed it in the IFC but it reaffirmed my belief in american cinema.
pi.
Debut film from guy who made Requiem for a dream.Actually that film as well.

herobear

hmmm

spirited away
whale rider
city of god
spellbound
battle royale
goodbye lenin

Makaveli

Did Battle Royale get a cinema release here?

Anyway, em

- Cube
- Shawshank Redemption
- High Fidelity
- Run Lola Run
- Big Lebowski
- GlenGarry Glen Ross
- Dazed and Confused

All of them.
Spirited Away aswell.
Starship Troopers, not exactly the greatest film in the world but enjoyable none the less.
Equilibrium.
28 Days Later.


There's some big ones that I never saw in the cinema but you'd hardly call them sleepers eg. The Matrix, American Beauty, Gladiator etc so I wont include them.

Buck Owens

Here's mine:

Braindead
bad taste
Ring
Memento
Fight club
Akira
Ichi the killer
Donnie Darko
Audition
irreversible

Ebony

Intacto
Empire records (dont think it got cinema release but it is one of my favourtive films of all time and wouldnt have been if I hadnt seen it on BBC at like 2 in the morning one Christmas)
Moulin Rougue
Almost Famous

Space Coyote

Ones I can think of are ...

True Romance
Braindead
Fight Club
Memento
Donnoe Darko
Ring
Ring II
Casino
Donnie Brasco
American History X

Tzetze

Bad boy Bubby.

Not sure if it meets the cinema release requirement, but highly recommended.

Chad ghostal

-rabbit proof fence,
-eureka(japanese film with limited release) one of the best films iv seen in a long time..
-The dancer upstairs
-Heat

Oh and battle royale got a cinema release in the IFC in dublin and the triskel in cork.

Bacchus

Some of these mentioned already..

The Matrix - only saw it when it came out on DVD
Donnie Darko
Fight Club
Shawshank Redemption
American Beauty
City Of God
Godfather (well I was a bit young when it came out in cinema)
Memento
Twelve Monkeys
Seven
The Score
Goodfellas
One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest (once again, I was young when it came out)
Alien (c above)
Aliens (c above)
Big Lebowski
The Negotiator
Crouching Tiger Hiden Dragon


hmmm... I don't go to the cinema enough

RasTa

Seven Samurai
Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
Dark Days
Akira
Spinal Tap

Karl Hungus

Hard question to answer, tbh.

I've not really been going to the cinema as often as I used to at all. Last film I saw was The Passion Of Christ, and I think that 'Experience' with certain audience members has just put me off cinema for good at this stage. Last film I had seen before that on the big screen was probably Return Of The King.

I think it's also due to DVDs aswell, as nowadays I'd far rather watch a film in the comfort of my own home now that I've got nice 5.1 speakers, and a toilet right next to me. I mean, even when it came out I really wanted to see Master And Commander, but I just couldn't bring myself to go to cinema. Ordered it yesterday from play.com.

So, in one sense, just about every film I see nowadays falls under this category.

But Memento was a film that I surely would've seen in the cinema if I had known about it at the time, and only discovered it on video. Spirited Away is another film, and it was shown in the Town Hall Theater, unbeknownst to me, and I was cursing when I found out I had missed it. Same goes for Takeshi Kitano's Dolls.

ixoy

Ringu - I did try and see it in the IFI but it was sold out.
The Matrix - Really wish I'd seen it on the big screen. I'm struggling to think of another movie though as I nearly always got to see them on the large screen if they were around. The other classics I didn't have a choice being either too young or not born.

MisterAnarchy

Confidence.
Saw it last week.Great show.

loismustdie

bitter moon

trotter_inc

Fight Club.

Tivoli

watching telly one night flicked over to see charlton heston and a few others walking accross a dessert for about 30mins then meeting this huge tribe of mute people

sat throught the whole original "planet of the apes", not having a clue about the film, oh my god what an ending


saw the re-make on the big screen. WTF were they thinking?

Capt'n Midnight

blood simple
bad taste
rocketeer (Ok I could have seen it in the cinema - but it being kinda provincial (Portugal) we ended up seeing Hudson Hawlk instead .. still hurts to think of it)

most of the foreign language stuff
eg: the one about the Japanese guy who goes to Iceland for his parents funeral.

scanners or was it screamers - SiFi short story where earth men are fighting a war on a remote planet and underground factories make nasty robots...

eggshapedfred

Pulp Fiction
Trainspotting
The Big Lebowski
This Is Spinal Tap
Mystery Men

theres more but i can't think of them now

m4cker

the when did this film come out and was it ever in the cinema

The Shawshank Redemption

i have yet to meet anybody that did see it in the Cinema.

ferdi

any film made pre 1985 i would have to have seen on the small screen, coz i wasnt born till then

ixoy

Originally posted by m4cker
The Shawshank Redemption

i have yet to meet anybody that did see it in the Cinema.

I saw it in the cinema. Once more I am great.

bus77

Seen 2 on the telly recently,

Face - robbery gone bad type film set in london, bit sloppy in places but really well done.
Cant go wrong with Robert Carlyle in it

American Graffiti - good if ya like all that 1960s stuff.
was George Lucas first big hit, he got the money for Star Wars after doin this

Originally posted by Capt'n Midnight
rocketeer (Ok I could have seen it in the cinema - but it being kinda provincial (Portugal) we ended up seeing Hudson Hawlk instead .. still hurts to think of it)

yea.. twas great in the cinema