Litmus Test Movies

bnt

A "Litmus Test" movie is one that you use to test people: are they people you'll get along with? There are some movies that mean certain things to me, and if others don't get them, it's pretty certain they won't get me, either. Some examples I use:

• 2001: A Space Odyssey
• American Beauty
• Buffalo '66
• Crash (Cronenberg / J.G. Ballard)
  
• Lost In Translation
• The Godfather Part III

The Godfather Part III is particularly interesting to ask about, since some dismiss the movie entirely, without seeing it, while others make a point of going after Sofia Coppola's performance. I don't think it's as excellent as the first two parts, but still extremely good, even with Sofia in it. :pac:

Anyone else have any "love me, love this, or else" movies?

L31mr0d

Mine would be:

• Un long dimanche de fiançailles
• The Fountain
• No Country for Old men
• The Matrix Reloaded
• Anchorman
• Speed Racer

They aren't necessarily my favourite movies but rather how I'd gauge my similarity in taste with another person.

carlrac

L31mr0d wrote: »

Mine would be:

• Un long dimanche de fiançailles
• The Fountain
• No Country for Old men
• The Matrix Reloaded
• Anchorman
• Speed Racer

They aren't necessarily my favourite movies but rather how I'd gauge my similarity in taste with another person.

Ok wait, you would define the person you are by The Fountain AND Speed Racer/Anchorman? How does that work!?

PS: check out Jeunet's earlier films and you'll find even better ones to define your character

niallon

I just show them Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, if they like it, they leave.

deathstarkiller

Star Wars (A New Hope)
Smokey and the Bandit
Escape from New York
The Thing
Raiders of the Lost Ark
Big Trouble in Little China
Halloween (original)
Blade Runner
Lost Highway
Any Roger Moore James Bond (I know nearly all the other actors were better but I just enjoy his so much, probably cause he was Bond when I was growing up)
Magnum Force
Superman
Aliens

There are literally thousands more but if you like those movies we'd get along.

Blured

Just one really - Zoolander

niallon

deathstarkiller wrote: »

Star Wars (A New Hope)
Smokey and the Bandit
Escape from New York
The Thing
Raiders of the Lost Ark
Big Trouble in Little China
Halloween (original)
Blade Runner
Lost Highway
Any Roger Moore James Bond (I know nearly all the other actors were better but I just enjoy his so much, probably cause he was Bond when I was growing up)
Magnum Force
Superman
Aliens

There are literally thousands more but if you like those movies we'd get along.

I think you just made a new best friend...if you add They Live!

nyarlothothep

Star Trek
Robocop
Aliens
Fight Club
American Psycho
BTTF
Evil Dead trilogy
Ghostbusters
Spinal Tap
Total Recall
Terminator trilogy
12 Monkeys
Star Wars trilogy
Starship troopers
Tron
Blade Runner
Desperado
Enemy Mine

nyarlothothep

Star Trek (in general)
Robocop
Aliens
Fight Club
American Psycho
BTTF
Evil Dead trilogy
Ghostbusters
Spinal Tap
Total Recall
Terminator
12 Monkeys
Star Wars
Starship troopers
Tron
Blade Runner
Desperado
Enemy Mine

Asmodean

I think you just made a new best friend...if you add They Live!

Damn! They live is the ONLY movie I need to judge someone That or Bubba ho-tep

norrie rugger

nyarlothothep wrote: »

Star Trek (in general): check and own a lot
Robocop: Check
Aliens: Check, and own Trilogy
Fight Club: Check and own
American Psycho: Check
BTTF: Check and own
Evil Dead trilogy: Check
Ghostbusters: Check, need to buy
Spinal Tap: Check
Total Recall: Check, love it for some reason
Terminator: Check, 1&2 only.
12 Monkeys: Check and own
Star Wars: Check (original only)
Starship troopers: Check and own
Tron: Check
Blade Runner: Too film noir for me
Desperado: Never seen
Enemy Mine: Never seen

Add Firefly, Serenity and Lord Of the Rings for me

deathstarkiller

niallon wrote: »

I think you just made a new best friend...if you add They Live!

Did I leave They Live out? Damn

Feck, I just realised I left Ghostbusters out too.
Actually I better relax about what I left out cause there are just so many.

Running Bing

"Do you like the Godfather?"

"no"

Conversation ended...let us never talk of films again.


I have the general ones to see if people have any taste at all. Things like Goodfellas', Pulp Fiction, Raging Bull, Fight Club, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.

Then I feel around a bit and see if the person is interested in films. Stuff like Casablanca, Citizen Kane, Hitchcock, Taxi Driver and Apocalypse Now.

If the person is still looking at me without a quizzical look on there face (You watch black and white films:eek:) Ill start onto the Bergmans, Fellini's, Kurosawa, French New Wave.

If Im sensing thats not the persons bag Ill go the other direction and talk about stuff like They Live (and all Carpenters films), Bubba Ho Tep, Evil Dead, Romero etc. etc.


Tbh though its hard enough to find people who think Raging Bull and Taxi Driver are good ("its so boring...nothing happens").

Running Bing

And usually I use stuff like Star Wars and Lord of the Rings to gauge the opposite i.e. If people are big fans of those films we probably dont have a lot in common film wise.:P

L31mr0d

Yes but the whole point of this, if I'm reading the OP right, is fringe movies that you like that you know not a lot of other people will, or are bothered to see.

Yes I like Jurassic Park and Ghostbusters, but just because some chap down the street likes them doesn't mean that myself and him will get along. These are bread and butter movies that a vast majority will like.

I picked movies that I like that are slightly fringe to my tastes and have strong views on either side of the fence.

Everyone has the bulk of good and popular movies in common (like nyarlothothep's list). It's the ones that sometimes missed the mark, or are a personal guilty pleasures that you use to test people to see what their tastes are.

norrie rugger

L31mr0d wrote: »

Yes but the whole point of this, if I'm reading the OP right, is fringe movies that you like that you know not a lot of other people will, or are bothered to see.

Yes I like Jurassic Park and Ghostbusters, but just because some chap down the street likes them doesn't mean that myself and him will get along. These are bread and butter movies that a vast majority will like.

I picked movies that I like that are slightly fringe to my tastes and have strong views on either side of the fence.

Everyone has the bulk of good and popular movies in common (like nyarlothothep's list). It's the ones that sometimes missed the mark, or are a personal guilty pleasures that you use to test people to see what their tastes are.

Star Trek movies. Even with in them you could filter it down

Serenity is a great one for me

ziedth

niallon wrote: »

I just show them Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, if they like it, they leave.

By this logic we should be married


Mine would be:

Fight Club
Serenity
Any Given Sunday
Boondock Saints
Count of Monte Cristo


If Somone likes the Following They are Shuned:

Indy IV (As Said)
Sex and the city Movie
Anything that has won the palm d'or in the last 15 years
Open Water

Blackhorse Slim

Seven Samurai.


That is all.

Southland Tales
Serenity
Lord of the Rings
First Contact
The Thing
Boa Vs. Python
Farankenfish
Hidden Fortress
Bubba-Ho-Tep
Evil Dead
My Name is Bruce
Dragon Wars
The Outpost
Punisher
Punisher Warzone
Dare Devil Directors Cut
Knowing
The Devil's Rejects

There are so so many more that I wouldn't even know where to start.

norrie rugger

Deleted User wrote: »

Southland Tales
Serenity
Lord of the Rings
First Contact
The Thing
Boa Vs. Python
Farankenfish
Hidden Fortress
Bubba-Ho-Tep
Evil Dead
My Name is Bruce
Dragon Wars
The Outpost
Punisher
Punisher Warzone
Dare Devil Directors Cut
Knowing
The Devil's Rejects

There are so so many more that I wouldn't even know where to start.

No Crank or Transporter?

norrie rugger

norrie rugger wrote: »

No Crank or Transporter?

I was saving them for part 2 which I now give thee.

Crank
Crank: High Voltage
Transporter
The Bank Job
Death Race
Revolver
The One
Postal
House of the Dead
House of the Dead 2: Dead Aim
Dead and Deader
Brotherhood
JSA
Princess Blade
The Machine Girl
Save the Green Planet
The Quiet Earth
Terminator
Aliens
Predator
True Lies
A.P.E.X.
Dark Angel
Missionary Man
Hidden Agenda
Spontanious Combustion
The Mechanik
The Boondock Saints
Cobra
The Marine
Welcome to the Jungle
The Shepherd: Border Patrol
Until Death
Wake of Death In Hell
Rambo
Rocky Balboa



Anyone who is not excited for the following films is unlikely to become a long time film going acquintence of mine.

norrie rugger

Deleted User wrote: »

I was saving them for part 2 which I now give thee.

The One
Princess Blade



Anyone who is not excited for the following films is unlikely to become a long time film going acquintence of mine.

Yay, I am not the only person who loves "The One"
Also, I hope that is "The Princess Bride", or is "Princess Blade" about how Blade finds out that he is really a princess from a distant European country, only to find out it is Romania!!

I am now officially creaming it, is that "The Expendables"??
Is that JCVD in said movie????
When did this happen and why was I not told?

quarryman

bnt wrote: »

• 2001: A Space Odyssey
• American Beauty
• Lost In Translation

Those 3 alone would make me your friend for life.

Add The Lives of Others to that and you have my top 4 all time films I reckon.

norrie rugger

norrie rugger wrote: »

Yay, I am not the only person who loves "The One"
Also, I hope that is "The Princess Bride", or is "Princess Blade" about how Blade finds out that he is really a princess from a distant European country, only to find out it is Romania!!

Nope it's Princess Blade. Donnie Yen is the ction director and plays a small part. I would also add in the last 6 Donnie Yen films released to my list aswell as many more of his early ones.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T7siAEiySqo

norrie rugger wrote: »

I am now officially creaming it, is that "The Expendables"??
Is that JCVD in said movie????
When did this happen and why was I not told?

The top one is Universsal Soldier: The Next Generation while the bottom one is the Expendables. Both look absolutly amazing.

Tusky

I dont pick friends based on what movies they like.

norrie rugger

Deleted User wrote: »

Nope it's Princess Blade. Donnie Yen is the ction director and plays a small part. I would also add in the last 6 Donnie Yen films released to my list aswell as many more of his early ones.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T7siAEiySqo

That looks like the intro to a live action Final Fantasy movie!! Greatest trailer ever

AnonoBoy

Lone Wolf McQuade.

That's it.

Peyton Manning

Donnie Darko
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Requiem for a Dream
City of God
Into The Wild
Magnolia
The Notebook
Brick
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
The Prestige
The Fountain
The Truman Show

banshee_bones

American Beauty
Pulp Fiction
Fight Club
A Night At The Roxbury

Although i do own

Lost in Translation
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
City of God
Kung Fu Hustle
The Godfather
American History X

and id be inclined maybe to throw one or two in if i felt the need to.

I dont know many people who dont own dodgeball, anchorman or zoolander i think they are three givens! for me anyway i think most people would find at least one of them funny!

bnt

L31mr0d wrote: »

Yes but the whole point of this, if I'm reading the OP right, is fringe movies that you like that you know not a lot of other people will, or are bothered to see.

Not really - for example, I did mention American Beauty, which a lot of people saw, and it garnered 5 Oscars yet still polarises opinion today. I didn't mention The Godfather (Parts I or II), since there is general agreement that they're great. It might be a popular film they've seen before, or one from my DVD collection that didn't make money, such as Buffalo '66. So I'm thinking of films that speak to me in a personal way, and think it's great if others see greatness in there too, even if they don't see the same things as I do. Do they think for themselves, rather than just follow the "consensus"?

ziedth wrote: »

If Somone likes the Following They are Shuned:
...
Anything that has won the palm d'or in the last 15 years

Is that inclusive of 1994, when Pulp Fiction won?

Lots of great replies here - more than I was expecting, frankly! :cool:

Rhyme

Thinking about it, i've got tons, but they're interchangeable depending on what book I'm reading/what mood I'm in/what films i've been watching lately etc...

The main ones are;
Pulp Fiction
American Beauty
Die Hard
The Princess Bride
...and a pile of others i can't recall (or i don't want to bloat this post).

I'd readily throw into that pile films like Bubba Ho-Tep, Evil Dead 2, Predator, almost anything by Hayao Miyazaki, Ong-Bak, Garden State, Stranger than Fiction, The Bourne Identity, Donnie Darko (shut up), Sunshine... here, let me open my DVD drawer :rolleyes:

If the film is good/bad enough to talk about at length, i'll get on with the person.

nyarlothothep

L31mr0d wrote: »

Yes but the whole point of this, if I'm reading the OP right, is fringe movies that you like that you know not a lot of other people will, or are bothered to see.

Yes I like Jurassic Park and Ghostbusters, but just because some chap down the street likes them doesn't mean that myself and him will get along. These are bread and butter movies that a vast majority will like.

I picked movies that I like that are slightly fringe to my tastes and have strong views on either side of the fence.

Everyone has the bulk of good and popular movies in common (like nyarlothothep's list). It's the ones that sometimes missed the mark, or are a personal guilty pleasures that you use to test people to see what their tastes are.

Interesting, I picked those movies because they almost define me. Ghostbusters for example though I won't go into it. Paul Verhovens work is also incredible and the humour in his films defines my humour at an essential level. Ergo these films would test people. However they must like all of them.

2001 A Space Odessey is a fringe film I like but didn't include as it doesn't really matter if people like it or not based on personal experience. One friend rightly points out that it is boring, it was a favourite film for another person I didn't like. Like music some films attract particular personalities, eg a particular band or artist is more likely to attract snobbish people, though its not a given that one person will be like this.

niallon

Speaking seriously, I really wouldn't share similar movie tastes with anyone if they didn't like any one of John Carpenter's films excluding Memoirs of an Invisible Man and Ghosts of Mars but if I had to make a shortlist:

Halloween
They Live!
The Thing (Carpenter)
The Dam Busters
The Nightmare Before Christmas (I know this is popular enough but it still seems to be like movie Marmite to some!)
Galaxy Quest (Anyone who doesn't get this film for the pure comedic genius it truly is is a big poopy head!)

eagle eye

Clearly some of my favourites would be here but there are movies that you either just get or you won't be in my company.

Twelve Angry Men(Its black and white and brilliant, no excuse not to watch it or say anything bad about it. A real tester imo.)
Indochine(Love this movie and its foreign and its long. Another big test.)
Pulp Fiction(Do you get it, no I mean do you really get it?)
Total Recall(I'll give your brain a break but you better like this.)
V for Vendetta(Okay time to get going again, lets start working that brain again.)
The Big Lebowski(Say one bad word about this movie or the Coens and you can forget about it.)
The Birds(Time for some scary Hitchcock and some more black and white)
Unforgiven(You like Westerns? I love them)
And finally if you got through all them and we are still on terms you only have to pass this one easy test and we are friends for life

The Usual Suspects.

deathstarkiller

niallon wrote: »

Speaking seriously, I really wouldn't share similar movie tastes with anyone if they didn't like any one of John Carpenter's films excluding Memoirs of an Invisible Man and Ghosts of Mars but if I had to make a shortlist:

Halloween
They Live!
The Thing (Carpenter)
The Dam Busters
The Nightmare Before Christmas (I know this is popular enough but it still seems to be like movie Marmite to some!)
Galaxy Quest (Anyone who doesn't get this film for the pure comedic genius it truly is is a big poopy head!)

Damn, there had to be one I'm not mad about on your lists and that's Nightmare Before Christmas. I don't hate it but I'm not mad about it either. I did go again last year to see it in 3D and enjoyed it. Seeing as I'm a fan of all your other movies I'm gonna give The Dam Busters a look. I haven't seen it since I was a kid and don't remember the movie at all other than the general story of course. I agree with you on Carpenter movies, those two you mention are the only two that I wish weren't Carpenter movies. Ghost on Mars was a horrible last movie for such a great director. I know he made a couple of decent Masters of Horror episodes but I'd like him to come back and even make one more decent movie. Galaxy Quest is awesome!

eagle eye wrote: »

Clearly some of my favourites would be here but there are movies that you either just get or you won't be in my company.

Twelve Angry Men(Its black and white and brilliant, no excuse not to watch it or say anything bad about it. A real tester imo.)
Indochine(Love this movie and its foreign and its long. Another big test.)
Pulp Fiction(Do you get it, no I mean do you really get it?)
Total Recall(I'll give your brain a break but you better like this.)
V for Vendetta(Okay time to get going again, lets start working that brain again.)
The Big Lebowski(Say one bad word about this movie or the Coens and you can forget about it.)
The Birds(Time for some scary Hitchcock and some more black and white)
Unforgiven(You like Westerns? I love them)
And finally if you got through all them and we are still on terms you only have to pass this one easy test and we are friends for life

The Usual Suspects.

I'm liking this thread. There are a few movies I'm gonna check out thanks to it. I seen Twelve Angry Men once, it was years ago and unfortuantely it was after I got home from a night club and I was hammered so I kept drifting off and didn't even know what was going on half the time. I better revisit it. Haven't seen Indochine. I'm interested in what you mean by 'do you get' Pulp Fiction. I love that movie but what do you mean? I'd love to know if there's a message or something to the movie that I don't know about.
Isn't The Birds in colour?

It would be great if all friends loved the same movies but there will always be certain movies that some just won't get. Like The Big Lebowski, I LOVE that movie, seen it 5 times at the cinema but one of my closest friends absolutely hates it. I've tried to get him to give it another chance but no joy. I've enjoyed or love 90% of the Coens movies but I really didn't like Burn After Reading for some reason and I thought I was going to love it.

ziedth

bnt wrote: »

Is that inclusive of 1994, when Pulp Fiction won?

Oh my bad I thought Pulp Fiction was '92, rookie mistake!

My point remains the same though.

I think I may have to change my underpants after seeing the universal soldier picture

biko

As long as you're not an "no-one gets this film but me" emo I'm sure we'll get along, unless you like Woody Allen or anything that says "A celebration to life" on the cover.

For me just one, Space:1999. Yes, I'm that shallow.

Cactus Col

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.

Anybody who thinks this is more than average must have his / her taste brought into question. (I would guarantee they are also fans of The Big Lebowski).

niallon

deathstarkiller wrote: »

Seeing as I'm a fan of all your other movies I'm gonna give The Dam Busters a look. I haven't seen it since I was a kid and don't remember the movie at all other than the general story of course.

Definitely do. I mainly love it due to a WW2 fascination but just to look at a film of such epic scope and then note the fact that it was made only 10 years after the war had ended, 11 years after the events it portrays and then take into account the humongous influence that the final raid had on Star Wars and you got a winner!

Ghost on Mars was a horrible last movie for such a great director.

Don't worry just yet: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1369706/

Coupled with the other two projects on his resume in production we should surely get to see at least one!

mikom

eagle eye wrote: »

The Birds(Time for some scary Hitchcock and some more black and white)

Colour??

"lets start working that brain again."

faceman

I like meeting people who havent seen my favourite movies so that I can introduce them to it. Its quite gratifying to see someone being introduced something I find awesome and discussing it with them after they have it fresh in their head.

I realise thats sad but its better than judging people just cause they dont like Best of the Best!

faceman

faceman wrote: »

I like meeting people who havent seen my favourite movies so that I can introduce them to it. Its quite gratifying to see someone being introduced something I find awesome and discussing it with them after they have it fresh in their head.

I realise thats sad but its better than judging people just cause they dont like Best of the Best!

I do the same thing. The first date I went on with my current gf she mentioned that she had never seen The Lost Boys. I Couldn't believe that she had not seen it and took her back to mine to watch it. On our second date after she watched my best friends have a massive fight, me being literally thrown through a door by one of them, another friend punching a window through and the night finishing with them both in hospital the most surprising aspect of it all was when she said that she had never seen Serenity. Again I took her home and introduced he to it, we've been going out since. long story short, don't judge people by what they like or haven't seen.

norrie rugger

Deleted User wrote: »

I do the same thing. The first date I went on with my current gf she mentioned that she had never seen The Lost Boys. I Couldn't believe that she had not seen it and took her back to mine to watch it. On our second date after she watched my best friends have a massive fight, me being literally thrown through a door by one of them, another friend punching a window through and the night finishing with them both in hospital the most surprising aspect of it all was when she said that she had never seen Serenity. Again I took her home and introduced he to it, we've been going out since. long story short, don't judge people by what they like or haven't seen.

My girl had never seen Serenity either, she has watched it over a dozen times at this stage and Firefly boxset on numerous occasions.
I have even gotten her excited about the new Trek movie (she has started watching TOS)

I thought that she was great before, outstanding now ha

norrie rugger

norrie rugger wrote: »

My girl had never seen Serenity either, she has watched it over a dozen times at this stage and Firefly boxset on numerous occasions.
I have even gotten her excited about the new Trek movie (she has started watching TOS)

I thought that she was great before, outstanding now ha

Mine is also excited about Star Trek, she's one of those girls who will watch pretty much anything though does like to tell people that I make her watch films about mutant alligators and rubbish zombie films.

Valmont

bnt wrote: »

Some examples I use:

• 2001: A Space Odyssey
• American Beauty
• Buffalo '66
• Crash (Cronenberg / J.G. Ballard)
  
• Lost In Translation
• The Godfather Part III

We should totally go out. I love all those movies.

Otis Driftwood

If I "litmus tested" and picked my friends based upon movies I like (august underground,maniac,salo,guinea pig etc) and movies they like (anything with Will Ferrell or Ben Stiller,transformers,batman,superbad etc) then I likely wouldnt have many friends at all.

What a ridiculous notion that is(litmus testing I mean)

johnny_ultimate

nedtheshed wrote: »

If I "litmus tested" and picked my friends based upon movies I like (august underground,maniac,salo,guinea pig etc) and movies they like (anything with Will Ferrell or Ben Stiller,transformers,batman,superbad etc) then I likely wouldnt have many friends at all.

What a ridiculous notion that is(litmus testing I mean)

Yup again if I picked friends based on my personal taste I'd have very few acquaintances indeed - only a few people I know have similar tastes, and even then only in specific areas (I could debate anime with some or Woody Allen with others). On the other hand, I can imagine myself having a great conversation with anyone who would be able to sensibly debate Bergman or Kurosawa. Unfortunately, I haven't met that person in (real, non-internet) life yet. But overall I wouldn't judge someone on their film taste. Unless they didn't like My Neighbour Totoro - in which case they are just wrong.

eagle eye

mikom wrote: »

Colour??

"lets start working that brain again."

I have it in Black and White. I never seen it in colour.

eagle eye

To whoever was asking about Pulp Fiction. The whole movie revolves around the briefcase. Do you know whats in the briefcase?

johnny_ultimate

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

On the other hand, I can imagine myself having a great conversation with anyone who would be able to sensibly debate Bergman or Kurosawa. Unfortunately, I haven't met that person in (real, non-internet) life yet.

I had one of the most enjoyable debates of my life last week when myself and a college friend debated Kurosawa, Allen, Bergman and Goddard for over 3 hours in the college canteen. I never thought such a person existed. Afterward he commented on how he always imagined that I only enjoyed trashy sci fi and monster films and would never in a million years guessed that I loved Kurosawa, Bergman and Goddard so much.

Just watching Highlander: The Source on BBC and quite enjoying it. I have it on DVD upstairs and have watched it a number of times. Like Endgame it's one of those films that I watch every time I stumble across it on TV. I rewatch all 6 of the films every few months and will routinely be found rewatching episodes of the show when I should be joining my college mates drinking on a Friday night.

All the films in the series hold a special place in my heart and while they get a lot of slack from people and only the original and tv show are truly great, I can't help but enjoy them all.