How do you discover new good movies to watch that came out decades ago?
 

So for example, most of the best movies came out decades ago either before most of us were born or when we were just kids. Outside of word of mouth, I usually go to actors rottentomato page and scan through to see what the best reviewed movies are. I've discovered a lot of new movies I've never seen before that I enjoyed.

For example I went to Harrison Ford's page to see some of his other more obscure movies from the 80's, and I discovered some new favorites like, "The Mosquito Coast," "Working Girl," and, "Frantic." Working Girl especially is fantastic, and Sigourney Weaver also stars in it from Aliens. It's amazing how many other great Harrison Ford movies there are that people overlook or never watch simply because they assume he's just "Han Solo or Indiana Jones or Blade Runner" and don't watch his other stuff. Besides big hits like "Air Force One" and, "The Fugitive."

I did the same with Sylvester Stallone, best known for Rocky or Rambo. I discovered, "Nighthawks" from 1981 where he's a buddy cop with Billy Dee Williams, and, "Cop Land" from 1997. I'm going to watch some of his other older movies like F.I.S.T. and so forth.

I'm going to go through Keeanu Reeves, Mel Gibson, Arnold's, Tom Cruise's, etc....all other older movies and discover new favorites.

...you answered your own question in the OP. I mean, like you said, looking at actors and directors pages on IMDB or wikipedia. You can also use websites like letterboxd and see what movies the people you follow logged recently. Or you can just google for "best movies form the 1950s" or something.

This is why I don't understand how so many people nowadays, where it's easier to find more obscure shows/movies/cartoons/anime/music artists/etc. than ever still need the mainstream media and gigantic ads by roadside to tell them what to watch/read/listen to.

Go by director and you'll (maybe) have an even better time.

New movies that came out decades ago, eh?

I meant new to us, as in we never seen them before. Even the big famous actors have so many obscure or minor films that were actually really good that nobody talks about.

I watched 10 obscure Harrison Ford films over the last week or so. Ironically enough he basically plays himself in every movie that isn't Star Wars or Indiana Jones.

I watch old movies with my parents and even once in a while with my grandparents... its quite entertaining at times to see some of the actors as kids with bit parts that are now stars all on their own or even some that were popular for a short time and now are only bit part actors today. Even more fun is watching movies that only came out 10-15 years ago that I never saw that have todays new young stars in them. Saw one of Anna Kendricks first films a couple weeks ago... before Twilight... lol

Sometimes I go through the back catalog of an actor I like, otherwise I seek recommendations through Google, or simply look up content I'd like to see to find out if it exists. Occasionally I'll stumble across one on Netflix that I hadn't been aware of, like Monster Squad. James Rolfe's reviews have put me on to quite a few gems, too. There are a lot of cool blogs out there for this sorta thing, at least when it comes down to specific genres. I never have a hard time finding good Kung-Fu or horror recs thanks to bloggers.

I could use some good suggestions for obscure mafia films. Not stuff everybody knows like Goodfellas & The Godfather.

I know a ton. Off the top of my head: State of Grace, Family Enforcer/The Death Collector, A Bronx Tale, The Killing of a Chinese Bookie, and Wannabes (featuring Raymond Serra from TMNT) are all musts. I'll check off the rest from my collection when I get home.

There's also Men of Respect, which isn't that good but is an adaption of Macbeth. So it's interesting if you like Shakespeare.

The Untouchables is another good one...if that's what I'm thinking of. A lot of buddy-cop movies also deal with mafia like enemies, even if they're not really the mafia.

I use a thing called Google search

I usually discover them if they're adaptations of books I like then I look at actors, directors and styles.

For instance, I really liked The Man Who Laughs by Victor Hugo so I watched the 1928 film and began to enjoy the German Expressionist style so I went on to watch The Golem and The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari.

Friends find out that I've never seen a movie, freak out and loudly berate me with phrases like "What do you mean you've never seen Planet of the Apes!?" or "Dude, EVERYBODY has seen Airplane!" or "You GOTTA see The Fifth Element!"

Then they force me to sit down and watch it with them, and I usually don't like it.

Screw the Fifth Element.

LOL, I like the 5th element. Bruce Willis also has a lot of good movies outside of Die Hard.

You want some good recent movies with Bruce Willis, check out:

RED
RED 2
16 Blocks

I love all three of those...

What about Pulp Fiction and Sin City?

Pulp Fiction is damn good... but I honestly forgot Bruce Willis was in that until you brought it up. :tlol:

Haven't gotten around to seeing Sin City yet...

Has anyone noticed the tags for this thread sound like a titles from a children's picture book series about the internet? :tlol:

One such way is the now late Robert Osborne introducing a classic film era movie to see if it interest me as I said in his in memorandum thread. Another is looking at movie ranking list then watching trailers. Such list as IMDB. If it interest me from the trailer I will look on the DVR. If not in the next seven to ten days I will go to Netflix to see if its streaming on able to be ordered by mail.

I'd read those books. :tlol:

Pretty much all of the above: look through an actor/director's filmography on IMDB, recommendations from friends/family, etc.

I was worried you were gonna say you didn't like it. :lol: