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:

Eddie Murphy's best movies from the 80's like Trading Places, Coming to America, Beverly Hills Cop 1 and 2, and 48 hours are all required viewing. As well as The Nutty Professor.

Coming to America might very well be the best comedy of all time.

Samuel L Jackson and John Travolta for the MOTHERFVCKING WIN.

Tell me how do you 'read' a picture book? I would like to learn how to read pictures.:P

I discover old films by watching them on tv channels or looking up different genres via the Internet.

Some picture books have words in addition to images.

I was just giving CKD a hard time. Its a part of our e-friendship.

I am curious about the favorite classics of 'dromers thanks to this thread and Robert Osborne passing away.

I dunno... same way guys read certain magazines "for the articles." :trazz:

Movies were generally much better prior to the 2000's. There have been some great movies in the last 16 years, but everything is better prior.

This is not even counting classic movies from the 30's-50's. There were also a lot of gems in the 60's and 70's too. Even before the more modern 80's and 90's films.

The young kids of today just don't know what they're missing. It's kind of ironic all the actors prior to the 2000's are unknown to today's young kids.

That's funny; I feel the exact opposite.

There's a fun one I like called Innocent Blood- vampire Mob goons- it's hilarious in a twisted way, and a pretty good flick!



You, sir, are a godless heathen!


I lol'ed! Aren't you forgetting comics too?

Playboy(at least my country's edition) actually has some interesting interviews, at least the few issues I've read... at the doctor's waiting room.

Really? The 2000's is when movie companies started "playing it safe" and also started running out of ideas, that's why there are now so many remakes or sequels/prequels to old classic movies. Outside of the huge explosion of comic book movies (which are based on already established franchises), there haven't been many breakout new movies in the 2000's.

Think of all the biggest movies of the last 16 years, the bulk of them are either comic book movies, sequels or remakes of old movies, or based on popular books like Harry Potter, etc.

I don't watch as many movies and let alone tv shows as most people do, but it seems nowadays there's an overwhelming amount of Marvel and DC live action films, and those films don't appeal me at all. I've never seen so many people claiming to be fans of superheroes outside the big ones(Superman, Batman, Spider-Man) like I do nowadays. It's like Thor stopped being the mythological norse God for people and the first one that people think of is an American superhero who happens to bear the same name as said God.

FWIW, many people nowadays from my observation claim that tv shows are generally better than movies. Maybe it's because shows like Game of Thrones have very high budgets in comparison to shows made 20 years ago?

Besides those, most movies these days are remakes or sequels to old movies. Terminator, Aliens, Jurassic Park, Ghostbusters, Indianna Jones 4, Rambo 4, two new Rocky movies, the 2001 Planet of the Apes movie, the Star Wars prequels, all got remakes/sequels in the 2000's to classic movies. Most of these have been lackluster outside the Rocky Films, Rambo and Mad Max Fury Road.

There's been some new Mission Impossible movies too, those have been mostly good.

To this day I have only seen the first ever Terminator movie. Same goes for Rocky.
I watched the original Planet of the Apes movie when I was a kid... then again there's lots of remakes/versions of that movie aren't there? I can think of at least a couple.

Star Wars... the Phantom Menace left a bad teste in my mouth and Attack of the Clones was boring as hell. My family rented that movie... first time ever we didn't finish a movie we rented.

Watch all the classic versions of the movies. The modern ones are never as good, the only exceptions being the Planet of the Apes films, the Rocky films, Mad Max Fury Road, and maybe Terminator 3.

Dude I watched the original SW trilogy several times when I was a kid. But have no interest in re-watching those movies nowadays. They're OK for what they are but meh.

Sequels have always been a thing. Superhero movies were also a thing a while back (albeit not quite as prevalent as today). There's

That doesn't describe the bulk of Pixar's work (for example Inside Out) or Zootopia; both were really big, original ideas and made within the last 16 years.

The original Star Wars films are the most rewatchable films in existence besides Back to the Future, etc. People rewatch those films hundreds of times. They never get old.

Good for them but I'm not "people". I'm just an individual. And not every single individual on Earth feels the same way regarding a particular movie franchise.