What movies made in the last five years are worth watching?

As the title says, I am looking for something to watch in those few moments I am unable or simply too lazy to actually bother to play a video game like DoD.

I do not leave my home for anything other than groceries every month, and I am only out for other purposes every few months, so I am looking for something to watch and actually enjoy. Not nonsense to fill the air with as background noise.

I do not watch television except rewatching the few science fiction series I enjoyed fom years or even decades ago.

Do not limit your suggestions to what you think I will like. There is no reason to neglect "Romance" and such stuff just because I hate them. If you enjoy them, please tell me the names and what you enjoyed. Others will likely read and may decide to watch your selections.

I have basically ran out of "Let's Play" videos from ages ago and most new games do not even interest me. Movies also seem to mostly be garbage in almost all cases.

Thank you each in advance for your suggestions. Since I do not watch television, I never see what movies are coming nor what movies are good and what are terrible. (I really and truly do not even own a television.)

 

I would definitely recommend Hugo. Probably one of the best movies I've ever seen. I really enjoyed the atmosphere and the little vignettes of life that it showed.

 

This one? Hugo

Thank you.

 

Hugo was a good movie -- definitely worth seeing. It should be good on the small screen, but I also have to mention that it's the ONLY movie that I would actually suggest to see in 3-D if at all possible. Normally I dislike 3-D, but It was used really well in Hugo.

If you are limiting yourself to movies made in the last 5 years, then that eliminates many of my favorites. But I can still name quite a few that I feel are seriously good to great (note, these are in no particular order):

1l Both/either version of "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo". Seriously, I loved the original and though that the English version could be as good, but I was wrong. The actresses in both versions play the heroine very differently, and both were terrific in their own way.

2. "Midnight in Paris" -- I'm biased, I suppose, in that I am a huge Woody Allen fan, but seriously, he hasn't made a movie this good in a long time. It's a really good story, and very funny.

3. Since it falls into your 5-year window, "Up" -- It may be a children's movie, but it's a children's movie that I loved (plus I've been a fan of Ed Asner since the Mary Tyler Moore show).

4. "The Hurt Locker" -- I loved this movie. It's definitely intense. It's about a bomb disposal team during the Iraq war.

5. "Slumdog Millionaire" -- I guess it's kind of a cliche to say I enjoyed this movie, but it really is entertaining, from start to finish.

6. "True Grit" -- Jeff Bridges is just terrific in this movie -- he's pretty much why this movie is on my list

7. "Inception" -- I don't know why some people don't like this movie, I thought it was one of the best science fiction films made in recent years. Just make sure when you watch it, you are not multi-tasking (my mom does that all the time -- and then complains when she doesn't understand what's happening).

8. "A Serious Man" -- this is, essentially, the story of Job, set in a Jewish community in Minnesota in the 1960s. It's definitely a dark comedy. I may be biased here, coming from a Jewish background, but I still think it was one of the best movies in recent years.

9. "There Will Be Blood" -- this just about makes your cut-off -- an excellent movie with great writing and acting, about an oil tycoon. Daniel Day Lewis is simply phenomenal in it, and I'm in awe of the writing as well.

Well I was thinking of making this a top 10 list and there are a few others I could definitely mention, but these are at the top of my list. I'd say that any and all of them are movies that you really HAVE to see.

 

Well I thought of my number 10 after I submitted the above. I was saying how I thought Inception was the best science fiction film made in recent years. Well there was another SF film that comes close:
10. "Moon" -- this is a low-budge science fiction film about a man who lives alone on the moon, and works for a mining company, monitoring and maintaining mining equipment. It's reminiscent of an old science fiction novel I read years ago, "Rogue Moon" but only in superficial ways.

 

By release date:

2007 - God Grew Tired Of Us - a documentary about the "Lost Boys" from Sudan. Children forced to dig graves, kill for warlords, and eventually run into the desert to die. Hundreds of them made it to Kenya, where they are kept in camps. Shocking, uplifting, and an excellent example of the sort of reality we don't see in the US.

2007 - Eastern Promises - sort of a film about Russian mobsters, sort of a follow up to the amazing "History of Violence", all awesomeness.

2007 - No Country for Old Men - it's Cohen Bros, which makes it pretty excellent right out of the gate. It's also a western, and a really shocking film for reasons of both the violence and the silence with which most of the action takes place in. Woody Harrelson's cameo is also just gold.

2007 - Enchanted - A real-life fairytale, with a woman who actually sings to birds and makes ballgowns out of curtains. Naturally everyone thinks she is crazy! It's sort of a kid's film, but I loved it enough to buy it. Also has as great musical number in the middle.

2007 - Atonement - It really kills the movie to have it explained beforehand. It's a romance set just before WWI - but it's also a true(?) story told by the author about how she destroyed a young man's life just before he went to war, and how her life has suffered as a result. I know - it doesn't sound especially good, or interesting. But it is absolutely magnificent, and it will have your head spinning for days afteward, as you try to make sense of it.

2007 - Persepolis - If you've read the graphic novel, then you know what to expect Marjane Satrapi personally directed the animation, and the film is absolutely faithful to the book about a young girl's experiences around the ousting of the Shaw in Iran in 1979, and how the world suddenly became about a maniacal fundamentalism Islamic regieme despite the best intentions of the revolutionaries.

2008 - Cloverfield - it's a modern monster film, done with a very clever no-edit shaky cam. Very clever. Auido is great, so see it with a theatrical set-up if at all possible.

2008 - Iron Man - An excellent film, one of Marvel's best. (not saying much, I know - but it really started them on a roll.)

2008 - Kung Fu Panda - Absolutely fantastic. One of the best animated films of all time, and one of the only ones made in recent memory (The Incredibles being the other). Also notable for being the first good film to come out of Dreamworks animation studios.

2008 - Hellboy 2: The Golden Army - Benicio del Toro's best film at the time, this takes a crazy premise, and ties everything together in a really fun, cohesive thrill-ride which manages to be childish without being simple.

2008 - The Dark Knight - If you've ever had any interest in comics at all, you will love this film to death. The Joker is a perfect foil for Batman, because the Joker uses meticulously planned crimes to create chaos, while Batman responds with chaotic action to impose order.

2008 - Tropic Thunder - On of Ben Stiller's best films ever, and Tom Cruise is jaw-droppingly funny in a small role. It's an ensemble piece, and there's no reason it should work as well as it does - but everything falls into place. Not for kids.

2008 - Milk - Sean Penn is fantastic as Harvey Milk. It's a biography, so it drags in places. But it frames the issues he worked on, and the 1970s / 1980s in San Francisco in a really stark way. Absolutely worth your time.

2008 - Doubt - Adapted from a stage play of the same name, it's an odd political piece about the workings of a catholic school, our ability to pry into secrets, and some excellent questions about why we would. Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Meryl Streep, and Amy Adams!

2008 - The Wrestler - A huge departure for Darren Aronofsky after the ill-fated "Fountain" - this is a really cutting film about a man who just does one thing - to the exclusion of everything else.

2009 - Push - This is the underground super-powers movie. It has the absolute best Telekinetic battle EVER, which is reason enough to watch it. But it has such a fresh, odd take on the powers genre - I'd have my mother watch it.

2009 - The Hangover - Another gross-out comedy which absolutely works. It's juvenile without being stupid, but just as funny.

2009 - Moon - A really quiet, thoughtful science fiction film. Sam Rockwell is all alone on the moon, talking to robot Kevin Spacey. And then things get weird.

2009 - District 9 - An amazing no-holds-barred science fiction movie that came out of nowhere. I actually took my parents to see this one.

2009 - Inglorious Bastards - You've probably seen this already. If you haven't just know that it's Quentin Tarantino's alterante-history version of World War 2.

2009 - Zombieland - This is a zombie film, but it's done in a sort of apathetic coming-of-age fashion that makes it more than that. But there's still quite a bit of gore.

2009 - Good Hair - A documentary about what it means to be an African-american woman, and how social expectations about hair affect their lives. It's something you don't know anything about, but it's fascinating.

2009 - Where the Wild Things Are - Not for kids. Rather, for young adults who have fond memories of the book. Dark. Darker than you think.

2010 - Winter's Bone - The most depressing and shocking film about a community of meth-dealers you'll ever see.

2010 - Inception - You've probably been told that this film is awesome. Or over-hyped. Both are true.

2010 - Scott Pilgrim vs. the World - A really good, really imaginative film about a guy who likes video games. Those games become a filter for his romantic challenges - or is it the other way around?

2010 - The Social Network - Not a film about Facebook. It's a film about some jerks - young jerks, who have a good idea and accidentally become rich. Ironically, their idea allows better socialization for millions, while they themselves remain terribly isolated.

2010 - The King's Speech - Queen Elizabeth's dad gets a biography. And it's amazing.

2010 - The Fighter - Ostensibly about Marky Mark's rags-to-riches boxing career, the movie is actually about his relationship with his brother, and his brother's relationship with Crack. Christian Bale is absolutely stunning. Violent, fun, and shocking.

2011 - Midnight in Paris - A fabulous film. I saw it three times in theaters, because I insisted on bringing any of my friends who had ever taken an american literature class, or loved anything old-timey. This is the reason I love movies.

2011 - Warrior - A good old-fashioned fighter film, but with MMA taking the place of boxing from Rocky. The drama in this film really worked, despite the low-budget casting and action-heavy story.

2011 - The Ides of March - George Clooney does a great job of picking interesting, intelligent films to promote, and this is a gem. It's a political thriller, with some really inspiring moments and some really gut-twisting betrayals.

2011 - The Muppets - I love movies that are joyful, and this movie fits the bill perfectly.

 

Thank you each. If the five year thing bothers you then ignore it. But I would appreciate letting me know if you do, as I have discarded some possibilities in the past and may not recall them exactly. If for example it is ten years old, then I may have seen it or excluded it already, but I would need to know the age to know if it just sounds familiar or if I have already seen it.

Like I said, even if I personally hate romance movies, others reading this thread may not. And they deserve to hear your suggestions. I am very likely to pass on most childish movies, but others may well enjoy The Muppets.

(And on an off topic subject I can tell you that nothing is better than childish movies when experimenting with strongly psychoactive substances. Some may doubt me, but wait until you have acid flashbacks while watching a zombie movie. You will want to watch pure cartoon nonsense for days just to get that out of your head.)

Really, the only reason for the five year thing is that it has been about five years since I examined movies in any actual depth to see if there was any that appealed to me. But some of the worst rated movies have also been surprisingly good movies too. So I could easily have missed a few really good ones.

I will have to prepare a list of my favorite movies of all time. (More to give people an idea what I like than to actually suggest them. I expect most have already seen them all.)

*Edit* By the way, I have not seen nor heard a word about any of the movies mentioned so far. Bravo on you for the suggestions, and boo on myself for being so isolated.

 

A lot of crossover with my list, plus a few that should have been on my list as well lol. Obviously, I'm not going to agree with all of your choices, but someone else might, so don't take that as a criticism . Also, several on your list that I have not actually seen and a few I've never heard of, so now I have a few movies that I'm going to have to see.

I can list a couple of my all-time favorite movies that you may not have seen. I'm specifically mentioning only movies that you MIGHT not have heard of, and omitting the more obvious choices (eg. Bladerunner, etc.)

1. "The Conversation" -- This was a movie that blew me away, and turned Gene Hackman into one of my all-time favorite actors. He's a lot more known for "The French Connection", but I actually prefer this lesser known film. Hackman plays a professional surveillance consultant (ie. he spies on people and records conversations for money). It's a psychological thriller about privacy and paranoia. (Also, it has a small but significant early performance by Harrison Ford).

2. "The Mission" -- I feel this is a way underrated film that starred both Jeremy Irons and Robert Deniro. It's based on actual historical events in South America in the 1750s. I love the soundtrack by Ennio Moricone (best known for composing music for a lot of Spaghetti westerns, such as "The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly", and "Once Upon a Time in the West". Also, this film has the second best cinematography of any film I've seen (only surpassed, imho, by "Lawrence of Arabia", which is my all-time favorite film).

3. Lawrence of Arabia -- as I said, this is my favorite movie of all time Other people memorize lines from Monty Python, I memorized lines from this film (mostly because I've seen it that many times). Everything about it is superb, from the writing, to the acting, to the music, to the cinematography --- it's outstanding in every way.

4. "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier Spy" -- I'm not talking about the recent film (which is good, but not great), but a made-for-BBC miniseries. John Le Carre was the definitive spy novelist of the cold war, and this is the second best dramatic presentation ever filmed of his work. You can still get it from Amazon. It starred the GREAT Sir Alec Guinness.

5. "The Spy who Came In from the Cold" -- the BEST dramatic presentation of a John Le Carre novel -- I loved the book and the movie is actually as good or better.

6. "My Favorite Year" -- I couldn't make a list of great movies without including this one -- I think it's one of the funniest movies ever made. When I first saw it, it made me laugh so hard that it hurt.

7. "Our Man in Havanna" -- Honestly, I loved the book, and the movie is just as good. Again, the great Sir Alec Guinness stars in it.

That's enough for now. If I think of any more, I'll let you know.

 

If I can go back just a bit farther - Primer is probably the most mind-bending film I've ever seen. It's very smart - everyone I know with a Masters degree in physics or engineering loves it to death, while other people just think it's pretty cool.

My other favorite movies of all time include:

Drowing by Numbers - Peter Greenaway's best film. The hook is pretty crazy, and the film is very subtle. Read about it before you see it.
Fresh - About a street kid who is good at chess - brilliant writing and sharp pacing.
Abre Los Ojos (remade as Vanilla Sky in english - not as good!)
He Got Game - the Spike Lee film that really got to me.

And seriously - I wouldn't dismiss The Muppets. It's pretty damn good. One brother is a muppet, and one is a human. Why? What does that mean? Is it destiny that they follow different paths? Plus catchy songs and general hilarity.

If you list some of your favorite films, I can try to offer suggestions better suited to your tastes.

 

Ooh - I love "The Conversation" ! Did you see "The Lives of Others?" It was 2006, otherwise it would have made my list.

I'm interested to know which of my films you don't care for (just idle curiosity) - maybe that's better saved for a PM.

 

I did not see "The Lives of Others" == gotta look for it now .

The films that I disagree with you on are "Cloverfield", "Scott Pilgrim", "District 9", and "Inglorious Basterds". I don't think that any of them were bad movies, and they all entertained me to various extents (in other words, they were not movies that I would give a thumbs down to), but I also think they were overrated. BTW, I actually love most Tarantino movies, but "Inglorious Basterds" I don't feel was one of his best. I'm glad I saw it, I just prefer his other films.

BTW, I do recognize that all of these movies have a decent fan base, so you can blame it on my personal taste (in other words, no one should use my opinion as a reason to not see something).

 

I know many people who didn't care for Cloverfield or Scott Pilglim. Everyone I know liked Inglorious Bastards, but for different reasons. I totally understand why some folks might not love it especially.

But District 9 has a very special place in my heart. It hits my smart science-fiction nerves dead-on, plus it's a pretty shockingly blunt film about racism. Two uncomfortable subjects mashed into one makes a sweet, sweet cinema experience for me. Just the fact that the aliens understand English, but the human's can't be bothered to learn their language is a fine example of how the film explores tension without a satisfactory resolution.

Awww yeah - talkin' movies. I do enjoy it.

 

As of several minutes ago, I just watched Inception. Wow. That was excellent. It reminded me of the Matrix. (The first one obviously.)

I will have to ask people I know if they have a copy of most on these lists. But that should occupy the vast majority of my remaining life.

Thank you again for the suggestions. Obey no rule that prevents you from suggesting a good movie I may not have seen. The odds are I have not seen it, whatever it may be.

 

Old movie but I enjoyed it: The Third Man (its just post WWII) but its a bit of a neat movie to watch - a lot to uncover as you view it.

 

The Book of Eli

Passing Stones

Tideland

They are each excellent movies, but the second one is all but impossible to find.

 

I love that movie as well -- Orson Welles just steals that movie. Plus, I love the music from it.

As long as we're talking old movies, I'll also mention "Arsenic and Old Lace", as well as "Bringing up Baby". Both are hilarious comedies starring Cary Grant.

Anyway, I'll be renting "The Lives of Others" tomorrow -- found it on Vudu.

 

The music makes me want to kill someone but its perfect for the movie.
Also, yeah, Welles is in it for less than 7 minutes but wins the entire movie.

 

Oh old movies! There were films in the 30's and 40's which absolutely stand up to anything we have today. Then, mysteriously, there was a ton of crap produced in the 50's and 60's... maybe color went to everyone's heads?

Rebecca - it's not quite "scary" - but it's deeply unsettling.
The Haunting - ok, this one is actually scary. Also look out for Biff from West Side Story
The Thin Man - great mystery, snappy dialogue.
Laura - Does it ruin this movie if I say that it has my favorite twist of all time? Also starring a young Vincent Price as the dumb hunky guy from Kentucky.
Casablanca - This is consistently at the top of "best of all time" lists. And do you know why? Because it's fantastic.
Bunny Lake is Missing! - Another twisty mystery, about a missing child. Maybe. Or is there a child at all? Or is the mother crazy? Or is there a political conspiracy?

 

Another movie I just thought of is The Artist. It's a recently-made silent film that tells the story of an actor at the advent of "talkie" movies. I thought it was a novel concept, and well-executed.

 

Darn it! I thought "The Lives of Others" was available to rent, but apparently it's only for sale.