Recommend a movie

This post has been updated on the 12th of February, 2021

Whether you’re taking a long flight with shite movies library or you’re on a nightbus across Patagonian steppes, or perhaps it’s just a long winter eve and you feel like watching a good movie, this post, Recommend a movie is here to help and that’s without listing the obvious/well-known flicks in order to offer special treats, in case you haven’t seen them 😉

Anyway, I do hope that you’ll find a treat here. If you can, please help me to build this by recommending a movie yourself 😉

Action + Spy

• Atomic Blonde (Inernational, 2017), dir. David Leitch. Cold War Berlin retro, spies and Charlize
• Bushwick (USA, 2017), dir. Jonathan Milott, Cary Murnion. Some well-executed real-time scenes here
• Hardcore Henry (Russia, USA, Chine, 2015), dir. Ilya Naishuller. Insane action. POV
• Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (UK, France, Germany, 2011), dir. Tomas Alfredson. Another Cold War Spy flick. Retro, stylish, great cast. Slow. Proper

Comedy

• A Perfect Day (International, 2015), dir. Fernando León de Aranoa. Good chemistry, cute, philosophical and different take on war movies. Btw, this is not a comedy though ):
• Ant-Man and the Wasp (USA, 2018), dir. Peyton Reed. IMHO, this second Ant Man instalment is one of the better Marvel movies. Except for one weaker character, it is one creative and very funny film by the Yes Man dude
• Beginners (USA, 2010), dir. Mike Mills. Brilliant, funny and somewhat cosy
• City Island (USA, 2009), dir. Raymond De Felitta. Great indie film. Atmosphere, strong accent and brilliant Andy Garcia
• Choke (USA, 2008), dir. Clark Gregg. Chuck Palahniuk’s story. Funny, great cast and more
• Confessions of a Dangerous Mind (USA, 2002), dir. George Clooney. Great storytelling, LOL kind of funny and great cast led by Sam Rockwell
• Få meg på, for faen (Norway, 2011), dir. Jannicke Systad Jacobsen. Funny, Norweigan, cute
• Frequently Asked Questions About Time Travel (UK, 2009), dir. Gareth Carrivick. Geeky, very English, funny
• Garden State (USA, 2004), dir. Zach Braff. Don’t judge Zach by Scruffs
• High Fidelity (UK, USA, 2000), dir. Stephen Frears. If I say that this is a legend for all indie music lovers
• Housebound (New Zaeland, 2014), dir. Gerard Johnstone. Funny, faces, Kiwi
• Intouchables (France, 2011), dir. Olivier Nakache, Éric Toledano. Humanity, humanity, humanity
• Knives Out (USA, 2019), dir. Rian Johnson. Neo-Christie flick with some genius moments, great acting and semi-suspense thrillery elements
• Last Night (Canada, France, 1998), dir. Don McKellar. Likeable special humour. The ultimate 6 hours of Earth kinda flick
• L’auberge espagnole (International, 2002), dir. Cédric Klapisch. For everyone who ever shared the house. FYI, there are also sequels to this one…
• La comunidad (Spain, 2000), dir. Álex de la Iglesia. You know when you feel that the cast had a great time making the movie? This comedy-horror is one of those
• Lo chiamavano Jeeg Robot (Italy, 2015), dir. Gabriele Mainetti. An Italian take on a superhero flick. Own special humour
• Les petits mouchoirs (France, 2010), dir. Guillaume Canet. Brilliant comedy and drama
• O Brother, Where Art Thou? (USA, 2000), dir. Joel Coen, Ethan Coen. A legend. Pre-hipster comedy
• Seven Psychopaths (UK, USA, 2012), dir. Martin McDonagh. The acting could sometimes be a real treat
• Shaun of the Dead (UK, 2004), dir. Edgar Wright. One of the best films by Simon Pegg, Nick Frost. Zombies and the local pub
• Space Station 76 (USA, 2014), dir. Jack Plotnick. A colourful retro Sci-Fi, with good humour and Liv 🙂
• Stardust (UK, USA, 2007), dir. Matthew Vaughn. Just lovable fairytale
• tbc…

Crime

• Bir Zamanlar Anadolu’da (Turkey, 2011), dir. Nuri Bilge Ceylan. Special, slow, good chemistry, it’s own humour
• Goldstone (Australia, 2016), dir. Ivan Sen. Slow burner with solid cinematography and characters. Westerny. The film is a sequel to the not as good Mystery road and two seasons of eponymous TV Series
• Jägarna 2 (Sweden, 2011), dir. Kjell Sundvall. Scandinavian. Slow and proper. Character-based. Sequel to Jägarna (1996)
• La Isla Mínima Spain, (2014), dir. Alberto Rodríguez. Atmospheric, well-executed post-Franco Spain mass-murder flick
• tbc…

Drama

• Galveston (USA, 2018), dir. Mélanie Laurent. A slow burner neo-noirish drama with minor crime/thriller elements. Excellent performances of Elle Fanning and Ben Foster
• Hold the Dark (USA, 2018), dir. Jeremy Saulnier. Atmospheric, dark, mysterious
• La finestra di fronte (Italy, 2003), dir. Ferzan Ozpetek. Nice watch, very Italian human touch-like
• La noche de los girasoles (Spain, 2006), dir. Jorge Sánchez-Cabezudo. Great community moral compromises flick
• Perfetti sconosciuti (Italy, 2016), dir. Paolo Genovese. Nice 1/2 comedy 1/2 drama flick about secrets and midlife crisis
• Relatos Salvaches (Spain, Argentina, 2014), dir. Damián Szifron. Six short stories about people in distress. Some rather bizarre humour
• Wind River (USA, Canada, 2017), dir. Taylor Sheridan. Atmospheric, thrillery and great for a rainy Sunday eve
• tbc…

Epic

• El secreto de sus ojos (Argentina, Spain, 2009), dir. Juan José Campanella. Brilliant story, acting, cinematography, script, everything
• Kin-Dza-Dza! (USSR, 1986), dir. Georgiy Daneliya. Dystopian, Soviet bizarre, funny, cult
• The Fall (USA, South Africa, India, 2012), dir. Tarsem Singh. Artistic, charming, fantastical
• tbc…

Polar

• The Last Winter (USA, Iceland, 2006), dir. Larry Fessenden. Not super special, but solid, if you like watching polar movies
• The Snowman (International, 2017), dir. Tomas Alfredson. Atmospheric serial murder detective story. On one hand good cinematography and acting, on the other – it’s just a wee bit to arty-ambitious
• The Thing Prequel (Canda, USA, 2011), dir. Matthijs van Heijningen Jr. Prequel to the classic, in case you have missed it when it came out
• tbc…

Post Apo

• 28 Days Later (UK, 2002), dir. Danny Boyle. Great and atmospheric zombie flick by the director that never disappoints
• Hell (Germany, 2011), dir. Tim Fehlbaum. Finally not a zombie flick
• I Am Legend (USA, 2007), dir. Francis Lawrence. Yes, it’s Will Smith’s zombie flick but the empty streets of NYC are just too good not to watch the movie
• The Road (USA, 2009), dir. John Hillcoat. Miserable future of humanity with brilliant Viggo
• tbc…

Sci Fi & Fantasy

• Annihilation (UK, 2018), dir. Alex Garland. I like the gender cinema twist here a lot. And the cinematography. And I like Natalie 🙂
• Barbarella (France, Italy, 1968), dir. Roger Vadim. Legendary French flick with J. Fonda and Durand Durand 🙂
• Blindness (International, 2008), dir. Fernando Meirelles. Epidemic flick. Human nature, Julianne, Mark Ruffalo and Gael Garcia
• Pandorum (USA, 2009), dir. Christian Alvart. Dark and claustrophobic. Good acting too
• Perfect Sense (International, 2011), dir. David Mackenzie. Another epidemic flick. Very good concept, great acting, romance
• Spring (USA, Italy, 2014), dir. Justin Benson, Aaron Moorhead. Interesting concept, romance, a different take on horror. Good cinematography
• The Wild Blue Yonder (Germany, 2007), dir. Werner Herzog. A proper Herzog headfuck
• Wristcutters: A Love Story (USA, UK, 2006), dir. Goran Dukic. Simply special
• tbc…

Thriller

• 88 Minutes (USA, 2007), dir. Jon Avnet. Al Pacino in a real-time thriller. Thrilling 🙂
• Broken (UK, France, 2008), dir. Sean Ellis. Atmospheric, almost old school proper
• Das Experiment (Germany, 2001), dir. Oliver Hirschbiegel. Good psychological thriller
• Die Welle (Germany, 2008), dir. Dennis Gansel. Interesting and well-executed.
• The Gunman (International, 2015), dir. Pierre Morel. Sean Penn as a sniper on a mercenary assassination team. Location, location
• Turks & Caicos (UK, 2014), dir. David Hare. Slow and delightful spy flick with Bill, Winona and Christopher Walken 🙂 FYI – it’s a part of a trilogy 😉
• tbc…

Travel

• 127 Hours (USA, UK, France, 2010), dir. Danny Boyle. In case you don’t know the director’s work, please be aware that this true story movie is not for the squeamish viewers
• Jungle (Australia, Colombia, UK, 2017), dir. Greg McLean. Harry Potter and The Backpackers in the Bolivian jungle
• The Darjeeling Limited (USA, 2007), dir. Wes Anderson. Chemistry, acting and that we’re doing it together and it’s fun feeling again
• The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (USA, UK, 2013), dir. Ben Stiller. It might be twisted for some people – but there’s something likeable about Ben. This is not his typical flick though. And the scene with Sean Penn – oh
• The Way (Spain, USA, 2010), dir. Emilio Estevez. Nice chemistry ‘road movie’ flick
• Wild (USA, 2014), dir. Jean-Marc Vallée. Well executed biography with depth
• Few more (obvious) tips: Into The Wild (USA, 2007), dir. Sean Penn; The Beach (USA, 2000), dir. Danny Boyle; The Motorcycle Diaries (International, 2004), dir. Walter Salles)

Flu genre

AKA films you do not to have to feel guilty if you watch them when you’re ill or in a quarantine

• 30 Days of Night (UK, 2007), dir. David Slade. Vampires and touches of pathetic heroism but it’s polar 😉
• Aterrados (Argentina, 2017), dir. Demián Rugna. Argentinian paranormal flick. Good characters bit funny, somewhat likeable
• El guardián invisible (Spain, 2017), dir. Fernando González Molina. Nice rainy, slow and stylish but also a deployment an unnecessary cliché crime thriller with some of the Basque mythology. Btw, it’s the first part of a trilogy, which gets cheesier and cheesier ):
• Love and Monsters (UK, 2020), dir. Michael Matthews. Refreshing among the 2020 releases
• Predators (UK, 2010), dir. Nimród Antal. Cheesy punchlines, good character chemistry, good cinematography, by a good director
• The Colony (USA, 2013), dir. Jeff Renfroe. Polar, outposty, survival, robots…
• Time Lapse (USA, 2014), dir. Bradley King. Classic time machine vs personal gain flick

I hope that you have picked one. If not, you can always recommend your fav movie in the comments below 😉

Music

In case you’ve prefered just music, you could also explore some of the travel related playlists by Quaint Planet here or follow us on Spotify here 🙂 Expect to find some self-explanatory series of playlists “music for driving at night” and “music for a long drive“; a huge, 48 hrs long Radio Travel playlist that’s filled with variety of centre-left tunesa series of calm epic tunes “music from the inside of the postcard“; as well as series of playlistss designed for long bus journeys or flights “music to fall asleep” and more.