What are your favorite cerebral movies?

B

Burnt Orangeman

1,000+ Posts
The kind you have to think about, piece back together, and/or watch again? Or has hidden alternative interpretations or symbolism.

I think there aren't more of these kinds of movies because most ticket buyers are dumb and don't get them and would rather shell out for Predator Vs. Alien XXV.

I could make a list but I won't because I'm hoping get lots of posts to find ones I've missed. One such example is Chris Nolan's Memento. I've downloaded the screenplay and I'm still not sure I have it sorted out. What a headfuck! Job well done, Mr. Nolan! It's not even a big budget movie, but I think he garnered enough respect and recognition to get the money to make...

I said I wasn't going to make a list, didn't I? Please help me find those hidden gems.
 
-Memento, The Prestige, and Inception. Christopher Nolan's very good at making movies that make you think.

-2001: A Space Odyssey

-The Matrix. Though it's more of an action movie, the scenes with less action and more background information are very thought-provoking.

-The Truman Show. Though it's the least-cerebral of these movies, it's one of my favorites, and like The Matrix, it makes you tackle the question, "What is reality?".
 
Add Donnie Darko to that list. Although there is a strong argument out there that movies like Darko, Truman Show, Matrix and even Harry Potter are heavily rooted in gnostic teachings that question if God is holding back a better reality and that the way of Satan really is the better way. Or something along those lines.... Cerebral enough for ya?
smile.gif
 
Assuming you did not mean something like The Man with Two Brains, I will go with Tree of Life, by Terrence Malick..a true mind f'er.
 
The "The Name of the Rose" is an excellent murder mystery draped by an impending philosophical and religious debate. Only in an Umberto Ecco book-turned-movie can you have Sean Connery playing a Thomist monk protagonist.

For the light-hearted thinking man's fare, "My Dinner With Andre" is a sentimental classic. Louis Malle handles the themes of humanism and spiritualism with the deft of a glass of chardonnay over dinner.
 
Seven- w Morgan Freeman and Brad Pitt. Provoking in a creepy way.

Matrix- before this movie was old- it was extremely thought provoking

Shawshank- some of the best character development in modern American cinema- you think about the characters long after the movie ends


Stalingrad/Das Boot- similarly provoking, in a historical perspective.
 
One you may have not seen is "Seconds" starring, believe it or not, Rock Hudson in a suspenseful mind*ucker from the '60s.

I walked into this movie cold turkey back in 1966 and I suggest you watch it the same way.

I think that if you read even the teaser summary on the IMDb link below, Ihat could diminish the mystery and partially spoil your surprise.

The Link

This was the fourth of a quartet of excellent films that director John Frankenheimer made in fairly quick succession during the '60s.

The first three were "The Manchurian Candidate," "Seven Days in May" and "The Train."

All are really good flicks, even to view today, and their B&W cinematography IMHO only makes 'em better.

smile.gif


Another suggestion for one you may not have seen is the original 1973 version of "The Wicker Man."

The Link

This came long before Nicholas Cage made his inferior version.

The cerebral dialog between Edward Woodward and Christopher Lee is thoughtfully delicious.

And Britt Ekland and/or her body double bare all.

The Link

Let me know what you think.

cool.gif
 
The Wicker Man - yuck.

That one gave me the black ******* chatters and, without rewinding it, I took it straight back to wherever I had rented it. Creeps.

Head **** movies don't get made very often because they are hard to do well, which is to say, it is hard to constantly misdirect or cover up tracks left for the audience to follow while also making a good story. I am usually non-plussed by stuff like that, especially if, as in the case of Inception, you have to constantly have your characters explaining what is about to happen immediately prior to having it happen.

Then again, with something like Donnie Darko, you can understand someone watching and, without being stupid, saying 'what the **** was that?'

I do like FFred's suggestion of Seconds. I like those kinds of representation of ethical corruption and power.

Rock Hudson made many fine films, especially with Douglas Sirk. He made a number of different types of film. It is interesting to sit and watch All That Heaven Allows or Magnificent Obsession before taking in Seconds and, as an after meal bauble, Pillow Talk. I digress.

The 70s saw a number of those paranoid tales of corruption. My favorite being the Parallax View. It has some mid ******* in it, to boot.
 
The Illusionist was pretty good. Sixth Sense is the only movie I can recall that I immediately wanted to go back and watch again so I could figure out if the twist actually worked or not.

The episode "Duet" of Star Trek Deep Space 9 is a pretty good one even though it's not a full length movie.
 
Great thread! I love good films.

I second The Usual Suspects vote, and in a similar vein: Primal Fear with Richard Gere and a terrific Edward Norton. I’m a sucker for a clever twist at the end. And The Sixth Sense was masterful in that respect, imo.
 
Some of my faves have already been mentioned:
2001: A Space Odyssey
Seven Days In May (the original)

Others are:
12 Angry Men
Dr. Strangelove
A Clockwork Orange
Brazil
Schindler's List
 
Some good ones I need to see, thanks.

Nobody has mentioned "The Machinist".
How Christian Bale avoided getting an Oscar I really don't understand.
 
Agree on many of those mentioned. Some of which are my all time favorites.

Another that I believe fits the OP's criteria that I really enjoyed is "Mulholland Drive".

Others that come to mind are "Dark City", "Gattica", "Shutter Island", "Stay" and of course, "Total Recall".

While it has been panned on this board and elsewhere, I also liked "Vanilla Sky".

A great foreign film that somewhat follows this genre is the 2010 Oscar winner, "The Secret in Their Eyes".
 
some good ones mentioned....no mention of fight club or being there (a peter sellers classic), solaris, being john malcovich, the cider house rules.
 
"Fight Club" and "Solaris" are two that I overlooked, but really liked.

General's mention of "Solaris" made me think of another one that I really enjoyed - "Sunshine".
 
Catch 22

I was in my young teens when I first saw this, and back then couldn't quite make heads or tails out of it (having been raised on war movies of the jingoistic, gung-ho variety). I remember thinking "this is insane! this is subversive! (and completely missing the point that the subversive insanity was the whole point of the movie) ... as I've gotten older, I've understood the film better.
 
These may not be cerebral, but I liked:

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
The Sweet Hereafter
Hereafter
 
No Country for Old Men had several puzzlers:

where was Chigurh hiding as he watched Tommy Lee Jones approach the hotel room where Lewelyn was killed. He wasn't in the room that Jones enters because Jones slams the door against the wall and then searches every inch of it. I don't think he was inthe room next door either.

Did Chigurh get the drug money? People think he got Lewelyn's bag out of the air vent because the vent screen was lying on the carpet, but that vent was only inches deep.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Weekly Prediction Contest

* Predict HORNS-AGGIES *
Sat, Nov 30 • 6:30 PM on ABC

Recent Threads

Prediction Results Threads

2024 Schedules

Back
Top