Mine is John Lithgow. I thought he was believably creepy and evil in Dexter. But he was the most ludicrous goofy lead in 3rd rock from the sun. I know there’s actors who’ve done both, but usually it’s a serious actor doing the straight man bit on a comedy, like Robert de Niro on Fockers. Do you have someone in mind that out ranges Lithgow in this specific way? I have a hard time even thinking of creepy/goofy spreads…maybe walberg?

the term "narm" refers to something that is supposed to be dramatic but, for one reason or another, ends up being funny. it is named after an infamous scene from six feet under in which nate fisher, who is in the process of having a stroke, grabs his right arm and complains that it's numb, eventually saying "numb arm" over and over and eventually devolving into "narm".

are there any movie scenes you can think of that are supposed to be dramatic but end up being hilarious?

So I took a while to write this in the "Non Hollywood movie suggestions" and then I realized It was probably enough to have its own thread, so here it is:

This is a list of Canadian movies I think you should see.

It's not a list of my favourite Canadian movies, it's not something I think is the essential list, or the best ones, or the most popular ones; it's just a list of movies that I really like, that I think are worth seeing, and are maybe representative of the breadth of movies that have come out of Canada.

I'm interested to know anyone's thoughts on any of these, whether I should or shouldn't have included them, or if there's anything I missed. Or if there's people who just don't know that Canada has its own film industry at all that's separate from the Hollywood one.

The list:

• Nirvanna the Band the Show the Movie (Matt Johnson): I have no idea why these guys haven't been arrrested more. Made in the same sort of guerilla way that Sacha Baron Cohen does his stuff but without the cynicism, punching down, exploitation, and mockery. Heartwarming, funny, amazing.
• Hard Core Logo (Bruce McDonald): Watch all of his movies, but start with this one. Also, go listen to the Headstones, which is the band they recruited the lead singer from to play the lead. Also watch FUBAR as a double feature to this one
• Men with Brooms (Paul Gross): A funny romantic comedy/underdog sports movie, but about curling. You will want to go curling after you watch it, but it won't last. Has Leslie Neilson and Leslie Neilson's fart noise maker in the cast.
• Incendie (Denis Villeneuve): Don't watch if you have anything else to do that day. Or week.
• Bon Cop, Bad Cop.: Black Comedy, fun movie. Also has a sequel
• Strange Brew (Rick Moranis & Dave Thomas): A movie based on SCTV's Bob and Doug McKenzie characters that is stupid, but also amazing and also based on Macbeth Hamlet somehow.
• Last Night (Don McKellar): Also black comedy in parts, sobering and thought-provoking, a very Canadian take to the end of the world genre
• Goin' Down the Road (Don Shebib): If Last Night:Armageddon then Goin' Down the Road:Easy Rider
• The Sweet Hereafter (Atom Egoyan).: Have tissues
• Thirty Two Short Films About Glenn Gould (François Girard):  Great movie on its own, was also parodied in both the Simpsons (22 Short Films About Springfield) and Animaniacs ("Ten Short Films About Wakko Warner")
• The Red Violin (Girard again...): Episodic but with a throughline that makes it very accessible and entertaining and beautiful. Includes Samuel L Jackson in the cast
• The Trotsky (Jacob Tierney): Jay Baruchel is convinced he's Trotsky.
• Scanners (Cronenberg).: It's Cronenberg at his most Cronenbergian
• Bollywood/Hollywood (Deepa Mehta): Great fun. Love this movie
• Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner (Kunuk): Dramatic, all dialogue is in Inuktitut, so you'll need to pay attention to the subtitles
• Whale Music (Lewis): Adapted from the novel by Paul Quarrington, which is well worth reading on its own, and with music by the Rheostatics.)
• Jesus of Montreal (Arcand): Funny! Also not funny... Oscar nom for best foreign film

(Note that I've purposely only done one movie per director with the exception of the two Girard ones, because I was having too much difficulty deciding which one to include. Most of these directors have many other movies that are well worth watching, particularly Villeneuve, Egoyan, Cronenberg, McDonald, & Arcand)

I just watched 12 angry men (1957) , at first I thought it was just a niche movie people watch it to pretend to have a unique taste but when I watched it is really unique and every character feels realistic and well introduced and unlike what I thought I didn't feel even the slightest boredom, the movie felt so rich and I had my best time watching it but sadly I don't think I could find something similar to it , if you know I hope to give me some examples

Anyways I just wanted to share my review of the movie and how it is actually so great and unlike anything I've ever seen I don't think I'll watch other classics but this one I would rewatch someday for sure

Actor Will Poulter will be joining us here in [r/movies](r/movies) for an AMA/Q&A next Thursday 8/13. It'll go live that morning at around 9 AM ET and he'll be back at 2 PM ET to answer questions. You may know Will from roles in film/TV including Midsommar, Warfare, We're the Millers, Guardians of the Galaxy, Maze Runner, The Revenant, The Bear, Dopesick, Black Mirror, Detroit, The Chronicles of Narnia, I Love Boosters, and tons more.

Please stop by next Thursday if you have questions for Will :)

His newest movie, Union County, which he stars in and produced, premiered to critical acclaim earlier this year at Sundance and will be in theaters starting next week via Oscilloscope Pictures. It co-stars Noah Centineo, Emily Meade, and Elise Kibler.

Assigned to a county-mandated drug court program, Cody Parsons embarks on the tenuous journey toward recovery amidst the opioid epidemic in rural Ohio.

Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uA6Fnr2VXkw

Please note that this is not the AMA, just an announcement. Hold your questions for the actual AMA.

I loved Mallrats growing up and decided late tonight to watch it again for the first time in I have no idea how long, and well the stream I found has an added scene at the start that was most definitely wasn't in my old copy. It has TS meet Brandy on a roof and they accidently shoot a blank round at the governor and then shows them break up. I had to pause and look into it and after some research turns out there's an extended cut that's almost 30 minutes longer and almost all of the scenes were ones cut from the original due to testing badly.

Now I had no idea there was an extended cut and now it's got me wondering how many movies from my childhood have alternate versions that I'm missing out on.

Oh, to add it's worth checking out the extended version if you enjoy the original.

Randomly put this on last night and I've been thinking about it all morning.

Everything about it just worked for me. It was sweet and funny, but also really sentimental and, despite the fantastical core element of Elliott and her older self meeting, super real? If that makes sense? I felt like I understood, at every junction, why characters did what they did. And because of that, I believed it.

This is largely owed to the dialogue; it was SO refreshing watching a movie where characters talk to each other like real people. Subject matter aside, the little cadences and conversational style of all the character interactions came across as genuine. It wasn't quite that "mumblecore" sort of improv, where you can tell the actors are given an idea and they have to "get there" via their own interpretation of the scene.

This was clearly scripted, but just delivered so well. And it made the more emotional moments land that much harder. Good lord, when older Elliott hugged Chad near the end I full-on cried.

Anyway, I just needed to tell people about how great of a movie this is. It's not some huge profound piece of cinema, but it's quite wonderful and life-affirming. Watch it with people you love.

I'm 41 years old, and I started watching the original Mission: Impossible TV series as a kid in the early 1990s. I became fascinated by it maybe it was the iconic theme music that first caught my attention but I ended up watching every episode I could.

I didn't see Mission: Impossible (1996) in theaters, but I remember asking my father to rent it for me. To my disappointment, Jim Phelps the only character from the original TV series to appear in the films had been turned into the villain and a traitor. That really bothered me.

That said, the first half of the movie, up until the team is killed and Ethan Hunt goes on the run, genuinely feels like a classic Mission: Impossible episode. It has the suspense, the deception, the spy atmosphere, and the feeling that the mission depends on a team working together.

After that, though, the movie changes. It becomes much more focused on Ethan Hunt, who feels less like a Mission: Impossible character and more like an American version of James Bond.

And that's basically been the formula for every Mission: Impossible film since then. Ethan Hunt is the main attraction, often portrayed as an almost indestructible action hero, while the rest of the IMF team mostly feels like supporting characters who are there to create the illusion of a group of agents rather than being equally important members of the mission.

They're good action movies I enjoy them but the truth is, they don't really feel like Mission: Impossible. The 1996 film is the only one that, at least for part of its runtime, truly captures the spirit of the original TV series.

The "unreliable narrator" is one of the most difficult tropes to pull off in cinema. When it is done poorly, it just feels like a cheap cheat code to trick the audience with a lazy twist ending. But when it is executed perfectly, it creates a suffocating sense of paranoia because you realize you can no longer trust your own eyes as a viewer.

Black Swan is a masterclass in this, slowly and methodically blurring the lines between the protagonist's extreme psychological stress and actual reality until the two are completely indistinguishable. Jacob's Ladder also does this brilliantly, trapping you in a perpetual state of a waking nightmare where the rules of the world constantly shift without warning.

I appreciate films that don't just tell you a character is going crazy, but actually use editing, sound design, and forced perspective to make you feel disoriented and entirely unsure of what is real.

What are your favorite examples of movies that perfectly drag the audience into a character's descending paranoia or fractured reality?