Arrival. It tells the entire story in the first scene. And then you get to watch it all unfold beautifully to understand the story.

I'll get roasted for this, but here goes...

"Josie and the Pussycats" from 2001.

It was marketed wrong (IMO). It's honestly a really funny satire on corporatism, and celebrity worship, and everything that essentially turned up to 11 in the years since it was released.

The very definition of "came out to early to be appreciated" since it was skewering things that were only then just beginning to take over the internet.

The Man From Earth

Quick 1h30m low budget "one room" movie about an immortal admitting it to a room of friends and all the inquiries and criticisms they have. The writing is tight. There's not a lot, if any holes. It's really engaging.

Honestly, Yes Man.

I knew nothing about it when I went to watch it, and I sat down expecting to just see another Jim Carrey comedy flick, which it delivered on.

But the underlying story about breaking out of repression and what it means to go to positive extremes to correct previous negative extremes and finding balance.

It's a very subtle thread in the movie but it is consistently touched on and taught throughout the entire movie while Jim Carrey yells and screams over the top of it in a comedic fashion.

So we just saw Andor episode 8, and I'm quite blown away.
It evolves from what seemed like a superficially subversive show to essentially a revolution manifesto. There's the arbitrary police repression, corruption throughout the layers of hierarchy, the displacement/genocide of entire peoples and destruction of ecosystems for access to resources... In episode 8 there's left-infighting, the complete oppression of workers, the figure of the foreman -using the workforce to police itself, through granting of privileges and performance goals,... McCarthyism, slavery, wage theft, genocide.... there's all of it. It really is a thinly veiled history of the USA.

In fact I am surprised this got produced at all, I'll have to read who's behind it.

I recently rewatched Sicario and I’m glad I did because I did not follow it at all the first time. Which is sort of the point. You’re as lost as the main character.

"Thank you for smoking". Stayed with me for bloody years. The fact that it even got made was a small miracle.

Full disclosure: I lost loved ones to lung cancer, and I'm 100% certain the cancer sticks pushed by this fucking industry contributed a great deal, so I'm hoping they're digging up a new circle in hell just for their C suites.

The Life of Chuck. I had no expectations going in and it was presented very uniquely while also being engaging

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. It doesn't make sense until it does. Once it all falls into places it's just perfect.

Death to Smoochy. Clever satire with fun dialogue.

I know a lot of people give it crap for the same reasons I really like it, but Tenet. Its really in-depth and nuanced that takes more than just one watch to really understand what's happening

Pulp Fiction - in the sense that I was surprised by giving thugs such eloquent lines.

As an american, at this point in time: Idiocracy.

The House That Jack Built, that movie is about a hell of a lot more than just another serial killer. Matt Dillon does such an amazing job with that role.

i'm a huge proponent of Sorry to Bother You. so many themes!