QUICK FIX Movies To Watch #71-75

QUICK FIX Movies To Watch #71-75 are scares, laughs, and wonders

Quick Fix Movies To Watch is a weekly column of mixed movie suggestions for both the avid film fan and the casual movie-goer. Dive in, swim around a little bit, and come up with a new movie or two you think is worth watching. They’re all great!

This week’s Quick Fix takes a look at Nacho Libre, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Alien/Aliens/Alien 3, Dogville, and Fantastic Mr. Fox. Read more about why you should watch them as soon as you can after the jump!

QUICK FIX Movie To Watch #71: NACHO LIBRE

Release: 2006    Rating: PG    Director: Jared Hess

Stars: Jack Black, Ana de la Reguera, Hector Jimenez

Sometimes you need a little stupid fun in your life to just make you laugh, and Nacho Libre wears its stupidity on its sleeve. That’s not to say it’s a bad movie. That would be like saying Dumb and Dumber is a bad movie. On the one hand you want to shake your head at how ridiculous each joke is, and how oh so silly you are for laughing for three minutes over something small, but on the other hand you think about how much fun you had watching the entire film. That’s the kind of movie Nacho Libre is. Pure, dumb, ridiculous, silly fun movie watching at its best. Put it on for a group of friends or watch it with the family for laughs all around.

HIDDEN GEM: This is a movie packed with ridiculous one-liners that will stick with you, and I’d be hard pressed to single out one instance over another. I’ve got a pen somewhere that spouts out lines like “Nachooooooooooooooo” and “Sometimes when you are older you wear stretchy pants in your room. It’s for fun.” Each of them earns their own laughs when you see them on screen.

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QUICK FIX Movie To Watch #72: THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS

Release: 1993    Rating: PG    Director: Henry Selick

Stars: Danny Elfman, Chris Sarandon, Catherine O’ Hara, Paul Reubens, Greg Proops

This film was my first exposure to stop-motion animation, and it has since become a holiday must-watch around both Christmas and Halloween. It’s fun for the whole family while being twisted and a little dark. Many give credit to Tim Burton for The Nightmare Before Christmas, and from the look of the movie you can understand why, which is unfortunate for director Henry Selick who went on to do James and the Giant Peach and Coraline. In a world that celebrates Halloween daily Jack Skellington’s curiosity gets the best of him, and as he feels lost in his routine he decides to adventure a bit and discovers a Christmas world. I won’t spoil anything, but the entire film is a joy to take in. 

HIDDEN GEM: Like most stop-motion animation efforts it’s the little things in the background that entertain just as much as what’s being focused on. Everything from how the snow moves to random two second jokes that you’ll miss if you blink add to the richness of a movie like this one.

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QUICK FIX Movie To Watch #73: ALIEN/ALIENS/ALIEN 3

Release: 1979 & 1986 & 1993    Rating: R    Director: Ridley Scott & James Cameron & David Fincher

Stars: Sigourney Weaver, Tom Skerritt, Harry Dean Stanton, John Hurt, Yaphet Kotto, Michael Biehn, Lance Henriksen, Paul Reiser, Bill Paxton, Charles S. Dutton, Pete Postlethwaite

Aliens, or xenomorphs as they’re technically termed, are downright terrifying. Pretty much the greatest on-screen incarnation of violence and nightmares, the monsters that form the antagonistic force of these three films used to haunt my dreams when I was a kid. From the incarnation of the creature in Ridley Scott’s atmospheric space thriller, to James Cameron’s follow-up in the form of a marines vs. aliens action flick, to the student film-esque return to one xenomorph hunting isolated humans from David Fincher,  these movies are easily classics when it comes to epic outer space adventure for one unfortunate woman. The three films follow Sigourney Weaver’s Ellen Ripley as she encounters the creatures and battles for her life again and again.

HIDDEN GEM: It’s hard to pick just one. There are so many quotable lines in the first two films. Bill Paxton is awesome in the second film. “Game over man!” The queen alien is an impressive feat of practical effects. Jones the cat will frustrate the hell out of you. Just watch the movies if you enjoy sci-fi and recognize any of these directors or actors!

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QUICK FIX Movie To Watch #74: DOGVILLE

Release: 2009    Rating: R    Director: Lars von Trier

Stars: Nicole Kidman, Paul Bettany, James Caan, Jeremy Davies, Patricia Clarkson, John Hurt, Chloe Sevigny

Dogville is a strange movie and is actually more of a play caught on film if it had to be boiled down. The stage is set, literally, with scattered trees, chalk outlines, and a bare bones structure that the actors treat like a reality. When someone gets close to the outline of the dog on the ground we hear the pooch bark and see the person react. That said, at it’s core Dogville is raw through and through. Following Nicole Kidman’s woman with a secret as she wanders into a small mountain town, the film sees the town’s people taking advantage of her kindness to extremes. A unique and powerful experience for the right audience, I’m pretty sure Dogville is a one-of-a-kind film from a director who’s known for pushing the envelope.

HIDDEN GEM: The ending of this film is exactly what I’d hoped it would be, and everything leading up to Nicole Kidman’s departing words made me want such an ending so much more. The payoff was great in my opinion, and I was extremely satisfied with how things were resolved.

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QUICK FIX Movie To Watch #75: FANTASTIC MR. FOX

Release: 2009    Rating: PG    Director: Wes Anderson

Stars: George Clooney, Jason Schwartzman, Meryl Streep, Bill Murray, Owen Wilson, Willem Dafoe, Wes Anderson

Stop-motion animation, when done well, is a lot of fun. Films like A Nightmare Before Christmas, Coraline, and ParaNorman are enjoyable to look at and have a decent story to follow, and Wes Anderson’s adaptation of the popular children’s book Fantastic Mr. Fox joins the list of stop-motion done well when brought to the big screen. Whether its seeing the “fur” on the characters being ruffled by unseen hands or ears and whiskers intentionally blowing in the wind, taking in the craft of all the painstaking attention to detail is fantastic (no pun intended). Given the colorful cast of characters, all brought to life in the form of intelligent, fully-nuanced forest creatures, I enjoyed rewinding and re-watching little gestures or expressions and chuckling at the cleverness of it all. Great for kids and just as much fun for adults.

HIDDEN GEM: The voice talent is your usual who’s who of Hollywood that Wes Anderson manages to bring together for his films, and hearing Bill Murray’s quick quips coming from a snarky badger, or any of the other characters in their critter bodies, brings an added layer of entertainment to an already enjoyable film.

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