Run Off Poll: The Best Film Titles Part II
Excellent prose sometimes seems to be a dying art. The film industry, at times, does its part to revive it with great screen plays and, every so often, with exquisite titles from various sources, including novels, poems, and songs. The titles below serve as oases in a desert of the vague and recycled stamp-ons like Deceived and Shattered. Consider the sound and substance of the words below and, instead of voting for your favorite movie, vote for the title you think has the most pleasing language.
This is Part II of a Run-Off Poll and includes movies after 1975. Part I included films before 1975; vote on that poll here: http://www.imdb.com/poll/NgP1VlZRZpU/?ref_=po_ho/
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This is Part II of a Run-Off Poll and includes movies after 1975. Part I included films before 1975; vote on that poll here: http://www.imdb.com/poll/NgP1VlZRZpU/?ref_=po_ho/
Discuss here
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25 titles
- DirectorDavid LoweryStarsRooney MaraCasey AffleckBen FosterThe tale of an outlaw who escapes from prison and sets out across the Texas hills to reunite with his wife and the daughter he has never met.Ain't Them Bodies Saints: According to Casey Affleck, the title is the director David Lowery's misquotation of lyrics from a song.
- DirectorBenh ZeitlinStarsQuvenzhané WallisDwight HenryLevy EasterlyFaced with both her hot-tempered father's fading health and melting ice-caps that flood her ramshackle bayou community and unleash ancient aurochs, six-year-old Hushpuppy must learn the ways of courage and love.Beasts of the Southern Wild: The title was, presumably, written by Lucy Alibar and Benh Zeitlin, who wrote the screenplay, which was based on a play with the unfortunate title of Juicy and Delicious.
- DirectorJohn MaddenStarsJudi DenchBill NighyMaggie SmithBritish retirees travel to India to take up residence in what they believe is a newly restored hotel. Less luxurious than advertised, the Marigold Hotel nevertheless slowly begins to charm in unexpected ways.The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel: From the novel, by Deborah Moggach, of the same name.
- DirectorLasse HallströmStarsTobey MaguireCharlize TheronMichael CaineA compassionate young man, raised in an orphanage and trained to be a doctor there, decides to leave to see the world.The Cider House Rules: From John Irving's novel of the same name.
- DirectorNeil JordanStarsStephen ReaJaye DavidsonForest WhitakerA British soldier kidnapped by the IRA soon befriends one of his captors, who then becomes drawn into the soldier's world.The Crying Game: Filmmaker Neil Jordan originally intended to title the film The Soldier's Wife, but his friend Stanley Kubrick recommended changing it because he believed that films with religious or military titles often deter audiences. Jordan had experienced this with his movies The Miracle (1991) and We're No Angels (1989), which did poorly at the box office, so he took the new title from a 1960s British pop song, written by Geoff Stephens. Three different versions of the song appear on the soundtrack.
- DirectorSpike LeeStarsDanny AielloOssie DavisRuby DeeOn the hottest day of the year on a street in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn, everyone's hate and bigotry smolders and builds until it explodes into violence.Do the Right Thing: Spike Lee chose the title from a Malcolm X quotation, "You've got to do the right thing." Titles in the declarative are very rare.
- DirectorMichel GondryStarsJim CarreyKate WinsletTom WilkinsonWhen their relationship turns sour, a couple undergoes a medical procedure to have each other erased from their memories forever.Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind: The title was taken from the following passage of the Alexander Pope poem, "Eloisa to Abelard:" How happy is the blameless vestal's lot! / The world forgetting, by the world forgot. / Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind! / Each pray'r accepted, and each wish resign'd."
- DirectorJosh BooneStarsShailene WoodleyAnsel ElgortNat WolffHazel and Gus are teenagers who meet at a cancer support group and fall in love. They both share the same acerbic wit and a love of books, especially "An Imperial Affliction", so they embark on a journey to visit an author in Amsterdam.The Fault in Our Stars: From the book, of the same name, by John Green.
- DirectorGillies MacKinnonStarsKate WinsletBella RizaSaïd TaghmaouiUnsatisfied with her life in England, young mother Julia relocates to Morocco with her small daughters, Lucy and Bea. Although the family enjoys various adventures, they struggle to make ends meet.Hideous Kinky: From Esther Freud's book of the same name. The two little girls, in both the book and film, remember their mother's friend repeatedly using two words: "hideous" and "kinky." The combined words soon become an all-purpose epithet: For example, when the girls play a game of "tag," the sisters, rather than exclaiming "Tag, you're it," shout "Hideous Kinky" instead.
- DirectorJoel CoenEthan CoenStarsTim RobbinsPaul NewmanJennifer Jason LeighA naive business graduate is installed as president of a manufacturing company as part of a stock scam.The Hudsucker Proxy: Most likely from the script writers, Ethan Coen, Joel Coen, and Sam Raimi. Hudsucker is the name of the fictional company at the center of the film.
- StarsCalvin MackieMitch LandrieuJacques MorialIn 2006, director Spike Lee created an astonishing record of the cataclysmic effects of Hurricane Katrina on the city of New Orleans with his epic award-winning documentary, When the Levees Broke. Five years later, Lee returns to New Orleans, to see how the ambitious plans to reinvent the Crescent City were playing out. He finds a patchwork of hope and heartache just as a new disaster unfolds. The four-hour documentary is a continuation of the heart-rending story of destruction and rebirth of America's most unique city.If God is Willing and da Creek Don't Rise: The title is from a Southern folk saying. Although this is listed as a TV series, it's on this list because it was made as one complete film. Because it was long for a documentary, HBO aired it as two installments.
- DirectorQuentin TarantinoStarsBrad PittDiane KrugerEli RothIn Nazi-occupied France during World War II, a plan to assassinate Nazi leaders by a group of Jewish U.S. soldiers coincides with a theatre owner's vengeful plans for the same.Inglourious Basterds: Even though this film is not a remake of the 1978 movie, the title is one way Quentin Tarantino payed homage to Enzo G. Castellari's The Inglorious Bastards. Tarantino has said he'll never explain the misspelling beyond that it was an artistic flourish.
- DirectorSøren Kragh-JacobsenStarsPatrick BerginJordan KiziukJack WardenDuring World War II a Jewish boy is left on his own for months in a ruined house in the Warsaw Ghetto, where he must learn all the tricks of survival under constantly life-threatening conditions.The Island on Bird Steet: From the 1981 semi-autobiographical children's book by Israeli author Uri Orlev, which tells the story of a young boy, alone in a ghetto during World War II, struggling to survive. He finds refuge in a bombed out building on a street called Ptasia, translated to Bird Street. The author received the 1996 Hans Christian Andersen Award for children's literature.
- DirectorJohn KrokidasStarsDaniel RadcliffeDane DeHaanMichael C. HallA murder in 1944 draws together the great poets of the beat generation: Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac, and William Burroughs.Kill Your Darlings: A phrase commonly used in writing circles and workshops, it has been attributed to many famous authors, including Allen Ginsberg, a character in the film, but the earliest use of the phrase was traced to the little-known Arthur Quiller-Couch. The phrase is used as artistic advice to not be too precious about one's writing and to be especially critical of self-indulgent passages. Although the movie is about literary hopefuls in a writing program, the title mainly refers to a different aspect of the story.
- DirectorWes AndersonStarsBill MurrayOwen WilsonAnjelica HustonWith a plan to exact revenge on a legendary shark that killed his partner, oceanographer Steve Zissou (Bill Murray) rallies a crew that includes his estranged wife, a journalist, and a man who may or may not be his son.The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou: Uncommon syntax for an uncommon film, written by Wes Anderson and Noah Baumbach. According to information on IMDb, "In Wes Anderson's earlier film, Rushmore (1998), there is a shot of Max Fisher on his go-kart which is a direct homage to a Jacques Henri Lartigue photograph. The man in this photo, as well as others taken by Lartigue is named Zissou."
- DirectorRobert RedfordStarsRubén BladesRichard BradfordSonia BragaThe accidental breakdown of an irrigation valve launches a hot confrontation between the mainly Latino farmers in a tiny New Mexico town and the real estate developers and politicians determined to acquire their land for a golf resort.The Milagro Beanfield War: From the book, by John Nichols, of the same name.
- DirectorEthan CoenJoel CoenStarsTommy Lee JonesJavier BardemJosh BrolinViolence and mayhem ensue after a hunter stumbles upon the aftermath of a drug deal gone wrong and over two million dollars in cash near the Rio Grande.No Country for Old Men: The film is based on the Cormac McCarthy novel of the same name.
- DirectorDon RoosStarsChristina RicciMartin DonovanLisa KudrowA 16-year-old girl visits her gay half-brother and ends up seducing his boyfriend, thus wreaking havoc on all of their lives.The Opposite of Sex: The film, and presumably the title, was written by Don Roos.
- DirectorRobert AltmanStarsLily TomlinMeryl StreepWoody HarrelsonA look at what goes on backstage during the last broadcast of America's most celebrated radio show, where singing cowboys Dusty and Lefty, a country music siren, and a host of others hold court.A Prairie Home Companion: Garrison Keillor wrote the screenplay, which is based on his famous radio show, started in 1974 and aired on public radio, of the same name.
- DirectorQuentin TarantinoStarsHarvey KeitelTim RothMichael MadsenWhen a simple jewelry heist goes horribly wrong, the surviving criminals begin to suspect that one of them is a police informant.Reservoir Dogs: According to IMDb, "The title for the film came to Quentin Tarantino via a patron at the now-famous Video Archives. While working there, Tarantino would often recommend little-known titles to customers, and when he suggested Au Revoir Les Enfants (1987), the patron mockingly replied, 'I don't want to see no reservoir dogs!' The title is never spoken in the film, however."
- DirectorMira NairStarsShafiq SyedAnjaanAmrit PatelYoung Krishna struggles to survive among the drug dealers, pimps, and prostitutes in the back alleys and gutters of India.Salaam Bombay!: The film, primarily written by Mira Nair and Sooni Taraporevala, has as its title a phrase that translates, roughly, into "Greetings, Bombay!" Salaam can also mean, "peace," but still as a means of salutation. Bombay is another name for the city of Mumbai. This little-known film won several awards, including two from Cannes, as well as the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film, and is considered by the New York Times as one of the best 1,000 movies of all time.
- DirectorSteven SoderberghStarsJames SpaderAndie MacDowellPeter GallagherA sexually repressed woman's husband is having an affair with her sister. The arrival of a visitor with a rather unusual fetish changes everything.Sex, Lies, and Videotape: According to IMDb, Steven Soderbergh, who wrote and directed the film, "gave the producers a list of possible film titles, including 46:02, Retinal Retention, Charged Coupling Device, Mode: Visual, Sex, Lies, and Videotape, and Hidden Agendas. Soderberg favored 46:02 (the supposed running time of the tape Ann makes for Graham; the running time appears in the script but not in the final film), but the producers chose "Sex, Lies, and Videotape" immediately. In a Q&A session after a screening in 1989, one audience member advised Soderbergh that he would have to change the title, which he considered terrible."
- DirectorJonathan DemmeStarsJodie FosterAnthony HopkinsScott GlennA young F.B.I. cadet must receive the help of an incarcerated and manipulative cannibal killer to help catch another serial killer, a madman who skins his victims.The Silence of the Lambs: From the Thomas Harris novel, which is the second book in his series that revolve around the character of Hannibal Lecter.
- DirectorJoseph SargentStarsCliff McMullenYasiin BeyLuray CooperA dramatization of the relationship between heart surgery pioneers Alfred Blalock and Vivien Thomas.Something the Lord Made: In the film, Dr. Blalock feels an incision made by his brilliant lab technician, Vivien Thomas, and, amazed by the work, says it is "like something the Lord made." The film is based on the true story of Dr. Alfred Blalock and Vivien Thomas, an African American who had to battle racism and the lack of a formal medical education. Blalock and Thomas revolutionized medicine, especially cardiac surgery.
- DirectorWoody AllenStarsSean PennSamantha MortonWoody AllenIn the 1930s, jazz guitarist Emmet Ray idolizes Django Reinhardt, faces gangsters and falls in love with a mute woman.Sweet and Lowdown: The writer and director, Woody Allen, took the title from the song "Sweet and Low-Down," by George Gershwin, which is on the soundtrack of Allen's Manhattan.