Joe Video's 5 Banana Movies!

• Armageddon
• Bad News Bears (1976)
• Bagdad Cafe
• But I'm a Cheerleader
• Camp
• Chasing Amy
• Chinatown
• Chocolat
• The Cider House Rules
• The Color Purple
• Cry Baby
• Dark City
• Dead Again
• Dogma
• Drop Dead Gorgeous
• Earth Girls Are Easy
• Enemy Mine
• Far From Heaven
• Father and Son
• Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
• Firefly
• Gattaca
• Hairspray
• Hedwig & the Angry Inch
• High Fidelity
• I Heart Huckabees
• The Incredibles
• Iron Giant
• It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World
• Just Friends
• Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
• Labyrinth
• Latter Days
• Life is Beautiful
• Little Miss Sunshine
• Lucky # Slevin

• Me and You and Everyone We Know
• Millions
• Mr. Holland's Opus
• Monsoon Wedding
• Mothman Prophecies
• Muriel's Wedding
• Neon Genesis Evangelion
• The New World
• Notting Hill
• Pee Wee's Big Adventure
• Pleasantville
• Ran
• Rebel Without a Cause
• Rome
• Run Lola, Run
• Rushmore
• Saint Ralph
• Scoop
• Shadow of a Doubt
• Shaun of the Dead
• The Shawshank Redemption
• Shortbus
• Slither
• Strangers With Candy
• Tank Girl
• The Terminal
• Thank You for Smoking
• This is Spinal Tap
• To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything...
• Trainspotting
• The Venture Bros
• Vertigo
• Wah Wah
• Water
• Why We Fight

Armageddon

Despite scientific inaccuracies and improbable incidents, this film delivers a multitude of huge stars spitting catchy lines, with over-the-top visual effects that blow your mind.

Reviewed by Conor M
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Bad News Bears (1976)

This could seem to be standard rags-to-riches fare, except that "riches" is satirized scathingly. Walter Matthau is the boozed, disgruntled ex-pro ballplayer whose only reason for coaching is the check. But when he sees his ragtag team begin to accept failure, like he had, he jaws them back and assumes a more responsible and motivational role. Can he avoid getting carried away with pride in winning, as some other coaches in this competive Southern California league do?

The relationship between Matthau and his ace-pitcher, a girl, who would like the uncertain Matthau to be her father, is particularly touching.

Reviewed by Jeremy B
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Bagdad Cafe

What happens when a German tourist befriends a hotel proprietor in the middle of the desert is pure magic. Literally. Friendship blossoms between women from entirely different worlds in this quirky, quiet, heartwarming piece about creating happiness wherever you are.

Reviewed by Joe G
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But I'm a Cheerleader

"But...I'm a cheerleader...I can't be GAY", proclaims the heroine of this wonderful gem. The stakes are raised at a straight conversion camp led by a borderline dyke, who herself is the only loser in a bunch of gay roses. Laughter abounds as a group of young people discover you can't hide from who you are, despite how much everyone wants you to.

Reviewed by Joe G.
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Camp

100% fun in movie form! Gay and straight kids converge at a theater camp where everyone has their own universal sized ego. Hilarious, inspiring, yet honest, this film presents multiple coming of age stories at once, as each student realizes both their potential and worth. Notable for several very camp-y musical scenes to boot.

Reviewed by Joe G.
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Chasing Amy

Containing some of the most blunt relationship advice in a century, Kevin Smith's masterpiece follows the development and decline of an east coast affair between a straight man with a best friend who may or may not be too close for comfort and a woman whose sexual orientation has yet to be fully developed. "I identify with this film in ways you'll never understand." - Kevin Smith's mother

Reviewed by Isabelle G
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Chinatown

One of the greatest "noir" films ever lensed, Roman Polanski's look at corruption and murder in 1930's Los Angeles is a dark classic that is considered to be one of the best films of all time. Nominated for 11 Oscars, it won for Robert Towne's perfectly structured and nuanced script.

Reviewed by Fido B
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Chocolat

This film is about a small town amidst change. Themes of intolerance, loss, and passion all mix together as well as the best of confections. Everyone is a treat to watch in this truly delicious film.

Reviewed by Joe G.
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The Cider House Rules

While most topics are open in today's society, many were hush hush in the past. The movie tackles subjects such as abortion and morality. Emotions are captured brilliantly in this film and touches the spirit as it is still an ongoing struggle.

Reviewed by Deepa R
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The Color Purple

Spielberg's adaptation of Alice Walker's best-selling novel was nominated for 11 Oscars, and lost every one. Yet "The Color Purple" has stood the test of time and remains a moving portrait of one woman's triumph against oppression in the post-slavery south.

Reviewed by Fido B
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Cry Baby

With lines like "You may be a square, but you're still a tramp!" this movie rockets into every kind of wonderful. Squares and Drapes go head to head and skewer everything about the 50's in sight. With musical numbers at drag races and jail cells, musicals have never been this cool. If you're so tired of being good, run to this movie now!

Reviewed by Joe G
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Dark City

The penultimate weird scif-i film. It combines intense noir style, maniacal aliens experimenting on the human soul, and an amnesia victim. Possibly the best ending to a movie, ever.

Reviewed by Joe G.
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Dead Again

This is at the top of my list for suspense movies. Never falling into cliche and gorgeously shot in half b/w, half color, it also gets my vote for best twist ending of all time. Jumbled memories, a murder mystery, and past lives are just the beginning. Emma Thompson and Ken Brannaugh are never safe in this movie where danger is around every corner.

Reviewed by Joe G.
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Dogma

Religious comedy has no equal in this divinely inspired Kevin Smith entry, with all of the blanks filled in on Heaven, Christ, angels, and everything in between.

Reviewed by Joe G.
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Drop Dead Gorgeous

Oh boy, this movie is number one A-OK, doncha know! Insane people will go to insane ends to win a teen beauty pageant, and no one is safe from satire or flying debris. Kirstie Alley is especially memorable for portraying a mother off the deep end of evening gown.

Reviewed by Joe G.
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Earth Girls Are Easy

If you are in any way interested in what made the 80s totally wicked cool then you should watch this radical film. With an all star cast of celebrities you're very unlikely to see in such bodaciously 80s costume and 'tude ever again. Not to mention that Jeff Goldblum looks absolutely delectable the whole way through. This movie is totally tubular fer sure!

Reviewed by Isabelle G.
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Enemy Mine

In this sci-fi adventure two warriors are engaged in a battle between humans and dracks. When both pilots are shot down and land on the same deserted planet, they will both stop at nothing to destroy each other. After battling the harsh environment they both realize they need to stick together in order to survive.

Reviewed by Alan Smithy
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Far From Heaven

Filmed in a way that mimics 50's cinematography, Far From Heaven concerns everything that made the 50's a horror covered by a constructed and elaborate shell of beauty. A woman's perfect life shatters when her husband confesses to homosexual "perversion" and she finds herself in love with a black man. Their social crimes are contrasted, both learning to navigate their pain in an unforgiving world that shows us how lucky we are to live in today's.

Reviewed by Joe G
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Father and Son

Russia's great film-poet, Alexander Sokurov, followed up his meditative film on the bond between Mother and Son with this sweeping, virile poem on the Father and Son bond. A son on leave visits his father. Through soft lenses, editing and camera angles that manipulate the relationship between characters and space, and the nearly constant use of Tchaikovsky music used as subtly as a breeze through treetops (as seen in Mother and Son), Sokurov fosters their affection so that we may participate in the experience of the essence of the father and son bond - which is lively.

Reviewed by Jeremy B
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Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

This must-see comedy follows the drugged out and hilarious misadventures of author Hunter S. Thompson and his possibly Samoan attorney.

Reviewed by Mario
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Firefly

This amazing show lasted only 15 episodes, but packed more action, adventure, romance, and tragedy than most shows do in years. Joss Whedon's epic revolves around a ragtag group of exiles in the far future, where mankind faces its greatest threats in a corporation government, cannibal mutants, ninja assassins, and the rarity of farmable worlds.

Reviewed by
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Gattaca

What if society was divided by ability and predicted mortality as revealed by each person's genes at birth? Overcoming great odds to literally reach the stars makes Gattaca a great sci-fi story beautifully shot and blended with a moving score.

Reviewed by Joe K.
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Hairspray

Only John Waters could present in comic fashion 1960's Baltimore mired in debate over racial segregation. Add the lively soundtrack and you've got "gravy on your mashed potatoes."

Reviewed by Joe K
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Hedwig & the Angry Inch

A rock musical with both laughter and tragic moments of loss, Hedwig covers the life of a transsexual East German who escaped communist Berlin only to encounter obstacles at every corner. This doesn't stop her, though, from writing kickass music and going after the boy who stole her heart and music away. Grand and epic, it's the story of an underdog struggling to be recognized, and a biting refusal to give up. That is relatable enough for anyone to enjoy.

Reviewed by Joe G
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High Fidelity

Although it started as Nick Hornby novel, this movie is quite basically the definitive "John Cusack in love" film. It holds all of the classic tendencies of talking to the camera, random neuroses, healthy interest in music and the scene, a friend who is too single to care and a healthy dose of angst. You'll laugh, you'll cry, and you'll identify.

Reviewed by Isabelle G
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I Heart Huckabees

Brimming with frustration, this quirky film is about an existential mystery. One man searches for meaning in coincidence, and along the way one of the strangest comedies ever made displays both wit, social satire, and subculture clash in modern LA. Hilarious and engrossing.

Reviewed by Joe G
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The Incredibles

By deconstructing the typical superhero lifestyle and rebuilding it in the form of a family unit, Pixar achieves Academy credibility once again through a unique story and spectacular visual effects with wonderfully voiced and grounded characters.

Reviewed by Conor M
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Iron Giant

I like Iron Giant because it's subversive. It is a kids film that says the government doesn't always know what its doing, and sometimes adults do violent things because they're idiots. One young boy experiences an incredible friendship that no one else understands until its too late. Notable also for its attention to 50's paranoia.

Reviewed by Joe G
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It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World

Everyone who was anyone in Hollywood was in this film. One of the best comedies ever made, it surrounds a group of strangers who witness a dying man declare the place he buried a hidden treasure; total chaos ensues as they split up to find it, in any way at any cost. Look for the scenes filmed in Santa Rosa and the Sonoma County Airport!

Reviewed by Joe G
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Just Friends