Future classics?

[buckeye242424]

I don't disagree at all that Tarantino has a passionate following or that he recycles many of the same actors. That doesn't make them cult classics to me. People like Judd Apatow and M. Night Shyamilan are not directors of cult classics simply because they repeat cast members and have definite characteristics to their films that the public expects and enjoys.

Nor do I think that a following is enough to be a cult classic. By that measure Star Wars is probably the greatest cult classic of all time give the following for those movies, the expectations, etc.

Pulp Fiction is too big a movie to be a cult classic for me. Regardless of how many people follow a movie, a star or a director, I still think there needs to be the idea of limited audience before something is a cult classic.

Otherwise, Titanic can be considered a cult classic if enough people continue to follow that movie.

To me, the quintessential cult classic is a movie like the Rocky Horror Picture Show which had limited box office success during its first year of release and stands on its own feet as a cult classic because of the continued interest and momentum it has gained over the years that is so atypical for a movie with its early box office numbers. (Obviously, the cumulative numbers look pretty good for this now after more than 30 years of continuous run at the box office).

Our interpretations of the meaning of "cult" differ. I think Apatow's "Pineapple Express" and "Superbad" fall into cult classics as far as comedy.

[AHF]

Our interpretations of the meaning of "cult" differ. I think Apatow's "Pineapple Express" and "Superbad" fall into cult classics as far as comedy.

Yep. Just different meanings for the same phrase.

Pineapple Express I can buy.

Superbad is too big of a movie for me. That was mainstream America making "McLovin" jokes for a year. Not cult by my definition.

[Plainview1981]

Jackie Brown seems to be picking up some speed. I get the impression that it wasn't highly thought of when it first came out. Alot of people saying that they've got back to it now and like it more. It's my favorite QT movie. It goes beyond the entertaining macho male posturing and gives us some real characters and real people. Pulp is liking going to always be his most popular movie and I like it, but it's not my favorite.

Edited March 19, 2009 by Hotlanta1981

[Dsinner]

When I think cult classic, I think of movies that are not blockbusters or oscar nominees or anything like that but are sneaky good and particularly rewatchable. So for me, movies like Transformers or Gladiator or the Bourne series, etc. can't be "cult classics" for me. Lots of good movies on the list so far, though, so that is more about semantics.

One turn of the century movie that was a bit under the radar but is very rewatchable, IMO, is Galaxy Quest.

Agreed. Let me add to this list...

1. The Big Lebowski

2. Memento

3. Rquiem for a Dream

4. Lock Stock and 2 Smoking Barrels

5. Snatch

6. Team America (I hated this movie but it already is a cult classic)

7. Pi

8. Natural Born Killers

9. The Foot Fist Way

10. The Hills Have Eyes (The only decent horror movie I've seen in our generation simply because it didn't involve teenage idiots doing being stupid. It had a real family which made it even more intense.)

If going by past history's versions of "classic" or "cult" the above have to be mentioned.

[Dsinner]

Heck, you could probably include Pulp Fiction. Nobody that I know actually likes that movie.

You should get new friends.

[Plainview1981]

You should get new friends.

To them it's a pointless movie with a bunch of hip pointless talk.

[Dsinner]

To them it's a pointless movie with a bunch of hip pointless talk.

That's the beauty of it. Only a genious could make a pointless movie great. That "hip pointless talk" is some of the best script you'll ever hear. I don't like the man myself, I think he's a little too full of himself, but he is a great script writer.

[Plainview1981]

That's the beauty of it. Only a genious could make a pointless movie great. That "hip pointless talk" is some of the best script you'll ever hear. I don't like the man myself, I think he's a little too full of himself, but he is a great script writer.

I like it, but I don't think it's the masterpiece people say it is.