People look stupid when they cry.

Super (2010)

Chosen by Andrew who had this to say: 'Nathan Fillion cameos as a Christian superhero called The Holy Avenger. Need I say more? If I have to I would say it is a good yet twisted comedy about a man who snaps and becomes a costumed vigilante. Rainn Wilson, who is one of the best things about the American Office, portrays a darker version of the Dwight Schrute character. Also Ellen Page is such a cute psychopath and steals the film. The rest of the cast is also great, from Kevin Bacon playing yet another villain to Linda Cardellini (Freaks and Geeks) and Andre Royo (Bubbles from The Wire) playing bit roles. The only weak point is the ending which reminds me of Taxi Driver.

It's hard to call this a comedy, though it is at times very funny. It's more a dark portrait of a man having a psychotic breakdown. It treads similar ground to the better known Kick-Ass but is a far greater film, more personal and pointed, with an absolutely amazing performance from Ellen Page (seemingly combining her roles from Hard Candy and X-Men: The Last Stand).
Fillion is funny in a small recurring bit and Troma boss Lloyd Kaufmann can be seen in the background of a scene.

Drugs are so bad!

Super 8 (2011)

Chosen by me as I like to go to the cinema a lot.

Abrams continues to be a fine visual director (though the train crash itself over-eggs the pudding with an overly busy set-piece that asks you to stretch too much - the kids survive, the car survives, the camera film survives) and great at marshalling an interesting ensemble.
Here the group of children are terrific, precocious but believably young feeling.
Despite driving the plot the alien aspects are less important the the age old hollywood daddy issues (for no less than two main characters) but they work here due to it's reflection on early Joe Dante and Spielberg flicks.
Pretty terrific all round

I wish I was going someplace. I wish you were going someplace. We could go together.

The Wild One (1953)

Chosen by Lauren Parker who had this to say: 'My favourite Brando movie ever! I have such an affection for this film and I can't entirely justify why. I still remember the first time I saw it and my friends thought it was outdated and boring and yet I saw something completely different to them. Yes there are some extremely outdated effects evident right from the opening frame and yes the wild one is actually pretty tame compared to today's hooligans. But at the centre of it all is one of the coolest characters in cinema, the whole film rests on Brando's performance and aesthetic. It's ultimately a film about someone being cool, have that not give a damn attitude you secretly wish you could have. He's just plain awesome and I hope Dave agrees!'

Brando is very, very good in this but I found the film a little too slight (though the swerve from a 'pesky bikers' to 'we should give these kids a chance' movie was interesting) and silly - Lee Marvin is pretty terrible, seemingly playing a 12 year old pretending to be drunk.
Brando doesn't look as foolish as LaBeouf did in that hat but frankly it diminishes the coolness of the character by a great degree.
Oh and the Simpsons use of 'What are you rebelling about?' 'What have ya got?' is actually better than the one here which I find out is delivered to some floozy in a bar rather than to an authority figure (Lisa sticks it to Principle Skinner - now that's sticking it to the man).

I like a messy bed.

Five Minutes to Live (1961)

Chosen by me from a list of public domain movies

A cheap and ramshackle effort but one with it's interesting moments. Cash is reasonable as an unstable thug (who plays the guitar, natch) and we have a very young Ron Howard (still Ronnie at his point) as an annoying kid.
It throws a couple of reasonable twists into proceedings but doesn't follow through in any great detail (it's about 75 mins long), and spends a long time just viewing the family's everyday life.

Sir, I got lost on the way to college, sir.

Jarhead (2005)

Chosen by me from a list of dvds Victoria Charvill was getting rid of

Very pointedly, politically, apolitical. A bunch of bored, often intelligent men do a bunch of boring often stupid things whilst waiting for the chance to kill someone.
Filled with great performances and terrific little vignettes, it doesn't quite work as a film. Choppily episodic it ends with a look at their home lives that feels a little underdeveloped (probably deliberately but still). But the film is well shot and not without interest.

I like you to be exactly the way that you are, because in all my experience, I have never known anyone like you.

A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)

Chosen by Lauren Parker, who kindly got this introduction to me even though ill and had this to say: 'Although I am in love with Brando in his early years I do feel this film is a little overrated. I'd happily place it behind On the Waterfront and The Wild One but I might be alone on that. However it's still a good film with a great performance from Brando and like a lot of his films you just keep waiting for his character to come back on to the screen. It's very dated and extremely melodramatic but I think it's easy enough to see past that with such great performances. It's just nice to provide a film for the blog that I don't hand to Dave knowing he'll hate it!'

Extraordinarily melodramatic and all the better for it. A terrific centre piece for Brando who positively sizzles with rage throughout but Vivien Leigh and Kim Hunter are also terrific.
It's a snappy, well written piece (I vaguely recall reading some Williams for school but not finding it very interesting) and another of the classics I really wanted to get viewed with this filmaday malarkey. And I will put up with a hundred Big Stans to see great stuff like this.

I've met a lot of pin-up girls, but I've never been able to pin one down.

A Night In Casablanca (1946)

Chosen by me because The Marx Bros. always seem to come up in the Quad Quiz and I've never actually seen any of their films.

I don't recall this one of the Marx Bros. films coming up in the quiz and there's probably a good reason for that - it's not great.
There's a few classic Groucho one liners and a terrific bit of physical comedy involving the brothers messing with a fleeing Nazi's packing but a lot of the jokes don't land (Chico's mute telling of who is trying to kill Groucho goes on too long as does a bit involving them flying a plane).
Still it was worth it to finally see one of their movies, must see some of the more famous efforts, if only so we can try and get a better score at the next quiz.