Suggestions for conversation- or ideas-driven movies?

[RJ 17]

The Big Lebowski

Welllll...to be fair, it's not exactly intelligent conversations taking place throughout the entire movie, but it mostly is just a movie about Jeff Bridges' character meandering through the movie and engaging in various conversations with various people while various situations are occurring. By the end of the movie nothing has really happened other than someone lost a toe and someone has a heart attack.

Now don't get me wrong, the conversations aren't silly or foolish or stupid, they're just not about higher philosophical ideals or the state of socio-economical political affairs.

 

[The Salty Vulcan]

Total Recall starring Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sharon Stone. No I'm serious. Believe it or not, despite the violence and the gore and the infamous three-tittied prostitute, this is easily the most intelligent "Arnie" movie there is. Just think about that.

Whether all that happens is a dream or reality is completely ambiguous. Its left entirely up to the viewer, and its capable of being interpreted in vastly different ways with each viewing.
Was it all a dream? Is it real? Is it a total sci-fi mindfuck? Or is it the most backstabbiest spy plot ever? Up to you!

 

[Euryalus]

Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Django Unchained, Pulp Fiction, and all of Disney and Pixar's movies come to mind. I've had several great conversations about those, and I rarely talk about movies. Just not something I find easy to talk about.

 

[Dampfish]

Hmm, we're beginning to slowly drift away from the topic a little bit here and I think I need to clarify something:
The intent was to try and find movies that consisted of basically nothing but conversation. There have been some excellent ones offered, but now the suggestions are starting to move away from that into just "intelligent movies" or "movies with smart dialogue" rather than movies that are (nearly) only conversation. Understandable since it is a niche genre after all, and we may have already scooped up everything it has to offer.

Now, I'm not deprecating these other suggested movies. To whomever said Dirty Harry, Django Unchained, The Big Lebowski etc; They're all great movies, but there is too much happening in them. They simply don't fit the bill
But please, if you think of any movie that does but is not on the list yet, feel free to suggest it

 

[The Salty Vulcan]

Ok then.

A night on Earth. Its literally a movie built around conversations. 8 cabbies from round the world just talking to their fares.

 

[Strain42]

Okay well I misinterpreted the title of this one, so the movie I had in mind when I clicked this doesn't really apply, but I'll say it later anyways.

Umm...off the top of my head for ones that aren't on your list...Buried with Ryan Reynolds? I mean that movie is just him in a box. It's basically nothing but conversation since there isn't really room for action sequences or anything.

Not sure if that works for you or not, or even if that's one you'd like to see, but it's just what came off the top of my head.

The one I WAS going to recommend was Pulgasari (it's on YouTube, subtitles 'n all) the allegorical North Korean Communist Kaiju film.

See, the title of this thread made me think you were looking for movies that actually sparked interesting conversation with other people, and if you've seen MovieBob's Big Picture episode Monster Movie that sort of explains the history and premise, you'll kinda get why that makes for interesting conversation.

I mean as a Kaiju movie just by itself it's really good. It made me wish there were more feudal era kaiju flicks out there. It had an interesting story that had me invested strongly in both the giant monsters and even the human characters (which is pretty rare) So just as a film it's pretty good, but when you consider Pulgasari being a metaphor for communism, the villagers being an oppressed North Korea and the soldiers being their previous dictators, given the way to film ends up going, it's actually pretty breathtaking.

It might not be what you or anyone else reading this had in mind for this thread, but I certainly recommend checking it out.

 

[Dampfish]

Yeah, I wish I could've come up with a better title for this thread. That's always been a bit of a weakspot. My bad.

Man, it kills me to not discuss any of these movies further, whether they do fit the bill or not. So many good ones! But that would be too off-topic and I don't wanna flood my own thread. That's for another topic another day, I guess

But still some good suggestions coming in

 

[Frezzato]

That was weird. The page refreshed on me somehow.

Anyway, I have two more suggestions for you.

Another Earth - 2011. There's no action in it, and the main characters are intelligent people, it's just that they get caught up in a tragedy. This one can only be viewed via DVD or Blu-ray, not streaming anywhere as far as I can tell, but then again I don't have cable.

It's A Disaster - 2012. It's a comedy and takes place in a house. Nobody's terribly intelligent in this movie. Some are educated, but not too bright. I'd say it's a must watch. Luckily, it's still on Netflix Instant.

*EDIT*
Take This Waltz - 2011. I forgot about this one as well. It's not filmed in a confined area, but it does contain mostly conversation and an almost out of place nude scene, along with an extended sex scene, which is neither here nor there, it's just me warning you. It's actually kind of touching and sad.

*EDIT EDIT*
I'm just going to add Moon (2009) to this list as well. It's not an action movie. It does contain some action, but it's cerebral for the most part. And did somebody already mention Solaris? Either one will do I suppose.

 

[Relish in Chaos]

Hard Candy. There are pretty much only two characters, in a single location for the entirety of the running time, talking about the ins and outs of an unsolved child molestation case.

Kill Bill Vol. 2. I personally find it quite boring, partly because of this. Takes a long while for the Bride to actually get round to doing the actual thing she came round to Bill?s house to do, and the bit with the kid gets kinda cheesy towards the end, but there?s some interestingly philosophical discussion there (the part where Bill talks about how Superman is the real person and Clark Kent is the secret identity is oft-quoted).

 

[x EvilErmine x]

Donnie Darko - Is he a time traveler? What's with Roberta Sparrow? Why would his teacher get fired if they found out what he told donnie? Is it all a dream? What's with Gretchen sort of remembering him if they never met?