Movies with a different tone

[Mofo Rising]

I haven't been out to watch too many movies lately.  The last one I saw in the theatres was ENEMY AT THE GATES.  But what I have noticed is that almost every movie coming out has the same "tone" to it.  Namely, the Hollywood way of making movies.  We have the same shots, same music, and same overall presentation.  Sure there are a lot of different plots and themes to movies, but most of them have the same way of presenting themselves.

So what movies have you seen recently that are different than your average fare?

Examples would be DEAD MAN by Jim Jarmusch.  Say what you want about the movie, it's minimalist style of presentation is quite different than what you usually see.  Also, on the more extreme end is TETSUO: THE IRON MAN.  I don't ever want to see that movie again, but it was definitely different.

So what movies can you recommend that are different than the rest?  Hopefully you can recommend movies you actually liked.

[GeeWhiz]

Did you see "Shadow of the Vampire"?  I saw it in the theater (after a 20 minute delay during the credits so they could remove a troublemaker, but that's a different story).

It kept the tone of "Nosferatu", but updated it to a degree because they could use color and sound.  Interesting film, and the performance of Wilem Dafoe deserved the Oscar nomination.

[Josh Leman]

Traffic was definitely presented in a different way.  Also the recently released film Memento, in which all of the the scenes are arranged in backwards chronological order.  And even if you hated it, The Blair Witch Project was definitely a step in a different direction.  

But these are all smaller, more independent-leaning movies.  A better question might be, what was the last major studio movie that cost more than $50 million that was a little bit different?  Has there been anything since Fight Club?

[Mofo Rising]

Big budget movies. . .

The only one I can think of is FEAR AND LOATHING IN LAS VEGAS.  I'm sure you have your own opinions on the success of that movie (I loved it), but it was different.  I'm also pretty sure it cost more than $50 Mil, but I'm not sure.  Of course, that came out before FIGHT CLUB.

And there's always CROUCHING TIGER, HIDDEN DRAGON, but I think that's skirting the periphery.  It's a Hong Kong style kung fu flick using a more Hollywood, no, Western approach to telling its story.