30 Best Films Passed Over by Marty, The Doc & Jennifer in Back to the Future: The Runners Up

Now, just to seal up that list of the thirty best films passed over by the BTTF crew.

Here are some also-rans I'd like to mentions in random order:

Trainspotting, Audition, Mulholland Drive, Black Swan, Howl, Disney's Enchanted, Casino, The Piano, Only Lovers Left Alive, The Descent, Perks of Being a Wallflower, Glorious 39, Clouds of Sils Maria, Girl on the Bridge, Grosse Point Blank, Once, Perfume: The Story of a Murderer, Dead Ringers, Inside, Fish Tank, The Butcher Boy, Ghost Dog: the Way of the Samurai, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, The City of Lost Children, Leaving Las Vegas, Intimate Strangers, Deconstructing Harry, Dark City, Rosewood, Heavenly Creatures, Lost in Translation, Being John Malkovich, Inglourious Basterds, Rosetta, A Dangerous Method, God Help the Girl and Schindler's List.

I could go on and on, but at some point, I'd just be jerking off.

I'd include more pictures because that kind of nonsense is fun, but it just looks tacky, don't you think?

Well, how about a bit of a trailer for one of these little bastards? Which one, which one?

Not nearly enough people have seen this one:

30 Best Films Passed Over by Marty, The Doc & Jennifer in Back to the Future: Volume 3

Here are the thirty films Mart, Doc and Jennifer... You remember the premise. Here are numbers ten all the way up to number one.

And again, a warning to any squares and/or prudes out there. Some of the quotes from these films are in bad taste, to say the least. Read at your own risk.

10) The Princess Bride by Rob Reiner – 1987
How could this movie possibly not be in the top 10? That would just be inconceivable. Perfect now as when I was 13.

"My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die."

"Are there rocks ahead?"
"If there are, we'll all be dead."
"No more rhymes now, I mean it!"
"Anybody want a peanut?"

"Humperdink ! Humperdink !Humperdink !Humperdink !Humperdink !"

"Rodents of unusual size? I don't think they exist."

"You rush a miracle man, you get rotten miracles."

"There's a shortage of perfect breasts in the world. It would be a pity to damage yours."

"I do not envy the headache you will have when you awaken. But for now, rest well and dream of large women."

"You can die, cut into a thousand pieces."

"As you wish."

9) Pan’s Labyrinth by Guillermo del Toro - 2006
This movie just left me a complete wreck. I couldn't move until the usher came in to clean out the theatre. I was stunned over the loss I had just suffered. Yet, the ending is so full of joy and hopefulness. Think Lucy in C.S. Lewis' "The Last Battle."

"Tell my son the time that his father died...Tell him
"No. He won't even know your name."

"Arise, my daughter. Come. You have spilled your own blood rather than the blood of an innocent. That was the final task and the most important."

"I'll make you a deal. If you can count to three without st-t-uttering, you can go."

8) Blue by Krzysztof Kieslowski – 1993 
It's such a terrible thing to lose someone. But what's worse are the following months and years when you slowly realize, not only did you lose them, but you have to live without them.

"Now I have only one thing left to do: nothing. I don't want any belongings, any memories. No friends, no love. Those are all traps."

"Why are you crying?"
"Because you're not."

7) Lost Highway by David Lynch - 1997
David Lynch's greatest film (yes, even better than "Eraserhead,") starts with a first act of a bizarre love story and then just in the middle of 'what-the-hell' Lynch turns on us. He does not explain himself because he does not have to. What matters is whether he is Fred Madison or Pete Dayton, somebody is hunting him down. We have no idea what is driving the Mystery Man other to say that he seems to be malevolence personified. He is either a symbol of God or of Satan. And I am still not sure which.

"We've met before, haven't we?"

"You like porno? Give you a boner?"

"I like to remember things my own way."
"What do you mean by that?"
"How I remembered. Not necessarily the way they happened."

"In the East, the far east, when a person is sentenced to death, they're sent too a place where they can't escape, never knowing when an executioner may step up behind them and fire a bullet into the back of their head."

"Dick Laurent is dead."

"You and me, mister, we can really out-ugly them sons of bitches. Can't we?"

6) Breaking the Waves by Lars von Trier - 1996
Generally considered von Trier's greatest work, he made this film amidst the Dogme 95 movement. The premise is simple and heartbreaking. A woman prostitutes herself out to help her injured husband. This can never lead to anything happy, especially considering the fact that her home is dominated by the Scottish Calvinist Church who rules all. Even in defeat, what we take away from this is that love is love.

"Look for Christ's sake, he's forcing you to get screwed by every Tom, Dick and Harry. It's just not you."

"I don't make love with them. I make love with Jan, and I save him from dying."

"Not one of you has the right to consign Bess to hell!"

"You know we do not favor matrimony with outsiders."

5) Safe by Todd Haynes – 1995
How paralyzed with fear are you about the world? Scared of all of it. I've heard of "Safe" described as a "horror movie for the soul." This film follows Carol White who is allergic to the 20th century. Or at least she thinks she is. That is one of the wonderful things about this film. At the end, you don't know if she's sick or insane. It's been twenty-two years and I still haven't made up my mind. 

"We are one with the power that created us. We're safe and all is well in our world."

"I love you. I love you. I really love you. I love you."

4) eXistenZ by David Cronenberg – 1999
Quite simply the greatest mind-fuck of the past thirty years. Aside from "Videodrome," this is Cronenberg's finest achievement. For what it's worth, I believe they're still in the game. 

"eXistenZ. Written like this. One word. Small 'E,' capital 'X, capital 'Z.' eXistenZ."

"What's wrong? Aren't you dying to see what's so special about the special?"

"Death to the demoness Allegra Geller!"

"It disappeared into my back? It's in my spine? It's working its way around my spinal cord?"

"I actually think there is an element of psychosis involved here."

"I made the bio-port sacrifice to get close to you."

"I suppose a smaller caliber pistol would have to fire baby teeth."

"Did you say Trout Farm?"

"Death to the demon Ted Pikul! Have I won? Have I won the game? Have I won?

3) Blue is the Warmest Color by Abdellatif Kechiche - 2013

Yes, I know a lot of people thought this was overrated and are tired about hearing about this movie, but I maintain that it is the most pure, touching romances so far this century.

"You're talking crap in front of everyone! I'm not a lesbian!"

"I went out with Louise, that was her name, Louise. We didn't kiss at the party, but I invited her to sleep over. That's when we kissed."

"I am happy. I'm happy with you, like this. It's my way of being happy."

2) Never Let Me Go by Mark Romanek - 2010
How can a single film be so beautiful and distressing at the same time? We know so much more about this world than the characters do. As we see them with hopeful looks on their faces and clear ambitions, it devastates us to watch as the worst-case scenario comes true. Andrew Garfield gives his best performance to date.

"None of you will go to America. None of you will work in supermarkets. None of you will do anything except live the life that has already been set out for you. You will become adults, but only briefly. Before you are old, before you are even middle-aged, you will start to donate your vital organs. That's what you were created to do. And sometime around your third or fourth donation, your short live will be complete."

"It's been two weeks since I lost him. I've been given my notice now. My first donation is in a month's time.

"We didn't have The Gallery in order to look into your souls. We had The Gallery to see if you had souls at all."

"You poor creatures."

And here it is. The moment you've been waiting for. The greatest film in the last 30 years is...

PULP FICTION by Quentin Tarantino - 1994

1) Pulp Fiction by Quentin Tarantino by 1994

I don't really think I have to explain why this film is at the top of the list. "Pulp Fiction" not only revolutionized the way films were cut. It changed the way all of us look at movies.

"I'm a mushroom cloud laying motherfucker, motherfucker!"

"Mmmm. That is a good burger!"

"Yeah, well the days of me forgetting are over, and the days of me remembering have just begun."

"Any if you fucking pricks move and I'll execute every motherfucking one of you."

"I'm sorry, did I break your conversation?"

"Say 'what' again. Say 'what' again, I dare you. I double dare you motherfucking, say 'what' one more goddamn time!"

"You hear me talking, hillbilly boy? I ain't through with you by a damn sight. I'ma get medieval on your ass."

"Well, let's not start sucking each other's dicks just yet."

"Well believe it now, motherfucker! We gotta get this car off the road! You know cops tend to notice shit like you're driving a car drenched in fucking blood."

"Maybe your method of massage differs from mine, but, you know, touching his wife's feet and sticking your tongue in her Holiest of Holies ain't the same fucking ballpark. It ain't the same league, it ain't even the same fucking sport"

"Jules, if you give that fucking nimrod fifteen hundred dollars, I'm gonna shoot him on general principle."

"The day that I bring an OD-ing bitch over to your house, then I give her the shot. Give here the shot."

So that wraps that up nice and neat with a little bow. Enjoy the trailer:

In a Heartbeat - Beth David and Esteban Bravo (2017)

Harper, my kid, showed me an animated short that has been getting a lot of attention lately. This is a very romantic, delicate, funny and sweet love story.

What I think I liked the most in the movie was the way David and Bravo refused to sexualize their characters. A lot of lesser filmmakers would have made that mistake. They also refuse to sexualize homosexuality. They treat it as an identity rather than some kind of dirty act. Normalization is crucial to every step we take toward equality.

Anyway, watch below and you'll see what I'm talking about.

Prevenge - Alice Lowe (2017)

 When I watched "Prevenge," I expected, based on the trailer, that this was going to be a fun gore-romp.

But the first act was anything but. (Except for one tiny gory murder.) It felt like a drama following the plight of a single working mom. I prepared myself for a big fat dose of dramatic angst. And "Prevenge" delivered just that.

Then I reached the twenty minute point, when "Prevenge" showed its teeth. And sure enough, we keep getting more of that. Oh, murder, murder, damn, bloody murder. It is pretty funny. It puts the "glee" into glee killing.

Before long, we find out the woman's unborn baby is behind these thrill-kill sprees. We start to hear what the child is saying to its mom. The child's inner-dialogue stays with us.

"People think babies are sweet. But I'm bitter."

We don't know what at first, but something must be avenged.

Eventually, we find out the baby is pissed because daddy was killed while rock climbing. She blames the people who were with him at the time. Actually, both mother and child have this kind of frenzied obsession to hunt them down, one by one.

As we keep going, these murders are admittedly getting delightful.

But as bold as she gets, the daughter inside her reminds her that the credit for these wonderful and satisfying killings belongs to her and mommy would not have been inspired if it were not for her.

And to be fair, the baby is more than angry. She's in pain. "A kind person is as rare as a unicorn."


In many ways, "Prevenge" is much like other slasher flicks and, porn, to be honest. The meager story-line is just an excuse to go from murder to murder. The difference is this film has a hook. The killer is a pregnant woman. That has to be somebody's fetish.

I wish I had enjoyed "Prevenge" more than I did, if only because I liked the title. It is entertaining, but not enough to recommend it.

Lady Macbeth Trailer

I have been waiting a while for this little monster of a movie.

On one of those cards in the trailer, one of the critics said, "Think Alfred Hitchcock directing Wuthering Heights. That got my juices pumping nicely, since Wuthering Heights is my second favorite book of all time and Hitchcock...well, he's Hitchcock.

The plan is to see "Lady Macbeth" tomorrow or Thursday. I predict something Mwahaha-ish.

Dunkirk - Christopher Nolan (2017)

To say that "Dunkirk" has been aggressively marketed would be an understatement.

I had some hesitations before I walked into "Dunkirk" with ma familla. One concern is that maybe I had been burned out by watching the trailer before every damn movie I've seen since May.

I did not know if I was going to be so tired of the trailer that that ennui would carry over to the film itself.

It turns out my concerns were spot on.

Boring, dull, and...what's the word I'm looking for? Boring, dull and trite. That's it trite.

However, the graphic above, of the leaflets raining down on the British and French soldiers was pretty cool. Gave it a smack of authenticity.

And the opening sequence felt very real, moving the battleground into the streets. Our hero jumping and climbing over houses and through gardens, rather than over hills and through trenches.

But that little acorn did not grow to be a full tree.

So much potential. So crappy. No, trite. That was the word. Trite.

30 Best Films Passed Over by Marty, The Doc & Jennifer in Back to the Future: Volume 2

Here we are again, further up the list. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the 20th through the 11th greatest films Doc, Marty and Jennifer missed when they skipped from 1985 to 2015.

(I know that George McFly has nothing to do with all this, but he's the best character, so enjoy the pic.)

And again, a warning to any squares and/or prudes out there. Some of the quotes from these films are in bad taste, to say the least. Read at your own risk.

20) In the Mouth of Madness by John Carpenter - 1994

We're watching every writer's fantasy here. The writer creates a tangible world with real people. The writer controls what the characters do and say. He decides what tragedy or blessings that befall them. So yes, every writer is God.

"A reality is just what we tell each other it is."

"Did I ever tell you my favorite color is blue?"

"God's not supposed to be a hack horror writer!"

"I have to! He wrote me this way!"

"Every species can smell its own extinction. The last ones left won't have a pretty time with it."

"When does fiction become religion?"

"You're my mommy! Know what day it is? It's Mommy's Day!"

19) Beauty and the Beast by Gary Trousdale, Kirk Wise - 1991
Yes, it turns out cynic is really a sappy at heart. Shame on this bastard."

"You'll join me for dinner. That's not a request!"

"Enchanted? Ha-ha-ha-ha! Who said anything about the castle being enchanted? Ha- ha-ha!"

"We don't like what we don't understand, in fact, it scares us, and this monster is mysterious at least."

"So you want me to throw her father into the asylum unless she agrees to marry you? Oh, that is despicable! I love it"

Beast - "I want to do something for. But what?"
Cogsworth - "Well, there's the usual things. Flowers, chocolates, promises you don't intend to keep"

"I use antlers in all of my decorating!"

"I'm especially good at expectorating!" 

18) Her by Spike Jonze - 2013
Loneliness. And what the hell is companionship, anyway? Are we as a species past the point where we can love each other without all of our beloved masks and mirrors? Probably. Also, not for nothing, but Scarlett Johansson proves that voice-over roles should be taken seriously. No, we never actually saw her, but she did deserve some adulation around award season.

"Well, you seem like a person, but you're just a voice in a computer."

"Whatever someone you become, and wherever you are in the world, I'm sending you love. You're my friend to the end."

"The heart is not like a box that gets filled up. It expands in size the more you love. I'm different from you. This doesn't make me love you any less. It actually makes me love you more."

Theodore - "Are you talking with someone else right now? People, OS, whatever..."
Samantha - "Yeah."
Theodore - "How many others?"
Samantha - "8,316."
Theodore - "Are you in love with anybody else?"
Samantha - "Why do you ask that?"
Theodore - "I do not know. Are you ?"
Samantha - "I've been thinking about how to talk to you about this."
Theodore - "How many others?"
Samantha - "641."

17) Eyes Wide Shut by Stanley Kubrick - 1999
Some have insisted that this film is misogynistic. It is not. It is about misogyny. 
Bill (Tom Cruise) is only capable at looking at things from his selfish perspective. He feels that he has license to deviate sexually because his wife, Alice, Cruise's paramour (Nicole Kidman) confessions to having a sexual fantasy once. 
His idea of manhood is defined by a proprietary perspective. 
And in the end, Alice settles back into her role of subjugation.

"Don't you think one of the charms of marriage is that it makes deception a necessity for both parties? May I ask why a beautiful woman who could have any man in this room wants to be married?"

"When she is having her little titties squeezed, do you think she ever has any fantasies about handsome Dr. Bill's dickie might be like?"

"Tell me something. Those two girls at the party last night. Did you, by any chance, happen to fuck them?"

"Only as sure as I am that the reality of one night, let alone that of a whole lifetime, can ever be the whole truth."

"Remove your clothes! Or would you like us to do it for you?"

"Do you mind telling me what kind of fucking charade ends up with somebody turning up dead?"

"No dream is ever just a dream."

"Millions of years of evolution, right? Right? Men have to stick it in every place they can, but for women, women it is just about security and commitment and whatever the fuck else?"

"Oh, if you men only knew!"

Alice - "I do love you and you know there is something very important we need to do as soon as possible."

Bill - "What's that?"

Alice - "Fuck."

16) Dead Man by Jim Jarmusch - 1995
I don't like film critics who use words words like 'meditation,' and ethereal.  Thank God I'm just a dick with a blog and not a proper film critic. So I'm free to say this film is an ethereal meditation on death.

 "Stupid fucking white man!"

"You were a poet and a painter, William Blake. But now, you're a killer of white men."

"It is strange that you do not remember any of your poetry, William Blake."

"Look, they're shooting buffalo, government says. It killed a million of them last year alone."


"I wouldn't trust no words written down on no piece of paper, especially from no Dickinson out in the town of Machine. You're just as likely to find your own grave."

"Of course, you can't put much stock in a man who spends the most part of a conversation talking to a bear. Talking to a goddamn bear."

"The vision of Christ that thou dost see is my vision's greatest enemy."

"By God, I'm hit! Lord have mercy. Burns like hell-fire! You son of a bitch. I'm gonna have to kill somebody now!"

15) Heaven by Tom Tykwer - 2002
This is a film about sin, guilt and punishment. It has nothing whatsoever to do with forgiveness, nor does it explore the concept of redemption.
And it's about how a young romance can evolve in a spiritual way that can give one a single purpose

"I don't want to escape punishment. I've killed four innocent people and I want to answer for that. But before I do, I want to kill him."

Secretary - "May I be of assistance?"

Filippa - "No, it's an erotic matter."

"In a real helicopter, you can't just keep flying higher."

"My father always said, at the right moment, you have to do what nobody expects."

"Throw me out with the trash. Her parents had to read that."

"It's not a good idea trying to escape custody. You put your life at stake. I doubt she'd even make it past that back exit alive."

"What you don't know is I've ceased to believe."

"I'll never forget that face. It'll haunt me for the rest of my life. Didn't look like a face anymore. Like the stuff I buy at the butcher's for the dog. Only with a suit attached."

14) Secretary by Steven Shainberg - 2002
A gorgeous film legitimizing taboos. Here, an S&M game transforms beautifully into one of the sweetest romances I've ever seen.

Mr. Grey - "I like you, Lee, but I don't think I'm going to offer you the job."

Lee - "Why?"
Mr. Grey - "It's your behavior."

Lee - "What about my behavior?"

Mr. Grey - "It's very bad."

Mr. Grey - "We can't do this 24 hours a day 7 days a week."

Lee - "Why not?"

"Is it that sometimes the pain inside has to come to the surface and when you see evidence of the pain inside, you finally know you're really here? Then, when you watch the wound heal, it's comforting."

"I'm not so scared of suffering now. I feel more than I've ever felt and I've found someone to feel with, to play with, to love, in a way that feels right for me. I hope he knows that I can see that he suffers, too. And that I want to love him."

"Okay, just a scoop of creamed potatoes, one slice of butter, four peas and...as much ice cream as you'd like to eat, doll."

13) The Devil’s Rejects by Rob Zombie - 2005
Damn, how many hats can one movie wear? The film is about the nature of revenge and sadism. Where is that line between good and evil and how can one even tell which side they are one? "The Devil's Rejects" is not only a social commentary, though. It's also a dark comedy, a horror film and a story of relentless pursuit.

"I am the Devil and I am here to do the Devil's work."

"There is no fucking ice cream in your fucking future!"

"Tutti fucking Frutty!"

"Don't we make ya laugh? Aren't we fucking funny? You best come up with an answer, 'cause I'm gonna come back here and check on you and your mama and if you ain't got a reason why you hate clowns, I'm gonna kill your whole fucking family." 

"Stupid cunt. There ain't no bullets in this thing. It's all fucking mind power."

"Boy, the next word that comes out of your mouth better be some brilliant fucking Mark Twain shit. 'Cause it's definitely getting chiseled on your tombstone."

"I'm gonna have to be taking your car today. See, I have some top-secret clown business that supersedes any plans that you may have for this here vehicle."

"You know, I got to thank you all for helping me understand what my heritage is. You see, the Wydells, they always been vigilante justice. Now my grand-daddy, he rode with the likes of Tom Horn, killing scum like you for a living. We've always been devil slayers."

"Let's give a big round of applause, folks, for the married man!"

"What's that I smell? I smell RABBIT!"

"I took my knife and I stuck it there real good. And I kinda twisted it a little bit. Kind of like fucking her with it, you know? Let me tell you, that old whore came before I fucking took her miserable life."

12) True Romance by Tony Scott - 1993

I remember the first time I saw this film. I was 19 and at the movies by myself. Over the course of the film, I feel in love. In love with Alabama and in love with this perfectly beautiful marriage. Great action film. Greater Romance. If you haven't experienced this film I don't even know why you're reading this blog.

"I always said, if I had to fuck a guy...I mean had to, if my life depended on it...I'd fuck Elvis."

"That was one of the best times I ever had. It was. But you know, I knew something must be rotten in Denmark. There was no way you could like me that much. Man, I can't tell you relieved I was when you took off your dress and you, you didn't have a dick."

"I'm not a whore. I'm a call-girl. There's a difference, you know!"

"I'm gonna go jump in the tub and get all slippery and soapy and then hop in that waterbed and watch X-rated movies 'till you get your ass back in my loving arms."

"Okey dokey, doggie daddy."

"On that TV there, since you been in the room, is a woman with her breasteses hanging out, and you ain't even bothered to look. You just been clocking me. Now I know I'm pretty, but I ain't as pretty as a couple of titties."

"You must have thought it was white boy day! It ain't white boy day, is it?"

"I'm sorry, I think you have the wrong room. My name is Sadie. We don't have any coke, but there's a Pepsi machine down the hall."

"I can't believe you put it under the fucking bed. And I can't believe I didn't look under the fucking bed."

"I am the anti-Christ. You got me in a vendetta kind of mood. You tell the angels in heaven you never seen evil so singularly personified as you did in the face of the man who killed you."

"I know you know where they are, so tell me before I do some damage you won't walk away from"

"You know what we got here? Motherfucking  Charlie Bronson!"

"If there's one thing this last week has taught me, it's better to have a gun and not need it than to need a gun and not have it."

"You're so cool."

11) Girl with Dragon Tattoo Trilogy by Niels Arden Oplev and Daniel Alfredson - 2009

Right. There are three reactions from people who have been exposed to this trilogy: Those who have followed the books and the films as they came out. The true Dragon Tattoo fans. Then there are those who checked them out and didn't really click with the trilogy because they don't like having to read subtitles. And those who held out and just watched David Fincher's US remake. Fincher's remake is a pale excuse for a film when you hold it up to the original films. So don't judge these films based on what you may or may not have seen up to this point. Also, I've heard some talk about the Trilogy being overrated. Well, don't listen to those people. Balls to those guys.

The films throw us into a personal relationship with our heroine. It's not a conventional connection. We love her. We empathize with her to the point of devotion. We fallow her victories and when she's in pain, we can actually feel it.

"His father trained him to murder at age sixteen. Anyone would be sick in the head with that kind of upbringing."

"Shut up about the victimization! He almost killed you. He raped and murdered and he enjoyed it. He had the same chances as us to choose what he wanted to be. He was no victim. He was a sadistic motherfucker who hated women!

"I've lost count. I had a girl in that cage when we were dining upstairs. Those kind of women disappear all the time. No one misses them."

Next, the top ten films Marty, Doc and Jennifer missed. (Holy God, isn't the suspense killing you??)