Agreed. I remember thinking such lofty thoughts as:

"WHAT THE **** WAS THE SCREENWRITER THINKING???"
"Did I leave the oven on?"
"My testicles itch."
"Mmmmm, Junior Mints!"

I agree. Junior Mints are quite tasty.

Otherwise, maybe try some Atom Egoyan, Darren Aronofsky, Wes Anderson or good ol Terence Malick. And you can never go wrong with Kubrick.

Some that I don't think have been said yet...

The Butterfly Effect
Fight Club
Memento

Spike Lee's films are indeed provoking and there is uch thought put into what he has directed. On the surface there is something for everyone as he has producers to please. However, if you let yourself begin the thought and not let Spike Lee push you to thought then there is a world of notion and pondering deep within his films. To discuss some of his films I have chosen four of them.

Do The Right Thing - there is the easily understood stuff on the surface, yet the deep socioeconomic impact of the society in which the film takes place has some rather complex elements that should be pondered. However, most people do not reflect on the film after the end credits, as it was suppose to be enjoyment.

Jungle Fever – a film dealing with race and the taboo’s of relationship between the races in an interesting milieu. This offers much to think about if you let yourself think and open yourself to what Spike Lee introduces to the audience. He does not force the audience to think, if that is what you mean thought provoking, but it let it happen and leaves it to the audience to ponder.

Bamboozled – a film that is not as big as most of his films, yet this film digs deep down into the American psyche of race and racism. Spike Lee gives the film a face that constantly changes as one most participate cerebrally or what he shows will only be offending to most.

25th Hour – the film could very well be his best as it offers the thought of tension and apprehension in very clever manner. The thought provoking in this film begins when one immerse oneself in the anxiety that surrounds the 9/11, New York, and Monty’s prison sentence. The film leaves the audience in such a way that thought must be involved as the film deals with many things that you cannot see such as a mulitude of feelings.

Spike Lee is thought provoking in an unique manner, yet his films are more accessible then for example Abbas Kiarostami's Wind Will Carry Us or Taste of Cherry as most viewers would fast forward to the "action" or merely turn it off in Kiarostami's films. However, Spike Lee offers something for everyone as he has a surface for everyone, and more complexity underneath the surface for those who want to dwell.

Not all of these are films which have you guessing what the end will being, but instead leave you thinking about life in general. I have started to not be that big of a fan where you watch the entire film, only for the end to invalidate all that you watched before it.

Following
American Beauty
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Adaptation
One Hour Photo

Not to slide too much further OT, but whether it was a conscious decision or not, Mookie's throwing the garbage can through the window redirected the crowd's rage from Sal himself and towards his property, keeping him from being killed.

See? We're having a great conversation about the movie.

The value of a Spike Lee movie is not that it has all the answers, but rather that it gets people thinking, and talking about the issues raised in the film.

I think if you lack the capacity to keep up with a "thinking" film, you tend to label it as "pretentious". Such a film would obviously be boring to you, as well.

you want heady - check out Ingmar Bergman's The Hour of the Wolf - waaah gothic adult horror that is one mind-**** of a film.

A lot of so-called "Thinking" films contain mundane storylines or themes wrapped in an unnecessarily oblique packaging. To me, that is pretentious. It doesn't mean I "didn't get it."

And sometimes that oblique packaging reveals a lot more than mundane storylines or themes can even approach. The "how" has more to say than the "what". Film has a lot more possibilities than just communicating a narrative.

And like any artistic venture there are failures and successes . . .

And let me recommend a "thinking" movie that's more instinctual than intellectual:

Mike Hodges' I'll sleep when I'm dead featuring Clive Owen.

It's a basic revenge story, practically the same story as Hodges' landmark Get Carter. But the filmmakers infuse an obliqueness that lets identities and characters and their relationships to one another emerge slowly and never definitively. This ambiguity adds so much to this typical of plots that a greater movie emerges between the lines, from Owen's performances, to Hodges' thick noir atmosphere. It's not making some grand intellectual statement but rather relying on the audience's instincts about these characters.

It's fine, fine movie, and criminally under-promoted.

That's my point. But if I imply that any film might be pretentious, in this forum I'm immediately labeled an idiot in thinly-veiled personal attacks.

Well, I won't defend any responses like that. I just thought the statement I responded to was a bit generalized and wanted to present the other side of the argument, in a general manner . . .

Ah yes, because we need more two-hour movies with a half-hour of story.

Don't get me wrong, the film wasn't bad, but I thought the point was pretty clear and could have flowed a bit better. Also, Mickser will die if I ever meet him.

I miss your point you are trying to make to me... I mentioned that I get bored if I do NOT think. Maybe there is something hidden in your message that I do not understand.

If you wondered, I loved Wind Will Carry Us , which most would find "boring".

I forgot one I wanted to mention.

The Game.

A Clockwork Orange
The Player
Picnic at Hanging Rock
The Grifters

I think its also pretty safe to say any movie released by Criterion not directed by Michael Bay.

I know that's a bit of a generalization but there are so many Criterions I've watched I was just left with saying "wow". Some of them include:

8 1/2
Solaris
Andrei Rublev
The Seventh Seal
The Passion of Joan of Arc
Picnic at Hanging Rock
Walkabout
Man Bites Dog (though not as much)
In The Mood For Love
Do The Right Thing (yep!)
Pretty much any Kurosawa film

The Matrix !

The Day After Tomorrow made me think "Why in the bloody hell did I waste my money on THIS!?".

Does that count as a "thinking movie"?

Ming-liang Tsai, I have only seen two of his films Hole and What Time Is It There?. I actually just got done watching the latter one, which was brilliantly planned as it leave much for the audience to ponder, yet it has a clear storyline. I believe most would consider it boring as it offers a similar experience that one receives from visiting an art museum. Meaning, many different scenes that can be interpreted in a personal way, if so wanted. And each scene is interconnected with the bigger meaning behind the film. A perfect 10 IMHO.

another vote for MULHOLLAND DR.

I've only watched it 2 times all the way through, and I'm still trying to fully figure it out.

RE: 'I'll Sleep When I'm Dead'

I agree I thought this film was a waste of one and half hours, talk about plodding, Tine Out New York called this movie and 'Twentynine Palms' two howlers of the year, for once I agree with their statement. All I thought about was how mundane this story was, for a thriller it didn't thrill. How wasted the actor's talent's were, how little was actually going on in the frame of the story. When a movie fails to keep my attention and makes me think of non-film related things (the remaining errands of the day, dinner plans, this shirt doesn't match my slacks, et al), the film has failed - this one falls under that catagory.

I'll put on throat on the line here and say I have find his movies overly pretentious. I liked 'Goodbye Dragon Inn' but at 82min, this was a blessing. 'What Time is It There?" I thought was okay, but at nearly two hours, I really struggled with this film.

I saw it twice as well and I'm still trying to figure out what people see in David Lynch. Ugh.