I would recommend Deadwood, but it's a little on the heavy side. Also Band of Brothers, or the Sopranos.

Not sure about SciFi. Outside of Battlestar Galactica, there hasn't been a lot of good scifi fare as of late. The Island was pretty good, but I don't think it's made it to video yet.

The redhead and I are hooked on Deadwood, Sopranos, Six Feet Under, you have GOT to see Band of Brothers.
We go Netflix. It's worth it. We are at the 3-at-a-time level.

For light work, a movie roundly trashed when it came out, A Knight's Tale.

Deadwood, Firefly, Reno 911!

How about a classic: Network. "Open your window and yell, I'm mad as hell, and I'm not going to take it anyMORE!"

Kinda like our blogger motto...

Get Band of Brothers if you haven't seen it yet.

Also, two excellent Jammie Fox movies from the last year - Ray which he won an academy award for and Collateral in which he is even better. It also has Tom Cruise and is by far Cruises best flick since Risky Business. Its violent, but the gunplay is second to none.

If you haven't seen the Harry Potter movies yet, rent those too, but definitely put Collateral and Band of Brothers at the top of your list.

Get "The Producers" with Zero Mostel and Gene Wilder. I've seen it at least eight times and it cracks me up every time. I also wore out my tapes of all the Bing Crosby / Bob Hope "Road" movies. Funny, funny stuff, and best thing of all? Not a filthy word in a carload. Those guys used talent instead of a potty mouth.

I would say A Knight's Tale is probably one of the most excellent Medieval movies I have ever seen, so long as you enjuoy something COMPLETELY non-traditional. The opening song sets the state for the entire movie and had me cracking up so hard I could barely breathe. In fact, I think it hurt, and to this day, every time I watch it, the opening song, in that setting... just does something for me.

Otherwise, if you want Sci-Fi, I am a huge fan of Stargate SG-1, only you have to go back to the first season for it to make too much sense. We're at the middle of season 9 as it is. If you are familiar with Sci-Fi then you know that not many shows ever make it into a 9th season, and Sci-Fi especially. There IS a reason for it. Stargate: Atlantis is half way through their second season at the moment as well, and again, few spin-offs do well at the same time as their primary show, and Stargate is bucking the curve there as well. Again, there IS a reason for it.

I've watched the first four seasons of the Sopranos -- it's great although in general I hate mobsters and wish they weren't "glorified".

I've actually got the movie Network and enjoyed it a lot. It's always amazing to see how much dialogue Paddy Chayefsky could cram into a script (think of his other hit, Hospital).

I've been watching Stargate (the local channel carries it twice a week) for years.

Since several of you recommend it, what is Deadwood about?

Lastly, keep those suggestions coming... and thanks!

The Firefly set, Band of Brothers for starters.
For the best martial arts film David Carridine ever did (I'm not counting Kill Bill 1&2, since his martial arts work in both is limited), try Circle of Iron. If you haven't seen the Babylon 5 series yet, do so, in order. It's five seasons with a unified story arc.

Firefly. Watch in the disk order, not the airdate order.

Anything directed by or staring Clint Eastwood.

The Rocky Horror Show.

If you like mobster films but don't like glorifying mobsters - how about The Untouchables. Great film. Or Goodfella's - about as gritty and realistic as you can get. Johnny Depp is brilliant. I grew up around people like this and its one of the reasons I got out of Jersey as fast as I could.

Deadwood is a HBO western series - like Sopranos but in the west. I've never been able to make it through a whole episode. Too much reliance on the F word - which works with the Sopranos but is even more pronounced in the bits of Deadwood I've seen (and isn't really realistic considering the time frame).

Just for a change up, check out "Gilmore Girls".
My daughters got me hooked on it.
Humor is offbeat and strange, but it works.
The first 3 seasons are available.

I love season one of "Dead Like Me." Black humor, good commedy, and great food - what more do you want.

I got into Deadwood when I saw a lot of contributors to the volokh conspiracy extolling it. It's violent, vulgar and profane--my wife refuses to watch it while eating. It's a Western, but it's also sort of a story of how civilization grows out of lawlessness.

countertop says that Deadwood isn't particularly realistic. I can't really speak to that, but (taking into consideration that I don't know what I'm talking about) it certainly seems more realistic than any other Western I've seen.

Here's what I read. There are some things that some people could consider spoilers. Nothing serious, and if you haven't seen any of it I don't think the conversation will reveal anything.
http://volokh.com/archives/archive_2004_06_21.shtml#1087950065

another vote for Firefly.
And Clint Eastwood directed movies. The Beguiled is surprisingly good, as is Bronco Billy, for lighter stuff.
Bird is heavier, but has great performances in it.

also, since you asked for SciFi:
If you can find these two:
a 30 year old movie that is lots of fun.
Darkstar: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0069945/

even older, based on a bradbury story:
The Illustrated Man
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0064473/

And don't forget the directors cut of Blade Runner, better than the original, IMHO.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0083658/

Enjoy.

Tom

You want light? We got light. Try "Sex in the City" and "The L Word".

The acclaimed remake of Battlestar Galactica (who would ever have thought we would live to see that phrase!) started with a miniseries. The miniseries is now out on DVD.

Definitely Bablyon 5.. truly a masterpiece, pays homage to Forbidden Planet, Lord of the Rings, you name it. Also try to see Forbidden Planet if you haven't
Dark City
Kung Fu Hustle (laughed so hard I cried)
Sin City (way out there)
I second the SG-1 series - start with Season One.

Glad you liked Network. It's one of my favorites. Now, how about the first Blues Bros. Movie? This summer was the quarter century mark. The Music and Dancing are great. John Lee Hooker...Ray Charles...Donald Duck Dunn...Steve Cropper...Cab Calloway...Matt Murphy...Aretha Franklin...

And how about those lines:

(Carrie Fisher):You miserable slug! You think you can talk your way out of this? You betrayed me.
Jake: No I didn't. Honest... I ran out of gas. I, I had a flat tire. I didn't have enough money for cab fare. My tux didn't come back from the cleaners. An old friend came in from out of town. Someone stole my car. There was an earthquake. A terrible flood. Locusts. IT WASN'T MY FAULT, I SWEAR TO GOD.
....................
Jake: Four fried chickens and a Coke.
Elwood: And some dry white toast please.
....................
(Aretha):The Blues Brothers? Sh---t. They still owe you money, fool. You're livin' with me now. You ain't goin' back out on the road and playin' them old two-bit sleazy dives, and y'ain't gonna go slidin' around witcho ol' white hoodlum friends.
Jake: Ma'am, would it make you feel any better if we told you that what we're asking Matthew to do is a holy thing?
Elwood: We're on a mission from God.
(Aretha): Don't you blaspheme in here. Don't you blaspheme in here. This is my man, this is my restaurant, and you two are gonna turn around and walk right out of here - without your dry white toast, without your four fried chickens, and withOUT Matt 'Guitar' Murphy.
..................
Elwood: It's 106 miles to Chicago, we've got a full tank of gas, half a pack of cigarettes, it's dark and we're wearing sunglasses.
Jake: Hit it.

Sorry for taking up the bandwidth, Jeff. But I get carried away when it comes to this movie. OH yeah - one last thing - in the police academy they tell us to watch "My Cousin Vinnie" for good court procedure! And the movie is good to boot!

Cheers,
Individ

Can't argue with any of the above, just want to chime in and re-recommend NetFlix; it is a cost effective, easy and just altogether wonderful way to watch movies. The only reservation I had about it is the difficulty renting multi-dvd sets from them, especially TV series like firefly or BSG. I have taken to downloading them, which saves time and money. Try torrentplanet, it's got great torrents to DL your favorite shows; just this week I grabbed the entire firefly series, BSG and the Desperate housewives episodes my GF doesn't yet own.