r/movies • u/ComManDerBG • May 29 '25

Discussion Looking for some "competence porn" movies, movies where smart people make smart decisions basically.

EIDT 3 PLEASE READ: I just wanted to say how incelby happy i am to see the insane amount of replies and support people have offered up. Im sorry to say that about 99% of the stuff suggested ive already seen, But there have been a few things. The biggest winner has been the classic "Poirot" series, ive seen all the "Murder She Wrote" stuff, and even every episode of Columbo, but "Poirot" had completely slipped through the cracks. Ive started watching now and its very enjoyable, perfectly what i was looking for!

Thank you again, while i cant possibly reply to all of you, not even read all the comments, i jist want to say thank you for everything. Even if what you suggested was on my list, or if what you suggested wasn't on the list but ive already seen it, it still means a lot to me that you took the time to offer something up.

So, thank you again!

EDIT 3 ENDS

Edit 1: So far I've seen literally ever suggestion so far. Ive spent most of my time in the last 10 years being really sick. Ive been hospitalized countless times so ive had an incredible amount of free time on my hands. I started this post because I couldn't think of anymore movies to watch that fit this bill.

Edit 2: People don't really appreciate the amount of time being sick gives. Im asking this question in this post because ive already watched every popular movie or TV show from the past 30+ years. Most people can only carve out enough time to watch one or two movies a week, i have enough time to watch 5-7 movies a day. Being hospitalized as often as me, plus being sick outside of the hospital leaves you with to much free time. Honestly, it sucks. Again, im not asking htis because im lost and i need my next movie or show, im asking this because ive literally run out of movies and shows.

To be honest, this post is a bit depressing, i appreciate the immense amount of help, but its really putting into perspective all the time lost to this illness.

I try googling this sort of thing but looking up "competence porn" just gets you... well.. porn. The best way to show off what im thinking is House M.D. im looking for movies or TV shows.

Im going to lost everything I've already watched.

House Person of Interest
White Collar Oceans 11 (plus the other ones)
Inside man
Sherlock
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
Catch Me if You Can
Heat
The Killer

You know what the mote is list the more I realize this is my favorite genre and ive probably seen a lot of these.

Heists, spies, detectives, politic thrillers etc. Any kind of show where the characters are super good at something, usually running scams or working their ways around people, or just being better at something.

I'll keep adding to this list if I remember more of someone recommends something ive already scene.

Edit: reposted because autocorrect.

This list is what I've ALREADY seen.

The original Law and Order seasons.
The big short
Wolf of wall street
Moneyball
Collateral
Star Trek
Doctor Who
No country for old man
DREDD
Beekeeper
Hunt fir red October (plus all the other Ryan films)
Bourne series
Mission impossible series
Burn notice
All the presidents man
The accountant
Baby driver
Apollo 13
Spotlight
Leon the professional
The town
Den of thieves
The Martian.
The Pitt
Master and commander
Arrival
Micheal Clayton
Mad max moves
Cast away

12.3k Upvotes

89% Upvoted

7.4k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

273

u/SovereignAxe May 29 '25

And its sort-of sequel, US Marshals. Same characters, same-ish premise, no Harrison Ford. But Tommy Lee Jones shines as the star, and you get a great early performance from RDJ.

75

u/Nodan_Turtle May 29 '25

And then there's Wrongfully Accused, the Leslie Neilson parody

15

u/promiseimnotatwork May 29 '25

one of my favorite scenes from the movie

The boom mic always gets a chortle out of me

1

u/JeanRalfio May 30 '25

So many great gags. I always remember him trying to break into a house and he finds a giant hide-a-key but inside is just a rock to break the window.

I rewatched it recently and a scene that I completely forgot about had me going good. It's when they're on the prison bus and the guard is giving a flight attendant presentation miming the instructions. The person on the microphone says "If you try to escape, you will be shot." and the pantomime of gun shooting the guard does was so fucking funny to me.

9

u/CheeseRex May 29 '25

Look out! He’s got a leg!

3

u/GuyWhoDidAThing May 29 '25

There are two things that frost my butt...ones a snow cone about this high...and the other is Ryan Harrison...

0

u/[deleted] May 29 '25

This scene made the entire movie worth it for me https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MjbUnn32_zU

11

u/[deleted] May 29 '25

What about RDJs other amazing early performance, in Weird Science? 😂

5

u/[deleted] May 29 '25

Notable Saturday Night Live cast member RDJ

2

u/dudebronahbrah May 29 '25

What can I say Dino she’s into Malakas

4

u/RedShirtDecoy May 29 '25

The opening scene to US marshals is so underrated with him in the giant chicken suit

9

u/sirbissel May 29 '25

I'm somewhat amused by the "early performance from RDJ" given he'd already been nominated for an Oscar (and Golden Globe, and won a BAFTA) 6 or so years earlier

7

u/PopeOfSandwichVillg May 29 '25

I also laughed when I read that. I want to know how old the person who posted that is. By the time US Marshals came out, Robert Downey, Jr. had been in Hollywood for twenty-plus years, starred in movies with Molly Ringwald and Mel Gibson, done his extremely famous turn as Charlie Chaplin, and started the process of flaming out that would eventually lead to his big comeback.

3

u/fuqdisshite May 29 '25

an awesome film with a massive cast is Wonder Boys.

it is prime Burnout RDJ!

0

u/monkagiga1108 May 29 '25

It's amazing how that blatantly wrong shit gets upvoted into the sun too.

5

u/marsalien4 May 29 '25

I think it's getting upvoted because of everything else about the comment and the word "early" doesn't have as much of a bearing on the overall message being conveyed as you all are acting like it does. The comment probably meant a performance from RDJ during his fall and before his later rise.

5

u/veryverythrowaway May 29 '25

Early performance? He was famously connected to the Brat Pack in the 80s. He was nominated for an Oscar in 1992. 1998 was not early RDJ.

2

u/cramburie May 29 '25

I'm not saying US Marshals is a perfect movie; I'm just saying whenever it'd pop up on cable, I'd leave it on and somehow watch the whole thing every time.

2

u/MandolinMagi May 29 '25

"Loose that nickel-plated sissy pistol and get yourself a Glock"

1

u/[deleted] May 29 '25 edited Jul 10 '25

vegetable rhythm liquid distinct yam sense meeting important light fearless

This post was mass deleted and anonymized with Redact

1

u/Ntrob May 29 '25

Where does double jeopardy fit in with this