Good "dialogue" movies?

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So I'm an artist and I like to put movies on while I work because believe it or not they help me concentrate. Like "get this page done by the time this movie is over", helps focus my mind. Now lately I've been on a kick of kung fu films (Jackie Chan in his Golden Harvest phase, Stephen Chow, the good stuff), but because they're so action heavy they require you to focus on the screen a lot. So I was wondering if anyone could recommend any good "dialogue" films.

Now by this I mean films that have very punchy acting and conversations between the characters, but not necessarily a lot of action. Recent examples would be movies by say Kevin Smith, Quentin Tarantino, a handful of Judd Apatow movies, or as far back as "Casablanca", which if you've never seen it has not only fantastic acting but fantastic, punchy dialogue too.

This can go across any genre. Horror, drama, comedy, you name it. Any suggestions?

Well, first I would suggest that you listen to the radio instead (or audiobooks). Also, I suppose I would recommend 'Trainspotting'. It has good dialogue, though it's visually stunning as well, so it might distract you.

Oh, and the movie "Brick" (which is a noir films dressed up as a highschool drama) has punchy dialogue in it as well.

I hope that helps.

When I saw the title of this thread, my first (and only) thought was of the movies Before Sunrise and Before Sunset. So I'll suggest them, and I'll go off and have a think to see if I can think of anything else. Although I agree with MindBlind's suggestion of audiobooks. I think they're absolutely fantastic at helping me do two things at once. They replace the wandering thoughts in my head so I can concentrate on whatever else I'm working on while still listening to the book.

Woody Allen films are always good for some serious dialog. And then there's "My Dinner With Andre" Adaptations of Dickens novels have the advantage of okay dialog and they generally go on for while if you need more time to finish a project.

Ahh... the housewife theory. Because in the 50's & 60's, women were too busy ironing, cooking and cleaning to actually be able to look at the screen, the networks started devoted their day time schedules to dialogue heavy drama, usually soap opera.

As for movies that are dialogue driven that haven't been mentioned, how about:

* Anything from Frank Capra, particularly Mr Smith Goes to Washington and It Happened One Night
* Most Howard Hawks, particularly His Girl Friday and The Big Sleep
* Most Robert Altman, particularly The Player and MASH
* Christopher Guest's mockumentaries, Best In Show, Waiting For Guffman
* Sydnet Lumet's The Verdict, 12 Angry Men etc
* Almost all Billy Wilder's Sunset Blvd, Ace In The Hole, Witness For The Prosecution
* Almost all Stanley Kramer's stuff, Judgment At Nuremberg, Inherit The Wind, Guess Who's Coming To Dinner

I was watching Network the other day, that's got great dialogue. Watched In the Loop earlier, also great. The Coen brother's films tend to have good dialogue. Oh, and Becket, I love that film. Golden script and amazing delivery from two of the greatest.

I don't know about movies, but Dr. Katz and Home Movies are very dialog driven cartoons that are available in box set form.

Ed Wood wrote punchy dialogue. "My picture's been in the file so long it's getting moldy". "Cheap, cheap? Take a look around honey, does any of this look cheap to you. There's not a cheap bone in his body."

Which reminds me. Lenny Bruce wrote a movie from 1953 called "Dance Hall Racket". Now that's quality. "Big deal, I killed a man, you'd think I was a criminal."

There are many but the films that come to mind are Slingblade, Garden State, and Shattered Glass

I've always enjoyed the dialogue in Joss Whedon's work. All the others mentioned are great, too. I can't stand Quentin Tarantino as a person, but damn does he write some good dialogue.