Recommend a great movie

[So fist]

How to use this thread

It isn't:
Spam a list of movies you enjoy.
Posting, "The Dark Knight is Uber Boss!"
Expressing your deepest convictions with a single smilie or an ascii pictograph.
Simply C/P from wikis and IMDB!

It is:
Writing thoughtfully about a movie you enjoyed. (What is it? Why so great?)
Discussing that movie with others in coherent prose.
Spoilers in a spoiler.

Why?
This forum is filled with mindless spam a list of shit threads and it needs to stop.

So to start us off I will recommend what I still consider the best movie of the Twenty first century.

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The Last King of Scotland is a brilliant drama directed by Kevin MacDonald about an arrogant, naive, prig of a Scotsman (James McAvoy) who goes to Africa in pursuit of a vague but edifying glory, only to wind up the house pet of a murderous Dictator (Forest Whitaker).  Kevin MacDonald completes for us a complex portrait of the infamous Idi Amin (Forest Whitaker) and his reign over Uganda.  From the rather naive vantage point of Dr. Nicholas Garrigan (James McAvoy) Idi Amin is delivered in many subtle layers.  The audience is allowed to be wooed by his passion, his seeming honest nationalism and populist bravado, and his indulgent generosity and filial affections he awards his closest confidants.  Garrigan being a young naive neophyte to Africa and politics in general soon finds himself helplessly trapped in the high stakes drama of autocracy and revolution.  Idi Amin's first impressions prove to mask an abusive and obsessive megalomania and paranoia with which he clings onto his close associates and the nation he shepherds perverting the morality and humanity of all it touches. 

This modern era MacBeth provides not only a haunting insight to the destructive spiral of tyranny but it also serves as a tale about the failings of idealism, portraying it as limited by our commonly egotistical natures.  Idi Amin and Nicholas Garrigan are easily the two most egotistical men in Uganda, and their pursuits of ego driven indulgences brings about the movie's most horrific on screen tragedies.  Though I will spoil none of it for you, I will say that the chemistry between Forest Whitaker and James McAvoy is amazing.  Forest Whitaker Won best Lead Actor from the Academy for this role and it was well deserved.  His Idi Amin is superbly powerful and infectious even to its monstrous end.  James is great in his supporting role delivering the idealistic prig this movie requires to be something more than a mere polemic about tyranny.

I stumbled onto this masterpiece one sleepless night while looking for something to stretch out and relax in front of.  Intending to watch for twenty minutes and snooze I watched it until dawn.  Couldn't draw myself away.

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[JoshieBoy]

A movie that I enjoyed was a movie called The Strangers.

http://i242.photobucket.com/albums/ff68 ... angers.jpg[/img]

The film opens with the following narration:

“ What you are about to see is inspired by true events. According to the F.B.I. there are an estimated 1.4 million violent crimes in America each year. On the night of February 11, 2005 Kristen McKay and James Hoyt went to a friend's wedding reception and then returned to the Hoyt family's summer home. The brutal events that took place there are still not entirely known. â€

 

[So fist]

I didn't put it in the list of don'ts because I figured I wouldn't have to say it but don't just copy pasta from IMDB or wikipedia or from anything.  Your post should be mostly your thoughts.  You like the strangers.  Tell us what makes it different.  Perhaps compare it to a movie you think is typical of the horror genre.

 

[moog]

One movie I really enjoyed was Waking Life. Its a pretty much a movie thats centered deep in philosophy in all that, but is primarily existentialistic. It has all kinds of diverse and unique animation and is pretty insightful despite being a tad pretentious at times. I cant really explain much more than that, its just one of those movies that you have to see to like.

 

[e]

One of the most influential picture from the silent movies era, Das Cabinet des Dr. Caligari (The Cabinet of the Dr. Caligari) is post World War I expressionist German play directed by pioneer director Robert Wiene (Raskolnikow, I.N.R.I.) and written by Carl Mayer and Hans Janowitz.

http://img.blogcu.com/uploads/zeypiii_4 ... Poster.jpg[/img]

The Cabinet is a brilliant experiment in the genre of the psychological horror (later continued by directors such as Alfred Hitchcock). The plot, based on an apparently inane newspaper article, deals with its many themes (the unconscious, mental illness, mind control, hypnosis) in a disturbing way made even more so by the lack of sound.

The film entreats us with the story of the brilliant, albeit insane, Dr. Caligari and his faithful, somnambulist slave Cesare. It's worth noting here that The Cabinet was one of the first films to slowly unravel the main plot through a series of flashback, as the occur to the narrator, Francis, who is investigating on a series of strange murders in the backcountry of Germany.

But the film truly shines through its atmosphere; it is creepy, disturbing from the very first scene until the fin. Not one angle is right; everything, like the minds of the protagonists, is twisted, turned inside out, upside down, and it is no surprise that a carnival is present throughout the film, with its screaming, maddening decors. To quote Lovecraft, the movie is generally "non-Euclidean", in the sense that the laws of nature seem filtered through the prism of one man's mad nightmare.

The actual special effects, while poor for our time, are extremely well use and even to the modern viewer will not seem out of place. The use of lines, not only in the sets but fine details like in the Doctor's hair and on his gloves, change and reveal inner conflicts within the characters. A most famous sequence, and another example of the movie's experimental and historical value, has Dr. Caligari, whereupon his madness is revealed, stumbling and crawling through the streets (broken, unequal and defying the human eye) of Germany, chased by haunting strips of text written in mid-air.

All in all, I recommend this if you're not afraid to be slightly challenged; this isn't a tired Friday night's cheap flick, and, although you don't need to be a movie critic or a cinema major to enjoy it, it still requires you to be awake and open to new stuff. If you like the disturbing and the twisted, this is a pretty good pick. Unless you need big boobs, vaginoplasties and explosions (and the awesome Jason Statham...).

 

[Mundane]

I think Pan's Labyrinth is one of the best movies I've seen in my recent memory. I've never even had a curiosity for foreign films, but this one being popular in America and big at the awards show sparked my interest. I feel that foreign writers aren't afraid to write a deeply disturbing and enjoyable piece in the same screenplay.

I feel that Pan's Labyrinth has a great fairy tale story and his aimed DIRECTLY at mature audiences by mixing the fairies with murder and fascist Spain. The movie conveys a deep sense of mystery that keeps you glued to the end. The dialogue is in Spanish which I feel makes it feel so much more mysterious, mainly because I am not a fluent Spanish speaker.

As the story progresses the situations and events get more and more dark. As the real world portrayed by a desperate fight for Spanish liberation begins to blend with the fantasy world presented by Pan the Faun to the protagonist Ofelia, you really start to feel that the two worlds are truly existing together. The ending is what truly made the movie for me. I won't spoil it, obviously, but it's absolute climax is the best I've seen in a movie of any genre. I can't truly explain why the ending is so amazing because my explanation would reveal it utterly and completely.

The fantasy element with a dark side is what shines about Pan's Labyrinth. It's story is simple to follow, but intriguing. A girl is mesmerized by a fantastical world that everyone feels she creates. As tensions rise between the rebels in Spain against the fascists these fantasies seem to coincide with reality. Our girl, Ofelia, is trying to desperately complete a journey into this fantastical world to realize her true identity - the Princess of the Underworld.

The movie just needs to be watched. I can't truly explain to you. If you start it and can't finish it, it's not your movie. It's really only two ways. You can love it or hate it.

 

[sixtyandaquarter]

City of Lost Children / La Cité des enfants perdus (French)
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It's actually pretty surreal psychologically if you look at it.  The story involves a lot of classic themes such as the lose of innocence, the core of being, the humility and arrogance, all that jazz.  In essence it can even boil down to being able to function, to create, to partake - and yet not being human.

Krank, a scientist, is unable to dream, he's got nothing.  He doesn't have the slightest bit of nonlogical imagination.  This made him old, grumpy.  Nasty.  He built this elaborate machine, and has kidnapped children in order to sort of unlock the dreams of the children, but because of the trauma the children only have nightmares.  He in turn is traumatized by his failures, and the nightmares themselves (as the machine is feeding the dreams of the sleeping kidnap child to his own brain).  This is what I mean with those vague sentences earlier - I'm bad at describing stuff.  The fact that Krank is artificially created, along with a slew of clones of the creator, as well as a brain in a tank and other strange characters on an oil rig really make this cooky.

The hero (Ron Pearlman no less) of the tale is a dumb strong man performer, for whom a little girl he rescues ends up falling in love with him.  Searching for Little Brother, a boy who constantly eats and sort of shows the youth aspect of the film, One (Ron Pearlman) meets classic but twisted versions of archetype foes and twists.

It's got a touch of fairy tale, and surrealness set in a dystopian steam punk setting.  Think of the dark French comedies, throw in classic steam punk imagery, and steal a bit of the classic core mythologies of Europe, and you've got this. 

Also seriously Last King of Scotland was great.

 

[moog]

I loved Pan's Labyrinth :x

Havent seen the last king of scotland but my friend absolutely loved it, so ill check it out.

 

[Venetia]

I loved Pan's Labyrinth, too. And Sixty's and N's movies sound pretty awesome i wanna check 'em out.

These movies are total cult/classics so you've probably seen them, but if not, check out Logan's Run and A Clockwork Orange. My favorite movies from that era :3

I'll go over LR because ACO would take forever :P

Logan's Run (made in 1976) is set in a "utopian" future, wherein everyone lives in a special, ultra-clean, ultra-beautiful, well-cushioned life, where everything is provided for them. It actually kinda looks like they live in a big mall.

(It is actually based off a book written in 1967.)

Anyway, the story is, in order to keep the population in check, this utopian city puts their citizens through a process called "Carousel". When a person reaches 30, they are, essentially, slain (they call it "renewal", but are they being reincarnated? it's not likely).

The story follows a man named Logan 5, a man ordered to kill "runners", people who have evaded carousel. In order to track down the hideout of runners, his people fast-forward his lifeclock, with no real intention of turning it back. Now a runner, Logan runs to Sanctuary.

The story then follows Logan and a woman named Jessica, as they escape the crazed and strange world they find themselves in, and discover life beyond the confines of youth.

There are some cheesy 70's effects in this movie, like anything else, but I like it particularly because of the extremely immersing world surrounding it, and the fantasy societal flaws it constructs.

I actually heard they're remaking it in 2010, so do yourself a favor and see the original ... Because remakes usually just fuck it all up

This movie was originally panned by critics, mostly because they didn't like the effects, but because of its glamor and easily-identifiable themes and messages, it became a cult hit.

 

[Mundane]

That one sounds interesting, Venetia. Cult films are always interesting. Another cult favorite of mine is Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. A lot of people slam it because they see it as being two dumb ass hippies tripping in Las Vegas for an hour and half. But if you listen to the dialogue and Raoul Duke's narration of these events(which are partially if not all based off of Hunter S. Thompson's real excursion) you can really analyze a lot of underlying themes.

In particular it seems to focus on a dying breed of counter-culture that arose in the late sixties and dwindled in the seventies. It also shows some of the social interactions between one who is tripping with one who is not. I think once you get passed(if you can, it is sort of hard) the non-stop drug abuse and trippy camera angles and swaying and start to delve into the dialogue it can really be enlightening to watch.

I'm going to look into some other films to watch this weekend and see if I can recommend anymore.

EDIT: Added Clockwork Orange and Logan's Run to my Netflix Instant Queue, going to check them out this weekend.

 

[Fantasist]

Jerome Bixby's The Man From Earth. It's about a group of friends entertaining the idea of a man from the cro-magnon age surviving till today. Highly though-provoking and gripping. The acting is great, the music is simple and immersive. This is a classic and a sci-fi story, so if you're into that kind of stuff, you won't be dissappointed.

I don't want to give more details because it'll (probably) spoil the true experience. My friend who recommended this movie couldn't resist and gave away many details and I honestly hate him for that >.<

 

[e]

Oh yeah, Logan's Run was something I discovered sipping my morning coffee before going to class; needless to say classes were fucked. It's a bit cheesy in some parts, but seriously, anything sci-fi is usually a bit cheesy.

And La Cité des Enfants Perdus was pretty amazing too, but it is from two brilliant directors, so what did you expect?

I don't have time to write a very lengthy critic, but that last film reminded me of another brilliant one (and I'm surprised none of this director's movies have made it yet here!):

http://www.nationmaster.com/wikimir/ima ... poster.jpg[/img]

Brazil is set in a dystopian, Orwellian future, with a similar totalitarian government; it is a witty political satire, and unlike Orwell's 1984, is more ironic than depressing.

Although often overshadowed, in the sci-fi department, but giants like Blade Runner, which was released a few years before, Brazil sports robust special effects, an amazing cast (Robert De Niro baby!) and an equally amazing plot, written and directed by Terry Gilliam.

The movie, a sci-fi comedy, is an exaggerated metaphor of the dysfunctional bureaucracy plaguing the modern world, a thing which had been thoroughly fucked and raped by past literature, but is still fresh and ready to be made fun of in Gilliam's movie - in a surprisingly new, refreshing way.

Something I highly recommend if you're not afraid of oldbies - I know old sci-fi movies are often off putting to some people, but its definitely worth it, if only for the humor.

 

[So fist]

Ven, A Clockwork Orange is the touchstone of Stanley Kubrick's work.  I've never seen any other director spend so much time meticulously working in symbolic set pieces into film.  Kubrick films more than any other post silent film era film rely so much on visual elements to tell the story.  They are more akin to moving paintings than moving pictures.

Really all the other mentioned films seem really interesting.  I googled Cabinet and found the settings reminded me somewhat of Burton's Sweeney Todd.  Mostly in terms of lighting, as opposed to shapes and obtuse angles.  It also seems that a lot of the shots are taken from dutch angles which may have been revolutionary in itself for the time.

 

[Venetia]

Ven, A Clockwork Orange is the touchstone of Stanley Kubrick's work.  I've never seen any other director spend so much time meticulously working in symbolic set pieces into film.  Kubrick films more than any other post silent film era film rely so much on visual elements to tell the story.  They are more akin to moving paintings than moving pictures.

God, I know. I didn't get into it because I didn't have a lot of time and there was SO much to say about it.
Sucks he went out on Eyes Wide Shut -- while it had all the visual focus of his previous movies, the execution was extremely dull.

Some other Kubrics I would highly recommend, if no one's seen them, are 1962's Lolita (1962), 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968), and, another of my all-time favorites, Full Metal Jacket (1987).

--

I'll give a brief synopsis on some of these for folks who haven't seen 'em. (They're motion picture works of art, really, you can't love movies and NOT see them)

A Clockwork Orange (1971)
Set in the not-too-distant future (as seen by people in the 70's), the story focuses on an ultra-violent violent man in an extremely violent gang. The first portion of the movie follows him as he commits debauchery after debauchery, including violent gang wars, doing LSD, anonymous sex, assaulting/killing men for no reason, all climaxed with an EXTREMELY brutal rape scene. He's caught however, and is placed in a new and experimental form of "rehabilitation", mostly through forcing empathy on him. The movie studies the criminal mind in an off-hand way, leading up to the viewer's ultimate realization (which I won't spoil). Much of it is very surreal, a more "skewed" or nightmarish version of reality, really. If you watch it, watch it first for the acting and what's happening, then again, to notice all the props and camera angles and everything going on AROUND the action. This is where Malcolm McDowell got his first really big break, and his acting is nothing short of amazing. But above all, Kubrick focuses SO HEAVILY on imagery, it's actually pretty disturbing.

Full Metal Jacket (1987)
Honestly, there's never been a more gripping introspective on boot camp I've ever seen. This follows a man (or, really, it focuses a lot on several men) as they're wringed through the sausage grinder of the military in the Vietnam War era. It focuses VERY heavily on the psyche of the characters, on the change in a man when he's wrought with desperation and anger, all while making an underlying, yet poignant, message about the war itself. The first half is nothing short of brilliant. The second half (in Vietnam) is still good, but man, that first half, the bootcamp half--it's absolutely mesmerizing. You'll be nauseated and teary-eyed simultaneously.

Lolita (1962)
Obviously based off the 1955 book by Vladimir Nabokov of the same name, Lolita is a full adaptation of the novel. It follows a man (woefully named Humbert Humbert), a professor, just moved to New York (from France I think?). He is infatuated by a "nymphette", a 14 year old girl who's extremely sexually desirable. He goes so far as to marry her mother just to get at her. The movie, of course, struggles with the duality of a pedophilic protagonist. It's hard to feel sorry for the girl, because she seems to roll with the attention just fine, but it's hard to like Humbert, due to his taking advantage of a seemingly innocent girl. The plot flip flops into making you believe that Delores (Lolita) is actually the one holding the cards, and then flip flops again at the very end in someone else's favor (won't give it away). It's a movie that really makes you at odds with yourself and societal beliefs in general. A must-see.

2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
If you've ever seen a clip of a bunch of monkeys going bananas over a strange black monolith, that's from this movie. Apparently, the monolith somehow nudged our evolution in a fundamental way, it progressed the mere apes into mankind. In the hyper future (amusingly, set 7 years in the past, but of course the movie was made in 1968, lol), 2001 follows an astronaut in a very peculiar ship as he searches for the next platform of mankind's evolution, the next monolith (and, whomever created them). Aside from studying that, the movie also focuses on HAL 9000, the ship's computer system, which has developed a form of sentience. What's most interesting in this movie is that there is very little communication. It relies heavily on implications, mannerisms, and themes. It was a trend-setter for its time, and though it's slow-paced, it's a movie that's easily credited with really fast-forwarding our look at science fiction in general.

 

[So fist]

Lone Star

http://www.timeout.com/img/43058/w513/image.jpg[/img]

Written and Directed by John Sayles this brilliant script is executed with nicely balanced performances and brilliant use of mis en scene and setting.  In the vein of westerns such as High Noon and The Searchers, Lone Star focuses on the community that encompasses its setting and explores the conflicts of identity that occur from its inherent tensions and prejudices.  In the case of Lone Star, through the guise of a detective story Sheriff Sam Deeds (Chris Cooper) we are led through Sayles' epic about a small Texas border town whose ghosts and demons had for a long time haunted the present in relative obscurity as he investigates the disappearance of Sheriff Charlie Wade (Kris Kristopherson) and the possibility of his father's (Matthew McConaughey) involvement. 

What makes this film particularly brilliant is the layering of multiple motifs concerning identity both personal and racial, both public and private, in all phases of production.  The cast despite its variety and width is very dynamic as Sayles works hard to individualize each member of this small community. The overarching motif of an everliving past affects all of the characters in some fashion.  Sheriff Sam Deeds, for example, lives in his father's shadow, who is the hometown hero of Wyatt Erp proportions.  Yet unlike the town's publicly held opinion of Buddy (Matthew McConaughey), Sam's own view of his father is fraught with conflictions as only a son can have.  All characters while searching for some external truth are ultimately trying to reconcile who they are in relation to the community they live in and the past that affected them deeply. 

This unity between theme and characterization is further driven by Sayle's powerful use of setting and mis en scene.  In many of the shifts between past and present the scene change is made by panning rather than cutting.  The actual setting only subtly different from its temporal double reflecting a community very much affected by its past that continues to live as its ghostly double.  In addition the subjects of stills and pannings during these scene changes take on incredibly powerful symbolic values that relate to some of the more powerful statements concerning the impact of history on cultural identity and values.

 

[candle]

Ven, 2001: A Space Odyssey was based on an Arthur C. Clark book, if I remember correctly.

 

[e]

Not exactly based; the book was written during production of the movie, for the movie (that is, the book is a longer winded and more introspective version of the movie).

 

[candle]

Ah, okay.

 

[skirtboy]

I disliked the movie version of 2001 because some of the most important (to me) nuances of HAL's behavior were lost.

On topic, probably the finest filmwork I've seen in the past decade was in the movies Macbeth (the one produced by Playboy Productions) and the japanese film Battle Royale. This specific version of Macbeth really captures the spirit of Shakespeare's work, portraying the titular character's growing insanity and brutality in a way few would dare. Battle Royale is hard to describe, but it really portrays the way people strive to create order in adverse situations and how that order is torn apart so easily.

 

[Xephyr]

@ the strangers guy:

sorry, but strangers sucked.



obvious picks:
Shawshank Redemption:

who hasn't seen this absolute classic?


The Dark Knight:

freakin batman at his best


Star Wars 4, 5, 6:

duh.



Hey xephyr, let's play a game.  Go read the first post in the thread and then guess what is wrong with your post.  ~Mega Lenin