There a mad movie called UNKNOWN which I saw the other day.
The one with dude who played Jesus in passion of the christ?
How was it?
- spidey
yeah I think its him (minus the beard and blood). Its on par with usual Suspects or Memento, a movie 'told backwoods' if that makes sense....
the idea is basically a bunch of dudes wake up in a locked factory and cant rememeber anything, but some heavy shit went down...and from there its builds nicely.
Another trip out movie is The Jacket and Running Scared wasnt too bad either .
these are recent ones I seen. If we talking older stuff my money is on-
Nine Queens (the original Argentino version not the US remake) CLASSIC!
Virus: The 1980 Japanese-American co-production with a lot of great actors, although past their prime. It's a very visually impressive 3 hour epic that wants to be a run-of-the-mill disaster movie.
I have Colossus: The Forbin Project in my Netflix Q. I'll probably check it out next week. I rented Branded To Kill some months ago. So much odd/cool stuff in there: the bullet up through the drain, the rice fetish, the fire bomb. The lead actor, Jo Shishido, did a lot of similar movies (although lost to time and obscurity it seems), and even a rare loner folk LP in the 50s, according the special features of the DVD. Funny how he decided to get those cheek implants.
I'm digging a lot of Jack Arnold (sci-fi) and Anthony Mann (noir) movies. Thank God for wonderful DVD reproductions of these movies. I feel ashamed that I'm such a young, Johnny-Come-Lately with a lot of solid titles and directors. I enjoy watching them, so that's all that matters, I guess.
I love those shady looking, dollar DVDs you can get at the impulse buy racks at places like the pharmacy and liquor stores. I got some cool stuff like "Action Classics" (Trapped with Lloyd Bridges, The Squeeze with Lee Van Cleef & Karen Black, etc.) and "Tales Of Horror" (John Carradine midnight movie trash, Dario Argento's Deep Red...).
the new rambo is the best film since rambo 3. Those not forged in the fires of the ghetto furnace(you) might not appreciate it, but I lost count of the number of the times I shouted at the screen.
Another dope film I saw recently is some japanese jawn called 'the bullettrain'. I was pissed at first because I only bought it because it had sonny chiba written in big letters on the box despite him only having a small role. After id calmed down though it turns out the shit was dope anyway.
I learnt the words to the cranberries cover from karaoke. I prefer the Mandarin version over Cantonese.
WKW NERD ALERT!
Last week I saw "My Blueberry Nights" for the first time and it brought back so many memories of Chungking, Fallen, heck even ITMFL...Blueberry isn't his best movie (some might argue it just repackages plot elements and characters from Chungking (the diner) and Happy Together (road movie)) but there is something haunting about his sketches of dire relationships.
I can't believe it's been years since I've seen Chungking..damn, I think I watched that movie and Fallen Angels like 20 times when I was a teen, pre DVD days.
If we're harking back a bit I can't remember how recently I've championed this on here but just got to mention Bad Boy Bubby again.
There are few films that start so very very unpleasantly that still manage to leave you with your heart warmed after watching.
Word. one of the best movies made in Australia. Dark, twisted yet moving and real. It also has some classic lines and characters....
I'd recommend Dark City as well.....
Yeah Australian film makers seem to have gift for creating these darkly hilarious films that defy categorisation (i'm sure there are many but the first one that springs to mind is Birdy). They have a real unique cultural identity that isn't trying to be anything else. They're often the kind of movies that I think British filmmakers should be churning out rather than the kitchen sink dramas they've been producing for 50 years.
he's in it, and I believe it's also dedicated to him.
He also wrote the novel on which the so-so film Animal Factory is based... but his whole body of work is very, very worthwhile.
It's not just that you never for a second doubt that at every minute you're getting the most realistic possible description of a given situation related to crime, prison, or being an ex-con, although that's certainly true... the quality of his prose is staggering. He spent his time in prison turning himself into one hell of a writer, definitely one of my very favorite 20th century US authors.
he's in it, and I believe it's also dedicated to him.
He also wrote the novel on which the so-so film Animal Factory is based... but his whole body of work is very, very worthwhile.
It's not just that you never for a second doubt that at every minute you're getting the most realistic possible description of a given situation related to crime, prison, or being an ex-con, although that's certainly true... the quality of his prose is staggering. He spent his time in prison turning himself into one hell of a writer, definitely one of my very favorite 20th century US authors.
Sounds like something I should pick up.
Not sure if you're a fan of Selby Jr. necessarily...I like his novels much more than the short stories. What did you think of Last Exit To Brooklyn and Requiem for a Dream as movies? I think Requiem worked much better. Uhg - I kept having to put Last Exit down to take a break, but ended up picking it back up almost right away because it pulled me in so much.
he's in it, and I believe it's also dedicated to him.
He also wrote the novel on which the so-so film Animal Factory is based... but his whole body of work is very, very worthwhile.
It's not just that you never for a second doubt that at every minute you're getting the most realistic possible description of a given situation related to crime, prison, or being an ex-con, although that's certainly true... the quality of his prose is staggering. He spent his time in prison turning himself into one hell of a writer, definitely one of my very favorite 20th century US authors.
Sounds like something I should pick up.
Not sure if you're a fan of Selby Jr. necessarily...I like his novels much more than the short stories. What did you think of Last Exit To Brooklyn and Requiem for a Dream as movies? I think Requiem worked much better. Uhg - I kept having to put Last Exit down to take a break, but ended up picking it back up almost right away because it pulled me in so much.
I haven't been able to get into Selby's novels, which is weird because he seems to have a lot of the qualities I look for in a writer... maybe i've just been in the wrong mood when I've picked em up, but i've never finished a book of his, and leaving a book unfinished is rare for me.
I liked Last Exit when I saw it, but I was young and maybe would feel differently now about some of the stylized aspects I remember it having. Requiem... I didn't like so much. I thought it was trying a little too hard to be tough and shocking, and I've seen films be a lot more tough and a lot more shocking w/o feeling forced. the hyperactive editing style got on my nerves, and i found myself questioning how much experience with addiction and related issues of obsession and desperation the people involved actually had.
some of that reaction might have been a backlash to the fact that at the time of its release I was working at a video store in the Johns Hopkins neighborhood and it was a title that frat-boys whose knowledge of film didn't extend much Scarface would trot out as "best film I've ever seen," "edgiest film ever," "modern classic," etc etc etc.
lol - Yup, sometimes fans can turn you right off something more than the actual movie, band, song, etc. itself.
Requiem is a movie I always think of in sections more than a whole movie, and there are parts I love and other parts that make me cringe for the same reasons that you've mentioned above (minus the fans). I do like the ending, though. I think most movies would have felt compelled to show him after the hospital to wrap it up**, but I'm glad they didn't do that.
**That exact thing is what killed the ending of High Tension for me - showing her in the hospital was so unecessary!
lol - Yup, sometimes fans can turn you right off something more than the actual movie, band, song, etc. itself.
for sure... i enjoyed Swingers until I met other people who do -- and I had to take a break from films by the Coen Bros and Jim Jarmusch for the duration of my video-store tenure.
he's in it, and I believe it's also dedicated to him.
He also wrote the novel on which the so-so film Animal Factory is based... but his whole body of work is very, very worthwhile.
It's not just that you never for a second doubt that at every minute you're getting the most realistic possible description of a given situation related to crime, prison, or being an ex-con, although that's certainly true... the quality of his prose is staggering. He spent his time in prison turning himself into one hell of a writer, definitely one of my very favorite 20th century US authors.
Sounds like something I should pick up.
Not sure if you're a fan of Selby Jr. necessarily...I like his novels much more than the short stories. What did you think of Last Exit To Brooklyn and Requiem for a Dream as movies? I think Requiem worked much better. Uhg - I kept having to put Last Exit down to take a break, but ended up picking it back up almost right away because it pulled me in so much.
If ya'll are interested Jim Thompson was another author to chronicle the depravity of the down and out and subsequently find his book s turned into films. None of the films have really done justice to his nihilistic, depraved brand of pulp fiction but here are some that have tried: The Grifters, The Getaway, After Dark My Sweet, The Kill-Off. I haven't seen Bertrand Tavernier's Coup De Torchon but it is apparently based on Thompson's "Pop. 1280" which is a personal favourite. In addition to that one I also recommend "The Killer Inside Me", "Savage Night" and "A Hell of a Woman." Interestingly Thompson worked on some scripts with Stanly Kubrick early in Kubrick's career including The Killing and Paths of Glory.
So I recently watched Filth; set in Edinburgh (I think?), it's a really fast-paced story of a crooked, nasty, drug-taking detective's attempts to solve a murder and beat his colleagues to a promotion. It's really funny, dark, sick, and so, so fast... it's paced like Goodfellas, and has a great twist at the end. 8/10
The Art of Killing. Fuck, this is really a documentary-come-movie about the atrocities that happened in Indonesia, with guys who ran Communist-hunting death squads re-telling and even re-enacting some grim, grim shit like it's no big deal. My stream cut-out about three quarters of the way through and I'm not sure I've got the stomach to finish the job, but it's an amazing film. 9/10
Re-watched Tropic Thunder, but it was like a slightly alternate take. None of the ads for the star's movies at the beginning, and some of the scenes were different. But still a great film. The entire hostage negotiations over the phone creases me up every time.
Still waiting for decent quality stream of Cap'n America winter soldier, and come to think of it, when's the final part of TEH HOBBIT coming out? It was meant to be easter, then I heard July, but not seen any adverts or promos... :mad:
^^^ read about that one. God bless Curt Springer. Anyhow, I'm watching the biopic on Renato Vallanzasca. Anything set in 70s Milan and has attractive Italian actresses in time period wardrobe automatically gets my approval.
Tim's Vermeer is easily one of the best documentaries I've seen in years. Narrated by Penn Jilette and directed by Teller. It has the same fun as an episode of their show BULLSHIT with an amazing topic. Tim has a brilliant theory on how Vermeer painted using mirrors and lenses, and even thinks this technique may go as far back to Caravaggio and Da Vinci.
His results are stunning.
Hands down one of the best documentaries I've seen in years.
Comments
Looks like some folks are taking this to heart...
yeah I think its him (minus the beard and blood). Its on par with usual Suspects or Memento, a movie 'told backwoods' if that makes sense....
the idea is basically a bunch of dudes wake up in a locked factory and cant rememeber anything, but some heavy shit went down...and from there its builds nicely.
Another trip out movie is The Jacket and Running Scared wasnt too bad either .
these are recent ones I seen. If we talking older stuff my money is on-
Nine Queens (the original Argentino version not the US remake) CLASSIC!
I have Colossus: The Forbin Project in my Netflix Q. I'll probably check it out next week. I rented Branded To Kill some months ago. So much odd/cool stuff in there: the bullet up through the drain, the rice fetish, the fire bomb. The lead actor, Jo Shishido, did a lot of similar movies (although lost to time and obscurity it seems), and even a rare loner folk LP in the 50s, according the special features of the DVD. Funny how he decided to get those cheek implants.
I'm digging a lot of Jack Arnold (sci-fi) and Anthony Mann (noir) movies. Thank God for wonderful DVD reproductions of these movies. I feel ashamed that I'm such a young, Johnny-Come-Lately with a lot of solid titles and directors. I enjoy watching them, so that's all that matters, I guess.
I love those shady looking, dollar DVDs you can get at the impulse buy racks at places like the pharmacy and liquor stores. I got some cool stuff like "Action Classics" (Trapped with Lloyd Bridges, The Squeeze with Lee Van Cleef & Karen Black, etc.) and "Tales Of Horror" (John Carradine midnight movie trash, Dario Argento's Deep Red...).
Another dope film I saw recently is some japanese jawn called 'the bullettrain'. I was pissed at first because I only bought it because it had sonny chiba written in big letters on the box despite him only having a small role. After id calmed down though it turns out the shit was dope anyway.
There are few films that start so very very unpleasantly that still manage to leave you with your heart warmed after watching.
WKW NERD ALERT!
Last week I saw "My Blueberry Nights" for the first time and it brought back so many memories of Chungking, Fallen, heck even ITMFL...Blueberry isn't his best movie (some might argue it just repackages plot elements and characters from Chungking (the diner) and Happy Together (road movie)) but there is something haunting about his sketches of dire relationships.
I can't believe it's been years since I've seen Chungking..damn, I think I watched that movie and Fallen Angels like 20 times when I was a teen, pre DVD days.
major
"fat people are an abomination! so unfortunate of course, but so.....disgusting."
The first about a down-and-out mess of a country singer played to crazed perfection by Rip Torn. Reminds me a bit of the also-excellent Fat City.
The second a heist film written by Curtis Hanson before he blew up... set and shot in Toronto, I wonder if it's highly regarded there...?
Yes!!
And of course
Uh, actually no. No, it doesn't. But we get what you're trying to say.
straight time is based on a novel by ex-con edward bunker, my favorite crime writer.
Word. one of the best movies made in Australia. Dark, twisted yet moving and real. It also has some classic lines and characters....
I'd recommend Dark City as well.....
I should recommend millions of old movies (especially from 70's)
So I prefer mention only one recent title:
Zodiac.
It is well acted and directed and worthy to be watched more than once !
Ciao
and Michael Mann borrowed a lot from it for Heat.
Edward Bunker was in Reservoir Dogs, yes?
Yes and Straight Time is a terrific movie....
what abt the one in my avtr ?
Yeah Australian film makers seem to have gift for creating these darkly hilarious films that defy categorisation (i'm sure there are many but the first one that springs to mind is Birdy). They have a real unique cultural identity that isn't trying to be anything else. They're often the kind of movies that I think British filmmakers should be churning out rather than the kitchen sink dramas they've been producing for 50 years.
he's in it, and I believe it's also dedicated to him.
He also wrote the novel on which the so-so film Animal Factory is based... but his whole body of work is very, very worthwhile.
It's not just that you never for a second doubt that at every minute you're getting the most realistic possible description of a given situation related to crime, prison, or being an ex-con, although that's certainly true... the quality of his prose is staggering. He spent his time in prison turning himself into one hell of a writer, definitely one of my very favorite 20th century US authors.
Sounds like something I should pick up.
Not sure if you're a fan of Selby Jr. necessarily...I like his novels much more than the short stories. What did you think of Last Exit To Brooklyn and Requiem for a Dream as movies? I think Requiem worked much better. Uhg - I kept having to put Last Exit down to take a break, but ended up picking it back up almost right away because it pulled me in so much.
I haven't been able to get into Selby's novels, which is weird because he seems to have a lot of the qualities I look for in a writer... maybe i've just been in the wrong mood when I've picked em up, but i've never finished a book of his, and leaving a book unfinished is rare for me.
I liked Last Exit when I saw it, but I was young and maybe would feel differently now about some of the stylized aspects I remember it having. Requiem... I didn't like so much. I thought it was trying a little too hard to be tough and shocking, and I've seen films be a lot more tough and a lot more shocking w/o feeling forced. the hyperactive editing style got on my nerves, and i found myself questioning how much experience with addiction and related issues of obsession and desperation the people involved actually had.
some of that reaction might have been a backlash to the fact that at the time of its release I was working at a video store in the Johns Hopkins neighborhood and it was a title that frat-boys whose knowledge of film didn't extend much Scarface would trot out as "best film I've ever seen," "edgiest film ever," "modern classic," etc etc etc.
Requiem is a movie I always think of in sections more than a whole movie, and there are parts I love and other parts that make me cringe for the same reasons that you've mentioned above (minus the fans). I do like the ending, though. I think most movies would have felt compelled to show him after the hospital to wrap it up**, but I'm glad they didn't do that.
**That exact thing is what killed the ending of High Tension for me - showing her in the hospital was so unecessary!
for sure... i enjoyed Swingers until I met other people who do -- and I had to take a break from films by the Coen Bros and Jim Jarmusch for the duration of my video-store tenure.
If ya'll are interested Jim Thompson was another author to chronicle the depravity of the down and out and subsequently find his book s turned into films. None of the films have really done justice to his nihilistic, depraved brand of pulp fiction but here are some that have tried: The Grifters, The Getaway, After Dark My Sweet, The Kill-Off. I haven't seen Bertrand Tavernier's Coup De Torchon but it is apparently based on Thompson's "Pop. 1280" which is a personal favourite. In addition to that one I also recommend "The Killer Inside Me", "Savage Night" and "A Hell of a Woman." Interestingly Thompson worked on some scripts with Stanly Kubrick early in Kubrick's career including The Killing and Paths of Glory.
The Art of Killing. Fuck, this is really a documentary-come-movie about the atrocities that happened in Indonesia, with guys who ran Communist-hunting death squads re-telling and even re-enacting some grim, grim shit like it's no big deal. My stream cut-out about three quarters of the way through and I'm not sure I've got the stomach to finish the job, but it's an amazing film. 9/10
Re-watched Tropic Thunder, but it was like a slightly alternate take. None of the ads for the star's movies at the beginning, and some of the scenes were different. But still a great film. The entire hostage negotiations over the phone creases me up every time.
Still waiting for decent quality stream of Cap'n America winter soldier, and come to think of it, when's the final part of TEH HOBBIT coming out? It was meant to be easter, then I heard July, but not seen any adverts or promos... :mad:
What else have I missed?
This is really good and my favorite Jim Thompson adaptation.
SO GOOD.
Tim's Vermeer is easily one of the best documentaries I've seen in years. Narrated by Penn Jilette and directed by Teller. It has the same fun as an episode of their show BULLSHIT with an amazing topic. Tim has a brilliant theory on how Vermeer painted using mirrors and lenses, and even thinks this technique may go as far back to Caravaggio and Da Vinci.
His results are stunning.
Hands down one of the best documentaries I've seen in years.
- spidey