Three somewhat obscure movies, everyone should see

[JaiDee]

CBS were no better when some genius decided Conan would make a great replacement for Leno. I was incredulous at the time & predicted that he would be a spectacular flop. Letterman may be flawed but Conan is an idiot.

 

 Yeah, that was a really strange deal when they moved Leno out of the 1130 slot, put in Conan, and then gave Leno a new show at 10pm which no one watched. It didn't take long for Leno to ''un-retire" and go back to 1130, and Conan was somehow able to sign with TBS and start his own show - which of course no one watches. In the end though, he got the last laugh; getting paid by 2 networks to do one show, not bad if you can pull it off.

[Lefty]

Letterman is alright sometimes, but the rest of those talk shows are generally a total and complete waste of time IMO.  The next time Leno says something witty, funny or clever will be the first time. Lantern jawed waste of space.

[pacman]

 Regarding Soraya M. ~ I did watch it a few days ago but my mind needs to settle as a knee-jerk opinion may not be best thing. Especially where a racist comment may be made by me without reasonable forethought. I'll do it soon.

 

It's a better man than I who can watch that movie & say there's not something wrong with a religion that condones such behaviour. But I don't want to anticipate your opinion Dixon.

 

Please feel free to unburden yourself.            

[JaiDee]

Saw all these popular movies in the past week;

 

 Argo - good, but not great. IMO about a 7 on a scale of 10, but definitely worth seeing.

 

 Django Unchained;  same -same. I think Tarantino has done better work. But worth seeing for sure, DiCaprio just doesn't get his just due for being a great actor.

 

 Seven Psychopaths;  saw it at the theater also, good movie, about an 8 out of 10 from my point of view.  Thought it was better in the theater, worth seeing if you haven't yet.

 

 Searching for Sugarman;  got the academy award for best documentary, and I thought it was fantastic.  This story could have easily been fictional; the fact that it is NOT makes the movie even better.

 

 Best one I have seen in a LONG time; Zero Dark Thirty.

   I would give this one a 10 or at least a 9.5 ....had me on the edge of my seat for 2+ hours, well-acted and lots of suspense. Highly recommended and IMO this should have won Best Picture Oscar over Argo.....Jessica Chastain also turned what looked like a mousy little girl into a hard-nosed detective on the trail of Bin Laden for 8 years.  That role was mostly fictional and was actually a mix of 4 or 5 females in the CIA anti-terrorism squad at that time, but she made it very believable that it could have been just one girl. Very Oscar-worthy performance, too bad she was up against the sweetheart of the moment for this year.

[pacman]

Deepthroat also considers Zero Dark Thirty the movie of the year. On reflection I agree, it's more deserving of the Best Picture Oscar than Argo, that's for sure. I read that its chances were doomed because it shows torture in a positive light. Certain people prefer to believe it doesn't work & this negates their argument. A good thing the CIA aren't vying for a popular vote.

 

As for the others, we're almost in lockstep. I rate Django higher because I found the whole thing very cathartic. There's something satisfying about cartoon violence where good triumphs over evil. QT set the scene for spectacular revenge. His villains were so bad they had to die & he does such a good job in dispatching them. It was good to watch & I still smile at the memory. QT takes such simple themes & delivers them well.

 

And Sugarman. Another movie that does the heart good. I have Rodriguez' autograph somewhere, I have been listening to his music since the 70's. The doco brushes aside his trouble with drugs. What on earth did those South Africans & the Swedish director think Sugarman referred to? On the Sugarman website, I wrote a long post (under a different ID) about his tours of Australia & meeting him. I explained what happened with his second tour & how it was abandoned because Rodriguez was too affected to continue. When it appeared, all reference to his habit was removed. But that aside, I have been recommending this film to everyone. It's that good.

[JaiDee]

I think they did make one little reference to cocaine use and pointed that out when talking about the song Sugarman....but it was very brief, they certainly never touched on any long-term usage.

 

   I saw something about him on 60 minutes last year, same as most Yanks that was the first time I had heard of him. Great documentary, I thoroughly enjoyed that.

[pacman]

Yes you're right, it is mentioned. I wrote "brushed aside", I should have written something like "it gets little mention".

 

I found it strange that they took the name of his song that's all about his local drug dealer, his sugarman, & turned it into their nickname for Rogriguez. I wonder if Sixto was amused by the irony in that. He's such a modest man that he wouldn't complain. And how could he? After all, these nutty South Africans have made him a millionaire. At last!

[azza33]

DiCaprio just doesn't get his just due for being a great actor.

 

 

 Best one I have seen in a LONG time; Zero Dark Thirty.

 

Agree on both these points JD.

 

The dinner table scene with DeCaprio is one of the best written and acted parts of any movie in recent times. DeCaprio was simply awesome.

 

I watched ZDT at the cinemas a while back and thought it was just brilliant story telling. I was mesmorized from start to finish.

[pacman]

The ritual Japanese suicide of Hara-Kiri is the subject of the latest film I've seen - Hara-Kiri: Death of a Samurai.

 

It's always fascinated me how the Japanese can take a blade & stick it in their guts to disembowel themself as a way of avoiding dishonour. I can't imagine anyone doing that today. It's still practised in Japan but very rarely compared to the early 17th century when this film is set.

 

This is the most beautifully shot movie, each scene is perfectly framed, there is no stop-start editing (except in the fight scenes) & the actor's anguished looks are held in long takes. I am sure some will find it too slow, I found it exquisite in all its detail & slow build-up of tension.

 

A young man knocks on the door of the local lord asking for permission to commit hara-kiri in his courtyard. The more prestigious the place of death, the more glory he gets in the after-life. However, a few of the disenfranchised samurai have used this ruse to gain a handout or even to score employment. 

 

They call his bluff & lay out traditional funeral robes for him to wear in his suicide. Now the would-be suicider can't back down. A warrior's word is his bond & to go back on it would be a disgrace. The poor bastard has a sick wife & child back home & all he wanted was the money for a doctor.

 

Surrounded by the lord's private army in the courtyard, he is forced to draw his sword to go through with it. Except he has already sold his sword & all he has attached to the handle is a bamboo stick. What follows is more powerful than 10 action films with every CGI trick known to man. It was disturbing yet riveting to watch.

 

Now I was expecting a team of samurai to turn up for revenge but what came next was bizarre. It was the equivalent of a soldier attacking an army with a popgun. But OMG, was it ever effective.

 

This is the perfect antidote to those movies that feature blaring sound tracks, every gadget, every weapon, all the eccentric characters, all the over-the-top effects, by comparison it has nothing. It is a simple tale well told about a situation no one could ever imagine finding themself in. 

 

I recommend this highly. And oddly enough, it is in 3D, but 3D used in the most elegant way. Each scene is layered to give it depth. A joy to watch.

[dazedandconfused]

Not sure it's obscure but seems to be long forgotten / overlooked: 

 

I watched 1941 again for the first time in years last night and it's mad, funny, weird and totally overblown.

 

Dan Ackroyd, John Belushi, Ned Beatty, Warren Oates and John Candy.  Hard to go wrong really.  It also seems to be the polar opposite of pretty much any other film that Spielberg has made.  Last time I saw it I was probably very stoned - seemed even funnier then. Ho Hum.  Well worth a re-visit though....

[Hefe]

For the last few weeks I've noticed that HBO On Demand has "A Simple Plan" available ( at least on the U.S. east coast, this may mean it's on the regular schedule as well ). This is a small movie that I recommended on this same thread on "the previous forum" a few years ago, don't think I mentioned it on this one yet, too lazy to check :)    

 

Good acting & well written suspense film (Oscar nominations for both categories), a morality tale in the end, no special effects or strange creatures other than humans acting like people do to their ultimate detriment. The director Sam Raimi went on to do the first 3 Spiderman films after this (really the only "men in tights" movies I've liked as well). 

 

Recommended.

[seven]

So, i finally got to see Django Unchained.

Its crap.  I wasn't expecting much though. 2 1/2 wasted hours.

[pacman]

I wasn't expecting much though. 

 

What?        

 

You watched it with your mind already made up. Hmmm...

 

But I don't mind you didn't like a film I loved. ('Love' as in enjoyed it very much & found the extreme violence paid out in revenge to be quite cathartic.)

 

I can only assume you watched it on a laptop or small screen. These over-the-top megaflicks are NEVER going to look as impressive or have the impact they have on the big screen.

 

If it was the violence you objected to, I don't suggest you should watch 'Only God Forgives'. The reviews here for it were so bad I nearly didn't go see it. I thought it was fantastic & compared it to Django. Both fantastic IMO.

[seven]

I watched in home on dvd on a rather big tv. I thought it was racist ,though i realize it could pass as irony, but it got really tiresome after   300 " nigga" slurs.

The story....?

Has Tarantino ever made a movie on a weak story like this?   Waltz was great though.

 

I´ll watch Only god forgive. Have you seen Drive ( same director and Goslin)?

[pacman]

A rather big TV....     OK, that'll do. I didn't expect you to watch it on one of those tiny screens. Nothing looks good on them.

 

What I like about QT are his stories of redemption & revenge. And the violence handed out to the 'bad guys' is not the same unless they have been 'bad'. And that meant they used the N word repeatedly. My concern with seeing Django was that hearing the N word over & over might be very off-putting. All the reviews referred to the language & how inappropriate it was.

 

However, in the context of the movie it was completely appropriate because it would have lacked all credibility if the 'bad guys' had gone around calling the African-Americans 'sir' or Mr Smith or whatever their name is. I agreed with QT when he defended the word's use himself, it isn't used a lot when taken over the 3 hours of the movie. And the writers tried to get around not using it & realised they couldn't. It's there because the bad treatment & language used against slaves is the point of the movie.

 

The film portrays racism because it is making a powerful statement against racism. Watch it again if you don't think so.

 

And I agree about Waltz, he deserved his Oscar for his role, he is just fantastic.

 

I must watch Drive. I can't believe I never saw it. And since this latest movie, all comparisons I have seen of the two films state that Drive is the better film. The reviews here all say Only God Forgives is hard to watch because of the extreme violence. I found it highly stylised violence that was nowhere near so bad to watch as I feared.

 

And it is set in Bangkok with a cast of Thais. I wonder if it has been released in Thailand. It is typical of the shock-fest type of slasher thriller they love. Wait till you see Gosling's mother! What a shocker!!

[Hefe]

"Drive" was interesting, maybe a bit pretentious here & there, but the director has a distinct voice & I want to see Only God Forgives as well, that got some bad reviews, but it's set in BKK I believe & that has some interst for me, altho most of the preview shots were definitely on sets.

 

Drive = thumbs up

 

BTW I just saw Django as well, didn't think it was racist, didn't think it was near Tarantino's best efforts, but it was very entertaining.... seems like QT is just coasting these days by remaking genre films & setting the language & violence to 11. 

[JaiDee]

I liked Django but would probably not take the time to watch it again.  A REALLY good movie to me is one you can watch multiple times and not get bored.

[JaiDee]

Here's one I really liked and saw twice in the past few months, although it certainly doesn't fit the theme of this thread considering it took in almost a billion dollars at the box office; "Inception".

 

Well-acted, good story, Ellen Page is a cutie and it's super-trippy; I am sure that being a pothead made this one even more enjoyable

[pacman]

Inception was out a few years ago & I think I saw it but I am damned if I can remember much about it. Wasn't it all about dreams & how someone went back in a dream & nearly got stuck there? And it was hard to know what exactly was going on?

 

Was there another dream movie out in the last few years? If there were two, I may be thinking of the other one. But I am sure it was Inception, maybe being a pothead helps jog the little grey cells.

[pacman]

I liked Django but would probably not take the time to watch it again.  A REALLY good movie to me is one you can watch multiple times and not get bored.

 

I'm already on this thread saying I wouldn't watch Django again. While I handled the violence once, I couldn't sit through it again knowing how bad it is. I just couldn't happily watch it, especially the dog scene. 

[pacman]

Speaking of obscure movies, has anyone heard of the new film by Shane Carruth, Upstream Color? It sounds very intriguing. Reviewers are writing weird shit like "I don't understand it but it was wonderful to watch".

 

Sounds right down my alley & I will pay it a visit next week. 

[Hefe]

This just came out so it may be playing in some "art" theatres for a while before becoming available online. 

 

"The Act of Killing" is an extremely unusual documentary about the local mafias in Sumatra that were recruited as death squads during the military overthrow of Sukarno in the 60s. Today these guys are local heroes & the filmmaker asked them to recreate their killings in the style of the old Hollywood genre movies that they were big fans of. One guy even goes in drag!  This is a really bold approach & the final film is chilling & fascinating. Highly recommended.

 

[seven]

 

 

"The Act of Killing" is an extremely unusual documentary

 

Highly recommended.

 

 

Thanks. Coming from you , Hefe, i will check it out.  

I tend to enjoy documentaries more for each crap fictionmovie i see.

And today they announced the new Batman;  Ryan Reynolds Ben Affleck.

[JaiDee]

This one just came out, kind of obscure in the sense that you have to have HBO [or a good torrent client] to watch it;  "Clear History".   If you like Curb your Enthusiasm with Larry David, you will love this one, it's basically the same thing but in movie format.

 

   Jon Hamm also and Kate Hudson, who's not exactly hard on the eyes

 

 

http://tv.nytimes.com/2013/08/10/arts/television/clear-history-starring-larry-david-on-hbo.html?_r=0

[pacman]

"The Act of Killing" is an extremely unusual documentary about the local mafias in Sumatra that were recruited as death squads during the military overthrow of Sukarno in the 60s. 

 

This came out last year & I'm sure it was played on our ethnic channel recently. I missed it then but they always replay these documentaries several times. (That's the same channel who played the German doco on JFK several times.)

 

I will keep an eye out for it, I wanted to watch it before, I will make sure I catch next time.

 

This one just came out, kind of obscure in the sense that you have to have HBO [or a good torrent client] to watch it;  "Clear History".   If you like Curb your Enthusiasm with Larry David, you will love this one, it's basically the same thing but in movie format.

 

That sounds excellent. There are not enough sophisticated satires made today but when one comes along, they should be enjoyed. I sort of get Larry David, I have warmed to him over the years. He has a sharp mind for ridiculing the follies of the world around us.

 

I don't know where this will pop up, I don't subscribe to HBO but it's bound to turn up on TV. It's a strange time length - just over an hour long. Doesn't matter, thanks for the heads up.