[All Systems Go]

If Someone could rename this correctly. Thank you.

I don't know this will work, but it's worth a try.

I find IMDB very useful for finding good films, but usually they are the really famous ones. Therefore a lot of good films slip under my radar and after finding a really good film with a quote (yes, on IMDB) I thought we should have a thread for films which may be lesser-known to some. OK, now that's out of the way it's plagiarism time!


The basic idea is that you name decent films to share with the community, where they will be added into this post for all the community to see.

* It's all in alphabeticalish order by movie name.
* Here is an example of the format you should use:

(you can see a multitude of examples below)

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This is its genre

This is the movie - Now here the movie which is possibly linked to a review - (Now here are some comments on it that are no longer than ~EIGHT lines)

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So...

Originally Posted by Androme2

The Punisher

It's a story about a man who's son gets killed in a FBI staged setup, setup by a man called Otto who is actually FBI cop Frank Castle. John Travolta seeks revenge and kill's Otto's whole family and slays them all. They thought they had killed Frank Castle, but he survives seeking revenge until no-one is left alive.

It's an awesome action packed movie.

Originally Posted by All Systems Go

Biography/Comedy/Drama
American Splendour
It's a film based on a comic book. But the hero in the comic is not a superhero he is a lonely, bitter man. It's pretty much based on a true story and it's funny and rather touching. It's a good cast with a good performance by Judah Friedlander whose performance is very close to the real-life person he is playing. It uses the comic-book format, but not too much and is a film worth seeing.

Originally Posted by Hebdomad

Factual/Drama

Battle of Algiers - 1966 - (Gillo Pontecorvo) - 9/10

This factual Oscar-winning black-and-white Italian film depicts Algiera's battle against French colonialism - the methods that both sides employed with lots of moving iconic imagery depicting such a struggle. I would strongly recommend it to anyone who is interested in politics/military/history. Interestingly, the US military were said to have shown this to show how the French "won tactically but lost strategically". Wikipedia and IMDB.

Originally Posted by jerome

drama

Half Nelson - Ryan Fleck/Anna Boden - 8.9/10

the premise of this isn't very impressive and may seem rather forgettable. but this really is one of the best films i've seen in an incredibly long time and it's hard to say why without gaying this up. of all the films i'm going to be posting about today, i have the strongest recommendation for this. this film is about a white guy teaching a bunch of little girls at an inner-city school, and about him befriending one of these girls when she discovers he has a drug addiction. it contains one of my favourite scenes in a film all-time as well as discusses real lyf issuez in the slightest of styles but still forces itself through. i've made this sound gay. but srsly just watch it

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comedy/drama

"Lonesome Jim" - directed by Steve Buscemi - 8.4~/10

based on camus' myth of sisyphus and a general reflection of absurdism in movie format. and it still manages to be.. concise? or at least clear cut in a way. second top class movie in a row i'm probably putting people off by not talking about it well at all, but this is an all round good film and who knew that guy from fargo had mastered the subtlety of direction so well (he's actually made some other good films too, though none as good as this)

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drama

Gummo - directed by Harmony Korine - 7.9/10

experimental arthouse film with non-linear plots and presented in a series of seemingly unrelated vignettes. if that didn't put you off and you want to some a genuinely innovative take on what moviemaking should be about according to korine, please watch this. it's not even just for film studies guyz or grlz either, it's a an excellent film that forgoes pretty much every rule film making has grown to require for a 'good' film.

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Drama

Good Bye Lenin - directed by Wolfgang Becker - 9.4/10

Plot: "The film is set in the East Berlin of 1989 . Alexander Kerner's mother, Christiane Kerner, an ardent supporter of the Socialist Unity Party of Germany, suffers a heart attack when she sees Alex being arrested in an anti-government demonstration and falls into a coma shortly before the fall of the Berlin Wall. After eight months she awakes, but is severely weakened both physically and mentally, and doctors say that any shock may cause another, possibly fatal, attack. Alex realises that her discovery of recent events would be too much for her to bear, and so sets out to maintain the illusion that things are as normal in the German Democratic Republic. To this end, he and his family revert the flat to its previous drab decor, dress in their old clothes, and feed the bed-ridden Christiane new, Western produce from old labeled jars. For a time the deception works, but gradually becomes increasingly complicated and elaborate. Despite everything, Christiane occasionally witnesses strange occurrences, such as a gigantic Coca-Cola advertisement banner unfurling on a building outside the apartment. Alexander and a friend with film-making ambitions edit old tapes of news broadcasts and create their own fake special reports to explain them away."

i don't really feel as if i should talk more about this film except to say that it's one of my all time favourites. the plot should give some sign to what sort of film it will be, and it is powerfully tender.

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Documentary / Biography

Grizzly Man - directed by Werner Herzog - 8.7/10

another typical piece of herzogs focusing on an eccentric lead. it's an examination of the life of amateur grizzly bear expert timothy treadwell who had travelled to katmai in the alaskan peninsulas for 13 consecutive summers. he was killed, along with his girlfriend, amie huguenard. this film is an exploration of this man's compassion and ability to find solace in these endangered animals.

herzog is probably my favourite director ever, he consistently makes unobtrusive but yet incredibly personal films and this is no different.

Originally Posted by Nodrog

All About Lily Chou Chou (Shunji Iwai)
Probably the most beautiful film I've encountered -pretty much every scene could be a photograph, and the soundtrack blends in perfectly. I actually posted a thread a few years ago about how much I loved this; I've watched it again since then and my views havent changed much. The plot is still difficult to follow, but it doesnt matter because the themes and messages come through in the individual scenes regardless, and the cinematography and directing are breathtaking.

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Funny Games (Michael Haneke)
I think the hardest issues to talk about in a sincere manner are the ones which 'everybody already knows' - the trite items of conventional wisdom that gets hammered into peoples heads since childhood, yet which are never really thought about or appreciated. Discussing the media portrayal of violence belongs in this category - its a cliche topic that has been done to death, and all the debate has changed little. Natural Born Killers is an example of the sort of traps a film discussing this issue can fall into, being extremely hackeneyed in most places and eventually just becoming the same sort of spectacle of violence which it tries to criticise.

I expected to hate Funny Games because it sounded gimmicky and trite. It isnt - its a wonderful example of how to rescue an important question from cliche and ask it in a fresh manner. This is achieved via extremely clever filmmaking - there's a constant barrage of tricks which are used to create a continual sense of detachment and emotional distance, which allows the underlying message to come through clearly without falling into the NBK trap of becoming identical to the objects under discussion.

The thing which most impressed me is the sense of mental space which it creates. Unlike many films which throw information at the viewer rapidly, leaving little time to actually reflect on whats happening in the way you can with a book, Funny Games uses many ingenous techniques which force thought to take place, while also providing enough time for it to occur. In particular, there is a 10+ minute scene 2/3's of the way through which I'd rate as one of the most effective I've ever watched. Brilliant stuff, and not gimmicky at all.