Movie suggestions & reviews

[Alexis]

Does anyone here have any reviews of movies to watch?

New or older. My mind is drawing a blank on what to watch and since I am a movie junkie all suggestions would be appreciated.


I recently watched :

2012- excellent for the action junkie. Chock full of catastrophe
Blind Side- wonderful tear jerker that will hold your attention

[Pam]

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/

[Lorax]

V for Vendetta, about 2 years old now, but eerily similiar to what we went through during the Bush Administration, though set in Britain in a post-apocalyptic society. Well written and acted- Hugo Weaving, Natalie Portman.

Is Paris Burning?, a black and white mid-60's film version of the book by the same title, set in the last two weeks before Paris is liberated at the end of the second World War. Gert Frobe as General VonCholtis is superb, amongst others.

[Jimaz]

Not in any particular order:

• The Name of the Rose -- not for the intellectually timid. A murder mystery set in a Medieval monastary.
• Equus -- a critique of psychiatry.
• My Dinner with Andre -- experimental theatre exploring alternatives to our mundane life.
• Koyaanisqatsi -- Hopi prophesy exploring alternatives to our hectic life.
• Being John Malkovich-- Just. Plain. Bizarre.
• Nineteen Eighty-Four -- terrifying life under totalitarianism.
• Brazil -- hilarious life under totalitarianism.
• A Beautiful Mind -- what it's like to live the life of a truly brilliant schizophrenic.

I wish someone would make a film of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.

For comic relief, Pee-wee's Big Adventure!

[ccbatson]

Of course..."The Fountainhead"

Joking aside..."The Orphanage" for old school horror/thriller.

[Alexis]

Thanks for all the suggestions. These shoukd keep me busy for a while.

Last night I watched

Saw 6-- great gore as usual but story line was very weak
Slumdog Millionaire- Excellent movie and great story line.

[Lorax]

Of course..."The Fountainhead"

Joking aside..."The Orphanage" for old school horror/thriller.

"The Fountainhead" was a great film, well acted, especially Patricia Neal's role. Too bad the fictional subject matter sucked so badly.

Funny how "The Orphanage" gets your attention- perhaps a throwback to "Oliver Twist?"

I can see you as headmaster.

[gazhekwe]

I like Koyaanisqatsi as well, very timely, and if you like Philip Glass the music is great.

Some other Native movies

PowWow Highway -- Road trip movie as Buddy Red Bow convinces his friend Philbert to drive him to Santa Fe to rescue his sister who has been jailed on false charges.

Smoke Signals -- Based on the Novel by Sherman Alexie, another road trip by two young men on their way to pick up the ashes of one's father.

Dream Keeper -- Another road trip with a rebellious teenager and his traditional grandfather on their way to the big Albuquerque Powwow. Watching this one after Smoke Signals is interesting because some of the sets are used in both movies. This one was made for TV but you can get it on disc.

The next ones were also made for TV and are mysteries based on the Jim Chee/Joe Leaphorn books by Tony Hillerman. They are in chronological order.

Dark Wind, 1993 with Lou Diamond Phillips, not as good as the next three but still fun.
Coyote Waits, the next three star Adam Beach as Chee and Wes Studi as Leaphorn.
Skinwalkers
Thief of Time

Christmas in the Clouds, a fun lightweight Christmas movie about an American Indian run ski resort. A worker sniffs out the secret that a travel writer plans to spend the holiday there, but not who it is.

These are modern movies made and directed with a lot of Indian input. It's a whole different attitude from the shoot-em-up westerns or even the PC Indian movies made without a lot of Indian input. You know, the kind where a white man saves the Indians.

I liked Little Big Man, with Dustin Hoffman. Chief Dan George makes the whole movie.

[oldredfordette]

I saw Invictus this week, very inspirational, with sports. I'll never understand rugby, but it was the story of forgiveness that got me.

Rent Adventureland. Better than your average coming of age story, with a soundtrack that includes the Replacements. You can't go wrong. And you'll laugh till you cry.

[oladub]

To Live - Superb acting in this banned Chinese movie chronicaling one family's struggle to survive government. Beautifully filmed.

Chinaman [[Kinaman) - Joint Danish/Chinese film industry production about a divorced Danish plumber falling in live with a Chinese woman he contracted to marry for other reasons.

[ccbatson]

Hmmm...My suspicions regarding Lorax's self loathing and conflicted philosophy is confirmed by the liking of the movie "the Fountainhead"...maybe there is hope for you yet.

[MoparDan]

Here are a few of my favorites from the 40s:
"12 O'Clock High" - A 1949 war film about aircrews in the United States Army's Eighth Air Force who flew daylight bombing missions against Nazi Germany and occupied France during the early days of American involvement in World War II.
Stars Gregory Peck, Hugh Marlowe, Gary Merrill, Millard Mitchell, and Dean Jagger.

"The Best Years of Our Lives" - A 1946 American drama film about three servicemen trying to piece their lives back together after coming home from World War II.
Stars Fredric March, Myrna Loy, Dana Andrews, Teresa Wright, Virginia Mayo, and Hoagy Carmichael. It also features Harold Russell, a U.S. paratrooper who had lost both his hands in a training accident.

Both films are mature in context considering the time they were made. In other words, they treat the subject matter in a realistic manner.
"12 O'Clock High" features actual combat footage of aerial gunners & planes on their bomb runs.
"The Best Years of Our Lives" deals with the problems servicemen have readjusting back to civilian life. Not to mention, it touches on adultery, women gaining some independence & a scene where American involvement in the war is questioned.

Check them out if you get a chance.

[Lorax]

Hmmm...My suspicions regarding Lorax's self loathing and conflicted philosophy is confirmed by the liking of the movie "the Fountainhead"...maybe there is hope for you yet.

So Rand is a proponent of self-loathing?

LOL!!!

I also found "Please Don't Eat The Daisies" delightful, doesn't mean I have an adversion to dogs or kids.

Same with Saw II, you were wonderful in it.

[ccbatson]

Silly rabbit...liking something you repeatedly say that you hate is illustration of the conflict and contradiction. It works in both directions, so, logically...my conclusion is affirmed.

[Lorax]

So happy you're happy.

I though the Fountainhead was well acted and directed, and beautifully filmed, doesn't mean I agree with the story line or subject matter?

Too hard for you to understand, I guess.

Same is true of Halloween- you'll never hear a better screamer than Jamie Lee Curtis, except maybe Batts when he sees a mouse.

[oldredfordette]

This is really worse than when Karl was on the board.

[gazhekwe]

Really! Can't we have a nice thread talking about movies we like without getting into interpersonal debates and backbiting?

[Alexis1]

Gazhekwe

I have seen Smoke Signals. This is one of the best movies I have ever seen.
You are right, it is nice to see a movie dealing with normal native Americans lives instead of the shoot'em up stereotypes we are used to.

I am trying to locate some of the others you mentioned online but it is tough. I'll keep trying.

Excuse the new screen name. I lost all my stored passwords and could not remember them at all.
Needless to say I feel pretty stupid for not writing anything down but I guess we all make mistakes.

[Alexis1]

I saw Invictus this week, very inspirational, with sports. I'll never understand rugby, but it was the story of forgiveness that got me.

Rent Adventureland. Better than your average coming of age story, with a soundtrack that includes the Replacements. You can't go wrong. And you'll laugh till you cry.

Invictus seems like a great movie. You can never go wrong with Morgan and Matt.
Both are at the top of their game.
Thanks for the suggestion[[Adventureland). I am going to order it .

[gazhekwe]

Alexis1, try Amazon. They have most of them, and some used so not too $$$$. I have lots more. If you like Graham Greene, for instance, he has a nice appearance in Transamerica. He is the lead in Medicine River where he plays a world class photographer who comes home for a brief visit and gets reluctantly drawn back into his home community. He is also very good in Dances with Wolves, and in Thunderheart.

[Pam]

Some other Native movies

A good one about the Native people of New Zealand is Whale Rider.

[gazhekwe]

I agree about Whale Rider. Those people felt like my relatives. Another really good one is from Australia, Rabbitproof Fence.

[Alexis1]

Gazhekwe,

Yes, Grahm Greene is great. I'll check into those thanks.

I just remembered a few more.

Last of the Dogmen is an excellent movie. I am sure you are familiar but for those that are not it has to do with the story of an isolated tribe of Native Amricans living in the Oxbow for over a 100 years.


Also: Once Were Warriors

It does have some steretypes in it, but for the most part it is an excellent movie and story line.

[Alexis1]

Those of you that do not go to the Detroit side,

Brittany Murphy dead at 32
http://www.nydailynews.com/gossip/20...ck_report.html

[Pam]

I just found this classic on You Tube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qPfo1Ng6TYI

The Miracle of Morgan's Creek.