movie recommendations

[Fiach]

I think the quality of movies is degrading significantly as time goes on, its been pretty hit and miss on my visits to the cinema as to what I percieve as a great movie.

I guess in the 70's/80's people harked back to the golden age of Casablanca et al, but where are the Taxi Drivers, Deerhunters, The Sting, Papillon, Bullitt, Tootsies of this centuary, 11 years in and no movies to rival the elder greats.

Sure you have the technically advanced Avatar's etc, but something that looks great, with great acting and top notch storylines ..... they are few and far between.

As regards Piracy, its well documented that people that d/l movies were more than likely never going to buy them any way.

I d/l movies, if I like them, I will then buy them on Blueray Disc, but they are too expensive to buy on a whim, hence I check them out first. When I get the BD, then I will watch it a few times, with/without commentary and then watch all the Extras, Thus getting my moneys worth. :)

[JRD]

Things started to degrade when films begun to be addressed as franchises, made as trilogies and having the box offices figures published as a score to see which one is the biggest hit of the summer  :-(

Back in the day of those movies you mentioned, a film was an art w@&k, a bet made on actor`s performance and script depth, now it has a success formula repeated extensively and made at assembly lines  :D

[Fiach]

I guess another reason they have so much more money is tech advances, We went to the cinema, we bought the movie on VHS, then in Widescreen VHS, then DVD, then Blueray, then the direcors cut versions, between regurgitating all of these, plus the franchises JRD mentioned, I guess they can afford to pay La Jolie the fee she commands :)

Also, if a movie doesnt make money, its a tax write off!

If you havent seen Entourage (a TV series), I highly recommend it to you, its about a fledgling actor and his friends trying to navigate their way to success in Hollywood. It gives some facinating insights into the movie business, its as funny as hell and the characters are so believeable, its nearly like a Reality Show.

The last episode is quite emotional in a very ironic way, your heart will actually go out to what happens to their manager, one of the most heartless managers in Hollywood, but with a hidden softness that he covers with harshness and bigotry. Awesome TV entertainment! :)

Boxset is about €10 (euro) per season in Tesco here , well worth the investment. :)

[JRD]

Inspired by Wings of Prey (read more here), here`s another movie I really enjoy!

Memphis Belle

A B-17 crew is about to perform theier 25th - and last - bombing missions over Europe when all personal aspects of it`s members are brought to the surface while dealing with both fear of war and friendship aspects!

A great movie, if you haven`t seen it yet, it`s a must have... pretty entertaining!  :-X

[Fiach]

If thats the one where they are in bombers and in one scene a plane flies through another plane, yup a great movie! :)

Actually theres a very good PC game called B17 The Mighty 8th :


http://uk.gamespot.com/pc/sim/b17flyingfortressthem8/index.html

[JRD]

If thats the one where they are in bombers and in one scene a plane flies through another plane, yup a great movie! :)

Yeap, that`s the one

Spoiler

The co-pilot wants to shoot down an enemy before the war is over for  him. So in one scene he grabs a MG and finally hits an enemy fighter which falls on the tail of a friendly B-17, bringing it down  :D

[RedRaven]

I think the quality of movies is degrading significantly as time goes on

Have to kind of agree with you there, although its also probably got much to do with quantity over quality in way too many cases.


As for truly great films - have recently been working through my war film collection chronologically from those set at the beginning of WW2 through to the end (including both Band of Brothers and The Pacific). At the end of it found that one of the most interesting and enjoyable was 'The Longest Day' which is a whopping 168 minute long black and white film from 1962. What still sets it apart from many other D-Day films is how it endeavours to show the events from the perspective of the English, French, American and German forces. Which for a film made around just 18 years after the event was a brave move considering the lingering hostilities that carried on, even decades after its production. Nearest thing I've ever seen come close to it is the 'Flags of our Fathers' & 'Letters from Iwo Jima' directed by Clint Eastwood from 2006 / 2007.
As much a drama-documentary as a story.

As regards Piracy, its well documented that people that d/l movies were more than likely never going to buy them any way.

I d/l movies, if I like them, I will then buy them on Blueray Disc, but they are too expensive to buy on a whim, hence I check them out first. When I get the BD, then I will watch it a few times, with/without commentary and then watch all the Extras, Thus getting my moneys worth. :)

Its something I have done in the past but these days most are unbearable to watch due to either bad audio or video quality. { A cunning conspiracy by the studios perhaps ? ;) lol} Yet even then it did not stop me buying DVD's or going to the Cinema as much as the huge rise in ticket costs.


As for Franchises and the endless merchandising that accompanies almost everything these days it has become part of 'The Norm' which is good and bad. Back in my youth I loved having Star Wars figures. And in some way it has helped some companies to survive, Lego was in trouble as a company then deals are made with Lucas Arts or who ever and now its booming again. Sadly even this seems to have now fallen prey to over-commercialism as they have a Pirates of the Caribbean range instead of just regular pirates.


Its a strange circle involving Books, Comics, Toys, Video games and Film. An easy example is Spiderman, starting as a comic followed by cartoons and toys then onto Film and Video games. And coming from the other way round are titles such as Resident Evil or Doom which started in the gaming world then transposed to the big screen.


Soon enough with the advancement of the various media technologies these distinctions are likely to diminish more and more, then before you know it we will all be plugged into the Matrix as power cells for the Technocratic elite!


As Fiach says we have progressed from VHS to DVD to Blu-ray with basic releases followed by directors cuts, special editions, box sets and such following each other. Reckon each release stage is most likely based on the decline in sales figures of the preceding version.  Got to admit that I do like the inclusion of some special features and commentaries found in digital media, good way to fill spare disc space in most cases but as always there are the odd few that are that half-hearted they should not of bothered.


Lastly, to follow my previous comments on remakes - The recent plague of film's from the past 40 years or so is becoming somewhat offensive. Authors and Screen writers should be on the endangered species list at this rate. Its got to be one of the sneakiest ways to cut costs.


Here's how it is done, step by cynical step ;)


STEP 1 - Simply take a film you enjoyed as a child and use someone else cash to get the ball rolling.


STEP 2 -  Take the original screenplay or script and butcher it according to current your sycophantic trends and whims, usually depends on where your funding came from.


STEP 3 - Hire all your friends and anyone your owe a favour too


STEP 4 - Supplement your funds with various Franchises, Sponsorships and Marketing schemes in order to hire a high profile cast.


STEP 5 - To maximise your cash return forget about looking for skilled artist's and craftsmen for all your sets and pre-production needs and hire eager, naive computer programmers to make as much as possible in CGI for as little cost as possible.


STEP 6 - Instantly sack anyone who gets in the way or has better ideas and replace them with cheaper staff.


STEP 7 - Ensure everyone else works 18 or more hours a day so you can spend most the time brown-nosing the Distributors and other Agencies you need to get it on screen. (this will often include spending chunks on the film budget on getting other rich people fed, drunk and intoxicated, failing that a good old fashion bribe should do the trick).


STEP 8 - Cling on long enough to avoid a mental breakdown or heart attack and hope that the hard w@&k done by those you have hired is good enough to make you look good.


STEP 9 - If all goes wrong in the land of the Big Screen blame the staff you do not like any more then hope that a straight to DVD release will salvage at least some of the money you owe people.


STEP 10 - If all goes well, and all the politicking, sucking-up and marketing goes well you can live the life of a very fat cat indeed. Basking in glory, maybe picking up an award or two along the way as you look toward your next project / victim.




@Fiach - have seen half an episode of 'Entourage' and it looked funny, Jeremy Piven is another in a long list of actors who can play many roles but are often over-looked by people. He was really good in 'Black Hawk Down' as one of the pilots, that's where first saw him, then saw him in 'Smokin Aces'.
As for it costing you only 10 euro at Tesco! Thats well cheap, bet its almost double that here in the UK! But will keep my eyes out for it.


Lastly (no, I mean it this time) Memphis Belle, as far as can recall was a good film, not seen it in years. Will hunt that down too. Usually go for Tanks over Planes in war films which is probably why it's not amongst my collection.


Oops, went on a bit there it seems, please take in to consideration that my bitter and withering cynicism is mostly, though not entirely tongue-in-cheek. Not ALL people in the movie industry across the globe are that bad. The 2% or 3% that are good natured, hard working, genuine creative visionaries deserve everything they w@&k so hard and long for.

[Fiach]

  Usually go for Tanks over Planes in war films which is probably why it's not amongst my collection.

You probably saw this movie, if not, check it out :)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Beast_(1988_film)

[fragger]

Some of the most enjoyable or interesting films I've seen have been very low budget when compared to most block-busters.

I couldn't help but think of Duel  when I read that. It was Steven Spielberg's first mainstream movie and was made on a relatively meagre budget of around $100,000 dollars (which was quite paltry even in those days) and it still holds its own today :-X

I agree that movies these days generally suck. I went to the DVD rentals the other day and there was absolutely nothing in the new releases section that appealed to me, and I ended up coming home with a clutch of oldies.

Funny to think that back before the days of home entertainment systems, major movies like Jaws and the first Star Wars would run at the cinemas for years. Over here, the original Poseidon Adventure ran for over two years at the same cinema in Sydney, so did Star Wars. If you wanted to see a particular movie that was no longer playing at the cinemas, you had to wait until it was shown on television - unless you had your own film projector and could get hold of a cut-down, twenty-minute Super-8 version of the film, as a friend of mine used to do.

[RedRaven]

@Fiach - looks and sounds familiar, no recollection of seeing it though.  Another great film 9TH Company. Set in 1988 during the same conflict. Its a Russian production and next to Black Hawk Down it has to be one of the best 'modern era' war films made. Both being a dramatisation of real events as opposed to a fiction story set in a real war.


@fragger - Not seen Duel for ages, thanks for reminding me of it. I vaguely recall some films from my youth being on for ages, now its a case of Blink and miss it! Yet in the world of theatre and musicals some have been going for years and years. Phantom of the Opera has been running on Broadway since 1988, with over 9500 performances. Les Miserable has ran fro 21 years in London's West end with almost 9000 shows.
Just found out that the longest running play ever is 'The Mousetrap' by Agatha Christie. Translated into more than 20 languages, performed in over 40 countries with an estimated 10 million people having seen it.


Bit of useless yet interesting trivia there for you.

[Fiach]

Never heard of 9th company, I'll keep an eye out for it though, is it in english or dubbed or just subtitled do you remember?

As you mention Mousetrap, here is a murder mystery movie that everyone would enjoy, Sleuth :



http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0069281/

[RedRaven]

9TH Company is Russian dialogue with English subtitles, as are the extra's (making of and 20 years later). Not sure if it has been subtitled into other languages for other countries. Have become so used to extras being done in English, was pleasantly surprise to find them in the Actors native tongue.


Not watched any murder mystery films for many years, since all the old Miss Marple and Hercule Poirot was on the TV in the 80's. Big fan of Peter Ustinov but my grandfather hated his portrayal of the character because he did not fir the authors description.


Was not that taken by the Sherlock Holmes film with Robert Downey Junior from couple years ago. BBC recently did a short series of 3 90 minute Holmes stories but set in modern London. They are really, really well done and a second set should be out soon.

[fragger]

Sleuth is a classic, great entertainment :-X

For a really wacky murder mystery spoof, there's Murder By Death, if you can imagine a murder mystery film with the flavour of a Goon Show episode (Peter Sellers is in fact in it as a Chinese detective). Not wildly hilarious, but there are some pretty funny moments.

[Fiach]

I loved MbD, check out Peter Falk (died recently :() in The Cheap Detective, also a nice slant on the genre.

Red, Sleuth is quite different to other murder mysteries as there are only two people in it, its brilliantky acted and well worth checking out even if you dont like the genre :)

[RedRaven]

Thought the name was familiar, just looked it up - its Columbo! That was an amazing show. Way better than Quincy!


Gutted that he is dead, 83 is good going though.

[RedRaven]

Seeing as it was mentioned the other day decided to watch Memphis Belle tonight.


Another good Air based film is 'FLY BOYS'. Its set in WW1 so you get to see some nice original, old-school dog-fighting. Jean Reno and James Franco both star in it.


Its always good to see Bi-planes. Always reminds me of Snoopy cartoons with the goggles and scarf, sat on his dog house :)

[fragger]

Memphis Belle is not a bad film, but the degree of departure from historical reality is enormous and bears practically no resemblance to the career of the real Belle and its crew.

One of my favourite air war films is Battle of Britain, which apart from a couple of rather pointless "human interest" side stories was very accurate historically. I'm a bit of a stickler for that as you may have gathered. I think if someone's going to make a movie about historical events they should try to stick to historical reality.

I enjoyed Fly Boys too, despite a tendency to overuse clever CG camera angles :-X

If you enjoyed Fly Boys, don't be tempted to watch the recent Red Baron film if you're looking for more of the same. Too little flying (hardly any), too much love-story soppiness. Dull, dull, dull... I give it 5 Zs ::)

[JRD]

Memphis belle is what we call afternoon session movie, tyhe kind of films that are aired during the afternoon on week days... almost as inocent as Disney classics  :-\

Not a bad movie though... good action and nice effects...  :-X ... I enjoy an easy movie like that to spend a couple hours not thinking or worrying  ;)

[Fiach]

After moaning about the current state of the movie industry, over the last couple of nights, I pigged out on the following classics.

Papillon : Prisoner on a french penal colony and his escape attempts, Steve McQueen and Dustin Hoffman.

Sea of Love : Al Pacino as a cop trying to catch a serial killer, unforgettable scene, when Al is alone in the bedroom of someone he thinks is the killer and has a panic attack.

Dog Day Afternoon : Pacino in top form again as a bank robber caught in the act and the subsequent bank siege situation.

Zulu : Michael Caine in Africa, caught in a siege, where the british soldiers are surrounded and continually attacked by the Zulu population, the movie Space troopers was based loosely on this movie.

The Man Who Would be King : Sean Connery and Michael Caine are two british soldiers who become rulers of an imaginary country adjacent to India, two top actors on top form, before they became caricatures of themselves.

They dont make them like these any more.

[RedRaven]

Memphis belle is what we call afternoon session movie, tyhe kind of films that are aired during the afternoon on week days.

Funny you should say that as I ended up watching 'The Grey Zone' last night. Got it over a year ago but never got round to watching it, was still in the shrink wrap!


Its is about an uprising in Auschwitz and is based on the diary of Jewish pathologist chosen by Mengele to w@&k in a high position there. Very good film, certainly not light entertainment.  Great performance by Harvey Keitel and the rest of the cast.




So now going to watch Memphis belle this afternoon while waiting for the kid to finish his last day at school for the year.

Memphis Belle is not a bad film, but the degree of departure from historical reality is enormous and bears practically no resemblance to the career of the real Belle and its crew.

One of my favourite air war films is Battle of Britain, which apart from a couple of rather pointless "human interest" side stories was very accurate historically. I'm a bit of a stickler for that as you may have gathered. I think if someone's going to make a movie about historical events they should try to stick to historical reality.

I enjoyed Fly Boys too, despite a tendency to overuse clever CG camera angles :-X

I agree with you about films based on actual events, they are always better when presented as a properly researched and well written drama-documentary kind of thing. Otherwise its just fiction or even worse propaganda. I found that Pearl Harbour to be an example of the latter.


Dam Busters is an old favourite of mine. I live about half hour's drive from where they were tested and have spent many hours walking in that part of the countryside (fantastic steaks at one of the pubs there too :) )


Not seen the recent Red Baron so cheers for the warning.


@Fiach - Zulu is a great film, reckon that will be my Sunday film after watching the F1 race.

[fragger]

I agree with you about films based on actual events, they are always better when presented as a properly researched and well written drama-documentary kind of thing. Otherwise its just fiction or even worse propaganda. I found that Pearl Harbour to be an example of the latter.


Dam Busters is an old favourite of mine. I live about half hour's drive from where they were tested and have spent many hours walking in that part of the countryside (fantastic steaks at one of the pubs there too :) )

Pearl Harbour and Titanic are classic examples of what I don't like, when the whole historical significance of the event is relegated to the backdrop for some schmaltzy love triangle (insert "puke" emotie here).

Dambusters is a perfect example of what I really do like, when great fidelity to the historical record is maintained. I heard that Peter Jackson was doing a remake and that they went to the trouble of building at least one full-scale model of a Lancaster bomber for it, but I haven't heard anything more about it for quite some time. It may have been scrapped. And, given the way remakes are produced these days, may be just as well.

@Fiach, great films there :-X Saw Zulu again not that long ago, actually. You're right, they don't make them like that anymore.

[Binnatics]

Anyone curious about the coming movie of Tintin? The secret of the unicorn.
I checked the trailer and some pics, even captain Haddock will be presented  ^-^
And the Johnsson brothers  ^+-+

[Art Blade]

I did read a couple of comic books among which was Tintin but I never liked "follow-ups" with regard to animated films (thinking about Asterix). Kind of destroyed my mental image of all (particularly the voice acting disturbed me).

[fragger]

Watched 55 Days at Peking this afternoon, which I haven't seen since I was a kid. Very impressive production, I really enjoyed it :-X

I never got into Tintin, but I did like the Asterix comics. Haven't seen the movie, but I don't think I particularly want to.

[JRD]

I learn to read with Asterix... I must have read all books at least 6-7 times... and I always laugh at the same jokes as if it was the first time  I read it ;D

Never liked any other kind of media where Asterix is at... movies, animated cartoon, whatever... hate it... I agree with Art, the voice acting is very disturbing. It seems that all movement, sound and acting is restraining the characters to what a director and the guys doing the voice over can see, its insulting  >:((  :D

Tintin, on the other hand, had an animated cartoon at one TV channel here, long ago, that coincided with the time I was back from school at my parent's house. After a shower, I would eat a snack and watch TV (we didn't have cable back then), always having Tintin as the best option.  The episodes I saw, and I saw plenty, were very nice.... I think they were a bit old, at least they seemed a bit old with a vintage look not like modern computer fuelled cartoons. The adventure and humor was great and very well voiced... cool...  :-X 8)

I tried a few times to go through a Tintin book but never felt really into the comics though  ????