Not sure on the procedure for this kind of thread, (or if this is even called a thread) but I would like to start a discussion on obscure movies that you find interesting. Let me know what you people think? Today I would like to contribute: Cashback 2006 I was looking for something to watch on my Netflix, and "Cashback" came up under my suggestions. (Netflix kinda sucks when your waiting for new releases) The camera work by itself makes this movie a must see. It can be "slow" (cheesy pun) and a little over romantic, but I've never seen anything like it. Enjoy! (sorry no link.. but I'm sure you can find it.)
My contribution: Outlander. It's actually pretty good for basically being a sci-fi reworking of Beowulf. A couple others I watched fairly recently and had never heard of before are Dark City and Dog Soldiers. Both are worth checking out.
^Outlander was a lot of fun, and it comes up on WF from time to time. The last thread where it came up (I think Paladin raised it) prompted my bro and I to watch about two months ago and it turned out we'd already seen it a couple of years back (but we'd missed the first few minutes). Which I guess means it's kind of forgetable? Sean Connery in High Noon in Space (Outland) is another worth watching. But here's a more obscure movie, another good but forgetable one: The Hidden Kyle Maclachlan (from e.g. Blue Velvet and Twin Peaks) is an alien on earth hunting another alien who can hide inside human hosts and likes fast cars and hot chicks. Supposedly he's FBI and he's partnered up with a human (local law enforcement, IIRC) so there's a kind of buddy movie (not quite the level of James Caan and Mandy Patwhatever in Alien Nation or anything, but the human is likeable (if forgetable)). The movie is a lot of fun, but nothing heavy (outside of the violence, anyway). At one point the bad-guy alien takes over the body of stripper Claudia Cristian (Ivanova from Babylon 5 tv show). Basically an action-scifi movie, good ending, good pacing, some cliches, but some humor too IIRC. (I spelled the names from memory, sorry for errors) This one's an "oldie" that's been around longer than some WF'ers and may be a bit of a challenge to track down.
I nominate Primer for anyone who likes good sci-fi. A serious time-travel headfuck, that you probably won't understand on first viewing, but will immediately want to watch again.
And God Spoke - a comedy about film makers trying to make documentary about The Bible on a low, low budget. The best line (from the Noah's Ark scene) "maybe we need to save off a few cubits".
Dark City, a great movie that no one I've talked to has seen. Of course, it came out around the Matrix and so this oversight is understandable. I find it hard to describe Dark City except that the Director's Cut is FAR superior to the original. Wilder Napalm, too, is a fine movie. It's... well, it's got a pair of pyrokinetic brothers fighting over a genius cellist convicted of arson. With singing firemen.
Similar themes, but Dark City is better than The Matrix. Agreed on the Directors Cut, for the same reasons as Blade Runner.
My final opinion of Dark City (which I liked) was that style won over substance and plot over story (to the detriment of movie), and that it fell just short of being a real winner (like, say, a Gattaca, Minority Report, Blade Runner or 12 Monkeys). But definitely "Worth a Watch," and visually it was most impressive.
Both of those are on my list to watch, actually. They sounded good, so I'm hoping they are. Another fun fact about The Hidden is that it contains a lot of people who would go on to be in DS9 and B5, like Marc Almo and Andrew Robinson.
Another vote for Dog Soldiers. This movie is basically Aliens only with British soldiers and werewolves. The dialogue is awesome (assuming you can understand British accents), and the characters are likable and well done. Dark City is also excellent.
I'll nominate Near Dark, Kathryn Bigelow's 1987 Southwestern vampire flick. Most folks that I know who've seen it like it. Unless they're into more of the Anne Rice "we're so tortured by our immortality" types. The flick stars a way pre-Heroes Adrian Pasdar, Lance Henriksen, Bill Paxton and B-movie favorite Tim Thomerson as Pasdar's dad. I think it's still available on DVD, here's the trailer, courtesy of the good folks at You Tube... [YT="Near Dark, 1987"]SYo14eZHRNA[/YT]
Crimes of Passion Kathleen Turner plays an executive by day, hooker by night (her stewardess routine ["As you slip into this wide body. . ."] is not to be missed). Andersonville An almost good movie about the Andersonville POW prison during the Civil War. Watch the movie and then read the book by John McElroy rather than doing it in reverse like I did. (Having read first person accounts of folks who were in Andersonville and first person accounts of people who were in Auschwitz, I can honestly say that Andersonville was worse. They may not have had "showers" in Andersonville, but the prisoners in Auschwitz weren't forced to sleep outside, completely exposed to the elements, either.) Amazon Women on the Moon If you like the Airplane! movies, you'll like this, its also notable for being the biggest movie that Lana Clarkson (AKA, the chick that Phil Spector killed) starred in. Him and Me Tiger Woods could probably benefit from watching this movie right about now. Its the story of a guy who's penis starts talking to him one day.
Michael Gondry's "Be Kind Rewind" from a couple years back. It's not a gut-busting comedy (except for the "Ghostbusters" spoof--which had me rolling ), but it has a lot of heart, and for someone who has a sentimental attachment to independent video stores (in the age of video downloads) it's one of my favorite films. "When you're walking down the street/and you see a little ghost/what are you going to do about it, Ghostbusters?" --Alternate "Ghostbusters" theme by Jack Black
I've been to Andersonville, and Dachau in Germany. Anyway, it gets cold as dog-shit in Georgia at night.....frost all the time in the mornings. I couldn't imagine surviving that in an emaciated state of health. Most of the deaths occured in the summer however.....from the disease ridden water source.
The Final Cut I know lots of people don't like Robin Williams movies, but this film works, except for the ending (I'll get to that in a bit without spoiling anything). Williams plays a "cutter" in an alternate reality Earth. At some point in the past 50 or so years, humanity has developed the technology to implant chips in utero which record everything you see and hear (there's additional information as well, supposedly, nobody knows for sure). When a person dies, the information from the chip is downloaded and edited by a "cutter" who shapes the recordings into a "Remorial" that is played at the funeral of the deceased. This is hugely controversial, and there's riots and protests and the like about the technology. Unfortunately, they couldn't think up of an ending to the movie, so they just sort of stuck one on there, which doesn't completely work.
http://www.unitedartists.com/nomansland/ No Man's Land (the Bosnian War film) is great - a realistic (and very plausible) situation about two men trapped in "no man's land" between enemy lines, somewhere near Tuzla I think. It captures the insanity and chaos of war, the ineptitude of the UN, etc. Anyone who's ever spent time in Bosnia (myself + maybe a few ex-military on WF) will really appreciate it. It's really good!
