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I couldn't stand The Game, I thought it was dumb and made no sense. I watched it a few years ago though. I love Fincher so I'll give him another chance.
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Oct 1, 2012 16:44
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Irish Taxi Driver posted:I couldn't stand The Game, I thought it was dumb and made no sense. I watched it a few years ago though. I love Fincher so I'll give him another chance. It is dumb, and while it kind of makes sense, it's also pointless.
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Oct 1, 2012 16:47
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My problem with The Game was that I just completely bought into the concept. As a result, I always assumed that the whole thing was part of "the game" right from the start, so at no point did I find any of it remotely suspenseful, and instead speculated on how cool it would be if that actually existed and I could afford to do it.
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Oct 1, 2012 16:52
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kuddles posted:My problem with The Game was that I just completely bought into the concept. As a result, I always assumed that the whole thing was part of "the game" right from the start, so at no point did I find any of it remotely suspenseful, and instead speculated on how cool it would be if that actually existed and I could afford to do it. And the film basically asks you to do this. I also feel that that the moral of the story is essentially "yes money can buy everything. even catharsis for your father's suicide" Add to this the fact that as much as I love Michael Douglas, he's playing his most generic rich white businessman character. I felt like there was no character, it was just Michael Douglas.
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Oct 1, 2012 17:16
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You guys should ALL watch House of Games. "The Game" is like the insulting, watered down version of the same sort of movie. Not that I don't like aspects of it. But Mamet originated this style of film in many ways and he does it better than anyone else. Also worth watching in the same vein: The Spanish Prisoner. It contains a truly wonderful performance by Steve Martin playing completely against type in a very cool way.
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Oct 1, 2012 17:22
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kaworu posted:You guys should ALL watch House of Games. "The Game" is like the insulting, watered down version of the same sort of movie. Not that I don't like aspects of it. But Mamet originated this style of film in many ways and he does it better than anyone else.
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Oct 1, 2012 17:33
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As a side note I've always found it funny that Johnathan Katz has a credit in House of Games, because he and David Mamet were college roommates (and ping pong hustlers).
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Oct 1, 2012 17:35
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kuddles posted:I don't understand why you keep saying this. House of Games has almost nothing in common with The Game, and certainly doesn't fit the category of this thread. It absolutely does - both films are deeply involved with perpetrating a "con" on the audience, and in both cases the "con" is multiple levels deep, and has to do with the way we (seeing everything from the point of view of the protagonist) get drawn into the con for various reasons. If you break the films down stage by stage and compare them, they hit practically identical checkpoints along the way, in terms of having necessary scenes where we're convinced we do know what's actually going on. Here's a specific example that I'm going to spoiler because it involves significant spoilers for BOTH films: There are literally identical scenes in each film where The Mark manages to outwit the con artists and goes to their "home base" to see all the various characters The Mark encountered along the way of the con (both antagonists and people that were helpful), and all of them are hanging out, eating/drinking, as if they were old friends - even the ones who seemed to be strangers to one another just the day before. You've got the same exact scene in both films, and it serves the same exact purpose. But whereas the ending of The Game is kinda silly and ultimately ironically detached, the end of House of Games is absolutely stunning and makes the film muchmore complex and fascinating in retrospect. And if House of Games isn't a psychological thriller, then what is it? It's certainly not straight drama. It's got some crime it but it's definitely not strictly a crime film. Definitely not a comedy of any sort. Netflix has gives it the following genre tags: Thriller, Crime Thrillers, Mysteries, Psychological Thrillers. I'd say that means it fits in this thread. I'm honestly confused how anyone could watch it and not think it that "thriller/mystery" would be the only genre terms to describe it in. kaworu fucked around with this message at 18:31 on Oct 1, 2012 |
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Oct 1, 2012 18:27
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Irish Taxi Driver posted:I couldn't stand The Game, I thought it was dumb and made no sense. I watched it a few years ago though. I love Fincher so I'll give him another chance. I remember seeing it back when I was a kid and thinking it was awesome. I watched it recently and I thought the acting and some of the lines were hilariously bad. There's a part where Michael Douglas jumps into a dumpster and remarks with something stupid to two on-lookers like, "table for two please" as he wipes off Chinese food from his shoulder. It doesn't sound bad as I type this, but the line and delivery was so loving corny that I almost immediately turned it off.
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Oct 2, 2012 00:15
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I'm compiling a list of these great movies to watch thanks to this thread. Cmon people! I need more suggestions. Also I loved Event Horizon, Sunshine, Moon and a bunch of others mentioned here. Are there more crazy weird poo poo in space movies? I love that feeling of isolated on a creepy ship/planet/space station whatever and dealing with unknown weirdness.
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Nov 12, 2012 19:01
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JD-Smith posted:I'm compiling a list of these great movies to watch thanks to this thread. Cmon people! I need more suggestions. Have you seen Pandorum? I didn't like it very much, but I recall it being pretty popular.
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Nov 12, 2012 19:39
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User-Friendly posted:Have you seen Pandorum? I didn't like it very much, but I recall it being pretty popular. Yes I saw that one. I was pretty disappointed by the whole thing although there were a couple of cool parts.
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Nov 12, 2012 19:54
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Lord Krangdar posted:I'm afraid it will suck because it looks like they added some high-school drama bullshit, but I'm hoping it will have some interesting visuals and /or weird poo poo. I actually really like the first one, and thought it was more coherent than most people judged it to be. The new one is the definition of incoherent. The plot is terrible and pretty incoherent even though a third of it is exposition. Most of the cool visuals had no link to the story so came out of nowhere and then left just as quickly so just ended up being boring. To round it off, the writing and acting are awful. In summary: I wasn't a fan. I would be interested to hear from anyone who genuinely enjoyed it, and not just in a 'so bad it's good' way.
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Nov 12, 2012 20:19
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Unless I missed it, haven't seen Lake Mungo mentioned yet. It's a documentary about a family that loses a daughter, and their struggle coming to terms with their grief. When weird, maybe supernatural stuff starts to happen around the house, and family members start questioning whether or not they saw what they think they saw, an investigation into the life of their lost daughter reveals she had a secret life. Without spoiling anything, the film does a good job of constantly posing the question "is it really supernatural, or is it a grieving family desperate to find some way of believing their dead daughter is still around?" Just when you think it's leaning one way or the other, another little snippet is revealed that throws it back into question again. I'd say it was equal parts creepy to melancholy, and ever so slightly disturbing, though nowhere near on the scale of some of the films discussed in recent pages of the thread. Another Australian documentary-style one I liked, The Tunnel.  This gets more in your face than Lake Mungo, but as far as I can remember doesn't contain anything overly gore-festy. That said, the buildup to poo poo kicking off is the strongest selling point here. From the main character, a fearless reporter desperate to land her career breaking story, first hearing tales of strange occurrences in the tunnels deep below Sydney to the team actually getting down there and realising they're out of their depth and getting stalked takes up at least half the movie. It's creepy and tense, and the moment things first go south has a really good bit involving a lost-and-found-again camera. This was one of those films I spent half the time watching through a crack in between my fingers. This one is AFAIK distributed for free legally, but I just tried to go to their site and Chrome gave me a malware warning, so proceed at your own risk. Since it's legally free to download and watch, you can probably get it from all the usual  places guilt-free.
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Jan 17, 2013 01:06
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Cactus posted:This one is AFAIK distributed for free legally, but I just tried to go to their site and Chrome gave me a malware warning, so proceed at your own risk. Since it's legally free to download and watch, you can probably get it from all the usual That's weird about the site, I wonder what happened. Just go here for the torrent: http://vodo.net/thetunnel
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Jan 17, 2013 03:26
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I've been asking for these for a while, but: Can anyone suggest me some Docudramas? Sci-fi, horror, or thriller docudramas. Let me clarify on this. I'm not talking found-footage, because found footage tend to be very raw, mimicking an unedited format. I'm talking docudrama, where there's an awareness to the editing. Basically a mockumentary, but not played for laughs or irony. A film that uses the narrative structure of a documentary, which will then include found-footage or interview footage within it's structure. I know that's a bit specific, but I really love these. Examples I've seen recently that I really like include: Grave Encounters: stated to have been found footage that was edited by a third party for time and clarity, to present the findings after the fact. Ghostwatch: made for tv movie in the form of a Halloween night investigative special into a haunted house, complete with fake experts and fake call-ins, as though it were really being broadcast. This one was brilliant. Special Science Report: Alternative 3: an April fools prank by a reputable science show, where they produced an entire episode of investigative reporting where it looked like they'd uncovered a conspiracy between the US and Russia during the cold war. This one ruled like crazy. I love these, because they remind me of the old War of the Worlds style radio plays, and of the YTV halloween marathons where the station hosts ended up in a haunted house or something between shows. I've been bugging people for these in the general chat thread, and now that this thread popped back up, I thought I'd mention them and hope for more. And yeah, I know everyone's going to suggest Paranormal Activity: I count that more as found footage, but I'm planning to watch it later this week. edit: screwed up a title. Cinnamon Bastard fucked around with this message at 13:57 on Jan 17, 2013 |
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Jan 17, 2013 06:38
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Cinnamon Bastard posted:I've been asking for these for a while, but: Can anyone suggest me some Docudramas? The Legend of Boggy Creek gave me the heebie jeebies as a little kid. It's a "documentary" about a bigfoot-like creature in Arkansas. It's from the 70's, though, and very low budget.
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Jan 17, 2013 06:46
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Cinnamon Bastard posted:
Got a link to this? I've tried googling but as you can imagine with a search term so vague it's giving me everything under the sun except the programme you described. Also, since you didn't mention you had seen it, Lake Mungo sounds exactly like what you're looking for.
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Jan 17, 2013 09:36
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Haha, well it would've helped you if I'd gotten the drat name right. I'll edit my post. Special Bulletin, which is available in full on youtube. Here you go: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rUUxu_m6mrU And it's more complicated and interesting than the simple blurb I gave you. Wizchine posted:The Legend of Boggy Creek gave me the heebie jeebies as a little kid. It's a "documentary" about a bigfoot-like creature in Arkansas. It's from the 70's, though, and very low budget.
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Jan 17, 2013 13:56
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Cinnamon Bastard posted:I've been asking for these for a while, but: Can anyone suggest me some Docudramas?
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Jan 17, 2013 14:18
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Not yet, I will add those to the list. I'm actually keeping a list. Do they have talking heads, interviews, or fake experts? Or anchors/hosts that eventually are just trying to cope while staying professional? When there's that much documentary overlaid, I'm pumped.
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Jan 17, 2013 14:23
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The Last Broadcast, but I'm sure you've seen it...
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Jan 17, 2013 14:24
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Cinnamon Bastard posted:Do they have talking heads, interviews, or fake experts? Or anchors/hosts that eventually are just trying to cope while staying professional? When there's that much documentary overlaid, I'm pumped. The Tunnel is sort of bookended with interviews and news segments, it starts off as a talking heads documentary, then turns into found footage for most of the movie, with some cuts back to the interviews now and then.
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Jan 17, 2013 14:33
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Cinnamon Bastard posted:Special Bulletin, which is available in full on youtube. Here you go: I saw this on TV when I was a little kid, probably when it first aired - I think I just turned the TV on and it happened to be on that channel, and I was too young to understand that it wasn't real. It scared the poo poo out of me.
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Jan 17, 2013 15:18
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Cinnamon Bastard posted:I've been asking for these for a while, but: Can anyone suggest me some Docudramas? Hmmm how about Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon? or the way Pontypool is filmed might appeal to you. Both are firmly in the horror genre.
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Jan 17, 2013 23:18
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All of these suggestions are awesome, thank you. And I have seen Pontypool, and though I wouldn't put it in that category, it's like an inside-out version of the genre, and I loved it. Especially the ending, but especially the opening voice-over. Fun fact: I grew up near that specific town of Pontypool, and my grandmother lives in the next town over. The author of the novel/novella has another book called The Hellmouths of Bewdley, which is where my parents now live. Mrs. French's cat has not yet been found.
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Jan 18, 2013 00:05
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Chiming in to recommend <b>Pontypool</b>. I took a chance on it and was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed it. The film takes places almost entirely inside a small town radio station and follows the radio crew during a regular programming day that turns into a, for lack of a better term, 'zombie' outbreak. One of the best scenes involves the radio host talking to a field reporter who is frantically describing the situation, without ever showing it from his perspective, keeping the audience as in the dark as the characters. Cinnamon Bastard posted:Fun fact: I grew up near that specific town of Pontypool, and my grandmother lives in the next town over. The author of the novel/novella has another book called The Hellmouths of Bewdley, which is where my parents now live. The main reason I checked out Pontypool was because I was really interested to hear of a zombie movie set in rural Ontario 
Weirdo fucked around with this message at 00:19 on Jan 18, 2013 |
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Jan 18, 2013 00:17
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Weirdo posted:One of the best scenes involves the radio host talking to a field reporter who is frantically describing the situation, without ever showing it from his perspective, keeping the audience as in the dark as the characters. Those two scenes are intense as hell. I should just add the film to my list and give it a rewatch.
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Jan 18, 2013 00:26
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Cinnamon Bastard posted:Those two scenes are intense as hell. I should just add the film to my list and give it a rewatch. The first half of Pontypool is the best zombie film I've ever seen.
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Jan 18, 2013 08:27
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kuddles posted:Well, thanks to this thread I discovered Triangle, which before now I never heard of. It was certainly my kind of movie, especially how it allows for more than one interpretation of the events. Apologies for replying to an old post. Major Triangle spoilers. I don't think the Jess we follow suffers memory loss before getting back on the ship. At some point, fresh versions of a person are drawn into the time paradox just like her friends and the seagull who all pile up. Presumably some versions of Jess have not been on the boat earlier even if the Jess we follow is saying weird things about her kid in the start. Maybe she's just covering up that she beats him. Anyway. The Jess that has already been to the USS Time Paradox and has lost her son returns to the ship for a chance to see her dead kid again. We've seen several versions of Jess with the mask on, and this is the one that becomes the cruelest killer. She's there to murder her way back to her kid, and she is killed off on screen around the time we see the Sally-massgrave. Attack on Princess fucked around with this message at 11:38 on Jan 18, 2013 |
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Jan 18, 2013 10:43
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futureproof posted:The first half of Pontypool is the best zombie film I've ever seen. All too true. That movie goes from terrifying to forgettable in the space of one camera cut. But that first half, holy poo poo.
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Jan 18, 2013 13:40
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Donnerberg posted:Apologies for replying to an old post. Major Triangle spoilers. I don't think the Jess we follow suffers memory loss before getting back on the ship. At some point, fresh versions of a person are drawn into the time paradox just like her friends and the seagull who all pile up. Presumably some versions of Jess have not been on the boat earlier even if the Jess we follow is saying weird things about her kid in the start. Maybe she's just covering up that she beats him. Sarchasm posted:All too true. That movie goes from terrifying to forgettable in the space of one camera cut. But that first half, holy poo poo.
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Jan 18, 2013 14:16
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Regarding Pontypool:kuddles posted:I disagree. While I thought the inclusion of a new character who literally explains what's going on to the audience was unnecessary, I loved the overall reveal and the way it concluded. I really didn't like the way it concluded, because I thought a lot of the tension dissipated with the exposition dump and then the insistence on beating a single idea into abstraction. On the other hand, it was really faithful to the spirit of the book. On the third hand, the book was (as the author freely admits and for which he apologizes) a deliberately impenetrable exercise in semiotics.
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Jan 18, 2013 19:20
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Since the topic of docudramas came up, here's something similar: Punishment Park (1971) The movie takes place in an alternate future/universe of America where a documentary crew from England films the US government's newest form of dealing with 'criminals.' It's explained that the government has declared a state of emergency with the anti-war movement growing in numbers over the year, and now anyone who simply seems threatening can get arrested by the police. They're then taken to the desert and put through a tribunal made up of "members of the community" where they're given two options: Serve out a harsh prison sentence (usually 10-15 years) or take their chance in Punishment Park. What is Punishment Park? It's a 50+ mile trek through the California desert to a site with an American flag. If the prisoners can make it to the flag within 3 days without food and water they don't have to serve out their sentence. The catch is that Punishment Park is actually a training exercise for law enforcement officers/the National Guard. The prisoners are given a head start for a few hours, but then the officers/solders are sent out to hunt them down. If a prisoner is caught/arrested they're taken back and forced to serve out their sentence. This movie never really got much love since its release. It premiered at Cannes to some decent reviews, but in the same year it was ripped apart by critics at the New York Film Festival. Part of the reason is because people were livid at a British filmmaker portraying America as some sort of police-state nightmare, and no one in Hollywood ever distributed it. Decades later people have finally warmed up to it and given the movie the recognition it deserves, with a Blu-Ray release in the UK and a limited run on DVD in the US. Watching the movie today it's shocking that it's over 40 years old. It's definitely a product of its time but it came before movies like Cannibal Holocaust, The Blair Witch Project, Battle Royale, etc. and you can see this movie sharing some very distant qualities with all of those kinds of films. This isn't a straight up horror film in the traditional sense, but it's an incredibly realistic and visceral experience. It was made for a tiny budget (under $100k including film prints/processing) and there are moments where it's obvious that the cast/crew were actually getting mad at each other and taking things too far. This may skirt the line with the thread's requirements but I can safely say that I was bothered more by this movie than a lot of other titles suggested in here. Here's a trailer (  for language I guess)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=suh2r2ojP3I
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Jan 19, 2013 01:24
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Y'know, gently caress you guys. Lake Mungo started out really interesting, an intricate ghost story that was just like the well made ghost documentaries out there. Then it got really, really sad and upsetting. I mean, it got really good again after that, but drat there was just a really ugly twist in there. I enjoyed it, but drat did that middle part sting.
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Jan 23, 2013 06:48
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Cinnamon Bastard posted:Y'know, gently caress you guys. Lake Mungo started out really interesting, an intricate ghost story that was just like the well made ghost documentaries out there. Then it got really, really sad and upsetting. I mean, it got really good again after that, but drat there was just a really ugly twist in there. Been a while since I saw it, what are you referring to?
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Jan 23, 2013 16:59
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Probably the whole prank by the son to suggest she's alive. Lake Mungo is a pretty quintessential example for this thread. Definitely flawed but thematically much more interesting than the large majority of horror films. Plus it earns the long build-up to "THAT scene."
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Jan 23, 2013 17:14
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justlikedunkirk posted:Probably the whole prank by the son to suggest she's alive. Actually, I would probably say he's talking about the neighbor thing. That bothered the hell out of me the first time I saw it.
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Jan 23, 2013 19:49
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I really want to watch Mungo again but I feel like I need to show it to somebody else to earn that viewing because it's that good.
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Jan 23, 2013 19:53
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futureproof posted:The first half of Pontypool is the best zombie film I've ever seen. Frankly, that Pontypool is even halfway good is a testament to Bruce McDonald making sense of what was some pretty poo poo source material. The novel is one of the first I've read that has an Author's Note at the end which more or less apologizes for the book and writes it off as a young writers' self-indulgent first novel. That said, there are a few scenes in the book that would be fantastic if translated to the screen, but overall the whole thing is a mess. http://www.amazon.com/Pontypool-Changes-Everything-Tony-Burgess/dp/1550228811
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