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getting sick of waiting for hollywood crap to be released to blockbuster so the wife and me can watch something other than sitcoms. what movies should we be looking for that most people have never heard of and why.
Follow Ups:
If you truly are sick of Hollywood crap, the best thing you could do is subscribe to The Independant Film Channel and the Sundance Channel. They mostly show indie movies, and as such, are vastly more interesting than the mindless product that the major studios like to shovel.10 good examples:
Secrets and Lies -- English film about human relations, the lengthy, uncut scene in the diner is probably the best piece of acting I have ever seen captured on film.
The Sweet Hereafter -- aftermath of a school bus crash. Pain, deception, agenda, all messily displayed for your discomfort.
In the Company of Men -- I personally revile the main character in this film more than any other character in any other film I have ever seen. My stomach turns just thinking about the bastard.
Slingblade -- why Billy Bob Thorton is a genius. He plays a semi-retarded man so well it's eerie. The story is wonderful and tragic.
The Corndog Man -- an hilariously demented take on racism.
The Cook, The Thief, His Wife, and Her Lover -- truly beautifully shot, the movie's title is what the film is about. Includes the second most repulsive character I've seen in film.
Boys Don't Cry -- you might have seen this already, as it managed to cross over. Ha ha. Made me want to shower after seeing it, so as to wash away the disgust-not because the film is bad, but because it is so brutally honest about something I'd rather not know about.
Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels -- English comedy. Fun and twisted.
Swimming With Sharks -- speaking of Hollywood...
Reservoir Dogs -- brutally, graphically violent. Also twisted, but definitely not fun.
Extra bonus movie:
Clerks -- irreverent and hysterically funny. If you make it this far down the list, you'll be able to handle it, but don't start here.
Indie movies take a little while to work around in your head initially until you become accustomed to them, but if you "get it", you'll be hooked. Kind of like audiophilia. Good luck.
Like any movie they vary in terms of quality and story line. IMO the best Greek movie I have seen was a verision of the Iliad. It showed Greeks at their fractious best/worst. Great acting and a wonderful insight into human drives. Worth seeing if you can stand the subtitles or if you speak modern Greek.Felini movies have the same charactistic, very Italian. Some are wonderful others are just self-indulent.
thanks tb, this is exactly what i was looking for. what i don't understand is how could my inqury lead to acusations of racism? wow, some people need to loosen up. [notice my reccommendation to "loosen up" did not specify race, color or creed of those who could stand to "loosen up", no animals were harmed in the posting of this response] i was thinking of renting "the color of money" tonight but i can't stand the guilt.
nt
A bit hard to advise about this when you give no clue about your tastes.I suggest you buy a copy of Maltins and/or Martins Movie & video guides. Both are usefull as sometimes they do not agree. Hunt out the titles with top ratings and you will not go far wrong.
We are lucky here down under with a free to air broadcaster which puts out heaps of brilliant foreign films. We find the French, German and Dutch to be the most consistent with Scandanavian products close runners up. Spanish, Mexican etc are unreliable as are Italian & Greek for our tastes so we avoid them. There are quite a few foreign films reviewed in the above movie guides.
John
Hey, we do it with wine, cheese, cars, electronics, etc. etc. And so do foreigners with OUR products. Why the hell not be able to generalize about movies? There are always exceptions to generalizations, but that doesn't invalidate a generalization. Bottom line is that it's all opinion anyways. Nationalism maybe, but I certainly wouldn't label someone a biggot without more evidence.
I would.I am as entitled to label someone a bigot, as someone else is entitled to dismiss Spanish, Mexican, Italian and Greek films as unreliable.
To go further, everyone is has a right to their opinion; nobody is has a right to their prejudices.
"Spanish, Mexican etc are unreliable as are Italian & Greek for our tastes so we avoid them. "How can you possibly generalise about nationalities and film making ?
Unless of course......
"Spanish, Mexican etc are unreliable as are Italian & Greek for our tastes so we avoid them."Hey lighten up. Wow some of you take things literally. "for our taste" was not meant to be a slur on these nationalities, it is just we have found that the quality of acting and story is unreliable so we no longer waste time trying to look at them. This is exactly the same as us avoiding Sci-fi movies - they are not to our taste either.
Sorry but I cannot see where bigotry comes into that or should we be careful about insulting the aliens too?
John
You really can't help yourself-"it is just we have found that the quality of acting and story is unreliable so we no longer waste time trying to look at them."
So now it's a "waste of time" to even watch them ?
Would it have been so difficult to recommend movies (from any nation, if that is how you wish to categorise the art of film making) that you do like, and just leave out the value judgements about Spanish, Mexican, Italian and Greek films ?
Nations don't make films, people do.
Wow you really do have a problem about "political correctness"!Lighten up. Not all Spanish etc films are bad, it is just that too many of them broadcast here are really not worth watching. Ironically we tuned in last night to another Spanish effort but abandoned it after 10 minutes. The usual pointless sex scenes, violence & unbelievable plot so we abandoned it. Sex scenes and violence can be appropriate but rarely in the unsophisticated way most Spanish films seem to. So, Spanish films are not to our taste and I cannot see how giving a personal opinion like this is bigoted. It is based on attempting to look at many of them and finding few worth the effort.
I feel the same way about most Australian films as many have relatively poor acting. Fortunately Maltin etc review these so it is possible to see the good ones. Does this make us bigoted against our fellow Australians? Or maybe it makes us more discriminating!
BTW, saw "Carrington" recently - top film recommended to anyone who has not seen it.
John
You are talking about the MEXICAN (not SPANISH) director Allexandro Jodorowsky's "El Topo" then- an extremely violent allegorical tale of many religious and spiritual themes.I have seen more people walk out of this film than any other. A brutal and disturbing film, a landmark of imagery in film making for its time. Some find it more disturbing than his more recent "Sante Sangre"- you may want to avoid this one as well.
A good friend of that ITALIAN director Fellini- you probably would want to avoid his films too, rumour has it that Jodorowsky will release "Sons of El Topo"- one you should probably miss also.
I don't have a problem about political correctness, as I said previously-
Would it have been so difficult to recommend movies (from any nation, if that is how you wish to categorise the art of film making) that you do like, and just leave out the value judgements about Spanish, Mexican, Italian and Greek films ?
As for "Lightening up", the last time I saw Carrington it was about sex, sex, and nothing but sex. Even love between men and women without sex !- outrageous ! Those Brits are obsessed by sex! There - even I'm doing it. (Carrington V.C. with David Niven is typically un- British because it has no sex in it, but is worth watching because of Niven).
Jonathan Pryce and Emma Thompson are very good- but the pace of the film would not suit everyone. Excellent soundtrack- Michel Nyman's work is wonderful, and the Schubert string quartets work well. ( Now that would be a good topic for discussion- Movies with really good soundtracks- so good that you went out and bought them).
Regards,
Giorgio
No, the movie I was referring to was definitely Spanish - "To The limit" 1997. Now we have seen a couple or really rivetting Spanish movies but it is such a lottery that with no movie guides to assist, with limited time and with so many other good movies around we avoid attempting the Syanish variety. Mexican films shown here are few and far between but again, we have seen few we find interesting. Despite what you say, we find there are commonalities among films from countries. We find many Greek and Italian products tend to be rather male chauvenist with rather silly romantic, unbelievable plots. For sure not all are like this but too many to be bothered sitting through the first 30 mins to find out. To put it in better context the TV broadcaster I refer to transmits 14 foreign movies each week so one has to discriminate somehow.You make some valid comments about "Carrington" but the four of us who viewed it were not offended by the sex as it was an essential part of the film. Now my hat off to Emma Thompson, a brilliant Aussie actor and full agreement about the sound track. We find a sound track can turn us off (or on) a film very quickly and is often a valuable early insight as to the nature of what will follow.
One excellent French 1992 film with a beautiful sound track is "The Accompanist" which I note that Malton only gives a mediocre rating to.
One of the funniest and most satirical films seen by us in recent years is the French Canadian "Reality Show". By contrast we find all German attempts at comedy pathetic!
John
Now the Germans are in for another generalisation !As for :
"We find many Greek and Italian products tend to be rather male chauvenist with rather silly romantic, unbelievable plots"
- something you could never accuse Hollywood of.
(I apologise for the El Topo mix up- I thought your post was from today)
I guess we could agree to disagree-
You maintain that you can logically generalise about nationalities, I don't think it's necessary.
I will see The Accompanist because of your positive comments about it.
Ciao for now
Point taken. I guess our basic reason for such sweeping generalisations is that we have no guide to assist us sort out the wheat from the chaff with so many foreign movies. Your comment about Hollywood is apt. There is some dreadful rubbish coming out but with the aid of a couple of guides (Maltin & Martin who sometimes disagree as do we) it is possible to choose the very good ones.So, with the wealth of US, British & foreign movies available to choose from, we delineate in a most unscientific manner. We obviously miss some excellent Spanish, Italian etc movies but the upside of that is we do not waste time on those of questionable merit. Do you know of a movie guide or a net site (in English) that could assist?
Caveat about "The Accompanyist" - it is quite slow but IMO the music makes it. You seem to like classical music as do we, but anyone who did not would quickly give up.
Taste in movies is obviously extremely variable. Otherwise why would the studios produce such a variety, most of which my wife and I would condemn as either ordinary or crass but which others must obviously enjoy. We have tried to analyse what we admire but it is not easy. We look for -
1. Convincing acting (makes the characters real and ones we can empathise with).
2. An interesting story with some sort of point to it, not necessarily completely believable, but acted and produced so well that disbelief can be suspended.
3. Well photographed, directed and produced.
4. A nice soundtrack, preferrably classical music & definitely not raucous rock.
And you?
John
I think I will post some of my favourite non-Hollywood films as a point for discussion shortly- we didn't get around to answering the original post !I agree with the criteria you listed for film quality- but I don't mind which genre of music, most people underestimate the emotional impact a soundtrack can have - most directors certainly don't.
I wish there was a movie guide on the internet for non- mainstream film lovers- but I haven't found one yet.
Regards-
George
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