The Personal Recommendation Hall of Fame

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Daamn, that sounds like a movie I should add to my Top 50 Films To Avoid Before You Die list. Also.. two ratings?
It's a bad movie but I love bad movies (I'm sure Capt. Spaulding knows this) and as far as bad movies go it's one of the best. It's so awful you have to respect it. I rate bad movies/exploitation on a curve. A four star bad movie is obviously not the same as something like Le Trou or Dial M for Murder that's why it's on a curve. It's like getting a 60 on your math test but so did everyone else so 60 becomes the top score. It's still not good but it's the best.



It's a bad movie but I love bad movies and as far as bad movies go it's one of the best. It's so awful you have to respect it. I rate bad movies/exploitation on a curve. A four star bad movie is obviously not the same as something like Le Trou or Dial M for Murder that's why it's on a curve. It's like getting a 60 on your math test but so did everyone else so 60 becomes the top score. It's still not good but it's the best.
Ah now I understand, try Robo Vampire some time



The Last Picture Show 1971 Directed by Peter Bogdanovich


Difficult to fully explain why I liked this classic american art piece.
On the surface it appears to be just another coming of age drama but I feel that's only half of what the movie is. It's also very much about the older generation in this film looking back, contemplating, reminiscing. That aspect of the film is not scripted but is instilled in the stares and facial expressions of the older cast members. Who imo totally out shined the young ones.



They're seeing younger versions of themselves going through the same exact experiences in the same small town that doesn't change with the times just repeats itself with different names and faces. A circle of life theme, *spoiler I think it was a very deliberate choice to nickname Sam 'the Lion' when he died it allowed Sonny the young lion to take his place.

Technically it all looks great especially the shots of the town stood out for me. Only minor critique would be the casting of Timothy Bottoms who was a bit lacking in the charisma department. The film was also surprisingly kinky I think I really missed out on some great naked pool parties by not growing up in 1950's Texas.


Thanks for nominating, really no clue who this time, it was an enriching watch.



The thing isolated becomes incomprehensible
Naked Lunch (1991)

I swear I still don't understand how Cronenberg is such an acclaimed director.
Again, incredibly interesting premise, weirdly original, and still a movie that gradually becomes more and more boring! The first 30 minutes of this were so promising, but it eventually it lost interest.
There is really not much I can say about it. The sex scene between Bill, Joan and the weird bug with the ass was weirdly erotic and probably my favourite part, the bugs are really well done and the metaphor for homosexuality was nicely formulated. But you could do the same with a 40 minute short film.

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@cricket, was this you?



Naked Lunch (1991)

I swear I still don't understand how Cronenberg is such an acclaimed director.
Again, incredibly interesting premise, weirdly original, and still a movie that gradually becomes more and more boring! The first 30 minutes of this were so promising, but it eventually it lost interest.
There is really not much I can say about it. The sex scene between Bill, Joan and the weird bug with the ass was weirdly erotic and probably my favourite part, the bugs are really well done and the metaphor for homosexuality was nicely formulated. But you could do the same with a 40 minute short film.

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@cricket, was this you?
I won't say whether I did or I didn't, but I will tell you that I've never seen it.

Fun fact: Naked Lunch was nominated for Miss Vicky but then the person later changed their mind. You win some and you lose some, but that could have been utterly catastrophic.



Fun fact: Naked Lunch was nominated for Miss Vicky but then the person later changed their mind. You win some and you lose some, but that could have been utterly catastrophic.
I actually may watch that movie anyway. After finishing A History of Violence last night, I was looking at the IMDb pages for some of Cronenberg's other films and that one seemed really interesting.



i liked naked lunch alright but i think it kinda relies on the viewer already having a familiarity with the burroughs' novel on which it's based, which i'd never read so i felt like a lot of stuff went over my head. i wouldn't recommend it to anyone who hasn't read the book or isn't a cronenberg completist. but if you're looking for more cronenberg, eastern promises is very good and the most similar to a history of violence, and i could see miss vicky enjoying videodrome and dead ringers, maybe even the dead zone or a dangerous method. come to think of it, i tend to associate a dangerous method and quills in my head in the way they deal with sexual repression, but i haven't seen either in a few years so that may be unfounded.
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Most Biblical movies were long If I Recall.
seen A Clockwork Orange. In all honesty, the movie was weird and silly
letterboxd
criticker



The trick is not minding
The Fly remake is great. I am not a fan of A History of Violence. Naked Lunch is a film I have yet to see, but should.
I’ve been wanting to see early Cronenberg film for awhile now.



Trouble with a capital "T"
Naked Lunch (1991)
...incredibly interesting premise, weirdly original, and still a movie that gradually becomes more and more boring! The first 30 minutes of this were so promising, but it eventually it lost interest.
That's how I felt about it. The first 30 minutes I was blown away and thinking it would be an all time favorite, but after that I just kept getting more bored.

I actually may watch that movie anyway. After finishing A History of Violence last night, I was looking at the IMDb pages for some of Cronenberg's other films and that one seemed really interesting.
I was going to choose Naked Lunch for you this time, as I kinda thought it might work for you. But I figured it was a real long short as it's sci-fi fantasy stuff, so didn't go for it.



i liked naked lunch alright but i think it kinda relies on the viewer already having a familiarity with the burroughs' novel on which it's based, which i'd never read so i felt like a lot of stuff went over my head.
It's been more than two decades since I've read the book but the movie is not a filming of the Burroughs' novel. It's more like a fictional (with lots of references to facts too) story about the writing of the said book. Anyways, I don't think it's a very good film either.

If someone wants to check more Cronenberg and use my (abominable) tastes as a guide I'd suggest the following (in release order): Shivers, Rabid, Videodrome and Eastern Promises. That's probably my top-4 for him.
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Waltz with Bashir 2008 ‘Vals Im Bashir’ Directed by Ari Folman


Hats off to director and writer Ari Folman who delivers a very important anti-war message.
He really stuck his neck out and took many financial and political risks by making this film.
Faith in humanity restored.

Folman tells his own real life story about the time he served in the Israeli army during the 1982 Lebanon War. A time he has almost completely blocked from his memory. We follow him in his quest to regain his memory. He does so by ‘interviewing’ several of his former army buddies. After every interview Ari recalls more and more of the atrocities and brutalities of the events that took place and why his mind has blocked these shocking events.

The animation; cgi, hand drawn and flash lends itself perfectly for this heavy subject matter.
I think it was a smart choice to tell his story in this way. Had it been done non-animated I feel it would have been too gruesome, confrontational and provocative and they might not have gotten away with distributing it.

Deservedly it won the Golden Globe Award for Best Foreign Language Film and was nominated for Oscars Best Foreign Language film.

Because of its subject matter and statement it’s very obvious why this hasn’t been / kept off my to watch radar since it's release.
So thanks very much to I think MV for nominating this powerful, truly unique, first of its kind and groundbreaking documentary/film.




Hah , knew it!

Drawn in bold lines and colored in shades of gold and blue, the animation is both crisp and yet somehow crude. The images don't move with the fluidity that you expect to see in modern animation, but this is not a flaw. The style of the artwork adds greatly to the sense of surrealism and a sort of numbness that accompany its depictions of the horrors of war. Many of the film's scenes are oddly beautiful - the reflection of a man in the eye of a dying horse, the graceful, dance-like movements of a soldier firing countless bullets into surrounding buildings as he spins circles in the street, and the glow of flares that light up the sky while soldiers murder civilians below. It's all strangely entrancing.
Really like this paragraph I just read from your review, you certainly have a way with words.




Invasion of the Body Snatchers
Directed by Don Siegel

Flashback: A doctor returns to his sleepy little town to find something is amiss with the citizens. Loved ones are concerned that their relatives aren't really their relatives anymore. They're off. They look the same, still remember everything but they are just a little different. The Doc figures it's just some kind of group mental issue until a friend calls him over to his house where he has an unfinished replica of himself on his pool table. What is going on?

I had been avoiding this one as well as the remake for years. They didn't seem like something that I would enjoy. Last year I watched the 1977 version for a Halloween-a-thon thing and enjoyed it so I wasn't dreading this as much as I probably would have. In fact, I like it better than the remake. It's a bit more snappy than the remake and it's definitely more B-movie-ish. I should say it feels like a b-movie plot but the acting, fx and everything else doesn't seem b-movie. It's not campy. It stars Kevin McCarthy, who is one of those guys that was in that thing, as the Dr.. I recognized him but couldn't place him (Twilight Zone: The Movie is what I think) and Dana Wynter is his love interest, Becky. Didn't recognize her at all. They both do a real good job which is part of why this doesn't feel like a b-movie.

This is a movie that often gets the "what is it really about?" treatment. It could really be about any number of things but all I know is we currently have safeguards to avoid a pod people takeover. When everyone starts getting along online - watch out!




Waltz with Bashir 2008 ‘Vals Im Bashir’ Directed by Ari Folman
Need to see this. I remember seeing it on Ebert and Roeper and wanting to see it back then but it always falls to the background when a new shiny object crosses my path.