Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Deadmeat1471]

Heh, there's not enough of Dick's "DADoES" left in Blade Runner to justify calling it an adaptation, I suppose.
But, yeah. Linklater's film is indeed one of the best. Personally, I also liked how "Screamers" approached the material(by no means a perfect movie, though).
I've also heard some people calling the "Minority Report" the best adaptation of a Dick's novel. Hmmm.

Minority report was one of Dicks? I thought it was taken from an Asimov short-story, I can't for the life of me remember the name, but It's one of my favorites of his.

I will dig up the name from my book of his short stories unless someone else knows the one I mean.

[Il Palazzo]

Man, don't scare me like that:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Minority_Report

[Deadmeat1471]

Well, I suppose it's a good thing, the Asimov story is actually good 

[RedKing]

Film Enthusiast; I summon thee!

Name your top 10 films, and put its main genre in brackets (in bold, preferably) next to it, and if its in a different language (for those who dislike subtitles and such).

4. The Eye Ghost (Asian)

Spoiler: Synopsis (click to show/hide)

Blind since the age of two, 20-year-old Hong Kong classical violinist Mun undergoes an eye cornea transplant after receiving a pair of new eyes from a donor. Initially, she is glad to have her sense of sight restored but becomes troubled when she starts seeing mysterious figures that seem to foretell gruesome deaths.

I've saw that one in the theater (the HK original, not the US remake with Jessica Alba). Had some good unnerving moments.



Restricting it to ten is a tough call, but here's an off-the-top-of-my-head list:

1. Apocalypse Now (1979, War) -- No need to really introduce this one. A retelling of Joseph Heller's "Heart of Darkness" set in Vietnam at the height of the Vietnam War. Gritty and brooding yet visually glorious. One of the films that shaped an entire generation's image of the Vietnam War, and created more one-liners and memes than almost any other. A five-star cast, with career-defining performances from Marlon Brando, Martin Sheen, Robert Duvall and Dennis Hopper.

2. The Good, The Bad and the Ugly (1966, Western) -- The defining "spaghetti western" and the defining role for Clint Eastwood. Has more sublimely badass moments in it than most action films in the last ten years put together, especially the memorable Mexican standoff scene near the end.

3. The Dark Knight (2008, Superhero) -- Probably the best interpretation of Batman in film yet, and Heath Ledger's performance as the Joker was on an entirely different level from anyone else. Probably the most terrifying and yet believable "costumed villain" performance, period.

4. Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring (2001, Fantasy) -- Works as a very solid fantasy film, even if you're not familiar with Tolkien's work. If you're a Tolkien fan, well....I actually teared up in the first few minutes of showing the Shire, because THEY GOT IT RIGHT. Damn near everything in this movie, they got it right. One of the rare film adaptations where they remained faithful to the source material without getting bogged down in it.

5. The Matrix (1999, Sci-Fi) -- Yeah, it's probably passe to younger audiences who grew up with it, and possibly tarnished by the later movies. But when it first came out it was pure, unmitigated awesome sauce. There were just no words to describe how revolutionary it was in terms of cinematography and special effects. And the story is actually pretty tight. (In fact, a little too tight -- there honestly shouldn't have been sequels considering Neo basically becomes the Buddha.)

6. Dr. Strangelove: Or, How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love The Bomb (1964, Comedy) -- Everything you ever needed to know about how f**ked-up the Cold War was, is in this movie. Political satire at its funniest and most biting. Includes such memorable moments as Slim Pickens riding the A-bomb, and the line, "Gentlemen, you can't fight in here! This is the War Room!"

7. Saving Private Ryan (1998, War) -- Yes, the storyline has some sappy moments. It also has quite a few brutal moments in it, including the opening 30 minutes of the Normandy landings which is calculated to leave you completely shell-shocked at the end of it. That sequence alone was worth the Oscar, IMHO.

8. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000, Wuxia, Mandarin w/ subtitles) -- While the wuxia genre of Hong Kong film had been introduced to the West in the 1960's and 1970's with lots of entertaining but low-budget films, Crouching Tiger was the first real example of a big-budget wuxia film. And it was glorious, with solid performances from Chow Yun Fat and Maggie Cheung, as well as a career-making performance by Zhang Ziyi. Derided by some in the West for its "unrealistic" martial arts, mostly due to unfamiliarity with the genre.

9. Hero (2002, Wuxia, Mandarin w/ subtitles) -- Building on the success of Crouching Tiger, mainland director Zhang Yimou released his wuxia epic, translated in English as "Hero". Zhang takes several nods from Akira Kurosawa's works, including the thematic use of color and the retelling of the same story multiple times from different, unreliable POVs. If you like Rashomon, you'll probably like Hero, and vice versa. Criticized by some as having too positive a portrayal of the First Emperor, and towards the virtues of authoritarianism.

10. Iron Monkey (1993, Wuxia, Cantonese w/ subtitles) -- Okay, it's not one of the greatest movies ever made. But since I'm on a wuxia kick here at the end, this is a lesser-known one that must be seen to be believed. Directed by Yuen Woo-ping (the legendary fight choreographer behind The Matrix, Kill Bill, Crouching Tiger, and dozens of other movies) it's basically a Robin Hood story wherein a local doctor helps his village by stealing from the corrupt authorities as a masked bandit and giving food and gold to the poor. Another doctor/martial artist is forced into tracking him down and combatting him, only to join him. The arrival of the Big Bad, an evil Shaolin monk with superpowers is when the movie cranks it up to 11. The final fight scene cannot be described adequately. You have to see it.

[Heron TSG]

These aren't in exact order, but rather a general order. The best few are at the top, but not necessarily ranked properly.

01. Inception (Mindfuck)
Favorite part: When Arthur kicks some butt in the second dream.

02. Religulous (Comedy/Documentary)
Favorite part: When the congressman says, "Well, you don't need to pass an IQ test to be a senator."

03. The Lord of the Rings; The Two Towers (An epic adventure movie.)
Favorite part: Hard to pick one. The Battle of Helm's Deep was pretty good.

04. Dinner for Schmucks (Comedy)
Favorite Part:

05. Scott Pilgrim vs. The World (Comedy)
Favorite Part: The fight between Scott and the Vegan was pretty hilarious.

06. The Dark Knight (Vigilante goodness)
Favorite Part: The Joker was one of the best villains I've ever seen.

07. Hot Rod (So Bad It's Good Comedy)
Favorite Part: The Big Jump.

08. Zombieland (Comedy)
Favorite Part: When the group shows up to Bill Murray's mansion, things take a turn for the awesome.

09. Up! (Adventure?)
Favorite part: Not really my 'favorite' per se, but the opening parts where Mr. Frederickson meets Elle as a child and the movie quickly goes through their life together until Elle dies was incredibly moving.

10. Mega Pirahna (Narm-ful Action.)
Favorite Part: So many parts. Circle-kicking giant piranhas for almost a minute straight was pretty good. The best part would have to be when the piranhas starting jumping at buildings and erupting in flames.

Honorable Mention: Vijayendra Varma. I don't speak Hindi, but just watching the movie was glorious. It's like an action musical, but with more action and more dancing.

[fqllve]

You know, I've never seen the Soviet version of Solaris, I admit this freely. Perhaps because I heard of Lem disliking the liberties Tarkovsky took with the story, when I was a kid.
A failed affair with Stalker some years back didn't help either, I suppose.
To this day I feel almost repulsed at the thought of watching it, however irrational this feeling might be.

Man, I really need to break this spell, else my self-proclaimed status of an amateur film critic suffers. Do you think you could try and sell it to me?

Well, I think Tarkovsky said something like "Lem doesn't understand film. It doesn't exist to illustrate the novel but must be art in it's own right." Which is how I feel about it.

It really isn't a faithful adapatation, Tarkovsky's film is more personal and the characters are more sympathetic (which was taken way too far in the Soderbergh version, I thought). Even though it and the book share the same major conflict it feels like the two works are about different things.

But even though it isn't faithful to the book it doesn't sacrifice it at the hands of entertainment. It's like a cover of a jazz standard, something new should be brought to the work each time and I think Tarkovsky's does that in good faith.

Heh, there's not enough of Dick's "DADoES" left in Blade Runner to justify calling it an adaptation, I suppose.
But, yeah. Linklater's film is indeed one of the best. Personally, I also liked how "Screamers" approached the material(by no means a perfect movie, though).
I've also heard some people calling the "Minority Report" the best adaptation of a Dick's novel. Hmmm.

And if you consider another one of Linklater's movies, the "Waking Life", does it not strike you as being very much in the spirit of P.K.Dick too? The slipping reality, the contemplative hero, the "don't trust your senses" message, and somewhat mystical tint - the guy must be a real fan.

I haven't read The Minority Report, but the movie was okay, it didn't really feel like a Dick story though, it felt like a blockbuster. I haven't seen Screamers though, dunno what it's based on either. I'll have to check that out.

And yeah, Waking Life definitely reminds me of Dick's style. There's even a part towards the end where one character, playing a pinball machine I think, talks about how Flow My Tears, the Policemen Said has the same plot as the Book of Acts even though Dick had never read Acts. It's completely wrong and a mangling of another story where Dick describes the final scene to a priest who notes parallels with the Book of Acts. Linklater kinda lost credibility with me after that.

[nenjin]

"What's Up Tiger Lily?"

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0061177/

To watch it, you might not even know it's a Woody Allen movie. If you love cheesy Kung-fu movies, you'll probably like this. He took an asian Kung-fu movie and re-dubbed it, with hilarious results. The story makes no sense, really, but that's the whole point of the movie.

[Bohandas]

Big Trouble In Little China [Action-Comedy]
(An ancient chinese ghost steals a teamster's truck and kidnaps his friend's fiancee)

Kung-Pow: Enter the Fist [Comedy]
(The "Chosen One" must stop the Evil Council and their minion, Betty (formerly known as "Master Pain") from taking over the world)

Scary Movie 3 [Horror-Comedy]
(News reporter Cindy Campbell investigates the connection between crop circles and haunted killer videotapes)

The Evil Dead [Horror]
(A group of college students(?) accidentally summon a pack of murderous demons to the remote cabin at which they are spending the weekend and they subsequently get posessed)

Dracula: Dead and Loving It [Horror-Comedy]
(A vampire moves into a ruined abbey next door to a lunatic asylum whose director has unconventional ideas about mental healthcare)

The Rocky Horror Picture Show [Horror-Comedy]
(Two young lovers spend a night in a mad scientist's castle after their car breaks down outside)

Murder By Death [Mystery-Comedy]
(several accomplished detectives are invited to a creepy house to solve a murder that hasn't happened yet)

Lord of the Rings [Fantasy]
(an evil magic ring must be destroyed in the volacanic forge in which it was made to prevent a demonic warlord from returning from the dead)

Austin Powers [Spy-Comedy]
(1960's mod superspy Austin Powers must stop stereotypical supervillain Dr.Evil from taking over the world)

Airplane [Disaster-Comedy]
(A passenger must land an airplane after the pilot and copilot get food poisoning)

Clue [Mystery-Comedy]
(blackmailer Mr.Boddy is murdered in a house full of people who all have a motive to kill him)

Monty Python and the Holy Grail [Fantasy-Comedy]
(King Arthur is tasked by God to find the Holy Grail, but is stifled by rude frenchmen and the ineptitude of his knights)

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom [Action-Adventure]
(Crooked archaeologist Dr.Indiana Jones sells relics to the Chinese mafia and battles a murderous cult in India which he defeats them by praying to Shiva)

Superhero Movie [Superhero-Comedy]
(A loser who was bitten by a radioactive dragonfly is the only one who can stop a supervillain who seeks to extend his life by sucking put other people's lifeforces)

[Owlbread]

Some of you are men after my own heart. A lot of my favourite movies have been quoted here. It was hard making this list because I can think of at least 10 more I'd love to put on it but I'll go with this for now:

1. Goodfellas (1999) - [Gangster]
2. Reservoir Dogs (1992) - [Crime]
3. Oldboy (2003) - [Neo-Noir]
3. Apocalypse Now (1979) - [War]
4. Taxi Driver (1976) - [Neo-Noir]
5. Un prophète (2009) - [Prison Drama]
6. Raging Bull (1980) - [Drama]
7. The Godfather (1972) - [Gangster]
8. Falling Down (1993) - [Drama]
9. Blade Runner (1982) - [Neon-Noir]
10. Commando (1985) - [Action]

But yeah, I haven't added in loads of others that I really enjoy - e.g. The Departed, Scarface, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, This is England, Pulp Fiction, Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, Sexy Beast, Get Carter (the original), lots of low-budget Shane Meadows stuff, Alien/Aliens, and finally all those dozens of really low-brow action movies in the vein of Commando and Predator and loads of other movies I can't remember off the top of my head. If I could have a number 11 it would be Predator. The Keep is another - I still listen to the soundtrack on a regular basis.