Recommend a movie

10 posts

O'Zebedee

I can't wholeheartedly recommend these films, but they do have something to them - maybe just the fact that they're both the work of obsessives, now empowered by (relatively) cheap video cameras and editing programs:

Six Degrees of Helter Skelter is basically a fan film in that it was put together by a man (Mike Dorsey) obsessed with Manson lore, and a whole pile of other things besides. He gets right into the minutia of the story, every goddamn small detail, and while it's not gripping viewing it is somewhat entertaining to watch him wander around the various sites associated with the Family, burbling the knowledge he's accumulated through the years, getting excited over finding small pieces of Spahn Ranch relics. I swear that it barely registers with Dorsey that actual people died - to him, the whole thing is just one big scrapbook he gets to show off to people.

There were enthusiastic amateurs in charge of Resurrect Dead: The Mystery of the Toynbee Tiles as well, nerds on their own little Scooby Doo adventure, but the mystery is at least fascinating. They're trying to track down the source of the Toynbee Tiles, those strange linoleum plates that someone has been inserting in various streets in the US (and one in Chile, as well) for decades now. It drags a little at times, but there's always something worthwhile in watching someone else's mania.

O'Zebedee
A friend of mine saw it and said that it was part of the sub category of Coen Bros. films that you enjoy while watching and then immediately a) wonder why they made it, and b) forget the next day.
Amadis
[​IMG]

The Ship That Died Of Shame (1955)

Great little maritime noir from Ealing about a group of floundering post-war sailors who turn to smuggling, only to find themselves descending into worse and worse crimes. Great b&w cinematography, adult dialogue, excellent character actors and firm morals.
O'Zebedee
Amadis

Great choice; fantastic film. Directed by a Brazilian, amusingly enough.

O'Zebedee
Ha! Just re-watched that the other day - I get out a kick out of the financing necessity (I assume) for throwing Stallone in there as the hero.
Amadis
Checking Wikipedia it turns out that Pele is supposed to be a Caribbean volunteer so I deleted the stuff about him being in the BVLA (British Volunteer Latin America - men, usually of British ancestry in South America, who volunteered to fight for Britain in WWI & WWII), but it's a fun bit of forgotten history. I think Stallone is supposed to be Canadian in the film (the excuse for sticking Americans in British WWII films going back to Alan Ladd in The Red Beret ). Nothing like financing to add to the hilarity of a film!

My personal favourite financing story is Nuit Blanche, a pretty good Francophone contained thriller about a corrupt cop, where the main set had to be built across the Belgian-Luxembourg border line so they could get financing from both countries...
O'Zebedee
...or Akira Kurosawa having to introduce Richard Gere as the American cousin in Rhapsody in August . Bizarre.
Amadis
Ha! Hilarious. I've never seen the film but now I definitely will...
perkunos

"Point Blank" (1967) with Lee Marvin; John Boorman's first film. Touted to me as the best modern noir, and best Lee Marvin performance; it was. I am sad I saw Mel Gibson's "Payback" before this; it's based on the same book, but not as good as "Point Blank."
Boorman does an amazing job making noir in color; the cinematography is mind blowing. Lee Marvin is super intense in this. [​IMG]