A cool movie, mostly due to a number of very good teen (at the time) actors.
Though the premise isn't very well constructed, imo. I was expecting it to be fully psychological.
Praeses
Re: What's the strangest film you've seen with a well-known actor or two...or more?
A cool movie, mostly due to a number of very good teen (at the time) actors.
Though the premise isn't very well constructed, imo. I was expecting it to be fully psychological.
Re: What's the strangest film you've seen with a well-known actor or two...or more?
The tale of the 47 Ronin is as important to Japan, as the Boston Tea Party is to the USA. However some goof decided to make it about supernatural monsters, then pulled a bone-headed "let's use an American of mixed ancestry as the hero(Keanu Reeves) a la the bizarre(but beloved Kung Fu TV series). Even Hiroyuki Sanada went for the dough even though he'd filmed a true version.
It bombed...and was the 2nd worst bomb in history despite an obscene amount of money.
A Japanese version (click the cc for English)The film received generally negative reviews for the lack of originality, slow pacing and character development, although some reviewers bestowed praise for the action and visuals. 47 Ronin grossed $151 million in worldwide box-office sales but failed to recoup its total budget of $225 million (consisting of $175 million for the film's production and $50 million for its distribution and marketing), and Variety reported the film as a costly box office disaster which left Universal Studios deeply in the red for 2013.[3] Adjusted for inflation, it lost an estimated $152 million, making it the second most expensive box office bomb ever behind The 13th Warrior;[2][4] unadjusted, it is the number one biggest bomb. Variety magazine listed 47 Ronin as one of "Hollywood's biggest box office bombs of 2013".[5]
vs. Hollywood.
Even Braveheart wasn't this ahistorical!
Last edited by RubiconDecision; January 18, 2016 at 04:44 PM.
Re: What's the strangest film you've seen with a well-known actor or two...or more?
William Friedkin's film Bug is definitely a strange film. It's psychological horror dealing with the infected hysteria that gets transmitted between lovers. The flaw is it's too readily apparent, so merely witnessing the spectacle...which is nauseating. Great psychological horror casts doubt, often by unreliable narrators. Here there's hints of government experimentation.
If you have the stomach for it, it's thought-provoking.
...
A better strange psychological horror film is Take Shelter.
How many famous figures from history would be considered mentally ill today?
Last edited by RubiconDecision; January 20, 2016 at 03:01 AM.
Re: What's the strangest film you've seen with a well-known actor or two...or more?
It's a drama. It's a comedy. It's a morality play for atheists. What Dreams May Come doesn't know what it's supposed to be.
Senator
Re: What's the strangest film you've seen with a well-known actor or two...or more?
I think Being John Malkovich was pretty strange with some well-known actors.
The 2009 Bad Lieutenant should just have been called Port of Call New Orleans. The real Bad Lieutenant from 1992 is a great movie, but maybe not strange as its first quality. I should try again to look for the old version of it where "Signifying Rapper" by Scholly D is not cut from it.Originally Posted by Kyriakos
Spoiler Alert, click show to read:
Warning: A scene with some foul language here
Spoiler Alert, click show to read:
Re: What's the strangest film you've seen with a well-known actor or two...or more?
Sphere is an intelligent science fiction film based upon Michael Crichton's novel.
A team of scientists are assembled to examine an alien space craft, but nothing makes any sense. Then they discover the reality shifting effect of the alien technology.
Re: What's the strangest film you've seen with a well-known actor or two...or more?
The Boy (2015) is a fractured fairy tale of a youth psychopath-to-be living in a nearly bankrupt motel in an isolated desert. Lots of familiar faces, probably working "scale" to see it realized.
He's gone feral and it's unnoticed by a crushed husk of a father.
Re: What's the strangest film you've seen with a well-known actor or two...or more?
The Exorcist broke ground by making an obscure true demonic possession case utterly well-known. It consistently rates as the top 5 horror films. But did you know the original score was far more terrifying?
Here's that soundtrack. Play the Exorcist clip but mute the sound while playing the discarded Lalo Schifrin score.
The Exorcist's familiar soundtrack.Schifrin's working score for 1973's The Exorcist was rejected by the film's director, William Friedkin. Schifrin had written six minutes of difficult and heavy music for the initial film trailer, but audiences were reportedly frightened by the combination of sights and sounds. Warner Bros. executives told Friedkin to instruct Schifrin to tone it down with softer music, but Friedkin did not relay the message. Schifrin's final score was thrown out into the parking lot. Schifrin reported in an interview that working with Friedkin was one of the most unpleasant experiences in his life.[3]
An Exorcist clip
The 1973 trailer violates ToS. You'll have to look it up yourself.
http://blogs.indiewire.com/theplayli...ailer-20160201
Such is the incredible power of music to convey emotion. Several films would be perceived entirely differently by choice of composers. What an error. Schfrin's score is bone-chilling and terrifying.
Here's the way theatergoers were supposed to see the trailer.
Last edited by RubiconDecision; February 01, 2016 at 05:51 PM.
Praeses
Re: What's the strangest film you've seen with a well-known actor or two...or more?
^I dislike that score. The familiar one is far subtler. Besides, even going by the very last scene of the movie you can tell the director wanted to somewhat disperse the horror and use even humor..
Re: What's the strangest film you've seen with a well-known actor or two...or more?
Yes, sometimes a brief comedic scene is inserted in horror to offer a sigh of relief, but there's nothing amusing about the suffering of Reagan in The Exorcist. The Omen trilogy have brief humorous scenes but they're entirely different films.
Seldom do I enjoy comedies as most are formulaic and dull. Some of the Python films, Rushmore, these are the kinds of comedies I enjoy.
To mix genres rarely works. An American Werewolf in London managed this quite well in the decaying zombie/undead scenes.
It was considered a strange film when it came out. I guess Ginger Snaps is its unnatural offspring.
Since there might be young people unaware of the bizarre Monty Python films, here's two clips from Monty Python and the Holy Grail.
Last edited by RubiconDecision; February 02, 2016 at 03:29 AM.
Praeses
Re: What's the strangest film you've seen with a well-known actor or two...or more?
Ginger Snaps was a very cult 90s-- checked, from 2000 in fact-- (canadian?) film. The first one is nice, the second is more boring and i haven't seen the third (which, going from the premise, is not very serious)
Senator
Re: What's the strangest film you've seen with a well-known actor or two...or more?
Well, since it is today
Call me Ishmael
Re: What's the strangest film you've seen with a well-known actor or two...or more?
That's more of an awesome, hilarious, feel-good, legendary movie than one that ranks among the strangest.
I love Bill Murray, by the way; I consider him a long-lost uncle.
You want to see strange? Here's what I consider strange:
It's got Gabriel Byrne in it, too. Mind you, this doesn't look half as weird as a Lynch or Cronenberg film, but it gets the job done.
Last edited by Roma_Victrix; February 02, 2016 at 10:30 AM.
Re: What's the strangest film you've seen with a well-known actor or two...or more?
The lovely Australian natural beauty Melissa George shines in the mind bending strangeness of Triangle. I doubt many have seen it due to criminally negligent marketing.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triang...ritish_film%29
Rotten Tomatoes, a review aggregator, reports that the film received positive reviews from 82% of 38 surveyed critics; the average rating was 6.6/10.[12] Empire gave the film a 4/5 stars rating and called it a "satisfying mind-twister, with an unexpectedly poignant pay-off."[13] Variety said that Triangle only makes some kind of sense on its own fantastic level.[14] Time Out London reviewer Nigel Floyd praised Melissa George's "fearless, credible performance" that "grounds the madness in a moving emotional reality."[15] The Guardian critic, Philip French compared it to a "Möbius strip" in which the viewer "wonders how Smith will keep things going" and added the viewer will "leave his picture suitably shaken."[16] Fellow Guardian critic Peter Bradshaw wrote that Triangle is a "smart, interestingly constructed scary movie", complimenting Smith for "creating some real shivers."[17] Entertainment.ie's Mike Sheridan was less impressed. Although he praised George's acting, he wrote that her performance "can't shield the fact that this still an exceptionally non-scary horror, that will have you scratching your head more than jumping out of your seat," ultimately rating it 2/5 stars.[18] The Scotsman called it "a trickily plotted and slickly made effort that nevertheless can't quite make its premise fly in gripping enough fashion."[19]
Last edited by RubiconDecision; February 02, 2016 at 07:59 PM.
Praeses
Re: What's the strangest film you've seen with a well-known actor or two...or more?
^Is that about the Bermuda triangle?
Moreover, Rubicon, (asking again after a while!) do you know where i could get that "Der Bau" german film based on Kafka's short story?
Re: What's the strangest film you've seen with a well-known actor or two...or more?
It is the BEST Bermuda Triangle film ever made! Sadly Melissa George's career went to the back burner since she seriously dated very wealthy men, then tried to get back to Hollywood, which never works.^Is that about the Bermuda triangle?
Moreover, Rubicon, (asking again after a while!) do you know where i could get that "Der Bau" german film based on Kafka's short story?
...
I have been looking for that film since you asked as well as Matthias Schoenaert' early European films. We get so few European films. I have a friend who runs an Asian food store, so Asian films are easy to rent. Indian or Pakistani films can be found among the Indian community.
Obscure Persian films are easier to locate.
...
Madeleine Stowe is the one exception to taking a hiatus and coming back. She was in the terrific and strange Terry Gilliam film 12 Monkey's.
...
Poor Terry Gilliam. A brilliant string of films, and the cursed bizarre Tideland...which nearly went without distribution...and would have ruined him.
...https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tideland_%28film%29
Gilliam has also said that Michael Palin, another former member of Monty Python, had told him that the film was either the best thing he had ever done, or the worst — although Palin himself couldn’t quite decide either way.[14] Entertainment Weekly critic Owen Gleiberman gave Tideland an "F",[15] calling it "gruesomely awful". In the subsequent review of the DVD release, Gleiberman's fellow Entertainment Weekly critic Clark Collis gave the film a "B"[16] and stated: "Terry Gilliam's grim fairy tale is another fantastic(al) showcase for his visual talents."[16]
The film received a "two thumbs way down" rating from Richard Roeper and guest critic A.O. Scott on the television show Ebert & Roeper. Scott said that toward the end, the film was "creepy, exploitive, and self-indulgent," a sentiment that was echoed in his New York Times review of the film.[17] Like Scott, Roeper had a strong negative opinion, saying, "I hated this film," and "I came very close to walking out of the screening room. And I never do that."[18] In the Chicago Reader, critic Jonathan Rosenbaum dismissed the film as "extremely unpleasant" and warned readers, "Enter this diseased Lewis Carroll universe at your own risk."[19]
Brazil is an exceptional film.
A couple of cursewords in the clip.
Last edited by RubiconDecision; February 03, 2016 at 06:25 AM.
Praeses
Re: What's the strangest film you've seen with a well-known actor or two...or more?
Tideland (from what i saw of it) was interesting. I am not at all happy that apparently it was presented by media as a child-sexuality film. Anyway, the actress there was the one from the first Silent Hill movie, and i have loads of respect for her
Re: What's the strangest film you've seen with a well-known actor or two...or more?
Martin Scorsese's After Hours is a very strange black comedy. I bet you'd like it. Poor hapless Paul (Griffin Dunne).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/After_Hours_%28film%29
Highly recommended. It's a superior film with a remarkable ensemble cast.The film grossed $10,609,321 in the United States.[2] Though it was not received well by audiences, it was given positive reviews at the time and went on to be considered an "underrated" Scorsese film, and a cult classic in its own right.[13][14][15][16] The film did, however, garner Scorsese the Best Director Award at the 1986 Cannes Film Festival and allowed the director to take a hiatus from the tumultuous development of The Last Temptation of Christ.[17] It currently holds a 90% rating on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes.[18] Film critic Roger Ebert gave After Hours a positive review and a rating of four out of four stars. He praised the film as one of the best in the year and said it "continues Scorsese's attempt to combine comedy and satire with unrelenting pressure and a sense of all-pervading paranoia."[19] He later added the film to his "Great Movies" list.[20] In The New York Times, Vincent Canby gave the film a mixed review and called it an "entertaining tease, with individually arresting sequences that are well acted by Mr. Dunne and the others, but which leave you feeling somewhat conned."[7]
Silent Hill could have been a great Lovecraft-themed film, but was rather half-baked, then spawned a franchise. Someone (hint hint) should write a Lovecraft treatment or an homage.
Stunning visually but only vaguely satisfying writing. Watch the film with headphones to hear the power of fantastic sound editing to dramatically enhance the horror. You will get chills down your spine.
Last edited by RubiconDecision; February 03, 2016 at 07:23 AM.
Call me Ishmael
Re: What's the strangest film you've seen with a well-known actor or two...or more?
12 Monkeys! Why the hell didn't I think of that first!
Re: What's the strangest film you've seen with a well-known actor or two...or more?
Radha Mitchell stars in Silent Hill. Her best films are Pitch Black and Man On Fire. Melissa George looks like her. Both are from Australia. Her films include Dark City, Mulholland Drive (barely), and30 Days of Night.
You either hate it or love it; there's no in-between.
The stunning Laura Harring is now 51, but looks 28. Maybe she's immortal? She's in Lynch's Inland Empire too.
Last edited by RubiconDecision; February 03, 2016 at 08:02 AM.
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