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To capture the essence of flying, it has to be 'The Great Waldo Pepper'. For acting skills and ethics what could be better than 'A Man for all Seasons'? For shock effect 'Failsafe'. 'Treasure Island' with Robert Newton as the villanous Long John Silver was my childhood favourite.
An excellent counterpoint to Failsafe is Dr. Strangelove or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb. Great cast: Peter Sellers, George C. Scott, Sterling Hayden, Slim Pickens and Keenan Wynn.
Shawshank Redemption, Pulp Fiction, Drugstore Cowboys, Clerks II just to name a few. Can't wait to see 300 in theatres, check out the trailer it looks insane.
Saw I and II (havnt seen three yet), Scream 1 and 2. Two movies with surprising twists at the end even I could not predict; I'm known for predicting the end of movies while watching them on HBO and switching the channel
Depends on what my mood is. But taking it by themes:
Comedy: A New Leaf (Walter Matheau is a playboy who discovers he has spent all his money. In order to avoid working or suicide, he decides his only hope is to marry a woman of money.)
Little Spy (no agency support): Three Days of the Condor
Big Spy (agency support): Zeppelin (Michael York is a Brit soldier in WWI with German heritage. When approached to defect, he goes to his superiors but they want him to defect because they want to know what the Germans want him for)
Counter Spy: The Terrorists with Sean Connery (I think, I saw it decades ago on tv and picked up a copy when I saw it on sale ..... but memory can be fuzzy)
Historical-drama: The Red Tent (Italian General Nobile's airship Italia crash on the arctic ice in the 1920's)
Crime, serious: Crimson Rivers (I tend to go for foreign police themes, both from a stand point of "seeing" how other agencies work and if they copy the case from reality, odds are I am not likely to know the case; here, independent French police officer Jean Reno is working on a fairly grusome murder case)
Crime, comedy: The Jokers, Green Ice, 11 Harrowhouse, The Thief who Came to Dinner
Action, current: Shiri (It's Korean, the dubbing probably detracts, points are questionable, but it's colorful and a fun, violent movie to watch) or Killing Time (1999) (Again, hardly realistic, but it stacks up the bodies like Kill Bill, only this hitlady uses a pistol)
Action, past: The Three-Four Musketeers, 1973 version
SciFi: This one varies because at times, even the worse movie can be a nice escape, has certain points to look for. Ie, for example, for the most part, FireFox to me is dull ......... but the takeoff scene where Clint shoves the officer makes it worth a look from time to time. Also, SciFi can be fascinating because of the various stories it might pull from. Star Quest with Ming-Na may not be that great of a movie in itself ...... but it is interesting in that it is essentially a Night of the Trolls (Bolo, Keith Laumer) type story.
So SciFi could include: Alien, Creature, Split Second, Leviathan, LOOKER, Day of the Dolphin, Terminator I or II, Programmed to Kill, Solar Crisis, Trancers, The Andromeda Strain, and so forth. Certainly not great theatre attractions, but to get away for a while, decent. Also, the basic forms are the best; I'm not too crazy about Director's Cuts. I like the little details in the movies, the minor subplots, that might get cleared in a director's cut. Ie, in the first Star Wars movie, the imperial storm troopers are marching to intercept the Em Falcon and in the background, there are two women exchanging recipes. I like that kind of detail in a movie.
Horror: Same note on scifi above: The Night Stalker, The Haunting, Fright Night II, WaxWorks, others. Depends on the movie, depends on the subthemes, depends on the feeling of the movie that keeps it going when all the heart stoppers are known. Ie,
The Night Stalker: something of a throw back to the world I saw to grow up into when I was a child (the 70's).
The Haunting: Watching Zeta Jones in fantastic settings.
Fright Night II (or American Psycho II): how I'd "like" to approach college life.
WaxWorks: Even if the fantasies were fatal, they looked like some wild fantasies to fall into.
Barbarian: DeathStalker (I) has been described to me as a movie best to watch drunk but never the less, at times, it has its moments. DeathStalker II is more of a comedy, "worse" ...... but it had a decent villian. Red Sonya
is strained throughout but it has one good point to it: Arnold and Briget fighting and actually getting tired with those huge swords. There is, of course, Conan (I better than II), Throne of Fire (HUGE guards), and others. My fav of them all? Hearts and Armor but a word of caution, the heros in the movies are Moors. Being a bellydancer, such things don't matter to me, but I have come across intolerance.
Post apocolyptic, serious: Genesis II, On the Beach (either version)
Post apocolyptic, not so serious: Warlords
Post apocolyptic that takes it self serious but is not so serious: Stryker, After the Fall of New York (but the motorcycle jazz scene is good)
Post apocolyptic that can be watched endlessly: Mad Max III: Beyond Thunderdome
War, modern, somewhat realistic: Das Boot, Galipolei
War, modern, not so realistic: Any of the series of Richard Burton or Stuart Whitman movies, especially those that might show up on the History Channel, Breakthrough, Raid on Rommel, The Last Escape, Mosquito Squadron
War, near past: Zulu, Damn the Defiant (again, memory on this one, haven't seen it for decades)
War, far past: Generally, any movie about Rome or Troy is decent, to some degree or another, but a lot of it depends on how brutal the current mood is.
Classic: Hamlet with Patrick Stewart, Derek Jacobi (I would check out the last tape endlessly for the sword fight)
War, modern, comedy: What did you do in the War, Daddy?
S e x: Miss Directed: Watching a panicky, stressed out, one disaster after another Tori Welles is a hoot!
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("Good bye, stake; Hello, Flying Fatality!"--Buffy, after being introduced to the crossbow, (w,stte), "BtVs")
Men of honour...have seen it like 20 times.(seriously!)
Rang de basanti...this movie was good enough to win an oscur, but because of either the language barrier or perhaps because of the vast diffrrence in culture the americans (or who ever chooses these films) couldnt appreciate this master piece.
At present, I saw the film Guru ...damn good...all Indians, do go for it.
"To every man upon this earth, Death cometh soon or late;
And how can a man die better; Than facing fearful odds,
For the ashes of his father; And the temples of his gods."
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