February 27, 2004

• Cool post. I got Punch Drunk Love and Secretary among others.
• Dawson, how was Secretary? Worth watching?
• That was my recommendation from the site Darshon, I have't seen it yet. Though I hear it's great. I think I'll rent it over the weekend, and let you know!
• This is a great site, only problem for me is that I had to go through about eight movies before I reached one I hadn't seen. Thanks, Ledzepfan21!
• Interesting, but frustrating. I'm still trying to get a movie that I haven't seen and I'm on my 12th try. FWIW Dawson, I liked Secretary quite a bit. I recommend it.
• Interesting, but I have my doubts as to whether this sort of thing will work on me. Nevertheless, all the suggestions so far have been quite near the mark.. but how much variation in movies is there, really? Not much.
• I second the recommendation of Secretary. I liked Punch Drunk Love, too; I normally hate, hate, hate Adam Sandler, but he was excellent in this movie (you really have to give P.T. Anderson the credit for Sandler's performance, but it was still a good one). Good movie all around, too.
• Does this site recommend ANY movies that weren't either box office hits or widely known?
• It seems to work, but may not be that imaginative. I got Fried Green Tomatoes. Actually, I do really like that film, but I have seen it. The other reccomendations, I don't know... It also reccomended Amelie (liked but don't know if I would watch again, though I suspect my boyfriend would leave me for her if she existed) It then reccommended The Hustler, Tombstone which I have never heard of - but if the last is a Western, then probably not (Only ever liked The Ballad of Little Jo or A Thousand Pieces of Gold) - but none of the movies seemed to really fit my favorites, which (in addition to Spirited Away) are things like Orlando, the classic Princess Bride, or anything starring Katherine Hepburn (Except Guess Who's Coming to Dinner - all brilliant actors, bad script that 30 years later is just over earnest, though socially significant). There were also no Muppet suggestions, so clearly they don't know me. It seems to missing out on the quirk factor - and movies that aren't American A-list. Movie I would most reccommend right now: Love Actually - It's more than brilliant. After that, for recent releases, Pirates of the Carribean (can never spell that word.)
• Ah, Tombstone. Takes me back. Loved that film when I was 14, and still occasionally use the line "My hypocrisy knows no bounds."
• (slightly off-topic, but speaking of "pirates"...) can someone tell me WHY johnny depp was nominated for an academy award for his work in that film? i saw it, and it was fun and all... but what aspect of his performance merited such praise? just curious.
• jccalhoun: I agree, that's where it probably falls through. The silver screen doesn't seem to be well represented either. I thank the world for TVO, PBS and for the second run Festival theatre chain in Toronto for running a variety of films. (sorry - I'm about movies the way my dad is about music - behind the times, but obsessive. My reccomendation list could go from now into next Tuesday.)
• Hmmm... The test won't work with my Mac's Safari web browser. Seems like fun though.
• oh! and as far as recommendations go, i'd advise renting anything/everything by director john sayles. brilliant, brilliant, brilliant.
• There's a similar site for book recommendations, based on criteria you enter about yourself and preferences, etc. It's on MeFi (which seems to be down at the momemt) but I'll try to find it.
• interesting! it told me to rent "talk to her" by almodovar, which i kept meaning to see when it was in the theater.
• I tried this out back when I saw it on Mefi, and it seems quite accurate, although you do run into the problem of having seen many of the movies they recommend. If you're worried about always getting box office hits, change your mood to something completely off track of what you're used to and it'll show up with foreign films and stuff, although I agree there doesn't seem to be much in the way of indie/foreign films popping up.
• i gave up after 12 tries at a film i haven't yet seen. i also recommend punch drunk love, and i'm not an adam sandler fan normally; and heartily agree that anything by john sayles is brilliant and worth renting.
• Sooooz: Whichbook?
• Hmmm. Suspicious. It recommended all the same movies to me that it recommended to you folks. Maybe genial is right, and push the slider to the opposite end where it says 'do you wanna see movies that are in your genre' or whatever it says. Blaaugh.
• What a fine wee tool! I was a bit sceptical when the first suggestion was The 25th Hour - me not got Spike Lee love, and by most accounts that's not a particularly good Spike Lee - but it then very successfully listed some of my favourite movies for a while before finally telling me that I should watch American Psycho. On this point, I agree with it. Re: Captain Jack Sparrow, Dishie, I humbly suggest the reasons are as follows. 1) Not that the ability to do a weird Keeef Richards/Daaaavid Bowie type thing is particularly impressive in itself (though it was very well done) but the choice to play a pirate captain like that was actually quite inspired. I mean, it's the first power-mincing, drunken, sexually ambigous, eyeliner-wearing male action hero I can think of, and that's something to be respected. 2) If reports are to be belived, he did it against the wishes of the director. Hence the SAG rewarding him more than other awards, perhaps. 3) Envy. It was so completely over-the-top that lots of other actors must have looked on and wished they were allowed/had the guts to do that. 4) Pirates was the surprise commercial success in a very disappointing summer, and critical opinion has it that this was almost entirely due to Depp turning a mediocre film into a tremendously entertaining one. 5) Depp's due; he's been under-nominated given his status as an actor. Also, he's been very culty before this - admired, but not mainstream - and Hollywood do so love it when someone like that comes in from the cold... ...and 6) "But why is the rum gone?" There's yer Oscar; right there. Savvy?
• I reluctantly decided Depp was a really creative actor after I saw "Dead Man" - then watched it again, and again, and again. Not many people like this movie, but I dig it.
• I'm intrigued: Do people still rent dvds? Don't you just buy them instead? Seriously.
• Films in the house: Whale Rider Dead or Alive Final Prisoner of the Mountains The Last Round: Chuvalo vs. Ali (watched last night, quite good) The next 30 films due in on my netflix account: The Eye Gigantic: A Tale of Two Johns The Tracker Imitation of Life: Double Feature Fudoh: The New Generation Mr. Show: Season 3: Disc 1 Mr. Show: Season 3: Disc 2 Curb Your Enthusiasm: Season 1: Vol. 1 Curb Your Enthusiasm: Season 1: Vol. 2 All the Real Girls The Naked Kiss To Live and Die in L.A. D.O.A. Bottle Rocket The Road Home Winged Migration Monsoon Wedding The Howling Re-Animator Spider Dagon Near Dark The Naked City Immortality My First Mister L.I.E. Shower Northfork The Good Thief Bartleby Probably gonna go see tonight: Fog of War (google if you're curious, no time for linkage)
• Well, I'm looking forward to a night in with a little something called "Battlefield Earth". Thanks, World Leader in Movie Rental Suggestion Technology!
• I got * "Habla con Ella (Talk to her)" (huh?) * Run Lola Run (seen, ok) * Secretary (loved it, fucked like bunnies after) * Memento (seen, ok) * Lolita (whaa?) * American Psycho (good) Largely the movies it suggests are the movies I've seen. Unnerving. This could have used a "Do you like zombies?" question, though.
• I'm intrigued: Do people still rent dvds? Don't you just buy them instead? Seriously. i don't like having too many belongings so i only buy dvds of films that really mean something to me. my collection is pretty small, 16 dvds in all, and 5 of them are seasons 1-5 of btvs. i rarely rent tho', because my digital cable package is addictively good and i end up getting to see any movie i want that way. pretty much as soon as something is released on dvd i can watch it on pay per view or video on demand.
• so... how many of you complaining that it gave you 30 movies you've already seen did what i did - realized "hey, this thing actually can tell me what i'd like to see..." be nice if there was an option to go in and check off movies from a list, so it would recommend others rather than wasting your time with repeats, though. now, how about a thing that predicts truly awful movies that you'll like anyway? my very favorite truly awful movie is "they live" starring ex-pro-wrestler roddy piper. it's just awful. but good. they play it on amc now. which makes me feel old...
• flashboy : thank you for the term "power-mincing". I've got something new to drop into conversations now.
• forks, you mention netflix, i just joined and it's a great service (i think it's north america only? but i might be wrong) just watched "capturing the friedmans," next up is "lost in la mancha" and "american splendor." it's cool, you get to keep the DVDs as long as you'd like. $20 a month. just mail 'em back in a prepaid envelope.
• If I bought every movie on my Netflix queue, I'd probably need thirty grand or so. So yeah, I rent. Nostrildamus, ditto on Dead Man. I can't quite explain it - maybe I'm just a sucker for an existential western.
• I like this toy. The recommendations were mostly all things I like or would like to see (and in some cases, have on the shelf but haven't actually watched yet). Not that I'd let it tell me what to do, but definitely, it was amusing. - Probably gonna go see tonight:Fog of War - Ooh, now I'm jealous. Wish I lived in a city that was playing that on *any* screen whatsoever... And I just saw "Dead Man" last week - brilliant movie, three thumbs up.
• Out of the 23 suggestions it made to me, only the first one was for a film I'd previously seen -- Christmas Story (which I did like) -- while other 22 were for films I would gladly pay NOT to see (Animal House, Wayne's World, Hey Dude Where's My Car or various vehicles for Bill Murray, Adam Sandler, and Julia Moore. The suggestions seemed to get further and further away from anything akin to my taste. Prefer comedy's Terry Gilliam's Erik the Viking, Blake Edwards' Victor/Victoria, Mousetrap, or Joseph Papp's Pirates of Penzance. *sobs* No Bram Stoker's Dracula -- indeed, no Dracula at all for poor beeswaky, no Johnnny Depp or Bruce Willis, no Sci-fi or fantasy suggestions, yes, I am utterly crushed. *exits, marching to a different strummer*
• I had to change browsers for this to work; Safari doesn't like it (or vice versa). The first 24 (!) films they suggested I had seen allready. So their (or mine) taste is excellent. The 25th was Todo Sobre Mi Madre (All About My Mother) bt Pedro Almadovar, whose previous films I didn't like to much. I usuallu=y rent recent movies that for some reason I missed in the cinema but maybe I'll give it a try.
• To be honest, in a good video store I find that there are usually at least four or five films I'd like to see, so I never have the dilemna of deciding. The hard part is convicing your friends they really want to see a gay comedy half in English, half in Chinese, or worse, a comedy about death and romance and Cat Stevens, both of which were not normal enough. So I ended up seeing Something about Mary, which is more mainstream, but decidedly not vanilla, and was suprisingly witty (among other things). And, of course, I got to harp the whole time about how Mary's favorite film was the one no one else wanted to rent.
• I thought 25th Hour was great but then I am a huge Edward Norton fan. I would definately like to see more foreign/indie films listed. I also thought that Tombstone was excellent, best work that Val Kilmer ever did. Haven't seen Dead Man, but look for that one.
• All About My Mother and Talk to Her are great, even if you're not much of an Almodovar fan; I didn't care much for tie me up tie me down or live flesh, but the two former blew me away. I LOVE Jarmusch and Dead Man is one of my favorites. Ang Lee's Wedding Banquet is totally brill, Punch Drunk Love is killer (sandler was GOOD!), secretary is a bit of a wank but has it's moments (I thought the climax was a bit of a cop out and yes, I do know my BDSM well enough to recognize the context), John Sayles is one of the best (Matewan, Lone Star and Passion Fish would be my favorites), Kubrick's Lolita is classic but the remake is dodgy, the fight sequence in they live is the best fight sequence of all time (maybe the quiet man comes close), capturing the friedmans and american splendor were seen last week (great but creepy and spectacular, respectively), Lost in La Mancha is saddening but excellent documentary work (love those giants!), harold and maude and 25th hour are on my "to see list", i just went and saw paycheck (kinda lame), am still planning on seeing fog of war tonight and netflix (available only in america) is a godsend. I watch movies. I watch a lot of movies.
• I have a Greencine subscription for the less mainstream movies. I figure I can rent more mainstream stuff at the local video rental place. Most of my purchases lately have been TV shows. Last night I watched Baran and Attack the Gas Station! Both were pretty good.
• t r a c y: me too! very similar...
• Tombstone is my guilty pleasure film, so for all yous Tombstone fans, I am so your huckleberry. Boogie Nights and Magnolia incensed me; Punch Drunk Love made me completely forgive P. T. Anderson for those films. For those of you who haven't yet seen "Once Upon A Time In Mexico", please watch it if for nothing else to see Johnny Depp's performance. Bloody, gratiutious violence with explosions having nothing to do with Mel Gibson and Jesus. I ditto forksclovetofu, i feel unusual, and SideDish about Netflix; we initially got Netflix because that was the only way we could get our hands on the Zatoichi films without having to buy them. It has changed the way we rent films, most notably saving us money in late fees.
• Word to the Tombstone massive. "It's true, you are a good woman. Then again, you may be the antichrist." Wonderful. Preaching to the converted here, I suspect, but Belleville Rendez-Vous/Triplets of Belleville is wonderous. Go see, go see. Also be with the seeing of Touching The Void. I clearly need to see Dead Man. I am not sure I could ever like an Adam Sandler movie, but perhaps I should give PDL a try (I thought the same abour Carrey, then loved The Truman Show and am currently wetting myself in anticipation of Eternal Sunshine...) . I second the need for a 'do you like Zombies?' question. That is all.
• I walked with a zombie.
• Yo' mama.
• First thing it recommended to me is Requiem for a Dream, which I've meant to watch for a long, long time. Excellent website; thanks. Personally, I own one video tape, which my sister bought for me one Christmas when I was sixteen (Reservior Dogs). That's my entire celluloid collection. The rest, I rent. But personally, I almost never watch a film more than once. The most interesting film-going story was when I took a girl on a date. She' a film-goer, and kinda artistic, so I decided to take a risk and go and see All About My Mother with her (for those who don't know, a critically-loved, Spanish artistic film). The conversation went like this. "Hey... That chick looks kinda like a dude." (five minutes later...) "Hey... That chick is a dude." (two minutes later...) "You've taken me to see a Spanish film about transvestites, haven't you." "...Yes, I think I have." "..." "...Sorry."
• Yo' mama. I suppose this would explain a thing or two.
• Dawson, I saw Tombstone last night for the first time. Doc Holliday is truly The Man. Otherwise I found it a little confusing with all the characters, but that could have been because I was tired. I haven't gotten my videos to rent yet because I'm using Safari (and it won't work), but Secretary was a good movie. Maggie Gyllenthal (or however it's spelled) has a lot of potential. "I'm your huckleberry."