Most of the John le Carré novels that were made into films:
– The Spy Who Came In from the Cold
– A Murder of Quality
– The Little Drummer Girl
… are beyond excellent. But there are two in particular that are little known but truly outstanding examples of cold-war espionage dramas and impeccable acting skills:
– *Smiley’s People *
Both star Alec Guinness as the incredibly wise and soft-spoken spymaster George Smiley, the ultimate anti-Bond. They’re each six hours long, but you’ll want them to go on even longer. Find a free weekend and rent them!
I love the work of Mike Jittlov, who both directed and starred in this film. His other work is excellent, too, but you almost certainly can’t find it. (If you can, see his demonstration piece Animato).
I attended a small science fiction convention many years ago, long before TWOSAT was released, and he showed a lot of his films, including the original version of TWOSAT, which had aired on Disney’s show (for which it was originally made). At the time, he talked about expanding it into a movie, and he described the movie. It was going to be a real epic, with the titular Wizard going through deserts and over lakes, spraying up water and sand in his wake (a la Firefox, although this well predates that movie), and with a connected narrative. I get the impression that the existing feature film TWOSAT was a compromise, a film made with a different plotline and much fewer effects, made within the much more restricted budget he eventually got. But the movie really coulda been something.
Good one. And if you like wistful, try The Year My Voice Broke, an Australian coming-of-age film set in the early 60s, and starring a young Noah Taylor. Wistful squared.
My God, you’re right! It is nothing like Little Shop, and yet, they share something.
Liquid Sky is OK, but you have to understand beforehand the whole concept (I don’t think you’ll get it from watching the movie. I didn’t).
I’ve also seen *Orlando *and Ghost Dog. Orlando was good.
Now, I don’t know really if anybody’s seen this stateside; none of my friends have, that’s for sure. It got an extremely limited release in the US, and is now out on DVD from Dreamworks.
Basically, it’s the story of an actress, Chiyoko Fujiwara, who abruptly retired at the peak of her fame thirty years ago. On the occasion of the closing of the studio that Chiyoko worked for, an independent film director seeks her out, to try to persuade her to record her memories on film. He and his cameraman get a lot more than they bargained for, as Chiyoko’s life story begins to interweave itself into her films.
If it turns out that many of you have already seen this, sorry…
If it turns out that few/none of you have seen this, well, I can’t recommend it highly enough.
If you like Emily Watson, I highly recommend Hilary and Jackie. It’s based on the true story of cellist Jacqueline du Pré, from Hilary’s book “A Genius in the Family.” An excellent movie.
And if you haven’t seen Punch Drunk Love just because Adam Sandler’s in it (with Watson) or because you heard it sucked, go see it anyway. I loved this quirky movie, critics be damned.
Two of my all-time favorite movies that no one has seen:
The Legend of 1900 – this is a nearly perfect movie as far as I’m concerned. It’s funny, tender, mysterious, perfectly scored, beautifully photographed…I LOVE THIS MOVIE
Twin Falls, Idaho – Ditto on this one. I love these movies so much.
Strangedays - Yes. A movie that no one has heard of, that got low ratings and that actually was good. I loved the almost Gibsonean cyberpunk feel it had.
Ghost Dog - I was rather unimpressed to be honest. The movie was ok, but sad and somewhat pointless. I think Leon just blows it out of the water.
My turn: Interstate 60 - A great comedy that asks a lot of hard questions about America and its lifestyles, with a very starstudded cast. It was actually my “best ever” pick for a while.
Human Traffic - Campy comedy about the welsh party scene with a great soundtrack. I suspect this is not such an obscure movie in the UK but here in the US no one knows about it.
The Lion in Winter is one of my all time favorites! Someone took my tape of it years ago, but I have it on DVD now. The one with Kate. I also love Buckaroo Bonzai, Strange Days, the Hidden, Creator, Ghost Dog was okay, and Time Bandits was cool.
Has anyone else seen Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead? That was a cool movie. I also like Somewhere in Time, with Christopher Reeve and Jane Seymour. Sappy, but I enjoyed it.