Oct 19 2005
Any Movie Recommendations?
I signed up to Zip.ca today. It’s one of those outfits that sends you DVDs in the mail. When you’re done watching the DVD, you send it back to them in a prepaid envolope, and they send out the next available DVD on your list. I’ve signed up for a 3-month deal with a fourth month free. I can take out 4 DVDs at any time with two “priority requests” per month (I think that means they bump me to the front of the line). I’m expecting to receive at least 4 DVDs a week; that’s 16 a month. I’m splitting the cost of this service with a friend who lives nextdoor, so it comes to about $1 per DVD. If I only get 8 DVDs per month, it works out to $2 per DVD. Not a bad deal. If Zip.ca are as good as they say they are, I’ll probably O.D. on DVDs by Xmas. I might drop by every few weeks with an update on how it’s working out.
In the meantime, have you seen any good movies lately? Anything to recommend on DVD, old or new? Documentaries, concerts, short films, a list of your favourite movies?
I have 55 DVDs on my list so far, but apparently the bigger the better.
I’ve seen Finding Nemo and Shrek about 50 times. HIGHLY recommended.
I second the Shrek (actually, both of them were good) and Finding Nemo recommendations.
Wilby Wonderful was good - quiet, understated. All of Me, with Lily Tomlin and Steve Martin. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid is something I always stop to watch when it’s on. 2001: A Space Odyssey - most people find it tedious, but I tend to think of it as a thriller more than sci-fi.
Can you get TV series? The New Battlestar Galactica is one of my very few must-see programs.
Once Were Warriors, City of Lost Children (La Cité des Enfants Perdus).
I was being sarcastic, though I did enjoy Finding Nemo.
Fresh, The Waterdance, Birdy, Birdy, Birdy, The Navigator,(austrailian film), The King Of Masks,Delicatessen, Corporation,…THis is all I can think of off the top of my head..the two Ashely recommended are fabulous…once were warriors..very good…for fun Mediterraneo…poor poor production value be sure to watch the donkey closely…Henry is here and he says you should get Spiderman,and Scooby-Doo..all of them…Ohh Stalingrad.is good..Yeah if you can get those BBC series they would be great…
Here’s a list of the DVDs I already had on my list before I wrote this post (looking up some of your suggestions now; thanks).
Never Cry Wolf
Possible Films: Short Works by Hal Hartley
Henry Fool
Coffee and Cigarettes (Jim Jarmusch)
Broken Flowers (Jim Jarmusch)
Mystery Train (Jim Jarmusch)
Ghost Dog: The Way Of The Samurai (Jim Jarmusch)
Rope (Htichcock)
Quest For Fire
Dead Man (Jim Jarmusch)
The Sticky Fingers Of Time
Pi
Birdy
Blue in the Face (with Jim Jarmusch)
Tigrero: A Film That Was Never Made (with Jim Jarmusch)
Stranger Than Paradise (Jim Jarmusch)
Star Trek: The Original Series - Season 2
Star Trek: The Original Series - Season 3
House of Flying Daggers
Searching For Bobby Fischer
Paths Of Glory (Kubrick)
All About Eve
Modern Times (Chaplin)
On The Waterfront
Jurassic Park
Raging Bull (Special Edition)
Blind Chance (Krzysztof Kieslowski)
Camera Buff (Krzysztof Kieslowski)
No End (Krzysztof Kieslowski)
The Scar (Krzysztof Kieslowski)
A Short Film About Killing (Krzysztof Kieslowski)
A Short Film About Love (Krzysztof Kieslowski)
Chinatown
The 400 Blows (Truffaut)
Persona (Ingmar Bergman)
Hour of the Wolf (Ingmar Bergman)
Winter Light (Ingmar Bergman)
The Silence (Ingmar Bergman)
Through a Glass Darkly (Ingmar Bergman)
Hard Boiled (Woo)
The Hidden Fortress
Jules and Jim (Truffaut)
The Killer (Woo)
Short Cuts (Altman)
Short Cuts (Bonus Material)
The Corporation
The Corporation (Bonus Material)
Cries And Whispers (Ingmar Bergman)
The Wild Bunch
Boyfriends & Girlfriends
Once Were Warriors
12 Angry Men
I just found this list while looking for DVDs to add to my list — for those who are interested.
Try that again:
http://cinema-review.com/dvd/000011/index.php
Based on your suggestions, I’ve added the following DVDs to my list, and I’m considering “Wilby Wonderful.”
Shrek 2 (I saw it in the theatre and enjoyed it; thought the first one was a bore); The King Of Masks; Delicatessen; and City of Lost Children. Also added Band of Brothers; Once Upon a Time in the West; Eraserhead; Rebecca; The Treasure Of The Sierra Madre; True Romance (director’s cut, with commentary by Q. Tarantino); The Third Man; Notorius; The Day the Earth Stood Still; Brazil (director’s cut); Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas (which I would normally skip, but it has a commentary track by Hunter S. Thompson); and Citizen Kane.
The Big Lebowski is probably worth another rent.
Eraserhead? wow, I hope you have a backup plan for that night. If you do watch the whole movie, I’d love to have it explained. A pretty good comtemporary movie is Hero with Jet Li. Don’t let the whole martial arts thing throw you, it’s a visually stunning movie. If you enjoy the True Romance style movies, take a look at 2 days in the Valley, James Spader as a villian.
I watched “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid” tonight. The first time I saw it on DVD in it’s original aspect ratio — which makes a huge difference, especially with a film that’s photographed so well. Redford and Newman have excellent chemistry and are fun to watch. However, the musical interludes are extremely dated, which means this movie will not age well, at least those sections of it won’t. Can’t say there’s much of a story to it. The characters are well drawn, but that’s about it; not much happens with them. It’s like they established the character, but then didn’t know what to do with them. Overall, though, an enjoyable movie. Easy to watch.
It was cool to see Dr. Roberts from Danger Bay in the first scene with Sundance.
I’m in my second week of Zip.ca, and so far I’m not overly impressed. I’m getting 4 DVDs a week out of the deal, but in each batch of DVDs so far (2 batches) there has been 1 defective DVD that could not be played. When they send a defective disc, they either send you the next movie on your list or a replacement copy of the DVD. I asked for a replacement, but didn’t get it until the following week, and the replacement DVD counted as a regular request — it’s counted as one of the 4 DVDs I can have out at one time, even though I had to wait (and waste) an extra week for them to send me the replacement. That was last week. The defective disc was “Never Cry Wolf,” the replace of which arrived yesterday along with a new batch of DVDs. In the new batch, I now have a defective copy (scratched to shit) of “House of Flying Daggers.” Not good. 3 DVDs a week is still not a bad deal, but I shouldn’t have to pay for defective DVDs.
Zip.ca is starting to work out for me. I’m getting 4 DVDs a week; that’s 16 a month for $25 + tax, which I’m splitting with a friend of mine. So it’s cheap.
I’ve received two defective DVDs so far, both of which were eventually replaced with a complimentary DVD (I don’t have to pay for defective DVDs like I thought before). I’ve email Zip.ca twice to ask about these problems, and they responded promptly.
Except for getting two defective DVDs already (both of them were cracked), I’m satisfied with the service. So far.
I just took a look at the list of movies you have - Pi was excellent. A bit confusing at times, but very cool.
I’d really like to see Coffee and Cigarette, of only for the scene between Iggy Pop and Tom Waits. And I also second the recommendation for Hero - it was gorgeous, and the plot was twisty but worth it. Have you considered The Magnificent Seven? It’s fun to watch Yul Brenner’s accent slip in and out.
Be careful when buying the dvd “The Island” because I have bought and exchanged this movie twice and every one has the same defect.
I am from canada so our dvds are in english and french but the
english audio track comes only in Dolby 2.0 when it should be in
Dolby 5.1. The french audio track is perfect (go figure?).
Rebecca, following your recommendation for “City of Lost Children,” I put it on my Zip list. It should arrive within the next few days.
I’ve seen all of the first season of the new “Battlestar Galactica.” I like it and I don’t like it. It’s clever and cool and ridiculous at the same time. Some excellent dramatic elements and special effects, but it’s a challenge to take any of it seriously. I also have the first 13 episodes of Season 2 on my PC which I’m slowly working my way through.
Actually, that was Ashley who recommended it :)
So, Zip is working out for you, then? I’m seriously considering it because the video selection up here is spotty at best.
Ashley is a girl’s name, isn’t it? I was kinda close.
Yup, Zip.ca is working out alright for me. I’ve had 3-4 damaged DVDs arrive, and there was a 2-week dry spell of DVDs over Xmas because the mail was so backed-up, but otherwise it’s working out alright.
I’m seeing plenty of movies that are normally very hard if not impossible to come by even in my local independent video store, so that’s good — you can pretty much get anything you want. I got through a minimum of 16 DVDs a month, which comes to something like $2 per DVD. Can’t beat that price.
As for the new Battlestar Galactica, even though I don’t take it seriously, whatever that means, I haven’t stopped watching every episode I can get my hands on.
Fortunately, I already dealt with this fox paws in an earlier comment.
I’m watching “City of Lost Children.” This is one completely whacked out movie. 30 or so minutes into it, and I can’t make any sense of it yet.
I just watched “Cries and Whispers” by Ingmar Bergman.
Talk about wallowing in misery; that’s all this movie does. A women dies a slow, painful death at home while her sisters, through flashbacks, reflect on how completely wretched and unhappy their lives have been. I’m sure it’s considered a deep and profound classic of psychological cinema, but you should ask yourself, “Do I really need to watch this kind of thing?” After one of the women deliberately cuts herself (down there) with a broken piece of glass, the answer for me was, “No.”
Check out Persona instead.
I saw Grizzly Man tonight. A good documentary worth a look, but maybe not as great as all the hype that’s been built around it (most of the reviews I read gave away all the best parts). The guy who lived in the woods with the bears, Timothy Treadwell, was mentally ill, definitely way out of touch with reality. I’ve seen middle-aged women having conversations with their lapdogs who were more mentally stable than this guy. It’s hard to believe anyone let him get so close to the bears. Although he may have had good intentions, it’s difficult to feel any sympathy or admiration for him. His actions did nothing to protect the bears — which didn’t need his protection to begin with. He was a completely delusional self-made martyr of the wilderness. That said, some of the footage he shot while living amongst the bears is incredible. Had he actually had one foot on terra firma, you could almost envy him. Where he lived and how he lived was very cool. He just got too close to the bears for his own good. Some portions of the documentary felt staged, and I think I would have gone about piecing the story together differently, but it’s worth renting.
I’ve rented 64 movies through Zip.ca since I signed up 5 months ago on October 19/05. This list doesn’t include TV show rentals like Star Trek. I’ve averaged about 13 movie rentals a month. (Zip has since introduced a 11 DVD/month cap. Still not a bad deal.) If I were to include the TV shows I’ve rented, the average would be about 16 DVDs a month. I’ve done alright.
A Short Film About Love
A Short Film About Killing
All About Eve
Barfly
Birdy
Blue in the Face
Boyfriends & Girlfriends
Broken Flowers
Camera Buff
City Of Lost Children
Coffee and Cigarettes
Cries And Whispers
Dead Man
Eraserhead
Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas
Ghost Dog: The Way Of The Samurai
Grizzly Man
Henry Fool
His Girl Friday
House of Flying Daggers
John Prine: Sessions At West 54th
Jules and Jim (Jules et Jim)
Manhattan
Mystery Train
Never Cry Wolf
New Waterford Girl
No End
On The Waterfront
Once Upon A Time In America
Once Upon A Time In The West
Once Were Warriors
Paths Of Glory
Persona
Pi
Pinocchio
Raging Bull
Rare Birds
Rififi
Rope
Searching For Bobby Fischer
Short #2: Dreams
Short #1: Invention
Shrek 2
Sideways
Stalker
Stranger Than Paradise
Strangers On A Train
The Rutles: All You Need Is Cash
The Day The Earth Stood Still
The Treasure Of The Sierra Madre
The Hidden Fortress
The Sticky Fingers Of Time
The Philadelphia Story
The 400 Blows (Les 400 Coups)
The Killer
The Wild Bunch
The Apartment
Tigrero: A Film That Was Never Made
To Catch A Thief
Together
Walk the Line
War of the Worlds
Withnail And I
How was Eraserhead?
I haven’t watched “Eraserhead” yet.
New Waterford Girl is an excellent movie. I know I’ll watch it again. Wish I could say more, but I’m sick. Later.
I watched Saint Ralph over the weekend, and thoroughly enjoyed it. Gordon Pinset was perfect, and I loved Campbell Scott.
“King of Masks” is a good movie. The DVD we rented was full screen, which was disappointing, but I can tell it’d look great in wide screen. Jenny got into it more than I did, but I enjoyed it. Quiet, touching story.
phillip…i really enjoyed king of masks….just good storytelling..rented grizzly boy…i echo what you have said and i found it difficult to watch at times…what I can not get over is the fact that he lived every year for over a decade in bearland before some bear ate him…have you seen the lochness monster film by herzog…it is ammusing…finally….new waterford girl….i went to see it in the theatre with a friend here in ontario….half way throught the movie i said the only thing that can make this more authentic is if they put a car over a cliff…felt like i was a preteen again hanging out in Glace Bay in the seventies…I loved that movie…I rented midnight clear this weekend for about the thrid time…I really like this movie…if you have not seen it see what you think…oh yeah and inactico,,spelling may be wrong…max von sydow is in it and run lola run…see what you think…did you ever see bad santa???
Yeah, I thought “King of Masks” was a good family movie. Straightforward, bitter and sweet, happy ending. The music was very 80s, dated, could have been btter, but the story and the performances kept it from sinking into melodrama. I’d like to see a clean, wide screen tranfer someday. It would look great.
I haven’t seen the Lochness monster Herzog film. I’m generally not a big fan of Herzog. He’s just too damn depressing, though that movie sound like fun.
I loved “New Waterford Girl” for the same reasons you did. I didn’t visit Cape Breton much when I was a kid, but when I lived out in the country there during my “log cabin days,” I grew very attached to the land of Nova Scotia, especially in that part of the province. Anywhere close to ocean near Cape Breton — I love it. The movie has a real Canadian feel to it, too, that enjoy. The kind of thing that Americanized movie viewers aren’t likely to appreciate, and that kind of makes it more special.
By the way, I can probably snag you affordable copies of all these movies if you’d really like to have them around. Let me know.
Inactico. Is that a movie or a typo? (Didn’t you take typing in high school? I guess not.)
Still haven’t seen “Bad Santa” but will some day. Saw “Run Lola Run.” It’s good, though I can’t remember anything about now.
spelling no guut…typing…holy frig i remember being in that gorden bell prision like building taking typing in grade ten on these monstorous big electric typewriters…..ttttt jjjjj…ggggg….whew….
the movie is inactico….inata..#$$$# i dont know the spelling….it is about luck…memories…the story i thought was great..may have been a spanish movie…
yeah sure i like to aquire some movies…