| Author |
Topic:
Guilty As Charged: Super Sexy Thrillers: Now Disc. "9 1/2 Weeks" (1986)
|
Zaz
Title: Manager:
The Amphitheatre
Registered:
Oct '98
|
Date Posted:
3/28 10:02pm
Subject:
RE: Guilty As Charged: Great Crime Thrillers: Now Disc. 9. "Fargo"
- Date Edited:
3/28 10:02pm (1 edits total)
Edited By:
Zaz
|
|
Double Post.
|
|
|
Quote Reply |
Active Topic Notification |
Private Message |
Post History
|
Zaz
Title: Manager:
The Amphitheatre
Registered:
Oct '98
|
Date Posted:
3/29 2:23pm
Subject:
RE: Guilty As Charged: Great Crime Thrillers: Now Disc. 9. "Fargo"
|
Next: "The Manchurian Candidate" (1962)
"How mesmerizing was this '62 political thriller about a former POW brainwashed into becoming an assassin? We're sure you never looked at the queen of hearts, or Angela Lansbury, the same again (who did Jessica Fletcher think she was fooling, anyway?). Frank Sinatra, meanwhile, shines in his most acclaimed role."
From the confundingly weird opening to the desperate ending, with Angela Lansbury showing any subsequent female heavies how it's done, Laurance as a (convincing) zombie, and Frank Sinatra as the guy who trying to make sense of it all, this is a great movie. The original, please.
|
|
|
Quote Reply |
Active Topic Notification |
Private Message |
Post History
|
soitscometothis
Registered:
Jul '03
|
Date Posted:
3/29 3:22pm
Subject:
RE: Guilty As Charged: Great Crime Thrillers: Now Disc. 8. "The Manchurian Candidate" (1962)
|
It's brilliant, and very weird. The brainwashing scene reminds me of The Prisoner somehow. Janet Leigh is an odd romantic interest - the dialogue in the scene where she chats up Sinatra is strange rather than romantic, imo. Laurence Harvey's amazingly wooden performance somehow works here, and by the end of the film you really sympathise with his character.
It's a fantastic thriller.
-----signature-----
|
|
|
Quote Reply |
Active Topic Notification |
Private Message |
Post History
|
Zaz
Title: Manager:
The Amphitheatre
Registered:
Oct '98
|
Date Posted:
3/30 10:38am
Subject:
RE: Guilty As Charged: Great Crime Thrillers: Now Disc. 8. "The Manchurian Candidate" (1962)
|
|
The book is great, too.
|
|
|
Quote Reply |
Active Topic Notification |
Private Message |
Post History
|
Zaz
Title: Manager:
The Amphitheatre
Registered:
Oct '98
|
Date Posted:
3/30 9:22pm
Subject:
RE: Guilty As Charged: Great Crime Thrillers: Now Disc. 8. "The Manchurian Candidate" (1962)
|
Next: "Seven"
"Inventing a serial killer who bases his crimes on the seven deadly sins is so ingeniously simple, it's a wonder no one else thought of it first. Lucky for us, it was David Fincher who ran with the idea to create a movie so taut, so shocking, so fantastically disgusting that ... well, we just lost our heads over it."
|
|
|
Quote Reply |
Active Topic Notification |
Private Message |
Post History
|
StarDude
Registered:
Nov '01
|
Date Posted:
3/31 12:27am
Subject:
RE: Guilty As Charged: Great Crime Thrillers: Now Disc. 7. "Se7en"
|
|
Andrew Kevin Walker's script for this is pitch perfect and completely Oscar-worthy. And behind Zodiac, this is my favorite Fincher flick.
-----signature-----
It's not who I am underneath, but what I do
that defines me.
|
|
|
Quote Reply |
Active Topic Notification |
Private Message |
Post History
|
Gonk
Registered:
Jul '98
|
Date Posted:
3/31 8:29am
Subject:
RE: Guilty As Charged: Great Crime Thrillers: Now Disc. 7. "Se7en"
|
My favorite part of this film is one of its simple moment:
Morgan Freeman comes to the library to do research, and sees the security guards conducting a card game and comments something like: "Here you boys sit, surrouded by all this wealth of knowledge... and all you do is play poker all night."
7even's best moments are on it's social commentary. I wish for the life of me I could understand what Fincher's getting at when Brad Pitt's character is trying to remember his old partner's name, and for a moment the rain lets up.
-----signature-----
What shall we do to fill the empty spaces
Where waves of hunger gnaw?
Shall we set out upon this sea of faces
In search of more and more and more?
|
|
|
Quote Reply |
Active Topic Notification |
Private Message |
Post History
|
StarDude
Registered:
Nov '01
|
Date Posted:
3/31 3:42pm
Subject:
RE: Guilty As Charged: Great Crime Thrillers: Now Disc. 7. "Se7en"
|
Here is a great analysis of Se7en. The comments below are worth reading as well.
This is truly a great film. Probably one of the ten bests of the '90s.
-----signature-----
It's not who I am underneath, but what I do
that defines me.
|
|
|
Quote Reply |
Active Topic Notification |
Private Message |
Post History
|
Penguinator-176
Registered:
May '05
|
Date Posted:
3/31 7:25pm
Subject:
RE: Guilty As Charged: Great Crime Thrillers: Now Disc. 7. "Se7en"
|
I love this movie:
It's the little things in it, like Somerset and Mills falling asleep while waiting for the very slow fingerprint search to end, or like the little glimpses of horror, or the way Pitt's finger is never on the trigger during his chase with the killer.
The atmosphere is perfect; the colours are dark and washed-out, gritty yet sophisticated. CSI and 24 need to take a lesson from David Fincher and his team.
-----signature-----
"Don't try to take me away, like I can't live without you."
.
.
.
GDG
|
|
|
Quote Reply |
Active Topic Notification |
Private Message |
Post History
|
StarDude
Registered:
Nov '01
|
Date Posted:
3/31 8:39pm
Subject:
RE: Guilty As Charged: Great Crime Thrillers: Now Disc. 7. "Se7en"
|
|
It's also interesting how Somerset and John Doe are foils of each other. Each share a not to different view of society. Yet the contrasts are great in how they live in it. They're also shot similarly, with Somerset studying at the library peacefully, and John Doe in the opening credit sequence, which is edited similarly, although much more chaotic.
-----signature-----
It's not who I am underneath, but what I do
that defines me.
|
|
|
Quote Reply |
Active Topic Notification |
Private Message |
Post History
|
Zaz
Title: Manager:
The Amphitheatre
Registered:
Oct '98
|
Date Posted:
4/3 8:25pm
Subject:
RE: Guilty As Charged: Great Crime Thrillers: Now Disc. 7. "Se7en"
|
6. "The Usual Suspects:
"We never actually see arch-villain Keyser Soze (or do we?) in this masterfully crafted whodunit that put director Bryan Singer and star Kevin Spacey on the map. But Soze is still one of the most terrifying bad guys ever to grace the screen. And the twist at the end is so huge it's enough to make a gimp walk straight again."
Great stuff.
|
|
|
Quote Reply |
Active Topic Notification |
Private Message |
Post History
|
solojones
Registered:
Sep '00
|
Date Posted:
4/3 9:25pm
Subject:
RE: Guilty As Charged: Great Crime Thrillers: Now Disc. 6. "The Usual Suspects"
|
So the message of this thread is that Kevin Spacey completely rocks the thriller, huh?  Well, I love thrillers, and I think it's one of the reasons I appreciate Kevin Spacey so much. He's been an integral part of LA Confidential, Se7en, now TUS...
Since I hadn't commented on Se7en yet, I just wanted to say... brilliant. Absolutely, 100% brilliant. The message is disturbing, incredibly grey, and quite enthralling. Plus, unlike films like "Saw" which masquerade as moral lessons but really revel in the gore, there is no glory in the disgusting here. The horrible stuff shown is not the least bit titillating but absolutely terrifying. And Fincher also knows when to pull back and be less explicit, to simply imply. Thus our focus can truly be on the complex moral message. Yes, humans are terrible. Yes, even the 'good' ones. But what's the right response? Do we let people get away with stuff they shouldn't? What is insanity? Who are the crazy ones here?
Such a wonderful film. I think the last line is probably in my top 5 film lines ever, and also gives a reasonable picture of my outlook on life: "Ernest Hemingway once said, 'The world is a fine place, and worth fighting for'. I agree with the second part."
I can't say enough about how wonderful this film is. This is absolutely not 'just' a thriller.
I'll have to get to TUS later. It's my second favourite film and I've seen it about 30 times, so I don't want to try to squeeze it in here
-sj loves kevin spacey
-----signature-----
6 x 9 = 42 Proud member of the Colbert Nation  Obi-Wan Kenobi and Obi-Wan Kenobi in Ghost Ship Executor All Hail Cliegg's Blue Leg!
|
|
|
Quote Reply |
Active Topic Notification |
Private Message |
Post History
|
Zaz
Title: Manager:
The Amphitheatre
Registered:
Oct '98
|
Date Posted:
4/4 12:31pm
Subject:
RE: Guilty As Charged: Great Crime Thrillers: Now Disc. 6. "The Usual Suspects"
|
|
You are right about the subtlety.
|
|
|
Quote Reply |
Active Topic Notification |
Private Message |
Post History
|
solojones
Registered:
Sep '00
|
Date Posted:
4/5 1:42am
Subject:
RE: Guilty As Charged: Great Crime Thrillers: Now Disc. 6. "The Usual Suspects"
|
The Usual Suspects... well, not sure what to say. I have mentioned before that, while Hitchcock laid the foundations when I was 12 with films like Psycho and Rear Window, this was *the* film for me. So if I ever get asked, "What film made you want to be a filmmaker?" it's this one.
I recall very vividly all the details surrounding my first viewing of this film and response to it, but I won't bore you with that  Suffice it to say, this was an amazing piece of work for a 14 year old to experience.
And it holds up still today. Every single time I see it, I get this sickened/exciting feeling in my stomach near the end that I can't control. I've personally told John Ottman how much his combination of music and editing makes this film, and I definitely think it does. There's so much going on here visually, obviously largely due to Singer, but accented so perfectly by Ottman's work. And what can't be said about this cast's merits? Perfect all around. All the banter could turn dull or cliche with other actors, but these people just fill their roles in such unexpected and wonderful ways. It does help that they're working off Chris McQuarrie's awesome script.
As far as crime thrillers go, I don't think any has a better twist than this one. Ever. But, even though that's what most people focus on, that's certainly not all there is to this film. It has great tension and mystery and red-herrings throughout, combined with a wink to the audience regarding its genre with all the noir elements. This film is something entirely its own, which is pretty difficult to pull off since it is a genre film. It's just perfect all around. A lot of fun, pretty unsettling, and great people all around.
-sj loves kevin spacey
-----signature-----
6 x 9 = 42 Proud member of the Colbert Nation Obi-Wan Kenobi and Obi-Wan Kenobi in Ghost Ship Executor All Hail Cliegg's Blue Leg!
|
|
|
Quote Reply |
Active Topic Notification |
Private Message |
Post History
|
soitscometothis
Registered:
Jul '03
|
Date Posted:
4/5 6:57am
Subject:
RE: Guilty As Charged: Great Crime Thrillers: Now Disc. 6. "The Usual Suspects"
|
^I definitely agree with you about the film having so much more going for it than just the twist. This is a stylish, intelligent film, with some really great dialogue (and as far as I'm concerned, good dialogue is essential for a noir film) and a cast that I don't think could be bettered.
Kevin Spacey tends to get all the praise, but the film wouldn't work without an actor as charasmatic as Gabriel Byrne at its centre; he's sympathetic enough to be the (nominal) lead, while also suggesting a darkness to his character that makes you wonder if he might not end up being the bad guy. All the other actors give terrific performances too. I was going to name my favourites, but as I sit here looking at the cast list on IMDB, I realise that everyone here gave a performance worth talking about, even Steven Baldwin. This is what happens when people are hired for their talent rather than their box-office clout.
I don't think I need to talk too much about the script - it is pure dynamite.
Verbal Kint: Keaton always said, "I don't believe in God, but I'm afraid of him." Well I believe in God, and the only thing that scares me is Keyser Soze.
The stuff dreams are made of.
-----signature-----
|
|
|
Quote Reply |
Active Topic Notification |
Private Message |
Post History
|
