What movies made in the last five years are worth watching?

I just watched "Shame" -- that was a depressing film. It's about a brother and sister -- brother is a sex addict and sister is just a mess -- a former cutter who's totally dependent on others (mostly the brother). Still, the star performances were excellent. But it simply was not something I'd ever want to watch again. I actually thought Schindler's List was uplifting by comparison.

There are a few films like that which are not the most pleasant to watch, but when you've seen them, you know you've seen a great film. "A Clockwork Orange" is another film that falls into that category for me -- I loved the movie, but I don't think I could ever watch it again.

 

That's another film that I thought was great, but I don't know if I could ever watch again. It's really disturbing in a lot of ways.

 

I liked the crude imagery of A Clockwork Orange. The Milk bar for example was brilliant. But the book was better as is usually the case.

Anytime I watch the movie, I have to watch Nineteen Eighty Four too and remember the parts that never made the film, like the "Orwellian Rat Masks" and other such things. It is right up the alley of other films like Brazil.

All of those are classics.

 

I just watched the movie "The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo" (2011 version) And am utterly baffled by the very ending. I think I may have to seek out the other version made in 2009 and see if it makes more sense.

The problem was that Lizbeth seemed upset at Mikael for being with his wife/girlfriend or whomever she was. Why? She had investigated him and should have clearly known that he had a relationship beforehand. He specifically mentioned that he "Was spending some time with his daughter." at one point too, and as thorough an investigator as she was, surely she knew about the daughter too. He objected when she chose to sleep with him too.

Did the 2009 version make more sense on this matter? Or should I just be a jerk and say that I have zero understanding of how women think?

Other than this, it was a very good and well made movie. Some parts are pretty horrible, but I think that is the point of those parts.

 

I just watched Limitless.

It was good. Oddly reminiscent of Fight Club at times though. I can somewhat empathize with the effects. But I will not elaborate here.

(To be clear, no drug actually makes you impossibly smart. Period. Some do however make you feel as if you are. And as with all such things, there are still many limiting factors and every such thing is double edged.)

The film failed to confront the lead for having sex with random women while supposedly committed to one woman. That seems like an oversight.

 

Unfortunately, that final scene between Lisbeth and Mikael is not in the original film - neither is the preceeding montage where she flies around the world, setting things right for Mikael. Mikael's relationship with his boss is also absent from that film - So there is no basis for comparison.

However, I think I can make more sense of why she felt betrayed. She initially had sex with Mikael in a fairly NSA way - I don't think she had any illusions about that. But then during the investigation Mikael starts to ignore messages and e-mails from his boss - and we are very specifically shown scenes where Lisbeth discovers that. I think she interpreted that as a sign of weakness in their relationship - and in fact Mikael seeks out Lisbeth instead of his boss at the end of the film - but ironically Lisbeth is unavailable because she's fallen for Mikael and is off trotting the world on his behalf.

So it's ironic, and sets up their relationship for the next installment.

 

Oh - I've been wanting to talk about "Shame" with someone - I have a rather different interpretation than what you posted above, but it would be indiscreet for me to talk about specifics in a forum with people who haven't seen it yet. Check your inbox...

 

Ah. I see. But what sets her off at the very end was seeing Milael walk his "Boss" to the taxi and join her.

I see that she did a lot for him, but he loaned her the 50k needed to steal his enemies unspecified boatload of money. She was in a much better position after doing all that than before. She no longer had any worries about money. He however returned to his previous job and life. This would have been plainly obvious to her at any moment.

Clearly she was anti-social. I can understand most of that. But was she actually convinced that a few circumstantial difficulties between Mikael and his "Boss" meant their relationship went in the garbage? It just seems dumb to me.

Late in the film she is playing chess with her "father?" and tells him she finally had a friend that he would approve of. She did not say lover. She clearly said friend.

I am still unsure of the reality of the film. That is a good thing. There were many details not explained fully and left in the shadows.

Neither of them ever said in any way that they wanted a long term relationship. If she or he had simply said "I want to continue seeing you." then I can see how she could have felt betrayed. But his relationship to his "Boss" predated him meeting her, and even predated her investigation of him. Was he supposed to toss all his previous relations aside and dedicate himself to her because she slept with him and never said she wanted a relationship?

I am reminded of why I never date anyone. I simply do not understand this sort of thing.

 

The top 5 movies I have seen in the last five years: hurt locker, up, no country for old men, gran torino, slumdog millionaire.

Here is a list of top rated movies http://www.films101.com/yl5r.htm

I am a bit more critical than most critics however. I found a great deal of those movies to be terrible like the movie Avatar, bleh.

 

I agree that all of those movies were excellent.

As far as Gran Torino is concerned... I've loved Clint Eastwood from his Spaghetti Western days, and I think it's amazing that he just keeps getting better with age.

Oh, and Avatar was more of a technical achievement imho, than anything else. I don't think it was a bad movie, but it's really the technology that's the star.

 

Oh and just because, not keeping with the topic:
If you haven't seen it... Yellowbeard (1983, treasure island parody, with Graham Chapman, Eric Idle and John Cleese of the monty python crew, as well as Cheech and Chong).

 

Some suggestions I'll make that aren't already listed.

While they're TV shows, they really have excellent production value and are just amazing: The Wire (which is more like a visual novel, it ended 2008), and game of thrones (which -is- based on a book but its still recent).

These don't match the five year time limit, but "Young Frankenstein" and "Dr Strangelove: Or How I learned to stop worrying and love the bomb" are both some of the funniest movies I've seen.

In keeping with the time limit, most of the movies I would suggest are already up there. I didn't see Coraline which I liked despite being a "kids/animated movie"

The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus I really liked, its a very surreal style of movie.

I liked Drag Me To Hell, its a horror with a bit of comedy spliced in.

The Departed just misses the five years limit, but if you haven't seen it, its quite amazing.

I didn't see "The Road" which is another movie I liked. But it sounds like it might not be one you like, its a rather dark post-apocolyptic flick.

And lastly while I haven't seen "Indie Game: The Movie" I hear its supposed to be really good and its one I want to see. I don't think its released to general public yet though.

 

I agree entirely mein fuer... I mean Mister President...
(If you have not seen the movie, then you will not get the joke. If you have then you need no explanation.)

I keep a copy of Doctor Strangelove because it is a great yet inane movie. It is fairly lighthearted, yet certainly worth a watch.

I am actually surprised there are no puns in the game from this too. Diggle Strangelove would be a great boss monster that spawns only once on a deep level and just has a fit and strangles himself while you fight him. Someone needs to add this once it is possible to restrict a monster to only spawn once at a certain depth.

 

Watched the Frontline episode on children and medication last week. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/medicatedchild/ It focused mainly on prescription medication used to treat Bipolar, not other things. Some of the parents and doctors were honestly kind of ridiculous, like there was this one kid who was on five different medications by the time he was ten. Other times, I wondered if the kids were just...you know, being kids and being rowdy. But it does provide an interesting history and look into how medications are approved in the United States. Not the best that Frontline has done, but decent.

A lot of their other episodes are available for free on their website also.

The last episode I watched before that medication one was "Death by Fire", which investigated two things. The first was the development of Fire Science as an academic field in the United States, and how new developments gave evidence to exonerate a man accused of murdering his children in a fire. The second was the death penalty in the United States, and how the ability to appeal or retrial a case is often tied into politics. Really fascinating and worth a look.

 

I thought about making a thread for it, but I was unsure anyone would want to continue on the subject. Does anyone?

 

Don't fret OmniNegro, you'll always find someone to talk about, regardless of the topic.

Because honestly, all of us are a rather weird bunch, and even if the discussion won't be long, it will start if you create a topic for it. After all, most of us registered on this forum precisely for that purpose.

 

Well normal people are just so boring lol.

Back on topic (sort of)...
I recently saw "Snow White and the Huntsman". This movie definitely does NOT belong in the category of films that I would recommend. It really left me kind of numb, not having any real engagement in the film. A lot of people have commented on the great beauty of the cinematography/special effects. But I was less impressed (the type of cinematography that impresses me was not at all present in the film).

 

I've seen more movies just recently than I did in the two years prior, but I saw Chronicle and thought it was okay... and... that's just about it. I didn't particularly like Hunger Games, I didn't like (totally a straight face right now guize) Battleship, I hated the hell out of Dark Shadows... so... yeah. Chronicle was pretty good I guess.

 

Movies to watch:

City of God - A Brazilian film about a young boy growing up in the slums of Rio de Janeiro in the 1960s till 80s. It's from 2002, but you might like it. It's a story about growing up in between gangsters and in the poorest part of a sprawling city. Has a bit of violence and people get hurt in a lot of ways though, so I don't know if you'll like it.

The Town - I bought this on a disc with The Departed, and The Town was the better movie. A gangster flick by and with Ben Affleck. It does not glorify nor condemn the bank robbers and has pretty awesome characters, and the story is very good, especially considering it's a gangster movie at its core

A Scanner Darkly - Now, this is SciFi. It stars Keanu Reeves, Robert Downey Jr, Woody Harrelson and Winona Ryder. It also looks like a comic since it was rotoscopized. It's about a new drug appearing and Keanu Reeves as kind of an underground cop trying to get behind it. Well, basically. It's all pretty weird, but it looks awesome and can be funny as hell. Try to follow the story, can be hard at times It's based on a Phillip K. Dick novel btw.

A Prophet - A French Gangster movie about a young Algerian who comes into prison at the age of 19, illiterate, and slowly becomes a leading figure in the prison society. Very good, one of my favourite gangster movies.

Sunshine - Science Fiction by Danny Boyle about a ship that sets out to reignite the sun and stumbles upon the ship that went before them and mysteriously failed. Includes horror elements and gets a bit haywire at the end, but overall very enjoyable with a good cast.

Ghost in the Shell - Well, this is a bit older as well, and anime. Very mature anime though, featuring nudity, lots of gore and a lot of philosophy. The core issue is what makes humans human, compared to advanced AIs and machines in general. The sequel is good too, though even weirder

Howls Moving Castle - Another anime, by Hayao Miazaki. This one is probably my favourite of his (though Mononoke and Chichiro come very close), mostly thanks to the absolutely gorgeous animation. A girl gets turned into a 90 yrs old granny and finds refuge at the Moving Castle of a powerful wizard who is trying to avoid fighting in a war for pacifist reasons. Awesome!

I hope you like some of them, I might have some more for later on