Home
cinema

Need Movie Help ASAP!

Taylor Holmes
Random

Need Movie Help ASAP!

Things have slowed down around here significantly. It’s not a bad thing, but it does mean that we have dirth of quality complicated films to watch and converse about. A couple of months(?) ago I threw out 50 mind job movies to get the conversation started for an ultimate mind job list, and I had so much fun hearing from you guys on what movies you are all about. And while I haven’t actually made that ultimate mind job list yet, (I actually am trying to work my way through all of them before I write that list) I do have a problem.

Here’s my problem. I’m heading out to Haiti again in a day or two and usually when I go abroad I already have piles of movies preloaded and configured on my laptop and iPad Pro to go. But right now? Nada. Well, that’s not entirely true, I do have these few that I got from the Mindjob list: a) Pontypool b) Amelia 2.0 c) When Blackbirds Fly d) The Rapture (’91) e) Reconstruction. When I look through these 5 I think Pontypool, Reconstruction, and Amelia seem the most intriguing… no? Do I have that all backwards?

And my next question to the wider pool of you is, what other movies are out there that I haven’t written about or we haven’t talked about in the comments?  Or even if you just want to re-highlight one of your favorites. That’s fine too. A great resource definitely to check first is the mind job list that we have started already. That might just blow your mind and help you find an armful of interesting movies that are worth your time. This community is big enough now that I know we can come to each other’s aid when we have a man down. And right now, we definitely have a man down! And don’t worry about if a movie is in theaters or on video. We can make this a wider discussion than just beyond my little trip.

I recently almost bought a new domain – don’t want to tell you which, because then you’ll steal it and then what am I going to do? – just for t he sole purpose of keeping a list of movies that we find here. But then I bogged down on finding a wordpress template that was just a flipping list! But that would be such a great resource. A place to go where we just curate a list of quality movies. Not Hollywood quality. But thinking man’s movies that are worth recommending to friends. Just saying. Maybe I’ll work on that if I can find a stupid theme. (So yeah, if you have theme ideas too, let me know! I’m just looking for an SEO optimized, fast wordpress theme, that can either be a single page list, or maybe the post page just has a few of the details with a link to here? Not really much. Just need a place that is easy to navigate and review for knew movies you haven’t seen yet. Make sense?)

Anyway… thanks gang. And dude, if you have connections in Hollywood, or better yet, the independent film circuit, tell them to step on it! Holy cow. Where’d all the good movies go?!? I do need to go see suburbicon. Any of you seen it already? Seems definitely worth while. Alright, signing off. Back the movie truck up!

Taylor

Previous Someone Please Explain the Movie Buster’s Mal Heart
Next Resolution Movie Resolved Explained Conjectured
Taylor Holmes

Related Posts

37 Responses

  1. Have you (or has anyone reading this) seen:

    Battle of Memories
    Infinity Chamber
    2307: Winter’s Dream
    Anti Matter
    Embers
    Paradox Alice
    Evolution

    I have not seen any yet but have seen previews and they look interesting.

  2. …and just watched on Netflix: Monsters. It’s not a mind jobber but it is a good little alien movie. Unique.

  3. Although I’ve not seen any of the sci-fi movies on your list, after watching trailers and checking out Rotten Tomatoes percentages, there’s a few which piqued interest like the first on your list, “Battle of Memories” which seems to initially borrow premise of the classic movie “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” but takes a dark turn.

    I appreciate your sharing of a sci-fi movie list and am looking forward to watching the first movie, “Battle of Memories”, which subjectively previews most intriguingly.

  4. Gareth Edwards made this independent, budget movie, “Monsters”, and did all the CGI work, then directed the newest “Godzilla” (I’m a ‘zilla nerd haha!) so, heck ya!, a good Netflix monster movie to check out. Thanks again, Happy Pancake:-D

  5. Gareth’s Monsters is an almost perfect movie. I saw it years ago when it first came out and I told everyone I could about it. NO ONE WATCHED IT BECAUSE OF THE LAME TITLE. No one.

    Monsters. Seriously Taylor? Really? No thanks.

    I just posted my review of Resolution, which was intriguing. But not great. I was just about to hit play on Reconstruction… but I have a feeling I’m going to need to take lots of notes and I’m absolutely not in the mood. Hrmm.

  7. Smiling atcha, Taylor, because you’re a man on an important mission at this time and have more profound matters on your mind.

    I’ve always been intrigued by movie sound effects. For example, some of the most gory or gross scenes in movies are accomplished by the sound effect of tearing a head of lettuce apart.

    There’s not a more familiar, iconic roar than Godzilla’s and perhaps some folks wonder how it was produced. Here’s a link which entertainingly explains how the most recent Godzilla roar was created. It doesn’t really differ much from past roars nor would it have been wise to change the iconic yell of Godzilla…anyway, here’s the article with videos:

    http://ew.com/article/2014/05/22/godzilla-roar-interview-timeline-video/

  10. Andrew, Pippa – you two are gods among mere mortals. I am now forever in your debt. Feel free to read my blog, from now on for free. No cost at all for the two of you. For life. Congratulations.

    Taylor

  11. Stumbled on a streak of great (and close) movies lately: Nocturama, Good Time and Lady Macbeth (which you already reviewed). Guy Madden’s Keyhole, also recent viewing (not his best but still damned inventive).

    Stumbled on your website after watching Super Dark Time! My take on the ending, although I’d have to watch again to solidify my theory, Allison is the embodiment of evil and the cause for all the (male) mayhem. It’s always the woman’s fault! :)

    Since I mentioned Nocturama, Bonnello’s (a fantastic director) earlier work, House of Tolerance (if you can find it) is also fantastic…

    Cheers!

  12. Jeff, your comment, “It’s always the woman’s fault” reminds me of a French saying, “Cherchez la femme”:

    https://www.thoughtco.com/cherchez-la-femme-sexist-french-expression-1368635

    Also, came to mind the song recorded years ago by Dr. Buzzard and the Original Savannah Band or the better sounding YouTube track by Kid Creole and the Coconuts:

    https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=H4MCFznK7r0

    So many little things to acquire in this world if one is born curious and reads, listens, learns vociferously. Trivia Pursuit games and crosswords are so easy to solve. Alas, no higher paying job or better life guaranteed haha!

    Anyway, I’m interested in watching the movies on your list.

  13. Thanks for the reply! Never heard the French phrase but it does fit with my tongue-in-cheek comment about Super Dark Times. If I recall correctly the two main characters, Zach and Josh, both reveal their attraction to Allison and she could (possibly) be seen as playing them against each other. So it makes sense that she would be the one on in the final scene attempting to ensnare a new immature and unformed male
    plaything.

    Or something like that. I’d have to rewatch the movie with that in mind to see if it
    really works that way!

  14. Fell into your site trying to prove to my wife why Personal Shopper is a super-amazing-fantastic movie… and your movie taste is eerily similar to mine (though I can’t quite agree on It Comes At Night).

    Anyway, if you haven’t already seen it you NEED to watch the HBO series The Leftovers… the last season in particular is extraordinary TV. Just think of it as a 30 hour movie a la Berlin Alexanderplatz.

  15. Well, Dan. If you didn’t dig It Comes At Night!?!? How can I trust you any at all!? hahah. Just kidding. A lot of the movies I pitch to you guys really are outside the mainstream, so I appreciate you playing at all. As for the Leftovers… I have heard tell of it. I’ll check it out. Thanks for the recommendation.

    Your wife didn’t like Personal Shopper? Or you were trying to sell her on it? I’m confused. Tell me more. Tell us all more. We will all pull up a chair and wait. Patiently.

  16. Oh Dan… I’ve seen the first two seasons of The Leftovers. I dug season 1. I did not dig season 2. And stopped. Maybe even talked about it some on here? Dunno. So the most recent season is the best? Do they change over the cast each season? Wasn’t a fan of that from 1 to 2.

  17. Okay… now *I* am confused? Are there TWO Taylor Holmeses? One who only heard of The Leftovers? And one who saw Seasons 1 and 2? Or did you somehow watch 2 entire seasons between your posts? Did you do some kind of time travel thing a la Hermione Granger to get this done?

    I had some misgivings about Season 2 as well… thought it very scattershot and unfocused… I hated that dreamlike hitman/JamesBond-ish episode… it seemed like a waste of time… but after the (I thought) brilliant finale it suddenly seemed worthwhile. The last season was very tightly written… knowing it was their last ten episodes seemed to have helped the writers tremendously. Scott Glenn’s performance was particularly good.

    My wife was intrigued by the trailer for Personal Shopper but she thought the pace of the movie toooooooooo slowwwwwwwwww. She also didn’t love The Leftovers as much as I did but I still love her anyway. Currently I’m catching up on some of the Marvel movies that I’ve missed and I’m taking her along for the ride. She liked Dr. Strange more than I did but I think I was just ticked off that there was no Clea.

  19. A dark song(2016)
    As above so below(2014)
    The Void(2016)
    The Discovery (2017)
    The wailing (2016)
    Lucy(2014)
    Mindscape(Anna)(2013)
    Experimenter(2015)
    FAQ about time travel(2009)
    41(2012)
    Terminus(2015)
    Frailty(2001)
    Safety not guaranteed (2012)
    Fantastic planet(1973)
    Gandahar(1988)
    Battle for terra(2007)
    Enter the void(2009)
    The Fourth kind(2009)
    The Possession of Micheal king(2014)
    [Rec](2007)
    [Rec]²(2009)
    Contact(1997)
    Sphere(1998)
    Cube(1997)
    Cube²:hypercube(2002)
    The Host(2013)
    The Dyatlov pass incident(2013)
    It Follows(2014)
    Mr.Nobody(2009)
    Gantz(2010)
    Gantz: perfect answer(2011)
    Sunshine(2007)
    Solaris(2002)
    Event horizon(1997)
    Perfume: the story of a murderer (2006)
    Transcendence (2014)
    Turbo kid(2015)

  20. Hey J,
    Some really great movies in this list. I’m actually working with a developer right now to allow you guys to submit movies for me to do write ups on. You would have single handedly broken it I’m sure. hahaha. Great list. I’ll go through them and see which ones look good. You have a recommendation for a movie that stands out above the rest?

  21. Sighted on J’s list: “It Follows”…producers must’ve paid film critics to give it high ratings because it’s not at all scary or interesting. “It” is a sort of haunting STD (yeah, seriously) that eventually catches up to kill IF the person doesn’t hurry and find someone else to partake in sex with them. Before some get the idea a lot of nudity occurs because of the movie’s premise, It scarcely happens. Even if this film is now free to watch, don’t waste the time.

  22. Even though “it follows” is a decent psychological horror(rarely done.. hence explains the high ratings for the movie),i think it has an epic synth background score and sound track(even before “stranger things” did it)…anyways with a good sound reproduction system in place,the importance of background score in a movie will be evident…examples would be the brilliant background scores by Hans Zimmer for the docking scene in interstellar or the scene where magneto lifts the sub out of water at the end of x-men:first class… In awe everytime

  23. Hey Taylor,
    If you haven’t seen ‘Fantastic Planet by René Laloux’ yet,it comes highly recommended..it’s a sci-fi animation masterpiece..it’s a complete mindf@*#

  24. But..heck even Quentin Tarantino had his issues with “it follows” for NOT being great given it’s “best premise I’ve seen in a horror movie in a long,long,long time”(in Tarantino’s own words)..so I think no amount of epic background score will be saving it..however it makes for an intriguing one time watch nonetheless..

  26. Probably the most *romantic* Rohmer movie (they all deal with love and relationships but I wouldn’t necessarily call some of them *romantic*) would be Le Rayon Vert (The Green Ray) which, for American consumption was re-titled Summer (not to be confused with Rohmer’s later film A Summer’s Tale, which is also probably worthy viewing but I haven’t seen it yet). Very good place to start… the heroine will tug at your heart or annoy the ever-loving bejesus out of you.

  27. I give you credit, J, for taking the time to make a generous list of movies you liked and were kind to share as well as provide initial theatre dates.

    Thank you!

  33. A bit late to this conversation, but I agree with J – Fantastic Planet is one of the all-time greats in the mindfuck category of sci-fi (which is my favorite). I also recommend Gandahar for the same reason, which was also on J’s list. They are both french animation. A lot of people write off animation as it tends to be thought of as kid’s stuff, but these movies will blow up one’s brain.

    While I’m on my soapbox, I should also throw out Paprika as another favorite mindfuck movie. It also tends to get passed up, as it commits the double sin of not only being animation, but also being anime [gasp]. Of course, I know you love Ghost in the Shell (at least the manga), so I’m pretty sure you would love Paprika, too.

  34. Hey is this discussion still being monitored? I just discovered this site a few days ago and I have been having a blast reading through it. My tastes in movies are so similar to yours. I still have yet to see many of them but of the ones I have seen, I agree with your ratings almost exactly (well except I enjoyed The Lobster much more than you did :) ). So I was surprised that a couple filmmakers I love haven’t been discussed here and I wanted to mention. 1) Isaac Ezban, Mexican filmmaker – you must see “The Similars” and “The Incident”. Both are on Netflix I believe. Very Twilight Zone-y and will twist your mind like crazy. 2) Jamin Winans – must see films include “Ink” and “The Frame”. Both are great low-budget, very thought-provoking sci-fi films. Hope you enjoy. Looking forward to discovering more great films here!

  36. Which one of those four? I don’t think you can go wrong. Both of Ezban’s films are on Netflix and both of Winans’ are on Amazon Prime. Personally, my favorite of the four is probably The Similars, but then again I usually prefer going through a filmmaker’s catalog in order to appreciate how they progress, and The Incident came first so I may recommend that one? I think all four are strong so probably doesn’t matter. Hope you enjoy.

  37. I’ll suggest you to analyze the movie “Abre los ojos”! It is an original movie and later becomes remake with the title “Vanilla sky”. Many people gives more attention in the remake than this almost masterpiece. For some people this movie considered it as the “Spanish Matrix”.

    Well, will you do it?

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.