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Recommendations!
Theriandros:
Oh, hi Mark!
HiFranc:
I would recommend the following:
Film:
Minority Report: Sci-fi and action, and the film also poses moral, legal and philosphical questions.
Sliding Doors: An interesting concept, well executed. The film has an emotional heart whilst explaining the butterfly effect well.
In My Country: Based on an autobiography, the film takes us on an emotional journey whilst looking that issues raised by South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
The Lives of Others: A drama that looks at the way the East German dictatorship functioned.
Sophie Scholl -- The Last Days: A film about a [real] member of the White Rose Alliance (a group of Germans that tried, through peaceful means, to bring an end to Hitler's dictatorship). Worth watching to get an idea what it was like in the German resistance.
The Killing Fields: Based on a true story. The film shows us the hardships experienced by people under the Khmer Rouge. A powerful film that gives an idea of the Pohl Pott regime.
Timeline: Time travel and romance. OK, I'm softy at heart.
Shiri: Korean action film. Notable because it successfully combines action, drama and romance. Most films usually only manage 2.
Contact: A realistic look at how a First Contact situation with an Extra Terrestrial Intelligence may play out.
Book:
Society of the Mind by Eric L Harry: A book that looks at some of the debates around AI.
Feet of Clay by Terry Pratchett: Another good take on the AI debate and has a few laughs as well.
{edit}
Documentary:
Five Steps to Tyranny (2000): Uses the results of psychological experiments to show how easy it is to turn a democracy into a dictatorship.
Ikrik:
I'll definitely scrap the recommendation for Shiri, for a South Korean action film it was decent when it came out but has definitely not stood the test of time well at all.
This movie recommendation list is going to be kind of really long:
3-Iron is a fantastic sorta-romantic Korean drama about this guy who breaks into people's homes and lives in them. He develops a relationship with an abused housewife. It's really amazing because neither of them ever really speak and it's really interesting to see how the director handled it.
Dear Zachary. If you want to bawl your eyes out like a baby, then this movie is for you. I have never shed a tear for a movie in my life, ever. This movie had me bawling around 3 times in it's duration. This filmmaker's friend was brutally murdered and so the guy decided to make a movie for this guy's son about the man his father was. Absolutely heart-wrenching.
OSS 117. Either Lost in Rio or Cairo, Nest of Spies. They're basically French James Bond spoofs and are both absolutely hilarious. Have you tried watching the early Bond films lately and see how racist, sexist, and utterly moronic Bond is (especially Moore). These films basically crank those up to extremes and the guy playing OSS 117 is utterly fantastic in the role.
I watched Misery a couple nights ago and it was terrifying. It's based off a Stephen King short story where this author crashes his car in a snow storm and is saved by his "biggest fan." He can't walk and he ends up being nursed by her at her house but it turns out that she's absolutely psycho. Kathy Bates won an Oscar for her performance, and she's probably one of the only actresses who has won an Oscar for a horror film.
Detroit Metal City is a Japanese comedy movie about this really awkward guy who wants to be a pop-singer and instead finds himself the lead singer and guitarist of a black metal band. Absolutely hilarious if you like zany Japanese movies. And if you like this you might want to watch Cutie Honey which is also kind of weird and kooky.
And finally
Hansel and Gretel. It's a Korean horror-fantasy film that has been compared continuously to Pan's Labyrinth. In a way the comparison hurts and helps it because the movie is an adult fairy tale and does get quite dark. However, near the end it gets a little stupid and they explain a major part of the movie and it kind of loses it's mystery which is kind of sad. But if you can ignore that part the rest of the film is fantastic and is worth checking out.
Earl_of_slander:
I don't know how many of you can take some gore and gruesome visuals, but i'd recommend a dark comedy called 'Taxidermia' by the Hungarian director Gyorgi Palfi. The movie doesn't really have any plot. The tagline of the movie is 'Three stories. Three generations. Three men. One bizarre and shocking universe.' The movie begins at a Hungarian farmhouse during the World War 2. There's a soldier who humps his lieutenant's wife in a bathtub which has a pig carcass in it. The wife bears a baby boy born with a little pig tail, which the lieutenant snips as soon as he sees it. This boy grows up to be a big (heavy) speed eater. Then the movie traces what happens in the speed eater's life. The son of this speed eater becomes a taxidermist. A word of caution though- the movie is quite disturbing.
I'd recommend the book 'A canticle for Leibowitz'. It's a post-apocalyptic novel. It tells the story of how the civilization is wiped out, but tries to re-build itself again. People have developed a hatred for books and all things scholarly. Almost all the books and scholarly documents have been destroyed, save for a little cache in a monetary in a desert. The monks in the monastery have been guarding the books for generations. The book has loads of dark humor in it.
SaskiWhiteflower:
I'd like to recommend a book (i didnt watch the movie so i cant recommend it) "Along came a Spider" by James Patterson. And why you ask? :-o . Because its the best thriller i've read so far. It's a real pageturner. You will read it, think about it, and then read it again.
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