Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Dimmukane]

I liked it mostly because of the allusions it made to that one Heironymous Bosch painting that they looked at in the movie (not an Art History major, forgive me for not knowing it's name, but it's the most famous one he did).

[Usopp]

Sin City, both books and movie(and movies to come )
Great style of coloring, i really enjoyed that, kinda jumps around a lil w/ the stories, but otherwise a great movie
The Count of Monte Cristo(book)
Great book, I found it to be a page turner. Somewhere nigh on THE representative of classical romantic fiction(THIS romantic(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romance_(genre)), not this romantic(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romance_novel))
A Song of Ice and Fire series
EXCELLENT, especially if you are into the mideval version of Realpolitik mixed with a smattering of fantasy and two heaping spoonfulls of whoop-ass
The Princess Bride(book and movie)
I enjoyed the book, very interesting perspectives in it. The movie is kinda B-movie-ish, but still great for all that.
JOHN ADAMS. JOHN F*CKING ADAMS.
This makes history BADASS. A great look into this rather unpopular president's tenure and life as the "Colossus of the Revolution."

[Ikrik]

2001, A Space Odyssey.  I want to recommend this to anyone who watches film.  I want to also tell people to not watch A Clockwork Orange, I barely lasted 10 minutes before turning the thing off.  It might have been good once...but now it's just...eugh. 

Can someone explain 2001 to me?  Like...the entire thing.  Or is it something that I have to see 3-4 more times to start understanding it.

[Joseph]

Read the book.

And finish watching "A Clockwork Orange".  And then read that book.  Or read the book first.  But do both.

[Gilead]

The graphic novel Epileptic by David B. is without hyperbole one of the greatest uses of the comic medium I have ever read, it is the author's autobiographical record of growing up with a brother suffering from epilepsy in a time before anyone really knew what it was or how to treat it, not only is it fantastically written but it has the most beautiful black and white art, it is one of my biggest inspirations as a writer, an artist and a former epileptic.

Seriously, it's really fucking good.

[Ikrik]

Read the book.

And finish watching "A Clockwork Orange".  And then read that book.  Or read the book first.  But do both.

I read the book, thought it was complete trash and just absolutely overrated....I guess it's just not for me.

[Tom]

Any good books released this year?

[Joseph]

Philip Roth's Indignation.  But that's not a surprise, he's as wonderful a writer as exists at the moment.

I've heard mixed things about John Updike's new one, but I'll probably check it out at some point.

If you want a book with pictures, Shaun Tan's tales from outer suburbia is superb.

For non-fiction, Nicholson Baker's Human Smoke is a captivating, humane, and beautifully researched look at WWII.

I'm sure there's more.  The NYTimes 100 notable books list is full of things by some wonderful authors, but I've spent this year catching up on old books, not really looking at the new.

[StreetSpirit]

So I just recently found a DVD copy of one of my favorite movies and can't help but recommend it to everyone: 'The Warriors'. It is like the Outsiders meets the Westside Story were you to add some more New York gritty, yet stylized gang action. It may have a dash of cheese on top of the bad ass toppings, but it is still a tasty sandwich of a movie. GO!

[mrjoegangles]

Waaaaaaaaariors.  Come out to plaaaaaaaaaaaay-aaaaaaaay.

Freaken rad movie right there.  One of the few remakes they are talking about that doesn't have me worried. (Ones that do:  Short Circuit, Top Gun, Red Dawn, Masters of the Universe, Karate Kid)

First: cause its Tony Scott (man knows action/drama)
Second: cause apparently they are planning on using alot of gang members like they did with the first one.  Only this time they are gonna be in more starring roles.

[Dimmukane]

I'm a Cyborg, But That's OK.

It's by Chan-Wook Park.

Take the way Oldboy makes you feel by the end of the movie, and reverse it.  That's how this movie makes you feel. 


Extremely visual, too.

I'm tired.

[De_El]

That's out? I wanted to see that a long time ago but I don't think it was domestically released at the time. Cool!

[Dimmukane]

No, it's not out here.  I TORrent'd it.  I'm definitely going to buy it when I get my Christmas bonus, though.  I think that might be my new favorite Park Chan-Wook (I think this is the correct way to spell it, damn info pages listing last names first) film, to be honest.  Take One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Last Life in the Universe, and throw in PCW's crazy visual directing style and that's what this movie is.  It's definitely more of a character film than anything else he's done, that's for sure.

To quote someone on IMDB, it's the best romantic comedy I've seen.

[foodstapler]

my favourite TV shows wich I strongly recommend:

How I Met Your Mother
The Big Bang Theory
Scrubs
Black Books
Red Dwarf
The Brittas Empire gives me a chuckle (chris barrie is just major lol)
Entourage is just great
The IT Crowd, oh god its good.
Quantum Leap
Stargate SG-1
Blackadder

Ohhh I can name so much

Movies:
A Clockwork Orange
One Flew over the cookoo's nest
Infernal Affairs trilogy
The Shining
Ravenous
A Dogs Breakfast
DR Strangelove
Hot Fuzz
Shaun of the Dead
Run Fatboy Run
Clerks


Ohhh soo many recommendations.

[AanAllein]

The idea is generally to recommend things people are unlikely to have heard of/seen yet, I believe.

[TheFuriousWombat]

Any good books released this year?

2666 by Roberto Bolano and Unaccustomed Earth, a collection of short stories by Jhumpa Lahiri. Both are truly amazing.

[jimbunny]

I put forth that The Big Bang Theory is a terrible, terrible show.

[Spluff]

Seconded.

[KvP]

Oddly enough I know some defenders of that show. Once you get past the stupid nerd caricatures it's a fairly rote sitcom, and there are people who really enjoy that sort of thing. The AV Club keeps a blog abreast of it.

[Dimmukane]

Amelie.  That has got to be the happiest movie I've ever seen.

[Gilead]

Oh anyone who hasn't seen it watch cinema paradiso.

If you are not incredibly moved at the end of that film you are literally a soulless husk of a human being.

[mishy]

did a search, no one's mentioned these ladies yet. i'd like to recommend two authors.

my favourite book evar is Fistful of Sky by Nina Kiriki Hoffman (sometimes just Nina Hoffman). it's about a young woman coming into powers in a magical family. they don't specifically say "witch" or "magician" or anything specific to the magic system. it's a stand-alone book, something which is so hard to come by these days in any fantasy genre. i've been greedily scooping up all her other books, which is difficult since most are not in print anymore. anyway, she does an interesting spin on interpersonal relationships, and on self-discovery. for the psych-minded of you who are interested in the genre, i highly recommend it.

the other author i'd like to mention is Kelley Armstrong. she writes in the dark fantasy genre: werewolves, witches, sorcerers, half-demons, necromancers. you'll find it in the horror section of Chapters, but it's not really scary so much as suspenseful. the author has the fine art of page-turning figured out: she ends every chapter with something that makes you HAVE to read the start of the next chapter, which just keeps you going. all her main characters are strong females, and all her books are related (except one, in the crime genre) but i started in the middle of the series and it didn't impact my enjoyment of the book i read (i just got the sense that there was this big event that happened before that i could know more about), but she has announced a new book coming out with stories from the men in her books' POVs. they are funny, exciting, and there's usually one (or a few) steamy sex scenes in them, too.

is it just me? i feel so awkward and self-conscious when i'm reading a steamy scene in a public area, like on a bus or in a waiting room. i start looking around me like everyone can just tell what i'm reading... maybe it's just me. 

[pen]

Not just you.  I read a lot of smut, usually on my way to work, and it always seems like someone is reading over my shoulder, thinking "Oh, my word!" or something. 

[mishy]

glad it's not just me!
i'll bet there's some weird people out there who get a kick out of reading sexual fantasies in public. kind of like public masterbation, but mental and not illegal.
i should probably tap into that potentially lucrative niche market and write some steamy stuff for them... 

[Runs_With_Scissors]

Beautiful Boy. Forgot the author, but I know he writes for the New York Times. His son was a meth addict, and it's a book about the affect it had on his family and everything. It's one of those books that makes your really appreciate the life you have. And it's also really informative, but not in a shove it down your throat sort of way.

[Lines]

Doubt and Frost/Nixon. Go see them, they're really good.

[doombilly]

Go see MILK.
www.milkthemovie.com

[RedLion]

Doubt and Frost/Nixon. Go see them, they're really good.

Further, read Nixonland: The Rise of a President and the Fracturing of America. It's a pretty damned long tome (near 800 pages) but every page is absorbing and captivating. The book is built around the idea that Nixon rose to power by exploiting the feelings of resentment by the "common man" (or, as Nixonland calls them, the orthogonians) against the changing society of America during the 60's and that this has led, ever since, to the ideological dividing of America straight down the middle. That, in and of itself, is not really a novel concept, bu the way in which the book expounds upon it offers more insight into the state of American society and politics, both past and present, than anything else I've read on similar topics.

[Cicero]

Mein Kampf was a real winner.   Loved that book.

[TheFuriousWombat]

       
     /
 

[Harun]

The Wrestler - featuring Mickey Rourke, Marissa Tomei, and Evan Rachael Wood. Directed by Darren "I Directed Requiem For a Dream and The Fountain" Aronofsky. Score by Clint Mansell. Theatrical release soon, but there are DVD screeners flying around the interwebs...
 

[dancarter]

Let the Right One In.  Drop everything you're doing if you can see this movie and track it down.  And for more genre(though slightly more silly), if you're lucky enough to catch a screening in your area, see Repo: The Genetic Opera.  It's a gas.

Bookwise, geez...ife you like Warren Ellis, his first novel was quite good, though a bit of a hassle to track down in my home town.  It's called Crooked Little Vein.

[Dimmukane]

So apparently there are movies staring Bruce Lee after his death.  As in, they do it Ed Wood style and have a body double (who becomes the main character halfway through the movie) stand in, and borrow scenes, costumes and locations from previous movies he's done.  And use images from his actual funeral in the movie for when his character dies.  They were called Game of Death 1 & 2, and they're fun as hell to watch inebriated.  The fighting is actually pretty good, but everything else about it is just so hilariously bad.

[SayWhat]

I only saw the play version of Frost/Nixon, and I'm hesitant to go see the movie because the play was just...wonderfully captivating and thought provoking (I thought ti was very well done too, but I'm not a big theater-scene person, so my opinion prob'ly isn't worth much) and I'm afraid the movie won't live up to what I expect.

 I'm the type of person who, every time I hear a rumor that someone is making a movie of Ender's Game, I cringe.

I'm sure someone's already suggested the Terry Pratchett Discworld books, because they're really just that fantastic. I'd also say try the Dresden Files by Jim Butcher, they are excellently done, sort of a fantasy-meets-modern-life thing, but without all the sex and sadomasochism that the Anita Blake series by Laurell K Hamillton has. I haven't read Butcher's other series, the Codex Alera, but I hear it's good if you're into the 'fantasy-epic-quest-kingdom-adventure' sort of thing.

I'd also say the Life of Pi, by Yann Martel. I read it in I think 5th grade, and I re-read it every year, because it's one of those books that you always see new things, or learn something from, when you go back over it.

I haven't got much on movies, I'm not really a movie sort of person. Seven Pounds was a good movie, although I found parts of it just too convenient to be believable. Other good ones are the Fifth Element, and I liked Death Race (it has that british actor, whose name I can't remember...). More action movie than i really like, but it was fun to watch.

[TheDozarian]

For movies, I'd have to recommend the following:

Seven Samurai - Akira Kurosawa
This is one of the quintessential classics that has really transcended the B&W format.  It has also spawned several spinoffs and remakes.  Even if you're not interested in the whole samurai/feudal Japan trappings, the story can stand on its own.

Firefly/Serenity - Joss Whedon
I got into the whole Firefly scene way late.  But this movie put me on the bandwagon.  I'm not a huge Whedon fan, by any stretch.  But I really got into the characters and the storytelling.  It was far better than any of the new Star Wars movies.  If you have any inkling of liking sci fi, you should really consider checking out the movie, if not the entire series...

For books, I've been a little light recently...  But here are some memorable ones:

Digital Fortress - Dan Brown
The story of an agent and her dealings with a government agency for cyber crimes.  The story is a great example of telling a story about something very complex without beating you over the head with all the details.  Even if you're not computer savvy, you should still be able to enjoy the intrigue and excitement in this book...

The Elenium Trilogy - David Eddings
A three part series with great, memorable characters on an epic quest.  The story kept me entangled the entire time.  I'm not usually one for fantasy stories but I picked up the first book and less than a month later I'd read the entire trilogy.  Great story, great characters.  Definitely a great series.

These are just my opinions... Have fun with them...

[Dimmukane]

I just saw Man on Wire. 




Man on Wire.

[Joseph]

Man On Wire is probably my favourite film of 2008.  Really excellent, and I can't recommend it strongly enough.

I saw an incredible documentary tonight, Man On Wire.  It's about Philippe Petit, a wirewalker who in 1974 walked between the WTC towers while they were only partially complete, walking back and forth for 45 minutes while cops tried to talk him off.



Really satisfying, joyful, and exhilarating.  Some sad undertones though, when the friends who pulled it off together reflect upon the times, and it seems quite clear that they haven't kept up much since.

Beautiful film.

[kgbisouttogetme]

its not new..... but PREY by Crichton was a pretty great book.

[Jack Faros]

I'd recommend the book World War Z to anyone who likes the Zombie Apocalypse genre, and even to people who have no real interest in it.  The stories in it are so well written that I had to remind myself on several occasions that there was never actually a world-wide war against the walking dead.  I think it has something to do with the fact that Zombies aren't really in the forefront of it all.  It's all about the victims.  You could substitute the zombies in most of the stories (But not all of them.  Some of them only make sense with zombies.) with any army on the planet and I'd think you'd still get the same effect.

Would anyone here recommend The Unborn?  I wanted to see it opening day, but was short on cash and didn't bother.  The advertisements make it seem like it's an actual horror movie, and that has me really excited.  (When I say "actual horror movie," I mean as opposed to movies like Hostile and Saw that have been so prevalent over the last decade.  The ones that really on blood and guts for cheap shock value instead of actually trying to scare the audience.)

[Dimmukane]

What?  What's that you say?  I can't read it, it's all orange and shit.

(Using colored text is discouraged)


Also, I don't know about The Unborn.  I haven't trusted a single American remake in a pretty long time.

[Jack Faros]

What?  What's that you say?  I can't read it, it's all orange and shit.

(Using colored text is discouraged)

I checked these threads before posting.  No where is there any mention of the use of colored text.

Also, I don't know about The Unborn.  I haven't trusted a single American remake in a pretty long time.

It's a remake of a foreign film?  I wasn't aware of that.  What country made the original?  How old is it?

[Dimmukane]

Thailand, I believe...I'm pretty sure it's less than 10 years old...unfortunately a lot of lower-budget Thai movies use grainy cameras so it's hard to judge just how old. 

As far as colored text goes, that kind of falls under the 'tactics' bit of Fatty's rules.  It's alright from time to time, for comedic emphasis, but as normal posting behaviour it gets kind of annoying.  It's just easier to read the default.  I don't know how lax they are about this in the comic discussion, but in the boards that fall under 'Other Fun Stuff' you will probably catch some flak for it.  I don't personally care, I'm just giving you a heads up.

[SayWhat]

Gah. I wouldn't go see Unborn if someone payed me, just because it looks like it'll scare the shite outta me.

Anyone know if Mall Cop is at all good? Our school is taking the MAP 4 students to see it for a 'Congratulations!' field trip, and I'm wondering if I should go or not.

[Dimmukane]

Did a quick check, it's based on an older made for TV movie from 1991.  Kind of.  There are three movies with that title, and all of them have to do with dead babies, but I think the new one iis the only one dealing with twins.  The Thai one is when a drugged up girl wakes up in a hospital, pregnant and having hallucinations.

[Jack Faros]

Just got back from seeing it.  Not as scary as I'd hoped, but still a good watch. 

[Naira]

I mentioned this in the Oscar Nomination thread...but "Water" by Dheepa Mehta is absolutely excellent.

It is set in India, in the years before Gandhi was assassinated. It tells the story of a newly widowed girl and her new status (or complete lack) in society and the older friends she makes in a widows' commune. If you watch it and think "no, things couldn't have been that bad", you'd be (sadly) wrong.

It's not a movie to watch without a box of tissues handy.

[Dimmukane]

Fuck yes, Nuovo Cinema Paradiso. Holy dicks is that ever a good movie. Seconded.

Really late, but I am thirding this.  Just saw it.



Did anyone else see the penis near the end?

[dujek]

As far as TV shows go, Being Human looks like it good be a very good show indeed. The first episode was excellent.

[Uber Ritter]

Can I join the "The Wire" bandwagon?  This show is amazing.  All the praise it gets is not hype (including, perhaps, the greatest American TV drama ever).

No on told me that it was funny, though.  I mean, sure, it's bleak and dark and unsentimental and stuff, but it can also be -fucking hilarious- on occasion.  Not in a 'we need a joke here' sitcom kinda way, but kinda like, you know, life.

[Inlander]

That reminds me, I've got to retrieve the Wire thread from the depths . . .