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all the stuff I've seen
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This is where I get to tell you what movies (and television shows and other "visual motion media") you should be watching - and what you shouldn't. No, I'm not a film major or anything, so I won't be using big words or providing deep insights. I'm just an opinionated guy with webspace and too much time on my hands - and weird tastes. So be warned, and maybe you'll actually agree with me.
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the list
The list is my collection of movies that simply must be seen. They are not good, they are brilliant works of art that are really the whole reason films and television exists. Miss them at your own loss.
One should be aware, however, that the list is always growing, and many of the movies that belong on it slip my mind until I see them again on a shelf at a video store, so if something is not included here, it may just be because I haven't added it yet.
the list itself
there's always more...
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Brazil
This supremely fucked up masterpiece from Terry Gilliam is too bizarre to be called "surreal," I guess only "deranged and maddenly compelling" applies here. A tale about the spiralling descent into madness of one frustrated man trapped in an incomprehensibly stifling bureacracy of the future, Brazil is wonderous and amazing - although I have yet to figure out what the hell the title has to do with anything...
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Dune
A movie based on Farnk Herbert's amazing novel really just couldn't be bad, but Dune managed to combine excellent effects, great acting, imaginative costumes and designs into a whole that really is a masterpiece, even with the absurdly silly "sonic troops." The wyrms and the really compelling characters more than make up for any kind of flagging it might have in other areas. Filled with scenes that just won't leave your mind (like that of Alia dancing across the battlefield, framed in blood and flames), Dune is an excellent visual tribute to the book.
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Fight Club
Another movie on the list, Fight Club is another one of those works of art that need to be scene. Filmed beautifully and bearing a message that knocks you to the ground like a solid punch to the gut, Fight Club keeps making me think of Beat Takeshi, although it takes a decidely different stance that Takeshi's nihilism. Takeshi films the slow death of the self in a world that means absolutely nothing, a world nearly devoid of motivating passion. Fight Club is all about the sensations of life, of the pain and joy you feel as things are destroyed and grow around us. Both show how meaning and meaninglessness are incomplete and inaccurate reflections of the world.
Makes me want to read the book.
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The Heroic Trio
A Hong Kong film about three skilled women dawn together by fate, friendship and sympathy to oppose an undead menace bent on restoring the Imperial Kingdom of China, this film has many of the strengths and weaknesses of HK flicks (and 3 sexy babes duking it out). While the sequel is horrid (judging from reputation and from the preview), this is actually a rather excellent film, assuming you like the style. Wire-fu and flying fights are kept to a reasonable minimum and it's actually quite a fun flick.
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Marquis
It is this film, more than any other, that has convinced me that the French are royally fucked up. Not that that's a bad thing, and I understand that any film revolving around the Marquis de Sade locked up in the Bastille during the French Revolution is going to be odd, but when the canine de Sade spends his time talking to his animate and erect penis (who goes by the name Colin), it gets a little bit stranger than I had expected, and that is only the beginning.
A truly strange film, although not in the same was as, say, Brazil, Marquis is worth seeing, if you can stomach it. But you'll never look at crawfish and mayonaise the same way again.
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Pi
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Six String Samurai
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Storm Riders
The first Hong Kong wuxia film I've ever seen with anything resembling a western budget, it showed. Excellent plot, good fights, good acting, and above-average filming (at least for Hong Kong), Storm Riders is a must-see for HK fans, really. It's biggest downfall, actually, is that sometimes the effects (the movie used extensive CGI additives) drowned out the actual actors, lessening the coolness of the fights. The acting more than made up for it, however, and the subtitles were actually intelligable as well. Well worth the price of a rental.
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Subway
I rented this French film at the same time I rented Marquis (see above), and while much more tame, it did nothing to dispell my vision of France as a nation filled to the brim with wild-eyed and dishevelled madmen running about with cameras and film crews. What a place to live in.
Anyway, Subway an odd little movie, and almost good enough to make it to the list. If only it was a little bit more cohesive...
Seemingly the tale of an odd safe-cracker (played by Christopher Lambert, btw) turned blackmailer turned stalker turned "homeless" subway resident turned band manager, the movies leaves you with a really rather odd message about the way to live your life. I've described it as Fight Club + any Beat Takeshi movie - most of the violence, if such a thing is possible. Defintely worth seeing if you like that style - and it's even an excellent dub.
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12 Monkeys
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Vampire Princess Miyu
A really rather good (or could be good) anime, Vampire Princess Miyu is the story of the Watcher, a shinma (demon) who's duty it is to return the other shinma of the world to the hell that they escaped from.
The series has some great traits, like an utterly callaus and inhuman main character, but it is completely hamstrung by it's entirely episodic plot that, without fail, will revolve around some new "monster of the week."
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