Last movie you saw?

[Prog Snob]

I didn't find the first movie excessively gory at all, although I got squeamish when the guy started sawing off his foot. Even that wasn't very graphic, it was just the thought of it that was ick.

I feel what is far worse than the physical horror aspect of it, and what separates this most other kinds of movie this graphic, is the psychological aspect of it. This could actually happen. It's not some far-fetched gorefest or franchise killer like Freddy or Jason. You realize that there are people out there with Jigsaw's mentality. That's what I appreciate most about movies like Saw or Seven. It's believable. I'll take a psychological mindfuck of a movie over beaten to death horror plots any day.

I'm not a fan of typical horror movies at all, only if they have some kind of psychological element to it (been watching many psychological thrillers lately). Gore fests can be fun too, but it needs to be creative, not just gore for shock value. Jump scares and gore for gore-sake just bore me. I enjoy movies that make me think about how the characters relate to each other and what they're thinking.

I know what you mean. Straight-up gore fests do nothing for me. Like you said, it has to be creative, but sadly most aren't. Those jump-scare movies are a dime a dozen these days. Every month some new movie comes out that milks the genre. We need more movies with a deep psychological aspect, something that really fucks with your head.

[BlobVanDam]

I get my fix from foreign and indie films these days.

[Prog Snob]

I get my fix from foreign and indie films these days.

Indie films are better than almost anything mainstream. I used to watch nothing but action films, but now they bore me. I've seen it all. Now I watch a lot of film noir.

[King Postwhore]

That's why I love L.A. Confidential John. 

[Prog Snob]

That's why I love L.A. Confidential John.

That's one of my favorite movies. I have no idea how that lost Best Picture to Titanic.

[BlobVanDam]

I get my fix from foreign and indie films these days.

Indie films are better than almost anything mainstream.

If it's a good indie film of course! They cover the full gamut from bad to good, just like Hollywood.
But I'll take a great indie film that all takes place in one small set over yet another action movie. Good writing can make up for any other deficit, but nothing can compensate for a crap script.
If you can recommend any good indie pychological films, I'm in.

[chknptpie]

Blues Brothers

My husband would kill me if I said this out loud... but it wasn't that good. It was slow, drawn out and not as funny as I had hoped!

[Prog Snob]

I get my fix from foreign and indie films these days.

Indie films are better than almost anything mainstream.

If it's a good indie film of course! They cover the full gamut from bad to good, just like Hollywood.
But I'll take a great indie film that all takes place in one small set over yet another action movie. Good writing can make up for any other deficit, but nothing can compensate for a crap script.
If you can recommend any good indie pychological films, I'm in.

I know of a few that I personally loved. I'm sure you've seen some of them.

Diabolique (either version but the original is better)
Jacob's Ladder
Blue Velvet
Roman Polanski's apartment trilogy (Repulsion, Rosemary's Baby, The Tenant)
Eyes Wide Shut (even though it has big stars in it, it's still a great Kubrick film)
Das Experiment
Zodiac (one of my favorite movies)
Insomnia (underrated gem with Pacino and Robin Williams)
Identity
A Tale of Two Sisters
Triangle (supposedly influenced by Memento)


Those are the ones that came to mind immediately. There are plenty of others.

[BlobVanDam]

I haven't seen any of them. I've only heard of a few of them (although the ones I've heard of didn't seem like my kind of thing). I'll look into them and check them out.

Actually, the last two I'd looked into. A Tale of Two Sisters was one I wanted to check out.

[Prog Snob]

I haven't seen any of them. I've only heard of a few of them (although the ones I've heard of didn't seem like my kind of thing). I'll look into them and check them out.

Actually, the last two I'd looked into. A Tale of Two Sisters was one I wanted to check out.

ATOTS is Asian and I know you're really into Japanese films. I don't know too many Japanese psychological thrillers but that one was really...thought provoking. 

Which independent psychological movies have you liked? I might be able to get a better idea of what to recommend.

[BlobVanDam]

I haven't seen any of them. I've only heard of a few of them (although the ones I've heard of didn't seem like my kind of thing). I'll look into them and check them out.

Actually, the last two I'd looked into. A Tale of Two Sisters was one I wanted to check out.

ATOTS is Asian and I know you're really into Japanese films. I don't know too many Japanese psychological thrillers but that one was really...thought provoking. 

Which independent psychological movies have you liked? I might be able to get a better idea of what to recommend.

I haven't really watched many that are both indie and psychological, they're separate areas that I've been exploring lately, and I've only just started actively looking into the psychological genre, so I don't have a lot to go on. Exam and Ex machina are both apparently classified as psychological thrillers, and I loved both of those for that aspect of it. Both Death Note movies (they're Japanese) were great for that too, especially the second film. I'll have to check out A Tale of Two Sisters just to get a bit more common ground for comparison going.

[SebastianPratesi]

I haven't really watched many that are both indie and psychological, they're separate areas that I've been exploring lately, and I've only just started actively looking into the psychological genre, so I don't have a lot to go on. Exam and Ex machina are both apparently classified as psychological thrillers, and I loved both of those for that aspect of it. Both Death Note movies (they're Japanese) were great for that too, especially the second film. I'll have to check out A Tale of Two Sisters just to get a bit more common ground for comparison going.

Wow, glad you liked it that much! I was busy this past weekend, unfortunately, but I'll have a little more free time soon, and I'll check out your recommendations.

If it's a good indie film of course! They cover the full gamut from bad to good, just like Hollywood.
But I'll take a great indie film that all takes place in one small set over yet another action movie. Good writing can make up for any other deficit, but nothing can compensate for a crap script.
If you can recommend any good indie pychological films, I'm in.

Well, the whole Black Mirror series is amazing, and each episode focuses on a different story with different characters, all played by not-so-big actors. The most recent episode, released in 2014 and called "White Christmas", is 75 minutes long, so you can consider it a movie, really. You can see a trailer here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TDFcTmdQqIc. When watching Time Lapse I was heavily reminded of the series, and "White Christmas" is a good representation of a lot of aspects of it - in fact, there are subtle references to every other episode, so it's like what the song "Octavarium" is to the rest of its album.

If you like it, you should check out the whole series - it's only 6 other episodes, so it doesn't take much time. Apparently there will be a new, longer season released soon on Netflix.

[BlobVanDam]

I heard a lot of good things about Black Mirror at the time, but was only put off at the time by the fact it was such a short series. It seems to have a Twilight Zone-y feel to it, which I love, and being British on top of that, I expect I'll love this too.

[hefdaddy42]

Blues Brothers

My husband would kill me if I said this out loud... but it wasn't that good. It was slow, drawn out and not as funny as I had hoped!

*weeps*

[SebastianPratesi]

I heard a lot of good things about Black Mirror at the time, but was only put off at the time by the fact it was such a short series. It seems to have a Twilight Zone-y feel to it, which I love, and being British on top of that, I expect I'll love this too.

Here are a couple more I just remembered:

1. Do you know Sybil? It's a 1976 film/TV special starring Sally Field as a young teacher suffering 'dissociative identity disorder'. The movie was a primary influence on Tears For Fears' Songs From The Big Chair, in many aspects:
-They intended to create an album in which each song had its own personality (and they succeeded, in my opinion).
-They included samples from Sally's dialogues in a b-side called "The Big Chair" (which is what Sally's character calls her 'comfort zone' in the movie).

2. 3096 Days, a 2013 German film (but spoken in English) based on real life events - the kidnapping/torturing of a young girl which lasted 8 and a half years (hence the film's name). Here's a trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjiXOISJMkE. Most of the movie is set in the house in which the girl was held captive, and in many scenes you can see her living in a small room hiding under the house, so based on your post I think you might find it interesting to watch. The movie is based on the girl's autobiography, and she even supervised some scenes/script. It really blows my mind that she was able to survive in that context for that long. I was heavily reminded of "Behind The Veil" while watching it.

I'm always interested in reading about stories like that (like Genie - the feral child - or the recent case of the Ohio girls held captive by Ariel Castro). If you happen to know of any other movie about that sort of stories (wether real or fiction) I'm all ears.

[Tomislav95]

I know of a few that I personally loved. I'm sure you've seen some of them.

Diabolique (either version but the original is better)
Jacob's Ladder
Blue Velvet
Roman Polanski's apartment trilogy (Repulsion, Rosemary's Baby, The Tenant)
Eyes Wide Shut (even though it has big stars in it, it's still a great Kubrick film)
Das Experiment
Zodiac (one of my favorite movies)
Insomnia (underrated gem with Pacino and Robin Williams)
Identity
A Tale of Two Sisters
Triangle (supposedly influenced by Memento)


Those are the ones that came to mind immediately. There are plenty of others.

I love indie movies so thank you for this

In last year or so I started watching more indie movies and some of those with elements of romance are just perfect. Much more real, personal and emotional than any Hollywood movie I've seen. For example: The Perks of Being Wallflower, Garden State, Ruby Sparks, Short Term 12, Frances Ha.
(Recommend me more if you know something similar)

[Prog Snob]

I love indie movies so thank you for this

In last year or so I started watching more indie movies and some of those with elements of romance are just perfect. Much more real, personal and emotional than any Hollywood movie I've seen. For example: The Perks of Being Wallflower, Garden State, Ruby Sparks, Short Term 12, Frances Ha.
(Recommend me more if you know something similar)

My pleasure. If you're looking for indie movies with a personal/romantic touch, you have to see Lost in Translation.

[Tomislav95]

I love indie movies so thank you for this

In last year or so I started watching more indie movies and some of those with elements of romance are just perfect. Much more real, personal and emotional than any Hollywood movie I've seen. For example: The Perks of Being Wallflower, Garden State, Ruby Sparks, Short Term 12, Frances Ha.
(Recommend me more if you know something similar)

My pleasure. If you're looking for indie movies with a personal/romantic touch, you have to see Lost in Translation.

I saw it last week, great movie

[Prog Snob]

I love indie movies so thank you for this

In last year or so I started watching more indie movies and some of those with elements of romance are just perfect. Much more real, personal and emotional than any Hollywood movie I've seen. For example: The Perks of Being Wallflower, Garden State, Ruby Sparks, Short Term 12, Frances Ha.
(Recommend me more if you know something similar)

My pleasure. If you're looking for indie movies with a personal/romantic touch, you have to see Lost in Translation.

I saw it last week, great movie

I have been wanting to check it out again. I wish it was on Netflix. I might just have to buy the movie.

[chknptpie]

Blues Brothers

My husband would kill me if I said this out loud... but it wasn't that good. It was slow, drawn out and not as funny as I had hoped!

*weeps*

lol I figured there would be a few people who had this reaction. There are a few funny bits, but overall its just kinda boring. Perhaps it was the "unrated" version we watched needed the extra editing?

[Prog Snob]

Blues Brothers

My husband would kill me if I said this out loud... but it wasn't that good. It was slow, drawn out and not as funny as I had hoped!

*weeps*

lol I figured there would be a few people who had this reaction. There are a few funny bits, but overall its just kinda boring. Perhaps it was the "unrated" version we watched needed the extra editing?

That's pretty much how I felt about it. I thought it was good, but nothing about it makes me want to watch it again.

[Kotowboy]

I've still not seen Blues Brothers.

I'd better see it before they remake it with Melissa McCarthy and Kirsten Wiig.

[hefdaddy42]

I've still not seen Blues Brothers.

I'd better see it before they remake it with Melissa McCarthy and Kirsten Wiig.

[bout to crash]

Omg, Blues Brothers is so damn good.

Sometimes it's hard to be a woman...

[hefdaddy42]

Stand by your man


RAWHIDE!

[Kotowboy]

I will see it one day but it's probably one of those "at the time" movies that will seem really dated and naff if I see it for the first time now.

[Orbert]

Probably.  I keep wanting to chime in and say "Yeah, but at the time..." and that gets old.

But at the time, it was fucking awesome.

[Kotowboy]

Just so long as I see that first and not BB 2000

[Orbert]

Blues Brothers 2000 got a lot of shit when it came out, much of it deserved, but I still thought it was a fun, silly, entertaining movie.  That's all that matters to me.  It wasn't going to win any Academy Awards, so as long as it delivered the fun, it's good.

[Cyclopssss]

Deadpool. Again. Now with post credits. 

[erwinrafael]

Insomnia is a good recommendation. I watched a Nolan marathon on the plane and I was pleasantly surprised by this film.

[hefdaddy42]

Probably.  I keep wanting to chime in and say "Yeah, but at the time..." and that gets old.

But at the time, it was fucking awesome.

It's still awesome.  My kids love it.

[bout to crash]

Agreed. I didn't watch it for the first time until 2006 or 7 and I still loved it.

[MirrorMask]

Insomnia is a good recommendation. I watched a Nolan marathon on the plane and I was pleasantly surprised by this film.

It's indeed a great film!

[BlobVanDam]

Saw 2 - I probably enjoyed this overall about as much as the first one. I liked having more about the Jigsaw killer, and more people stuck in the game, but I felt they could have done a little more with the traps, and some of it was hard to watch, like the bit with the needles. I also recognized a lot of the actors in this one. Again, the ending tied up the movie nicely.