Movies No One Else Has Seen...

[Gwenatar]

What's a movie that you've seen that's awesome but no one else has heard of?

This is mine - Grosse Point Blank (1997)

It's a simple tale of a man (Martin Blank) going to his 10 year high school reunion. However Martin hasn't been seen by any of his school friends since he stood up his gf, Debbie, at prom and disappeared. They're all very curious to find out what happened to him and where he went. Martin however, is trying to hide the fact that he's now a professional assassin and isn't just there for the reunion....

This kinda sounds like it might a serious drama but it's very much a comedy (almost a romcom) with some hilarious zippy dialogue between the cast consisting of John Cusack, Minnie Driver and Dan Ackroyd. It's also got a fantastic soundtrack of alternative 80s hits and some cracking action. Well worth seeking out if you're after 100 minutes (ish) of entertainment.

What's yours?

[TanyaG]

Dark Star (1974). You have to be in the mood for this. Dark Star is ancient with cheesy special effects and about a bunch of drop outs living on a planet destroying spaceship with 'the thing' loose in the hold. Through a software malfunction the captain ends up having a phenomenological argument with a smart bomb and the whole thing is so bad it's good. I found it impossibly memorable because to me at the time the film summed up the complete randomness of human life. Only disappointment is for some reason it does not have Donald Sutherland in it, odd because movies like it so often did :-) Dark Star is a cult movie of not quite the power of Repo Man if you know that one. If you watch Repo Man and are an adult, make sure you get the uncut version, which is howling funny in places.

[Gwenatar]

Dark Star (1974). You have to be in the mood for this. Dark Star is ancient with cheesy special effects and about a bunch of drop outs living on a planet destroying spaceship with 'the thing' loose in the hold. Through a software malfunction the captain ends up having a phenomenological argument with a smart bomb and the whole thing is so bad it's good. I found it impossibly memorable because to me at the time the film summed up the complete randomness of human life. Only disappointment is for some reason it does not have Donald Sutherland in it, odd because movies like it so often did :-) Dark Star is a cult movie of not quite the power of Repo Man if you know that one. If you watch Repo Man and are an adult, make sure you get the uncut version, which is howling funny in places.

This is a superb movie, and it started the career of director, writer, musician and cult movie god John Carpenter. His co-writer on this, Dan O'Bannon, would go on to write Alien, Return of the Living Dead, Dead and Buried, Life Force and Total Recall. So if you like any of that stuff you need to thank this movie because that's where it all sprang from

[TanyaG]

A really wild one. Tarkovsky's Stalker (1979). Having watched it twice, I still can't quite work out what it is about, but it is strangely compelling. It is about a journey into 'the zone' and a secret room where everyone can have their innermost desire. After Chornobyl Stalker seemed strangely prescient. The stories about the difficulties Tarkovsky went through making the movie with the original print 'accidentally' destroyed (am I right about that?) and the stories of what he was like to work with are memorable.

[Lori Dee]

Various documentaries or dramatized documentaries:

Dinosaur 13 - Discovery here in the South Dakota Badlands of the largest and most complete Tyrannosaurus Rex skeleton ever found. And how the FBI stole it and the court battle that ensured.

Percy vs Goliath - Christopher Walken plays Percy, a seed farmer, and his struggle against the Monsanto Corporation.

Dark Waters - Mark Ruffalo plays a lawyer helping a cattle rancher in a legal battle against the Dupont Chemical Corporation.

Addiction Inc. - Exposes the tobacco industry's intentional commitment to addicting the human brain.

Erin Brockovich is one that many have seen but is still one of my favorites because I grew up in Hinkley. We moved away many years before Erin arrived, but the devastation was real. The town is now a ghost town with only a few of my childhood friends still living there.

[TanyaG]

Living (2022) starring Bill Nighy. It's about local government officials at their best and their worst and so well acted bits of it are agonising to watch - the story is about a children's playground. Also in 4:3 format, like Saltburn. At the end of the film it is impossible not to see Nighy as one of the acting greats. Very affecting.

[Gwenatar]

OK so that's a whole load of movies going on the list

[tgirlamg]

A really wild one. Tarkovsky's Stalker (1979). Having watched it twice, I still can't quite work out what it is about, but it is strangely compelling. It is about a journey into 'the zone' and a secret room where everyone can have their innermost desire. After Chornobyl Stalker seemed strangely prescient. The stories about the difficulties Tarkovsky went through making the movie with the original print 'accidentally' destroyed (am I right about that?) and the stories of what he was like to work with are memorable.

Hey Tanya!

Stalker!... absolutely one of my all time favorites! I have seen it 20+ times or so... You are correct about most of all the original film that was shot being lost... The story I heard is that it was a new type of Kodak movie film that needed to be processed in a special way... They shot almost everything at the abandoned power plant in Estonia and then sent it off to be processed... the film processors were not familiar with how to handle the new type of film and everything came out tinted red... They had to re-shoot everything and I have heard Tarkovsky's death was linked to all the time spent in PCB contaminated water at the location... Highly recommend this film to all 😀👍

Here is a trailer...



Onward!

Ashley 💕

PS here is an interesting one... it isnt streamed anywhere but i got a dvd off ebay of it!

[TanyaG]

Hey Tanya!

Stalker!... absolutely one of my all time favorites! I have seen it 20+ times or so... You are correct about most of all the original film that was shot being lost... The story I heard is that it was a new type of Kodak movie film that needed to be processed in a special way... They shot almost everything at the abandoned power plant in Estonia and then sent it off to be processed... the film processors were not familiar with how to handle the new type of film and everything came out tinted red... They had to re-shoot everything and I have heard Tarkovsky's death was linked to all the time spent in PCB contaminated water at the location... Highly recommend this film to all 😀👍

I remember watching in the cinema the week it was released and going back to see it again because we'd never seen anything like it! Thanks for the detail about the print. I think also that much of the release version was in monochrome?

Another story I read was they filmed one day in a meadow. The following morning they came back, but flowers had bloomed. Tarkovsky insisted they needed to be gone - but without crushing any of the grass. So the crew sweated on stilts near enough and picked every flower. When they were done, Tarkovsky sniffed and said, 'I can still smell them!'

It really stayed with me and I'm delighted to find someone else who loves it!

[Athena]

With Dark Star you have to love the beach ball alien.

For me it has to be Karmina "No more subtitles !!! "

[Gwenatar]

With Dark Star you have to love the beach ball alien.

For me it has to be Karmina "No more subtitles !!! "

I love vampire movies and I've never heard of that one.

The quote reminders me of the time I went to see REC which is Spanish language horror flick. Movie starts and it's subtitled, from the back of the cinema a voice exclaimed "No one told me this was a reading movie!". The whole auditorium cracked up, it was amazing lol.

[TanyaG]

With Dark Star you have to love the beach ball alien.

And the whole casual way they leave it loose on the ship until they absolutely have to deal with it. Some parallels with everyone's life in there, maybe?

[Devlyn]

Killer Klowns From Outer Space. Best worst movie ever.

"What are you going to do with those pies, boys?" 

[tgirlamg]

Killer Klowns From Outer Space. Best worst movie ever.

"What are you going to do with those pies, boys?" 

Devlyn!

Ha! Absolutely 😂 Saw it fairly recently again on Svengoolie creature features... That one was filmed right up the road from here around Santa Cruz and Watsonville, CA

Hugs,
A 💕

[tgirlamg]

I remember watching in the cinema the week it was released and going back to see it again because we'd never seen anything like it! Thanks for the detail about the print. I think also that much of the release version was in monochrome?

Another story I read was they filmed one day in a meadow. The following morning they came back, but flowers had bloomed. Tarkovsky insisted they needed to be gone - but without crushing any of the grass. So the crew sweated on stilts near enough and picked every flower. When they were done, Tarkovsky sniffed and said, 'I can still smell them!'

It really stayed with me and I'm delighted to find someone else who loves it!

From what I read they had a lot of issues making all the plants and area in "The Zone" looking totally untouched... the field that had the old military vehicles proved a challenge to get them all in place without looking like they had just been put there... in the original destroyed footage there were far more vehicles but Tarkovsky had problems getting the Russian army to send out a bunch of equipment a second time for the re-shoot!

Hugs!

A💕

[TanyaG]

From what I read they had a lot of issues making all the plants and area in "The Zone" looking totally untouched... the field that had the old military vehicles proved a challenge to get them all in place without looking like they had just been put there... in the original destroyed footage there were far more vehicles but Tarkovsky had problems getting the Russian army to send out a bunch of equipment a second time for the re-shoot!

There should be a book about how that film was made!

[Sephirah]

This is mine. And mostly.. because it's set in my home town of Sheffield. But it's cold... and brutal, and once the BBC showed it... it freaked everyone out. So they shadow banned it. But it is on my list of best movies ever...

[Lori Dee]

This is mine. And mostly.. because it's set in my home town of Sheffield. But it's cold... and brutal, and once the BBC showed it... it freaked everyone out. So they shadow banned it. But it is on my list of best movies ever...

Bookmarked for tomorrow night's entertainment. 

[Sephirah]

Bookmarked for tomorrow night's entertainment. 

Lori, it is extremely brutal honey. It is like... it will make you feel things you don't want to feel. Just warning you, okay?

As a kid I grew up with a lot of those landmarks. They've been since knocked down but that movie is monstrously powerful, especially in today's world. The director, Mick Jackson, has gone on record as saying it's his most important work. It is something that keeps being shown when the nuclear question is a question.

It might affect you, Lori. I am warning you. I know you're a tough girl but this isn't your average movie like "The Day After". Which came out around the same time.

Prep yourelf, girl, this one is a gut punch.

[Lori Dee]

Thanks for the warning! Now you have really sold it. 

I thought "The Day After" wasn't bad. I would watch "Twilight's Last Gleaming" first, then slide right into "The Day After". Twilight was a good "prequel," but it is nearly impossible to find. I have been looking for it for a couple of years now.