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Recommend me a movie that _________
It's like this thread, but with movies instead of books.
Thread reading tip: use the "collapse replies" button to see only top-level requests.
It's like this thread, but with movies instead of books.
Thread reading tip: use the "collapse replies" button to see only top-level requests.
I can start. Recommend me a movie with realistic looking dinosaurs. It's possible that no such movie exists, but it's worth a try.
Its been a long time since I watched it, so the dinosaurs might not be as realistic as I remembered, and its not a movie but a TV show, but I remember when it came out I really enjoyed Terra Nova. Sorry if this potentially doesn't fulfil either of your requests but its one of the few pieces of dinosaur related media I've ever consumed and I thought it was quite fun at the time of watching.
I love me some bittersweet hope:
If you play video games:
I just finished watching Annihilation after your suggestion. I'm a fan. It reminds me a lot of Arrival in the sense that the scientist leads aren't dorky Hollywood tropes, but instead feel like real, complex people. There are a couple questionable plot decisions, but I think they're made up for by the characters (especially Natalie Portman) as well as the beautiful or maybe grotesque visuals. I'm surprised that this movie did so poorly in the box office, because it's really quite good.
If you like Annihilation and you can handle subtitles, I highly recommend Stalker. It has a similar premise with three men exploring a mysterious zone, but it has richer storytelling and raises a lot of philosophical questions.
Her
Message from Europa I think that’s the title. A manned mission to Jupiter’s moon follows up on an incomplete communique from there.
Many adaptations of John Le Carre novels (and the books, too, obviously) but especially the bbc productions of tinker tailor and smiley’s people
Not entirely sure if it fits your description or not, but check out Aniara its swedish film set in post apocalyptic world where people try to flee to mars for a better life. On the way to mars Aniara (a spaceship) get lost, its about building up hope only to lose it again and again. Do tell me what you think of the movie after you watch it.
Both Blade Runners
The score (not the soundtrack) for Armageddon is actually really good and fits your description. If you can get past the usual hangups surrounding the movie the feeling and underlying theme is really powerful and emotional.
Contact, the movie based on Sagan's novel. Also, the novel. :)
I think you might like Ex Machina
Recommend me a movie that depicts an apocalypse, social collapse or something near it. Not post-apocalyptic, like The Road for instance. I want to see the dramatic events not their effects 40 years in the future. Basically, high-quality disaster movies or similar.
Examples:
Not a movie, but Years and Years fits your description. Its about political apocalypse of the world, It can be depressive to watch though.
Year and Years is simultaneously the most realistic sci-fi and the most absurd one.
It definitely fits the category of "best sci-fi show you didn't watch".
Surprised no one has mentioned Children of Men, yet. But, yea...Children of Men!
I would argue both 28 days later and 28 weeks later fit in this category. They are zombie apocalypse movies that are set during the very beginning and then middle of the apocalypse. I like 28 days later more, largely becuase it does a better job with the feeling of being on your own.
Dare I say The Day After? I haven't watched it since it aired in 1983, but it was supposed to be a realistic take on what would happen in the US after a nuclear war. (I'm guessing parts of it will seem fairly cheesy given that it aired on US TV at the time.) I've heard that the 1984 British film Threads is a very realistic (and much more depressing) take on the same subject, though I've not seen it. And of course, there's always HBO's Chernobyl which was quite good.
Along similar lines, there was an HBO movie from 1990 called By Dawn's Early Light about a US / Soviet nuclear war. It had a pretty good cast - Rebecca De Mornay, James Earl Jones, Rip Torn, Martin Landau.
Oh wow! I forgot about that one. Yeah, definitely a similar vibe.
Threads is an amazingly bleak movie. It really feels true and raw.
I think it is the best answer to the question among the movies mentioned that I saw. Many of them have other genre elements that are interesting but are modifying the message, while Thread only purpose is to depict the medical, economic, social and environmental consequences of nuclear war.
Maybe not what you're looking for as it's much more personal than spectacle, but 1998's Last Night is about a Y2K-inspired societal collapse. It's been long enough since I've seen it that I've forgotten nearly everything about it other than that it exists, but I remember liking it at the time (no idea how well it would hold up today though).
May I suggest something non-English.
Train to Busan, a Yeon Sang-ho (Korean) movie. A virus spreads and people become zombies. A bunch of people are stuck in a train.
This is my jam as well! I don't remember a lot right now but here are a few:
Perfect Sense is a movie about a pandemic that slowly removes one of your five senses in a set order. Depending upon when you were infected, your progression is visible to others who are living with the disease. Society slowly drives towards collapse as nearly everyone contracts the disease. The ending may leave a little to be desired, but it's an interesting thought experiment nonetheless.
Not a movie, but a TV show that fits right in here was a 70's BBC show called Survivors.
I can't recall whether it was nuclear or bio-warfare that caused it, but we follow two to three people from the collapse of society into the years following, when they are trying to rebuild a community. I stumbled upon it maybe five or six years ago, and it really struck a chord.
I seem to recall that the first two seasons seemed pretty realistic to me, although it's all very dated.
Bad, but still kind of enjoyable, is Def-Con 4
Recommend me a movie/series that is a future sci-fi which has a realistic approach to the future.. dystopian but people still haven't given up, world where world has mitigated climate change repercussions but only after its late or something like that. Only thing similar I can think of is The Expanse.
Gattaca. In the near-future, mankind has found CRISP-like ways to breed the perfect child. Some however still prefer the ordinary, randomness of a natural born. A man wants to go to a space mission which he can't because of some condition.
Genuinely an underrated classic sci-fi. And it's cheesy tagline, No gene for the human spirit.
If you're up for a comedy, I'm convinced that Demolition Man is still the most realistic future depicted in a film, in that all of its future tech is believable, and the "we do this because it's the future" bits seem pretty reasonable.
Recommend me a movie with similar vibes like the Black Mirror series
This was a really interesting adaptation. There are some subtle things, like the opening credits are never displayed. They're only read to the audience like they would be in the world in which the movie takes place. Definitely worth a watch.
François Truffaut is one of the greatest ;)
Recommend me something post-apocalyptic with a human focus. I like gritty, but not nihilistic per se, in the sense that no realistic apocalypse should be impossible to recover from. Where human ingenuity exists, hope exists, and I find that very compelling.
I recently watched Mad Max: Fury Road and was very taken with the wasteland society that it depicts. It's extremely unique, and although its members have clearly regressed from the present day, the world it shows still contains dashes of life, energy, and possibility if you look closely, both literally and artistically. I appreciate a good monster/disaster movie now and again, but actually what's most interesting to me about the broader apocalyptic genre is not the disaster itself, which tends to be depressing and lonely, but the way that the characters are able to cope with it after the fact. For example, the focus of a zombie movie, almost without fail, is in fact the zombies, which is why very few such movies have any particularly good characters and usually end with almost every single person dying. It's not really even about the humans, they're just set pieces to play out the grand apocalypse. That's not what I'm looking for.
I watched Children of Men some time ago and enjoyed it a lot. The characters are clearly living in some sort of dystopian world, and society is struggling to reconcile what the premise of the movie means for its own survival. A Clockwork Orange is depraved, depressing, and nihilistic, but not for reasons that are fundamentally outside of humanity's control (so I would think). But I feel like I can't find any more movies that go for this. The spectacle of the apocalypse is nice and all, but people are what makes the world turn.
Not what you've described but I think you'd really enjoy For sama.
Edit: I accidentally hit the reply button Lol.
Its a documentary of a journalist and a rebel in syrian uprising. Its horrfic and hopeful at the same time, though from your list I think you'll be ok with gory scenes, knowing these scenes actually happened can be heart wrenching so be aware.
Recommend me a movie that gives new life to an old genre.
I don't know if this would quite fit but, Django Unchained for cowboy movies?
Yes, absolutely.
Under the Silver Lake - While among the cadre of neo-noir films, this one adopts the more traditional plot elements emblematic of the original film noir genre while giving them an updated facelift.
Yes, among other things noir is defined by time period so any film resembling noir released after 1959 is automatically neo-noir.
Polanski's Chinatown is neo noir, contrary to popular belief.
I love both genres and will definitely check it out, thanks!
I think Brick (2005) fits into this category as well.
The Illusionist (2006) is an animated movie based on a script from 1956 by the legendary Tati. It's a beautiful movie and perfectly captures the old Tati style movies with zero dialogue.
Seriously, do watch it.
I like Tati. Thanks!
I have another one; movies like Rocky 1 which inspire hope and generally portray a good underdog story?
BONUS: Attack the Block!
Another one: movies about smart people that were ahead of their time. Documentaries are welcomed.
I really liked the 2004 Hawking biographical documentary.
I only knew the Hollywood biopic, which focuses way too much on romance. It was not devoid of interest, but romance is not what I look for in a movie about Hawking.
I’ll look into it, thanks!
Indeed, I watched both and disliked the one you're mentioning.
I'm wanting to get back into movies after letting my interest wane for a couple of years. As such, I'd appreciate recommendations that lean towards more recent releases, but I'm open to anything that fits any of the following:
mindfuck time/sequence:
Spanish movie called "The Invisible Guest" ... great murder/mystery that plays out in flashbacks.
LGBT : Fucking Åmål (1998)
Mindfuck : I recently watched The Good Liar (2019) which I did like. Maybe not as much a mindfuck as a nice twist.
Powerful documentary : The Act of Killing (2012)
Hidden gem : I always suggest either The Green Butchers (2003) or The Mouse That Roared (1959)
Not a movie, but if you haven't seen the TV show Pose yet, it's worth a watch.
Primer - Time Travel movie where you go back and forth several times
Memento - Not about time travel, but it plays out in the reverse order you'd expect
The Others(2001) - A ghost story that doesn't quite play out how you expect
Big Trouble In Little China - It's all very tongue-in-cheek and doesn't take itself too seriously - but takes itself just seriously enough
Though it's a Coen Brother's movie, so by virtue fairly well-known... I'd consider Inside Llewyn Davis to be somewhat of a hidden gem. And also my favorite movie. Don't know what it is about that movie...(or maybe I do)...but I can watch the hell out of it.