Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion The Water Cooler Watch anything unusual lately?

I like to watch things that are off the beaten path. Regular movies are sometimes boring. Tonight I watched A DVD by the Blue Man Group. It was basically a rock concert with the BMG performing with a large supporting cast of musicians. A great visual show and a lot of drumming. Someday I'll get around to seeing them live.
Recently I watched A Clockwork Orange. I had seen this when I was a kid, but it was shown on TV so things were editted out. When I watched the DVD I was blown away. What great visuals and concepts. It is a serious movie, but I found myself laughing at some parts. Definitely worth renting. Not kid friendly by any means. Another movie I Liked was HitchHikers Guide.....That one was really out there. Anyone recommend other movies that are worth picking up?

No time for the old in-out, love. I've just come to read the meter.

Boogie Nights
Bottle Rocket
Swingers

just to name a few.

Sin City, anything by David Lynch, American Psycho.

Hi Rapmon!

I started a thread similar to this not so long ago, here. I just finished watching "Eraserhead" for the first time a few nights ago. Now *that* is one f*cked up movie! Of course, i enjoyed though!

Happiness (you'll want to shower afterward)
Kung Fu Hussle (you'll pee yourself laughing)
Mysterious Skin (dark movie with excellent acting)

Pretty much ANYTHING directed by Todd Solondz (ie Happiness and Bottle rocket) will make you feel 'off kilter' after watching it. Seriously, I've had to stop his movies and come back later to get through them...
I'd also recommend Gummo, Donny Darko, and Me and You and Everyone We Know. "))--(( Forever"
So save Kung Fu Hussle for last. It's like washing your brain clean of the other stuff. Hysterical.

Eraserhead. Wow
Sin City is a great film.
Catch-22
Neuromancer
Altered States
Lair of the White Worm
Re-Animator
Repo Man (almost anything with Harry Dean Stanton is going to be creepy)

Hey James R,
It's funny you say off kilter. I've watched Memento twice and both times for the next couple days I felt as if I was living backwards in short segments. It's a good movie but does weird things to your brain.

Memento is a great film that you almost have to watch twice just to orientate yourself.

Ah..."Memento", one of my favorite movies! On the Limited Edition DVD, you can actually watch the movie backwards, starting with the credits. Obviously, it's easier to grasp this way, but not as fun of a movie.

Hi,

If you like dark, noirish movies about grifters and assorted low-lifes, watch "Derailed" with Clive Owen, and "Croupier," which kick-started Clive Owen's movie career in the US.

I'd seen Croupier quite a few years ago in the theater (2,000) and had forgotten much of it but it certainly stands up really well to a second viewing. Dialog recording in Croupier is uneven (also made more annoying by the Brit accents) so have your remote ready to adjust the center channel levels.

Another great one about a bank heist is "Sexy Beast."

Regards,

James,

Bottle Rocket isn't Solondz, it's Wes Anderson's first movie.

I'd recommend "Bubba Ho-Tep" for one of the most unusual (and funny) movies
that I've watched lately.
It explains a lot of what really happened with JFK and Elvis.

"It explains a lot of what really happened with JFK and Elvis."

That sounds interesting!!!

This isn't so much unusual as it is amazingly cool:

http://www.justinking.com/video/JustinKing_SoloGuitarVideo_VidFull.mov

Even better than the Ukelele gently weeping, in my book.

oh, wow...that's very cool indeed! It reminds me of a guy that I saw open up for Jason Mraz a couple years ago named, Raul Midon. I was enthralled with him! Can you believe he's blind?! Check out this video. He tells you how it's done, here. Oh, and he plays a great mouth trumpet as well!

EDIT: I just visited Justin King's website. His music is great! Thanks for pointing this guy out!

Wow!! That is truely amazing!! What a great video. To have Raul and Jason on the same night, too!!! You must have been on the edge of your seat watching that.

Alright, who is this guy? Based solely on this video it looks like he (to put it politely) owes a considerable debt to Michael Hedges. But the tunes on his site are quite a bit different. I'm impressed -- thanks for the tip!

Ack! Craig you are right. I was thinking of Mysterious Skin. I guess I just assumed it was from TS since it's as disturbing to me as Happiness and Storytelling were.

Bubba Ho-Tep is a great movie. But, I'm a fan of the "Might Chin" if Bruce Campbell so take my opinion with a grain of salt. I'm biased.

-james

The "shower" scene in Mysterious Skin is REALLY tough stuff. Brutal. It wasn't directed by Solondz though. Gregg Araki directed Mysterious Skin.

The really amazing thing about Mysterious Skin is the performance by Joseph Gordon-Levitt (of Third Rock from the Sun fame). Hard to believe it's the same guy. He also gives a terrific performance in 'Brick'. (in theatres now)

JGL has been a huge suprise. And I could not watch the shower scene. I had to skip through it.
I can't WAIT to see brick. I really enjoy the new 'film noir' stuff that's been coming out. I'd also recommend kiss kiss bang bang. Dark, cynical, and funny as hell.

-james

Kiss Kiss Bang Bang is fantastic. I'll certainly be picking that one up on DVD.

Hedwig and the Angry Inch


Very very strange. So strange I had almost forgotten I'd seen it --- and enjoyed it.

Hated Hedwig.

Haven't watched it lately (since high school in the 70's), but Pink Flamingos with Divine was unusual in the extreme.

Used to frequent the 99 cent Roxy theatre back then and see other unusual movies like Eraserhead, Fritz the Cat and Rocky Horror Picture Show. Well Rocky Horror seemed unusual when it was first released. I was amazed a couple years later when I got to university and it had become a mainstream cult favorite with all the toast, decks of cards and such flying through the air.

Just watched Eraserhead. Wow. Terrible. Can I have those two hours back now? And don't give me this "you don't understand it" crap. If you have to have someone tell you what it means, because the source material isn't complete (or even literate, in this case) enough to figure it out on its own, then I call it a failure.

Bleek, slow, boring, aimless, plotless ... what else can I say...

Yeah, I actually watched Eraserhead twice. The second time while under the influence of some good whacky tabacky and while it was somewhat more entertaining then, I can't say the plot (ok lack of plot) improved any.

At least Pink Flamingo's for all its weird grossness had a plot. Just not one that would interest 99.9% of people.

I picked up a copy of Donny Darko and have watched it twice. The first time I didn't get anything. Then someone gave me an idea of what it was about and I watched it again and found it made sence. There is a lot to this movie and maybe if I had the directors cut I would have understood more. The coralation to the end of the world and Micheal Dukakis becoming president was funny. Especially my being from Massachusetts. Very deep thought to this movie. Good and entertaining.