Rented any good DVDs lately?

Please help me add to my rental queue.

I'm into foreign and indie movies, generally. Not into sci-fi, fantasy or big shoot 'em ups as a general rule.

Things I've liked lately:

-24 (just finished Season One - no spoilers, please)!
--Hard Candy (twisted and great performance by a young actress)
Notes on a Scandal (not great by any means, but with Cate Blanchett and Judi Dench, it's hard to go wrong)
- Children of Men (Clive Owen - need i say more?)
- Volver
- Half Nelson (Shareeka Epps and Ryan Gosling....good job!)
- Sherry Baby
- Jesus Camp (scary on so many levels)

Movies I didn't like so much:
- The Good Shepherd (too long and not great acting)
- All the King's Men (great cast, unbelievably sucky)
- Running with Scissors (blech)

a couple of my foreign faves (hope you like subtitles):

The Hairdresser's Wife
Mostly Martha
Amelie
Man Bites Dog
Children of Heaven

and an indie film i really like was
The Station Agent

Ooh, I've seen most of those, execpt "Man Bites Dog". Station Agent was fabulous!

Thanks for the list.

Have you ever seen The City of Lost Children? I know it's a little old but it's one of my favorites and I tend to not like movies like that.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0112682/

I tried, but turned it off. Too much fantasy for me. Thanks anyway!

Saw III - 2 stars
Miami Vice - 2 stars
Babel - 3.5 stars
Scoop - 1.5 stars
The U.S. vs. John Lennon - 3.5 stars
Live Forever - 3 stars
Jesus Camp - 3 stars
Shut Up & Sing - 3 stars
Casino Royale - 3.5 Stars
Stranger Than Fiction - 2.5 stars
A Good Year - 2.5 stars
The Pursuit of Happyness - 3.5 stars
Hollywooodland - 2.5 stars
The Good Shepard - 2.5 stars
Half Nelson - 3 stars

wow, flexi. you're making this a challenge!

few more foreign films that i liked a lot:

Water
City of God
Osama
The Wedding Banquet
My Wife is an Actress
Motorcycle Diaries
Grand Illusion (this is an old B&W WW1/prison break movie, but give it a chance. i was impressed)

Ooh, some good ones there, Shiskbab.

Loved "City of God", "Wedding Banquet", "Motorcycle Diaries" (am a big GGB fan)

I'll put the others on my list!

Let's see what else I liked (recently or not so recently):
-Babel
-Amores Perros
-Last King of Scotland (even though they took great license with the truth)
-40 Year Old Virgin (I have a connection to somebody in that film and was proud to see them doing so well - plus it was funny as hell)
-Huff (Showtime series. Only saw season 1, canceled after season 2)

I finally summoned up the courage to watch Amores Perros and was blown away by it (still trying to work out how no animals were harmed during filming).

Here's a few more:
Millions (no subtitles, but it's British, so could count as foreign)
The Monster (Roberto Benigni - comedy)
Antonia's Line (Dutch)
The Closet (French/Daniel Auteil - v.funny)
Jean de Florette and sequel, Manon de Source - saw them years ago and currently have them in my Netflix queue (Daniel Auteil is in both)

Also - I know it's not DVD, but "The Lives of Others" (this year's best foreign film Oscar) is one of the most moving, thought-provoking film I've seen in years. Saw it a month ago, and still think about it....

I turned off Amores Perros the first time within 5 minutes. So glad I tried again!

I'm dying to see "The Lives of Others". There's no DVD release date yet, so I may still catch it in the theatres.

Thanks for the list!

I can't recommend anything really new, but here are a couple of older foreign films I enjoyed:

Ridicule (French)
Late Wedding (Israeli)
101 Reykjavik (Icelandic)
Sade (French)
Run, Lola, Run (German)

I saw City of Lost Children years ago, and hated it. I do like fantasy films, but it was way too weird for me. The actress who played the main character was probably the most beautiful child I've ever seen, though.

Thanks, Sprite. The only one I have seen from those is Run, Lola, Run, which I liked a lot.

Woohoo! My list is growing!

btw, is that called "Late Marriage" instead of "Late Wedding"? because Blockbuster has an Israeli film called "Late Marriage"

That's the one. Hope you like it.

sprite wrote:
Run, Lola, Run (German)

It's a very good idea to work through the Tom Tykwer catalog:

Winter Sleepers
Run Lola
The Warrior and the Princess

and maybe still in cinemas and in English,

Perfume: Story of a Murderer

'Fraid I haven't seen anything new ... Have you seen

Orlando
Betty Blue
Ghost World
Iris
Pauline and Paulette (Belgian)

?

I also love "The Naked Civil Servant" and "Photographing Fairies" but you can't get them on DVD.

Oh, and what about the BBC 'The Office'?

Flexichick wrote: Ooh, I've seen most of those, execpt "Man Bites Dog". Station Agent was fabulous!

Thanks for the list.

I liked Man Bite Dog, seen it a couple times, BUT it's seriously graphic and it's NOT for everyone. That said, it's very unique and a masterpiece in the serial killer genre.

For your list, have to seen "M" by Fritz Lang?

Glad you started this thread... I've added a few of them to my list too (it's already really long)

So here's a few more, all English-speaking:
Dear Frankie (with Gerard Butler of "300" - minus the speedos )
Things You Can Tell By Just Looking at Her
Greenfingers (Clive Owen)
Saving Grace (Brenda Blethyn)

oh, and another relatively recent Clive Owen film:
Croupier

laura wrote: Oh, and what about the BBC 'The Office'?

Saw it! I can't even watch the NBC version, because I know it can't possibly come close.

I can't find Betty Blue for rent anywhere online. Phooey!

FurryGreyBOy wrote: Glad you started this thread... I've added a few of them to my list too (it's already really long)

So here's a few more, all English-speaking:
Dear Frankie (with Gerard Butler of "300" - minus the speedos )
Things You Can Tell By Just Looking at Her
Greenfingers (Clive Owen)
Saving Grace (Brenda Blethyn)

I loved "Dear Frankie". "Saving Grace" was fun too. I'll add the others!

Thanks

I watched a totally cheesey early 90s movie with Clive Owen recently called "Close My Eyes". He has an awful haircut in it, and it's horrible, but he's totally naked in much of it (full frontal and back shots) and it's not a bad way to spend a rainy Sunday afternoon :-)

I liked "Croupier" very much

Flexichick wrote: [quote=laura]Oh, and what about the BBC 'The Office'?

Saw it! I can't even watch the NBC version, because I know it can't possibly come close.
I watched 20 minutes of it once just to confirm that it was as horrible as I knew it would be.

If you've never seen TRON, try to do so as soon as possible, as the Department of Homeland Security has designated it "sensitive" and has ordered that all copies be turned over the feds.

http://www.kuro5hin.org/story/2007/3/28/132751/380

april fool's, DoctorJ!

http://www.tmz.com/search/?q=tron&btnSearch.x=0&btnSearch.y=0&btnSearch=Search

shishkab wrote: april fool's, DoctorJ!

http://www.tmz.com/search/?q=tron&btnSearch.x=0&btnSearch.y=0&btnSearch=Search

You didn't have to spoil the joke for the rest of them

Flexichick wrote: I can't find Betty Blue for rent anywhere online. Phooey!

it's available on Netflix

laura wrote: [quote=Flexichick]I can't find Betty Blue for rent anywhere online. Phooey!

it's available on Netflix

@#*^! I switched to Blockbuster. Wanna rent it for me? ;-)

Mamacita - no, I haven't seen "M". I will add it to my list. Thank you (and thanks for putting that fierce lady back!)

I just saw Sunset Boulevard for the first time. An excellent movie. Swanson is quite the ham/psycho.

Flexichick, I could add Betty Blue to my queue for you if you want. If it's available now I can move it to the top and maybe get it next week. I have 2 out now that I haven't watched yet and a new one coming Monday. I'm a bit slow watching movies right now so it wouldn't be a big deal. Let me know!