Must see Catwoman...

[Staven]

...and not just to see Halle Berry in the cat outfit. I'm gonna actually see this in the theatre, because of the director Pitof. I'm sure this movie must have been mentioned here before, but anyways, a friend handed me the dvd VIDOCQ starring Gerard Depardieu. My God, it is freakin amazing. I was mesmerized watching this show. It is also digital which should be encouraging for us filmmakers. If you want to see a revolutionary film check out VIDOCQ.

This got me to thinking... there must be other great films that go under the radar as they are indies or from foreign countries. Got any favorites that the masses might overlook?

A couple shows I've loved but aren't neccessarily mainstream, or just didn't get N.American distribution treatment are:

Cure (Japanese - Kurosawa-not the Kurosawa)
Battle Royale (Japanese - Fukasaku)
Festen("The Celebration" - dogma - Vinterberg - shot on a hi8 - sure most of you have heard of or seen this one, see it for sure, the story is so good.)

A couple others I liked purely for the action were the Asian films "Vs." and "Full Time Killer".

Got any favorites to share??

[J.R. Hudson]

I admit Im not that familiar with International Cinema other than what is 'imported' into the states. One thing I typically do not like re Art House Films; bore the piss out of me (generally speaking)

But, I was at the Japan Quicktime site and view some of those trailers for films I had never even heard of (Some were Japanese, some French) and I was really impressed.

[infokill]

on the topic of catwoman, if you noticed in the commercial the little line she's saying about " a cat brings back a life to right the wrong" or whatever she said sounds exactly like the quote in the crow? am i the only one who noticed this?

[Staven]

John, you gotta see Battle Royale. It's about a class of kids that are forced to kill each other off on a remote island as a mandate from the government, they are each given a weapon. Only one can survive and claim victory. They have explosive necklaces that are set off if they don't actively try to fight.

Cure is a very meticulous(some might find slow) film about the power of suggestion. It is shot almost soley on long wide shots that move with the characters, nice long takes.

Vidocq is a visual masterpiece full of some the best CGI to grace the screen. It's a french film, so you'll have to read subtitles, but it is so worth it!!! You'll want to check out Catwoman after seeing this Pitof the directors work.

A show that is supposed to rock that I've yet to see is "Man Bites Dog". - anyone seen it?

[J.R. Hudson]

Ill look into those films you mentioned. I have a feeling Im missing something.

[David Jimerson]

"Catwoman" has extremely little to do with the character in DC comics. That being the case, why bother? It would be like going to see a "Superman" in which the main character rides a motorcycle and KOs bad guys courtesy Smith & Wesson. But, oh, has a big "S" on his chest.

All the previews look like a Hong Kong superheroine movie, complete with wire effects, etc.. Just doesn't look appealing to me.

[Jive]

I"d have to agree with David here-- I'll pass on this one until it comes out at the local $1 theater.

[J.R. Hudson]

I never mentioned this;

I have no desire to see Catwoman. Typical dribble that Hollywood puts out. Halles hot and all....

BUt come on.

[Barry_Green]

It would be like going to see a "Superman" in which the main character rides a motorcycle and KOs bad guys courtesy Smith & Wesson. *But, oh, has a big "S" on his chest.


Hasselhoff was talking about that Warner Brothers was greenlighting a big-screen version of Knight Rider... but there was a bit of "creative difference" that occurred. Apparently Warner DIDN'T WANT THE CAR TO TALK! David was all "Hello? Knight Rider here?"

[Staven]

The original point of this post has been somewhat overlooked. If you get a chance, watch the french film VIDOCQ starring Gerard Depardieu, directed by Pitof. It is visually stunning and overall an extremely entertaining film, that has the best transitions between scenes I've ever seen.

[J.R. Hudson]

I would have thought the Creative DIfference would be that:

Warner didnt want to bring it to the big screen. :P

[David Jimerson]

Well, if the topic was about the greatness of Pitof, then he probably should have left Catwoman alone . . .

[BLWolf]

I want to see "Catwoman" just as bad as I want to see "Baadasssss!" with Mario Van Peebles. ::)

[Jive]

Dude, I won't even watch the trailer for that one! :)

[Dan_Lahav]

lol... Baaadassss actually got some damned good reviews

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/Baadasssss-10003878/

94% at rottentomatoes...not something easy to accomplish

[J.R. Hudson]

Night Rider sucked.

[David Jimerson]

No, that's "Knight Rider." "Night Rider" was in "Mad Max."

Do you see me, Toecutter? Do you see me, man?!!??!

[Barry_Green]

Knight Rider... "sucked"???????? John... how could you? Next you'll be disparaging "The Dukes of Hazzard"! :o

[BLWolf]

lol... Baaadassss actually got some damned good reviews

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/Baadasssss-10003878/

94% at rottentomatoes...not something easy to accomplish


Watch "Baadasssss!" be the sleeper hit of the summer and rake in hundreds of millions of dollars and garner critical acclaim from every corner. As William Goldman says, "Nobody knows anything." However, Mario Van Peebles making a good film is one of the signs of the Apocalypse isn't it?

[Dan_Lahav]

Actually it was praised by critics to be on par with the Godfather... Ebert went so far as to say "Peebles is the best thing that has happened to cinema. Ever."

[David Jimerson]

Knight Rider 2000 sucked. Knight Rider 2010 blew chunks. Team Knight Rider? It was the television equivalent of mustard gas.

But Knight Rider? Staple of childhood.

[Barry_Green]

Oooh... a pox on you for even reminding me of "Team Knight Rider"!!! Sacrilege! ;D

[David Jimerson]

I couldn't remind you of it if you hadn't watched it . . .

[Barry_Green]

Curses! You have trapped me in my own failings...

Okay, I gotta admit, I tried it once. But it was really, really, really bad...

... and even then, I could still claim it was just research, because I worked with one of the actresses in it... ;)

[David Jimerson]

Was it Christine Steel?

[Barry_Green]

Indeed. She played half-mutant Umagan in "Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun".

Interesting to see that Nia Vardalos was also associated with that show... I guess you never know when someone's going to get their break!

[David Jimerson]

OH! Oh! Oh! oh! OH!

OK . . . you got work with an uber-hottie like Christine Steel, AND you did work for Command & Conquer . . . at the same time? ::)

I don't know whether to upgrade you to demigod status or declare you a mortal enemy . . .

;)

Nia was just a voice, wasn't she? I'm kind of a sponge for obscure credits . . .

[Roy42]

Woah, woah, woah, hold on a second. Back up. A "Catwoman" movie?

There's already a movie about Catwoman! It's called Batman Returns! From the trailer, this looks like pretty much the same thing, except without Batman in it...

Clearly, this is just Warner Brothers taking advantage of the current comic book craze in Hollywood. Why else would they make the same movie twice? Geeze, I hate it when they make movies like this. Once they have name recognition going for them, all they have to do is slap together a half-assed script and put a female celebrity in a tight suit to play the lead.

And despite this, hoards of people will still flood the theaters to go see it.....

[Barry_Green]

OK . . . you got work with an uber-hottie like Christine Steel, AND you did work for Command & Conquer . . . at the same time? *


For Tiberian Sun I did *some* programming work, but not a lot, I seem to remember it as being minimal -- the score screen, stuff like that. *I had mainly moved into the video division at that time, and I was line producer/UPM on Tiberian Sun. *Most of my work on the C&C games was on Red Alert, and the original C&C, plus the Aftermath missions disk.

Sounds like you're jealous though... how can I fan the flames of jealousy? *;) *

*warning: falling names here, so wear a hardhat!*

Let's see, hotties... hotties...

Tiberian sun also had Monika Schnarre from the "Beastmaster" TV series, and Cathy DeBuono (from "ST: DS9"). *But one of the showstoppers was Athena Massey... she was incredibly photogenic. *She played one of the Kodiak pilots, but then we brought her back a second time for one of the Red Alert 2 mission disks and she was just phenomenal. *She was in the same game as Kari Wuhrer (oh, did I forget to drop that name too?) * ;D Kari's done her share of questionable direct-to-videos, as has Athena, but Kari (from "Sliders") got a big-screen break a while back playing the sheriff in "Eight Legged Freaks". *Athena was really good though, she should get a good break here soon.

Oh, and let's not forget Dune 2000, which had Nancy Valen from "Baywatch", and Musetta Vander from "O Brother Where Art Thou"!

For those who prefer the males, Tiberian Sun featured James Earl Jones, Michael Biehn ("Terminator", "Aliens", "The Rock", etc) and Nils Allen Stewart (star of TV's "The Jesse Ventura Story", also a pro wrestler who went by the name of "The Mongolian Stomper"). *Frank Zagarino was also in it, he's got like 50 low-budget features to his credit. *Then there was Adoni Maropis (recently in "Troy" and "Hidalgo" and "The Scorpion King"), and Sid Liufau (who had bit parts in "Batman Forever" and "Blade").

Who else was in there... (still scanning the IMDB credits...)
Oh! *Patrick Bauchau! *He was Sydney in "The Pretender", and he went on to have a role in "Panic Room" and a bunch of other stuff. Heck, speaking of "The Pretender", we also had Richard Marcus, who was William Raines, but he also had roles in "Tremors" and "Enemy Mine" and "Cannibal Campout"!

We also had Barry Corbin, from "Wargames" and "Northern Exposure".

Here's a good one: Andrew Byrniarski was also in it, he played a one-day role of a Nod ship driver, and he went on to play the role of Leatherface in the new "Texas Chainsaw Massacre!" *That dude was one of the most massively-built guys I have ever seen. *His arms were like 20" around. *Him and Sidney Liufau... they were both just unbelievably huge.

Oh, speaking of "Sliders", I was also on Dune 2000, which featured John Rhys-Davies, most recently Gimli The Dwarf in the "LOTR" series, also Sallah in John's favorite: "Raiders of the Lost Ark."

Oh yeah... for Lands of Lore we also had Julie Newmar in, but I didn't get to work with her (or Vincent Schiavelli). *For those who don't know, Julie was Catwoman in the original "Batman" movie & TV series, and Vincent's been in nearly everything, including the classic "One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest" and he was the ghost on the train in "Ghost".

Okay, that's enough name-dropping. *;D *;D *;D

And David... what do you mean "mortal enemy"? *You're my ally, dude! *Side by side, we strive to make DVXUSER a better place. *(Heck, you're a lawyer too... soon enough I'm coming to you for funding some pictures...)

;D

[David Jimerson]

I knew you were going to play the Kari Wuhrer card sooner or later. :P

Patrick Bauchau was also in the (too) short-lived vampire series "Kindred: The Embraced."

[David Jimerson]

Not to "out" you or anything, Barry, but apparently, this is you:

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0337626/

Did you get to work with Michael Biehn?

Naaaah. Not mortal enemies. Bros for life . . .
;D

[Barry_Green]

Yeah, that looks familiar. Not necessarily 100% up to date, but the basics are there.

And yes, I did work directly with Michael Biehn (and his dog, which he brought on the shoot).

[David Jimerson]

It doesn't mention DVXUser.com . . .

Biehn seems like an inscrutable cat. Seems to me like he could either be every bit as psycho as you'd think, or the mildest guy you ever met. Neither would surprise me.

[J.R. Hudson]

Biehn is a great actor. I love his work.

Terminator
Abyss <<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<< He was epic in this role!
Aliens
Tombstone
Navy Seals <<<<<<<<<<<<<< Yeah I like Navy Seals, so?

I always felt his work was oversahdowed by the FILM itself.

[David Jimerson]

You left out "Clockstoppers," John.

[J.R. Hudson]

Why do you mock me?! :D

[David Jimerson]

I don't mock YOU; I mock the Orson Welles of our time, Jonathan Frakes.

[David Jimerson]

OK, just saw some shots of Kim Smith in this flick . . . you guys have got SOME NERVE knocking this outstanding, vintage piece of true American filmmaking . . . for SHAME . . .