Some Foreign Language Recs
Bratastic007, great idea. I completely agree with you about Animal Kingdom.
If you can tolerate subtitles (or know the language) here are some my foreign language favorites, both recent and classic:
Tell No One (French, 2006): A mystery based on a novel by American author Harlen Coben. First rate.
Jar City (Iceland, 2006): (streaming only, no disk) Another mystery/police procedural involving disfunctional families, biomedical research and long-ago crimes. Excellently plotted and acted, and you get to see a fair amount of Iceland. You might want to look away for a moment while the detective sits down in his austere apartment to eat the lamb's head he bought for dinner at a drive-through fast food joint.
The Testament of Dr. Mabuse (German, 1933): Not a sequel to M (see earlier post), but a follow-up involving the same detective still uncovering evil in 1930s Berlin. Given what was happening with German government at the time, guess who the criminal gang represents? I'm amazed that Fritz Lang, repeating as director, wasn't hauled off in the middle of the night by the authorities as soon as this film was released. But this is not just a message movie. It has some genuinely exciting moments.
And any French crime flick from the 1950s or 1960s directed by Jeanne-Pierre Melville. Le Doulos (1962) and Le Samourai (1967) are both first rate and good places to start. And never forget Rififi (1955), the heist movie directed by Jules Dassin that set the bar for every other heist movie since. It doesn't matter that the movie is in French, because while the heist is on nobody says a word -- for half an hour they just go through the process of breaking into the apartment they want and cracking a safe. Brilliant movie making.
Finally, to get back to English. If you like time-travel movies, check out Primer (2004), an independent film that looks like it was made by the writer/director and his friends on their charge cards. A terrific, literate, smart script with complexity enough to fuel five standard Hollywood time travel movies. (But if you don't like time travel or science fiction, give it a pass.)
For a big budget mainstream time-travel movie, don't overlook 12 Monkeys (1995). My sense is that nobody went to see it when it was in theaters, so here's your chance to see a clever and interesting movie that you missed.
