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Non-Bond movies & TV series recommendations

DaltonCraig007DaltonCraig007 They say, "Evil prevails when good men fail to act." What they ought to say is, "Evil prevails."
edited June 2011 in General Movies & TV Posts: 15,723
Want to watch a movie, but don't know what to pick ?

Want to watch a certain TV series, but would like to hear about it first ?

This thread is for you !!

Your requests can be from movies with a certain actor or made by a certain director, by genre, year, country... And of course if you want to discover a new director's movies, just ask and I'm sure someone will recommend a director for you !!

Allright, someone don't know what to watch tonight ?? Movie buffs of this site will help you choose !!
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Comments

  • DarthDimiDarthDimi Behind you!Moderator
    Posts: 24,257
    Here's one for starters.

    image

    I love Chloë Moretz. No don't get me wrong, I don't love her in "that" sense but I think she's marvellous. I've already seen her perform in three films:
    • Kick-ass
    • Let Me In
    • The Amityville Horror
    Can anyone recommend another film in which she truly shines? ;;)

  • DaltonCraig007DaltonCraig007 They say, "Evil prevails when good men fail to act." What they ought to say is, "Evil prevails."
    Posts: 15,723
    @DarthDimi have you seen "500 Days of Summer" with Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Zooey Deschanel ? She plays a small part, but what a great film ! Wonderful rom com, with a fresh new take on the genre !
  • DarthDimiDarthDimi Behind you!Moderator
    Posts: 24,257
    I haven't but I'll be sure to check it out. Thanks, DC!
  • DaltonCraig007DaltonCraig007 They say, "Evil prevails when good men fail to act." What they ought to say is, "Evil prevails."
    Posts: 15,723
    Is "Let Me In" good, Dimi ?? I quite liked Cloverfield, from the same director. Should I watch the original first ??
  • ChuckChuck
    Posts: 212
    I thought that Let Me In was a fantastic movie. It made my top 10 list for last year, that's for certain. The performances were all outstanding, with the four main actors (Kodi Smit-McPhee, Chloe Moretz, Richard Jenkins, and Elias Koteas) all turning in performances that are nothing short of spectacular. I haven't seen Let the Right One In yet, but I do think that this film stands quite well on its own, regardless of how good the other version may be.
  • DarthDimiDarthDimi Behind you!Moderator
    Posts: 24,257
    Is "Let Me In" good, Dimi ?? I quite liked Cloverfield, from the same director. Should I watch the original first ??
    I watched both, but with several months between them. In the end, Let The Right One In and Let Me In are basically the same film, pretty much like Rec and Quarantine or Ju-On and The Grudge. That said, Let Me In is a very good film, probably as well made at its original. Also, it has Moretz. And she's simply superb in it. I believe she may be the next Jodie Foster, but then ten times as gorgeous. ;;)

    Purists will always argue that nothing beats the original. In many ways I agree. Exceptions exist of course but that's always debatable. E.g. Despite my love for everything Japanese, I consider Verbinski's The Ring just slightly better (i.e. scarier) than Ringu. So even I allow some remakes to receive more praise than their predecessor. When a film is almost literally remade, however, I'm of two minds on the matter. On the one hand it can be considered cheap to steel someone else's film and merely replace the cast, crew and title. On the other hand, perhaps those minor changes induce an extra bit of quality and therefore aren't so bad after all. Again, I refer to Moretz.

    LTROI and LMI have a slightly different dynamic, mostly communicated through the way shots are set-up and the way parts are acted. But you will be watching the same film twice. And despite its high replay value, you might want to consider a pause of several months between both viewings. Just my two cents. ;;)

  • DaltonCraig007DaltonCraig007 They say, "Evil prevails when good men fail to act." What they ought to say is, "Evil prevails."
    Posts: 15,723
    Thanks for mentioning Rec and Quarantine, Dimi !! I saw the original Rec, and loved it... is the American version good ?
  • DarthDimiDarthDimi Behind you!Moderator
    Posts: 24,257
    Actually once again you'll be watching the exact same film with perhaps a slightly more familiar cast. It's good, it certainly is effective. I watched it a year after I had seen Rec and I watched Rec² the day after. Besides the language, there was no continuity issue, but I've heard that Quarantine 2 will be entirely different.
  • DaltonCraig007DaltonCraig007 They say, "Evil prevails when good men fail to act." What they ought to say is, "Evil prevails."
    Posts: 15,723
    Have you heard of the next 2 Rec films ? Rec Genesis (prequel) and Rec Apocalypse (3rd sequel). Great to see a non-American horror film franchise. And boy do I want to see more Rec films !!
  • dragonskydragonsky
    Posts: 2,491
    Here's one for starters.

    image

    I love Chloë Moretz. No don't get me wrong, I don't love her in "that" sense but I think she's marvellous. I've already seen her perform in three films:
    • Kick-ass
    • Let Me In
    • The Amityville Horror
    Can anyone recommend another film in which she truly shines? ;;)

    wait who is she? i doubt she is that little girl in kick-ass.is she? and i thought ass was censored
  • DarthDimiDarthDimi Behind you!Moderator
    Posts: 24,257
    That's the little girl from KA all right.
  • 0BradyM0Bondfanatic70BradyM0Bondfanatic7 Quantum Floral Arrangements: "We Have Petals Everywhere"
    edited October 2011 Posts: 28,694
    Though its life was short, the Fox Network(a US Network) had a great "spy like" series on called Human Target. Sadly it only got two seasons in before it was canned, but it was a great run and was extremely enjoyable with memorable characters. I highly recommend it to all spy fans. Additionally, Archer is a hilarious show on the FX Network(another US Network) that is a big spoof of espionage in general, and is comedy gold. Also highly recommended. Anyone here at MI6 see either? Thoughts?
  • JoeBondJoeBond
    edited October 2011 Posts: 36
    Though its life was short, the Fox Network(a US Network) had a great "spy like" series on called Human Target. Sadly it only got two seasons in before it was canned, but it was a great run and was extremely enjoyable with memorable characters. I highly recommend it to all spy fans. Additionally, Archer is a hilarious show on the FX Network(another US Network) that is a big spoof of espionage in general, and is comedy gold. Also highly recommended. Anyone here at MI6 see either? Thoughts?
    I've seen both. Archer is pretty funny when it comes to making fun of the spy genre. I really liked the first season of Human Target which provided some of the best shot action sequences on television at the time. The second season wasn't quite as good despite some improvements there were also some elements that got worse in the second season. I still can't get over how they took a perfect opening theme and changed it to something that wasn't bad but wasn't all that good (I do realize the change was related to budgetary reasons). I would recommend Person of Interest as a nice replacement for Human Target despite its similarities to Nolan's Batman films, Caviezel's John Reese has hints of James Bond as well as deeper pain that is reflected in his performance. It's a lot better than the remake of The Prisoner which was Caviezel's last appearance on TV. Additionally, you don't know who is the victim and who is bad guy which is an interesting twist to these kind of procedural shows.

  • Jazz007Jazz007 Minnesota
    Posts: 257
    I'll mention these just because no one has yet - but if you have not seen the films of Alfred Hitchcock, I would strongly suggest them. Films like Notorious and North By Northwest have no equal and in many ways really laid the ground work for the Bond films.
  • Creasy47Creasy47 In Cuba with Natalya.Moderator
    edited October 2011 Posts: 41,011
    I'll just go ahead and mention my favorite film - Munich. If you've got the two and a half hours or so to put into it, give it a shot. Everyone else I show it to seems to love it.

    It also has two Bond villains - Michael Lonsdale and Mathieu Amalric - along with current Bond actor Daniel Craig in it.
  • DarthDimiDarthDimi Behind you!Moderator
    Posts: 24,257
    Doing a Hannibal Lecter retrospective. Having finished Manhunter and Silence last night, it seems I'm ready for Hannibal and Red Dragon tonight. This is where I usually experience the quality drop. However, you might like it. Suggested orders of watching the films:

    Chronological order of release:
    • Manhunter
    • The Silence Of The Lambs
    • Hannibal
    • Red Dragon
    • Hannibal Rising
    Chronological order of books:
    • Manhunter & Red Dragon
    • The Silence Of The Lambs
    • Hannibal
    • Hannibal Rising
    Chronological order of Hannibal's life:
    • Hannibal Rising
    • Manhunter & Red Dragon
    • The Silence Of The Lambs
    • Hannibal




  • Creasy47Creasy47 In Cuba with Natalya.Moderator
    Posts: 41,011
    @DarthDimi, might I ask what your favorite Hannibal film is out of all of them? Me, I prefer 'Silence of the Lambs'. 'Hannibal Rising' and 'Red Dragon' were good, from what I recall (I've only seen them once, and it was quite some time ago.) Didn't care for 'Hannibal', and I'll admit, I have not seen 'Manhunter'.
  • DarthDimiDarthDimi Behind you!Moderator
    Posts: 24,257
    @Creasy47 You might. :)

    My favourite Hannibal film is definitely the wonderful The Silence Of The Lambs. I'm also a fan of Manhunter but that's because I happen to be a huge Michael Mann fan. I like the musical choices in Manhunter, most of the acting and of course Dante Spinotti's excellent photography. That said, I watch Manhunter as a Mann film, not so much as a Hannibal Lecter film. In that sense, I want to 'warn' people that they need not expect anything quite like Silence or Hannibal or even Red Dragon. It's a different type, style and era of filmmaking.
  • Creasy47Creasy47 In Cuba with Natalya.Moderator
    Posts: 41,011
    Michael Mann's style of filmmaking is amazing. Miami Vice, Collateral, Public Enemies, Heat. I'm going to have to give Manhunter a shot.

    Reminds me of a topic I took part in a few months ago: would be interesting to see Mann do a Bond film. I'm sure a good bit of the community wouldn't like it, as his style is really a love or hate thing, but man, would that be a truly unique film.
  • 0BradyM0Bondfanatic70BradyM0Bondfanatic7 Quantum Floral Arrangements: "We Have Petals Everywhere"
    edited October 2011 Posts: 28,694
    Michael Mann's style of filmmaking is amazing. Miami Vice, Collateral, Public Enemies, Heat. I'm going to have to give Manhunter a shot.

    Reminds me of a topic I took part in a few months ago: would be interesting to see Mann do a Bond film. I'm sure a good bit of the community wouldn't like it, as his style is really a love or hate thing, but man, would that be a truly unique film.
    It could be dangerous ground. While you and I like QoS @Creasy, some dislike the uniqueness of Forster's style that he brought to the film. Still, no matter how good a film is, there will always be those who don't like it for some reason or another.
  • QsAssistantQsAssistant All those moments lost in time... like tears in rain
    Posts: 1,812
    Okay, I work in a book store, in America, and in this book store we have an entire selection of British TV series. One in particular that I've been eyeing is called "MI-5", is it worth checking out and putting money into or should I stay away from it?
  • 4EverBonded4EverBonded the Ballrooms of Mars
    Posts: 12,480
    Can't you rent it first? I'm still living in Japan and I can rent American and British tv series (albeit 2 years behind usually). I don't even know what is rentable in the U.S. now ... MI-5 was super popular in Britain (back me up, all you Brits; is that true?). I think it just ended the series ... I had a love-hate kinda feel for it, but then I did not watch all of the series. But I do enormously like Keeley Hawes and Philip Glenister - so I highly recommend: Ashes 2 Ashes (3 seasons). Also Life on Mars (the orig. British show). For U.S. shows, I enjoy Leverage (think the Italian Job, in an easy lighthearted vein; I do enjoy the characters).
  • 4EverBonded4EverBonded the Ballrooms of Mars
    Posts: 12,480
    As for M. Mann - I do like him as a director a lot. I really loved Manhunter; it was the first one I saw. Also Thief with James Caan. And Heat, too. But check out the older movies; good ones!
  • QsAssistantQsAssistant All those moments lost in time... like tears in rain
    Posts: 1,812
    Can't you rent it first?
    In America most rental stores are gone, thanks to netflicks and redbox. I dropped my netflicks account (to save money) and redbox doesn't rent out TV series.

  • DaltonCraig007DaltonCraig007 They say, "Evil prevails when good men fail to act." What they ought to say is, "Evil prevails."
    Posts: 15,723
    I strongly recommend MI-5. @QsAssistant. Very good tv series. I'll keep you busy for quite some times (10 seasons of 6/10 episodes).
  • DaltonCraig007DaltonCraig007 They say, "Evil prevails when good men fail to act." What they ought to say is, "Evil prevails."
    Posts: 15,723
    Has anyone seen Starz' new series "Boss" ? Is it any good ?
  • OHMSS69OHMSS69
    Posts: 2,341
    Old Series:try Netflix
    Damages
    Friday Night Lights
    Season 1, 4 of 24
    New Series
    Revenge
    Good Wife
    American Horror Story
  • DaltonCraig007DaltonCraig007 They say, "Evil prevails when good men fail to act." What they ought to say is, "Evil prevails."
    Posts: 15,723
    I've been meaning to start 2 series :

    'Foyle's War' with Michael Kitchen
    and
    'The Equalizer' with Edward Woodward

    Are they good ?
  • Agent007391Agent007391 Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, B, A, Start
    Posts: 7,854
    OHMSS69 wrote:
    Season 1, 4 of 24

    Are you suggesting that only season 1 and 4 of 24 are any good? I happen to like 1, 2, 4, 6 and 7. 3, 5 and 8 were a little... well...
  • CraigMooreOHMSSCraigMooreOHMSS Dublin, Ireland
    edited April 2012 Posts: 8,231
    I've started watching Human Target lately. It got two seasons before it was cancelled, but it was a hugely enjoyable tv show. Think the outlandish OTT style of MI Ghost Protocol crossed with the more hard edged fighting style of the Bourne films.
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