FYVP: For your viewing pleasure

[Majestyk]

Amid all the Hollywood blockbusters, there are plenty of films that fall between the cracks. Once you get a chance to watch one, some of these overlooked films turn out to be little gems.

So here’s a recommendation FYVP that has served as a go-to, date-night film for me: DINNER RUSH.
I saw this indie in the US back in 2000, when it was first released. I thought it was great, but I was in the minority. This film grossed just over US$638,000 during its brief theatrical run.

DINNER RUSH is mainly about one crazy night for a restaurateur, who’s also a bookmaker, at his popular establishment in Lower Manhattan’s Tribeca neighbourhood. It has sex, wine, art, what appears to be good food, a love triangle, restaurant critics, cops and gangsters.
The must-watch for me here is Vivian Wu, the Shanghainese actress featured in THE LAST EMPEROR and THE JOY LUCK CLUB.

Please check out the trailer:
https://www.metacritic.com/movie/dinner-rush/trailers/1083046

 

[Petite Nymphet]

Thanks for posting this - just watched the trailer and it looks pretty good! I'll definitely have to put Dinner Rush on my 'to-watch' list

 

[Majestyk]

FYVP, here’s another recommendation: EQUILIBRIUM.

Before Batman and Oscar acclaim, Christian Bale starred in this 2002-released film about a dystopian future after the Third World War. It was made for US$20 million, but grossed just US$5.3 million worldwide during its short theatrical release.

The late, great film critic Roger Ebert best described what this film was about:
“Equilibrium would be a mindless action picture, except that it has a mind. It doesn't do a lot of deep thinking, but unlike many futuristic combos of sf and f/x, it does make a statement: Freedom of opinion is a threat to totalitarian systems ...
“The movie deals with this notion in the most effective way, by burying it in the story and almost drowning it with entertainment. In a free society many, maybe most, audience members will hardly notice the message. But there are nations and religions that would find this movie dangerous. You know who you are.”

Please check out the trailer:


Here’s a photo from the film of Bale with Sean Bean (Just for you, @Manami TMK)

 

[Manami TMK]

@Majestyk
Thanks
My two favorites actors appeared in one movie. Of course I checked it out when it came out.good story, too.
It is interesting, the original title is equilibrium but the Japanese title is rebellion.

I also recommend Europe Europe, Indochine, Monsieur Hire, la femme defense and a boy called H.

 

[namae]

@Majestyk

It is interesting, the original title is equilibrium but the Japanese title is rebellion.

Japanese titles are always tricky. I am not sure they have to play around with the titles so much.

Years ago I was in Tsutaya looking for a movie called "The Dish". I called off the search and asked the staff for help. It took the staff a while to find it. In Japan they changed the title to "Sheep on the Moon" (iirc).

 

[Sudsy]

I called off the search and asked the staff for help. It took the staff a while to find it.

Back in the day they had a catalogue of Japanese <-> Original Language (English, French, etc.) titles behind the counter at every video store. Surprised they don't have a database....

IMDB is usually good for that, though.

 

[Lars Lust]

Dinner Rush is a great movie. Highly recommended.

 

[Majestyk]

@Majestyk
Thanks
I also recommend Europe Europe, Indochine, Monsieur Hire, la femme defense and a boy called H.

Excellent recommendations, @Manami TMK.
I’ve only seen INDOCHINE (1992) and MONSIEUR HIRE (1989) from those films you listed.

 

[User#7832]

Japanese titles are always tricky. I am not sure they have to play around with the titles so much.

Years ago I was in Tsutaya looking for a movie called "The Dish". I called off the search and asked the staff for help. It took the staff a while to find it. In Japan they changed the title to "Sheep on the Moon" (iirc).

Great movie though! And based on a true story.

 

[Majestyk]

I agree, @User#7832 and @namae. THE DISH (2000) is an excellent film.
Also a big fan of the film’s lead actor, Sam Neill. BTW, he also makes outstanding Pinot Noir under the Two Paddocks brand in New Zealand.

 

[User#8628]

Japanese titles are always tricky. I am not sure they have to play around with the titles so much.

Years ago I was in Tsutaya looking for a movie called "The Dish". I called off the search and asked the staff for help. It took the staff a while to find it. In Japan they changed the title to "Sheep on the Moon" (iirc).

Definitely. I mentioned “don’t tell mom the babysitter is dead” before on the forum, which has been translated to “dream girl” for no appearant reason. Of course its pretty amazing of a teenage girl to support her family and save a company, but nowhere in the movie is there any mention of her being a “dream girl”.

Wost movie translation is of one of my personal favorites “dangerous beauty”, which has been translated to “shofu Veronique”. Pretty disrespectful language to call a high end empowered courtisan (would Japanese people call a movie about an oiran that?) and it feels like the person who named it roughly read the description on the back of the movie and hasn’t watched it at all (honestly, most movie titles that have not been literally translated feel that way).

 

[namae]

I agree, @User#7832 and @namae. THE DISH (2000) is an excellent film.
Also a big fan of the film’s lead actor, Sam Neill. BTW, he also makes outstanding Pinot Noir under the Two Paddocks brand in New Zealand.

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Pinot.....that reminds me of Sideways......another nice flick.

I have drank Two Paddocks ...but didn't know Sam was the owner. I liked his work in the first couple of series of the BBC TV series Peaky Blinders.

 

[Majestyk]

Here’s another one FYVP — RIPLEY’S GAME (2002), featuring the great John Malkovich.

Sure, Matt Damon had deserved success with THE TALENTED MR. RIPLEY (1999). But I prefer how Malkovich played the older and more dangerous version of the con artist created by novelist Patricia Highsmith. RIPLEY’S GAME, however, did not impress at the box office.

Here’s an excerpt from film critic Roger Ebert’s outstanding review:
Tom Ripley has always been an enigma in the crime fiction genre, because a thief and murderer does not usually get away with his crimes in novel after novel, and seem on most days like a considerate lover and a good neighbor. Malkovich's philosophical Ripley is closest to Highsmith's character in the way he objectifies his actions. Why is he requested to kill a man? "Because I can."

Hope you like this one, guys.

 

[Majestyk]

In the 70s, Al Pacino was at his absolute prime and enjoyed a glorious run with the first two GODFATHER films (1972, 1974), SERPICO (1973) and DOG DAY AFTERNOON (1975).
FYVP, I recommend BOBBY DEERFIELD (1977), a film directed by the late great Sydney Pollack.
Pacino plays a cold, slick, vain and calculating Formula One race car driver who falls in love with a beautiful, unpredictable and funny woman who is dying, a role that Marthe Keller aced.
There’s not a lot of racing here, but there’s plenty of memorable dialogue, nuanced performances and beautifully shot landscapes of France, Italy and Switzerland.

Please check out the trailer:

 

[Hofmeyer]

Drive (1997) Starring Marc Dacascos and one of the late, great Brittany Murphy's first films.

 

[Majestyk]

FYVP this weekend, I recommend THE DROP (2014), a crime film starring Tom Hardy, Noomi Rapace and James Gandolfini.

This film, which earned just about US$18.6 million during its brief international theatrical run, marks solid performances by Hardy, pre-MAD MAX: FURY ROAD (2015), and Rapace, post-THE GIRL WITH THE DRAGON TATTOO (2009).

Here’s an excerpt from Roger Ebert’s review.
“Hardy’s Bob Saginowski is a dark horse of a Brooklyn bartender who excels at keeping his head down and looking the other way whenever the Chechen mobsters, who own the place, launder their ill-gotten money by way of a “drop” at the drinking establishment. This slice of working-class gang life is extra notable as the final film appearance by the late, great James Gandolfini–perfectly fine as Marv, Bob’s cousin and boss, who turns out to be the sort of desperate type that Tony Soprano would have had disposed of with nary a blink.”

Please check it out:

 

[Majestyk]

It has been a while, but here’s one FYVP this weekend: REDBELT (2008), a film by American film director and screenwriter David Mamet. He won a Pulitzer Prize in 1984 for the play “Glengarry Glen Ross”.

I’ve been thinking a lot about this film after my recent Tokyo trip, when I met and became very fond of a beautiful lady who is a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu practitioner. She has me bewitched right now. I hope this feeling passes soon because there’s no conceivable future for the two of us.

Anyway, REDBELT was not a hit, earning only US$2.3 million in the US and way less in its limited release in overseas markets.

Seems like audiences were baffled by the film’s combination of con games, action and martial arts philosophy. In the end, it turns into a fight about values.

Here’s film critic Roger Ebert’s take:
“So now you're wondering why you might want to see this movie at all. It might be because of the sheer art and craft of Mamet himself. For his dialogue, terse and enigmatic, as if in a secret code. For his series of "reveals" in which nothing is as it seems. For his lost world of fly-by-night operators ... If you savor that sort of stuff, and I do, you may like REDBELT on its own dubious but seductive terms.”

Check out the trailer.

 

[Majestyk]

I’ve been a fan of Hong Kong cinema for a long time, going back to the old Shaw Brothers Studio days.
One of the city’s best directors today is Johnnie To, who has helmed about 71 films.
In 1999, HK saw the release of three solid, gangster-themed films produced and directed by To — WHERE A GOOD MAN GOES, RUNNING OUT OF TIME and THE MISSION.

My personal favorite is THE MISSION, which is about how a crew of bodyguards bond, fight and settle issues as they protect a Triad boss.

Check out the film (with subtitles):

 

[User#8628]

Recently i’m obsessed with nymp()maniac. I felt it somehow recognizable although i’m not that wild. Kind of surprised why she didn’t go into sexwork but for a movie i guess the turn of events that did happen were more interesting.

 

[Majestyk]

Recently i’m obsessed with nymp()maniac. I felt it somehow recognizable although i’m not that wild. Kind of surprised why she didn’t go into sexwork but for a movie i guess the turn of events that did happen were more interesting.

After all these years, I haven’t checked out Lars von Trier’s NYMPHOMANIAC (2023).
I’ve seen some good reviews, but I still can’t convince myself to pull the trigger on watching it. Maybe it’s because of my previous disappointment with his film ANTICHRIST (2009), which also featured Charlotte Gainsbourg.
Anyway, I’ll add NYMPHOMANIAC my to-see list. Thank you, @User#8628.

 

[User#8628]

After all these years, I haven’t checked out Lars von Trier’s NYMPHOMANIAC (2023).
I’ve seen some good reviews, but I still can’t convince myself to pull the trigger on watching it. Maybe it’s because of my previous disappointment with his film ANTICHRIST (2009), which also featured Charlotte Gainsbourg.
Anyway, I’ll add NYMPHOMANIAC my to-see list. Thank you, @User#8628.

I’m not familiar with his other work, but this movie made me what to check it out. Antichrist was not a good one? I read he’s worked with Nicole Kidman in the past, definitely interested in that.
I thought the acting in Nymp()maniac was on point. I personally liked the lead actress and felt like she was a good fit. She’s not overly sexy and in the movie doesn’t pretend to be a hot seductress who’s there to pleasure men but rather an addict who is driven by a search for her her own pleasure.
I heard a lot of talk about how the movie could be dreadful and hard to get through but i found it very entertaining. Its full of flashbacks but not difficult to follow and the stories are interesting to me because i like the topic but i must say its a niche and may gross other people out.

 

[Majestyk]

Yes, the director Lars von Trier worked with Nicole Kidman in DOGVILLE (2003), which I also haven’t seen.
NYMPHOMANIAC’s lead actress is Charlotte Gainsbourg, who I first saw in a French comedy — MA FEMME EST UNE ACTRICE (2001) — with her partner, the actor-writer-director Yvan Attal.
She’s a terrific actress.
Trivia: Gainsbourg’s mom is British actress Jane Birkin, the inspiration behind Hermes’ Birkin bag.

 

[just4fun]

Yes, the director Lars von Trier worked with Nicole Kidman in DOGVILLE (2003), which I also haven’t seen.
NYMPHOMANIAC’s lead actress is Charlotte Gainsbourg, who I first saw in a French comedy — MA FEMME EST UNE ACTRICE (2001) — with her partner, the actor-writer-director Yvan Attal.
She’s a terrific actress.
Trivia: Gainsbourg’s mom is British actress Jane Birkin, the inspiration behind Hermes’ Birkin bag.

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I'd buy that for a Dollar!

 

[Majestyk]

ROBOCOP!

 

[Yuriko]

Yumi Nagasgima, stand up hot comedian

Cute smile! but really funny!



I like her style. She should become an escort, too!