Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with movie

What Kung Fu movie am I thinking of?

Lutoslawski — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 10:49:13 -0800

Please ID this Kung Fu movie with missiles and menstruation. A couple years ago at an artsy film place in Denver I saw a kung fu movie where the hero uses these missiles to fight bad guys. He is also trying to acquire the menstrual blood of a virgin for some reason. There is a chief bad guy who is very bad.

Unfortunately, that's all I got. Please hope me MeFi; I'd really like to find this film!

Dances with Flying Space Wolves

P.o.B. — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 17:27:42 -0800

Avatar (the film) has a very generic-off-the-shelf-storyline. Where did it originate? Possible spoilers ahead. I've read that Cameron came up with the story in '94, so did he just take Dances with Wolves and add "IN SPACE!" to the end? In what other movies/books/etc. does this story/theme exist?
i.e. Fern Gully, Pocahantas, Battle for Terra...

Please help me identify a movie using only this vaguely remembered scene

mindwarp — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 21:32:59 -0800

There is a movie I saw very distractedly around 1996-2000, featuring a scene I keep thinking about. I don't remember much beyond that one scene but I do recall the haunting mood of the film. I'd like to watch it again sometime, but can't seem to identify it. It is a tale taking place in the nocturnal underworld of some city featuring a young boy (a teenager, I think -- coming of age aspects to the main plot?) and an older but still relatively young man, who has a dark, somewhat devilish vibe to him and is a sort of guide/mentor to the boy as they navigate the city. There is a definite David Lynch like quality to this movie, and the story unfolds as if in a dream.

In the scene I remember the man takes the boy to some woman he knows; she appears to be one of the man's shadier and more bizarre contacts in the city. She is a psychic or clairvoyant or voodoo type or some other sort of occultist. The boy's introduction to the woman is arguably accompanied by a suggestion of sexual tension. The woman gives drugs to the boy, in the form of powder to be snorted. I think the boy takes the drug first, then asks what it was, seeming to believe it was cocaine. It is then revealed that the white powder was in fact heroin, at which the boy becomes flustered and afraid. As the drug kicks in, however, he has some sort of inner vision or psychic experience which is somehow important to the plot.

That's about all I remember, written down as carefully as I could. Some of it could be inaccurate or misleading. I realize that the chances of identifying this movie going on so little are next to nil. Nevertheless, if any of the above rings a bell for you, I would greatly appreciate any guesses. I believe I would recognize it readily if I was looking at it on IMDB.

Thanks a lot! :)

Help me find the name of this Asian film about a love story in three different time periods.

jaywalker — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 20:50:14 -0800

Help me find the name of this Asian film about a love story in three different time periods. A few years ago I saw a preview of an Asian film that I'm pretty sure was either Chinese or Japanese, about a love story between two people that takes place (vaguely speaking) in ancient times, then the 40s or 50s, then modern day. It came out 2 or 3 years ago and looked very romantic.

There's a scene where the woman is on a big boat, sailing away. In another scene she's wearing a poodle skirt or something. I was unable to google the answer and I really want to see this movie! Thanks!

"I spent a lifetime looking for a diamond in a mountain of glass."

Mickelstiff — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 12:03:44 -0800

A few years ago I saw a foreign film. I have forgotten the title, but it ended with a line like "I spent a lifetime looking for a diamond in a mountain of glass." Anyone remember the name of it? I am not certain but I believe it may have been World War II based, perhaps regarding a Jewish relationship. Thanks

Listening to the movies.

1f2frfbf — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 07:25:27 -0800

Recommend some good movies to LISTEN to. Back when I was a draftsman, one of the ways I'd keep myself occupied was to dub off the audio of some of my favorite movies to listen to on my walkman while I worked. I'd like to try this again this holiday season while I'm traveling using a Netflix account and an iPod. So. What are some movies that are an intense audio experience? I'm not interested in soundtrack albums or musicals, but dialog-driven movies. I'm especially interested in movies that hearing and but not watching gives a completely different reading to the movie.

Non-Christmas wintry movie ideas to show to 7th graders?

NHlove — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 03:53:37 -0800

Non-Christmas, non-holiday wintry movies to show in 7th grade? I am a new teacher on a 7th grade team (5 teachers with the same 100 or so kids) in Massachusetts. The team usually has the kids watch A Christmas Carol on the last day of school before the winter break so they can have fun and we'll have shortened classes for the rest of the day.

I don't want to argue with them about watching a movie in general, but I feel uncomfortable showing a Christmas movie at a public school, let alone one with large Jewish, Indian, and Chinese populations like ours.

So I am looking for alternate movies to suggest to them. So far I have thought of March of the Penguins and Ice Age.

Requirements:
-G or PG
-Entertaining for 7th graders
-I would rather have something mildly educational or at has a good moral message (be nice to each other), but I'll take all ideas

You're tearing me apart Lisa!

theRussian — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 14:32:08 -0800

The Room viewing party ideas? The Room - we want to have a viewing party. Need any and all ideas about how to make this event even better. (For those who haven't seen it, it's one of those 'so bad its good' movies)

I am torn between having really awful food/drinks to having really, really super fancy things to eat and drink.

Any ideas are welcome - even bad ones.

Name that 2002 Japanese Movie

Beautiful Screaming Lady — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 20:26:52 -0800

Name that Japanese movie: seen onboard Japan Airlines in 2002-2003. Salaryman becomes obsessed with building a space rocket in his back garden. Easy-going but slightly melancholy mid-30s family man with a dissatisfying office job slowly retreats from his family and friends and becomes obsessed with building himself a rocket from scrap metal and assorted spare parts. Overall tone was poignant and gently humourous. Features a bizarrely out-of-place scene involving a doctor attacking a cabbage in an attempt to demonstrate a new medical robot.

I was sure it was called Tomorrow Is Another Day in English, but I can't any mention of it online. Can anyone help?

Quote from Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

pamspanda — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 04:16:28 -0800

Maggie The Cat (on a Hot Tin Roof). . . . . . . . Does anyone remember the exact quote from Maggie(the cat) in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof when she looks out the window of the bedroom and says something regarding "the no-neck monsters" (her neices and nephews.) My memory is failing me (again!) I need the exact quote if possible - thanks!

Name the Movie with arguing couples

nyc_consultant — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 16:07:47 -0800

Movie-fi: I am trying to remember the name of a movie I saw maybe 10 years ago, involving 3-4 married couples having arguments. Does this ring a bell? The three couples were eating or drinking at the home of one of them. Each couple was battling some issues of marital happiness - one might have been arguing about infidelity, one about having a child, and one that just seemed weird.

One scene I remember at the end of the movie is the weird couple was driving home and they both said "I love you". It turned out that the weird couple had the sanest marriage.

I thought it might have Joan Cusack or Greg Germann in it, but I couldn't find it in their IMDB list.

That's not a lot to go on, but if this rings a bell with anyone I will be very grateful!

Please help me remember the name of this movie.

aberrant — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 22:30:17 -0800

What was the name of this movie? Martial arts-themed/action (think JCVD-style). Cheesy scene description - the only one I can remember - inside. I last saw the movie in the 90's (likely early/mid 90's). The only scene I remember is a flashback to when the (non-Asian) protagonist was a boy, and he was in an Asian country (Singapore? Vietnam? Thailand? Could this be a Chuck Norris movie?). Several kids surround him in the road and beat him up, which is when he embarks on his study of martial arts. I really think it was Jean-Claude Van Damme, but having reviewed his filmography nothing rings a bell.

Any ideas on the name of this movie? Thanks!

Name this ghost movie

zeek321 — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 15:12:47 -0800

What's the title of this movie (that came out around 2005, give or take)? A teenager is left for dead and becomes a ghost. He seems to influence things around him but then what he did didn't actually happen. In the trailer, he yells his girlfriend's name in an empty high school, and it seems like she almost hears him. It turns out he's not dead but dying. The reviews were not good. Thank you!

Looking for recommendations for recent popular music soundtracks

cosmic.osmo — Sun, 15 Nov 2009 18:21:43 -0800

Does anyone have any recommendations for somewhat recent (post-2000) TV or movie popular music soundtracks (or some other kind of compilation)? I tend to like alternative rock, but I'm open to any genre. I've realized that I've been in a musical rut for the past several years, so I'm looking for a fast way to discover new music and expose myself to some of what I've missed. I've gotten the soundtracks to Scrubs and Garden State, and I've found a lot that I like in them, but I'm also almost finished with them.

So, any recommendations?

Movie producing mogul in six months?

SantosLHalper — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 06:11:51 -0800

I read non-fiction story of a career change to a successful Hollywood movie producer. Help me find who it was and a copy of the story. A man, who had achieved a high level of success in the business or possibly political world on the East Coast (?), decided to change careers. He moves out West. He takes six months and does little else than watch movies. He begins to notice that many of the good movies have people in common in the credits.

He jump starts his very successful producing career by using the insights gained by his six months of movie watching.

I read it over ten years ago, not sure when it was published. I believe it was part of a book, but not 100% sure.

Don't go into in the basement. Or the attic. Or the cabin.

The Whelk — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 12:20:11 -0800

Call it the Psycho Effect: Me: Lover of horror movies and analysis thereof. Problem: Having read so much analysis I've been either spoiled by or inured to most Classics Of Horror and have developed odd prejudices against certain devices. Help me scare myself silly with new movies. Prejudices inside. Some of my prejudices:

AsyYouKnow: I don't need a long "scientific" explanation and they never make sense anyway. Creepy, unexplained, magical, whatever. I don't care, just don't bring dimensions and genetics into it.
Handheld Cameras: Annoys the hell out of me,
Over F/X: Doesn't work on me (Drag Me To Hell was hilarious, not scary)
Over Gorey: Lazy and after while the "it's just corn syrup!" sets in and then I spend half the movie trying to figure out how it was done and that's not scary.
Torture Porn: You're gonna have to be better than people getting cut up. See above
People Generally Acting Like Idiots: But that's just good storywriting. The tighter the script, the better.

Stuff I Like

Low budget
Isolated or confined enviroment
Limited time-frame
Sparse effects
Unhappy endings

I've seen a lot of the recent horror movies (The Ring, Cabin Fever, Scream, 28 Days Later, The whole Evil Dead/Nightmare On Elm St/Jason collections, etc) and too many of the classics have been totally spoiled by reading about them (my fault) or having to write long papers on them.

Cheating women

pumpkin11 — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 09:57:44 -0800

I'm looking for films where female characters cheat... yes, I've seen this question, but most of the films involve men cheating on their female partners, and I am looking for the other way around (without having to read a summary of every film on that list). If you can link to a imdb/summary of the film, that would be even more helpful. Thank you!

Don't buy a car here.

Saxon Kane — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 17:37:10 -0800

Looking for a movie from 10-15 yrs ago (I think) about a shady car dealership. All I remember is the first few minutes of it. In the opening, the sales manager is training (or re-training) his team. It's all very gung-ho, Enron-esque, let's screw the morons out of their money. I recall that he's telling them how to fill out the offer form and he says something like, "Write the price of the car up here, in tiny numbers, see? Because the price is so low! Then put their trade-in value here in really big numbers, because they are getting so much for their old car!" There's lots of laughing and joking and bragging about how they rip off people. Then the manager points to the 2 leasing/finance salesmen and says something like, "And then we bring in these 2 bastards, to fuck 'em in the ass with a 36 month lease!"

I think the main plot of the movie may have been about a young guy who has just joined the dealership to support him and his new wife. Apart from that, I have no memories of who was in it or anything else.

Any help?

Finding an old 80's sci-fi flick.

ninazer0 — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 14:46:57 -0800

Sci-Fi Movie Filter: Trying to locate the title of a movie I saw in the late 80's. It was set in the US in the near future. A private eye or cop was trying to track down someone smuggling a deadly drug or chemical that - when it came in contact with the human body - dissolved it in a fantastically gruesome fashion with smoke and screaming. The first person you see dying this way is a shuttle pilot. I remember very clearly a scene in a post-mortem where the ME says "We recovered his hand" and picks up the hand, only it is brown and mushy and comes to pieces on his glove.

And then later, one of the baddies injects what he thinks is his fix of some amazing drug but - you guessed it - he starts smoking and screaming.

There's one other scene I clearly remember when the PI/cop steals some sort of nifty shuttle that an old lady had illegally stashed in her garage.

Any ideas? It was definitely low budget and had a faintly Logan's Run style to it. Possibly it was released directly to video. I don't remember any of the actors.

Examples of image zooming/enhancement cliché from movies/tv.

dunk — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 06:30:01 -0800

I'm looking for examples of the film and tv cliché where images from surveillance video or photos are magnified and enhanced (usually to a ridiculous degree). I know about Enemy of the State and this clip from CSI (I'm guessing one of many examples from that show) is what made me think of compiling a list. They don't necessarily have to be things that are impossible in the real world, I'm more interested in the dialogue than the image being enhanced. If I get enough good ones I may make a supercut.

Please suggest books, movies or shows like Bel Canto

reenum — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 09:44:26 -0800

I loved the plot of Bel Canto by Ann Patchett. Any recommendations for similar books, shows, or movies? I loved how Patchett's book showed hostages and hostage takers forming a sort of community within their besieged compound.

I also remember an essay with a similar theme by P.J. O'Rourke. It involved him being stuck in a hotel with a bunch of foreign correspondents during a bombing and talked about how they coped.

Any suggestions?

Figure out the movie, then figure out the song?

Breav — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 05:15:05 -0800

How can I figure out what song was in the obscure movie I watched last night? Apparently I was listening to the wrong music in the 70s.

I watched part of a 2008 movie last night in which a tired middle aged guy, I believe in Hollywood, recalls his adolescence in England where he is being seduced by his mother's friend while pursuing a girl his own age. He and the girl have a date and lipsync a 70s song that I had never heard before. I watched the (very long) credits, but then the song name was very tiny and fuzzy on my TV and I couldn't read it. Now I can't find the movie title.

Was anybody else watching that movie? What was it called? Anybody know the song?

Background mysteries within "Away We Go"

siclik — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 13:22:14 -0800

IdentificationFilter: I watched "Away We Go" this weekend and need help identifying this song and also finding an online retailer for this lamp (or something close). Ready . . . set . . . go! - The song started driving me crazy as soon as I heard it. My parents had an electronic keyboard (circa 1996) that had maybe 10 built-in synth tracks that you could play along with, and this song was one of them. I used to play along with it a lot, so when I heard it in the movie this weekend, a rush of memories hit me like a brick wall and I suddenly had a mystery to solve.

- The lamp is just cute and we would like to acquire it or something similar as an addition to our "woodland animals" themed nursery.

Thanks for any help you can provide!

Yugo Cabriolet

nomisxid — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 08:30:46 -0800

Name the 80s/90s skate movie that contains the line, Cabriolet is Yugoslavian for "fast car" There's a movie scene rolling around in my head, where a bunch of skate punks cut the roof off of their friend's Yugo, telling him he can now call it a Cabriolet, 'cause that's Yugoslavian for "fast car".

Dark Corners: huh?

Iosephus — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 18:35:44 -0800

Plateofbeaning Dark Corners the movie? Oddities, trivia and overanalysis for your amusement. Spoilers inside, I'm sure. Having just watched Dark Corners, which I found quite interesting, I noticed several oddities that I don't know if they go only as far as tidbits and trivia, or instead might be winks to something. Plus one truly WTF moment for bonus.

1) In the mortuary there seems to be a fireplace. It is decorated with the prominently displayed "AUDI VIDE TACE" motto betweena pair of things that look like cowbells. Google suggests this is some masonic motto. Wha?

2) Susan parades around the las minutes of the movie in a t-shirt that blatantly cries "Camp Watexa". Google=fail. Wha? bis.

3) What the hell are we supposed to make of the evil kid that bites off a chunk of Karen's leg? Some extra Freudian wink I'm not in the know about?

4) WTF bonus: on the second hypnotherapy session, Susan wakes up and there's a big hairy male arm just, er, grabbing her boob. She doesn't seem to realize, and there's noone around her sofa that arm belongs to. I can't imagine this is a blooper, boob grabbing, come on?