Pizza Club Movie Club

Here's an idea I had, and would be something fun for all of us. Let's have a Movie Club, a thread to recommend a movie we've seen recently or one we love. I'm going to try posting a recommendation only once a week, because I could go on and on when it comes to movies I love. And what I'm going to do right now is recommend a movie, and then write a little about a movie I watched as a recommendation. I thought it would be fun to take everyone's suggestions and try to expand my movie horizons. So first, the recommendation:

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The Adventures of Baron Munchausen
I caught this movie on Netflix the day before it was no longer streaming for free, so it was a lucky break. It's from Terry Gilliam, one of the Monty Python group (the guy who did all of the animations, as well as directing the Monty Python films) and director of Time Bandits and Twelve Monkeys. I have really enjoyed what movies I've seen from him before, so I really wanted to watch this movie.

The movie is about a German baron who shows up in a town being ravaged by the Turks. The town's local acting troupe is performing the tales of Baron Munchausen when the baron interrupts the play and tells the tales as they actually happened. This begins an adventure to save the small town from the Turks as Baron Munchausen and a little girl named Sally look for the barons friends. They travel to the moon, to the home of Vulcan, and the belly of a giant fish, and it's never quite clear what's real and what's the rambling of an old man. Think The Fall and Big Fish. I was amazed at the film. It's a grand epic with the art style of Terry Gilliam.

Why you guys might like it: Not only is it fantastic storytelling, but it also has an underlining message about reality and escapism. And Tina will like it because Robin Williams is in it.

And now for the movie I watched on a recommendation, The Bicycle Thief

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Jake recommended this to me, and I understand why. It's a very powerful movie about hardship and how harsh reality is. And I was appreciating the movie for a long time, until it fell into one of the plots I do not like: one man against a world who won't believe him. I have never enjoyed anything with this plot. And the movie wasn't like that at the start, because Antonio, after having his bike stolen on the first day of his job that would provide food for his family, he had friends who helped him look for it. But once those friends left, he had no one but his son, but even with his son there, no one was really on his side. He even finds people who could help him if they wanted to, but they don't want to help him. And once he does find people connected to the theft of his bike, they are surrounded by support from their family and friends, while Antonio has no one. The police won't even help, either. I hated those large groups of people on the side of the man who screwed up Antonio's life, who only provide dialog to further belittle Antonio. It's depressing as hell, which it was successful in that respect. But I don't like seeing one-sided fights, especially when the weaker side is in the right.

It made for an interesting contrast, watching the two films in the same day. One showed that if you try to act according to society and reality, the world will piss all over you. But if you choose to discard reality and create your own world, you become something greater than the world, something people are in awe of.

And I've typed enough. See, movies get me talking...or writing. So what are your recommendations?

Hmm... its interesting, thats not exactly what I got from the Bicycle Thief. What I got through it is through desperation Antonio became what he hated. He was about to do the same to another man, who didn't deserve it, that happened to him.

What makes the film so interesting is it was filmed in 1948 in Italy, their defeat in WWII in recent memory, during a depression, so the setting of the movie is exactly what was going on during this time. I think the main thing to take from the movie is what desperation can do to a man, how it can form his actions, and it makes you question morality it general. Its not a feel good movie, its rather bleak, but when you consider the source it wouldn't make sense any other way. Having him backed into a corner, away from anyone who defend his reputation, illustrates the unfair world we live in, which had to have hit home for an audience going through the same thing. Not to mention the film is shot beautifully.

I definitely appreciate The Bicycle Thief as artistic cinema with a message, it's just a personal thing about the plot. It could be, though, that I watched the movie at the wrong time. Sometimes it has to be the right moment for a movie to really work. And I did watch a movie right before it where everyone thought the protagonist was crazy at first, but proved everyone wrong...or did he...it's still unclear. It might not be a good idea to follow a really happy movie that puts you in a good mood with an extremely depressing movie.

And you've got to give a recommendation, Jake. Goes for everyone else on the board, because I want to watch someone's recommendation this weekend.

Trying to think of something to recommend that everyone here has not already seen.

Godzilla vs Biollante? That's a good one. Hmmmmm. Let me browse through my DVD collection and come up with some suggestions.

Alex, I don't think I have a favorite movie that you haven't seen. I do own Throne of Blood (thanks to you), that I'm pretty sure you haven't seen.

Kurosawa + Mifune + Hamlet with samurai = an epic movie.

So I guess that is my recommendation.

Wow...it's pretty rare for Netflix to not have a movie that is available on DVD, but Godzilla vs Biollante is one of those. They have other Godzilla movies, though, if you have other kaiju suggestions.

Actually...Godzilla Vs Biollante is not availible on DVD in the US. You can track down the VHS copy, but no DVD has been released in Region 1. My copy is actually from like Hong Kong, and is region 3. Windows Media Player just gives you the option of changing your dvd region, so I do that when I want t o watch it.

Gamera 2: Advent of Legion is not only a good Kaiju Movie, but also a fun movie overall. Not campy or over the top, grounded in some pretty good science too for a lot of it.

And Gamera is friend to all children!

I'd like to participate, but I really haven't seen any movies I'd recommend recently. In general, I don't like to watch movies as a rule because it's too much of a commitment for me. I'd rather see series. I like to read books because I get to make up all the special effects, how someone says something, etc. The acting is always perfect when I read books, the scenes, tailored to my specific viewing pleasure, and the characters are of my own casting. Not to say that if I have a movie to recommend I won't put it here, but I think I'm going to start a book club thread!