ABCs at the Movies: The Doubles Round!

[oilgun]

[southendmd]

IMDb:  Broadway director Oscar Jaffe (John Barrymore) is a bigger ham than most actors, but through sheer drive and talent he is able to build a successful career. When one of his discoveries, Lily Garland (Carole Lombard), rises to stardom and heeds the call of Hollywood, Oscar begins a career slide. He hits the skids and seems on his way out, until he chances to meet Lily again, on a train ride aboard the Twentieth Century Limited. Oscar pulls out all the stops to re-sign his former star, but it's a battle... because Lily, who is as temperamental as Oscar is, wants to have nothing to do with her former mentor.

And here is the eponymous train:

[MaineWriter]

from IMDb:

"Yankee Buccaneer" is a variation on the demented Arabian Nights fetish that Universal Pictures seemed to have in the late '40s and early '50s, the difference being that this one doesn't take place in the days of Ali Baba. It's the 1840s, and a U.S. Navy ship is ordered to disguise itself as a merchant vessel and sail to the waters off North Africa to put a stop to pirates preying on American ships. The action scenes are handled well, Jeff Chandler fits the part of the dashing American naval officer, the women are fetching, the cast is full of familiar faces (including Jay Silverheels, who played Tonto in the "Lone Ranger" series), the story doesn't venture past the realm of possibility and it moves along at a good clip. All in all, a neat little B picture--not the best of the lot, but far from the worst.

[oilgun]

aka: Europa   A wonderful early film by Lars von Trier that is still not available of DVD in North America.

IMDb Plot Summary:   An American of German descent arrives in post-war Germany 1945. His uncle gets him a job on the Zentropa train line as a sleeping car conductor. The American's wish is to be neutral to the ongoing purges of loyalists by the Allied forces and do what he can to help a hurting country, but he finds himself being used by both the Americans and the influential family that owns the railroad. After falling in love with the railroad magnate's daughter, he finds that he can't remain neutral and must make some difficult choices.


IMDb Comment:   One of the Greatest Films of All Time
Someone release this movie on DVD so it can take its hallowed place as on of the greatest films of all time in ten to twenty years when critics and film historians look back on the so-called films of the 1990's and see how vapid they were for the most part, and how Lars Von Trier tried to revolutionize and revitalize the international film world with this masterpiece. As it stands, "Zentropa" (or "Europa" as it is referred to outside the US) is one of the most fascinating and artistic views of the bleakness and almost psychotic uncertainty that oozed out of post WWII Europe, namely the decimated German landscape, whose physical horrors were matched only by the damage to the psyche of its people. Von Trier brilliantly paints his vision on screen. You will feel like you are watching some lost espionage noir classic from the late 1940's with the perfectly lighted black and white scenes, while at the same time feel you are on the brink of something beyond the cutting edge, especially in scenes like the assassination aboard the train. Literally, when you see this movie, you are witnessing the evolution of an art form.

For some reason, Von Trier got caught up in his own Dogma movement shortly after this. And while his "Breaking the Waves" and "Dancer in the Dark" are classics in their own right, it is with "Zentropa" that he truly lifted the art of film making to new and exciting heights. 10/10, ages like a fine wine, and begs for a DVD release.

[MaineWriter]

For our next round:

Bad Guys and the Big House

or its corollary, "Crime Doesn't Pay."

Movies that feature bad guys (or gals) engaged in nefarious deeds; they may or may not end up in the big house (prison, jail).
Prison movies are okay, too, since they are (presumably) full of bad guys already.

All the usual rules are in effect.

Have fun!

Leslie
GameMistress

[southendmd]

IMDb:  'Doc' Riedenschneider, legendary crime 'brain' just out of prison, has a brilliant plan for a million-dollar burglary. To pull it off, he recruits safecracker Louis, driver Gus, financial backer Emmerich, and strong-arm man Dix Handley. At first the plan goes like clockwork, but little accidents accumulate and each partner proves to have his own fatal weakness. In the background is a pervasive, grimy urban malaise.

[oilgun]

Synopsis: Maverick Japanese director Takashi Miike calls this juvenile prison drama, an expressionist boys-behind-bars picture by way of Jean Genet, his "masterpiece." Ryuhei Matsuda is a soft, sad gay bartender incarcerated for his brutal killing of a customer who assaulted him, and Masanobu Ando is a Yakuza thug brimming with anger and violence. The two arrive in juvenile detention on the same day and, with nothing in common, their fates become intertwined by longing, mutual dreams of escape to a fantasy world, and a murder within the walls that leaves one dead and the other confessing to the killing. It's a murder mystery of young men in stir and in lust, with surreal scenes on sets of shadow and light and the merest suggestion of detail. Miike resorts to equally unusual choices in his interrogation scenes as outside cops come in to investigate the murder. - by Sean Axmaker, Special to MSN Movies




==COMMENT==
I may be jumping the queue since I played the Z in the last game.   I'm not sure if "the wait two turns" rule applies between game transitions.

[MaineWriter]

from IMDb:

Brazil, 1960's, City of God. The Tender Trio robs motels and gas trucks. Younger kids watch and learn well...too well. 1970's: Li'l Zé has prospered very well and owns the city. He causes violence and fear as he wipes out rival gangs without mercy. His best friend Bené is the only one to keep him on the good side of sanity. Rocket has watched these two gain power for years, and he wants no part of it. Yet he keeps getting swept up in the madness. All he wants to do is take pictures. 1980's: Things are out of control between the last two remaining gangs...will it ever end? Welcome to the City of God.

=aside=

oilgun, your playing was fine. No problem!

[southendmd]

IMDb:  DJ Zack and pimp Jack end up in prison for being too laid-back to avoid being framed for crimes they didn't commit. They end up sharing a cell with eccentric Italian optimist Roberto, whose limited command of the English language is both entertaining and infuriating -but rather more useful to them is the fact that Roberto knows an escape route.

[oilgun]

"Touch my shampoo and conditioner again, and I'll kill you!"