Best film noire-ish film since 1970?

[jobycom]

Just saw "Brick," and the main character struck me as Philip Marlowe reincarnated. Great movie, btw. What other film noir sort of films in somewhat modern times have been done well? Doesn't have to have shimmery streets and shadows falling across faces in dark alleys (Brick doesn't).

A couple more that come to mind without straining much:

Blood Simple (Cohen Brothers)
Bladerunner (Sci-fi)
The Dark City (also Sci-fi)

[billyskank]

1. The Terminator.

[MrScorpio]

2. Chinatown

[jobycom]

4. Duh.

How that wasn't on the top of my head I don't know. :)

[Starbucks Anarchist]

12. My pick as well.

"The future, Mr. Gittes. The future." :thumbsup:

[Crap_in_a_Hat]

22. Am I the only one who feels uncomfortable

With Polanski's ruthless, irredeemable arch-villain being, um, a statutory rapist? Of course, they both went unpunished, save having to be in a Chris Tucker vehicle. "Chinatown" is beyond amazing, though; most deliberately depressing finale since the actual noir age, I'd say.

[Starbucks Anarchist]

23. One of the best endings ever, I think.

I do know that Robert Towne (the screenwriter) had serious problems with his own father, so he decided to exaggerate Noah Cross and make him a statutory rapist.

But yeah, I can see being uncomfortable with it.

[Crap_in_a_Hat]

27. Oh, I meant Polanski himself being a convicted statutory rapist

But Cross embracing his grand/daughter in that last shot of him was just plain grotesque (intentionally).

[Starbucks Anarchist]

28. D'oh, I misread your post.

Love the screenname, BTW. :rofl: :toast:

[Felix Mala]

59. Wasn't it a pretty clear-cut case of entrapment?

Didn't the girl lie about her age?

[Crap_in_a_Hat]

64. It's not necessarily a direct parallel

Just oddly prophetic, from a certain viewpoint.

[Lionel Mandrake]

42. IMHO the best neo-noir

and Jack Nicholson's best role. The director was really tough on him, slicing up his nose like that.

[triguy46]

3. Body Heat. Pretty damn noir-ish in my book.

Steamy, hot sex, murder, mis-deeds, double cross, odd characters.

[jobycom]

5. Femme fatales--a staple, almost a requirement, of the genre.

[triguy46]

9. Yep, and Turner gives the performance of her career.

[MrScorpio]

10. One of my all time faves

I'm surprised that I don't have the DVD

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

31. I love that movie!

[ghostsofgiants]

6. Brick is excellent.

Lost Highway and The Man Who Wasn't There both come to mind as well.

[BlueIris]

24. OMG, "Brick" was AWESOME.

"...I'll see you at the parent conference."

[ghostsofgiants]

7. Also: Noir-ish, post-1950s = Neo-noir.

[Starbucks Anarchist]

11. Actually, I think they stopped at 1958 for "classic noir."

Touch of Evil was the last great one of that era.

[ghostsofgiants]

14. Yeah, it was '58 but meh, close enough to the end of the '50s for me to say "the '50s" haha.

[Starbucks Anarchist]

15. It's that damn metric system you guys have.

:P

[ohiosmith]

8. Sin City

[derby378]

17. I second that

Damn good performances and some tasty noir, too.

[Taverner]

19. I third that

"Pulp Fiction" is noir-ish, but there is a human element to that movie that kind of excludes it from true noir.

[LynneSin]

13. The Last Seduction

The producers screwed that one up by showing it on HBO before it was released in the movie theaters. It should have been covered with Oscars it was so damn good

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0110308/

Linda Fiorentino was amazing as the New York gal stuck in smalltown USA trying to find a way to scam her soon-to-be-ex out of their illgotten gains so she could return to NYC

Bill Pullman was a great addition as that soon-to-be-ex who wanted to get the money back before the loan sharks killed him

Peter Berg was great as the dim-witted but adorably sexy small town guy who just wanted to be love by Linda Fiortentino's character. Of course he had a very dark secret of his own.


Great supporting cast with JT Walsh and Bill Nunn (who is a very underrated actor)

[ghostsofgiants]

16. Oh yeah, I almost forgot: Butch Patterson, Private Dick

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z7k5YjfbcLQ

[Rob H.]

18. "Brick" was the first one that came to mind

I watched it with the director's commentary (yes, I know I'm a dork) and he said that Dashiell Hammett was a big influence in terms of both the story and dialog. I'm a huge Dashiell Hammett fan, so naturally I loved it. :)

[GOPisEvil]

20. Devil In A Blue Dress

From the Walter E. Moseley book of the same name.

[BlueIris]

25. Yeah, that one is painfully under-rated.

Not a bad film at all.

[Crap_in_a_Hat]

34. 'Jaknow Denzel Washington turned down the Morgan Freeman role in "Se7en" to do that?

I honestly can't see him doing it; I'm sure he had the range, but he really doesn't look much older than Brad Pitt (definitely didn't at the time).

[Richardo]

37. That was a great flick

:thumbsup:

[Crap_in_a_Hat]

21. This isn't really a noir, but

"The Departed" has a lot of the same elements, i.e. the subterfuge so thick none of the characters ever know precisely what's going on. And we can't mention "Blood Simple" without a tip of the hat to "Miller's Crossing".

[BlueIris]

26. Does "L.A. Confidential"...sort of count?

Not really? Kinda?

[bridgit]

30. yep, it counts...

good flick too :)

[Crap_in_a_Hat]

33. "She is Lana Turner"

I recount that scene to anyone I'm recommending the film to.

[argyl]

52. That was a helluva scene. It wasn't in the book,BTW. n/t

[Lionel Mandrake]

40. That would be number two on my list,

number one being Chinatown, of course.

[NewJeffCT]

61. excellent movie

Wasn't that Russell Crowe's big break, too?

[bridgit]

29. Inside Man...

http://www.insideman.net/index.php

[sarge43]

32. Blood Simple or The Last Seduction n/t

[mitchum]

35. "Taxi Driver"...all the rest are, at best, neo-noir

[jobycom]

46. No explanation on that?

:shrug:

[mitchum]

47. "Taxi Driver" certainly draws on noirish elements...

or in the words of Pauline Kael, "It's like tabloid Dostoevsky", but it avoided so many of the noirish cliches used by some many others- "the heist", the Cainish femme fatale who sets up some poor sap, the raincoat and fedora (who in the hell still dresses like that?), etc...
Everyone else just keeps remaking "Double Indemnity", "The Killing" or "The Big Sleep"

[idgiehkt]

36. what about Gattaca?

that is the first thing that came to mind. I really liked it.

[Yavin4]

38. The Usual Suspects, Seven, L.A. Confidential

Momento.

I will think of others.

[hyphenate]

39. My choice is a film from 1992

with Joe Pesci called "The Public Eye." It's about a photographer in the 1940s who takes pictures of crime scenes for sales to newspapers.

Excellent film--I would recommend it to everyone. Pesci just fits the part perfectly.

http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0105187/

[SeattleGirl]

41. Ooooh, that's a good film!

:thumbsup:

[Monkey see Monkey Do]

43. Red Rock West

http://us.imdb.com/title/tt0105226/

[MissMillie]

44. The Hunt for Red October

submarine sets

[jobycom]

45. film rouge?

:rofl:

[SoxFan]

48. Who Framed Roger Rabbit

Yes, really. It's clearly both a loving tribute and a send-up of the classic private eye pics.

[LanternWaste]

49. Dark City and Sin City.

Dark City and Sin City.

Dark City is wonderful on so many levels (I plug that film whenever the opportunity presents itself...)

[jobycom]

50. Hmm.

Even though I named Dark City, I thought it was a bare cut above a cheap sci-fi film. Neat premise, though it's been done often (Matrix, Truman Show, countless novels).

I didn't like Sin City. It was too superficial, the violence too stylized and purposeless. It was trying to imitate film noire more than be film noire.

Just my opinions. Not held by many, judging from the popularity of both films. :)

[Xipe Totec]

55. I love both films

but I wouldn't classify Dark City as film noir.

Sin City, on the other hand...

[LanternWaste]

58. I consider it film-noir due it's use of...

I consider it film-noir due it's off-use of back lighting, shadow an a primary element, light/dark contract, low angle shots and the bleak, grim, almost grainy images.

[onager]

51. The Grifters

Directed by Stephen Frears, from a Jim Thompson novel.

Trying to think of some others...

[geniph]

53. Um, hello? LA Confidential, all the way.

[Xipe Totec]

54. The Man Who Wasn't There

[begin_within]

63. That is a GREAT film - the Coen brothers' best, in my opinion.

"The Man Who Wasn't There" far outclasses Fargo, Big Lebowski, O Brother, etc. If only the Coen brothers would spend more time in that mindset, they could produce another great one like "The Man Who Wasn't There" and less student/amateur crap like Fargo, Lebowski, etc. "The Man Who Wasn't There" is the Coen bros. film that people will be watching 50 years from now, not the others.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

56. I started a thread but nobody came.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=105&topic_id=6766731

[Xipe Totec]

57. If you want replies, you need to ask questions

especially ask other people's opinions.

Eveybody responds to that.




That's just my opinion...

[Felix Mala]

60. Cape Fear - Scorsese version

[dasmarian]

62. Jeez - Can't believe no one said

Blade Runner