This weekend I was watching random movies, and for some weird reason nearly all of them ended up being of the "evil government/corporate/secret society conspiracy" genre. You know the tropes: some government/corporation/secret society is doing something evil, and then a lone outsider finds out about it and goes to tell the world without getting offed by the conspiracy. Inevitably, someone's car gets run off the road. As an aside, Michael Douglas was in a fuckton of these movies. First, on the recommendation of a coworker, I watched Coma, which I had never seen before. That was followed by catching him in The China Syndrome and The Star Chamber which were airing on cable. I also watched 2012 which is more a disaster movie, but has the evil government conspiracy tropes as background elements (and yes, someone's car gets run off the road). FOCUS: There are so many of these movies. A lot of them are vintage 1960s/1970s, which is so great. Which is your favorite, and why?
I really liked Conspiracy Theory. Mel Gibson was so convincing as a delusional paranoid social cripple.
Correction: there aren't ENOUGH of these movies. Mr. M. Douglas is also the man when it comes to conspiracy movies. Russell Crowe does it reasonably well too: State of Play, The Insider. Also, this. So good.
JFK. Doesn't matter what your theoretical orientation is to the question of the century, I loved just about everything about this movie, and I'm not a big Costner fan.
The original The Manchurian Candidate. Sinatra is always fun to watch and if all you know about Angela Landsbury is Murder, She Wrote and the voice of the teapot in Disney movies her performance as the most evil woman alive is all the more remarkable.
Haven't seen the original yet, but I really enjoyed the remake of The Manchurian Candidate with Denzel Washington. I would recommend The Conversation with Gene Hackman, not really about government conspiracy, but centers more on the premise of paranoia and eavesdropping. One of the best movies that came out of that decade (70's) and one of Francis Ford Coppola's most underrated films.
Co-sign. The direction by Coppola in this is, at least IMHO, his best. Great simple premise, but the art of film making on full display here.
One of the best movies of the entire wonderful decade of the 1970's. Brilliant, claustrophobic and sweat-inducing. Hackman's performance is incredibly controlled, and Harrison Ford is at his creepy best. See this movie. For a slightly far-fetched but exciting thriller, check out Black Sunday. The Superbowl climax is still pretty impressive given it's over 30 years old, and Mr. Reliable himself Bruce Dern at his unhinged best.
I'm a big fan of Enemy of the State with Will Smith. I'm sure the government can pull better satillite photos and tracking than that but even that is kind of creepy.
Gene Hackman was pretty much playing the same character from The Conversation in this, even if they didn't come out and say it. His whole set-up/base was identical, and they even used a still shot of him from The Conversation in one scene.
ALT FOCUS: Books. 1984 by George Orwell. I was assigned this book to read in the 8th grade and never read it, then decided to read it on my own after a college professor mentioned it in passing about 6 years ago. Never have I seen paranoia described as well as it was in this book. Damn near everyone was out to get Winston, and he paid the ultimate price (a price worse than death, in my opinion) for wanting more and not trusting "Big Brother." Hell, that book is where the term "Big Brother" comes from! I have never bothered to watch the movie. Is it good?
Haven't seen the original yet, but I really enjoyed the remake of The Manchurian Candidate with Denzel Washington. I would recommend The Conversation with Gene Hackman, not really about government conspiracy, but centers more on the premise of paranoia and eavesdropping. One of the best movies that came out of that decade (70's) and one of Francis Ford Coppola's most underrated films.[/quote] Angry KIMaster rant in 3...2...1[/quote] Its not foreign...
Doesn't quite live up to the book, but I liked it. John Hurt as Smith and Richard Burton as O'Brien are awesome.
A Scanner Darkly - Philip K. Dick Book or movie, because the movie was spot on to the book, aside from some extraneous details. It's about an undercover cop out to bust drug users/dealers, but he's using the drug himself. So not only is he under the threat of being busted by his quarry (who are so laughably incompetent that they couldn't do anything to him anyway; they do suspect him.), but from his supervisors, who are constantly testing him for the drug he is taking! And who is ultimately responsible for this evil drug, known as "Substance D?" Could it possibly be the same government that is trying to stamp it out? What's going on here? Watch the movie and see Robert Downey Jr. acting normal (at least "normal" circa the late '90s when he was still on drugs), as well as Woody Harrelson and some others in painted-over animation. This movie narrowly missed out the "Best animated feature" academy award in 2006.