Last week, Icrontic kicked off its new “theme of the week” series by asking our readers to highlight the movies that blew their mind. We had an overwhelming number of responses for the theme, as commenters turned out in droves to speak about the films that astonished, intrigued, moved and amused them. Their chosen movies covered the complete spectrum of topics and genres, which reflected the varied interests of Icrontic’s sensational community.
Icrontic’s love for clever humor was certainly on show for this week’s community picks (see page two). No Nicholas Sparks movies or the average romcom tipped up in the feedback, nor were any “stupid” comedies like The Hangover or Dude, Where’s my Car? But when it came time to pick the movies that Icrontians love the most, the ones they chose took a turn for the artistic and cerebral.
The most-nominated movies
The Shawshank Redemption
Year Released: 1994
Directed by: Frank Darabont
Based on: Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption by Stephen King
Awards: Nominated for the following Academy Awards: Best Picture, Best Actor-Morgan Freeman, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Cinematography, Best Editing, Best Original Score, Best Sound Mixing
Major Cast: Tim Robbins, Morgan Freeman, Bob Gunton, William Sadler, Clancy Brown, Gil Bellows, Mark Rolston, James Whitmore
The Shawshank Redemption follows the stories of two different men, Andrew “Andy” Dufresne, played by Tim Robbins, and Ellis Boyd “Red” Redding, played by Morgan Freeman. Both of them are serving life sentences for different crimes, with little possibility of parole. The movie follows their lives at the prison and the different illegal activities that go on there, and the friendship that develops between the two men.
Cliff Forster said that The Shawshank Redemption was a film that “never grows old” on him, no matter how many times he watches it. Pigflipper agreed, saying he “can never see that movie too many times.” For Icrontic’s community, The Shawshank Redemption appears to be a movie that bears repeated viewings.
Dark City
Year Released: 1998
Directed by: Alex Proyas
Based on: Original Script written by Alex Proyas, Lem Dobbs, David S. Goyer
Awards: Bram Stoker award for best Screenplay, Saturn Award for best Science Fiction Film, Film Critics of Australia award for best screenplay
Major Cast: Kiefer Sutherland, Jennifer Connelly, William Hurt, Rufus Sewell, Richard O’Brien
Dark City follows the life of John Murdoch, played by Rufus Sewell, who awakens in a hotel bathtub suffering from amnesia. Shortly thereafter, he receives a phone call from a Dr. Daniel Schruber, played by Kiefer Sutherland, who tells him that a group called “The Strangers” is after him. Murdoch also finds a brutally-murdered woman in the hotel room with him.
John escapes from the hotel, and discovers that a series of murders of which he has no memory are being blamed on him, and that both he and the Strangers possess psychokinetic powers.
Icrontic members recommend finding the Roger Ebert commentary on this movie, which is apparently one of the few he’s ever done.
CB commented: “The quality acting, the skillful presentation of what were actually rather simple visual effects, and the tight plot-line with great verisimilitude all make this one of the greatest sci-fi movies ever,” and that he actually uses it in his classes to teach story telling.
AlexdeGruven said: “Dark City is a phenomenally underrated film, and I would hazard a guess that 80% of people I could poll randomly in the next 5 minutes have probably never even heard of it.”
The Incredibles
Year Released: 2004
Directed by: Brad Bird
Based on: Original script by Brad Bird
Awards: Academy Award for Best Animated Feature and Best Achievement in Sound Editing
Major Cast: Craig T. Nelson, Holly Hunter, Sarah Vowell, Spencer Fox, Samuel L. Jackson, Jason Lee
One of the few “kid” movies on our list–along with Beauty and the Beast, Wall-E and The Goonies–The Incredibles is a recent animated film surrounding the lives of a retired superhero family. Bob Parr, the former Mr. Incredible, played by Craig T. Nelson is frustrated in his witness protection program life as an insurance salesman, and secretly sneaks off to fight crime in the night. When he gets too wrapped up working for a mysterious woman named Mirage, his wife Helen (Elastigirl) and their two super powered kids also get involved.
UPSLynx waxed nostalgic over this film, saying, “This was the film that finally made me decide to pursue animation and computer graphics. A story told that was so compelling and relational, a masterpiece for the animation medium. It has everything – action, romance, emotion, tension, good message… Pixar really showed the world what they could do with that film.” Butters succinctly agreed, saying, “The Incredibles was incredible.”
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street
Year Released: 2007
Directed by: Tim Burton
Based on: Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler’s musical Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street and the 1936 movie of the same name.
Awards: Golden Globe Awards for Best Actor in a Comedy or Musical, Johnny Depp, and Best Motion Picture, Comedy or Musical. It also won an Academy Award for Best Achievement in Art Direction.
Major Cast: Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Alan Rickman, Jamie Campbell Bower, Sasha Baren Cohen, Jayne Wisener
Sweeney Todd follows the life of Sweeney Todd, a barber that is wrongfully accused and imprisoned by a corrupt judge. When he emerges, he finds that the judge once violated his wife (now deceased) and has taken to raising Todd’s daughter. Todd vows revenge and goes on a throat-cutting spree with his partner in crime, Mrs. Lovett (played by Helena Bonham Carter), disposing of the bodies by putting them into pies.
Butters said that, “Sweeney Todd is memorable. Nothing is better than watching someone get beheaded to a musical.”
Chip Dapper, ChrisWhite and UPSLynx agreed that it was an excellent film, though Cliff_Forster was slightly more reserved, saying, “With that film, I could not decide what was supposed to be funny. I laughed most of the time, but I could not decide: Was it an attempt at dark humor, or, was it just so bad that it was unintentionally funny?” Perhaps some of the members that enjoyed the movie can enlighten Cliff as to the truth.
Children of Men
Year Released: 2006
Directed by: Alfonso Cuaron
Based on: P.D. James’ novel, “Children of Men.”
Awards: Nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Film Editing, and Best Cinematography at the Academy Awards, Won Best Cinematography and Best Production Design at the British Academy Awards.
Major Cast: Clive Owen, Julianne Moore, Michael Caine, Claire-Hope Ashitey, Chiwetel Ejiofor
Children of Men revolves around the perspective of Theo, played by Clive Owen, a bureaucrat living in a world where no one has been born in 18 years. Most of the world’s governments have collapsed save Theo’s Britain, which maintains control as a fascist police state.
Theo is contacted by his former wife, Julian Taylor, played by Julianne Moore. Julian needs Theo to obtain a passport for a young woman named Kee, as she is trying to smuggle Kee out of the country to a group known as The Human Project, which is trying to combat the infertility problem. Kee is nine months pregnant, and Julian fears that her existence will be quashed by the British government if she isn’t whisked out of the country.
Butters, UPSLynx, Kwitko and ChrisWhite all agreed that it was a fantastic movie. Roger Ebert said in his review that, “Cuaron fulfills the promise of futuristic fiction; characters do not wear strange costumes or visit the moon, and the cities are not plastic hallucinations, but look just like today, except tired and shabby. Here is certainly a world ending not with a bang but a whimper, and the film serves as a cautionary warning.”
The Usual Suspects
Year Released: 1995
Directed by: Bryan Singer
Based on: Original Script by Christopher McQuarrie
Awards: Won Academy Awards for Best Original Screenplay, Best Actor, Kevin Spacey, British Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay, Independent Spirit Awards for Best Original Screenplay and Best Supporting actor, Benicio Del Toro
Major Cast: Kevin Spacey, Benicio Del Toro, Gabriel Byrne, Stephen Baldwin, Chazz Palminteri, Kevin Pollack
The Usual Suspects begins with FBI agent Jack Bauer and US Customs Special Agent Dave Kujan investigating a boat fire. The only two survivors appear to be Roger “Verbal” Kint, played by Kevin Spacey, and a Hungarian, who claims that Keyser Soze, a mythical Turkish criminal, was responsible for the fire. The movie follows the convoluted investigation and the many criminals uncovered in the process.
Kwitko loved The Unusual Suspects because its ending “had as many twists and turns as a silly straw.” Kryyst agreed with this statement, noting, “The Usual Suspects was one of the best huge twist ending movies ever done. It set a bar that many imitators have tried to live up to but failed miserably. It’s also not one that grows tiring even once you know the twist.” Perhaps M. Night Shyamalan should watch this film to see what a twist ending should really be like.
Genres of the films
- 60% of the movies nominated fell under the category of “drama” (According to IMDB). By far the most popular genre, it appears that Icrontic’s members definitely avoid the lighter fares when it comes to the theaters.
- 43% of the films fell under the thriller genre. Never ones to sit idly by, Icrontians grip their seats in excitement when viewing their movies.
- 25% of the movies fell under the adventure category. Going along with the thriller theme, members seem to like their stories fast-paced, and action-packed
- 22% of the movies were about crime and/or mystery, with 20% belonging to sci-fi, action and comedy.
- Surprisingly, only 4% of the movies fell under the history genre, proving that not all nerds are History Channel buffs.
- Unsurprisingly, only 3% of the nominated movies were musicals, though Sweeney Todd was one of the most-mentioned films.
- 9% of the films were animated, and they were all probably submitted by UPSLynx.
No matter which of the movies amongst the nominees our readers happen to like, it appears that Icrontic members favor dramatic, thrilling movies that make the reader think, rather than be mindlessly entertained. Many thanks to all of those who contributed to this week’s project, and preemptive thanks to those who comment on next week’s!
For a full list of movies nominated by the Icrontic community, flip to page two.
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