Hard to Understand Movies About the Future

• New Rose Hotel Tri-lingual credits hold out great hopes for this well cast tale of international corporate espionage. Christopher Walken is an old hand at the game training Willem Defoe to pry a Japanese biochemist away from his employer. They hire Asia Argento to seduce Maas away from his icy Nordic wife. Very high tech,, spastic film style that leaves huge gaps for the viewer to fill in. If you wait, however, the entire film gets regurgitated in flashbacks so you get to see it all twice. All style, little substance your basic 45 minute movie in an hour and a half. Rated R 1999  90 minutes
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• Memento Leonard has lost his short term memory. He compensates with Polaroid photos, lots of notes and tattooing the important stuff on hi chest and limbs. He can remember his wife and he recalls that someone named Sammy Jenks has killed her. By accumulating clues, he hopes to avenge her death. Not any easy task, when the clues dissolve before you can write them down. Natalie is trying to help him, or is she just setting him up to avenge her boyfriend's murder. There's a lot of questions here and a random time frame feeds you the answers in a disorderly sequence. If you pay close attention you may be able to solve Leonard's riddle. Directed by Christopher Nolan  adapted from the book "Memento Mori" 2000 DVD  Thanks to Jeff Giddens who insisted we bring this film to your attention.
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• 12 Monkeys All right, maybe you understood this one the first time you saw it, but most of us watched it at least twice. Brad Pitt plays an excellent wacko and you can view this one just for the prison scene which shows what Terry Gilliam can do with a decent budget. Bruce Willis turns up the volume on his Pulp Fiction persona for his role as Cole the time traveling prisoner.

• La Jetée This 1962 short film by Chris Marker provided the story for 12 Monkeys. Using black and white stills with a French voice over montage into this science fiction story. It tells the tale of a time traveler who returns to Orly airport to try and reverse the effects of an earlier catastrophe. 43 Minutes, French w/subtitles, Unrated 1962
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• Lulu on the Bridge Harvey Keitel is the jazz saxophonist Izzy Maurer who gets shot in the lung and can no longer play so now he wanders around. Paul Auster wrote and directed this confusing mystery/thriller/science fiction tale about a mysterious rock that Izzy finds in a dead man's briefcase. He calls a phone number that was also in the brief case and Celia Burns (Mira Sorvino) turns up. The two of them groove together as the stone glows blue and floats in midair. Willem Dafoe , Mandy Patamkin and Vanessa Redgrave are three more reasons to take this off the shelf, but don't be fooled, sometimes even surplus talent cannot save a mediocre film. Maybe DAVID Lynch got his inspiration for Mullholland Drive from here. Rated PG13 103 minutes 1998 
• Dark City Did someone say "Film Noir" ? If your curious about just how dark you can make a film and still have a visible image ( but not necessarily an intelligible story) check this out. The plot is the standard failing alien civilization wants to conquer earth scenario. Unlike Mars Attacks, these Nosferatu lookalikes use memory control as their tool. Keiffer Sutherland overacts his role as the complicit limping Dr. Schreber but the rest of the cast are OK. This is a niche movie which you'll enjoy if you liked Spawn or The Crow. 1997 Rated R 98 minutes

• The City of Lost Children Directed by the team of Jeanette/Caro you can't help but think of Brazil as you watch this thing. Very funny mad scientist story about a family of clones that kidnap children so they can record their dreams for one of their members. Wild sets and courageous children who fight off the freaks with the aid of a circus giant. Also check out Delicatessen by the same guys. 1995 120 min rated R subtitled/French

• Delicatessen A post apocalypse French film that is very reminiscent of Brazil. See Cannibalism for more info

• Brazil  Michael Palin, Jonathan Pryce, Katherine Hellmond and Robert DeNiro are the major names in this futuristic Terry Gilliam epic. Poor Mr.Buttle has been expunged by the master computer. They take him away and he ceases to exist. Pryce is Sam who is promoted to the Ministry of Information through his mother's social machinations. He encounters Jill who is trying to find out what became of Buttle. She is literally the woman of his dreams and he falls for her and her cause. It seems Sam's friend and coworker,  Michael Palin as Jack, had accidentally killed Buttle while interrogating him.  Bob Hoskins and Robert DeNiro have great parts as plumbers. You might want to buy this one, because you will have to rent it five or six times to get a handle on the story. The full 142 minute version is now available in a boxed DVD set versus the standard 131 minute US 1985 release. The extra footage actually adds a lot to the story. Rated R

• Until the End of the World Directed by Wim Wenders, of course it is hard to understand. William Hurt stars in this fast paced debacle that has something for everyone and not much of anything. Great soundtrack and Solveig Dommartin has enough of a French accent to hold my interest. Max von Sidow and Sam Neal play the wise elders.

• Wicked City A Hong Kong futuristic thriller along the lines of Blade Runner. You have a great video store if they stock this one. You might get the idea that Men in Black borrowed a little too heavily from this one. Attractive monsters interbreed with humans to create misunderstood hybrids, while a special squad of police elite hunt down and destroy the more malignant clan members. Why were the women all naked and the men in clothes ? The film is in Cantonese with strange subtitles.

• The Fifth Element By the time you read this, this movie should be out on video. Bruce Willis is beginning to dominate this genre, but he can't outdo his Yugoslavian co star in this bizarre story. Futuristic Dick Tracy type sets are excellent and don't detract from the well written sci fi story. Nice taxicab scenes.

Honorable mentions to:

• Blade Runner Harrison Ford before he became Jack Ryan is quite good in this aging sci fi movie. I only mention it because it's been spiffed up and re released on DVD.
• A Clockwork Orange An honorable mention to this Kubrick adaptation of the Anthony Burgess novel about futurepunks. Malcolm (not Roddy) McDowell is at his best and scariest in this one. Watch it again and see if it still makes you unsettled . 137Minutes Rated R 1971.
• Zardoz  Did you actually see this film when it came out? Bet you don't remember it? Well, it is the 23rd century and Zardoz is a giant stone head that floats down from heaven and spits out guns. He beseeches his followers to go out and kill. Sean Connery is Zed, one of the brutal Zardoz devotees. Dressed in a red speedo and double bandoliers, Zed sneaks into the head and flies back to Vortex 4 where the cognoscenti live. These immortals farm, trade and live the civilized life. Zed is treated as a primitive slave and studied for his sexual prowess. There are lots of swirly 70's scenes and just too much silly camera work by today's standards. Sean probably forgot he was in this one. Too freaking weird, what was director John Boorman thinking when he made this? Charlotte Rumpling is the immortal love interest. Oh yeah, Zardoz got his name from the Wizard of Oz.   . We've been told it makes more/some sense if you view it under larges doses of halucinogens. Can anyone verify that? 1974 Rated R 104 minutes
• Tank Girl An adaptation of the comic book starring Lori Petty and Malcolm McDowell not to mention Ice T. Malcolm controls all the water and Tank Girl gets some with the help of mutant kangaroos known as Rippers. Who says you can't make a good movie from a comic book. 1995 Rated R 104 minutes

This is a pretty large category and we're looking forward to your suggestion. Do not recommend any Arnold films, please. Send In your suggestions for this page

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