Thursday Movie Picks: Movies Set in a Single Location
1) Buried
The location: A Box, underground. It's terrifyingly claustrophobic and aside from Deadpool it's the best performance Ryan Reynolds has ever given.
2) 12 Angry Men
The location: A conference room. Watching this jury work out whether a men is guilty or not is one of my favorite things to happen in a classic film. I love this movie.
3) Carnage
The location: a house. I almost hate admitting I like Roman Polanski movies, but I liked this one. I think it's largely forgotten too, despite having a wonderful cast and witty dialogue.
Buried and 12 Angry Men are brilliant choices, and you've got me wanting to see Carnage.
ReplyDeleteIt's a different role for Christoph Waltz that I can appreciate more so now that he's continuously type cast.
DeleteI've only seen 12 Angry Men and I loved it. The other two sound interesting though.
ReplyDeleteBuried makes you feel very claustrophobic, but it's good.
Delete12 Angry Men is a great pick, such a well made film with excellent performances from the whole cast.
ReplyDeleteI like most Polanski movies but I didn't enjoy Carnage at all despite the cast.
I've avoided Buried, it's a great pick and I've heard that Reynolds is phenomenal in it but it taps into something I find deeply unnerving so I'll never watch it.
A couple of mine stretch the theme a bit, my first has a short scene elsewhere that leads to the main action and my bonus is just a big pile of strange.
Albino Alligator (1997)-Starting with a trio of bungling thieves running from a robbery gone wrong they quickly take refuge in an underground bar in New Orleans. Suddenly the joint is surrounded by police but who the cops are pursuing is a murky issue. While the standoff endures emotions run high and dangers escalate. Kevin Spacey directed this stylish throwback with outstanding performances from Matt Dillon, Gary Sinise, William Fichtner, Viggo Mortensen and a wonderfully tough Faye Dunaway.
Ten Little Indians (1965)-Ten guests arrive at a remote mountaintop mansion only to discover they don’t know each other nor their missing host. Before too long they start being killed off one by one in the fashion of the poem Ten Little Indians. Can any of them solve the mystery before it’s their turn? Second screen version of Agatha Christie’s “And Then There Were None” updated to the swingin’ sixties with more hep identities for most of the characters, i.e. Fabian as a rock star and the former spinster now a movie star!
Rope (1948)-Two men murder a third, a friend of theirs, just to see what it feels like than throw a party while his body resides in a trunk in the middle of the room. Alfred Hitchcock directed this version of the Loeb/Leopold murder. An interesting experiment, the entire film was shot in sequence in extremely long takes, but very stagy. Good performances by James Stewart as the professor who innocently plants the idea in the men’s minds and Farley Granger & John Dall as the murderous lead pair. For a film released in the 50’s the leads are surprisingly obviously gay though it is never explicitly mentioned.
Oddball Extra:
“Can Heironymus Merkin Ever Forget Mercy Humppe and Find True Happiness?” (1969)-Superstar Heironymus Merkin (Anthony Newley) is filming a movie of his life surrounded by piles of junk and a bed on a ribbon of beach as his mother and children bear witness. While the Greek chorus of devil’s advocate Goodtime Eddie Filth (Milton Berle) and The Presence (Georgie Jessel) battle for his soul Merkin works his way to the top of show biz becoming a drug loving sex addict along the way. Yet he longs for his lost true love, Mercy Humppe (Connie Kreski) despite his marriage to Polyester Poontang (Joan Collins-Newley’s wife at the time, their real life children play their kids in the film-Thaxted and Thumbelina!). Watching the uncompleted footage in a parallel time the producers of this opus scream for him to come up with an ending. Merkin shuffles through his memories to find some value in his life while singing a couple songs and screwing like a rabbit.
Confused? What with a title like that you were expecting coherence? Watching the film won’t clear anything up for you! Newley directed, produced, wrote & composed the music (all badly) for this exercise in vanity which was originally rated X. This one’s a stretch but in the bizarro world in which it exists it fits, even though it seems to take place in multiple locations it all turns out to really happen at different spots on that damn beach!!
lol, that last one is a great title. I've seen Rope a few other places and I have that in my Netflix queue. I'm not sure if Ten Little Indians is the movie version of And Then There Were None that I've seen, I read the book in school and enjoyed it. I know we watched a film of it afterwards. Thanks for sharing!
DeleteWaltz was hysterical in Carnage. Really good movie too, in spite of who directed it
ReplyDeleteExactly lol.
DeleteI've only seen 12 Angry Men. It's just pure greatness. Been hearing a lot about Buried. Think I might get to that sooner, rather than later.
ReplyDeleteIt's very creepy.
Delete12 Angry Men is perfection. I LOVE that gif of Kate in Carnage. I feel like she does the best out of the three that are miscast (everyone but Waltz LOL). I have yet to see Buried but it's been on my list for a while.
ReplyDeleteI actually liked Waltz a lot in this because for once he isn't a huge villain. lol
DeleteI like Carnage, too! Never seen the others, though 12 Angry Men is obviously on my never-ending watchlist :D
ReplyDeleteMake it a Blind Spot! It's worth it.
DeleteI like Carnage a lot, and 12 Angry Men even lotter (that is too a word). Buried I have never seen as I don't want to fuel my nightmares.
ReplyDeleteBuried is definitely a no go if you get claustrophobic.
DeleteI have heard about Buried but I have to be in the right frame of mind to see it. I want to see Carnage because of the stellar cast and the director( not the man who is complicated to say the least and a holacaust survivor also). I love 12 angry men...great film that I can watch over and over again
ReplyDeleteI think Polanski goes beyond "complicated" personally, but he's made some good movies.
DeleteWell I was trying to be" nice" instead of saying he is a perverted a hole who took advantage of a young girl and raped her.....pretty sad really
DeleteThat's the spirit! lmao
DeleteYes, it's incredibly sad, disgusting, pathetic. So many things.
All are great films! Buried's ending disturbed me, that's my go-to scene when the film is mentioned.
ReplyDeleteBuried's entire premise disturbed me.
DeleteI love Carnage as I thought it was hilarious. It was so fun to watch to see Christoph Waltz and John C. Reilly act like dudes while Kate Winslet and Jodie Foster get bitchy at each other. The ending was the best part as the audience I saw it with laughed their asses off.
ReplyDeleteYes! lol. I always think of Reilly's comment "my wife dressed me up as a liberal!"
DeleteBuried reminded me too much of The Vanishing so I skipped this one. Can't wrong with 12 Angry Men.
ReplyDeleteI've never seen The Vanishing, I'll have to look into that one.
DeleteI haven't seen any of these films, but Carnage seems like a cool film! Thanks for the suggestion!
ReplyDeleteThanks for visiting!
DeleteNice picks! 12 Angry Men is such an amazing movie. I don't even remember why I watched Buried because I am claustrophobic. lol Reynolds was good though! Carnage is underrated too, and totally agree about being afraid to mention liking it. Kate gives one of her best performances.
ReplyDeletelol I'm glad I'm not the only one a little ashamed of admitting to watching Polanski. But Carnage and The Pianist are so great.
DeleteI love that you mentioned Phone Booth in your intro. I totally forgot about that movie, but I loved it. I've only seen 12 Angry Men out of your picks. That seems to be today's winner. And I so want to see Carnage. Good job!
ReplyDelete12 Angry Men is a worthy winner of this topic!
Delete