It's a conspiracy....

I must admit that I am riveted by the unfolding Wikileaks saga. I was musing over what I could possibly post about this week, it being a particularly calm week in terms of news (apart from this) and with very little to go and see that I haven’t already seen (I would recommend going to see both Somewhere or Monsters if the cinema seduces you this week), thus my limited imagination falls into crafting another list post given that I wanted to post something a little more robust that mere news grabs or trailer re-posts in a vain attempt to keep the creative juices flowing. With one exception they are all American films, I’ve avoided some of the obvious and another potential inclusion has been excluded as I haven’t seen it, despite reading about its qualities over the years. I thought about chucking this in for a laugh but have only seen it once, I don’t remember it being very good apart from one obvious reason. I’ve also avoided all the Hitchcock’s despite the temptation, and one other central movie of the genre has been redacted as it may just crop up on another imminent post – hold the press. So here are ten tales of sedition, that I quite like for one reason or another, it doesn’t mean I’m paranoid or anything;

JFK - the grand-daddy of all conspiracy movies of the past twenty years, Oliver Stone’s kaleidoscopic opinion of the most controversial assassination of the post war era is a tour de force, regardless of your political affiliations. You can watch the movie and just enjoy that incredible editing, those shifting film stocks and shooting techniques, its autocratic cast and dubious conclusions.

The Parallax View - a Menagerie favourite that I’ve covered before, here however is something a little different, an introduction to the film from Mr. Cox which may pique your interest.

Chinatown – I love John Huston in this, one of the great menacing figures of American cinema, a truly terrifying tyrant.

Kiss Me Deadly - Criminally my only nod toward films made before the Seventies, this has a really harsh and delusive quality, a sense of desperation that its contemporaries couldn’t equal.

No Way Out – This may make you laugh. I watched this again recently, less to revisit a thriller that I liked as a teenager and more to see the work of cinematographer John Alcott unfettered from the demands of a Kubrick film, given that he shot three of his films before his death in 1986. For the record you can see some of the lighting patterns from The Shining with the sets being illuminated from source strips embedded into the construction, I’ll shut up now.

Capricorn One - Yet more Seventies paranoia, that whole Watergate deal really wrecked the national psyche eh?

The Stepford Wives - Allegedly the book and subsequent films popularity was seen as a reaction to the feminist movement, I like it for the unusual blend of SF mystery and social commentary. Avoid the remake at all costs.

The Conversation - Gene Hackman’s finest hour, Walter Murch’s brilliant sound design, Coppola firing on all cylinders. 

Three Days Of The Condor – The ending is hilariously prescient but here’s Max Von Sydow in unrelenting creepy mode.

The Wicker Man – So finally some kudos to the home shores. So where do I stand on many of these conspiracies? Well look here, but I must confess they are fun…