More Movies Like Ronin & The Good Thief, Please

thomas crown remake i guess?

these tend to work more in theory than in practice.

no shit? :D

lurkers that will mention The Usual Suspects = DO NOT WANT

crime, not espionage. awesome as I recall. Saw it like 8 years ago tho

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51QDADHPAYL._SL500_AA280_.jpg

Dirty Pretty Things?

this thread is very relevant to my interests

Touchez Pas au Grisbi

Any yeah or nay on Tailor of Panama?

Dirty Pretty Things kinda works (& I liked it!), but it doesn't have enough gunplay / coffee cup usage for my liking.

Army of Shadows, Le Cercle Rouge, Le Samourai?

ya those for sure

if you like the good thief you should really see bob le flambeur.

thanking you all for this thread

ohgod now i'm doing the thing i always do, which is remembering half of what a movie is about but having a totally clear image of it that prob makes sense to no one but me and def doesn't make sense to imdb
yknow, the one with that guy and there's a thing that he has to do and etc agh own worst enemy

yknow, lucky number slevin was actually better than i thought it'd be

(but it is not the movie i am trying to remember)

oh i know! it's another pierce brosnan movie - the matador

i guess these are sorta espionage etc?

man le cercle rouge was mad boring imo

le samourai is a fave tho

Hoos is deeply incorrect about Le Cercle Rouge. But I forgive him.

For a 'hood crime' version of this shit, get with "Fresh"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fresh_%28film%29

love for the good thief is one of the really weird things abt ilx - the selfconsciously boozy tone the retarded impossible ending undercutting the whole setup the nolte laying on the charm - awful!

ronin of course is a sinewy beast bearing no resemblance to that goopy mess.

I don't care for Ronin, but The Tailor of Panama has Pierce Brosnan and Geoffrey Rush giving their best performrances.

spartan is really close to ronin in tone and theme and is so awesome - if you love ronin might as well see all the mamet heisty movies

also: eastern promises, sexy beast, departed, harsh times, vengeance trilogy, jackie brown, bournes, dancer upstairs, cop land, ghost dog, brother, body double

obv ive gone a little far afield but i love this taught clever twisty shit

love for the good thief is one of the really weird things abt ilx

Never knew there was an ILX groundswell for TGT?!?

BTW, found a copy of the Ronin script before Mamet got his hands on it -- thank god Mamet god his hands on it!

yah ive heard lots people gush abt the good thief here and i dont think ive ever heard anyone even mention it anywhere else

I'll Sleep when I'm Dead is the one you want. Maybe The Limey.

love for the good thief is one of the really weird things abt ilx - the selfconsciously boozy tone the retarded impossible ending undercutting the whole setup the nolte laying on the charm - awful!

ronin of course is a sinewy beast bearing no resemblance to that goopy mess.

-- jhøshea, Monday, June 23, 2008 11:31 AM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Link

pretty much agree but still the girl's voice in good thief = yow

almost makes up for everything else. anyway dave see bob le flambeur.

What about the Infernal Affairs trilogy, or maybe the first two at least?

Maybe some Johnny To? (Triad Election, Breaking News)

...or any of those mental Takeshi Miike yakuza films. Morally opaque for sure.

yes!

the election movies are awes.

xp

i wouldn't put them in this category but youshould see them anyway.

I'm a Melville freak and I'll champion The Good Thief as one of the best remakes ever. My fave Neil Jordan pic by a mile.

And Ronin is an overrated snooze

you're an overrated snooze.

Nice to see Tailor of Panama getting some love. I would like to recommend The Constant Gardener as another great post-Cold War le Carre flick.

I liked the Good Shepherd, though I have yet to meet anyone else who did.

oh ya nd USUAL SUSPSECTSS

Breach should have been much better, but it had some good points.

Chris Cooper is nearly always good for a squirrelly, amoral type.

Speaking of The Good Shepherd -- anyone see The Company miniseries on TNT (starring Michael Keaton & Alfred Molina &, um, Chris O'Donnell)?

Breach was pretty great u nutz.

Breach should have been much better, but it had some good points.

-- Oilyrags, Monday, June 23, 2008 5:05 PM (3 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

this

ryan philippe's character was awful... cooper totes blew him off the screen

OK I'll buy that.

philippe is maybe the worst actor in the world

i saw this strange movie called 'the assignment' years ago. aidan quinn, ben kingsley, donald sutherland. it's an espionage/action film, set in europe! quinn's some dude who gets randomly recruited for an "assignment" because he's a dead ringer for a wanted terrorist.

Da Croupier.

(xp)

So is Billy Ray's next flick going to star Lucas Black or Channing Tatum?

Sean Faris

philippe is maybe the worst actor in the world

-- jhøshea, Monday, June 23, 2008 5:11 PM (7 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

luv him in gosford park

'face' is another pretty good crime thriller about london crooks. it's kind of like 'heat' or 'sexy beast', it stars robert carlyle and ray winstone, it's nothing special but probably right in line with what you're seeking.

you're an overrated snooze.

-- s1ocki, Monday, June 23, 2008 4:58 PM (19 minutes ago) Bookmark Link

Slocki, why you must hurt?

Payback was alright - I've only seen it once, and that may have been the re-cut. Mel has irked me for a while, and its started to bleed into his earlier films that I really enjoyed. Still, the neo-noir crime thriller wave has turned out some good films.

I tend to like the ones that center on the human interactions instead of the gun play/ car chases, but the gun play/ car chases have their own, awesome place.

This thread has caused me to add about 8 movies to the Netflix queue. Well done, folks.

Re-cut Payback is no better or worse than the 'funny' version. It doesn't get hard-boiled enough to really separate itself.

Getting Bob Le Flambeur tomorrow (w/ Saw IV)!!!!

Saw Spartan a few weeks ago, & was underwhelmed -- the story was OK, but Val Kilmer seemed to spend the entire movie wrestling w/ Mamet's dialogue, and every time he mishit a "huh" I died a little inside. Catching Heist again after that didn't help -- Gene Hackman A++++++.

Vaguely tempted to start a "actors that do David Mamet justice" thread, actually.

Just saw Charley Varrick this weekend, great little Don Siegel directed Walter Matthau vehicle from the 70s (w/ Joe Don Baker and Norman Fell.) It's better than any of these crap David Mamet movies that you are watching.

That sounded mean, but Spartan is really terrible.

Alex, most of your film opinions of late have been of the "WTF are you watching this shit for?" variety; why should that change? ;)

Also, I like how you give me shit for crit-bitch Mamet, but not for SAW IV.

Best thing on the Spartan DVD is the commentary from Kilmer, which he spends basically snapping on Mamet the whole time.

"David didn't write this scene, it's by his 11 year old daughter..."

Haha have they been? I seem to recall recommending quite a few movies on the best of '00s list, but I am pretty down on a fair amount I guess.

And I would never give anyone shit for watching SAW IV. I understand the desire to watch crap horror.

Not sure if this falls under the thread's purview, but since he's been mentioned, anyone have any thoughts on the LeCarre film / TV adaptations that haven't already been discus'd? Tempted to add the Alec Guiness Tinker, Tailor BBC TV mini to my Netflix queue...

They are great.

ya the tinker tailor is BRILLIANT. amazing amazing series.

^^^

smiley's people is actually really good too, if not quite as perfect as tinker tailor.

how old was Guinness when it was made?

None of them is as good as the Spy Who Came In From The Cold which if you have not seen then RENT NOW btw.

Old.

the spy who came in from the old?

tinker, tailor was '79 but he looks way older than in star wars. the beard and robes must have helped.

spy who came in from the cold is awesome, and pretty much word for word from the book.

It's about the only time Richard Burton's gloomy-gus routine worked for a whole movie.

i watched SWCiftC earlier this year when i was the sickest i'd ever been, from about 4 am - 6 am. totally quiet outside, richard burton attempting to cross the wall right when the sun was coming up.

EDGE OF DARKNESS

FINALLY saw Bob Le Flambeur last night, but probably shouldn't have -- wasn't really prepared for the "old school" film flavor (the mannered acting, the blandly handsome / pretty faces, and that pantomimed gunfight @ the end), and it kept on kicking me out of the flick. Tho I did like lots of it here and there -- Bob's walkthrough of the plan on the grass, his ridiculous winning streak @ the casino (wtf were they playing?!?), the rapport between Bob & his cop buddy. Gonna have to watch it again when I'm in a more receptive mood.

I just ordered "A Perfect Spy" (miniseries) and am really looking forward to it.

Speaking of The Good Shepherd -- anyone see The Company miniseries on TNT (starring Michael Keaton & Alfred Molina &, um, Chris O'Donnell)?

I watched it. First episode and first half of EP2 is OK but it rapidly runs out of gas. I'd skip it unless you're a completist.

The Bank Job is a must see though.

The Bank Job = recent low-profile Statham / Burrows heisty flick, right?

The Bank Job = recent low-profile Statham / Burrows heisty flick, right?

Aye.

The Bank Job was OK, but I wanted to like it a lot more than I did. Characterisation was a little weak, which is key in movies like this.

?? what do you mean by that last statement?

good thief is good

sux

doesn't the russian dude who designed the vault totally look like an east european john c. reilly?!

it's silly at parts but there's a lot to enjoy if you like this kind of movie

they totally under cut the whole "plot" element by having nolte and girl go on that fantastical gambling run - and the whole thing is shot in sleepy vision - and i LUV this kind of movie

haha you're definitely not gonna want to see Bob Le Flambeur then

i like all the implied backstory, the hints at the years of history the characters have together (bob having saved the inspector's life at some point, etc.)

I'm gonna suggest again I'll Sleep When I'm Dead.

And, a little differently, The Falcon and the Snowman and Three Days of the Condor. (You know, the best or the worst career move for Jeremy Piven right now would be to star in a remake of the latter.)

Vault designer is a Serbian director - Kusturica? Something like that.

i watched The Assignment yesterday, it's good fun. i liked aidan quinn and i'm so glad he's not related to colin quinn.

He auditioned at least twice for the Coen Bros. without being hired, so from then on, he said he refuses their audition requests.

lol kusterica is in the good thief o_O

If what you really dig about Ronin is DeNiro's perf, watch "Deuxime Souffle" (Second Wind) with Lino Ventura immediately.

the french connections always occupy the same kinda space as ronin in my head- hard-bitten professionals, clever villains, obviously the chase scenes, maybe the boiled-down style of filming the action too.

Anyway, any more recommendations. Have added a lot of the above to the watchlist.

Michael Mann's early movie Thief which for some reason is now called Violent Streets is pretty good as i recall. Mainly cos it has James Caan being James Caan and is only half an hour too long rather than the hour and a half too long it would've been once Mann became a big deal.

nah srsly tho it's good

ok will keep an eye out.

Someday there'll be a way to get movies on yr computer i reckon.