Movie Help Thread

[Jean]

There are movies we remember only vaguely, surely not enough to make a rational google search to learn more. This thread is for such cases: hopefully, we can help each other identify some movies when no other assistance is available.

My first case is an American (at least I think so) movie about a ship, [probably] in the future (not too remote), that carries criminals and some [radioactive?] waste. The ship can't enter any haven. There also was a robot that killed everyone; in the end it was killed by some girl (???). The captain is a famour actor, gray-haired with closely cropped hair, - whose name I can't remember, either.

Please, please, help!

[Ruthful]

Okay, this is more for my friend than me.

It's a mid-90s, early naughts film-at least, I think so-which belongs to the horror-action genre. One of the pivotal scenes involves a carousel and disturbing wallpaper inside of an attic.

It's not "It" or "Casper."

I apologize for the vague details.

[Mattrick]

There are movies we remember only vaguely, surely not enough to make a rational google search to learn more. This thread is for such cases: hopefully, we can help each other identify some movies when no other assistance is available.

My first case is an American (at least I think so) movie about a ship, [probably] in the future (not too remote), that carries criminals and some [radioactive?] waste. The ship can't enter any haven. There also was a robot that killed everyone; in the end it was killed by some girl (???). The captain is a famour actor, gray-haired with closely cropped hair, - whose name I can't remember, either.

Please, please, help!

Virus :D Pretty sure it was Jamie Lee Curtis and Donald Sutherland.

http://imdb.com/title/tt0120458/


at first I thought this was a thread about that godawful looking Angelina Jolie movie due out this summer. I should be able to help enough people out with this, at least if the movie has been out in the last 20 years. I often get vague descriptions from people and I can name the movie.

[Jean]

I asked that question on behalf of my wife, and now that I read to her Virus plot synopsis she says it is not that... she says she knows Virus, and she means something else... http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k291/mishemplushem/Facilitation/bear_sad.gif She especially emphasises the female killer robot, and that the movie was interesting from the point of view of photography: surreal and stylish.

thank you anyway Mattrick! it is a step towards the solution. http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k291/mishemplushem/Facilitation/0134-bear.gifhttp://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k291/mishemplushem/Facilitation/0134-bear.gifhttp://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k291/mishemplushem/Facilitation/0134-bear.gif

[Mattrick]

I seen robot killing people on a ship and thought back to this. I love the Plot Keywords on imdb page for it "Shot in the Face, Death, Rocket Launcher, Shot in the Head, Box Office Flip" lol, it sounded good until the last one.

Couldn't find anything on imdb matching that description. The more details about the movie, even small such as type of characters or kinds of deaths etc, I can narrow it down. The biggest help would be approximate age of the movie.



To help search, you type a word into keyword search in IMDB, which often reveals aspects of the movie. If you click on the word it gives you a list of every movie they have that word associated with.

[Jean]

thank you Mattrick! I will try, but there's very high chance I'll fail - the point (why, for example, I started this thread) is that often we don't really remember anything that can be put into words and can only wait for someone to be tuned onto the same wave and guess what we mean even though all words may be wrong

[Ruthful]

Okay, this is more for my friend than me.

It's a mid-90s, early naughts film-at least, I think so-which belongs to the horror-action genre. One of the pivotal scenes involves a carousel and disturbing wallpaper inside of an attic.

It's not "It" or "Casper."

I apologize for the vague details.

There's also a kid somewhere in the mix, if that helps.

[Jean]

did you already try that imdb search Mattrick suggested? I'll try for both of us whenever I have a minute, but I'm afraid these are those cases of vague dreamlike recollections where search doesn't help

[Ruthful]

Naah, my friend exhausted every possible avenue before coming to me, which is why I posed the question. I figure that there has to be some cineaste on this website who has an encyclopedic knowledge of vaguely-described, noirish horror-mystery films made within the last decade.

[Odetta]

Naah, my friend exhausted every possible avenue before coming to me, which is why I posed the question. I figure that there has to be some cineaste on this website who has an encyclopedic knowledge of vaguely-described, noirish horror-mystery films made within the last decade.

I feel like I should know this... don't you have anymore to go on than a carousel and wallpaper?

[Jean]

thank you everyone who tried to help, my wife remembered the most important detail, namely, the name of the leading actor, which is Malcolm McDowell. After that it was a piece of cake. The movie is 2103: The Deadly Wake

I've been thinking about Ruthful's question, but all I remember with carousels so far is The Net and Hitchcock's Strangers on a Train.

[Mattrick]

Jean, Face/Off had a carousel too, if you've seen it. But none of those follow along the lines of a horror/action. Funny thing is that on another forum someone posted a thread just like this to find Strangers on a Train haha

[Ruthful]

thank you everyone who tried to help, my wife remembered the most important detail, namely, the name of the leading actor, which is Malcolm McDowell. After that it was a piece of cake. The movie is 2103: The Deadly Wake

I've been thinking about Ruthful's question, but all I remember with carousels so far is The Net and Hitchcock's Strangers on a Train.

I'm pretty sure it's not Hitchcockian fare, although I'll definitely float it by my friend. The way she described the movie it sounded like a low-grossing, nonblockbuster along the lines of the film you were searching for. Maybe a cult film.

[Mattrick]

There was this movie I watched as a kid but I can't recall what it was or who was in it. It was about this kid who was kidnapped when he was around twelve or so. I recall that him and the kidnapper became sort of like family. There was a scene where the kid went to get smokes for the kidnapper and the clerk wouldn't sell them but did, reluctantly. There was a scene near the end with a school if I'm not mistaken. The family sees the son on TV on day a few years later after a massive growth spurt and he looks completely different.

I recall it being good but not much else.

I also recall seeing a movie about this girl who woke up as a boy lol

[fernandito]

To anyone familiar with the Police Academy movies : Which part is it where that crazy cop whom is obsessed with guns starts going crazy in the shooting range? Where he starts rolling around from target to target, blasting away, and finishes it off with "I NEED THESE". :lol:

[Girlystevedave]

Oh...Tackleberry.
Why did you have to ask this?

I would guess it's the first one, but I don't know.

[ZoNeSeeK]

There was this movie I watched as a kid but I can't recall what it was or who was in it. It was about this kid who was kidnapped when he was around twelve or so. I recall that him and the kidnapper became sort of like family. There was a scene where the kid went to get smokes for the kidnapper and the clerk wouldn't sell them but did, reluctantly. There was a scene near the end with a school if I'm not mistaken. The family sees the son on TV on day a few years later after a massive growth spurt and he looks completely different.



Mattrick, these are the IMDB responses for "Stockholm Syndrome", which is the whole becoming family with the kidnapper thing:

1. Roja (1992) 8.2/10
2. Dog Day Afternoon (1975) 8.1/10
3. Neverland: The Rise and Fall of the Symbionese Liberation Army (2004) 7.7/10
4. Knockin' on Heaven's Door (1997) "
5. Caballos salvajes (1995) 7.6/10
6. The Collector (1965) 7.5/10
7. I Know My First Name Is Steven (1989) (TV) 7.4/10
8. Buffalo '66 (1998) 7.2/10
9. Supêsutoraberâzu (2000) 7.1/10
10. ¡Átame! (1990) 6.8/10
11. Acción mutante (1993) 6.5/10
12. The World Is Not Enough (1999) 6.3/10
13. Norrmalmstorg (2003) (TV) 6.2/10
14. Family: Ties of Blood (2006) "
15. Road (2002) 6.1/10
16. Dunckel (1999) (TV) 5.9/10
17. Five Desperate Hours (1997) (TV) 5.6/10
18. Best Men (1997) "
19. Citizen Tania (1989) 5.3/10
20. Date with a Kidnapper (1976) 4.6/10
21. Tanya (1976) "
22. Choke Canyon (1986) 4.4/10
23. Soba (2004) 4.3/10
24. Abduction (1975) "
25. Joshua (1976) 3.9/10
26. Silencio asesino (1983) -
27. "Close to Home" (2005)