unforum

[thebruce]

ARGer flicks

[addlepated]

Movies:
Memento
Bourne Identity
Vanilla Sky
Fight Club
Total Recall
The Blair Witch Project
The Princess Bride

Books:
House of Leaves
Masquerade
Survivor - Chuck Palahniuk
American Psycho
The Dark is Rising series (juvenile-level by Susan Cooper)

All of these items to me have the same "zing" of good immersion - they either make you question yourself, what you're seeing, or others; some have clues carefully hidden which you must interpret; some just blow your mind at the end; some carefully wrap differing story threads around each other; some are stories within stories which blur the line of fiction. I'm happy to expound further if you have questions about any specific items.

[Ehsan]

These movies don't really have ARG written all over them, but they do have something which makes me believe other ARGers would enjoy. Relisting some I enjoyed from Addy's list above.



Gattaca
Memento
Fight Club
American History X
Pi
Abre los Ojos (Orginal Spanish version of Vanilla Sky)
Total Recall
12 Monkeys
Dark City
The Usual Suspects
The 5th Element
The Thirteenth Floor (in concept only)
Altered States
eXistenZ
A Beautiful Mind
Pulp Fiction
Seven
Spirited Away
Blade Runner
Reservoir Dogs
Being John Malkovich (Don't ask me why)
From Dusk Till Dawn

And of course.. The Matrix (As if anyone hasn't seen it already)

You can ask, but I have no idea what these movies have in common.. It's just..something I enjoyed I guess. I'm also know that I'm missing something really major which I enjoyed, just can't remember it no matter how hard I try right now..

[Nik_Doof]

Mmmm films that feel ARGy are like:

The Usual Suspects (in the end of it all...its not real)
Seven (flowing of a plot, only to find out the players are part of the game)
Clear and Present Danger (well...doesnt need explaining!)

Cant think of any more at the moment...but im sure i'll have some more later.

[addlepated]

I think a common theme that's shaping up here is that most, if not all, of these movies make you question what's real, forcing you to examine your precepts. What's real, in the terms of the story? What's a red herring? What did you overlook?

Good foundation for playing ARGs.

The Harry Potter books - another example. Jo Rowling likes to casually drop a name or a seemingly insignificant clue and then have it come back later on. By this point, every little tiny detail of the books is endlessly dissected and discussed upon publication.

I'll also add the movies:
Murder by Death
Deathtrap

[Nightmare Tony]

Midnight Madness.

[catherwood]

that Ben Affleck movie "Paycheck" had some puzzly mystery to it.

ETA: While I am not looking forward to the upcoming "DaVinci Code" movie, it should probably be on your list. I recommend everyone read the book "Holy Blood, Holy Grail" instead.

Also, let's not forget Lara Croft Tomb Raider movies, and the archaeological puzzles and treasure maps from such movies as the Indiana Jones franchise and "Romancing the Stone".

For the mind-bending immersion, i liked "eXistenZ" and "The Thirteenth Floor"'; some people put "Dark City" into this category too. And did no one mention "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" yet? Was "The Forgotten" from last year any good?

I'm a sucker for movies which make me question my own reality. But does that make them ARG-like?

[Wishi-san]

The Machinist. Didn't seem to get a very wide release (at least over here), but I really liked it and it's sorta Memento like.

[Wolf]

How To Draw A Bunny was recommended to me, so I rented it today and will be watching it tomorrow. It's a documentary.

IMDB reviewer's excerpt:

[Ehsan]

Thank you for making me add more movies to my "must watch" list, as if I don't waste enough time already

[Wolf]

OK, HTDAB is only tangentially ARG-y. Seems when Johnson drowned (and he was supposedly a very good swimmer) he left all kinds of clues and hints in his house via particular works of his that were arranged to tell a story of sorts--or people seem to draw that conclusion.

I don't know.

But if you're not a documentary person, this is 90 minutes you might want to spend doing other things. I didn't mind it, but a friend of mine was bored senseless the whole film.

[HaxanMike]

Charlie Kaufman's scripts are very ARGish, in my opinion. Both Being John Malkovich and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind are brilliant, but the most ARGish is probably Adaptation.

An adaptation of Susan Orlean's book The Orchid Thief, the movie is about a character named Charlie Kaufman struggling to adapt Susan Orlean's book. Reality mixes with the film's reality, twisting and turning and folding into itself. If you haven't seen it, check it out.

[Ehsan]

Dunno how I forgot these the first time around:

The 6th Sense
The Green Mile
The Butterfly Effect
The Others
The Village


Too many The's ... anyway, I just saw the alternate ending for Butterfly Effect, and I liked it much better.. I really love that movie.

[urthstripe]

I think a bunch of ARGers would like the movie Primer. Mainly for it's mind-bendyness and tight, complex storyline.

I'll try to remember any books or movehs that would be good for ARGers.

[Giskard]

I'd very much like to second Ehsan on "A Beautiful Mind" and would like to add "The Truman Show" to the list... I love that movie, and while some may find it cheesy or simpleminded or unrealistic or flawed in other ways, I really love how the whole thing is put together, and I very much recognize the "doubting of you surroundings" Truman goes through from when I played my first ARG...

The feeling you are seeing something that looks and feels real, yet somehow you have to accept it cannot be... wonderful.