I can really recommend Inception! Anyone have some movies they can recommend, where the plot is not predictable, yet everything in the story can seem believable?

This is a hard one. The prize is ELDEN RING. Hint will be given after a couple of days depending on amount of entries.

HINT:
Magic bytes

EDIT:
Now that the giveaway is over, here's the solution:

Right click and press "Inspect" on this post, and you'll find a hidden link to a GIF on Dropbox.
I chose a GIF of Inception, because I thought it could be perceived as "a GIF inside a GIF", for those who have watched the movie.
GIFs, like most files, have file signatures, aka. magic bytes. If you download the file and check it with a hex editor, you can see that beyond the file signature footer (00 3B) there is more data, which happens to be the header signature of another GIF (47 49 46 38 39 61, or "GIF89a"). Copying this data and saving it into another GIF file will yield an image of a data matrix code. Scanning this with your phone (online readers seem to have a bit of trouble with it) will yield the 5 characters needed for the giveaway URL.

NOTE: Copying the text data (instead of the hex data) through the means of notepad or the like will not work, because it will yield incomplete data. This is because the data contains what would be translated into ASCII's control characters, which are non-printable.

Congratz to the 29(+?) people who completely the puzzle!

EDIT 2:
Sorry guys, the giveaway has been deleted due to a region restriction... The puzzle will remain up for those who want to try. :-)

2 years ago*

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The original "Planet of the Apes" from 1968

2 years ago
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My dad has been nagging me about this one. I will watch it with him one day! :-)

2 years ago
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Don't wait too long or one day it may never be possible any more ;-;
Not necessarily a direct answer to your question, but if you like movies and cinema then definitely watch Cinema Paradiso (1988).
I think there are slightly different versions depedant on region but I watched the german dub in the late 90s.
One of my top 3 movies ever.
I'll just quote the wiki's first paragraph:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cinema_Paradiso

Cinema Paradiso (Italian: Nuovo Cinema Paradiso, Italian pronunciation: [ˈnwɔːvo ˈtʃiːnema paraˈdiːzo], literally "New Paradise Cinema") is a 1988 coming-of-age drama film written and directed by Giuseppe Tornatore. Set in a small Sicilian town, the film centers on the friendship between a young boy and an aging projectionist who works at the titular movie theatre. This Italian-French co-production stars Philippe Noiret, Jacques Perrin, Leopoldo Trieste, Marco Leonardi, Agnese Nano and Salvatore Cascio. The film score was composed by Ennio Morricone and his son, Andrea.

Credited with revitalizing Italy's film industry, Cinema Paradiso has been cited by Empire magazine as one of the greatest films of all time.[4] It was a commercial success, and won several awards, including the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film[5] and the Cannes Film Festival's Grand Prix. It was nominated for 11 BAFTA Awards and won five; including Best Actor for Philippe Noiret, Best Supporting Actor for Salvatore Cascio, Best Original Screenplay, and Best Foreign Language Film.

2 years ago
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the plot is not predictable, yet everything in the story can seem believable

that's your description of Inception? huh, ok...
Looper - it's really nice and like the first one that came to mind when you asked for recommendations based on Inception I'm not sure why but I strongly associate theese two together
Tenet - another one of Nolan's so gives off similar vibes... Like the one above already recommended so I'll drop some more...
Blade Runner - both the original and it's sequel, 2049, really solid film and if you've not seen it, at leat the original one is a must watch
Paprika (パプリカ) - if you're not affraid to dip your toes in some anime, this one's really worth a watch. Also I've heard people suggest that it was the inspiration for Inception I'm not sure wether Nolan oficially admitted or denied that so you should enjoy that.
and veering a little further from the source a couple of films I've watched recently that I really enjoyed, so you might try them if you've some spare time or feel like changing pace from sci-fi: Drive and Baby Driver. I could go on and on but I don't want to overwhelm you so I'll stop right here :)

2 years ago
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I'm not sure why but I strongly associate theese two together

Could it Joseph Gordon Levitt?

2 years ago
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Yeah, I'm not quite sure how to describe what I'm truly looking for. There is also something about the endings of the movies. In my opinion, it's not about someone being saved, people being happy in the end, nor a great resolution finding place. I'm more a fan of open endings that don't make you want more, yet you have questions. You're content that the questions go unanswered, but you still felt a connection with the character(s)... 🤔
Looper, both Blade Runners (great movies!), and Baby Driver have been seen. Enjoyed all :-)
Tenet has been in the corner of my vision for a good while. I just have this feeling of I might get disappointed from its ending, for some reason..?
Paprika seems quite whacky, but it's welcome! Probably not on the top of my list, as I prefer things a bit more grounded. Dreams are anything but grounded lol, however the atmosphere and energy of the scenes are easily too much for me. When it comes to animes, I've been meaning to see Ghost in the Shell, before I check out the live action adaptation.
Drive seems like a good movie too! I like Ryan Gosling :-)

2 years ago
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Idiocracy

2 years ago
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Lol, in the direction we're going in today's society, this might as well be pretty believable :-D
Feels like it's a good movie to put on somewhat in the background, that you don't really need to pay too much attention to?

2 years ago
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Pretty much.....Idiocracy isn't just a movie, it's a prophecy. Only watch it if you want to see the true horror of humankind's unavoidable spiral into terminal stupidity.

You could just leave it on in the background while you do other stuff, but you won't get the full appreciation of just how accurate it is.

2 years ago
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Oh we're there already.

2 years ago
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Donnie Darko

2 years ago
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Curious one! I'll make a note of it :-)

2 years ago
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2001

2 years ago
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Seen it, and it's quite the trip ;-) Good recommendation!

2 years ago
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Creeps about this thread, collecting movie recommendations
I'm so ignorant about movies. lol

Edit: Has anyone mentioned Get Out? Because I really like that movie.

.

Oh, yeah, and thanks for the giveaway. I hope it finds its way to a good home. Best of luck to everyone! But more luck to those who really love Soulsborne games

2 years ago*
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There are definitely a lot of good recommendations here, so I would've crept through here as well! ;-)
Get Out (2017) looks like it has some good comedic potential, but the whole horror aspect of it kind of loses me 🤔

You're welcome! Did you give it a shot?

2 years ago
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Yeah, I see a lot of movies that are well-reviewed. I'm going to have to watch some of them. I have Netflix and Disney+, so I might as well try a few of 'em out.

Give your puzzle a shot? I can't, 'cause I'm currently on mobile and not able to see anything past what you've posted on SG. I'm also dumb as shit lol

2 years ago
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The Thing (1982)
Matrix (1999)
Black Mirror: Bandersnatch (2018)
Blade Runner (1982)
The Green Mile (1999)
In the Mouth of Madness (1994)
The Mist (2007)
Shutter Island (2010)
Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975)
Life of Brian (1979)
Falling Down (1993)
Watchmen (2009)

2 years ago
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So good to see someone include classic Monty Python in their list.

2 years ago
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Life of Brian is a gem

"Biggus Dickus"

2 years ago
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Romani ite domum
I mean... latin jokes! This movie is a crack up from start to finish.

2 years ago
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I'm a big fan of Black Mirror, but I haven't tried the Bandersnatch one yet. Was it an immersive experience in your opinion?
The Matrix, Blade Runner (both), and Shutter Island has been seen, and they are pretty good!
Horror and paranormal genres aren't really my cup of tea, but Monty Python however is great to put on for tea!
Falling Down looks like a good family movie; I'll put it on the list! :-)

2 years ago
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Bandersnatch for me was crazy. I won't say more as to not spoil anything but it made me think "WTF!?" a few times.

2 years ago
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I have watched a ton of movies.

The first ones that come to mind are The Prestige, Memento, Prisoners and Nightcrawler. If you have some more specific genres that you like, I could recommend some more :).

2 years ago
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The Prestige and Memento have been mentioned earlier here, so I'll definitely add those to my list.
Regarding Prisoners, I feel like it'd be better to put on documentaries about disappearances? Can you say what makes this movie good to watch if I heavily value realistic aspects of such events?
Nightcrawler looks a bit American for me judging by the trailer? You know, this ordinary guy trying to make it big against all odds, and gets himself into some big trouble which he emerges victorious out of? 🤔

Alright, I'll give you a challenge then. Here are my terms:

I like:
Sci-fi, philosophical motives, and decisions made with sound logic by characters you can both love and hate.
Can be in any format; animation, anime, live action, TV show.
An open ending, not necessarily happy.
Obeys the laws of physics that we know of (meaning telekinesis is cool, but g-forces and mass-energy equivalence are still things).
A thought-out backstory, so that it makes sense why events take place, and why risky decisions are made. This also includes small things like details in the background of various scenes that are never explicitly mentioned, but are included in order to deepen the world we are introduced to.
Great attention to detail in the cinematography and scene composition, as well as SFX and VFX (according to the technology available at the time of the movie creation, of course).

I dislike:
Hollywood C4; explosions that do not contain gasoline should not become a ball of flame.
Horror and paranormal genres.
Political correctness and/or movies with a subsidiary political agenda/justification. For example; the stereotypical enemy/mobster/spy being Russian, America being a great nation that serves the world (and the president must be protected at all costs), kids not being part of wars, etc.

Some of my all-time favorites:
Avatar, Mr. Robot, Lord of the Rings (extended edition), Arcane, Serenity/Firefly, The 100 (only first two seasons), The Hunger Games (the first movie).

Since we know games, I'll add a few of the games' stories I like too:
Halo Reach, Dishonored, Cyberpunk 2077

2 years ago
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Don't Look Up was a pretty good movie! I felt like it was a bit too parodical at times, but a good message!
Cats! :-D Might be a good movie for a slow evening?
The Adam Project I saw segments of in my parents' house, and that did not captivate me at all, unfortunately. One of the intended" witty" comments on the end just straight up ruined the entire movie for me, where the dad says something along the lines of "it helps to know applied physics" or something, and I was like "That was so unrealistic, and posing as if it was just makes it tenfold more stupid".

2 years ago
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Sci-fi/adventure: Interstellar (2004)
War/action: Dunkirk (2017)
Sci-fi/comedy: Idiocracy (2006)
Musical/romance: La La Land (2016)

2 years ago
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I'm guessing you mean Interstellar from 2014? I've added it to my list, and intend to watch it someday, perhaps with family?
I'm a bit satiated on movies revolving the world wars, so this one I'll probably pass on.
Idiocracy seems like a good comedic relief, so I'll keep it in mind.
La La Land seems a bit too romantic for my taste, but I've heard a lot of good things about it.

2 years ago
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Oh yes Interstellar 2014, my apologies, a typo

2 years ago
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Shutter Island and Mulholland Drive.

2 years ago
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Shutter Island is seen, and I liked it very much :-)
Mulholland Drive seems curious. I saw it mentioned earlier too, so it looks like it will end up in my list

2 years ago
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Pi (1998) - Darren Aronofsky is a really good director, and this movie is great. It's weird, paranoid and a bit disturbing, but well worth watching.
23 (1998) - A German movie inspired by real events of German hackers during the cold war stealing information and trying to smuggle it over to the other side of the East/West border. Also a kind of paranoid movie, which is fitting. Just beware that it takes a lot of liberties with history.

2 years ago
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Disturbing can be quite intriguing! It might be a cool movie to put on, but it's probably not on the top of my list. When it comes to numbers and math and such, I much more prefer to watch real life applicable numbers, like those presented in VSauce and Numberphile on Youtube :-)
Regarding 23, I feel a bit satiated by the world/cold wars, and I'm not sure if I'm a very big fan of liberties being taken with such a serious parts of history :-/

2 years ago
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Lucky # Slevin
Predestination
Transcendence
SourceCode

2 years ago
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i was locking in all responces, because when I read the OP, Predestination was the one that come to my mind

2 years ago
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it's a great movie and totally underrated, hell of a plot in the end :)

2 years ago
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yeah, i just wanted to suggest Predestination
here the imdb Link: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2397535/

2 years ago
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just watched it again - still a real treasure ♥

2 years ago
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Lucky Number Slevin looks cool, so that has reached my list
Predestination I get the feeling deals with the same time travel fallacies as most other movies; why not go further back in time? Movie looks cool, but I'll have to think about it.
Transcendence could be a very good and a very bad movie imho, judging how Hollywood tends to treat AI and hacking in general...
Source Code I've seen, and the ending is kind of satisfactory in a sense, so good recommendations! :-)

2 years ago
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Predestination has a huuuuuge plot you will discover towards the end - it will be worth it !
Transcendence is nice because of mindgames in the plot, it's was good enough to leave a permanent positive impression with me. :)

2 years ago
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Sin City
Shutter Island
Memento
Se7en
Fight Club
Perfume: The Story of a Murderer

2 years ago
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Happy cake day!

Shutter Island has been seen, and it is pretty good! Same with Fight Club
Sin City, Se7en, and Memento has been mentioned earlier here, so those have made my list.
Perfume I've not heard of before, and is quite the curious one! Might be a film to watch with my mother, I think :-)

2 years ago
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Thank ye kindly! :)

Yeah, I see most people here have recommended awesome movies. I need to remember to return at some point and check some other ones out as well :D

Haha, yes, Perfume is such a great movie every family may bond over. Which, curiously, is not the case with any James Bond movie, ever!

2 years ago
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Also, just remembered Life of Pi

And dang, that was some secret-agent-we-live-in-a-simulation kinda puzzle. Thanks for the chance, though :)

2 years ago
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Seems you have seen some of the movies I was gonna recommend, while most have been already mentioned by others. So, here are some more, though they might not be as great as the ones already mentioned (sorry for any repeats):

  • Shutter Island (yes, this is a repeat but it's just that good, and you probably haven't watched it)
  • Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (maybe a bit predictable)
  • An Inspector Calls (2015)
  • Memoirs of a Murderer (I think there are multiple movies by this name, so make sure to see the correct one)
  • A Monster Calls (I don't remember this movie well, but I think it fits the criteria)
  • Seven Psychopaths (Not really that great, but the ending did surprise me a bit, I was expecting something...um worse)
  • Miracle in Cell No. 7
  • A Wednesday (2008)
  • Perfect Blue
  • Paprika
  • The Truman Show (Try watching it without reading anything about it. Even the vaguest of synopsis can spoil it)
  • Colorful (Don't remember it that well, but maybe)
  • Donnie Darko
  • Confessions (2010) (Maybe bit predictable, maybe not)
  • The Invisible Guest
  • The Man from Earth (Maybe bit predictable, maybe not, but a good watch nonetheless)
  • The Others (don't remember it well, saw it in school, but I loved it back then)
  • Ender's Game
  • Wolf Children
  • Along With the Gods: The Two Worlds
  • Blackmail
  • The Wailing
  • The Game (1997)
  • The Uninvited
  • Exam (2009) (Probably the weakest of the list, nice thriller. Do NOT read the synopsis, it's too easy to spoil)

PS: Hope foreign language movies are not an issue.

2 years ago
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Ender's Game

If you are into reading, I highly recommend to read the book(s) first. The movie was disappointing in comparison.

2 years ago
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The movie was the best example of "story? what story? let's just have lots of CGI!" Hollywood scifi I have seen in years.
The first book definitely wasn't easy to adapt but they just took the easy way out and didn't even really try
Shame they didn't make it to the more interesting books.

2 years ago
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I think I remember hearing that it's based on a book. Sadly, I don't read much.

2 years ago
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Memoirs of a Murderer (I think there are multiple movies by this name, so make sure to see the correct one)

Well, maybe (before?) Memoirs of a Murderer (2017, JP) they should also consider the original, Confession of Murder (2012, KR).

The other easy to confuse one Memoir of a Murderer (2017, KR) has very good ratings as well – I believe the director's cut is called, confusingly, Memoir of a Murderer: Another Memory.


An Inspector Calls: again a confusing one, for a second I thought you mean the 4.9 starring Louis Koo rather than the 7.6 since both are from 2015.
(There's sure a lot of other adaptations.)


Miracle in Cell No. 7 (2013, KR) has a same-titled Filipino remake from 2019, so it's probably possible to get the wrong one there by accident. The remake doesn't have too bad reviews, either.

2 years ago*
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Well, maybe (before?) Memoirs of a Murderer (2017, JP) they should also consider the original, Confession of Murder (2012, KR).
The other easy to confuse one Memoir of a Murderer (2017, KR) has very good ratings as well – I believe the director's cut is called, confusingly, Memoir of a Murderer: Another Memory.

I have seen all three, and all of them are great. I couldn't remember the name of the original at that time. The original has better rating on IMDB but I liked the end of the remake more.

An Inspector Calls: again a confusing one, for a second I thought you mean the 4.9 starring Louis Koo rather than the 7.6 since both are from 2015.
(There's sure a lot of other adaptations.)

Oh, I should have been clearer, but sadly I was kind of in a hurry and didn't feel it to be necessary to link this one. The other adaptions are a bit too old for my taste.

Miracle in Cell No. 7 (2013, KR) has a same-titled Filipino remake from 2019

Didn't know about this. I meant the original.

2 years ago
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Do you by chance know if Memoir of a Murderer (2017, KR) has anything relevant to it that the director's cut / "Another Memory" does not contain, besides a different ending? I am wondering if it's sufficient to watch the DC, or the original first, or the DC and then only the ending of the original.

2 years ago
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I am sorry, but I don't know. This doesn't have much info either.

2 years ago
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Deleted

This comment was deleted 2 years ago.

2 years ago
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I know it's not what you've asked for, but for everyone loving Sci-Fi, here you have a curated list, and a curated list of lists:
https://pastebin.com/0ky3WuCr
https://pastebin.com/713gugbr

And my recommendation, seeing as all I've wanted to recommend have already been mentioned is...
Old Boy (the original one, not the Hollywood remake)

2 years ago
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Great lists!
Nice to see more obscure movies like The Lobster or Europa Report and Coherence there as well as the bigger titles.
Now I want to see The Girl with All the Gifts again.
I won't have to think and make a list when someone asks me for a good scifi movie ;)

May I suggest Sound of My Voice and Lunopolis? If you like indie sci-fi with a side of WTF and a human story, you may enjoy them.

2 years ago
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I'll give them both a try, because yes I do like indie sci-fi with a side of WTF and a human story.

Shall I recommend The Man From Earth, or probably you've watched it already?

2 years ago
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I actually haven't seen that one. Sounds right up my alley though. Sometimes we miss a few I guess.
I'll watch it tonight! Can't wait. Smart scifi is rare these days.

2 years ago
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Well the movies i think of were already mentioned, but again (because its so good):

  • Memento !!!!!!
    and of course also
  • The Usual Suspects
  • The Big Lebowski
  • 12 Monkeys
  • Snatch
2 years ago
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You had never seen Inception or Shawshank Redemption?? Well, welcome to movies. Damn, I envy you! So many great movies in those lists (and some terrible ones but hey one man's trash, one man's treasure and all that) that you'll get to experience for the first time!

There are a few movies I'm surprised nobody has mentioned yet like
The Silence of the Lambs
L.A. Confidential
Twelve Monkeys

And some I'm not surprised haven't been mentioned because they are low budget mind f***ery but are amazing
The Machinist
Coherence
Angel Heart

2 years ago
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You can consider Naked Lunch (1991) as part of a thematic trilogy along with Cronenberg's Videodrome (1983) and eXistenZ (1991).
eXistenZ is probably the most "believable," even though Naked lunch is based more on the life of William S. Burroughs than it is on the novel.
If you find one of them satisfying, you'll probably enjoy the others.

Also:
A Scanner Darkly (2006)

2 years ago
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The Green Elephant

2 years ago
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It Follows.

2 years ago
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Those magic bytes look pretty standard to me. D'oh!

2 years ago
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Glad I'm not the only one. Not that it helps either of us but misery and company and all that

2 years ago
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Solution is up :-)

2 years ago
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I had the gif and I suspected there was more data inside it but knowing nothing about code or anything of that kind, I was left grasping. I tried treating it as an archive. No luck. Never thought about a hex editor. Well I learned something.
Thank you :)

2 years ago
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Whiplash. You think you know, then the last scene kicks in, then it's over, then you're like WTF!!!!

2 years ago
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Have you seen Shutter Island?

2 years ago
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