MetaChat - AxeMe, I have two questions...

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13 April 2007

AxeMe, I have two questions... →[More:]
1) What are some good caper/crime/con movies? A la The Sting or The Spanish Prisoner?

b) Is there a way to assign the "soft-keys" (like the play/pause/volume buttons) on a USB keyboard on OSX to arbitrary actions? It is an IBM model number SK-8815.

Please indicate which question you are answering.

Thank you.

post by: Capn at: 13:22 | 27 comments

1) Rififi! A classic jewelry-heist flick. Warning, kind of dark. But one of the coolest robbery sequences you'll ever see.

posted by Miko 13 April | 13:26

1) Sneakers; The Thomas Crown Affair (both versions)

posted by JanetLand 13 April | 13:28

1) Snatch, The Good Thief, Lucky Number Slevin, Brick. Spartan might qualify but it's not really a con movie.

And, on preview, oooh! Yes, Sneakers!

posted by Fuzzbean 13 April | 13:30

1. The first Thomas Crown Affair, without a doubt.

posted by grabbingsand 13 April | 13:33

Rififi, great recommendation, Miko.
The Grifters
Heat
The Getaway (the Sam Peckinpah one)
The Grifters
Blood Simple

posted by box 13 April | 13:49

Heist, The Score --Those two are recent faves.

There's a BBC show called Hustle which is about a group of con artists. I watched and liked the first season.

posted by omiewise 13 April | 13:54

1. Layer Cake was pretty good. Daniel Craig before he became Bond.

posted by mullacc 13 April | 14:38

I love Hustle.

posted by eamondaly 13 April | 15:38

Asphalt Jungle is also known for its heist-planning sequence. And, of course, Oceans 11.
The Killing, The Killers, In Cold Blood, Double Indemnity, The Postman Always Rings Twice.

posted by klangklangston 13 April | 15:47

A. Point Blank
Usual Suspects

2. Yes, sort of... almost. My half-answer involves Installable Keyboard Layouts (apple technotes). This is only a half-answer because the other part is to find out what codes those extra keys are generating. I don't know how to do that on OSX and I was defeated and mocked by the USB module debug mode in Linux when I tried to question my Thinkpad keyboard.

posted by mochicrunk 13 April | 15:48

I just saw The Prime Gig, which was pretty watchable. If you liked The Spanish Prisoner, you might like Novocaine. And finally, you may mock, but Wild Things is an entirely underrated con flick. If you haven't seen it, get on the stick and have some Champagne at the ready.

posted by eamondaly 13 April | 15:49

1. The Usual Suspects! Oh, wait, already mentioned! Um... Reservoir Dogs, Bottle Rocket, The Italian Job. I nth Sneakers, too.

posted by Specklet 13 April | 15:56

The Last Seduction is an awesome movie. Pretty cheesy and 90's but that's all part of the ride. And Linda Fiorentino is hot hot hot in it, just as Peter Berg is perfectly pathetic in it.

posted by Hellbient 13 April | 15:56

Dang, some great recommendations in this thread.

posted by box 13 April | 15:58

Plunkett & Maclean! Bunch of stuff mentioned! Bunch of stuff i can't remember right now!

posted by ethylene 13 April | 16:04

If you liked The Spanish Prisoner, House of Games and Heist are a couple more Mamet flicks in this exact vein.

posted by scody 13 April | 16:08

If you liked The Spanish Prisoner, House of Games and Heist are a couple more Mamet flicks in this exact vein.

Oh. .have to see Heist. I would walk 16 miles in order to watch Rebecca Pidgeon shit in the woods.

Or something.

posted by danf 13 April | 16:12

Not having read your examples, I can't say for sure, but I have really liked Christopher Brookmyre, it's pretty British/Scottish, but even a Canadian can get the point of the story. A Big Boy Did It and Ran Away was great, as was Quite Ugly One Morning.

posted by richat 13 April | 16:38

Heist is awesome. I also have an extreme soft spot for Ocean's Eleven (the George Clooney version). It's a silly popcorn movie, but made with such affection and fun, and perfectly paced, with lots of clever little throwaway details. And it never gets old no matter how many times I watch it.

posted by matildaben 13 April | 16:44

Try The Brink's Job. I saw it when I was ten and it made an impression on me. What a cast!

posted by Hugh Janus 13 April | 16:49

The original Rififi and Getaway and Italian Job are all excellent, as noted.

Topkapi, of course, if you like your heist films with a little less noir and a lot more Hollywood glamor. There's the original The Pink Panther, somewhat in the same vein.

I didn't dislike Entrapment although it had some faults.

Other classics not to be missed are The Great Train Robbery and The Ladykillers.

I hope that answers your keyboard question. Movies, though. I don't watch movies.

posted by stilicho 13 April | 17:29

a) I liked both versions of Ocean's Eleven, for different reasons, but I also like Ocean's Twelve.

2) Applescripts are one way to do this.

posted by paulsc 14 April | 00:22

Sneakers fans may want to jump in the wayback machine and check out The Hot Rock (1972). Corny, but mmmmmmn, that's good caper.

posted by steef 14 April | 11:10

Criminal, which is an English-language remake, or the original, Nueve Reinas.

I love the heist & con genre, but usually I'm ticking off the turns before they occur. Nine Queens got me. Got me but good! John C. Reilly, Maggie Gyllenhall, both of whom are as marvelous as you'd expect, and Diego Luna, of whom I'd never heard, but who was tremendous!

posted by Elsa 14 April | 14:44

Thank you all

posted by Capn 14 April | 20:02

Ditto Sneakers, Ocean's 11 and 12, The Grifters.

The mister had never seen Sneakers and I spotted it in the 5.99 bin. *quickgrab* He loved it.

posted by deborah 14 April | 21:01

Three Kings and Kelly's Heroes. I have a thing for the wartime caper subgenre.

posted by trondant 15 April | 23:41

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