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escape artist posted:You picked Con Air over Mulholland Drive?! Ugh. The coin had spoken! Who was I to deny it's choice? Besides, someone else will definitely assign Mullholland Drive at some point, but who would get Con Air off the list? A human heart posted:The Searchers kinda relies on your expectations of what a Ford film is like and then goes off and doe something different, so it's really better if you've some of his other stuff first. Yeah, I remembered the whole chat about that from earlier in the thread, so I'm gonna change that to Stagecoach real quick. Edit: Or I'll just replace my list here, since it's a new page. RandallODim's Wall of Shame: The Shawshank Redemption (1994) - I've just never gotten around to it, and isn't that the point of this thread? 12 Angry Men (1957) - I know that it's about a jury, and that they're very incensed about deciding the verdict. Vertigo (1958) - I haven't watched an awful lot of Hitchcock, but I've liked what I've watched, so I'm looking forward to more. The Rules of the Game (1939) - Wikipedia says it's a comedy about the French upper-class just before World War II. Sounds interesting. Robinson Crusoe On Mars (1964) - Blind bought the Criterion. Looks like it's gonna be beautiful, but don't know anything else other than monkey in a space suit. 8˝ (1963) - Let's keep the Fellini train going with a movie about making a movie, shall we? Stagecoach (1939) – Not sure I've watched a John Ford film before, and it's a faux pas to start with The Searchers, so Stagecoach it is! Tokyo Story (1953) - Gonna get me some pre-1980s Japanese cinema that isn't just Kurosawa! Glengarry Glen Ross (1992) - Real estate! Always Be Closing! Mamet! Sunrise (1927) - It's the last thing in the TSPDT Top 10 that I haven't seen and that isn't on my list, and I dug Nosferatu, so let's do it! (It's nothing like Nosferatu is it) RandallODim's Shame Was Reduced By 6: 2001: A Space Odyssey, La Strada, Sanjuro, The Seventh Seal, Solaris, The Godfather Part II RandallODim fucked around with this message at 08:05 on Mar 21, 2013 |
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Mar 21, 2013 08:02
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A human heart posted:The Searchers kinda relies on your expectations of what a Ford film is like and then goes off and doe something different, so it's really better if you've some of his other stuff first. I watched The Searchers for this thread, and I think I'm going to give it a second look based on statements like this that have been popping up recently. I also read Scorsese's essay on it recently and I know I need to go through it again once I see some more Ford. Other than The Searchers, I've seen Young Mr. Lincoln and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, and while I haven't been enamored with either of them I haven't disliked them. What should be next if I continue my Ford-a-thon?
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Mar 21, 2013 08:08
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Ratedargh posted:I watched The Searchers for this thread, and I think I'm going to give it a second look based on statements like this that have been popping up recently. I also read Scorsese's essay on it recently and I know I need to go through it again once I see some more Ford. Other than The Searchers, I've seen Young Mr. Lincoln and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, and while I haven't been enamored with either of them I haven't disliked them. What should be next if I continue my Ford-a-thon? The first step is always Stagecoach.
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Mar 21, 2013 14:03
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DetoxP posted:The first step is always Stagecoach. Where should we go after that? I'm working my way up to The Searchers myself, thanks to this thread.
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Mar 21, 2013 14:09
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RandallODim posted:
It's time for you to get around to this one, RandallODim. Starship Troopers was an interesting movie. It looked older than it is to me, and I'm not sure if that's intentional or I have unrealistic expectations of the late '90s. It was also one of those films where everyone did an amazing job except the main character and occasionally one of his love interests. The way the teacher glorified service and citizenship was a great introduction to the dystopian setting, and reminiscent of movies All Quiet on the Western Front, if not as extreme. Unlike that movie however, the main character evolves towards jingoism rather than away from it. The action sequences themselves and progress of the movie was formulaic but competently done, and Neil Patrick Harris and Michael Ironside had standout performances. Overall, by playing the setting completely straight, the movie communicated the ridiculousness of the beliefs therein but in a somewhat uncomfortable manner. It was almost like when they showed Hitler speeches to you in high school to show you how scary that kind of nationalism can be, the only positive difference being the dynamics introduced by gender equality. The List of Shame: The Bridge on the River Kwai: All the other goons have it on their lists, that must make it a classic. Boondock Saints: I got this moviefor $3.00 at a library sale a while ago and I haven't gotten around to seeing it. Should I? Enter the Dragon: I was reading this thread and realized that I too have never seen a Bruce Lee movie. Se7en: Detectives looking for a serial killer and it has Morgan Freeman. I really should've seen this by now. The American Astronaut: Goons in the "I saw a film" thread seem to like this one. Blade Runner: Never seen it, supposed to be good. Lost in Translation: I should see more films with Bill Murray, and other goons in this thread seemed to enjoy it. A Fistful of Dollars: Completing the Trilogy! Space Mutiny (MST3K): Not sure if this counts as a movie really, but although I've seen bits and pieces of various Mystery Science Theater 3000 scenes, I've never seen a full MST3k movie track. This one seemed like a good introduction. The Elephant Man: One of my friends was in a single-man play type thing of this some years back, so a movie adaptation seems cool. De-shamed(9): The Thin Red Line(8/10), Casablanca(9/10), Lawrence of Arabia(9.5/10), For a Few Dollars More(7.5/10), Goodfellas (4/10), The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly (7.5/10), Stalker (8/10), Battleship Potemkin (6/10), Starship Troopers (6.5/10)
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Mar 21, 2013 15:57
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Nolanar posted:Where should we go after that? I'm working my way up to The Searchers myself, thanks to this thread. My Darling Clementine. Or anything from the Cavalry trilogy: Fort Apache (my fave), She Wore a Yellow Ribbon, and Rio Grande.
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Mar 21, 2013 20:15
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Wagon Master is really underrated, too, it's not as exciting as Stagecoach or as emotional as She Wore A Yellow Ribbon, but it's got the same sorta stripped down essentialism of the best Robert Bresson movies. Really though My Darling Clementine is basically the best thing.
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Mar 21, 2013 21:47
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Ixtlilton, watch Blade Runner. There are quite a few versions floating around - I recommend The Final Cut. And see it on blu-ray if you're able. Pickpocket - It's funny, the acting in this film is what I would call stilted, yet it seems somehow appropriate to the style of the movie. The whole film has a very direct, intimate quality. The camera never flinches away from the main character's emotionless expression and wooden stature. A very interesting approach. The film is compelling all the way through and I like that it felt like a very real psychological study of the mind of an arrogant thief. The best parts are getting to see the thieves in action and witnessing the unspoken rush they get from pulling it off. A very neat movie. 88/100 My list: Les enfants du paradis - I don't particularly care for mimes but I'll give this a shot. Ordet - I love Dreyer. Days of Heaven - I own this one. Please make me watch it. Jules et Jim - Some more Truffaut will do me good. I've only seen The 400 Blows. Contempt - I've seen Breathless and Band of Outsiders and was fairly "meh" about them both. Let's see if Godard can wow me this time. The Earrings of Madame de... - I recently watched Letter From an Unknown Woman and adored it, so more Ophuls seems appropriate. L'Age d'Or - Time for some more Bunuel. Late Spring - If this is as good as Tokyo Story I'll be happy. Five Easy Pieces - Looks great. I need to see more early Jack Nicholson films. Greed - One of the most famous silents I haven't seen. Whoever picks this will need to recommend which cut to watch.
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Mar 22, 2013 02:34
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Josh Lyman posted:Josh Lyman's Movie List of Shame v1.0: First Hitchcock film I've watched all the way through, the other being Rear Window (took a nap somewhere in the middle). Eva Marie Saint reminded me of Pussy Galore from James Bond, and this was the first time I'd seen Cary Grant. The bad guy I recognized from Lolita, and it was nice to see him in a different role than Humbert Humbert. Altogether a fun film that wasn't too serious; I hear Vertigo is more intense. Next up: Apocalypse Now. edit: Actually, it looks like the version I'm watching is Apocalypse Now Redux. Not sure whether this is the one I should be watching the first time around. Josh Lyman fucked around with this message at 02:51 on Mar 22, 2013 |
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Mar 22, 2013 02:34
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Josh Lyman posted:edit: Actually, it looks like the version I'm watching is Apocalypse Now Redux. Not sure whether this is the one I should be watching the first time around. I'd wait for the theatrical version if all you've got is redux, the additional scenes really screw up the film's pacing while generally adding little of value. Desiato fucked around with this message at 03:17 on Mar 22, 2013 |
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Mar 22, 2013 03:15
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Redux sux.
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Mar 22, 2013 03:19
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Josh Lyman posted:North by Northwest Definitely do NOT watch Redux first.
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Mar 22, 2013 03:22
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Yeah, Redux is something to watch after you've seen the theatrical version so you can realize that sometimes the "Director's Cut" isn't always better.
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Mar 22, 2013 04:22
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Caiman, since you own Days of Heaven you should probably watch it. I love that blind-buying movies is so common here, as seriously thought I had a spending problem at one point, having bought so much stuff on name recognition alone. ________________________________________________________________________________________________ I just watched Lawrence of Arabia. Top notch stuff here, but I don't think I quite fell as much in love with it as I should have. That was mainly due to the presentation of the film, and I'll get into that a bit later. First, I'll focus on what I liked about it. I liked the characterization of Lawrence. He didn't come off as a Mary Sue or anything, as he was somewhat of a flawed protagonist. He comes off as a little overconfident at times, which is an interesting dynamic. I also liked the symbolic role that his clothing played in his quest to identify himself. The acting was amazing. Peter O'Toole was perfect as the titular character. I was also surprised to see Alec Guiness in this. It was a little weird seeing him playing an Iraqi, but it was also somewhat familiar to see him playing a robed figure in the desert. The score was excellent, and I love the main theme. It's iconic, and instantly recognizable. What I really liked was how similar this was to a western movie. A lot of the familiar motifs are there - a guy going to uncharted territory, arming the locals, attacking a train, the importance of water, etc. I could go on, but I doubt this was unintentional. A quick check of Wiki shows that Leone used the same locations to shoot his westerns. The familiarity may have prompted me to think this way, but this movie really did feel like an epic western film. The main thing that hampered my enjoyment was the presentation of the film itself. I watched this on Netflix Canada, and the video quality is absolute poo poo on that service. It looks to be about VHS quality, maybe even slightly below. This usually doesn't bother me too much, but this movie looks like it should be gorgeous. There's tons of grand landscapes, excellent use of color, beautiful costumes, and what not, but I just found myself getting distracted by how poor the video quality was. I wish I had gone to see this when it played at the theatre last November. Anyway, I'll have to record this off of TCM or buy the blu-ray at some point in the future and enjoy it as it's meant to be. The List of Shame 1. Witness for the Prosecution: More courtroom drama 2. Lolita: I've seen almost all of Kubrick's offerings, but I have not yet seen this teen sex romp. 3. Five Easy Pieces: One of the more important films of the New Hollywood movement. 4. Gaslight: This is one of the more famous noirs, so I feel I need to see it. 5. Ocean's Eleven (1960): I've seen the remake a bunch of times - let's see how the original one is. 6. The Seven Year Itch: I don't think I've ever seen a Monroe film. I have Some Like it Hot recorded as well, and I've been told it's a better starting point. 7. The Deer Hunter: I should probably learn exactly what people mean when they talk about the Russian roulette scene. 8. The Magnificent Ambersons: I enjoyed Citizen Kane, so I should see more works from Welles. 9. True Lies: This is kind of different from the rest of the list. I really like Arnie's movies from around this time, but I can just never bring myself around to watch this. 10. City Lights: I'm not a huge silent-film guy, but what I've seen of Chaplin has been pretty accessible. Un-shamed in 2013: The Grapes of Wrath, Yojimbo, The Sixth Sense, Forbidden Planet, Cool Hand Luke, Easy Rider, It Happened one Night, Donnie Brasco, Fargo, Enter the Dragon, The Big Sleep, Adam's Rib, Animal House, Quiz Show, The Man with the Golden Arm, Strangers on a Train, Singin' in the Rain, The Philadelphia Story, The Time Machine, The Bridge on the River Kwai, Lawrence of Arabia CopywrightMMXI fucked around with this message at 05:09 on Mar 22, 2013 |
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Mar 22, 2013 04:48
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CopywrightMMXI, you get to watch The Seven Year Itch. While I personally haven't seen it I thought Some Like It Hot was fantastic so this is the next best thing I 'spose! The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly: Complete. There was no reason I should have waited this long to see this movie, something I'm sure I'll be repeating many times in this thread. I had no idea going in that the Civil War factored so heavily into things (or, really, at all). In a way, the movie feels similar in places to Apocalypse Now, no more so of course than the bridge scene. Besides that, there was the overarching sense of a fantastic journey with a goal that is equal parts clear and uncertain. Comparison(s) aside, though, this movie doesn't really feel like a Western, at least not in the traditional sense. I mean, yeah, it's set in the "Old West," and certainly parts of it have that flavor, but it transcends the genre. Having seen A Fistful of Dollars a few days earlier, which itself feels much more like a Western, I was expecting a lot of similarities when I started this one, but was pleasantly surprised it find this was wholly its own film. I'm also amazed at how good Sergio Leone was at extracting piles of meaning and drama out of silent stares and dialogue-free scenes, such as the beginning when you first meet Angel Eyes, or of course the end showdown. Add in Ennio Morricone's fantastic music and truly memorable performances by Lee van Cleef and especially Eli Wallach and I was glued to the screen pretty much from the go. I can't say enough good things about this movie and I'm sure it's gonna stick with me for a while, something that all good movies should do. 1. Raging Bull - Despite enjoying some sports movies over the years I've never really paid much attention to boxing movies. The Rocky series has escaped my viewing too so those might get added later, but in the meantime I know this one is very highly regarded. Plus... I love DeNiro, and I love Scorsese, but despite thoroughly enjoying Goodfellas and Casino my appreciation has never extended to this particular intersection of their talents. 2. The Seven Samurai - I know it's hugely influential and well-regarded, I just never got around to seeing it. Honestly, I could copy and paste that particular sentiment for basically every movie on here but I've always heard this one stands above a lot of movies as being a shining example of the power of cinema. 3. The Deer Hunter - Another DeNiro gap. I've got a lot of those, I guess! I really enjoy a lot of war movies (Apocalypse Now is probably in my top 5 favorite movies of all time, war or otherwise) and memes and modern jokes aside I am well-aware that Christopher Walken is a fantastic actor. I guess I just always heard rumblings about how hosed up this one was. I guess considering the mindfuckery of some of AN, this shouldn't bother me in the slightest. 4. Once Upon a Time in the West - Yeah, yeah, I know. My enjoyment of westerns, up until now, has been largely modern. Tombstone (it's pulp, but fun pulp), Unforgiven, 3:10 to Yuma (the modern one), True Grit (the modern one  ), Shanghai Noon... ok, not that last one. Still, my experience with older westerns is woefully small. Part of my inspiration to join this cinematic quest of a thread was viewing A Fistful of Dollars, but I know this one is even more highly regarded.5. Vertigo - My father is a massive Hitchcock fan but somehow he never shared this interest with me so I just never got around to seeing most of his movies (with the exception of North by Northwest, which I loved). 6. Napoleon Dynamite - Yeah, this doesn't fit at all with the last 6 films, but I'm trying to make the list a little more varied than well-known epics. I love comedies, I love nonsense, I love stupid poo poo that makes me laugh, and supposedly this movie is all three. This just managed to escape my notice. 7. Magnolia - I honestly don't know if this is considered a "greatest movie" or anything, but I really enjoyed Punch-Drunk Love and was floored by the acting on display in The Master even if I didn't find the story of that one as engaging. PTA movies in general seem to be really up my alley but I've never followed that interest to watching this one. 8. The Bridge on the River Kwai - I will admit it, I've lied about seeing this one just because I know it's so good that I should have seen it. There, I said it. I'm pretty sure I HAVE seen like the first twenty minutes, a long time ago, but I never got a chance to keep going and/or get back to it. 9. A Clockwork Orange - I had a lot of choices to round out the list but I'll go with the one I've heard quoted and referenced so much and seen so not at all. *NEW* 10.Schindler's List - Nazi history is fascinating to me - Rise and Fall of the Third Reich was a thoroughly engrossing read. Plus, I'm a big fan of historical "epics," so there's really no reason why this should be in my unwatched pile. Redeemed self by watching - The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
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Mar 22, 2013 06:02
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I am excited about your future contributions to this thread.
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Mar 22, 2013 06:08
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The Terminator ahl be bahck I could've sworn I'd seen this at some point, but I guess not. It surprised me, mostly, by being really typical and actually kind of pedestrian and resolutely refusing to stand out in its own era (which Repo Man and Robocop are really notable for). Really, Terminator's most interesting feature is Linda Hamilton's weird, mannish, handsome face (I'm just finding out I know her from Dante's Peak, which I watched a lot as a kid) which manages to sell the whole movie. The weirdest part of watching it, though, was that it really bounced off me and I'm having a hard time forming any real thoughts or opinions on it, so here's some things I found interesting: -Punk culture was the best thing to ever happen to crime films and Terminator does a strange thing by both ribbing on them and taking their side (against an autocratical bureaucracy) and then ribbing on them again by deglamorizing the street-punk style in the apocalyptic flash-forwards. -Did the Terminator kill the annoying psychologist and steal car? I'm gonna assume so because he needed to die. -While it's not an overwhelming pop-art masterpiece like Repo Man or Robocop (or Manhunter) I do like Cameron's documentation of an era. There's something really funny about a techno nightclub with diner seats. 6/10 this list is as shameful as michael fassbender's penis 1) The Trial - I've got Orson Welles as my avatar and I still haven't seen like half of his films. 2) The River - I know almost nothing of Jean Renoir. 3) L.A. Confidential - Some kind of Hollywood neo-noir? 4) Stray Dog - More modern-day Kurosawa can't be a bad thing. 5) The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance - I'm weirdly wary of Westerns. 6) Au hasard Balthazar - Something about a donkey? 7) The Phantom Carriage - Apparently a huge influence on Bergman. 8) The Treasure of the Sierra Madre - Another Huston - something about a dam being blown up? I dunno. 9) La Haine - This seems like something I should be obligated to see. 10) The Deer Hunter - weh. Jules et Jim 6/10, Saving Private Ryan 9.5/10, Fitzcarraldo 9/10, The 39 Steps 7/10, Notorious 7/10, Run Lola Run 8/10, Downfall 7.5/10, The Searchers 7.5/10, Tokyo Story 7/10, Gone With The Wind 10/10, Touch Of Evil 9.5/10, Ikiru 7.5/10, The Apartment 7/10, Bicycle Thieves 7/10, Moon 7/10, The Color Purple 7.5/10. The French Connection 9.5/10, The Leopard 8/10, Yojimbo 8.5/10, Sanjuro 8/10, Das Boot 8.5/10, The Conformist 8/10, Breathless 9/10, Where The Wild Things Are 7.5/10, Vertigo 9/10, Raging Bull 10/10, Ordet 7/10, City Of God 9/10, The Wages Of Fear 9/10, Aguirre, The Wrath Of God 9/10, The Mirror 9.5/10, Through A Glass Darkly 10/10, On The Waterfront 6/10, The Straight Story 9/10, Lawrence Of Arabia 8.5/10, Dial M For Murder, 8/10 Winter Light 10/10, The Silence 9/10, Badlands 8/10, The Wrong Man 7/10, In The Mood For Love 9.5/10, Secret Honor 10/10, Gosford Park 10/10, Viridiana 7.5/10, The Exterminating Angel 9/10, Seven Samurai 10/10, Rashomon 9/10, The Godfather: Part II 10/10, La Dolce Vita 10/10, The Princess Bride 9/10, Bringing Up Baby 7/10, City Lights 9/10, Baraka 7/10, Au revior les enfants 8/10, Bonnie And Clyde 6.5, Hiroshima mon amour 8/10, Lost In Translation 10/10, The Piano 8/10, La Strada 7/10, Safety Last! 10/10 Vivre sa vie 9/10, Band Of Outsiders 8/10, Diary Of A Country Priest 7/10, Mommie Dearest 8/10, Once Upon A Time In The West 10/10, L'Atalante 7/10, All About My Mother 7/10, Shoot The Piano Player 8/10, Faces 10/10, The Passion Of Joan Of Arc 10/10, The Wild Bunch 6/10, Harold And Maude see my review, Pink Flamingos 8/10, Heat 10/10, Raising Arizona 7/10, L'Avventura 2/10, Atlantic City 9/10, The Magic Flute 9/10, Cleo From 5 To 7 9/10, Down By Law 10/10, Hoop Dreams 10/10, 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her ż8/10?, La jetée 9/10, Night Of The Living Dead 9/10, Cool Hand Luke 6/10, Pather Panchali 10/10, The Terminator 6/10 (total: 87) Corkscrew gets A Clockwork Orange.
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Mar 23, 2013 02:32
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I think you're really underestimating just how much of that "typical" stuff The Terminator invented.
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Mar 23, 2013 02:35
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I'm entirely certain of it. edit: How's the sequel? I rode the ride at Universal Hollywood once. Magic Hate Ball fucked around with this message at 02:45 on Mar 23, 2013 |
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Mar 23, 2013 02:36
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Terminator and Terminator 2 are both in my top 20 or 30 films ever.
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Mar 23, 2013 02:47
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Hate Ball watch The Trial. Enjoy it. I finally finished Rosemary's Baby, and for some reason it didn't click with me. I wasn't very enthralled with Mia Farrow's performance and the sort-of slow burn never felt tense. The final act was pretty amazing, but that's pretty much it. Glad I finally watched it, at least. Shame List: Downfall: I've owned the DVD of this for years and somehow talked my way out of ever watching it. I don't know why-I've wanted to see it since release, but it always ends up somewhere further down the list. Caché: I own like 7 Haneke films I haven't seen, and I figure I should start with what a lot of people consider his best. I've had it sitting on my bedside movie shelf for months and I'm ready to watch it and put it back with my regular collection. Into the Abyss: I love Herzog (I have a drat Herzog tattoo) but for some reason I've been putting off watching this despite owning it since day of release. The case has been staring at me, disappointed, for like a year now. Suspiria: This is the most disappointing of the Argentos I haven't seen, followed closely by Deep Red: I've tried watching this but it's not a good holy-gently caress-I'm-too-drunk-to-move movie. The Bird with the Crystal Plumage: I swear I've seen Argento films, I've just somehow missed these three main ones. Don't Torture a Duckling: Another classic giallo I've put by the wayside for god knows what reason. Bullitt: I've seen the first 20 minutes like five times, but for some reason have never gotten past that. It's time, dammit. Princess Mononoke: I've always fallen asleep watching this despite being a huge fan of the setting and Miyazaki in general. Horror of Dracula: My knowledge of Hammer films is pretty minimal, but I've heard this is one of the best. I love Christopher Lee, so. Unshamed: The Godfather | Rosemary's Baby
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Mar 23, 2013 02:48
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SEX HAVER 40000 posted:Suspiria: This is the most disappointing of the Argentos I haven't seen, followed closely by Try this one. The Avengers - This was a superhero royal rumble. Some of the action sequences are really impressive and seemingly flawless. It's a little distracting that this is the third different Hulk actor I've seen in the last decade but I guess it doesn't detract from the film that much. Midway through the film the plot shifts as Coulson (the sad man with the trading cards) is killed by Loki. His bloody trading cards are supposedly the inspiration that the superheroes need to continue the fight. This just seemed like some kind of inside joke or something. That's the impetus the superheroes needed? My comic book collection may just save the world! I don't know why Thor and Loki talk in a kind of malformed English dialect. Maybe it's supposed to make them sound older but it doesn't make much sense. It's hard to idolize these superheroes as 75% of the film they're stupidly fighting, bickering and taking shots at one another. If they had been a little more well-adjusted they wouldn't have let a mere mortal with a bow and arrow blow up the S.H.I.E.L.D. ship. I couldn't figure out who those shadowy council members were supposed to be. NWO group or just the White House Cabinet or what? PS that was supposed to be Thanos at the end right? He's my favorite villain and I hope they don't screw him up. also watched: The Rocky Horror Picture Show - Suddenly all the other Tim Curry performances I've seen seem ordinary. When you start a film career with a role like that I think everything else after has to seem pedestrian. The story seems to be an amalgam of 50s alien movies and Frankenstein and also that concept of a couple of people being stranded at a scary mansion (I forget where this originated). The castle has a certain style and atmosphere to it that's interesting. I have a feeling that some will find this film highly annoying e.g. "Let's do the time warp again!" x15 The songs waver between catchy and annoying but it's been a few days and I have ~3-4 still stuck in my head. I didn't know who all those guys were on motorcycles. That's one thing that seemed to be glossed over. Maybe they were Meatloaf's friends. TrixRabbi posted:...but other parts are insufferably long and dull or just unnecessary. Do we really need a whole Father/Son issue subplot? Couldn't we have saved time by writing out the army of the dead? There's just so much that doesn't need to be there. Be glad that you did not see it in the theaters. Imagine having to use the washroom and watching in horror as ~10 "fake endings" occur before the actual real one arrives at what feels the four hour mark. IMDb (244/250 completed): #224 The Perks of Being a Wallflower - The quest to complete the list continues. 3/6/13 #229 Like Stars on Earth - Looks like it has some of the people from "3 Idiots" in it. 3/16/13 #245 The Help - Looked very predictable but I could be wrong. 2/23/13 Academy Award for Best Picture (74/85 completed): 1944 Going My Way - Don't know anything about it. 12/21/12 1938 You Can't Take It with You - More of that star power. 3/13/13 new 1937 The Life of Emile Zola - A boring title for a biopic. 3/22/13 new 1936 The Great Ziegfeld - A slightly less boring title for a biopic. 3/22/13 Procrastination (41/∞ completed): #39 The Birth of a Nation - It's been out almost 100 years. 1/28/13 #43 Dirty Dancing - It's Natalie Portman's favorite movie 3/6/13 #44 Nightbreed - Hellraiser is one of my favorites in the genre so I should see another directed by Clive Barker. 3/6/13 Magic Hate Ball posted:Did the Terminator kill the annoying psychologist and steal car? No, terminators don't go out of their way to kill non-targets. If you don't get in their way you'll be ignored. Magic Hate Ball posted:edit: How's the sequel? A worthwhile sequel in almost every aspect. Improved CGI and flipping the story and characters around while still feeling fresh (something the third film had trouble with). Magic Hate Ball posted:It surprised me, mostly, by being really typical and actually kind of pedestrian and resolutely refusing to stand out in its own era (which Repo Man and Robocop are really notable for). What still sticks out about that one is the perfect pacing and the way that shootout scene at the police station was edited. The Terminator vision (red tint with flashing numbers) amongst other things. Zogo fucked around with this message at 04:51 on Mar 23, 2013 |
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Mar 23, 2013 04:47
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Magic Hate Ball posted:I am excited about your future contributions to this thread. Thanks! After seeing your list, I kind of want to wait on my next review until after yours so I can be the one to recommend LA Confidential to you.  I won't, though! We'll just see where the chips fall.
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Mar 23, 2013 05:18
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Hulu has 24 Kurosawa films up for free, but only through tomorrow.
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Mar 23, 2013 17:35
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Zogo, watch Birth of a Nation because it's the most important film on your list. Days of Heaven - The cinematography in this film is perfect - PERFECT. I don't throw that word around too often. This is one of the most visually perfect movies I've ever had the pleasure of watching. The gorgeous Criterion Blu-Ray transfer didn't hurt, but it's Malick's eye for beautiful compositions that makes it happen. But that's not solely where the greatness of this movie lies. The music, the story, the acting, the editing - they all contribute to that difficult-to-define quality that makes a movie stand out just a bit from all the other great movies out there. Like Malick's other work, there's a delicate poetry coursing through this film's veins. It gives you a feeling of deep emotional resonance, and you don't even know why. That's the sign of a masterpiece, and Days of Heaven is most definitely that. This is one of the best movies I've ever seen. 98/100 My list: Les enfants du paradis - I don't particularly care for mimes but I'll give this a shot. Ordet - I love Dreyer. The Conformist - I've only seen a couple Bertolucci films and this appears much different from either of them. Jules et Jim - Some more Truffaut will do me good. I've only seen The 400 Blows. Contempt - I've seen Breathless and Band of Outsiders and was fairly "meh" about them both. Let's see if Godard can wow me this time. The Earrings of Madame de... - I recently watched Letter From an Unknown Woman and adored it, so more Ophuls seems appropriate. L'Age d'Or - Time for some more Bunuel. Late Spring - If this is as good as Tokyo Story I'll be happy. Five Easy Pieces - Looks great. I need to see more early Jack Nicholson films. Greed - One of the most famous silents I haven't seen. Whoever picks this will need to recommend which cut to watch.
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Mar 24, 2013 01:52
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jonnykungfu posted:This is a slightly old post, but I'd like to encourage you to keep going with Bela Tarr. The Turin Horse is absolutely the worst place to start with him, and Werckmeister is much more accessible, though still slow-paced and bleak. I just think he's one of the most powerful visual storytellers, and while the Turin Horse is my favorite of his films (and one of my favorite films ever), it's definitely something you need to work your way towards. It's an extreme film, and a portrait of pure, uncompromising bleakness, whereas Werckmeister is much more full of life, with interesting and complex tracking shots and stunning visuals. Bela Tarr is definitely an acquired taste. I recommend watching it alone, in the dark, on a night when you have patience and free time in case you need a break. I warn you though, once you get into this style of film-making, it's hard to go back. Appreciate the feedback! Yea that seems to be the clear cut answer. I can respect Tarr's filmmaking and long takes and all of that - it's that 2.5hrs of minimal narrative and absolute bleakness that wore me out and was not prepared for it. I didn't mention earlier that it was day 6 of the film festival which may have had something to do with it too? Regardless it's all excuses - I've since ordered Werckmeister off amazon and will give Bela Tarr another shot. Also, I've learned now to not put any more long films on the SHAME list. It's impossible to find a 4hr window of time to set aside and watch it without being interrupted! I was going strong in this thread and Lawrence of Arabia brought it to a screeching halt. 
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Mar 24, 2013 02:53
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caiman, it shouldn't come as much surprise to say that I've never seen a single film on your list. That said, having looked over some brief synopses of them, Contempt sounds the most intriguing to me, so that's what you're gonna watch! A Clockwork Orange - absorbed. It's been a couple hours since I finished this one and I'm still sorting my thoughts out. My first reaction, out loud no less, when the credits started rolling was "Well... that sure was something." Like my last movie, I went into this almost totally blind. I was vaguely aware of what the movie was about and that it was a Kubrick film (I really enjoyed both Full Metal Jacket and The Shining), but if you asked me to give a synopsis prior to watch it, it would have amounted to "Weird British dude beats some people up and then some other poo poo happens. Oh yeah and it's the future." I will readily admit that the movie almost lost me in the early going. I know some people see the pre-incarceration Alex scenes as iconic and wacky and just over-the-top-ridiculous-fun-whatever but for some reason they just weren't engaging for me. I actually kind of feel the same way about FMJ - the second half definitely resonates more with me than the first. The only scene that really stuck with me was the rape scene, which turned out to be fortuitous. Once Alex was incarcerated and subject to the whims out those around him rather than subjecting those around him to his own, and especially once the treatment started, that's when poo poo got uncomfortable... in a good way. Not unlike Alex, I found myself disturbed and yet unable to take my eyes away. After his release, when he started to get his comeuppance, I began to understand the early parts of the film better: that the humor and lighthearted nature of his violent acts seemed to be a means to draw the viewer in, if not for empathy than at least some form of complicity. Watching Alex beat up a two helpless people while jovially crooning Singing in the Rain, most people are going to laugh at the absurdity, and in a way by not being completely horrified at what you're seeing, is there not some measure (however small) of condoning? Conversely, when Alex gets his (deserved?) comeuppance after his release, having his crimes revisited upon him, one can hardly take pleasure considering the circumstances. It's this sort of weird backwards morality or whatever you want to call it that really engaged me, I think. It's still gonna take me some time to fully digest what I saw and there'll probably be some impolite burps along the way but, really, isn't that the mark of a great movie? I certainly didn't walk out of the theater after seeing like Transformers going "HOLY poo poo THAT WAS DEEP" 1. Raging Bull - Despite enjoying some sports movies over the years I've never really paid much attention to boxing movies. The Rocky series has escaped my viewing too so those might get added later, but in the meantime I know this one is very highly regarded. Plus... I love DeNiro, and I love Scorsese, but despite thoroughly enjoying Goodfellas and Casino my appreciation has never extended to this particular intersection of their talents. 2. The Seven Samurai - I know it's hugely influential and well-regarded, I just never got around to seeing it. Honestly, I could copy and paste that particular sentiment for basically every movie on here but I've always heard this one stands above a lot of movies as being a shining example of the power of cinema. 3. The Deer Hunter - Another DeNiro gap. I've got a lot of those, I guess! I really enjoy a lot of war movies (Apocalypse Now is probably in my top 5 favorite movies of all time, war or otherwise) and memes and modern jokes aside I am well-aware that Christopher Walken is a fantastic actor. I guess I just always heard rumblings about how hosed up this one was. I guess considering the mindfuckery of some of AN, this shouldn't bother me in the slightest. 4. Once Upon a Time in the West - Yeah, yeah, I know. My enjoyment of westerns, up until now, has been largely modern. Tombstone (it's pulp, but fun pulp), Unforgiven, 3:10 to Yuma (the modern one), True Grit (the modern one ), Shanghai Noon... ok, not that last one. Still, my experience with older westerns is woefully small. Part of my inspiration to join this cinematic quest of a thread was viewing A Fistful of Dollars, but I know this one is even more highly regarded.5. Vertigo - My father is a massive Hitchcock fan but somehow he never shared this interest with me so I just never got around to seeing most of his movies (with the exception of North by Northwest, which I loved). 6. Napoleon Dynamite - Yeah, this doesn't fit at all with the last 6 films, but I'm trying to make the list a little more varied than well-known epics. I love comedies, I love nonsense, I love stupid poo poo that makes me laugh, and supposedly this movie is all three. This just managed to escape my notice. 7. Magnolia - I honestly don't know if this is considered a "greatest movie" or anything, but I really enjoyed Punch-Drunk Love and was floored by the acting on display in The Master even if I didn't find the story of that one as engaging. PTA movies in general seem to be really up my alley but I've never followed that interest to watching this one. 8. The Bridge on the River Kwai - I will admit it, I've lied about seeing this one just because I know it's so good that I should have seen it. There, I said it. I'm pretty sure I HAVE seen like the first twenty minutes, a long time ago, but I never got a chance to keep going and/or get back to it. 9. Schindler's List - Nazi history is fascinating to me - Rise and Fall of the Third Reich was a thoroughly engrossing read. Plus, I'm a big fan of historical "epics," so there's really no reason why this should be in my unwatched pile. *NEW* 10. Barton Fink - I am a loving nutcase for the Coen Brothers. I've seen most of their movies more times than I can count and given an arbitrary rating scale I'd give all of them 11/10 because whatever it is they do just works for me like clockwork almost every time. Somehow I never got around to this one. This should be remedied! Redeemed self by watching - The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, A Clockwork Orange
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Mar 24, 2013 04:33
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Corkscrew I'm going to give you Napoleon Dynamite with the warning that it's pretty dumb. I though it was great when I was in middle school though, so  .Blade Runner: The Final Cut was a very dark film, in more than one way, and an exercise in suspension of disbelief for me. Dark in both the dystopian setting, and cinematography (which was pretty cool). An exercise in suspension of disbelief in the pseudoscience they use to try to explain replicants (I'm a Microbiology major.). Above all though, it was thought provoking film. The main questions it raised for me was what it is to be human, and the desire to live and keep your memories alive. In fact, all the media I've interacted with this past week seems to deal with the concept of memories and wanting them to live on. In Planescape: Torment (video game) this was central to the plot at many points, in Journey to Aghartha it was less important, and in this movie it appeared to be the primary character motivation for the main antagonist. The replicants have borne witness to things they don't have any emotional basis to place, and often appear childlike in their emotions, but the need for those things to be remembered is clear. This childlike state was also important in understanding what I think the film has to say on what it is to be human and why the replicants have such a short lifespan by design. The replicants near the end of their life are more human, and more dangerous, because they have experience dealing with emotions and are attempting to place themselves in society. The solution to this is to experimentally give some replicants false memories, so they have a place and won't take the dangerous path of trying to find their own. What then separates replicants from humans if they have that? Not a lot. There's lots more, and I don't feel like I effectively communicated my thoughts on this movie, so I'll go read some reviews and I might edit this later. What was with the unicorn though? The List of Shame: The Bridge on the River Kwai: All the other goons have it on their lists, that must make it a classic. Boondock Saints: I got this moviefor $3.00 at a library sale a while ago and I haven't gotten around to seeing it. Should I? Enter the Dragon: I was reading this thread and realized that I too have never seen a Bruce Lee movie. Se7en: Detectives looking for a serial killer and it has Morgan Freeman. I really should've seen this by now. The American Astronaut: Goons in the "I saw a film" thread seem to like this one. The Godfather pt. 2: I think I had this on my list before but it got replaced by a mixup. In any case, I saw the first one and thought it wrapped up well enough I never felt the need to watch this. Was I wrong? Lost in Translation: I should see more films with Bill Murray, and other goons in this thread seemed to enjoy it. A Fistful of Dollars: Completing the Trilogy! Space Mutiny (MST3K): Not sure if this counts as a movie really, but although I've seen bits and pieces of various Mystery Science Theater 3000 scenes, I've never seen a full MST3k movie track. This one seemed like a good introduction. The Elephant Man: One of my friends was in a single-man play type thing of this some years back, so a movie adaptation seems cool. De-shamed(10): The Thin Red Line(8/10), Casablanca(9/10), Lawrence of Arabia(9.5/10), For a Few Dollars More(7.5/10), Goodfellas (4/10), The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly (7.5/10), Stalker (8/10), Battleship Potemkin (6/10), Starship Troopers (6.5/10), Blade Runner (7.5/10)
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Mar 24, 2013 23:25
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Ixtlilton, while I was tempted to recommend Seven, The Godfather Part 2 is too good not to have seen. I'd be very surprised if, after seeing it, you still felt like the original was enough. Napoleon Dynamite - Yikes. My gut reaction when I originally added it to the list was that it wasn't going to live up to a lot of the other titles on the list but I figured it was worth seeing anyway if only for the amount of times poo poo from it was quoted to me. After all, quotable movies are great, right? Right? Ugh. I slogged my way through the first 40 minutes of the movie and finally turned it off. I laughed like three times and otherwise just felt like I wasn't getting it at all. Everyone was a caricature and no one was relatable. Maybe I'm judging it too harshly, I dunno. It just felt like a series of short gags that got cobbled together into a movie and it wasn't working for me at all. This one was a redemption only in the sense that now I can say that I tried! 1. Raging Bull - Despite enjoying some sports movies over the years I've never really paid much attention to boxing movies. The Rocky series has escaped my viewing too so those might get added later, but in the meantime I know this one is very highly regarded. Plus... I love DeNiro, and I love Scorsese, but despite thoroughly enjoying Goodfellas and Casino my appreciation has never extended to this particular intersection of their talents. 2. The Seven Samurai - I know it's hugely influential and well-regarded, I just never got around to seeing it. Honestly, I could copy and paste that particular sentiment for basically every movie on here but I've always heard this one stands above a lot of movies as being a shining example of the power of cinema. 3. The Deer Hunter - Another DeNiro gap. I've got a lot of those, I guess! I really enjoy a lot of war movies (Apocalypse Now is probably in my top 5 favorite movies of all time, war or otherwise) and memes and modern jokes aside I am well-aware that Christopher Walken is a fantastic actor. I guess I just always heard rumblings about how hosed up this one was. I guess considering the mindfuckery of some of AN, this shouldn't bother me in the slightest. 4. Once Upon a Time in the West - Yeah, yeah, I know. My enjoyment of westerns, up until now, has been largely modern. Tombstone (it's pulp, but fun pulp), Unforgiven, 3:10 to Yuma (the modern one), True Grit (the modern one ), Shanghai Noon... ok, not that last one. Still, my experience with older westerns is woefully small. Part of my inspiration to join this cinematic quest of a thread was viewing A Fistful of Dollars, but I know this one is even more highly regarded.5. Vertigo - My father is a massive Hitchcock fan but somehow he never shared this interest with me so I just never got around to seeing most of his movies (with the exception of North by Northwest, which I loved). 6. Magnolia - I honestly don't know if this is considered a "greatest movie" or anything, but I really enjoyed Punch-Drunk Love and was floored by the acting on display in The Master even if I didn't find the story of that one as engaging. PTA movies in general seem to be really up my alley but I've never followed that interest to watching this one. 7. The Bridge on the River Kwai - I will admit it, I've lied about seeing this one just because I know it's so good that I should have seen it. There, I said it. I'm pretty sure I HAVE seen like the first twenty minutes, a long time ago, but I never got a chance to keep going and/or get back to it. 8. Schindler's List - Nazi history is fascinating to me - Rise and Fall of the Third Reich was a thoroughly engrossing read. Plus, I'm a big fan of historical "epics," so there's really no reason why this should be in my unwatched pile. 9. Barton Fink - I am a loving nutcase for the Coen Brothers. I've seen most of their movies more times than I can count and given an arbitrary rating scale I'd give all of them 11/10 because whatever it is they do just works for me like clockwork almost every time. Somehow I never got around to this one. This should be remedied! 10. 12 Angry Men - Glengarry Glen Ross is one of my all-time favorites so I'm already pretty positively inclined towards talky plays being turned into talky movies. Redeemed self by watching - The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly, A Clockwork Orange Failed to complete - Napoleon Dynamite Corkscrew fucked around with this message at 00:05 on Mar 26, 2013 |
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Mar 25, 2013 04:53
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Your reading of Napoleon Dynamite is pretty much correct. The plot is minimal, and it's really just a series sketches showing how Napoleon relates to his family and friends. I think you probably should have watched it through to the end, but don't feel bad if you didn't like it. It is a very divisive movie, and I believe it broke Netflix's recommendation algorithm.
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Mar 25, 2013 15:34
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Corkscrew you get my obligatory Kurosawa pick, so enjoy Seven Samurai. Also no more walkouts mister.  Le Cercle Rouge(1970) by Jean-Pierre Melville With Alain Delon, Bourvil, Gian Maria Volonté, and Yves Montand  Corey(Alain Delon) is a cool, aristocratic thief, released from prison on the same day that Vogel(Gian Maria Volonté), a murderer, escapes from the custody of the patient Mattei(Bourvil), a cat-loving police superintendent. That police superintendent really likes his cats. You get two scenes of him solely greeting and feeding his big fat cats. Seems kinda pointless, to dedicate almost 5 minutes to just feeding cats, but the fact that this character goes out of his way to go feed his house pets, solely makes him the only character in this very cold and austere film, that approaches something resembling human emotions. The only other one is Yves Montand retired cop turned criminal character, who has the "shakes" and visions of several creepy animals and insects crawling around him. When he cleans up his act and becomes more like his restrained and emotionless crime partners, he says "I've locked the beasts away". Though the animals show two very different things, for the policeman his cats are happiness, for the criminal those creepy crawlers are scary, the appearance of animal avatars both make these characters feel something, making them distinct from the emotionless, but quite handsome, Corey and his friend Vogel. I'm not sure where I'm going with this, it just sort of reminded me of Melville's other minimalist film with Alain Delon, Le Samurai where the lonely and emotionally trapped Jeff Costello has that caged bird, making it his only company and a peculiar reminder of his own life. Anyway, I wasn't really all that thrilled by the film, despite being really well made and having a killer heist scene(even if it's a "remake" from another film). It was just too cold and austere for my liking, making me not really care for what was going on. After awhile I also couldn't really shake the feeling that I was simply watching a bunch of 50's French noir films all rolled up into one. Lots of trenchcoats,brief nudity, jazz soundtrack, dingy bars in Montmartre, and French dudes making smoking really cool. Makes the whole thing feel tired, "been there done that" sort of affair. 68(Okay) SHAME Part III: Rome, Open City Early Italian Neo-Realism. To be or Not to Be Ernst Lubitsch comedy about them nazis. The Great Silence A Western of the spaghetti variety. Delicious. Winchester '73 James Stewart and the Old Wild West. Black Narcissus Powell & Pressburger and Nuns. The Lady Eve Screwball comedy with the awesome Barbara Stanwyck and...Henry Fonda? Can Henry Fonda even do comedy? A Foreign Affair Billy Wilder Romeo + Juliet(1996) Oh dear What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? How camp is this exactly? Simon of the Desert Luis Buńuel in 45 minutes. Have watched so far 48 movies: Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, Fallen Angels, The Shop Around the Corner, La Strada, Little Dieter Needs to Fly, Rescue Dawn, All About My Mother, Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, The Long Goodbye, Vampyr, Mon Oncle, The Exterminating Angel, Jules et Jim, Sorcerer, The Darjeeling Limited, Close-up, Arsenic and Old Lace, The Host, Zelig, Koyaanisqatsi, Young Mr. Lincoln, The Last Picture Show, Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, The Killer, Anatomy of a Murder, The Trouble with Harry, Don't Look Now, L'Atalante, Cache, The Leopard, Steamboat Bill, Jr., Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, Dancer in the Dark, How Green Was My Valley, Vivre sa Vie, Harvey, The Earrings of Madame de..., The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp, Tokyo Drifter, The Player, Intolerable Cruelty, The Insider, Late Spring, Munich, Juliet of the Spirits, Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, La Chienne, Le Cercle Rouge
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Mar 25, 2013 18:36
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Electronico, you've given me ten movies I've never heard of to choose from. Random number generator says The Lady Eve. Blue Velvet is something I never expected to be able to say about a David Lynch movie: Mediocre. Okay, maybe that's harsh, but this movie was a straight mystery pic without the mind-bending weirdness typical of Lynch. There were a few parts that stood out (the rape scene, obviously- Dennis Hopper played a perfect deranged sadist), but it's a pretty by-the-book story that I don't think will stick in my head the way other Lynch works have. There are some great performances, I guess: Rossellini's vulnerability is powerful, but on the other hand Jeffrey drifts around the story with minimal motivation but curiosity. I'll give it a thumbs up because I was engaged the whole time, but I don't think I'm going to remember much of it. I think Lynch was trying for some sort of ironic commentary about the dark side of suburban life, but so what? It's been done. Maybe my standards are high considering how striking Mulholland Drive was. Blue Velvet is sort of the opposite, though. In MH, I didn't understand what was going on but was fascinated for every second. In BV, I understood what was going on fine, but I didn't much care. Rating: 3/4 66. Dr. Zhivago- For the historical epic slot, we move from sand to snow. Also, more WWI, this time from the Russian perspective, which I like even more. 75. Tokyo Story- What is this? I have no idea what this is, but I keep seeing it on best of lists. 77. Leaving Las Vegas- Like I said, I've always liked Nick Cage, so let's see his Oscar performance. 81. Irreversible- This is supposed to be really disturbing. I got a few minutes in a while back, but had to stop because the weird camera angles and flashing lights were making my wife sick. 83. Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang- So, I don't know. This is like - a noir, but not a noir? A parody, kind of but not really? Robert Downey Jr.? I'm confused, but I'm told I'll like it. 84. Lost Weekend- Ben Franklin from 1776 gets really drunk. Sure, why not? 86. Big Trouble in Little China- Wait, this is by John Carpenter? I love John Carpenter! How have I missed this? 87. Out of Africa- I have seen this once, but all I remember is being really bored. But I was younger then, and my tastes weren't as developed, so I'm willing to give it another try. 88. American Psycho- You know the meme, now watch the movie! Okay, tell me what I’m watching! Shame relieved: The Godfather: 3.5/4, The Godfather Part II: 4/4, Taxi Driver: 4/4, Casablanca: 4/4, Duck Soup: 2/4, Pulp Fiction: 4/4, Barton Fink: 3.5/4, Annie Hall:3/4, Rashomon: 4/4, Blade Runner: 3.5/4, Chinatown: 4/4, Nashville: 3.5/4, Goodfellas: 4/4, The Seven Samurai: 4/4, Superman: 2/4, The Exorcist: 3/4, A Face in the Crowd: 3.5/4, The Seventh Seal: 2.5/4, Treasure of the Sierra Madre: 3.5/4, Apocalypse Now: 4/4, 2001: A Space Odyssey: 2.5/4, The Deer Hunter: 3/4, Schindler's List: 4/4, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari: 3/4, Young Frankenstein: 3.5/4, Yojimbo: 3.5/4, Brazil: 3.5/4, Hamlet: 4/4, The Aviator: 4/4, Rocky: 3.5/4, Gandhi: 3.5/4, City Lights: 4/4, Battleship Potemkin: 3.5/4, Predator: 3/4, Easy Rider: 1.5/4, Platoon: 3.5/4, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid: 4/4, Get Carter: 3.5/4, Full Metal Jacket: 4/4, My Dinner with Andre: 4/4, Lethal Weapon: 3/4, 3 Women: 4/4, Ikiru: 4/4, The Maltese Falcon: 2.5/4, Midnight Cowboy: 3/4, Gattaca: 4/4, Gone with the Wind: 3/4, Jaws: 4/4, The Bicycle Thief: 3/4, Sophie's Choice: 2/4, On the Waterfront: 4/4, North by Northwest: 3.5/4, Stagecoach: 3.5/4, E.T.: 2/4, Nosferatu: 4/4, Lawrence of Arabia: 4/4, Dirty Harry: 1/4, Vertigo: 3.5/4, Rebecca: 4/4, The Pink Panther: 3/4, Children of Men: 4/4, Wings of Desire: 3/4, Metropolis: 3.5/4, Born on the Fourth of July: 4/4, The Bridge on the River Kwai: 3.5/4, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind: 4/4, Being John Malkovich: 3/4, Adaptation: 4/4, Bonnie and Clyde: 4/4, Goldfinger: 3/4, A Streetcar Named Desire: 4/4, Dog Day Afternoon: 3.5/4, Leon: The Professional: 4/4, 8 1/2: 3/4, Mulholland Drive: 4/4, 12 Angry Men: 4/4, Safety Last: 3.5/4, Dogville: 4/4, The Rapture: 2/4, Blue Velvet: 3/4 Jurgan fucked around with this message at 06:27 on Apr 13, 2013 |
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Mar 25, 2013 19:47
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Jurgan posted:
It's a tough sit, but I'd argue it's worth it. Checked back and realized it's been two years since I last looked at this thread. I was last assigned 42nd Street, which I saw a few months ago and thought was absolutely delightful. Everything that Busby Berkley did with the musical in the 1930s was perfect for the era- a little social commentary, a little comedy, a whole lot of dancing and singing. Grade: 94/A Updated list: 1. Anything by Rainer Werner Fassbinder- Tell me where to start, CineD. 2. Silent era: The Big Parade- I own it on video, so watching would be easy, but… 3. 1930s: The 39 Steps- a lot of people consider this to be Hitch's first great movie, so I should probably check it out. 4. 1940s: Mildred Pierce- I loved Casablanca and The Adventures of Robin Hood, couldn’t stand Yankee Doodle Dandy, and feel that I need to see more Michael Curtiz. How about this supposed masterpiece that Todd Haynes is remaking for HBO with Kate Winslet. Also: I’ve never seen a Joan Crawford film. 5. 1950s: The Bad and the Beautiful- Another cynical melodrama about showbiz? Sounds good. 6. 1960s: The Umbrellas of Cherbourg- Love musicals, so why not check out a French New Wave one? 7. 1970s: The Harder they Come- I love the soundtrack, so I should probably actually watch the drat thing. 8. 1980s: Burden of Dreams- I love Fitzcarraldo, so I should probably watch its companion piece. 9. 1990s: Kundun- I never had much interest, but, well, it is Scorsese, and my library has a copy, so why not? 10. 2000s: Talk to Her- I’ve only seen one of Almodovar’s films, Volver, and I liked that very much. I’ve heard universally terrific things about this one. Finally seen: The Searchers (A), Pather Panchali (B+), The Sting (A-), Ran (A), The Great Dictator (A-), Fitzcarraldo (A), Badlands (A), Time Bandits (A-), Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (A), The Apartment (A), The Last Waltz (A-), City Lights (A), Modern Times (A), Broken Blossoms (B), The Gold Rush (A-), The General (A-), Grave of the Fireflies (A), Red River (A), Koyaanisqatsi (B), American Graffiti (A), The Kingdom (B), Adventures of Robin Hood (A-), La Dolce Vita (A), Sherlock Jr. (B+), Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker’s Apocalypse (A-), In the Mood for Love (A-), Hoop Dreams (A), Swimming to Cambodia (A-), The Purple Rose of Cairo (A), The Right Stuff (A), Orpheus (B+), The Manchurian Candidate (A-), Little Caesar (B+), The Battle of Algiers (A-), Yi Yi (A), Shane (A), All About Eve (B-), Cries and Whispers (A), Prizzi’s Honor (A-), Cabaret (A), All That Jazz (A), I Am a Fugitive on a Chain Gang (A-), 42nd Street (94/A)
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Mar 25, 2013 20:05
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CopywrightMMXI posted:Your reading of Napoleon Dynamite is pretty much correct. The plot is minimal, and it's really just a series sketches showing how Napoleon relates to his family and friends. I think you probably should have watched it through to the end, but don't feel bad if you didn't like it. It is a very divisive movie, and I believe it broke Netflix's recommendation algorithm. Electronico6 posted:Corkscrew you get my obligatory Kurosawa pick, so enjoy Seven Samurai. Also no more walkouts mister. Hey, I tried! It just bored me to tears. I'm not even sure why because I enjoy dumb comedy (40 Year Old Virgin, Kung Pao: Enter the First) and sketch comedy (Mr. Show, Kids in the Hall, Upright Citizens Brigade). This one was just a big swing and a miss for me. After reading up on the thread I had a feeling if anyone was going to recommend a Kurosawa film to me it'd be you. This one I've been looking forward to.
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Mar 25, 2013 21:50
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Corkscrew posted:Hey, I tried! It just bored me to tears. I'm afraid that you're cheating the system!  A few in the thread have begged and pleaded to get off the hook of an assigned movie but they haven't counted it as being watched after ejecting the movie. It seems as though the contingency plan must be initiated. We may have to send the shame game police to your domicile to finish this assignment.
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Mar 25, 2013 23:08
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Personally, I don't consider a movie to be watched unless I finish it. There are a small handful of films I turned off with less than a half hour left that I refuse to rate on Criticker.
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Mar 26, 2013 00:00
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That's fair. I'll create a second category at the end of my post for my failures. I don't want to come in the thread and be all "F YOUR RULES THIS poo poo SUCKS" so, additionally, I'll give it another serious attempt either before or after I watch The Seven Samurai.
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Mar 26, 2013 00:05
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caiman posted:Personally, I don't consider a movie to be watched unless I finish it. There are a small handful of films I turned off with less than a half hour left that I refuse to rate on Criticker. Yea, me neither. Going way back I've probably had five or so rentals that I didn't finish for various reasons. I should add those onto my shame list at some point. My latest question is whether or not watching a film fullscreen should count as a "true viewing." With the advent of HDTVs and widespread availability of proper aspect ratios the answer would seem to be no. So there's a decent amount of classics I've only seen on VHS in the 90s that I'll need to rewatch at some point. Corkscrew posted:...I'll give it another serious attempt either before or after I watch The Seven Samurai. Once in a while I run into a movie I hate and I'll just keep breaking it up into small 10-15 minute chunks like I'm taking bitter medicine or something.
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Mar 26, 2013 00:14
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Zogo posted:Yea, me neither. Going way back I've probably had five or so rentals that I didn't finish for various reasons. I should add those onto my shame list at some point. My latest question is whether or not watching a film fullscreen should count as a "true viewing." With the advent of HDTVs and widespread availability of proper aspect ratios the answer would seem to be no. So there's a decent amount of classics I've only seen on VHS in the 90s that I'll need to rewatch at some point. Very interesting point. I would also say no, they shouldn't count. At least not the ones where cropping occurred.
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Mar 26, 2013 00:26
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meanmikhail don't take a year to watch The 39 Steps. The Lady Eve(1941) by Preston Sturges With Barbara Stanwyck and Henry Fonda  Returning from a year up the Amazon studying snakes, the rich but unsophisticated Charles Pike(Henry Fonda) meets con-artist Jean Harrington(Barbara Stanwyck) on a ship. Can Henry Fonda even do comedy? Well maybe he can, in some other film, cause in this one he just plays the most straight doltish man on Earth, whose sole function is to be dazed and confused at the sight of Barbara Stanwyck, and trip around furniture. It's not funny. It's actually pretty bad. Made me wish for Cary Grant, or even James Stewart, so the character could have some actual character. It's the same poo poo as the other 1941 Stanwyck film Ball of Fire, where again you have Barbara Stanwyck as some sex-god, and Gary Cooper as a concrete slab, who trips around furniture. The whole thing resolves around these (1940's)mal-adjusted men in social life pitted against a (1940's)sexual liberated woman, they go through silly stuff, in the end find love and get married. It's all inoffensive at the end of the day, but kinda dry too. Guess I'm deriding what essentially is the point of the film, but eh, not my thing. Barbara Stancywck is wonderful, and there were several scenes in the early part of the film that were really good, but it all goes downhill quickly, and it became a painful slog to go through. At some point there's a scene with a loud fat man banging silverware dishes and shouting for breakfast. I think it's suppose to be funny. The last 20 minutes made very little sense, and then it simply stops in a catastrophic bad ending. 65(Only because of Stanwyck) SHAME Part III: Rome, Open City Early Italian Neo-Realism. To be or Not to Be Ernst Lubitsch comedy about them nazis. The Great Silence A Western of the spaghetti variety. Delicious. Winchester '73 James Stewart and the Old Wild West. Black Narcissus Powell & Pressburger and Nuns. A Foreign Affair Billy Wilder Romeo + Juliet(1996) Oh dear What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? How camp is this exactly? Simon of the Desert Luis Buńuel in 45 minutes. Primer PrimerTimeline.jpg Have watched so far 49 movies: Star Trek III: The Search for Spock, Fallen Angels, The Shop Around the Corner, La Strada, Little Dieter Needs to Fly, Rescue Dawn, All About My Mother, Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home, The Long Goodbye, Vampyr, Mon Oncle, The Exterminating Angel, Jules et Jim, Sorcerer, The Darjeeling Limited, Close-up, Arsenic and Old Lace, The Host, Zelig, Koyaanisqatsi, Young Mr. Lincoln, The Last Picture Show, Star Trek V: The Final Frontier, The Killer, Anatomy of a Murder, The Trouble with Harry, Don't Look Now, L'Atalante, Cache, The Leopard, Steamboat Bill, Jr., Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country, Dancer in the Dark, How Green Was My Valley, Vivre sa Vie, Harvey, The Earrings of Madame de..., The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp, Tokyo Drifter, The Player, Intolerable Cruelty, The Insider, Late Spring, Munich, Juliet of the Spirits, Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World, La Chienne, Le Cercle Rouge, The Lady Eve
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Mar 26, 2013 22:57
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