Favourite Movies?

POSTED BY: p1nkispunk
UPDATED: Saturday, April 2, 2005 08:44
VIEWED: 18220
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RAT

Monday, March 28, 2005 6:45 AM

Five already mentioned in this thread:
The Princess Bride
A Knights Tale
The Rocketeer
The Court Jester
Office Space

And five more:
Gigantic (A Tale of Two Johns)
Iron Monkey
Life is Beautiful
That Thing You Do!
The Inspector General

-Ratboy

CALIGARI

Monday, March 28, 2005 6:54 AM

There are moments in film viewing that transend experience, where one feels that one is not just watching a Really Big Screen with teevee fodder on it, but Art, composed _for_ theatrical viewing, and not just watching galloping tintypes on a section of sheet. That, for me, was watching _Lawrence of Arabia_, right after they restored it and replaced the missing footage, back inthe '80's. That was _the_ moment that film stopped being a fun distraction, stopped being Going To The Movies, akin to video games and _A-Team_ reruns, and started to be Something More. This was Poetry. This was Art.

Of course, at the time, I had no particular knowledge of what this More was. Sure, critics would go on about films being bad or good, and they would talk about other films that I had no idea what they were, so I merely assumed that the critics were being smart-asses. "Hey, look at me! I saw movies that you never heard of, and _that's_ why I'm qualified to say _Lost Boys_ sucks on ice!" I liked _Lost Boys_ when it first came out, but for the sake of originality, and I still stand by that. But the critics were mostly right. Something was missing in my filmviewing. What was it?

Spielberg, as always, satisfied my needs. I heard that he liked _Seven Samurai_, some Japanese movie that _Magnificent Seven_ was based on, and it was a movie that the critics seemed to like as well. I'd seen the Western, so I thought I'd see the Eastern. Mostly, I didn't get it. It especially spooked my young sensibilities to see Mifune's bare ass bopping about the last third of the film. That's scary stuff to a fifteen year old. But over a few years, it grew on me, and now I Get It. The World thinks in the same flm language that We do. Which, at the time, makes them less Alien to me.

The Japanese thing got into my blood, and I quickly found that they were doing animation a hell of a lot better than anything on teevee, and in some cases, better than Disney, which is like hearing about a new and better Jesus in some circles. One of the best films was _Akira_, which took my Hanna-Barbera views and trod upon them. I still haven't gotten over that.

A writer of some note called David J Schow had a collumn in _Fangoria_ Magazine. I knew his work at the crest of the splatterpunk scene, but the collumn rarely had anything to do with that. In one collumn, he mentioned a Hong Kong filmmaker called John Woo, who was Something Special. At the time, I was working as a video clerk for Tower Records, and it just so happened that there was a single copy of a subtitled edition of _The Killer_ on the shelf. I took it home and watched it. It was the first time that I shed tears of genuine emotion over an action sequence, and not because of the poetry of the sequence, but because of the _emotional content_ of the sequence, and rare thing those days, and these in filmed scenes of violence.

There is a certain romance in the Beauty of Ordinary Things. Many films feel a need to push plot forward without taking time to hang about and enjoy folks hanging about the sidelines, or even, allowing the filmmaker to interject interesting things into the narrative, just because it can be done. _Amelie_ is a film akin to Steinbeck's _Cannery Row_; a life-affirming tale told of regular individuals who have irregular ways of living life, but live fully they do. I read _Cannery Row_ every other month, and watch _Amelie_ every other other month....

Once upon a time, my parents took me out of school. I was healthy and fine and living in the mid-70's. There was no particular reason for me to be kept from school at the time. I got tossed into the back seat of the car and we three drove off one Thursday in mid-spring, on a _school_ day, ferfuckssake! We ended up at a theater in Century City, I believe. I'd never gone to a movie in the daytime, in all of my eight years; half the time it was drive-ins to see _Pink Panther_ sequels or Disney flicks, once it was to see _Fantasia_ in my first sit-down inside theater, which mostly went over my head. But this, t

KINGOFKOINS

Monday, March 28, 2005 7:00 AM

The Killer(1989) - John Woo's greatest achievement, and still something that will always get to me.

The Seven Samurai(1954) - The greatest film ever made.

The Maltese Falcon(1941) - I love Sam Spade so gorramn much.

Rainy Dog(1997) - Rain is pretty. And evil, apparently.

Double Indemnity(1944) - Nobody writes dialogue better than Billy Wilder.

Shaun of the Dead(2004) - Should have taken best picture. (I say this only half in jest)

Oldboy(2003) - The best film of the past 5 years.

--------------------------------
It's sickening how comforting the privacy of the mind can be.
"Bible's broken; contradictions, false logistics. Doesn't make sense." - River
http://stripe.filetap.com

INDIGO

Monday, March 28, 2005 8:24 AM

How to choose... well, on this moment's thought, though I'm perfectly sure that it's no concrete thing (and what sense of taste is?):

Sentimental favorites;
Little Big Man -- early Dustin Hoffman.
Practical Magic -- being from a family of witches, this is just pure fun to watch. Well, I mean the aunts especially. Who wouldn't.
Lawrence of Arabia.. beats most anything for epic story. While we're at it with Peter O'Toole: The Lion in Winter. Perfect cast, perfect script. Katherine Hepburn as the rather disposed but let out for Christmas from jail (trying on jewelry in a mirror with her husband's lover) "Shall I wear this? Perhaps I should hang it from my nipples... but that might shock the troops."
Crash -- wow; it truly turned me off the first time I saw it. Squicky. But then I saw it again and again and began to see how daring that it was. Not saying that it was great, but certainly memorable.
Apocalypse Now -- my all time, knock me down flick. Saw it in high school and trembled all the way through it. Studied my SE Asian history final exams while high and watching it. (straight A's)

I'm a movie junkie. Don't own a tv. Can't even say that these are what I think are the best films... a different thought all together. The Seven Samurai -- so great that it had our kid (who really didn't read quickly yet) watch it twice, totally rapt. The Bicycle Thief and so much that came out of the Cinecitta in Italy.
Ah, I blather.

Japanese Windows error msg:
Screen.
Mind.
Both are Blank.

YT

Monday, March 28, 2005 9:48 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by p1nkispunk:
Y'know the fantasmic, life-changingly brilliant onces?

Chinatown
Million Dollar Hotel
Raiders otLA
Blade Runner
2001

Keep the Shiny Side Up . . . (wutzon) Bruce Springsteen, "Devils & Dust"

SPOOKYJESUS

Monday, March 28, 2005 12:25 PM

My Favourite film is......

Dr. Strangelove!
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0057012/

2 through 5 would be

2 - Citizen Kane
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0033467/

3 - Monsters, Inc.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0198781/

4 - Requiem for a Dream
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0180093/

And a new entry at numnber 5.....

5 - Finding Neverland
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0308644/

But coming soon........!
SERENTIY
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0379786/

Which, looking at my imdb account I've got a registered vote of 10 for it. Everyone should vote now so.

P1NKISPUNK

Monday, March 28, 2005 1:17 PM

Thank-you kindly thatweirdgirl..

Currently, as a young member of what they refer to as "Generation Y" my favourite films are...

1) Garden State - Someone above said they likened it to a spiritual experience. Very true. Strange how I empathise so completely with this 29 year old american jewish film maker (says the 16 year old British atheist)

2) Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind - This is the only Kaufman I have seen but my God..incredible. And Jim Carrey *jaw drops*

3) Fight Club - The movie is completely incredible, as is Edward Norton in general (listen to the commentary for some of his spectacular insight)

4) Moulin Rouge - One of Joss's favourites I think. The storyline has been done so many times before, but it just builds up such a captivationg intensity in every way, through direction, acting, cinematography, costume, writing etc. It's like an actual world.

5) Donnie Darko - Hmmmm was reluctant to put this on my list because it's now become the "cool" thing to say is your favourite movie, regardless of whether you actually understood what was going on. Script is a bit weak in places, but again in just builds up such incredible intensity, on so many levels - so in some ways you can't really articulate what your seeing its just these huge feelings. The music and Jake Gyllenhaal play a huge part in that.

This list may change when I recieve these dvds for my birthday...

Annie Hall
Citizen Kane
The Breakfast Club
Harold and Maude
Being John Malkovitch
Adaptation

Thanks for all the replies :-) I blush at how few of these titles I've heard of..

MANWITHPEZ

Monday, March 28, 2005 1:49 PM

Spectacular insight? As I recall, Ed Norton said that the scene in the airplane where Jack and Tyler first meet was one the best written in the book, and then Brad Pitt and David Fincher told him that the scene wasn't in the book.

But, I digress...fantastic movie based on a great (but short) book.

thatweirdgirl beat me to The Court Jester (which contains probably the best sword fight on any movie ((take that Star Wars))) and His Girl Friday...So, here's some more that I don't think have been mentioned.

Beauty and the Beast
The only animated film to be nominated for best picture, and for good reason. Dark when it needs to be dark, funny when it needs to be funny, and some of the best writing ever.

The Incredibles
In the same vein, Pixar, I think, understands that computer animation is just a medium to tell a great story. While they tend to accomplish more with this medium than most that try it, the results speak for themselves.

LA Confidential
Not one for the kids, LA Confidential is a spot on adaptation of a great book. Granted, its only about a third of that book, but there some real power behind the performances, especially Guy Pearce and Russell Crowe.

Arsenic and Old Lace
I won't say much, because I've found that people's jaws fall to the floor once they find out what it is they're really watching.

My Man Godfrey
A great old movie, showcasing one of the finest actors ever. William Powell may long be remembered for The Thin Man series, but he really shines (Shiny!) in this flick about a bum who teaches everyone a little humility.

And, there's five...that went too quick. I didn't even mention The Quiet Man, Toy Story, Fright Night (My favorite horror film), Bringing Up Baby, The Terminator (and, I mean the first one!), The Game, Minority Report, A Damsel in Distress, ETC!

Kaylee: "What's so damn important about being proper? It don't mean nothing out here in the black."
Simon: "It means more out here. It's all I have..."

EST120

Monday, March 28, 2005 2:07 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Misguided By Voices:
Sideways - Most recent example of a film that just spoke to me at the moment I saw it.

i am just curious why you liked this movie so much. i saw it too and found it to be rather depressing and not much of the comedy that it was billed as. of course, it is more of a dark comedy, but other than the part on the golf course, i did not really see the humor. of course, everyone has their opinion and this is just mine.

still, i would love to hear your reasoning.

in response to this thread, it is so hard to choose 5, but here are some of my favorites.

beauty and the beast (as someone mentioned earlier). i loved it as a child, i still love it today.

someone mentioned LA confidential which i may have to agree with. i loved it when i saw it. the gunfight at the victory motel is one of the most amazing and slickest i have ever seen. it was great!

a christmas story. i watch it every year (multiple times). all of us had a similar thing when we were young. something we HAD to have and tried everything we could to get it. some of us still do this.

when harry met sally. i guess that is a standard for a lot of people.

bridget jones' diary. okay, i am a guy, but i like some "chick flicks" and this one probably qualifies. i just find it hilarious.

of course, these are not my ABSOLUTE favorites because that seems to change all the time. these are just ones that i thought of on the spot.

THATWEIRDGIRL

Monday, March 28, 2005 3:38 PM

oh yeah, Harold and Maude! How could I have forgotten that one?

and everything on ManWithPez's list...and all the other ones too. Ditto to Willaim Powell, great actor.

Know what? Lets just say TWG likes movies and call it good.

www.thatweirdgirl.com
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Can we not revel in our cyber-love?

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