[mink]

My number one is Billy Wilder's ONE, TWO, THREE

[1eyedjack]

Christmas favourite:
Zulu

(well, every alternate Christmas, maybe)

[gwnn]

All that Jazz - probably the most personal death scene in film.
Closer - what Justin said.
The Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind - such a cheerful movie about such a woeful theme, oblivion.
Schindler's List - a movie with so much more to say about human nature than the Holocaust.
Dancer in the Dark - listen to the way everything dances with Bjork. Sheer art and a heartbraking (but hopeful!) plot.
Casablanca - I wonder which current movie will be this fresh in 2056.
Pulp Fiction - come on, who doesn't like Pulp Fiction?
Fever Pitch (the British one) - I like footie and Sarah Hughes is awesome!

et cetera, et cetera

[helene_t]

Just watched "Happy feet". On the basis of the reviews I expected it to be a somewhat serious movie. It isn't, but it's a cute storry and technically very well made.

Some of my favorites:
- Shadowlands (a sad but beautifull story. If you feel like crying).
- Together (for those of us who grew up in the seventies and believed what the grown'ups told us, then)
- Forrest Gump (serious movie about the life of a young boy)
- My life as a dog (similar to the above)
- Boys don't cry (there have been a lot of movies about transsexuals in recent years, but this is the only one that takes the phenomen seriously, IMHO).

And oh yes, "Dancing in the dark" belongs in the list, too. "Wir Kinder vom Bahnhof Zoo" also.

[1eyedjack]

helene_t, on Dec 13 2006, 11:26 AM, said:

Just watched "Happy feet". On the basis of the reviews I expected it to be a somewhat serious movie. It isn't, but it's a cute storry and technically very well made.

Took the sprogs to see it a week or two back.
Was worth seeing once, but I came away thinking "what?? I mean, what??" Very much directed in the Salvador Dali school of film productions.

[pclayton]

Haven't seen a lot of movies this year but a few I've watched:

Eight Below: Saw this Mon. night. I thought it was entertaining. Not so serious.

Borat: I was taken to this under protest. If you can get past the anti-semitic, anti-female, even anti-catholic) theme, the 1st 1/2 of the movie is pretty damn funny. The 2nd half drifts between outright gross, to maudlin, to occasionally funny. When you reach the final scene with Pamela Anderson, that should be great, you are just happy to go back to your car.

Casino Royale: Snuck in for 10 minutes before Borat. Wish I would have stayed; the stunts and effects are better than any Bond movie made.

[1eyedjack]

Been dredging my brains for the names of two films that had an impact on me when I saw them years ago. Perhaps you can help me out.

One was a film starring John Hurt as a gifted pianist who had been driven by his father from his early youth, to the point where he eventually had a breakdown while trying to perform Rachmaninov's 3rd piano concerto, followed by his partial recovery. I was reminded of it by a newspaper story about a year ago of an amnesiac who had been picked up off the street who could not remember his name but supposedly could play the piano to concert standards (according to some reports a hoax). I Googled John Hurt's filmography but it didn't throw up anything obvious.

The other was a film from quite a bit further back in time: An expedition of individuals was trekking across some sort of African savannah, when they are captured by a tribe of cannibals. All but one are consumed for supper, but the last one is reserved for after dinner sport, where they let him go and then try to hunt him down. Most of the film's time is devoted to this chase, with the prey eventually escaping. Ring any bells?

And anyone remember a film called Rogue Male, starring Peter O'Toole as a pre-WW2 would-be Hitler assassin who is hunted down by the SS until he is stuck in some underground fox-hole for most of the film?

I got a CD of Enio Morricone's music recently. Now on a "Mission" to see all the films to which he contributed that I have yet to see (been through the Sergio Leone stuff, of course)

[Winstonm]

Quote

One was a film starring John Hurt as a gifted pianist who had been driven by his father from his early youth, to the point where he eventually had a breakdown while trying to perform Rachmaninov's 3rd piano concerto, followed by his partial recovery. I was reminded of it by a newspaper story about a year ago of an amnesiac who had been picked up off the street who could not remember his name but supposedly could play the piano to concert standards (according to some reports a hoax). I Googled John Hurt's filmography but it didn't throw up anything obvious

This move was "Shine", and it was Geoffrey Rush in the starring role. I found it quite watchable also.

[Rain]

You guys don't seem to enjoy films with Arnie or Jim Carey or Steve Martin in them.

[glen]

One of my favourites, rarely mentioned for reasons about to become clear, is Batman (1966), described here:

Internet Movie DB - Batman

As a reviewer notes "Greatest camp flick ever" and another notes "the cheesiest, campest, most ridiculous dialogue imaginable", and yet another " It's so bad it's good."

Not only a Batmobile, but there is a Batboat, a Batcopter, and a Batcycle

Riddler: I see the way to do it! We'll play each of our treacherous trumps in one hand, and we'll do it right here!

Miss Kitka: My name is Kitayna Ireyna Tatanya Kerenska Alisoff. I work for the Moscow Bugle.

Catwoman: Marry me, Batman!
Batman: But what about Robin?

Robin: "Holy bikini! That was a close shave"

[Al_U_Card]

Amadeus

C.R.A.Z.Y. (the best "foreign" film ever.....1970's Québecois society at it's most poignant)

Constantine

[gwnn]

Rain, on Dec 14 2006, 03:06 AM, said:

You guys don't seem to enjoy films with Arnie or Jim Carey or Steve Martin in them.

I only like Jim Carrey in more or less "serious" roles (Eternal Sunshine, Truman Show, Majestic) - his talent works better. At least, for me. Steve Martin? I can enjoy some of his jokes, but he's not anything special. He has a special style, but he's inferior to comedians like Louis de Funes, who make you laugh by only appearing on screen. (But appreciaing comedy is above all very very subjective)

[GeeGee]

Rain, on Dec 14 2006, 01:06 AM, said:

You guys don't seem to enjoy films with Arnie or Jim Carey or Steve Martin in them.

Right, you got me It's not all culture after all: The Man with Two Brains.

With Dr. Michael Hfuhruhurr and the lovely Anne Uumellmahaye.

'I don't think there's a girl floating in a jar anywhere who's as happy as I am.'

Edit; Posted my reply before I saw Gwnn's. Sorry Gwnn, but I disagree. At his best, Steve Martin was (but maybe not more) the best comedy actor around. IMO.

Agree though that it's very subjective

Geoff

[1eyedjack]

A couple of films that are basically crap but have their moments (specifically torture moments):
Marathon Man (ooh! my teeth itch just thinking of it. Is it safe?)
A man called horse (doesn't that just get your nipples tingling?)

Quote

Borat: I was taken to this under protest. If you can get past the anti-semitic, anti-female, even anti-catholic) theme ...

Odd, that - I didn't think it was anti-semitic.

Just thought of another couple:
Dr Strangelove
The smell of a woman (or something like that)

[GeeGee]

New one, just because the book had such an impact and so did the film, because the subject was so powerful:-

Touching the Void.

It's like my comment in 'best books', about 'The worst journey in the world'. How and why do these people put themselves to these tortures?

And how and why do their self-imposed tortures make such compelling reading or watching for the rest of us?

Geoff

[gwnn]

GeeGee, on Dec 14 2006, 10:49 AM, said:

New one, just because the book had such an impact and so did the film, because the subject was so powerful:-

Touching the Void.

Absolutely great movie! I love the way you feel that you're there. Formidable scenery and great angles. Stunning story.

[1eyedjack]

Another film the name of which eludes me. Plot: a solitary Russian tank takes a wrong turning up some gulley in Afghanistan, and gets hopelessly lost, surrounded by hostiles. The remaining film is about its trying to escape, with the odd subplot in the middle. I think that it was in Russian with subtitles when I saw it.

And another one the name of which I can remember: Howl's Moving Castle.

[1eyedjack]

Fitzcarraldo

That is the Werner Herzog film about the guy who is obsessed by Caruso, dragging a paddle steamer overland in the Amazon jungle.

Which reminds me of another film (I think), set in the South American jungles, about someone who builds an industrial-sized refridgerator for making ice. Eventually gets shot up by some bandits that ends up polluting an entire river. Dunno what that one was called, but couldn't think what to shove into google to find out.

[Aberlour10]

1eyedjack, on Dec 14 2006, 07:05 PM, said:

Fitzcarraldo

That is the Werner Herzog film about the guy who is obsessed by Caruso, dragging a paddle steamer overland in the Amazon jungle.

great epic movie with marvellous Klaus Kinski, I like Herzog's "twin-movie" Aguirre The Wrath of God, too


Robert

[mike777]

"Which reminds me of another film (I think), set in the South American jungles, about someone who builds an industrial-sized refridgerator for making ice. Eventually gets shot up by some bandits that ends up polluting an entire river. Dunno what that one was called, but couldn't think what to shove into google to find out. "


Mosquito Coast. Easily makes the top ten worst movies I have ever seen in my lifetime. Great cast with Harrison Ford and Helen Mirren. It is a horrible, unbearable and self indulgent movie.

But if you enjoyed it check out Passage to India...another top ten worst movie If I remember correctly based on an EM Forrester book who should sue.