Interference Random Movie Talk III

[monkeyskin]

What a narrow point of view the folks at EW must have. 90/100 from USA? What a joke.

There's a fair few quality titles on there and the spread over the years seems fair for what it's worth, but it looks more like a staff favourites list rather than a decent retrospective.

 

[No spoken words]

first Seven and now the X-Files?

who are you?

I know. I suck.

 

[LMP]

What do you guys think of these other marathon ideas (additions/subtractions within lists, other ideas, etc...) and would anyone like to do them with me? I've ordered them by release date, or in the director or year-based lists cases, in order of preference:

End of ’07:
I’m Not There
Michael Clayton
Eastern Promises
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Youth Without Youth
Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead
The Mist
The Lives of Others
The Host
Into the Wild
Atonement
Gone Baby Gone
Rescue Dawn
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
Once

Martin Scorsese:
Raging Bull
Taxi Driver
Mean Streets
The Age of Innocence
The Last Temptation of Christ
Casino
The Aviator
After Hours
The King of Comedy
Bringing Out the Dead

‘70s Sci-Fi:
Planet of the Apes (1968, I know, bear with me here)
The Andromeda Strain
The Omega Man
THX 1138 - The Director’s Cut
Silent Running
Soylent Green
Westworld
Rollerball
Logan’s Run
The Man Who Fell to Earth

Ingmar Bergman:
Smiles of a Summer Night
The Seventh Seal
Wild Strawberries
Winter Light
Shame
Fanny and Alexander

Film Noir:
Double Indemnity
Out of the Past
Gun Crazy
The Asphalt Jungle
Kiss Me Deadly
The Killers

Silent Films:
Le Voyage dans la lune (A Trip to the Moon)
The Great Train Robbery
The Birth of a Nation
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari
Battleship Potemkin
Metropolis
Sunrise: A Song for Two Humans
The Passion of Joan of Arc

Animation:
Watership Down
Grave of the Fireflies
Akira
Ghost in the Shell
Nausicaä of the Valley of the Winds
Spirited Away
The Iron Giant

Screwball Comedies:
The Thin Man
My Man Godfrey
The Awful Truth
Bringing Up Baby
The Lady Eve
Sullivan’s Travels
Adam’s Rib

Werner Herzog / Klaus Kinski:
Aguirre: The Wrath of God
Nosferatu the Vampyre
Woyzeck
Fitzcarraldo
Cobra Verde (Slave Coast)

Steven Soderbergh:
Traffic
Out of Sight
sex, lies, and videotape
Solaris
The Limey
Erin Brokovich

Horror Flicks:
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1958)
The Bad Seed
Peeping Tom
Night of the Living Dead
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
Carrie
Suspiria
Dawn of the Dead
Phantasm
A Nightmare on Elm Street
Re-Animator
Phantasm
The Evil Dead 2

Oh, and the Woody Allen box set is out of stock right now.

 

[monkeyskin]

Martin Scorsese:
Be sure to check out Alice Doesn't Live Here Anymore too.

Ingmar Bergman
Haven't seen much of his myself, but add Persona to the list. I'd start off with Wild Strawberries or The Seventh Seal before that though.

Animation
Studio Ghibli is your friend. After those you mentioned My Neighbour Totoro is a must-see (and my personal favourite). For more anime also check out Millenium Actress.
There's also Belleville Rendez Vous / The Triplets of Belleville - bizarre and mostly silent French comedy from a few years back about the Tour de France, the Mafia and an overweight dog. Hilarious!

Screwball Comedies
Some crackers there already but don't forget His Girl Friday, Arsenic and Old Lace and Monkey Business (all starring Cary Grant). The Whole Town's Talking with Edward G Robsinson and Jean Arthur is pretty funny. Also see some Billy Wilder: Ninotchka (he scripted it), Some Like It Hot, The Fortune Cookie and A Foreign Affair. Hell, watch as many Wilder films as you can period. OH and don't you dare forget It Happened One Night (Capra / Gable treat winning the big 5 Oscars).

Film Noir
Saving the best for last here. After those you listed (which are all ace) there's also:
M (Fritz Lang and Peter Lorre in one of the very first, excellent)
The Maltese Falcon (regarded as the first American noir, Bogart's big break and John Huston's debut. START WITH THIS)
The Big Sleep (Bogie and Bacall in their best pairing but a bloody confusing plot)
The Postman Always Rings Twice (good companion piece to Double Indemnity, which is my fav btw)
Laura
Where the Sidewalk Ends (a pair of Otto Preminger, Dana Andrews and Gene Tierney teamings - I love Gene Tierney, check out more of her's like Whirlpool and The Ghost and Mrs Muir afterwards)
Scarlett Street (Lang again with Edward G, brilliant and devasting)
The Big Heat (more Lang, pretty hardcore for the time)
The Night of the Hunter (Charles Laughton's only film as director, black as Hell and VERY iconic)
Suspicion
Notorious (pair of Hitchcock's both with Cary Grant, Notorious in particular being absolutely gripping)
The Killing (an early Kubrick)
Touch of Evil (regarded as the last true noir of the period - 40s to 50s - and directed by Mr Welles himself)

I'm biased towards the screwballs and film noir because I adore Golden Age Hollywood (30s through 50s anyway) and there are so many gems waiting to be discovered there. Best thing to do if you're keen on starting afterwards is picking a few actors and directors and working through them (Cary Grant, Jimmy Stewart, Bogie, both Hepburns, Hitch, Huston, Howards Hawks and Wilder for example) and going on from there. I could probably list about 50 must sees from that lot off the top of my head. The 50s are really interesting because you have all these old school talents mingling with the new generation of Marlon Brando, Paul Newman, Jack Lemmon, Marilyn Monroe, Grace Kelly, Sidney Lumet, Kubrick and Eli Kazan. It was such a ripe period for talent and many landmark films came out.

EDIT

LOL didn't mean to write that much. There's a fair few of yours I haven't seen but can't join in with you as I'm between (free) rental accounts right now. Overall you've got a very good selection for each genre / director, it's just there's always so much more to each genre and not enough space to write it all.

And also, Westerns are well worth a look if you get time. Classics such as Rio Bravo, The Searchers, Red River, Fort Apache, My Darling Clementine, Destry Rides Again and Winchester '73 are just some of those that came out before Sergio Leone came along and changed them forever. They range from fun in the 30s, epic in the 40s to pyschological in the 50s. Watch some of the Jimmy Stewart / Anthony Mann westerns and you'll see where Jimmy's nice guy persona was first warped before Hitch took it further.

 

[LMP]

Thank you for all of the suggestions, MS. I recognized a lot of the titles in the Noir section, dunno why they weren't in the original list. Hopefully this'll keep me occupied this summer and beyond.

 

[Lancemc]

What do you guys think of these other marathon ideas (additions/subtractions within lists, other ideas, etc...) and would anyone like to do them with me? I've ordered them by release date, or in the director or year-based lists cases, in order of preference:

End of ’07:
I’m Not There
Michael Clayton
Eastern Promises
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Youth Without Youth
Before the Devil Knows You’re Dead
The Mist
The Lives of Others
The Host
Into the Wild
Atonement
Gone Baby Gone
Rescue Dawn
The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford
Once

This makes me nostalgic for last year already. Have you not seen any of these yet? Surely some must be repeats? And I'd pass on the Mist, no matter how much you like Darabont or whatever zany reasons you have for wanting to watch it. It's almost painfully disappointing.

Silent Films:
Le Voyage dans la lune (A Trip to the Moon)
The Great Train Robbery
The Birth of a Nation
The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari
Battleship Potemkin
Metropolis
Sunrise: A Song for Two Humans
The Passion of Joan of Arc

Good list. Here are some more recommendations:
City Lights/The Gold Rush (Chaplin)
Sherlock Jr./The General (Keaton)
The Cheat (Demille)
I'd also suggest renting a disc or two of the Lumiere Brothers shorts from the earliest days of cinema. Absolutely beautiful stuff. Seriously changed the way I think about cinema in several ways.

I'm also a big fan of the experimental stuff from the slient period:
Emak-Bakia
The Fall of the House of Usher
Enemic Cinema
Un Chien Andalou
Ballet Mechanique

Some of that stuff will blow your mind. It was really a unique period of unparalleled creativity with what the medium of film can achieve. The city symphonies are particularly fascinating as well. Notably Berlin: Synphony of a City and Vertov's Man With The Movie Camera.

Animation:
Watership Down
Grave of the Fireflies
Akira
Ghost in the Shell
Nausicaä of the Valley of the Winds
Spirited Away
The Iron Giant

Not an expert on animation by any means, but I'm also trying to discover more and more. This would be one I'd be interested in doing simultaneously with you.

 

[monkeyskin]

I'm also a big fan of the experimental stuff from the slient period:
Emak-Bakia
The Fall of the House of Usher
Enemic Cinema
Un Chien Andalou
Ballet Mechanique

Haven't seen any of these (the silents I've seen are mostly Chaplin and Keaton, with a few of the German Expressionists thrown in), so are they available off public domain sites? Any idea of the quality?

Chaplin is gold though, as well as the ones you mentioned I've watched back to The Kid and never been disappointed. His talkies such as The Great Dictator, Monsieur Verdoux and Limelight all hold up.

 

[LMP]

This makes me nostalgic for last year already. Have you not seen any of these yet? Surely some must be repeats? And I'd pass on the Mist, no matter how much you like Darabont or whatever zany reasons you have for wanting to watch it. It's almost painfully disappointing.

Sadly, I haven't seen any of those, and I saw about 35 movies from last year. I've heard mixed things about The Mist, but it's always radically in either direction.

Good list. Here are some more recommendations:
City Lights/The Gold Rush (Chaplin)
Sherlock Jr./The General (Keaton)
The Cheat (Demille)
I'd also suggest renting a disc or two of the Lumiere Brothers shorts from the earliest days of cinema. Absolutely beautiful stuff. Seriously changed the way I think about cinema in several ways.

I'm also a big fan of the experimental stuff from the silent period:
Emak-Bakia
The Fall of the House of Usher
Enemic Cinema
Un Chien Andalou
Ballet Mechanique

Some of that stuff will blow your mind. It was really a unique period of unparalleled creativity with what the medium of film can achieve. The city symphonies are particularly fascinating as well. Notably Berlin: Symphony of a City and Vertov's Man With The Movie Camera.

Added.

Not an expert on animation by any means, but I'm also trying to discover more and more. This would be one I'd be interested in doing simultaneously with you.

Alrighty, I'll definitely be trying to finish Scorsese first, but after that, I'm game.

 

[Lancemc]

Haven't seen any of these (the silents I've seen are mostly Chaplin and Keaton, with a few of the German Expressionists thrown in), so are they available off public domain sites? Any idea of the quality?

No idea. All the one's I've seen were on DVD at my University media library. They're all worth hunting down though. Trust me. Eye-opening shit.

Sadly, I haven't seen any of those, and I saw about 35 movies from last year. I've heard mixed things about The Mist, but it's always radically in either direction.

Dayum. No Eastern Promises or Jesse James either last year? You're in for some good viewing, friend.

Alrighty, I'll definitely be trying to finish Scorsese first, but after that, I'm game.

Sweet. Just let me know. I've got nothing but time.

 

[LMP]

Cool beans. First, I felt restricted in what I could watch that I could only do a few at a time, now I can watch what I want but can't decide on anything. That's what these marathons will hopefully help.

I'm going to actually watch Casino tonight and report back afterward.

 

[No spoken words]

I still cannot get over how fucking amazing Jesse James looked. The train robbery at the beginning was just sublime. Sorry, YLB, if I gave away the fact that a fucking train gets robbed in a film about Jesse James.

 

[Lancemc]

A train scene in a Western?

Fuck off!

 

[LMP]

I wish I knew beforehand that Casino was 3 hours long. Fuck.

Wrote down notes for a review and I'll post it either tonight or tomorrow. I thought it was incredibly well-made and performed, but I didn't enjoy watching it as much as Goodfellas, The Departed, or Gangs.

 

[bono_212]

I wish I knew beforehand that Casino was 3 hours long. Fuck.

Wrote down notes for a review and I'll post it either tonight or tomorrow. I thought it was incredibly well-made and performed, but I didn't enjoy watching it as much as Goodfellas, The Departed, or Gangs.

This displeases me. I really want to see that movie, and it's proved to be quite elusive. Hopefully you just really, really like those three movies

ETA: What I mean is, I hope that i don't end up being disappointed after all the time it has taken me to get a hold of the movie in the first place.

 

[LMP]

I love the three I mentioned afterward. Casino's the most beautifully shot of the three, in my opinion. Worth seeing, but I can't say I enjoyed it.

 

[No spoken words]

YLB, Casino was a huge letdown for me.

 

[lazarus]

Casino is techincally pretty fantastic, but I'll agree that it comes off as a bit of a disappointment. Of course, GoodFellas is an extremely hard act to follow, and I can see where some find it a bit too familiar (having multiple narrators and Joe Pesci again doesn't really help matters).

Taken on its own though, it's still a damn fine piece of work, and very illuminating about the way things work (or used to work) in Vegas, and of course the direction is top-of-the-line.

And we should be talking about this in the Review thread.

 

[LMP]

Casino is techincally pretty fantastic, but I'll agree that it comes off as a bit of a disappointment. Of course, GoodFellas is an extremely hard act to follow, and I can see where some find it a bit too familiar (having multiple narrators and Joe Pesci again doesn't really help matters).

Taken on its own though, it's still a damn fine piece of work, and very illuminating about the way things work (or used to work) in Vegas, and of course the direction is top-of-the-line.

And we should be talking about this in the Review thread.

I'll post my review in there tomorrow, but agree with the second paragraph more than the first. It's in that same vein as GoodFellas, but doesn't rely on the familial aspect of it like that film. Also, I thought Pesci's character would be the same as Tommy, but I found him to be more menacing, conniving, and downright douchey-er (new word) than his GoodFellas counterpart. Tommy was insane and a complete fuck-up, but he would never betray his friends or grasp for power like Nicky did. In a way, I found him to be a more compelling and impressive character because it was something different on an already familiar character by the same actor - his performance was my favorite out of the whole movie, actually.

 

[lazarus]

I agree with you on Pesci, I'm just saying that on paper it seems VERY similar to GoodFellas (they also share Pileggi as screenwriter), and I think that's why many people felt been-there-done-that about it.

 

[GirlsAloudFan]

Lancemc, I couldn't help but notice that your avatar and signature feature Roger Moore from his glory days when he portrayed Ian Fleming's 007. I commend you on that, good sir.

The James Bond movie franchise is a subject that is VERY close to my heart.

I grew up on Bond films.

In fact, Bond films were some of the first "violent/racy" movies that my parents ever allowed me to see. My passion for the franchise is strong. I have seen each and every one of the Bond films (including Connery's 1983 return in Never Say Never Again..which isn't legitimately counted as part of the canon) at least 4 times. A lot of them I have seen more than 4 times.

The original Connery trilogy...Dr. No, From Russia With Love, Goldfinger...these were my introduction to cinema as a youth. I was 9 years old when TBS starting airing what they called their "Bond Marathons"...I would stay up all night watching the movies and it seemed like I was being initiated into some sort of club. I felt cool as I watched the Bond films. They were thrilling, they were like nothing I'd ever seen before, and most importantly they were fun.

It was at that same time that I got into the original Star Wars films. Bond and Star Wars were my first two cinematic loves. I obsessed over every detail of their history and their production. I mean I went out and bought trivia books and Bond retrospectives and encyclopedias. For a while there in 5th grade...one of the things I was known as was "The Guy who loved James Bond movies"

Goldfinger is up there in my list of favorite movies of all-time...and if you catch me in a certain mood I might tell you that it is the movie that I derive the greatest joy from.

A lot of the Bond films take a good deal of shit from "critics" and the like. But I can honestly say that I love EVERY single James Bond movie ever made. There is something about each of those movies...all 21 of them...that I really enjoy. I can sit down and watch ANY of them and it will bring back great memories of a young me sitting on the edge of my bed biting my nails wondering what 007 would do next.

Damn. Sorry about the rant. I just wanted to express my appreciation of that film franchise. The Golden Cadillac of film franchises if you ask me.

 

[GirlsAloudFan]

And please don't get me started on the James Bond girls. I could talk about them all night. So I'll just give my quick top 3 Bond girls of all-time...

#1...and not even close...by far the hottest Bond girl ever is Claudine Auger as Domino in Thunderball

#2 - Ursulla Andress as Honey Ryder in Dr. No

# 3 - Barbara Bach as Major Anya Amasova in The Spy Who Loved Me

 

[lazarus]

My fav is #3, but I'm glad you at least mentioned her.

And I admire your ability to gain pleasure from watching the Brosnan films, esp. the last two. Personally I'd rather be keelhauled.

 

[Lancemc]

Good deal GAF. I anticipate the discussions we'll all have in November for Bond 22.

Maybe now's a good time to voice the perhaps unpopular opinion that The World is Not Enough is not only my favorite Brosnan film, but falls comfortably in the lower half of my top 10 Bond films. In my opinion it's the closest Brosnan's era came to rivaling the classics from the prior eras.

As for Bond girls:

1. Tracy Di Vincenzo
2. Vesper Lynd
3. Tatiana Romanova

High honorable mentions go to Anya Amasova and Elektra King.

 

[No spoken words]

GAF, both Lance and I actually did Bond-a-thons these past few months.

I think we were both surprised at how damned good On Her Majesty's Secret Service was. My unpopular stance was on The Living Daylights, which I enjoyed more than any of the Brosnan films.

 

[GirlsAloudFan]

My fav is #3, but I'm glad you at least mentioned her.

And I admire your ability to gain pleasure from watching the Brosnan films, esp. the last two. Personally I'd rather be keelhauled.

Haha well I was at the peak of my Bond-fandom when Goldeneye, Tomorrow Never Dies, and The World is Not Enough came out. Goldeneye was the first Bond movie I saw in the theater and that, coupled with the fucking amazing N64 game, make it a classic in my eyes.

Brosnan's last effort, Die Another Day, is the weakest of the entire franchise and they obviously needed a reboot. i was surprised by how much I loved Casino Royale. Great movie.

GAF, both Lance and I actually did Bond-a-thons these past few months.

I think we were both surprised at how damned good On Her Majesty's Secret Service was. My unpopular stance was on The Living Daylights, which I enjoyed more than any of the Brosnan films.

A Bond-a-thon eh? That is awesome.

I love The Living Daylights...I also really enjoy the next one, Licence to Kill. Dalton did a good job...he attempted to bring Bond back to the harder-edged, cigarette smoking badass that Fleming originally realized.

What do you guys rate as you favorite Bond and Bond movie of all?

Connery is easily my favorite and I think that From Russia With Love and Goldfinger are the two best of the whole series.

And if you guys don't agree with that, I will bust out my Walther PPK and put my Licence to Kill to good use....by killing you guys.

 

[No spoken words]

After the Bond-a-thon it became clear to me that while the Connery films on the whole are better than the Moore films, I actually enjoyed Moore more. What can I say, I just did. From Russia With Love will always be my favorite Bond flick, but I just got a bigger kick out of Moore's earlier films. I should add that I loved Casino Royale to death and think Craig is the best actor the series has ever featured.....so a few more solid efforts will see Craig vault into first place.

 

[lazarus]

We did this recently, but will do it again for you.

I grew up with Moore, and I like his humor better than anyone else's. So he's my favorite.

My Top 5:

1. The Spy Who Loved Me
2. From Russia With Love
3. On Her Majesty's Secret Service
4. You Only Live Twice
5. Live and Let Die

I've been trying to get ahold of a used copy of For Your Eyes Only, which could wind up taking the 4 or 5 spot after I watch it again.

Also, Lance putting TWINE in his Top 10: EPIC FAIL. "I thought Christmas only comes once a year"?!?! No. Just...no.

 

[GirlsAloudFan]

1. Goldfinger
2. From Russia With Love
3. Thunderball (The underwater sequences are cool but they really do slow down the movie at times. Other than that, the movie is just too much fun)
4. The Spy Who Loved Me
5. For Your Eyes Only
6. Dr. No
7. Goldeneye
8. Casino Royale
9. You Only Live Twice
10. OHMSS

That looks about right. But there a bunch of others that could jump up on the list if I thought harder about it.

 

[No spoken words]

OHMSS was so much more bad-ass than I thought it would be.

I am a big For Your Eyes Only fan. Topol popping up in there cracks me up.

I love Goldfinger, but, did not like Thunderball nearly as much as you did. No Live and Let Die in your Top 10?

 

[GirlsAloudFan]

Live and Let Die and The Man with the Golden Gun are probably the two that are closest to making that top 10.

Although those might not be the best Bond films...there is something so odd and inventive about those two. I actually haven't watched Live and Let Die in a long time. Last winter I watched a bunch of Bond films but forgot to catch up on that one.

My James Bond movie collection is strictly on VHS except for Casino Royale. I own all the other 20 on VHS, and they are some of my most prized possesions.