I just joined the Auteurs (this site looks pretty promising so far).
I recently watched Ikiru and the DVD commentary (which is excellent btw) and I can’t get over how powerful and real this film is.
The reality of isolation and social disconnect that only imminent death can bring, is conveyed well on so many different levels. Takashi Shimura gives an incredibly poignant and mature performance (the scene where the piano player takes song requests and Watanabe-san gives him his), instilling all the qualities of a man who knows his fate and can’t bring himself to confront all his regrets.
If you’ve ever known anyone suffering from cancer or struggling with death, it gives you chills when you realize how much this film evokes those same types of emotions. It breaks your heart to see someone going, yet all you want to do is hold on.
I would go so far as to saying this may be his best film, if not his most poignant.
It’s quite sad that people feel they need to remake this film because it is such a strong film in itself and you can’t retain those great qualities simply just by redoing them.
This is a very interesting topic as I have seen both Tarkovsky’s and Soderbergh’s take on the novel recently.
Tarkovsky’s version is closer to the source material than Soderbergh’s. I find it to be more of an intellectual and existential commentary on human nature and the bounds of our own knowledge and weaknesses. One where I found myself to be in deep-thought throughout most of the film and after the film had already ended. Yes, many will blast the pacing of the film and find it slow and almost boring. But this type of film would suffer without its appropriate pacing and I feel while watching the film that you need that time and space in order to process and take in the ideas from the film. The ending however, I find to be extremely stark and powerful.
Soderbergh’s version has similarities and key differences between Tarkovsky. It is a much more emotional film, thriving on the emotional capacity of human nature rather than focusing on the more intellectual notions in Tarkovsky. That being said, I don’t think anyone can argue that Soderbergh’s version isn’t intelligent by any means, but the focus of the film is rather different from Tarkovsky. I don’t think Soderbergh’s version gets the credit that it actually deserves, as many people who first saw the film weren’t expecting a 99 minute take on human nature with George Clooney in space. Watching the DVD commentary with Soderbergh and James Cameron (which is one of the best ones I have discovered) is extremely enlightening as you can really break down the nuances of the film and you get a stronger understanding of both films.
I would say that both films offer an intellectual and emotional outlook on human nature and existentialism, but each do so through different means. I find myself actually appreciating the newer version more (even though that is not the case with most films I enjoy) because I feel that the perspective of the film is much more in tune with human nature and it allows you to identify with it. But they are both strong films in their respective sense.
In terms of being a “prototypical”-noir film, I would say the first thing that comes to mind would be Double Indemnity. It may be one of the more well-known films within film-noir, but if you break down all the elements and ideas of noir films, I find that there are few other films that represent film-noir as well as Double Indemnity.
Though I wouldn’t say it is my favorite noir film, I’m more partial to Notorious, Touch of Evil, The Third Man and others.
Crash. Never have I seen a more pretentious and convoluted mix-mash of racial stereotypes and people acting out on them. I find that the characters act through their “archetypes” rather than human beings.
I think it will always baffle me how this film could have won best picture considering it was going up against Brokeback Mountain. Don’t get me wrong, I like Haggis’s work, he’s a good screen-writer, but this is a terrible film.
Like Mr. Stanley Kubrick’s opinion of Eisenstein’s Alexander Nevsky, I find Crash to be a moronic story, full of lies.
I’m so glad to see so many people with similar opinions pertaining to the great director. Stanley Kubrick pushed the limits of film-making in every capacity and brought the utmost much dedication and perfectionism to his films.
Top 3:
1. Tied between Barry Lyndon and The Shining (I love the Shining because I first saw it at Timberline Lodge at Mt. Hood where all the exterior shots for the Overlook were filmed, and still routinely go snowboarding there)
2. Tied between 2001 and the first-half of Full Metal Jacket (the one film where I felt Kubrick could have brought more)
3. A Clockwork Orange
I would still say that I enjoy every single of one of his films. His scrapped Napoleon biopic with his choice of Ian Holm as Napoleon himself, would have been a great, sprawling epic had it not been for the reluctance of studio executives and the failure of other Napoleonic films.
(Orson Welles when asked about the new generation of film-makers) Among those whom I would call ‘younger generation’ Kubrick appears to me to be a giant.
This thread just shows me how over-looked Ikiru actually is…
EDIT: Joshua W, I can understand your reasons for not including Ikiru on the list as it’s hard to enjoy a film that is both very sad, yet remarkably unrelenting in its portrayal of the starkness and isolation of reality.
I also think that if someone has experienced death that their opinion and how they gravitate toward Ikiru is profoundly different from someone who has not.
Everyone who says that all his films are under-appreciated is right. I’m not trying to say that his films can’t be appreciated because for many, myself included, he sits at the pantheon of film-makers and auteurs.
In terms of which film is still unappreciated to this day, I would say that Barry Lyndon is clearly that film. Eyes Wide Shut is also unappreciated, but with all his films, time is what creates the deep appreciation for his films that we don’t necessarily have after first viewing. (I’m speaking for the GENERAL PUBLIC because EWS is a great film, but I know that the majority of the public doesn’t feel that way)
Josh, I agree and I too am glad that no matter what happens, Ikiru will remain a great film and perhaps its popularity will increase with the new exposure of a remake.
I would still watch the remake though, as I find I would be too interested in their portrayal of the film not to.
The one thing that bothers me though, is that if Jim Sheridan understood the historical and social complex that the film exists in (post-war Japan), especially pertaining to how the government operated, then he would undoubtedly see how the remake would be extremely flawed.
I’m not too sure on all those particular connections between Bronson and History of Violence but it’s interesting that you have taken some of those ideas to thought.
History of Violence is a good film because like Josh said, it is one that grows on you. I really didn’t enjoy the film too much on first viewing, but found it to be enthralling whenever I rewatched it. That’s just how it goes sometimes.
Yes, I must also agree with Mitchell and say that the Killing is both over-looked and under appreciated. It’s the first film Kubrick actually didn’t have a disdain for (he wanted to buy out every copy of Fear and Desire and Killer’s Kiss so that they could never been screen again).
After watching the Killing, you definitely see so much potential and talent in the young film-maker. I find the unconventional storyline and the overall execution of the film to be very unique and extremely mature considering Kubrick was 27 when he made the film.
I’ll try and help you out and list the ones that come to mind for me. I’ll try and pick the films that focus on experimenting with the methodology of storytelling.
80’s to Present: Memento, Run Lola Run, Mulholland Dr., Magnolia
Nice to see some fellow college students as well. I went to the University of Oregon for my first two years and I recently transferred to the Art Institute of Portland to pursue a degree in Digital Film and Video. I have been doing a lot of film production for a while and am just a huge fan of all things film.
Speaking of The Fountain, it’s definitely one of those films where all the initial reaction from general audiences doesn’t reflect how good the actual film is. Where people go into the film expecting something and they end up seeing something completely different, they don’t necessarily gravitate towards it as much. This is all very general of course, because a lot of times the best films are the ones we don’t see coming. The Fountain was definitely one of those types of films. One of those films that believes in itself, even if you may not. And that is where the strength of the film lies. In Tom Creo’s belief that he could be with Izzy forever (his last name meaning “I believe” in Spanish).
Personally, I think I may enjoy Requiem more, but I’m really looking forward to The Wrestler.
Bernard Herrmann
Ennio Morricone
Thomas Newman
John Williams (when the score doesn’t play too much to what is in frame)
Some rather household names, but they all have great bodies of work.
I’m going to add Stanley Kubrick as an honorable mention, because I feel even as a director that he deserves partial credit as a composer because almost all the music on all his films was personally chosen and mixed by himself.
“…Although it can be like trying to write ‘War and Peace’ in a bumper car in an amusement park, when you finally get it right, there are not many joys in life that can equal the feeling”
Geronimo, not to be harsh but I think your opinion is a little understated and a little over-exaggerated.
Clooney can act, but he takes on a lot of projects that are rather questionable and I think that has been attributed with his career in films. He started out on E.R. and his big break was Out of Sight and Batman, so to make his breakthrough in films he had to take on those types of roles. I wouldn’t necessarily say that he was type-casted, but that’s just how it goes sometimes and even he admitted that.
If you look at what he’s said in interviews later in his career, right around 2001 with Ocean’s Eleven you’ll notice that his opinion shifted toward working on more quality pictures even if they weren’t going to be huge successes. IMDB has good examples of this.
As for an actor, he has good work in Solaris, Good Night and Good Luck, Syriana and Michael Clayton. These weren’t the biggest, most financially successful films, but they are quality work, especially in comparison to his entire body of work.
As a director, did you forget that the second film he made was an Oscar-nominated Best Picture? Good Night and Good Luck was a strong film and it was an accurate commentary on both Edward R. Murrow and McCarthy. Even when I was 16 and the film was over my completely head, I knew it was a good picture.
Let it be said before this conversation gets out of control (which it looks like is already happening)
All good film-makers understand that film-making is an art.
What people consider to be “art-house” and mainstream really depends on a lot of factors other than the director. It depends on marketing, it depends on studio and budgetary control, it depends on the director’s background as a film-maker, I mean I could go on but you get the idea. So this discussion should not bring in directors or bodies of work, but individual films themselves.
That being said, I don’t think it is fair to put the Coen brothers into a category as mainstream directors because I think they’ve shown that they if anything they aren’t completely conventional (O Brother, The Big Lebowski, Miller’s Crossing, Barton Fink, etc.)
But back to the conversation, I would say that No Country for Old Men is a perfect example of a film that crosses both boundaries of mainstream and what is considered “art-house”. It was well marketed, had a strong run at the Oscars winning Best Picture and it stars three leading men who are all considerably different from one another. So it got a lot of publicity, but in terms of the film, I wouldn’t say it is the most mainstream by any means. The aesthetic, pacing and execution of the film are all quite unconventional if you compare them to mainstream Hollywood films (they tend to be blockbusters, Dark Knight is a good example). And on top of that, it is a mature and somewhat cold film, so in terms of storytelling it does differ from the a lot of mainstream films.
Peter, though I agree with your appreciation of P.T.‘s films, that statement about the last American masterpiece, I don’t think many will agree with you on that. Not while P.T., The Coens, Aronofsky, Soderbergh and Wes Anderson are alive.
Jack Nicholson – The Shining, Five Easy Pieces, One Flew, man this guy is good
Paul Newman – Hud, Nobody’s Fool, The Hustler and Color of Money, Butch Cassidy, Cool Hand Luke
Clint Eastwood – The Good the Bad and the Ugly, Million Dollar Baby, Unforgiven
Mifune and Shimura from Kurosawa films
Favorite character – Tuco from The Good, The Bad and The Ugly played by Eli Wallach
Least favorite –
I don’t hate him, but I don’t really like Edward Norton too much. I don’t know why, but I find him a little pretentious at times. He gets a lot of tough/hard guy roles and I just don’t think he fits the mold.
I just saw Five Easy Pieces, man now I see why a lot of people consider this to be a great film. Jack Nicholson is the best man you could have possibly had for the role.
It SHOULD BE SAID, that there are definitely tons of films that encapsulate elements and ideas from film-noir, so I don’t think you can exclude them right away from the discussion. But when I think of “prototypical” film-noir, Double Indemnity is definitely the one. Sunset Blvd and Out of the Past are the ones I think of next
Ebert’s list isn’t about the greatest of all time. They are a compilation of what he considers to be great films. It’s easy to consider a film like Five Easy Pieces or Ikiru to be great films, but that doesn’t mean you’re putting them on a pedestal as the greatest of all time. I think that’s a little unfair to do and that most “greatest” lists are overrated because opinion varies so much. It’s like trying to create a greatest list for musical composition or paintings, it just doesn’t work like that, everyone has their interpretation.
And as for Magnolia, if you’ve ever lost anyone close to you or had any experience push you in a way that resonates in the film, there’s no doubt that the film is going to affect you more than someone else. And for myself and many others, Magnolia is a great film.
ILIVEINFEAR, glad to see you can keep an open mind. didn’t mean to necessarily assume you may have not lost someone or anything, i was just using that as an example of something to relate to in the film.
If you had to pick ONE film as your favorite... over 3 years ago
Barry Lyndon or pretty much any Stanley Kubrick film.
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Remake in 2010 over 3 years ago
I just joined the Auteurs (this site looks pretty promising so far).
I recently watched Ikiru and the DVD commentary (which is excellent btw) and I can’t get over how powerful and real this film is.
The reality of isolation and social disconnect that only imminent death can bring, is conveyed well on so many different levels. Takashi Shimura gives an incredibly poignant and mature performance (the scene where the piano player takes song requests and Watanabe-san gives him his), instilling all the qualities of a man who knows his fate and can’t bring himself to confront all his regrets.
If you’ve ever known anyone suffering from cancer or struggling with death, it gives you chills when you realize how much this film evokes those same types of emotions. It breaks your heart to see someone going, yet all you want to do is hold on.
I would go so far as to saying this may be his best film, if not his most poignant.
It’s quite sad that people feel they need to remake this film because it is such a strong film in itself and you can’t retain those great qualities simply just by redoing them.
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Classic movies you can't get on d.v.d. over 3 years ago
4 films in particular that I have a really hard time finding anywhere (netflix, amazon, etc.)
there are a few options but nothing at reasonable prices ($40+ per)
the magnificent ambersons
greed
hotel at marienbad
chimes at midnight
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Solaris over 3 years ago
This is a very interesting topic as I have seen both Tarkovsky’s and Soderbergh’s take on the novel recently.
Tarkovsky’s version is closer to the source material than Soderbergh’s. I find it to be more of an intellectual and existential commentary on human nature and the bounds of our own knowledge and weaknesses. One where I found myself to be in deep-thought throughout most of the film and after the film had already ended. Yes, many will blast the pacing of the film and find it slow and almost boring. But this type of film would suffer without its appropriate pacing and I feel while watching the film that you need that time and space in order to process and take in the ideas from the film. The ending however, I find to be extremely stark and powerful.
Soderbergh’s version has similarities and key differences between Tarkovsky. It is a much more emotional film, thriving on the emotional capacity of human nature rather than focusing on the more intellectual notions in Tarkovsky. That being said, I don’t think anyone can argue that Soderbergh’s version isn’t intelligent by any means, but the focus of the film is rather different from Tarkovsky. I don’t think Soderbergh’s version gets the credit that it actually deserves, as many people who first saw the film weren’t expecting a 99 minute take on human nature with George Clooney in space. Watching the DVD commentary with Soderbergh and James Cameron (which is one of the best ones I have discovered) is extremely enlightening as you can really break down the nuances of the film and you get a stronger understanding of both films.
I would say that both films offer an intellectual and emotional outlook on human nature and existentialism, but each do so through different means. I find myself actually appreciating the newer version more (even though that is not the case with most films I enjoy) because I feel that the perspective of the film is much more in tune with human nature and it allows you to identify with it. But they are both strong films in their respective sense.
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CLASSIC FILM NOIR over 3 years ago
In terms of being a “prototypical”-noir film, I would say the first thing that comes to mind would be Double Indemnity. It may be one of the more well-known films within film-noir, but if you break down all the elements and ideas of noir films, I find that there are few other films that represent film-noir as well as Double Indemnity.
Though I wouldn’t say it is my favorite noir film, I’m more partial to Notorious, Touch of Evil, The Third Man and others.
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Movie's you just don't like. over 3 years ago
Crash. Never have I seen a more pretentious and convoluted mix-mash of racial stereotypes and people acting out on them. I find that the characters act through their “archetypes” rather than human beings.
I think it will always baffle me how this film could have won best picture considering it was going up against Brokeback Mountain. Don’t get me wrong, I like Haggis’s work, he’s a good screen-writer, but this is a terrible film.
Like Mr. Stanley Kubrick’s opinion of Eisenstein’s Alexander Nevsky, I find Crash to be a moronic story, full of lies.
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K.U.B.R.I.C.K. over 3 years ago
I’m so glad to see so many people with similar opinions pertaining to the great director. Stanley Kubrick pushed the limits of film-making in every capacity and brought the utmost much dedication and perfectionism to his films.
Top 3:
1. Tied between Barry Lyndon and The Shining (I love the Shining because I first saw it at Timberline Lodge at Mt. Hood where all the exterior shots for the Overlook were filmed, and still routinely go snowboarding there)
2. Tied between 2001 and the first-half of Full Metal Jacket (the one film where I felt Kubrick could have brought more)
3. A Clockwork Orange
I would still say that I enjoy every single of one of his films. His scrapped Napoleon biopic with his choice of Ian Holm as Napoleon himself, would have been a great, sprawling epic had it not been for the reluctance of studio executives and the failure of other Napoleonic films.
(Orson Welles when asked about the new generation of film-makers) Among those whom I would call ‘younger generation’ Kubrick appears to me to be a giant.
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Favorite Kurosawa flicks? over 3 years ago
This thread just shows me how over-looked Ikiru actually is…
EDIT: Joshua W, I can understand your reasons for not including Ikiru on the list as it’s hard to enjoy a film that is both very sad, yet remarkably unrelenting in its portrayal of the starkness and isolation of reality.
I also think that if someone has experienced death that their opinion and how they gravitate toward Ikiru is profoundly different from someone who has not.
A very interesting conversation indeed.
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Favorite Kurosawa flicks? over 3 years ago
oops double post
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What is Kubrick's Most Under-Appreciated Film? over 3 years ago
Everyone who says that all his films are under-appreciated is right. I’m not trying to say that his films can’t be appreciated because for many, myself included, he sits at the pantheon of film-makers and auteurs.
In terms of which film is still unappreciated to this day, I would say that Barry Lyndon is clearly that film. Eyes Wide Shut is also unappreciated, but with all his films, time is what creates the deep appreciation for his films that we don’t necessarily have after first viewing. (I’m speaking for the GENERAL PUBLIC because EWS is a great film, but I know that the majority of the public doesn’t feel that way)
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Classic movies you can't get on d.v.d. over 3 years ago
Ah Mr. Hodge, I’m glad someone agreed with me on Greed.
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Remake in 2010 over 3 years ago
Josh, I agree and I too am glad that no matter what happens, Ikiru will remain a great film and perhaps its popularity will increase with the new exposure of a remake.
I would still watch the remake though, as I find I would be too interested in their portrayal of the film not to.
The one thing that bothers me though, is that if Jim Sheridan understood the historical and social complex that the film exists in (post-war Japan), especially pertaining to how the government operated, then he would undoubtedly see how the remake would be extremely flawed.
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A History Of Violence over 3 years ago
I’m not too sure on all those particular connections between Bronson and History of Violence but it’s interesting that you have taken some of those ideas to thought.
History of Violence is a good film because like Josh said, it is one that grows on you. I really didn’t enjoy the film too much on first viewing, but found it to be enthralling whenever I rewatched it. That’s just how it goes sometimes.
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What is Kubrick's Most Under-Appreciated Film? over 3 years ago
Yes, I must also agree with Mitchell and say that the Killing is both over-looked and under appreciated. It’s the first film Kubrick actually didn’t have a disdain for (he wanted to buy out every copy of Fear and Desire and Killer’s Kiss so that they could never been screen again).
After watching the Killing, you definitely see so much potential and talent in the young film-maker. I find the unconventional storyline and the overall execution of the film to be very unique and extremely mature considering Kubrick was 27 when he made the film.
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Inventive Narrative Structures over 3 years ago
I’ll try and help you out and list the ones that come to mind for me. I’ll try and pick the films that focus on experimenting with the methodology of storytelling.
80’s to Present: Memento, Run Lola Run, Mulholland Dr., Magnolia
1940’s-70’s: Rashomon, The Killing, Citizen Kane, 8 1/2, Psycho, Ikiru, Breathless
I know there are TONS of others, but I’m too hungry to keep thinking of all of them! Ingmar Bergman films are also very good to look into.
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Rate The Last Film You Watched over 3 years ago
Right now about to watch Five Easy Pieces on Netflix online stream :)
I’ll let you guys know in a bit how it goes
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College film-lovers, unite! over 3 years ago
Nice to see some fellow college students as well. I went to the University of Oregon for my first two years and I recently transferred to the Art Institute of Portland to pursue a degree in Digital Film and Video. I have been doing a lot of film production for a while and am just a huge fan of all things film.
Speaking of The Fountain, it’s definitely one of those films where all the initial reaction from general audiences doesn’t reflect how good the actual film is. Where people go into the film expecting something and they end up seeing something completely different, they don’t necessarily gravitate towards it as much. This is all very general of course, because a lot of times the best films are the ones we don’t see coming. The Fountain was definitely one of those types of films. One of those films that believes in itself, even if you may not. And that is where the strength of the film lies. In Tom Creo’s belief that he could be with Izzy forever (his last name meaning “I believe” in Spanish).
Personally, I think I may enjoy Requiem more, but I’m really looking forward to The Wrestler.
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Favorite film composers over 3 years ago
Bernard Herrmann
Ennio Morricone
Thomas Newman
John Williams (when the score doesn’t play too much to what is in frame)
Some rather household names, but they all have great bodies of work.
I’m going to add Stanley Kubrick as an honorable mention, because I feel even as a director that he deserves partial credit as a composer because almost all the music on all his films was personally chosen and mixed by himself.
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What IS Cinema? over 3 years ago
“…Although it can be like trying to write ‘War and Peace’ in a bumper car in an amusement park, when you finally get it right, there are not many joys in life that can equal the feeling”
- Stanley Kubrick on making films
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George Clooney over 3 years ago
Geronimo, not to be harsh but I think your opinion is a little understated and a little over-exaggerated.
Clooney can act, but he takes on a lot of projects that are rather questionable and I think that has been attributed with his career in films. He started out on E.R. and his big break was Out of Sight and Batman, so to make his breakthrough in films he had to take on those types of roles. I wouldn’t necessarily say that he was type-casted, but that’s just how it goes sometimes and even he admitted that.
If you look at what he’s said in interviews later in his career, right around 2001 with Ocean’s Eleven you’ll notice that his opinion shifted toward working on more quality pictures even if they weren’t going to be huge successes. IMDB has good examples of this.
As for an actor, he has good work in Solaris, Good Night and Good Luck, Syriana and Michael Clayton. These weren’t the biggest, most financially successful films, but they are quality work, especially in comparison to his entire body of work.
As a director, did you forget that the second film he made was an Oscar-nominated Best Picture? Good Night and Good Luck was a strong film and it was an accurate commentary on both Edward R. Murrow and McCarthy. Even when I was 16 and the film was over my completely head, I knew it was a good picture.
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most overrated oscar performances or robberies over 3 years ago
People hit it over the head a few times, but it is without a doubt…
Crash. I will never understand.
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Art or Mainstream? over 3 years ago
Let it be said before this conversation gets out of control (which it looks like is already happening)
All good film-makers understand that film-making is an art.
What people consider to be “art-house” and mainstream really depends on a lot of factors other than the director. It depends on marketing, it depends on studio and budgetary control, it depends on the director’s background as a film-maker, I mean I could go on but you get the idea. So this discussion should not bring in directors or bodies of work, but individual films themselves.
That being said, I don’t think it is fair to put the Coen brothers into a category as mainstream directors because I think they’ve shown that they if anything they aren’t completely conventional (O Brother, The Big Lebowski, Miller’s Crossing, Barton Fink, etc.)
But back to the conversation, I would say that No Country for Old Men is a perfect example of a film that crosses both boundaries of mainstream and what is considered “art-house”. It was well marketed, had a strong run at the Oscars winning Best Picture and it stars three leading men who are all considerably different from one another. So it got a lot of publicity, but in terms of the film, I wouldn’t say it is the most mainstream by any means. The aesthetic, pacing and execution of the film are all quite unconventional if you compare them to mainstream Hollywood films (they tend to be blockbusters, Dark Knight is a good example). And on top of that, it is a mature and somewhat cold film, so in terms of storytelling it does differ from the a lot of mainstream films.
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Army of Shadows over 3 years ago
None of Melville’s films come close to Army of Shadows for me. His other films are good, but Army of Shadows is a great film.
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Can we talk about "Magnolia" for a bit? over 3 years ago
Peter, though I agree with your appreciation of P.T.‘s films, that statement about the last American masterpiece, I don’t think many will agree with you on that. Not while P.T., The Coens, Aronofsky, Soderbergh and Wes Anderson are alive.
And the other “budding” film-makers :)
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Whats your favourite actor,and what actor is so bad you cant look at him over 3 years ago
Favorite:
Jack Nicholson – The Shining, Five Easy Pieces, One Flew, man this guy is good
Paul Newman – Hud, Nobody’s Fool, The Hustler and Color of Money, Butch Cassidy, Cool Hand Luke
Clint Eastwood – The Good the Bad and the Ugly, Million Dollar Baby, Unforgiven
Mifune and Shimura from Kurosawa films
Favorite character – Tuco from The Good, The Bad and The Ugly played by Eli Wallach
Least favorite –
I don’t hate him, but I don’t really like Edward Norton too much. I don’t know why, but I find him a little pretentious at times. He gets a lot of tough/hard guy roles and I just don’t think he fits the mold.
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Rate The Last Film You Watched over 3 years ago
I just saw Five Easy Pieces, man now I see why a lot of people consider this to be a great film. Jack Nicholson is the best man you could have possibly had for the role.
90/100
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CLASSIC FILM NOIR over 3 years ago
I think there are many good suggestions.
It SHOULD BE SAID, that there are definitely tons of films that encapsulate elements and ideas from film-noir, so I don’t think you can exclude them right away from the discussion. But when I think of “prototypical” film-noir, Double Indemnity is definitely the one. Sunset Blvd and Out of the Past are the ones I think of next
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Can we talk about "Magnolia" for a bit? over 3 years ago
Ebert’s list isn’t about the greatest of all time. They are a compilation of what he considers to be great films. It’s easy to consider a film like Five Easy Pieces or Ikiru to be great films, but that doesn’t mean you’re putting them on a pedestal as the greatest of all time. I think that’s a little unfair to do and that most “greatest” lists are overrated because opinion varies so much. It’s like trying to create a greatest list for musical composition or paintings, it just doesn’t work like that, everyone has their interpretation.
And as for Magnolia, if you’ve ever lost anyone close to you or had any experience push you in a way that resonates in the film, there’s no doubt that the film is going to affect you more than someone else. And for myself and many others, Magnolia is a great film.
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Best of Coming-Of-Age Cinema over 3 years ago
I cannot believe this film has not been mentioned but that just maybe shows how overlooked it is.
I Vitelloni – Fellini
A great film about a group of young, passionate men in a coming of age story.
And how come no one has mentioned Barry Lyndon?
Other good examples are Hayao Miyazaki films, many of them are coming of age stories.
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Can we talk about "Magnolia" for a bit? over 3 years ago
ILIVEINFEAR, glad to see you can keep an open mind. didn’t mean to necessarily assume you may have not lost someone or anything, i was just using that as an example of something to relate to in the film.
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