This may be a stretch but visually I can’t help but compare Jacques Tati to Edward Hopper. For some reason Playtime reminds me of Hopper’s New York City paintings.
Real Genius is a guilty classic. My girlfriend and I recently saw Savage Streets, the early 80’s revenge movie starring Linda Blair and both of deemed it as the greatest movie ever! Half-joking, of course.
But in terms of guilty-guilty pleasure: I loved and was simultaneously sickened by the recent French horror film Martyrs. I still can’t get the images out of my head and a very strange and disturbing part of me wants to see it again. (?)
Romero’s Night of the Living Dead is still tops on my list. When I was younger I, of course, found the sequels to be equally frightening but today the satire and zombie/identification of those later films (as necessary as they may be) dulled a lot of the creepy scare factor.
John Carpenter’s The Thing is also up there. Both still scare me today.
On the flip side, I remember Faces of Death being really frightening when I was a kid but when I bought and viewed the recent Blu-ray release, I found out (sadly) what a load it was!
I agree with the Unsolved Mysteries pick. Everything about that show was creepy and always guaranteed me a night of little sleep after watching it as a child. I used to curse those bast(erds) esp. when they had the bright idea to throw an actual corpse on screen taken from a medical examiner’s photo and ask us if we may know who this person is (or was).
I nominate either Josef von Sternberg (any one of his other films with Dietrich would qualify; in fact release them all together on Eclipse and I’d be happy) or Sam Peckinpah. I think Bring Me the Head Alfredo Garcia was mentioned and would make a fine addition.
George Lucas… I’m no Star Wars “fan” (granted I had the bedsheets when I was a kid and the action figures and I did buy the original trilogy remastered and letterboxed on VHS but that’s about as far as it went) but I think for his legacy-sake he should be “offed” (although it’s probably too late)….
and, yes, I’m agreeing with (ripping off) Patton Oswalt.
My God, are they really letting that philistine stay behind the wheel for a 5th and 6th Terminator film??? After what he did to the 4th one I thought Hollywood was a tough town?
Well, I highly disagree with Sir Poopbutt in regards to Bogdonavich (seriously, we all know that Paper Moon is his classic) and Wellman (just watch the TCM Forbidden Hollywood Volume 3 boxset – any one of those films directed by Wellman are on par or (dare I say it) better than Ox-Bow.
My picks seem limited after putting this list together. In my defense, I find myself not having seen many foreign releases from the 70’s. I have yet to see Cries and Whispers, Stalker, Solaris, The Conformist, and Aguirre – to name a few. Among the films I have seen I’m not a big fan of Fellini’s later period and as much as I wanted to like Spirit of the Beehive and Celine and Julie Go Boating; I found myself liking moments of these films but ultimately I couldn’t see myself revisiting them anytime soon.
My list for best 10 films of the 70’s are (in no particular order):
Annie Hall
Taxi Driver
The Deer Hunter
Chinatown
The Godfather 1 & 2 (by including both I do understand I’m cheating a bit, but it’s nearly impossible to choose between them)
Jaws
New York, New York
Barry Lyndon
Dawn of the Dead
Paper Moon
I’m not sure if this topic was previously covered in the forum but it’s here now:
Raging Bull
Pee Wee’s Big Adventure
Blue Velvet
Crimes and Misdemeanors
The Thing
Heaven’s Gate
Robocop
Roger and Me
The King of Comedy
Once Upon a Time in America
I found this list incredibly easy to compile and since it’s my own personal list – I wouldn’t dare say it’s one to be carved in stone. I am a little disturbed that I couldn’t think of any foreign films but I’m sure someone will include a few here.
JFK and Boogie Nights are good additions and are favorites of mine. I do enjoy Pulp Fiction but Jackie Brown and Kill Bill are films I enjoy more. I forgot Blair Witch was a 90’s film and I am a little shocked by the rare number of quality horror films from the 90’s. I wonder why?
I guess I can see Hearts and Minds as a western; although that addition will only make the argument that any film dealing with western imperialism could be included – but, since we’re 15 in let me include The Great Silence (Corbucci), The Naked Spur (Mann), Heaven’s Gate (Cimino), Man of the West (Mann), Day of the Outlaw (De Toth), The Lust Men (Ray) – do movies about ranch hands count? and Lonely are the Brave (Miller).
Nicholas Ray – Bigger Than Life
Pedro Almodovar – Talk to Her
Satyajit Ray – Apu Trilogy (Eclipse)
Alejandro Jodorowsky – El Topo
Leo McCarey – Make Way for Tomorrow (strong rumor of this happening)
Michael Cimino – Heaven’s Gate
Female Trouble
Showgirls
El Topo
Savage Streets
Mommie Dearest
36th Chamber of Shaolin
Freaks
Flash Gordon (the non-porn Mike Hodges’ directed one)
Night of the Living Dead
David Holtzman’s Diary
My list, I admit, is a bit limited since I have yet to see any Russ Myer movies and my love for Paul Morrissey has evaporated a bit (I still enjoy Blood for Dacula but it wasn’t, to me, good enough to crack the top 10).
Texas Chainsaw Massacre
Night of the Living Dead
The Thing (1982 Carpenter version)
Friday the 13th Part 2
Psycho
It’s Alive
Day of the Dead
Let the Right One In
Silence of the Lambs
The Fly (the Cronenberg one)
Halloween (original, obviously)
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (the sexed up pre-code Mamoulian version)
The Bride of Frankenstein
Cabin Fever (sorry film snobs)
Rosemary’s Baby
Island of Lost Souls (1932 version)
Alien
Dawn of the Dead (original version; although the remake wasn’t bad either)
Near Dark
The Blair Witch Project
Jaws
The Exorcist
Horror of Dracula
Curse of Frankenstein
I would love for a really good edition of the 1932 Mamoulian version of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. I also think it would be a lot of fun if Eclipse would release a set of essential Hammer horror films.
I agree on it being entirely subjective. That’s the beauty of zombie films; they work under any kind of sub-genre and topical commentary because to us death can symbolize many things – from the fear of its finality to the death of an idea or the sense of feeling powerless to a force more powerfull than one can imagine. It’s something both frightening and absurd.
For me, NIGHT still resonates as a tightly told and completely subversive horror movie. To this day I still find it very horrifying in its simplicity and its ability to transcend the time it was made (sorry, Josh, although I agree with 99% of what you said I don’t agree with the notion that NIGHT is dated. Most of the metaphors are still very relevant today).
Regarding DAWN, I’ll always admire Romero’s bravery in his attempt to top his 70’s horror colleagues by creating the ultimate horror expression of 1970’s America. It has Nixon’s paranioa and Carter’s admirable yet failed optimism and the humor and manic sense of action devolving into ambivalence is perfect.
Finally, DAY is probably the most densely layered and for that many fans consider it a classic. When Romero made this one he wasn’t praised in the same manner he is today and I think it was this lack of acclaim that allowed Romero to take further chances. We all know the production of DAY was littered with budget battles since the process of American filmmaking was much more restrictive during the 1980’s (if you were making a horror film not immediately marketable to teenagers you’re probably looking at a major uphill climb). However, the chances Romero took i.e. the satirizing of America’s hero worship of Rambo and the military complex, the progression of zombie sympathizing (the portrayal of Bub was perfectly funny and tragic and made me wish Romero would further this by making a Dead film completing told from a zombie(s) point of view), the inclusion of the “gay” couple (I know it was never said but I always got the sense that the two men living together and represented sanity from the male perspective were gay), as well as the final shot of the survivors on the beach living in perfect peace almost immediately after the zombie attack (?)… I had a discussion with a film professor of mine that made the argument that this shot represented the human POV of life after death and that we should take it as Romero offering us the idea that life as a zombie isn’t necessarily negative since if one believes that our consciousness is separate from our body who knows where that could take us after death. It’s an interesting theory and one I’m not sure Romero ever addressed.
Yes!!! On Martin being included! I’m kind of on a Romero kick and I rushed over here to say that Martin (quite possibly the most un-vampire of all vampire films) be included with all the bells and whistles.
Corbucci’s The Great Silence ended a bit surprisingly since it didn’t follow the formula of how traditional westerns end. I was also a bit surprised by how There Will Be Blood wrapped up – I’m not the biggest fan of that film but I was happy to see my expectations turned at the end.
The more I think about MA the more I like it. I’ll admit I found myself very underwhelmed after seeing it for the first time. Of course the bad reception it received when it debuted at Cannes may have tarnished my intial feelings (along with every other movie reviewer) but Coppola’s decision to avoid politics and concentrate on the aesthetics actually makes sense when dealing with such a vapid character/historical figure who probably found politics and sociology to be rather boring.
Instead of making an overtly political film or presenting MA as a victim deserving of complete sympathy, I think Coppola was more interested in celebrity culture and how the trappings of being born famous can be corrupting. It’s a theme and attitude that still resonates even if its just the clothes and music that changes.
Cache
No Country for Old Men
Ratatouille
Mulholland Drive
Fog of War
Talk to Her
Kill Bill (vols 1&2)
Let the Right One In
Lost in Translation
Freaks and Geeks (First and only season)
The Wire (entire series)
Zodiac
The Office (original UK version; both seasons)
I know I added a few TV series but to me this decade was a boon for television in its ability to really transform itself into a viable medium in terms of storytelling and direction – a lot of which began in the 90’s where TV creators/showrunners became famous and found respect as “auteurs”
What about that horrible movie starring John Travolta as the jilted dad who has to put up with his son and ex-wife shacking up with the villianous Vince Vaughn? I think it was somewhat recent.
IF YOU WERE TO COMPARE A DIRECTOR TO A VISUAL ARTIST, WHO WOULD HE BE? almost 3 years ago
This may be a stretch but visually I can’t help but compare Jacques Tati to Edward Hopper. For some reason Playtime reminds me of Hopper’s New York City paintings.
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Best, Guilty Pleasure Film. almost 3 years ago
Real Genius is a guilty classic. My girlfriend and I recently saw Savage Streets, the early 80’s revenge movie starring Linda Blair and both of deemed it as the greatest movie ever! Half-joking, of course.
But in terms of guilty-guilty pleasure: I loved and was simultaneously sickened by the recent French horror film Martyrs. I still can’t get the images out of my head and a very strange and disturbing part of me wants to see it again. (?)
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VILLAINS. almost 3 years ago
I love the Klaus Kinski pick from The Great Silence. Mine would be Frank Booth from Blue Velvet.
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Whats the scariest film ever or some of ur favorites almost 3 years ago
Romero’s Night of the Living Dead is still tops on my list. When I was younger I, of course, found the sequels to be equally frightening but today the satire and zombie/identification of those later films (as necessary as they may be) dulled a lot of the creepy scare factor.
John Carpenter’s The Thing is also up there. Both still scare me today.
On the flip side, I remember Faces of Death being really frightening when I was a kid but when I bought and viewed the recent Blu-ray release, I found out (sadly) what a load it was!
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Whats the scariest film ever or some of ur favorites almost 3 years ago
RE: Mayor of Hell.
I agree with the Unsolved Mysteries pick. Everything about that show was creepy and always guaranteed me a night of little sleep after watching it as a child. I used to curse those bast(erds) esp. when they had the bright idea to throw an actual corpse on screen taken from a medical examiner’s photo and ask us if we may know who this person is (or was).
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Masterpieces By Mediocre Directors almost 3 years ago
After Hours – Scorsese
Chimes of Midnight – Welles
Just kidding, of course.
Now for my serious pick.
Real Genius – Martha Coolidge
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One time Criterion directors that deserve another shot? almost 3 years ago
I nominate either Josef von Sternberg (any one of his other films with Dietrich would qualify; in fact release them all together on Eclipse and I’d be happy) or Sam Peckinpah. I think Bring Me the Head Alfredo Garcia was mentioned and would make a fine addition.
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you have a gun and one bullet... almost 3 years ago
George Lucas… I’m no Star Wars “fan” (granted I had the bedsheets when I was a kid and the action figures and I did buy the original trilogy remastered and letterboxed on VHS but that’s about as far as it went) but I think for his legacy-sake he should be “offed” (although it’s probably too late)….
and, yes, I’m agreeing with (ripping off) Patton Oswalt.
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you have a gun and one bullet... almost 3 years ago
And while we’re at it. Brett Ratner, too. What a fat load he is!
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you have a gun and one bullet... almost 3 years ago
And, for the last time!!!! McG!
My God, are they really letting that philistine stay behind the wheel for a 5th and 6th Terminator film??? After what he did to the 4th one I thought Hollywood was a tough town?
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Masterpieces By Mediocre Directors almost 3 years ago
Well, I highly disagree with Sir Poopbutt in regards to Bogdonavich (seriously, we all know that Paper Moon is his classic) and Wellman (just watch the TCM Forbidden Hollywood Volume 3 boxset – any one of those films directed by Wellman are on par or (dare I say it) better than Ox-Bow.
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TOP 10 FILMS OF THE 70'S almost 3 years ago
My picks seem limited after putting this list together. In my defense, I find myself not having seen many foreign releases from the 70’s. I have yet to see Cries and Whispers, Stalker, Solaris, The Conformist, and Aguirre – to name a few. Among the films I have seen I’m not a big fan of Fellini’s later period and as much as I wanted to like Spirit of the Beehive and Celine and Julie Go Boating; I found myself liking moments of these films but ultimately I couldn’t see myself revisiting them anytime soon.
My list for best 10 films of the 70’s are (in no particular order):
Annie Hall
Taxi Driver
The Deer Hunter
Chinatown
The Godfather 1 & 2 (by including both I do understand I’m cheating a bit, but it’s nearly impossible to choose between them)
Jaws
New York, New York
Barry Lyndon
Dawn of the Dead
Paper Moon
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Top 10 Films of the 80's almost 3 years ago
I’m not sure if this topic was previously covered in the forum but it’s here now:
Raging Bull
Pee Wee’s Big Adventure
Blue Velvet
Crimes and Misdemeanors
The Thing
Heaven’s Gate
Robocop
Roger and Me
The King of Comedy
Once Upon a Time in America
I found this list incredibly easy to compile and since it’s my own personal list – I wouldn’t dare say it’s one to be carved in stone. I am a little disturbed that I couldn’t think of any foreign films but I’m sure someone will include a few here.
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Top 10 Films of the 90's almost 3 years ago
Again, this may have been previously posted but here goes:
Fargo
The Grifters
Goodfellas
Heat
Short Cuts
Rushmore
All About My Mother
Silence of the Lambs
Jackie Brown
Unforgiven
This is mostly off the top of my head and in no particular order. Again, it’s my personal taste and I’m sure I’ve missed quite a few films.
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Top 10 Films of the 80's almost 3 years ago
Yeah, I forgot about Sans Soleil.
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Top 10 Films of the 90's almost 3 years ago
JFK and Boogie Nights are good additions and are favorites of mine. I do enjoy Pulp Fiction but Jackie Brown and Kill Bill are films I enjoy more. I forgot Blair Witch was a 90’s film and I am a little shocked by the rare number of quality horror films from the 90’s. I wonder why?
New topic post?
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Best 34 westerns almost 3 years ago
I guess I can see Hearts and Minds as a western; although that addition will only make the argument that any film dealing with western imperialism could be included – but, since we’re 15 in let me include The Great Silence (Corbucci), The Naked Spur (Mann), Heaven’s Gate (Cimino), Man of the West (Mann), Day of the Outlaw (De Toth), The Lust Men (Ray) – do movies about ranch hands count? and Lonely are the Brave (Miller).
That makes it 22.
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Best 34 westerns almost 3 years ago
@Owen Sound
Looking over your profile I would have to recommend Dead Man. You probably heard of it. It came out in the mid-90’s and was directed by Jim Jarmusch.
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WHICH DIRECTORS...NOT...CURRENTLY REPRESENTED IN THE CRITERION COLLECTION DO YOU WANT TO SEE INCLUDED? almost 3 years ago
Nicholas Ray – Bigger Than Life
Pedro Almodovar – Talk to Her
Satyajit Ray – Apu Trilogy (Eclipse)
Alejandro Jodorowsky – El Topo
Leo McCarey – Make Way for Tomorrow (strong rumor of this happening)
Michael Cimino – Heaven’s Gate
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Your Top Cult Films almost 3 years ago
Female Trouble
Showgirls
El Topo
Savage Streets
Mommie Dearest
36th Chamber of Shaolin
Freaks
Flash Gordon (the non-porn Mike Hodges’ directed one)
Night of the Living Dead
David Holtzman’s Diary
My list, I admit, is a bit limited since I have yet to see any Russ Myer movies and my love for Paul Morrissey has evaporated a bit (I still enjoy Blood for Dacula but it wasn’t, to me, good enough to crack the top 10).
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Top 20 horror films almost 3 years ago
Horror movies do not blow and here’s why:
Texas Chainsaw Massacre
Night of the Living Dead
The Thing (1982 Carpenter version)
Friday the 13th Part 2
Psycho
It’s Alive
Day of the Dead
Let the Right One In
Silence of the Lambs
The Fly (the Cronenberg one)
Halloween (original, obviously)
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (the sexed up pre-code Mamoulian version)
The Bride of Frankenstein
Cabin Fever (sorry film snobs)
Rosemary’s Baby
Island of Lost Souls (1932 version)
Alien
Dawn of the Dead (original version; although the remake wasn’t bad either)
Near Dark
The Blair Witch Project
Jaws
The Exorcist
Horror of Dracula
Curse of Frankenstein
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Horror on criterion almost 3 years ago
I would love for a really good edition of the 1932 Mamoulian version of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. I also think it would be a lot of fun if Eclipse would release a set of essential Hammer horror films.
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the dead trilogy almost 3 years ago
I agree on it being entirely subjective. That’s the beauty of zombie films; they work under any kind of sub-genre and topical commentary because to us death can symbolize many things – from the fear of its finality to the death of an idea or the sense of feeling powerless to a force more powerfull than one can imagine. It’s something both frightening and absurd.
For me, NIGHT still resonates as a tightly told and completely subversive horror movie. To this day I still find it very horrifying in its simplicity and its ability to transcend the time it was made (sorry, Josh, although I agree with 99% of what you said I don’t agree with the notion that NIGHT is dated. Most of the metaphors are still very relevant today).
Regarding DAWN, I’ll always admire Romero’s bravery in his attempt to top his 70’s horror colleagues by creating the ultimate horror expression of 1970’s America. It has Nixon’s paranioa and Carter’s admirable yet failed optimism and the humor and manic sense of action devolving into ambivalence is perfect.
Finally, DAY is probably the most densely layered and for that many fans consider it a classic. When Romero made this one he wasn’t praised in the same manner he is today and I think it was this lack of acclaim that allowed Romero to take further chances. We all know the production of DAY was littered with budget battles since the process of American filmmaking was much more restrictive during the 1980’s (if you were making a horror film not immediately marketable to teenagers you’re probably looking at a major uphill climb). However, the chances Romero took i.e. the satirizing of America’s hero worship of Rambo and the military complex, the progression of zombie sympathizing (the portrayal of Bub was perfectly funny and tragic and made me wish Romero would further this by making a Dead film completing told from a zombie(s) point of view), the inclusion of the “gay” couple (I know it was never said but I always got the sense that the two men living together and represented sanity from the male perspective were gay), as well as the final shot of the survivors on the beach living in perfect peace almost immediately after the zombie attack (?)… I had a discussion with a film professor of mine that made the argument that this shot represented the human POV of life after death and that we should take it as Romero offering us the idea that life as a zombie isn’t necessarily negative since if one believes that our consciousness is separate from our body who knows where that could take us after death. It’s an interesting theory and one I’m not sure Romero ever addressed.
Go to Comment
Horror on criterion almost 3 years ago
Yes!!! On Martin being included! I’m kind of on a Romero kick and I rushed over here to say that Martin (quite possibly the most un-vampire of all vampire films) be included with all the bells and whistles.
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Movies with unexpected endings... almost 3 years ago
Corbucci’s The Great Silence ended a bit surprisingly since it didn’t follow the formula of how traditional westerns end. I was also a bit surprised by how There Will Be Blood wrapped up – I’m not the biggest fan of that film but I was happy to see my expectations turned at the end.
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MARIE ANTOINETTE: YAY/NAY, WHY? almost 3 years ago
The more I think about MA the more I like it. I’ll admit I found myself very underwhelmed after seeing it for the first time. Of course the bad reception it received when it debuted at Cannes may have tarnished my intial feelings (along with every other movie reviewer) but Coppola’s decision to avoid politics and concentrate on the aesthetics actually makes sense when dealing with such a vapid character/historical figure who probably found politics and sociology to be rather boring.
Instead of making an overtly political film or presenting MA as a victim deserving of complete sympathy, I think Coppola was more interested in celebrity culture and how the trappings of being born famous can be corrupting. It’s a theme and attitude that still resonates even if its just the clothes and music that changes.
Go to Comment
Favourite film of the decade (so far)? almost 3 years ago
So far, in no particular order:
Cache
No Country for Old Men
Ratatouille
Mulholland Drive
Fog of War
Talk to Her
Kill Bill (vols 1&2)
Let the Right One In
Lost in Translation
Freaks and Geeks (First and only season)
The Wire (entire series)
Zodiac
The Office (original UK version; both seasons)
I know I added a few TV series but to me this decade was a boon for television in its ability to really transform itself into a viable medium in terms of storytelling and direction – a lot of which began in the 90’s where TV creators/showrunners became famous and found respect as “auteurs”
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Horror on criterion almost 3 years ago
Hey Matt, the forum you posted doesn’t count since the previous one specifies MODERN and AMERICAN. Just saying.
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Best Films to watch on Father's Day almost 3 years ago
What about that horrible movie starring John Travolta as the jilted dad who has to put up with his son and ex-wife shacking up with the villianous Vince Vaughn? I think it was somewhat recent.
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Best Films to watch on Father's Day almost 3 years ago
In fact, scratch that! I got it. The 1980’s classic starring Peter “Robocop” Weller and Teri Garr….. “First Born”
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