Bryan Singer’s Superman. Bad Boys 2. And yes this will certainly anger people…Episode I,II and III. For my own reasons too long to share here. I too loved Speed Racer. As a narrative film there were lots of things that simply don’t work. But as a pure piece of Pop Art…it’s fucking brilliant.
1989 – Do The Right Thing – I was 16 the summer that it came out (completely devoted to hip hop and Public Enemy) and up until then I had a pretty steady diet of mainstream genre films such as, Indiana Jones, Star Wars, Blade Runner, Godfather, Die Hard and anything James Cameron did. But after I saw Do The Right Thing I devoured anything I could about Spike Lee. Back then there was no Internets so it was all magazines and TV show interviews. But in his interviews he would constantly talking about filmmakers I had never heard of. For this reason I began to seek these filmmakers work out and it’s what got me to start watching and develop a love for French New Wave, Italian Neo-Realism and everything in between. It was an awesome time in my life. Here I am 20 years later (in my mid 30’s ) and Spike is still one of our most boldest and prolific filmmakers.
It also taught me that time and patience is everything with art. I remember Spike (after being snubbed for an oscar nom) saying “In 20 years people will still be talking about Do The Right Thing. No one will care about Driving Miss Daisy.” He was verbally killed for that statement. But, he was right.
Do The Right Thing – Radio Raheem’s death
Elephant Man – John Merrick’s death at the end
Requiem For A Dream – Pretty much the entire last half hour (especially the scene where Marlon Wayans is looking at the mirrors he bought)
E.T. – Death scene in the bathroom
Yi Yi – Stop light scene
Benjamin Button – takes his old man to watch the sunrise (After this and Zodiac Fincher is working on a whole other level)
Titanic – Leo dying at the end got me. If you didn’t cry the first time you saw Titanic you’re fucking liar
Children of Men – Clive Owen walking out of the building with the baby
I could go on but this is what I remember of the top of my head.
Miami Vice – arguably Mann’s greatest visual achievement
A.I.
Running Scared
Sunshine – I’m sensing a pattern here with Mr. Boyle.
The Mist – Easily the best horror movie made in years (for me)
Marie Antoinette
25th Hour – I think it’s Spike’s best behind Do The Right Thing and Malcolm X
The Shining – It’s my favorite Kubrick flick
I’m not so sure it’s completely overrated so much as it’s just a good summer flick and nothing more. It’s about 25 minutes too long. Most of the dialogue is just horrendous. Heath Ledger is almost too good. In the sense that the rest of the actors and the film as a whole just can’t keep up. The opening bank robbery really bothered me with all the cartoonish dialogue (would have much more powerful without any dialogue at all) and the Jokers ridiculous escape. Also, why does everyone at some point start SCREAMING THIER DIALOGUE REALLY LOUD AND ANGRILY. Halfway through I couldn’t help but think why didn’t they just hire Michael Mann to make a vigilante film about terrorism.
The Thin Red Line
Bridge On The River Kwai
Lawrence of Arabia
Apocalypse Now
Shop On Main Street
The Cranes Are Flying
Battle of Algiers
The Big Red One
MASH
The Good, The Bad & The Ugly (civil war so it counts)
Full Metal Jacket
Traffic (war on drugs – it counts too)
I think Barry Lyndon and Eyes Wide Shut are equally under appreciated. Barry I loved from the first time I saw it but most people I know just can’t get into it. Ryan O’Neil is just fucking amazing in that role. I also think it’s the most beautifully shot of all his films.
Eyes Wide Shut however i disliked tremendously when I first saw it. But since watching it again on cable and DVD I have grown very fond of it. It just took some time. Which is what great art is supposed to do. I find that history is a much better judge of art than I am.
Wong is one of my favorite filmmakers. About 8 years ago a buddy of mine let me borrow his copy of Fallen Angels. After watching it I bought everything I could my hands on. But Fallen Angeles has always been my favorite. Plus, the collaborations between him and Doyle as artists working together to achieve a vision are some of the best cinema has to offer. Over the holidays I got to see Ashes of Time Redux for the first time and it blew me away. I never saw it before as there has never been a decent DVD release so I waited. Glad I did. It’s one of my favorites of the past year along with My Blueberry Nights. Which I think is criminally underrated.
Harrison Ford – Blade Runner
Jimmy Stewart – It’s A Wonderful Life
Denzel Washington – Mo’ Better Blues & Man On Fire
Maggie Cheung – In The Mood For Love
Robert De Niro – Raging Bull & Taxi Driver
Ray Liotta – Goodfellas
Sissy Spacek – Badlands
Richard Gere – Days Of Heaven
Gene Wilder – Young Frankenstein
Ian Mckellan – Lord of The Rings Trilogy
Bill Murray – Life Aquatic
Al Pacino – Heat & Scarface
Daniel Day Lewis – Gangs of New York & There Will Be Blood
Josh Brolin – No Country For Old Men
Clive Owen – Children of Men
Julianne Moore – Boogie Nights
Tom Crusie – Magnolia
Gene Hackman – French Connection
Alec Guiness – Bridge on The River Kwai
Toshiro Mifune – Seven Samauri
Samuel L. Jackson – Pulp Fiction
Hugh Jackman – The Fountain
Sissy Spacek – 3 Women & Badlands
Warren Beatty – McCabe & Mrs. MIiller
Faye Dunaway – Bonnie & Clyde
Ed Norton – American History X
Harvey Kietel – Bad Lieutenant
Chris Walken – True Romance
Brando – Street Car Named Desire
Patricia Arquette – True Romance
Chow Yun Fat – The Killer & Hardboiled
Jet Li – Hero
Mickey Rourke – Angel Heart
Pam Grier – Jackie Brown
Fuck all the pretentious cinephile bullshit. Mann is one of the great filmmakers for lots of reasons. But one in particular would be…
“That’s not what happens. What will happen is… what will happen is…I will put a round at twenty-seven hundred feet per second into the medulla at the base of your brain. And you will be dead from the neck down before your body knows it. Your finger won’t even twitch. Only you get dead. So tell me, sport, do you believe that? "
I guess it all depends on what your in the mood for. Sometimes you want cry and sometimes you want to laugh. And sometimes they’re not mutually exclusive. As far as I’m concerned any flick has the opportunity for greatness. Some reach it. Some don’t.
Lynch and Cocteau might have separated at birth in another dimension. Some of Fellini’s later works got pretty surreal also. I would add throw in allot of stuff Coppola has made and produced.
The Good, The Bad & The Ugly
The Wild Bunch
Assassination of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford
Once Upon A Time In The West
Open Range
McCabe & Mrs. Miller
El Topo
High Noon
Bring Me The Head Of Alfredo Garcia
Butch Cassidy & The Sundance Kid
Blazing Saddles
Pat Garrett & Billy The Kid
36, dropped out of college after 1 semester. Creative Director for an ad agency. I also think the idea that a person’s love or knowledge of any art form being contingent on their age or education level is complete bullshit. Besides, most great art is born out of struggle.
I can’t believe I’m going to admit this here…but…last night I rented Balls Out: Gary The Tennis Coach. And on the real…I’d give it a 3.5 out of 5. Seriously, this along with a little flick called The Promotion, Sean William Scott has been quitely doing some really good and really out there work. If you haven’t seen it yet, check out The Promotion.
Brazil
Blade Runner
A.I.
E.T.
Sunshine
Children of Men
2001
Robinson Carusoe on Mars
Alphaville
Star Wars (yes all 6)
Alien
Aliens
Terminator
T2
The Abyss
Wrath of Kahn
Predator
Dark City
Solaris (both versions)
The Blob (Original)
Plan 9
THX 1138
Close Encounters
La Jeete
The Thing
The Matrix Trilogy (yes, all 3. And yes, I think they get better as each chapter unfolds)
Superman (Singers version. He’s an alien so it counts.)
The Wire. That would be the best show ever made for TV. But, it’s so good that it goes beyond television. I know it’s been said before but it really is more like a filmed novel. Plus, I’d put any season of it up against most films. It’s the only TV series I own and it takes its place proudly among the best of my humble little DVD library.
I fucking love both. That being said, No Country is a genre flick. It’s a crime movie. One of the best of it’s kind I think. I really think Brolin is amazing in it and love how it goes completely against genre convention with the ending.
Blood is something all together different. It’s strictly a character driven piece that’s purposely cold and distant to keep you at arms length. You want to love It instantly but it makes you earn it. I saw Blood once in the theatre, once when the DVD came out and I actually just watched it again a couple of weeks ago. It really is a movie that gets better and better every time I watch it. Although I have a friend of mine who thinks it’s the ultimate anti-western. So, maybe it’s a genre flick too. I guess I’ll have to watch it a few more times.
Touch of Evil
Sunset Boulevard
Ace In The Whole
Double Indemnity
Naked City
Blade Runner
Body Heat
The Third Man
The Maltese Falcon
High and Low
The Long Goodbye
It’s a great flick. The photography is just gorgeous. It’s kinda cool to watch the pool scene from this and boogie nights back to back. PTA straight cribbed it. Shit, I would too. Not to mention the DVD packaging is a cool little cuban cigar box.
Criterion Christmas over 3 years ago
From my wife:
Bottle Rocket
Chungking Express
A small amount of pure awesomeness!
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Great movies that you never want to see again over 3 years ago
Inland Empire. It’s surreal masterpiece that I know I’ll never be able to get through again no matter how hard I try.
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Movies you love, but everyone else hates. over 3 years ago
Bryan Singer’s Superman. Bad Boys 2. And yes this will certainly anger people…Episode I,II and III. For my own reasons too long to share here. I too loved Speed Racer. As a narrative film there were lots of things that simply don’t work. But as a pure piece of Pop Art…it’s fucking brilliant.
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Films that changed how you looked at cinema over 3 years ago
1989 – Do The Right Thing – I was 16 the summer that it came out (completely devoted to hip hop and Public Enemy) and up until then I had a pretty steady diet of mainstream genre films such as, Indiana Jones, Star Wars, Blade Runner, Godfather, Die Hard and anything James Cameron did. But after I saw Do The Right Thing I devoured anything I could about Spike Lee. Back then there was no Internets so it was all magazines and TV show interviews. But in his interviews he would constantly talking about filmmakers I had never heard of. For this reason I began to seek these filmmakers work out and it’s what got me to start watching and develop a love for French New Wave, Italian Neo-Realism and everything in between. It was an awesome time in my life. Here I am 20 years later (in my mid 30’s ) and Spike is still one of our most boldest and prolific filmmakers.
It also taught me that time and patience is everything with art. I remember Spike (after being snubbed for an oscar nom) saying “In 20 years people will still be talking about Do The Right Thing. No one will care about Driving Miss Daisy.” He was verbally killed for that statement. But, he was right.
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What film scenes really make you cry? over 3 years ago
Do The Right Thing – Radio Raheem’s death
Elephant Man – John Merrick’s death at the end
Requiem For A Dream – Pretty much the entire last half hour (especially the scene where Marlon Wayans is looking at the mirrors he bought)
E.T. – Death scene in the bathroom
Yi Yi – Stop light scene
Benjamin Button – takes his old man to watch the sunrise (After this and Zodiac Fincher is working on a whole other level)
Titanic – Leo dying at the end got me. If you didn’t cry the first time you saw Titanic you’re fucking liar
Children of Men – Clive Owen walking out of the building with the baby
I could go on but this is what I remember of the top of my head.
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You choose the book to make into a film. Then choose the director. Go! over 3 years ago
Gil’s All Fright Diner – Coen Brothers
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Underrated Films... over 3 years ago
Miami Vice – arguably Mann’s greatest visual achievement
A.I.
Running Scared
Sunshine – I’m sensing a pattern here with Mr. Boyle.
The Mist – Easily the best horror movie made in years (for me)
Marie Antoinette
25th Hour – I think it’s Spike’s best behind Do The Right Thing and Malcolm X
The Shining – It’s my favorite Kubrick flick
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Does anyone else feel THE DARK KNIGHT is way overrated? over 3 years ago
I’m not so sure it’s completely overrated so much as it’s just a good summer flick and nothing more. It’s about 25 minutes too long. Most of the dialogue is just horrendous. Heath Ledger is almost too good. In the sense that the rest of the actors and the film as a whole just can’t keep up. The opening bank robbery really bothered me with all the cartoonish dialogue (would have much more powerful without any dialogue at all) and the Jokers ridiculous escape. Also, why does everyone at some point start SCREAMING THIER DIALOGUE REALLY LOUD AND ANGRILY. Halfway through I couldn’t help but think why didn’t they just hire Michael Mann to make a vigilante film about terrorism.
Go to Comment
Best War Movie(s) over 3 years ago
The Thin Red Line
Bridge On The River Kwai
Lawrence of Arabia
Apocalypse Now
Shop On Main Street
The Cranes Are Flying
Battle of Algiers
The Big Red One
MASH
The Good, The Bad & The Ugly (civil war so it counts)
Full Metal Jacket
Traffic (war on drugs – it counts too)
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What is Kubrick's Most Under-Appreciated Film? over 3 years ago
I think Barry Lyndon and Eyes Wide Shut are equally under appreciated. Barry I loved from the first time I saw it but most people I know just can’t get into it. Ryan O’Neil is just fucking amazing in that role. I also think it’s the most beautifully shot of all his films.
Eyes Wide Shut however i disliked tremendously when I first saw it. But since watching it again on cable and DVD I have grown very fond of it. It just took some time. Which is what great art is supposed to do. I find that history is a much better judge of art than I am.
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Wong Kar-Wai over 3 years ago
Wong is one of my favorite filmmakers. About 8 years ago a buddy of mine let me borrow his copy of Fallen Angels. After watching it I bought everything I could my hands on. But Fallen Angeles has always been my favorite. Plus, the collaborations between him and Doyle as artists working together to achieve a vision are some of the best cinema has to offer. Over the holidays I got to see Ashes of Time Redux for the first time and it blew me away. I never saw it before as there has never been a decent DVD release so I waited. Glad I did. It’s one of my favorites of the past year along with My Blueberry Nights. Which I think is criminally underrated.
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Does anyone else feel THE DARK KNIGHT is way overrated? over 3 years ago
Tom – fucking awesome.
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Best title over 3 years ago
Basically every 70’s era blaxploitation film ever made has a great title.
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List the most exemplary acting performance(s) over 3 years ago
Harrison Ford – Blade Runner
Jimmy Stewart – It’s A Wonderful Life
Denzel Washington – Mo’ Better Blues & Man On Fire
Maggie Cheung – In The Mood For Love
Robert De Niro – Raging Bull & Taxi Driver
Ray Liotta – Goodfellas
Sissy Spacek – Badlands
Richard Gere – Days Of Heaven
Gene Wilder – Young Frankenstein
Ian Mckellan – Lord of The Rings Trilogy
Bill Murray – Life Aquatic
Al Pacino – Heat & Scarface
Daniel Day Lewis – Gangs of New York & There Will Be Blood
Josh Brolin – No Country For Old Men
Clive Owen – Children of Men
Julianne Moore – Boogie Nights
Tom Crusie – Magnolia
Gene Hackman – French Connection
Alec Guiness – Bridge on The River Kwai
Toshiro Mifune – Seven Samauri
Samuel L. Jackson – Pulp Fiction
Hugh Jackman – The Fountain
Sissy Spacek – 3 Women & Badlands
Warren Beatty – McCabe & Mrs. MIiller
Faye Dunaway – Bonnie & Clyde
Ed Norton – American History X
Harvey Kietel – Bad Lieutenant
Chris Walken – True Romance
Brando – Street Car Named Desire
Patricia Arquette – True Romance
Chow Yun Fat – The Killer & Hardboiled
Jet Li – Hero
Mickey Rourke – Angel Heart
Pam Grier – Jackie Brown
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Michael Mann over 3 years ago
Fuck all the pretentious cinephile bullshit. Mann is one of the great filmmakers for lots of reasons. But one in particular would be…
“That’s not what happens. What will happen is… what will happen is…I will put a round at twenty-seven hundred feet per second into the medulla at the base of your brain. And you will be dead from the neck down before your body knows it. Your finger won’t even twitch. Only you get dead. So tell me, sport, do you believe that? "
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WHICH MOVIES...PUT OUT IN LAST 5 YEARS...DO YOU THINK WILL ONE DAY JOIN THE CRITERION COLLECTION? over 3 years ago
If this is a wish list then…
Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance
Sympathy For Lady Vengeance
Old Boy
All released together in a set as Chan-Wook Park’s Vengeance Trilogy
Miami Vice
Pan’s Labyrinth
2046
Children of Men
Requiem For A Dream
Marie Antoinette (Sophia Coppola version)
Run Lola Run
Amores Perros
A.I.
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Are posts on overrated films and directors also overrated? over 3 years ago
I just had a great turkey reuben and it was way better than any fucking Nancy Meyer movie.
And yes overrated lists are overrated. I guess for most human beings it’s just easier to explain why they hate something rather than why they love it.
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Do great films have to be depressing and bleak to be great? over 3 years ago
I guess it all depends on what your in the mood for. Sometimes you want cry and sometimes you want to laugh. And sometimes they’re not mutually exclusive. As far as I’m concerned any flick has the opportunity for greatness. Some reach it. Some don’t.
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Surreal over 3 years ago
Lynch and Cocteau might have separated at birth in another dimension. Some of Fellini’s later works got pretty surreal also. I would add throw in allot of stuff Coppola has made and produced.
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Guilty Pleasures over 3 years ago
Juice
Breakin’ 1 & 2
Beat Street
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Top Ten Films of 2008 over 3 years ago
Curious Case
Slumdog
Wrestler
My Blueberry Nights
Speed Racer
Hellboy 2
Red Cliff
Ashes Of Time Redux
Burn After Reading
Dark Knight
Didn’t see so this list could change:
Milk
Body of Lies
Revolutionary Road
Let The Right One In
Doubt
Synecdoche NY
Australia
Racheal Getting Married
Waltz With Bashir
Wendy and Lucy
Worst Piece Of Shit I Saw All Year:
Forgetting Sarah Marshall (I know it’s blasphemous but I think all these Apatow movies are truly fucking terrible)
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Best Westerns over 3 years ago
The Good, The Bad & The Ugly
The Wild Bunch
Assassination of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford
Once Upon A Time In The West
Open Range
McCabe & Mrs. Miller
El Topo
High Noon
Bring Me The Head Of Alfredo Garcia
Butch Cassidy & The Sundance Kid
Blazing Saddles
Pat Garrett & Billy The Kid
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Age / Level of education? (An informal poll) over 3 years ago
36, dropped out of college after 1 semester. Creative Director for an ad agency. I also think the idea that a person’s love or knowledge of any art form being contingent on their age or education level is complete bullshit. Besides, most great art is born out of struggle.
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Last movie you saw and rate it over 3 years ago
I can’t believe I’m going to admit this here…but…last night I rented Balls Out: Gary The Tennis Coach. And on the real…I’d give it a 3.5 out of 5. Seriously, this along with a little flick called The Promotion, Sean William Scott has been quitely doing some really good and really out there work. If you haven’t seen it yet, check out The Promotion.
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What Is "Movie Hell" For You? over 3 years ago
Uwe Bolle Film Festival. Capped off with a 4 AM screening of Cheaper By The Dozen followed by a Q&A with Shawn Levy and Hillary Duff
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SCIENCE-FICTION AS A GENRE - WHICH ARE THE BEST FILMS AND WHY? over 3 years ago
In no particular order:
Brazil
Blade Runner
A.I.
E.T.
Sunshine
Children of Men
2001
Robinson Carusoe on Mars
Alphaville
Star Wars (yes all 6)
Alien
Aliens
Terminator
T2
The Abyss
Wrath of Kahn
Predator
Dark City
Solaris (both versions)
The Blob (Original)
Plan 9
THX 1138
Close Encounters
La Jeete
The Thing
The Matrix Trilogy (yes, all 3. And yes, I think they get better as each chapter unfolds)
Superman (Singers version. He’s an alien so it counts.)
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Arrested Development/ TV Show over 3 years ago
The Wire. That would be the best show ever made for TV. But, it’s so good that it goes beyond television. I know it’s been said before but it really is more like a filmed novel. Plus, I’d put any season of it up against most films. It’s the only TV series I own and it takes its place proudly among the best of my humble little DVD library.
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There Will Be Blood or No Country For Old Men, which is the better film? over 3 years ago
I fucking love both. That being said, No Country is a genre flick. It’s a crime movie. One of the best of it’s kind I think. I really think Brolin is amazing in it and love how it goes completely against genre convention with the ending.
Blood is something all together different. It’s strictly a character driven piece that’s purposely cold and distant to keep you at arms length. You want to love It instantly but it makes you earn it. I saw Blood once in the theatre, once when the DVD came out and I actually just watched it again a couple of weeks ago. It really is a movie that gets better and better every time I watch it. Although I have a friend of mine who thinks it’s the ultimate anti-western. So, maybe it’s a genre flick too. I guess I’ll have to watch it a few more times.
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CLASSIC FILM NOIR over 3 years ago
Touch of Evil
Sunset Boulevard
Ace In The Whole
Double Indemnity
Naked City
Blade Runner
Body Heat
The Third Man
The Maltese Falcon
High and Low
The Long Goodbye
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THOUGHTS ON ''I AM CUBA" over 3 years ago
It’s a great flick. The photography is just gorgeous. It’s kinda cool to watch the pool scene from this and boogie nights back to back. PTA straight cribbed it. Shit, I would too. Not to mention the DVD packaging is a cool little cuban cigar box.
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