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What was the first Criterion movie you watched? over 3 years ago

First I watched was RoboCop at a friend’s house. First purchased was either Silence of the Lambs or Black Orpheus.

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Favorite use of a song in a film. over 3 years ago

Some that come to mind:

The Sound Of Silence – The Graduate
Colonel Bogey March – The Bridge on the River Kwai
Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head – Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
James Bond Theme – James Bond Films
The Look of Love – Casino Royale (1967)
Singin’ in the Rain – A Clockwork Orange
Everybody’s Talkin’ At Me – Midnight Cowboy
Blue Danube Waltz – 2001: A Space Odyssey

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What is your most memorable film going experience? (Only one per post please!) over 3 years ago

Three films come to mind:

As a young child: GOLDFINGER. The film that got me enthralled with movies.

As a older kid: 2001: A Space Odyssey. Saw it on first release in 70mm.

As a young adult: Chinatown. I was shocked at the ending. My favorite film of all time.

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Your Favorite Godard Film? over 3 years ago

Max,

I don’t see your post as a rant but obviously it doesn’t fit the O.P. objective for the thread.

If you want to start a thread such as ‘what do you think about Godard and his films?" I’d be glad to participate. And yes I’m all for thoughtful posts that move from the superficial. I’d be interested to know why you think Godard is pretentious and examples of that in his film …

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Can Objective Criticism Exist? over 3 years ago

Anyone who thinks there is no such things as a boring film hasn’t seen DEATH IN VENICE.

Long is not necessarily bad but a film that drifts along without appropriate editing is not something I condone

People are pretentious. People make films. Therefore films can be pretentious. I don’t hear people complaining about jump cuts as being pretentious, more that the story is pretentious.

It’s not the viewer’s job to be at all concerned with directorial intent. The viewer need only assess the story and how well it was presented.

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favorite funniest movie over 3 years ago

I also find The Party quite funny. Of course, The Party rips off Jacques Tati’s films The Party and Mon Oncle as well as using the Monsieur Hulot character most blatantly in the Pink Panther movies. The Party and Mon Oncle are quite funny as well.

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What films do you always catch shit for for not liking? over 3 years ago

After reading the Funniest Film thread, so many people selected The Big Lebowski. Now, I like the film but that’s not good enough for some people. I’ve seen it on the big screen too and don’t remember a single out loud laugh from the crowd. Heck, Raising Arizona got more of a laugh at the theatre. Sure it’s funny but if you don’t think it’s great, people give you shit.

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Help make The Auteurs totally awesome over 3 years ago

My suggestion is to scrap the forum software you are using and go with one of the big players. I have a web site and me and a few others have a robust forum at no additional cost. So we have search ability, number of posts, number of times a thread has been read etc. etc.

No need to re-invent the wheel. Life is short.

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Best Film About Film? over 3 years ago

So many terrific films about film. I think 8 1/2 is tops but there is something for everyone. My second choice would be Mulholland Dr. followed by The Bad and the Beautiful.

Also agree that Living in Oblivion is terrific. If you haven’t seen this film, Netflix it … you will not be disappointed.

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WHAT IS YOUR PICK FOR THE WORSE MOVIE EVER MADE? over 3 years ago

DEATH IN VENICE. You can’t just try to make a truly, truly terrible film. It can only be achieved by trying to make a good movie and failing miserably. I know I will be in Hell if Death In Venice is playing on the screen.

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Oscar Nominations - 2009 over 3 years ago

This year is a snooze-fest. I won’t be watching it. I may not even record it because I’ll have better things to do.

Synecdoche, N.Y deserved Best Original Screenplay and Best Film nods methinks.

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Have Any of You Had David Lynch's Coffee? over 3 years ago

No, I never tried it. I love Lynch but (knowing him) it has to be overpriced.

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SEX & LOVE IN CELLULOID: WHO FIRST, AND WHO LATELY, TURNED YOU ON? over 3 years ago

“grace kelly never really impressed me much either. in fact, now that i think about it, i never much cared for any of hitchcock’s classic blondes. he was into that “good girl” thing. nothing wrong with that, its just not my cup of tea. i like bad girls!”
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I think you are confusing the actress with her roles. If you knew anything about Grace Kelly, you wouldn’t call her a ‘good girl.’

Oh, and someone else says that Grace Kelly looks like his mother’s friends. Well, I want to meet these friends and if your mother is better looking then her friends I want to meet her too.

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CLASSIC FILM NOIR over 3 years ago

The problem I have with “classic film noir” is

Some classics aren’t allowed … because

No foreign films allowed … because

No films before some arbitrary year and no films after some arbitrary year (that few seem they can agree on).

No color films … because

So, even though foreign directors made film noirs in America, ex-pat American filmmakers can’t make film noirs in Europe … because

Seems to me, all of this is intellectually stifling to say the least. To me, film noir is much like jazz music, hard to nail down exactly why it is jazz but you know it when you hear it. If jazz music can survive without being called neo-jazz why can’t noir just be film noir?

My picks for film noir if someone ask me for a quintessential film pick.

Chinatown (1974)
Farewell, My Lovely (1975)
Bob le Flambeur (1956)
Detour (1946)

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QUENTIN'S NEW FILM over 3 years ago

I think Tarantino has a great talent for writing dialogue, a fantastic gift for selecting music and a guy that takes chances. I see everything that he makes. Just like many of you.

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Best Films about or related to (primary) school over 3 years ago

I can’t believe this thread has gone two pages without anyone mentioning TO SIR WITH LOVE

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Criterion Question over 3 years ago

If your time is quite limited, don’t waste your time on special features, see more films.

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WHO IS / WAS THE MOST BEAUTIFUL FILM ACTRESS EVER? over 3 years ago

Monica Vitti is up there, but off the top of my head

1. Grace Kelly
2. Claudia Cardinale

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The Auteurs "Sight & Sound" Poll over 3 years ago

I’m in PM coming.

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The Auteurs "Sight & Sound" Poll over 3 years ago

I understand that there is no ranking of the top 10 films. If this were a listing of 5,000 lists, I don’t think it would mean much, but it could change the results with less than 100 people responding.

For example, if only 10 people were to list a film, it might not make the final list. But if 10 people listed it as their number one film of all time, it is the equivalent of 100 people selecting another film as their 10th favorite of all time.

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Escaping Expectation over 3 years ago

First, interesting topic and discussion points.

Certainly expectations can be a trap but it comes with the territory of creating buzz. I have NO sympathy for the marketers of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. They need to be realistic to what they had. Release it in early Fall and (therefore) less surrounded with Oscar hype and people will take it for what it is. Release it under the Oscar buzz of a late December release when people have very, very limited time on their hands and THEN they go under that hype and get disappointed … the backlash is going to be huge. I still haven’t seen The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and will wait for Netflix or cable to see it. That’s on them.

It’s on the marketers. It’s them that get the fluff pieces about a December film in the NY Times/Vogue in March/April. You knows the ones, how the film was to make, how the actors got along, how excited the director/actor/screenwriter/composer (pick one) like the collaborative process, etc. etc. Then there is the Fall schedule hype in Entertainment Weekly etc. Then there is the Oscar buzz stuff on ET and 5 other look-a-like shows. Then there is the actor hype on late night TV. Then they wait to December 30th to release the damn thing. Better have the goods, better be able to walk the walk after you, well, you know.

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Mumblecore over 3 years ago

After visiting IMDB comments, I don’t see this as an issue at all. People just have widely different viewpoints on the merits of MUTUAL APPRECIATION. I don’t see people commenting on low-budget post-college angst films as a “movement.”

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DE PALMA'S BLACK DAHLIA over 3 years ago

Terrific film score. Mediocre film. DePalma gets too caught up in his film hommages such as Chinatown, Vertigo and not enough attention to the story.

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Metropolis or Blade Runner. over 3 years ago

Consider it this way, both excellent films but Blade Runner does not exist without Metropolis. Clearly, the role of Tyrell (e.g. Father) high up above the common man in his office and quarters is based on Father in Metropolis, high above the common worker in his office.

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Jennifer Lynch over 3 years ago

okay, I’ll bite. What makes March “Lynch season?”

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The Greatest Movies Never Made... over 3 years ago

“I saw some thing that was scorsese’s direction of a scene from an unfinished script that he owns that Hitchcock was to direct called “The Key To Reserva” or very similar.”
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That was a tongue-placed-firmly-against-cheek comedic short that Scorsese did, an hommage to Hitch. There was no unfinished script. It was a joke. If you know Hitchcock, this stuff is terrific.

Here is the short: http://www.scorsesefilmfreixenet.com/video_eng.htm

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1151319/

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Mon Oncle, Tati and Obviously Genius Directors about 3 years ago

“Mon Oncle? AH! Get outta here with that! It’s like a Pink Panther wannabe.”
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I’m not a big fan of responding to one line burp posts, but clearly the character of Hulot and M. Hulot’s Holiday and Mon Oncle pre-date The Pink Panther. Certainly Blake Edwards was greatly influenced by Tati and that certainly includes his film, THE PARTY.

Terry Gilliam has mentioned his admiration for Tati and clearly Tati’s fascination with modern (dysfunctional) technology was a strong influence on BRAZIL. And when you see a red pipe being carried in the background in Lynch films such as MULHOLLAND DR. and WILD AT HEART it’s an hommage to Mon Oncle.

I love watching his films including his shorts. Interesting use of sound effects, voice dubs and Tati has an amazing ability to make us laugh at ourselves.

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5 Films you saw that are considered masterpieces that you thought were overated,horrible or you just "didnt like" about 3 years ago

It’s not that these films are awful. It comes with people gushing about these films when I don’t see them meriting it.

1. The Seventh Seal.. There have been many films about Death versus Man but perhaps none as uninteresting. I think the film was satirized in Monty Python and the Holy Grail. “Bring out your dead” The protagonist was uninteresting, Death was uninteresting. Shots upon shots of people suffering. And what exactly is the story that should resonate with the viewer? I love some of Bergman’s work (particularly Wild Strawberries) but this left me cold. So much so I had to stop the DVD two times to make it through the film.

2. L’Avventura. I like this film, I really do. But some self-glorified film snobs make this film about rather empty and uninteresting people more than it is.

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