After watching the movie I came away feeling the same way as Drew did, because the last quarter of the movie seemed to end awkwardly. I had no problem with the ending, I just didn’t like the way it materialized. It seemed choppy and forced, but as my brother always tells me about great movies, the ending is generally a problem. We become emotionally engrossed with the movie and the plot, that an ending anything less than our expectations, leaves us with a bitter taste and we feel slightly cheated. Half way through the movie I felt that it was one of the best movies that I have seen in a while, and then once he reunited himself with his brother, it went “Hollywood”. He faced hardships his whole life, and now hes on a game show where the only questions asked deal with miraculous fleeting moments during his boyhood? To get that many questions right in a row and to steal your girl from a drug lord would take more than a rough adolescence. The whole phone call scene where she leaves her phone in the car at the end was over the top and at that point I felt like I was watching a Disney flick. I had the same feelings with Boyle’s Millions. Great movie, but the last 25 minutes or so ruined it for me.
Much like Drew, I enjoyed the movie, just didn’t think all the recent accolades were so deserving. Then again, I loved Benjamin Buttons and most feel that this too was overrated, but this is what makes movies great. Even some feel that The Godfather is overrated, so go figure.
Way too many movies to try and remember. From what pops into my head, here is a very short list of my favorites of each decade:
00s Big Fish, Yi Yi, Benjamin Buttons, American Splendor
90s Shawshank, Pulp Fiction, Bottle Rocket, American Beauty, The Proffesional
80s Do the Right Thing, Hannah and Her Sisters
70s Annie Hall, Godfather I and II, Cool Hand Luke
60s The Aparment, Psycho
50s Singin In the Rain, All About Eve
40s Bicycle Thieves, Philadelphia Story, Double Indemnity, Notorious
30s Duck Soup, Wizard of Oz
Awards and critic’s list are great, because they foster debate and generally recognize great film making. To me the nominations are more important than who actually wins as I view them as a collective group, but every year I do watch the Oscars and generally go, “WTF!” in one or two categories. This year’s biggest snub to me was Woody’s non-nomination for best screenplay. How can you win a Golden Globe, and not even be nominated for an Oscar?
Can we please get rid of the Short Films category. Does anyone even see these before the nominations come out? And if this category did mean something, why is every acceptance speech prefaced with, “I’d like to thank the academy, and beg that this genre continues to get support and funding…blah, blah, blah, blah.” Every 20 years, a GREAT short film comes along (Red Balloon), so why do we recognize these EVERY year. The oscars always run over time, so lets just cut this category and save 5-8 minutes.
IMO, I felt that Saving Private Ryan WAS NOT a better film than Shakespeare in Love. Maybe better content, but not a better movie.
Love Ebert. When you review as many movies as he does you are going to have some disagreements. He has been a wonderful ambassador for movies, and his Great Movies I and II are great reference books in which you could do a lot worse than viewing these 200 movies.
All of you that refuse to go to a movie theater because of the annoying customers are ridiculous. Are some moviegoers annoying…of course, but it doesn’t mean that it will ruin my movie experience. My brother makes more noise digging for popcorn and twizzlers that sometimes I want to punch him, but it’s all part of the experience. I have seen probably 500 movies with my brother and his cacophonous eating habits have never stopped me from going with him. In fact, I would rather go with no one else. Am I going to stop taking the subway to work because I can’t stand bothersome people? We all love movies, so it is what it is?
To answer the question though, I watched Duck Soup atleast 10 times before I saw it in the theater and found it to be my favorite comedy of all-time. My experience changed when I watched it with 200+ people and saw that they laughed just as hard if not harder as I did at certain parts of Groucho’s historical film. In that moment, Duck Soup stopped becoming just my favorite comedy, but one of my favorite movies. I never laughed as hard before in my life, and at that point I realized that the people around you watching add just as much to the value of the film as the film itself. You can watch a movie in your house or in your decked out movie room with a huge screen and melodious surround sound and have a beautiful experience, but it will never have the same effect as watching it with a throng of cinephiles. Something happens when the trailers are over and the little AMC or Marcus film guy starts to bounce around the screen with the opening credits following the studio’s logo and a black screen. I don’t know if it can be explained, but we all know the feeling, and it’s what takes us back again and again.
Since Woody is my favorite director, I was wondering what some of you feel are his best movies. Here’s my list out of his 40+ movies:
Annie Hall
Crimes and Misdemeanors
Manhattan
Take the Money and Run
Hannah and Her Sisters
The Purple Rose of Cairo
Match Point
Bullets Over Broadway
Love and Death
Deconstructing Harry
The problem with comedies is that everyone has a different kind of sense of humor, so they are less likely to be absorbed universally. I think the most successful comedies are ones that incorporate a dramatic theme (romantics are one example) and are not just a complete comedy like a Paul Blart or Dumb and Dumber. While I loved Dumb and Dumber, a lot of people will watch this movie and not find it funny at all. Considering that a lot of GREAT movies are comedies, its hard to argue that they don’t get recognized. Just off the top of my head, I know that the following show up on most critics’ top whatever list:
The Apartment
Annie Hall
Modern Times
Playtime
Duck Soup
Singin’ In the Rain
Philadelphia Story
Shop Around the Corner
Sullivan’s Travels
The General
Dr Strangelove
Pulp Fiction
@BJudge
You don’t know what the heck your talking about. Its FUNNY because I have a stack of movies lying on the ground right next to my computer and the top movie is Out Cold. And hilariously ironic, because you mentioned it, the next movie in the stack is The Decalouge box set. Cinephiles certainly love comedies just as much any other types of movies. In my top ten this year were In Bruges, Tropic Thunder, Sarah Marshall, Burn After Reading, and Vicki Christina. Considering that that is 5 movies out of ten…well, you get my point.
He still has it, but its impossible for someone to make a cinematic masterpiece every single time. His problem was that his best regarded movie was one of his earlier movies. Many directors do this, but it doesn’t make them less of a director, it just means critics compare a director’s recent movie to the early ones. Has Tarantino’s recent movies touched the greatness of Dogs or Pulp? Wes Anderson’s last two movies have been awful compared to Bottle Rocket, Rushmore, and Tennebaums. After Smith’s Clerks, what happened? Lumet’s first movie (not TV stuff) was 12 Angry Men. While he has gone on to do great movies such as Dog Day, Serpico, and recently The Devil Knows your Dead, there are a ton of bad movies in between. I respect any director that pumps out movies like a Lee or Woody more so than the ones that come out with a film every 3 to 5 years. It’s also a testament to their abilities that someone is willing to financially back them year after year.
I would say Grace Kelly would be the most beautiful American actress, I don’t know about the rest of the world. Brigitte Bardot and Anouk Aimee are ones that come to find from Europe.
Bluray IS the next format and will be for a while. The only question was who would end up winning Blu-ray or HDDVD, and Blu-ray ended up winning. It reminds me so much of when I was working at Suncoast back in 1998 and we had a very tiny DVD section compared to the other 95% of the store which was VHS. Ten years later I see the same thing happening with DVDs. You can get new release DVDs now for like $9.99. The important thing is to jump on the bandwagon sooner than later (I would contend that now IS later), because eventually you are going to end up replacing that Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist you just bought, when you get a 1080p TV along with a Bluray player and have to re-purchase your favorite DVDs. I love Singin’ In the Rain probably more than anyone out there, but you ain’t going to see me watch that ditty on VHS ever again. And when the Bluray comes out, I won’t be watching the 480p version anymore either.
@Tom. I agree 100% as people will always collect and buy because they want something physical; bottom-line. We’ve all got the latest songs on our IPod, but if you really love Coldplay, or The Roots in my case, your going out and buying the CD. Vinyl is still the “thing” among music aficionados, and so is the same with movies. ChungKing Express Blu-ray Criterion…$39.99; OOP frosted ring This Is Spinal Tap Criterion DVD…$150; LD Criterion Its a Wonderful Life…priceless.
@Rich. I don’t think that all the Criterion DVDs will convert to Bluray just like the vast majority of Laserdiscs didn’t convert. Yeah, some of the great ones like Seven Samurai, 400 Blows (already coming out), Joan of Arc, etc will probably be on Bluray, but I would doubt that all 460+ will upconvert.
Happened to me when I saw Slumdog. It was all the rage and when my good friend who’s opinion on movies I actually value, I went and saw it with high hopes like I was Frank Sinatra singin on screen with a little white boy. Thought is was ok, but not even as good as Frost/Nixon or Buttons this year.
@Rodney—I think somethings live up to the hype…my wife, spring training, criterion blu-rays, and Titanic (you’ve got to give it up to a 3 hour movie that lasted almost a year in some cinemas).
Baldwin in Glengary
Scorsese in Quiz Show
Hirsch in Milk (not a small role, but definitely deserved a nod over Brolin)
@Claus—Cool Hand Luke is my favorite owned blu-ray
@ Dave—Damn, I just bought that joint at Barnes-n-Noble for $35 after tax. I was waiting for that DVD for so long that I bought it the second the store opened. Why am I so impetuous?
There Will be Blood. It will take 30 years for people to agree with me, but when people look back at this film and study it, it will go down as one of the best Westerns ever made. I already think it is, but it needs time for its legs to grow. Some don’t consider this a true Western, but I think it fits this genre more than any other one.
Why I didn't love Slumdog Millionaire. over 3 years ago
After watching the movie I came away feeling the same way as Drew did, because the last quarter of the movie seemed to end awkwardly. I had no problem with the ending, I just didn’t like the way it materialized. It seemed choppy and forced, but as my brother always tells me about great movies, the ending is generally a problem. We become emotionally engrossed with the movie and the plot, that an ending anything less than our expectations, leaves us with a bitter taste and we feel slightly cheated. Half way through the movie I felt that it was one of the best movies that I have seen in a while, and then once he reunited himself with his brother, it went “Hollywood”. He faced hardships his whole life, and now hes on a game show where the only questions asked deal with miraculous fleeting moments during his boyhood? To get that many questions right in a row and to steal your girl from a drug lord would take more than a rough adolescence. The whole phone call scene where she leaves her phone in the car at the end was over the top and at that point I felt like I was watching a Disney flick. I had the same feelings with Boyle’s Millions. Great movie, but the last 25 minutes or so ruined it for me.
Much like Drew, I enjoyed the movie, just didn’t think all the recent accolades were so deserving. Then again, I loved Benjamin Buttons and most feel that this too was overrated, but this is what makes movies great. Even some feel that The Godfather is overrated, so go figure.
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FAVORITE 10 FILMS EACH DECADE over 3 years ago
Way too many movies to try and remember. From what pops into my head, here is a very short list of my favorites of each decade:
00s Big Fish, Yi Yi, Benjamin Buttons, American Splendor
90s Shawshank, Pulp Fiction, Bottle Rocket, American Beauty, The Proffesional
80s Do the Right Thing, Hannah and Her Sisters
70s Annie Hall, Godfather I and II, Cool Hand Luke
60s The Aparment, Psycho
50s Singin In the Rain, All About Eve
40s Bicycle Thieves, Philadelphia Story, Double Indemnity, Notorious
30s Duck Soup, Wizard of Oz
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People against the seven samurai remake over 3 years ago
A remake will only immortalize Seven Samurai that much more.
Sincerely,
The Manchurian Candidate, Psycho, and 12 Angry Men
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Return your oscar statuetes over 3 years ago
Awards and critic’s list are great, because they foster debate and generally recognize great film making. To me the nominations are more important than who actually wins as I view them as a collective group, but every year I do watch the Oscars and generally go, “WTF!” in one or two categories. This year’s biggest snub to me was Woody’s non-nomination for best screenplay. How can you win a Golden Globe, and not even be nominated for an Oscar?
Can we please get rid of the Short Films category. Does anyone even see these before the nominations come out? And if this category did mean something, why is every acceptance speech prefaced with, “I’d like to thank the academy, and beg that this genre continues to get support and funding…blah, blah, blah, blah.” Every 20 years, a GREAT short film comes along (Red Balloon), so why do we recognize these EVERY year. The oscars always run over time, so lets just cut this category and save 5-8 minutes.
IMO, I felt that Saving Private Ryan WAS NOT a better film than Shakespeare in Love. Maybe better content, but not a better movie.
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Last movie you saw and rate it over 3 years ago
In Bruges 8/10. Hilarious movie!!!
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Most Prized Criterion in Your Collection? over 3 years ago
Too many!!
Do the Right Thing
Rushmore
Notorious
Le Samourai
Yi Yi
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Roger Ebert/ Worst Critic EVER! over 3 years ago
Love Ebert. When you review as many movies as he does you are going to have some disagreements. He has been a wonderful ambassador for movies, and his Great Movies I and II are great reference books in which you could do a lot worse than viewing these 200 movies.
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What Out of Print Criterions do you own? over 3 years ago
@Dave. Don’t feel bad about the bootleg. I spent $100 on ebay for a bootleg of The Killer. They got me good!
Hard Boiled
Silence of the Lambs
Dead Ringers
Robocop
Unbearable Lightness of Being
Spellbound
Notorious
The Bank Dick
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Importance of Seeing a Film in Theatres? over 3 years ago
All of you that refuse to go to a movie theater because of the annoying customers are ridiculous. Are some moviegoers annoying…of course, but it doesn’t mean that it will ruin my movie experience. My brother makes more noise digging for popcorn and twizzlers that sometimes I want to punch him, but it’s all part of the experience. I have seen probably 500 movies with my brother and his cacophonous eating habits have never stopped me from going with him. In fact, I would rather go with no one else. Am I going to stop taking the subway to work because I can’t stand bothersome people? We all love movies, so it is what it is?
To answer the question though, I watched Duck Soup atleast 10 times before I saw it in the theater and found it to be my favorite comedy of all-time. My experience changed when I watched it with 200+ people and saw that they laughed just as hard if not harder as I did at certain parts of Groucho’s historical film. In that moment, Duck Soup stopped becoming just my favorite comedy, but one of my favorite movies. I never laughed as hard before in my life, and at that point I realized that the people around you watching add just as much to the value of the film as the film itself. You can watch a movie in your house or in your decked out movie room with a huge screen and melodious surround sound and have a beautiful experience, but it will never have the same effect as watching it with a throng of cinephiles. Something happens when the trailers are over and the little AMC or Marcus film guy starts to bounce around the screen with the opening credits following the studio’s logo and a black screen. I don’t know if it can be explained, but we all know the feeling, and it’s what takes us back again and again.
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If you had to pick ONE film as your favorite... over 3 years ago
Annie Hall
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FAVORITE 5 OR 10 WOODY ALLEN MOVIES over 3 years ago
Since Woody is my favorite director, I was wondering what some of you feel are his best movies. Here’s my list out of his 40+ movies:
Annie Hall
Crimes and Misdemeanors
Manhattan
Take the Money and Run
Hannah and Her Sisters
The Purple Rose of Cairo
Match Point
Bullets Over Broadway
Love and Death
Deconstructing Harry
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Underrated Films... over 3 years ago
Big Fish and Munich
Munich was phenomenal and got lost in all the Crash hype. Big Fish is by far Burton’s most beautiful and complete film.
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FAVORITE 5 OR 10 WOODY ALLEN MOVIES over 3 years ago
Vicky was great, and I’m still in awe that it wasn’t nominated for original screenplay this year.
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Movies That Should Be In the Criterion Collection over 3 years ago
Aguirre: The Wrath of God
The Apu Trilogy (considering I just sold my Sony Classics editions)
more silent films
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Except for the acknowledged classics, I am finding that most people in these forums prefer dramas over comedies. Why is that so? over 3 years ago
The problem with comedies is that everyone has a different kind of sense of humor, so they are less likely to be absorbed universally. I think the most successful comedies are ones that incorporate a dramatic theme (romantics are one example) and are not just a complete comedy like a Paul Blart or Dumb and Dumber. While I loved Dumb and Dumber, a lot of people will watch this movie and not find it funny at all. Considering that a lot of GREAT movies are comedies, its hard to argue that they don’t get recognized. Just off the top of my head, I know that the following show up on most critics’ top whatever list:
The Apartment
Annie Hall
Modern Times
Playtime
Duck Soup
Singin’ In the Rain
Philadelphia Story
Shop Around the Corner
Sullivan’s Travels
The General
Dr Strangelove
Pulp Fiction
@BJudge
You don’t know what the heck your talking about. Its FUNNY because I have a stack of movies lying on the ground right next to my computer and the top movie is Out Cold. And hilariously ironic, because you mentioned it, the next movie in the stack is The Decalouge box set. Cinephiles certainly love comedies just as much any other types of movies. In my top ten this year were In Bruges, Tropic Thunder, Sarah Marshall, Burn After Reading, and Vicki Christina. Considering that that is 5 movies out of ten…well, you get my point.
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Spike Lee over 3 years ago
He still has it, but its impossible for someone to make a cinematic masterpiece every single time. His problem was that his best regarded movie was one of his earlier movies. Many directors do this, but it doesn’t make them less of a director, it just means critics compare a director’s recent movie to the early ones. Has Tarantino’s recent movies touched the greatness of Dogs or Pulp? Wes Anderson’s last two movies have been awful compared to Bottle Rocket, Rushmore, and Tennebaums. After Smith’s Clerks, what happened? Lumet’s first movie (not TV stuff) was 12 Angry Men. While he has gone on to do great movies such as Dog Day, Serpico, and recently The Devil Knows your Dead, there are a ton of bad movies in between. I respect any director that pumps out movies like a Lee or Woody more so than the ones that come out with a film every 3 to 5 years. It’s also a testament to their abilities that someone is willing to financially back them year after year.
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Pickpocket over 3 years ago
This is one of my favorite criterion DVDs. There are certain criterions that I consider a “must own,” and this is one of them.
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Favorite Kurosawa flicks? over 3 years ago
Too many! Red Beard is probably my favorite with Dreams, Rashomon, and Seven Samurai some of my favorite films also.
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Which film should I buy? over 3 years ago
Battle of Algiers!!!!!!!!!!
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Best Westerns over 3 years ago
Butch Cassidy
There Will Be Blood
Unforgiven
Red River
Treasure of the Sierra Madre
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WHO IS / WAS THE MOST BEAUTIFUL FILM ACTRESS EVER? over 3 years ago
I would say Grace Kelly would be the most beautiful American actress, I don’t know about the rest of the world. Brigitte Bardot and Anouk Aimee are ones that come to find from Europe.
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Best of Animation over 3 years ago
What are probably the best and what I personally like are two different categories buy my all-time favorites and ones that I own would be:
Beauty and the Beast
A Bug’s Life
Spirited Away
Who Framed Roger Rabbit
Antz
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DVD vs. Blu Ray? over 3 years ago
Bluray IS the next format and will be for a while. The only question was who would end up winning Blu-ray or HDDVD, and Blu-ray ended up winning. It reminds me so much of when I was working at Suncoast back in 1998 and we had a very tiny DVD section compared to the other 95% of the store which was VHS. Ten years later I see the same thing happening with DVDs. You can get new release DVDs now for like $9.99. The important thing is to jump on the bandwagon sooner than later (I would contend that now IS later), because eventually you are going to end up replacing that Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist you just bought, when you get a 1080p TV along with a Bluray player and have to re-purchase your favorite DVDs. I love Singin’ In the Rain probably more than anyone out there, but you ain’t going to see me watch that ditty on VHS ever again. And when the Bluray comes out, I won’t be watching the 480p version anymore either.
@Tom. I agree 100% as people will always collect and buy because they want something physical; bottom-line. We’ve all got the latest songs on our IPod, but if you really love Coldplay, or The Roots in my case, your going out and buying the CD. Vinyl is still the “thing” among music aficionados, and so is the same with movies. ChungKing Express Blu-ray Criterion…$39.99; OOP frosted ring This Is Spinal Tap Criterion DVD…$150; LD Criterion Its a Wonderful Life…priceless.
@Rich. I don’t think that all the Criterion DVDs will convert to Bluray just like the vast majority of Laserdiscs didn’t convert. Yeah, some of the great ones like Seven Samurai, 400 Blows (already coming out), Joan of Arc, etc will probably be on Bluray, but I would doubt that all 460+ will upconvert.
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Love Themed Criterions for Valentine's Day over 3 years ago
My top 5 “love” movies from my Criterion collection, so obviously I’m missing a lot of flicks (I need to pony up and buy Trouble in Paradise)
Lady Eve
Beauty and the Beast
Bottle Rocket
In the Mood for Love
Notorious
outside Criterion
Singin’ in the Rain
Philadelphia Story
The Apartment
Shop Around the Corner
It Happened One Night
Titanic
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Ballet in Film over 3 years ago
You mean there’s more ballet movies than The Red Shoes…obviously I’m not cultured enough to appreciate this subject matter.
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Escaping Expectation over 3 years ago
Happened to me when I saw Slumdog. It was all the rage and when my good friend who’s opinion on movies I actually value, I went and saw it with high hopes like I was Frank Sinatra singin on screen with a little white boy. Thought is was ok, but not even as good as Frost/Nixon or Buttons this year.
@Rodney—I think somethings live up to the hype…my wife, spring training, criterion blu-rays, and Titanic (you’ve got to give it up to a 3 hour movie that lasted almost a year in some cinemas).
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Actors Who Do a Lot With Very Little in a Film over 3 years ago
Baldwin in Glengary
Scorsese in Quiz Show
Hirsch in Milk (not a small role, but definitely deserved a nod over Brolin)
@Claus—Cool Hand Luke is my favorite owned blu-ray
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Second disc over 3 years ago
@ Dave—Damn, I just bought that joint at Barnes-n-Noble for $35 after tax. I was waiting for that DVD for so long that I bought it the second the store opened. Why am I so impetuous?
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Documentaries over 3 years ago
Hoop Dreams
Winged Migration
Night and Fog
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What's the greatest Western? over 3 years ago
There Will be Blood. It will take 30 years for people to agree with me, but when people look back at this film and study it, it will go down as one of the best Westerns ever made. I already think it is, but it needs time for its legs to grow. Some don’t consider this a true Western, but I think it fits this genre more than any other one.
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