Catch 22 and Slaughterhouse Five. I love both those movies. They are iconic, well casted, well directed, but some how just off the mark when compared with the novels.
Catch22, the novel, is dense, with so much character and situation, but with no real plot. Character drives the novel. I think Buck Henry and Mike Nichols did a masterful job in finding a thread they could hang their movie on. Yet, some how the movie ends up being an impression of the book. A beautiful impression of the book.
Same with George Roy Hill and Slaughtehouse Five, also an impression of the novel. The movie tries to capture the temporal displacement of Billy Pilgrim with jump cuts all round. Also a beautiful impression.
Titanic (’nuff said)
Red Dragon (come on, no where near as good as Manhunter)
Expelled (that wacky movie about intelligent design with the wacky Ben Stein)
Heaven’s Gate is misunderstood. Yes, it was an indulgent exercise but so is great art. Yes, it’s very long. But some stories must be told for as long as they are needed to be told. More importantly, Heaven’s Gate was not created as a roller coaster, money grabbing, “tent pole” comic book movie. Okay so it failed. But it failed by attempting to be great.
Sure, you can throw charges of financial excess, hubris, ego-mania, insolence, rudeness, and writing a threadbare script at Cimino, but at least he tried to create something meaningful. UA was a company that had great success giving directors freedom. But then again those other directors UA worked with were able to control themselves. Some directors need controlling. Some directors need a strong producer.
The documentary version of the book Final Cut is great. The cast and crew were behind Cimino. He worked as hard as everyone else. The DP, Vilmos Zsigmond tells a story of how they were getting in trouble because they were working through the lunch break. They had to break for lunch. But Cimino, staring off, simply replied that this movie is too important for lunch. Okay, so that was selfish of Cimino to feel that way. But he was making a movie, after all. And movies are more important than lunch, right?
Brian De Palma – Bonfire of the Vanities
Scorsese – Gangs of NY, Age of Innocence, New York New York
Sidney Lumet – The Wiz
Coppola – One from the Heart, Jack
Spielberg – 1941
Lucas – Phantom Menace
Hitchcock – Torn Curtain
Vilmos Zsigmond for Heaven’s Gate among many other wonder achievements.
Gordon Willis for The Godfather movies, Annie Hall, and Interiors
Vittorio Storraro for Last Tango and Apocalypse Now
Lazlo Kovaks for Easy Rider
How could I leave off Robert Richardson? His use of strong overhead lighting in movies like JFK, Natural Born Killers. His beautiful work on The Aviator.
The Devil’s Rain starring Bill Shatner and Ernie Borgnine.
The Car with James Brolin battling a really cool looking demonic car.
Capricorn One starring James Brolin and OJ Simpson.
Touch of Satan directed by Tom Laughlin (Billy Jack) under the pseudonym of Don Henderson.
Billy Jack starring Tom Laughlin as the peace-loving, ass-kicking, Vietnam vet Half Indian out to clean up a corrupt and racist town.
Manos: The Hands of Fate because it is just awesome.
Prisoners of the Lost Universe starring Richard “Original Apollo” Hatch and John “Why do I keep making these kinds of movies” Saxon. The wife and I decided to have a bad movie night last night. This movie is so atrocious, so downright bad that it is good. Sort of. A must see for fans of bad movies.
Wes Anderson is a very talented director. I love Rushmore, Tenebaums, and Life Aquatic. But I do feel he is in a thematic rut. He’s repeating the same theme over and over. The theme being father issues. Max Fisher had an issue with his father being a small town barber. Blume hates his own kids. Blume and Max become surrogate father and son. Father issues on full display in Tenenbaums. Life Aquatic features surrogate father and son: Steve Zissou and Ned Plimpton.
I like his visual style. I love how he shoots things centered in a wide angle frame.
I wish he would branch out and develop other themes, take on other issues. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if Anderson applied his dry sense of humor and unique visual style towards a genre picture, like science fiction or horror.
Anderson would do a good job in filming an adaptation of Sirens of Titan, for example.
The Godfather novel is fast paced, a good read. The movie completely fleshed out the world created by Mario Puzo. The movie is real. The book is fiction.
The Planet of the Apes is a good read but has a wacky framing device. It’s a story within a story. The original movie version with Chuck Heston is brilliant. The twist ending of the movie is so much better and shocking than the twist in the novel. The characters are also very well defined in the movie.
The Shining by Steven King is a good book. But it is soooo dense. Kubrick did a fantastic job of streamlining King’s tome down to a single, chilling, story. Keep it simple. Keep it scary. Kubrick’s Shining is a masterpiece.
Is Godard working on anything new? about 3 years ago
Kubrick is gone, Bergman is gone, but we still have Godard.
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which books are unfilmable? about 3 years ago
Catch 22 and Slaughterhouse Five. I love both those movies. They are iconic, well casted, well directed, but some how just off the mark when compared with the novels.
Catch22, the novel, is dense, with so much character and situation, but with no real plot. Character drives the novel. I think Buck Henry and Mike Nichols did a masterful job in finding a thread they could hang their movie on. Yet, some how the movie ends up being an impression of the book. A beautiful impression of the book.
Same with George Roy Hill and Slaughtehouse Five, also an impression of the novel. The movie tries to capture the temporal displacement of Billy Pilgrim with jump cuts all round. Also a beautiful impression.
Both movies are wonderfully photographed.
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Movies That Should Be In the Criterion Collection about 3 years ago
Altman’s Brewster McCloud
Cimino’s Heaven’s Gate
Kubrick’s Barry Lyndon
Bertolucci’s Last Tango in Paris
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So what's the film that your friends loved and you thought was rubbish. about 3 years ago
Titanic (’nuff said)
Red Dragon (come on, no where near as good as Manhunter)
Expelled (that wacky movie about intelligent design with the wacky Ben Stein)
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Who do you think the most overrated director is? about 3 years ago
Quentin Tarantino
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Things your're really sick of about 3 years ago
I agree with mikerswllg on the shakey camera stuff. Just stop, already. Enough. We get it, something is happening.
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HEAVEN'S GATE about 3 years ago
Heaven’s Gate is misunderstood. Yes, it was an indulgent exercise but so is great art. Yes, it’s very long. But some stories must be told for as long as they are needed to be told. More importantly, Heaven’s Gate was not created as a roller coaster, money grabbing, “tent pole” comic book movie. Okay so it failed. But it failed by attempting to be great.
Sure, you can throw charges of financial excess, hubris, ego-mania, insolence, rudeness, and writing a threadbare script at Cimino, but at least he tried to create something meaningful. UA was a company that had great success giving directors freedom. But then again those other directors UA worked with were able to control themselves. Some directors need controlling. Some directors need a strong producer.
The documentary version of the book Final Cut is great. The cast and crew were behind Cimino. He worked as hard as everyone else. The DP, Vilmos Zsigmond tells a story of how they were getting in trouble because they were working through the lunch break. They had to break for lunch. But Cimino, staring off, simply replied that this movie is too important for lunch. Okay, so that was selfish of Cimino to feel that way. But he was making a movie, after all. And movies are more important than lunch, right?
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WHO IS / WAS THE MOST BEAUTIFUL FILM ACTRESS EVER? about 3 years ago
Monica Vitti
Anna Karina
Clara Bow
Diane Keaton
Bardot
Greta Garbo
Elizabeth Taylor in Cleopatra
Raquel Welch
Claudia Cardinale
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How could such a great director make such a lousy movie? about 3 years ago
Brian De Palma – Bonfire of the Vanities
Scorsese – Gangs of NY, Age of Innocence, New York New York
Sidney Lumet – The Wiz
Coppola – One from the Heart, Jack
Spielberg – 1941
Lucas – Phantom Menace
Hitchcock – Torn Curtain
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Classic movies you can't get on d.v.d. about 3 years ago
Abel Gance’s Napoleon
Altman’s Brewster McCloud
Jodorowski’s Santa Sangre
Wings (silent Clara Bow)
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who is the greatest living filmmaker? about 3 years ago
JLG, Herzog, Francis Ford Coppola
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K.U.B.R.I.C.K. about 3 years ago
Top Kubrick Films In No Particular Order:
Clockwork Orange
2001
Barry Lyndon
Dr. Strangelove
Full Metal Jacket
The Shining
I love all of his movies but these are my top Kubrick picks.
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The Great Cinematographers about 3 years ago
Vilmos Zsigmond for Heaven’s Gate among many other wonder achievements.
Gordon Willis for The Godfather movies, Annie Hall, and Interiors
Vittorio Storraro for Last Tango and Apocalypse Now
Lazlo Kovaks for Easy Rider
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The Great Cinematographers about 3 years ago
How could I leave off Robert Richardson? His use of strong overhead lighting in movies like JFK, Natural Born Killers. His beautiful work on The Aviator.
And Sven Nykvist, of course.
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stupidest things ever said in a movie about 3 years ago
“This is where the fish live” and “My name is Jodie Lee Thompson. Although I don’t care for the Lee very much” from the classic Touch of Satan.
“Jim, you sound like a man with a paper a—hole” and “Things! There are just things, Ella! I can get you all the things you want!!” from Heaven’s Gate.
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What is Kubrick's Most Under-Appreciated Film? about 3 years ago
Barry Lyndon.
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Movies you love, but everyone else hates. about 3 years ago
Heaven’s Gate
Godfather Part III
The Devil’s Rain
2001
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actors that aren't that great but about 3 years ago
Jason Statham
Stephen Baldwin – all of those rotten Sci Fi channel movies
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Films that are so bad...you gotta love them about 3 years ago
The Devil’s Rain starring Bill Shatner and Ernie Borgnine.
The Car with James Brolin battling a really cool looking demonic car.
Capricorn One starring James Brolin and OJ Simpson.
Touch of Satan directed by Tom Laughlin (Billy Jack) under the pseudonym of Don Henderson.
Billy Jack starring Tom Laughlin as the peace-loving, ass-kicking, Vietnam vet Half Indian out to clean up a corrupt and racist town.
Manos: The Hands of Fate because it is just awesome.
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Favorite Movie Soundtracks? about 3 years ago
Clockwork Orange, Heaven’s Gate, Godfather movies, Easy Rider, Barry Lyndon, The Doors
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Genres that certain directors should do more of. about 3 years ago
I think Wes Anderson should branch out and do an all out science fiction movie or a war movie.
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what's your favorite special effects movie about 3 years ago
2001: A Space Odyssey
Star Trek: The Motion Picture
Star Wars
Empire Strikes Back
The Devil’s Rain
TRON
Fifth Element
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Films You'd Like To See Restored about 3 years ago
I second Abel Gance’s Napoleon
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Last movie you saw and rate it about 3 years ago
Prisoners of the Lost Universe starring Richard “Original Apollo” Hatch and John “Why do I keep making these kinds of movies” Saxon. The wife and I decided to have a bad movie night last night. This movie is so atrocious, so downright bad that it is good. Sort of. A must see for fans of bad movies.
4 out of 10
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Books about 3 years ago
Currently reading Ancestor’s Tale by Richard Dawkins.
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Do You Like Wes Anderson? about 3 years ago
Wes Anderson is a very talented director. I love Rushmore, Tenebaums, and Life Aquatic. But I do feel he is in a thematic rut. He’s repeating the same theme over and over. The theme being father issues. Max Fisher had an issue with his father being a small town barber. Blume hates his own kids. Blume and Max become surrogate father and son. Father issues on full display in Tenenbaums. Life Aquatic features surrogate father and son: Steve Zissou and Ned Plimpton.
I like his visual style. I love how he shoots things centered in a wide angle frame.
I wish he would branch out and develop other themes, take on other issues. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if Anderson applied his dry sense of humor and unique visual style towards a genre picture, like science fiction or horror.
Anderson would do a good job in filming an adaptation of Sirens of Titan, for example.
Go to Comment
Films that are better than the books that they are are based on about 3 years ago
The Godfather novel is fast paced, a good read. The movie completely fleshed out the world created by Mario Puzo. The movie is real. The book is fiction.
The Planet of the Apes is a good read but has a wacky framing device. It’s a story within a story. The original movie version with Chuck Heston is brilliant. The twist ending of the movie is so much better and shocking than the twist in the novel. The characters are also very well defined in the movie.
The Shining by Steven King is a good book. But it is soooo dense. Kubrick did a fantastic job of streamlining King’s tome down to a single, chilling, story. Keep it simple. Keep it scary. Kubrick’s Shining is a masterpiece.
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Films in The Auteurs = Hints to Future Criterion Releases? about 3 years ago
TCM showed a letterboxed Brewster McCloud a while back and I missed it. It’s a crime that some movies aren’t on the DVD.
And I concur to Nashville added to Criterion.
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Films You'd Like To See Restored about 3 years ago
I agree with One Eyed Jacks.
I would like to see a Criterion version of Last Tango in Paris.
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PRETENTIOUS FILMMAKERS/FILMS about 3 years ago
Charles Kaufman and that Grondy guy (Be kind Rewind). They’re both just too artsy-fartsy for my taste.
I love Godard and Jodorowsky.
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