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Post by John Brainlove on Mar 4, 2006 9:33:18 GMT
I have a list of things to be posted out in sequence... Steve Zissou, Pushing Hands (Ang Lee), Broken Flowers (Jim Jarmusch)... It's a great idea, this mailing DVD club thing. But - I want suggestions. If you wish, pitch an essential film that I should bump to the top of the list. What films were so good they changed your life? If you had the chance to sit someone down and pick one film for them to watch, what might it be? And why? Convince me. Or I'm going to end up hiring Serenity, and I'm sure I can do better than that... So far I had - Sideways (pretty good, a little pedestrian maybe), I Heart Huckabees (really great - fast-moving philosophy movie) and Breaking The Waves (not watched yet). I'm with www.screenselect.co.uk by the way, they're very efficient. |
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Post by cadd on Mar 4, 2006 19:15:29 GMT
I glanced at my movies and the first thing I thought of was Eat, Drink, Man, Woman
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Post by John Brainlove on Mar 6, 2006 11:58:49 GMT
One of my all time favourites.  |
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Post by Barry Norman on Mar 6, 2006 12:09:44 GMT
Rent The Conversation. It is a stunning movie and as far as I'm concerned it is Coppola's best.
Also get Election and Mean Girls.
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Post by restlessboy on Mar 6, 2006 12:15:25 GMT
well I've no idea what films you like and I tend to assume people have heard of everything I like so here's a couple of more obscure things I've enjoyed of late:
Capturing the Friedmans - documentary about a family accused of being paedophiles and abusing children. Did they do it? Did the police corrupt the evidence?
Spellbound - documentary about children at a spelling bee. Kind of charming in a whimsical way.
Rain Man - not exactly obscure but I watched it the other day and it really is fantastic
Harvey - Classic Jimmy Stewart film featuring invisible rabbit
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Post by Durutti on Mar 6, 2006 13:43:36 GMT
Breaking the Waves. Jesus, that film was hard work. I saw it at the cinema and by the end I felt like I had been in a full on battle and watched my friends die around me.
It was uplifting in a strange sort of way though - not like that Jenifffeerrrrreeverrrrr album which sounds like the musical equivilant of swallowing cyanide.
I have no recommendations to make, my taste in films is utterly pedestrian and mainstream.
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Post by Fellalady on Mar 10, 2006 9:39:25 GMT
There's that new James Gandolfini film coming out, Romance and Cigarettes which has a musical element to it and it looks really good.....well the clip is saw on Film2006 did. So, maybe you should hire some classic musials. When did you last watch Singing In The Rain?
I'd also really recommend watching some Charlie Chaplin films too. The Great Dictator and The Kid are both excellent. Especially good if you read is autobiography first.
Online hiring is a really good way to watch loads of old films.
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Post by tafkac on Mar 10, 2006 12:52:35 GMT
Spellbound is amazing! I totally love that film so badly.
The robot kid who clearly has some kind of major personality disorder is the best ever.
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Post by John Brainlove on Mar 10, 2006 18:34:24 GMT
So this is my film queue.
2046
City Of God
Festen
Life Aquatic with... The - Feature
Me, You And... We Know
Noi Albinoi
Talk To Her
Anything Else
Batman Begins
The Big Sleep
The Curse Of... Jade Scorpion
The Day The... Stood Still
Dodgeball - A True Underdog Story
Land of the Dead
Meet The Fockers
Melinda And Melinda
Seven Samurai
Ten Minutes Older... The Cello (series dispatched in order)
Ten Minutes Older... The Trumpet
Waking Life
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Post by Barry Norman on Mar 11, 2006 17:55:25 GMT
That's a good list. Festen is a fantastic film.
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Post by cadd on Mar 12, 2006 3:52:20 GMT
I went to see The Big Sleep at Glasgows GFT a couple of years ago and really enjoyed it. Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall are absolutely brilliant together in it.
Only read Raymond Candler, an omnibus, for the first time about 6-7 years ago and loved his stuff, some brilliant one liners.
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Post by Fellalady on Apr 3, 2006 12:40:41 GMT
Can we have an update please. What have you seen, and what did you like?
Have you seen Talk To Her yet? That film is amazing.
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Post by John Brainlove on Apr 4, 2006 0:09:57 GMT
2046 - Sitting waiting to be watched.
Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou - 7/10
Much better than Royal Tenenbaums, quirky and funny and self-conciously bizarre, never letting you forget that you're watching a film. It doesn't allow suspension of disbelief, and tries to mess with your head about the nature of the story that's being told. Visually memorable. But nowhere near as sophisticated or well rounded as a Charlie Kaufman movie like Adaptation. Nice try, but no cigar.
Me, You And... We Know - 8/10
Funny, witty, charming and warm.
Batman Begins - 4/10
Starts off promisingly, but deteriorates into nauseating schlock cliche depressingly quickly, and completely underuses Scarecrow, who's one of my favourite Batman villians. Scarier and more "adult" than the Burton films but without the wonky visuals and striking style.
Dodgeball - A True Underdog Story 0/10
Was scratched so I had to send it back unwatched.
Broken Flowers - 9/10
Bill Murray and Ji Jarmusch was always going to be special. This is amazing. Often because of the women in the supporting roles (Julie Delpy, Sharon Stone etc). Funny, laconic, insightful. Loved it.
I got a £10 gift voucher because of the scratched DVD if anyone wants to try it for a free month.
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Post by thew arn on Apr 4, 2006 7:48:36 GMT
You're wrong about Batman Begins, John. I think it was ace visually (not Burtonesque, but it needn't be) and I thought the Scarecrow was terrifying. 8/10.
And make sure you get Dodgeball back, coz it's hellarious.
I think you're probably right about The Life Aquatic though. I really wanted to love that film, but I ended up just liking it. Not a patch on Rushmore.
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Post by John Brainlove on Apr 4, 2006 8:54:35 GMT
It was how Scarecrow was defeated that was shit. All of the bits he was in were brilliant, really scary, for all of the 30 seconds or so that it happened anyway. And then at the end, he just kinda gets pushed aside, and the main confrontation is a horribly tedious cliched fight on a train that seems to go on forever with all those thwacking fighting noises. BORING. They could have had some amazing, imaginative hallucination-fest with scarecrow gassing everyone and stuff. And since fucking when does Batman fly? That was ridiculous. And I really don't even remember the visual styling at all, already. Dark city, big house, spooky factory, blah blah blah. I thought it was all just kind of what you'd expect from a Batman film really. That said, the beginning section was totally cool, with all the eastern stuff in Nepal or wherever it was. By the end there had been five fistfights too many and the climax was frankly completely lame.
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