I guess I just respond well to Violence/Sex/Money/Power... I enjoyed the Sopranos right off, then that got me interested in GodfatherI and II. I like the "loyalty" of the mafia and the chaos.
Apocalypse Now (Coppola in the midst of a nervous breakdown on hallucinogens) Pulp Fiction (When it ended, my wife and I looked at each other and went, Huh?) The two most "over-critically acclaimed" movies in history.
Jeff actually touched on something that I'd like to discuss a little more. He mentioned that he couldn't get into the Godfather because of the characters are a "bunch of Italian immigrant thugs." I wonder how many other people on this board disliked a particular movie because they simply could not identify with the characters and not because the movie was particularly bad. Likewise, I wonder how many people love a particular movie because they really identify with one of the characters Personally, I find overly-sympathetic portrayals of crooks somewhat irritating, but then again, characters who don't fit into black-or-white molds tend to be more interesting than perfectly evil or perfectly good characters. For example, one of my favorite movies is Five Easy Pieces. While Jack Nicholson's character is a selfish jerk who cannot commit to anything, he's also funny, immensely talented, and aware of his own shortcomings. When you watch a character like this struggle between their good and flawed sides, that makes good drama. Of course, whether or not you like the movie depends alot on whether you can sympathize with both the admirable and not-so-admirable qualities of the characters. In my case, I find Gone With the Wind unbearable mostly because I think Scarlett O'Hara is spoiled, irritating, and deserves just about all the bad luck that she receives. Now back to the topic . . . I dislike alot of so-called "classic" comedies from the 80s (Blues Brothers, Stripes, Airplane, etc.) but many of my friends would miss their own weddings to watch these. Chinatown literally put me to sleep and The Deer Hunter just bored me. Finally, Night of the Hunter is supposed to be one of the all-time great scare-flicks, but I thought it was dated and lame.
Office Space is like Meet the Parents. You have to be able to relate to the situations to really appreciate it. Anyone who's been nervous about meeting the gf's parents can cringe throughout that entire flick. Anyway, I liked 'em both. And Pulp Fiction is excellent. Unfortunately, Tarantino hasn't been able to find that kind of quality since...
What did you guys think of Memento? It was awesome. Not to be a spoiler, but Paolantonio was crooked in the movie, right?
I thought it rocked. Apparently some people weren't too thrilled with it. If you look earlier in the thread, there was some dissin' going on. The answer to whether Paolantonio was crooked is a highly debated thing. I think there was a thread going around once that discussed that. Also if I recall correctly Salon had an article about some interpretations of the movie(can't recall the link though). Personally I think that he set up the dealer dude.....whether that's crooked is a matter of personal values. How many times have you seen it? My views seemed to evolve the more I watched it(i.e. you see things you didn't see before).
Once. I usually don't follow movies well, but I made sure I paid attention. Also, Sammy Jenkus, fact or fiction?
has anyone seen the movie with bruce willis? Where he was a security guard for like this baseball stadium, then all of a sudden he was this super hero who couldn't be hurt? I can't remember the name of it.. It has Samuel Jackson... 2 good actors.. one REALLY bad movie.. -LTF
"Unbreakable" ..... I loved that flick though. Here's my addition to the list... Harry Potter (and I haven't even seen it)
Umm... off the top of my head : Caddyshack. Everybody tries to tell me this movie is funny, but outside of Bill Murray mumbling every so often, I didn't find too many places to laugh... stupid movie.
this has simple answers and complex ones. 2001 HATED IT, love sci fi, so i must be koookie A clockwork orange- nearly the worst movie i have ever seen. if you can explain to me how good it is i will hate you, so dont try. Titanic-well sure, Im a guy, i like gatting laid, i saw the movie. I humored the girls and smiled politely, and will watch it again if i HAVE to, but i hated it, like all men hated it, and it will always remind me of the longest piss i ever took. not to mention how far a man will go to get laid. Mision impossible- that wasnt MY mission impossible and F- you for ruining it. star wars I ok im probably not the only 27 year old to hate it, but i really have no interest in seeing part II. but damn my love for sci fi, and eternal hope that they will realize how bad the messed up part I, i will see the others Thats enough for now, although iI would also like to take this space te remind you all how much a thin red line sucked, and was an insult to war movies everywhere PEACE
Watch it again if you get a chance....it makes more sense. Ahhhh.....Sammy Jenkus. Some say the memories the main dude has of Jenkus are actually memories of himself. I alway thought that Jenkus might actually be real...due to the fact that he actually remembered him.
Ah, yes... Ever the voice of reason, as usual. I disagree with most of you, but I guess that's why these are "minority opinions" being expressed here. For myself, I hated Snatch with a passion . I thought they tried to take everything that worked in Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrells and condense it into every single moment of Snatch . It was painful. One-liner after one-liner. All essentially the same joke. "I'm a british thug and I'm going to say something particularly pithy now. OK, it's your turn to do the same". Really bad. But everyone seemed to like it, so whatever. I loved American Beauty . Shakespeare In Love was fantastic, though Saving Private Ryan deserved the Oscar nod, of course. Office Space is hilarious. Pulp Fiction was great. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon was a beautiful, well put-together film. An example of what can be done with the genre. (go ahead and tee-off on that quote, too. I left myself open for the wordplays.) The Godfather is a classic, with a good many themes that most can identify with, I think, even if they don't particularly identify with the characters. A Clockwork Orange is brilliant. I like those eighties comedy "classics", as well. It's so difficult with comedies, too. I hated American Pie . Just wasn't funny. But then, humor is so subjective. I also think that the mood you're in at the time of the first viewing definitely has a lot to do with it. I also think that identifying with the main characters is extremely integral to most people's opinion of a film. That's why when the studios find a character that a large mass of people really seem to identify with, they'll fall over themselves attempting to reproduce it. "Oh, people really seem to like Mel Gibson's character in Braveheart , so let's put the same guy in the middle of this screenplay called Gladiator , and, oh yeah, he'll work great in this screenplay here called The Patriot . In fact, let's go ahead and put Mel Gibson in that role as well, and we'll find someone kind of comparable to him for the gladiator picture. This is something that people will spend money on!" That's why I really try to give films the benefit of the doubt when the main characters make me feel uncomfortable, or the film istself makes me feel uncomfortable. I try and think to myself, "Wait, is this what the film-maker intended?" And if it becomes evident that that is indeed what the filmmaker intended, then I can really look at the film subjectively. That's how I'm able to like a flim like Requiem For a Dream or A Clockwork Orange . I flipped for Aranofsky's earlier film Pi , because I was able to look at it subjectively. I found it brilliant. I hesitate to say this, and I want to stress that I'm not speaking about anyone in particular, but if you judge a film soley on whether or not it makes you feel good and/or you really identified with the central character, wake up...you're in the lowest common denominator, and you're the reason films like Rollerball get remade.
I'm in total agreement with several movies mentioned already: 1) The Godfather series 2) Titanic (I hate Leonardo, loved seeing Kate topless) 3) Pulp Fiction (huh?) 4) Unbreakable (what was the point of this movie?) 5) Crouching tiger Hidden Dragon (or whatever the hell it was called) 6) American Beauty (pedophiles delight) I think we should do a thread about movies you loved that were bombs. Most of the movies that I absolutely love were hated by critics and audiences alike. Just goes to show what a weird guy I am. Examples: I love Kentucky fried Movie, Mel Brooks movies , Monty Python , National Lampoon movies, classic sci-fi movies, Battlefield Earth, Amazon Women on the Moon, et al...
