Your favorite flicks?
By Jana on Jan 23, 2008
In my younger years I was quite strict about not watching R-rated movies. I rarely even watched PG-13. Lately, however, I’ve decided to expand my cinematic horizons and watch films irrespective of their MPAA ratings. So I’m compiling a list of “Must-See” movies for my netflix queue.
Would each of you be willing to list a few of your favorite movies for me, telling me why you recommend them? I’m especially interested in films that have stayed with you long after they ended. But I’d also like to watch well-written campy humor and movies that are pure fun!
Let me just say that I’m not a fan of over-the-top violence and I can’t watch horror flicks because I’m still afraid of the monsters under my bed. But other than that, I’m interested in just about any type of movie (though I do have to admit a partiality to foreign films and anything with Ewan McGregor that doesn’t involve a light saber).
Thanks!
Touching the Void is a great movie. It’s a documentary about two guys who climbed a mountain in peru. At the top one of them broke his leg. On the way down, The one the broke his leg was hanging off a cliff and the other one was forced to cut him loose. The guy who broke his leg survived the fall and climbed down the mountain. It’s pretty brutal watching what that guy went through. I’d show it to my teenager children and let them know that if they are ever presumed dead stuck in a glacial crack in the middle of Peruvian mountains with a broken leg, then it’s okay for them to yell swear words at themselves. But that’s the only time.
Comment # 1 by John | Jan 23, 2008 | Reply
Here are a few recommendations:
Hair (1979). Starring Treat Williams and directed by Milos Forman, this dance-oriented musical is extremely fun.
To Kill a Mockingbird (1962). A classic tale of childhood, told from the children’s point of view. Beautiful from start to finish.
I’ve Heard the Mermaids Singing (1987). Original, endearing, funny and very, very human. It is about the sometimes awkward relationship between a dreamy, geeky secretary and the highbrow woman who is her employer. Its hard not to be charmed by this one.
84 Charing Cross Road (1987). This is a grade B movie, but lots and lots of fun to watch, especially if you like books.
Nights of Cabiria (1957). One of my favorite Fellini movies of all time, and perhaps one of my favorite movies of all time. Giulietta Masina is heartbreaking in this.
Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (1982). Forget the recent Johnny Depp version. This film of the Broadway musical starring Angela Lansbury and George Hearn is amazing.
Comment # 2 by MoHoHawaii | Jan 23, 2008 | Reply
My candidate for your list is the recent acclaimed Russian film The Island. You can get it on Netflix. I’m told by the local Russian Orthodox priest that the film is a phenomenon in Russia and has sparked an enormous flood of Russian visitors to Orthodox monasteries. Last year I had the privilege of singing an old Russian Orthodox Slavonic chant as prelude to a public screening of this film at the request of the priest, which was video taped by one of my sons for YouTube. The film stirred my half-breed Slavic soul and further convinced me of having spent one or more past lifetimes in that ancient land and tradition.
Comment # 3 by Eugene Kovalenko | Jan 23, 2008 | Reply
The Shawshank Redemption is great: funny, poignant, religious, powerful. Joe Versus the Volcano is one of my favorite fun movies, probably the best Tom Hanks/Meg Ryan flick, certainly the quirkiest. And finally I’d say 2001: A Space Odyssey as long as you’re ok with really slow-moving plots–I think it’s one of the most beautiful and complex films I’ve ever seen, but be warned: a lot of people don’t have the patience (stubbornness?) for it.
Comment # 4 by austin s | Jan 23, 2008 | Reply
Legacy. Mr. Krueger’s Christmas.
Don’t watch rater R movies w/ sex. Sex is bad - not just the illicit portrayal. ALL OF IT!
Okay, all of sex isn’t bad, but I think the illicit portrayal of sex in movies is more damaging than violence - so don’t watch movies with sex or I’ll come back on the board and point my disdainful finger of scorn in your general direction.
I do stand by my first two suggestions - but here are a few others.
The RM. If you’ve ever come home from a mission you may relate to how this guy’s world falls apart.
The Deer Hunter. My favorite war movie.
Adaptation (the cleanflicks version, you judgmental hypocrites). I hate Nick Cage, but why is he in all of my favorite movies (such as Moonstruck)?
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind - artsy, full of itself (obviously relating to its fanbase).
Hero with Dustin Hoffman and Geena Davis
A Room With A View (cover your eyes during the “take a swim in the pond” scene)
Memento
Please please please (even if I’ve destroyed all my credibility) see The Painted Veil w/ Ed Norton and Naomi Watts. It is the best movie I’ve seen in a long time.
Comment # 5 by anon | Jan 23, 2008 | Reply
I assume you like Moulin Rouge if you are a Ewan McGregor fan. I would also assume you like chick flicks if you like Moulin Rouge. I also liked him in The Island (not the Russian one above, the one with Scarlett J.)
Agree with 3 of the above:
Shawshank Redemption
Room with a View
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Also:
Amelie - French film, cool filmography, very funny (some would say cloying. There is some female nudity including definitely-not-Demi-Moore pregnant nudity and some nasty talk in an adult shop, but hey, they’re French)
Shakespeare in Love - chick flick, but well written (no violence or swearing, there is some female nudity, but I can see that in a mirror)
Strictly Ballroom - the 3rd of the “red curtain trilogy” movies (with Moulin Rouge & Romeo + Juliet) - this one’s PG-13. Nothing very objectionable except some bad toupees.
I don’t watch many R-rated either, but if you’re going to watch some, these are pretty good.
Comment # 6 by hawkgrrrl | Jan 23, 2008 | Reply
Thanks for this great list! A few of these I’ve seen and/or read the books (A Room with a View, Shawshank, 2001). I’m okay with nudity, so that’s not holding me back from watching any movies. Given that I _love_ foriegn movies (”Amelie” and “La Fille Sur Le Pont” being 2 favs, I’m used to the requisite French nudity scenes).
I don’t always like chick flicks, but do enjoy “Moulin Rouge” (the campiness and music are great and I’m enchanted with bohemian Paris in general). I also loved Ewan in “Down With Love” (again, the campiness factor). And in a much more artistic vein (with nudity), I like “The Pillow Book.” “Trainspotting” is on my nightstand right now, so we’ll see if it matches my high expectations for Ewan.
Keep those great suggestions coming!
Comment # 7 by Jana | Jan 23, 2008 | Reply
I know I’ll take heat from someone on this, but I truly do recommend the Matrix trilogy of films. They’re absolutely packed with symbolism and allegory. Just remember that when people say they loved the first one but hated the second and third, you must disdainfully declare that they just didn’t “get it.”
Seriously though, they take a little more thought than some are willing to invest in a film. Personally, I found the payoff worthwhile. The concepts that these movies convey literally changed my life (for the better).
In honor of the recent departure of Heath Ledger, I’d recommend Brokeback Mountain. The film is ultimately a love story, regardless of who the characters are, and carries a strong message about the tragedy of trying to hide who you are. You’ll cry. Really.
I’d also recommend V for Vendetta, not only for just a great story, but for almost daring political commentary. Wonderful film!
Comment # 8 by Nick Literski | Jan 23, 2008 | Reply
Four words: This Is Spinal Tap. You won’t be sorry.
A few years ago I copied a list from some magazine, of must-see movies for film literacy (I’ve seen only 5 of these):
Casablanca
To Be or Not to Be
Monsieur Verdoux
Unfaithfully Yours
All About Eve
The Band Wagon
Shane
Stalag 17
Rear Window
12 Angry Men
Doctor Zhivago
Apocalypse Now
Amadeus
Hannah and her Sisters
Pulp Fiction
There’s also the (AFI? I forget) 50 greatest movies of all time (I’ve seen a few more than a dozen here):
All About Eve
Amarcord
Annie Hall
Blowup
Bonnie & Clyde
Breathless
Bringing Up Baby
Casablanca
Chinatown
Citizen Kane
The Conformist
Die Hard
Dirty Harry
Double Indemnity
Dumbo
The General
The Godfather
The Godfather Part II
Goldfinger
The Gold Rush
Gone with the Wind
Goodfellas
The Graduate
Grand Illusion
It Happened One Night
It’s a Gift
Jaws
Lawrence of Arabia
Mildred Pierce
National Lampoon’s Animal House
North by Northwest
Now, Voyager
Paths of Glory
Psycho
Red River
Reds
Rome, Open City
The Rules of the Game
Seven Samurai
The Seventh Seal
Singin’ in the Rain
Some Like It Hot
Stagecoach
Sullivan’s Travels
Sunset Boulevard
Toy Story
Trouble in Paradise
2001: A Space Odyssey
The Wild Bunch
The Wizard of Oz
The Women
Comment # 9 by janeannechovy | Jan 24, 2008 | Reply
Okay, I’ll bite:
I’m also a huge fan of Moulin Rouge - love it. Some that haven’t been listed that are on my favorites list (though I don’t know off the top of my head how many are rated ‘R’):
Contact, with Jodie Foster
Bourne Trilogy - You said you aren’t a fan of over-the-top violence, but these tend to show a killer that struggles and is deeply conflicted.
Oh Brother Where Art Thou?
Fight Club - Yeah, okay, violence.
As I look at the rest of my list, it seems I do tend to go for the violence
I’ll stop listing those before I embarrass myself. I will, however, admit that I get in the occasional escapist testosterone-laden mood and pop in the Bad Boys and Bad Boys II dvds. Over-the-top fun.
If you like cable series shows, two that I’d recommend to be on your netflix queue:
Rome - an HBO series
Dead Like Me - A fun, lighthearted look at death from Showtime - this one was canceled too soon.
Comment # 10 by Rory | Jan 24, 2008 | Reply
Oh - I can’t believe I left these out: I’m a big Edward Norton fan, so:
The Score - De Niro, Brando, Norton, in a heist film. Oh, come on!
And another with Norton:
American History X
Comment # 11 by Rory | Jan 24, 2008 | Reply
I can’t resist tipping my hand. I’ll just post everyone’s response now so eveyone can save their energy. Tom is “shallow, shallow, shallow!”
My all time, top five, desert island, favorite movies, in reverse chronological order, including best quotable are as follows:
High Fidelity – “Don’t tell anyone you don’t own that record”
‘Oh Brother, Where Art Thou’ – “My hair!” should have been “Well aint this a geographic oddity—two weeks from everywhere!”
The Sure Thing – “who invented liquid soap and why”
Fiddler on the Roof – “as the good book says, heal us O lord and we shall be healed, in other words, send us the cure, we’ve got the sickness already!”
Laurence of Arabia – “All right, I am ‘extraordinary’”
Yeah, I know, too much John Cusak. It was everything I could do not to put him in every slot. Sixteen Candles, Gross Pointe Blank, Pushing tin, Tapeheads, Better off Dead, yeah I’m lke totally obsessed. I just threw the others in to make myself look better.
Tom Kimball
Comment # 12 by Tom Kimball | Jan 24, 2008 | Reply
Jana - I insist that film nudity contributes to the “pornification” of society - but, whatever. Oh, it is french nudiy - that makes it okay.
Lawrence of Arabia is a great movie - but I would never recommend it to a female. (C’mon . . . take the bait . . . , oh, what the heck - I’ll just say it, “Just because I am a woman doesn’t mean I can’t enjoy a movie that has no female speaking parts (see e.g. Master and Commander).”)
Has anyone seen Harry Potter 3 (Prisoner of Azkaban)? It is on my list of “wow, this movie is really a lot deeper than I expected it to be - or that most people give it credit for.” (others: 6th Sense, Unbreakable, Signs)
How about Marvin’s Room?
How about Painted Veil?
Let’s not forget the highly obvious: States of Grace.
Comment # 13 by anon | Jan 24, 2008 | Reply
And I thought I was a movie nut! But I can’t hold a candle to all you people! Here’s another favorite film that takes place in Ukraine, which was recommended by my ultra-conservative Mormon red-neck (and proud of it!) brother. It was one of those rare times we actually agreed on something: everything is illuminated. About a Jewish boy who journey’s to Ukraine to find the woman who saved his grandfather from the Nazis in 1942. Lots of profanity, but not to worry. It’s all in Russian, which if you understood would curl your hair! And lots of quirky humor, as well as wrenching surprises. Get ready for an emotional roller coaster.
Comment # 14 by Eugene Kovalenko | Jan 24, 2008 | Reply
Rory,
Though after serving time with Wotherspoon on road trips over the years, If I hear another Meatloaf song it will be way too soon. But I have to admit that I really liked Meatloaf in Fight Club. In fact, that was a really great film. I think I saw it with Spoon and Devery Anderson after work at Benchmark. I remember nervously laughing throughout the film and I remember kind of feeling gulity that I really enjoyed the flick. Norton was great!
I don’t get to see as many films in the big theaters as I used to. Lately I’m reduced to kids films at our local dollor sticky shoe. But, the popcorn is cheap and if need be, I can catch a few winks as my kids get cultured. The sticky shoe had States of Grace posters up for about a week and then it didn’t come. But they did show Blades of Glory. Go figure?
Tom Kimball
Don’t mess with the American Fork sticky shoe!
Comment # 15 by Tom Kimball | Jan 24, 2008 | Reply
Fairy Tale: A True Story. Based on the photographing fairies incident that really did involve Arthur Conan Doyle and Harry Houdini. Two of the best child performances in history, ranking with To Kill a Mockingbird and the Adventures of Baron Munchausen. Wonderful Peter O’ Toole as Conan Doyle, and Harvy Keitel as Houdini. The bed time conversation between the two girls at the end would have worked as the ending. What happens afterwards is astonishingly beautiful.
Miracle of Morgan’s Creek. One of the three best screwball comedies ever made. With Bringing Up Baby, and the recently rediscovered Merrily We Live.
Amelie, of course.
Shakespeare In Love, in a double feature with the Helena Bonham Carter Twelvth Night.
Bridgit Jones Diary.
Incidentally, the ClearPlay DVD player works very nicely with Brigit and Shakespeare in Love.
Kevin Christensen
Pittsburgh, PA
Comment # 16 by Kevin Christensen | Jan 24, 2008 | Reply
The Godfather (Part I) is one of my all time favorites. Watching that movie seems to make my grandparent’s photographs from the 40’s and 50’s come to life. The story is good and the characters are very well developed. The movie is an interesting study in how the American dream often goes wrong. Part II is good though it is slows down, especially towards the end, and leaves you feeling somewhat empty at the end. But maybe that’s the point. Part III is terrible. We just pretend it did not happen.
Mystery Men is a great superhero spoof. You will not regret watching it.
Chris
Comment # 17 by Chris Rusch | Jan 24, 2008 | Reply
I could never compile an all-time Top 10, let alone a Top 100 movies list. Too many to choose from, and impossilbe to pin down the criteria.
But let me mention some films anyway… I’ll avoid discussing classics like Chinatown, Godfather, The Graduate, and/or high profile Best Picture winners/nominees like Schindler’s List or The English Patient, or oft-mentioned cult films like Eternal Sunshine or Fight Club (which I hated, by the way)… enough ink has been spilled extolling their merits. So here are a few that jump out at me at this particular moment in time, for no particular reason:
Barcelona, directed by Whit Stillman, and Metropolitan, also directed by Whit Stillman. I love dialogue-driven films, especially if the characters are overly-educated, neurotic types who overanalyze the minutia of life. Stillman is often compared to Noah Baumbach and Wes Anderson, but to me he seemed to be the heir apparent to Woody Allen. He made these two, almost perfect, movies in the early 90s, then one more average film (The Last Days of Disco) a few years later, and hasn’t been heard from since.
Bound, directed by the Wachowski brothers, who also directed The Matrix. Film Noir is my second favorite film genre, after the aforementioned “pseudo-intellectual talky” genre.
Another great, semi-recent film noir is Out of Sight, directed by Steven Soderbergh, still Soderbergh’s best film, though I love Sex, Lies, and Videotape as well. The Underneath is another pretty good Soderbergh film noir.
I also like quirky, indie films. Rushmore, directed by Wes Anderson is a good example, though every Wes Anderson film since Rushmore have been pretty disappointing, and getting worse. (The Darjeeling Limited, for example, is an abomination.) In the quirky/indie genre I’d include the films of Hal Hartley. Hartley’s characters deliver their dialogue in a stylized monotone that I find amusing. Try Simple Men or Henry Fool. The Unbelievable Truth is pretty good too.
I’d also mention Roger Dodger, directed by Dylan Kidd, in this quirky/indie category, as a film I really liked.
Another personal fav is Wonderboys, directed by Curtis Hanson. I think I’ve always wanted to be an academic or a novelist, and this movie contains characters who are both. Watching Wonderboys just puts a huge smile on my face. If it is on TV when I am channel surfing it immediately brightens my mood and I have to watch it until the end.
About A Boy also puts me in an immeasurably good mood, for some reason. Just a perfect movie.
I guess what I like about the above two films is that they are smart “comedies” that really feel more like dramas. They’re funny, but in a painful, very human way. Alexander Payne is the master of the genre, with Election, About Schmidt, and Sideways. I’d also mention American Splendor, Lost in Translation, The Station Agent, The Squid and the Whale…
Really, I could go on like this forever, so I’ll just stop here…
Comment # 18 by Matt Thurston | Jan 24, 2008 | Reply
The Razors Edge with Bill Murray, I ‘ve seen it over 50 times, it helped me through a decade long existential crisis plus I love Bills sense of humor.
Keeping a good sense of humor is essential to surviving an existential crisis.
The two most important things you need to know to survive an existential crisis are 1 Keep your sense of humor and 2 Keep reading. Don’t stop reading when you lose your faith, if you keep reading, you’ll find it again some where further down the road.
Both of the Truman Capote movies.
Comment # 19 by Gordon Hill | Jan 24, 2008 | Reply
I loved reading the novel The Razor’s Edge, by W. Somerset Maugham. I’ve resisted seeing the movie because I’m usually disappointed by film adaptations of books, and didn’t want to internalize the image of Bill Murray as Larry Darrell. But I’ve heard other people say good things about the film, and enough time has gone by since I read the novel that it may be time to check it out. Thanks for the tip.
Comment # 20 by Matt Thurston | Jan 24, 2008 | Reply
I think the young and yummy Omar Sharif is reason enough for any female to want to watch Lawrence of Arabia. And then there’s the score, and the cinematography. The only reason to disrecommend it is if you can’t see it on the big screen. I saw the restored print on a positively ginormous screen in Bordeaux, France in 1989, and the experience was transporting.
Comment # 21 by janeannechovy | Jan 25, 2008 | Reply
Well - in the interest of discussion, I have to respond to a few things-
1. V for Vendetta was stooopid. It was not a daring political commentary. In fact, it was liberal pander movie. In hollywood - that just isn’t the least bit daring. (let’s set aside the evil one-dimensional bad old white guy characters who the hero kills throughout the movie) In hollywood - a truly daring political commentary is one that stands for hawkish, conservative or jingoistic approaches towards terrorism. Think: The Kingdom (which walked a fine line between condemning and praising the US’s response to terrorism). The critics were evenly split - it was very polarizing.
2. You can’t dislike Fight Club. You aren’t allowed. It is too interesting and raises too many questions. (Yeah . . . but what about all my little pet indie movies? They raise many more questions!) Well, your pet indie movies did not capture the attention of an entire generation of 18-36 year old guys.
3. Royal Tennenbaums was made after Rushmore - and though I agree that Rushmore is great, the techniques that Wes will be known for were perfected by Tennenbaums. I haven’t seen Darjeeling, but like Shymalan - I can believe that the same director can get too much freedom and go down hill.
4. We haven’t dwelled enough on Waiting for Guffman.
5. Has anyone seen the Painted Veil? (Ed Norton at his finest.) Will someone besides me post an analysis of that movie so that I can figure out whether or not I am crazy for feeling the way I do about it. Pout pout pout.
6. The Princess Bride. Wow. Seriously.
Comment # 22 by anon | Jan 25, 2008 | Reply
Okay anon, as you say, “in the interest of discussion,” I’ll engage some of your comments/questions…
Waiting For Guffman is a wonderful film. Feel free to dwell on it as much as you want, especially if you quote directly from the movie.
I also liked The Painted Veil. The performances by Norton and Watts were excellent. I loved the cinematography and the sublime score by Alexandre Desplat. It was also, like The Razor’s Edge, based on a novel by W. Somerset Maugham.
As for Fight Club, the less said the better, in my opinon. I cannot relate to your squeamishness with sex and nudity in film in contrast to violence. My thought while watching Fight Club was that it was nothing more than “fight porn” for boys, violence masquerading as metaphor, but really just pointless violence. My feelings vacillated from bewilderment to amusement to boredom to anger. But the teen boys who sat around me in the theatre certainly seemed to get off on it. But hey, I have a lot of friends who love the film, and who have otherwise good taste in movies, so you are in good company. (By the way, the other movie I tend to get in a lot of heated debate over is Magnolia, a total mess of a movie in my opinion, but one many people seem to feel very passionate about.)
As for sex/nudity in film, count me as a fan. Okay, maybe that comment was intentionally provocative. What I mean to say is that I view sex as a major part of life — emotionally, psychologically, spiritually, politically, etc. and therefore a subject/theme rife with cinematic potential. To avoid it as a subject in art for puritanical reasons is not engaging with life, with being human. Having said that, there are borders to consider, exploitation to avoid, etc. (But the same could be said of violence as a subject of art, as I allude to in the previous paragraph). And I will also throw out the caveat that film has historically demonstrated a more canny ability to capture violence (both technically and thematically) than sex, which it often “screws” up. But hey, practice makes perfect.
Comment # 23 by Matt Thurston | Jan 25, 2008 | Reply
janeannechovy
I’m a sucker of those breathtaking films with lonely dramatic cinematography and overt moral lessons. When Laurence had to kill the man that he returned into the the hammer to save—I have to admit I was crushed. (Ok, so I was 10 when I first saw it.) Years later, I remember eating a sandwich while reading a biography of Abdul Aziz as I sat under the Tree of Life, in the sun drenched desert if the Arab Emirate of Bahrain and imagining myself as Laurence. (but with better weapons)
Another aspect of Laurence of Arabia that I liked is that the Omar Shariff character comes across as a very wise, intelligent and capable adult, but as we get to know the character he seems much more like a little boy who just wants to improve himself. There are a few characters like this in this film. Very tragic and heartening all at the same time. My kind of flick.
Tom
Comment # 24 by Tom Kimball | Jan 25, 2008 | Reply
Matt - thanks for taking the bait.
I love your Fight Club comment. You look at it as “fight porn” and also look disdainfully on the teenagers who are getting off on it. How is that not exactly the dichotomy that Fight Club wishes to highlight? The argument, for me, is whether Fight Club visciously mocks those who get wrapped up in the violence (in which case, I think, you should like the film), or whether it is just “fight porn” — an orgy of violence for a frustrated generation or two of guys. That is simplifying it - but, the fact that it seems to do both simultaneously is commendable.
Sex on screen. Count me out. Porn masquerading as art. (but they are french . . . drrrr.) The Painted Veil (and others) showed that you don’t have to show body-part sex to deal with sex. I’ve seen a lot of movies that deal with sex which edited out the body parts. Puritanical? Maybe. When it comes to illicit depictions, or promotion of illicit sex masquerading as mere portrayal of life (or worse art) being a puritan is what I aspire to. I think we can talk about sex, think about it on screen without showing it. I’d analogize to the smartes monster and ghost movies - it is more powerful when they don’t show it. More later on that - since I don’t think I properly explained my position. Matt, you seem like a smart fellow - though you disagree, you could probably make my arguments as well or better than I am. Here, I’ll start for you: Depictions of nudity and sex in movies contribute to the pornification of society because . . .
Comment # 25 by anon | Jan 25, 2008 | Reply
Not a lot being said about foreign films (other than Amelie, which I hated!) so I will offer a few suggestions, if you’re up for subtitles.
Water is very good. Very well-made and touching. Same with Rabbit Proof Fence, which is based on a true story. Born into Brothels is required viewing. It is rated R for one scene where a girl’s mother is cussing her out. But watch it! It’s the filthiest language I’ve ever heard (read), and the girl doesn’t even react. It gives you that much more of a sense of their environment. Valentin is a fun one. Really cute kid. Spirited Away is a cartoon, but really good. Maybe I just like it because I’m sublimating a desire for anime? I hope not. Oh, and Paradise Now is also required viewing. It’s refreshing to see a Palestinian perspective on the conflict, especially a complex one. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is phenomenal. It kind of came and went like a flavor of the month, but it’s my favorite Chinese film. Together and To Live are also good, if a bit maudlin, but that’s kind of why I like Chinese cinema. Japanese movies tend to drag a bit to me, but Afterlife has a really cool conceit and is also well done.
As for American movies, I’ll second O Brother, Where Art Thou?, The Royal Tennenbaums, and Waiting for Guffman. A Mighty Wind is also worthwhile. Spellbound is funnier than any Christopher Guest movie because it’s real! Hard to believe. New York Doll is a really good documentary. Funny that it hasn’t been mentioned here.
Comment # 26 by Nate Housley | Jan 25, 2008 | Reply
I’ll weigh in on the Fight Club debate. I agree that it was fight porn, and I didn’t like it for the fact that the Hollywood-ness of it subverted the whole message. It was like a politician saying “I’m not going to bring up the other candidate’s record of corruption and scandal.” It claimed to point out the absurdity of violence while making it look as hot as possible.
Comment # 27 by Nate Housley | Jan 25, 2008 | Reply
anon,
The sexualization of society and the depiction of sex/nudity in movies do not really intersect in my mind, and if they do, it is only a minor part of the problem you describe.
I blame the sexualization of society on the marketing and advertising (television commercials, internet or magazine ads) industries first, and the purveyors of junk entertainment second. By “junk entertainment,” I’m talking primarily about televisions shows, usually reality shows, MTV videos, etc., internet media (including facebook, myspace, etc), and PG-13 movies that are highly sexualized without showing sex or nudity.
I’d agree with you that the suggestion of something is often more powerful than the depiction of something. Therefore the suggestion of sex in television or movie comedies aimed at high school and college-aged people (usually PG-13 movies) is far more powerful than the depiction of sex within context of a movie aimed at adults. One can simply not avoid sex in marketing/advertising and junk entertainment, and this leads to the sexualization of society. Sex/nudity in adult dramas like The Dreamers, Carnal Knowledge, The Unbearable Lightness of Being, Blue Velvet, Eyes Wide Shut, and innumerable foreign films barely register on the radar screen, in my opinion.
Comment # 28 by Matt Thurston | Jan 25, 2008 | Reply
I’ll second Spirited Away and New York Doll. Got to see those again.
Nate- about fight club - I think that guys had been watching “fight porn” for years in the form of stupid (or even very good) shoot-em-up / karate action movies. Finally, Fight Club isolated the issue of “fight porn” and made a movie that both captivated and mocked the intended audience. It wasn’t like it was about ninja spies in car chases — it was about why guys love violence. And - I don’t think it fed the viewers any conclusions. But, whatevs - right?
((Hey, nice dig at Mike Huckabee.
Why don’t we have a Mitt LOVEFEST here? Oh, it is sunstone and Mitt is an active mormon “romney-bot” - I guess that since he is loved by the other faithful robots in the ward, I have to pretend like I am critical of him to get any traction around here. Ah . . . who am I trying to kid. I am voting Mitt and a HUGE part of the reason is that he is mormon.))
Comment # 29 by anon | Jan 25, 2008 | Reply
Anon - you claim to eschew the pornification of society, but then turn around and suggest that we have a “mitt lovefest”. Oh the hypocrisy. Next your going to be talking about his stimulus package.
Comment # 30 by anon | Jan 25, 2008 | Reply
Tom (#12), and others,
I’d argue that John Cusack is the “Everyman” for the Gen X generation, the same way Tom Hanks is the Everyman for Baby Boomers, and Jimmy Stewart is the Everyman for the so-called Greatest Generation, the WW2 generation.
It is interesting to compare and contrast Cusack, Hanks, and Stewart, and the disparate ways they represent their generation. They are alike physically in that you wouldn’t describe any of them as “good looking,” at least not in the same classic sense as contemporaries like Brad Pitt (Gen X), Robert Redford (Boomer), or Cary Grant (WW2). But you wouldn’t describe them as not good looking either (i.e. “character” actors), like, say, contemporaries Philip Seymour Hoffman (Gen X), Dustin Hoffman (Boomer), or Edward G. Robinson (WW2).
All of them usually perform a role where they are the “conscience” of the film, and by extension their generation. They reflect their generation’s values. In this they are similar, but I think their specific values are different. In the interest of time, I won’t delve into the values of archetypal Hanks and Stewart characters.
As for Cusack, I see him as more cynical than Hanks and Stewart. He wants to do the right thing, and is ultimately the “good guy,” but he’s more conflicted than Hanks/Stewart, more aware of his base or selfish desires (i.e. the characters he played in The Sure Thing, High Fidelity, Pushing Tin, and The Ice Harvest come to mind). He’s also cynical/selfish in that he is more interested in his personal problems, less concerned about fixing the larger community. John Cusack would never “go to Washington” like Stewart, or fight for gay rights or fly to the moon like Tom Hanks. John Cusack is more interested in existential things (i.e. Where do I fit in? What does it all mean? Can love really last?) or minutia (i.e. “What came first, the music or the misery?”)
I’d also argue that Cusack characters are more concerned about (and aware of) their “image” than Hanks and Stewart characters. This is evident by how Cusack defines himself (i.e. I like this. I hate that.) but also by his outward appearance. Sometimes his appearance is carefully cultivated, like Lloyd Dobler’s trenchcoat in Say Anything, or Lane Meyer’s sunglasses in Better Off Dead, or Roy Dillon’s slicked-back hair in The Grifters; and sometimes, usually actually, it is his attempt to not project an outward image, to blend in with nondescript jeans, neutral-colored, untucked button-down shirt, and carefully uncombed hair. Very Gen X.
Don’t know where I’m going with this… I guess, like you, I dig and can relate to John Cusack. I’ll close with my Top Ten, Desert Island, John Cusack movies:
1.) High Fidelity
2.) The Grifters
3.) Pushing Tin
4.) Grosse Point Blank
5.) Being John Malcovich
6.) Say Anything
7.) The Sure Thing
8.) The Ice Harvest
9.) Better Off Dead
10.) One Crazy Summer
I also like Bullets Over Broadway, but don’t consider that a “John Cusack” movie but a “Woody Allen” movie.
Comment # 31 by Matt Thurston | Jan 25, 2008 | Reply
Matt Thurston: I love your taste in movies! Props to you, especially for pointing out the greatness of Whit Sillman’s “Metropolitan” and “Barcelona.”
Picks:
anything directed by David Lynch - favorite besides twin peaks is film, Mullholland Drive (beautiful and erie and complex)
French cinema: director Claude Chabrol makes beautiful and slightly disturbing films, also the new wave french cinema is really gorgeous, and pretty “clean” as it was made in the 60’s (Les Biches and Breathless)
Swedish: Ingmar Bergman: start with Fanny and Alexander
Spanish: Pedro Almodovar is brilliant, you will feel deeply if you indulge in his films: All About My Mother (a wonderful tribute to women) and Talk to Her, you will laugh if you watch “Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown”
The Man Who Wasn’t There (film noir by the Cohen Brothers)
American Beauty
Waking Life (philosophical with fuzzy animation, by Richard Linklater)
Dancer in the Dark (starring Bjork)
Being John Malcovich
Ghost World (really funny deadpan humor, Steve Buschemi is fab!)
These are all films that are worth a second viewing, and I watch 3-4 movies a week so that’s saying a lot.
Comment # 32 by Julie Stout | Jan 25, 2008 | Reply
oops, forgot:
This Ice Storm (directed by Ang Lee)
Donnie Darko
The Age of Innocence
The Opposite of Sex (very funny Sundance movie starting Christina Ricci)
The Lives of Others (German)
Pecker (the least offensive John Waters movie besides Hairspray, His movie, Polyester is one of the best campy films you could ever see, but prepare for some crude material if you go there)
Comment # 33 by Julie Stout | Jan 25, 2008 | Reply
I’m with Matt Thurston on John Cusack and on sex in film. Violence really bugs me, and I try to be very careful when choosing movies I know will be violent. Heck, Jurassic Park made me jittery for a few hours after leaving the theater!
That said, there have been some violent films I have really enjoyed–LA Confidential is the first that comes to mind. Looking at my list of movies I watched last year, I can also say I enjoyed The Departed and Casino Royale in spite of their violence.
Comment # 34 by janeannechovy | Jan 25, 2008 | Reply
Well, Julie Stout and janeannechovy are clearly individuals with impeccably good taste!
(It’s nice when people agree with your opinion.)
Let me clarify that I’m not prudish about violence. I’m concerned with the glorification of violence, or worse, the fetishization of violence, especially in slasher films like Saw and Hostel. (To be fair, I’ve never seen either film, so maybe I shouldn’t opine about them, but I’ve seen clips that give me a pretty good idea…)
But there are a number of violent films I’ve enjoyed and have no problem with, including those that janeanne mentions — The Departed, Casino Royale, L.A. Confidential – as well as The Deer Hunter, Saving Private Ryan, Taxi Driver, etc. It’s not sex or violence that bother me. Neither, in and of themselves, have a particular positive or negative value. It’s content and context that move them up or down the value spectrum.
Julie, it appears we are on the same wavelength with regard to our taste in film. You mention many movies and directors I love.
I’m a big fan of Pedro Almodovar as well. Talk To Her is my favorite Almodovar film.
I consider The Man Who Wasn’t There and The Age of Innocense to be two of the best, though rarely discussed or appreciated films of the Coen Brothers and Martin Scorsese, respectively.
Loved The Lives of Others, a film in my personal Top 5 of 2007.
I like David Lynch as well. Any director who cultivates a distinct “mood,” like Lynch, is interesting to me. Marc Caro and Jean-Pierre Jeunet (i.e. City of Lost Children) certainly fit that description. Luc Besson to a lesser extent.
I’ve never seen any of Chabrol’s work, but have meant to. I’ve never really gotten into John Waters films, but have never given if much effort either.
I think Ang Lee has been one of the most consistent directors of the past 20 years. With the exception of Hulk (not a total failure, more of a misfire), I’ve liked all of his films, especially his Mandarin-speaking films.
I’d say the same thing about the underrated Austrailian director Peter Weir, director of such films as Gallipoli, The Year of Living Dangerously, Witness, Dead Poet’s Society, Fearless, The Truman Show, and Master and Commander.
Comment # 35 by Matt Thurston | Jan 25, 2008 | Reply
Matt: thanks for acknowledging my taste in movies. Sometimes, being such a film fanatic is a lonely endeavor, and it’s very nice to find like-minded souls out there.
Did we forget to add the German film by Wim Wenders: “wings of desire”? That was a universal favorite amongst the international cinema crowd at BYU! Hey, and props to BYU for introducing me to tons of great foreign flicks. I heard they cracked down on the liberal nature of what they could show there eventually, so it probably isn’t what it used to be, but that was one place on campus where I could just bliss out to the max.
Comment # 36 by Julie Stout | Jan 25, 2008 | Reply
I used to bliss out to the max at the international cinema before blissing out to the max at international cinema was cool.
It was responsible for introducing me to the grotesque joys of “Delicatessen“.
Comment # 37 by anon | Jan 25, 2008 | Reply
ooh, 2 good relationship dramas are:
In the Bedroom
Little Children
Comment # 38 by Julie Stout | Jan 25, 2008 | Reply
anon: when were you at the Y? I was there from ‘94-’99. I saw most of the films prior to grad school in the years of ‘94-’96. They seem to keep a lot of films in rotation every 2 years or so. I credit international cinema with my introduction to Ingmar Bergman, amongh a bazillion others. I don’t think they had the nerve to show Delicatessan by the time I got there. Very intriguing.
Comment # 39 by Julie Stout | Jan 25, 2008 | Reply
In the Bedroom - absolutely fantastic (the movie is very good too). (Hey, if people don’t start laughing at my jokes, I am going to stop making them. . . . chirp chirp chirp, . . . cough cough . . . tumbleweed). A great movie though - so draining. Has everyone seen A Simple Plan?
Julie - I was there from 97-2003 (mission between). However, I saw Delicatessen long before I was a student there (that’s why I was toting my international cinema experience). 93 or 94 perhaps? I can’t remember - it was one of my first international films - I was very young and skeptical of movies that I hadn’t heard of before. After that, I never looked back. What is that movie about the little french girl whose mom dies? I liked it but I can’t remember the title.
Even while I was there from 97-03, they showed some great films. You earlier mentioned that it was one of the few places that you could bliss out to the max. Another topic for another day: why do people have such bad taste in their mouths from BYU. I thought it was hugely diverse and mind-blowing - all of it. Very challenging and interesting. I had amazing, counter-culture but still temple worthy professors (zina nibley peterson, e.g.). All of the professors were loaded with talent and experience.
I got to Michigan for law school expecting to have the scales torn from my eyes, but the opposite occurred - bland, liberal but bland - nothing challenging or exciting. BYU was a great experience. Geesh, . . . don’t get me going - this is a post about movies. But honestly, everywhere I stepped on campus (wether sports, arts, academic, culinary (think mint brownies), social, devotional, spiritual, forums too) —- basically, all of it was blissing out to the max.
Comment # 40 by anon | Jan 25, 2008 | Reply
Please find the link to the BYU international cinema. I send this in the interest of people giving BYU more credit that it normally gets.
Check out this fantastic lineup. (of course some movies are lame - but wow, a lot of great ones)
http://ic.byu.edu/PDF_Schedules/CurrentPoster.pdf
This schedule is consistent with and demonstrative of the culturally-enriching experience that I had at BYU.
Comment # 41 by anon | Jan 25, 2008 | Reply
Wow - the April 1-5 “An Incovenient Truth” at the BYU international cinema.
That offends even my most liberal and tolerant sensitivities.
Comment # 42 by anon | Jan 25, 2008 | Reply
Matt
Thanks for the thoughtful rundown on Cusak. My list would be about the same except I would swap out The Sure Thing and The Grifters.
A few quick personal issues about High Fidelity. Curt Bench had his “heart trouble” several years back after seeing this flick in the theater. Also, There is this fantastic scene that was deleted with Beverly D’Angelo where Cusak turns down a major purchase, as D’Angelo was attempting to sell her husbands record collection after she caught her him cheating on her. It really reminded me of the bizarre dilemmas I occasionally faced as a used book dealer. I also liked Cusak in Gross Pointe Blank who’s childhood home was turned into a quickymart, and who’s reluctant shrink felt it was unethical to treat him because he was afraid of Cusak due to his employment as a hitman. Great stuff.
Tom Kimball
“I will now sell five copies of The Three E.P.’s by The Beta Band”
Comment # 43 by Tom Kimball | Jan 25, 2008 | Reply
Tom, I remember that scene you describe from the book (a great read by the way, even better than the movie). And I think I remember watching the deleted scene you describe on the DVD. But yeah, the ethics of “collecting” is very sacred to those on the inside.
Comment # 44 by Matt Thurston | Jan 25, 2008 | Reply
I’m not a huge fan of Youssef Chahine, but I have to admit his Al-Maseer (”La Destine” - “Destiny”) was a longtime favorite of mine. I finally got a DVD of it from Amazon.fr which my wife could at least see the English subtitles on. As time has gone by the in-the-face nature of the “terrorism and extremism are bad” messages has grated the way overly-blunt Mormon message movies do, but the first time one sees it the imagery of Al-Andalus and Mohammed Mounir’s wonderful singing (’Alli Sawtak bil-Ghuna from the film being one of my all-time favorite and most uplifting songs) and eternally-optimistic smile are just mesmerizing. Historicity may have taken a backseat to overt attempt to send a message here, but the film is beautiful and fun. That said, I can follow the Arabic, so I’m not sure how it’ll come off to somebody having to watch in subtitles. Definitely worth a watch if you get a chance. Oh, and Chahine’s latest “Hiyya Fawda” (It’s Chaos) while apparently suffering from some of the same too-blunt shortcomings is apparently a big hit in Egypt right now for depicting the country’s routine police torture and showing a crowd of ordinary people storming a police station at the end to put an end to it.
I’m definitely not a fan of grotesque violence or sex in film either, but selectively there have been films that I think properly portray - films which matched my mental state on issues at a certain time anyways. I suppose the Lord of the Rings fits in that category as I am a definite no-horror-movies-ever person but my wife tells me that creatures in violend in LotR are right up there with some of the worst she’s seen. Go figure. I am in that vein huge fan of Peter Jackson’s The Lord of the Rings films, but then I was a huge fan of the books before (I didn’t think his King Kong was all that great, though I was torn on whether his “no political correctness here” portrayal of dark savages was tasteless or brilliant mockery of such imagery in other films). Hope The Hobbit comes out as well as LotR.
Also on the violence side, if you’re going to see any such thing, I think the Bourne films with Matt Damon are absolutely incredible. They are rough, but they are seriously thoughtful and blend a lot of I think incredibly important themes in at a time where we need to think about them as a society. For all the liberal moaning about Gitmo and the wars and dirty games we’ve launched covertly and overtly since 9/11, as a society we’re allowing it all to go on, whether Democrats or Republicans are in charge. The law is being subverted, murder is routinely carried out in our names, and no one is doing anything to stop it or else such questioning is labelled if not un-patriotic, at the least naieve. The Bourne films I think cut right to the meat of what’s really going on. You’ll get more reality from one of these supposedly escapist films than any Congressional or Washington investigation will ever get at.
In another genre, my wife recently prevailed to make me watch “The Nanny Diaries” and I was surprisingly pleased. Looked like just another chick flick (sorry for the un-PC language) to me, but it turned out to be a really intelligent dissection of Wall Street wealth of the Upper East Side variety (and hyper-wealth seekers generally). More importantly, not content to just tear down the rich (male and female), I thought Laura Linney’s portrayal of the rich wife “Mrs. X” was really rich and multi-layered - you see multiple aspects of her character in particular and all it represents.
Gillo Pontecorvo’s classic “The Battle of Algiers” I frankly thought was a bit over-rated, but it’s worth seeing if for no other reasons than (1) the usage of actual Algerian rebels from the War of Independence as actors in the film, and (2) the rare portrayal in western cinema of a reasonably active view from the trenches of those fighting against western occupiers.
“Batman Begins” - just the coolest and least kitschy Batman ever! Got back to the roots of the conflicted inner battle. I think it’s gonna be hard to pull off the sequel that I think is coming out this summer.
Could go on forever, but wanted to throw in a few of my 2 cents even if many of the titles a bit pedestrian.
Comment # 45 by Jamal | Jan 26, 2008 | Reply
“Before BYU InCin was cool,” and you were there in the 90s?!?!?! Anon, please. Some of us spent all day Saturday every Saturday there in the mid-80s. Later, I was in a ward for which Sacrament Meeting was held in that same windowless SWKT auditorium, which felt a little odd. Church every week was like going to a matinee movie, where you come out afterwards and are blinded by the sunshine.
But I digress.
The scariest movie I saw last year (by far) was Jesus Camp.
Comment # 46 by janeannechovy | Jan 26, 2008 | Reply
Jana, I don’t know what Netflix has in stock, but if they have Andrei Rublev, be sure to put it high on your queue. It is simply beautiful. And look to see if you can get The Decalogue for a moving, modern look at the ten commandments.
Both of those films are foreign, generally slow-paced. For something faster and edgier, I like The Devil’s Advocate. Nobody plays the devil like Pacino does. And 12 Monkeys is a fun sci-fi action flik that I thoroughly enjoy.
Comment # 47 by Mike | Jan 26, 2008 | Reply
2 great danish films: These are very powerfully moving shows that you can read about on amazon.
Brothers
After the Wedding
Anon: Hey, give me some credit. I didn’t say that BYU was trash or anything. I only implied that I could bliss out at IC because I adore films and that’s my main environment. Now, I live in the Sugarhouse neighborhood of SLC and it has so many cool accoutrements, but I’m still going to say how much I love The Broadway art house downtown when I’m asked about the attributes of living in my area, and if I’m honest, I’ll mention my favorite middle eastern restaurant Mazza in the same breath (I’m more of a foodie now than when I was at the Y), as well as the cool old houses that I started to appreciate during my time at BYU (hey, doesn’t Provo have some resplendent homes on Center Street (east of University Ave.)?
Comment # 48 by Julie Stout | Jan 28, 2008 | Reply
Sorry Julie -
So many are (or seem) so quick to totally write-off byu as cultureless or banal, that I’ve become really defensive of BYU - sometimes without getting all the facts.
Janeane - I was 5 years old and lived in Montana in the mid 80’s which prevented me from going to the international cinema. However, when did it ever really become cool?
Comment # 49 by anon | Jan 28, 2008 | Reply
There are sooooo many to list, so let me just recommend recent ones I loved:
No Country for Old Men
Dan in Real Life
Lars and the Real Girl
The Lives of Others
Bourne Ultimatum
Little Miss Sunshine
The Illusionist
Zodiac
My two cents.
Comment # 50 by David T. | Jan 29, 2008 | Reply
Crash.
Schindler’s List.
Maybe I’m too dramatic. (That is commentary, not a movie)
Comment # 51 by pmb | Jan 31, 2008 | Reply
I can’t believe that there are 50+ comments and no one has recommended:
Dr Strangelove: Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb. Any movie that deals with preserving the purity of our precious bodily fluids is a must-see.
The Usual Suspects: Easily one of the best crime caper movies ever made.
Fargo: Disturbing, but good.
The Royal Tennebaums: Hilarious. Ben Stiller has never been better
Postman Blues: Older Japanese film, not sure if it would be available on Netflix, but it’s a really good story. I’m surprised they haven’t remade it in English
The Last Days of Disco: Nobody speaks like this in real life, but the analysis of Lady and the Tramp was classic.
Field of Dreams: Kevin Costner’s last good film. (OK, OK, Dances with Wolves wasn’t bad either.
The Untouchables: Kevin Costner’s second to last good film
The Music Man: Musical, rated G, but be forewarned. Once you get some of the songs stuck in your head, they are stuck their FOREVER!
The Godfather
Comment # 52 by dpc | Feb 1, 2008 | Reply
I find it hard to believe that there are adults out there who still think a movie’s MPAA rating should be a factor in deciding whether or not to see it. I like the fact that I have a brain and am unafraid to use it, deciding for myself what movie I want to see, rather than listening to what some Earthly mouthpiece for a cosmic imaginary friend has to say about something he doesn’t even experience.
Comment # 53 by Dark Side | Feb 4, 2008 | Reply
To My Friends of Faith,
Recently a friend at our church brought this “film” to my attention.
Her son apparently was sent this web link from someone.
It’s a movie clip (that has been recently released, or is about to,,, I’m not sure),,
anyway, it depicts Mormons as flesh eating ghouls, and it is just awful. http://www.thebookofzombie.com
On behalf of myself and my husband, and our Mormon friends,
I would like to make sure that young people are NOT subjected to this terrible conception of our faith.
please let me know if you are able to help.
regards, Betty Toms
Comment # 54 by betty | Feb 4, 2008 | Reply
Dark Side - yeah, I’m not too interested in giving my agency over to the MPAA ratings board.
Betty - That looks like a pretty cheesy movie. I’m sure the market is pretty small. Did Steve Evans refer you to us?
Comment # 55 by Rory | Feb 4, 2008 | Reply
Betty, I appreciate your intention. But you’re really just giving them free advertising when you blanket people with info about the movie and a link to the official website. I likely would never even have heard of a silly movie like this if it weren’t for concerned people telling me not to watch it.
Just $0.02.
Comment # 56 by Rick Jepson | Feb 4, 2008 | Reply
I just watched the trailer for the movie. It looks so cheap and ridiculous, it might actually be a fun movie!
Comment # 57 by Dark Side | Feb 5, 2008 | Reply
Dark Side,
Why the assumption that people who don’t watch R-rated movies aren’t using their brains?
Comment # 58 by Nate Housley | Feb 5, 2008 | Reply
Methinks Betty is undercover trying to manufacture publicity of the “I’m so indignant about this horrible thing that nobody should ever ever look at!” variety. It’s the best kind.
Comment # 59 by matt b | Feb 5, 2008 | Reply
yeah, the concensus around all Mormon blogs is that “Betty Toms” is just a publicity stunt. Doesn’t really get the mormonspeak down like you’d expect from a concerned member, and conveniently gives a link to the movie.
But hey, it caught some attention. Particularly on other sites. So good job, I suppose.
Comment # 60 by Rick Jepson | Feb 6, 2008 | Reply
Dark Side - I can’t believe there are adults with supposed brains who won’t at least consider the MPAA ratings as a factor in deciding what movies to watch. I am not saying that it has to be the only factor (as it is for many “mormon” mormons). But of course it is a perfectly valid factor to consider. I consider the director, the actors, the critics comments, the tomatometer, the trailer, the rating, the film festivals it may have participated in. Bottom line: MPAA rating is a perfectly valid factor.
Ooops, I didn’t read this sentence before I invested time in responding to your comment.
“. . . Earthly mouthpiece for a cosmic imaginary friend has to say about something he doesn’t even experience.”
Sorry for the generalizing, but people who say stuff like that have usually stopped listening to and considering diverse viewpoints a long time ago.
Comment # 61 by anon | Feb 6, 2008 | Reply
While the MPAA rating I suppose serves as a first filter for me, this is a site I rely on far more to decide if I think a movie is within or without the bounds I’d be willing to see:
http://www.kids-in-mind.com
If you can get past the annoying floating ads and accept the fact that yes, somebody incredibly prudish sits down to note everything from the most gratuitious stuff to the most minor details, I find it actually is a really useful tool for me along with my pre-judgement on meaningful content.
Comment # 62 by Jamal | Feb 6, 2008 | Reply
If you would really like to know about the MPAA, I suggest you view the movie, “This Film Is Not Yet Rated.” It will give you a unique look into the process of movie rating. It has changed the way I look at the MPAA rating system.
Comment # 63 by Brian | Feb 7, 2008 | Reply
Jamal - I totally agree with you about kidsinmind.com.
Before I watch a “mainstream” release movie I note the title, what I think the plot or type of movie is. If it looks entertaining and/or intelligent, then I will note the rating. If the rating is R or PG-13, then I will consult Kids-in-Mind.com to determine whether the actual content will make me uncomfortable (a lot of f-bombs, a lot of nudity, gratuitious violence, etc.) Also, I religiously consult the tomatometer - though I don’t strictly abide by what it recommends.
So, yeah the MPAA - which is a man made, flawed, biased system is a factor in how I choose my entertainment.
p.s. Supposedly, a movie in which a protagonist is smoking will be more harshly rated by the MPAA than one in which an antagonist is smoking. I say this lest anyone doubt that I recognize the arbitrariness, as it relates to my standards, of the MPAA.
Comment # 64 by anon | Feb 8, 2008 | Reply
Anon decries the “illicit portrayal of sex” as “the pornification of society,” but who thinks the illicit and graphic violence, blood, and gore of Deer Hunter, Memento, and Fight Club is OK.
I don’t get it. When was the last time someone went into a mall in UT and sexed five people to death? I’ll take the illicit sex over the illicit violence any day, my friend.
Comment # 65 by CD | Feb 8, 2008 | Reply
I hope it’s not too late to comment on this great topic. Here are three great films with powerful messages. I won’t spoil the fun by adding my own interpretation.
The Truman Show
The Island
The Village
Cheers,
Dustin
Comment # 66 by dustin | Feb 9, 2008 | Reply
I’m a fan of foreign films, so I thought I’d throw in a few…..
RedBeard - A Kurosawa film he directed late in life. A great film of compassion about an upper class doctor that visits a small, poor, opressed village and learns what the real meaning of being a doctor is. Rated PG, but with one scene of nudity during an operation. Black and White.
Hero - This is my favorite of the Crouching Tiger genre with, of course, Ziyi Zhang. the cinematography is wonderful! Yes, its a violent war film, but the message is definitely anti-war.
Spring, Summer, Winter, Fall, Spring- A beautiful Korean Buddhist film directed by a Christian. It is about the cycle of life set on a lake in beatiful Korean national park. Rated R for some nudity and sex, but there are a number of tremendous lessons.
Comment # 67 by Keva | Feb 9, 2008 | Reply
I hereby accuse myself of posting under the alternate name “CD” to lob myself rhetorical softballs like the following:
“Anon decries the “illicit portrayal of sex” as “the pornification of society,” but who thinks the illicit and graphic violence, blood, and gore of Deer Hunter, Memento, and Fight Club is OK.
I don’t get it. When was the last time someone went into a mall in UT and sexed five people to death? I’ll take the illicit sex over the illicit violence any day, my friend.”
CD, no one went into the mall and sexed five people to death . . . they wait outside the mall in the cars, in the trees, in the nursing homes, in the schools, in the college dorm rooms, on the jogging trails, and all the other “back-alleys” of the world. And “sexing someone to death” is actually called rape, molestation, and prostitution and it happens far far more often than murder. In fact, a huge percentage of non-drug-related murder in the U.S. is an outgrowth of the same behaviors which cause someone to sex someone to death before they actually murder them. Could go on, but I gotta go . . .
But, on a final note . . . I have close friends who have viewed inordinate amounts of both violence and sex. Mysteriously, they were far more inclined to “act out” in sexual ways than to actually murder someone. I concede that this is anecdotal, but I think it is illustrative.
On the other hand, I don’t like gore, and I don’t like the glorification of violence. (and I think that was part of the point of fight club, to insult its violence-loving audience)
Comment # 68 by anon | Feb 12, 2008 | Reply
With all due respect, anon, I believe you might be a little out of touch. As a retired police officer who spent several years investigating sex crimes, I can tell you that the garden variety predator in the shopping mall did not get there by way of watching R-rated movies. Most of them are into porn, but whether that makes them what they are is questionable. Are R-rated movies showing sex scenes “gateway” movies to porn and hence to sex crimes? I suppose you could argue that. The reality is that sexual predators have something very wrong going on inside their brain, and they have about as much control over their desires as a healthy, normally functioning person does over his or her own. I doubt that R-rated sex scenes are going to move them one way or the other.
Comment # 69 by CD | Feb 12, 2008 | Reply
I can’t believe out of all these comments not one person mentioned:
Babel
Into the Wild
Syriana
Unforgiven
The Color Purple
Tim Burton’s Sweeney Todd
There Will Be Blood
Gangs of New York
Match Point
Friends with Money
The Kite Runner
Just to name a few.
Comment # 70 by Cody | Feb 14, 2008 | Reply
Oh yea, and
Se7ven
Comment # 71 by Cody | Feb 14, 2008 | Reply
I can’t believe all these comments and not one person mentioned:
Girls Just Wanna Have Fun
Mean Girls
She’s the Man
Three Amigos
Win a Date with Tad Hamilton
As Good as it Gets
Nicholas Nickelby
Comment # 72 by anon | Feb 15, 2008 | Reply
Some good choices, Cody, mixed with a couple stinkers. My take on your favs:
Babel… good, but I liked 21 Grams better
Into the Wild… excellent
Syriana… very good
Unforgiven… good, but a little overrated
The Color Purple… excellent
Tim Burton’s Sweeney Todd… hated it
There Will Be Blood… excellent
Gangs of New York… hit and miss, but mostly miss
Match Point… very good, best Woody in years
Friends with Money… really hated it
The Kite Runner… haven’t seen it yet
Comment # 73 by Matt Thurston | Feb 15, 2008 | Reply
People:
I’ve loved the vigorous conversation on this thread! However, I’ve just deleted a couple of ill-spirited comments.
Remember to play nice, ok?
Comment # 74 by Jana | Feb 16, 2008 | Reply
Keva - I can’t believe I forgot Hero, my wife and I totally loved it too. High up there on my list.
anon #64: glad I’m not the only one to have found kids-in-mind, I think it’s a great resource. I’ll admit to a somewhat similar process. While I don’t think the MPAA ratings are gospel, I do admittedly use them as a first filter. If a film is R I generally rule it out or need something quite intriguing to get me over to kids-in-mind to see the details and decide if I’d see it anyways. Personally for all the faulting of the standard ratings, I’ve got enough other things to do in life that I don’t mind it as a rule of thumb to start from even if I’m willing to over-rule it from time to time.
And geez, can’t believe I forgot it, but one of my all time favorites that I caught again this week for the first time in like 2 decades: the 1986 Rick Moranis version of Little Shop of Horrors. Campy musical, seriously over the top sets/costumes/performances that can’t help but make me smile, seriously funny performance by Steve Martin as the dentist (even my wife who only very reluctantly agreed to watch it with me was peeing her pants laughing at that one), and an actual quite meaningful morality tale if you can get past the silliness (and you can enjoy it either way). That said, a movie about killing people to feed to a plant from outerspace who promises a homely kid wealth and fame - I was like 11 years old when I fell in love with this film and rented it probably half a dozen times and I’m really quite shocked my mom let me. I know my kids ain’t touching it til they’re quite a bit older than I was!
Comment # 75 by Jamal | Feb 16, 2008 | Reply
Jamal - I like that you like the Little Shop of Horrors movie because,while we’ve all seen / heard of it, is shows your individuality of tastes.
So, in that spirit - I would be very curious to hear what movies people like that
1. everyone has heard of
2. but no one would suspect as your fav
The reason why this amuses me, is because we can all love the obvious ones (Shawshank, Godfather, etc.) -
For me:
SHe’s the Man
Hero (w/ Dustin Hoffman)
Gilbert Grape
other ones . . .
Comment # 76 by anon | Feb 17, 2008 | Reply
well…I realize I am entering this a little late but…since no one put any latin american films I will add a couple of my favorites…with english translations
Diario de Motocicletas = the motorcycle diaries
Maria Llena de Gracia = Mary full of grace
Amores Perros = Love’s a *$%#@
they me be hard to come by, but with some diligence you can probably get a hold of them
jgtown
Comment # 77 by jgtown | Feb 19, 2008 | Reply
Babette’s Feast
Comment # 78 by E.R. | Feb 23, 2008 | Reply
Amadeus (1984)
Comment # 79 by Dan D. | Feb 27, 2008 | Reply
Just finished watching Ordinary People tonight. I’d seen bits and pieces of it before when I happened to catch it on TV, but this was the first time I’d sat through the entire thing. I found it very impressive–having been through a series of personal crises over the past year (though not the sort that the family in the movie went through), I found many of the emotions on display rang true. I especially identified with the son who found himself carrying the burdens of everybody around him. (Tempting to read the Christ figure in there, but I’ll forbear.) Good, simple movie with nothing spectacular on display; just honest acting.
Comment # 80 by Terry Foraker | Feb 28, 2008 | Reply
No, I haven’t seen this one yet, but I was driving by my local multiplex last night and noticed the marquee read like this:
There Will
Be Blood
Atonement
Sound interesting….
Comment # 81 by Keva | Mar 1, 2008 | Reply
Now that is funny.
Comment # 82 by Rory | Mar 1, 2008 | Reply
I just watched “Across the Universe” on DVD last night (all set to Beatles music) and loved it. The art direction was incredible. It’s a must see for Beatles fans, people who are interested in 1960’s culture, and fans of psychedelia. It was a trip!
Comment # 83 by Julie Stout | Mar 3, 2008 | Reply