TDOS Cabin by the Lake Movie Draft - DRAFT COMPLETED
- Thread starter VF21
- Start date
Some of you are acting like this is a punishment. A year or more in a beautiful cabin in the woods and 12 of my favorite movies to watch when I get bored sounds like paradise to me! But we're not all wired the same, so I get it. I suspect VF21 just put this whole thing together so we can help her decide what to add to her collection next. 
City Lights (1931), Charles Chaplin
City Lights is a love story featuring Charlie Chaplin's trademark tramp character. It is very funny and very, very charming. Charlie Chaplin not only directs and stars in the film, but he also provided the score. The music fits perfectly with the movie's various moods. The story is told with both comedic scenes featuring brilliant physical comedy and affectionate scenes between the tramp and his love interest. The physical comedy is incredibly well choreographed and performed in a way only Charlie Chaplin is capable of doing. The scenes between the tramp and the girl grow more endearing with each one. The plot is rather simple and there is no dialogue. However, out of these limitations great beauty and sympathy are created. Gestures, facial expressions, and straight forward story telling are all the movie needs to construct a rich, emotional experience. The emotional build up leads to a very touching ending too.
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E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial, 1982, Steven Spielberg
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0083866/
"E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial" is an all-time masterpiece. The film is about a young boy who befriends a vulnerable alien accidentally abandoned on Earth. Whilst most sci-fi movies present alien creatures as hostile, blood-thirsty, who aim to fight against mankind, Steven Spielberg - one of the most popular and influential directors in film history - promotes a completely different narrative in this showpiece.
"E.T." is a reminder of what movies are for. Most movies are not for any one thing, of course: some are to make us think, some to make us feel, some to take us away from our problems, some to help us examine them. What is enchanting about "E.T." is that, in some measure, it does all of those things. With a magnificent direction, talented cast, funny jokes and stunts, interesting story-telling, suspense-packed moments, dramatic parts and an unforgettable message of true friendship and love, "E.T." becomes one of the bests films ever made.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0083866/
"E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial" is an all-time masterpiece. The film is about a young boy who befriends a vulnerable alien accidentally abandoned on Earth. Whilst most sci-fi movies present alien creatures as hostile, blood-thirsty, who aim to fight against mankind, Steven Spielberg - one of the most popular and influential directors in film history - promotes a completely different narrative in this showpiece.
"E.T." is a reminder of what movies are for. Most movies are not for any one thing, of course: some are to make us think, some to make us feel, some to take us away from our problems, some to help us examine them. What is enchanting about "E.T." is that, in some measure, it does all of those things. With a magnificent direction, talented cast, funny jokes and stunts, interesting story-telling, suspense-packed moments, dramatic parts and an unforgettable message of true friendship and love, "E.T." becomes one of the bests films ever made.
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To Kill a Mockingbird, 1962, Robert Mulligan
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0056592/
I'm evidently one of the few who managed to get through high school without being forced to read Harper Lee's classic, and it wasn't until my early 30s that I even saw the film - my first exposure to the story. To Kill A Mockingbird is one of those "it's good for you" stories that are so much more than that. The plot revolves mainly around the trial of a black man charged with a crime he didn't commit, but in point of fact it's really a story of a young girl growing up in the Jim Crow South and how she learned her morals from her father. The film is a rarity in how closely it follows the book - rarely can you read a source book and feel like it was actually a novelization of the screenplay.
Anyhow, I figure if I'm stuck in a cabin by a lake by myself, I may need to remind myself from time to time how to be human and decent, and this film will help me remember.
Bonus points for Baby Robert Duvall.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0056592/
I'm evidently one of the few who managed to get through high school without being forced to read Harper Lee's classic, and it wasn't until my early 30s that I even saw the film - my first exposure to the story. To Kill A Mockingbird is one of those "it's good for you" stories that are so much more than that. The plot revolves mainly around the trial of a black man charged with a crime he didn't commit, but in point of fact it's really a story of a young girl growing up in the Jim Crow South and how she learned her morals from her father. The film is a rarity in how closely it follows the book - rarely can you read a source book and feel like it was actually a novelization of the screenplay.
Anyhow, I figure if I'm stuck in a cabin by a lake by myself, I may need to remind myself from time to time how to be human and decent, and this film will help me remember.
Bonus points for Baby Robert Duvall.
With the 59th pick in the TDOS Cabin by the Lake Movie Draft, I select...
Brazil (1985):
Director: Terry Gilliam
Dir. of Photography: Roger Pratt
Writer(s): Terry Gilliam, Tom Stoppard
Score: Michael Kamen
Cast: Jonathan Pryce, Kim Greist, Robert De Niro, Ian Holm, Bob Hoskins
Genre(s): Science fiction, drama, satire, comedy
Runtime: 2 hours, 22 minutes
IMDb Entry: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088846/?ref_=nv_sr_1
While the films I am selecting for this draft share thematic threads and aesthetic commonalities, many of them also share a history of troubled production. I find that I am deeply attracted to movies that have a messy and fascinating story to tell from behind the camera, in addition to the more widely circulated story they have to tell in front of it. Terry Gilliam is certainly no stranger to this phenomenon (To illustrate, Gilliam began writing his upcoming 2018 film, The Man Who Killed Don Quixote, in 1989. He secured funding for it in 1998, and it's been mired in production hell ever since).
The “special features” of my selections are as important to me on my island as the movies themselves. It turns out that ambitious, cerebral filmmaking often results in a struggle to properly execute one's vision, as well as a battle over the creative virtues of a film and its commercial prospects. 2001: A Space Odyssey and Close Encounters of the Third Kind were both plagued by technical and budgetary setbacks that caused enormous tension on the set. Blade Runner, while not my selection, is among the most famous examples of that same on-set tension, while piling the difficulties of studio intervention on top of it. Harrison Ford referred to the making of Blade Runner as "a b*tch." Steven Spielberg said Close Encounters was "twice as bad and twice as expensive" to film as another famously troubled production of his that I cannot name due to draft rules.
In short, it ain't easy making a film that audiences will remember for generations. Terry Gilliam's Brazil is perhaps a lesser known masterpiece of science fiction, but it's no less powerful in its attempt to craft a vision of the future as a way of commenting on our present. It presents a world entirely different from those conceived by Stanley Kubrick and Ridley Scott in their respective sci-fi imaginings. Unlike Kubrick's cold and sterile and minimalist aesthetic, or Scott's graphic novel-inspired maximalism, Gilliam took his cues from the Art Deco movements of the early 20th century to design a dystopic future of gross consumerism and global totalitarian rule. The film seems to understand that every generation seems to finds for itself a longing for a more innocent past. This gets reflected in the film's production design, its score, and its themes.
Brazil is a strange and beautiful film, a cobbling together of science fiction, drama, romance, and satire. It is by turns both startlingly bleak and openly hilarious. It is at once Chaplin-esque in its physical comedy and Kafka-esque in its explorations of anxiety and alienation. There really is no other film quite like it, not even amongst Gilliam's other works. Unfortunately, its troubled production resulted in a protracted war over the final cut of the film, with Gilliam having to fight arduously to preserve his original vision. As with Blade Runner, studio execs wanted to remove vital sequences for the sake of runtime, and they also wanted to close the film with a much happier ending that would otherwise compromise the film's artistic aims. The Criterion Collection version of Brazil compiles together its many different versions, including the 142-minute "fifth and final cut," as Gilliam refers to it. That would be the one to watch, and I can't recommend this movie enough. Brazil is perhaps less grandiose than 2001: A Space Odyssey, less aesthetically committed than Blade Runner, and certainly less optimistic than Close Encounters of the Third Kind, but it remains an overlooked gem that deserves your consideration.
PM sent to @Sluggah.
Brazil (1985):
Director: Terry Gilliam
Dir. of Photography: Roger Pratt
Writer(s): Terry Gilliam, Tom Stoppard
Score: Michael Kamen
Cast: Jonathan Pryce, Kim Greist, Robert De Niro, Ian Holm, Bob Hoskins
Genre(s): Science fiction, drama, satire, comedy
Runtime: 2 hours, 22 minutes
IMDb Entry: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088846/?ref_=nv_sr_1
While the films I am selecting for this draft share thematic threads and aesthetic commonalities, many of them also share a history of troubled production. I find that I am deeply attracted to movies that have a messy and fascinating story to tell from behind the camera, in addition to the more widely circulated story they have to tell in front of it. Terry Gilliam is certainly no stranger to this phenomenon (To illustrate, Gilliam began writing his upcoming 2018 film, The Man Who Killed Don Quixote, in 1989. He secured funding for it in 1998, and it's been mired in production hell ever since).
The “special features” of my selections are as important to me on my island as the movies themselves. It turns out that ambitious, cerebral filmmaking often results in a struggle to properly execute one's vision, as well as a battle over the creative virtues of a film and its commercial prospects. 2001: A Space Odyssey and Close Encounters of the Third Kind were both plagued by technical and budgetary setbacks that caused enormous tension on the set. Blade Runner, while not my selection, is among the most famous examples of that same on-set tension, while piling the difficulties of studio intervention on top of it. Harrison Ford referred to the making of Blade Runner as "a b*tch." Steven Spielberg said Close Encounters was "twice as bad and twice as expensive" to film as another famously troubled production of his that I cannot name due to draft rules.
In short, it ain't easy making a film that audiences will remember for generations. Terry Gilliam's Brazil is perhaps a lesser known masterpiece of science fiction, but it's no less powerful in its attempt to craft a vision of the future as a way of commenting on our present. It presents a world entirely different from those conceived by Stanley Kubrick and Ridley Scott in their respective sci-fi imaginings. Unlike Kubrick's cold and sterile and minimalist aesthetic, or Scott's graphic novel-inspired maximalism, Gilliam took his cues from the Art Deco movements of the early 20th century to design a dystopic future of gross consumerism and global totalitarian rule. The film seems to understand that every generation seems to finds for itself a longing for a more innocent past. This gets reflected in the film's production design, its score, and its themes.
Brazil is a strange and beautiful film, a cobbling together of science fiction, drama, romance, and satire. It is by turns both startlingly bleak and openly hilarious. It is at once Chaplin-esque in its physical comedy and Kafka-esque in its explorations of anxiety and alienation. There really is no other film quite like it, not even amongst Gilliam's other works. Unfortunately, its troubled production resulted in a protracted war over the final cut of the film, with Gilliam having to fight arduously to preserve his original vision. As with Blade Runner, studio execs wanted to remove vital sequences for the sake of runtime, and they also wanted to close the film with a much happier ending that would otherwise compromise the film's artistic aims. The Criterion Collection version of Brazil compiles together its many different versions, including the 142-minute "fifth and final cut," as Gilliam refers to it. That would be the one to watch, and I can't recommend this movie enough. Brazil is perhaps less grandiose than 2001: A Space Odyssey, less aesthetically committed than Blade Runner, and certainly less optimistic than Close Encounters of the Third Kind, but it remains an overlooked gem that deserves your consideration.
PM sent to @Sluggah.
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No Country for Old Men (2007)
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0477348/
The film that finally nabbed the Coen Brothers their first best picture AND best director Oscars. Given their pedigree, that pretty much says it all.
Message sent.
IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0477348/
The film that finally nabbed the Coen Brothers their first best picture AND best director Oscars. Given their pedigree, that pretty much says it all.
Message sent.
With my 4th selection in the TDOS Cabin in the Woods Movie Draft, I select:
Gattaca (1997)
IMDB Link: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119177/?ref_=nv_sr_1
A beautiful dialogue about the limits of the human heart and spirit. This film stands as testament to the power of perseverance in the presence of impossible odds.
In a not too distant future, genetic bio-engineering has advanced childbirth to reduce variation of unwanted features. Naturally born citizens remain, equipped with their natural faults, while a bio-engineered alternative systematically usurps their place in society trumping the everymen with their genetic privilege. The film follows Vincent (Ethan Hawke) as he pursues his dream of becoming an astronaut and venturing to the stars, despite his heart condition and genetic inferiority.
Quotes:
Gattaca (1997)
IMDB Link: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119177/?ref_=nv_sr_1
A beautiful dialogue about the limits of the human heart and spirit. This film stands as testament to the power of perseverance in the presence of impossible odds.
In a not too distant future, genetic bio-engineering has advanced childbirth to reduce variation of unwanted features. Naturally born citizens remain, equipped with their natural faults, while a bio-engineered alternative systematically usurps their place in society trumping the everymen with their genetic privilege. The film follows Vincent (Ethan Hawke) as he pursues his dream of becoming an astronaut and venturing to the stars, despite his heart condition and genetic inferiority.
Quotes:
"For someone who was never meant for this world, I must confess I'm suddenly having a hard time leaving it. Of course, they say every atom in our bodies was once a part of a star. Maybe I'm not leaving. Maybe I'm going home."
"There is more vodka in this pee than there is pee."
"They've got you looking for any flaw that after a while that is all you see"
"A year is a long time."
Not so long, just once around the sun."
"There is more vodka in this pee than there is pee."
"They've got you looking for any flaw that after a while that is all you see"
"A year is a long time."
Not so long, just once around the sun."
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Years ago Netflix decided because I'd watched a couple Japanese samurai movies, I might like a French gangster movie that had samurai in the title. And I thought "Hey, why not? Let's give this a spin."
Well maybe Netflix had the right idea after all because that's how I discovered for myself the 60s French, minimalistic, ultra-stylish, neo-noir thriller Le Samourai.
Le Samourai - 1967
This is the singular coolest movie I have ever seen. It epitomizes everything that is good about "style over substance."
What do I mean by that? Well, for example: The movie has literally nothing to do with samurai. No connection whatsoever. Supposedly the title refers to our anti-hero as a highly-efficient, consummate professional contract assassin as if he were a modern day samurai in a trench coat.
Except, that doesn't exactly work, because samurai weren't hired contract assassins. If anything that's some kind of mix between a ronin and a ninja. But even that doesn't strictly work historically either. Yet it does work in being intensely awesome! Think about it; this movie conjures a mythology about the ancient samurai warrior that never existed but paradoxically the audience readily recognizes and accepts and uses that to inform the audience about its central character and narrative in a way that seems both uniquely appropriate and subversive. Plus again, it's just purely rad. The rule of cool. If it's cool, it rules.
Melville even tries to legitimize this, at best, totally imaginary connection, by including a quote from the book of Bushido in the first scene. Loosely summarized: "The life of a samurai is the loneliest on the planet except perhaps that of a tiger in the jungle ... perhaps."
Problem is, that quote isn't IN the book of Bushido and Melville literally made it up on the spot because he thought it sounded like something that WOULD be in there. Yet still, I honestly think it's cooler that it isn't real. Again the film creates its own mythology and as long as what it created is super rad, I'm in.
Le Samourai doesn't suffer from losing its suspension of disbelief. Not once did the thought "this is ... kinda weird" cross my mind, even when by all rights it probably should have. Instead repeatedly I thought "Wow that's cool". The police chief with no real evidence to suspect our anti-hero as the murderer, and a great deal of evidence to the contrary, following his "gut instinct" to have the guy's house bugged and initiate a city-wide, 24-hour, full team surveillance of him makes no sense, but is super rad. Our anti-hero's apartment has nothing in it except a bed, bottles of water, a medkit, a bird cage, and cigarettes. That's it. Literally end of list. And even though one might think, wait, how does he, eat food and like, live, its Spartan minimalism is cool and adds to his mystique as a fake modern samurai. Plus the bird cage actually has a super important and equally awesome purpose beyond merely housing his cute little pet ... which probably isn't realistic either, but is also really cool.
This movie is "old-school" cool. It's the confident dude in the awesome leather jacket who you never see rushing to get anywhere. Doesn't talk a lot, but when he does everyone listens. This movie is that kind of cool.
Well maybe Netflix had the right idea after all because that's how I discovered for myself the 60s French, minimalistic, ultra-stylish, neo-noir thriller Le Samourai.
Le Samourai - 1967
This is the singular coolest movie I have ever seen. It epitomizes everything that is good about "style over substance."
What do I mean by that? Well, for example: The movie has literally nothing to do with samurai. No connection whatsoever. Supposedly the title refers to our anti-hero as a highly-efficient, consummate professional contract assassin as if he were a modern day samurai in a trench coat.
Except, that doesn't exactly work, because samurai weren't hired contract assassins. If anything that's some kind of mix between a ronin and a ninja. But even that doesn't strictly work historically either. Yet it does work in being intensely awesome! Think about it; this movie conjures a mythology about the ancient samurai warrior that never existed but paradoxically the audience readily recognizes and accepts and uses that to inform the audience about its central character and narrative in a way that seems both uniquely appropriate and subversive. Plus again, it's just purely rad. The rule of cool. If it's cool, it rules.
Melville even tries to legitimize this, at best, totally imaginary connection, by including a quote from the book of Bushido in the first scene. Loosely summarized: "The life of a samurai is the loneliest on the planet except perhaps that of a tiger in the jungle ... perhaps."
Problem is, that quote isn't IN the book of Bushido and Melville literally made it up on the spot because he thought it sounded like something that WOULD be in there. Yet still, I honestly think it's cooler that it isn't real. Again the film creates its own mythology and as long as what it created is super rad, I'm in.
Le Samourai doesn't suffer from losing its suspension of disbelief. Not once did the thought "this is ... kinda weird" cross my mind, even when by all rights it probably should have. Instead repeatedly I thought "Wow that's cool". The police chief with no real evidence to suspect our anti-hero as the murderer, and a great deal of evidence to the contrary, following his "gut instinct" to have the guy's house bugged and initiate a city-wide, 24-hour, full team surveillance of him makes no sense, but is super rad. Our anti-hero's apartment has nothing in it except a bed, bottles of water, a medkit, a bird cage, and cigarettes. That's it. Literally end of list. And even though one might think, wait, how does he, eat food and like, live, its Spartan minimalism is cool and adds to his mystique as a fake modern samurai. Plus the bird cage actually has a super important and equally awesome purpose beyond merely housing his cute little pet ... which probably isn't realistic either, but is also really cool.
This movie is "old-school" cool. It's the confident dude in the awesome leather jacket who you never see rushing to get anywhere. Doesn't talk a lot, but when he does everyone listens. This movie is that kind of cool.
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With the 59th pick in the TDOS Cabin by the Lake Movie Draft, I select...
Brazil (1985):
Director: Terry Gilliam
Dir. of Photography: Roger Pratt
Writer(s): Terry Gilliam, Tom Stoppard
Score: Michael Kamen
Cast: Jonathan Pryce, Kim Greist, Robert De Niro, Ian Holm, Bob Hoskins
Genre(s): Science fiction, drama, satire, comedy
Runtime: 2 hours, 22 minutes
IMDb Entry: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088846/?ref_=nv_sr_1
While the films I am selecting for this draft share thematic threads and aesthetic commonalities, many of them also share a history of troubled production. I find that I am deeply attracted to movies that have a messy and fascinating story to tell from behind the camera, in addition to the more widely circulated story they have to tell in front of it. Terry Gilliam is certainly no stranger to this phenomenon (To illustrate, Gilliam began writing his upcoming 2018 film, The Man Who Killed Don Quixote, in 1989. He secured funding for it in 1998, and it's been mired in production hell ever since).
The “special features” of my selections are as important to me on my island as the movies themselves. It turns out that ambitious, cerebral filmmaking often results in a struggle to properly execute one's vision, as well as a battle over the creative virtues of a film and its commercial prospects. 2001: A Space Odyssey and Close Encounters of the Third Kind were both plagued by technical and budgetary setbacks that caused enormous tension on the set. Blade Runner, while not my selection, is among the most famous examples of that same on-set tension, while piling the difficulties of studio intervention on top of it. Harrison Ford referred to the making of Blade Runner as "a b*tch." Steven Spielberg said Close Encounters was "twice as bad and twice as expensive" to film as another famously troubled production of his that I cannot name due to draft rules.
In short, it ain't easy making a film that audiences will remember for generations. Terry Gilliam's Brazil is perhaps a lesser known masterpiece of science fiction, but it's no less powerful in its attempt to craft a vision of the future as a way of commenting on our present. It presents a world entirely different from those conceived by Stanley Kubrick and Ridley Scott in their respective sci-fi imaginings. Unlike Kubrick's cold and sterile and minimalist aesthetic, or Scott's graphic novel-inspired maximalism, Gilliam took his cues from the Art Deco movements of the early 20th century to design a dystopic future of gross consumerism and global totalitarian rule. The film seems to understand that every generation seems to finds for itself a longing for a more innocent past. This gets reflected in the film's production design, its score, and its themes.
Brazil is a strange and beautiful film, a cobbling together of science fiction, drama, romance, and satire. It is by turns both startlingly bleak and openly hilarious. It is at once Chaplin-esque in its physical comedy and Kafka-esque in its explorations of anxiety and alienation. There really is no other film quite like it, not even amongst Gilliam's other works. Unfortunately, its troubled production resulted in a protracted war over the final cut of the film, with Gilliam having to fight arduously to preserve his original vision. As with Blade Runner, studio execs wanted to remove vital sequences for the sake of runtime, and they also wanted to close the film with a much happier ending that would otherwise compromise the film's artistic aims. The Criterion Collection version of Brazil compiles together its many different versions, including the 142-minute "fifth and final cut," as Gilliam refers to it. That would be the one to watch, and I can't recommend this movie enough. Brazil is perhaps less grandiose than 2001: A Space Odyssey, less aesthetically committed than Blade Runner, and certainly less optimistic than Close Encounters of the Third Kind, but it remains an overlooked gem that deserves your consideration.
PM sent to @Sluggah.
Brazil (1985):
Director: Terry Gilliam
Dir. of Photography: Roger Pratt
Writer(s): Terry Gilliam, Tom Stoppard
Score: Michael Kamen
Cast: Jonathan Pryce, Kim Greist, Robert De Niro, Ian Holm, Bob Hoskins
Genre(s): Science fiction, drama, satire, comedy
Runtime: 2 hours, 22 minutes
IMDb Entry: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088846/?ref_=nv_sr_1
While the films I am selecting for this draft share thematic threads and aesthetic commonalities, many of them also share a history of troubled production. I find that I am deeply attracted to movies that have a messy and fascinating story to tell from behind the camera, in addition to the more widely circulated story they have to tell in front of it. Terry Gilliam is certainly no stranger to this phenomenon (To illustrate, Gilliam began writing his upcoming 2018 film, The Man Who Killed Don Quixote, in 1989. He secured funding for it in 1998, and it's been mired in production hell ever since).
The “special features” of my selections are as important to me on my island as the movies themselves. It turns out that ambitious, cerebral filmmaking often results in a struggle to properly execute one's vision, as well as a battle over the creative virtues of a film and its commercial prospects. 2001: A Space Odyssey and Close Encounters of the Third Kind were both plagued by technical and budgetary setbacks that caused enormous tension on the set. Blade Runner, while not my selection, is among the most famous examples of that same on-set tension, while piling the difficulties of studio intervention on top of it. Harrison Ford referred to the making of Blade Runner as "a b*tch." Steven Spielberg said Close Encounters was "twice as bad and twice as expensive" to film as another famously troubled production of his that I cannot name due to draft rules.
In short, it ain't easy making a film that audiences will remember for generations. Terry Gilliam's Brazil is perhaps a lesser known masterpiece of science fiction, but it's no less powerful in its attempt to craft a vision of the future as a way of commenting on our present. It presents a world entirely different from those conceived by Stanley Kubrick and Ridley Scott in their respective sci-fi imaginings. Unlike Kubrick's cold and sterile and minimalist aesthetic, or Scott's graphic novel-inspired maximalism, Gilliam took his cues from the Art Deco movements of the early 20th century to design a dystopic future of gross consumerism and global totalitarian rule. The film seems to understand that every generation seems to finds for itself a longing for a more innocent past. This gets reflected in the film's production design, its score, and its themes.
Brazil is a strange and beautiful film, a cobbling together of science fiction, drama, romance, and satire. It is by turns both startlingly bleak and openly hilarious. It is at once Chaplin-esque in its physical comedy and Kafka-esque in its explorations of anxiety and alienation. There really is no other film quite like it, not even amongst Gilliam's other works. Unfortunately, its troubled production resulted in a protracted war over the final cut of the film, with Gilliam having to fight arduously to preserve his original vision. As with Blade Runner, studio execs wanted to remove vital sequences for the sake of runtime, and they also wanted to close the film with a much happier ending that would otherwise compromise the film's artistic aims. The Criterion Collection version of Brazil compiles together its many different versions, including the 142-minute "fifth and final cut," as Gilliam refers to it. That would be the one to watch, and I can't recommend this movie enough. Brazil is perhaps less grandiose than 2001: A Space Odyssey, less aesthetically committed than Blade Runner, and certainly less optimistic than Close Encounters of the Third Kind, but it remains an overlooked gem that deserves your consideration.
PM sent to @Sluggah.
I can't like this post enough! I love this movie too. And you did a great job of summing up its appeal. Before the draft started I thought I might be able to snag this with my last pick because who here knows Jean-Pierre Melville? I've been consistently surprised though at the eclectic taste of all of you and I've been forced to re-sort my list in order of priority rather than expected popularity or risk losing out on relatively obscure movies that rank among my all-time favorites. Great soundtrack on this one too! Oh yeah, and Alain Delon was the man. It must hurt to be that cool.
Here, have some pictures:
And you did a great job of summing up its appeal. Before the draft started I thought I might be able to snag this with my last pick because who here knows Jean-Pierre Melville? I've been consistently surprised though at the eclectic taste of all of you and I've been forced to re-sort my list in order of priority rather than expected popularity or risk losing out on relatively obscure movies that rank among my all-time favorites. Great soundtrack on this one too! Oh yeah, and Alain Delon was the man. It must hurt to be that cool.Here, have some pictures:
I select: Spaceballs (1987)
More Mel Brooks to bring to the cabin. I love the Jawas and their comet song!
https://m.imdb.com/title/tt0094012/?ref=m_nv_sr_1
More Mel Brooks to bring to the cabin. I love the Jawas and their comet song!
https://m.imdb.com/title/tt0094012/?ref=m_nv_sr_1
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I am foxfire's little brother.
With my Joker pick, I select my favorite movie:
Sky High (2005)
Link: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0405325/?ref_=nv_sr_1
With my Joker pick, I select my favorite movie:
Sky High (2005)
Link: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0405325/?ref_=nv_sr_1
I want to have at least one western, so I'm taking probably the best one about Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday:
Tombstone (1993)
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0108358/
I've loved this movie for as long as I can remember - and having it be pretty accurate historically makes me appreciate it even more.
The cast is amazing (except for Jason Priestley, IMHO - didn't really care for his character too much):
If you haven't seen this, do so. Now. One of may favorite movies of all time.
Some of the most memorable movie lines of all time, as well:
Turkey Creek Jack Johnson: Doc, you oughta be in bed, what the hell you doin this for anyway?
Doc Holliday: Wyatt Earp is my friend.
Turkey Creek Jack Johnson: Hell, I got lots of friends.
Doc Holliday: I don't.
Wyatt Earp: You gonna do somethin' or just stand there and bleed?
Doc Holliday: Maybe poker's just not your game, Ike. I know, let's have a spelling contest.
Johnny Ringo: [waiting by an oak tree for Wyatt Earp for a showdown, he believes the person approaching is Wyatt]Well,I didn't think ya had it in you.
Doc Holliday: I'm your huckleberry.
[Ringo is startled that it's Holliday and not Wyatt]
Doc Holliday: Why, Johnny Ringo, you look like somebody just walked over your grave.
Johnny Ringo: Fight's not with you, Holliday.
Doc Holliday: I'll beg to differ, sir. We started a game we never got to finish. Play for blood, remember?
Johnny Ringo: I was just foolin' about.
Doc Holliday: I wasn't.
Tombstone (1993)
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0108358/
I've loved this movie for as long as I can remember - and having it be pretty accurate historically makes me appreciate it even more.
The cast is amazing (except for Jason Priestley, IMHO - didn't really care for his character too much):
- Kurt Russell
- Val Kilmer
- Michael Biehn
- Powers Boothe
- Robert Burke
- Dana Delany
- Sam Elliott
- Stephen Lang
- Joanna Pacula
- Bill Paxton
- Jason Priestley
- Michael Rooker
- Jon Tenney
- Billy Zane
- Charlton Heston
If you haven't seen this, do so. Now. One of may favorite movies of all time.
Some of the most memorable movie lines of all time, as well:
Turkey Creek Jack Johnson: Doc, you oughta be in bed, what the hell you doin this for anyway?
Doc Holliday: Wyatt Earp is my friend.
Turkey Creek Jack Johnson: Hell, I got lots of friends.
Doc Holliday: I don't.
Wyatt Earp: You gonna do somethin' or just stand there and bleed?
Doc Holliday: Maybe poker's just not your game, Ike. I know, let's have a spelling contest.
Johnny Ringo: [waiting by an oak tree for Wyatt Earp for a showdown, he believes the person approaching is Wyatt]Well,I didn't think ya had it in you.
Doc Holliday: I'm your huckleberry.
[Ringo is startled that it's Holliday and not Wyatt]
Doc Holliday: Why, Johnny Ringo, you look like somebody just walked over your grave.
Johnny Ringo: Fight's not with you, Holliday.
Doc Holliday: I'll beg to differ, sir. We started a game we never got to finish. Play for blood, remember?
Johnny Ringo: I was just foolin' about.
Doc Holliday: I wasn't.
Rear Window - 1954
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0047396/
When a photographer (Jimmy Stewart) breaks his leg, he's forced to sit at home. Bored, he watches a couple out the back window of his apartment. After a while, he finds himself totally consumed with watching but before long he begins to suspect there is foul play. He becomes convinced his neighbor (Raymond Burr) has murdered his wife. The problem is trying to prove it. The cast includes Grace Kelly, Wendell Corey, Thelma Ritter and, as always in a cameo role, Alfred Hitchcock.
Director Alfred Hitchcock is known as the master of suspense. He takes it to new heights in this film. You feel Stewart's boredom. You feel his growing fascination with what's happening out the window. Much like a lot of us have at times been fascinated/consumed/addicted to social media, Stewart becomes obsessed with what he sees or doesn't see.
This is my favorite Hitchcock film for several reasons, among them being my respect for everything Jimmy Stewart ever did. This film shows his real talent, especially when he's trying to battle the idea he could be losing his mind because no one believes him. It's also interesting to me to see just how good Grace Kelly really was.
I'll enjoy watching Rear Window again and again.
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0047396/
When a photographer (Jimmy Stewart) breaks his leg, he's forced to sit at home. Bored, he watches a couple out the back window of his apartment. After a while, he finds himself totally consumed with watching but before long he begins to suspect there is foul play. He becomes convinced his neighbor (Raymond Burr) has murdered his wife. The problem is trying to prove it. The cast includes Grace Kelly, Wendell Corey, Thelma Ritter and, as always in a cameo role, Alfred Hitchcock.
Director Alfred Hitchcock is known as the master of suspense. He takes it to new heights in this film. You feel Stewart's boredom. You feel his growing fascination with what's happening out the window. Much like a lot of us have at times been fascinated/consumed/addicted to social media, Stewart becomes obsessed with what he sees or doesn't see.
This is my favorite Hitchcock film for several reasons, among them being my respect for everything Jimmy Stewart ever did. This film shows his real talent, especially when he's trying to battle the idea he could be losing his mind because no one believes him. It's also interesting to me to see just how good Grace Kelly really was.
I'll enjoy watching Rear Window again and again.
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I can't like this post enough! I love this movie too. And you did a great job of summing up its appeal. Before the draft started I thought I might be able to snag this with my last pick because who here knows Jean-Pierre Melville? I've been consistently surprised though at the eclectic taste of all of you and I've been forced to re-sort my list in order of priority rather than expected popularity or risk losing out on relatively obscure movies that rank among my all-time favorites. Great soundtrack on this one too! Oh yeah, and Alain Delon was the man. It must hurt to be that cool.
Here, have some pictures:
And you did a great job of summing up its appeal. Before the draft started I thought I might be able to snag this with my last pick because who here knows Jean-Pierre Melville? I've been consistently surprised though at the eclectic taste of all of you and I've been forced to re-sort my list in order of priority rather than expected popularity or risk losing out on relatively obscure movies that rank among my all-time favorites. Great soundtrack on this one too! Oh yeah, and Alain Delon was the man. It must hurt to be that cool.Here, have some pictures:
My next pick is Stanely Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket (1987)
In many ways Full Metal Jacket is actually 2 films. The first story is a harsh narrative of boys entering USMC basic training where they are being prepared to go to Viet Nam. The stories are connected following Pvt. Joker (Mathew Modine) a correspondent with Stars and Stripes who goes out on a fated patrol confronting the dangers and horrors of war. Although based on the writing of Gustov Hasford, the disjointed narrative is reminiscent of Tim O’Brian’s collection of Viet Nam stories “Things They Carried,” a book I consider one of the finest works of neo-fiction about the war. The stories are complex stories that turn a critical eye toward the human experience of military service and war. This sets FMJ apart from other films that focus on the war, this is about the men in uniform, and how humans respond in inhuman conditions.
A couple of Kubrick’s other films have already been named, but FMJ still stands out. Noted for his ability to draw out performances from his actors this film sets the bar at a whole new level. In an effort to create a realistic boot camp environment Kubrick hired a retired drill Sargent Lee Emery to drill the young actors who were put into a simulated boot camp. When none of the actors cast to play the cruel Drill Sargent Hartman, Emery was cast in the film in what became one of his most memorable roles. A young Vincent D’Onfrio turns in a brilliant performance as Pvt. Lawrence (Pyle) an amiable overweight, kid of marginal intelligence who becomes Sargent Hartman’s whipping boy with dire consequences.
The second half seems cliché today in much the same way that dialog in many great films of the past do, because it is the source of so much pop culture referencing, and mimicry in later films. Pay close attention to Adam Baldwin as Animal Mother. This is the film that he crafted a character that became the basis for many subsequent roles most notably Jayne Cobb in Joss Weaton’s Series Firefly. As Joker’s journey continues he struggles to balance his dichotomous nature (symbolized by the conflicting messages on his helmet). Ultimately Joker comes face to face with the enemy and his own capacity for vengeance and violence in a bombed-out building.
This is a film choked full of symbolism, and imagery. It’s intense characters step out of the film larger than life demanding the audience contemplate them and the world they inhabit.
In many ways Full Metal Jacket is actually 2 films. The first story is a harsh narrative of boys entering USMC basic training where they are being prepared to go to Viet Nam. The stories are connected following Pvt. Joker (Mathew Modine) a correspondent with Stars and Stripes who goes out on a fated patrol confronting the dangers and horrors of war. Although based on the writing of Gustov Hasford, the disjointed narrative is reminiscent of Tim O’Brian’s collection of Viet Nam stories “Things They Carried,” a book I consider one of the finest works of neo-fiction about the war. The stories are complex stories that turn a critical eye toward the human experience of military service and war. This sets FMJ apart from other films that focus on the war, this is about the men in uniform, and how humans respond in inhuman conditions.
A couple of Kubrick’s other films have already been named, but FMJ still stands out. Noted for his ability to draw out performances from his actors this film sets the bar at a whole new level. In an effort to create a realistic boot camp environment Kubrick hired a retired drill Sargent Lee Emery to drill the young actors who were put into a simulated boot camp. When none of the actors cast to play the cruel Drill Sargent Hartman, Emery was cast in the film in what became one of his most memorable roles. A young Vincent D’Onfrio turns in a brilliant performance as Pvt. Lawrence (Pyle) an amiable overweight, kid of marginal intelligence who becomes Sargent Hartman’s whipping boy with dire consequences.
The second half seems cliché today in much the same way that dialog in many great films of the past do, because it is the source of so much pop culture referencing, and mimicry in later films. Pay close attention to Adam Baldwin as Animal Mother. This is the film that he crafted a character that became the basis for many subsequent roles most notably Jayne Cobb in Joss Weaton’s Series Firefly. As Joker’s journey continues he struggles to balance his dichotomous nature (symbolized by the conflicting messages on his helmet). Ultimately Joker comes face to face with the enemy and his own capacity for vengeance and violence in a bombed-out building.
This is a film choked full of symbolism, and imagery. It’s intense characters step out of the film larger than life demanding the audience contemplate them and the world they inhabit.
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We know that obviously, but I don't find myself having conversations about him with other people very often. Even with other film people. So color me pleasantly surprised! I think pretty much everything he did is a masterwork. There's another, even bigger, influence from French cinema I think who is underappreciated but highly imitated. I'm not going to mention who it is though because I might want to pick one of his movies further down the line.
My next pick is by one of my own countrymen...
In the Mood for Love (2000)
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118694/
It is a little strange to call In the Mood for Love a romance film. It is about two neighbors who form a strong bond after both suspect extramarital activities of their respective spouses. It is filled with culturally moral nuances. It is a lush story of unrequited love. There is one particular scene that encapsulates the Chinese subtlety with love and relationship perfectly, when the two play-act imaginary scenes between their cheating spouses. I would go on but I would risk spoiling it. If you have an open Sunday afternoon when you don't mind letting go of the binds of social and cultural differences, just feel the love, the raw emotion of love, even if it is only a very limited moment, even if it is unrequited, I'd surely recommend this.
Masterfully directed by Mr. Wong Kar-Wai, a celebrated Hong Kong director, with the exquisite cinematography by Christopher Doyle, who employed the general oppressive of space to imitate the confined relationship between the two. And last but certainly not least, the subtle and disciplined performance by both lead actors, Tony Leung and Maggie Cheung.
In the Mood for Love (2000)
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0118694/
It is a little strange to call In the Mood for Love a romance film. It is about two neighbors who form a strong bond after both suspect extramarital activities of their respective spouses. It is filled with culturally moral nuances. It is a lush story of unrequited love. There is one particular scene that encapsulates the Chinese subtlety with love and relationship perfectly, when the two play-act imaginary scenes between their cheating spouses. I would go on but I would risk spoiling it. If you have an open Sunday afternoon when you don't mind letting go of the binds of social and cultural differences, just feel the love, the raw emotion of love, even if it is only a very limited moment, even if it is unrequited, I'd surely recommend this.
Masterfully directed by Mr. Wong Kar-Wai, a celebrated Hong Kong director, with the exquisite cinematography by Christopher Doyle, who employed the general oppressive of space to imitate the confined relationship between the two. And last but certainly not least, the subtle and disciplined performance by both lead actors, Tony Leung and Maggie Cheung.
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