Essential Viewing (Page 4 of 5)

That list should be helpful for my Lovefilm list also!

That's a hell of a list. I love that Operation Condor is on there along with some Kurosawa. But there's some other Asian cinema that is highly suspect—18 "essential" Asian titles in the last 10 years vs maybe 3 from the rest of the non-English-speaking world...?

More linguistics course material...

• Metropolis — the original sci-fi dystopia emulated by Chaplin to Ridley Scott to James Cameron

• Snow White — the original Disney fairy tale that gave us multi-plane animation in feature length

• The Killing — early Kubrick that virtually defined the precision heist film

• The Manchurian Candidate — clumsy cold war paranoia that nevertheless became a touch point

• The Lost Weekend — the film that gave us many comedy references about booze benders

• Double Indemnity — one of the greatest fully-formed films noir

• The Italian Job (1969) — an absolute classic heist comedy and a film so British it hurts

• The Cercle Rouge — stylish French crime pulp that became a reference point for the genre

• The Getaway — rough Steve McQueen crime pulp and another reference point for the genre

• Soylent Green — the sci fi film that helped define dystopia paranoia

• Bonnie and Clyde — New Hollywood crime and punishment tale that made careers

Last edited by Zarban (2012-06-03 17:49:15)

Nice spreadsheet, tho I'd agree that if you're gonna do both the 'good' and 'bad' stuff, it should probably be separate lists. Just so you don't randomly pick something to watch and end up with a turd when you were looking to watch something good

I feel like I should suggest these two films:

"Dreams" by Akira Kurosawa

The title is literally what the movie is. Kurosawa would apparently write down interesting dreams he had, and this film is a collection of several of them in short film form. I've found the first and last to be the most interesting to watch, but there are striking visuals in every sequence.

"Koyaanisqatsi" by Godfrey Reggio

It's an 'art' film / pseudo documentary I guess. Nothing but visuals set to music, but the juxtapositions and pace of the film along with the music is interesting. You kinda have to watch it to get it. The first trailer for GTA 4 was an homage to this movie.

Also:

M - Fritz Lang. Movie is AMAZING.

Also:

The post I made vis-a-vis anime films probably shouldn't be included on any list of 'best whatever' movies. Mind Game is not a 'great' film, although it's a great example of a movie that is balls-out insane. Tekkonkinkreet, tho... That's a hard call to make... That movie has some really well done character arcs and weaves a nice couple of themes throughout the film's various subplots... It just gets so god damn ANIME at the end, you know? I'd say keep it.

Last edited by Squiggly_P (2012-06-03 07:47:35)

And into each life a little rain must fall. Like it or not, people who love movies know these movies....

• Plan 9 From Outer Space — once thought to be the worst film ever; now beloved... in an ironic way

• anything by Uwe Boll — just... anything... House of the Dead, I guess

• Showgirls — wickedly maligned chick flick about dancing

• Flashdance — same as above, with less maligning in direct proportion to nudity

• Footloose — same as above, with less maligning in direct proportion to hot babes

• Dirty Dancing — same as above, with less maligning in direct proportion to mullets

• Howard the Duck — wildly uneven clunker unfairly blamed on George Lucas

• Lady in the Water — the first indisputably bad and most self-indulgent of the Shyamalan films

• Point Break — when Avengers references it and the whole Fast and Furious series is built on its plot and Hot Fuzz copies its chase and its director goes on to win an Oscar.... you've got to become familiar with it

• Armageddon—it defines bombastic

• Night of the Living Dead (1968) — clumsy, low-budget, but beloved and defined the zombie apocalypse genre

• Ishtar — famous failure for its stars and a director out of her depth

• Friday the 13th (1980) — fairly miserable and dull but the wellspring of a million terrible sequels

Last edited by Zarban (2012-06-03 17:51:44)

It occurs to me that Litomnivore is a ladyperson, and we've been recommending WW2 and martial arts and heist films, so we need to girl up the phrasebook list...

• Roman Holiday — template for a lot of romantic adventures

• The Lady Eve — it's a heist movie where the object is Henry Fonda's heart

• All About Eve — I rooted for Eve; your mileage may vary

• Breakfast at Tiffany's

• My Fair Lady

• Romeo & Juliet (1968)—treat yourself to the original

• Sophie's Choice

• Grease — the quintessential modern musical

• Fame

• Beaches — ten hanky epic

• Carrie — girl power

• The Craft — girl power

• Steel Magnolias — woman power

• Heathers

• When Harry Met Sally — because what woman doesn't fantasize about Billy Crystal?

• 16 Candles

• The Breakfast Club

• Ghost

• Romancing the Stone

• Freaky Friday — either the original with Jodie Foster or the remake with Lindsey Lohan

• Pretty Woman — My Fair Lady for the '90s

• Thelma and Louise — introduced the world to a certain Mr. Brad Pitt

• Clueless

• Legally Blonde

• Romy and Michelle's High School Reunion

• Four Weddings and a Funeral

• Love Actually

• Bridget Jones's Diary

• The Princess Diaries

• Sleepless in Seattle

• You've Got Mail — update of Jimmy Stewart forgotten classic The Shop Around the Corner

• A League of Their Own

• Overboard

• Terms of Endearment

• Bring It On

• The Bridges of Madison County

• My Best Friend's Wedding

• Chicago

• The Notebook — top tearjerker

Last edited by Zarban (2012-06-03 17:53:16)

Are you kidding? I like, like, HALF of those movies. That's why I said "like it or not". Personally, I think Point Break is the greatest crime/surfing/skydiving movie ever made.

Fantastic! I've added the new additions (and removed Cars 2… hey, someone said "Pixar films"! It pays to be specific!)

And Eddie, be a stickler; I'll see if I can't find the proper ones.

I really thought I'd like that, but it really didn't do much of anything for me. It felt a bit like a Wes Anderson film but without his usual troupe of players. Elijah Wood was terrific, tho. I wish Liev Schreiber success in all things—even narrating car commercials—but this doesn't make my list.

It's actually one of the few films I've turned off half way through

I love Grave of the Fireflies. It was one of the first anime I'd ever seen, and it was the first time I remember seeing an animated film that took it's subject matter that seriously. Lately I've heard conflicting things about WHY it was made. When I first saw it I was amazed and went out to find information about it. This was back in the dark age before the interwebs were a thing, so it was kinda hard to find info, and there was not much to find. I remember reading an arcticle / interview with Takahata who seemed surprised that audiences were relating to and pitying Seita by the end of the film, when - according to him - he had expected audiences to be angry at him for acting so selfish and prideful. But a recent interpretation quoted some other interview where he apparently stated that the film was made so that the target audience - teenagers and young adults - would understand what the older generation had been through. That their life was easy compared to their parents' lives. The film ends with Seita looking dead at the camera with this oddly stern sort of look that always confused me. If what this dude said is true, then that look is a literal "fuck you" to the audience, which kinda alters my perception of the film. The very last shot sorta drives that point further home.

But I still think it's an amazing film. It got me into anime for a long time, until I realized that I started out at the top of the anime pile and was slowly working my way down into the endless layers of demon porn and abstract nonsense.