Serious Movie Discussion

[blackthorne]

Fuck it. I do like old movies by the way (they're just not on my list):

1 Sideways
2 Adaptation
3 Vanilla Sky (fuck off; this film is brilliant)
4 Crimson Tide
5 Big Trouble in Little China
6 The Thing
7 The 25th Hour
8 City of God
9 Starship Troopers
10 Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead
11 Head-On
12 The Barbarian Invasions
13 Glengarry Glen Ross
14 LA Confidential (is it blasphemy to prefer this over Chinatown?)
15 Anchorman
16 Goodfellas
17 Robocop
18 Predator
19 Oldboy
20 Raging Bull

[blackthorne]

Originally Posted by HuntersCreed

Who has seen King of Kong: Fist Full of Quarters?

Wrote a long winded review here:
Mayberry Movie Review: The King of Kong, A Fistful of Quarters

[Bullitt68]

Originally Posted by eworden78

Damn I've got some work to do! I haven't seen any of these. I've got Heat and NBNW on my Blockbuster list.

Heat is a phenomenal film and North by Northwest is IMO Hitchcock's second best behind Vertigo (I personally enjoy it a little more than Vertigo, though).

The shootout in the middle of Heat is IMO the greatest action sequence of all time. Scorsese says it's the chariot race in Ben-Hur, and while I love the classics (like I need to say that, right?) the intensity and immediacy of the shootout added to the way it's shot and the incredible sound, it just blows me away every time I see it. I literally watch it three or four times for every one viewing of the film.

[HuntersCreed]

Originally Posted by blackthorne

Wrote a long winded review here:
Mayberry Movie Review: The King of Kong, A Fistful of Quarters

It's available for Instant Viewing on Netflix. I loved that movie. It's hilarious. There was a rumor out there that Johnny Depp saw it and liked it so much that he's turning it into a feature film. He wants to play Billy Mitchell.

[eworden78]

Originally Posted by Bullitt68

Heat is a phenomenal film and North by Northwest is IMO Hitchcock's second best behind Vertigo (I personally enjoy it a little more than Vertigo, though).

The shootout in the middle of Heat is IMO the greatest action sequence of all time. Scorsese says it's the chariot race in Ben-Hur, and while I love the classics (like I need to say that, right?) the intensity and immediacy of the shootout added to the way it's shot and the incredible sound, it just blows me away every time I see it. I literally watch it three or four times for every one viewing of the film.

You know what movie I thought had amazing action sequences was Children of Men.

The movie overall wasn't all that great, but the cinematography was phenomenal.
Great use of computer effects where you never realize you are seeing special effects.

[HuntersCreed]

Originally Posted by Bullitt68

Heat is a phenomenal film and North by Northwest is IMO Hitchcock's second best behind Vertigo (I personally enjoy it a little more than Vertigo, though).

The shootout in the middle of Heat is IMO the greatest action sequence of all time. Scorsese says it's the chariot race in Ben-Hur, and while I love the classics (like I need to say that, right?) the intensity and immediacy of the shootout added to the way it's shot and the incredible sound, it just blows me away every time I see it. I literally watch it three or four times for every one viewing of the film.

This is true. I don't know many people that would dissagree with you. That scene in Heat is definitley the greatest shoot-out in cinema history, if not the greatest action sequence in cinema history. This doesn't take anything away from classics like Ben Hur. It's just true once you see the camera work, and intensity of that scene.

[HuntersCreed]

Originally Posted by eworden78

You know what movie I thought had amazing action sequences was Children of Men.

The movie overall wasn't all that great, but the cinematography was phenomenal.
Great use of computer effects where you never realize you are seeing special effects.

I agree the action sequences were very good. I think the movie over all was very good too though. The way they shot it was captivating. I watched the special features on the dvd and it was pretty amazing the lengths they went to in order to get the shots they got. It definitley made me think about the way things are going in this world after I watched it. I don't care how the world is anymore, but after watching it I did.

[Bullitt68]

Originally Posted by blackthorne

Vanilla Sky (fuck off; this film is brilliant)

I love that movie, too. A lot of people have said that Peter Gabriel owes a lot to Cameron Crowe, but it's really Danny Bramson who deserves the credit. In fact, my dad lived in California for a while, and while he was there he was staying at his sister's and at the time she lived by Bramson and he went to his house a few times and he told me he had everything Peter Gabriel, Phil Collins, and Genesis had ever done, and as a huge fan myself, I immediately took a liking to him

Originally Posted by blackthorne

LA Confidential (is it blasphemy to prefer this over Chinatown?)

You know, now that you mention it, I prefer it to Chinatown, as well. I've got nothing against Chinatown, but I've always been put off by the ending and that's hurt my overall appreciation of the film.

A lot of people always go nuts over Crowe in Gladiator, but I think his performance in L.A. Confidential was better. I'm using the word again, but I think it fits: He was a very brooding character (not to mention a bad ass ).

[Feb 2007]

I can't believe I forgot North by Northwest and Casino! I hate making lists!

Oh well, I'll make up for it by adding Sabata and The Death Collector.

[blackthorne]

Originally Posted by Bullitt68

I love that movie, too. A lot of people have said that Peter Gabriel owes a lot to Cameron Crowe, but it's really Danny Bramson who deserves the credit. In fact, my dad lived in California for a while, and while he was there he was staying at his sister's and at the time she lived by Bramson and he went to his house a few times and he told me he had everything Peter Gabriel, Phil Collins, and Genesis had ever done, and as a huge fan myself, I immediately took a liking to him

I think what makes Vanilla Sky stand out is that it gets great performances from everyone, including Cameron Diaz- which takes talent for a director to pull off. Everyone is stellar- Kurt Russell, Jason Lee, Penelope Cruz ('big nose' or not, she's still a knockout IMO). Plus the music really hits the right notes, especially the use of the To Kill a Mockingbird theme.

You know, now that you mention it, I prefer it to Chinatown, as well. I've got nothing against Chinatown, but I've always been put off by the ending and that's hurt my overall appreciation of the film.

A lot of people always go nuts over Crowe in Gladiator, but I think his performance in L.A. Confidential was better. I'm using the word again, but I think it fits: He was a very brooding character (not to mention a bad ass ).

Now that you mention it, the endings to both films kind of falter- mainly because it strains credibility for Crowe to survive, for example. But two things: 1) Kim Basinger in no way deserved an Oscar for that and 2) James Cromwell OWNS the screen with his character.