so my question is, do you guys know of any good review sites/discussion
groups for movies other than this one? imdb is a little broad and
overwhelming when I don't really know where to start. Not only movies
by david lynch, but just exceptional movies/directors in general.
thanks in advance!
No, not really.
> imdb is a little broad and
> overwhelming when I don't really know where to start. Not only movies
> by david lynch, but just exceptional movies/directors in general.
> thanks in advance!
It's a bit difficult to give you guidelines, because I don't really know
what you like other than Lynch. There are plenty of great directors,
some of them more, some of them less exceptional. I'll try to list some
of the more exceptional ones that share some qualities with Lynch.
I'll be recommending a lot of European names, because that's what I like
and know the best. Some of these films are perhaps less exciting than
Lynch's films, or exciting on a different level.
Peter Greenaway (A Zed & Two Noughts (1985), The Cook the thief his wife
& her lover (1989)) is excellent. Michael Haneke (The Piano Teacher
(2001), Funny Games (1997)), ditto.
If you have a chance to get hold of older films, you should try to see
Buñuel films. Maybe download his cult debut short film Un Chien Andalou
(Andalusian Dog, 1929).
If you have a chance try to at least see one Godard film (A bout de
souffle, aka Breathless (1960), and Pierrot le fou (1965) are his most
entertaining films).
If you give us some extra info it can be easier to recommend something else.
--
mikko dot pihkoluoma at helsinki dot fi
Here's some things I loved, most of which have been discussed on here, and
the general consesus is they're great movies.
Magnolia (PT Anderson)
Chungking Express and Fallen Angels (Wong Kar-Wai)
Leon: The Professional (Luc Besson)
Before Sunrise, Before Sunset and Waking Life (Richard Linklater)
Wings of Desire (Wim Wenders)
Irreversible (Gaspar Noe)
But just stick around here long enough and you'll get plenty more
reccomendations just by reading the threads.
Patrick
That reminds me, a couple weeks ago I rewatched the anime series Cowboy
Bebop. I know I mentioned it here before, but I just want to give it props
again since it's really one of the best shows of all time. The reason I
mention it is because they have an episode called Pierrot Le Fou, and I
never realized it was a reference to a Godard movie. I'll have to check that
out.
But, the show itself is basically taking a similar premise to Firefly, but
directed by Wong Kar-Wai. It's got the same sort of lonely, drifting
characters, acting cool to cover up their inadaquecies as a WKW film, and a
similar focus on capturing just beautiful fusions of image and music.
Patrick
Yes, Buñuel wrote and directed it with Dali.
> Some other movies I like are
> brazil, cabaret, a clockwork orange, la strada, the graduate...
If you're talking about the Bob Fosse film Cabaret (1972), then you
should definitely check out his other best known musical All That Jazz
(1979). It's got plenty of surreal visuals and a good soundtrack.
Have you seen any other Fellini films than La Strada? An absolute must
see is 8½ (1963). It is one of the most visually captivating works in
the history of cinema. IIRC, Satyricon has a lot of vivid imagery, but
so does virtually every Fellini film after 8½.
If you haven't, you should watch every Kubrick film (or at least The
Killing, Lolita, Dr. Strangelove, 2001, Barry Lyndon, The Shining, Full
Metal Jacket and Eyes Wide Shut). Even if you have, rewatching them is
not a bad idea. He is my all time favourite director, but one thing is
universally proven to be fact: his films grow on you. They get
progressively better on repeated viewings. There's just layers after
layers of stuff in them. And you just start loving them more and more
after each time.
Kubrick also uses music extremely well, and I notice that many of the
films you've picked have strong audiovisual moments in them. He's less
subtle in inspiring feelings with imagery and music (than just about
anyone else), but once it starts to get to your spine it'll shake you up.
> ummmm,
> the reason I'm so attracted to Lynch's style is because of the dream
> quality of it, the visuals.
I thought so. I myself haven't seen that many Buñuel films, but he is
generally considered the father of surrealism in cinema. However, his
style is not so much to give you splendid or flashy visuals. The power
of his work is in the surrealist ideas in his films. They all have a
very distinct dreamlike feeling.
Marcelo could be able to name some of the visually more captivating
films of Buñuel. I still haven't seen Belle de jour (Catherine Deneuve
in the lead), but that's generally considered as one of his best films.
That Obscure Object of Desire was his last film. It's really great and
has some restrained, but striking visuals.
> I've always had very vivid dreams since I
> was a little kid and his movies just always struck an extra chord w/
> me. Just recently I saw Blue Vevlet and Lost Highway for the first
> time. Blue Velvet I loved immediately, but Lost Highway I didn't care
> for..maybe it'll grow on me. anyways, thanks for the recommendations,
> I wrote them down :)
Give it another try one day.
Don't you think you should warn him about Irreversible's graphic 13 minute
(iirc) brutal anal rape scene? I love the film passionately, but i tried to
show it to a friend once without warning him and he got very disturbed and
angry. *shrug* some people...
^TooL^
>Before Sunrise, Before Sunset and Waking Life (Richard Linklater)
http://www.movie-list.com/trailers.php?id=scannerdarkly
Looks great.
-- Keith Gow --
Mhm. I liked Matrix, but Keanu Reeves should be just abolished from
Hollywood. He's just not good at all. And still gets the same job of
Johnny Monomaniac, or whatever.
First the trailer looked a little too geeky. I thought the premise was
interesting (Linklater directing P K Dick) when I first saw it in imdb,
but I didn't know they were going to do it with motion capture animation
(or whatever it's called)... I'm not a huge fan of that comic book look.
But with all the supporting actors (Robert Downey Jr., Woody Harrelson,
Winona Ryder) it seems like it can be a lot of fun.
Possibly, but I'd consider that a spoiler, and the fact that I knew that
going in removed some of the mystery about the first half of the movie.
However, you're probably right that any reccomendation of the movie should
be qualified with a note that it's very intense.
Patrick
That it does. I love how he blends the futuristic technology in with a sort
of dirty 70s look. It's exactly what I imagine when thinking of PKD.
Patrick
> "^TooL^" <notarea...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
> news:NYESd.171256$K7.1...@news-server.bigpond.net.au...
>>
>> Don't you think you should warn him about Irreversible's graphic
<snip>
>> scene? I love the film passionately, but i tried to show it to a
>> friend once without warning him and he got very disturbed and angry.
>> *shrug* some people...
>>
>
> Possibly, but I'd consider that a spoiler, and the fact that I knew
> that going in removed some of the mystery about the first half of the
> movie. However, you're probably right that any reccomendation of the
> movie should be qualified with a note that it's very intense.
>
> Patrick
To say nothing of the first scene, which I would have qualifies for the
Oscar for "most violent use of a fire extinguisher".
--
"Writing about music is like dancing about architecture."
--Frank Zappa
>Keith Gow wrote:
>> On Tue, 22 Feb 2005 01:26:39 -0500, "Patrick MM"
>> <patrick...@verizon.net> waxed lyrical:
>>
>>
>>>Before Sunrise, Before Sunset and Waking Life (Richard Linklater)
>>
>>
>> http://www.movie-list.com/trailers.php?id=scannerdarkly
>>
>> Looks great.
>
>
>Mhm. I liked Matrix, but Keanu Reeves should be just abolished from
>Hollywood. He's just not good at all. And still gets the same job of
>Johnny Monomaniac, or whatever.
>
For every bad film Reeves has done, he's done a good film. People
remember Ted, but forget River's Edge, My Own Private Idaho and Much
Ado About Nothing.
>First the trailer looked a little too geeky. I thought the premise was
>interesting (Linklater directing P K Dick) when I first saw it in imdb,
>but I didn't know they were going to do it with motion capture animation
>(or whatever it's called)... I'm not a huge fan of that comic book look.
I think it's *perfect* for the story. And what exactly is a "comic
book" look? I've seen more live action films that look like comic
books than this film.
>But with all the supporting actors (Robert Downey Jr., Woody Harrelson,
>Winona Ryder) it seems like it can be a lot of fun.
It's going to be one of the great films of the year. Mark. My. Words.
Well, I just made up that description off the top of my head. I just
like the look of photography more than graphics. I mean, if you hire
Winona Ryder in the first place, why not get her photographed properly?
>>But with all the supporting actors (Robert Downey Jr., Woody Harrelson,
>>Winona Ryder) it seems like it can be a lot of fun.
>
>
> It's going to be one of the great films of the year. Mark. My. Words.
I'm not really going to disagree. I certainly hope you're right. I'll
rewatch the trailer.
some of these i've seen Magnolia, Waking Life, Before Sunrise, the
Shining, Eyes Wide Shut, Lolita (one of my favorite books, by the way).
I do need to see more Kubrick though, I was thinking of renting Full
Metal Jacket and defnitely some Bunuel and Wong Kar-Wai b/c I've heard
their names before and in my class the teacher even showed a clip of
Fallen Angels that I liked... and I've heard so many love it or hate it
references to breathless:)
> For every bad film Reeves has done, he's done a good film. People
> remember Ted, but forget River's Edge, My Own Private Idaho and Much
> Ado About Nothing.
Keanu Reeves is where the director puts it. Like a vase. It can look good,
it can look bad.
> I think it's *perfect* for the story. And what exactly is a "comic
> book" look? I've seen more live action films that look like comic
> books than this film.
It looks great indeed, and very original, at least visually. Thanks for the link.
< I do need to see more Kubrick though, I was thinking of renting Full
Metal Jacket and defnitely some Bunuel and Wong Kar-Wai b/c I've heard their
names before and in my class the teacher even showed a clip of Fallen Angels
that I liked... and I've heard so many love it or hate it references to
breathless:) >
I think you won't regret watching any Kubrick (from Lolita -1962, or was it
64?, on) or Wong Kar Wai. And yes, Breathless is "love it or hate it", it'd
be cool if you loved it but it's great to know it anyway.
And since Mikko has left it to me to say something about Buñuel, I'd
recommend starting with Un Chien Andalou. (Just don't expect to "understand"
it - this is no Lynch; as Buñuel never got tired of repeating, it was never
meant to be understood at all, just enjoyed.) If you like that one, you
could try its following L'Âge d'Or (The Golden Age), which IMO suffers from
trying to be a full-length film but at the very least it has one of the best
beginnings of a film ever.
If you're not much into no-story-at-all films, though, I'd say to begin with
what I think is his masterpiece, El Ángel Exterminador (The Exterminating
Angel). If you find you like Bueñuel, you could follow those with Tristana,
and Viridiana.
But if you prefer starting with his more "modern" -considering he died in
the late 70's!- stuff, Le Charme Discret de la Burgeoisie (The Discreet
Charm of the Burgeoisie) and Cet Obscur Objet du Désir (That Obscure Object
of Desire) may be good starting points -take into account that this last one
has as many people who strongly love as hate it, though.
Mikko also mentioned Belle de Jour. About that one, I can only say that,
while it's one of his most known films, nobody will accuse it of being among
his best ones -plus, I recently re-watched it and in my opinion it has aged
badly visually, it arguably can offend a woman, and you may not be terribly
thrilled to see Catherine Deneuve parading in her underwear, which
admittedly was Buñuel's main intention!
And if you like those, he made like a zillion more films!
Anyway, welcome aboard!, and if you watch any Kubrick, Kar Wai, or Buñuel,
or whatever, do participate and share your opinions -in favor or against, of
course.
(BTW, since someone mentioned the great Magnolia -the PT Anderson one, not
another 60's film of the same name-, I'll also reccomend very highly his
following Punch-Drunk Love. And I don't remember if someone has reccomended
this already, but Lost in Translation is in my opinion one of the best
recent films I've seen.)
~MeM~
PS- Since you mentioned other possible forums and I know no other good one
in English, and if you like this one, maybe you could Google up old threads
of ATTP - many are about Mr Bush and any off-topic stuff you can think of,
but many are actually about cinema!, -not just Lynch stuff,- and I think you
can get many a good pointer from them...
What the fuck is that supposed to mean?
^TooL^
gee, I dunno, I thought I'd correct you on the status of my nonexistant
penis. No need to get hostile.
I liked Un Chien Andalou (i love Dali) and Punch-drunk Love, which is
saying a lot b/c usually Sandler gets on my nerves. As for the other
movies, definitely haven't heard of them, yay, so I think I'm going to
try "That Obscure Object
of Desire".. there's a nice rental place up the street which carries
less mainstream stuff than say, Blockbuster, so hopefully I can find
some of the movies you guys suggested there.
Ahh, i understand now, sorry. Just in one of those moods today i'm afraid.
Give me a long island iced tea and a sexy russian chick with low standards,
and i'll be happy again.
^TooL^
>
>>>Mhm. I liked Matrix, but Keanu Reeves should be just abolished from
>>>Hollywood. He's just not good at all. And still gets the same job of
>>>Johnny Monomaniac, or whatever.
>
>> For every bad film Reeves has done, he's done a good film. People
>> remember Ted, but forget River's Edge, My Own Private Idaho and Much
>> Ado About Nothing.
>
> Keanu Reeves is where the director puts it. Like a vase. It can look good,
>it can look bad.
>
Agreed. Linklater is a great actor's director, much like the directors
of the films I listed above.
>> I think it's *perfect* for the story. And what exactly is a "comic
>> book" look? I've seen more live action films that look like comic
>> books than this film.
>
> It looks great indeed, and very original, at least visually. Thanks for the link.
Not a problem.
> What the fuck is that supposed to mean?
That means that anal rape followed with murder conducted to a
woman is generally more disturbing to be seen by a woman than
a man.
Not that hard to understand, is it ?
< I think I'm going to try "That Obscure Object of Desire".. >
Great! On some level that I won't spoil for you, there are also some
interesting comparisons with Lynch's work.
(And I can's stand Sandler either!)
~MeM~
"I want to die like my grandfather - peacefully in my sleep.
Not screaming in terror like the passengers in his car."
I'd rank this as one of the best Lynch sites I've seen. Half of it's
in French, but don't let that bother you, there's plenty of very
intelligent & insightful essays in English:
http://www.lynchland.net/davidlynch/000.php
This is also a good Lynch site, just for the occasional update etc:
As far as decent movie discussion groups go, alt.movies.kubrick used
to be the best, but don't go there now unless you're wearing body
armour & have a full vocabulary of the worst insults known to
humanity. It's like wandering through a bombed German village in 1945
that happens to be full of time travelling lunatics from the Vietnam
War. Plus the occasional newcomer who doesn't realise that Ichorwhip
is actually one of the GOOD guys.
Darth
< I'd rank this as one of the best Lynch sites I've seen. [...]
http://www.lynchland.net/davidlynch/000.php. This is also a good Lynch site,
just for the occasional update etc: http://www.lynchnet.com/ >
Great Lynch sites, yes. I'd add my personal favorite, City of Absurdity. (
http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/2093/lynch.html )
< As far as decent movie discussion groups go, alt.movies.kubrick used to be
the best, but don't go there now unless you're wearing body armour & have a
full vocabulary of the worst insults known to humanity. It's like wandering
through a bombed German village in 1945 that happens to be full of time
travelling lunatics from the Vietnam War. >
LOL! Great imagery! And very very true.
~MeM~
It's anal rape and murder of a human. It can happen to any human. The woman
is treated like a piece of meat, so i don't see how gender really comes into
it at all.
^TooL^
> For every bad film Reeves has done, he's done a good film. People
> remember Ted, but forget River's Edge, My Own Private Idaho and Much
> Ado About Nothing.
>
But even though Much Ado is a great film, he's by far the worst thing in
it and the film halts to a stop every time he shows up!
I also hope A Scanner Darkly turns out good though.
-- caffeineaddict
Because rape is 99% of the time aimed toward women ?
HAHA, Ok, I won't go there, definitely not equipped for that. I knew
about City of Absurdity (good site) but didn't know about lynchland.
Thanks :)
< HAHA, Ok, I won't go there, definitely not equipped for that. I knew
about City of Absurdity (good site) but didn't know about lynchland. Thanks
:) >
You're welcome. As Patrick said, if you're interested mainly about Lynch
news rather than analyses etc., then www.lynchnet.com is the place to check
regularly.
~MeM~
Are you saying that if Indian people fell over and hit there heads more
often than whiteys, that America's Funniest Home Videos would be a difficult
show for them to watch? I realise this is a pointless argument, but
really...
^TooL^