Re: (OT) The 25 best films I saw during 2014

[Kaili]

On Monday, January 5, 2015 6:28:39 PM UTC-5, poisoned rose wrote:
> (approximately ordered)
>
> 1. Rome, Open City (Italy, 1945)
> 2. All Quiet on the Western Front (US, 1930)
> 3. Zazie Dans le Metro (France, 1960)
> 4. The Housemaid (Korea, 1960)
> 5. Z (France, 1969)
> 6. The Battle of Algiers (Algeria/Italy, 1966)
> 7. The Pumpkin Eater (UK, 1964)
> 8. 12 Angry Men (US, 1957)
> 9. Lacombe Lucien (France, 1974)
> 10. The Wolf of Wall Street (US, 2013)
> 11. Mauvais Sang (France, 1986)
> 12. Accattone (Italy, 1961)
> 13. Klute (US, 1971)
> 14. Fail-Safe (US, 1964)
> 15. The Cranes Are Flying (USSR, 1957)
> 16. Les Cousins (France, 1959)
> 17. The Music Room (India, 1958)
> 18. Murmur of the Heart (France, 1971)
> 19. Closely Watched Trains (Czechoslovakia, 1966)
> 20. Kuroneko (Japan, 1968)
> 21. World on a Wire (Germany, 1973)
> 22. Amour (France/Austria/Germany, 2012)
> 23. To Be or Not to Be (US, 1942)
> 24. It Happened One Night (US, 1934)
> 25. Blancanieves (Spain, 2012)
>
> The obvious quirk that jumps out here is, "Wow, three slots for Louis
> Malle." I didn't see this coming before I narrowed down the list.

And two for Sidney Lumet -- one of my favorite directors.

[Mack A. Damia]

>Typically, I saw most of these on TCM. Though I streamed #11 and #25
>through Netflix and saw #10 in a theater.

Before you think I'm throwing out an insult, I have only seen a few of
those films, but I am surprised that you had not see AQOTWF until this
past year for the first time, also "12 Angry Men".

Well, EMR was always one of my favorite authors, and the film does him
justice. He eventually married Paulette Goddard.

--

[Kaili]

On Monday, January 5, 2015 6:46:24 PM UTC-5, Mack A. Damia wrote:
> Well, EMR was always one of my favorite authors, and the film does him
> justice. He eventually married Paulette Goddard.
>
> --

Which is accomplishment enough for any man.

[Tim]

12 Angry Men is still streaming on Netflix. I've been meaning to view it (again) as soon as I get through 12 seasons of "The Office" TV series, which is hardly worth the watch, but I'm already 4 seasons into it and can't seem to be able to get free from my addiction to it. Although it is nice to get through a half hour show in just 22 minutes and then jump right into the next episode.

[Fattuchus]

I saw Interstellar at a movie theater. I liked it very much, especially on the big screen.

I also saw Gravity at home; I would have loved to see that at a movie theater.

[Phil A. Scheo]

I assume you mean that you saw all of these (for the first time) in 2014?

[Phil A. Scheo]

On Monday, January 5, 2015 6:28:39 PM UTC-5, poisoned rose wrote:
>
> 1. Rome, Open City (Italy, 1945)
> 2. All Quiet on the Western Front (US, 1930)
> 3. Zazie Dans le Metro (France, 1960)
> 4. The Housemaid (Korea, 1960)

> 8. 12 Angry Men (US, 1957)

> 12. Accattone (Italy, 1961)

> 15. The Cranes Are Flying (USSR, 1957)
> 16. Les Cousins (France, 1959)
> 17. The Music Room (India, 1958)

> 23. To Be or Not to Be (US, 1942)
> 24. It Happened One Night (US, 1934)

Too bad you don't appreciate music from these years.

[Phil A. Scheo]

On Monday, January 5, 2015 8:57:40 PM UTC-5, poisoned rose wrote:

> I don't chase seeing the mainstream Hollywood classics too strongly.
> Seeing movies like those two (and It Happened One Night) is unusual for
> me, and typically feels I'm eating what's "good for me" rather than what
> I crave. I'm more interested in the indie/experimental/foreign realm.

So you're even a bigger snob about movies than you are about music.

I have a 67 year old friend who is music teacher (bass player). He's a Beatle hater, but he recently watched "A Hard Day's Night" for the first time and really liked it. He thought the boys were very funny.

[Phil A. Scheo]

Are you aware that DDD also has movie lists?

http://digitaldreamdoor.com/pages/movie-home.html

How does this look as the 100 Greatest Directors?

1. Alfred Hitchcock (Psycho)
2. Stanley Kubrick (Dr Strangelove)
3. Martin Scorsese (Raging Bull)
4. Akira Kurosawa (Seven Samurai)
5. Orson Welles (Citizen Kane)
6. Steven Spielberg (Schindler's List)
7. Billy Wilder (Sunset Boulevard)
8. Ingmar Bergman (The Seventh Seal)
9. Federico Fellini (La Dolce Vita)
10. Francis Ford Coppola (The Godfather)
11. John Ford (The Searchers)
12. Frank Capra (It's A Wonderful Life)
13. Charlie Chaplin (City Lights)
14. David Lean (Bridge On The River Kwai)
15. Elia Kazan (On The Waterfront)
16. John Huston (African Queen)
17. Sergio Leone (Once Upon A Time In The West)
18. William Wyler (Ben Hur)
19. David Lynch (Blue Velvet)
20. Luis Bunuel (The Golden Age)
21. Ridley Scott (Gladiator)
22. Sydney Lumet (Network)
23. Roman Polanski (Chinatown)
24. D.W. Giffith (Birth Of A Nation)
25. Laurence Olivier (Hamlet)
26. Milos Forman (One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest)
27. Robert Altman (Nashville)
28. Jean Renoir (The Rules Of The Game)
29. George Cukor (The Philadelphia Story)
30. Francois Truffaut (The 400 Blows)
31. Jean Luc Godard (Breathless)
32. Sergei Eisenstein (Battleship Potemkin)
33. F.W. Murnau (Sunrise)
34. Oliver Stone (Platoon)
35. Woody Allen (Annie Hall)
36. John Frankenheimer (The Manchurian Candidate)
37. Quentin Tarantino (Pulp Fiction)
38. Tim Burton (Edward Scissorhands)
39. Sam Peckinpah (The Wild Bunch)
40. Spike Lee (Malcolm X)
41. Robert Zemeckis (Forrest Gump)
42. Erich Von Stroheim (Greed)
43. Steven Soderbergh (Traffic)
44. Michael Powell (Peeping Tom)
45. Joel Cohen (Fargo)
46. Howard Hawks (His Girl Friday)
47. Alan J. Pakula (Sophie's Choice)
48. James Cameron (Titanic)
49. Satyajit Ray (The World of Apu)
50. Clint Eastwood (Unforgiven)
51. Jonathan Demme (The Silence Of The Lambs)
52. Jean Cocteau (Orphee)
53. Sydney Pollack (Out Of Africa)
54. George Lucas (Star Wars)
55. Michael Antonioni (L'Avventura)
56. Cecil B. De Mille (Cleopatra)
57. Terry Gilliam (Brazil)
58. Yasujiro Ozu (Tokyo Story)
59. David Fincher (Seven)
60. Kenji Mizoguchi (Ugestsu Monogatari)
61. Norman Jewison (In The Heat Of The Night)
62. Brian De Palma (Scarface)
63. Andrei Tarkovsky (Andrei Rublev)
64. Luchino Visconti (The Leopard)
65. Lewis Milestone (All Quiet On The Western Front)
66. Mike Nichols (The Graduate)
67. Henri-Georges Clouzot (Diabolique)
68. Buster Keaton (Our Hospitality)
69. Robert Aldrich (Kiss Me Deadly)
70. Robert Bresson (A Man Escaped)
71. Terrence Malick (The Thin Red Line)
72. Fritz Lang (The Big Heat)
73. Victor Fleming (Gone With The Wind)
74. Michael Mann (Heat)
75. Bernardo Bertolucci (Last Tango in Paris)
76. Michael Curtiz (Casablanca)
77. Krzysztof Kieslowski (Trois Couleurs: Rouge)
78. Werner Herzog (Aguirre, the Wrath of God)
79. Fred Zinneman (High Noon)
80. John Schlessinger (Midnight Cowboy)
81. George Roy Hill (Butch Cassidy & The Sundance Kid)
82. Lars Von Trier (Breaking the Waves)
83. Carl Dreyer (The Passion of Joan of Arc)
84. Ernst Lubitsch (To Be or Not to Be)
85. Pedro Almovadar (Talk to Her)
86. Peter Jackson (Lord Of The Rings)
87. Vittorio De Sica (The Bicycle Thief)
88. Yimou Zhang (Raise the Red Lantern)
89. Max Ophuls (A Letter from an Unknown Woman)
90. Rainer Werner Fassbinder (The Marriage of Maria Braun)
91. Kenneth Branagh (Hamlet)
92. Pier Paolo Pasolini (The Gospel According to St. Matthew)
93. Vincente Minnelli (An American In Paris)
94. Mel Brooks (Blazing Saddles)
95. Nicholas Ray (Rebel Without A Cause)
96. Robert Wise (The Sound Of Music)
97. Rob Reiner (When Harry Met Sally)
98. Sam Wood (A Night At The Opera)
99. John Carpenter (Halloween)
100. Paul Thomas Anderson (Boogie Nights)

HONORABLE MENTION:
David Cronenberg (Scanners)
Hayao Miyazaki (Princess Mononoke)
Darren Aronofsky (Requiem For A Dream)
John Cassavetes (Opening Night)
Jim Jarmusch (Night On Earth)
Bryan Singer (The Usual Suspects)
Anthony Minghella (The English Patient)
Christopher Nolan (Insomnia)
William Friedkin (The Exorcist)
Atom Egoyan (The Sweet Hereafter)
Joseph L Mankiewicz (All About Eve)
Arthur Penn (Bonnie And Clyde)
Clarence Brown (Anna Christie)
Peter Bogdanovich (The Last Picture Show)
Blake Edwards (A Shot In The Dark)
Curtis Hanson (LA Confidential)
Sam Mendes (American Beauty)
Michael Cimino (The Deer Hunter)
John Woo (Face Off)
Carol Reed (The Third Man)
Ron Howard (A Beautiful Mind)
Kevin Smith (Chasing Amy)
Don Siegel (Dirty Harry)
Harold Ramis (Groundhog Day)
George Romero (Night Of The Living Dead)
Richard Attenborough (Gandhi)
John Singleton (Boyz N The Hood)
Spike Jonze (Being John Malkovich)
Jean-Pierre Jeunet (The City of Lost Children)
Richard Linklater (Slacker)
Rene Laloux (Fantastic Planet)
Wes Anderson (Rushmore)
John Hughes (The Breakfast Club)
Peter Weir (Master and Commander)

[Phil A. Scheo]

On Tuesday, January 6, 2015 1:26:34 AM UTC-5, poisoned rose wrote:

> "Phil A. Scheo" <Sav...@aol.com> wrote:
>
> > I assume you mean that you saw all of these (for the first time) in 2014?
>

> Yes, ma'am. I'm not someone who regularly watches movies for a second
> time. If I do, it's because I haven't seen the film in ages and can't
> remember much about it anymore.
>
> I think I saw a couple of movies for a second time last year, but I
> couldn't tell you which ones.

Just saw a good one for the first time.

The Life Of David Gale

[zippl...@gmail.com]

Too bad you don't go away, or stop assuming everyone should like the
same music as you do.

[Phil A. Scheo]

On Tuesday, January 6, 2015 10:30:30 AM UTC-5, zippl...@gmail.com wrote:
>
> Too bad you don't go away, or stop assuming everyone should like the
> same music as you do.

He doesn't have to like the same music as me. But he should be able to appreciate SOME MUSIC from before the mid-1960s.

[zippl...@gmail.com]

But maybe he doesn't. Some people don't. Didn't he already say he didn't care
for music until the Beatles came along?

[abeslaney]

You sure do define "SOME MUSIC from before the mid-1960s" narrowly,
considering that you discount all classical music and jazz and pretty
much anything else outside of a certain genre of music within a span of
about 20 years. Which is to say a tiny fraction of music created "before
the mid-1960s".

[Waking Life]

Probably the best film I saw this year was "Waking Life". I highly recommend it!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uk2DeTet98o

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVZ_lLUIIyU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s0TvZRcwz4I

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXGq8rlq2I0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dj_b3QOEFYU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HHNjigGtUZI

[Tim]

He probably does, but won't bother listing them since he knows a setup, just as soon as you've laid your silly trap.

[Phil A. Scheo]

On Tuesday, January 6, 2015 5:43:36 PM UTC-5, poisoned rose wrote:

> "Phil A. Scheo" <Sav...@aol.com> wrote:
>
> > > Too bad you don't go away, or stop assuming everyone should like the
> > > same music as you do.
> >
> > He doesn't have to like the same music as me. But he should be able to
> > appreciate SOME MUSIC from before the mid-1960s.
>

> This is not a music thread, Johnny One Note.

Okay, Whitey Whiteman.

[Phil A. Scheo]

On Tuesday, January 6, 2015 8:39:43 PM UTC-5, poisoned rose wrote:
>
> You jacking fuckass. Now go watch "The Sopranos" some more,

Good idea!!!

Boy, you are easily the biggest snob I've ever seen. You make Siskel and Ebert look like Forrest Gump.

http://entertainment.time.com/2013/06/03/the-sopranos-named-best-written-tv-show-ever/

The Sopranos Named Best-Written TV Show Ever
The Writer's Guild of America ranked the 101 top shows in television history, and the mob drama came out on top

The Sopranos tops the list followed by Seinfeld, The Twilight Zone, All in the Family, and M*A*S*H*

[hislop]

On 6/01/2015 10:28 AM, poisoned rose wrote:
> (approximately ordered)
>

> 1. Rome, Open City (Italy, 1945)

always wanted to see this

> 2. All Quiet on the Western Front (US, 1930)

interesting movie

> 3. Zazie Dans le Metro (France, 1960)
> 4. The Housemaid (Korea, 1960)

> 5. Z (France, 1969)

won the best Foreign Picture oscar in 1969 if I'm not wrong, I knew the
title once from this publicity, it is a good movie, have this on dvd

> 6. The Battle of Algiers (Algeria/Italy, 1966)

not sure I know which film this is

> 7. The Pumpkin Eater (UK, 1964)

> 8. 12 Angry Men (US, 1957)

> 9. Lacombe Lucien (France, 1974)
> 10. The Wolf of Wall Street (US, 2013)
> 11. Mauvais Sang (France, 1986)
> 12. Accattone (Italy, 1961)
> 13. Klute (US, 1971)
> 14. Fail-Safe (US, 1964)

one of my favorite movies, I always put it up against Dr Strangelove

> 15. The Cranes Are Flying (USSR, 1957)
> 16. Les Cousins (France, 1959)
> 17. The Music Room (India, 1958)

> 18. Murmur of the Heart (France, 1971)
> 19. Closely Watched Trains (Czechoslovakia, 1966)

it's title precedes it

> 20. Kuroneko (Japan, 1968)
> 21. World on a Wire (Germany, 1973)
> 22. Amour (France/Austria/Germany, 2012)

> 23. To Be or Not to Be (US, 1942)
> 24. It Happened One Night (US, 1934)

> 25. Blancanieves (Spain, 2012)

too much self conscious fiddling with the shooting and editing at times,
but mostly a very good movie, a bit heavy on the teeth too

[hislop]

On 6/01/2015 12:57 PM, poisoned rose wrote:

> Mack A. Damia <mybaco...@hotmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Before you think I'm throwing out an insult, I have only seen a few of
>> those films, but I am surprised that you had not see AQOTWF until this
>> past year for the first time, also "12 Angry Men".
>

> I don't chase seeing the mainstream Hollywood classics too strongly.
> Seeing movies like those two (and It Happened One Night) is unusual for
> me, and typically feels I'm eating what's "good for me" rather than what
> I crave. I'm more interested in the indie/experimental/foreign realm.

> I'd say my film tastes are less mainstream than my music tastes. I'm not
> big on too many movies that "everyone" likes in the way "everyone"
> shares my loves for various classic-rock acts.
>
> If you knew how few western/war classics I've seen, you wouldn't be
> surprised that I hadn't seen AQOTWF. I haven't seen The Bridge Over the
> River Kwai, The Best Years of Our Lives, Patton, The Big Red One, The
> Dirty Dozen, The Longest Day, Stalag 17, Empire of the Sun, The Great
> Escape, Glory, A Bridge Too Far, From Here to Eternity, all but a few
> John Ford/Howard Hawks movies.... Perhaps I never will. The only film of
> this sort on my gotta-see list is "Hell's Angels" (1930).
>

I won't be agreeing with you. I have seen almost all these. I
sometimes feel a movie is not a visual experience for you.
To me the medium is the message, a movie is a finance based enterprise
that has to get an audience to work, so the artifice is in that.
The Last Action Hero for example with Schwarzenegger (?) was an odd big
screen movie, the ticket was a 'device', and the narrative led to a
situation where the movie had to depict actual reality. Maybe only
interesting for one viewing but it made me think.

[Phil A. Scheo]

On Tuesday, January 6, 2015 9:42:32 PM UTC-5, poisoned rose wrote:
>
> Switching subjects and missing the point, as usual. So dopey.

We can't all be on your exalted level.

[Phil A. Scheo]

On Tuesday, January 6, 2015 11:55:28 PM UTC-5, poisoned rose wrote:
> >
> > The Life Of David Gale
>

> I recall Roger Ebert violently hating that film. It was "just OK" for me.

Good memory!

The Life Of David Gale received overwhelmingly negative reviews from critics and has a rating of 19% on Rotten Tomatoes based on 156 reviews with an average score of 4.2 out of 10. The consensus states "Instead of offering a convincing argument against the death penalty, this implausible, convoluted thriller pounds the viewer over the head with its message." The film also has a score of 31 out of 100 on Metacritic based on 36 reviews indicating 'Generally unfavorable reviews.'

Chicago Sun-Times critic Roger Ebert gave the film a rare zero stars and stated in his review "I am sure the filmmakers believe their film is against the death penalty. I believe it supports it and hopes to discredit the opponents of the penalty as unprincipled fraudsters. Spacey and Parker are honorable men... The last shot made me want to throw something at the screen - maybe Spacey and Parker."

[topazgalaxy]

On Monday, January 5, 2015 6:46:24 PM UTC-5, Mack A. Damia wrote:

> On Mon, 05 Jan 2015 15:28:37 -0800, poisoned rose
> <pro...@poisonedrose.com> wrote:
>
> >(approximately ordered)
> >
> >1. Rome, Open City (Italy, 1945)

> >2. All Quiet on the Western Front (US, 1930)

> >3. Zazie Dans le Metro (France, 1960)
> >4. The Housemaid (Korea, 1960)
> >5. Z (France, 1969)

> >6. The Battle of Algiers (Algeria/Italy, 1966)

> >7. The Pumpkin Eater (UK, 1964)
> >8. 12 Angry Men (US, 1957)
> >9. Lacombe Lucien (France, 1974)
> >10. The Wolf of Wall Street (US, 2013)
> >11. Mauvais Sang (France, 1986)
> >12. Accattone (Italy, 1961)
> >13. Klute (US, 1971)
> >14. Fail-Safe (US, 1964)

> >15. The Cranes Are Flying (USSR, 1957)
> >16. Les Cousins (France, 1959)
> >17. The Music Room (India, 1958)
> >18. Murmur of the Heart (France, 1971)
> >19. Closely Watched Trains (Czechoslovakia, 1966)

> >20. Kuroneko (Japan, 1968)
> >21. World on a Wire (Germany, 1973)
> >22. Amour (France/Austria/Germany, 2012)
> >23. To Be or Not to Be (US, 1942)
> >24. It Happened One Night (US, 1934)
> >25. Blancanieves (Spain, 2012)
> >

> >The obvious quirk that jumps out here is, "Wow, three slots for Louis
> >Malle." I didn't see this coming before I narrowed down the list.
> >
> >Typically, I saw most of these on TCM. Though I streamed #11 and #25
> >through Netflix and saw #10 in a theater.
>

> Before you think I'm throwing out an insult, I have only seen a few of
> those films, but I am surprised that you had not see AQOTWF until this
> past year for the first time, also "12 Angry Men".
>

> Well, EMR was always one of my favorite authors, and the film does him
> justice. He eventually married Paulette Goddard.
>
> --

Has anyone bothered to see The Interview? Not because it is an Oscar contender, but because of the principle of free speech. I heard that it has been shown in different on line formats, and for SONY pictures, it brought in 31 million dollars on line which makes it the most profitable on line movie for SONY.

In the theaters it has only brought in 5 million. I am sure the choice of the big chains not showing the film has been a factor.

Well, I think it is great that Sony chose to show it on line as they did -- a victory for freedom of speech

[hislop]

On 7/01/2015 1:39 PM, poisoned rose wrote:

> hislop <takecar...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>>> 19. Closely Watched Trains (Czechoslovakia, 1966)
>> it's title precedes it
>

> Not sure what you mean by this.
>

I know the title very well, but little else.

[hislop]

On 7/01/2015 1:45 PM, poisoned rose wrote:
> hislop <takecar...@gmail.com> wrote:
>

>> I sometimes feel a movie is not a visual experience for you.
>

> Oh sure it is. It's just that flashy special effects aren't typical the
> "visuals" that excite me. I look more at camera angles/movement,
> lighting, editing, sets and that sort of thing.
>
> From that list o' 25, I'd say Blancanieves, The Cranes Are Flying,
> Kuroneko, Zazie Dans le Metro, Mauvais Sang and The Music Room are among
> the films that have a significant visual appeal.
>

Well I threw a heavy wrench around.
Anyway I didn't mean special effects.
I still say Blancanieves sinks into technique too much, I think it's
becoming a new movie language, which is why I'm so alienated. Films
created by software, like with much music too, no matter how 'old' it
presents itself.
I dare you to try Lawrence of Arabia for visual appeal on a decent
screen. Some old critics into film language resent this movie, one I
heard on radio anyway.

I should see those other movies. I recently got a copy of Strike by
Eisenstein, which reminds me of you for some reason, I haven't seen it
yet. Though the bit I saw has that TV interlaced look which is a let down.

I watched a movie like l'Argent, the silent one from 1928. It's
visually all over the place and has some strange vignette style lens
much of the time. I still haven't seen all of it. It doesn't appear to
have a sure confidence in its visual style, just open to doing anything.
Though I bet I'm missing some of the rationale of the visuals, in
terms of photographic method.