Your favorite movies ?

[Skeezix LaRocca]

Mine are, in no particular order.

All the Presidents Men
The Godfather
Planes, Trains and Automobiles

Annnnnd, in a special mention.

Sharx Boffs Big Hilda.
--
Dr. Skeezix LaRocca, D.B. (Doctor Of Buffoonery)
Registered Linux Novice & Abuser #526706
We aren't cheap, but we're reasonable
No appointment needed

[Ted H]

On Mon, 23 May 2022 06:59:49 -0400,
Skeezix LaRocca <fatl...@yahoo.com> wrote:
> Mine are, in no particular order.
>
> All the Presidents Men
> The Godfather
> Planes, Trains and Automobiles

Oh, there are so many!

Dramas: 1) Chinatown, and 2) Lawrence of Arabia

Whimsical: 1) Chocolat, and 2) The Milagro Beanfield War

Animated: 1) The Incredibles, and 2) Ratatouille

There are many others.

--
Ted H.

[Socrates]

On 5/23/2022 3:59 AM, Skeezix LaRocca wrote:
> Mine are, in no particular order.
>
> All the Presidents Men
> The Godfather
> Planes, Trains and Automobiles
>
> Annnnnd, in a special mention.
>
> Sharx Boffs Big Hilda.

Ah..., the good old days.

Lawrence of Arabia, The Godfather, Caddyshack (Just thinking about it
triggers the theme song), One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.

[Robert Dye]

I'd have to give it some thought, but the ones I usually name are:

1. After Hours.

2. Blood Simple.

3. Dr. Strangelove.

I have others that would move in and out of my top ten or so.

It's A Mad Mad Mad Mad World.
Casablanca.
Raising Arizona.
Silent Running.
Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (Just to listen to Gene Wilder, and appreciate his mad skills).
The Maltese Falcon. (Just watch the shadows sometime.)
The Caine Mutiny.
Key Largo.
The African Queen.
The Hudsucker Proxy.
The first two Godfather movies.
Goodfellas. (Especially Joe Pesci's performance.)
Portions of "The Dark Knight." (Mainly to watch Heath's Ledger's absolute brilliance, and the directorial work is nothing to sneeze at.)
My Cousin Vinny. (Joe Pesci, again.)

[tedw]

Braveheart
Geronimo
Back to the Future

[Skeezix LaRocca]

On 5/23/22 08:59, Ted H wrote:

>
> Oh, there are so many!
>
> Dramas: 1) Chinatown, and 2) Lawrence of Arabia

How could I forget Chinatown..What a great movie..Jack Nicholson can
swear and it sounds so natural and unoffensive.

[Ted Heise]

On Mon, 23 May 2022 13:23:56 -0400,
Skeezix LaRocca <fatl...@yahoo.com> wrote:
> On 5/23/22 08:59, Ted H wrote:
> >
> > Oh, there are so many!
> >
> > Dramas: 1) Chinatown, and 2) Lawrence of Arabia
>
> How could I forget Chinatown..What a great movie..Jack
> Nicholson can swear and it sounds so natural and unoffensive.

If I *had* to pick only one, it would be Chinatown. The score,
the costumes, the screenplay, the cast, the acting... all top
drawer. And the ending just knocks you for a loop.

Forget it, Jake.

--
Ted H.

[Ted H]

Here's what Roger Ebert had to say...

Roman Polanski's "Chinatown" is not only a great entertainment,
but something more, something I would have thought almost
impossible: It's a 1940s private-eye movie that doesn't depend
on nostalgia or camp for its effect, but works because of the
enduring strength of the genre itself. In some respects, this
movie actually could have been made in the 1940s. It accepts its
conventions and categories at face value and doesn't make them
the object of satire or filter them through a modern
sensibility, as Robert Altman did with "The Long Goodbye."
Here's a private-eye movie in which all the traditions, romantic
as they may seem, are left intact.

At its center, of course, is the eye himself: J.J. Gittes,
moderately prosperous as a result of adultery investigations. He
isn't the perenially broke loner like Philip Marlowe, inhabiting
a shabby office and buying himself a drink out of the office
bottle. He's a successful investigator with a two-man staff, and
he dresses well and is civilized and intelligent. He does,
however, possess the two indispensable qualities necessary for
any traditional private eye. He is deeply cynical about human
nature, and he has a personal code and sticks to it.

There is also, of course, the woman, who comes to the private
eye for help but does not quite reveal to him the full
dimensions of her trouble. And there are the other inevitable
ingredients of the well-crafted private-eye plot, as perfected
by Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett and practiced by Ross
MacDonald. There's the woman's father, and the skeletons in
their family closet, and the way that a crime taking place now
has a way of leading back to a crime in the past.

These plots work best when they start out seeming impossibly
complicated and then end up with watertight logic, and Robert
Towne's screenplay for "Chinatown" does that with consummate
skill. But the whole movie is a tour de force; it's a period
movie, with all the right cars and clothes and props, but we
forget that after the first ten minutes. We've become involved
in the movie's web of mystery, as we always were with the best
private-eye stories, whether written or filmed. We care about
these people and want to see what happens to them.

And yet, at the same time, Polanski is so sensitive to the ways
in which 1930s' movies in this genre were made that we're almost
watching a critical essay. Godard once said that the only way to
review a movie is to make another movie, and maybe that's what
Polanski has done here. He's made a perceptive, loving comment
on a kind of movie and a time in the nation's history that are
both long past. "Chinatown" is almost a lesson on how to
experience this kind of movie.

It's also a triumph of acting, particularly by Jack Nicholson,
who is one of the most interesting actors now working and who
contributes one of his best performances. He inhabits the
character of J.J. Gittes like a second skin; the possession is
so total that there are scenes in the movie where we almost have
telepathy; we know what he's thinking, so he doesn't have to
tell us. His loyalty is to the woman, but on several occasions,
evidence turns up that seems to incriminate her. And then he
must pull back, because his code will not admit clients who lie
to him. Why he's this way (indeed, even the fact that he's this
way) is communicated by Nicholson almost solely in the way he
plays the character; dialogue isn't necessary to make the point.

The woman is Faye Dunaway, looking pale and neurotic and
beautiful, and justifying for us (if not always for him) J.J.'s
trust in her. And then there are all the other characters, who
revolve around a complicated scheme to float a bond issue and
build a dam to steal water from Los Angeles, in a time of
drought. Because the film depends so much on the exquisite
unraveling of its plot, it would be unfair to describe much
more; one of its delights is in the way that dropped remarks and
chance clues gradually build up the portrait of a crime.

And always at the center, there's the Nicholson performance,
given an eerie edge by the bandage he wears on his nose after
it's slit by a particularly slimy character played by Polanski
himself. The bandage looks incongruous, we don't often see a
bandaged nose on a movie private eye, but it's the kind of
incongruity that's creepy and not funny. The film works similar
ground: Drifting within sight of parody every so often, it saves
itself by the seriousness of its character.

https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/chinatown-1974


Very highly recommended. If you haven't see it, you really
should.

--
Ted H.

[Robert Dye]

On Monday, May 23, 2022 at 1:37:43 PM UTC-5, Ted H wrote:
> On Mon, 23 May 2022 18:12:30 -0000 (UTC),
> Ted Heise <the...@panix.com> wrote:
> > On Mon, 23 May 2022 13:23:56 -0400,
> > Skeezix LaRocca <fatl...@yahoo.com> wrote:
> > > On 5/23/22 08:59, Ted H wrote:
> > > >
> > > > Oh, there are so many!
> > > >
> > > > Dramas: 1) Chinatown, and 2) Lawrence of Arabia
> > >
> > > How could I forget Chinatown..What a great movie..Jack
> > > Nicholson can swear and it sounds so natural and unoffensive.
> >
> > If I *had* to pick only one, it would be Chinatown. The score,
> > the costumes, the screenplay, the cast, the acting... all top
> > drawer. And the ending just knocks you for a loop.
> Here's what Roger Ebert had to say...
>
>

> (snip)

>
> Very highly recommended. If you haven't see it, you really
> should.
>
> --
> Ted H.

Y'know, I think I saw "The Two Jakes" somewhere along the line, and didn't much care for it. But I cannot recall I ever saw "Chinatown."

This may be why I didn't "get" "The Two Jakes," or maybe I didn't bother with "Chinatown" because I didn't care for the sequ.

But on your recommendation, I'll try to check it out.

Thanks.

[Skeezix LaRocca]

A great review.

[Mark Warner]

On 05/23/2022 06:59 AM, Skeezix LaRocca wrote:
> Mine are, in no particular order.
>
> All the Presidents Men
> The Godfather
> Planes, Trains and Automobiles
>
> Annnnnd, in a special mention.
>
> Sharx Boffs Big Hilda.

The Wizard of Oz was a big deal in my youth.

Terminator 2 was a big deal in my marriage.

--
Mark Warner
MX Linux KDE
Registered Linux User #415318
...lose .inhibitions when replying

[Charlie M. 1958]

On 5/23/2022 5:59 AM, Skeezix LaRocca wrote:
> Mine are, in no particular order.
>
> All the Presidents Men
> The Godfather
> Planes, Trains and Automobiles
>
> Annnnnd, in a special mention.
>
> Sharx Boffs Big Hilda.

No way can I go there. It's like asking what my favorite three songs
are. There are too many that I love for different reasons.

I will say that "Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolf" with Burton and Taylor
is right up there.

[Charlie M. 1958]

It would have to be on my list as well, since Lynda and I saw it on our
first date in 1974. :-)

[Fred Exley]

On 5/23/22 3:59 AM, Skeezix LaRocca wrote:
> Mine are, in no particular order.
>
> All the Presidents Men
> The Godfather
> Planes, Trains and Automobiles
>
> Annnnnd, in a special mention.
>
> Sharx Boffs Big Hilda.

A Place In The Sun, Double Indemnity, Leaving Las Vegas, In Cold Blood,
Fargo, anything by Errol Morris or Charlie Chaplin, esp. Thin Blue Line,
Fog of War, The Gold Rush, etc.

[Robert Dye]

D'oh!

How could I have forgotten "Fargo?"

(Have you seen "Blood Simple?" It wasn't quite as good as "Fargo," but you can still see the spark of brilliance the Coen Brothers brought to a number of their films. (I would ignore "The Ladykillers." Major fail.))

[Fred Exley]

Thanks for the tip! "Blood Simple" has been added to my bucket list.

[CW]

On 23 May 2022 Skeezix LaRocca wrote:

>
> Sharx Boffs Big Hilda.

Didn't that win some sort of major award?

[Charlie M. 1958]

I think it was "best revival".

[CW]

https://www.flickr.com/gp/191707836@N07/67Xz2q

[Robert Dye]

No way in hell am I clicking on this link.

[CW]

LOL! that was a WAY better response than what I posted.

Seriously, though, I wouldn't blame you one bit if you didn't wanna bother
with it (doubly so if it was Sharxx posting the link), but it really is
SFW.

Honest!

[Robert Dye]

Ah, okay.

LOL.

Now that the rain stopped, I was able to walk over to the rectory to get something to eat, and felt a li'l safer clicking on it here.

The best pizza here in town is "American Pie." The pastor loves it; I think it's his favorite local place.

They have one of these in the window.

Every time we go in, I point to it, and say, "You see that, Richard? That's a major award!"

He has absolutely *no* clue what I'm talking about.

[Robert Dye]

https://www.google.com/search?q=american+pie+pizza+muskogee&rlz=1C9BKJA_enUS1007&hl=en-US&prmd=mniv&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwi4h62vivn3AhUJkGoFHYhzCDEQ_AUoA3oECAIQAw&biw=1024&bih=659&dpr=2#imgrc=v1GCa_u_UXCW9M

[Skeezix LaRocca]

Sure did...In the most revolting, but yet you had to watch category.

[CW]

On 23 May 2022 Skeezix LaRocca wrote:

> Mine are, in no particular order.
>
> All the Presidents Men
> The Godfather
> Planes, Trains and Automobiles
>
> Annnnnd, in a special mention.
>
> Sharx Boffs Big Hilda.

I overthought this one, big time. I got hung up on 'favorite' vs.
best (favorite implies that it's rewatchable, best does not).

Current favorites:
Mystery Road
The Man from Nowhere (Korean version)

All-time favorites:
Blade Runner (1982)
To Kill a Mockingbird

[Robert Dye]

Oh!

Mention Fonda and I remember!

12 Angry Men.
Mister Roberts.