The All-Things Cinema thread

Raithe · October 14, 2021

1 hour ago, Keyrock said:

I should say that I've had a SUPER boner for Kim Cattrall from the age at which I could first get a boner so my judgement is a bit clouded.

To go a little back then.... Kim Cattrall in leather breeches, riding boots, swashing a buckle and sword...

Hurlshort · October 14, 2021

1 hour ago, Bartimaeus said:

Yeah, I'm not sure we've ever agreed on a film, and we probably never will, . Heck, if I had known you loved it, I would've probably taken it as a warning...

Hmm, that is an interesting challenge. Here are my top 10 movies, so you can avoid them:

1. Army of Darkness

2. The Goonies

3. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade

4. Back to the Future

5. Star Wars: A New Hope

6. Elf

7. The Black Cauldron

8. Office Space

9. Die Hard

10. The Hangover

Honestly though, I like most movies. I'm a pretty easy audience to please. I suppose I like action comedy more than most though.

Bartimaeus · October 14, 2021

56 minutes ago, Hurlsnot said:

Hmm, that is an interesting challenge. Here are my top 10 movies, so you can avoid them:

1. Army of Darkness

2. The Goonies

3. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade

4. Back to the Future

5. Star Wars: A New Hope

6. Elf

7. The Black Cauldron

8. Office Space

9. Die Hard

10. The Hangover

Honestly though, I like most movies. I'm a pretty easy audience to please. I suppose I like action comedy more than most though.

Some observations:

The closest we come to agreeing there is, funnily enough, Die Hard, . Not that it would place anywhere near my "favorite films", of course, but as far as action movies go, I rather enjoyed it and can appreciate how good it is and why it would obviously be considered important and great. I think I also rated it the most highly out of anything you listed at a 7/10.
Haven't seen The Hangover, Office Space, Elf, or Army of Darkness - I THINK the only one I would strongly consider watching is Army of Darkness.
The Goonies (6/10), Back to the Future (6.5/10), A New Hope (6.5/10), and The Last Crusade (6.5/10) are all valid enough choices - lot of action-adventure movies there (with the exception, to a degree, of BttF), but at least I understand them. If you had chosen Temple of Doom (7/10) or The Empire Strikes Back (7/10) instead, they would've competed with Die Hard for being the closest, .
I've seen The Black Cauldron (3.5/10) and basically all I remember is being shocked by how bad it was...but that was some years back, .

All in all, it could be a lot worse! My top ten favorite live-action movies would be the following in no particular order:

12 Angry Men [1957]
Downfall [2004]
Parasite [2019]
Heathers [1989]
Monty Python and the Holy Grail [1975]
Rosemary's Baby [1968]
The Florida Project [2017]
The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring [2001]
The Thing [1982]
12 Monkeys [1995]

Please let me know if you consider any of these particularly great, so that I can take some time to reflect and re-think whether they were actually that good or not, :shifty: .

Edited October 14, 2021 by Bartimaeus

Hurlshort · October 14, 2021

Monty Python could probably squeak onto my list depending on the day, so that is our Breakfast at Tiffany's moment.

Lord of the Rings is also a close one, but it is soooo long. I tried to fill my list with movies I enjoy rewatching regularly, and the LotR films are great, but they take forever. Same reason Godfather didn't make my list.

You have a lot of serious movies on here. Parasite stressed my out. So did Rosemary's Baby. So did The Thing and Downfall. I watched 12 Angry Men for a film class and wrote an essay on it, so it also stresses me out. Heathers is a stressful version of a John Hughes movie.

12 Monkeys was quirky. I probably need to rewatch it sometime.

The Florida Project is not one I've seen, but I think it will not be one we see eye to eye on.

Army of Darkness is my most entrenched on my top list. It is firmly in 1st place there. You should watch it, but you will most likely hate it. :lol:

Edited October 14, 2021 by Hurlsnot

Keyrock · October 14, 2021

My Top 10 in no particular order:

Yojimbo (1961)

A Clockwork Orange (1971)

Total Recall (1990)

Pulp Fiction (1994)

The 36th Chamber of Shaolin (1978)

Evil Dead 2 (1987)

Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (1989)

Starship Troopers (1997)

Rashomon (1950)

Goodfellas (1990)

I have 1 movie in common with @Hurlsnot none with @Bartimaeus

2 Kurosawa movies and 2 Verhoeven movies on my list, along with Kubrick those are my favorite directors.

Hurlshort · October 14, 2021

I almost put Casino in my top ten list, which is a notch above Goodfellas for me because I've eaten at the same booth Deniro and the crew sat at in the movie.

I was surprised I didn't have and Tarantino films in my list. Also we were pretty close with Evil Dead 2.

Raithe · October 14, 2021

I would find it hard to make a simple 10 film list.

So much depends on mood for what's going to float my cinematic boat.

Sometimes tis the quirky, sometimes tis the classic.

Yojimbo or Throne of Blood. Great Kurosawa moments.
A Fistful of Dollars, helped define a genre.
The Goonies is one of those key films of youth.
Half of any Cary Grant collection.
Casablanca for the ambience , some of that dialogue, and just the beginnings of a beautiful friendship.
Raiders of the Lost Ark or Last Crusade.. both wonderfully encapsulated that pulp serial feel.
Goldeneye probably sneaks in as my favourite Bond film. The well-defined bad guy (which is unusual in a Bond film) and runs through all the beats without feeling like it's a Bond-film checklist.
The Thomas Crown Affair - both the original and the remake. The original was impeccably smooth as a mastermind with a cat and mouse game, the remake is a great example of how to re-do a well structured story in a fresh way, while keeping the soul of the story there.
The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzaii across the 8th Dimension - for that acid trip experience and wacky vibe, plus all those fresh performances before they were big.
The Mummy (1999) - Because that's one that if you happen to flip channels and find it playing you always end up watching the rest of the film.

I do have to admit in regards to Tarantino.. I can find his films entertaining, I can watch them and enjoy the little nods, winks, and homages in them, along with the style and ambience.. But I never find them genius and amazing that so many others seem to feel.

Edited October 14, 2021 by Raithe

Keyrock · October 14, 2021

2 minutes ago, Hurlsnot said:

Also we were pretty close with Evil Dead 2.

I like the whole Sam Rami Evil Dead trilogy. Evil Dead 2 just barely edges out Army of Darkness in my book, but I love both movies.

Bartimaeus · October 14, 2021

@Keyrock

I've seen Total Recall, Pulp Fiction...and The Last Crusade, of course. I'm struggling to remember whether Total Recall is the Schwarzenegger movie about clones or the one about Mars...and the fact that I can't remember tells you enough about how I felt about it, . Pulp Fiction is alright, but Quentin Tarantino frustrates me with his unending commitment to reprehensible characters and having his films only ever serve as the movie equivalent of a rollercoaster with hardly anything else going for them. Good rollercoasters...but still just rollercoasters - my brain begs for just a little bit more, and he never gives me anything. And I've seen a few minutes of both Goodfellas and A Clockwork Orange and I might revisit the latter someday, but probably not the former.

27 minutes ago, Hurlsnot said:

Monty Python could probably squeak onto my list depending on the day, so that is our Breakfast at Tiffany's moment.

And that's the "odd one out" for me, so to speak, but I have a bias for it because I watched it so many times as a kid since it was one of my mom's and my favorite movies.

27 minutes ago, Hurlsnot said:

Lord of the Rings is also a close one, but it is soooo long.

Yeah, I get you there. Fellowship is the only one that's really even vaguely worth watching the extended edition for too, because most of the scenes added by the extended editions in TTT and TRotK are somewhere between mediocre and bad and they're way too danged long as it is.

27 minutes ago, Hurlsnot said:

You have a lot of serious movies on here. Parasite stressed my out. So did Rosemary's Baby. So did The Thing and Downfall. I watched 12 Angry Men for a film class and wrote an essay on it, so it also stresses me out. Heathers is a stressful version of a John Hughes movie.

The two things I think I usually value most in "serious" movies are love of the characters (in whatever form that takes) or tension (again, in whatever form that takes). Only extremely rarely do I get both (e.g. 12 Monkeys, Perfect Blue, The Florida Project, etc.). So yeah, I suppose that makes sense, .

27 minutes ago, Hurlsnot said:

Army of Darkness

"comedy-horror epic" wat

6 minutes ago, Raithe said:

I do have to admit in regards to Tarantino.. I can find his films entertaining, I can watch them and enjoy the little nods, winks, and homages in them, along with the style and ambience.. But I never find them genius and amazing that so many others seem to feel.

Yeah, see above what I wrote in the first block with regards to Tarantino, . Good inclusion of Casablanca, I rather like that one as well.

Edited October 14, 2021 by Bartimaeus

Hurlshort · October 14, 2021

Tarantino would dominate my list if it was movie soundtracks. But I tend to prefer my violence with a bit more silliness than him.

Raithe · October 14, 2021

2 minutes ago, Hurlsnot said:

Tarantino would dominate my list if it was movie soundtracks. But I tend to prefer my violence with a bit more silliness than him.

To be fair, Tarantino usually runs the silliness with the blood splatter effect.

Plus, my Iaido club used to watch Kill Bill as a comedy, and run through the sword fight scenes with hysterics.

Amentep · October 14, 2021

12 hours ago, Bartimaeus said:

Big Trouble in Little China (1986). This was the dumbest 80s action movie in the history of dumb 80s action movies, maybe ever. Everything everyone said and did in this movie seemed like it was written to be as dumb as humanly possible. It was somewhat amusing in a "what the hell is wrong with you" kind of way, I guess, but didn't do much for me beyond that.

3 hours ago, Hurlsnot said:

Reported.

:ban:

Keyrock · October 14, 2021

@RaitheAgreed on Goldeneye as the best Bond movie. Also agree that The Mummy (the Brendan Fraser one) is one of those movies that if it comes on TV I'll just happily watch it. Kill Bill has a special place in my heart because it's Tarantino's love letter to Hong Kong cinema, but just no room for it on my top 10. So many movies I wanted to put in there like Kill Bill (part 1 if I have to choose just 1), Ran, Robocop (1987), 2001: A Space Odyssey, Die Hard, and Back to the Future, but difficult cuts had to be made.

Edited October 14, 2021 by Keyrock

Maedhros · October 14, 2021

1 hour ago, Bartimaeus said:

Some observations:

The closest we come to agreeing there is, funnily enough, Die Hard, . Not that it would place anywhere near my "favorite films", of course, but as far as action movies go, I rather enjoyed it and can appreciate how good it is and why it would obviously be considered important and great. I think I also rated it the most highly out of anything you listed at a 7/10.

Haven't seen The Hangover, Office Space, Elf, or Army of Darkness - I THINK the only one I would strongly consider watching is Army of Darkness.

The Goonies (6/10), Back to the Future (6.5/10), A New Hope (6.5/10), and The Last Crusade (6.5/10) are all valid enough choices - lot of action-adventure movies there (with the exception, to a degree, of BttF), but at least I understand them. If you had chosen Temple of Doom (7/10) or The Empire Strikes Back (7/10) instead, they would've competed with Die Hard for being the closest, .

I've seen The Black Cauldron (3.5/10) and basically all I remember is being shocked by how bad it was...but that was some years back, .

All in all, it could be a lot worse! My top ten favorite live-action movies would be the following in no particular order:

12 Angry Men [1957]

Downfall [2004]

Parasite [2019]

Heathers [1989]

Monty Python and the Holy Grail [1975]

Rosemary's Baby [1968]

The Florida Project [2017]

The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring [2001]

The Thing [1982]

12 Monkeys [1995]

Please let me know if you consider any of these particularly great, so that I can take some time to reflect and re-think whether they were actually that good or not, .

Considering how much we differed on The Wailing I'm surprised our tastes align so much! 12 Angry Men, Parasite, and Fellowship of the Ring (by far the best of the three Lotr films) are possibly in my top 10 as well. I like all the other films here too, but I've yet to see The Thing. It always creeped me out when I was younger so I never got around to fully watch it.

I struggle with a top 10 list because it'd change so much depending on the criteria. I get so much pure enjoyment out of certain films, but are they meaningful enough to be in a top 10 list? Some films are also incredible as movie theatre experiences, but rather bland on the homescreen. So a spontaneous top 10 list without much consideration it is:

The Twilight Samurai

Manchester by the Sea

Silence

In Bruges

The Act of Killing

Das Leben Der Anderen

Alien

Children of Men

Mulholland Drive

The Royal Tenenbaums

PK htiw klaw eriF · October 14, 2021

I'd really struggle for a top 10, if only cuz my tastes can change based on mood. But here's ten I really love.

Stray Dog

Parasite

Thunder Road

Pan's Labyrinth

The Thing

Bram Stoker's Dracula

Tangerine

Shortbus (major NSFW)

Casino

The Lighthouse

Come at me I guess.

Edited October 14, 2021 by KP the meanie zucchini

majestic · October 14, 2021

Just now, KP the meanie zucchini said:

Shortbus

Very much not safe for work to google, just a heads up in case any of you go "huh, what's that, funny name" right now.

Amentep · October 14, 2021

Oooo, top 10 lists.

Okay, in release date order my list based on how I feel would be...

The Trouble with Harry (1955)
The Big Country (1958)
Charade (1963)
Planet of the Apes (1968)
Onna banchō nora-neko rokku (1970 aka Alleycat Rock: Female Boss aka Straycat Rock: Delinquent Girl Boss aka Female Juvenile Delinquent Leader: Alleycat Rock aka Wildcat Rock)
The Warriors (1979)
Alien (1979)
Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
La Cité des enfants perdus (1995 aka The City of Lost Children)
The VVitch (2015)

Obviously if you ask me tomorrow it'd be a different list entirely.

PK htiw klaw eriF · October 14, 2021

3 minutes ago, majestic said:

Very much not safe for work to google, just a heads up in case any of you go "huh, what's that, funny name" right now.

Just edited it.

1 minute ago, Amentep said:

Oooo, top 10 lists.

Okay, in release date order my list based on how I feel would be...

The Trouble with Harry (1955)

The Big Country (1958)

Charade (1963)

Planet of the Apes (1968)

Onna banchō nora-neko rokku (1970 aka Alleycat Rock: Female Boss aka Straycat Rock: Delinquent Girl Boss aka Female Juvenile Delinquent Leader: Alleycat Rock aka Wildcat Rock)

The Warriors (1979)

Alien (1979)

Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)

La Cité des enfants perdus (1995 aka The City of Lost Children)

The VVitch (2015)

Obviously if you ask me tomorrow it'd be a different list entirely.

The Lighthouse slightly edges it out for me right now, but the VVitch almost made my list.

Hurlshort · October 14, 2021

I had to google a few of KP's. Dang kids and their obscure tastes. Is Stray Dog this?

Bartimaeus · October 14, 2021

33 minutes ago, Maedhros said:

Fellowship of the Ring (by far the best of the three Lotr films)

Least reliance on CGI out of the three, cares the most about actually developing its core characters, has a great balance between lightheartedness and tension without dipping too far into forced attempts at humor like TTT and TRotK do, characters are the closest to how they should be without diverging too much for the sake of FORCED CONFLICT (Frodo and Sam are especially unfortunate victims of this as the trilogy goes on)...and best of all, it's really long BUT not outrageously so like TTT and TRotK. Yeah, it's easily the best of the trilogy, :yes: .

I can't really rate movies in terms of like...a top ten list, but it's easy enough for "tiers", and when I separated my live-action movies from animated movies, there were literally exactly ten live-action movies that fell into the very top tiers, so it was easy to create a "no order" top ten list, .

Alien, Children of Men, The Witch, and The Lighthouse are the ones I've seen from your guys' lists, and I like all of them, . ...Technically, I've also seen Pan's Labyrinth as well, but it's been so long that I can't say how I feel about it. (e): And also The Warriors, which while I didn't dislike, I didn't quite like either - I appreciated it is how I would put it.

Edited October 14, 2021 by Bartimaeus

PK htiw klaw eriF · October 14, 2021

1 minute ago, Hurlsnot said:

I had to google a few of KP's. Dang kids and their obscure tastes. Is Stray Dog this?

Yes.

Amentep · October 14, 2021

Pan's Labrynth is good, I also liked The Devil's Backbone from Del Toro (and the two Hellboy films)

14 minutes ago, KP the meanie zucchini said:

Just edited it.

The Lighthouse slightly edges it out for me right now, but the VVitch almost made my list.

It was a bit of a toss-up, they're both really good. I could have went for either as well. Looking forward to The Northman from Eggers.

I also could have included a bunch of Terry Gilliam's films (in particular Brazil and The Brother's Grimm, but also Tideland, 12 Monkeys, Baron Munchausen and Dr. Parnasus) or Hitch**** films. Or David Lynch for that matter.

PK htiw klaw eriF · October 14, 2021

3 minutes ago, Amentep said:

Pan's Labrynth is good, I also liked The Devil's Backbone from Del Toro (and the two Hellboy films)

It was a bit of a toss-up, they're both really good. I could have went for either as well. Looking forward to The Northman from Eggers.

I also could have included a bunch of Terry Gilliam's films (in particular Brazil and The Brother's Grimm, but also Tideland, 12 Monkeys, Baron Munchausen and Dr. Parnasus) or Hitch**** films. Or David Lynch for that matter.

I completely forgot about The Northman. Looks like less than a year away.

Lost Highway and Brazil almost took out Thunder Road, but there's a charm that movie has that I really like.

Raithe · October 14, 2021

1 hour ago, Keyrock said:

Kill Bill has a special place in my heart because it's Tarantino's love letter to Hong Kong cinema, but just no room for it on my top 10.

If I was going to include Hong Kong cinema, then you'd have a plethora of those original John Woo films.

Hard Boiled, The Killer, and a part of me fondly remembers A Better Tomorrow (and for the bloody cheese factor A Better Tomorrow II)...

If we're going for evocative mood pieces with gorgeous cinematography and music alongside that fine balance of subtle acting and chewing the scenery, I am surprised no-ones mentioned Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon yet.

Also, as we are having many classic 80's movies thrown around here...

Highlander. The Queen soundtrack. Clancy Brown's Kurgan. Christopher Lambert's amazing accent and dirty chuckle. Swords. Trenchcoats, and a story that pulled you in and made you want to know about all the other stories going on in that world and immortals.

Edited October 14, 2021 by Raithe