Re: All-time favorite movies

by Pettytyrant101 Wed Feb 16, 2011 12:04 am

Cheesy acting? Wrath of Khan? Never!

by Gandalf's Beard Wed Feb 16, 2011 12:19 am

Pettytyrant101 wrote:Cheesy acting? Wrath of Khan? Never!

That's not cheesy at all. It's just Shatner being Shatner Wink

. He really defined Kirk's personality. In other words, it's just the way Kirk expresses himself.

GB

by Eldorion Wed Feb 16, 2011 12:21 am

Actually, I found Khan to be cheesier than Kirk in that scene. Sure, the line "KHAAAAAAAN!" has been parodied to death, but Khan's lines were delivered with such Disneyesque over-the-top-ness (especially the "evil-gasm", as the video describes it Laughing

) that I just can't take him seriously. And really, particularly in comparison, Kirk screaming in anger is a perfectly natural response.

by Gandalf's Beard Wed Feb 16, 2011 12:33 am

Eldorion wrote:I think Star Wars was able to throw in quite a bit of character development to go along with the action, even in the prequels. I do think that the new ST movie is better than the prequels, but I also think that the prequels are far, far better than a lot of angry Internet nerds give them credit for. (Although if not for Natalie Portman the love scenes in AOTC would be quite difficult to watch. )

And while the original Star Wars follows the mythic archetypes to a T, the characters still have distinct journeys. I do agree that Irvin Kershner did a much better job on Empire in many ways, though. Star Wars is far from a great character drama, but it still has enough to keep me happy. It's he worlds, the setting, the technology, and the spectacle, and the underlying myth that makes them great for me.

On the other hand, Star Trek is a very different type of story. I don't mind slow-paced stories on principle, but the movies seemed very dull to me. I haven't seen TMP in years, but for Khan, part of it might have been that I was just expecting something a bit more grand and space operaesque given all the times I'd heard it hailed as the greatest ST film. Plus a lot of the acting was pretty dull and cheesy to me. But that's just my personal take on it, and I don't mean to discount your love for them.

While I can't agree that the SW prequels really had much believable character development, I totally agree that Natalie Portman shone despite the hurdles she had to overcome. Same with Ewan McGregor; they both rose above the script. And actually, I even thought Hayden Christensen performed well within the constraints of the poor dialogue written for his character; he conveyed the emotions and actually DID demonstrate some believable character development. But his scripted dialogue was ridiculously awful, and I'm not sure that his performance was quite strong enough to overcome that.

GB

by Gandalf's Beard Wed Feb 16, 2011 12:36 am

Eldorion wrote:Actually, I found Khan to be cheesier than Kirk in that scene. Sure, the line "KHAAAAAAAN!" has been parodied to death, but Khan's lines were delivered with such Disneyesque over-the-top-ness (especially the "evil-gasm", as the video describes it ) that I just can't take him seriously. And really, particularly in comparison, Kirk screaming in anger is a perfectly natural response.

I'll split the difference on this one Wink

. I agree with you about Kirk in that scene, but not about Khan.

GB

by Eldorion Wed Feb 16, 2011 12:40 am

I won't argue about the dialogue; it needed some work, but I think the basic story and (as you point out) a number of the performance were good or at the very least decent. When it comes to dialogue, though, the originals are hardly beautifully crafted when it comes to dialogue, and they have plenty of awkward moments as well.

by Gandalf's Beard Wed Feb 16, 2011 12:43 am

Eldorion wrote:I won't argue about the dialogue; it needed some work, but I think the basic story and (as you point out) a number of the performance were good or at the very least decent. When it comes to dialogue, though, the originals are hardly beautifully crafted when it comes to dialogue, and they have plenty of awkward moments as well.

The dialogue in the original Star Wars wasn't brilliant, but the following two were much better.

GB

by Ringdrotten Thu Feb 24, 2011 12:29 am

Just rewatched Goodfellas (again) and I think the LotR trilogy has to step aside and give the #1 spot on my list to this fantastic movie. Definitely my all-time favourite gangster movie (or rather, my favourite until I rewatch another one of Scorsese's masterpieces) Very Happy

by Pettytyrant101 Thu Feb 24, 2011 4:39 am

Confession time- I don't like Scorsese. Well, I don't have anything against him- he's a great film make- but I think I suffer from Mob fatigue or something. I can only get so far into his sort of films before one to many New York clichés crops up and I just switch off.
That and dress it up in all the romantic mystique you like they are films about NEDS in suits, and I hate NEDS.
Talking of which , havent seen it yet but the film NEDS looks like a good un. Welcome to Scotland!

by Ringdrotten Thu Feb 24, 2011 2:48 pm

Ah, well, they are full of clichés Wink

But so are the Star Wars films, and they're still good! However, it's not only the genre that I like about Goodfellas, it's Ray Liotta's acting in it - that insane laughter he's got is brilliant Very Happy

Had to google NEDs, though, another one of your Scottish terms I didn't know Laughing

by Pettytyrant101 Thu Feb 24, 2011 4:38 pm

Don't get me wrong- I've no beef with them as films. I don't question there quality, the script, the performances. Its just gangsters, Mafia- I find it hard to watch them seriously now I've seen so many. Same thing happened to me for a long time with westerns- every time I saw one scenes from Blazing Saddles sprang into my mind. Gangster films have got like that for me there have been so many.

Yeah Neds- weird bunch, talk through their nose. Can be very funny, right before they smash your face in for a laugh. When I briefly stayed in Glasgow there was a meeting ground for a couple of gangs, kids from 7-18 throwing bottles at each other, swinging planks at one other that sort of thing, just round the corner from the flat I was sharing. But they stopped fighting to let you by- less chance of the police turning up and stopping their fight if they left joe blogs alone. But bump into a group of six or seven of them bored and its no fun at all.
I'm guessing everywhere has neds by whatever name.

by Ringdrotten Thu Feb 24, 2011 4:49 pm

Never seen Blazing Saddles, and perhaps I shouldn't. Would be a shame if it ruined the joy of watching other Westerns Smile

Edit:

Pettytyrant101 wrote:Don't get me wrong- I've no beef with them as films. I don't question there quality, the script, the performances.

That sort of comforts me: The King of Crabbits, proud hater of Jackson's masterpiece, doesn't even question the quality, script or the performances! Praise beyond everything else! Very Happy

by Ally Fri Feb 25, 2011 7:00 pm

Haven't seen too many old films, so my list may be rather contemporary I fear!

1. LOTR trilogy
2. A Hard Days Night
3. Life is Beautiful (I never knew you could get so attached to a film while reading the subtitles!)
4. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
5. The Adventures of Robin Hood

A deserve mention goes for Cool Runnings! Can't really comment on the westerns, I'm afarid to say that when once comes up on ITV3 or Five, I always turn it off! But I'm open to recommendations! Very Happy

by Pettytyrant101 Fri Feb 25, 2011 8:19 pm

Not sure this strictly counts as a western, western setting physically but not the traditional time frame- this is set just after the end of WW2. Spencer Tracy and Lee Marvin in Bad Day at Black Rock.

A bad trailer for a great film.

by chris63 Thu Jul 21, 2011 2:19 am

Evil Dead to be remade. Scared the crap out of me when i first saw it affraid

http://www.totalfilm.com/news/evil-dead-reboot-gets-a-director-in-federico-alvarez?ns_campaign=news&ns_mchannel=rss&ns_source=totalfilm&ns_linkname=0&ns_fee=0

by The Wobbit A Parody Wed Jul 27, 2011 12:39 am

I haven't been able to watch a zombie movie of any sort since I saw the original Night Of The Living Dead on TV a million years ago. The whole concept of people, some of whom I know (or knew, before they were re-animated) breaking into my house and eating me really freaks me out.

Although I did enjoy Army Of Darkness.

by Pettytyrant101 Wed Jul 27, 2011 12:51 am

Not sure what to make of the Evil Dead series- imo the last good one was 2 (possibly dare I say it even better than 1). So not to confident of a fourth-not liked a Raimi film since darkman on.
More hope for the remake if only becasue they have given the gig to a complete unknown director who has never made a feature before (just like Raimi was back when he was still good- why does that happen to Directors? Raimi, Ridley Scott, Carpenter, even Speilberg).

2 classic Evil Dead 2 scenes (violent but funny in a macabre sort of way)

1. The possessed hand.

2. Laughing Room

by Eldorion Sat Jul 30, 2011 6:19 am

Recently expanded and modified 10-film list of favorites. Probably subject to change ... again. Laughing

Pulp Fiction
The Lord of the Rings
Spirited Away
Star Wars*
Inception
Pirates of the Caribbean**
The Hangover
Princess Mononoke
Harry Potter***
Danton

*Specifically the original two films, aka Episodes IV and V, though Episode VI is also enjoyable.
**The first film is the only true classic of the franchise, though I think that the second was a worthy successor.
***The HP series is really hit-and-miss, so I'm specifically singling out the third, fourth, and two-part seventh films.

by Pettytyrant101 Sat Jul 30, 2011 11:25 am

I call for a ref! A Stewards Inquiry- on top 10's. The franchises you include Eldo, Star Wars etc account for about 20 film on their own! Its a top ten- you have to be hard on yourself Eldo and pick which of those films are going to make it into your top ten-and jettison the rest!!

by Eldorion Sat Jul 30, 2011 4:23 pm

Well, I was trying to narrow things down with the footnotes, Razz

but if I have to pick only one film per franchise it would be:

SW - Star Wars (the original)
PotC - Curse of the Black Pearl
HP - Prisoner of Azkaban

As for LOTR, I can never really settle on a favorite film out of those, but I consider them really one long film told in three parts, anyway. Very Happy

by Pettytyrant101 Sat Jul 30, 2011 5:07 pm

An exception should be made for LotR it only ended up as three parts by circumstances not by design of its creator.
Interesting Star Wars choice, bit torn myself between your own choice and Empire. Thing with Empire is the first Star Wars blew me away as kid, so much so anything which followed would seem like an anti-climax, then Hoth happened and somehow I was blown away all over again. So hard to choose between those two films for a favourite. Ohhh, bugger, with a gun to my head, Empire, just.
(I occasionally in my old age get envious of you youngsters who grew up with HP as part of your film life through those formative years, then I remember I got Star Wars during mine- don't think I'd swap them on reflection).

by Eldorion Sat Jul 30, 2011 5:13 pm

I used to be jealous of you oldies for growing up with Star Wars as it came out, but then I remembered that I had HP. Razz

Going just by movies, original SW trilogy vs. the HP series, I would have to side with SW. I think the HP books are a lot better though, so I really have no regrets about growing up with those. Smile

That's nothing against Star Wars though, of course; I might be a late-comer but they were still the first movies I really loved! cheers

by Pettytyrant101 Sat Jul 30, 2011 5:18 pm

I think age and the context of the times can have a lot to play in this. I can watch the HP films, but not like an 8 year old can, and one who is going to grow up into adulthood reading along and anticipating the films. And whilst you can love the Star Wars films you will never see them in the context of their times. When the scale, depth and wonder of them was simply miles ahead of anything every seen before. When every shot, from th eopening one to the last was new.
Guess we will just have to cherish fond memories of the films of our times.

by Eldorion Sat Jul 30, 2011 5:35 pm

Pettytyrant101 wrote:Guess we will just have to cherish fond memories of the films of our times.

Agreed.

(And who even knows what the next generation will grow up with. Wink

)

by Pettytyrant101 Sat Jul 30, 2011 5:43 pm

Whatever it is I hate them for it already! Evil or Very Mad