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Post by chadgumbo on Dec 17, 2004 21:49:21 GMT -5
Okay, I know it's Christmas time and people are awfully busy, but it's time for a new thread on the non-band related portion of this message board. If anybody out there likes a good movie as much as I do, then here's the place to post your top 10, or top 5, or sound off about a lousy movie you saw... whatever Maybe later I'll post the 10 films I most enjoyed, but for now here, in my ever humble opinion, are the top 10 best made films of all time. Honorary #10) The Wizard of Oz. Had to include it in my top 10 somehow, it was way ahead of its time and I never missed the annual TV showing of that movie when I was a kid. #10) Amadeus. Tom Hulce and F. Murray Abraham were fantastic in their respective roles. #9) Mississippi Burning. A poignant look at a turbulent time in our nation's history. #8) Fried Green Tomatoes. The movie version of the novel by Fannie Flagg. If you haven't seen it, rent it! And fried green tomatoes are pretty good to eat as well. #7) Titanic. I've always been fascinated by ship wrecks, and that one was to shipwrecks what Michael Jordan was to basketball. Yes I know some scenes of the ship looked a little like pixar animation... psssst (that's because it was pixar animation). #6) Gladiator. I remember in 1977 when I went to see Star Wars, and I remember thinking to myself "Finally, Star Trek done right!." Same concept here, finally "Spartacus" done right! #5) Saving Private Ryan. From the opening scene of the landing at Normandy to the conclusion of this film, a first rate World War II movie. I also recommend seeing the 10 part series "Band of Brothers". One more thing, I believe Kareem Abdul Jabbar recently wrote a book about the black soldiers' contributions at this important time in our history. That too needs to be captured on film. #4) The Godfather. Stellar cast and amazing performances. This movie is #1 on many professional film critics' lists. #3) The Passion of the Christ. A brutally honest look at what probably occurred during Jesus's last hours. Didn't like the sub-titles? So watch it twice (read it the first time, and watch it the second). #2) Braveheart. Even in death William Wallace triumphs over a corrupt monarchy. From film location to costuming to the script to the performances delivered, this film was #1 on my list for quite a long while. Until... #1)[glow=red,2,300]The Lord of the Rings {parts 1, 2, & 3}[/glow]Let's face it, this is one movie, not a trilogy of movies. Two Towers has no beginning and no end. But what an undertaking! For years movie makers have wanted to tackle J.R.R. Tolkien. Peter Jackson not only hits a home-run, but a grand slam to boot! There you have it, my top ten list of the best made films ever. And since I consider comedies to be in a class all by themselves, take a look at my next post. - chadgumbo
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Post by chadgumbo on Dec 17, 2004 22:12:54 GMT -5
The top 5 best made comedies ever ;D #5.) What About Bob?Bill Murray's needs in this movie are even more insatiable than my lust for Krispy Kreme donuts! Murray at his insecure best... unless of course he's being a first class jerk, which is what he is in the movie that tied for fifth on my list. #5 {again}) Grounhog Day. A self-absorbed TV a$$hole stuck in a February time warp hell. He can't even commit suicide without waking up again in that motel room. He learns foreign languages, playing piano, and who knows what all else, before he finally wins the woman's heart and breaks free of Punksatawney (did I even come close to spelling that right?). #4) A Fish Called Wanda. Michael Palin is a stutterer in this movie. And when Kevin Kline is making fun of him face to face, it's comic cruelty at its finest. #3) Stuart Saves His Family. Terrific performances by Al Franken, Harris Yulin, Laura San Giacomo, and Vincent D'Onofrio. Hilariously funny with a great message about family values as well. #2) Young Frankenstein. Mel Brooks at his creative best. Gene Wilder was perfect for the role of Dr. Frahnkensteen, and Marty Feldman was the perfect compliment as Igor. Aerosmith's song "Walk This Way" was born when Feldman delivered that line on-screen. And... #1) [glow=red,2,300]As Good As It Gets[/glow] And it really is! Mel Udall's (Jack Nicholson) neuroses and superstitions seem to know no bounds. And just when you think he's incurable, he wins the woman's heart and recognizes the value of the human condition from a gay man's point of view and embraces the friendship of Simon Bishop (Greg Kinnear). There you go. My favorite comedies. Now it's your turn... -chadgumbo
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Post by Scott Hays on Dec 19, 2004 10:45:07 GMT -5
Okay, I'll bite. Can't disagree with any of your top five comedies, so I'll add a few new ones for consideration:
• This is Spinal Tap (and any of the other movies with this stellar crew -- Best of Show, Waiting for Guffman and Mighty Wind -- though the nod must go to the first of the bunch because I am speaking to a musically-astute audience and because rob reiner needs a tip of the cap).
• It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World ... others have attempted to assemble an all-star comedic cast like this one. None come close
• Waking Ned Devine ... I like my comedies thoughtful, so here comes a couple more of that bent: Sideways (if you haven't seen it yet, get out there), True Stories, The Freshman, Buckaroo Bonzai, Sister Act, LA Story and My Blue Heaven
• Blues Brothers (nuff said)
• Pink Panther or Pink Panther Returns
• Beverly Hills Cop
and while none of the above are in any particular order, the next two are at the top of my non-ordered list:
• The Russians Are Coming and • Monty Python and the Holy Grail
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Post by chadgumbo on Dec 21, 2004 10:50:07 GMT -5
I like your choices Scott The Pink Panther movies, Spinal Tap, and Monty Python and the Search for the Holy Grail all would have been on my list right after the others I had listed. With Meet the Fockers coming out tomorrow, that got me thinking about "Meet the Parents" which is one of the better 'recent' comedies. As is Adam Sandler's "Anger Management." The scene where Heather Graham goes ballistic with the chocolate cake imprints an image on the mind's eye that is both hilarious and hard to forget. Goosfraba all -chadgumbo
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Post by Mike on Dec 21, 2004 13:16:14 GMT -5
One Flew Over the Cukoo's Nest Where The Buffalo Roam Nat'l Lampoons-Vacation Star Wars (all of em) Second Hand Lions Fried Green Tomatoes The Last Castle (I wish Bush/Cheney would watch this one-it's about leadership) Born on The 4th of July JFK (the beginning of the end!) Sixteen Candles Ferris Bueller's Day Off Pasttime (best baseball movie ever. It's a sleeper, but a good one) Friday Night Lights ( i was there!)
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Post by jashley on Dec 21, 2004 20:48:35 GMT -5
Good Idea Chad
First thanks for reminding me of some I haven't thought of for awhile. Waking Ned Devine and Where the Buffalo Roam 'specially. i don't think I can divide mine between comedy and drama as many of my picks would overlap genre.
1. Annie Hall, Woody Allen is my favorite director also check out Stardust Memories or the overlooked Deconstructing Harry. Believe it or not one of my favorite musicals is Everyone Says I Love You.
2. Mona Lisa. Michael Caine and Bob Hoskins were here and in Get Carter the two best crime dramas of all time check out both.
2a. Bull Durham, Almost forgot and had to squeeze it in, best sports movie of all time.
3. Charade. Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn at their best.
4. Ulee's Gold. Peter Fondas best work, yes better than Easy Rider, although I like that too.
5. Goodfellas, hard to pick my favorite Scorcese, Mean Streets and the overlooked Kundun also favorites. Any Scorcese except New York New York is my motto.
6. Barton Fink. Love those Coen boys also love Raising Arizona, Miller's Crossing and don't miss Blood Simple.
7. Breakfast at Tiffany's. Best Smaltz Ever and I think Audrey is the sexiest woman ever in this movie.
8. Pulp Fiction. Tarantino's best even though Resevoir Dogs was awfully good.
9. Four Weddings and a Funeral. Yes gets a little soft at the end but very funny and touching at the same time and Kristen Scott Thomas is my new obsession.
10. Rear Window. Hitchcock and James Stewart my favorite Hitchcock and actor combo. Vertigo is great too as well as any Hitchcock.
Also, check out Saving Grace, great srewball english comedy. Tequila Sunrise great crime movie and Michael Phiffer nekkid how can that be bad. Speaking of Michelle the Fabulous Baker Boys. I prefered Last Temptation of Christ to new Mel epic (great soundtrack too). Manchrian Candidate the old one, haven't seen the new one; how is it?
I could go on and on but I'll let my mind rest until some other pop into my head. By the way this would be a good place to post heads up on good new stuff too.
? Why has there never been a good r&r movie.
Peace j ashley
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Post by featphoto on Dec 21, 2004 23:39:15 GMT -5
? Why has there never been a good r&r movie. I found Almost Famous to be pretty damn good ... the backstage stuff was eerily familiar ... as to the thread in general ... my wife & I play this game all the time, and it's a tough one picking favorites when there have been so many good movies made in the last, what, 70 some odd years ... I still think most of the best ones were in B&W, the sort of film where the editing is so tight there isn't a wasted moment ... Philadelphia Story, Casablance, His Girl Friday, Third Man, Rear Window (absoluitely), The Longest Day, In Harm's Way, El Dorado, Treasure of the Sierra Madre ... but then again there's so much modern stuff too ... Young Frankenstein (probably my vote for the funniest damn movie ever made), Philadelphia (a different kind of story), the Star Wars films (the first 3 anyway ... the last 2 have left me a bit flat), plus the quirky little ones already mentioned, like Waking Ned Devine, The Russians Are Coming (emergency, emergency, everybody to get from street), Saving Grace, The Gods Must Be Crazy ... so much to choose from
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Post by Scott Hays on Dec 22, 2004 9:04:25 GMT -5
Almost forgot about The Gods Must Be Crazy. That is my father's all-time favorite movie, period (and maybe that explains me a little better, too).
Here's something interesting I am doing that is related to this thread, by the way. I teach middle school. Film is a great way to teach kids about stories and about writing stories, but trying to talk to middle-school students about movies is very frustrating. Their memories and experiences only go back about six or seven years, so unless they have parents or relatives with rather esoteric taste, they tend to have a very limited sense of art history (including both film and music). They do not know what the heck I am talking about whenever I make references to such obvious child movies as Sandlot, or Willow, or Time Bandits, or even the Princess Bride (let alone Spinal Tap or stinking badges). So, after a few years of threatening to teach them a film or music history appreciation course, I finally decided to put the rubber to the road.
This trimester, I am offering a film appreciation class. I decided that I needed to make a big splash the first time around -- do something the kids would really like, then word of mouth would guarantee a popular class that I could string out for years, allowing me ... for one period each day ... to show movies that I liked to see and then to be able to talk to the kids about the things that interested them. For this trimester, I decided to show adventure movies. Trying to find movies that are appropriate to show in a middle school classroom has been a bit of a challenge, but I decided -- to give it a historical flair -- that I would show them in chronological order, beginning with the forties. So here is my movie list:
Treasure of the Sierra Madre High Noon Magnificent Seven (though I may show The Great Escape) Star Wars I Raiders of the Lost Ark Hunt for Red October Lord of the Rings I
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Post by Mike on Dec 22, 2004 11:07:26 GMT -5
Philadelphia (a different kind of story), the Star Wars films (the first 3 anyway ... the last 2 have left me a bit flat), The Gods Must Be Crazy ... so much to choose from Right Hank. Philadelphia is the show that made a huge Tom Hanks fan out of me. Powerful performance. I was talking to the small kids across the street about the newer Stars Wars, and I commented that "I kinda miss ole Chewy". Their reply was "who's Chewy?" The hours me and my boys have spent howling at The Gods Must be Crazy!!! My wife thinks we're crazy. ;D
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Post by Tipi on Dec 22, 2004 15:55:01 GMT -5
second try &$^%$# Great thread, great lists! Such a tasteful group. Just to add some old over-lookeds and some never seens ... Sometimes a Great Notion [Never Give an Inch] Once Were Warriors Duets - about Kareoke, don't read the box, just rent it. Fresh Jimmy Stewart Power 3 Harvey Mr Smith Goes to Washington It's a Wonderful Life Most of the rest of my picks have already been mentioned, we're so smart ;D Peace on earth, good will towards women T
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Post by Tipi on Dec 22, 2004 16:27:12 GMT -5
PS Chad? Mississippi Burning doesn't know it, but is about my father. Good as it Get's star Helen Hunt is our first choice to play my sister "Grace" in the movie version of She's Not There. She looks just like her! Ask Richie tinyurl.com/4odtrp.o.e.g.w.t.w. T
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Post by chadgumbo on Dec 22, 2004 23:15:07 GMT -5
Scott Hays wrote: Alright Tipi, I'm feeling kinda nervous about asking this, but... how is Mississippi Burning about your father? And why doesn't it know it? That second question is even more mysterious than the first. As for asking Richie about your sister, well, I can only say that I wish I were as fortunate as those of you who are regular contributors to this message board and also happen to know the band members personally. My only connection to Richie is that, in a way, I also grew up in Clear Lake, Iowa. Richie lived there til he was 6. As for me, I lived 25 miles from there while I was growing up and my dad kept a boat there in the summer months. So I learned to water-ski there and spent much of my time there when I was a boy. Eventually, after I got my driver's license, there were the concerts I would attend at the Surf Ballroom... and I could go on and on about Clear Lake. So Tipi, let's get together sometime, go to a Feat show, and you can handle the introductions si amigo? Jashley and Hank, I think you guys are right. Aside from "Almost Famous" it's hard to name a truly great rock 'n roll movie. There are some fun ones, but not truly great ones. I enjoyed Rock Star but don't think I could call it a "great" movie. I love The Beatles' Yellow Submarine, but again it's not one of the "greats" of cinema. But in the sixties and early seventies Hollywood seemed to understand that there was a real market for making rock 'n roll movies, but they didn't seem to have a real handle on how to present these movies to their target audience. And so in the early days you had the aforementioned Yellow Submarine, a cartoon. Then there was Tommy, and television had The Monkees. It was if Hollywood couldn't accept the notion that its target audience should be treated as adults. The very notion that rock 'n roll music could be appreciated by adults seemed to be a foriegn concept. So, what to do? How do you make a movie and make it profitable when you don't even have an accurate understanding of your target audience? They had the occasional winner, ala Yellow Submarine, and they had a lot of silliness, ala many of the other Beatles movies, as well as The Monkees Head, and the like. But as rock fans began to actually become employed by Hollywood and began to have an influence on what was being turned out there, a better handle on how to present rock movies seemed to have been grasped. Movies like The Doors, Rock Star, and certainly Almost Famous are much more palatable than A Hard Day's Night. There may not be many "great" R&R movies to date, but I do believe that they are right around the corner. - chadgumbo
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Post by Scott Hays on Dec 23, 2004 10:21:03 GMT -5
To Tipi ...
Hate to disagree with you, but Never Give An Inch does not make my list. Never Give An Inch is the renamed and release-title for the movie version of Ken Kesey's extremely powerful novel Sometimes A Great Notion. The title was changed because Kesey, who had worked on the screenplay and was originally an enthusiastic partner in the production of the movie, yanked his support. He did this because of the sell-out ending, and various softenings and changes enroute to said ending. The court battle was a bitter one, and Redford was not going to allow the title to be changed. Kesey won.
The book is a difficult read, but is far superior to the movie, on lots of different levels. I highly recommend it to everyone, though not everyone can get through it. It was one of those books that took me three separate efforts. Both it and Cuckoos Nest are among my all-time favorite novels. The movie version of Cuckoos Nest held a little closer to the actual novel, though it, too, left out a few really important elements and Kesey wasn't overly pleased with the final product (one reason he wanted so much control over the second effort).
And, while in a disagreeable mood, I think I will add that I don't think any of the Beatles movies, or Head (Monkies) for that matter, were intended to be seen as "rocknroll" movies. They were just movies featuring our heroes in strange predicaments. Our heroes happened to be rocknroll stars, so the events were set in situations involving or related to the profession in which we knew them. How silly would it have been to put the Beatles in a spy thriller, for example, or a sci-fi adventure movie? All of those movies, then, ought to be viewed through a different filter than those that actually purport to be about rocknroll.
In all other respects, I agree. No definitive movie about rocknroll has yet been made (though I think the television series which I don't watch, since I don't watch much on network tv beyond sports, entitled "American Dreams" has tried to include rocknroll as a major subplot of the events depicted on screen). If I was smarter ... or had more time ... I bet I could find one (or more) movies in which rock music was used very effectively as a subtheme in the background of the foreground action.
But that is too hard, at the moment.
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Post by Mike on Dec 23, 2004 10:51:06 GMT -5
Course you do have some great "rockumentaries", such as "The Last Waltz" and "The Song Remains the Same".
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Nog
New Member
Posts: 29
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Post by Nog on Dec 23, 2004 14:30:17 GMT -5
"Mad Dogs and Englishmen", the Cocker/Russell tour was entertaining!!!
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