Movie Lovers Only

Originally posted by NoEarthlyReason
Contempary films I have really enjoyed include Inception, Shutter Island, Lincoln, the Daniel Craig Bond films, American History X, The Painted Veil, The Descendants, Man on Wire, In the Loop, Atonement, Changeling, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo series, Moon, LOTR, The Social Network, Gran Torino, The Reader, "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy" (damn co ...[text shortened]... a comparable amount of tosh in art-house and world cinema. (Or vice versa, naturally).

Great points. I might actually try and watch a few of those, but at home since you bring up something I'd totally overlooked mentioning. It is crazy the way people behave in public venues these days. Dress atrociously, talk during important dialogue to ask about the meaning of words outside their grasp, unwrap candy loudly, get up at odd times, bring children and then let them run around screaming like banshees and on and on.

All your points on Hollywood becoming a sewer are spot on! Awards ceremonies are laughable and too politicized and best films, if there are any, rarely get nominated. Thanks for providing your list of favorites!

Originally posted by scacchipazzo
Great points. I might actually try and watch a few of those, but at home since you bring up something I'd totally overlooked mentioning. It is crazy the way people behave in public venues these days. Dress atrociously, talk during important dialogue to ask about the meaning of words outside their grasp, unwrap candy loudly, get up at odd times, bring ch ...[text shortened]... est films, if there are any, rarely get nominated. Thanks for providing your list of favorites!

... not to mention their mobiles still on!

Originally posted by scacchipazzo
Great points. I might actually try and watch a few of those, but at home since you bring up something I'd totally overlooked mentioning. It is crazy the way people behave in public venues these days. Dress atrociously, talk during important dialogue to ask about the meaning of words outside their grasp, unwrap candy loudly, get up at odd times, bring ch ...[text shortened]... est films, if there are any, rarely get nominated. Thanks for providing your list of favorites!

I hope you get as much pleasure from them as I did. I use the Lovefilm DVD rental service which allows me 3 DVDs per month in my price plan (though I often get more because if any are scratched they give you extra "credits" ). I'm pretty happy with it, just wish I had more time to watch all these amazing films. I have 400 on my rental list, including some opera, Shakespeare, and TV series, and I'll be surprised if I ever get through them all. I find imdb.com indispensable because I can find out the highest rated films I've never seen, and with so many people voting for films, a film that scores 8 or more is near enough to certainly very good. I also used a BFI top 100 list and sometimes refer to Roger Ebert's excellent reviews. I have now seen brilliant, incredibly varied films from as far back as the days of Buster Keaton right through to the modern stuff mentioned above, as well as rekindling my cinema-going habit. I write reviews when I find the time and try to do the same with books. It's a way to become more familiar with technical and structural aspects (simply by having to consider them as part of writing a good review) and to start to understand the magic of storytelling, as well as encouraging me to reflect personally on the story and its effects.

Originally posted by lolof
Totally agree with your views and your choices of films although I also like Collateral because of its dialogue. I think there is something for every movie lover.

I only know that I rated Collateral 1/10. I think I was up late, a bit drunk, and just sat and watched it and hated every minute. I don't know why I kept watching. I must have been angry to bother rating it. So on the minus side, I was drinking alone and unnecessarily sat through a (IMO) worthless film. On the plus side, because I was drinking I hardly remember it 😉 . And I was sober in the morning.

Originally posted by scacchipazzo
Great points. I might actually try and watch a few of those, but at home since you bring up something I'd totally overlooked mentioning. It is crazy the way people behave in public venues these days. Dress atrociously, talk during important dialogue to ask about the meaning of words outside their grasp, unwrap candy loudly, get up at odd times, bring ch ...[text shortened]... est films, if there are any, rarely get nominated. Thanks for providing your list of favorites!

You know I mentioned I was going to see The Hunt. If you get a chance to see it, I strongly recommend it. It's a Danish film about a man accused of child abuse.

Too early to say whether it is great, or just very good, but the lead performance should walk off with an Oscar. But being Danish, it won't of course.

I wish I could take you to see it at my local cinema. It would restore your faith in cinema, and the cinema going public.

Originally posted by Rank outsider
You know I mentioned I was going to see The Hunt. If you get a chance to see it, I strongly recommend it. It's a Danish film about a man accused of child abuse.

Too early to say whether it is great, or just very good, but the lead performance should walk off with an Oscar. But being Danish, it won't of course.

I wish I could take you to see it at my local cinema. It would restore your faith in cinema, and the cinema going public.

That's a film I'd like to see. I half-caught a review on the BBC, and after seeing Forbrydelsen I-III, Borgen I-II and Broen (yes, all TV series but easily equal to films) subtitled into English I've got a lot of respect and admiration for Danish film and TV. They have made a lot of us Brits envy Danish television/film, even though we have the wonderful BBC! If you want to see some of our best TV crime dramas, I recommend Silent Witness, Waking the Dead, Inspector Morse and Lewis, Miss Marple and Poirot. But "we've" never done anything as good as the political drama Borgen (maybe on radio, but not TV).

Originally posted by NoEarthlyReason
That's a film I'd like to see. I half-caught a review on the BBC, and after seeing Forbrydelsen I-III, Borgen I-II and Broen (yes, all TV series but easily equal to films) subtitled into English I've got a lot of respect and admiration for Danish film and TV. They have made a lot of us Brits envy Danish television/film, even though we have the wonder e" never done anything as good as the political drama Borgen (maybe on radio, but not TV).

Are you saying that Borgen is better than anything ever made for British TV, or of its type?

I am not challenging this, but if the former, that is a hell of a recommendation!

Originally posted by Rank outsider
Are you saying that Borgen is better than anything ever made for British TV, or of its type?

I am not challenging this, but if the former, that is a hell of a recommendation!

Of its type, definitely. It ranks under virtually anything presented by David Attenborough, for example. But it's a great drama, as good as anything I've seen on the BBC recently.

Edit: The example could be misleading. When I say "of its type", I do mean political dramas. I can't think of anything like it being shown here.

Originally posted by NoEarthlyReason
Of its type, definitely. It ranks under virtually anything presented by David Attenborough, for example. But it's a great drama, as good as anything I've seen on the BBC recently.

Edit: The example could be misleading. When I say "of its type", I do mean political dramas. I can't think of anything like it being shown here.

House of Cards?

Originally posted by Rank outsider
House of Cards?

That appears to be an American series. Don't know when I'll get to see it – I presume it's on Sky?
I guess Borgen is Denmark's West Wing – amazingly intelligent political drama that feels real, played over long-running seasons. The best British political series may have been comedies – Yes Minister and The Thick of It. Nothing wrong with that at all, it's just a different way of approaching the subject. I don't really have a burning desire to see Borgen's equivalent for Britain, but it could be interesting. There is, anyway, a wealth of great radio drama which can presumably be much more cheaply made and can be even better than TV.

Originally posted by Rank outsider
You know I mentioned I was going to see The Hunt. If you get a chance to see it, I strongly recommend it. It's a Danish film about a man accused of child abuse.

Too early to say whether it is great, or just very good, but the lead performance should walk off with an Oscar. But being Danish, it won't of course.

I wish I could take you to see it at my local cinema. It would restore your faith in cinema, and the cinema going public.

Why thank you, Rank outsider. I would happily accept and buy you a pint afterwards! It seems like the Germanic/Scandinavian film makers stick to old fashioned tried and true film technique. My only misgiving about a film like that is that it hits close to home in that I work for the court system and see many such cases as well as real ones. I am assuming it is about a falsely accused? Perhaps if the Oscars were opened to great films, period, not just Yanks films, might improve their product via pressure of competition!

I used to belong to such a service, but they never seemed to have the films I wanted and if they did these would arrive broken. Also, hardly carried foreign films and absolutely no opera despite billing themselves as doing so! There is great opera available on DVD. When nicely done like Zeffirelli used to opera can be quite delightful in the comfort of home. I also love DVD's of compilation of old football games, both American and European with player interviews/commentary.

Originally posted by scacchipazzo
I used to belong to such a service, but they never seemed to have the films I wanted and if they did these would arrive broken. Also, hardly carried foreign films and absolutely no opera despite billing themselves as doing so! There is great opera available on DVD. When nicely done like Zeffirelli used to opera can be quite delightful in the comfort of ...[text shortened]... ompilation of old football games, both American and European with player interviews/commentary.

My favourites on DVD have been Tales of Hoffman (Powell & Pressburger), La Fille du Regiment at the ROH, Der Rosenkavalier (Salzburg), Aida with Pavarotti and (I think) Leontyne Price (such an old DVD it came in one of those original clear plastic oversized cases), La Boheme with Rolando Villazon and a very glamourous Russian soprano whose name escapes me, and the Carmen and Porgy and Bess feature films (I think the latter is conducted by Bernstein). It probably doesn't beat sitting in the stalls, but when I go to the opera I sit right up on the balcony, so DVD performances help reveal facial expressions, set and costume detail and subtle body movement.

Originally posted by Teinosuke
I find it interesting when people question you about watching "old movies". Other media go back much further in time, but no one ever says, "This week I read an old book by Jane Austen and listened to an old string quartet by Mozart and looked at an old painting by Raphael."

While it's true that those who turn their nose up at old movies miss out on most of the best films ever made, and it's their loss, film is rather unique as an art form in than it it is a very technological medium, hence advances in movie technology will have more of an effect in films than most other art forms (except, perhaps, computer games). While there isn't a directly proportional relationship between technological advancement and film quality, it might be argued that there could be such a relationship (nearly) for the potential to make better films. So if a director had sufficient genius, a large enough budget, the best actors and crew, the motivation to make true works of art, an audience worthy of the film, and so on, one might expect him/her to surpass in an objective way the achievements of directors of times gone by, though there would be some limiting factors to the otherwise proportional relationship (e.g. to pick an epic "cast of thousands" film like Gandhi, as Richard Attenborough stated in the DVD commentary, they simply couldn't have got the same extras these days due to changes in politics and economics etc., or one could argue that acting skill has reached or will reach a peak or plateau thus limiting the relationship).

Originally posted by NoEarthlyReason
My favourites on DVD have been Tales of Hoffman (Powell & Pressburger), La Fille du Regiment at the ROH, Der Rosenkavalier (Salzburg), Aida with Pavarotti and (I think) Leontyne Price (such an old DVD it came in one of those original clear plastic oversized cases), La Boheme with Rolando Villazon and a very glamourous Russian soprano whose name escap ...[text shortened]... D performances help reveal facial expressions, set and costume detail and subtle body movement.

That is the lovely Anna Netrebko, a Russian diva. She and Villazon do a wonderful Traviata as well. I agree about enjoying the minor details better on film. Also, some of the great singers are not as good looking as those who get cast on film. For example, Netrebko is no Monserrat Caballe by any stretch, but the quite heavy Montserrat is good from the stalls rather than on film. Like the wonderful Zeffirelli Carmen. Both Carmen and Micaela are quite lovely. Julia Migenes Johnson is as sexy as one would think of a Carmen. Micaela, and her name escapes me, is the sweetest looking country girl and certainly as one would imagine her by closing one's eyes!