As an example, I was 17 when Saturday Night Fever came out. I thought it was a great movie at the time. Then maybe 10 years later I saw it on a flight I was on, and just had to ask myself what the hell I saw in it at the time.
Fuck you! Saturday Night Fever rocks the house.
I didn't say it sucked. My point was that it hasn't aged well for me.
Do I detect some disdain for the film industry, Rym?
Not at all. Everthing follows that general principle. Most anime, movies, books, bands, concerts, songs, music videos, television shows, and videogames are eminently forgettable. We remember the 1% of things that are truly worthwhile.
Okay then... what are the films that are NOT eminently forgettable to you then?
Blade Runner,2001,The Right Stuff,Reservoir Dogs,Pulp Fiction,Saving Private Ryan,We Were Soldiers,The Unforgiven,Soylent Green,GodfatherI and II,Platoon,Casablanca,The Maltese Falcon,The Shining,Dr. Strangelove,A Clockwork Orange,Full Metal Jacket. Now that's what I was talking about! Why can't Hollywood do more things these classics!? Incidentally though, have you seen The Shawshank Redemption, Joe? If you haven't then I highly recommend you do watch it because in my opinion I think that movie deserves to be in that list of winners.
Movies like Airplane, that parody people and events that were going on that time, just don't age well.
There was some of that inAirplane, but not so much that it doesn't age well.
Examples:
Q: "What do you make of this?"
A: "Well, I could make a hat, or a brooch, or a pterodactyl . . ."
Statement: "Well, it looks like I picked the wrong week to stop sniffing glue . . ."
The "drinking problem" gag.
"What's our vector, Victor? Do we have clearance, Clarence?"
"Joey, do you like movies about Gladiators?"
I love that movie andI think it's fuckin' hillarious. However, I only watch it like every 6 months or so because I don't want it to get old in my mind.
What about these quotes? These ones certainly don't get old.
"I just want to tell you good luck, and that we're all counting on you."
Q: Surely you can't be serious?!
A: I am serious, and don't call me Shirley/and stop calling me Shirley.
"Mr. Maniac, Mr. Kleptomaniac, please return the white courtesy phone.
"Passengers certain to die!" "Airline negligent" "There's a sale down at Penneys!"
Casablanca was made in 1942. We Were Soldiers was made in 2002. That's a 60 year span. Over any 60 years you're going to be able to find good movies. Count how many movies that came out last year that you liked. Now go pick a random year in the seventies. Look up what movies came out, and how many you like.
However, something like Monty Python or Loony Toons has timeless comedy. Silly walks will be funny as long as there are people who walk.
This is true, but you're forgetting that no one on this forum (from what I've seen so far) is the type of person I would call an "average movie-goer." I remember telling a co-worker a funny story and saying that it was like something out of a Monty Python movie, and getting a blank stare. She had no clue what I was talking about. They keep producing movies like Meet the Spartans because people keep paying money to see them, and those are the people I'm referring to when I say "average."
Count how many movies that came out last year that you liked.
Okay . . . 0.
Now go pick a random year in the seventies. Look up what movies came out, and how many you like.
Okay. 1978. Nine good movies. Animal House, Grease, Superman, Dawn of the Dead, The Deer Hunter, Attack of the Killer Tomatoes, F.I.S.T., Force 10 from Navarone, and Same Time, Next Year.
Incidentally though, have you seenThe Shawshank Redemption, Joe?
Yes, too many times. It's very good, but they play it constantly on cable. I'm on the verge of getting sick of it.
There are a couple of factors that make the drek coming out of Hollywood predictable and unavoidable. First, lets not forget that by and large the movie industry is just that - an industry. It has to make money to continue existing. With so much at risk (the average 'blockbuster' movie costs well north of $100 million these days), you only get one or two mistakes in a year in order to blow an entire year of profitability for the studio. Executives are afraid of blowing it and losing their jobs so they stick with what has worked in the past leading to all the retreads and sequels. Second, making a movie is extremely complex and time consuming - it can take 2-3 years to produce from start to release. Getting all the factors to align requires no small amount of luck as well as a ton of hard work by some very talented people. Often, if any one factor doesn't work the whole project is blown. Other times you wonder how a script got approved and it's no wonder the final product is crap. I've worked on some of the most successful projects of all time (Titanic, Fight Club) and some of the least (Battlefield Earth, Adventures of Pluto Nash) and the experience is the same - start out enthusiastic, get ground down by long hours and seemingly idiotic decisions, finish up just relieved to put the project behind you.
The final unavoidable truth as stated in Sturgeon's Law is that 'ninety percent of everything is crap'.
2007 films I enjoyed: - Bridge to Terabithia - Transformers - Pirates III - Harry Potter 5 - Hairspray - Balls of Fury (shut up :P) - Shoot 'Em Up - Juno - I Am Legend - Sweeney Todd - Walk Hard
2007 films I thought were truly great: - Walk Hard
Yes, speaking of identifying great comedies, Walk Hard was a surprisingly good one. In addition to being a spot-on parody of dramatic Oscar-bait biopics with impeccable comedic timing all around, it also capitalized on some of the strengths of the genre it was parodying and ended up being truly heartwarming in the end. John C. Reilly really gave it his all in the leading role, and it really paid off. Oh, and all the original songs were awesome! XD
Movies in 2007 that I liked: 300, Reign Over Me, TMNT, Grindhouse, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, Knocked Up, Live Free or Die Hard, Ratatouille, Transformers, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, The Simpson's Movie, Superbad, 3:10 to Yuma, Across the Universe, Dan in Real Life, No Country for Old Men, Enchanted, Juno, Charlie Wilson's War, National Treasure 2: Book of Secrets, Sweeney Todd: the Demon Barber of Fleet Street, and Walk Hard: the Dewey Cox Story
You are all forgetting the best movie of 2007, There Will Be Blood, as well as Zodiac, The Lives of Others, Hot Fuzz, and Into the Wild. I cannot believe none of you listed Hot Fuzz. That's shameful.
Do I detect some disdain for the film industry, Rym?
Not at all. Everthing follows that general principle. Most anime, movies, books, bands, concerts, songs, music videos, television shows, and videogames are eminently forgettable. We remember the 1% of things that are truly worthwhile.
Okay then... what are the films that are NOT eminently forgettable to you then?
Blade Runner,2001,The Right Stuff,Reservoir Dogs,Pulp Fiction,Saving Private Ryan,We Were Soldiers,The Unforgiven,Soylent Green,GodfatherI and II,Platoon,Casablanca,The Maltese Falcon,The Shining,Dr. Strangelove,A Clockwork Orange,Full Metal Jacket.
Now that's what I was talking about! Why can't Hollywood do more things these classics!? Incidentally though, have you seenThe Shawshank Redemption, Joe? If you haven't then I highly recommend you do watch it because in my opinion I think that movie deserves to be in that list of winners.
Movies like Airplane, that parody people and events that were going on that time, just don't age well.
There was some of that inAirplane, but not so much that it doesn't age well.
Examples:
Q: "What do you make of this?"
A: "Well, I could make a hat, or a brooch, or a pterodactyl . . ."
Statement: "Well, it looks like I picked the wrong week to stop sniffing glue . . ."
The "drinking problem" gag.
"What's our vector, Victor? Do we have clearance, Clarence?"
"Joey, do you like movies about Gladiators?"I love that movie andI think it's fuckin' hillarious. However, I only watch it like every 6 months or so because I don't want it to get old in my mind.
What about these quotes? These ones certainly don't get old.
"I just want to tell you good luck, and that we're all counting on you."
Q: Surely you can't be serious?!
A: I am serious, and don't call me Shirley/and stop calling me Shirley.
"Mr. Maniac, Mr. Kleptomaniac, please return the white courtesy phone.
"Passengers certain to die!" "Airline negligent" "There's a sale down at Penneys!" "Striker...Striker....Striker...? Striker!" *lady gets punched*
Well..... Wallace Shawn (the guy who played Vizzini and was also in a bunch of Pixar movies) is indeed funny, especially with that unique voice and his Woody Allen-esque mannerisms which are common with a lot of the roles he portrays.
Academic/Intelligent Films? Hot Fuzz? Did I miss something? 0o
Lucky Number Slevin is a really interesting movie.
People were listing their favorite movies of 2007, and nobody included Hot Fuzz, so I pointed that out, and Li_Akahi realized the grave mistake he made. By the way, I love how contradictory the second part of your post is. If Hot Fuzz can't be an academic film then neither can Lucky Number Slevin.
As far as academic films go, I think Eraserhead, Lost Highway, Mulholland Drive, and Inland Empire by David Lynch are worth watching just to talk about and come up with theories, even though you're bound to not enjoy all of them. I hated Mulholland Drive, but it's still a very interesting movie.
Your mentioning of Lucky Number Slevin as an interesting yet not academic film in the same post that you called out Li_Akahi for talking about an interesting yet not academic film was contradictory, no?
I didn't think that Hot Fuzz was interesting at all..
But yeah, you're right, I contradicted myself.
But a film that is by far more deep than the ones mentioned before: Sofies World
Sofie is an ordinary Norwegian girl. One day she recieves a video tape on which a certain Alberto Knox talks directly to her from ancient Greece. They then start to meet at different occasions and throughout the film, Alberto takes Sofie on an odyssey of the history of philosophy, from ancient Greece, over the Roman empire, the Middle ages, the renaissance, the enlightenment, the big revolutions and up to today. Throughout this journey, they start to realise that they are only fictions of a story writer's imagination and start conceiving a plan for escaping into reality.
For anyone who's read the book - the movie isn't really worth watching.
Has anyone seenThe Counterfeiters? That was a 2007 film that I thought was excellent.
I just read the Wikipedia summary and that seems really interesting. My library has it according to their website, but I'm number 236 in the holds list and they have only 60 copies.
Some other movies I like that might fit into the "Academic/Intelligent Films" category: Following, American Beauty, The Big Lebowski, Naked Lunch, Donnie Darko, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Trainspotting, Being John Malkovich, and Jacob's Ladder.
Sofie is an ordinary Norwegian girl. One day she recieves a video tape on which a certain Alberto Knox talks directly to her from ancient Greece. They then start to meet at different occasions and throughout the film, Alberto takes Sofie on an odyssey of the history of philosophy, from ancient Greece, over the Roman empire, the Middle ages, the renaissance, the enlightenment, the big revolutions and up to today. Throughout this journey, they start to realise that they are only fictions of a story writer's imagination and start conceiving a plan for escaping into reality.
For anyone who's read the book - the movie isn't really worth watching.
That sounds rad. How coherent is it, though? A lot of "deep" films are just incoherent clumps of ideas, like Inland Empire, that people assign plots to based on their own ideas. Is the plot to Sophie's World like that for everyone, or is that just a theory based on many disjointed visuals and wisps of plot?
No Country for Old Men and Michael Clayton were my favorite films of 2007. There's always going to be visionary writer or director out there who has the drive to make it big. They just don't come along as often as we'd like.
Comments
Examples:
Q: "What do you make of this?"
A: "Well, I could make a hat, or a brooch, or a pterodactyl . . ."
Statement: "Well, it looks like I picked the wrong week to stop sniffing glue . . ."
The "drinking problem" gag.
"What's our vector, Victor? Do we have clearance, Clarence?"
"Joey, do you like movies about Gladiators?"
Ted Striker: Surely you can't be serious.
Rumack: I am serious... and don't call me Shirley.
What about these quotes? These ones certainly don't get old.
"I just want to tell you good luck, and that we're all counting on you."
Q: Surely you can't be serious?!
A: I am serious, and don't call me Shirley/and stop calling me Shirley.
"Mr. Maniac, Mr. Kleptomaniac, please return the white courtesy phone.
"Passengers certain to die!" "Airline negligent" "There's a sale down at Penneys!"
Here's another good one: Glory.
The final unavoidable truth as stated in Sturgeon's Law is that 'ninety percent of everything is crap'.
300
TMNT (it could have been far worse)
Pirates III
Live free or die Hard
SiCKO
Haven't gotten around to see Grindhouse or Ratatouille.
- Bridge to Terabithia
- Transformers
- Pirates III
- Harry Potter 5
- Hairspray
- Balls of Fury (shut up :P)
- Shoot 'Em Up
- Juno
- I Am Legend
- Sweeney Todd
- Walk Hard
2007 films I thought were truly great:
- Walk Hard
Yes, speaking of identifying great comedies, Walk Hard was a surprisingly good one. In addition to being a spot-on parody of dramatic Oscar-bait biopics with impeccable comedic timing all around, it also capitalized on some of the strengths of the genre it was parodying and ended up being truly heartwarming in the end. John C. Reilly really gave it his all in the leading role, and it really paid off. Oh, and all the original songs were awesome! XD
Examples:
Q: "What do you make of this?"
A: "Well, I could make a hat, or a brooch, or a pterodactyl . . ."
Statement: "Well, it looks like I picked the wrong week to stop sniffing glue . . ."
The "drinking problem" gag.
"What's our vector, Victor? Do we have clearance, Clarence?"
"Joey, do you like movies about Gladiators?"I love that movie andI think it's fuckin' hillarious. However, I only watch it like every 6 months or so because I don't want it to get old in my mind.
What about these quotes? These ones certainly don't get old.
"I just want to tell you good luck, and that we're all counting on you."
Q: Surely you can't be serious?!
A: I am serious, and don't call me Shirley/and stop calling me Shirley.
"Mr. Maniac, Mr. Kleptomaniac, please return the white courtesy phone.
"Passengers certain to die!" "Airline negligent" "There's a sale down at Penneys!"
"Striker...Striker....Striker...? Striker!"
*lady gets punched*
Lucky Number Slevin is a really interesting movie.
As far as academic films go, I think Eraserhead, Lost Highway, Mulholland Drive, and Inland Empire by David Lynch are worth watching just to talk about and come up with theories, even though you're bound to not enjoy all of them. I hated Mulholland Drive, but it's still a very interesting movie.
Thanks for clearing that up though.
That was a 2007 film that I thought was excellent.
But yeah, you're right, I contradicted myself.
But a film that is by far more deep than the ones mentioned before: Sofies World For anyone who's read the book - the movie isn't really worth watching.
Some other movies I like that might fit into the "Academic/Intelligent Films" category: Following, American Beauty, The Big Lebowski, Naked Lunch, Donnie Darko, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Trainspotting, Being John Malkovich, and Jacob's Ladder. That sounds rad. How coherent is it, though? A lot of "deep" films are just incoherent clumps of ideas, like Inland Empire, that people assign plots to based on their own ideas. Is the plot to Sophie's World like that for everyone, or is that just a theory based on many disjointed visuals and wisps of plot?