Comments | wonkywheels: Leaving the gun and taking the canolis

wonkywheels

Leaving the gun and taking the canolis

Jan 31, 2008 10:41

One of my new goals is to watch a bunch of movies that I should have seen--and everyone else has seen--but for some reason I never have. My history of cinema teacher in college made some odd choices in terms of what to show us (e.g., Showgirls and Starship Troopers), and there are some serious gaps in my movie knowledge. So, I rented The Godfather ( Read more... )

movies, pop culture

Comments 28

hooray!!! rockmarooned January 31 2008, 15:58:57 UTC

Wait, I'm sorry, I have to play movie-snob here for a minute and ask in what universe is Legends of the Fall a classic, recent or otherwise? That movie is downright awful.

I would say (as someone who has also needs to see more older movies) some important-but-enjoyable classics include The Apartment; Annie Hall; Taxi Driver; His Girl Friday and/or The Philadelphia Story and/or It Happened One Night (all romantic comedies, but really good ones); Citizen Kane and Casablanca (super-obvious ones but both really entertaining); any Kubrick movies (Dr. Strangelove, A Clockwork Orange, 2001); Jaws; Do the Right Thing.

If we're talking more recent like early-to-mid-nineties, (a la Shawshank and Legends of the Fall) some essential ones (assuming you've seen Pulp Fiction) are Fargo, 12 Monkeys, Schindler's List, Kicking and Screaming (not the Will Ferrell one), JFK, Goodfellas, Natural Born Killers... that's just off the top of my head.

(you may have seen a bunch of those).

Re: hooray!!! wonkywheels January 31 2008, 16:17:00 UTC

OK, I agree. I thought Legends of the Fall kinda sucked. But someone made me watch it. I love Goodfellas, and I've seen Shindler's List and Kicking and Screaming, but I definitely need to see Pulp Fiction (I know!!) and Fargo. OK, I'm bored with italicizing.

Thanks for the suggestions.

Re: hooray!!! geektasticdave January 31 2008, 16:38:11 UTC

Kicking and Screaming was hard to find. It just didn't do it for me. I think I still prefer the ever so corny "Glory Daze".

doceydo January 31 2008, 15:59:31 UTC

I love Legends of the Fall.

I also haven't seen most movies that everyone else has seen (The Godfather, Karate Kid, Star Wars, Rainman). I really should get on that.

wonkywheels January 31 2008, 16:17:46 UTC

I don't think there's really any need to see The Karate Kid, but Rainman and Star Wars are certainly classics.

doceydo January 31 2008, 16:26:01 UTC

I've just been openly ridiculed on more than one occasion for never seeing Karate Kid. I really have no desire to ever see it though.

wonkywheels January 31 2008, 16:28:43 UTC

I never saw it either! I mean, it's a kids' movie from the '80s, so why bother seeing it at this point?

geektasticdave January 31 2008, 16:37:03 UTC

I was a film minor and still have yet to see The Godfather. I also need to see Lawrence of Arabia.

Here are a few "classics" and "recent classics" + a few other somewhat smart or cool movies I enjoy (leaving off dumb comedies, sappy stuff and most horror):

City of God (2002)
Citizen Kane (1941)
Gallipoli (1981) -no one rates this one as high as me
The Gold Rush (1925)
The Graduate (1967)
Jaws (1975)
Leon/The Professional (1994)
M (1931)
The Muppet Movie (1979)
Notorious (1946)
All About Eve (1950)
Bonnie and Clyde (1967)
Easy Rider (1969)
On the Waterfront (1954)
Frankenstein (1931)
North by Northwest (1959)
Poltergeist (1982)
Shadow of a Doubt (1943)
Stagecoach (1939)
The Thing (1982) remake, scary!
The Usual Suspects (1995)

geektasticdave January 31 2008, 16:40:02 UTC

Oh, and Double Indemnity is playing at the Brattle soon, you must see that.

rockmarooned January 31 2008, 16:40:14 UTC

Oooh, good call on The Graduate (if you haven't seen it, Becky). I really need to see Bonnie and Clyde.

wonkywheels January 31 2008, 16:45:36 UTC

Seen The Graduate and love it!

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homolinus January 31 2008, 17:46:12 UTC

I'm not enough of a movie person to have a wealth of suggestions, but since it's an election year and 90s nostalgia is in, I'd highly recommend the documentary The War Room (I know they have it at the Hollywood Express in Porter). It's all about the 92 elections, and there's a lot of (not necessarily flattering) behind-the-scenes footage of the Clinton campaign. Highly, highly recommended.

And I can't remember if you've seen Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown or All About My Mother, but I would highly recommend both.

wonkywheels January 31 2008, 19:15:01 UTC

Anything bad about Hillary sounds good to me.

I saw those Almodovar movies, and they're great! Still haven't seen Talk to Her, though, actually.

slightlyoffaxis January 31 2008, 18:22:00 UTC

You can't blame Bob for the gaps in your cinematic knowledge! He made sure to hit a lot of the "classic" directors: Ford, Cukor, Sirk, Preminger, Hitchcock, Godard, Welles, etc. Showgirls was just the icing on the cake!

As for what to add to your must-see list, the American Film Institute did that Top 100 Films Ever List, and I think it's what you're looking for. But seriously, ONLY look at the list they did in 1998. All of the genre-lists (best comedies, etc.) have some horrible choices (Meet the Fockers?), and the 2007 "update" on the best movies made some abysmal substitutions (like taking out Fargo to put in Lord of the Rings).

geektasticdave January 31 2008, 18:57:19 UTC

Also note- that list only covers American films

slightlyoffaxis January 31 2008, 23:56:29 UTC

Duh. American Film Institute.

wonkywheels January 31 2008, 19:14:15 UTC

Oh, you know I have love for Bob. But don't you think we should have watched Citizen Kane instead of Showgirls?

Thanks for sending that list, but I don't know if I trust it now that I know that Meet the Fockers is on it!

Thread 9