Classic cinema - thoughts and questions

Kirk and Michael Douglas:
"Had a great weekend visiting Dad. 99 next month!!!"
11217972_948372658590884_1527639331732728120_n.jpg
 
Forostar said:
1. What are your favorite films?
2. Do you also appreciate older films? Which ones?
3. Do you have favorite directors?
4. Do you have favorite actors?
5. Which genres do you prefer?
Click to expand...

1. - My favourite films are:
Zodiac (2007)
Radio Days (1987)
A River Runs Through It (1992)
A Most Wanted Man (2014)
The Devil's Advocate (1997)
The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985)
A Scanner Darkly (2006)
Scent of a Woman (1992)
Once Upon a Time in America (1984)
Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989)
The Before Sunrise/Sunset/Midnight Trilogy (1995-2013)
The Last Temptation of Christ (1988)
The Lost Weekend (1945)
Apocalypse Now (1979)
L. A. Confidential (1997)
The Bourne Trilogy (2002-2007)
The Last Samurai (2003)
The Thing (1982)
All the President's Men (1976)
Hannah and Her Sisters (1986)
Minority Report (2002)
Goodfellas and Casino
Solaris (1972)
Vertigo (1958)
Sunset Blvd. (1950)
Watchmen (2009)

Very roughly in order. Or.. well, probably not.
These are the only ones I'm pretty sure of - that is, I could write and write and write about any of these, why and how and how long do I love them.
However, these are favourites - for example There Will Be Blood (2007) is probably one of the best movies I have seen... yet it makes me so physically ill I will not probably return to it anytime soon. It's not my favourite and I would not recommend it to a friend.

2. - Of course. I have seen most of Hitchcock's filmography and I love most of those movies dearly. Wilder's amazing as well. Cukor too, especially Gaslight and Gone with the Wind. Lots of the noirs (The Third Man, The Asphalt Jungle, The Lady From Shanghai). Sergio Leone's not exactly new as well. Stanley Kramer's cool, though a bit too political for my tastes.

3. That's easy - Scorsese, Fincher, Woody Allen (as you might see from my favorite films list), Nolan, Polanski, Hitchcock, Leone, Peckinpah, Manfred Mann. I also like very much the touch Redford, Linklater and Cronenberg give to their films. So far what I've seen by Bergman I really liked (The Seventh Seal, Persona, Fanny and Alexander), but he's made way too many movies to pass a judgment this early.

4. - That would be Al Pacino (he just can), Dustin Hoffman, Humphrey Bogart, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, James Stewart, Clark Gable and ... belive me or not ... Tom Cruise. And millions of others, I just can't name them all.

5. - I don't think so. From my favourites, you could say spy fiction (Bourne) or pseudo-factual movies (Zodiac, All the President's Men) or "slice of life" (Before Trilogy, Hannah and Her Sisters), meta views on escapism as a whole (Radio Days, Purple Rose of Cairo)... but nothing would be particularly correct. I definitely like very specific movies, but I can't quite define it - it's not a genre, though.
 
Last edited:
Here some of my favourite horror films. ( @CriedWhenBrucieLeft ;-) )

I tend to dislike (overly) graphic horror movies. I rather see classic (pre-seventies) films in which the stuff you do not see can make you frightened. Or just horror movies with nice atmosphere (suspense!) or cool actors (or made by interesting directors/producers).

Strong British films from the sixties:
- The Haunting
- The Innocents
- Taste of Fear
- Village of the Damned (Children of the Damned is the sequel, but less good)
- The Gorgon
- The Abominable Snowman

There are graphic films that are still worthwhile for the suspense, e.g.
- Psycho (Alfred Hitchcock)
- The Bird with the Crystal Plumage (Dario Argento)
- Profondo Rosso (Dario Argento)
- Suspiria (Dario Argento)
- Cat People (produced by Val Lewton, renowned for his typical suggestive style, with lots of shadows and darkness)
- The Body Snatcher (produced by Val Lewton, starring Boris Karloff and Bela Lugosi)
- The Quatermass films
- The Alien films!

The classic mad scientist films with Boris Karloff (Karloff was so good in playing misunderstood characters) or e.g. Peter Lorre
- The Man Who Changed His Mind (aka The Man Who Lived Again)
- The Man They Could Not Hang
- The Man With Nine Lives
- Invisible Ray
- Mad Love (Lorre)

Films with change of identity always bring that extra chilling excitement
- Black Friday
- The Black Room

The classic Frankenstein films are damn good and some Hammer sequels as well.
Here some other (random) films that come to mind
- Haunted Palace or The Premature Burial by Roger Corman (nice combo of Poe and Lovecraft influences).
- The Invisble Man with Claude Rains.
- The Phantom of the Opera (with the Man of Thousand Faces: Lon Chaney)
- Nosferatu
- Kwaidan ("Ghost Stories") by Masaki Kobayashi: Exceptionally well made, most impressive.
- Homicidal by William Castle (surprising end!)
- Carnival of Souls (more underground, with important spooky music)
- City of the Dead (a lesser known film with Christopher Lee, with interesting Psycho parallels)
- The Lodger (remake from the forties; great camerawork by John Alton and impressive actor Laird Cregar)
hqdefault.jpg


- Some of the best thirties Hollywood: - Werewolf of London and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde: both fantastic in the "changing" moments.
- The Strange Door (with Charles Laughton)
- The Dr Mabuse films by Fritz Lang Especially the 2nd! Das Testament des Dr Mabuse


- Diabolique (by French "Hitchcock" Henri-George Clouzot)
 
Last edited:
Some interesting-looking titles there, I'll try to have a look at some.

Perhaps not old enough to fit in this thread, but I'll put it another word for David Cronenberg, who I mentioned in the 100k thread. It's a strange case of a director whose films tend to be very graphic - he's fond of bizarre biology and bodily transformations (he directed the 1980s remake of The Fly, among other things) - but where the horror is almost purely psychological. Try Videodrome, Dead Ringers or eXistenZ. (These movies are not always classified as "horror", but I'd argue that they are).

As it's something of a tribute to classic Hollywood, David Lynch's Mulholland Drive might also be mentioned here.
 
I'd think the Cronenberg films you mention are classified as horror by most people. Who classifies them otherwise? Anway, that aside, I agree with what you say: they have viceral horror, but that's not really the horror in them. I really like stuff like Videodrome & especially The Fly; like quite a lot of people, though, it's probably for reasons other than artistic merit e.g. the cool 80's visual effects, & James & Jeff. I would find it hard to argue they are stellar films; they have all the hallmarks of their genre & have visually dated pretty badly.

I think the problem with most horror films is that they either have nothing fundamentally interesting to say; or do, & simply don't convey it very well. I had high hopes for a guy like del Toro; he fundamentally understands Supernatural, Horror, & Weird fiction. Pan's Labyrinth was an excellent film. Sadly, he's been nearly all consumed by the Hollywood machine & now seems to have entirely lost his touch.

I also like some of the stuff Foro posted. Most of it's highly enjoyable to watch & interesting from a film history perspective too. Again (& I'm sure Foro is going to ask "compared to what?"), most of it is pretty pure fair in terms of acting etc.
 
Last edited:
Forostar said:
I tend to dislike (overly) graphic horror movies. I rather see classic (pre-seventies) films in which the stuff you do not see can make you frightened.
Click to expand...

There are plenty of films from recent years that go completely without gore, such as The Conjuring, The Babadook, Incubus, Oculus or older ones like The Ring or The Grudge. Not saying all of these are excellent or frightening, but they have hardly a drop of blood in them.
 
CriedWhenBrucieLeft said:
I would find it hard to argue they are stellar films; they have all the hallmarks of their genre & have visually dated pretty badly.
Click to expand...

Well, Cronenberg's early films do show their age, but his visual creativity still shines through at times. Artistic merit almost seems beside the point with something like Videodrome, which is all about pushing a weird idea as far as possible. I wouldn't call it a great work of art, but it is fun in its own way and that counts for something.

I like eXistenZ - from 1999, if I remember correctly - the best of his films, though like you said about James and Jeff, it's partly 'cause I like Jennifer (and Jude, he's also good in it). ;)
CriedWhenBrucieLeft said:
Pan's Labyrinth was an excellent film.
Click to expand...
That it was. I've heard some good things about his latest, Crimson Peak.
 
Cheers for the reactions and recommendations guys. I am not following new stuff well. My wife does, and Perun, she recently downloaded The Conjuring, so that's a start! (Because she read it was a good modern supernatural horror.)

Shadow, eXistenZ is a bit too dirty/creepy for me I'm afraid. I have seen parts of it (borrowed around 12 years ago by my wife from the library). I had forgotten about it, but my wife remembered my reaction.

I love Eastern Promises and History of Violence, also by Cronenberg. Very different stuff though.
 
Shadow said:
Well, Cronenberg's early films do show their age, but his visual creativity still shines through at times. Artistic merit almost seems beside the point with something like Videodrome, which is all about pushing a weird idea as far as possible. I wouldn't call it a great work of art, but it is fun in its own way and that counts for something.
Click to expand...
Definitely.

Someone's heart & soul has been poured into even the most average of films. I appreciate the work that goes into the making of films, I just try not to let it cloud my judgement of its artistic merits or whether it really was a good piece of cinema. Although, having said this, I'm never clear of quite what I'm comparing it to...
Shadow said:
I've heard some good things about his latest, Crimson Peak.
Click to expand...
Hmmm. I don't think it looks very promising.
Forostar said:
Shadow, eXistenZ is a bit too dirty/creepy for me I'm afraid. I have seen parts of it (borrowed around 12 years ago by my wife from the library). I had forgotten about it, but my wife remembered my reaction.
Click to expand...
What was your reaction?
 
Nice list Forostar! Some of them were already on my personal list of films that I need to watch.
Forostar said:
- City of the Dead (a lesser known film with Christopher Lee, with interesting Psycho parallels)
Click to expand...

^I love this one! Also known as Horror Hotel like I mentioned in the 100k thread. One of the best movies about witchcraft.
 
Perun said:
There are plenty of films from recent years that go completely without gore, such as The Conjuring, The Babadook, Incubus, Oculus or older ones like The Ring or The Grudge. Not saying all of these are excellent or frightening, but they have hardly a drop of blood in them.
Click to expand...

I really liked The Conjuring, that one gave me a few scares. I still need to see Babadook.
 
Nice to see all the Cronenberg praise. I have always liked the guy and have enjoyed even some of his less generally well-accepted works (The Dangerous Method, Crash). Also, the progressive alienation of the protagonist from the human race in The Fly and the... eh... carnal nature of Videodrome made me actually somewhat physically ill when I first saw those in my early teens.

I didn't like The Conjuring all that much... not original enough (but what in the horror genre is) and not scary enough. Good, but not great in my book. Oculus had good premise, but... I don't know, it really bored me. I hated the characters and the whole "what-is-reality" aspect (that is quite scary tbh) was done in a way that didn't scare me at all.

Good horror movies seen lately were IMHO Mama (2013), Rec (2007), The Exorcism of Emily Rose (2005), The Descent (the original British ending, 2005), and while it was unoriginal as hell, I really enjoyed Crimson Peak last month - for a mainstream movie it's quite perverted. :D Of course it's not as good as Pan's Labyrinth, but then again, what is?
Oh, and the cinema experience of Sinister made me wish I had brought my brown pants - I don't know whether it's the same on DVD/BluRay, but I never heard the noisy teenagers become this silent during a screening. Insidious is quite good too (the second movie not so much).

Of course, let's not forget the only unforgettable (and the only good) movie by Paul W. S. Anderson - Event Horizon, it's also not that old. And it's really, really, cool, IMO.

I would also recommend Mr. Jones (2013) and Honeymoon (2014) - these two are definitely not perfect, but have some good ideas, are somewhat interesting and for some reason they stuck in my mind, though Jones' last third is waaaay too trippy even for me and Honeymoon's more of The X Files episode than a regular film. But still, me and my wife have both enjoyed those.

Also, not sure if horror purists would agree, but IMHO (and according to my definition) horror movies need not to be supernatural. To me, a horror movie is a movie that does not "thrill", like a thriller does (that is, what's the mystery and will the heroes be okay), but simply creeps you out.
In that regard the Vanishing movie (Spoorloos, 1988) was quite good as well. It was definitely bleak as sh*t. So was Gone Girl, which IMO straddles the fence between thriller, horror and post-modernistic... something...

By the way, @Forostar , I totally agree about The Innocents and Suspiria!!! Those two are amazing! Also The Wicker Man (the original from 1973, NOT the Cage remake :D ) was memorable.
 
Last edited:
JudasMyGuide said:
In that regard the Vanishing movie (Spoorloos, 1988) was quite good as well. It was definitely bleak as sh*t.
Click to expand...
I freaked out when the film ended. As if a ton of bricks hit me.
Constantly hoping that the guy succeeds in his mission, and then it all stops at once. So hard. So painful. So sad. So unsatisfying. And in a way: so disappointing. Kind of anti-climax, but then the most incredible, most heavy, most nihilistic ever. Well made film, and I'm kinda proud because of the Dutch director, but I never want to see it again.
 
Last edited:
Forostar said:
I freaked out when the film ended. As if a ton of bricks hit me.
Constantly hoping that the guy succeeds in his mission, and then it all stops at once. So hard. So painful. So sad. So unsatisfying. And in a way: so disappointing. Kind of anti-climax, but then the most incredibly heavy one ever. Well made film, and I'm kinda proud because of the Dutch director, but I never want to see it again.
Click to expand...

Yeah, you described it well. A very ugly gut-punch. Similar to the one that A Most Wanted Man - one of my favourite movies - has, in the end, but worse. I too don't really want to revisit that one, once was more than enough for the foreseeable future.
 
Oh, it also seems I have forgotten to name one movie that is quite important to me in my list of favourite movies - Ratatouille (2007). Yeah, I'm serious. Laugh at me, scratch your heads, whatever... that film's one of my favourites. A very personal choice... but then again, what isn't?
 
I actually want to see this ...

‘Worst movie ever made’ to join National Film Registry

A film so absolutely awful that its humiliated writer-director locked it away almost as soon as he finished shooting it reportedly will join some of the greatest movies ever made Monday — when it’s accepted by the Library of Congress’ National Film Registry.

Jerry Lewis, the slapstick comedian popular in the 1950s, completed “The Day the Clown Cried’’ in 1972, and it’s believed only seven people have ever viewed it, the Sunday Times of London said.
Still the legend about the Holocaust “comedy’’ has spread over the years — and many film scholars now believe it’s the worst film ever made.

Lewis donated the only copy to the prestigious collection on one condition: No public showing will be held for 10 years.
By then Lewis will be 99 years old.

It’s not clear why officials at the registry wanted the film — except perhaps as an example of everything a movie should not be.

Lewis not only wrote and directed the movie, he starred as Helmut Doork, a German clown sent to a concentration camp for mocking Adolf Hitler, the newspaper said.

He’s ordered to entertain frightened children to keep them quiet.

Then Doork is put on a train to the notorious death camp Auschwitz with the kids. He proceeds to lead them into the gas chambers — where they all die.

The British newspaper quotes comedian Harry Shearer, one of the lucky — or unlucky — few who have seen the film, comparing it to a portrait of a death camp embroidered on a black velvet cushion:

“This movie is so drastically wrong, its pathos and comedy so wildly misplaced, that you could not, in your fantasy of what it might be like, improve on what it really is.

“’Oh, my God’ — that’s all you can say.’’

One of the film’s worst reviews came from the man who made it. Lewis has described it as “bad, bad, bad, embarrassingly bad.”

http://nypost.com/2015/12/27/worst-f...film-registry/
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top