Author Topic: Top 5 Movies You Should Watch but Can't  (Read 13176 times)

tinyholidays

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Re: Top 5 Movies You Should Watch but Can't
« Reply #70 on: June 28, 2014, 12:40:50 PM »
Well said, 'noff.

I don't have much of that gangster inclination, and I was really uncomfortable watching Barry Lyndon because of all the deception in it, but I think my reaction speaks to the depth of character Kubrick presents there. I appreciate it more as a moving oil painting, but I think that you can take away from it whatever you bring to it, much like 2001. It certainly doesn't dwell on tedium. There are battles, for chris's sake.

smirnoff

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Re: Top 5 Movies You Should Watch but Can't
« Reply #71 on: June 28, 2014, 01:59:12 PM »
I don't have much of that gangster inclination, and I was really uncomfortable watching Barry Lyndon because of all the deception in it

It is uncomfortable isn't it. All these characters, be it Jordan Belfort, Gordon Gecko, Henry Hill or Barry Lyndon, whatever ultimately happened to them, they all achieved a level of wealth and power that during it's height seemed to validate their ugly worldview. That "greed is good", that "There's no nobility in poverty", that "To be a gangster was to own the world", or to "let those laugh that win". I think the strength of the films is that the characters' philosophies are not the films' philosophies... that their wealth and power do not endure, and their worldviews are not a law of nature but a temporary state. The universe will restore it's equilibrium. The larger the imbalance, the more severe the reaction. This point may be lost on the short-sighted Gorden Gecko wannabe's of the world, or perhaps they they simply don't care. I can understand that... the allure of wealth and power is relateable. And even when it's gone you're not sad for having had it, but for having lost it.

"And that's the hardest part. Today everything is different; there's no action... have to wait around like everyone else. Can't even get decent food - right after I got here, I ordered some spaghetti with marinara sauce, and I got egg noodles and ketchup. I'm an average nobody... get to live the rest of my life like a schnook."

If the world could all live like gods, that would be one thing. But we can't. There will be haves and have-nots. Ultimately I think these films all come to much the same conclusion.

Verite

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Re: Top 5 Movies You Should Watch but Can't
« Reply #72 on: June 29, 2014, 04:16:49 AM »
1.) Reds - Seldom do actors produce great films as directors. I know it's gained almost universal acclaim, but I have no prima facie desire to devote over three hours to something that might not do anything interesting visually.

The cinematography is superb.  It's top tier Storaro.  The film has much more to offer, too.
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verbALs

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Re: Top 5 Movies You Should Watch but Can't
« Reply #73 on: June 29, 2014, 04:22:18 AM »
1.) Reds - Seldom do actors produce great films as directors.


Paddy Considine- Tyrannosaur
Gary Oldman- Nil by Mouth
Clint Eastwood- Unforgiven
Cassavettes- Faces

I'll stop now.
I used to encourage everyone I knew to make art; I don't do that so much anymore. - Banksy

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Re: Top 5 Movies You Should Watch but Can't
« Reply #74 on: June 29, 2014, 12:16:14 PM »
1.) Reds - Seldom do actors produce great films as directors.


Paddy Considine- Tyrannosaur
Gary Oldman- Nil by Mouth
Clint Eastwood- Unforgiven
Cassavettes- Faces

I'll stop now.

Although I don't think that's a particularly large sample size, you can certainly add Laughton, Affleck, Spike Lee and a host of others. I suppose I should have said, "actors directing great films is still disproportionately low when compared to those who fail."

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Re: Top 5 Movies You Should Watch but Can't
« Reply #75 on: June 29, 2014, 12:18:49 PM »
2.) Barry Lyndon - The reputation it's gained for being "boring" has turned me off of it, sadly.

And reading the plot synopsis only reinforces that idea, right? That's certainly how I felt about it. The only reason I gave it a try was because I was filling in the blanks in Kubrick's filmography.

It turned out to be much more than I had imagined. It's the kind of story that someone like Scorsese would be attracted to telling I think, as he's made many thematically related films just like it. The most similar being his most recent, The Wolf of Wall Street... but it has shades of Goodfellas, Casino and The Aviator as well. It's about that kind of a character. A character with a particular kind of ambition that is their greatest strength and greatest weakness. If some small part of you relates, or did relate, to the wistfully spoken line "as far back as I can remember I always wanted to be a gangster", then some small part of you will also understand Barry Lyndon the film, and appreciate what it has to say on the topic.

And now remember of whom we are speaking. Kubrick. Replace the razzle-dazzle of Scorsese with the methodical hypnosis that is Kubrick's trademark. One does not get the impression that anything in the film was there by accident, or because it was convenient. The detail is meticulous, and all encompassing. Is it boring? It is in the same way 2001 was boring, or Full Metal Jacket... that is to say, it moves at such a pace. It has the potential to be boring. But if you  survived those films than I think you will survive Barry Lyndon too. And after ruminating on it, as one is forced to do with such films, you may find that you love it also, or perhaps are compelled to see it again, so deep were it's wrinkles.

This was a galvanizing post. I'll try to watch it soon.

smirnoff

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Re: Top 5 Movies You Should Watch but Can't
« Reply #76 on: June 29, 2014, 02:48:53 PM »
I look forward to hearing you take on it. :)

tfresca

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Re: Top 5 Movies You Should Watch but Can't
« Reply #77 on: October 27, 2014, 10:24:06 PM »
12 Years A Slave. I don't care how many awards it won. I'll never watch it.

1SO

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Re: Top 5 Movies You Should Watch but Can't
« Reply #78 on: October 27, 2014, 10:41:05 PM »
How come? If I had to guess, I'd say subject matter but maybe you have a particular problem with someone involved in the making of the film.