Poll

Which of these is your LEAST favorite?

Alien
1 (3.6%)
Aliens
1 (3.6%)
Brazil
1 (3.6%)
City of God
2 (7.1%)
A Clockwork Orange
3 (10.7%)
Close Encounters of the Third Kind
1 (3.6%)
Dawn of the Dead (1978)
2 (7.1%)
Die Hard
0 (0%)
The Godfather
0 (0%)
The Good, The Bad and The Ugly
0 (0%)
Goodfellas
2 (7.1%)
The Graduate
5 (17.9%)
Jaws
1 (3.6%)
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
3 (10.7%)
Pulp Fiction
0 (0%)
Raiders of the Lost Ark
0 (0%)
Schindler's List
0 (0%)
The Silence of the Lambs
0 (0%)
Sunset Blvd.
0 (0%)
Toy Story
0 (0%)
Who Framed Roger Rabbit
6 (21.4%)

Total Members Voted: 28

Author Topic: 1SO's Final Group: Which is Your LEAST Favorite?  (Read 12799 times)

Bill Thompson

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Re: 1SO's Final Group: Which is Your LEAST Favorite?
« Reply #20 on: March 30, 2011, 08:40:57 PM »
You keep using B-movie like it is a bad thing.

It's only a bad thing when people think it's loftier than that. I love B-movies, but I call a spade a spade.

B movies can be great though, the original Dawn Of The Dead is a B movie to the very core, but it is also what I would consider a loftier film and one of the best of all time.

Sam the Cinema Snob

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Re: 1SO's Final Group: Which is Your LEAST Favorite?
« Reply #21 on: March 30, 2011, 08:43:51 PM »
Alien is a B-Movie. It's also one of the best films ever made.

FroHam X

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Re: 1SO's Final Group: Which is Your LEAST Favorite?
« Reply #22 on: March 30, 2011, 08:49:45 PM »
What FroHam is saying is that Star Wars has more fantasy tropes than sci-fi. Yes, the setting is sci-fi, but when you look at the tropes of the genre, it isn't in line with most sci-fi flicks.

It actually has many of the same tropes of classic science fiction, so what you're saying really isn't true. But, it's really a tomato/tomato thing, fantasy and science fiction are so close to one another in so many ways and overlap often.

To me the distinction is not in the setting, but in the content. True science fiction explores scientific ideas and concepts and technologies within a fictional context. Star Wars may have a little bit of this in the use of holograms and laser swords and space and aliens, but those all have analogues in fantasy. I'll settle for science fiction fantasy, but I was just trying to make clear that Star Wars is much closer to a fantasy film than anything resembling "hard" sci-fi.


2. You ever considered taking another look at Close Encounters? It's not my #2 film of all time for nothing. The plot is very simple, but the arc of the plot is far from simple. It's a complex drama about a man yearning for something more in his life, more even than his beautiful family. His journey to discovering that is fraught with obstacles both external and internal, and along the way he actually hurts his family. Plus, a simple narrative does not have to be a negative. Close Encounters uses the power of visuals, editing, sound and music to create an identifiable reality for its characters and then introduces real awe and wonder within those confines. It's a beautiful film and it's far more complex than mere bright flashing lights and special effects.

For you maybe, but not for me. I don't care for films that are steeped in special effects. I have tried re-watching many times in last 30 years, but every time I do, I feel my intelligence is being insulted. You mention the music, OK I'll bite. If these aliens can traverse through space for light years, don't you think that they would have the ability to monitor our transmissions? Wouldn't they be able to come up with a make shift attempt at one of the more popular spoken languages? No, they use a few musical notes and are so giddy at their success, they decide to have a free form space jam. I was on the floor laughing at that scene.

For a guy who seems to reject b-movies and special effects movies, you sure seem to be picking apart the movie on technicalities. Yeah, the aliens probably could have found a better way to communicate, but Close Encounters is not interested in that sort of thinking. It is a highly spiritual film in nature, and yeah, you could probably say that in The Ten Commandments God could have just come down and pimp-smacked Pharaoh personally and all would have been over, but that would be completely and utterly missing the point. Right, Sam?
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Antares

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Re: 1SO's Final Group: Which is Your LEAST Favorite?
« Reply #23 on: March 30, 2011, 08:55:23 PM »
Quote from: FroHam Bickle link=topic=9911.msg583962#
For a guy who seems to reject b-movies and special effects movies, you sure seem to be picking apart the movie on technicalities. Yeah, the aliens probably could have found a better way to communicate, but Close Encounters is not interested in that sort of thinking. It is a highly spiritual film in nature, and yeah, you could probably say that in The Ten Commandments God could have just come down and pimp-smacked Pharaoh personally and all would have been over, but that would be completely and utterly missing the point. Right, Sam?

I DON'T HATE B-MOVIES

My point is that both stories could have been used in a 50's sci-fi film, 20 years earlier. They are not steeped in scientific reality.
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Sam the Cinema Snob

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Re: 1SO's Final Group: Which is Your LEAST Favorite?
« Reply #24 on: March 30, 2011, 09:00:26 PM »
Correct, FroHam. I think there's something far more intriguing about the mystery presented that would just be dull if aliens started talking in English to everyone.

Also, asking for scientific accuracy in films confuses me. I'm completely baffled by people who try to apply the rules of physics and science to films which clearly exist in the realm of the fantastic..

Bill Thompson

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Re: 1SO's Final Group: Which is Your LEAST Favorite?
« Reply #25 on: March 30, 2011, 09:05:11 PM »
Terrible
18) The Graduate
17) Close Encounters Of The Third Kind

Ah...the cavalry comes over the hill. Thanks Bill

No problem, pard.  :)

FroHam X

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Re: 1SO's Final Group: Which is Your LEAST Favorite?
« Reply #26 on: March 30, 2011, 09:06:26 PM »
Why do they need to be? Close Encounters has a simple story, but it is not even close to a simple execution. It's a perfect blending of 70s American New Wave sensibility with regards to realism of setting and character while adding in the high spiritual stakes of meeting beings from another World. It's always amazing to me that the same film that has that final 20 minutes of light and music also contains a scene in which the lead character essentially rejects his family and causes them so much pain they are forced to leave him in a hurry. It's a complex film dealing with complex characters, complex emotions and complex ideas. It may be set in the context of a relatively simple narrative and a lot of special effects and loud noises, but so what? The loud noises and bright lights of Close Encounters are just as valid an expression as the somber black and white of The 400 Blows. Two films that have a lot more in common than just Truffaut.
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Bondo

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Re: 1SO's Final Group: Which is Your LEAST Favorite?
« Reply #27 on: March 30, 2011, 09:06:37 PM »
They are not steeped in scientific reality.

They are called science fiction, not science fact.

Antares

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Re: 1SO's Final Group: Which is Your LEAST Favorite?
« Reply #28 on: March 30, 2011, 09:12:42 PM »
It's a perfect blending of 70s American New Wave sensibility with regards to realism of setting and character

Can you expound upon this, because this part baffles me. It sounds like film school blarney.

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Antares

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Re: 1SO's Final Group: Which is Your LEAST Favorite?
« Reply #29 on: March 30, 2011, 09:17:01 PM »
They are not steeped in scientific reality.

They are called science fiction, not science fact.

If it has the word science in it, then it should deal with fact.
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