I thought I would start a movie thread. I don’t know many people who love movies more than me. I worked at Hollywood Video for two years while in college, so I got to watch anything I wanted for free! Anyways, I thought I would list a few of my favorite movies for certain genres! Oh, I’m also going to keep it to movies from the past 10-15 years.
Comedy…Swingers, Dumb and Dumber, Austin Powers, American Pie, Happy Gilmore, Rushmore, Being John Malkovich, Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels
Thriller…Seven, Mulholland Drive, Memento, The Ring, The Usual Suspects
Action…The Rock, Minority Report, The Matrix, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, Black Hawk Down, Face Off
I could go on and on. But I just wrote down some movies that popped in my head right off the bat. I am hoping that people will have comments and add their own thoughts! I look forward to talkin movies with ya!
You have good taste. Shawshank is the best ever in my opinion. Some others: The Game, Braveheart, Gangs of New York, Rocky, Glory. As far as comedies: The Big Lebowski, Raising Arizona, Ferris Bueller, The Blue Brothers, Animal House, Something About Mary, and on and on. There is nothing better than a good comedy.
Tony, I also enjoyed many of the movies you listed, but I’m afraid I’m a little disturbed by the commercial theme of some of your faves. Although I’m not saying that a commercially succesful movie can’t also have artistic merit, its just that often what appeals to the majority is designed to appeal to the majority, and therefore formulaic at best (ie The Rock, Face Off. etc.)
But rather than criticize what you like on the grounds that its not obscure enough to be good (a pretentious position film buffs often take, which I truly hate), I would like to offer a few gems of my own that I suggest you check.
1- Anything by Joel & Ethan Coen (especially The Big Lebowski, Barton Fink, Fargo). Yes. I’d just like to say that it?s of vital importance to the world that there is at least one filmmaker still drawing on literary influences for inspiration, rather than other films. Without this kind of continuity, we risk the annihilation of our own intellectual history.
Can I break your 15 year old cut off? Oh all right, I’ll save that for another thread.
The problem I have with this list is that it’s simply relegating movies into specific genres. Doing many of these movies a disservice - since so many are very rich in context. Like, “Swingers”, for example. IMO, it’s much more than a comedy. And is “Pulp Fiction” really just a drama? I didn’t think so. And “Crouching Tiger” a action flick? What about romance? Drama? “Minority Report” - could be sci fi, drama and it also had some excellent social commentary.
But what I also see in lists is not so much the genre/title/story but the person responsible for the movie. The director. I think Scorsese and I think of "Raging Bull". Or "After Hours". Or "King of Comedy". I see "Coen Brothers" and I think of their first, which, IMO, is STILL their best: "Blood Simple". I see Waschowski Brothers and think of "Bound" (fabulous flick). I see Ang Lee and I think of one of my favorites: "Eat, Drink, Man, Woman". I see Quentin Tarrantino and I think "Resevoir Dogs". I see Steven Spielberg and I think "Close Encounters", "JAWS", or "The Duel". I see Ridley Scott and I think, "Alien" and "The Duellists". I see John Woo and I think "The Killer", "Hard Boiled" (my all time fave action flick...GOD how I love this film) or "A Better Tomorrow". David Lynch? Gotta think "Blue Velvet".
And you know, I really dig the fun, cheesy flicks of the 80's. Like "Beast Master", "Flash Gordon", "Big Trouble in Little China", "Buckaroo Bonzai" - man, I LOVE these movies. I can watch these over and over again ( and do). And let us not forget about the documentary. Some excellent ones come to mind: "When They Were Kings" and "Hoop Dreams". Here's something I like to do if I'm looking for a DVD to rent: I get two movies. One I have absolutely no knowledge about and it's something that I normally wouldn't see. To you know, expand my "movie range" and then I get something I've been wanting to see.
I agree. And if anyone thought Scarface was a Bad ass movie, you should definatly check out John Woo’s “The Killer” starring: Chow Yun Fat. and Danny Lee. I also like “God of the Gamblers” director Wong Jing. Starring Chow Yun Fat also.
Bryan…I totally agree with you about the “commercialized” picks I posted earlier in my list! I only put Face Off and The Rock in my lists…well, because I just picked a few off the top of my head. And just so you know…I LOVE artistic movies: here a few other ones that are my favs;
Sexy Beast, The Royal Tenenbaums, Vanilla Sky, Out of Sight, Jackie Brown…shit, I could go on and on
Patricia…sorry about generalizing the movie list. I agree with you on all apects. Pulp Fiction is much more than a drama, and Crouching Tiger is MUCH more than an action film. And I agree with you that the DIRECTOR makes the movie. I think PT Anderson is a genius (Hard Eight, Boogie Nights, Magnolia, Punch Drunk Love) are all amazing movies. Some other favs are David Fincher (Seven, Fight Club, Panic Room), Wes Anderson (Bottle Rocket, Rushmore, The Royal Tenenbaums, Spike Jonze (Being John Malkovich, Adaptation), Steven Soderberg (Traffic, Out of Sight, Erin Brockovich), def Scorsese (GoodFellas, Casino, Gangs of New York), Speilberg has to make the list, another one that comes to mind is Darren Aronofsky(Sp?) (Pie, Requiem For A Dream). In any case, I think a director makes or breaks a movie. Any thoughts?
Ok, i might have missed it in your reply’s but really, what movie, any catagorey, can top Forest Gump, none. American Pie and AP2 were hillarious, Fight Club was also an awsome pic