Cinema's greatest classics

[sam9s]

@sam9s
''You got some very impressive list there and I am surprised with that list in hand you still quit hollywood viewing.''

I will try to explain why I don't like Hollywood films anymore.Before I begin I would like to state that the intention is not to offend any fan of these films.The way I look at them is just my personal opinion.Could be totally,completely wrong...
Among the few Hollywood films I have seen in recent decades are Pulp Fiction,Kill Bill 1 & 2,No Country For Old Men.These films are well planned,well executed and have a distinct directorial style.They have won worldwide acclaim from critics and fans alike.Oscar's too.But for me the subtext of these films was that they were an unabashed hymn to violence.They glorify and revel in it.They make violence seem sexy,desirable,fashionable.The camera turns gloatingly,lovingly,seductively on weapons of mass destruction.The landscape is strewn with dead bodies.These film's have big stars.John travolta!Uma Thurman!Tommy Lee Jones!Javier Bardem!But the real stars of these films are an 'interesting' 'esoteric' and 'odd' variety of glinting ,menacing weapons maiming,torturing and killing people.To relieve the images of blood and gore these films pack in wisecracks and oneliners which are supposed to be funny but personally they leave me stonecold bored and disgusted with their weak attempts at making violence look amusing.Sure,No Country has a humanist ending tacked on in the form of Tommy Lee Jones' soliloque.But that is just the 10 l-a-s-t minutes after 110 minutes of mindless murder and mayhem.The IMDb site says that No Country For Old Men won 4 Oscar's,another 94 wins and 45 nominations---so it is quite possible that I am wrong and all those folks handing out awards and nominations are right....

To begin, Kill Bill Series were just OK for me, not the fav from QT. But No Country for Old Men" despite of its very unconventional ending (but then thats Coen brothers) was superb.
But I think you are generalizing the entire hollywood with a couple of recent examples. There are far far better movis in your list than Kill Bill series and infact No Country For Old Men as well.
Let me put my point, every aspect of a film making can be put in to zillions of perspectivs and presented to the audience, thats where a filmmaker differs. True a move can glorify Violence but the way its presented, the style, the technique, frame moment, angle, all can make a similar shot look a classic and an ordinary. Then again it also depends on the indivisual how he/she takes that frame shot. I am not saying the screenplay/script does not play any role, its the combination of everything that brings out the product. All i am saying is just because you do not like violence in any means does not mean that it cannot be portrayed in a classic manner and appriciated by serious movie buffs as well. At the end it just boils down to personal preference I for that matter is blessed to enjoy all kinds of cinima, I can appriciate a full blown commercial movie as Armagaddon to a higly violent movies like Ichie the killer and cannibal holocaust to utmost disturbing drama like Holy Smoke............Anyway I am sure with couple of recomandations and sharing we can bring you back in to the lost hope of Hollywood. There still are loads of stuff to ponder here....

 

[sam9s]

Really? That is sad, man!

But then one has to take their hat off for the CGI specialists. The Table tennis ball moves at serious speeds indeed. A lot of people dont realize that.

I dont know if you are being scarstic here, but the scene when Hanks is shown shaking hands with JFK is even better.........it is so realisticly made.....

 

[ajay124]

Some links for folks who are interested in world cinema....
ENLIGHTEN.CO.IN :: Films
Lumire Movies Contemporary Cinema Movies Theatricals Forums Blogs Reviews Awards Festivals News
World Cinema | BIGFlix DVD Rental - India's Largest Movie Rental Service. Rent Movies, Television Shows, Documentaries, Plays and Kids' Videos.
Bright Lights Film Journal :: February 2010 | Issue 67
notcoming.com | Not Coming to a Theater Near You

 

[thevortex]

I dont know if you are being scarstic here, but the scene when Hanks is shown shaking hands with JFK is even better.........it is so realisticly made.....

No, Sam9, I was certainly not being sarcastic. I just did not realize that the whole table tennis set of scenes were CGI. It comes as a shock really.

Yes, the JFK part was neatly done although that I was able to make out as animation.

 

[ajay124]

Would like to say something about HOW we watch films.For a long time now cinema for me has meant festivals arranged by various embassies,wanting to showcase the cinema of their country in our cities.Living in Chandigarh we have had fairly regular and continuous access to great films from around the world,because of the efforts of a few good men.My heart felt thanks to their labor of love.
Until a few years back this meant hastily organizing a free venue in the form of a college or some institutional auditorium complete with its broken down sound system and projector.Ah!The heartbreak of having a monumental film stop midway because the equipment broke down.Or because a whole reel was missing!Many first timers were put off by the pre historic conditions under which these great films were being screened.On several unfortunate occasions my 'mainstream film watching' friends tittered and laughed heartily not only at the antique equipment,the audience numbering 10-12 odd looking people,most of whom had come alone and even at what they termed the 'silly' Bergman or Kurosawa being screened.They were mentally comparing it to their usual experience of buying tickets in black and sitting in a full house contentedly consuming their popcorns and cokes and watching some stupid mannequins play 'love' games and 'war games' in some obscene,disgusting kitsch....
In recent years things have improved considerably with embassies sending DVD's and a laptop or a player being hooked up to a handy DVD projector.
Watching films on a computer screen/television/LCD is a tragic compromise where cinema looses most of its charm.Therefore I feel the most important part of a home theatre is a DVD projector.All the other equipment should be built around it.Since I NEVER EVER watch television personally I would never consider buying an LCD or Plasma....

 

[ajay124]

Currently my 4 year old daughter is hooked to watching 'soldier soldier' on You Tube.Watching her trip out on Anu Malik's nursery rhyme got me in the mood for this post.I believe that the point of all mainstream cinema Hollywood,Bollywood or elsewhere is to reduce life to an infantile level where the largest number of ticket buyers can relate to it.I have watched(from a safe distance) films like Titanic,Avatar,Lord of the rings,Dark Knight,Spiderman,DDLJ,HAHK,KKHH,Ghajini,3 Idiots etc etc storm the box office and all I feel is despair at the huge kindergarten our whole planet has been reduced to.For this I primarily blame Hollywood,for me the biggest villain of the 20th century.How do I protect my daughter from this Darth Vader and from his side kick Lord Voldemort(Television)?

 

[suri]

Audition, Ichi The Killer

well -

this is the one movie - that

made me feel alive -

this is a must-watch movie for persons who love senseless violence - completely depraved! - and i am loving it -

when Ichi goes in - and slices - guts fly out - blood coats the ceiling - and half-heads slide down a blood-greased wall!

the best scene - is when Ichi holds the head of the ................... and cries!

at the end of the movie!

edit - this movie is meant only for the depraved - and "strong of heart"

 

[ajay124]

Well,at least unabashed violence is more honest than the sugar coated 'oscar winning' variety.

 

[suri]

Among the few Hollywood films I have seen in recent decades are Kill Bill 1 & 2,Uma Thurman!

hey ajay124,

no wonder i took a liking to you - !

it was an, absolutely, submersive experience for me with-

kill bill 1

and

ichi the killer.

well hehehehe

regds
suri

edit - yes - that movie - kill -bill 1 was completely off-base!!

 

[suri]

Currently my 4 year old daughter is hooked to watching 'soldier soldier' on You Tube.Watching her trip out on Anu Malik's nursery rhyme got me in the mood for this post.I believe that the point of all mainstream cinema Hollywood,Bollywood or elsewhere is to reduce life to an infantile level where the largest number of ticket buyers can relate to it.I have watched(from a safe distance) films like Titanic,Avatar,Lord of the rings,Dark Knight,Spiderman,DDLJ,HAHK,KKHH,Ghajini,3 Idiots etc etc storm the box office and all I feel is despair at the huge kindergarten our whole planet has been reduced to.For this I primarily blame Hollywood,for me the biggest villain of the 20th century.How do I protect my daughter from this Darth Vader and from his side kick Lord Voldemort(Television)?

go with the flow

- and let your daughter find her own level.

 

[longshanks]

Here are a few that come to my mind, which i liked very much.


Irreversible --- Gaspar Noe
Exotica -----Atom Egoyan
Y tu mam tambin -- Alfonso Cuarn
Breatherless --- Godard

 

[metalmickey]

terminator 2!...started the entire graphix in movie thing?!.

 

[cavaries]

Before you decide for sure if Hollywood is dead to you, you need to experience Inception. You want to talk about a director's medium? There ya go

 

[suri]

Before you decide for sure if Hollywood is dead to you, you need to experience Inception. You want to talk about a director's medium? There ya go

but-

you got to see this when? - in the future? - like - day-after-tomorrow?

 

[metalmickey]

hmmmm?!....sean penn's-into the wild....awesome flick,great camerawork,music by eddie vedder(pearl jam!),neat acting and A TRUE STORY too!!!!!!!!!.......heard of the blue bus?...dunno whether ppl here wud label em classic but on my liking i consider it one!......meant a lot wen i was going thru the worst time of my life!!!!!!!!!

Into the Wild (2007)

Into the Wild - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[Kevian]

recently watched One flew over cuckoo's nest.....no words...jack nicholson did a splendid job..and Chief?? he just dropped my jaws:clapping:.....a must watch for classic drama movie buffs

 

[ajay124]

@venkus_narelius
'one flew over the cuckoo's nest'

Vintery, mintery, cutery, corn,
Apple seed and apple thorn,
Wire, briar, limber lock
Three geese in a flock
One flew East
One flew West
And one flew over the cuckoo's nest

If you want to understand the counter culture which imbued the 60's with its special magic,read the book by Ken Keasy on which the film was based.Also William Burrough's Naked Lunch,Allen Ginsberg's Howl! Jack Kerouac's On The Road,Norman Mailer's Armies of the Night,JD Salinger's Catcher in the Rye,Joseph Heller's Catch 22 and Henry Miller's Tropic of Cancer and Sexus/Nexus/Plexus.All the superstars of rock music were simply ripping of ideas borrowed from these books,watering them down into childish lyrics and laughing all the way to the bank.The sheer hypocrisy of these big bad rockers is appaling.They cursed and ranted and raved against the establishment yet were part of it all along.In their old age they have been granted knighthoods and of course billions of dollars in royalties and yet as the song goes -I can get no satisfaction!
*Hypocrisy is a vice from which all of us suffer and not just the rock stars.
*Although I don't listen to either of them anymore I believe the Rolling Stones were better than the Beatles.John Lennon solo was better than both the bands!'Imagine' was one of the best 10 albums which came out of this era.'Yoko' is my favorite love songs.'In the middle of a shave I call your name oooooh Yoko!
....Lennon chose Love over the Beatles.More power to him!

 

[thevortex]

hmmmm?!....sean penn's-into the wild....awesome flick,great camerawork,music by eddie vedder(pearl jam!),neat acting and A TRUE STORY too!!!!!!!!!.......heard of the blue bus?...dunno whether ppl here wud label em classic but on my liking i consider it one!......meant a lot wen i was going thru the worst time of my life!!!!!!!!!

Into the Wild (2007)

Into the Wild - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I was thinking nobody here had seen this movie! Truly meaningful movie. Call it a Classic or a masterpiece.

Dialogue is only there when it is needed. Imagery, thoughts and inspiration - that is what this movie left me with. Highly recommended.

 

[longshanks]

^ Ive seen it a couple of years ago, the movie was excellent IMO and it really attracted me into it.The cinematography was brilliant too.

What was so great was that the fact Sean pen managed to make such a fine movie in spite of casting Emile Hirsch and Kristen Stewart.

 

[ajay124]

How come no one ever mentions our very own Satyajit Ray?He made some brilliant films.
PATHAR PANCHALI
APARAJITO
APUR SANSAR
CHARULATA
JALSAGHAR
JANA ARANYA
PRATIDWANDI
GHARE BAIRE
And if you look at the c... Bollywood was churning out in those days Ray's accomplishments are all the more inspiring.