Cinema's greatest classics

[ajay124]

I recently made a top 12 which I would point to people as a starting contribution to this thread -

1. Greed
2. Heat
3. The Godfather
4. The Big Parade
5. Sunrise
6. American History X
7. The Rules Of The Game
8. Talk To Her
9. Murder In The First
10. Bolweiser
11. Cat On A Hot Tin Roof
12. Touch Of Evil

Out of these I have seen Rules of the game,Talk to her,Cat on a Hot Tin Roof,Touch of Evil,Godfather.Personally I would only include Renoir's Rules of the Game in my list of favorites.I am not a fan of Godfather,would not be able to sit through it now.Don't like Pacino or DeNiro anymore and would rather watch Brando in On The Waterfront and Streetcar Named Desire.

 

[longshanks]

Foreign language films would seem more attractive because having been exposed to so much of Hollywood films, it wouldn't seem as fresh. However, a huge amount of great films are produced in Hollywood today- the way art should be.

Yes your right, its just the film which matters no matter it gets made in Hollywood , Europe, Bollywood or japan or in Chennai.


Its a phase which goes like this : Indian movies --> Hollywood movies ----> foreign language movies.When one switches from Indian to Hollywood movies they find it really good and realistic and when they switch to foreign language movies they start hating Hollywood movies, but after watching all these for a while even foreign language movies start to look like trash.

At least that has been the experience for me so its just a few movies that i like now, it belongs to which part of the world or which language or if it was commercial successful or if the so called geniuses appreciated it all don't matter.

IMO movies can never be even remotely close to reality or perfection.

 

[ajay124]

Yes your right, its just the film which matters no matter it gets made in Hollywood , Europe, Bollywood or japan or in Chennai.


Its a phase which goes like this : Indian movies --> Hollywood movies ----> foreign language movies.When one switches from Indian to Hollywood movies they find it really good and realistic and when they switch to foreign language movies they start hating Hollywood movies, but after watching all these for a while even foreign language movies start to look like trash.

At least that has been the experience for me so its just a few movies that i like now, it belongs to which part of the world or which language or if it was commercial successful or if the so called geniuses appreciated it all don't matter.

IMO movies can never be even remotely close to reality or perfection.

Most of the films I have mentioned in the original post will never become 'trash'.Not for me at least.They are amongst the greatest achievements of the 20th century.Even if the entire cinema of India(and a lot of it deserves to)was to wither away Satyajit Ray's PATHER PANCHALI would remain as one of the most seminal,riveting and glorious human documents ever put on film.
Ultimately it's not about Indian,American and 'foreign' cinema.It's about good,bad and great films.The culture of making films in India and the US is more about making profits by selling maximum number of tickets (by addressing the lowest common denominator)and therefore the majority of the films made here are actually 'trash'.

 

[anandkrishnantc]

Hi Ajay,
"Class" is a reality in all the animal kingdom and human too. So among us the taste and character, behaviour , manners all varies.
Cinema is no exception. Unfortunately we are living in a country where in 99% of people are not bothered about growing intellectually .
this proportion increases among the Media people including Film "Industry" , journalists.
so let Bollywood movies go ahead and enthirans enthrall them... better stay away...

u know what I mean

 

[ajay124]

Hi Ajay,
"Class" is a reality in all the animal kingdom and human too. So among us the taste and character, behaviour , manners all varies.
Cinema is no exception. Unfortunately we are living in a country where in 99% of people are not bothered about growing intellectually .
this proportion increases among the Media people including Film "Industry" , journalists.
so let Bollywood movies go ahead and enthirans enthrall them... better stay away...

u know what I mean

Ultimately it's a personal choice.Does one want to become a human being or a robot?

 

[longshanks]

Most of the films I have mentioned in the original post will never become 'trash'.Not for me at least.

For you may be yes, my post was a personal opinion from what ive experienced through many number of cinema's ive seen.

.The culture of making films in India and the US is more about making profits by selling maximum number of tickets (by addressing the lowest common denominator)and

It requires a great talent to do that as well.

therefore the majority of the films made here are actually 'trash'.

A movie being considered good or bad by a human is again personal which depends upon many factors.

Majority of the film made here are trash is something what you learned through your movie viewing experience, i've learnt not always or even most of the times a foreign language film well approved by critics can be trash.

Just because a movie had commercial success does not make it trash or just because a movie had diff style of editing and failed commercially it becomes a masterpiece.

I just wanted to post my personal view cause thread is titled " Cinema's greatest classics" and that title does not have an accurate definition and it varies, also the thread was going in the direction i usually notice in many movie discussion forums that foreign language films are master pieces and rest are carp.

All movies are staged there is no real emotion or feelings involved in it.

 

[ajay124]

@rajapraveen80
You are welcome to post your personal views.That's what this or any other thread is all about.Diverse,individualistic and passionate opinions are what make a thread interesting.I seldom read threads where everybody seems to be doing and saying the same things.

"ALL MOVIES ARE STAGED.NO EMOTIONS INVOLVED." RAJAPRAVEEN

"WE ARE LIVING IN A COUNTRY WHERE 99% OF THE PEOPLE ARE NOT INTERESTED IN GROWING INTELLECTUALLY" ANANDKRISHNANTC

I DESPISE MAINSTREAM CINEMA AS IT CATERS TO AN AUDIENCE AND IS NOT A FREE EXPRESSION OF THE DIRECTOR'S VISION." PRATTERS

"CINEMA SHOULD HAVE A HEALTHY AMOUNT OF 'NAVRASAS'...ALL 9 EMOTIONS. MALVAI

"I DO NOT LIKE THE MAJORITY OF FILMS MADE FOR THE 'BOX OFFICE' BECAUSE THEY ARE PEOPLED BY CARICATURES RATHER THAN HUMAN BEINGS,PICTURE POSTCARDS RATHER THAN NATURE,PLOTS RATHER THAN A NATURAL UNFOLDING OF EVENTS." ME

All opinions are interesting,valid,welcome and equally important.

 

[longshanks]

^:thumbsup:

 

[Pratters]

Out of these I have seen Rules of the game,Talk to her,Cat on a Hot Tin Roof,Touch of Evil,Godfather.Personally I would only include Renoir's Rules of the Game in my list of favorites.I am not a fan of Godfather,would not be able to sitit now.Don't like Pacino or DeNiro anymore and would rather watch Brando in On The Waterfront and Streetcar Named Desire.

I have seen most of the films of Pacino. I haven't watched Serpico and a few others yet but whatever. Regarding Pacino - he is excessive in many of his roles including Heat but that is not related much to why I like it so much. Heat is a great film over all because of the way the story is told, the way it is shot. Mann is absolutely brilliant here.

Re Talk To Her, Cat On a Hot Tin Roof - I don't think you can grudge me for having them as my favorites. They are absolute gold standards IMO.

Godfather is one movie which is so much ingrained in pop culture that I can totally understand people not feeling much for it or feeling numb towards it.

DeNiro is a very good actor IMO. Just watch him in Once Upon o a Time in America. Brando is obviously way higher than DeNiro but this is a list of my favorite movies, not my favorite actors. If you like Brando so much, I suggest you watch a few Paul Muni films. He was the idol of Brando and is my favorite actor of all time. The others in the list you haven't watched, hmost are personal favorites which I can understand others not liking but I really recommend Touch of Evil. PLEASE watch it.

 

[Pratters]

IMO movies can never be even remotely close to reality or perfection.

Movies are an art form; a creative medium of expression. So don't think it is right to say a movie is 'perfect' or not.

Regarding it not coming close to reality - I disagree. Most movies are not close to reality but a fair few of them a re strikingly real. Among the 21st century films, the ones which immediately come to mind are Downfall and Lives of Others.

 

[wishihadtubes]

Hi ajay124
Good going on the list, mate. Some really great films on there. Tho personally I really don't care too much for most French films, you do have great taste.
As for me, I'm going through a bit of a Western phase now.

 

[Pratters]

Speaking of French films - Two great French films of the 21st century.

 

[ajay124]

Speaking of French films - Two great French films of the 21st century.

Michael Haneke's Cache(Hidden),starring Danny Auteil and Juliet Binoche is indeed a wonderful,riveting film.
Recent films from France which are also very good....
The Secret Of The Grain/Abdel Kechiche
La Vie En Rose/Olivier Dahen
The Diving Bell And The Butterfly/Julian Schnabel
The Class/Laurent Cantet

 

[sivasarjun]

Any recommendations for westerns?.

 

[ajay124]

Any recommendations for westerns?.

Westerns are made in Hollywood (apart from the spaghetti/italian ones) and I don't watch Hollywood films anymore.
But as a teenager in the 70's I remember watching in cinema halls in Simla
Mackenna's Gold
Red Sun
Stagecoach
Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
The Searchers
Rio Bravo
Fistful Of Dollar's
The Good,The Bad,The Ugly
For A Few Dollars More
The Magnificient Seven
Breakheart Pass
Don't think many western's are being made now.The last famous one being Unforgettables(Clint Eastwood),Dances With Wolves(Kevin Costner),Quick And The Dead(Sharon Stone).
A lot of ideas for westerns were borrowed from Akira Kurosawa's Samurai movies like Yojimbo,Sanjuro and Seven Samurai.Seven Samurai "inspired" The Magnificient Seven in Hollywood and Sholay in Bollywood.But they only borrowed the outer skin of Seven Samurai and the entire sub-text of how 'the people overthrow the yoke of a bandit regime and become a nation' was missing.:sad:
If you really want to see some remarkable 'action' films check out Kurosawa's masterpieces RAN,KAGEMUSHA,THRONE OF BLOOD.

 

[suri]

Any recommendations for westerns?.

no, absolutely, you must forget all the past and look at -

Austin Powers - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

best of luck -

and remember that movies are meant to entertain -

not suppress!

regds

 

[ajay124]

@Suri
Since you are a fan of Shakespeare,You should check out Kurosawa's Ran(King Lear) and Throne Of Blood(Macbeth).Most critics agree they live up to the genius of the Bard!

 

[sivasarjun]

Great fan of Kurasawa.Have atleast 20,25 of his films.Personal favourites Rashomon,seven samurai,Red Beard,Hidden fortress and many others.Personally was not too impressed with Ran and Throne of blood.

Agree magnificient seven was a complete diappoitment after seven samurai.
Asked about westerns because remember watching mackennas gold as a youngster. not a big fan of hollywood generally.

 

[ajay124]

Great fan of Kurasawa.Have atleast 20,25 of his films.Personal favourites Rashomon,seven samurai,Red Beard,Hidden fortress and many others.Personally was not too impressed with Ran and Throne of blood.

Agree magnificient seven was a complete diappoitment after seven samurai.
Asked about westerns because remember watching mackennas gold as a youngster. not a big fan of hollywood generally.

My favorite Kurosawa's would be in order
Ran
Kagemusha
Throne Of Blood
Roshomon
Ikiru
Dersu Uzala
Seven Samurai
Have the complete box set of his movies.Something like 46-47.But have only seen half of them.Some are without sub titles.Am in no hurry to finish the collection.

 

[sivasarjun]

Where do you buy them from?