If there was one movie you think everyone should see what would it be?

[Pierce Hawthorne]

Picking just one feels impossible honestly.

Probably Whiplash though. I think that's legitimately my favorite movie of all time.


Interstellar, Good Will Hunting, Saving Private Ryan would all get serious consideration as well though.

 

[Blue and Green]

I'll offer two choices, from very different eras, with very different moods.

Blade Runner
The General

 

[bellagiobob]

If you enjoy the Kill Bill type of movies, a bit of an under the radar pick is Shoot 'Em Up (2007), with Clive Owen, Paul Giamatti and Monica Bellucci. It takes the genre to the extreme, with a bit of an absurd comedic twist, and a play on the excessiveness of the genre in general. To say it is action packed is an understatement.

 

[Hierso]

12 Angry Men

Is it my favorite movie of all time? No, is it in my top-10? Yes. The reason i picked it is because it just shows how little you actually need to make a movie that's great. In terms of production it could have been a stage play. The movie was made for under 4 000 000$ in todays money.

 

[Kiwi]

Misery

It's a great film, doesn't have the gore of your usual horror movie but some of the things that happen make you cringe at the thought of it

 

[Osprey]

12 Angry Men

Is it my favorite movie of all time? No, is it in my top-10? Yes. The reason i picked it is because it just shows how little you actually need to make a movie that's great. In terms of production it could have been a stage play. The movie was made for under 4 000 000$ in todays money.

Excellent pick. I wish I'd thought of it. Besides being a great example of filmmaking, what it says about prejudice, jumping to conclusions and responsibility is something that anyone of any age or background could benefit from and apply in daily life. BTW, it was a stage play.

 

[the valiant effort]

I also love the ‘97 version of 12 Angry Men

 

[Bourque]

Schindler's List

 

[Rodgerwilco]

Do you really?

(still waiting for your comment on Last Year at Marienbad!!)

Bumped it up to next on my list and got around to watching this one in 2 different sittings over the weekend. My first impression is that I regret that my French isn't nearly up to snuff to follow this movie without subtitles lol.

Very intriguing film for sure. It's interesting that we the viewers, as well as the characters, don't really quite know exactly what's going on in the big scheme. I tend to have an instinct of trying to figure out what's going to happen, and I realized pretty quickly that I'd have to turn that off for this one.

I found the overall vibe of the film is pretty entrancing from the unsettling vibes, the score, and the way the story is presented throughout. Great recommendation, but could be a tough watch for a lot of people.

I did some reading on the film afterwards in an attempt to "get" it (which quickly seemed like a fool's errand) and found the comments of the Alain Resnais to be pretty interesting. An in-depth interview with him made me abandon the idea of trying to "understand" the film with any level of certainty. Here's the interview if you're interested.

I've seen you mention it in other threads before and am glad you nudged me more to watch it. Will surely watch it again sometime in the future to see what other kind of interpretations I have.

 

[Rodgerwilco]

Have you seen Youngblood yet?

Rather delayed response, but yes I have lol.

 

[Rodgerwilco]

Easy first choice: Satyajit Ray's Pather Panchali.

Runners Up: Casablanca; The Double Life of Veronique

Pather made the list.

Love Casablanca addition, one of my all-time favorites.

 

[Pranzo Oltranzista]

Bumped it up to next on my list and got around to watching this one in 2 different sittings over the weekend. My first impression is that I regret that my French isn't nearly up to snuff to follow this movie without subtitles lol.

Very intriguing film for sure. It's interesting that we the viewers, as well as the characters, don't really quite know exactly what's going on in the big scheme. I tend to have an instinct of trying to figure out what's going to happen, and I realized pretty quickly that I'd have to turn that off for this one.

I found the overall vibe of the film is pretty entrancing from the unsettling vibes, the score, and the way the story is presented throughout. Great recommendation, but could be a tough watch for a lot of people.

I did some reading on the film afterwards in an attempt to "get" it (which quickly seemed like a fool's errand) and found the comments of the Alain Resnais to be pretty interesting. An in-depth interview with him made me abandon the idea of trying to "understand" the film with any level of certainty. Here's the interview if you're interested.

I've seen you mention it in other threads before and am glad you nudged me more to watch it. Will surely watch it again sometime in the future to see what other kind of interpretations I have.

If you try to understand the "story", you'll indeed spiral into infinity (which is not unpleasant). I think you need to understand the film as an "écriture". The interview posted was a fun read (thx!) - there's another interesting take from Robbe-Grillet (as much as I love Resnais and as I think he is a mastermind of cinema, I still think the film must be read first through Robbe-Grillet's signature) in this interview . It's in French (sorry), but he hints at the importance of understanding the film as a construction (and in this case, with a game at its core). He hints at it too in the interview you posted, saying: "The Cinema is a technique which displays itself. It is the unmasking of that technique which creates a truth." His books also must be approached with reflexivity and the writing process in mind, especially the Gradiva one, which is mostly a very dense intertext.

If you are ever curious, the 1974 adaptation of L'invenzione di Morel is also a great film and a very interesting variation on some of the same themes, but conceived in a more grounded sci-fi approach. It proposes a different path in interpretation for sure. The interview you posted brushes over some similarities, but I'm pretty sure it was confirmed that Robbe-Grillet used the novel as main inspiration for Marienbad.

 

[Chairman Maouth]

Marathon Man with Hoffman and Olivier.

At Close Range with Christopher Walken and Sean Penn. Penn is excellent, but Walken leaves Penn in the dust. How Walken wasn't nominated for an Oscar is beyond me.

 

[TheGreenTBer]

Marathon Man with Hoffman and Olivier.

At Close Range with Christopher Walken and Sean Penn. Penn is excellent, but Walken leaves Penn in the dust. How Walken wasn't nominated for an Oscar is beyond me.

You had me at Christopher Walken

 

[Lshap]

Two films from completely different genres that grab a movie cliche and steer it in a totally new direction:

1) Arrival (2016 / Denis Villeneuve): The 'arrival' in question is the ultimate sci-fi cliche: Aliens. But unlike almost every other 'space alien' film, this one pauses, does a deep-think, and asks, "How do two completely different species attempt to understand each other?" This film leaps past the simplistic tropes and digs into the nitty gritty of how totally 'alien' an alien species might actually be. More than any film since 2001, Arrival creates a true sense of the vastness between us and them, leaving me with a feeling I rarely get from a movie: A sense of awe.

2) Midnight In Paris (2011 / Woody Allen): I chose this one not because it's Woody's best or my personal favourite, but because it's one of his sweet-spot films you may not have seen. What makes MiP cool is its combination of philosophy, humour, and – believe it or not – time-travel, three things that wouldn't normally fit together. They work together beautifully here because of its twisty-turny play on a basic question: Were the 'good old days' really that good, or do we just romanticize the past? From that cerebral 'what-if' kernel, Woody spins a wildly playful and beautifully filmed story that moves, wonders, and entertains.

 

[Rodgerwilco]

Marathon Man with Hoffman and Olivier.

At Close Range with Christopher Walken and Sean Penn. Penn is excellent, but Walken leaves Penn in the dust. How Walken wasn't nominated for an Oscar is beyond me.

Glad to see a cross-over from the Survivor thread (not sure I've ever interacted with you outside of that thread). This one is on the list. I'll bump it up just for you.

 

[Chairman Maouth]

Glad to see a cross-over from the Survivor thread (not sure I've ever interacted with you outside of that thread). This one is on the list. I'll bump it up just for you.

Maybe we just don't frequent the same threads. I post frequently in the Celebrity Death threads and the "Last Movie You Watched... " threads, and more. I try to be quite thorough in the movie threads.

Quote me if you want. Agree or disagree. There are other reviews too; some brief, some longer.

Good reviews:

Sometimes a Great Notion (1971)
Heat (1995) Poorly written review. I say "cinematic history" or words to that effect too many times.
Bandit (2022)

Poor reviews:

Dirty Grandpa (2016)
Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F (2024)

 

[shakes the clown]

Saving Private Ryan (will make you want to learn about WW2 if you haven't already)

Godfather part 1&2 + Goodfellas (the perfect trifecta of mob movies to give you a whole understanding of the italian american mafia over the course of 100 years

 

[Chairman Maouth]

Rodgerwilco

I appreciate your emoji, but I effing hate those love emojis. There's got to be a better emoji to indicate one's love for someone's words than an emoji that looks like we're drooling over someone's hot ass.

 

[Chairman Maouth]

KallioWeHardlyKnewYe

Smartass.