Movies: Last Movie You Watched and Rate It | Mid-Spring Edition. Happy Beltane!

[kihei]

Das Boot (1981) Directed by Wolfgang Petersen 9A

It may surprise some to realize that Das Boot is 40 years old. I’ve watched the movie four or five times at roughly decade long intervals, and each time I think to myself “It can’t be as good as I remember it.” And each time I’m wrong. A mix of grizzled veterans and very young sailors go to see in a German U-boat in 1941. Their mission is to destroy as much allied shipping in the North Atlantic as they possibly can. After an interesting first act that introduces us to many of the sailors as well as the boat itself, what follows is virtually non-stop tension from that point to the end of this three and half hour movie. And when I say tension, man, there should be a stronger word for it. The U-boat runs into one challenge after another as its somewhat cynical captain (Jurgen Prochnow) tries to keep his boat and crew afloat. And with each incident, the tension is almost unbearable despite the fact that in most of these scenes we are looking at a group of men standing around staring at one another.

The tension owes everything to the set design, cinematography, camera placement and movement, editing and sound mixing that helps to create any number of ultra intense, edge-of-the-seat scenes. I like movies that find interesting ways to deal with movement in confined spaces, and Das Boot is practically a text book of how to accomplish suspense in such a setting. The sense of panic and claustrophobia is overwhelming in such narrow confines where sweat, body odor, mildew, and fear permeate the atmosphere. That these Germans are fighting on the wrong side somehow falls by the wayside, perhaps the cinematic equivalence of The Stockholm Syndrome. There is not another submarine movie anywhere near its equal. And there are a lot of good submarine movies out there.

subtitles

 

[Pranzo Oltranzista]

Tried to come up with a top-10 American films. That's really tough. Here comes nothing (probably a lot of missing films too).
Quite a few American films by foreign directors. I decided to include the Kubrick films even if I tend to consider them a little more British than American.

1. Julien Donkey-Boy (Korine, 1999)
2. Zelig (Allen, 1983)
3. Eyes Wide Shut (Kubrick, 1999)
4. New Rose Hotel (Ferrara, 1998)
5. The Golden Boat (Ruiz, 1990)
6. Arizona Dream (Kusturica, 1993)
7. Stardust Memories (Allen. 1980)
8. Vertigo (Hitchcock, 1958)
9. The Brown Bunny (Gallo, 2003)
10. Hoop Dreams (James, 1994)

HMs
The Lickerish Quartet (Metzger, 1973)
Opening Night (Cassavetes, 1977)
Dr. Strangelove (Kubrick, 1964)
The Shining (Kubrick, 1980)
Nocturnal Animals (Ford, 2016)
Husbands and Wives (Allen, 1992)
Hannah and Her Sisters (Allen, 1986)
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (Kaufman, 1978)
Before Sunset (Linklater, 2004)
Ken Park (Clark, 2002)
Body Double (DePalma, 1984)
Gummo (Korine, 1997)
Funny Games (Haneke, 2007)

But if I'm completely honest, my favorite American film is Bruce Conner's Marilyn Times Five.

 

[Chili]

Das Boot (1981) Directed by Wolfgang Petersen 9A

It may surprise some to realize that Das Boot is 40 years old. I’ve watched the movie four or five times at roughly decade long intervals, and each time I think to myself “It can’t be as good as I remember it.” And each time I’m wrong. A mix of grizzled veterans and very young sailors go to see in a German U-boat in 1941. Their mission is to destroy as much allied shipping in the North Atlantic as they possibly can. After an interesting first act that introduces us to many of the sailors as well as the boat itself, what follows is virtually non-stop tension from that point to the end of this three and half hour movie. And when I say tension, man, there should be a stronger word for it. The U-boat runs into one challenge after another as its somewhat cynical captain (Jurgen Prochnow) tries to keep his boat and crew afloat. And with each incident, the tension is almost unbearable despite the fact that in most of these scenes we are looking at a group of men standing around staring at one another.

The tension owes everything to the set design, cinematography, camera placement and movement, editing and sound mixing that helps to create any number of ultra intense, edge-of-the-seat scenes. I like movies that find interesting ways to deal with movement in confined spaces, and Das Boot is practically a text book of how to accomplish suspense in such a setting. The sense of panic and claustrophobia is overwhelming in such narrow confines where sweat, body odor, mildew, and fear permeate the atmosphere. That these Germans are fighting on the wrong side somehow falls by the wayside, perhaps the cinematic equivalence of The Stockholm Syndrome. There is not another submarine movie anywhere near its equal. And there are a lot of good submarine movies out there.

subtitles

I've watched a number of submarine films and this one holds up as the best of them. Just thinking of the score takes me back. Almost feels like being on board and facing the dangers. Above us the Waves, Destination Tokyo, The Hunt for Red October, We Dive at Dawn, The Enemy Below, Morning Departure are all good films too.

 

[kihei]

Tried to come up with a top-10 American films. That's really tough. Here comes nothing (probably a lot of missing films too).
Quite a few American films by foreign directors. I decided to include the Kubrick films even if I tend to consider them a little more British than American.

1. Julien Donkey-Boy (Korine, 1999)
2. Zelig (Allen, 1983)
3. Eyes Wide Shut (Kubrick, 1999)
4. New Rose Hotel (Ferrara, 1998)
5. The Golden Boat (Ruiz, 1990)
6. Arizona Dream (Kusturica, 1993)
7. Stardust Memories (Allen. 1980)
8. Vertigo (Hitchcock, 1958)
9. The Brown Bunny (Gallo, 2003)
10. Hoop Dreams (James, 1994)

HMs
The Lickerish Quartet (Metzger, 1973)
Opening Night (Cassavetes, 1977)
Dr. Strangelove (Kubrick, 1964)
The Shining (Kubrick, 1980)
Nocturnal Animals (Ford, 2016)
Husbands and Wives (Allen, 1992)
Hannah and Her Sisters (Allen, 1986)
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (Kaufman, 1978)
Before Sunset (Linklater, 2004)
Ken Park (Clark, 2002)
Body Double (DePalma, 1984)
Gummo (Korine, 1997)
Funny Games (Haneke, 2007)

But if I'm completely honest, my favorite American film is Bruce Conner's Marilyn Times Five.

Never saw Julien Donkey-Boy. Didn't seem like my kind of movie, but this is high praise indeed. So maybe I'll venture into it. I agree a US top ten is a task--my results are far more mainstream than yours. Excluded films (Don't Look Now and some but not all of Kubrick) which I thought were British, not US,

McCabe and Mrs. Miller (first time at top of the heap, I believe)
Maltese Falcon
Casablanca
Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans
2001: A Space Odyssey
Mulholland Drive
North by Northwest
Before Sunrise
Somewhere
Killer of Sheep

HMs (alphabetical order):

All about Eve
Bonny and Clyde
Bringing Up Baby
Charade
Husbands
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)
Mean Streets
Modern Times
Mutiny on the Bounty (Gable)
No Country for Old Men
The Philadelphia Story

 

[ProstheticConscience]

Wondering about Prosthetic Conscience's top ten and his missus.

And there I was thinking that was only a question for our local cinephiles.

Been having quite a bit of trouble thinking of a proper top ten list. Lots of stuff like Goodfellas or the Godfather saga are kinda the cliche response...but I've seen them a thousand times and I can't say I have much interest in watching them when they're on anymore. Like all time greats that I still can enjoy...

• Raiders of the Lost Ark. The classic. Often imitated, never duplicated. Growing up, my dad was a doctor and his hobby was home theatre. Raiders was the movie he'd play to check out any new piece of tech. It was also the movie I was tasked to bring to scout meetings for various movie nights. I can still recite the entire script verbatim when it's on. Everyone hates it when I do, but that never stops me.
• Monty Python and the Holy Grail. The later movies may be more well developed and better filmed, but the Holy Grail is British absurdist film history. So many great scenes, so many great lines. Still the best. Banned in Norway and marketed in Sweden as: The film so funny it was banned in Norway.
• A Clockwork Orange. Also a lot of Kubrick: Full Metal Jacket, Dr. Strangelove, The Shining...was very obsessed with Kubrick for a while in college. But trying to stick with just one from his catalogue, it'd be Clockwork Orange.
• The Big Lebowski. I still love it. One of the very few movies that I've seen multiple, multiple times and can still watch and laugh. Obviously the Coen bros have a massively impressive oeuvre, and while there's a lot of standouts in there, but Lebowski is my sentimental favourite. The Dude is one of cinema's greatest hippie losers.
• Star Wars: original trilogy. Just lumping these three together, like they deserve to be seen as. Prequel trilogy were definitely the worst movies I've seen ten times, and the new ones? Don't even.
• The Longest Day. One of the greatest war movies about one of the most pivotal battles in history. Literally everyone was in it.
• Mad Max, Road Warrior, Fury Road, and the first half of Thunderdome. I'm a major car guy. I liked a lot of car chase movies growing up, but the Mad Max trilogy was legend. The new one is the high water mark of car crash porn. Takes every bar and obliterates it. And nobody can ever remember what happens in Thunderdome after Max leaves Bartertown. It's weird. It's like the Men in Black flashy thing happens.
• Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels/Snatch. Say it's empty calories if you want. Say it's a triumph of style over substance. And I still won't care. Okay, Brad Pitt inventing his own accent was annoying, but I can forgive him for that. These movies reminded us that the Brits could still make cool movies, and they gave the world Jason Statham, the finest Cockney non-actor of the millennium.
• A Christmas Story. The classic holiday feature and cultural touchstone. Used to watch it at least once every Christmas season but gotten away from that after the wee one grew up, moved out, and started buying real estate.
• Blade Runner. The classic sci-fi dystopia with so many great characters and so many great moments.
• Repo Man. Emilio Estevez's first and best starring role as a wayward young man entering the bizarre world of car repossessing in LA. Vintage SoCal punk soundtrack, effortlessly bizarre all the way through, and infinitely quotable if you like weirding people out. Which I do.
• Sleeper. Woody Allen's comedy of a hapless clarinet player who gets frozen in 1973 and wakes up to a strange new world two hundred years later. Still my favourite of his, another I can still recite the script of verbatim.

I'm sure I'll think of more. Will probably edit this down the road.

As for Mrs. PC, here's her list, not in any order:

• Wings of Desire
• M (original Peter Lorre version)
• The Razor's Edge (Tyrone Power version)
• Tarkovsky's Solaris
• The Day the Earth Stood Still (original version, because duh)
• Delicatessen
• Pan's Labyrinth
• District 9
• Hellboy 2
• Death Watch
• Temp Bot (Neill Blomkamp short)

Lately she's been super into Neill Blomkamp and Guillermo Del Toro, but she also likes some classic cinema.

She made a good point though; there's a lot of stuff that could be on our lists like The Usual Suspects or Fight Club or Dark City...but once you've seen the twist and you know how it ends you're not really interested in watching it again all that often, so it hurts rewatchability.

 

[Pranzo Oltranzista]

Never saw Julien Donkey-Boy. Didn't seem like my kind of movie, but this is high praise indeed. So maybe I'll venture into it. I agree a US top ten is a task--my results are far more mainstream than yours. Excluded films (Don't Look Now and some but not all of Kubrick) which I thought were British, not US

I doubt JDB's your kind of thing.

I decided against Don't Look Now (which would have made my top-10), but Kubrick being American and his films financed in part with US money, I settled to include them. I too have the same feeling about them though.

 

[Pranzo Oltranzista]

Last Tango in Paris

Not an American film as far as I understand.

 

[kihei]

I've watched a number of submarine films and this one holds up as the best of them. Just thinking of the score takes me back. Almost feels like being on board and facing the dangers. Above us the Waves, Destination Tokyo, The Hunt for Red October, We Dive at Dawn, The Enemy Below, Morning Departure are all good films too.

I'd add Run Silent, Run Deep; Crimson Tide; Hell and High Water; Torpedo Run, the underappreciated Kursk (aka The Command), and the recent French entry The Wolf's Call. There are a lot of good ones.

 

[kihei]

Not an American film as far as I understand.

Yeah, I had a sneaking suspicion. So Husbands moves up to the "A" team, I guess (after a long, long look at Killer of Sheep). Later: Went with Killer of Sheep instead.

Don't Look Now would have been no worse than my #6 seed.

 

[KallioWeHardlyKnewYe]

And there I was thinking that was only a question for our local cinephiles.

Been having quite a bit of trouble thinking of a proper top ten list. Lots of stuff like Goodfellas or the Godfather saga are kinda the cliche response...but I've seen them a thousand times and I can't say I have much interest in watching them when they're on anymore. Like all time greats that I still can enjoy...

• Raiders of the Lost Ark. The classic. Often imitated, never duplicated. Growing up, my dad was a doctor and his hobby was home theatre. Raiders was the movie he'd play to check out any new piece of tech. It was also the movie I was tasked to bring to scout meetings for various movie nights. I can still recite the entire script verbatim when it's on. Everyone hates it when I do, but that never stops me.
• Monty Python and the Holy Grail. The later movies may be more well developed and better filmed, but the Holy Grail is British absurdist film history. So many great scene, so many great lines. Still the best. Banned in Norway and marketed in Sweden as: The film so funny it was banned in Norway.
• A Clockwork Orange. Also a lot of Kubrick: Full Metal Jacket, Dr. Strangelove, The Shining...was very obsessed with Kubrick for a while in college. But trying to stick with just one from his catalogue, it'd be Clockwork Orange.
• The Big Lebowski. I still love it. One of the very few movies that I've seen multiple, multiple times and can still watch and laugh. Obviously the Coen bros have a massively impressive oeuvre, and while there's a lot of standouts in there, but Lebowski is my sentimental favourite. The Dude is one of cinema's greatest hippie losers.
• Star Wars: original trilogy. Just lumping these three together, like they deserve to be seen as. Prequel trilogy were definitely the worst movies I've seen ten times, and the new ones? Don't even.
• The Longest Day. One of the greatest war movies about one of the most pivotal battles in history. Literally everyone was in it.
• Mad Max, Road Warrior, Fury Road, and the first half of Thunderdome. I'm a major car guy. I liked a lot of car chase movies growing up, but the Mad Max trilogy was legend. The new one is the high water mark of car crash porn. Takes every bar and obliterates it. And nobody can ever remember what happens in Thunderdome after Max leaves Bartertown. It's weird. It's like the Men in Black flashy thing happens.
• Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels/Snatch. Say it's empty calories if you want. Say it's a triumph of style over substance. And I still won't care. Okay, Brad Pitt inventing his own accent was annoying, but I can forgive him for that. These movies reminded us that the Brits could still make cool movies, and they gave the world Jason Statham, the finest Cockney non-actor of the millennium.
• A Christmas Story. The classic holiday feature and cultural touchstone. Used to watch it at least once every Christmas season but gotten away from that after the wee one grew up, moved out, and started buying real estate.
• Blade Runner. The classic sci-fi dystopia with so many great characters and so many great moments.
• Repo Man. Emilio Esteves's first and best starring role as a wayward young man entering the bizarre world of car repossessing in LA. Vintage SoCal punk soundtrack, effortlessly bizarre all the way through, and infinitely quotable if you like weirding people out. Which I do.

I'm sure I'll think of more. Will probably edit this down the road.

As for Mrs. PC, here's her list, not in any order:

• Wings of Desire
• M (original Peter Lorre version)
• The Razor's Edge (Tyrone Power version)
• Tarkovsky's Solaris
• The Day the Earth Stood Still (original version, because duh)
• Delicatessen
• Pan's Labyrinth
• District 9
• Hellboy 2
• Death Watch
• Temp Bot (Neill Blomkamp short)

Lately she's been super into Neill Blomkamp and Guillermo Del Toro, but she also likes some classic cinema.

She made a good point though; there's a lot of stuff that could be on our lists like The Usual Suspects or Fight Club or Dark City...but once you've seen the twist and you know how it ends you're not really interested in watching it again all that often, so it hurts rewatchability.

Raiders is always my go-to for favorite movie. There just isn't another movie that consistently brings me joy as much as it always does. Every single time. It's the classic desert island question -- what movie would I want to spend the rest of my life with? It's this. I never tire of it. It may not cross into high art, but it is the highest of high entertainment.

Kicking myself over forgetting Wings of Desire... my top 10 has to be pushing about 30 now.

Reading over everyone's lists and one thing jumps out. I think nearly everyone has a Kubrick movie but there is no consensus on which one -- Lolita, Strangelove, 2001, Clockwork Orange, Barry Lyndon and Eyes Wide Shut all get mentions. Impressive.

 

[Spring in Fialta]

Before Sunset is a better film than Before Sunrise, IMO.

 

[Pranzo Oltranzista]

Reading over everyone's lists and one thing jumps out. I think nearly everyone has a Kubrick movie but there is no consensus on which one -- Lolita, Strangelove, 2001, Clockwork Orange, Barry Lyndon and Eyes Wide Shut all get mentions. Impressive.

Eyes Wide Shut is easily my favorite, but it would barely make my top-25 or 30.

Before Sunset is a better film than Before Sunrise, IMO.

AINEC!

 

[Spring in Fialta]

Kubrick largely told American stories. That makes them American films to me, regardless of where the money came from. I suppose I wouldn't have any issues calling A Clockwork Orange a British film though.

 

[Spring in Fialta]

Reading over everyone's lists and one thing jumps out. I think nearly everyone has a Kubrick movie but there is no consensus on which one -- Lolita, Strangelove, 2001, Clockwork Orange, Barry Lyndon and Eyes Wide Shut all get mentions. Impressive.

Same with the Coen brothers.

 

[Puck]

Raiders is always my go-to for favorite movie. There just isn't another movie that consistently brings me joy as much as it always does. Every single time. It's the classic desert island question -- what movie would I want to spend the rest of my life with? It's this. I never tire of it. It may not cross into high art, but it is the highest of high entertainment.

Agreed.

 

[Pink Mist]

Perhaps controversial, but I actually prefer The Last Crusade over Raiders of the Lost Arc (still an excellent movie and favourite of mine)

 

[Puck]

Also falling in the guilty pleasures, can watch over and over category

Being There (with Peter Sellers)
Amadeus
MASH
Les Chtis (French comedy)
Serenity (2005)
Bourne Identity
The Stunt Man (1980)
Casablanca

p.s. adding as an afterthought
Monty Python and The Holy Grail
Run Lola Run
The Great Escape
Wild Tales

 

[kihei]

Before Sunset is a better film than Before Sunrise, IMO.

AINEC!

Hell, no. Oh, you jaded, jaded realists. Romance in Europe in your youth, I mean, come on. Before Sunrise is the perfect talisman.

 

[kihei]

Also falling in the guilty pleasures, can watch over and over category

Being There (with Peter Sellers)
Amadeus
MASH
Les Chtis (French comedy)
Serenity (2005)
Bourne Identity
The Stunt Man (1980)
Casablanca

p.s. adding as an afterthought
Monty Python and The Holy Grail
Run Lola Run
The Great Escape
Wild Tales

Good list. I should have had Amadeus in my US HMs. Holds up really well, too.

 

[kihei]

And there I was thinking that was only a question for our local cinephiles.

Only one per family is required.

 

[Puck]

Good list. I should have had Amadeus in my US HMs. Holds up really well, too.

I will add Beckett (1964) to my watch list. Have not seen it. Love O'Toole.

There is a new Beckett out this year by the way with John David Washington but different storyline, based on the book Born to Be Murdered.

 

[silkyjohnson50]

I’ve come to realize that I’ve never watched a Kubrick movie. I’ve seen tiny bits of Eyes Wide Shut and A Clockwork Orange and much of The Shining (which I plan on watching in full soon,) but never anything fully. I don’t know if it’s been on purpose or not. Maybe part of me feels like I’m going to be left annoyed after one of his films. I don’t know. I have access to watch A Clockwork and 2001 right now. Which one would you guys recommend to watch for just a regular type guy like myself?

 

[Pranzo Oltranzista]

I’ve come to realize that I’ve never watched a Kubrick movie. I’ve seen tiny bits of Eyes Wide Shut and A Clockwork Orange and much of The Shining (which I plan on watching in full soon,) but never anything fully. I don’t know if it’s been on purpose or not. Maybe part of me feels like I’m going to be left annoyed after one of his films. I don’t know. I have access to watch A Clockwork and 2001 right now. Which one would you guys recommend to watch for just a regular type guy like myself?

Depends what you're used to watch. I'd say Full Metal Jacket is probably the more accessible and easiest to appreciate.

 

[sr edler]

The Two Jakes (1990) by Jack Nicholson 7/10

This film actually wasn't that bad, I enjoyed it. With these mystery type of films though, sometimes the plot gets a little fuzzy, or hard to follow, or almost... secondary.

I thought this film wouldn't have the same dirty or gritty edge as its predecessor, and it didn't. But I think it still brought a pretty good balance and its own character. Despite its 137 minutes, it held the distance.

By the way, the music was pretty nice, courtesy of Van Dyke Parks, otherwise perhaps mostly known in the mainstream for collaborating with The Beach Boys own Brian Wilson on his unfinished Smile album.

Yeah, Tom Waits is in the film too, very briefly, as a plainclothes policeman. He even says some short lines, but can't remember what exactly. I think mainly gibberish.

 

[Puck]

Of course Tom Waits....speaking of doppelgangers, at first I thought it was a young Ron Perlman.