Everyone loves them. Everyone knows they're outstanding films. Everyone but you. 1) American Beauty --- Written at the depth of a reasonably smart, completely smart-ass teenager. Not so much middlebrow as middle school.Yes, Kevin Spacey is fed up with his life, but you would be too if you were married to the screenwriter's walking dartboard. Adulthood is completely about sex. Teenagers are always right. Drugs are a completely positive liberating force without any downside. This film is completely lacking in honesty, generosity or humanity. 2) Good WIll Hunting --- When I tell people that I hate this film, they look at me like I just shot a puppy. Of course the film makes me want to shoot a puppy. Apparently the cure for a serious personality disorder isn't so much thorazine as the love of a half-pretty English girl and a little rub of Robin Williams' sweater. The beginning of the end for Gus Van Sant. 3) L.A. Confidential --- It's reasonably entertaining. It ends. You don't think about it afterwards. I've never seen an allegedly great film with a shorter shelf life in my mind. Are we supposed to be happy that the girl chooses the violent one? Anyways, have at it.
I'd agree with the L.A. Confidential citation. The Shawshank Redemption -- nice story, but not the greatest film ever. Not even close. North By Northwest -- OK, this is an interesting film, but the contrived ending at Mount Rushmore kills everything that came before it. Se7en -- Gruesome but not art. Ghost, Forrest Gump, Gladiator -- all total crap.
I agre with all of these mentioned except North by Northwest. And LA Confidential is a decent movie. I would like to add these recent Oscar winners: Saving Private Ryan The English Patient A Perfect Mind Gladiator Shakespeare in Love
Taxi Driver Godfather 1&2 Kramer vs. Kramer Goodfellas Pulp Fiction ... [/sarc] But I would give an honest mention to "Once Upon A Time In America"
Amen, brotha man. The three most boring movies I've ever had to endure are all thought of as great movies. How, I have no idea. The English Patient Dances With Wolves Chariots of Fire
Without sarcasm: Pulp Fiction: Tarentino is the Busby Berkeley of his age. Something About Mary: About imbeciles, by imbeciles, for...
There's a term for people like you. Cant think of it right now though. The English Patient was beautifully written, filmed and acted. It just isn't for those who are not interested in good literature, I suppose. Or perhaps its that backlash bandwagon thing people like to hop on so often.
Right. Books are for people that are interested in good literature. I agree, the English Patient was well written and acted. It was just excruciatingly boring. Just not a very good movie. I'm sure it's a fine book. But lord knows, I'll never know.
Natural Born Killers Requiem For a Dream 2001: A Space Odyssey most things starring Laurence Olivier except Rebecca everything with John Wayne, except Stagecoach and The Quiet Man
"The Matrix" wasn't that original or that profound. Another sentimental contrived film which Robin Williams stars in: "Dead Poets Society". "Usual Suspects" is just a well executed gimmick.
I'm not a film scholar, so I won't go into some huge deal about why I think this movie is brilliant (because I couldn't really), but I will say it did what it seemed to want to do, and that was to bring you into a scene and feel exactly what the character was going through. And did it ever. Much like the firecracker scene in Boogie Nights, the last half hour of Requiem For A Dream is tense, gripping and downright nauseating, which is what I'm guessing Aranovski (sic??) was going for. In my book, that's pretty good filmmaking.
The Matrix. I've said many times on this board that it's the most intellectually offensive movie I've ever seen.
Gladiator Matrix- and every dummy who never see any good movies and then say this one and started saying it should win an oscar.
There is a lot of whining about this movie and the matrix. Matrix is considered intellectually insulting to many educated people, but I watch movies to get entertained. The matrix is extremely entertaining. The helicopter smashing into building and turn into big explosion scene absolutely blew my mind in the theater. It has to be one of the most amazing scene of all time. I think movies like Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, while cheesy but might be the best thing that happens in recent years. Some consider it being revolutionary. Not the film itself, but now all the newest action films have improved dramatically in choreagraphy in last 2 years. All the improved fighting and action sequence make fight scene in Jean Claude VanDame movies look really stupid. A lot of movies have hired Asian films consultant and actors to script the fighting part. In blades I&II, I think Wesley Snipes killed more Asian vampires than anything else.
Re: Re: Great films that ain't so great Directors in Hong Kong have been doing it for 25 years. "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon," is a fine film, but it's certainly not revolutionary.
Re: Re: Re: Great films that ain't so great That's not my point. My point is it's impact on Holywood action films. It's not revolutionary if American don't know about it or care for it enough to copy it. Remember the remake of 3 musketeer? It would have been absolutely nothing special if they didn't have action sequence similar to crouching tiger.