I Feel Myself at the movies!

Siobhan · 29-06-06 16:27:28

We all like to watch; that's clear

I could talk forever about movies, old classics, first runs, quirky independents.
When I've had an amazing film-going experience, I become a zealot, shouting from the mountaintops to everyone in range: you MUST see this film!

So what are you lot watching? What do you love?

Burlesque · 29-06-06 19:22:19

Siobhan wrote:

We all like to watch; that's clear
I could talk forever about movies, old classics, first runs, quirky independents.
When I've had an amazing film-going experience, I become a zealot, shouting from the mountaintops to everyone in range: you MUST see this film!
So what are you lot watching? What do you love?

I'll watch any kind of film, and I have a substantial collection of tapes and DVD's. German silent films, Kurosawa, James Whale, Hammer, Ingmar Bergman, Dario Argento, The Marx Brothers, Monty Python, Hitchcock, M. Night Shyamalan, Terry Gilliam, Jean-Pierre Jeunet, David Lynch and David Cronenberg are among my favourites. I love comedy, but have a hard time finding comedies that really makes me laugh. The newest, truly funny film I've seen is As Good As It Gets. All time great movies: Nosferatu, Bride of Frankenstein, Psycho, Casablanca, Seven Samurai, Arsenic and Old Lace, Duck Soup, 2001, The Seventh Seal, Dead Ringers, Stalker, Fight Club, Amelie. I could go on and on, but I'll restrain myself.

Splendid idea for a thread!

Burlesque.

Last edited by Burlesque (29-06-06 19:23:59)

blissed · 29-06-06 20:07:23

I tend to get bored watching films but the films that tend to hold my attention all the way through are..................................Harry Potter!
I think it's because their specially made for children or that their just good, I don't know. HP 1 and 2 are the only books I've ever read as well. The problem with books is, they've got too many words.

.

Last edited by blissed (29-06-06 20:07:55)

Burlesque · 29-06-06 20:19:53

I agree utterly. Books would be fine if they didn't have all those words in them.

Burlesque.

Elfman · 29-06-06 20:49:14

I very rarley watch films these days. I don't go to the cinema much and hardly ever watch TV. In my couch potato days however I used to subscribe to all the cable movie channels. Some favourite films:

All the LOTR extended editions (particularly The Fellowship of the Ring).
The Fisher King
Field of Dreams
Seven Samurai
Young Frankenstein
Rocky Horror Picture Show
The Green Mile
King and Country
Fahrenheit 451
Dr Strangelove

Last edited by Elfman (29-06-06 20:49:53)

nihpuad · 30-06-06 06:27:45

Siobhan wrote:

So what [movies] are you lot watching?

Well, the movies I've seen in theatres recently are An Inconvenient Truth and A Prairie Home Companion, both of which I recommend highly. The Gore global warming film is a surprisingly effective piece of entertainment (if you're the sort who finds a good lecture entertaining), but even more important is the fact that it's important. As for Prairie Home, it's hard for me to guess whether people who aren't fans of the Garrison Keillor radio show will like it, but if you are a fan, you'll love it. (If you'd like to become a fan, check out archived show streams at the website.)

Some films I've seen trailers for that I'm eagerly awaiting: Woody Allen's new comedy, Scoop; a documentary about John Lennon and a biopic about Leonard Cohen; and the Pirates of the Carribbean sequel.

Siobhan wrote:

What do you love?

A lot of stuff that's already been mentioned: Marx Bros, Python, Potter, LOTR, Field of Dreams, Rocky Horror... and if I could take only one movie with me to the desert island, it would have to be Casablanca.

But to get away from the "usual suspects," I'd mention a 1981 Louis Malle film called My Dinner With Andre. It's just Wallace Shawn and theater director Andre Gregory having dinner... and talking... for ~2 hours. Sounds awful, I know, but it's actually enthralling. In fact, now that I've thought of it, I'll be forced to hunt it down on DVD and watch it again; it's been a long time.

And speaking of movies with Wallace Shawn and guys named "Andre," The Princess Bride is one of my all-time favorites. "My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die!"

Unlike most of the critics (not to mention the Catholic church), I actually liked The DaVinci Code, but my all time favorite Ron Howard film (also starring Tom Hanks) is Apollo 13. My dad worked for NASA, and I lived every minute of that story in real-time as a preteen... but even though everyone in the world knew the ending, that movie gripped me with suspense.

And as a confirmed sci-fi geek/space cadet, how could I not love Galaxy Quest? "Mmmmyyyyy people need your help!"

Finally, for the obligatory sexy film, I can't say I loved it, but I was/am enduringly intrigued by When Will I Be Loved, starring Neve Campbell. I've mentioned it here before, because the DVD has the sex scenes obligingly separated out as a special feature, and because the opening scene is a very sexy shower that includes (briefly) masturbation using the handheld showerhead.

Last edited by dauphinb2 (30-06-06 06:32:13)

bodyhead · 30-06-06 15:00:56

dauphinb2 wrote:

[And as a confirmed sci-fi geek/space cadet, how could I not love Galaxy Quest? "Mmmmyyyyy people need your help!"

Galaxy Quest! Wonderful funny film, and Alan Rickman is very good in it Lia, in case you're reading.
I don't like that many films, and most of them are comedies -
Airplane and Airplane II
Anything with Alistair Sim in it
Dark Star
Monty Python and the Holy Grail
Films by Jan Svanmajer
Coma (hospital paranoia thriller, not a comedy)
Audition (horrific Japanese feminist revenge film, not a comedy either)
is Memento a brilliant film, or just a clever trick? I can't decide.
The Ladykillers
The Jungle Book

minds gone blank

aven frey · 01-07-06 02:49:02

I to am a huge fan of Lynch and Cronenberg. One day I will make girl Cronenberg films about swamps!! Wes Anderson (Rushmore, Royal Tennenbaums and The Life auquatic with Steve Zissou) films always make me laugh. I think Errol Morris doco's are the best docos. I love Tim Burtons aesthetic. (The Nightmare before Christmas and Edward Scissorhands are such lovely films and Sleepyhollow is so pretty). The Max awards would go something along the lines of -
La Jete (best short film ever).
Mad Max (best 'transcendental failure' film ever).
A Clockwork Orange (most objectional film ever).
Secretary (best James Spader film).
Amelie (best feel good film).
Rear Window (best inpiration for 2nd year uni folio).
The Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (best love story).
Igby Goes Down, The Big Lowbowski (best comedy).
Traffic (best Benico Del Toro looking sexy film).
The Godfather, Lost in Translation, 8 and a half, The City of God ... I'm a film nut I could go on forever!!

Burlesque · 01-07-06 02:59:09

Good, Max! Cronenberg is getting on a bit, so we'll need a new one before long. You'll do fine.

La Jete is that odd "still movie" that 12 Monkeys is based on, right?

The "best James Spader film" and the "best Benicio del Toro looking sexy film" categories will return at each of the Max Award ceremonies, I take it?

I forgot to mention Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. One of the best films of any kind in the last few years, I think.

Burlesque.

Cate · 01-07-06 08:38:33

I absolutly love films. Most recently I've watched Aguirre Wrath of God and Scenes From a Marrige two of my favourite films. Directors I like are Herzog, Bergman, kieslowski, Altman, The Coen Brothers, Kurosawa, Kubrick, Leone and I'm developing a passion for Ozu. I also like a bit of Sci-Fi Action like The Thing, Alien, Aliens and Predator.

Siobhan · 01-07-06 14:41:01

Ah, you all have made me so happy! Movie talk! Yay!!!!!

thank you.

Burlesque · 01-07-06 14:53:14

It's a little strange, Siobhan, that you haven't actually mentioned any specific films or filmmakers yourself. You just don't want to admit to that Star Trek fixation, do you?

Burlesque.

Siobhan · 01-07-06 15:01:25

LOLOL!!!!

you know what? It's simply that I'm so totally overwhelmed, much of the time, by what i WANT to say, that all the ideas get bottlenecked somewhere between my brain and my hands that I'm left just agog.

I mean, for goodness sakes, I've STILL not responded to you on the subject of covers and Leonard Cohen, for goodness sakes! (thread tie-in: can't WAIT for the upcoming LC doc: "I'm Your Man.")

It's a problem, I know.

Burlesque · 01-07-06 15:52:47

Enthusiasm is not a problem, it's a gift. You should be grateful for it: it makes one feel so much more alive, even when it leads to a limitations in one's ability to communicate with the outside world .

Burlesque.

Lia · 01-07-06 15:55:29

Where do I sodding begin? I'm an utter, rampant, entirely out of control cinephile who spent too much time studying film to be able to go to the movies without writing poxy, polysyllabic reviews. In terms of directors, I love Hitchcock, Bunuel, David Lynch, Jan Svankmajer, Ken Russell, Jean-Pierre Jeunet, John Waters, Orson Welles, Fritz Lang, Sam Raimi and Terry Gilliam, and have a huge penchant for surrealist, noirish and horror genres, with a special hard-on for utter utter bad-taste camp trash.

Some favourites (I'm avoiding tv shows, because the list would be even more obscenely long):

Vertigo
Frenzy
Rear Window
The Wicker Man
Pink Flamingos
Withnail & I
Army of Darkness
Dressed To Kill
The Lady From Shanghai
Kiss Me Deadly
The Hunger
Heathers
Hedwig and the Angry Inch
Heavenly Creatures
The Who's Tommy
Touch of Evil
Love and Human Remains
Fire Walk With Me
Blue Velvet
Naked
Brazil
House of Wax
Videodrome
Lolita
Those delightfully dreadful Creepshow films
Everything You've Always Wanted To Know About Sex (But Were Afraid To Ask)
Picnic At Hanging Rock
The Company of Wolves
The City of Lost Children
Wings of Desire
Velvet Goldmine
Nasty Jesus Franco sexploitation stuff, like Vampyros Lesbos and the Ilsa films

Burlesque · 01-07-06 16:07:47

Lia, your list shows a surprising dearth of Alan Rickman titles.

Burlesque.

Lia · 01-07-06 16:21:22

Burlesque wrote:

Lia, your list shows a surprising dearth of Alan Rickman titles.

Oh. Shit. I think that's because the films themselves are usually only so-so, and it's Alan that makes them utter genius. That, and I still have a little problem with admitting to thoroughly enjoying Harry Potter in public - when I went to buy the latest book when it came out last year (the hour it was released, no less), I felt strangely compelled to tell the woman at Borders I was "buying it for my niece". She looked at me knowingly. I'm a terrible snob.

Burlesque · 01-07-06 16:25:57

Have you seen Closet Land? It features one of Rickman's best performances ever, and for someone like you, who's apparantly into this bondage sort of thing, it may even appear erotic in some bizarre way.

Burlesque.

Lia · 01-07-06 16:37:22

You've just given me a very good reason to leave the house and go frenziedly dvd-shopping. I was planning on picking up a copy of Christiane F (for my equally pornographic Bowie fix; it's an otherwise shonky film), but now it looks like I'm going to spend my weekend all hot and Rickman-addled. As it is, I just paused various sections of Harry Potter & The Goblet of Fire for my own nefarious, entirely unwholesome purposes.

I've been informed that Alan once performed in a theatrical version of Dangerous Liaisons. Playing Valmont, of course. *fans self frenetically* I'd give my firstborn to see that, though I'd probably pass out within the first three seconds of the first act.

Last edited by Lia (01-07-06 16:37:45)

Burlesque · 01-07-06 16:39:49

Oh yes, and he's also very evil in Closet Land. And he plays the lead! (You'd think I made the film, but alas, I didn't.) There are actually only two people in the film: Rickman and Madeline Stowe.

Burlesque.

Lia · 01-07-06 16:59:32

Sounds like a film made by slashers; too perfect for its own good. IMDB tells me he plays a "sadistic secret policeman" known only as The Interrogator. I'm way too excited; I'm also filled with a certain dread that it's going to be rather hard to find.

Burlesque · 01-07-06 17:08:52

It probably will be. I recorded it off Swedish television, and haven't seen it anywhere since. I don't know if it's made by slashers, but I seem to recall it's directed by a woman. Just to cool you down a bit: there are no actual sex scenes in it, just this delectably slimy, evil, degrading, plummy-voiced bastard doing vicious, dastardly and sadistic things to Madeline Stowe ...

Burlesque.

Lia · 01-07-06 17:19:23

Ahh, yes, I was wondering why I hadn't heard of it, certified Rickman-stalking fruitcake that I am.

Oh, that doesn't help at all. There aren't any sex scenes in Harry Potter either, and that gets me far too clitorally elated in its own parental-guidance-recommended right. Yes, yes, thankyouverymuch; I'm wondering if the most effective form of punishment would be to simply ply you with very appalling slash and hoping it suitably chastises you for your tantalising little vignette regarding delectably slimy, degrading bastards. That being said, even crimes of that sort of heinously teasing nature don't deserve the horror that is bad slash - it's the sort of thing one would want to inflict on John Wayne Gacy, or someone equally vile.

Burlesque · 01-07-06 17:23:31

In order to make amends, I could do something like this:

http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/closet_ … p?select=1

It's the best I can do, really: not even Amazon has it.

Burlesque.

Last edited by Burlesque (01-07-06 17:23:49)

Lia · 01-07-06 17:34:09

Oooh. Danke. Now I just have to find myself an all-regional VHS player and fascist ominous Alan will be miiiiiine.

Oooh. He wears glasses too.

#1 29-06-06 16:27:28

I Feel Myself at the movies!

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