What are some of your favorite movies?

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AuthorTopic: What are some of your favorite movies?
Lifecrafter
Member # 3320
Profile #25
You know, as I think about it, you are right. Sphere definitely could have been much better. I loved the action and everything else about the movie, but my film critic instant tells me that it could have been much much better than it was. So, I will give you the benefit of the doubt, despite having never read the book. :rolleyes:

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Mrs. Peacock: "Everything all right?"
Colonel Mustard: "Yep. Two Corpses. Everything's fine."

"Keep your wits about you, the game is afoot!!" - Sherlock Holmes
Posts: 935 | Registered: Friday, August 8 2003 07:00
Guardian
Member # 3521
Profile #26
I tend to watch about one new movie in the theatres every six months, so I don't see a whole lot of new movies. Most of my favorite movies are obscure and gruesome horror films from the 70's and 80's. Most of the recent movies I've seen have been decent, though (Mystic River, Dreamcatcher, etc.) In my earlier list I forgot to mention some of the Poirot movies (based on Agatha Christie mystery novels). Although I haven't seen many, Murder on the Orient Express and Death Under the Sun were both fine movies. I'm sure there are more that I haven't listed yet, but I've yet to remember them.

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"Let a man find himself, in distinction from others, on top of two wheels with a chain- at least in a poor country like Russia- and his vanity begins to swell out like his tires. In America it takes an automobile to produce this effect."- Leon Trotsky
Posts: 1798 | Registered: Sunday, October 5 2003 07:00
Warrior
Member # 1376
Profile #27
Terminator 2 and 3(1 sucked)

Monty Python and the Quest for the Holy Grail(I think that goes without saying)

Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure(I just love seeing Keanu act like an idiot)

Spiderman(can't wait for the second)

Bruce Almighty

Pirates of the Caribbean

The Sherlock Holmes series, starring Jeremy Brett(these are amazingly well done, if you happen to like SH, you'll love these: I just bought the entire set for Christmas)

Young Frankenstein(hilarious)

The Princess Bride(again, hilarious)

Robin Hood: Men in Tights(very hilarious)

Mission Impossible

Minority Report

Those are all I can think of at the moment. If you haven't seen any of them, do. :)

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"Never think twice about something if the first time you thought about it you thought you were thinking about it twice when really it was just once, and never think about something once unless there's money involved."
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Posts: 59 | Registered: Wednesday, June 26 2002 07:00
Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire!
Member # 919
Profile #28
Yeah, Pirates of the Carribean was awesome. I think the best movie I've watched recently, other than Return of the King, is Runaway Jury. Yes, recently; I am not a movie person. Anyway, I thought Runaway Jury was a great movie; it actually made me feel like I was there, not just watching, and any movie that can do that is great, in my opinion. I usually don't watch or read John Grisham, either.

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And though the musicians would die, the music would live on in the imaginations of all who heard it.
-The Last Pendragon

TEH CONSPIRACY IZ ALL

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Posts: 3351 | Registered: Saturday, April 6 2002 08:00
Infiltrator
Member # 3040
Profile #29
No one has mentioned old classics...
The Third Man is a great movie, as well as anything and everything by Charlie Chaplin.

Disney, anyone? The Lion King and Aladdin are two of my favorite movies.

I recently saw and enjoyed A Simple Plan -- Billy Bob Thornton is excellent in it.

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who?
Posts: 508 | Registered: Thursday, May 29 2003 07:00
Guardian
Member # 3521
Profile #30
Yes, many of the old classics are truly fine movies. Casablanca and The Manchurian Candidate seem to stand out in my mind. I also neglected, in my earlier posts, to mention one of my all-time favorites: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. I grew up on this movie, and it's always been one of my very favorites.

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"Let a man find himself, in distinction from others, on top of two wheels with a chain- at least in a poor country like Russia- and his vanity begins to swell out like his tires. In America it takes an automobile to produce this effect."- Leon Trotsky
Posts: 1798 | Registered: Sunday, October 5 2003 07:00
Agent
Member # 27
Profile #31
quote:
I feel that books are bad sources of media. Sure, the read can be good for your brain and can increase your knowledge, but if you put all of your emphasis on the book and keep that in mind while watching the movie, it takes all the fun out of it.

I like reading books as much as the next person, but as a person who has a hereditary habit of watching a movie and then scrutinizing it, I feel it is best to keep a clear mind while watching the movie. If you sit through a whole movie comparing it to the book it was based on, then you are setting yourself up for severe disappointment. The soul purpose of movies based on books is to give a good idea of what the book is like is real life.

It is nearly impossible to make a movie perfectly reflect a book and if you go around looking for that all the time, then I am sorry, but you are a complete idiot. Movies are not made to reflect books, they are made to entertain the brain. Sure, some movies are not as good as the book they are based on. But that is to be expected. There is no such thing as the perfect movie.

My advice is to forget about the book you read and focus your attention on the actual movie. You will find that you will enjoy it much more if you watch it without a biased view of it to start with. Never compare a movie to a book. Those of you that do happen to do that mustn’t have many movies that you actually like. I find that I enjoy movies much more if I leave the book out of it.

Phantoms for instance. I heard that the book was excellent and that the movie was a poor adaptation of it. But I enjoyed the movie and for the sake of having liked it, I am not going to go out and the read the book to see if it is so much better than the movie as I have heard. That biases the view of the movie and ruins the entertainment value of it.
Okay,
Books are awesome, they leave your mind to picture everything.
You are correct, people are stupid if they expect the movie to perfectly reflect the book.
I don't agree with you though that reading a book will ruin the fun of the movie. I loved watching the Lord of Rings movies because I knew what was going to happen and because I could anticipate it and see how they viewed it. Unfortunatly my favorite part in The Return of the King was shortened to about 5 minutes, but I enjoyed the movie none the less.

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Posts: 1233 | Registered: Wednesday, October 3 2001 07:00
Lifecrafter
Member # 3320
Profile #32
Well, it won't necessarily ruin the movie. I agree with you that it let's you know what is going to happen and to anticipate it. But I was saying that specifically reading a book and then watching the movie could be dangerous in certain aspects. It is all right if you just want to see how much the movie is like the book and in what ways it isn't. At the same time, you should keep a clear mind and try to enjoy the movie in all its splendor and creativity.

What you shouldn't do is read a book and then watch a movie with an expectation that everything should be the same as what you had read. That often leads a person to do nothing but get pissed off every time something isn't the same as it is in the book. That is what I meant by reading the book and then watching the movie can take all the fun out of it. There is nothing wrong with reading the book first as long as you keep an unbiased open mind while watching the movie.

From what the one person said about the movie Sphere, it sounds like what I had mentioned above. As a student of Sherlock Holmes, I examined the facts they gave and why they didn't like the movie. I concluded that this person, having finished the book, went on to the movie expecting it to be just like the book and not keeping a clear and open mind during the viewing. Thus, finding that the movie did not live up to the book in many ways, the person decided that the movie was bad and didn't give it a chance at all. They watched the movie with a fixed perspective and every little difference from the book added up to them concluding that the movie was terrible because it was not as good as the book.

Doing that, in my opinion, takes the fun out of watching the movie. I always watch a movie with an open mind and often find that I like it more that way then if my mind is fixed on a certain way the movie should be.

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Mrs. Peacock: "Everything all right?"
Colonel Mustard: "Yep. Two Corpses. Everything's fine."

"Keep your wits about you, the game is afoot!!" - Sherlock Holmes
Posts: 935 | Registered: Friday, August 8 2003 07:00
Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire!
Member # 919
Profile #33
I can see how reading a book first would make the movie less enjoyable, but doesn't it also work the other way around? I'd rather read a book first than watch a movie first, if so.

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And though the musicians would die, the music would live on in the imaginations of all who heard it.
-The Last Pendragon

TEH CONSPIRACY IZ ALL

Les forum de la chance.

In case of emergency, break glass.
Posts: 3351 | Registered: Saturday, April 6 2002 08:00
This Side Towards Enemy
Member # 3098
Profile #34
It has to be said that one of the major reasons I didn't enjoy the RotK was to do with the book. Jackson's oliphaunts just weren't as good. They were too big, so you expected them to destroy whole cities individually and they got slaughtered by cavalry. Cavalry! About the only more stupid thing would be cavalry succeeding against camels, and that's doubtful.

However, just because you've read the book, doesn't mean the film won't be better. Certain things just don't work on screen and sometimes the director clears up black spots in the books or reorganises things so they fit to gether better.

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Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned
I'll tell you my story, man
Though I wish I'd never been born
I'm loose at the seams,
I've broken my dreams
And my hand it shakes the pen
Come on, come on now baby,
Let the good times roll again
Posts: 961 | Registered: Thursday, June 12 2003 07:00
Lifecrafter
Member # 3608
Profile Homepage #35
I like Donald Duck-movies more than Mickey Mouse-movies. Donald is just so funny! Lotsa bettar than the round-ear whiner! OMG!

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- The Great Mister
Posts: 972 | Registered: Tuesday, October 28 2003 08:00
Lifecrafter
Member # 3310
Profile #36
I watched "The Green Mile" yesterday. It was a very unusual film and I liked it.

Also, it was probably the first time I've seen violence and cruelty that actually made me feel bad. And still, there wasn't even that much of it. A strange film.
Posts: 756 | Registered: Monday, August 4 2003 07:00
Cartographer
Member # 1851
Profile Homepage #37
I just got the Spirited Away movie on DVD. I watched it twice last night.
I love it :/.

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Posts: 1308 | Registered: Sunday, September 8 2002 07:00
Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire!
Member # 919
Profile #38
Actually, I thought the oliphaunts were fine - too easily pitied, if anything. They didn't get slaughtered by cavalry, either; they basically ran unchecked until the Oathbreakers came and overran them. I mean, they're just supposed to be big elephants, really, so saying they're too big and powerful isn't really the case... they should be bigger and more powerful, really, if Jackson wanted them to stick to the book exactly.

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And though the musicians would die, the music would live on in the imaginations of all who heard it.
-The Last Pendragon

TEH CONSPIRACY IZ ALL

Les forum de la chance.

In case of emergency, break glass.
Posts: 3351 | Registered: Saturday, April 6 2002 08:00
Shock Trooper
Member # 3801
Profile Homepage #39
I like the classics... Wayne's World (1), Bill and Ted's excellent adventure, Spaceballs, Wallace and Gromit, Saving Silverman is pretty good too.

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Posts: 323 | Registered: Thursday, December 18 2003 08:00
Guardian
Member # 3521
Profile #40
Ah, yes. Wallace and Gromit, I forgot to list that earlier. Fine stuff. It's a pity that Aardman Animations hasn't done a whole lot since Chicken Run, though.

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"Let a man find himself, in distinction from others, on top of two wheels with a chain- at least in a poor country like Russia- and his vanity begins to swell out like his tires. In America it takes an automobile to produce this effect."- Leon Trotsky
Posts: 1798 | Registered: Sunday, October 5 2003 07:00
Shock Trooper
Member # 3801
Profile Homepage #41
Yeah, I know. They should do something with that evil penguin. Hahaha everyone loves that penguin! :D

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There is no knowledge that is not power.

Take a chance at the Chance Forums!
Posts: 323 | Registered: Thursday, December 18 2003 08:00
This Side Towards Enemy
Member # 3098
Profile #42
I think brachiosaurus height is probably a little excessive, though. Thing is, Theoden's lot did kill a few, when they had precious few bows and the oliphaunts had platoons of archers on top. My main point is that it's a suicidal thing to do, but Theoden isn't supposed to be that suicidal.

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Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned
I'll tell you my story, man
Though I wish I'd never been born
I'm loose at the seams,
I've broken my dreams
And my hand it shakes the pen
Come on, come on now baby,
Let the good times roll again
Posts: 961 | Registered: Thursday, June 12 2003 07:00
Post Navel Trauma ^_^
Member # 67
Profile Homepage #43
Yes, Spirited Away is very good. I'm annoyed that I couldn't find it on video when I looked recently. Princess Mononoke is also well worth watching.

The film Minority Report is not as good as the short story.

Forrest Gump is okay but not great.

I enjoyed 2001: A Space Odyssey, but I'm not sure if I want to see it again.

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This is the house that the malt that the rat that the cat that the dog that the cow that the maiden that the man that the priest that the cock that the farmer kept waked married kissed milked tossed worried killed ate lay in.

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Posts: 1798 | Registered: Thursday, October 4 2001 07:00
This Side Towards Enemy
Member # 3098
Profile #44
Aardman have been doing a few things, but most of their stuff is work in progress or made for Britihs TV.

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Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned
I'll tell you my story, man
Though I wish I'd never been born
I'm loose at the seams,
I've broken my dreams
And my hand it shakes the pen
Come on, come on now baby,
Let the good times roll again
Posts: 961 | Registered: Thursday, June 12 2003 07:00
Infiltrator
Member # 1877
Profile #45
The Oliphants were perfect. And horses are much more agile and cotrolable than Ele/Oliphants.

Lion king is the one and only good Disney movie, counting out the old classics ofcourse, all the new disney movies is as rubish as MCDonalds (And i hate MCDonalds).
1. LOTR 1/2/3. (You can't stop me wahaha!)

The green mile was good, and the first three Star Wars movies, and many other ones.

By the way, how many times have you seen ROTK?
Im seeing it for the third time tomorow!

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Posts: 662 | Registered: Friday, September 13 2002 07:00
Warrior
Member # 3252
Profile #46
I really dislike movies for the most part, but a film I saw recently was absolutely the best I've ever seen. It was called The Cruise; it's a documentary of Anthony "Speed" Levitch and the focus is on his perceptions of life around him. Levitch is a doubledecker bus tour guid in New York, and he uses the tour as a means of relating to the people around him, to express his own philosophy of life. He discusses love, loneliness, the urban setting as a living organism, community, and the essential meaning of freedom. Truly an exceptional film.

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Learn About The Man Behind the Messiah.
Posts: 137 | Registered: Tuesday, July 22 2003 07:00
Infiltrator
Member # 1877
Profile #47
Duh... That sounds as boring as paintings to me.
And I seriously dont think a dot on a piece of paper should be visited by thousands and sold for millions! What the burning hell is interesting or moving with a frickin dot on a paper ! Or line on a paper for that sake!

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33111-CRUSADER-4849
Posts: 662 | Registered: Friday, September 13 2002 07:00
Cartographer
Member # 1851
Profile Homepage #48
Well, sweetie... It is, after all, art.

And the name is what's important anyways.

EDIT: The artist's that is.

[ Monday, December 29, 2003 03:00: Message edited by: Dream ]

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Ah! My Homepage - In Finnish and English
Geneforge - The Maps
My Elfwood Gallery - Stories I've written in english
The WALL - Forums in Finnish
Waiting for medication. I could really use some.
Posts: 1308 | Registered: Sunday, September 8 2002 07:00
Shock Trooper
Member # 2300
Profile #49
quote:
Originally written by Stughalf:

Ah, yes. Wallace and Gromit, I forgot to list that earlier. Fine stuff. It's a pity that Aardman Animations hasn't done a whole lot since Chicken Run, though.
Anyone watch Creature Comforts? Not as good as Nick Park's short movies & chicken run but still credible. :D

Here's my wee list of movies so I don't wander off-topic... ;)

-Original SW trilogy
-Monty Python films (all of them)
-Godfather 1 (don't read the book! I did and regretted it. Painfully awful stuff.)
-Dances With Wolves
-Last of the Mohicans
-Life Is Beautiful (a true masterpiece)
-The Elephant Man
-The Pianist
-Star Trek: First Contact
-Gattaca
-Equilibrium (kind of overshadowed by a certain action trilogy also released in recent years but I reckon this was better done than the last two parts of said other action trilogy's last 2 parts, by far)
-Shrek
-Chicken Run
-Pirates of the Caribbean
-LoTR trilogy (you can't stop me either)
-Marx brothers stuff
-Loads of other films which I will have forgotten but are equally brilliant...there's just too many to remember)

To avoid posting too much :D I'll take this oppurtunity to draw your attention to the fact that I've been away for a fair while and am now back. <anticipates widespread celebration> - Just so you know. :D

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Beware of pretty girls in dance halls and parks who may be spies, as well as bicycles, revolvers, uniforms, arms, dead horses, and men lying on roads -- they are not there accidentally." - Soviet infantry manual, 1930's
Posts: 267 | Registered: Wednesday, November 27 2002 08:00

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