Topic: best movie you have ever seen in your life - page 3. (Read 4709 times)

What are some of the things you want to get out of a film when you see it?

A window into world you aren't normally privy to? I don't mean fantasy/sci-fi stuff. I just mean subcultures, periods, places that aren't a part of your own life.

Favorite actor/actresses? Do you find pleasure in the familiarity of an actress that has charisma, and plays her roles very well?

An avant garde style? Films which completely twist the methods of portrayal?

Explorations of the existential? Films which explore the nature of identity, one's place in society, an examination of the psyche?

Older films contemporary to their time - i.e. a 1960's film which portrays the '60s.

Period films. Films which portray an earlier time.

Films which are essentially melodramas? Films which explore relationships and plights of the individual within the family and society.

Of course, there are many others, such as adventure, thrillers, biopics, battle, anti-war, and so on.

The Godfather pII

I thought Titanic was a horrible movie when I watched it. I guess art is in the eye of the beholder, I just didn't see why people like that. For one thing I thought Leonardo DiCaprio did a horrible job acting, his more recent films he does much better in, like I really enjoyed "Inception". And I do not find Kate Winslet attractive at all.

So Quentin Tarantino talks about Wong Kar-Wai in the link below, and in particular, he discusses Chungking Express, which I have mentioned a few times in this thread and provided a clip to in the "Favorite movie moments" thread. He also mentions Days of Being Wild, Ashes of Time and Fallen Angels, which I've mentioned as well here or in other threads.

Quentin Tarantino provides some context for Chungking Express: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RoHg-RvcwzE

Here's a brilliant clip from Chungking Express: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GBqHAPgB494

I loved Pan's Labyrinth. Wonderful film. I have it on Blu-ray.


Go to any forums populated by cinephiles, knowledgeable movie watchers, film scholars, and so on, and you'll discover soon enough the threads that discuss the essential directors, the essential film canons, and so on. Among those lists are the essential Asian directors and Asian film canons. Oldboy will generally be mentioned here and there in those discussions, with some claiming its greatness, and others saying its overrated. Nonetheless, there's no way I could not be aware of it. I have it on Blu-ray, but I have not yet seen it. I do intend to watch it, and I'm looking forward to it.

But in and amongst those discussions and those lists of essential films and directors, you will always, always, always find discussion, praise, admiration and critical acclaim (and the occasional dissenters) for the following Asian directors:

- Yasujiro Ozu
- Kenji Mizoguchi
- Edward Yang
- Akira Kurosawa
- Wong Kar-Wai
- Mikio Naruse
- Hou Hsai Hsein
- Nagasi Oshima

And a few others. I could easily add ten or twenty more. For the most part, these directors are not just directors. They are what are known as auteurs. An auteur is always a director, but a director isn't necessarily an auteur. An auteur has a unique style, a unique voice, which is instantly recognizable, not unlike how a Van Gogh painting is instantly recognizable as being painted by Van Gogh.

As I said, their films are essential viewing. To put it bluntly, to not watch them would be either because one simply is unaware of these directors or their works, or is voluntarily choosing to ignore their works, at their own expense.

I'm not some guy mentioning some set of obscure films that some tiny, minor fraction of the population would ever enjoy. What I am is some guy pointing people to a film canon that is universally acknowledge by film critics, scholars, directors and in general, cinephiles, to be be the best of the best, the cream of the crop, etc.

But true enjoyment of these films sometimes takes a little work. They are masterpieces in their own ways, but sometimes they don't give up their treasures in a single viewing. As an example, Ozu films are often double or triple themed, with the dominant theme residing behind another them running counter to the dominant theme. Furthermore, his film grammar is truly unique, and might seem simplistic and quaint, and yet it is beautiful in its subtlety. It takes time to appreciate him, and then something wonderful happens. Wong Kar-Wai films also give out exactly what you put into them. Your average Hollywood movie goer simply is not going to grasp Wong Kar-Wai's 2046 on the first viewing.

More to come...

Some films are pretty good but they seem to get the timing just right and articulate what people are thinking about at just the right moment. Sometimes with art if it's balanced just right such that it's open to interpretation it can be like the film was written especially for you.

Fight Club.

Day of the Dead (I found it very funny for some reason)
Films of the style Moon, Shawshank, Green Mile all safe bets but I really like it when a film is more specific on something rather than a big impact on something everybody reacts to.

Thank you for the Japanese films FirstAscent. Seems you have a greater appreciation for Direction than I but there's a few to look at there so will have to check them out. I guess you liked OldBoy...?
Amazed there's no Anime mentioned yet. Would expect Akira, Castle in the Sky. But then I'd also expect here to see Pan's Labyrinth & ...Dirty Dancing.... Greese....

I really need to add that one to my list over in this thread: https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/movies-you-really-want-to-see-but-havent-been-able-to-yet-246542

one flew over the cuckoos nest

simply brilliant

Okay, so I was checking out videos on YouTube, and I stumbled onto a video which interviews Kubrick during the premiere of 2001: A Space Odyssey.

And then, on a whim, I started reading the comments. Funny. What I witnessed were people arguing about who was the greatest director, or what was the greatest film. People were arguing Yasujiro Ozu vs. Orson Welles vs. Stanley Kubrick vs. Godard. Kenji Mizoguchi was mentioned. Somebody had the nerve to mention Christopher Nolan. The Godfather was mentioned. 

Interview: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bdKHuyhhyuM

Some pretty good choices I think, within the framework of Hollywood. I will confess some deficiency myself in exploring films from Europe and Russia, which I hope to rectify. But I recently started exploring the canon of films from East Asia, and it has changed my outlook drastically. Mid 20th century Japanese melodrama is a great place to start, along with the Japanese New Wave of the '60s. Modern cinema from Hong Kong, Taiwan and the mainland are another.

Obviously, you haven't yet seen Sansho the Bailiff.

Best way to start is to start reading blogs and reviews which mention the following directors: Kenji Mizoguchi, Edward Yang, Mikio Naruse, Yasujiro Ozu, Hiroshi Teshigahara, Masahiro Shinoda, Shohei Immamura, Hou Hsiao-Hsien, Akira Kurosawa, Keisuke Kinoshita, Wong Kar-Wai, Chen Kaige, Stanley Kwan, and others.

In retrospect, I feel as though my life's cinematic experience prior to discovering the films of the above listed was, to say the least, narrow, and missing out on some great beauty.

Apparently, I am the only person in these forums aware of these films. It's kind of like you keep telling people about a gourmet paradise just around that corner, and they keep not seeing the corner while they fight over whether to patronize McDonald's or Burger King.

Pretty tough to pick a single "best movie you have ever seen."  Here are 10 that I really like that come to mind quickly.  If I spent more time I know I would come up with others that would bump some of these off my list.

   Blade Runner
   Casablanca
   2001: A Space Odyssey
   The Lord of the Rings trilogy *
   The Red Violin
   A Fistful of Dollars
   Hombre
   Forbidden Planet
   The Maltese Falcon
   Thunder Road

* Counts as 1 movie

And here are some that didn't make my list (or anyone else's so far) apparently because they are too damn funny to be on a list like this:

   Animal House
   Blazing Saddles
   Young Frankenstein
   Caddyshack
   Stripes

It depends on who you ask. It's not really related to IMDB. If you're referring to the link I posted, IMDB was just reporting the results of the Sight & Sound poll, which is presented by the British Film Institute, and is generally considered to be one of the most important film polls out there, polling only critics and directors. If you poll the public, then you only get recent films, and a couple cult classics from the '70s, typically.

I've only watched The Godfather once. I'll probably watch it again some day. In the meantime, I'll watch nearly every Yasujiro Ozu film many times over, I'll be a glutton for any Mikio Naruse film I can get my hands on, every Edward Yang film I can get my hand on, just about any Coen Brothers film, any Wong Kar-Wai film, and I'm developing an interest in Ingmar Bergman. That's not to say I don't enjoy a good Marvel film or recent thriller.

Now, you keep hearing me mention Yasujiro Ozu. You won't understand why until you give him a shot. Watch two or three of his films, and something transcendental happens. Seeing as he has two films in the top twenty on the worldwide Sight & Sound poll, something must be going on there.

Buy this package - you'll be happy you did. It will be half off at Barnes & Noble next week: http://www.criterion.com/boxsets/427-eclipse-series-3-late-ozu

Note: it includes five films. Numbers 2 through 5 are some of my favorites of all time. The first one is okay.

I don't get it, who nominated godFARTer as the best movie ever? Is it some kind of snowball effect? Is it because of IMDB?

I'd pick... say, "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" over godfather any day. And it's not even in my top 20.

I know direction is great, and it's full of them easy to remember quotes, but come on, not the best!

Number 22 in fact. Coming in below two Yasujiro Ozu films, one Stanley Kubrick film, one Akira Kuosawa film, and one Andrei Tarkovsky film, among others, And very nearly immediately following it are one more Akira Kurosawa film, a Wong Kar-Wai film, and two more Andrei Tarkovsky films. That's if you listen to the critics.

http://www.imdb.com/list/6KlogkcUZ8c/

If you listen to the directors, The Godfather came in at number 7. Still behind one Yasujiro Ozu film and one Stanley Kubrick film.

http://explore.bfi.org.uk/sightandsoundpolls/2012/directors/

Titanic
Soul surfer
The Notebook

The Godfather. It is one of the best movies ever.

Never saw the American film, which is not related in any way, plot or otherwise, so I won't comment on it. The one I'm talking about stars Maggie Cheung. Please look at the links. I provide them so that people such as yourself can discover entirely new sets of films to explore.

I specifically usually don't mention films which the average guy posting here has heard of. But I also don't mention really obscure stuff even though others haven't heard of them. I try to mention films which are highly revered, critically appraised, and just damn great to watch. Many of them are cerebral though.

Heh, yeah, I didn't look at the links, so I thought you were talking about the 2000 American one. I was also a bit confused why you would include that in this list; seeing you meant the other one makes much more sense.

Hopefully you're not confusing a later Hollywood film named Center Stage which is not the same one I mentioned. A quick check of my link will verify.

Anyway, I will admit that Center Stage is a slow movie, but beautiful and tragic. As for the other films, they're all by Wong Kar-Wai. Best if you go into them knowing you're watching Wong Kar-Wai films. The more you put into them, the more you get out of them. Each requires at least two viewings to get to grips with his themes.