Film Reviews and Suggestions

[Lawrence189]

Figure I'd start a thread to generally suggest and discuss films.
Not sure what films to watch today, I'm up pretty early [7:00am], nothen to do till 5pm.
So go ahead, suggest films with some brief details of your opinion and the story.
I'm definenetley going to watch films I've never seen before, I'm thinken:
1. The Godfather
2. American Beauty
3. Heat
4. Taxi Driver
Never seen any of em but I know there great. Today I'm open to almost any kind of films except no westerns, black and whites, and magical Avatar like films.

Anyone have any MUST SEE NOW films or anything? This thread should keep on running not just on the account of me, everyones always looken for film suggestions.

[Khaver]

2001: A Space Odyssey

For me, this one set the standard for all Sci-Fi films that came after, even today.

[Gillvane]

1. The Godfather
2. American Beauty
3. Heat
4. Taxi Driver


Seen all those. Great films. I'd suggest my favorite, Forbidden Planet.

You can watch it on youtube, free.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R8aIl03DTzg

Also Planet of the Apes is a good one if you haven't seen it, and Mad Max is a must.

[Janke]

Disney's Fantasia and Fantasia 2000, if you like classical music & topnotch animation...

+1 for 2001, still the ultimate SF movie, perfect special effects. (Look up & read about them, incredible technology for the 1960s!)

[Lawrence189]

I am no fan of cartoons or unrealistic films.

[Khaver]

2001 is one of the most realistic sci-fi films ever made. All the technology and special effects that show up in the film were highly vetted and researched by many scientists to be as realistic as possible for the time frame.

+1 for Planet of the Apes (the original).

Another one of my favorites is the classic Fahrenheit 451. Story telling at its best.

I guess you can see I'm a sci-fi fan.

[Jim E]

Based on your list, I'd suggest Martin Scorcese's "Mean Streets" (1973). I haven't seen it myself, (can't seem to find it anywhere in Australia, but I've read it's a "must-see".

Stars, Robert De Niro, (naturally), Harvey Keitel, and a couple of the Carradines. Running time 112 mnutes.

From IMDb:

The future is set for Tony and Michael - owning a neighbourhood bar and making deals in the mean streets of New York city's Little Italy. For Charlie, the future is less clearly defined. A small-time hood, he works for his uncle, making collections and reclaiming bad debts. He's probably too nice to succeed. In love with a woman his uncle disapproves of (because of her epilepsy) and a friend of her cousin, Johnny Boy, a near psychotic whose trouble-making threatens them all - he can't reconcile opposing values. A failed attempt to escape (to Brooklyn) moves them all a step closer to a bitter, almost preordained fate.

[paperkut12]

Dog Day Afternoon, Serpico, and Scent of A Woman; All favorites and because I love Al Pacino and people get too caught up on Scarface and Godfather, but anything Pacino you can't go wrong (besides many recent flops).

[Dr. Benway]

I'm a Mann fan - 'Heat' would be a must see. For the audio and the edginess.

[paperkut12]

I'm a Mann fan - 'Heat' would be a must see. For the audio and the edginess.

Speaking of which, I highly recommend Collateral from Mann also, I love that movie.

[Jim E]

Oh yes! "Dog Day Afternoon" for sure!!

[um3k]

Brazil.

[cgbier]

Gilvane, thanks for reminding me on Forbidden Planet... haven't seen that for at least 30 years. Even though it was loosely based on Shakespeare, it seems to be predecessor of Star Treck.

Movie recommendations?
The Third Man
The Stranger (or Orson Welles in general)
The Great Dictator
Everything Hitchcock

[Lawrence189]

I'm hearing allot of Pacino here, so I guess next up I'm watching Heat and Dog Day Afternoon recommended by paperkut and krute. Don't let me down fellas! :hv20-smilie87:
I've seen allot of Scorsese but I didn't like Mean Streets at all. Maybe I have to watch it again. I loved Collateral but Mann really let me down with Miami Vice.
Just watched Taxi Driver yesterday, didn't get what I expected but it was good film, it's still sinking in so my opinion might change.
Never heard any of those movies cgbier but I'll read some reviews.
I'd like to recommend to everyone a few movies as well:

Carlito's Way [Depalma and Pacino]
The People vs Larry Flynt [Milos Forman and Woody Harelson Ed Norton]
The King of Comedy [Scorsese and Deniro]

[Lawrence189]

Just watched Dog Day Afternoon, great suggestion thanks.

[Gillvane]

I am no fan of cartoons or unrealistic films.

It's the only thing I like. Action, Sci Fi, Fantasy, and the occasional romantic comedy. If it's "realistic" I have no interest in it. The Matrix? Watched it a million times. Brokeback Mountain? Still havent' seen it.

[Daniel Rutter]

I would love to see "State Of Grace"... I've not yet had the chance to.

All the Godfather movies are great, and just about anything Scorcese films are a must (not that I've seen all of them).

[Lawrence189]

just about anything Scorcese films are a must
So far he's only let me down with Mean Streets.
I've been going back and forth with Deniro and Pacino films lately and I'm definitely liking Pacino's characters a whole lot more, I wonder what thats all about. So far my biggest regret was watching Righteous Kill because I haven't even seen Heat yet.

I think Raging Bull is up next for me, gonna watch it in a few.

[Daniel Rutter]

watching Righteous Kill because I haven't even seen Heat yet.
I haven't seen heat either, but I've seen Righteous Kill. As far as I'm aware, they're completely unrelated though...

[Lawrence189]

That might be true story wise, the only relation is that two of the worlds greatest actors [and 2 of my 10 favorites, Ed Norton being first of course] are in it together, seeing them on the same screen at the same time calls for 5 star film, Righteous Kill wasn't quite there or so I've heard it is from a reliable source.
I don't know what Heat's about and I wont know until I watch it, that should make it more interesting.

[fotosafari]

2001 is one of the most realistic sci-fi films ever made. All the technology and special effects that show up in the film were highly vetted and researched by many scientists to be as realistic as possible for the time frame.

+1 for Planet of the Apes (the original).

Another one of my favorites is the classic Fahrenheit 451. Story telling at its best.

I guess you can see I'm a sci-fi fan.

In 2001 scene.... when the PanAm about to dock in space... look close the images and the controller seen from the outside. We did that part of animation with my associate and friend. Actually it was just a very small part what we actually did about 7 seconds I think. Back in those days dind't have what we have to day and had to mask things and so on. Don't remember if we ever got screen credit for it, because we were just a cog on the wheel and our name(s) didn't amount to much. Only the mucky-mucks got credit for it.... as they should.

[Jim E]

In 2001 scene.... when the PanAm about to dock in space... look close the images and the controller seen from the outside. We did that part of animation with my associate and friend. Actually it was just a very small part what we actually did about 7 seconds I think. Back in those days dind't have what we have to day and had to mask things and so on. Don't remember if we ever got screen credit for it, because we were just a cog on the wheel and our name(s) didn't amount to much. Only the mucky-mucks got credit for it.... as they should.

Wait... what?!!! Fotosafari, are you saying you worked on "2001: A Space Odyssey"?

The "2001: A Space Odyssey"??????????

[Gillvane]

So far he's only let me down with Mean Streets.
I've been going back and forth with Deniro and Pacino films lately and I'm definitely liking Pacino's characters a whole lot more, I wonder what thats all about. So far my biggest regret was watching Righteous Kill because I haven't even seen Heat yet.

I think Raging Bull is up next for me, gonna watch it in a few.

Everyone does the "you talking to me?" line, but Taxi Driver is a must see IMO. The very young and talented Jodi Foster and De Niro give truly memorable performances.

[Khaver]

In 2001 scene.... when the PanAm about to dock in space... look close the images and the controller seen from the outside. We did that part of animation with my associate and friend. Actually it was just a very small part what we actually did about 7 seconds I think. Back in those days dind't have what we have to day and had to mask things and so on. Don't remember if we ever got screen credit for it, because we were just a cog on the wheel and our name(s) didn't amount to much. Only the mucky-mucks got credit for it.... as they should.

That's seriously cool foto. It's amazing just how many people are actually involved in the production of a movie. I guess if they had to give screen credit to every person the credits would be longer than the film.

Let me know foto, if you every want some budget special effects done for your current projects. 2001 was an inspiration to me and I used to do little sci-fi films with Moon landscapes (using dry grout powder. looked very realistic), spacecraft models and single frame animation back in the 70's. One of these days I'll have to pull them out of storage and transfer them to video.

[cornreaper]

I just saw There Will be Blood for the first time. I had avoided it because it was waaaay too hyped up in the same way No Country for Old Men was, and I absolutely loathed that film. But now that I've seen it....wow. It's easily top five for me now. Daniel Day Lewis is simply phenomenal.

[Janke]

The Third Man
The Stranger (or Orson Welles in general)
The Great Dictator
Everything Hitchcock

+1 for all of those. Just re-watched Third Man; still exciting, even when you know the outcome.

Also re-watched Forbidden Planet, but that doesn't compare favorably with 2001 at all (nor does 2010, which I re-watched yesterday...) FP is sooooo ... well, "kitsch" or "camp" or ...

[Lawrence189]

I recently watched Taxi Driver [6 days ago] not as great as I expected but very good film.
There Will Be Blood next for me, anyone's favorite film is usually a good recommendation.
Netflix is so sweet you guys.

[cornreaper]

I trust Netflix in the US has a decent selection? They just started operating in Canada, so I signed up for the free trial. I'm seeing a lot of titles like Mega Shark vs Giant Octopus, Ice Twisters and Flight of the Living Dead. They now have 25 days to improve upon that and start frying my bacon.

[Lawrence189]

I trust Netflix in the US has a decent selection?
They have a very big selection, from the Godfather to Killer Clowns from Outer Space, to Office space, to Crackerjack. Not sure about Canada's selection but it should grow quickly.
They have every movie I have ever looked for.
One thing: They have tens of thousands of videos to rent on DVD, they send them to your house, but the ONLINE STREAM selection is a little smaller in selection [not much just a little], they update new streams everyday.
I've seen so far on Netflix:
Dog Day Afternoon
Taxi Driver
Eternal Sunshine and the Spotless Mind

The thing that bothers me is some videos are still not ready for streaming, like Goodfellas, you have to get that on DVD from them.
It's a pretty good selection and it's a great convenience.

[cornreaper]

We don't get the DVD option, it's streaming only. I guess that's why it's cheaper here, $7.99/month. So hopefully that selection increases exponentially over the next four weeks!