Movie/film suggestions.

 

I just watched a cool little movie named Lucky. It stars Harry Dean Stanton, with some other interesting characters including David Lynch. It's set in a desert, and the landscape is beautiful (if you like deserts).

 

 

@immathewj and @nonoise: I’m just ahead of you guys, being born in 1950. By 1968 (when I started college, and therefore had a student deferment) everyone knew the Vietnam war was already lost, and skeptical (at best) about Nixon’s claim of having a secret plan to end the war (with "honor"). That was when my cynicism regarding politicians was fomented.

My Dad served in the Army Air Corps in World War 2, as a navigator on a bomber (the Air Force was created after WW2), and was a staunch Republican (my Mom a Democrat, a typical family voting situation in the USA). But even he knew Vietnam was a lost cause, and was not willing to sacrifice his only son for it.

In 1969 the military instituted the draft lottery---based on date of birth, and my number (249) was quite away from the highest number than year (around 210 iirc). After your first year in the lottery, your military obligation was fulfilled. My younger sister’s boyfriend wasn’t so lucky, and ended up in Nam. But not for long; he took a bullet to his forehead on his first trek into the jungle..

That sister joined the Navy in 1978, being deployed first in Hawaii then in Germany. Her military benefits have come in handy, as she suffers from a lot of health issues. When I take her to her doctor’s appointments at the local Vet facility I see lots of Vietnam Vets, and it’s not a pretty sight. My Dad refused to talk about WW2, typical of Vets who saw combat.

I found the statement made by Francis Ford Coppola about his film Apocalypse Now extremely despicable: "My film is not about Vietnam. My film is Vietnam." Unbelievable! In addition to his statement being so offensive and ridiculous, his film is a bloated, pompous, pretentious pos. IMO Full Metal Jacket and The Deer Hunter are much better movies about the war.

  

 

@imatthewj: I liked the story told in The Revenant, but don't have the knowledge required to evaluate it in terms of historical accuracy. One thing I didn't mention was the spectacular scenery in the film. I would love to see it in a theater.

 

 

I watched The Revenant last night (my second viewing). Leonardo DiCaprio’s role must be the most physically demanding one I’ve ever seen! I found the film’s music subtle and effective.

 

 

Me as well @immatthewj and @slaw. I also saw him recently in Angel Heart (with De Niro).

 

 

@slaw: Yeah Steve, The Green Mile was the first performance by Rockwell I saw, and was knocked out by him. The only other movie I've seen him in is the Three Billboards one. It's funny, I didn't think he was great in that one, yet he won an Academy Award for best supporting actor in it.

 

 

@br3098 and @jimcrane: Yep, that's the Classical station I also listen to (it's on one of my car radio's preset buttons). I especially like that they play complete works, not just, for instance, one movement of a symphony. They treat their audience as adults.

 

 

Damn @thecarpathian, I wasn't even close! Wrong continent, wrong century, wrong war. Now I REALLY want to see it again.

 

 

For those whose taste runs to Gothic Horror, I heartily recommend The Others. It stars Nicole Kidman as a mother with two children suffering from an odd malady (an aversion to sunlight), living in an old Southern mansion, waiting for her husband to return from fighting in the United States Civil War.

The story slowly (but not boringly) unfolds as strange things start happening in (and around) the house, all leading to a surprise twist ending. Very spooky and chilling!

 

 

@aewarren: I've lost count of how many times I've watched Casablanca, but when I see it coming up on TCM I watch it again every time. A top 10 movie of all time for sure. Same with Sunset Blvd., The Apartment, Dr. Strangelove, Chinatown, The Last Picture Show, a couple dozen more. A few dozen in my all time top 10? Sure, why not? 

 

 

@mylogic: To be perfectly honest, my original motive for the thread was to make a joke about the current head of the U.S. government, my choice of The Madness Of King George being made for the obvious reason. Plus I do actually like the movie. My mention of hi-fi’s being used to reproduce the sound of movies was done as a somewhat contrived and disingenuous rationale for the thread. It worked, ’cause the thread didn’t turn ugly, or get deleted.

That the thread turned into a discussion of movies/films in general is fine with me! I’m just glad it didn’t turn into a political argument, which was NOT my intent or desire. I see no point in those, as no one’s mind is ever changed by arguing, and lots of negative energy is created. Plus, this is an audio/hi-fi forum, not a political one. Yes, my original post had a political issue at it’s core, but at least it was offered in (hopefully) good humour. My model for political satire is Stephen Colbert, who very effectively mocks his intended targets.

 

 

@flash56: For another great music mockumentary, check out The Rutles: All You Need Is Cash. It's a 1978 spoof on The Beatles, written and directed by Eric Idle of Monty Python. Idle plays McCartney, Neil Innes of The Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band plays Lennon (Innes wrote all the songs for the movie, great parodies of specific Beatles songs), and one-time Beach Boy Ricky Fataar plays Harrison. Also appearing are Harrison himself, Mick Jagger, Paul Simon, Ron Wood, and a bunch of the SNL cast (Lorne Michaels produced the movie).

 

 

Another fan of The Ninth Gate (directed by Roman Polanski), which I have now watched a half dozen times. Polanski's Chinatown is a perfect movie.

 

 

One movie I like a lot starred Damon: Hereafter, directed by Clint Eastwood. A great story.

 

 

Bridesmaids has some very funny scenes.

 

 

@grislybutter: I haven't seen Clooney in that many movies, but the only role I saw him really "sink his teeth into" was the one in O Brother, Where Art Thou?. In The American he displays no personality whatsoever. A very "flat" performance. But the story is an interesting one.

 

 

One little film I like is The American. George Clooney stars as a hitman, and though he isn't (imo) very good in the role, the movie is very interesting. I've watched it three times.

 

 

I don't own this one, but have seen it twice and love it:

Hereafter, starring Matt Damon as a true clairvoyant. I watched it not knowing it was directed by Clint Eastwood. Two other favorites by Eastwood are Unforgiven and Gran Torino.

 

Two movies I really like that star Robin Williams are One Hour Photo and Insomnia, the latter with Al Pacino and Hilary Swank.

 

 

Doing the above list made me realize I have W.C. Fields’ It’s A Gift (my favorite of his) on Laserdisc but not DVD. Gotta correct that.

 

 

Wow, so many great titles!

 

One not yet mentioned (unless I missed it) is Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid, a parody of Noir movies. Co-written by Carl Reiner and Steve Martin, directed by the former and starring the latter.

An odd little movie I saw long ago and loved is Rubin & Ed, starring Crispin Glover. Delightfully twisted! I recently found a used copy of the DVD for a coupla bucks.

I love everything Christopher Guest has done, especially Best In Show, A Mighty Wind, and Waiting For Guffman.

I love 1960’s Don Knotts, and after he left The Andy Griffith Show he did two silly comedies: The Ghost And Mr. Chicken and The Reluctant Astronaut.

 

I’m looking at my DVD rack as I write this, and here’s some favorites I see:

 

Ain’t In It For My Health (The Band drummer/singer Levon Helm)

American Graffiti

The Bank Dick (love W.C. Fields!)

Black Swan (Natalie Portman is amazing in this beauty of a film)

Chinatown (of course)

Crumb

Detour (maybe the shortest running length of all Noirs)

Don’t Look Back (which chronicles Dylan’s 1965 tour of England)

Ghost World (co-written and directed by Terry Zwigoff, who also did Crumb), starring Steve Buscemi

Hall Pass

Happiness (a very twisted little film)

Hard Eight (written and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson, starring Philip Baker Hall. You may remember him as the book detective in one Seinfeld episode)

Kingpin

The Machinist (a very dark movie)

Melvin And Howard (Howard Hughes is at the center of this one)

Napoleon Dynamite

Papillon (Steve McQueen and Dustin Hoffman)

Pee Wee’s Big Adventure

The Producers (original). Genius movie!

River’s Edge

Shadow Of The Vampire (Willem Defoe was robbed of an Oscar for his performance in this movie)

Something Wild (Ray Liotta is great in his role)

Stranger Than Paradise

Sybil (Sally Field’s performance is just as good as it gets)

Taxi Driver

The Silence Of The Lambs

The Three Faces Of Eve (Joanne Woodward is a great actress!)

To Kill A Mockingbird

Touch Of Evil

Who’s Afraid Of Virginia Woolf?

The Wizard Of Oz

Young Frankenstein

 

 

 

Ooh yeah @ezwind, love Seven. Though I have to agree with @grislybutter that Pitt’s not a great actor, he’s pretty good in it. I think even better in Inglorious Bastards.

I think I’ll get myself a copy of The Road novel, which I was unaware of. Grim.

 

 

The darkest film I've ever seen is The Road, a 2009 post-apocalyptic tale with Viggo Mortensen in the lead role of a father wandering the land with his young son.

 

 

Beside watching music reviews on videos posted on YouTube by amateurs (the term used without pejorative implication), I also watch film/movie reviews. The quality of the reviews varies wildly, and I have discovered an unusually good reviewer---a youngish woman---who named her channel Deep Focus Lens (a good name, don’t you agree?). She may be an amateur (though she has a Patreon account), but she gets David Lynch to a degree Siskel & Ebert---for instance---were incapable of

I just watched her review of David Lynches final full length film, Inland Empire. Here it is:

 

https://youtu.be/smN7_AVrtGg?si=VJpdzL-h6890XWoF

 

 

@thecarpathian: Speaking of Casablanca, I love all Bogie's Noir movies. I recently saw In A Lonely Place for the first time, and never miss a chance to watch your choice, The Big Sleep, Key Largo, The Maltese Falcon, High Sierra, Dark Passage, and Dead Reckoning. The one movie he's in that I don't like is The African Queen; I can't stand Katharine Hepburn.

 

 

Years ago I saw the movie Nashville (directed by Robert Altman), and while perusing the soundtrack section in the good LP vendor booth at my local vintage marketplace store yesterday I came upon the soundtrack for the movie. All the musicians are listed on the back cover, and it’s an impressive group of players (Harold Bradley, Lloyd Green, David Briggs, Vassar Clements, Johnny Gimble, Buddy Spicher, many others).

I had to look at the center label on the LP to get the song info, and it appears that Ronee Blakely was very involved in the making of the album (as well as appearing in the movie). I’m familiar with her name, but not her music, so I look forward to listening to the album. I’ve been buying from this vendor for a few years now, and he was obviously in the record business. Every LP has pertinent info written on the card each has taped to it’s plastic outer sleeve, and on this one he wrote "A great, great album!"

The cover has a very mild amount of ring wear, but the LP is in Near Mint condition. I happily paid $7 for it.

 

 

I'm with you @77jovian. I have no idea what Barton Fink is about, and it's unlike the Coens to be so abstract. I find this film very disturbing.

Mulholland drive is slightly more understandable, since we know Lynch likes to play around with dream sequences vs. reality. And we expect his films to be abstract.

 

 

Yep, forgot about The Big Lebowski, and I really need to rewatch Blood Simple again. I've seen it only once, and that many years ago. I need to see Miller's Crossing again too.

 

 

@77jovian: I haven’t seen The Fortune Cookie, but I sure love Lemmon and Matthau in The Odd Couple. Who doesn’t?!

Agree about the Coen’s, with the exception of Intolerable Cruelty. But then I haven’t seen The Hudsucker Proxy, Burn After Reading, or The Ladykillers (love the original). I love, love, love The Man Who Wasn’t There and A Serious Man. The Ballad Of Buster Scruggs is pretty darn great, and of course it goes without saying so are Fargo and O Brother, Where Art Thou?.

Mean Streets was the first Martin Scorsese film I saw, which may be why it remains my favorite of his (well, it and Taxi Driver).

 

 

Here’s a great film entitled "David Lynch Teaches You The Art Of Life---Full Masterclass." It’s almost three hours long, but it’s time well spent to watch it.

 

https://youtu.be/yJqSSE9b90o?si=ZkGNQGuzhULXLGcM

 

 

Today I find myself longing to again see Wings Of Desire. I remember it as being as beautiful a film as I've ever seen.

 

 

@whipsaw: The Conversation is my favorite of Coppola’s. His "small" movie.

 

Another favorite of mine is The Last Picture Show by Peter Bogdanovich. A great soundtrack too, with lots of Hank Williams.

 

And Tender Mercies with Robert Duvall. A related film is Crazy Heart, with Duvall in a supporting role to Jeff Bridges. Not too bad a singer, and some great songs. Produced by the ubiquitous T Bone Burnett.

 

 

@slaw: Oh yeah Steve, one night a few years back I came across the Three Billboards movie. I hadn't heard of it, and was very pleasantly surprised. Frances McDormand again.

 

 

Okay @grislybutter, I admit it. Dumb And Dumber is a guilty pleasure of mine. Is Bad Santa in that same category? I’m pretty lenient when in comes to movies, though I have to draw the line at super hero and "action" ones.

 

@winoguy17: The Man Who Wasn’t There stars Billy Bob Thornton, Frances McDormand, James Galdolfini, Scarlett Johansson, and Richard Jenkins. A great story, as usual from the Coen brothers. To return to the premise of this thread, there is one guy I sure wish wasn't there. Or anywhere.

 

 

@winoguy17: Speaking of the Coen Brothers, have you seen The Man Who Wasn't There. Fantastic! A modern Noir instant classic, with the most beautiful B & W cinematography (by Roger Deakins) I've EVER seen. I also love their little-known A Serious Man, which having a Jewish girlfriend was helpful in understanding.

For Billy Wilder it's Sunset Blvd. and The Apartment. For Hitchcock it's Vertigo.

What has become of Jim Jarmusch? I loved his Coffee And Cigarettes, especially the scene with Tom Waits and Iggy Pop.

 

 

@noromance: I didn’t mean for my use of the term ridiculous to be taken literally, as a pejorative dismissal. I love Eraserhead, but I knew the store manager would consider my choice ridiculous. Which she did.

 

@hifiguy42: My favorite of Kubrick’s is Dr. Strangelove.

 

 

@noromance: The manager at my video store in the early-2000’s one day asked me what my favorite movie was. A ridiculous question, so I gave her a ridiculous answer: Eraserhead, of course. I recently read that Stanley Kubrick cited it as his all-time favorite movie, and screened it for guests in his home. I have it in the director approved Criterion DVD Special Edition version.