Movie/film suggestions.
While this is of course a forum for the discussion of all things audio/hi-fi and music, pretty much all of us are also lovers of movies, the enjoyment of which is effected by the reproduction of the sound they contain (with the exception of silent movies 
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I've been focused on David Lynch movies since his death, but with current events so much a part of our lives at the moment, I plan on re-watching a movie I’ve seen only once, and years ago. That movie is:
The Madness Of King George. Apropos, no?
Was Jeff Daniels in Rancho Deluxe? I remember when I was in my teens and growing up in Montana, Rancho and Thunderbolt And Lightfoot were both popular movies there because I think both were filmed in Montana. (I know that quite a bit of Thunderbolt was filmed in Great Falls.) Neither one of them did much for me at that tender age, and now I am afraid that they do even less. |
@grislybutter , among the many things I do not claim to be is a movie critic; I doubt that there are any actors out there who could care less about what I think;. regardless, I still offer my opinion to anyone who will waste their time listening to me. Personally, I do not think that George Clooney is a great actor, but I do think that he has played some roles that are perfect for his acting. It is heresy to type this, but I don’t think that Clint Eastwood is a great actor either. On the other hand, I’ve watched certain movies that made me think of Matt Damon as an extremely versatile actor, and the same for Al Pacino. |
@immatthewj I don’t mean to say: Clooney is a bad actor/not great/etc. I have some unpopular views about actors, e.g. I don’t think De Niro is that good (as in: some think he is the best). It’s a combination of looks, acting skills, personal background and roles that define that greatness. In short, bad actors would never get a role even in a low budget movie. They are all very talented. I grew up watching Eastern European movies where a 1/3 of the actors are terrible. Small talent pool. In the US/Hollywood, looks will never be enough. There are 100s of Brad Pitts sleeping in their cars on Sunset Blvd, waiting for their first roles. A good example is Tom Hanks. He had some classic roles in his 30s and 40s, for the ages. He couldn’t not be great. And then he just became too great and saying lines was sufficient, he had the charisma, the looks and hopefully the chemistry with Meg Ryan or whoever. Lately he is grumpy old man or predictable tough guy. I am suffering when I watch him. In Otto, in my opinion he is horrible. His son on the other hand is a delight. I could say the same thing about Denzel. Predictable roles and performances. Yet, he is still 110% on top his game, however much or little the role asks from him, he brings it, it’s a delight to watch him even in a reverse mortgage commercial. Hanks is just annoying. No, old people don’t act this way.. Please watch some old people live in their suburbia duplex. |
@grislybutter that is a pretty good synopsis. In my opinion, there are some movies that Clooney has been in where that worked well (the Clooney character, that is) but there are actors that can actually act much better and that is what makes them a pleasure to watch. |
@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.
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These were all enjoyable movies. But Clooney's acting to me was vanilla, maybe the role was vanilla. I think he is cast as good guy with a problem, good guy who solves the problem, conflicted, mostly bad guy, charming criminal we tend to support for sad cute puppy face. Maybe he is not relatable because of his good looks for most of us. Not his fault :) But think of Paul Rudd, who is also charming but has 10 times more angles complexity, dimensions to a role. Clooney has maybe 4, his characters become him, whereas Rudd becomes the character. Well, what do I know. I could be totally wrong.... |
I thought Syriana was an intense and well cast movie. I don't always like George Clooney, but I did enjoy his portrayal of the CIA spook who I understand was actually intended to represent Robert Baer. It was a movie I could watch more than once. Matt Damon was good (as usual) in this movie. I also liked The Kingdom with Jennifer Garner, Chris Cooper, Jamie Foxx, Danny Huston. . . . I guess I may have enjoyed it because going way back I spent a couple of years as a civilian working in Saudi Arabia, so it took me back a bit . . . but even without that I think I still would have enjoyed it.
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I love it when horror films are so good that they become real cinema, classics to return to from time to time. 2 recent examples starring the great Maika Monroe: IT FOLLOWS: The plot is unusually nuanced and thought-provoking. Adolescent sexual longing becomes a metaphor for vulnerability and extreme consequences of opening one’s self up to chance. This was her first film--astounding performance LONGLEGS: A more overtly horrifying film, but also very atmospheric, menacing and touching the viewer’s subconscious mind. Maika is older and even better, another astonishing performance. The part played by Nicholas Cage is simply beyond belief. I doubt this very strange, surreal actor was ever better used in a film than here. And a third that starred Scarlett Johansson (so good as a teen actor in THE MAIN WHO WASN'T THERE -- UNDER THE SKIN. This film truly got under my skin and never fully left my mind. I've never seen anything like it. The soundtrack is just as unnerving and brilliant as the film itself. |
Here are a couple with a musical theme that I would add to my list: Sid And Nancy (Chloe Webb as Nancy Spungen and Gary Oldman as Sid Vicious) is a classic. I just did a google and Courtney Love had a part that I do not remember, but seeing as how it was about junkies, I am sure she was convincing. Georgia starring Mare Winningham as the vocally talented Georgia Flood, and Jennifer Jason Leigh as her younger sister, Sadie Flood, who is either of lesser talent or perhaps, in my opinion, talented in a different way. Sadie has demons, that's for sure. And that's an understatement. The movie also features Ted Levine (whose acting I really enjoy) as Georgia's partner, John C Reilley played in the group with Sadie (I think he was the drummer), and Max Perlich played Sadie's boyfriend for a period of the film. This film completely won me over the first time I watched it, and it was one I watched a few more times.
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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.
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@bdp24 +1 for Detour, Black Swan, Chinatown, Taxi Driver, Touch of Evil, Silence of The Lambs, The Machinist, Rivers Edge, and Shadow Of the Vampire. These are great picks.
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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
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@slaw , He was great in 'JoJo Rabbit'! |
Almost everything by John Williams. Look all the way back to the fifties with Gidget. Or the sixties with Lost In Space, Diamond Head, Nightmare In Chicago, How to Steal a Million, Valley Of The Dolls and on and on. The seventies with The Poseidon Adventure, The Long Goodbye, Cinderella Liberty, The Towering Inferno, JAWS, Midway, and of course Star Wars and Close Encounters, Superman and Dracula. The eighties gave us more Star Wars and Raiders Of The Lost Ark and E.T. I’m getting tired of typing, but you get the Picture. 😆😆😆 |
Gattica: hidden gem October Sky: uplifting My Cousin Vinny: still pretty darned funny. August Rush. Near the begining is a scene where the "soul mates" connect as his live concert synchs up remotely with her classical recital. Nicely done. Stardust: Great musical soundtrack where the music is perfect for the visuals on the screen. Flash Gordon: just because |
@ezwind I am not a huge fan of Gross Point Blank, charming but the script a bit lazy, relying too much on the stars. @immatthewj The Favor is a delightful comedy with Brad Pitt.
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If you like classic comedies but have seen the "usual suspects," my wife and I really enjoyed "The Devil and Miss Jones" with Jean Arthur and Charles Coburn. I thought I'd seen them all but not this one. As far as that goes, *any* Jean Arthur movie is worth watching. ;-) If you have a hankering for vintage musicals, don't miss "Romance on the High Seas." I know, I know--Doris Day?!? It was her first movie, extremely well directed by Michal Curitz, who discovered Day and could direct just about anything, including "Casablanca" and "Yankee Doodle Dandy." Day is charming and sings like an angel, and Oscar Levant delivers some terrific one-liners. It's quite fun. |
@grislybutter ...Midnight Run is a classic. Might have been DeNiro’s first comedic role and he surprised the crap out of me he was so good at it. Another great DeNiro romantic comedy was Mad Dog and Glory with Bill Murray and Uma Thurman. Trading Places is an all timer too....Terrific cast with Ackroyd, Murphy, Curtis, Don Ameche and Ralph Bellamy. I also loved Jamie Lee in A Fish Called Wanda with Michael Palin, John Cleese and a wacky Kevin Kline. Also a John Cusack fan. His best role may have been in the underrated Grosse Point Blank where he played a hitman. I mentioned The Quick and the Dead earlier, another top notch Western was Silverado. A few other good modern Westerns: 3:10 to Yuma, Hell or High Water, Hateful Eight. Steve Martin in Roxanne! And don’t get me started on The Princess Bride. |
