Wow, I would love to watch that. Do you know anywhere that it's available from?

It was available in Amazon Prime Video, but I think it was removed from the platform :confused:

I notice that nobody mentioned a film from Spain. I understand it because our film makers and industry are not good enough compared to America or Asia. — javi2541997

Rather than a lack of quality, it's probably because they're less available to watch outside Spain. A long time ago, the films of Almodovar used to be shown on TV in the UK. More recently, I watched a lot of the Spanish films on Netflix when I was in Spain, if they had English subtitles.

I liked these:

El hoyo
Tiempo compartido
Tarde para la ira
Handia
Errementari

I've included those last two because they were only on Spanish Netflix, though I'm aware they're Basque.

I haven't seen Vacas though.

oh yes, el hoyo is a good film! (It is basque too)

Well, I personally think that the quality is not good enough. You mentioned Almodovar's films but even their films are weird and wacky. The problem is not about the availability outside Spain, because if ours films were acceptable, many translators would pay for them. I guess that some cultures are more interesting than others. For example: I see that some users put a lot of films of Kurosawa and Ōzu in this thread and they are "so Japanese" and despite this fact, their movies are over the world and translated in different languages.
I must accept (and this is true) that Japanese culture is more interesting than Spanish one, it is a fact. I understand that for a foreigner could be boring our dramas about politics and territories.

Handia — Jamal

This film is so awesome. I wanted to recommended too and yes it is basque and it is also set in a rural area of Basque Country in the XIX century. Pretty good movie. It is still in Netflix.

Lots of good silents by Buster Keaton. — T Clark

I've always loved this scene from Modern Times — T Clark

Buster was so mistreated by the 'Hollywood' system. The General was a brilliant film and he was one of the best stuntmen EVER!
Chaplin and Laurel & Hardy are to comedy what Einstein and Newton are to science, imo.
I also respect Chaplin for standing up to horror's like Edgar Hoover. But I digress from the thread so, how about films like Arsenic and old lace?
Did you like any of the UK Ealing comedies? such as:
Kind Hearts and Coronets
Whisky Galore
The Lavender Hill Mob
The Man in the White Suit
The Ladykillers

It's totally another to see the film in a movie theatre with an audience howling in laughter during the mirror scene. I remember laughing in the car when going home. — ssu

:lol: The mirror scene! ...... :rofl: ....... when Groucho did that turn ..... :lol: and Chico .... :lol: ..... he just ... :rofl: .... he just ..... :rofl: .... moves his arms at the end of Groucho's turn ..... :lol: :rofl: ...... pure f****** class man!!!

Favorite actions films? Mine is Raiders of the Lost Ark. — Tom Storm

What did you think of the point made in the comedy show 'The big bang theory,' where one of the characters points out a fatal flaw in that movie, in that Indiana Jones need not have been involved at all and the outcome would have been the same. The Nazi's open the box and they all die. :rofl:
What a useful box that would be to have around today! You could gift it to folks like Putin and then say go ahead Vlad baby, open your gift! (not whilst you are in the same room as him and the box of course!)

Anyone say Taxi Driver yet?

Yep, that was in my list.

Well, I personally think that the quality is not good enough. You mentioned Almodovar's films but even their films are weird and wacky. The problem is not about the availability outside Spain, because if ours films were acceptable, many translators would pay for them. I guess that some cultures are more interesting than others. For example: I see that some users put a lot of films of Kurosawa and Ōzu in this thread and they are "so Japanese" and despite this fact, their movies are over the world and translated in different languages.
I must accept (and this is true) that Japanese culture is more interesting than Spanish one, it is a fact. I understand that for a foreigner could be boring our dramas about politics and territories. — javi2541997

So, the Spanish film industry is small because of a lack of global demand (perhaps even domestic and Hispanic demand in general), and this is because Spanish stuff is less attractive, interesting, or fashionable than, e.g., Japanese stuff.

You might be right, but it doesn’t follow that the proportion of Spanish films that are high quality is lower, only that there will be fewer high quality films coming out of Spain than e.g., Japan, because there are far fewer films being made there.

Personally, I have no real preference when it comes to Spain vs Japan. Feels like I’m as likely to be interested in a Spanish film as a Japanese one.

On the other hand, I do enjoy films from unfamiliar cultures, partly for the novelty. When I met my wife she introduced me to Soviet movies, most of which I hadn’t heard of but which are massively popular in Russia and the other ex-Soviet countries.

Highlights were Kin-dza-dza and Office Romance, the latter partly because there were no subtitles and my wife had to translate, which was fun, but also because it was fascinating to see everyday office life in late 1970s Moscow, in the context of a romantic comedy.

Have to put this up.

Two absolute legends from the silent films, Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton together at older age in Chaplin's Limelight. Too bad the film was in many places in the US boycotted in 1952 as of allegations of Chaplin being a communist. A good film, even if not in the top ten category.

When I met my wife she introduced me to Soviet movies, most of which I hadn’t heard of but which are massively popular in Russia and the other ex-Soviet countries. — Jamal

I never heard of those either. I guess this is due to the fact that Francisco Franco blocked all products and stuff from Soviet countries. I watched a post-Soviet film called "Burnt by the Sun" and it is a pretty good movie. The plot is based on Soviet times but the film is of 1994 so I guess we cannot consider it as "Soviet"!

On the other hand, it is interesting how your wife showed you "Soviet films". I mean, movies which represents how that era looked like. Here in Spain we had something similar in a cinema called "NO-DO". The films were about family topics about Franco's era and most of them were even so far from reality. If one day you watch one (I wish not) you would see they are so eccentric on the reality about middle-class families. Most of them are even available nowadays in a program called "cine de barrio" (it is special and is only available in Saturday) and only older people see them. I remember watching one with my grandmother and laughed at the actors and plot because everything was so forced.

Yeah, I have watched that one many times. It's one that gets me thinking about a 'dream team of comedy' list/thread.
Which comedians would you choose for the best comedy team ever in history? and you must explain why you would include each one, based on how they would compliment your previous choices. All of them would be at the prime of their profession of course.
Charlie Chaplin, Billy Connolly, Robin Williams, Stan Laurel, Buster Keaton. Would that team work, for example?

Regarding Spanish films, Carlos Saura's Blood Wedding is fantastic:

On the other hand, it is interesting how your wife showed you "Soviet films". I mean, movies which represents how that era looked like. Here in Spain we had something similar in a cinema called "NO-DO". The films were about family topics about Franco's era and most of them were even so far from reality. If one day you watch one (I wish not) you would see they are so eccentric on the reality about middle-class families. Most of them are even available nowadays in a program called "cine de barrio" (it is special and is only available in Saturday) and only older people see them. I remember watching one with my grandmother and laughed at the actors and plot because everything was so forced. — javi2541997

Interesting. From what you say, it seems like those films are not as popular in Spain as Soviet films still are in the ex-Soviet sphere, where they are familiar to all ages, though obviously the nostalgia is a big part of it.

Bodas de sangre is a play of Lorca. Carlos Saura have put it on cinemas, so it is not original at all. Then, I don't consider it as a "Spanish film" when is all the ideas come from the works of Federico García Lorca.

Exactly. Apart of not being famous, most of the people make jokes on them. Antonio Leblanc is one of the actors who participated the most in those films. When I was a kid, I asked to my grandparents: who is Antonio Leblanc? And then they answered: "if the youngest don't know about Leblanc it means that the culture of Franco is no longer with us and that's a good symptom"

The Shining
Hero (with Jet Li)
Young Frankenstein
Apocalypse Now
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
It Follows
Pandorum
Solaris (American version)
Adaptation
House of Flying Daggers

Charlie Chaplin, Billy Connolly, Robin Williams, Stan Laurel, Buster Keaton. Would that team work, for example? — universeness

I agree with most of your list, although I've never loved Laurel and Hardy. I've seen Billy Connolly on TV and doing standup, but the only movie I remember seeing him in is The Last Samurai. Let's see, who would I include?... Bill Murray, Nicholas Cage, Woody Allen, Jim Carrey, Tom Hanks, John Cusack, Monty Python guys.... Ok, my favorite comedies:

Moonstruck - I can't believe I haven't mentioned this before
Diner - Should have mentioned this before too
The Navigator + other Keaton movies
High Fidelity
Groundhog Day
Annie Hall
Manhattan
Say Anything
The Three Stooges Meet Donald Trump Jr.
The Truman Show
Raising Arizona
The Graduate
Singing in the Rain
Caddyshack
Get Shorty
The Princess Bride
The Shop Around the Corner

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind — frank

Forgot about this. This and Truman Show are the only Jim Carrey movies I really like.

Man on the Moon was pretty good.

Man on the Moon was pretty good. — frank

Never saw it.

Arsenic and old lace?
Did you like any of the UK Ealing comedies? such as:
Kind Hearts and Coronets
Whisky Galore
The Lavender Hill Mob
The Man in the White Suit
The Ladykillers — universeness

All of those, yes, but not in the top favourites.
Those were all fairly low-key, cerebral comedy. I have very low tolerance for rowdy humour, none at all for slapstick, and my idea of effective visual comedy is the wall-washing scene in Life of Brian.
I suppose, overall, my preference is for quiet, contemplative movies, so the top two that come to mind are Brief Encounter and Turtle Diary.

A funny thing happened on the way to our movie night yesterday.
Started with Out of Africa - beautiful to look, but it's the one role in which I really hated Robert Redford (Not quite true - I just remembered Indecent Proposal, in which I hated pretty much everybody, including Oliver Platt, which is next to impossible.)
Anyway, the tape was lousy quality, so we watched The Milagro Beanfield War instead, which was produced and directed by Redford and is damn near perfect.

Let's see, who would I include?... Bill Murray, Nicholas Cage, Woody Allen, Jim Carrey, Tom Hanks, John Cusack, Monty Python guys.... Ok, my favorite comedies: — T Clark

Dudley Moore seems to fit in with this crowd.

I see you left out Judd Apatow and work by his crew (Seth Rogen, Jonah Hill, Paul Rudd, Jason Segal, Jay Baruchel)

I figured his films deserve mention given that they have had a dominating influence on American comedy the past 20 years

Knocked-Up
40 year old Virgin
This is 40
Forgetting Sarah Marshall
Get Him to the Greek
Trainwreck
The King of Staten Island
Bridesmaids
The Dewey Cox Story

so we watched The Milagro Beanfield War instead, which was produced and directed by Redford and is damn near perfect — Vera Mont

As was his Ordinary People, in my opinion. He gets slighted as an actor because he tended to shy away from dark or complicated characters, but I thought he was brilliant in films like Downhill Racer and The Candidate.

See, I think Billy Connolly is the greatest 'observational comic,' there has ever been.
Even simple ones like, "I couldn't believe it when walking in a Belfast street after xmas. There was a shop advertising half price bomber jackets!!" :rofl:
Robin Williams was another phenomenal observational comic.
Chaplin, Laurel and Keaton are amongst the greatest physical comedians ever. So Connolly and Williams doing the writing and Chaplin, Laurel and Keaton doing the physical enactments would be unbeatable imo.

Based on that kind of set-up, would you still choose the names you chose for your all time greatest comedy dream team?

Ordinary People, — Joshs

and

The Candidate. — Joshs

are both excellent. So is The Natural and All the President's Men and Our Souls at Night and I guess The Horse Whisperer , though, as with Indecent Proposal, I found the story distasteful. Whatever else, nobody can call the man idle!

What did you think of the point made in the comedy show 'The big bang theory,' where one of the characters points out a fatal flaw in that movie — universeness

That point was made by a critic a long time before that show. Not sure how the ark would have gotten safely to the US without Indy, but as it turns out Indy (like all of us) is impotent against two things - the rage of god and the implacable bureaucracy of the American government. The ark gets boxed up and put away in an anonymous warehouse. I always got a chuckle out of that.

Yeah Redford has been fantastic in some films and awful in others.
I think indecent proposal is crap as well and I hate 'The way we were' but Redford was amazing in
The Sting
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
Brubaker

:up: but shhhhhhhh no one knows where the box is now!

but shhhhhhhh no one knows where the box is now! — universeness

https://www.businessinsider.com/billionaires-only-bank-vault-opening-in-london-2019-12