Which comedians would you choose for the best comedy team ever in history? — universeness

If I want a laugh I might pop on Blue Velvet. Most contrived comedy irritates me - whether it is stand up or the mawkish material of Chaplain. I liked Billy Connolly and Robin Williams in some dramatic roles.

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

I really stopped watching movies much just about 20 years ago, so, although I'm familiar with the names, I haven't seen any of the movies you listed.

As for Dudley Moore, I really liked the original "Bedazzled" with Peter Cook as the devil. Didn't like Arthur or 10. What else was he in?

As for Dudley Moore, I really liked the original "Bedazzled" with Peter Cook as the devil. Didn't like Arthur or 10. What else was he in? — T Clark

Those are the main ones I can think of, although do you remember his small but hilarious role in Foul Play as a pathetically horny conductor? Bedazzled was brilliant,btw.

Cool. I think I just have this category I put a lot of movies into -- which doesn't mean they're bad, but rather I have to know what someone else likes before I'll suggest them.

Whereas some movies I'll just put out there as something I think anyone can find something good in, or at least I'll have some cinematic reason (like with Predator on the list I was thinking about how it really encompasses the barely hidden homo-eroticism of 80's action flicks -- even if you don't like the movie, I'd point out that it's a perfect demonstration of a particular aspect of a kind of movie)

If I want a laugh I might pop on Blue Velvet. — Tom Storm

There might be something wrong with you.

Doesn't this belong in the Lounge? — T Clark

Yes, actually.

Another unmentioned: Dick Tracey. I love the visuals of the movie in particular, because of how well they translated old comics to film.

Lol, it’s a parody of the movie Menace II Society.

Ones I forgot:

The Dark Knight
American History X
Morvern Caller
The Chumscrubber
Elephant
The Elephant Man
Saw
Se7en
A Huey P. Newton Story

TV Shows:

Avatar: The Last Airbender/The Legend of Korra
House
Person of Interest
The Andy Griffith Show
SpongeBob SquarePants
Criminal Minds
Oz
Chopped
Anne With an E
Deadliest Warrior
Forged in Fire

American History X — Pinprick

:up:
Always been one of the best 1990s films. Edward Norton did a magnificent acting.

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

Hey, how did you know where I keep my first edition, signed copies of priceless Vera Mont books!!!

It was in The Guardian, so I knew it must be true.

Not sure if anyone mentioned Bicycle Thieves. Great movie.

And here’s one probably no one has seen which I liked a lot: Coupe De Ville.

Oh Brother, Where Art Thou? is my favorite of all time. I've watched it a dozen times. Mostly the wonderful music. :smile:

I've seen so many good movies, I couldn't possibly rank them. Maybe I'll just pick some from others' lists.

Seven Samurai
Persona
8 1/2
There Will Be Blood — Mikie

5. A Clockwork Orange — god must be atheist

(Mostly for style and atmosphere, which is where Kubrick excels.) I think my favorite Kubrick movie is one of his lesser known ones: Barry Lyndon.

Annie Hall — T Clark

2. Pulp fiction
3. The Godfather (all the parts)
4. Tokyo Monogatari
5. A clockwork orange
6. Ikiru
7. Yojimbo
8. Ran
9. Akira — javi2541997

The Godfather I & II
Blade Runner
Barfly
Unforgiven — 180 Proof

Pulp Fiction
Andrei Rublev
Taxi Driver — Jamal

My favorite Tarkovsky film, along with Rublev, is probably The Mirror.

Amadeus
Groundhog Day
Donnie Darko — Luke

The Gods Must be Crazy
Tootsie — Vera Mont

Night of the Hunter
Citizen Kane
Midnight Cowboy
Bonnie and Clyde
Almost Famous — Joshs

Richard II, with Lawrence Olivier
Lawrence of Arabia
High Noon
The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie — Paine

Aguirre, the Wrath of God
Princess Mononoke
Spirited Away — tim wood

Platoon — universeness

Oops. Yes I did see that — I know it as Tokyo Story. The Japanese didn’t ring a bell. Ozu is incredible and it’s a great movie.

I love almost everything I’ve seen out of Japan, which admittedly isn’t a lot. Ozu and Kurosawa are at the very top. Miyazaki is up there too. — Mikie

Check out Kore-eda Hirokazu if you haven't seen him: Nobody Knows, Still Walking, Shoplifters.

I have seen all Ozu's films, and they are fantastic. — javi2541997

:up:

Love Good Morning. His silent film,I Was Born, But... which is loose remake, is also excellent. — Maw

I was fortunate to have seen this in a theater with an honest-to-goodness live piano accompaniment!

Page 2

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (The evil of authority generally, but perfectly personified by Nurse Ratchett).
The Shining (The face of insanity)
American Beauty (Suburban existentialism) — Hanover

I am not into horror, but The Shining is classic for a reason.

Mike Leigh films:
Mr Turner.
Vera Drake. — unenlightened

+ Another Year

Ken Loach films — unenlightened

I've seen these:

Raining Stones
The Wind that Shakes the Barley

I should see more limey working-class kitchen-sink dramas :)

Trainspotting. — unenlightened

Goodfellas
Chinatown
The Big Lebowski — Bradskii

Seven Samurai (1954) - Kurosawa
Apur Sansar (1959) - Ray
L'Eclisse (1962) - Antonioni
Late Spring (1949) - Ozu
Ran (1985) - Kurosawa
Cleo from 5-7 (1962) - Varda — Maw

Of Angelopoulos I've seen only Eternity and a Day - loved it. The music is still stuck in my head.

Persona is my favorite Bergman — Maw

Not my favorite, but worth watching, especially as part of a retrospective.

The Meaning of Life — BC

Midnight Cowboy
Casablanca
The Graduate
Annie Hall
Fanny and Alexander (Bergman)
Godfather
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s nest
Dr Strangelove
Gone With the Wind — BC

Gallipoli — BC

Thin Red Line (a great poetic war film from Terrence Malick) — ssu

Heat (a great Al Pacino and Robert de Niro faceoff, likely best film from Michael Mann) — ssu

In the Mood for Love
Brazil
Walkabout — Tom Storm

A masterpiece — javi2541997

:up: I also liked his Chungking Express, though it is very different.

Page 3:

Pulp Fiction
Goodfellas
Dr. Strangelove
Lost in Translation
The Departed
Monty Python and the Holy Grail — Manuel

All About Eve
Blow-Up — Joshs

The Magnificent Seven
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly - I'm surprised no one has mentioned this. Also:
A Fist Full of Dollars
For a Few Dollars More
Once Upon a Time in the West — T Clark

That’s why I’m a big fan of the anti-Western, and Sergio Leone’s films with Clint Eastwood were among the first of these. Anti-Westerns turn the tables on the standard view of the hero as establishment figure. The rebellious anti-establishment outlaw becomes the new hero. — Joshs

I kind of skipped classic Hollywood westerns (there are two or three that I like) and went straight for Sergio Leone's spaghetti westerns. So for me these are the classic westerns. In any case, though there is a great distance between Ford and Leone, I wouldn't call the latter anti-western: there is a clear line of continuity between them.

Favorite anti-western: Altman's McCabe & Mrs. Miller

Das Boot (1981): submarine films don't get better as this and perhaps the best naval warfilm. Puts the sound of sonar in a totally different perspective. — ssu

:up:

Although I think the most grim warfilm, a film that really makes war as awful as it can be is Elem Klimov's Come and See from 1985, a quite rare film from the Soviet Union. — ssu

:up:

Being John Malkovich
Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon — Andrew4Handel

I kind of skipped classic Hollywood westerns (there are two or three that I like) and went straight for Sergio Leone's spaghetti westerns. — SophistiCat

I've watched dozens, scores, hundreds of westerns at the movies and on TV since I was a kid. Back then, when I thought of actors, it was always John Wayne. "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence" was a big favorite of mine. But in terms of westerns that really stand out after all this time, Sergio Leone's are the ones I remember best.

Of Angelopoulos I've seen only Eternity and a Day - loved it. The music is still stuck in my head. — SophistiCat

Angelopoulos is one of my favorite directors. Sham his movies are so difficult to come by. Music is an important element in The Weeping Meadow.

Check out Kore-eda Hirokazu if you haven't seen him: Nobody Knows, Still Walking, Shoplifters. — SophistiCat

Indeed I will—appreciated!

I thought of a few more:

The Limey (Soderbergh)

The Insider (Michael Mann)

Both 1999.

And a question for everyone.

Have I just become old and cranky, but are especially Hollywood films become worse? What do you think about current films compared to 20th Century films? Especially the last few years have seem to me as a quite downer when it comes to great films.

When we have now six pages of lists of great movies, there's not so many movies from the last ten years (or this milennia), even if that starts to be quite a long time already. Seems that some are from the first decade of this Century, but not much else. Or is the reason that we haven't gotten fond of the new ones?

but are especially Hollywood films become worse? — ssu

Exactly, and as you pointed out most of the users didn't type a film of the 2010's. I think the decline of cultural cinema is based on two important factors:

1. The youngest generations are not open to culture as old days and even the basic concept of art has diminished in the past decades. It looks like that we call art or culture to everything and this only leads to films with zero effort where the people only wants to see trivial scenes such as relationships, abusive sexual dialogues, violence, etc...
Note: I am sorry for being a millennial and I assume part of the responsibility of my weak generation. For example: I don't know anyone of my age who watched Yojimbo or had read Yukio Mishima, for example.

2. In the other hand, the money is now invested in Netflix or HBO series and other digital platforms. If you check the "top 10 series of this month" you would see that most of them are trivial or related to mafia or violence with zero clue or arguments...

I think you may be right in putting the decline starting in the 2010's.

Note: I am sorry for being a millennial and I assume part of the responsibility of my weak generation. For example: I don't know anyone of my age who watched Yojimbo or had read Yukio Mishima, for example. — javi2541997

Or the scary issue is when people read less. You see, with reading you really have to use your imagination: you are confronted only with words in a book, you have to create the image yourself of what is happening. But especially now, when listening to a book isn't difficult (all that mess with cassette tapes etc.) it's far more easy to listen to a book and do something else when you are listening.

Total book reading is declining significantly, although not at the rate of literary reading.
■ The percentage of the U.S. adult population reading any books has declined by -7 percent over the past decade.

Reading the social web and it's messaging isn't like reading a book. I think the reason is that just watching films doesn't create your imagination. So you won't have totally new ideas, I guess. And you don't have the knowledge about the classic literature, where you find the great stories.

What about "Ten Favorite TV Series" (maybe another thread)?

And a question for everyone.

Have I just become old and cranky, but are especially Hollywood films become worse? What do you think about current films compared to 20th Century films? Especially the last few years have seem to me as a quite downer when it comes to great films. — ssu

I don't know. At its best, Hollywood has produced quality entertainment, as well as some solid, earnest but accessible works, the kind that contend for Oscars and Golden Globes. And I don't see this trend changing in recent times. Sure, style and tone has changed somewhat, but don't they always?

Here are some recent films that are quite good, in my opinion (though I am not sure that all of them are, technically, Hollywood productions):

Anomalisa (2015)
Dunkirk (2017)
Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio (2022)
Hell or High Water (2016)
Inside Llewyn Davis (2013)
Leave No Trace (2018)
Manchester by the Sea (2016)
Paterson (2016)
The Green Knight (2021)
The Shape of Water (2017)
The Tragedy of Macbeth (2021)

Have I just become old and cranky, but are especially Hollywood films become worse? — ssu

Yes.

The reason is obvious. Streaming services have largely destroyed the importance of theaters, attention spans are shorter than they were before, and box office receipts have slowly become the only measure of success. Now studios take no risks, and go with franchises— and there’s less studios than before. Disney alone owns nearly everything: Avatar, Star Wars, etc.

Theres much more to watch on TV these days. I go up the theater still to see a handful of directors: Scorseses, PT Anderson, Woody Allen, Wes Anderson, Coen brothers, sometimes Spielberg, sometimes Fincher, handful of others.

I haven't been to a movie theater in at least ten years. With a big screen TV and HBO, Showtime, etc. plus Netflix there is an overabundance of entertainment. I prefer series over films for the opportunity to develop personalities and plot intricacies.

AMC theaters will soon charge more for prime seating. Maybe they'll bring back ushers with small flashlights that theaters had sixty years ago.

I prefer series over films for the opportunity to develop personalities and plot intricacies — jgill

Ditto :up:

Top Ten TV series???