Best movie you ever watched

City Lights with Charlie Chaplin - an ending so incredibly simple yet beautiful you can't help but cry.

Citizen Cane - an example of movie making genius by a master Orson Welles.

Wizard Of Oz - it never grows old.

Captains Courageous - Spencer Tracy and Freddy Batholomew, the young kids of today won't watch it but they should.

Rocky - never fails to pump you up.

2001 A Space Odyssey - abstract genius, the great Stanley Kubrick at his best.

Fast Times & Ridgemont High - just pure comedy and fun, special film for 80s' generation.

Camille - a great love story, Garbo at her best.

Honorable mention: Cinema Paradiso, Angels With Dirty Faces, Jaws, Star Wars.
 
I'm thinking back through the movie Scarface and I'm hard pressed to think of anybody outside the criminal element who Tony Montana harms. Am I wrong? As a libertarian, I only define crime as those ones which have a clear and direct victim. Drug use and drug sales do not have a victim. In fact, it is unlikely that the drug trade would be violent at all if drugs were decriminalized. Now, if you're going to say that drugs have indirect victims, well then we pretty much need criminalize a lot of things in our society. Should we prosecute companies who make junk food?

You and I see things quite differently. We can help millions of starving people around the world with our junk food, and they will thank us for it. You can’t say the same about drugs.
I was unfortunate enough to know many direct victims of the drug trade and how it wrecks their lives to sympathize for the likes of Tony Montana. I’ve seen enough of the real life Tony Montanas who drive expensive cars, live in mansions, and act as if they’ve made it in life while their customers, the drug users, and their families go through hell paying for Tony’s bills.
 
Actually Tony Montana did care about more than himself in the movie, thus the theme of loyalty, but I won't bore you with a recap.

A lot of people around the world use drugs, so apparently they would disagree with you about whether or not it "helps" them. Or, in your totalitarian world, would only you and your chosen political mates determine what is good for people?

Soft drinks don't appear to have any redeeming value (including nutritional value) and cause massive harm to the population. Would you regulate those? Cigarettes? Alcohol?

Making money off of people's desires is not a crime. We are blessed with self-control. Ahhh....isn't it beautiful?!
 
For me, the best films are the ones that show how people can grow or be transformed by their circumstances. Films like "The Lives of Other People" or "Schindler's List." The directors of both of these films said they struggled for years to come up with a way to present their issue on the screen (Soviet repression in one, the holacaust in the other) and finally realized that showing it through the eyes of the victims never works adequately because the level of horror or suffering is just too much for a casual viewer to wrap his brain around. But showing it through the eyes of a non-victim onlooker (the Stasi officer, or businessman Schindler) gives the audience someone they can more easily identify with, and be transformed WITH him. The central character in "The Counterfeiter" goes through this sort of transformation in another very good film. In terms of what Heycal notes above, this sort of film thus combines extraordinary circumstances with the life of an ordinary person.
Excellent post.

Reminds me of the "thru the eyes of the victim" : Blood Diamond, Passion of Christ, and also Grave of Fireflies and Barefoot Gen, movies which racked me - but I do wonder how the casual user sees it. Does it touch them deeply or not ?
 
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Actually Tony Montana did care about more than himself in the movie, thus the theme of loyalty, but I won't bore you with a recap.

A lot of people around the world use drugs, so apparently they would disagree with you about whether or not it "helps" them. Or, in your totalitarian world, would only you and your chosen political mates determine what is good for people?

Soft drinks don't appear to have any redeeming value (including nutritional value) and cause massive harm to the population. Would you regulate those? Cigarettes? Alcohol?

Making money off of people's desires is not a crime. We are blessed with self-control. Ahhh....isn't it beautiful?!

I’m not sure you and I define drugs with the same context here, but let’s just say we agree to disagree since it’s not a thread for such huge topic.
 
I think yoyo sees the world in simple, black/white terms and is not a person to debate productively. He sees bad guys as entirely bad, good guys as only good, no complexity or nuance.
 
Ananda, thought you, based on your avatar and signature, might like this - an interview with Grete Waitz in which the sports legend mentions her favorite movie among much more.
 
I think yoyo sees the world in simple, black/white terms and is not a person to debate productively. He sees bad guys as entirely bad, good guys as only good, no complexity or nuance.

You might be right.
I see that what a person does and his cause ultimately defies him and his character. I can't say that Tony Montana is fascinatingly bad because of what he stands for and the life he leads. It's just a matter of the cup is half empty or half full. Is there something to be learned about his life? Sure.
If a Tony Montana or Denzel's character is not someone I want to be assosiated with my life in any shape of form, then why would I care about the complexities of their characters.
 
Well, this may be the final nail in the coffin of JustBob's argument.

An opinion you happen to agree with hardly trumps one you don't agree with. It's merely, well... a difference off opinion. Plus "the film was lousy and the flying was stupid" hardly qualifies as valid film criticism. Well, maybe on a tennis forum it does. :)
 
A lot of good movies were made with the common theme of glorified gangsters/drug dealers/serial killers…because the public loves it. These guys are scums of the earth and they are nothing but diseases to our society, but somehow we find their lives interesting/entertaining.
Godfathers, Goodfellas, Scarface, American Gangsters…just to name a few. Are we really fascinated by these guys or just being curious? Do we see part of ourselves in Vito Corleone or Tony Montana or is it just a part of our fantasy?
The selling point of the movie American Gangster was that the main character, the first major black drug dealer in America. I understand that it’s part of our history, but do we really pay money to see that? Do we want to know who this scumbag really was?

Hey, Goodfellas didn't glorify gangsters. If you remember, in the end, they all ended up either in jail or dead. Henry Hill was in the witness protection program but couldn't show his face anywhere in the old neighborhood and lived in constant fear.
 
For those with an interest in the history of American gangster films:

"Public Enemies - The Golden Age of the Gangster Film"

It's included in Warner's "Gangsters Collection Vol. 4" but it's also available separately for under $5.
 
An opinion you happen to agree with hardly trumps one you don't agree with. It's merely, well... a difference off opinion. Plus "the film was lousy and the flying was stupid" hardly qualifies as valid film criticism. Well, maybe on a tennis forum it does. :)

Take a look at this and try not to laugh.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQw5s2oiqk0

Come on, man. :lol: You see how lousily it's done(the fight choreograhy, the flying)? It doesn't even look like they're flying. It looks exactly like they're dangling on cables. :) That's the problem you get when you have a guy who's a complete newbie to the genre directing the movie.
 
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Take a look at this and try not to laugh.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQw5s2oiqk0

Come on, man. :lol: You see how lousily it's done(the fight choreograhy, the flying)? It doesn't even look like they're flying. It looks exactly like they're dangling on cables. :) That's the problem you get when you have a guy who's a complete newbie to the genre directing the movie.

What is a well-done flying movie, other than the Wizard of Oz?
 
Take a look at this and try not to laugh.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQw5s2oiqk0

Come on, man. :lol: You see how lousily it's done(the fight choreograhy, the flying)? It doesn't even look like they're flying. It looks exactly like they're dangling on cables. :) That's the problem you get when you have a guy who's a complete newbie to the genre directing the movie.

The "newbie" Ang Lee won a host of Best Director awards for this film, and the action/fight choreographer was none other than the legendary Yuen Woo-ping, the best in the business. If you think this is "lousily done", I can't fathom which wuxia films you have actually seen because even in classics of the genre, the fantasy elements actually look much worse because of low budget constraints. Heck, sometimes, you can actually SEE the cables. :)
 
Take a look at this and try not to laugh.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQw5s2oiqk0

Come on, man. :lol: You see how lousily it's done(the fight choreograhy, the flying)? It doesn't even look like they're flying. It looks exactly like they're dangling on cables. :) That's the problem you get when you have a guy who's a complete newbie to the genre directing the movie.

Thought that was one of the beautiful portions of the film. I guess if you go watch a movie like this , you have to have the proper sensibility for a film genre like this to appreciate it. OK it looks funny to you, I get that. The way a character "flies" in that movie also represents that character as well. That's what I see in that.
 
I thought I wouldn't like Crouching Tiger when I sat down to watch it for the 1st time and I really really enjoyed the movie. I don't study styles of film making because frankly I don't give a crap. But I thought the scenes with the "flying" and crazy jumping were deliberately made to look stylized. I don't think the director was trying to achieve a Western superhero look to the film where everything is literal and follows the exact laws of physics. I'm a fan of the movie- the whole movie was well done.
 
Hey, Goodfellas didn't glorify gangsters. If you remember, in the end, they all ended up either in jail or dead. Henry Hill was in the witness protection program but couldn't show his face anywhere in the old neighborhood and lived in constant fear.

Well, yes and no. Remember, at the end of the movie, Henry Hill was complaining about life in the sticks and seemed to be very much missing the glamorous and fun old days -- which we got to enjoy ourselves for the preceeding two hours.
 
The "newbie" Ang Lee won a host of Best Director awards for this film, and the action/fight choreographer was none other than the legendary Yuen Woo-ping, the best in the business. If you think this is "lousily done", I can't fathom which wuxia films you have actually seen because even in classics of the genre, the fantasy elements actually look much worse because of low budget constraints. Heck, sometimes, you can actually SEE the cables. :)

A movie/director winnning awards doesn't mean swat. Plenty of bad movies/directors won awards. Ang Lee should stay away from this genre. He should stick to movies like Eat Drink Man Woman, one of my favorite movies.

I appreciate the old classics, flaws and all(visible wires, the generic sinister laughs, the bad acting, the out of synch dubbing), for what they are because they are exactly as advertised, not trying to be something else, not trying to sell itself as revolutionary in film making (quick...hide the wires, look...they're floating on bamboo trees, ohsh1t, how'd they do that?:)), not trying win anything or to be taken seriously like CTHD. The fact that CTHD won awards made it laughable and cheapen the award itself.

As for Yuen Woo Ping(don't know who the hell he is), he may be legendary but he failed in this movie. At times the fight sequences look like kids playing sword fighting in the backyard. Not very convincing. As for the flying, the characters look like they're still on trainning wheels, fumbling, dangling, staggering all over the places. lol :lol: They all need to go back up the mountain and keep trainning, honing their skills, mastering them before they're allowed to come down. As is, they're not ready. :mrgreen:
 
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Take a look at this and try not to laugh.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQw5s2oiqk0

Come on, man. :lol: You see how lousily it's done(the fight choreograhy, the flying)? It doesn't even look like they're flying. It looks exactly like they're dangling on cables. :) That's the problem you get when you have a guy who's a complete newbie to the genre directing the movie.

I also find this kind of „flying“ pretty akward, but it's not lousily done. It's done that way intentionally, you can even find it in newer movies.

Hero is a good example. They certainly didn't skrew up on that one, it received lots of awards, especially for visual effects, camera etc.

Here is one fighting scene – the choreography is flawless.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eTsKEgUJyUQ

Still, you'll find that cable flying – this scene is a good example. Obviously they could have done it differently if they wanted.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vGq6FXcpxtY
 
A movie/director winnning awards doesn't mean swat. Plenty of bad movies/directors won awards. Ang Lee should stay away from this genre. He should stick to movies like Eat Drink Man Woman, one of my favorite movies.

I appreciate the old classics, flaws and all(visible wires, the generic sinister laughs, the bad acting, the out of synch dubbing), for what they are because they are exactly as advertised, not trying to be something else, not trying to sell itself as revolutionary in film making (quick...hide the wires, look...they're floating on bamboo trees, ohsh1t, how'd they do that?:)), not trying win anything or to be taken seriously like CTHD. The fact that CTHD won awards made it laughable and cheapen the award itself.

As for Yuen Woo Ping(don't know who the hell he is), he may be legendary but he failed in this movie. At times the fight sequences look like kids playing sword fighting in the backyard. Not very convincing. As for the flying, the characters look like they're still on trainning wheels, fumbling, dangling, staggering all over the places. lol :lol: They all need to go back up the mountain and keep trainning, honing their skills, mastering them before they're allowed to come down. As is, they're not ready. :mrgreen:

Here's Ping's cred:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yuen_Woo-ping

Iron Monkey would be a great film to watch for martial arts choreography. But at this point that would be like convincing a redneck that curry is tasty.
 
As for Yuen Woo Ping(don't know who the hell he is), he may be legendary but he failed in this movie. At times the fight sequences look like kids playing sword fighting in the backyard. Not very convincing. As for the flying, the characters look like they're still on trainning wheels, fumbling, dangling, staggering all over the places. lol :lol: They all need to go back up the mountain and keep trainning, honing their skills, mastering them before they're allowed to come down. As is, they're not ready. :mrgreen:

Personally speaking, I don't remember how well or poorly they executed those sequences, nor do I care. What made the film suck was that people started flying out of nowhere. How "realistic" that may or may not have looked was besides the point...
 
God, watching this clip reminded me of how stupid this movie is. It may be well done for what it is, but then, the same might be said of "Barney".

I can't believe anyone over 8 years old thought this was movie was worthwhile....

so you didnt like this fight sequence when you saw it at the movie?
 
so you didnt like this fight sequence when you saw it at the movie?

Well, what do you think?

As mentioned earlier, once people suddenly started defying the laws of gravity in what had seemed an otherwise mostly realistic movie, I headed for the exit -- something I have rarely done in my life. (I usually stick out most movies I attend in the the-a-tre.)
 
Well, what do you think?

As mentioned earlier, once people suddenly started defying the laws of gravity in what had seemed an otherwise mostly realistic movie, I headed for the exit -- something I have rarely done in my life. (I usually stick out most movies I attend in the the-a-tre.)

So you saw these women in that particular fight scene I clipped from youtube at the big screen and you didnt like it then or now?
 
I thought I wouldn't like Crouching Tiger when I sat down to watch it for the 1st time and I really really enjoyed the movie. I don't study styles of film making because frankly I don't give a crap. But I thought the scenes with the "flying" and crazy jumping were deliberately made to look stylized. I don't think the director was trying to achieve a Western superhero look to the film where everything is literal and follows the exact laws of physics. I'm a fan of the movie- the whole movie was well done.

Good point. Viewers do want to be captivated by films but that doesn't mean that, in this instance, flying has to look literally like flying, nor is realism the only value it can, or should have to, hold. it can be a visual metaphorical interpretation of the thing, used to emphasise grace, serenity, skill, it can have value beyond attempting to be a literal representation of the thing it depicts.
 
Once the characters starte flying, I flew out of my seat toward the exit.

I'm a bit hampered by barely recalling the 20 or 30 minutes of the film I saw when it came out, but if memory serves, the flying stuff seemed out of place with what came before it, thus making it seem silly. It did not feel organic and part of the overall feel, like, say, a quidditch match in Harry Potter would be. I don't think it has anything to do with being familiar with any genre. (It's not like I was particularly familiar with the Harry Potter genre, whatever it may be, or used to people fying around playing lacrosse type games in the sky.)

Personally speaking, I don't remember how well or poorly they executed those sequences, nor do I care. What made the film suck was that people started flying out of nowhere. How "realistic" that may or may not have looked was besides the point...

God, watching this clip reminded me of how stupid this movie is. It may be well done for what it is, but then, the same might be said of "Barney".

I can't believe anyone over 8 years old thought this was movie was worthwhile....

Well, what do you think?

As mentioned earlier, once people suddenly started defying the laws of gravity in what had seemed an otherwise mostly realistic movie, I headed for the exit -- something I have rarely done in my life. (I usually stick out most movies I attend in the the-a-tre.)


Funny, the youtube clip I posted was well an hour and 30 minutes way into the film, well way past after you "flew toward the exit" (without cables I presume).
Oh by the way, aside from the "wonderful" cablework they did on that movie, by weird coincidence, it also had a story to tell.
 
I remember watching one of those cheesy kung-fu flick way back then, the audience laughed every time there was a flying scene. I was watching Crouching Tiger and Hidden Dragon in the theatre and people still giggled at those same scenes. From what I’ve read this movie is one of the better made, but still is a dime a dozen in Chinese culture.
At the same token, people seemed to enjoy the same kung-fu sequence in the Matrix because they understand it was done in a virtual setting. People loved the fight scenes in Jason Bourne’s movies because it’s pretty close to what we see in real life or training.
I think the audience in North America doesn’t know or even care about kung-fu and prefers a more realistic portrayal of fighting in cinema even if it’s overly dramatic, as long as it’s a small part of the plot. Most of movies like Crouching Tiger are about kung-fu and they don’t even attempt to make it semi-real.
It took the genius and vision of Bruce Lee for this type of movie to be successful here. The Chow Yun Fat, Jackie Chan, Jet Li just won’t cut it.
 
I remember watching one of those cheesy kung-fu flick way back then, the audience laughed every time there was a flying scene. I was watching Crouching Tiger and Hidden Dragon in the theatre and people still giggled at those same scenes. From what I’ve read this movie is one of the better made, but still is a dime a dozen in Chinese culture.
At the same token, people seemed to enjoy the same kung-fu sequence in the Matrix because they understand it was done in a virtual setting. People loved the fight scenes in Jason Bourne’s movies because it’s pretty close to what we see in real life or training.
I think the audience in North America doesn’t know or even care about kung-fu and prefers a more realistic portrayal of fighting in cinema even if it’s overly dramatic, as long as it’s a small part of the plot. Most of movies like Crouching Tiger are about kung-fu and they don’t even attempt to make it semi-real.
It took the genius and vision of Bruce Lee for this type of movie to be successful here. The Chow Yun Fat, Jackie Chan, Jet Li just won’t cut it.

Realism at its best, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z1eFdUSnaQM&feature=related
 
Funny, the youtube clip I posted was well an hour and 30 minutes way into the film, well way past after you "flew toward the exit" (without cables I presume).

A lame trap that didn't work, Rommil. Better luck next time.

Nowhere did I post "I remember this particular sequence from the movie", did I? As mentioned -- more than once now -- all I can remember about this movie from a decade ago that I left after people started flying.

You can quote a dozen more posts of mine if you like, but the story ain't going to change.:)
 
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A lame trap that didn't work, Rommil. Better luck next time.

Nowhere did I post "I remember this particular sequence from the movie", did I? As mentioned -- more than once now -- all I can remember about this movie from a decade ago that I left after people started flying.

You can quote a dozen more posts of mine if you like, but the story ain't going to change.:)

Lol you should be backpedaling while hanging on cables, it might look better. Im not trying to change your opinion but its dismissive to say a movie is stupid without even understanding or seeing the whole story.
 
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Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon

"The disappearance of a magical jade sword spurs a breathtaking quest for the missing treasure."

Wuxia = fantasy = characters with superhuman skills and abilities

One more time, complaining about characters flying in wuxia films is like complaining about warp speed and teleportation in sci-fi films. It's plain silly.

Now if you didn't know beforehand what you were getting yourself into, fine, but don't blame your ignorance on the film.
 
Lol you should be backpedaling while hanging on cables, it might look better. Im not trying to change your opinion but its dismissive to say a movie is stupid without even understanding or seeing the whole story.

So I should be forced to sit through an hour and a half of that garbage before commenting on it? Life is too short for that... I couldn't even make it completely thru the clip you posted.

Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon

"The disappearance of a magical jade sword spurs a breathtaking quest for the missing treasure."

Wuxia = fantasy = characters with superhuman skills and abilities

One more time, complaining about characters flying in wuxia films is like complaining about warp speed and teleportation in sci-fi films. It's plain silly.

Now if you didn't know beforehand what you were getting yourself into, fine, but don't blame your ignorance on the film.

I don't recall it being advertised as "characters with superhuman skills and abilities", nor can I remember being warned that things would seem realistic for a while before turning silly. I thought it was supposed to be a thoughtful film for adults, not a kiddie movie with nice cinematography...
 
Enjoyed Motorcycle Diaries very much, helped me understand how Che has remained such a compelling figure to this day.

I've heard the movie is good, and I find the premise appealing. But I'm not crazy about subtitles. Do you know if they will be making an English language version? I can wait if necessary.
 
So I should be forced to sit through an hour and a half of that garbage before commenting on it? Life is too short for that... I couldn't even make it completely thru the clip you posted.



I don't recall it being advertised as "characters with superhuman skills and abilities", nor can I remember being warned that things would seem realistic for a while before turning silly. I thought it was supposed to be a thoughtful film for adults, not a kiddie movie with nice cinematography...

LOL here we go with trying to get the last word in (this will be my last for this topic).

You dislike the movie, that's a respectable opinion. It is though unfortunate that it was your ignorance of the genre that hampered it, more sad that you went in the theater ignorant about the film and yet now after the help of some people explaining the genre to you, you choose to be more ignorant about it. You saw the movie years and years ago, yet never bothered why it was presented that way? Heycal, that's way too long of a time to be ignorant.
 
LOL here we go with trying to get the last word in (this will be my last for this topic).

You dislike the movie, that's a respectable opinion. It is though unfortunate that it was your ignorance of the genre that hampered it, more sad that you went in the theater ignorant about the film and yet now after the help of some people explaining the genre to you, you choose to be more ignorant about it. You saw the movie years and years ago, yet never bothered why it was presented that way? Heycal, that's way too long of a time to be ignorant.

I'm sorry to break it to you, but any movie that you have to teach someone to enjoy... is a bad movie. Just like a joke is horrible if you have to explain it to someone. "Get it? Get it? The guy takes the cat and throws it... blah blah blah... get it? Get it?" Terrible.

"Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" is an "okay" movie. The story is decent. The acting is decent. The settings are decent. But the stunts and fights are idiotic. If you shock the audience out of the story, for any reason, you've made a big mistake. What is funny is that there are really bad martial arts movies with great fight scenes. But those movies have such terrible story lines and terrible acting that the audience gets even more shocked out of their captivation.

A truly great piece of art -- movie, song, poem, story -- resonates on its own. It resonates and speaks to a wide audience.

I could show almost any moron The Godfather. 99% of people would say it is a great movie. I wouldn't have to educate them about the genre. I wouldn't have to talk about Coppola's directional style. The movie just resonates its greatness. It requires no convincing or selling.
 
I'm sorry to break it to you, but any movie that you have to teach someone to enjoy... is a bad movie. Just like a joke is horrible if you have to explain it to someone. "Get it? Get it? The guy takes the cat and throws it... blah blah blah... get it? Get it?" Terrible.

"Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" is an "okay" movie. The story is decent. The acting is decent. The settings are decent. But the stunts and fights are idiotic. If you shock the audience out of the story, for any reason, you've made a big mistake. What is funny is that there are really bad martial arts movies with great fight scenes. But those movies have such terrible story lines and terrible acting that the audience gets even more shocked out of their captivation.

A truly great piece of art -- movie, song, poem, story -- resonates on its own. It resonates and speaks to a wide audience.

I could show almost any moron The Godfather. 99% of people would say it is a great movie. I wouldn't have to educate them about the genre. I wouldn't have to talk about Coppola's directional style. The movie just resonates its greatness. It requires no convincing or selling.

Now this may be the final coffin in Rommil's coffin... Well said.
 
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