I think it was a fatal mistake showing the aliens -- it was purely a marketing necessity. I hate to always bring up my favorite horror film, but in "The Shining," the actual ghosts were never shown. That made it even more effective and chilling.
"The Elephant Man" and "Blue Velvet" are great movies but I'm still trying to figure out "Muholland Drive." I think we talked about "Carnivale" having some Lynshian touches but at least they are not losing touch with a coherant storyline despite all the metaphysical overtones.
True. Carnivale is growing on me, although it took a while.
You mean one-trick pony Peter Greenaway?
"The Cook the Thief His Wife & Her Lover" I like but when I've tried to watch anything else he's made, it doesn't seem like the same person is directing.
That would be the one there LW.
"Carnivale" being a miniseries would mean that the revelations aren't going to come all in one hour -- they have to build up to a culmination of what is going to happen to all the characters in trapped in time. The carnival life and the second plot of the evangelistic preacher is rather like watching a tennis match. Who's gonna smash the ball?
Yes, LW....that's why it is finally intriguing me. Speaking of Lynch, I really did enjoy the first season of Twin Peaks, but it just got silly after that. I am hoping Carnivale won't go the same route.
I know Carnivale is not Lynch, just a bit Lynchian.
I do hope they have a good plot outline, something Lynch sometimes seems to lose track of. He throws so many metaphorical red herrings into the mix, it begins to smell like a fishery.
Too many nominations and opinions here to respond to all. I'll just mention the ones I agree with and the ones I disagree with, then add my own at the end. The rest I either feel less inclined to defend or attack, or I haven't seen them.
Popular films I also liked:
Chicago (I don't agree that this film celebrates the people in it; seems to me they are made out to be pretty reprehensible, while the film demonstrates the power of celebrity)
Moulin Rouge (a visual and aural extravaganza)
Lawrence of Arabia (saw it at age 10 and was mesmerized)
Unforgiven (the best western ever made)
Citizen Kane (suffers a bit from pretentiousness and its own reputation, but I couldn't look away)
The Sixth Sense (a one trick pony, but it was a good trick)
Popular films I didn't care for:
Cabaret (sensationalized for the screen, and didn't need to be, the theatrical version was richer)
Apocolypse Now (power and beauty of the first part flushed down the crapper by the last)
Scent of A Woman (Pacino out of control in a story of little interest and less believability)
My own nominations:
Dances With Wolves (Costner's PC, revisionist feel-good version of the American west; pretty pictures, simplistic politics )
Field of Dreams (Manipulative slab of sentimental nonsense)
There are others, of course.
If this thread proves anything, its the truth of the old saying that one man's meat is another man's poison.
I don't go to movies in theaters much any more, partly because there isn't a great selection in the theaters in my area.
I used to go to a lot of movies in LA, often inspired to go by a review or two. I am having trouble remembering an example of one I was greatly disappointed by - but then I had made some selection by virtue of being fairly picky about what I see in the first place. Somehow the turkeys have dropped from my memory to make room for images I've loved...
LW, I'm kinda suprised not to see the Wizard of Oz on the list of musicals. I'm not a fan of musicals, but I greatly enjoyed the whimsy in that one.
I haven't seen the movie Chicago. I did see the stage play, and I saw Roxie Hart. The fundamental story irritated the hell out of me.
I'm not a Jim Carrey fan, but I did like The Truman Show. However, I cringed throughout the whole film. The basic premise was phenomenally cruel. I just cringed again as I'm thinking about it. Eeww.
When I first saw Apocolypse Now, I remember feeling an overwhelming disappointment. The first part of the movie was extraordinarily good, and the second part stunk. How can such a thing happen. The same director worked on the whole movie. Mystifying.
I think there's a long story about all that...
Roberta: The fundamental story may irritate even more when someone realizes it's a true story. Roxie Hart was okay, directed by William Wellman but I saw it after I saw "Chicago" and it is the most effective telling of the story because the tale demanded the music and performance of the time. Greyfan got the satirical slant of the film right.
When Copolla added all the cutting room floor claptrap about the soldier's sex lives it just broke the flow of the story and nearly ruined even the first three quarters of the film. Totally disagree with Ebert and other critics who lauded the Redux -- I think they meant that some ducks had appeared again in the river.
BTW, Chicago is no a big studio film. Miramax distributed the film but a small production company was formed for the film. If there were any "commitees" in that company to try and tell Rob Murrow how to put the film together (he virtually acted as its production designer also), I'm certain they got thrashed within an inch of their lives by Rob's liberally beaded bag. Man, that can hurt!
Overrated movies that everybody loved and I hated? At the very top of the list is "There's Something About Mary." What an absolutely dreadful movie: bad acting, insultingly bad writing, and no humor whatsoever. How anyone can think this movie is funny is simply beyond me.
Others:
"The English Patient" -- I'm with you, cav; when I saw this in the theater, I was so bored I just wanted to pull my own head off;
"Chariots of Fire" -- boring, predictable, won the best picture oscar because it was "oh, so veddy British."
Practically anything by Quentin Tarantino, but if I had to choose, I'd go with "Pulp Fiction." An interesting movie could be made of Harvey Keitel's character, everything else was a waste of filmstock.
"Dances with Wolves" -- another best picture oscar-winner that's way too long, way too dull, and way too much Kevin Costner playing Kevin Costner as Kevin Costner.
That's all I can think of right now. A special note to Piffka: "Duck Soup" not funny? That's sacrilegious!!!
LW, you listed Broken above, and I'm not sure what movie you mean. But your description reminds me of Fallen (Denzel Washington) which was pretty hard to swallow.
After reading Hurricane Carter's wonderful book about himself, Hurricane was hard to watch. So much material to work with, just grazed over by the film.
I meant to cite "Unbreakable," not "Broken." Maybe it was an inadvertantly stated critcism -- the movie was truly
broken.
Fallen, ditto -- but not a critical or box office success.
