Terrific films on DVD & video ... Any suggestions?

@Irishk,

Thanks, T. IrishK, I liked Lemon Tree okay. I rented it because she was in another film I really liked: The Visitor. Speaking of films that were ignored by the Oscars! The Visitor and Frozen River.

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@tsarstepan,

Quote:

Rhapsody In August: Akira Kurosawa is one of the greatest film directors of all time. In fact, his film The Hidden Fortress is one of biggest inspirations for George Lucas and Star Wars. The director is mostly known for his historical samurai epic films. I prefer his non-samurai film such as this one starring Richard Gere. A very intimate portrait of a family and their grandmother who survived the bombing of Hiroshima.

I've seen only one Kurosawa film before, tsar. With a male friend. Just about his favourite director, he said. I can't even remember the title of the film now, but I do recall it was very long, with lots of rather surreal samurai fighting scenes ... I just couldn't share my friend's enthusiasm, though I certainly did my best. Came to the conclusion that Kurosawa must be "boy stuff"! Razz

Rhapsody In August, as you've described it, sounds a totally different kettle of fish. This may be the first of my batch that I watch. Interesting. I might have actually missed out on any number of excellent Kurosawa films, wrongly believing that they were all about samurai soldiers flying through the air during extraordinarily long sword fights! Wink

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@Kara,

Quote:

And the other week, I was up in the wee hours and pulled The Band's Visit from our stacks. Forgot how brilliant that film was.

That was (yet) another film that I meant to see but didn't, Kara. I think it lasted about 5 minutes at my usual cinema! Gone in a flash! Could you tell us a bit about it & what appealed to you so much? I see you've talked about it a little later in this thread, but I'd very interested in hearing more about the storyline ... what made it so interesting for you

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@Irishk,

Quote:

Another award winner we enjoyed recently: Lemon Tree (Etz Limon)

Irishk, I loved The Lemon Tree! A terrific little film. Good to see another fan! I wrote about it here, on another A2K film thread I'm involved in.

http://able2know.org/topic/65476-15

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This is wonderful. Just day 2 of the revival of this old thread & already there are 4 of us whole want to rave on about films we've seen on DVD & enjoyed. I really hope more people joined in. This is exciting! Very Happy

Can I do a small plug to you, Kara & Irishk (& anyone else whose interested) , for this thread: Recommend a new or newish film you've seen recently. You might want to participate in this one, too. By "newish", I guess that could mean in the past 12 months or so? Whatever your own working definition of "newish" might be. (Some of the newish films I've written about there have actually been viewed on DVD, those "just missed" quite recent ones.)

http://able2know.org/topic/65476-1

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Don't know if anyone has mentioned it but the only movie I've seen recently was Up and it was great. A very cute movie that makes me optimistic about where animation is going.

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I watch mostly pretty old or very old movies. One of the last DVDs I brought home stars Clark Gable. Films most people don't particularly wish to read about.

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@edgarblythe,

Old films are certainly most welcome, edgar. Whatever you've been watching.

For example, I saw this on youtube yesterday & suddenly thought "I must see Casablanca again!" If I do, I'll post about what I thought about it (after the 45th viewing! Wink

) here.

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@Robert Gentel,

Robert Gentel wrote:

Don't know if anyone has mentioned it but the only movie I've seen recently was Up and it was great. A very cute movie that makes me optimistic about where animation is going.

Watching Up makes me teary eyed. Especially since it seems so personal with the relative recent loss of Marietta.

It's a minor shame that the DVD doesn't fully transcribe the epic nature of the latest generation of 3D technology. Quite breathtaking indeed. Still very moving, without the eye candy.

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@msolga,

<sigh>

Gives ya goosebumps, doesn't it? Very Happy

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@msolga,

I'm a chuff owner of Casablanca on DVD! Sheer viewing perfection! Avoids being quaint and sentimental, the biggest flaws I usually note from the much lesser films of that era.

It's a solid entry with an almost indefinite position in my top ten favorite films of all time.

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@tsarstepan,

It'd be great if one of you told us a bit about UP. I know absolutely nothing about it.

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@msolga,

msolga wrote:

Rhapsody In August, as you've described it, sounds a totally different kettle of fish. This may be the first of my batch that I watch. Interesting. I might have actually missed out on any number of excellent Kurosawa films, wrongly believing that they were all about samurai soldiers flying through the air during extraordinarily long sword fights!

The best film I've seen to depict the surreal, blissful, and the true bizarre nature of dreams is Akira Kurosawa's Dreams , originally titled Yume.

The Bad Sleep Well is an excellent and original take on the film noir genre.

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@tsarstepan,

Thank you for those suggestions, tsar.

So many films! So little time! I'm gonna have to get cracking! Very Happy

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@tsarstepan,

Quote:

I'm a chuff owner of Casablanca on DVD! Sheer viewing perfection! Avoids being quaint and sentimental, the biggest flaws I usually note from the much lesser films of that era.

It's a solid entry with an almost indefinite position in my top ten favorite films of all time.

It is indeed a wonderful film !

Got to be somewhere up there in my top 10 -20 , too!

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@msolga,

Up is Pixar perfection (as usual). A Disney animated feature that revolves around Carl Fredricksen, an elderly retired gentleman who's life long love just recently died. He lives in a house that soon will be taken over by imminent domain. Instead of going to a court ordered retirement home, he devises a very impressive great escape and turns his home into a floating palace (floated by several thousand balloons).

He plans to take a journey to a place he and his wife promised to go to when they were childhood friends. His sidekick, Russell, a boy scout of sorts, is unintentionally dragged along for the ride.

The very touching opening montage is so indescribably wonderful and touching that it alone needs to be witnessed.

The trailer: http://adisney.go.com/disneyvideos/animatedfilms/up/! Very Happy

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@tsarstepan,

I imagine Dyslexia to be much like Carl. I wonder if Pixar owes him a massive royalty check??

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@tsarstepan,

Hey, that looks good! Very Happy

Wonderful grumpy old man & I love the boy scout!

Thanks for that peek, tsar!

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@tsarstepan,

Be careful, be careful!

You never know how someone might respond to such suggestions! Wink

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One recent film I absolutely adore is A Prairie Home Companion (2006).

Another masterpiece by the late great Robert Altman. A surprising nonmusical musical! They have a realistic reason to sing and break out into song as the main characters work on a radio variety show.

The chemistry between the ensemble cast is so heartwarming. Even Lindsay Lohan put in an excellent performance. Kevin Kline was a pitch perfect Guy Noir!

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Terrific films on DVD & video ... Any suggestions?

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