For too long I have been a netflix ninny, paying for the service but failing to actually order my movies Why? Because I never get around to it. Too daunting. Instead, at the last minute, I scramble for whatever decent disc is still on the shelf at the video store & usually end up paying a late-return charge. No more!
I have begun carrying a small notebook around, listing movies I want to see or have seen in the dim past & want to see afresh. (See below.) I'm also asking my friends & readers for suggestions. Have I missed one of your all-time faves? Tell me.
Expanding must-see list
(Titles & notes are not google-checked)
Blade Runner -- replicants in steamy future L.A.
Desperate -- Anthony Mann, called "the perfect noir"
Shadowlands -- Anthony Hopkins as C.S. Lewis, Debra Winger
Noises Off -- funny
Howard's End & A Passage to India -- Merchant/Ivory style, great novels
Mutiny on the Bounty -- Charles Laughton as Captain Bligh
Six Feet Under -- the TV series, redhead is adorable
Lars & the Real Girl
Spring Summer Fall Winter -- and Spring - Korean Buddhists
Whale Rider -- enviro theme
Waltzing with Basheer
La Strada -- Fellini, Anthony Quinn as circus strongman
McCabe & Mrs. Miller -- Altman, Julie Christie , Warren Beatty
The Long Goodbye -- Altman, Eliot Gould
MASH -- Altman, Alan Alda, E Gould, "Hotlips Houlihan"
Thieves Like Us -- Altman
Taxi Driver -- Scorcese, DeNiro
Danny Darko
The Searchers -- Ford or Hawks? I think the latter. John Wayne at his angry best
Chinatown - Nicholson, Polanski, Dunaway, John Huston
Mrs. Brown -- Judi Densch?
Bonnie & Clyde -- Faye Dunaway & W Beatty
Stay Hungry -- the young Arnold Schwartzenegger as politically astute bodybuilder
A Slave of Love
The Conformist -- Bertolucci
Last Tango in Paris - Brando
Jules et Jim -- Truffaut, Jeanne Moreau
Loves of a Blonde -- Milos Forman
The Fireman's Ball -- " "
An American Friend -- Werner Herzog
Ali, Fear Eats the Soul -- Fassbinder??
Out of the Past -- Robert Mitchum, noirish thriller
The Lady Eve -- Preston Sturges
Laura -- not Hitchcock
Philadelphia Story
Bringing up Baby -- Hepburn
King of Comedy -- Scorcese, Jerry Lewis
The Deerhunter
The Conversation -- Francis Coppola, Gene Hackman
Cisco Pike -- Hackman, Kris Kristofferson, Karen Black
Five Easy Pieces -- Jack Nicholson, Karen Black
The Great Ecstasy of the Sculptor Steiner -- Herzog documentary
The White Diamond -- about dirigibles, also " " "
Born Yesterday -- Judy Holiday
South Pacific
Kiss me Kate
Last Picture Show
Sugarland Express
Badlands
Blue Velvet
Contempt - Jean Luc Godard, Jack Palance
2 or 3 Things I Know About Her -- Godard
Slings & Arrows -- TV series
Anvil -- Mark said best movie he saw last year
Crimes & Misdemeanors -- Woody Allen, panned because not a Woody Allen picture
Lone Star -- John Sayles
Brother from Another Planet - J Sayles
Scenes from a Marriage - Ingmar Bergman
Cries & Whispers -- " " "
Fast, Cheap & Out of Control -- Errol Morris
Murder Ball -- sci fi?
The Big Lubowski -- Coen Bros, Jeff Bridges
Knife in the Water -- Roman Polanski
Macbeth -- " "
The Tenant -- " "
The Pianist -- " "
The Piano Teacher -- Michael Haneke
The Piano -- Jane Campion
Sweety -- " "
Angel at my Table -- " "
Holy Smoke -- also by Campion, Harver Keitel as deprogrammer, Kate Winslet as his subj -- is the name right?
Welcome to the Dollhouse -- Todd Solondz
Discreet Charm of the Bourgeosie -- Luis Bunuel
Belle de Jour -- " " "
Diary of a Chambermaid -- " " "
Atlantic City -- Louis Malle
My Dinner with Andre -- " "
The Natural -- Robt Redford, from Bernard Malamud novel
The Apartment -- Billy Wilder
Sunset Blvd --- " "
Winess for the Prosecution -- " "
Double Indemnity -- " "
Elmer Gantry -- Burt Lancaster
Sweet Smell of Success -- " ", Tony Curtis
Black Widow
Petrified Forest -- Bogey, Ida Lupino
What Makes Sammy Run?
A Face in the Crowd -- Elia Kazan, Andy Griffith
I'm Not There -- 7 Bob Dylans
No Direction Home -- Scorsese documentary on Dylan
Don't Look Back -- Dylan
The Company -- Stephen Sondheim
Black Robe -- from great novel by Brian Moore
Names of all the Saints
Further Tales of the City -- Laura Linney
14 comments:
Until I watched "Dances with Wolves" with the commentary by the film's cinematographer, I didn't know what the director of photography did on a movie set.
After that, I began to have an appreciation for their craft and have watched movies with an emphasis on how they are photographed and lit.
My favourite director of photography would have to be Roger Deakins, who photographs the Coen Brother's features.
Another one of my favourite photographers would have to be Gordon Willis.
I saw restored version of "The Leopard" recently and it was one of the most beautifully shot movies ever.
that's a fun list. we have many movie favorites in common.
'Week End' by Godard. Strange and funny, after I first saw it I left the theater expecting to see wrecked cars everywhere.
'Umbrellas of Cherbourg' by Demy. A musical that's beautiful to look at.
And don't forget that you can watch Netflix movies online. There are many films on your list that are available.
Face in the Crowd is one of my favorites & yes the Anvil movie is heart warming.
Tim-
The Searchers is Ford, not Hawks. Tough one to watch.
If you're going to watch La Strada, you might look at Nights of Cabiria again, too. It is one of my all time faves.
Have you seen In the Mood for Love? If not, move it right to the top of the list!
If you haven't seen a beautiful print of Kubrick's Dr. Strangelove you're in for a treat.
Waltzing with Basheer is the only animation on your list.
Check out some classic anime (These will fit right in with Blade Runner.)
Akira, from 1988. Great story and animation. Get the anniversary DVD as the dubbing is very good. Older versions left out too much dialog, and the subtitles weren't any better.
Ghost in the Shell, from 1995. Influenced the Matrix. It's standard for people to have implanted tech upgrades that their brains can be hacked.
Watch a movie called Memento and it's really good. Hell I could almost challenge anybody to watch it and say they DIDN't like it. Great movie.
Thank you all! Great suggestions. I am putting them in my notebook.
You've got so many that I like there that I hesitate to add any more because you probably know them. BUt a few that come to mind are: Jean deFlorette and the sequel Manon of the Spring; Nashville; Amadeus; Where Angels Fear to Tread (Helen Mirren/Judy Davis); of course, Dr. Strangelove; Alice (Mia Farrow); Blood Simple; O Brother, Where Art Thou?; Hudsucker Proxy; Some Like it Hot; Goodfellas; Cinema Paradiso; Fanny & Alexander; Breakfast at Tiffany's; Diving Bell and the Butterfly...I could go on forever.
Rocco e suoi fratelli
dir. Visconti (Alain Delon, Renato Salvatore,Annie Girardot)
Death in Venice
Dir.Visconti (Dirk Borgard)
Gottertamerung - dir. Visconti
Il Gatopardo
dir.Visconti (Burt Lancaster,Alain Delon,claudia Cardinale)
Slacker -- Richard Linklater's first and best film
This is great, thank you. My list is growing!
The one I always pull out of my hat when friends are searching for a great movie they've never seen is David Mamet's "House of Games." The plot has many reversals; you think you've got it figured out and then, bam, you realize you've got it exactly backward. Years later he did another similar one called "The Spanish Prisoner." I liked that one almost as well.
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