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...in order to have any sort of informed discussion about movies.
quote: It's not my idea of The Best Movies Ever Made (that would be a different list, though there's some overlap here), or that they were my favorites or the most important or influential films, but that they were the movies you just kind of figure everybody ought to have seen in order to have any sort of informed discussion about movies. They're what I like to think of as the common cultural currency of our time, the basic cinematic texts that everyone should know, at minimum, to be somewhat "movie-literate." I hope I can assume these movies are experiences we can all assume we share.
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Benny - I've noticed a typo in your post. 2001 is not 'dull'; it's possibly the finest achievement in film.
Anyway; if they're talking about cultural touchstones, I'd say sticking the first Nightmare on Elm Street on the list was a good idea. Freddy is pretty iconic.
Not sure why Fight Club's on that list, also not sure what criteria was employed that left off all three lord of the rings films. Again, if it's about the shared cultural touchstones then including a film from the series that dominated mainstream cinema for half a decade seems worthwhile.
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Couple of obvious essentials which are missing: The Wicker Man, Get Carter
A couple I'd lop off or replace: Monty Python & The Holy Grail I'd replace with The Life Of Brian which is possibly the only comedy film which is still fresh on every repeat viewing. And I think I'd put Unforgiven in in place of one of the older Westerns. It kind of follows the format of the old Westerns, but adds just the right amount of brutality to make it stand out as a genuine improvement. That or Blazing Saddles anyway.
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Pretty worthy list - seems calculated to slow the pulse, though. I kind of get what he means by there being a 'common cultural currency', but if Empire Strikes Back, why not Star Wars 1?
I sense the sort of anxiety that afflicted eng lit professors in the late 80s when they suddenly realised that most of their students hadn't read all the 'standard works' (eg. good chunk of Romantics, all Austen, all Brontes, all Dickens, Hardy, Lawrence, etc etc). Maybe it's a backlash against all those 'people's charts' that relentlessly rate the obvious and the puerile (No. 5 - Raiders of the Lost Ark - "Spielberg's timeless classic, definitely one of the best dvds I've ever seen!" - Dave Pigshit, Basingstoke)
The phenomenon of the "1001 X to X before you die" book is a bit of a depressing one, I have to say. If I had 1500-2000 hours left to live, I wouldn't spend them watching fucking shite like Carrie.
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Stone Cold starring Brian Bosworth - should be on that list. Did you know that it's a medical fact that it's literally impossible to be unhappy while watching Stone Cold starring Brian Bosworth?
quote: The movie opens in a grocery store where a group of Troma-style insane biker criminals are robbing the joint and terrorizing the shoppers with machine guns. But they start to panic when they realize some dude (Brian Bosworth) is just ignoring them and continuing his shopping. Remember after 9-11, everybody was all scared and they told us the one way we were gonna show these terrorists what fucking time it was, was we were gonna go back out there and shop, buy products, etc. This is the same exact thing, the fuckers just freak out. They send guys after him but he uses canned food to foil them. He acts real cocky and he's wearing a leather trenchcoat with big shoulder flaps like a samurai or an evil space villain would wear. I mean, Seagal must've been so jealous when he saw this coat. When the cops show up they're sayin shit like, "Oh jesus, what did you do this time Joe, you're still on suspension!" So you know he's a Cop Who Plays By His Own Rules. In these type of movies it is heroic to be a self absorbed asshole who everybody at the workplace hates.
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Was he in Hard Bastard as well? I prefer that one myself.
An old friend of mine who is a bit of a film fan, once said that he 'didn't have time' when asked if he'd watched The Godfather films. This was at a time when we were all still at school, and when time was all we had, so he got a mocking for it. But you know what, I kind of get is point. I'm at that stage in life where I'd rather have a nap than watch La Boute de Souffle or whatever.
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quote:Originally posted by Thorn Davis: lord of the rings films. Again, if it's about the shared cultural touchstones then including a film from the series that dominated mainstream cinema for half a decade seems worthwhile.
You'll think I'm picking an old fight, but I don't think this is really the case. Once the last permutation of 8-disc completist box set has been released, I don't think they'll leave that much of a cultural fingerprint. It's as if the parallel genre of fighting fantasy broke into the mainstream for a brief period, then returned to being the preserve of "geeks and pedophiles" (FR Leavis).
The people who were big fans of the series might have got excited, but I didn't really sense wider cultural anticipation of the final part - more a sense that people were going for the sake of completeness. Even then, the 90 minute coda of hobbits getting disenchanted and fucking wailing oboe music seemed to leave a sour taste in the mouth, even for people who'd enjoyed most of the rest of the trilogy.
Fellowship was a pretty good adventure film, but in a few years time I think it'll be regarded in pretty much the same way as Jason and the Argonauts is now; for one, I'd rather see those Ray Harryhausen skeletons again than Legolas riding the cave troll.
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quote:Originally posted by Benny the Ball: Was he in Hard Bastard as well? I prefer that one myself.
One Tough Bastard you mean. That film was pretty dull, apart from the bit where Brian puts a tattoo needle through a guys hand and turns it on. I don't think the guy had even done anything wrong; I think Brian just wanted to hurt him. But Stone Cold is waaay better. It's more violent, with tons of nudity and a bit where an exploding bike flies into a helicopter, which explodes, and then lands on a car which also explodes. Man, films are great.
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quote:Originally posted by Benny the Ball: Was he in Hard Bastard as well? I prefer that one myself.
One Tough Bastard you mean. That film was pretty dull, apart from the bit where Brian puts a tattoo needle through a guys hand and turns it on. I don't think the guy had even done anything wrong; I think Brian just wanted to hurt him. But Stone Cold is waaay better. It's more violent, with tons of nudity and a bit where an exploding bike flies into a helicopter, which explodes, and then lands on a car which also explodes. Man, films are great.
That's the one! Which one does he pretend to be a biker in?
I want to see Stone Cold now, if only for the LOL exploding scene.
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quote:Originally posted by Benny the Ball: That's the one! Which one does he pretend to be a biker in?
That's Stone Cold.
Also, you can't see it clearly in that shot, but The Boz has a fucking world class mullet there. It's sort of a brunette mullet growing out of a blonde one.
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Don't think I've ever seen Performance, though dialogue samples turn up on records occasionally and I've heard the song Jagger did quite a few times (and it's good). Think it was on Moviedrome many years ago but I may have dozed off during the Alex Cox introduction.
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not...
You reached over with your hand and knocked my Jap over
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I've seen performance when I was too young to really understand it. Also I have seen 24 films on that list, which surprised me actually, I though it would be a lot less.
Directed by Ridley Scott and starring a young(ish) Michael Douglas full of spunk. I watched this a couple of years back and it amazed me. Douglas is like the worst person ever to represent his country in Japan. On a level with Prince Phillip,, yeh that bad. He totally doesn't understand the culture so he just carries on with his "cutting through the bullshit" Bad Ass-New Yawk stylee which totally upsets the Jap cops with their polite and procedural way of doing things.
He races about on motorcycles too without a helmet, which rocks.
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64 and 1/2 (I don't remember what happened in Bambi after the incident with his mother).
Some quite interesting things on there.
If we're talking cultural resonance, then I'm afraid Dirty Dancing has to be included. I know you boys like to play Go Robo, but not EVERY boy likes that film. I have literally never met a girl of a similar age who doesn't love Dirty Dancing. Even girls I have little else in common with will sigh at the mention and have fond memories of teen sleepovers. The last time I had a girly kip-over, we all watched it the next morning and my mate Kelly said, "you know, watching this when I was 13 was the first time I really FELT that way about a man. Know what I mean?" And we all went Mmmmmmmm.
So, although not exactly pushing cinematic boundaries, it's played an integral part in the emotional development of pretty much 50% of the population over the last decade or so.
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quote:Originally posted by Vogon Poetess: So, although not exactly pushing cinematic boundaries, it's played an integral part in the emotional development of pretty much 50% of the population over the last decade or so.
Whu? Not 50% of the population at all it's 50% of the population that were a certain age when the film came out, which is a tiny, tiny percentage overall. What's more is that every two years or so a film will come out that occupies the same place for that generation, which means Dirty Dancing is pretty unremarkable in that respect. I mean, doubtless a lot of girls now at the age of 20 have a similar relationship with the movie Titanic, although that film arguably reached a far wider audience and is a far more recognisable cultural artifact ("I'm the king of the world" is an immediately recognisable, smirk inducing synonym for cheese). If Titanic doesn't get on the list, there's no way that Dirty Dancing deserves a place.
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I can think of a couple that are sorely missing from the list. The Italian Job for one. I was pleased to see Metropolis and Nosferatu both listed, which both have a place in my DVD collection, but if I could be bothered I'd give a good enough account of why both American Graffitti and Tron should both be there. Although it's mid-day on a Saturday and I don't really have the energy.
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