All-Time Favorite Films

[jayiijay]

JOHNK:

Hey, thank you too for the nice message!

Judi Dench & Kate Winslet were both nominated for Actress & Supporting Actress in 2001 for playing Iris Murdoch in "Iris".  I don't think it has ever been done by actors.  Both Marlon Brando & Robert de Niro played Vito Corleone but in separate films, Godfather 1 & II, respectively.  Other people have been nominated for playing the same character in separate movies:  Bing Crosby as Father Chuck O'Malley in Going My Way (1944) and The Bells Of St. Mary's (1945); Paul Newman as Fast Eddie Felson in The Hustler (1961) and The Color Of Money (1986); Peter O'Toole as King Henry II in Beckett (1964) and The Lion In Winter (1968); and Al Pacino was nominated twice as Michael Corleone (Godfather 1 & II).

The second one is trickier.  "A Letter to Three Wives" I think is one, the movie is narrated by "the other woman", but I barely remember it.  Curious what you are thinking, too tired to think, it's 1:15 a.m. in NYC.  thx

[johnk]

JOHNK:

Hey, thank you too for the nice message!

Judi Dench & Kate Winslet were both nominated for Actress & Supporting Actress in 2001 for playing Iris Murdoch in "Iris".  I don't think it has ever been done by actors.  Both Marlon Brando & Robert de Niro played Vito Corleone but in separate films, Godfather 1 & II, respectively.  Other people have been nominated for playing the same character in separate movies:  Bing Crosby as Father Chuck O'Malley in Going My Way (1944) and The Bells Of St. Mary's (1945); Paul Newman as Fast Eddie Felson in The Hustler (1961) and The Color Of Money (1986); Peter O'Toole as King Henry II in Beckett (1964) and The Lion In Winter (1968); and Al Pacino was nominated twice as Michael Corleone (Godfather 1 & II).

The second one is trickier.  "A Letter to Three Wives" I think is one, the movie is narrated by "the other woman", but I barely remember it.  Curious what you are thinking, too tired to think, it's 1:15 a.m. in NYC.  thx

Well, I'm down here in Philly.

I think "Sunset Boulevard" was over-narrated by Joe.  But he actually appeared in the film.  The director of "American Beauty" saw the first cut and said, "Despite giving it away at the beginning, Lester has to be at the beginning and the end."

No more beans!

[sunspot]

I despise Forest Gump, though. Definitely on my most-overrated list in a catfight with Titanic for the top spot. Gump is just loathsome from conception through final product. It perches near the top of Gag Me list.

I think if you read it literally it's an awful piece of work, but I didn't think that was the intention at the time, and still don't.  I saw a lot of people heaping praise on it when it was released who didn't seem to get it, in my opinion (especially on the right here in the States).  The same with those who were critical of it.  As I wrote at the time:

I was stunned to see an American film which clearly didn't insist that we are all masters of our own fate.  Indeed, Forrest Gump is a powerful refutation of America's trademark insistance on absolute self-reliance.  In this picture not one single person is solely responsible for their own fate, Gump himself least of all.  The film goes to great ends to show us just how stupid the title character really is, yet in spite of that fatal handicap he ends up a champion under the standards imposed by our social system.  So much for the insane practice of applying Darwinian species evolutionary theory to individuals.  As this film shows, it's like trying to weigh an elephant with a clock.

I'd be curious to hear what it is about the film that made you dislike it so strongly.

[paintedshoes]

Is there another movie beside "Rebecca" in which one of the main protagonists is neither seen nor heard during the entire film?
johnk

johnk, in the film "the Women", Norma Shearer's character's husband is the fulcrum around which the main activity occurs.  Shearer and Joan Crawford fight for him.  Yet, he is never seen (in fact, there are NO men in the film), only referred to.

[Lola]

I despise Forest Gump, though. Definitely on my most-overrated list in a catfight with Titanic for the top spot. Gump is just loathsome from conception through final product. It perches near the top of Gag Me list.

I think if you read it literally it's an awful piece of work, but I didn't think that was the intention at the time, and still don't.  I saw a lot of people heaping praise on it when it was released who didn't seem to get it, in my opinion (especially on the right here in the States).  The same with those who were critical of it.  As I wrote at the time:

I was stunned to see an American film which clearly didn't insist that we are all masters of our own fate.  Indeed, Forrest Gump is a powerful refutation of America's trademark insistance on absolute self-reliance.  In this picture not one single person is solely responsible for their own fate, Gump himself least of all.  The film goes to great ends to show us just how stupid the title character really is, yet in spite of that fatal handicap he ends up a champion under the standards imposed by our social system.  So much for the insane practice of applying Darwinian species evolutionary theory to individuals.  As this film shows, it's like trying to weigh an elephant with a clock.

I'd be curious to hear what it is about the film that made you dislike it so strongly.

http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19940706/REVIEWS/407060301/1023

I would love to know as well, although who knows why some like and some dislike a film.  I LOVED Forrest Gump, I think it is a masterpiece.  No matter what movies I see, it will always remain top of my list.   I love the way Forrest looks at life, we should all be so blessed to be able to do that.

[jayiijay]

SUNRISE - ****

This is kinda last minute notice, but silent masterpiece "Sunrise" is starting in 5 minutes on the east coast on Turner Classic Movies.  In the 2002 Sight & Sound World Cinema poll, this placed in the Top 5 (and for what it's worth, it's in my personal 100).  Simple story of a farmer who is lured by a city woman to maybe kill his wife and run away with her - it's all in the execution.  To this day the cinematography has not been topped, and Janet Gaynor won the first Best Actress Oscar for this (along with her performances in the also wonderful Seventh Heaven & Street Angel).  Of course the Academy foolishly did not nominate it for Best Picture, but in their defense (for a change), they had an award called "artistic quality of production", which this movie won over fellow-masterpiece "The Crowd".  The director is the great F.W. Murnau ("Nosferatu" & "The Last Laugh", the latter another all-time great).  Catch this movie, there's nothing like it!

[paintedshoes]

Shoot, jay, I've been busy at the Diner.  I'll have to catch it another time.  RATS!

[TomS]

Is there another movie beside "Rebecca" in which one of the main protagonists is neither seen nor heard during the entire film?

johnk (with a nod to jaiijay for confirmation)

How about the character of Alex in The Big Chill? (Kevin Costner was cast to play the part and was cut entirely out of the film).  True, we see him being prepared for his funeral at the beginning but we don't see his face. After that, we don't see or hear him at all, and he's sort of the main character.

[Boris]

There have been plenty of those in TV shows like mrs. Columbo (Columbo) or Sheridan Bucket in Keeping up Appearances. But movies, this is tricky one.

The truck driver in "Duel", Harvey in "Harvey" and Bill in "Kill Bill vol. 1" are the only ones that come to mind.

[paintedshoes]

How about best opening sequence of a film?  I have several to start, again in no particular order:

Raiders of the Lost Ark...The whole opening, up til Indy climbs into the sea plane and remarks on Reggie the snake, could have made a movie all by itself...so much excellent character exposition in such a short time.  Alfred Molina had a small role as the guide.

Touch of Evil...the long tracking sequence of Charleton Heston and Janet Leigh still stands as one of the most brilliant openings in movie history.  Orson Welles did a brilliant job of directing this masterpiece.

Much Ado About Nothing...from the first words spoken by Emma Thompson (Sigh no more, ladies, sigh no more..) against a black screen, to the picnic, to the words:  "Don Pedro is approaching" and the site of all the men on horseback galloping to the villa, to everyone bathing and changing clothes before meeting at last...breathtaking.

[jayiijay]

PAINTED SHOES:

Great topic - best openings - love it.

Personal Top 10 (no order)

1.  Sunset Boulevard - Bill floating in the pool about to narrate his own story from a watery grave.
2.  The Crowd - it's brief, but the zoom-ins remain impressive almost 80 years later.
3.  The Sound of Music - I'm not embarrassed - when she comes over that hill, how can anyone not smile?
4.  Citizen Kane - sets the mood.
5.  Beauty and the Beast ('91) - wonderful homage to old musicals becomes a great one in itself.  The audience applauded at the end of the first number.
6.  Top Hat - love the white tie & tails song, again, sets the tone.
7.  Manhattan - the slide show set to Rhapsody in Blue - thrills me - biased, from NYC 
8.  The Pianist - playing away as the bombs go off - just brilliant - tells us so much about Spillman.
9.  Ben-Hur ('59) - a bit cheesy, I know, but that circled star across the sky gets me - and I'm not even Christian!
10.  Like you said, Touch of Evil.  Audacious - amazing how the Academy and most critics missed it in '58.

[paintedshoes]

Thanks, Jay.

I aagree about Top Hat, The Pianist, Sound of Music, and Citizen Kane.  And Sunset Boulevard.  Hadn't thought of that one.  Love Ben-Hur, but never thought of the opening as being so good.  Guess I have to go back and look at it.  Isn't that what makes this forum so great?  So many opportunities to discover, to re-visit?

[jayiijay]

PAINTEDSHOES:

What about The Crowd?  That opening gets me, it may be my favorite.  It tells the entire story in 30 seconds.  Yeah, Ben-Hur isn't an obvious choice, maybe not even a good one, but I remember being awed as a kid when I first saw it, the circled star mystically crossing the sky, the awe-struck villagers, that music...

thx

[paintedshoes]

Jay, I must admit, I do not know "The Crowd".  I bow to your superior knowledge.

[jayiijay]

PAINTEDSHOES:

See "The Crowd".  It is by King Vidor, silent, absolutely wonderful.  It made the top 10 films ever made at a writer's guild poll about 20 years ago and has fallen out of favor slightly, but is occasionally on Turner Classic Movies and I assume is available on netflix.  It is a simple love story about an ordinary guy trying to get ahead in the big city, but the turns it takes are moving.  thx