Track the Films You Watch (2005) (1 Viewer)

[John Bryant]

20 Best First-Time Viewings of 2005:

Léon: The Professional
Collateral
Strangers on a Train
Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith
Batman Begins
12 Angry Men
The Adventures of Robin Hood
The Ox-Bow Incident
JFK
The Machinist
Shaun of the Dead
The Bride of Frankenstein
The Wolf Man
Le Samouraï
Good Night, and Good Luck.
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
Millions
Syriana
King Kong
Munich

 

[Michael Elliott]

I'm just speaking for myself of course but if I were in your shoes I'd never watch anything new either.

Looking at our lists it appears I enjoy more of the "new" viewings than you do. We spoke about this earlier but 373 and 313 would make me want to skip any new viewings as well. I know your ratings are because you don't want to see them again and perhaps you somewhat enjoyed some of these titles but still....

However, if I reviewed films the same way you did then I'd probably have a lot more on my list. Lifes too short to keep rewatching things so for 90 minutes I can try something new. More than likely I'll never watch that certain film again but it was still nice seeing something new and you never know because it could still end up being one of your favorites.

Joe and I recommended five films to each other last year (12 this year) and he put off PATHS OF GLORY until the final day of the year because he really wasn't interested in seeing it. Since he enjoyed the film so much I'd ask him if he's happy he finally saw it and perhaps if he wished he had watched it earlier in the year instead of watching I WAS A TEENAGE FRANKENSTEIN two times. Out of our recommendations this year I believe he loved ON THE WATERFRONT and PATHS OF GLORY so I'm sure he wishes he had seen these earlier in life instead of watching some crap film over and over. Of course, perhaps I'm wrong but I've got twelve more films to recommend him this year so we shall see.

I gave him EAST OF EDEN and he gave me LURED. I think it's better we watch these rather than watching TEENAGE FRANKENSTEIN for the 20th time. One of us might like TEENAGE more than the film picked but we'll just have to wait and see.


p.s.---I guess we can carry this over at the other thread since it appears all the reserves are in. Someone can copy and paste this over there or my reply can go there.

 

[Brook K]

King Kong is the best movie you saw Jim??!!

December Recap

Movies Seen: 24

Best 1st Time Viewing: The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe

2005 Films
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe - A-
The Exorcism of Emily Rose - C+
Fantastic Four - B-
Four Brothers - B
Kingdom of Heaven - C+
King Kong - C+
Kings & Queen - B+
Mad Hot Ballroom - B+
Memoirs of a Geisha - C+
Murderball - B+
Sky High - B
War of the Worlds - C

2004 Films
Godzilla: Final Wars - B-

Pre-2004 Movies Seen for the 1st Time
Le Samourai (1967, Jean-Pierre Melville) (DVD Rent) - B-
The Son of Kong (1933, Ernest B. Shoedsack) (DVD Own) - B
Sword of the Beast (1965, Hideo Gosha) (DVD Rent) - B
The Tales of Hoffmann (1951, Michael Powell & Emeric Pressburger) (DVD Rent) - B+

Revisits (All DVD's from my collection unless specified)
The Bird with the Crystal Plumage (1970, Dario Argento) - A-
The Brown Bunny (2004, Vincent Gallo) - A
A Christmas Story (1983, Bob Clark) - A
The Devil's Rejects (2005, Rob Zombie) - A-
The Iron Giant (1999, Brad Bird) - A
It's A Wonderful Life (1946, Frank Capra) - A
Rear Window (1954, Alfred Hitchcock) - A

 

[Jim_K]

[YAWN] Yes Brook, shocking as it may seem. Remember the two of us have very little in common as to our movie likes & dislikes so do we really need to go down this path again for the umpteenth time?

 

[Steve Christou]

Jim you should have posted "Chronicles of Narnia the best film you saw Brook??!!" and add an smiley on top.

I saw a few new films last year, compared to you guys too few to mention.

Kong was probably my favorite, frankly I've forgotten the rest, my memory is like a sieve. Like George Kaplan I'd rather spend my viewing time watching old favorites than waste my time watching a film I know I'd most likely never want to see again, ever. Life is too short.

 

[Joe Karlosi]

I certainly support the idea of re-watching films you already know and love, but in my experience you can't always "know" in advance whether or not you'll likely never want to see a new film again.

Michael Elliot and I recommended five films each to one another in 2005 (we're doing one per month for 2006!) and when he kept suggesting PATHS OF GLORY, I must be honest and say I was very hesitant about it, because I don't really have much interest in "war films", and the whole subject didn't seem to appeal to me. However, once I tried it out, I loved it - gave it **** , even - and now I intend to buy it on DVD for myself!

Of course it helps when we're talking about an acclaimed director (like Stanley Kubrick) and a film that has a strong positive reputation, like PATHS.

 

[Steve Christou]

Well I was really talking about recent films I'd most likely never want to watch again. I saw Million Dollar Baby and Mystic River for the first time recently and it'll be a very long time before I sit thru them again. Over the xmas period I saw many favorites inc Singin' in the Rain, The Band Wagon, Some Like it Hot, North by Northwest, Duck Soup and my number one favorite Ben-Hur (1959), which reminds me...



Where do you people come from? Ben-Hur, a fabulous film, has been my favorite for decades now, yes it is very religious, the funny thing is I don't have a religious bone in my entire body and yet I love this film more than any other. I look at religion in films as almost a supernatural element, a fantasy, and I can enjoy them on that level.

 

[Joe Karlosi]

Ditto, Steve!

And God Bless You!

 

[Brook K]

Narnia was the best in December. Given what else I saw that month, it wasn't a difficult choice.

Jim, my comment was based on your own taste, not mine. Just surprised you'd pick various 05 CGI fests over Night and the City or some of the other noirs and westerns on your list.

Dashing these last 3 off quickly:

The Exorcism of Emily Rose: Unsuccessful mesh of courtroom drama and horror film. Utterly fails as horror with zero atmosphere or discernible style. The courtroom scenes are formulaic but more successful due to the earnest performance of Campbell Scott and a solitary knockout scene between Laura Linney and Colm Feore. - C+

Memoirs of a Geisha: A somewhat pretty package holding a generically told melodramatic story arc. Perhaps compromised by being told through a Western viewpoint and saddling Asian actresses with hammy English dialogue. Still, the charm of Ken Watanabe and seeing Gong Li vamp it up, even in a one dimensional role, makes the film watchable. - C+

King Kong: The Kong effect is outstanding and the CGI NYC is certainly an achievement, but I found nearly every action scene in the film either utterly ridiculous or overloaded. Jack Black has some nice moments as Denham and I generally liked the additional backstory, but every character in the piece and the story itself, are overwhelmed by the effects and Jackson's tendency to overstuff the frame with visual material. The love story never worked for me for a second and generated additional stupidity like the vaudeville act and "ice skating" scenes. And why are the Skull Islanders portrayed as murderous, inhuman savages with no culture or civilization? - C+

 

[Joe Karlosi]

I guess because, as lovers of Peter Jackson and this over-inflated dud of a headache will claim, "every frame is a loving tribute to the original"! :rolleyes

 

[Brook K]

2005 Top Twenty First Time Viewings

1. Casque D' Or
2. Harakiri
3. Fighting Elegy
4. Night and the City
5. Simon of the Desert
6. The Exterminating Angel
7. The Big Country
8. Love Me Tonight
9. Paris, Texas
10. Pauline at the Beach
11. Dawn of the Dead extended cut
12. Porco Rosso
13. The Browning Version
14. Time Out
15. The Curse of the Cat People
16. Samurai Rebellion
17. Le Notti Bianche
18. Crazed Fruit
19. Grizzly man
20. tie: Bed & Sofa / Trouble Every Day


All 57 Movies Receiving "A"'s or "A-" ratings in 2005
All The President's Men (1976, Alan J. Pakula) (DVD Rent) - A-
Arsenal (1928, Alexsandr Dovshenko) (DVD Rent) - A-
Bad Education - A-
Bed and Sofa (1927, Abram Room) (DVD Rent) - A-
The Big Country (1958, William Wyler) (DVD Rent) - A
The Browning Version (1951, Anthony Asquith) (DVD Rent) - A
Casque D'Or (1952, Jacques Becker) (DVD Rent) - A
The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe - A-
Crazed Fruit (1956, Ko Nakahira) (DVD Rent) - A-
The Curse of the Cat People (1944, Robert Wise) (DVD Rent) - A-
Dawn Of The Dead (Extended Cut) (1979, George Romero) (DVD Own) - A
Dead or Alive (1999, Takashi Miike) (DVD Rent) - A-
Dead or Alive 2: Birds (2000, Takashi Miike) (DVD Rent) - A-
The Devil's Rejects - A-
L'Eclisse (1962, Michelangelo Antonioni) (DVD Rent) - A-
The Exterminating Angel (1962, Luis Bunuel) (TCM) - A
F For Fake (1974, Orson Welles) (DVD Rent) - A-
Faithless (2000, Liv Ullmann) (DVD Rent) - A-
Fighting Elegy (1966, Seijun Suzuki) (DVD Rent) - A
Finding Neverland - A-
Godzilla: Tokyo S.O.S. (2003, Masaki Tezuka) (DVD Rent) - A-
Grizzly Man - A-
Gun Crazy (1949, Joseph H. Lewis) (DVD Own) - A-
Harakiri (1962, Masaki Kobayashi) (DVD Rent) - A
The Happiness of the Katakuris (2001, Takashi Miike) (DVD Rent) - A-
Heaven Can Wait (1943, Ernst Lubitsch) (DVD Rent) - A-
Howl's Moving Castle - A-
The King Is Alive (2000, Kristian Levering) (DVD Rent) - A-
Love Me Tonight (1932, Rouben Mamoulian) (DVD Rent) - A
Magnificent Butcher (1979, Woo-Ping Yuen) (DVD Rent) - A-
Masculin feminin (1966, Jean-Luc Godard) (DVD Rent) - A-
Miracle on 34th Street (1947, George Seaton) (NBC HD) - A-
A Moment of Innocence (1996, Mohsen Makhmalbaf) (DVD Rent) - A-
My Architect: A Son's Journey - A-
Napoleon (1927, Abel Gance) (TCM) - A-
Nausicaa Of The Valley Of The Wind (1984, Hayao Miyazaki) (DVD Own) - A-
Nazarin (1959, Luis Bunuel) (TCM) - A-
Never Give A Sucker An Even Break (1941, Edward F. Cline) (TCM) - A-
Night And The City (1950, Jules Dassin) (DVD Rent) - A
Le Notti Bianche (1957, Luchino Visconti) (DVD Rent) - A-
Paris, Texas (1984, Wim Wenders) (DVD Rent) - A
Pauline at the Beach (1983, Eric Rohmer) (DVD Own) - A
The Phantom Of Liberty (1974, Luis Bunuel) (DVD Rent) - A-
Porco Rosso (1992, Hayao Miyazaki) (DVD Own) - A
Red Lights - A-
The River (1951, Jean Renoir) (DVD Rent) - A-
Samurai Rebellion (1967, Masaki Kobayashi) (DVD Rent) - A-
She Hate Me - A-
Simon of the Desert (1962, Luis Bunuel) (TCM) - A
The Story of Marie and Julien (2003, Jacques Rivette) (DVD Rent) - A-
They Came Back - A-
Time Out (2001, Laurent Cantet) (DVD Rent) - A
Tout Va Bien (1972, Jean-Luc Godard) (DVD Rent) - A-
Trouble Every Day (2001, Claire Denis) (DVD Rent) - A-
Winter Sleepers (1997, Tom Tykwer) (DVD Rent) - A-
Youth Of The Beast (1964, Seijun Suzuki) (DVD Rent) - A-
Zombie: Dawn Of The Dead (1979, George Romero) (DVD Own) - A-

 

[Brook K]

That isn't a loving tribute since the original's Islanders actually communicated, had a culture demonstrated through dance, lived in houses, and had boats and lived in an environment they could logically survive in.

 

[Armin Jager]

Sounds good. All are first rate pictures who miss the known essential classics lists (maybe except LOVE ME and PARIS), but deserve very much to be included and better known.

 

[Steve Christou]

Well there's no way you can change my mind about Ben-Hur Armin and I disagree with every single observation in your post but it would be a boring world if we all liked the same things. I suspect that films that you find interesting I would find banal and vice versa, we're from different worlds lets leave it at that.

 

[Michael Elliott]

I personally don't find anything done with CGI to be an achievement. Sitting at a computer and coming up with effects is a lot easier than building an entire city, set or whatever else that had to be done in the older days. It was interesting on the KK (1933) doc that the special effect guys of today couldn't figure out how they created some of the original film's creatures. Even today's "experts" realized how much harder it was back in the day. The same with a VAN HELSING-like Frankenstein or Wolf Man. The work Jack Pierce was doing back in the day is a lot more impressive than someone sitting at a computer and pushing buttons.

IMO, CGI only works whenever the effects don't overtake the story. Whenever you take any of the real life off the screen you're left with nothing, which was what KONG was to me. If I'm ever elected Pres. the first law I'm going to pass is that no one but Spielberg can use CGI.

 

[Steve Christou]

Have you seen King Kong Michael? Not the trailer or clips on tv but on the big big screen? Kong is the pinnacle of CGI achievement to date and it had nothing whatsoever to do with Steven Spielberg. But I do agree that the dinosaur scenes in KK were not on the level of ILM's Jurassic Park work and WETA chief Richard Taylor admitted this himself in an interview for Total Film.

 

[Jim_K]

Steve! [STOP IT STE (Oh forget it.) Glad you popped in. Wholeheartedly agree with ya on Ben-Hur - great film.

Armin,

Oh nevermind.

Brook,

I have no aversion at all to CGI (or non-CGI) popcorn flicks. Please don't get me confused with the anti-CGI Brigade.

In fact I enjoy 'em just as much as I enjoy classic westerns, Hammer horror, Noirs, Gangster flicks, Hitchcock, etc, etc, etc. After all the years we've spent in POLLS together I'm surprised you're surprised by this.



Oh get over it already and join the 21st century.

 

[Joe Karlosi]

I hope Michael Elliott's reading this, because he and I have often talked about people being "right" or "wrong" when evaluating a film. Mike has always felt a person is "wrong" if he doesn't see it the way the majority gets it, and I've often told him I disagree. BUT...

One thing we do agree on is that a film's main "reputation" (be it great or lousy) is etched in stone by the majority, whether one agrees or not. And at times like this, where someone is asking "what's so fabulous about BEN-HUR?", the truth is, the film requires no defending. In a case like this, I think the burden comes upon the minority who would be more required to explain what's NOT fabulous about it.

And Armin, you have done a fine job of expressing what you find underwhelming about the film. But from what I read here, it feels like you're just anti-religion. And like Steve, my mind is sold on that film. It's the greatest film ever made, IMO.

 

[Bob Turnbull]

Now that I agree with. Here's where Pixar excels. Can't comment on King Kong.

 

[Bob Turnbull]

Top 25 Favourite First Time Viewings of 2005 Not Including The Previously Listed Favourites And Selected After Skimming Through My List In 5 Minutes:


Shaun Of The Dead
Charade
Nashville
Riding Giants
Out Of The Past
Night Of The Hunter
Kamikaze Taxi
The Man With A Movie Camera
Laura
Murder My Sweet
My Man Godfrey
Rififi
Heaven Can Wait
Hukkle
Z
Next Stop Wonderland
Unfaithfully Yours
Hopscotch
The Big Clock
Paradise Lost: The Child Murders At Robin Hood Hills
In A Lonely Place
It's All Gone Pete Tong
To Live
Harakiri
Tales Of Hoffmann


Special mention should be made of Tales Of Hoffmann. There's much to it that I didn't enjoy (the opera singing, the stories themselves weren't terribly interesting, etc.), but the unrelenting beauty of the visuals on screen made this an amazing experience. I particularly loved the staircase painted on the floor...