For the love of movies: The Past, Present, and Future of Cinema and what makes us fans (1 Viewer)

[Sultanofcinema]

Walter,
I saw Mean Streets at the RKO Stanley Warner in Wayne by default. My mom and I went opening night to see The Laughing Policeman with Bruce Dern and Walter Matthau at the Willowbrook Cinema and it was sold out. So we went across the parking lot to see Mean Streets as it also opened. My mom loved it which surprised me. I saw Straw Dogs and Carnal Knowledge at that same theater. Star Wars was an 8:30 am in 70MM on opening day.

 

[Sultanofcinema]

I do miss films like The Ninth Configuration ( A cast to die for including the one and only Neville Brand) , Altered States, and The Traveling Executioner with Stacey Keach.

 

[cinerama10]

Who can get you to watch a film on their name alone. Really for me it's three directors, Chris Nolan, Richard Linklater, Paolo Sorrentino. Plus I'll watch anything with Jessica Chastain.

I am not a fan of Chris Nolan.

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

So, here's another list, the 25 worst movies ever made according to critics...who apparently really earned their pay watching these. I can't comment on any of them because I have seen exactly none of them:

• Is That A Gun In Your Pocket
• The Singing Forest
• United Passions
• The Garbage Pail Kids Movie
• The Hottie & The Nottie
• Baby Geniuses
• National Lampoon’s Gold Diggers
• Left Behind
• Death of a Nation
• The Master of Disguise
• Persecuted
• Bio-Dome
• The Emoji Movie
• The Last Days Of American Crime
• Pinocchio (2002)
• Ballistic: Ecks Vs. Sever
• London Fields
• The Avengers (1998)
• The Adventures of Pluto Nash
• 3 Strikes
• King’s Ransom
• Miss March
• Love, Weddings, and Other Disasters
• One Missed Call
• Nothing Left to Fear

 

[TravisR]

So, here's another list, the 25 worst movies ever made according to critics...who apparently really earned their pay watching these. I can't comment on any of them because I have seen exactly none of them:

I haven't seen many of them but the ones I have seen are garbage. However, I welcome any of the people who say that those movies are the worst ever made to watch most of the works of Al Adamson or Coleman Francis. They will now know true suffering.

 

[jayembee]

So, here's another list, the 25 worst movies ever made according to critics...who apparently really earned their pay watching these. I can't comment on any of them because I have seen exactly none of them:

• The Avengers (1998)

The above is the only one on the list that I've seen. And while it's no great shakes, I don't think it's one of the worst movies ever made. Hell, just in terms of Sean Connery films, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen was far, far worse. And Sword of the Valiant, which was even worse than TLOEG.

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

The above is the only one on the list that I've seen. And while it's no great shakes, I don't think it's one of the worst movies ever made. Hell, just in terms of Sean Connery films, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen was far, far worse. And Sword of the Valiant, which was even worse than TLOEG.

My personal approach to listing what I think are bad films is to essentially start with people I think are good filmmakers and considering what I think is their worst work. Now, some filmmakers, I just don't think ever made a bad film, there are no stinkers in Kubrick or Tarkovsky's work for example. People may not like some of their pictures but there is no bad films among them.

But, with many other directors I really love, they have some total turds. Friedkin had The Guardian, Ridley Scott has Prometheus, Coppola has Jack...granted a for hire picture but he chose to do it.

With pictures that start out a bit behind the 8 ball in terms of what they have to work with, well, I tend not to list them as bad films even if I don't like them. Plus, a lot of pictures that are rated as bad pictures I never saw them in the first place.

For me, a bad film has to start out with everything going for it to potentially be a good film but...something, or several things go wrong.

Empire of Light will be on my bad films list going forward because so many people I love worked on the film, it had every chance to be great and my final opinion on it was, it stunk. Now is it bad in comparison to something like Sword of the Valiant? No, but Sword did not start with everything going for it to potentially be good. I started with hoping they could do something decent more than likely and knowing it would be an uphill climb to get there.

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

I do miss films like The Ninth Configuration ( A cast to die for including the one and only Neville Brand) , Altered States, and The Traveling Executioner with Stacey Keach.

Interesting grouping of pictures. Two films with Stacy Keach and a Paddy Chayefsky script...albeit one that he was not happy with the picture made from it due to the way the director had the actors deliver their dialogue. Fan of all of those films.

Keach did a bunch of good work in the 1970s, I am guessing you have seen End of the Road and Fat City.

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

Nickelodeon, which I own in both B & W and color. Black and white works better. If you can stomach it, watch Tough Guys Don't Dance written and directed by Norman Mailer.

I also have that set with Nickelodeon which I would love if they released as a Blu. There were bits of Babylon which seemed influenced by Nickelodeon.

I have the Blu-ray of Tough Guys Don't Dance. I kind of like the picture as odd as it is. It seems mostly known as a meme with that scene of Ryan yelling "Oh god!!!" while the camera circles him. Lousy set-up by Norman but the picture is kind of amusing.

 

[Sultanofcinema]

Reggie
I have not seen End Of The Road, will put it on my list. I watched a Paramount film (old Paramount DVD) two nights ago I saw in 1969. One of my favorites and would like to see a Blu-ray some day of Goodbye Columbus introducing Ali McGraw and Richard Benjamin. I actually had to import the CD Soundtrack from Japan many years ago and still have the LP that came out in '69 (purchased at the Colonial Record Shop for 4.99!) Keach also made a very violent film with Frederick Forrest in 1974 I saw at the Totowa Cinema called The Gravy Train which I loved. I understand they butchered for TV and retitled it The Dion Brothers. From what film friends have told me, they did the hatchet job like this with a fine suspense film called Two Minute Warning and even shooting extra footage and altering the plot. I know Big Wednesday was cut and retitled. One of the best films ever made. Thank you John Milius! When they destroyed On Her Majesty's Secret Service for ABC television, I was given a video tape of what was left to view by a friend, narration added, so you follow the plot!. I spoke with Cubby Broccoli at the Museum Of Modern Art shortly after this and he told me had heard about what ABC had done and informed me he had the "tapes on his desk" and was going to look at them that very week. My friends had told me the next ABC presentation was similar, although edited to the theatrical version.

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

A critics poll list of the Best Films of the 1970s. I find many things interesting about this list.

1) The Godfather (Francis Ford Coppola)
2) Chinatown (Roman Polanski)
3) Taxi Driver (Martin Scorsese)
4) The Godfather, Part II (Francis Ford Coppola)
5) Jaws (Steven Spielberg)
6) Apocalypse Now (Francis Ford Coppola)
7) Nashville (Robert Altman)
8) The Conversation (Francis Ford Coppola)
9) All The Presidents Men (Alan J. Pakula)
10) Network (Sidney Lumet)
11) Alien (Ridley Scott)
12) Annie Hall (Woody Allen)
13) Barry Lyndon (Stanley Kubrick)
14) The Conformist (Bernardo Bertolucci)
15) Dog Day Afternoon (Sidney Lumet)
16) Days Of Heaven (Terrence Malick)
17) McCabe & Mrs. Miller (Robert Altman)
18) Jeanne Dielman, 23 Commerce Quay, 1080 Brussels (Chantal Akerman)
19) Badlands (Terrence Malick)
20) Star Wars (George Lucas)
21) Close Encounters Of The Third Kind (Steven Spielberg)
22) The Exorcist (William Friedkin)
23) A Clockwork Orange (Stanley Kubrick)
24) One Flew Over The Cuckoos Nest (Milos Forman)
25) The Last Picture Show (Peter Bogdanovich)
26) Stalker (Andrei Tarkovsky)
27) Killer Of Sheep (Charles Burnett)
28) All That Jazz (Bob Fosse)
29) The Deer Hunter (Michael Cimino)
30) The Discreet Charm Of The Bourgeoisie (Luis Bunuel)
31) The French Connection (William Friedkin)
32) A Woman Under The Influence (John Cassavetes)
33) Aguirre, Wrath of God (Werner Herzog)
34) American Graffiti (George Lucas)
35) The Long Goodbye (Robert Altman)
36) Amarcord (Frederico Fellini)
37) Cries And Whispers (Ingmar Bergman)
38) Mean Streets (Martin Scorsese)
39) Solaris (Andrei Tarkovsky)
40) 3 Women (Robert Altman)
41) Celine And Julie Go Boating (Jacque Rivette)
42) Halloween (John Carpenter)
43) Dawn Of The Dead (George Romero)
44) Rocky (John G. Avildsen)
45) Cabaret (Bob Fosse)
46) Day For Night (Francois Truffault)
47) Shampoo (Hal Ashby)
48) Being There (Hal Ashby)
49) Don’t Look Now (Nicolas Roeg)
50) Carrie (Brian De Palma)

For a breakdown of who these critics are and their lists of the pictures they chose to help compile this with each of their personal lists go here:

1970s Poll Critics Lists — World of Reel

Thelma Adams (AARP) Harold & Maude Scarecrow McCabe and Mrs. Miller Nashville Amarcord Claire's Knee Seven Beauties The Heartbreak Kid Dirty Harry Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song Hester Street A Clockwork Orange Killer of Sheep The Godfather Cries and Whispers Carlos Aguil

www.worldofreel.com

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

First thing I noticed was that Coppola dominates the top ten. Second thing I saw was the film that topped the similarly compiled Sight & Sound list, Jeanne Dielman, comes in at a more reasonable (if still high as far as I'm concerned) 18. This is on a list of only pictures released in the 1970s, so my guess would be on an all time list of all decades it would be even lower. To me this makes sense and adds to my suspicions of it topping the Sight & Sound poll. I just don't see it being a top 25 picture and so it seems really strange and forced that it was number one in that poll.

Third thing I would say, is the list has a great diversity in the types of films that appear on it. From big popular entertainments, to horror and science fiction, to foreign films and dramas and thrillers. It's got everything that made the 1970s so great and influential.

Fourth thing, look at the directors that appear on this list. It is just an amazing list of filmmakers.

Finally, I would say, what an amazing and still powerfully influential list of pictures.

 

[TravisR]

Third thing I would say, is the list has a great diversity in the types of films that appear on it. From big popular entertainments, to horror and science fiction, to foreign films and dramas and thrillers. It's got everything that made the 1970s so great and influential.

Yeah, the variety and lack of snobbery is what makes me like this list.

 

[Bryan^H]

That is a great list. I just checked my "best of 70's by year list"
and 9 out of my ten picks were on it. Really good movies.

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

Yeah, the variety and lack of snobbery is what makes me like this list.

Yes, I don't think there is any pandering here to any specific type of film. It is just purely a list of great and influential films that emerged from the decade. Obviously, as with any list, we could shift, change, drop, and add pictures based on what our personal preferences are. I think it is a good list that shows how strong a decade it was.

 

[Walter Kittel]

It is a solid list of films. One thing that jumps out at me is the almost complete absence of Westerns, with only McCabe and Mrs. Miller at #17 (which is described by some as an "anti-western")

- Walter.

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

So, the other thing the list had me thinking about was top genre pictures by decade. In this case Science Fiction.

So, if you were to select the top Science Fiction film by decade, what would your choices be? I'll do three sort of easy decades, at least I think they are, to start:

1960s: 2001 - I don't think this can be debated really because it is essentially seen as the greatest science fiction film of all time.

1970s: Alien - This would be my choice and it is the top sci-fi film on this list. However, I can see Star Wars being a really likely choice.

1980s: Blade Runner - I think, like 2001, this has been a heavy influence on all sci-fi pictures that came after it.

 

[TravisR]

So, the other thing the list had me thinking about was top genre pictures by decade. In this case Science Fiction.

So, if you were to select the top Science Fiction film by decade, what would your choices be?

1970s: Star Wars
1980's: The Empire Strikes Back
1990's: The Phantom Menace
2000's: Revenge Of The Sith
2010's: The Last Jedi
2020's: whatever Star Wars movie they make this decade

 

[Walter Kittel]

1950's - The Day The Earth Stood Still
1960's - 2001: A Space Odyssey
1970's - Alien
1980's - Blade Runner
1990's - The Matrix
2000's - Children of Men
2010's - Rogue One: A Star Wars Story

- Walter.

 

[Winston T. Boogie]

It is a solid list of films. One thing that jumps out at me is the almost complete absence of Westerns, with only McCabe and Mrs. Miller at #17 (which is described by some as an "anti-western")

- Walter.

Yes, McCabe was the only one that made the list and it is likely because it is such a different kind of Western. The 1970s is not thought of as a great decade for Westerns by most critics it seems. In all the stuff I've read about the decade, they basically see it as the decade where the Western died and lost popularity. So, I'm not surprised that that's the only one on it.

I love Westerns though and the thing about the 1970s, to me, is all the people that worked on Westerns were still around working on them. So, they still really knew how to make them and had all the behind the scenes people that helped make them great. I love a lot of 1970s Westerns so, I have an open bias.

Ones, off the top of my head, that I think could sneak into a Top 50 list of the best films of the 1970s:

Little Big Man (1970) - This is a great picture and a wonderful Western. Offbeat, funny, and a "revisionist" Western, it is fantastically entertaining and probably is a Western that would play well in these times.

Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid (1973) - I know it is considered flawed, Peckinpah never got his cut of it out, and so now many people see it as just another mangled Peckinpah picture...but...this is one of my favorite Westerns of all time. I absolutely love this film in both of the versions of it I have. I think it is a masterpiece.

The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976) - Yes, Eastwood shows off his skills in this genre. An excellent film that I've seen top a lot of people's favorite Westerns list.

The Ballad of Cable Hogue (1970) - I mean it was Peckinpah's personal favorite of his films. A sweet natured Western with a great central performance from Robards.

High Plains Drifter (1973) - Eastwood again. I love how unique this one is as a "supernatural" Western. A great Western to watch on Halloween night. Probably would not make a top 50 list because it would be considered an "ugly" film for not meeting the requirements of today's social norms and expectations. Still, it is an awesome picture.

The Hired Hand (1971) - A lot of people seem to feel this is a classic now. Definitely could make it into the top 50 but I think a lot of people forget about it when making lists like this.