For those who THOUGHT they knew movies

[Anthony Ng]

This is your once in a decade (probably not of a lifetime) opportunity to view back to back some best movies of all times, directed by a true master who influenced and inspired ALL directors, living or dead, from Ingmar Bergman, Bernardo Bertolucci, Martin Scorsese, Francis Ford Coppola, Werner Herzog to even Spike Lee, not to say Steven Spielberg and George Lucas, who barely qualify to be his students but claim so.

TCM will be showing more than a dozen of Akira Kurosawa's movies this month, most importantly 23rd, to celebrate the 100th anniversary of his birthday, including BUT NOT LIMITED TO:

Sanshiro Sugata (1943)
No Regrets for Our Youth (1946)
One Wonderful Sunday (1947)
Rashomon (1950) - do I need to say more?
Seven Samurai (1954) - into the Magnificent Seven, horseback fighting scene imitated ... or honoured in Gladiator
Dodes'Ka-Den (1970) - whose use of bold colors clearly inspired Spike Lee's Do The Right Thing

Not to say you have already missed the following (which aired on Mar 9 & 16):

Ikiru (1952) - my #1 favourite movie of all times, birthday scene borrowed ... or honoured in Jerry "show me the money" Maguire
Throne of Blood (1957) - Macbeth (yes, Shakespeare)
Hidden Fortress (1958) - "borrowed" heavily by George Lucas for his Star War; watch out for C3PO and R2D2
High and Low (1963) - adapted from Ed McBain's King's Ransom

This collection only showcases a fraction of Kurosawa's powerful language (of films), but at least you learn how movies should be. And mind you, even these films are decades old, they are still RELEVANT. They are also NOT foreign (or Japanese) films but simply films, just like Eisenstein is NOT a Soviet or Russian director.

For those who don't even know what TCM is, it's Turner Classic Movies, which is also available on HD.

For more details: http://www.tcm.com/thismonth/article/?cid=290029.

 

[draggar]

Draggar installs a webcam near nameslave's PC so I can watch him foam at the mouth..

What about Avatar?

Funny a post like this should come up - I just watched Transsiberian yesterday. It's nice to see a movie with a good story that isn't all about special effects and big stars, there are so many underrated movies out there because they don't make a huge debut at the theatres or get the funding and cast for a large scale release. I'm not into older movies but I may put a few of these on my Blockbuster list so I can watch them (my wife hates older movies so I'll have to watch them by myself).

This list came out recently, too, the top 10 "bad guy" actors in Hollywood. Don't expect it to be full of Wesley Snipes etc..

http://insidemovies.moviefone.com/2010/02/18/hollywoods-most-evil-actors/

Jason Isaacs was a great call on the list. Alan Rickman - even though he's a big actor, I think he does belong on the list, he's always been great asa bad guy (and a no-so bad guy like in Dogma). I'm thinking if he contiues with the way he is, Zachary Quinto (Sylar on Heroes / Spock in the new Star Trek film) could be on the list.

 

[Anthony Ng]

What about Avatar?

Funny a post like this should come up

It's kind of irony when Kurosawa's 100th birthday actually comes up at a time when people are still talking about this year's Oscar awards, which draws so much attention, when those so-called moviegoers should at least take a peek at what good movies really are.

No, it shouldn't be *just* about special effects or even "stories", although new technology should definitely help when used by good hands, and good narratives (HOW stories are told) have always been an integral part of films.

Watching Kurosawa, even after all these years, renew my own passions about movies, and serves very well as a timely reminder that garbage delivered by James Cameron could not, should not and would not contaiminate the minds of those who truly love motion pictures.

 

[angel69]

james cameron's movies = garbage, i don't agree, at least not for some movies, terminator 1 and t2 to name two, while not perfect were really good films, remember to keep in mind what the tech for movies was when the film was made and what cameron did that was considered remarkabe at the time and the story development and concept behind t1 in 1984 made it really special

true lies was definitely bad, and the abyss was terrible, but how about a little film called titanic (1997), superbly made w/a completely believable story that went together w/the historical event, and aliens (1986) was also a superb film, it even stood on its own if you hadn't seen the original alien (1979) by a different director, i assume nameslave is old enough to have seen titanic in a theater in 1997 or so and if he's never seen aliens (1986) he should, just make sure you see the regular version, not the longer director's cut, the genius in that movie : no aliens at all for the 1st hour while keeping an audience at the edge of their seat, who else but cameron could've pulled that ?

avatar was great for sure but the 3d and technique advances he used were just as good as the story if not superior imo, not the case w/titanic and aliens, intelligent, believable plots and incredibly well made movies, can nameslave name a director who would've succeded in making titanic about a love story, ie the film is about those two characters, who happened to be there on that day, and not just about the sinking of a ship and what led to it, that for me rates a director much higher than a recount of a huge historical event w/the best cgi and movie tech money can buy

 

[italiandragon]

Unfortunately the old Italian generation of great talent, including Italo-Americans such as De Niro and Al Pacino, is not being replaced by the same talent.

 

[draggar]

Unfortunately the old Italian generation of great talent, including Italo-Americans such as De Niro and Al Pacino, is not being replaced by the same talent.

This can be said across the board. Today's talent can't seem to even come close to the talent we grew up with. Now it's all about a photoshopped pretty face with little to no acting ability.

 

[Gregcyber]

Russell Crowe

 

[Gerry]

This can be said across the board. Today's talent can't seem to even come close to the talent we grew up with. Now it's all about a photoshopped pretty face with little to no acting ability.

I honestly can see no value whatsoever with the likes of Brad Pitt...talentless to say the least.

 

[italiandragon]

This can be said across the board. Today's talent can't seem to even come close to the talent we grew up with. Now it's all about a photoshopped pretty face with little to no acting ability.

I totally agree.

No substance, just appearance

 

[draggar]

I honestly can see no value whatsoever with the likes of Brad Pitt...talentless to say the least.

The list can go on and on.

Keanu Reeves - same character in all his movies.
Julia Roberts - Same character in all her movies (except the Oceans movies - she was the best to play herself).
Nicholas Cage - pretty much the same character in all his movies and all the movies he's in turn into movies about him even if it's not about him.

but, playing the same character isn't always bad.
Bruce Willis - same or similar character but has done it in action and comedy plus he has great delivery.
Tommy Lee Jones - same character in many movies but his dry humor can make a film.

Don't get me started on any of the new "stars" that have popped up over the past ten years. I tried to watch a Twilight movie - it's an abomination. I actually see better acting on Syfy's "B" movies and HBO's series.

 

[Gerry]

If you want to see a couple of cult classics, you must see Blue Velvet and True Romance.

I think Christian Slater is another one the belongs in the no talent group but I liked his character in True Romance

Plus, I am a huge Dennis Hopper fan. If I am not mistaken, I read somewhere that Dennis Hopper started ad-libbing in Blue Velvet. I have a tendency to believe it because that kind of talent and some of those scenes are incredible and doubtful reading from a script.