Movie Talk

All the other stuff
41

Thanks for the tip, Julio. I will check out the Morricone documentary, his music is great. Still, it’s not going to be tonight, as it’s rather long and there’s some football coming, with my home country playing against Brazil in the World Cup.

Perhaps I should have given Morricone a mention in my post. His music is such a big part of these movies. And trust me, I’m familiar with his musicI I have seen some of the movies with his music, and I have a double CD compilation with his movie themes. Which I haven’t listened to in a while, now that you mention him. Perhaps I ought to give it a listen ot two again :wink:

I’m actually been thinking about this one as the song for my funeral, which hopefully won’t be quite yet :joy:

Shame on me, but I’ve not watched Cinema Paradiso. My best friend, whom I lost to cancer in May last year, was a movie (and music) nerd. It was one of his favourite movies, and he recommended it to me again and again. Come to think about it, I haven’t seen Once Upon A Time In America either. Damn, perhaps I’d better start watching movies again.

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42

Cinema Paradiso holds a special place in my heart.

After graduating from school, summer of '95, I treated myself to a little special vacation. Not partying and dr!nking on some summer island, no. I stayed for a good week at a youth hostel in the next bigger city, more precisely I just slept there. Because all day long I would be at the local 3-screen arthouse theatre, where they had a little film festival, celebrating 100 years of cinema.

So the program was all over movie history, from silemt movies to new releases, the first screenings would start at 10am, the last at 11pm, and I watched dozens of movies that week, a lot of them with introductions from film historians and the like.

And the closing film of that festival fittingly was Cinema Paradiso. It is a love declaration to movies and movie theatres. So with Morricone’s music and that festival crowd, I don’t think there was a single dry eye in ther house.

How many favorite films do I have? A lot. And I will not try to rank them. But Cinema Paradiso is a favorite that a lot of film lovers have in common. So even though I know nothing else about your friend, he already appears to me as a kindred spirit.

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43

I feel the same way about that sheep movie you mentioned. So here’s a deal: I’ll watch it in the next two weeks, and in return you watch The Housemaid. Deal? :grinning_face:

44

obsession
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Based on your recommendations, I watched Obsession and absolutely loved it. Bear’s (Michael Johnston) ridiculously timid and shy behavior got on my nerves at times but Inde Navarrette’s performance more than made up for it. The cinematography did an amazing job with her, and there were scenes that genuinely creeped me out. And on top of that, she’s insanely hot… well, at least when she isn’t covered in puke. :grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes:

So, thumbs up for this movie! :+1:

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45

Obsession GIF by Focus Features

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46

I’ve already pre ordered the 4k blu ray collector’s edition loved the movie :popcorn::movie_camera:

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47

That scene reminded me of another horror movie that was pretty good too. :smiling_face_with_horns:

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48

Another very good movie 1 and the sequel

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49

About participants watching movies, I came to think about an old post of mine.

I found it funny when I watched it many years ago. Perhaps it’s a little outdated for younger folks. Still a classic!

50

A Newspaper piece on the iconic Sharon Stone scene

Which actors or actresses are ashamed of a movie scene they acted in?

At first Sharon Stone was ripping mad about the infamous interrogation scene in Basic Instinct.

You remember the one, right? She crosses her legs and the audience gets a brief, unobstructed view up her skirt and realizes she’s gone commando. And suddenly everyone’s heart stops for a second.

It’s one of the most iconic scenes of the 1990s in film.

And Stone has repeatedly asserted she was tricked into filming it and even slapped director Paul Verhoeven in the face over it.

At least that part of the story is fairly well known.

But remember, if she had actually wanted the scene removed from the finished film, she had every legal right to have it cut. And she knew this, because the first person she talked to after seeing the completed scene and slapping Verhoeven was her lawyer.

The thing is, she also admits she gave herself a cooling off period after the incident. Maybe she was upset with herself for losing her temper and slapping Verhoeven. Maybe she just needed time to get over the shock and violation of what she realized had happened. But, for whatever reason, she decided not to make any decisions until she had a clearer head.

After thinking it through, Stone decided to let the scene stand. As a person, she still wasn’t happy about it. But as an actor she realized the scene as filmed worked better and made sense for her character.

So she’s long had a love/hate relationship with it.

She admits it made her a film icon even if the experience in filming it was upsetting and painful.

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51

Tricked into filming it? I wonder what she thought was the purpose of her not wearing panties for the filming of that scene.

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52

Billy Wilder is another one of my favorites. More precisely, many years ago I was very interested in the duo of Ernst Lubitsch (Ninotchka) and Billy Wilder, two jewish directors who fled to the US in the NS era, where they were very successful.

My favorite of Wilder’s many comedies is actually One, Two, Three. Though that may be because it is specifically about Germany, the separtion into capitalist west and communist east, and features some old German actors as youngsters in hilarious roles.

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53

What continues to impress me about Obsession is how much they were able to achieve with really only the old school basic tools of filmmaking at their disposal, by virtue of people being good at their jobs. For example those shots where her face is almost completely hidden in shadows and you have these tiny highlights in her eyes look amazing. I think they may become more iconic than the grimace shots.

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54

When it comes to horror movies, I’ve always been drawn to the ones that build their tension through atmosphere, the supernatural, and psychological suspense. I love it when the fear creeps up on you, a sense of unease slowly sets in, and your imagination starts running wild, wondering what might happen next. To me, a truly atmospheric horror film can be far more intense than all the blood and gore in the movie world. That’s exactly how I felt about the following movie, which I also liked a lot. And to top it off, the lovely Maika Monroe takes on one of the lead roles in this film.

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55

The sequel is coming out I believe later in the year or early next year

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56

I just saw and heard this song on TV for the first time. Actually, songs belongs in the music topic, but I hope you’ll forgive me. I have a gut feeling she’s going to be the next star to rise in the Hollywood sky…

57

Hey, isn’t that that cute gamer chick?

58

Yeah, you might actually be right. :grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes:

Judging by her YouTube avatar, she’s got pretty good taste in movies. That reminds me of a bunch of other great films, but sticking with horror…

annihilation
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This movie combines most of my favorite genres: science fiction, horror, mystery and thriller.

59

I wasn’t the biggest fan of Annihilation, but that may be because it was a Netflix thing and didn’t even have a theatrical release in Germany, if I remember correctly. I might have liked it more on a big screen.

I am, however, a big fan of Darren Aronofsky (The Fountain!!!), so when I think of Natalie Portman and horror, the first film that comes to my mind is Black Swan, one of his best. It has been called a psycho-sexual thriller, but it definitely verges into horror.

Natalie Portman won the Oscar for this. Brendan Fraser got one, too, and Mickey Rourke a nomination for other films directed by Aronofsky, which is not a coincidence.

60

Dammit, now that I’ve mentioned Aronofsky I can’t go on without rambling about The Fountain.

I unabashedly love that film. Though I will say it is not flawless. I didn’t fall in love with it when I saw it in the theatre, only months later, on DVD it completely blew me away.

You see, it’s a bit complicated, telling three parallel stories, that are really just one. Hugh Jackman plays a Spanish conquistador searching for the tree of life, a cancer researcher trying to find a cure for his dying wife, and a space monk traveling towards a dying star on a tree.

The first time around I was just too busy trying to figure out how exactly all these pieces fit together. The rough direction isn’t difficult, it’s a meditation about love, death and letting go. But trying to find the definitive, coherent story, whichever way you interpret it, there’ll always be a piece or two that don’t really fit in.

So this complicated structure really distracted me from the sheer beauty of this film. And I kid you not, The Fountain, on an audio-visual level, is one of the most stunningly beautiful films I know. Visually you have the very strong motif of travel thgough darkness towards the light, and haunting music from Clint Mansell.

Unfortunately the original trailer is a bit clunky and doesn’t really do it justice, so here’s one of the many intresting Fountain videos to be found on youtube to give you a taste.

So if you don’t know The Fountain by Darren Aronofsky and want to check it out, which you definitely should, my advice would be, try not to over-analyze it and just go with it.