Favourite Films?

[PatchLatics]

Silence of the Lambs
Saving Private Ryan
Windtalkers

 

[Martino Knockavelli]

I don't do over/under rated. It's a crutch for the critically differently abled. But and imma let you finish but LA Confidential is the most over-rated film of all time. Ellroy minus all the scummy bits around the rim (and the rim of the rim of the rim) which make Ellroy Ellroy. Denatured, wishy washy, half arsed, polite. If it was straight to TV and on Channel 5 at 3pm I'd have thought it was a bit crappy. I cannot understand the fascination with it. I mean if you really can't hack actual film noir that's what Chinatown was invented for. Otherwise do Crime Wave or summat.

If you want to try and explain it to me I'm happy to listen.

 

[RavenBish]

Can you do a podcast Carel...every week?

 

[SALTIRE]

No The Departed this time thank fook; what an overrated pile of shite that is.

 

[Oaf]

Avengers Assemble. Really?

Yeah, but you have to bare in mind that I'm a massive Marvel fanboy. Going into it I expected it to be a mess with too many characters, it just seemed too ambitious to be true. Yet it turned out entertaining as fuck and I can watch it over and over. They didn't just get it right, they made it awesome. At least to this Marvel fanboy.

 

[Ebeneezer Goode]

It's a great brains-off popcorn action movie to be fair. Nothing wrong with that from time to time.

 

[hodge]

No The Departed this time thank fook; what an overrated pile of shite that is.

......

Somehow left The Departed off my list

 

[SALTIRE]

......

Its pretty bogging tbh, only highly rated cause Yanks know fuck all.

 

[Wizwag]

I don't do over/under rated. It's a crutch for the critically differently abled. But and imma let you finish but LA Confidential is the most over-rated film of all time. Ellroy minus all the scummy bits around the rim (and the rim of the rim of the rim) which make Ellroy Ellroy. Denatured, wishy washy, half arsed, polite. If it was straight to TV and on Channel 5 at 3pm I'd have thought it was a bit crappy. I cannot understand the fascination with it. I mean if you really can't hack actual film noir that's what Chinatown was invented for. Otherwise do Crime Wave or summat.

If you want to try and explain it to me I'm happy to listen.

I'm not going into the merits of the film other than to say I thought it was great, even after repeated viewings. Perhaps im an unsophisitcated movie goer. Even Elroy grudgingly says it's an excellent movie albeit in a very different tone to the book. Any sort of compliment coming from Elroy is something.

 

[Martino Knockavelli]

Well, a lot more people agree with you than with me, so you're in decent company. Hence my puzzlement.

 

[Magic]

Memento
The Silence of the Lambs
Se7en
Taxi Driver
Fargo

 

[SALTIRE]

Decent selection there, though I'd put Manhunter in ahead of Silence Of The Lambs personally.

 

[Captain Scumbag]

@ Carel

The thing is, most of its fans won't have read the source novel, let alone the LA Quartet series it forms a part of. They probably haven't read any Ellroy. They're probably largely unfamiliar with the hardboiled/noirish variety of American crime fiction his writing belongs to.

That doesn't make their opinions wrong. They just don't see it through the same critical framework that you do. They didn't watch the film hoping to see a faithful page-to-screen adaptation or an attempt to do Ellroy justice on the big screen, nor did they watch it with any firm notions about "proper noir" in mind. They watched and appraised it (not unreasonably) as a stand-alone work – i.e. a thriller about police corruption – and saw it as a high quality example of its kind.

I get where you're coming from because I love those books too. There is definitely a tendency in American film (and TV) to prettify the 1950s – to shoot everything as though it's a Norman Rockwell painting – and no doubt LA Confidential could have done with a grubbier palette and some dingier set design. In terms of the story, it's obviously a truncated version. I can forgive that to an extent because Ellroy's plotting is dense and labyrinthian and you'd need a 10-part TV series to do it properly (and ideally then do another series covering White Jazz for the sake of completion). That sort of thing is easier to imagine following the success of shows like True Detective, but that wasn't the case in 1997. The writers had to take the novel in isolation and condense it into a 140 minute screenplay. Viewed that way, it's quite an impressive act of pruning.

True, this pruning takes away some of the cynicism, nastiness and moral ambiguity, and if that's your complaint then I don't have much of a counter. All I can repeat is the basic point above, which is that none of that will matter one jot to people who haven't read the books, which is most people. Viewed as a stand-alone work, it's actually much grubbier, nastier and more cynical than your average film. Difficult to elaborate on that without ruining it for anyone who hasn't seen it, though.

 

[Wizwag]

I think youve hit the nail on the head Captain Scumbag. I'm not an Elroy or Film Noir buff so I viewed it as a stand alone movie. Talking of the set design, I agree its not grubby, in fact it's almost comic book in it's palette but thats one of the reasons it works. To me its a visual delight. Also the performances and casting are top notch. Two unknown (at the time) Aussies in lead roles was brave. Basinger was perfect. The complex plot came together beautifully at the end, and the Lana Turner scene is a classic.

 

[Martino Knockavelli]

^^^ Yes, fair points all. I never want to admit to going down a "the book is so much better..." path, though I guess this is an instance where that's most of my objection.

Parenthetically, re a TV adaptation: were you aware that a pilot was made? Kiefer Sutherland as Vincennes. It's not all that good, and even further along the path of comic book/costume drama that I'm whining about, but interesting to ponder.

 

[Captain Scumbag]

^ I wasn't aware, no. I think most of Ellroy's stuff requires the broader canvas of a long(ish) TV series, so hopefully the idea gets revisited at some point in the future. If I could take my pick, I'd want American Tabloid done first, but I'd love to see the LA Quartet done properly, maybe with a 10-episode series devoted to each book.

P.S. Bit of a tangent, but have you read Perfida yet?

 

[Modernist]

Stand by me.

 

[Martino Knockavelli]

P.S. Bit of a tangent, but have you read Perfida yet?

Nope, got it my pops for Christmas and he hasn't finished it yet. You? Any good?

 

[Captain Scumbag]

No.

Good chat.

 

[D B Disco]

Almost impossible to pick a favourite, there are so many.

But I remember thinking when watching Lord of the Rings for the first time "this is more than just a film, this is an event"

 

[SALTIRE]

Almost impossible to pick a favourite, there are so many.

But I remember thinking when watching Lord of the Rings for the first time "this is more than just a film, this is an event"

Those of us who grew up on the original Star Wars films think that as well, which is why a lot of us (getting near) middle-aged men will still go and see Star Wars in droves even if the new ones turn out to be poop!

 

[MSB92]

Those of us who grew up on the original Star Wars films think that as well, which is why a lot of us (getting near) middle-aged men will still go and see Star Wars in droves even if the new ones turn out to be poop!

I really hope that the new Star Wars movies turn out to be good! I have high hopes for them and I don't want to be disappointed. Although I'll still watch them even if they turn out to be bad.

 

[SALTIRE]

I really hope that the new Star Wars movies turn to be good! I have high hopes for them and I don't want to he dissapointed. Although I'll still watch them even if they turn out to be bad.

Yep I'll be the same.

 

[Gladders]

Star wars (all of them)
Flight of the Navigator
Short Circuit
The karate Kid (Original)
Wargames
Labyrinth
Gremlins
Top Gun
Empire Records
E.T.
Back to the future
Die Hard
The Goonies
Beverly Hills Cop
Spaceballs

 

[mowgli]

Saving Private Ryan,
The Green Mile.
Platoon.
We Were Soldiers.
The Blues Brothers.
Waterloo.
The Exorcist.
Rambo First Blood.
The Godfather part II.

 

[Aberstone]

I'm a John Candy fan - Planes, Trains and Automobiles is my favourite film and Uncle Buck is another good one too.

Others I could watch over and over again:

The Shawshank Redemption
Taxi Driver
The Departed
The Godfather
Hot Fuzz
Saving Private Ryan
A Clockwork Orange
Forrest Gump

 

[mowgli]

Oops i left out Schindler's List.

 

[BCFC Jordan]

Oops i left out Schindler's List.

I got that film for Christmas a few years back and have never really watched it as it was supposed to be watched. It came in two discs and I think the first disk upon opening was the second disk - I must have watched it at night and not have been paying any attention. Anyway, I started watching the film (obviously from the halfway point) and thought it was one of those films that start off strange but eventually you'll get the context and a better understanding of the plot. So I continued watching in a pretty confused state, and was shocked to see the end credits start rolling after just over an hour, when I thought the film was just getting started.

Never watched it since.

 

[Smudge]

Star wars (all of them)
Flight of the Navigator
Short Circuit
The karate Kid (Original)
Wargames
Labyrinth
Gremlins
Top Gun
Empire Records
E.T.
Back to the future
Die Hard
The Goonies
Beverly Hills Cop
Spaceballs

Child of the 80s right there! Some great choices! Forgot all about Empire Records, God I love that film

 

[Scumarmy.]

The Godfather (1 and 2)
The Matrix (1 and 2)
Dawn Of The Dead (original)