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lagerlout2006
Joined: 17 Sep 2003
Posts: 985
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 Posted: Tue Mar 09, 2004 11:58 am Post subject: Yes! American Movies. |
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Lately we see endless posts about "Where are the good non-American movies?" Maybe it comes around every year when bunk wins the Oscar. (This year was a good line-up though.) I like foreign films as much as anyone but really I watch more US films. There are only so many unknown Japanese geniuses out there. Today I hit the DVD shop...They have 10 rooms and you can find almost anything there. (If you don't believe me they had the complete 10 TV episodes-the Decalogue-from the guy who mafde Red White Blue. ) That is obscure. Anyway I had the spare cash for 10 films and bought 2 Chinese and 8 American...
Some of my favorites...1st a few of what I found.
American Splendor
Swimming Pool
School of Rock
Duplex
Hollywood Ending
Buffalo Soldiers
Miracle (on ice)
That is not bad for a dirt road in PRC little shop is it? Now to the Biggies.. These mentioned I haven't watched yet.
Taxi Driver (started it all)
Manhattan
Fargo
Pecker
The People VS Larry Flint
Resevoir Dogs
Born On The 4th of July
Boogie Nights (  )
Heat
I might be leaving some out but the best ones you forget...Like if you remember the 60's you weren't there. |
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lagerlout2006
Joined: 17 Sep 2003
Posts: 985
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| Posted: Tue Mar 09, 2004 12:01 pm Post subject: |
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Any thoughts on how the new ones stack up against the classics. ? I think movies get better all the time---like improving technology. Sure there is a lot of crap of course.
Lagerlout is logging out!!! |
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woza17
Joined: 25 May 2003
Posts: 602
Location: china
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| Posted: Tue Mar 09, 2004 12:13 pm Post subject: |
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Happiness US
Storytelling US
Mystic River US many many more |
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Capergirl
Joined: 02 Feb 2003
Posts: 1232
Location: Nova Scotia, Canada
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| Posted: Tue Mar 09, 2004 12:36 pm Post subject: |
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As usual, Oscar time rolls around and I haven't seen four of the five movies nominated for best picture. I did see LOTR: The Return of the King - excellent movie (trilogy, really).
Hollywood isn't so bad. Some of my personal faves are: The Usual Suspects, The Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile, Forrest Gump, A Few Good Men, Braveheart, Dead Man Walking, Jerry Maguire, Good Will Hunting, Seven, and many others I can't think of right now. Recently, I watched four excellent movies: The Butterfly Effect, Runaway Jury, The Italian Job (remake), and Pirates of the Carribbean.
I really want to see Mystic River, Monster, and most of all, The Passion of the Christ. |
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Wolf
Joined: 10 May 2003
Posts: 1245
Location: Middle Earth
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| Posted: Tue Mar 09, 2004 1:21 pm Post subject: |
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Citizen Kane, Casablanca, Sleeping Beauty, 2001, Apocalypse Now, The Godfather, Star Wars Episodes IV and V (the ones from 1977 and 1980), Lord of the Rings, Jaws, Men in Black (the first one. The second MiB movie does not exist. Uses neurolizer on readers... .
There are Hollywood movies I liked. Don't tell them that, though. I don't want them to get lazy overall and put even less effort into telling decent stories. |
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foster
Joined: 07 Feb 2003
Posts: 485
Location: Honkers, SARS
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| Posted: Tue Mar 09, 2004 1:24 pm Post subject: |
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Must agree that Pecker was a great movie.
Mystic River was great as well.
I am a Thomas Harris fan, so the Hannibal Lecter series is on the list.
Ocean's Eleven, Green Mile, Apocalypse (sp?) Now, Usual Suspects, The Kevin Smith movies (Clerks, Chasing Amy, Dogma), Grosse POinte Blank (well, just about anything with John Cusack), Breakfast Club and Pretty in Pink (80's Classics), Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction, Kill Bill, Sound of Music, Taxi Driver and Home for the Holidays.
I only wish there were more of these movies available for rental.
Am currently trying to get Monster downloaded *ah-hem* but it is being difficult. |
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johnslat
Joined: 21 Jan 2003
Posts: 13859
Location: Santa Fe, New Mexico, USA
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| Posted: Tue Mar 09, 2004 1:34 pm Post subject: The Yellow Peril Strikes Back |
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Bet none of you realized that "The Lord of the Rings" is actually an "anti-Chinese propaganda" flic. I found this amazing web site on the China (Off-Topic) Forum:
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2004-03/03/content_311240.htm
My stars and garters - devilishly clever, those Occidentals.
Regards,
John |
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Wolf
Joined: 10 May 2003
Posts: 1245
Location: Middle Earth
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| Posted: Tue Mar 09, 2004 1:43 pm Post subject: |
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Heh, not to double post but here's what I just wrote on the China forum:
This ... is ... wierd. China has wierded me out before. The China Daily has wierded me out before. The China Daily has wierded me out with a way off-base review of LoTR before... .
Gollum is Asian? Hang on... .
Nope ... I'm not seeing it. Gollum, or Smeagol if you will, is a 500 year old Hobbit who has been unnaturally thinned out. I don't see a resemblence between him and any human beings. That's why they used CGI to put him in the film, eh?
Also, there is no army of goblins. Those be Orcs.
All the human (and Hobbit, Dwarf and Elven) characters are white guys. Um...duh? Tolkien based his story on myths and ledgends that came from Denmark, Iceland, England, Norway, etc.
| Quote: |
| To repeat: the idea is to inculcate a bad subconscious image of an Oriental as a dishonest, manipulative, lying fiend that cannot be trusted. |
Yeah, like Saruman ... oh, wait, he was white. Okay, like the Orcs ... oh, wait, they're not human. Okay, like Sauron ... oh, wait, he was a giant flaming eyeball with no coporeal form. Okay, like the Ringwraiths ... oh, wait, they're undead shadows with no skin at all, and they used to be white guys when they were alive. Okay, like the ghouls in the Barrow Downs ... no, wait, those are dead white guys too. Okay, like the Southrons ... no, wait, those guys are never pinned down to any one ethnic group. They could have been darker white guys (like me) for all we know (and yes, I've checked.) Okay, like the Balrog ... no, wait, that was a deamon created out of Shadow and Flame by Meklor, the first dark lord. Well, gosh darn golly gee, I give up. Where are the Asian villians in this movie again?
Oh yeah, there aren't any, and that dork is totally off his rocker.
Is it too much to ask that these people read the book and do a bit of background research into where Tolkein got his ideas from before declaring war on New Zealand?
Edit: If you want to crap on a British fantasy writer from the 1950s, then why spare C.S. Lewis? His Narnia series was a favorite of mine growing up. However, his depicition of a Pseudo-Islamic society in A Horse and His Boy, in contrast with his Pseudo-Christian society, well, that is something I don't care to defend.
But what's that? C.S. Lewis's series didn't get made into movies by Peter Jackson lately? Boo hoo. Just because the story got made into a movie now doesn't make it any better or worse than it has been since 1955. |
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Sara Avalon
Joined: 25 Feb 2004
Posts: 254
Location: On the Prowl
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| Posted: Tue Mar 09, 2004 2:34 pm Post subject: |
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Wolf, I read the article that claims the little digital hobbit is asian.... can we say "I was a teenage drama queen?" 
Oh, and last I checked, asians had naturally fair colored eyes on the blue/green side. *Cough* |
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