The hoopla over the Da Vinci Code... got me to thinking (not necessarily a good thing).  Desert Island - and you have 10 movies - which 10?

Me?
1)  The Court Jester - Danny Kay at his best, Mildred Natwick's witch eye, and where was that pellet of poison.
2)  Dr. Zhivago - everytime I see it, I see something different.
3)  The Treasure of the Sierra Madre - Bogart/Houston at the top of their profession - a tale of greed and human nature.
4)  Easy Rider - Easily captures a time - and emotions of a justified era.
5)  Casablanca - wish that all were in "black and white"
6)  From Russia with Love - arguably the best Bond - except for she, whose name we cannot mention!
7)  To Have and Have not - chemistry - Bacall and Bogart defined it!
8)  Shrek 2!  - sorry - just funnier.
9)  Duck Soup - something that just started a "style"  and it had "style"
10) How Green Was My Valley - I like to cry and am sentimental...

But hey - look I left a lot out - Animal House - college was really not like this; Star Wars - the original that blew us all away;  The Yellow Royles Royce - classic car  steals the show; Giant - a tribute to Southern writing at its best!; and many - many others....

but so - you're on the island, the DVD player is safe - and ya have a lifetime battery!  what do you watch????

Goodfellas, Blow, Collateral, Gladiator, Godfather, Miracle, Donnie Brasco, See a theme? I like movies with characters that are strong and don't take shit off anyone.

In no particular order:

1.  Harvey (big bunny, James Stewart)

2.  Fight Club (Pitt & Norton beating the shit out of each other)

3.  Breaking the Waves (bleak & riveting)

4.  Being There (Genius Peter Sellers as Chance)

5.  Juliet of The Spirits (Fellini-my fave director-starring the best actress EVER, Gulieta Masina, his wife in real life)

6.  Tie Me Up, Tie Me Down (Hot love w/a very young Antonio Banderas)

7.  Dr. Strangelove (Genius Peter Sellers AGAIN)

8.  Seems Like Old Times (Goldie Hawn, Chevy Chase, Charles Grodin + lots of canines)

9.  Send Me No Flowers (Rock Hudson, Tony Randall, Doris Day, need I say more?)

10.  Rushmore (Bill Murray nearly stole the movie from Jason Schwartzman)

11.  Life of Brian (Python & Jesus)

12.  Cries & Whispers (the great Bergman directing)



-- Modified on 5/22/2006 7:51:13 PM

-- Modified on 5/22/2006 8:15:35 PM

beating the shit out of Pitt!  or was he doing something else.... loved that movie... Thanks.

To Kill a Mockingbird  (Quintessential America!)
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. (Ken Kesey, Milos Foreman, and Jack!)
A Clockwork Orange  35 years old and Ultra-Violence is still relevant)
Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb  Peter Sellers in three roles!)
Blade Runner (Ridley Scott does PK Dick)
Pulp Fiction (Tarentin0 creates a genre)
Pay it Forward  (Inspiring, and well Kevin Spacey)
Lawrence of Arabia (Simple spectacular.


TMT

I still cry at the end of that movie.  Love is a mighty power.  I do not find it bleak at all, because it so taps into the power of the human heart, I will always find it inspiring.

I fell in love with Emily Watson in that movie, but it also reminds me of Katrin Cartlidge, an excellent and underrated actress who, sadly, passed away a couple of years ago.  She was excellent as Watson's sister Dorothy in this movie, as well as moving turns in "Naked", "Before the Rain", and, IMO, her zenith, "Career Girls".

RIP, Katrin...you are missed.

Blade Runner...such a great, great movie.  Saw that in an old theater in Berlin in the early 80's...the effect of the movie in that beautiful old art deco theatre was awesome.

I guess that I was referring more to the look of the movie, handheld camera, only natural light, no movie score, the director, Lars Von Trier, is part of that dogme95 movement I think it's called, where they are trying to be as authentic as possible.  

Emily Watson and Stellan Saarsgard, I believe his name is, are just wonderful.

I'll have to look into those other movies of Cartlidge's, what was the cause of her death?

So many great flicks already mentioned.

I'd have to say (and not in any particular order) that these were great:

1)  Pulp Fiction
2)  Casablanca
3)  Dr. Zhivago
4)  Under The Tuscan Sun (Hey, I'm a romantic)
5)  Chocolat
6)  The Color Purple
7)  Forest Gump
8)  Friend Green Tomatoes
9)  The Holy Grail (I have a sick sense of humor)
10) Steel Magnolias
11) The Ten Commandments
12) The Godfather (original)
13) My Fair Lady
14) Funny Girl
and many foreign and independent films -- too many to name.

Hugs,
Ciara

1) To Kill A Mockingbird
2) A Clockwork Orange (I have that movie)
3) Blade Runner
4) Pay It Forward (very sad but touching)
5) Lawrence of Arabia (that speaks for itself)

Link is to a great article on her by Alison Anders, whose "Gas Food Lodging" was an underrated little gem I love (Fairuza Balk is too fucking cute in that movie...her Oliva Newton John bit is a riot).

She dies of pneumonia and blood poisoning.  I will always remember her reaction when Emily Watson died.  Totally convincing and heartbreaking.  Kills me every time.

Yeah, the Dogme movies are rough.  I have a friend who thought the same about "Dancer in the Dark".  von Trier's recent fils "Dogville" and it's sequel are rough, too.

I remember the music from BTW, though.  No score, but a lot of classic rock songs.  "Suzanne", "Love Lies Bleeding", "Goodbye Yellow Brick Road", "Cross Eyed Mary", "Child in Time".

In no order...

Baraka - if you get it, it will move you like nothing else.  The world as you have never seen it.

A Streetcar Named Desire - Vivien Leigh's soliloquy on the pier is the most moving thing I have ever seen.  Has there ever been a more bittersweet, heartbreakingly passionate woman?

American Beauty - Kevin Spacey gives the performance of his life.  No wonder Kate Winslet married Sam Mendes, the lucky bastard. :P

Hannah and Her Sisters - Woody's masterpiece, a classic ensemble dramedy about the confusion in the human heart.

The World According to Garp - Robin willimas when he could still be subtle.  Irving's great book perfectly caught by George Roy Hill and Williams.  Incredibly moving.

Sex, Lies and Videotape - Soderbergh's instant classic, perfect casting, and great minimalism.  Cliff Martinez is one of the best score composers in the business.

Lone Star - John Sayles' masterpiece of tension and thought.  Chris Cooper is the best actor no one outside of indies has heard of.  Elizabeth Pena is HOT.

Blue Velvet - David Lynch turned middle America inside out and made it compelling yet seedy.  Original, frightening, and surprisingly romantic.

Ruby in Paradise - I still am in love with Ashley Judd because of this one, in spite of ten years of mostly poor movie choices since.  Victor Nunez' incredibly down to earth story.  

Un Couer en Hiver - A movie only the French could make correctly.  Daniel Auteuil is a revelation in a tightly wound role.  

Honorable mention - Blade Runner, Crash, The Princess Bride, The Sure Thing, The Terminator (the original), Star Wars (the original), The Emerald Forest, The five Senses, Heat and Sunlight, The Man With Two Brains, Platoon, Say Anything, Some Girls, Til Human Voices Wake Us, When Harry Met Sally

Top 10 all time essential guy flicks:

Waynes World 1 and 2 (tie) - SCHWING !!!, what happens when you let Mister Wiggly drive. Psycho Hose Beast (keyword for ex-girlfriend that won't leave you alone)

Animal House - Senator and Mrs. Bultarski

Slap Shot - The Hanson Brothers - nuf said

History of the World Part 1 - women can sit straight faced without uttering a single laugh through this one

ANY Three Stooges flick - the original innovators of bringing the guy modus operandi to the silver screen!

ANY Marx Brothers flick (see above, but more sophisticated)

Old School - Frank the Tank - streaking in front of wife's friends

Wedding Crashers - anything to get laid ... period!

Mystery Science Theater 3000 The Movie - you need to watch this multiple times with subtitles to get the gist of all the quips (essential puppet show for Men)

ANY Honeymooners episode - why our Fathers were what they were (Ralph Cramden the role model). Norton - the original Wing Man.

Gotta do something while I'm alone on that island...

Mindwalk
Hurlyburly
Delicatessen
King of Hearts
Memento
Crash 1996
Don't Look Back
Shallow Grave
Harold and Maude
Hedwig and the angry inch
Big Night
Babette's Feast
Y Tu Mama Tambien
Tampopo
Slingblade
Magnolia
L.I.E.
Brother's Keeper
NY,NY
City of God
Truly, Madly, Deeply
Gattaca
Twelve Angry Men 1957
Manchurian Candidate 1962
Sideways
The Committments
The Bad Seed
Night on Earth
Clerks
The Fog of War
The Imposters

Hoffman's best performance ever plus it was the first "X" rated film ever made!

Dr. Zhivago....Great love story.  I thought Julie Christie was gonna be the next super-star.  Hooking up with Warren Beatty may have hurt her career.

El Cid....Sophia Loren; a timeless beauty that can also act.

The Great Escape

Spartacus....Gladiator was good, but doesn't compare.  Hard to forget the scene at the end when Jean Simmons & Kirk Douglas can only make eye contact.

The African Queen....Bogart & K Hepburn both at their best.  

Lawrence of Arabia

Cleopatra....Taylor & Burton

Snows of Kilimanjaro

Bridge on the River Kwai....An epic battle of wills.

Love is a Many Splendored Thing....William Holden at his best.

Wait Until Dark....Talk about suspense!

Where Eagles Dare....Loved the martial music at the beginning & the multiple twists at the end.

Dirty Harry

Dr. No....the first & IMO best of the James Bond movies & Ursula Andress set the bar pretty high for the rest of the "Bond women" who followed.

The Pink Panther....the first one with David Niven in the title role.  Fran Jeffries (probably no one reading this remembers her) was one hot number who I wish could've had a larger role.

In no specific order:

-Hackers
-Incognito
-The Snadpiper
-Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolff
-Sin City
-Spaceballs
-Ordinary People
-A Knight's tale
-Bound
-The Legend of 1900

The World According to Garp (forgot about that one), Lonestar, The Terminator, When Harry Met Sally, A Streetcar Named Desire. And . . . let's not forget Taxi.

Hugs,
Ciara

-- Modified on 5/23/2006 12:20:39 PM

And it has a little more violence,  but they also took out the voice over's where you hear what Deckard is thinking.

Better in some ways if you know the sotry.

and I saw the original in the theater, plus the DC when it was re-released.

Checkmate, I think. :P

Do you have a copy of..."A Boy and His Dog?"



Memorable Quotes from
A Boy and His Dog (1975)
Harlan Ellison!

Blood: A cautous young fellow named Lodge / Had seatbelts installed in his Dodge. / When his date was strapped in / He committed a sin / Without even leaving the garage. That's clever, isn't it?

Stranger Than Paradise.

I would list everything Jim Jarmusch has done, but he scares off most mainstream viewers. I was trying for a gentle introduction to his oeuvre.

Married with Children, Seasons 1-10.