Okay, let me start this post by saying that I generally dislike sports movies; I'd far rather watch even the most amateur live sports than watch most movies about sports. There were only four sports movies I could even imagine picking, and two of them have already been taken, but I'm still very happy with this one. In the end, 6 Degrees of Troy McClure is going with the Oscar winning, BAFTA winning 1981 film, Chariots of Fire, in the Sports category. Running is such a visually simple sport, but they're so well done in this film, and the narrative following Abrahams and Liddell is superbly crafted, and Ian Holm's performance is one of the most memorable in the film.
Here's part of Ebert's 4 star review of it.
Quote:
This is strange. I have no interest in running and am not a partisan in the British class system. Then why should I have been so deeply moved by CHARIOTS OF FIRE, a British film that has running and class as its subjects? I've toyed with that question since I first saw this remarkable film in May 1981 at the Cannes Film Festival, and I believe the answer is rather simple: Like many great films, CHARIOTS OF FIRE takes its nominal subjects as occasions for much larger statements about human nature.
This is a movie that has a great many running scenes. It is also a movie about British class distinctions in the years after World War I, years in which the establishment was trying to piece itself back together after the carnage in France. It is about two outsiders - a Scot who is the son of missionaries in China, and a Jew whose father is an immigrant from Lithuania. And it is about how both of them use running as a means of asserting their dignity. But it is about more than them, and a lot of this film's greatness is hard to put into words. CHARIOTS OF FIRE creates deep feelings among many members of its audiences, and it does that not so much with its story or even its characters as with particular moments that are very sharply seen and heard.
This movie currently my son's reason for living, I watched 1/2 hour of it this morning before coming to work. I have now seen this movie more than any other in my life (not even sure how many times). Funny thing is my wife and I were saying last night how we are strangely not sick of it yet.
^ Very nice war pick, habernac. Stellar cast and fine direction by Attenborough. This is a movie that should be shown a lot more often on TV.
Flamesguy_SJ, Eastern Girl and liamenator are up next.
just finished watching it again last night. I don't think I've seen it since the 80's. Everyone forgot about this one after Schindler's and Private Ryan came out. It may not be as popular as it's not a rah rah movie, the operation was a total disaster.
In this the 11th round of the CP Movie Draft, Direct2Video selects The 40 Year Old Virgin in the Comedy category.
Honestly, one of the funniest movies I have ever seen. One of those rare movies that blends raunchy comedy with romance and actually succeeds.
Some quotes: David: You know how I know you're gay? Cal: How? How do you know I'm gay? David: Because you macramed yourself a pair of jean shorts. Cal: You know how I know *you're* gay? You just told me you're not sleeping with women any more. David: You know how I know that you're gay? Cal: How? Cuz you're gay? and you can tell who other gay people are. David: You know how I know you're gay? Cal: How? David: You like Coldplay.
---------------------------------- Andy Stitzer: [motioning to David's box of porn] I don't want this stuff, okay? Because I don't do that, that much. David: What, masturbate? Andy Stitzer: Yeah. David: Dude, I've jacked it twice since I've been here. Are you kidding me? Why not? Andy Stitzer: It's not a hobby of mine. David: Well, then, that's the only hobby you don't have.
Ok, Team Pineapple Express is proud to select in the category of Black and White, the hopefully still available (I only quickly glanced at the draft board) Love Affair.It stars Irene Dunn and Charles Boyer. It was released in 1939 and has been remade three times since (An Affair to Remember in 1957, Love Affair in 1994 and Mann in 1999). I prefered this version to the others. The Warren Beaty/Annette Benning version was just not up to par at all.
Anyways, even if you haven't seen it, I am sure you are familiar with the premise: A man and a woman meet on a cruiseship and fall in love, even though they are each involved with someone else. They decide to reunite atop the Empire State Building in six months to see if they are truly in love and meant to marry.
A couple Youtube clips I scrounged up:
This is a clip of the two meeting up with the grandmother of Michael (Boyer). They chat, play piano and sing. This is where the two realize they are in love. This is also where the grandmother promises to send her shawl to Terry (Dunn) when she has passed away. (Spoiler in white) It is what eventually brings them back together./spoiler.
This is a clip of them deciding to meet in six months, as well as the ship reaching NY and the two of them reuniting with their "other" loves.
Terry McKay: The things we like best are either illegal, immoral or fattening.
Anyways, I saw this version as part of a film class and I really liked it. Perfect choice for my black and white selection.
Go out and buy it boys and girls! It's a classic! The remakes never quite did it justice.
With our latest pick, BF & the BFFs will again be drawing from the Stanley Kubrick well... in the category of Thriller, we are very happy to find this film still available... The master's final installment of his career-spanning exposition of the human condition... A film that was years in the making, fodder for the tabloids, and do to the expectation, media attention, and immense star power involved, was always doomed to be misunderstood, underrated, and overlooked. Not so for me, however, as I think it can stand up with any of Kubrick's work, and thus serves to be a fitting exclamation point on an absolutely brilliant and revolutionary career... Eyes Wide Shut!
An expansive examination of the nature of relationships, dealing with the complexities of marriage, commitment, desire, jealousy, fantasy... the list goes on and on. Kubrick offers up no answers, however, instead slams a mirror down in front of the viewer, necessitating an activity in viewing that many can find uncomfortable. Narratively EWS is unconventional, as the various adventures and conflicts encountered by the main characters take on a dream-like quality. One is never entirely sure if what is on the screen is actually happening, or is a fantasy. Ambiguity is key here, and the film can be interpreted in a virtually infinite number of ways. That is why it seems to grow and get better with each successive viewing, one can see new things every time, and as the years go by, its status in the Kubrick-canon continues to rise.
Aside from thematic issues, everything you want from a Kubrick film is all here. Stunning visuals - rich and textural in their use of light and colour; Unique, bizarre, sometimes-discomforting but always powerful musical choices; and the above-cited ambiguity of all individual parts, giving the sum of these parts perhaps one of the most "Kubrick-esque" feels of any Kubrick film.
Eyes Wide Shut, to me, is a masterpiece in every sense of the word.
^ Nice pick! I was giving strong consideration to EWS as my thriller choice as well.
I totally agree that this film is (was) extremely underrated and overlooked. Some of Kidman's scenes irk me (the marijuana-confession scene for one) but there is no denying the visual majesty of this movie. Kubrick was peerless when it came to painstakingly arranging every frame of his movies and this one is a great example. I actually read a fascinating analysis of this movie on imbd.com a few months back, here is the link:
I never liked it either. I think it was the shrieking violin score that bugged me about it.
__________________
The Quest stands upon the edge of a knife. Stray but a little, and it will fail, to the ruin of all. Yet hope remains while the Company is true. Go Flames Go!
I loved Eyes Wide Shut. I didn't check the link you provided, but I have read plenty of interesting analysis about it before and I think you're absolutely right when you say it is criminally underappreciated by film lovers and critics both, and will be one of those movies whose reputation becomes enhanced over time.
Similar to many of Kubrick's other films, actually. A few people mentioned the careful artistry Kubrick used when constructing all of his shots- I've never seen a more vibrant, illuminating, buoyant NYC in a movie. One weird thing is that he shot this one in 4:3 full frame aspect ratio instead of a widescreen ratio like 16:9. It still looks beautiful, but knowing SK, there has to be some significance there. Perhaps a comment on the clausterphobic nature of the Cruise/Kidman relationship.
Anyways, great pick, I am always completely engaged when I watch it.
In the Thriller category team Yippie-Kay-Yay is happy to select...
Oliver Stone's over-the-top satire on America's worshipful fascination with tabloid criminals stars Woody Harrelson as Mickey Knox and Juliette Lewis as girlfriend-wife Mallory Wilson. Commencing with the dual murder of Mallory's sexually abusive father (Rodney Dangerfield) and grossly negligent mother (Edie McClurg), the couple take off on a three-week killing spree across the country, telling everyone who they are so that they get the credit for their crimes. The media are immediately enthralled with the couple, especially Wayne Gale (Robert Downey Jr.), the bloodthirsty host of a tabloid TV show who follows their every move. By the time they're finally arrested, they've become such huge media stars that the cops treat them more like celebrities than criminals. Even the maniacal limelight-hogging warden of the Batongaville State Prison, Dwight McClusky (Tommy Lee Jones), is in awe. Stone pulls out all the stops in the prison riot, as the unwitting Gale becomes an unwilling participant in his own broadcast of the event. Again the director switches from film to video, from color to black and white, from sitcom parody to newsreel parody, and from one film stock to another, hoping to jar the audience out of its complacency with visual hyperbole.
Trailer
