Movie Marathon - IMDB Top 50, TSP Top 50, TSP 21st Century Top 50

[Pratters]

I intend to finish this by March, 2011.

The following films (about 50) are left -

IMDB

LOTR
Indiana Jones 1-3
Sunset Boulevard The Matrix (Re-watch)
Dr. Strangelove American Beauty (Re-watch) Alien
Saving Private Ryan
Terminator 1-3

Theyshootpictures

8 1/2 (Re-watch)
La Dolce Vita
Sunset Boulevard
Children of Paradise
Ordet
Night of the Hunter
L'Avventura
Dr. Strangelove
Persona
Andrei Rublev
The Magnificent Ambersons
Bladerunner
La Strada
Ugetsu

Theyshootpictures 21st century

Before Sunset (re-watch) (and thus also After Sunrise)
Brokeback Mountain
Cache
AI
Grizzly Man
Donnie Darko
Mystic River
Dogville
Syndroms and a Century2046
Moulin Rouge
The Squid and the Whale
Flight of the Red Balloon
Summer Hours

 

[Pratters]

The Seventh Seal

This is my first full Bergman film even though I have seen a couple of scenes of Cries and Whispers. The Seventh Seal is all about death. The only certainty in life is death and death escapes no one. I have been scared of death in my childhood, wondered even more in my teenage years and now I am numb about it.

The question of what happens after death is intriguing. The main actor asks - what happens to those who believe, what happens to those who don't believe, what happens to those who want to believe. In the end, he hopes and hope is all he can do.

The narrative style is excellent. A lot of stories are mixed in but you never feel lost. It is perfectly coiled together. You see various people of different levels of intellect, insecurities and lives. Every one is overcome by death in the film except the actor who sees visions and his family.

The movie is perfectly edited, with brilliant camera work and shows what a true master Bergman is. I am truly in awe of his direction and the way in which he handles the narrative. The last half hour of the movie is a bit depressing as death encapsulates people.

Death itself has no answers for the main actor. Is there life after death? Is there God? Is there Devil? Death doesn't have the knowledge and the protagonist is kept in the dark about what happens after death. The family which escapes death is the part I didn't understand. Is Bergman trying to some how be optimistic in all the pessimism?

I thought the film asked a lot of questions about death and areas surrounding it but it could have explored more. Half an hour more with more questions and I think it could have been deeper. I am okay with the length though as the film passes in a jiffy. Well edited as I said. I can't wait to watch more of Bergman. 7.5/10

 

[Pratters]

The Shining

I love Stanley Kubrick's films even though I don't like of them. I absolutely love A Clockwork Orange but thought 2001: A Space Odyssey was a bit of a drag. I still am intrigued a lot by 2001: A Space Odyssey and am buying the blu-ray to see bonus features and will read more on it.

Let me also add that horror is the genre I am least exposed to. I have watched a bare few horror films and get easily scared. I didn't get scared by The Shining at all but I don't think the idea was to scare you. It was to shock you with the images. A visual treat so to say. I didn't find the images particularly brilliant though.

I did like the opening credit camera shots of the car moving in the road in the mountains and the way The Overlook hotel was captured in the camera in the film. I will have to read more to make more sense out of the film but even then I don't think I would call it outstanding by any measure. 6.5/10

 

[Pratters]

Grizzly Man

Grizzly Man is about the life and death of Timothy Tredwell, a man who spent 13 years with grizzly bears and shot over 85 hours of footage. Tredwell lived and died by the bears. The footage seen is extraordinary. The fight between the two bears of instance is one of the best fights filmed in history in my opinion.

The real question though is what did Tredwell achieve? He brought in more understanding of the bears. This was touted as oneof the best nature docuementaries ever but it didn't live up to the expectations in my opinion. A 7/10.

 

[Pratters]

Dogville

Dogville is a movie which is nearly three hours long and for a simple story, that seems too long at first. The first one hour is difficult to walk through and it seems to make very little sense. Perhaps it could have been edited into half an hour but that is the only main fault I find with the film.

The story is about forgiveness, whether you should forgive at all or not. The last 25 minutes of the film deals with these issues and is top drawer in my opinion. I did anticipate the ending and the path the movie was taking but that did not mean I didn't like it. The only inexplicable thing is the children, specifically the infant being dealt with the way the way they were.

The gradual change in attitudes of the people towards the protagonist is very well told and dealt with by an excellent director. I am not a huge fan of Lars von Trier so far even though I have only watched Antichrist (my review here) and I was not that impressed by it. He definitely has his unique style of telling a story though which I appreciate. I would definitely like to see some more of his films in the future. 7.5/10 for this one.

 

[Pratters]

Dancer in the Dark - New Pathways

I see films for getting a new experience and Dancer in the Dark is definitely one. It is an ode to musicals and a tragic drama story at the same time. I am not a huge fan of the musicals but I understand many people are and this film certainly puts across the love people have for musicals.

Bjrk was really great in her performance. The ever present smile, the positive outlook in the face of misfortunes was compelling. The songs appear in innovative style in the film and gives the viewer a completely diverse 'type' of film.

I didn't love the film but I loved the acting and the different approach. Lars Von Trier always gives you some thing different and I love the director even though I have varied opinions of the three films I have watched of his so far (Antichrist, Dogville and Dancer in the Dark). I will definitely explore his filmography in due course. 6.5/10

 

[Pratters]

The Terminator 2 (and thus 1 and 3 also)

Believe it or not, I had just watched 2-3 scenes of the Terminator series of films. My younger brother Ayush loves T2 and I finally watched it among the other two movies starring Arny. Let me first say, the franchise captures my imagination. It's awesome. I might watch The Sarah Connor Chronicles and T4 down the line, who knows...

For the time being, reviews of the 3 movies and ratings I will be bashed for but I'll say it as I felt -

Terminator - Superb action scenes in the beginning, emotional mix in the middle which could have been done without but fair ending. 6.5/10

Terminator 2 - A few good action scenes, but really, it is over-hyped. I watched the extended cut which had 30 minutes extra, so I might have watched the wrong version but the movie was a draag. The climax was not that enthralling or worth the wait either. A disappointing 3.5/10.

Terminator 3 - Now THIS was a movie. Amazing action sequences from the beginning (in one of the longest action sequences I have seen) till the very end, it is a 100 minute blast off. Loved it, also particularly the way it ended. 8/10

Yeah, kill me for rating them like this.

 

[sam9s]

^^ You now watched T1 and 2!!!!......BTW how old are you, if thats ok with you me asking this question.....

And you rated T-3 among the BEST of the Trilogy......I wont kill you but, I would love to see few of the comments from the Movie Buffs here.....anyway you are the Boss...

 

[pavit]

Let me be the first ...

Yeah, kill me for rating them like this.

Bullet, noose or cyanide?

On a serious note, it's amazing that you follow IMDB on one hand and your ratings on the other.

I have watched almost 240 movies out of IMDB's Top 250 and go by their ratings before watching a movie. 9 out of 10 times i agree.

 

[venkatcr]

And you rated T-3 among the BEST of the Trilogy......I wont kill you but, I would love to see few of the comments from the Movie Buffs here.....anyway you are the Boss...

Not fair Sam. I thought I will keep quiet, but you made my hands move by themselves to the keyboard!

T1 was, in my, mind the best. The special effects and story were very fresh. Though I did like T2, what kept me interested was the acting of Robert Patrick as T-1000. The scene where a floor becomes T-1000 was simply superb. But T2 did not have the story that T1 had.

T3 had too much special effects and not story at all. But I did like T4.

Cheers

 

[Pratters]

^^ You now watched T1 and 2!!!!......BTW how old are you, if thats ok with you me asking this question.....

And you rated T-3 among the BEST of the Trilogy......I wont kill you but, I would love to see few of the comments from the Movie Buffs here.....anyway you are the Boss...

I am 27. My younger brothers are always shocked I didn't watch T1 and T2 uptill now given the movie fanatic I am.

I watched the extended version of T2 probably why I didn't like it as much.

 

[aneelr]

.........

And you rated T-3 among the BEST of the Trilogy......I wont kill you but, I would love to see few of the comments from the Movie Buffs here.....anyway you are the Boss...

Hi,

From story/acting POV I would rate them in their ascending order of the Quadrology release and from VisualEffects POV it would be the descending order of their release, irrespective of the time of the release.

But many of them still rate The Judgment Day as the best.


cheers.

 

[Pratters]

Let me be the first ...

Bullet, noose or cyanide?

On a serious note, it's amazing that you follow IMDB on one hand and your ratings on the other.

I have watched almost 240 movies out of IMDB's Top 250 and go by their ratings before watching a movie. 9 out of 10 times i agree.

IMDB ratings are a guide to how enjoyable a movie might be. They are no more and no less. I also end up liking 65-70% of the movies from IMDB's list (which is less than the ones from metacritic's list for example). I like IMDB ratings but they are not the last judgement on a film. The last call is always yours whether the film is good or not.

If you want to watch more serious stuff, see some of the movies from the Theyshootpictures list. They are not as enjoyable but as a movie experience, they give more value in my opinion and ultimately I watch movies for new experiences, not just for enjoyment. I do value the IMDB list which is why I want to finish the Top 50 of it and have watched around 125-130 of the 250 films on the list.

 

[pavit]

IMDB ratings are a guide to how enjoyable a movie might be. They are no more and no less. I also end up liking 65-70% of the movies from IMDB's list (which is less than the ones from metacritic's list for example). I like IMDB ratings but they are not the last judgement on a film. The last call is always yours whether the film is good or not.

If you want to watch more serious stuff, see some of the movies from the Theyshootpictures list. They are not as enjoyable but as a movie experience, they give more value in my opinion and ultimately I watch movies for new experiences, not just for enjoyment. I do value the IMDB list which is why I want to finish the Top 50 of it and have watched around 125-130 of the 250 films on the list.

Bro, i never said i agree with IMDB's ratings absolutely. Mostly i do. It has helped me getting adjusted to genres which i was not fond of really, earlier. Now i thrive on those and it keeps widening my range of movies. Overall, it's my guru for movie watching

 

[Pratters]

There are a fair few of movies which are badly rated on IMDB but are very good films IMO. Some which come to mind are Bemako, 35 Shots of Rum. Synechdoce New York (or whatever the name of the movie was) recieved a rating of 7.4 but many people have put it among their favorite movies. If you take it as a guide, it is fair enough as I do too apart from various other sites and forums I visit.

 

[pavit]

For me anything above 7 in IMDB is absolutely watchable.

Anything on IMDB Top 250 should and normally does, make my day.

There are very very few movies in IMDB Top 250 which i think don't deserve a place in Top 250.

 

[Pratters]

Do you realise the VASTNESS of movies???????????????????

There are MANY great movies which are not there in the IMDB Top 250 which would deserve a spot above movies like Monsters Inc. No Satyajit Ray, no Fassbinder movie is in the top 250. IMDB is just a reflection of popular internet audience voice. It is not the 'real serious' movie watcher's guide IMO.

If you really want to watch good movies, look beyond IMDB to Criterions, Kino Video etc.

 

[pavit]

Yes, i know they are not there in IMDB Top 250, but their rating are very high. Almost close to 8. Have seen a few.

Speaking of vastness, i follow Criterion Collection movies very closely. Have seen more than 250 out of 500+. They follow every language, region and genre.

Here is the link - Criterion Collection DVDs - The Criterion Collection

Seen more foreign language movies in past 2 years than English.

 

[pavit]

If you really want to watch good movies, look beyond IMDB to Criterions, Kino Video etc.

Bro, i posses more than 150 Criterions and they've cost me a fortune. Kino's transfers haven't been as good as Criterion but have few essentials from their studio as well like Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, Metropolis, General (Buster Keaton), Animated Sovie Propaganda etc. etc.

 

[sam9s]

I am 27. My younger brothers are always shocked I didn't watch T1 and T2 uptill now given the movie fanatic I am.

I watched the extended version of T2 probably why I didn't like it as much.

Extended or Non extended, T2 is in different league all together.....much like Matrix.