Movies

Right, so which 5 movies would our local skeptics take to their proverbial desert island?

Mine …

  1. The Weatherman (Cage)
  2. Scent of a Woman (Pacino)
  3. As good as it gets (Nicholson)
  4. Cape Fear (De Niro)
  5. Natural Born Killers (Harrelson)

Mintaka

Oh, come on … surely you people don’t just READ all the time :stuck_out_tongue:

Mintaka

A Fish Called Wanda (comedy)
Saving Private Ryan (that opening scene!)
Terminator 2 (escape)
The Good, The Bad & The Ugly (good old western)
Lord of the Ring Trilogy (fantasy)

I am a male, so no soppy stuff.

I admit to hardly ever watching movies, but these I watch once a year or so:

  1. The Shawshank Redemption
  2. Memphis Belle
  3. Enemy at the Gates ( not for soppy love story, but great Stalingrad sets )
  4. Master and Commander ( love sailing ships )
  5. Payback ( great “quality medical care” )

As far as I can remember anyway.

  1. Harold & Maude
  2. MAS*H (the movie, not the TV series)
  3. Withnail & I
  4. U-Carmen eKhayalitsha
  5. Casablanca
  6. A Clockwork Orange
  7. Kill Bill
  8. Pulp Fiction
The Shawshank Redemption
That and
Pulp Fiction
were great.
A Clockwork Orange
is different. So way out I don't know if I like it or not. I've got it in my collection though.

I too must agree with Shawshank! And Stephen King’s other prison flick The Green Mile was also pretty good. Clockwork is in a league of its own for sure - haven’t seen anything like it. And wouldn’t a droog outfit - complete with hat and makeup - be just the thing for a fancy dress party!

Mintaka

Dr. Zhivago
Out of Africa
A Bridge too far
Casablanca
Forest Gump

Surprisingly, that’s 2 votes for Casablanca! Maybe I must make a point of renting it one evening. (Found the lack of colour a bit off-putting. ::slight_smile: ;D)

Mintaka

Please explain. I watched that movie and felt like I’d been robbed of 2 hours.

  1. Pulp Fiction
  2. American Beauty.
  3. Ghost in the shell 2: Innocence.
  4. Princess Mononoke.
  5. The Big Lebowski.

5th element (corbin, dallas!!!)
lord of the rings
star wars - return of the jedi
equilibrium (gun kata bitches)
signs (the alien chatter freaked me out)

I’m a bit surprised, as I would file American Beauty (your #2) on more or less the same shelf as Weatherman, but lessee…

Nicholas Cage plays such an effortlessly convincing Spritz - typical in his TV guise, and the total opposite off the small screen - that we instantly forget our preconceived ideas about glitzy TV glam people. He is a true antihero: awkward, yet noble; disillusioned, but basically moral.

The plot, while short-story one dimensional in its simplicity, is riddled with subtle and complex undercurrents. These are presumably not so obvious after a cough-cough single viewing. The story makes use of real world characters who’s allure lie not so much in their excellence, but in the way they cope (or don’t) with repeated, absolutely believable set-backs. There are tonnes of metaphor, a wallop of black comedy, and a piercing analysis of the human psyche. It’s truly universal in nature.

The photography and score harmonizes brilliantly with the movie’s mostly melancholy theme. The relationship between Spritz and his dying father is an enigma, and fascinates because of it. Caine, in the role of Spritz’s dad, is obviously caring, but there is a mysterious dark side to him that’s hard to pinpoint.

I feel that there is much about this movie that I haven’t figured out yet. Maybe that’s what makes it so great – it just does not offer any answers on a plate.

Oh yes! And its got archery in it!

Mintaka

PS: Mrs Mintaka says she can’t agree with you more.

Mintaka,

  1. I am really impressed that you mentioned ‘Scent of a woman’ because it is not that known and by far my favorite. Pacino’s comments and wisdom are fresh, to the bone and exceptionally funny. I just love the way he discusses complex and controversial issues like integrity, manhood, mediocrity and sex. Great movies have one-liners that are profound. Pacino gives speeches which leads the audience to have intellectual orgasms.

  2. Fight club - The most original movie ever.

  3. The Shawshank redemption - Very clever plot.

  4. Braveheart. Courage and patriotism galore.

  5. ‘Die Groen Faktor’ A brave, South African satire,produced in the mids of the Apartheid-era, about a hypocritical minister who turned green after he got hold of some colorant and then the whole country got infected. At the end it was totally impossible to apply the Apartheid laws because everyone looked the same.

Your shelf or mine? (Did you enjoy it as much as weatherman, or did you like it as much as I liked weatherman?)

The plot, while short-story one dimensional in its simplicity, is riddled with subtle and complex undercurrents. These are presumably not so obvious after a [i]*cough-cough*[/i] single viewing. The story makes use of real world characters who's allure lie not so much in their excellence, but in the way they cope (or don't) with repeated, absolutely believable set-backs.

Some of the humor in this movie did make me smile, mostly the camel-toe thing. But other than that, the movie seems like it doesn’t want to be watched, has no storyline, no humanity whatsoever (yes, where you saw subtle hints at emotional expression, I saw flat robot-like characters). A defining quality of a movie, to me, is that it is entertaining. I found this movie was more like taping the average family sitting at home, while they are having dinner and watching TV. Yes they all have their own struggles, but they just sit there and do nothing about it, and basically go about their business eating and watching TV. They may even look at each other funny every now and then, revealing their inner struggle in a subtle way. But mostly they’re just being boring.

Call me old fashioned, but a story usually has a storyline that builds up and peaks, some resolving takes place, and then it ends. To me weatherman had an utterly flat storyline and lifeless, uninteresting characters, who don’t resolve anything at all.

The relationship between Spritz and his dying father is an enigma, and fascinates because of it.

I read it: They dance in huge circles around each other and nothing of substance happens. Once again Cage’s character seems just as emotionally dead as his father… which brings me to…

Caine, in the role of Spritz’s dad, is obviously caring, but there is a mysterious dark side to him that’s hard to pinpoint.

He has no emotion. ← There it is.

I feel that there is much about this movie that I haven't figured out yet. Maybe that's what makes it so great – it just does not offer any answers on a plate.

I think it’s a wild goose chase.

. PS: Mrs Mintaka says she can't agree with you more.

I’ve met lots of people who feel the same. You seem to be in a lonely boat on this one. ;D

ps.
I apologise if you find my gleeful bashing of this movie offensive, I don’t mean to offend you, it’s the movie that I didn’t like and if you did, more power to ya.

Not at all. Its not like I made the flick … I just dug it! 8)

Your shelf or mine? (Did you enjoy it as much as weatherman, or did you like it as much as I liked weatherman?)

American Beauty was similar in plot and sentiment, and also very good. Weatherman just more so.

Mintaka

Aw, shucks, I’m not even going to pretend to be embarrassed, my ultimate, ULTIMATE favourite movie of all time forever and ever…

Don Juan de Marco - with Johnny Depp ;D

and I wont even bother to tell you that its the DEPTH of the topic at hand that appeals to me (although it does), and I’m not going to admit to the fact that both the main characters in the movie appeals to my more baser instincts. (There’s SOMETHING about Marlon Brando… and Mr Depp doesnt need to be discussed)

http://t0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:wziP8f-gKFSaPM:

So there, now everybody can have a go at my kk taste in movies! :-

Titanic has more DEPTH than Johnny :stuck_out_tongue:

Has anyone seen this flick yet? Not new, but it looks intriguing. So far no luck with finding a copy at the big retailers … may have to paddle up the Amazon.

r.

Haven’t seen it but the plot summary makes it sound a bit unrealistic. Mathematicians are not known to work well or accurately under pressure, whether metaphorical or physical. In that regard, it sounds as fanciful as Harry Potter — I mean c’mon, a redheaded kid with two friends! :wink: :stuck_out_tongue: >:D

'Luthon64

Maybe they can apply the squeeze theorem.

Rigil