I see fewer movies than ever in theaters. I’ve come to regard it as showing greater respect for a film to go through the hassle and expense of seeing it at a theater as opposed to seeing it on satellite or DVD.
It’s not that I don’t enjoy seeing films in theaters, I do, I just feel that too often I’m just encouraging McDonald’s to increase the amount of cereal in their “burgers” if I keep buying them at all or at full price.
In the old days, there was a more unified audience for films. Today, audiences are fractured into single-serving demographic packages.
Tyler Perry serves one demographic, Twilight movies serve another demographic, there are the “old guy buddy movies”, the “chick flicks”, Judd Apatow “nerds-get-hot-girls” bro-medies, etc.
Studios are run by corporate execs just as American Pork and Sausage Inc. is. And they both like assembly lines and product that tastes familiar and consistent.
Where are the great films?
There are good films that somehow get made despite the corporate and star obstacle course but great films…not so much anymore.
It shouldn’t be surprising that films that appeal to the lowest common denominator and are the least intellectual and emotionally challenging are the most popular and make the most money.
The biggest moneymaker to date this year? Transformers 2, the Sarah Palin of movies. Flashy, superficial and wholly empty headed.
In fact, this summer, you had a choice between which movie based on a children’s toy you could choose to see (“Hmm…I did like playing with my Transformers but G.I. Joe’s Kung Fu Grip was cool!).
So, what shall it be this holiday season, movies based on toys, comic books, video games, pop culture books, old tv shows or older and better done movies?
The indie filmmaking community is now the only oasis for truly original and inspired storytelling and they’ve been hammered badly by the economy (scarce equity available now) and the changing film distribution business.
The corporate thinking of better technology being better for business has been smothering the humanity in filmmaking. There are now films, including the top grossing film of the year, which are only made to display animated computer graphics. Storytelling and humans just get in the way of using digital cartoons to cynically separate moviegoers from the money in their wallets.
I do like some movies that are mindless fun however, like desserts, on occasion. A diet of all desserts can make one addicted to and crave only sweet, empty calories.
From my perspective, that’s what most entertainment has been distilled down to in this era of corporate owned media (news for that matter as well), what used to be a sumptuous meal is now just the insubstantial instant gratification and lure of Double Stuff Oreos for the main course at breakfast, lunch and dinner.
The Internet age has raised the hopes of indie filmmakers that somehow it could result in creating an alternative path to making and distributing their films that doesn’t go through the narrow-minded corporate powers that be.
Until or unless this ever happens in a meaningful way, and like me, you want to support indie filmmaking, see them, rent them, go to film festivals and get the word out to friends if you see a really good one.
Now, as a reminder of the way things were and the way they are, here’s a select list of films from the last golden age of film, the 1970′s, when filmmakers had a lot more freedom to make films they were passionate about making.
Compare this list to this year’s crop of films…and please note how many of the following films were not inspired by Hasbro:
1. The Godfather – (1972)
2. The Godfather part II – (1974)
3. One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest – (1975)
4. Apocalypse Now – (1979)
5. Chinatown – (1974)
6. A Clockwork Orange – (1971)
7. Star Wars – (1977)
8. Jaws – (1975)
9. Taxi Driver – (1976)
10. The Deer Hunter – (1978)
11. Annie Hall – (1977)
12. Network – (1976)
13. Rocky – (1976)
14. Patton – (1970)
15. Heaven Can Wait – (1978)
16. M*A*S*H – (1970)
17. The Exorcist – (1973)
18. American Graffiti – (1973)
19. The French Connection – (1971)
20. Mean Streets – (1973)
21. Midnight Express – (1978)
22. Blazing Saddles – (1974)
23. Being There – (1979)
24. Monty Python and the Holy Grail – (1974)
25. Lenny – (1974)
26. Serpico – (1973)
27. The Man Who Would Be King – (1975)
28. Deliverance – (1972)
29. Barry Lyndon – (1975)
30. National Lampoon’s Animal House – (1978)
31. Alien – (1979)
32. The Candidate – (1972)
33. Dog Day Afternoon – (1975)
34. Five Easy Pieces – (1970)
35. The Last Picture Show – (1971)
36. Nashville – (1975)
37. All That Jazz – (1979)
38. Bound for Glory – (1976)
39. Saturday Night Fever – (1977)
40. Manhattan – (1979)
41. All the President’s Men – (1976)
42. Dirty Harry – (1971)
43. Cabaret – (1972)
44. Bananas – (1971)
45. Carrie – (1976)
46. Day for Night – (1973)
47. Amarcord – (1973)
48. Sleeper – (1973)
49. Shampoo – (1975)
50. The Last Detail – (1973)
KQµårk 死神
KillgoreTrout
bito
* Americans Elect has officially given up...Time Out for O/T
Caru
BourneID
SueInCa
AdLib
kesmarn
Excellent, BFF.Time Out for O/T
There were some great ground breaking films by great directors and writers in the ’90s as well like Pulp Fiction, Fargo, Schindler’s List, Goodfellas, Lost Highway, L.A. Confidential, Casino, Millers Crossing, Reservoir Dogs, Shawshank Redemption, Green Mile, Forrest Gump, Silence of the Lambs, etc… In the 00′s most films in general were shite. Probably the best films I saw were foreign made films like Curse of the Golden Flower.
Interestingly music was much better in the 70′s and 90′s than now, but I don’t complain because again it gets me listening to more international music. I blame the GOP. Don’t get me started on the arts vacuum in the 80′s under Reagan.
Hopefully the arts will come back in the 10′s.
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OMG, I totally forgot David Lynch. Lost Highway not only a good film, but a fantastic soundtrack!
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Yup I love David Lynch movies. Lost Highway was a surreal masterpiece but I think Mulholland Drive from 2001 was even a little bit better.
This is about my favorite song from a movie ever. An incredibly haunting performance and a perfect fit for the movie.
Love that song! Like seriously. Plus, Naomi Watts was so cute in that. Not a high brow comment untangling the complexities of Lynch, but just an observation. He’s very good with erotic themes.
David Bowie -- I’m Deranged
I confess I went on a “Blue Velvet” kick years ago. I can’t remember how many times I watched it. I also convinced my nephew that he hadn’t seen a real movie until he’d seen Eraserhead.
What movie is the above from? I don’t remember it from Mulholland Drive. I love Lynch’s juxtaposition of innocent girls against debauched older women — common theme in his work.
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Schindler’s List was nothing less than brilliant — if heartbreaking. And Fargo is another one on my favorites list.
I think there are some gems from this decade, too, though (I listed some below).
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I watched “Schindler’s List” about 6 times and each time found something new that I had missed in the the first few times of watching. A truly brilliant film as you say.
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It slaps you in the face and hits you in the heart every time you see it.
I’ve seen dozens of documentaries about the death camps but there is something about a dramatic recreation when done right that connects in a different way emotionally, it does not hit you harder just different.
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I was so glad I had seen Ralph Feinnes in Quiz Show before I saw Schindler’s List. I would never have been able to watch him again if I hadn’t had that other first impression.
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Oh God yes and love Ralph Feinnes as an actor.
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“The Pianist” with Adrien Brody
And sadly, that was directed by Roman Polanski.
But that was a very good movie and so touching.
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Am I the only person that liked the movie “Mamma Mia!”?
A good friend and neighbor saw ‘Mamma Mia!” in the theater at least 23 times, but her and her husband love movies, and they are the only people I know that go to a movie at the theater multiple times if they like it.
Then they buy the DVD and watch it numerous times!
Last Christmas they gave us the special edition of “Mamma Mia!” and I knew nothing about that movie, but I loved it.
It’s a feel good movie and I thought Meryl Streep did an excellent job at singing and dancing as did the rest of the cast, including Pierce Bronson.
And the scenery is so pretty and I never knew that I was an ABBA fan until that movie!
But then I’ve always loved musicals since “Paint Your Wagon” when a very young Clint Eastwood sang and then one of my favorite actors – Lee Marvin sang ‘Wandering Star.’
“Paint Your Wagon” was excellent for it’s day and even still today, imho, because it is a great comedy and took a turn with a woman having 2 husbands.
And then another favorite is “Singing In The Rain” that always cheers me up when I’m blue.
Are musicals not considered good film?
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Two musicals I have yet to see: Sweeny Todd and Repo Man. A different type of musical though!
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Yes, they can be good films. but it looks like they are not being taken seriously anymore – not even by the performing artists themselves. When Gene Kelly, Fred Astair and Ginger Rogers or eve nfrank Sinatra made a musical film, they were deadly serious about making ART.
But even through “Mama Mia” I think one could always sense the irony the actors were performing under. They were doing great – but they seemed to be acting out, rather than acting.
When Fred, Gene and Ginger played a role in their musicals, they WERE the role they played. But Pierce and Meryl remained to be Pierce and Meryl all through Mama Mia.
My two cents.
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The days of good, well-made films in Holiwood ended, when big money detected the big screen as an amplifier for advertisements, the box office as ATM-machine and the audience as gullible, ready-to-milk cash-cows.
The only good films made nowadays are independent films.
Screw Hollywood. All they can do is blowing up things in computer animation and advertise plastic-toys made in China for sale at McDonalds, Wal Mart and Toys “R” Us.
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I do not know that we do not get great pictures on occasion, although you could certainly argue that the frequency is nothing like the Senventies.
I too have lost my impulse to go to the theater, although simple economics is the cause of that, as much as the quality of the flics.
Were one to review a list of the 100 greatest English language films, or American films, I’d not be surprised to learn that better than half of them were not roaring box office successes.
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K7, that’s one thing that gets me about box office “record setters”. They don’t count the warm butts in the seats, they count how much they make in dollars.
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That makes every newer film more “successful.” There used to be a box office website that actually counted tickets sold. I forget which film came out ahead…
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An example: a cult movie that plays in every college town, every Sat.night for $1,for years vs. one that plays for 5 weeks a $12. Which one is listed as the money maker? (the letter I am trying to write, and then flashing back here, is going to be a doozy.
) )
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I’m really more concerned with which one is good.
I have long ago given up on being in the majority in my tastes. I’m really quite OK with that.
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Yes, it’s pretty much only in the last 10 – 15 years or so that the weekend boxoffice of films became a regular news item for the public.
What’s unfortunate is that it created a measure for the public as to what the “best” film is based solely upon initial popularity (read “marketing”).
Again, if we were to allow popularity to dictate taste in what is best to us, then a McDonald’s hamburger would need to be defined as the best tasting, most enjoyable hamburger one could ever eat.
The lowest common denominator or the most pandering item is often intentionally created to be as bland as possible so as not to offend the majority’s taste and thus have the potential to appeal to the widest possible amount of consumers.
And bland, mediocre (at best) films, like Transformers 2 or The Twilight Saga: New Moon are intentionally targeted at the lowest common denominator.
Just because either film is huge at the box office, just because a McDonald’s hamburger is the most popular in the world…doesn’t make it taste any better.
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In a previous life time I was a film editor (timing)and watched many a good movie-I think.~chuckle. When I went to the movies I was always looking at the technicalities of the movie and missing the movie. Monday morning coffee breaks were not about how the movie was but things like…”did you see that pop on the end of that fade in the ….” Took a few years to get over that.
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Very cool.
I’d bet the real test of a good film to someone in your position is if it pulled you in so much you forgot about looking at the technical aspects.
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Now that you mention it, that was probably true.
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Same thing happens when you’re writing scripts!
What a fabulous job to be a film editor. They are ultimately responsible for the quality of the movies we watch — the unsung heros.
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Except you felt like a mole. Spend 8-10 hrs in a dimly lit building, and squint if you saw daylight.
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I’m partial to our more recent movies. I could compile a list, but I’ll just name a few:
No country for old men
Brokeback Mountain
Gosford Park
Pan’s labyrinth
Good night and good luck
Milk
Volver
Unfaithful
The Queen
I could go on, but I think we’re in a different place from the 70s in terms of filmaking. Films are more intimate, more interior. The splashy films tend to be the special effects movies — I could name a few of those that are classics.
My favorite films are pre 1960. Something about those movies — the complexity of the characters. Movies like The Letter, A place in the sun, The best years of our lives… I could really go on and on about the classics. I don’t know — I think we can find great movies in any era.
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Out of the excellent films you listed, every one would be classified as an independent film.
The studios certainly appear less interested than ever in making great films.
In terms of a film being “great”, that is of course subjective. My approach is to look at a film that, like a great book, has qualities that appeal not just to today’s audience but will appeal to future audiences. IMO, “great” art stands the test of time.
So when I mention the Golden Ages of film, such as the 1930′s – 1940′s (and specifically 1939 which is considered to be the greatest year for films in which the following were nominated for Best Picture: “Gone With the Wind”, “Dark Victory”, “Goodbye, Mr. Chips”, “Love Affair”, “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington”, “Ninotchka”, “Of Mice and Men”, “Stagecoach”, “The Wizard of Oz” and “Wuthering Heights”), I’m referring to films that audiences in the future will enjoy and also regard as great films.
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I believe audiences in the future will enjoy the films I listed. It’s hard to tell without the passage of time which films will be regarded as great. Who would have thought at the time that Eastwood’s Spaghetti Westerns would some day be considered classics?
Another thought to add into the mix: There’s a lot to criticize about older films — the treatment of people of color, the treatment of women, the treatment of foreigners — things that modern films are learning to do better. I detest the film Gone with the Wind for its portrayal of African Americans. And that problem plagues a lot of classic films, including some of my favorites, like Twentieth Century.
So, what makes a film great, as you say, is highly subjective. I think the fact that we have independent filmmakers turning out excellent movies is a good thing. It’s like getting a great meal from a unique restaurant with a great chef rather than a Big Mac from McDonalds.
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Yes, it is terrible how the casual racism of the day was obliviously woven into the films of the day.
The worst of the offenders was likely DW Griffith’s now infamous silent film, “Birth of a Nation”.
In it, the KKK are heroes and the portrayal of blacks is disgusting.
It was hailed for decades as one of the greatest films of the silent era, took a long time for it to be seen as offensive.
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I doubt it was oblivious. I’m sure it was quite deliberate. As was all of the institutionalized racism in this country’s history. A political tool. Used today. Used then.
What we don’t see nearly enough of are the early films by African American filmmakers – quite remarkable. The work of Paul Robson is probably the stand out.
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There was clearly intentional racism in films, GWTW and Birth of a Nation are Exhibit A and B, but the insidious thing about racism is that children can grow up in a society where it is just accepted as the way things are.
I’ve run into a number of people in my life who have said racist, anti-Semitic and/or sexist things and are completely surprised when I object.
Black face was unfortunately accepted in the vaudevillian days and the film days that followed as “just the way things are”.
The first talkie, “The Jazz Singer” has Al Jolson singing in black face as he no doubt did in vaudeville. Was he a racist? I don’t know but I’m sure we agree that what he did continued to re-enforce racism.
Many films had black face scenes in them. A common gag in comedies was for a black man to have his face covered in white flour or batter and for white comedians to get black car exhaust, black oil, shoe polish, etc. on their faces.
Were Laurel and Hardy, The Marx Brothers and The Three Stooges intentionally being racist?
Or was the “norm” racist and just taken for granted as “the way things were?
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Oops! Forgot to add, too, that Gone With The Wind IS offensive on so many levels–including it’s double standard for women vs men, and–to me–worst of all, it’s glorification of the Confederacy as a noble age of chivalry, a tragically lost cause, the death of gracious living in the South, etc., etc. That delusion is STILL causing problems down to the present day. And I’ll never forget reading, in the Autobiography of Malcolm X, how mortified and ashamed he was to see Butterfly McQueen playing clueless and panicky as she declared she didn’t “know nothin’ ’bout birthin’ no babies.” Terrible way to portray Southern black women… At least we seem to have evolved there!
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In films we do a little better. On tv, not quite as well.
How Orwellian to portray the people who did ALL the work as lazy and know-nothing. One might think of Karl Rove in that regard. Or of the depiction of the “welfare queens” in Reagan’s shameful speeches.
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Absolutely. And to portray slave-owners as noble knights and genteel ladies, champions of chivalry and good Christians!? Huh? I think there are still people who buy into that (the ones who fly the Confederate flag still) and that’s a dangerous bit of hypocrisy.
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You make a good point, nellie, on the treatment of minorities, women and people of color in the older films. Even in the movie we’ve all fallen in love with–The Letter–if I’m not mistaken, Bette Davis describes her Asian bete noir (whose name escapes me) as having “that chalky white face and those hideous bangles.” Youch!
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At least that line can be taken as a sign of the character’s bigotry — which was what made her lover’s betrayal that much more cutting. They walk a very delicate line in that movie, but Wyler does better than most filmmakers of the time.
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True. Putting those words in the mouth of a character is different from allowing the film itself to take that attitude.
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Same here. I’m afraid the Planet is stuck with me indefinitely. Like it or not! There’s no place like it.
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Well, if I didn’t feel at home here before, I certainly do now. The Letter is one of my all time favorite films. This is the first “place” I’ve been where several people know it!!
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Good morning, nellie and all,
My favorite films are not only pre 1960, they’re pre-1930! I am a huge fan of silent film–especially the German expressionists. Pandora’s Box with Louise Brooks is brilliant and chilling, for example. And in America, Buster Keaton was our best kept secret when it came to directing visually fascinating stuff.
I do love 50′s and 60′s Japanese films, too. Sansho the Bailiff is possibly my all time favorite. And anything with Toshiro Mifune in it has got to be wonderful.
Like you and BDM, I love Bette Davis in The Letter. That one lingering shot of her face framed in the gorgeous white lace veil is worth all the dialogue many another film.
I could talk movies all day, but it looks as though it’s going to be another work day. I’ll hang here for as long as I can, though. Sorry I was off the radar for a few days there. The long Thanksgiving weekend was fun and at times, unfortunately, not so fun. Family stuff. Any of you who are praying people might want to launch a few heavenward for this little realm of occasional dysfunction. I know that none of you friends has any of “those” family members, right!?
)
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I am just getting into Louise Brooks. Pandora’s Box is truly groundbreaking. And I’m a big fan of Toshiro Mifune as well.
So many good films…. So little time….
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Groundbreaking is the word for Pandora’s Box. Brooks’ acting style was such a departure from the histrionics that a lot of silent film actresses indulged in (as in, back of the hand to the forehead, elbow out, eyelashes fluttering…). She was so subtle and so totally aware of what an asset her iconic face (and hairstyle!) really was/were.
Mifune is understated in the same way. I have “The Sword of Doom” right now from Netflix. I’m on-call from work tonight (yay) so I’m hoping to get a chance to watch it, if I don’t hear the dreaded sound of the phone summoning…
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In our family we just call those type of family members ‘eccentric’…Bless their hearts!!
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Eccentric on steroids would be more like it here, BDM!
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One of the least annoying episodes was the sister who brought stuffing to the T-giving dinner. Two bowls of it–one of which had the turkey “entrails” added (I jokingly referred to them as “guts” and she tartly informed me that I was not ever to use that word in her presence again.) and the other, not. But, of course, she refused to tell people which was which. Needless to say, very little stuffing was eaten. It went downhill from there, especially after I demolished her in the family Scrabble game. Oy.
“The Letter” is my all time favorite, along with “Now Voyager”, I think like you there are classics in every era, it just depends of what the person thinks are classics to them.
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The Letter is an amazing film. Of course, Somerset Maugham is hard to beat for storytelling. And then William Wyler is my favorite director. Throw in Bette Davis — who had such strong chemistry w Wyler — and you know you’re going to get something good.
But the film is even greater than the sum of its parts. A stunning work.
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To me, great films aren’t always artsy nor mass appealing. But most should be of highest quality and have something to cause warm memories to continue on from.
That said, I love films that cast humor on things. “Rustlers Rhapsody,” with Tom Berringer and Andy Griffith, is one such movie. Another is “Magic Christian,” with Peter Sellers and Ringo Starr.
Morning to everyone out there, BTW!
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Agreed, if you look down the list of films I gave, they include Animal House, Blazing Saddles, Bananas, Monty Python and the Holly Grail.
I remember the first time I saw The Magic Christian, totally by accident, couldn’t believe how fun and surreal it was, was like finding a hidden treasure.
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Both Andy Griffith (and yes, from the TV show) and Peter Sellers are two of my all-time FAVES.
The Party (Peter Sellers) is the movie I watch when in a funk.
I use films to entertain me, not frighten me. I want to laugh, or learn. I don’t want to be scared. Life is scary enough.
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Many haven’t seen Andy Griffith in “A Face in the Crowd” for which he should have received an Oscar nomination, amazing performance and a great movie.
Love “The Party”, aside from the Pink Panther films, my favorite performances by Sellers are in “Dr. Strangelove”, “Lolita” and “Being There”.
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There are so many memorable laugh scenes in “Christian”. The ones I remember best are the “Mistress of the Whip” scene with Rachel Welch, the “Hot Dog vendor” scene, the whole “parking ticket scene (can you say ‘silent scream’) but especially the “hunting party” scene.
I love this movie far more than Sellers in any of the Pink Panther movies. And with Ringo as a “straight man” it’s precious.
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How about this scene:
Good job AdLib.
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Monk, What was the line when they were collecting art? “Keep an eye out for a good nose”? Like you said that movie had so many lines! Thanks for reminding me of the parking ticket.
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That sounds like my husband, he’s on a “Hallmark Hall of Fame” family movies kick…we watched “The Dog Named Christmas” last night, so formula based, I knew exactly what was going to happen, but a sweet movie all the same.
As big and curmudgeonly as my hubby is, he is just a big softy when it comes to movies…
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My wife was watching that movie, I had to leave the room. Ewwww. Formula is far too kind of a definition. Every last cliche’ out there.
I’m an old fashion Christmas guy, give me Holiday Inn, White Christmas, and the original Miracle on 34th Street and I’ll be happy. Most of the new stuff, not so much. And (blasphemy!) that includes “A Charlie Brown Christmas”.
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Oh we’ll be watching all the old time Christmas greats at least three times this year. I usually read while he watches.
Christmas is a big thing for my husband, his family is quite dysfunctional and don’t really celebrate it. That could be why it’s so important to him.
“A Charlie Brown Christmas” along with “The great pumpkin” movies are a staple in our house, a must see!
OMG, I know the dialogue verbatim on those two movies!
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We do the Peanuts dance every year when it comes on screen, no matter which guests we might be hosting. It’s cute to see the Afghan students dancing the old Pigpen with us….
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Would love to see that!
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I hear where your husband is coming from. Growing up poor in a dysfunctional home is my own experience and it made me grasp harder at Christmas than if I’d been “normal” (whatever that is).
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Hey, if it makes you happy then who cares, are you hurting anyone, no, then go for it.
No one in my book is ‘Norman Rockwell’ normal…and I always wondered who ‘they’ were who set this standard for us to live by!
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I love film noire’, too. And, yes, I’m a Bogart fan. Casa Blanca, yes, but “To Have and Have Not” is just as enjoyable. The wartime propaganda films with Bogart in them are enjoyable. There’s one where he’s a hoodlum in NYC (imagine) helping the little German baker who’s caught up with some fifth columnists.
For me, “The Big Chill” (Lawrence Kasdan – dir, 1983) is my centerstone movie. The cast, the characters, the plot, the music. I know these people in this movie! And, for another, Silverado, also by Kasdan with some of the same actors.
And, although I didn’t like the man, I do like John Wayne movies. Fluff, but nice fluff.
And then there is Errol Flynn!
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I SO loved the Silverado movie that I have the poster, framed, on my western themed screened in back porch! I’m sure it’s worth more now than when I got it for Christmas the year the film came out. Big Chill, too.
I also loved Big Lebowski and Oh Brother from the Coen brothers. Kasdan also were brother team, no?
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No…Betty Davis!!!!
She’s the all time best, along with “Our Kate”, as we call her here, Katherine Hepburn, (born and lived in family home in Old Saybrook, CT for years), “Bringing up Baby” best fluff movie there is!
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I admire the work of Katherine Hepburn and Spenser Tracy but it never comes to mind as things I go to seek out. Incidentally, even though I’m a Bogart fan, African Queen is not high on my list. I’m just not that much into certain types of personal conflict. Something about memories of my childhood, probably.
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Good morning Monk!
One American film that I’m not sure would be considered a great film, but it has stuck with me since I’ve seen it is -
“No Country for Old Men”
That had to be the most violent film I’ve ever seen, but it kept me on the edge of my seat and definitely took my mind off my troubles at that time.
Plus, my husband and friends and family that saw it, we couldn’t stop talking about it for a spell, since that movie had many things that were disjointed and hard to figure out.
That’s what I think makes a good film.
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A movie that can take your mind off the real world, and in the case of that movie, into a nightmare, and then how it provoked discussion and thoughts for a very long time after seeing it.
And I abhor violent films, yet that movie was one that once we started watching it, we couldn’t look away.
I tried not to mention “Porky’s” but it is the quintisential high school film, bawdy and all, far more that “American Graffitti” and the likes. It may be lowbrow, but the original was simply hilarious. True escapism.
Unfortunately, I do find some violent films interesting, but am disturbed by my own or other people’s fascination in too much violence. I prefer the older days when violence was implied, not glorified in minute detail.
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My husband and I enjoy Indie films, but haven’t seen too many.
One of my favorites was “Monsoon Wedding.”
I agree with your assessment of Hollywood movies but not necessarily with the list you provided, yet I’ve seen most of those films.
I’d like to remind everyone that your local library is a great place to checkout movies and television series for free!
And the library is a great place to check out foreign films, and they have many.
We’re partial to French films and would recommend –
Jean de Florette and Manon des Sources
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Amelie
Gazon Maudit
Very nice choices of French films and good advice about the library, people often overlook it.
Unfortunately, due to the shift in the ways films are distributed, foreign films don’t get much theatrical distribution in the U.S.. Instead we have 4 screens of Transformers 2 at the 10 screen multiplex.
It used to be that a foreign or indie film could play in a handful of theaters, build up a following or critical attention and expand. Nowadays, you have one or maybe two weeks to bring in a big box office or you’re toast.
The studios have painted themselves into the same kind of corner, the majority of their box office revenue on a film needs to happen in the first two weeks so they spread their films out on many more screens than they used to then they’re knocked off most of those screens by the next film coming out.
So, like tv shows too, films don’t have time to build an audience anymore. If they don’t debut as a smash, they’ll disappear fast.
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Morning javaz, I loved ‘Monsoon Wedding’, I had a indie film faze for a while there and ordered as many as I could from Netflix…great and cheap way to get all the odd movies that are not in the Library or on the telly.
My favorite movies/series will always be the British ones that the BBC or Merchant & Ivory make…Hubby and I are big Anglophiles.
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Morning again BDM!
Oh yes, we also like British films and television shows.
Love the Poirot series with David Suchet and just recently the Wallander detective series.
And then there’s my favorite – Absolutely Fabulous!
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I’m a fan of ‘Absolutely Fabulous’ also, those two just take the cake!
Avid Agatha Christie fan, our little non-profit library just got a donation of every Christie book she every wrote. Many I have not read because they were never sold here in the US. On my ninth one this week…Hubby and I watch Poirot weekly even if it is a repeat.
We started to watch Wallander, not so sure about that one, hard to get into. Morse was my favorite, now it has been continued with his right hand man Inspector Lewis.
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