Films/DVD Asylum

Re: I have long felt

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rico

(A)

In Reply to: Re: You got that RIGHT! posted by jamesgarvin on September 17, 2004 at 10:00:15:

that the Hollywood and indies together put out maybe 10 truly great films each year.

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Rico - you are a lot more generous than most!! (ie 10 films) NT - PdL 20:08:51 09/17/04 (0)
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Re: I have long felt - jamesgarvin 11:59:53 09/17/04 (5)
I do not know what a "truly great film" is. Certainly, "Wizard of Oz", "Citizen Kane", and "Casablanca" would qualify. But that was not the point of this post. It was that there are fewer good films are being made today than in past years. Those "great" films of yesteryear were the exception, not the rule. Hollywood did not make that many great films in the thirties, forties, and fifties. So, if the film industry is not making that many great films today, and they did not make that many "truly great" films in the thirties, forties, and fifties, then there has been no change. Which was my original point.
But let's take it a step further. I looked up films made in 2002, a year I picked because I saw most of the films released that year (I am still working on 2003). Among the very good/great films in 2002, in rough alphabetical order: Adaptation (which nobody saw), Black Hawk Down, Gosford Park, Harry Potter, Lovely and Amazing (which anyone who does not watch foreign films, albeit British, missed), Monster's Ball (with Halley Berry's superlative performance), Moonlight Mile, Signs, The Fast Runner (in the Inuktilut language of the Artic, filmed on location in the Artic. The scene of the Eskimo running naked, through the ice and snow, falling in freezing water, is alone worth watching the film. And something that Hollywood would never have attempted forty years ago), The Grey Zone, The Man from Elysian Fields (with an incredible performance from Mick Jagger), Antwone Fisher (with the most emotional reunion scene I have ever seen in film), About Schmidt, Chicago, Insomia/One Hour Photo (which proves that Robin Williams is a very good dramatic actor), Rabbit Proof Fence (another story that Hollywood would never have attempted forty years ago), and Read My Lips (a very good foreign thriller, which again, went unnoticed by anyone unwilling to make any effort).
The point is that there are very good and great films made every year. Some are hard to find, but are worth seeking out - if you love film. Now try to name as many very good/great films from 1939, 1947, 1948, etc. Maybe tougher than you think.
- Man I gotta disagree with a lot of your choices. - clarkjohnsen 08:35:01 09/18/04 (4)
  Gosford Park (unintelligible dialog), Harry Potter (shiny crapola), Monster's Ball (Halle the only highlight), Chicago (cut! cut! cut!), Rabbit Proof Fence (pack o' lies)... Don't know what this says about your thesis...
  clark
  - I thought Gosford Park was terrific & I did not have any probs with the audio.... - PdL 15:23:58 09/19/04 (1)
    .......either in the movie theater or when I watched the DVD at my house.
    - Must have been the print I saw... actually, several prints because... - clarkjohnsen 07:10:21 09/20/04 (0)
      ...there was a lot of complaining in the press as well, not to mention a short line of folks where I was, talking to the manager about the sound.
      Altman, like Fellini, is widely known not to care very much about sound.
      clark
  - Re: Man I gotta disagree with a lot of your choices. - jamesgarvin 14:45:02 09/19/04 (1)
    (1) What about the others I mentioned?
    (2) The original point was the the film industry released so many better films back in it's heyday, and all the great films have disappeared. So, to prove the original "thesis", pick any year before, let's say, 1955 (1939 would be too easy), and give me ten very good or great films made in any given year, as I requested.
    (3) How was Rabbit Proof Fence a pack of lies? After all, there are many who say that there was no extermination of Jews. I would like to know whether it is a pack of lies merely because it does not fall into your world view.
    (4) Gosford Park - I understood it just fine.
    - Re: Man I gotta disagree with a lot of your choices. - clarkjohnsen 07:42:49 09/20/04 (0)
      1) What about the others I mentioned?
      They were either OK or I missed them, obviously.
      (2) The original point was the the film industry released so many better films back in it's heyday, and all the great films have disappeared. So, to prove the original "thesis", pick any year before, let's say, 1955 (1939 would be too easy), and give me ten very good or great films made in any given year, as I requested.
      Time does not permit...
      (3) How was Rabbit Proof Fence a pack of lies? After all, there are many who say that there was no extermination of Jews. I would like to know whether it is a pack of lies merely because it does not fall into your world view.
      You needn't be rude about it. Do a search here, you'd come up with
      http://db.audioasylum.com/cgi/m.mpl?forum=films&n=15820&highlight=rabbit+proof+fence+clarkjohnsen&r=&session=
      Rabbit-Proof Fence:
      a �true story�?
      by Keith Windschuttle
      (4) Gosford Park - I understood it just fine.
      Bully for you. See reply above.
      clark

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