FANTASTILICIOUS FUN FOR FILM FANS 089: your top 10's of 2020 and most anticipated films of 2021?

1111214161759

Comments

  • 2001: A Space Odyssey moves me like, well, pretty much no other film. I did like it when I saw it for the first time on a crummy VHS tape in my early 20's, but it was catching a theatrical big screen presentation a couple of years later that seriously set me reeling. I still remember Györgi Liegi's eerie Atmospheres slowly building the tension in the pitch-dark theatre and when the screen slowly lit up as the heavily bodies aligned to the simple but majestic motif from Also Sprach Zarathustra chills were going down my spine. I know the opening has been parodied to the point of exhaustion, but its really down to its iconic perfection. I fully appreciate 2001: A Space Odyssey is not everyone's cup of tea, but would urge anyone remotely interested in the film to catch a theatrical presentation given half the opportunity. The visuals, soundtrack and atmosphere really deserves it.

    Stanley Kubrick remains one of my very favourite directors and I think most of his films hold up remarkably well. Interestingly, the one film of his I think actually just gets better every time I see it would be Full Metal Jacket.
  • DarthDimiDarthDimi Behind you!Moderator
    edited September 2014 Posts: 24,159
    I am a Kubrick fan. He combined expert story telling talents with great photography skills. Kubrick understood cinematography, as many directors rarely do, better than anyone else in his crews. This man even invented cameras for specific shots.

    None of Kubrick's films disappoint me, not even Eyes Wide Shot or Fear And Desire, despite the latter clearly being an amateur's job. Several of his films are actually of a very high quality in my opinion, including Paths Of Glory, Lolita, Dr. Strangelove, A Clockwork Orange and The Shining.

    BUT... By now this forum is well aware of my affection with 2001: A Space Odyssey. I don't merely consider this the best Sci-Fi film ever, IMO this is the very best film ever made. The technical skill that went into this film, a film that still looks a lot better than modern CGI jobs, should command every filmmaker's respect. But 2001 also makes me dream of a future of exploration through the stars and of higher intelligences pushing us to the next stage of evolution. Staying aboard the Discovery is every introvert's secret fantasy. Boring you say? Hardly! If you're like me, no vacation sounds quite as good. To travel in solitude to the gas giants... ah, one can only dream.

    And lest we forget, the musical choices in this film are simply brilliant.

    Kubrick took a lot of heat at the time because people failed to understand 2001, but then it became this trippy sensation for young people doing the brown acid and so 2001 allegedly thrived for several more years on the success it had scored amongst stoners and hippies. It did, however, swiftly become recognised as a philosophical masterpiece, an instruction manual for scientists with a Frankenstein complex, a lesson in modesty for those people who think the universe was created for us and an example for filmmakers who wanted to lift science fiction to a higher level of quality. The likes of Lucas, Scott and Spielberg borrowed heavily from 2001, as they themselves have proudly admitted by the way.

    2001-A-SPACE-ODYSSEY-008.jpg

    And I've got my eye on Nolan's Interstellar, perhaps the first film to ever match or at least approach the level of quality 2001 radiated upon us in '68.
  • this is a kinda trick question because not all directors have there films available to all...
    so let me round this of generally
    kuberick-8 and more
    Hitch-pretty much most but not counting his tv series
    warhol- yes oh yes seen most even the one with hours of teeth oh yeah and thers one with couples kissing for hours
    louis malle- most
    Catherine Breillat- all
    fritz lang- 2-3
    Truffaut-quite a bit
    george romero- all
    dario argento -all
    brain freeze, I've seen alot of movies
    oh yeh
    pier passolini-great box set, 120 days of sodom and Bell' Antonio which in a way I think is kinda how pier felt.
  • spell checkers are going to attack me
  • KerimKerim Istanbul Not Constantinople
    Posts: 2,629
    Watched A Clockwork Orange last night.

    Brilliantly weird.
  • chrisisallchrisisall Brosnan Defender Of The Realm
    Posts: 17,789
    Kerim wrote: »
    Watched A Clockwork Orange last night.
    Brilliantly weird.
    This review need expansion. :))
  • HASEROTHASEROT has returned like the tedious inevitability of an unloved season---
    edited November 2014 Posts: 4,399
    (deleted)
  • BennyBenny Shaken not stirredAdministrator, Moderator
    Posts: 15,129
    DarthDimi wrote: »
    <center><font color=#E9AB17 size=6><b>018</b>
    What's your favourite Stanley Kubrick film?</font></center>

    That's like asking which one of my children is my favourite. It's a tough ask to pick just one. After much deliberation I am going to go with The Shining, though closely followed by 2001, Dr.Strangelove, Full Metal Jacket and A Clockwork Orange.


  • Posts: 5,767
    When it comes to Kubrick, I accept being called ignorant ~:> .
  • DarthDimiDarthDimi Behind you!Moderator
    Posts: 24,159
    That's okay, @boldfinger. Nobody's perfect. ;-)
  • ThunderfingerThunderfinger Das Boot Hill
    Posts: 45,489
    2001, but very honorable mentions to Paths of Glory and Barry Lyndon.
  • Not the biggest Kubrick fan.

    Dr. Strangelove is alright though.
  • DarthDimiDarthDimi Behind you!Moderator
    Posts: 24,159
    <center><font color=#E9AB17 size=6><b>019</b>
    Your favourite singer-turned-actor/actress peformance.</font></center>


  • DarthDimiDarthDimi Behind you!Moderator
    Posts: 24,159
    I have a few:

    * Frank Sinatra

    Old Blue Eyes was a charmer and the road to Hollywood can not have been too difficult for the man at the peak of his success. That said, Frank Sinatra was a great film star, not just a famous singer hired because of his fame. He managed to capture Hollywood glamour right away. But he also had good acting skills. Furthermore, he had the guts to not only play obvious heroes, but also anti-heroes. I profoundly respect him for his enjoyable Tony Rome films and even more so for his role in the progressive movie The Detective.

    media_xl_1019367.jpg

    * Justin Timberlake

    Okay, I was never into boys bands and pop idols for 14 year old girls. But when I saw Justin Timberlake in The Social Network, I couldn't have been more amazed. Let's face it, the guy can act. I also tracked him down in Friends With Benefits and In Time, and kept being intrigued by his abilities as an actor. Robert Pattinson, Taylor Lautner, ... those guys have nothing compared to Justin Timberlake. My old bias - what, the guy from N'Sync? - was gone the minute he delivered his 'Drop the "the". Facebook...' line in The Social Network.

    Justin+Timberlake.jpg

    * David Bowie

    He scared me in The Hunger and he impressed the hell out of me in The Prestige as Tesla. Bowie is not just a versatile singer but a charismatic performer in the film arts too. If I had to choose between Bowie the singer and Bowie the actor, I'd need a decade to think it over. The obvious choice would be Bowie the singer, but then I think about The Hunger and I'm not so sure anymore.

    david-bowie-aged-the-hunger.jpg

    A heavily made-up David Bowie in The Hunger (1983)
  • QBranchQBranch Always have an escape plan. Mine is watching James Bond films.
    edited September 2014 Posts: 14,556
    It has to be Will Smith in any film- my faves being I, Robot, I am Legend, Hancock, and of course, Fresh Prince.

    How about Bjork in Dancer in the Dark, Aaliyah in Romeo Must Die, David Bowie in Labyrinth, Justin Timberlake in In Time, Madonna in Dick Tracy and Mark Wahlberg in many films, chiefly Planet of the Apes, Max Payne, Ted, The Other Guys, The Departed.

    I've yet to see Shirley Manson in Sarah Conner Chronicles, but hear she did great.
  • DarthDimiDarthDimi Behind you!Moderator
    Posts: 24,159
    @QBranch, Mark Wahlberg is pretty meh IMO, except in The Departed, where he was given the kind of lines an actor can only dream of. ;-)

    Aaliyah had potential for sure. Too bad things went as they went.

    Shirley Manson, excellent choice! Why didn't I think of that? She was GREAT in the second season of TSCC.

    One more I've just thought of: Alice Cooper. :-) Okay, sure, he didn't really "act" in Prince Of Darkness or Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare, but he plays one hell of a possessed / abusive father. :P

    617772a657692db1eb6c4a51796583c0.jpg?itok=MoVPIL-t

  • Agent007391Agent007391 Up, Up, Down, Down, Left, Right, Left, Right, B, A, Start
    Posts: 7,854
    Johnny Cash.
  • M_BaljeM_Balje Amsterdam, Netherlands
    edited September 2014 Posts: 4,512
    I am suprised that Mark Wahlberg starts as singer.

    Should Frank Sinatra not be at under the catogorie musical star. A singer there ask for song movie.

    In The Netherlands we also have a couple of actors who start as singer, but not be that good or not intresting enough. The Other way around it happend more a actor can sing.
  • why.... ;-)
    Johnny Cash.

    I just so happened to catch the episode of Columbo he was in, yesterday on TV.
  • MajorDSmytheMajorDSmythe "I tolerate this century, but I don't enjoy it."Moderator
    edited September 2014 Posts: 13,978
    1_8520099.jpg

    It's got to be Frank Sinatra. Though I suspect that singing was always his first love, he proved himself to be an equally talented actor. I see some love for the Tony Rome films from Dimi. Ocean's Eleven is Sinatra on charisma overdrive. The other end of the scale, from Sinatra's more serious work i'd recommed; The Detective, The Naked Runner (don't let the title fool you, it's quite a sombre film), and Sinatra's last hurrah as a leading man, The First Deadly Sin (could easily have been a belated sequel to The Detective).
  • Mark Wahlberg. I think he's dead underrated. He's good at drama, he's good at action and he's great at comedy. Not many actors can switch genres effortlessly like him.

    Ted, The Other Guys, Shooter, etc. Great actor.
  • Posts: 7,653
    Bing Crosby for his music and movies, and his using his influence to give coloured musicians a chance and an audience at a time when that was by NO means a normal idea..
  • Posts: 2,341
    Singers want to be actors and actors want to be singers. My list:

    Tupac Shakur
    Queen Latifah
    These rappers turned thespians have worked out very nicely. Tupac had quite a bit of talent as an actor and singer. Queen Latifah made a very smooth transition from the music scene into the movie scene.
  • Justin Timberlake
  • Oh, forgot to answer on the last topic. My favourite Kubrick movie is The shining
  • Posts: 5,767
    Yeah, Justin Timberlake would be quite at the top there, together with Queen Latifah.
    Mark Wahlberg maybe limited, but he´s got charisma.
    And, yeah, Bowie always surprised me in a positive manner when I saw him onscreen.
    Don´t know if it really counts because the part was so small, but I thought Sting was pretty good in Lock Stock & two smoking Barrells, and also in Dune.
  • chrisisallchrisisall Brosnan Defender Of The Realm
    Posts: 17,789
    Will Smith for sure. His turn in I Am Legend is superb.
  • 4EverBonded4EverBonded the Ballrooms of Mars
    edited September 2014 Posts: 12,480
    People are seeming to forget Will's take on Ali, too, for which I think he got very good critical reviews.

    I feel sure there is a British actor or actress I am not remembering yet ...
    For me, I have a few favorites: Doris Day, Frank Sinatra, and Bing Crosby

    I guess my real favorite is actually Doris. :) I think she was a good actress, and I enjoyed her in everything she did.

    I remember reading that Frank was not one to be able to comfortably repeat a performance or who enjoyed rehearsals (like not at all). He just wanted the cameras to roll and he threw himself into it. It was apparently mostly a case of "get him on film quickly." He had a natural instinct for acting, I believe, but not the personality (or caring about) or training to do the same scene the same way or even several times.

    I nearly put Shirley MacLaine, who is a great actress - but I think she came up in musicals (the Pajama Game) and not just as a singer starting out (she was very much a dancer since a child).

    Also, Dorothy Malone. I know there are others I am not remembering now. Hopefully it will come to me later.

    I did enjoy Queen Latifah in The Last Holiday. I'd like to see more of her.
  • DarthDimiDarthDimi Behind you!Moderator
    edited September 2014 Posts: 24,159
    Lest we forget one of our treasures:

    MTE5NTU2MzE2MzIyMTA0ODQz.jpg

    I think she did well in films.
  • A lot of good choices. Definitely agree with David Bowie, Will Smith, and Mark Wahlberg.

    Two I haven't seen mentioned are Tom Waits (Dracula, Domino) and Hong Kong actress Faye Wong.
Sign In or Register to comment.