2018-A Year to Catch up on some classics

[Susan Foreman]

Originally Posted by Nostalgic

Watched Detroit, interesting although overlong, sadly not one of the "films of the year" the reviews would have you believe.

Disney's Snow White-watched it for the Argento connection, hoping to enjoy it as a great film but found it massively slow! Lots of cooking, housework . & singing, sadly not my cup of tea, only really liked the evil queen bits!
IMHO: Not a classic.

Next up=Zero Dark Thirty

For some of us, that's what life is

[gag]

Originally Posted by Nostalgic

Watched Midnight Express, very engaging and harrowing (difficult o sympathise with the lead character initially though), fast storytelling and good soundtrack. One to keep!

Tried Road to Perdition for the 3rd time, couldn't make it past the hour mark, to say it's slow paced is an understatement.

Watching Marathon Man, very good though not a film you can turn away from. You have to watch every detail, character. Most likely a keeper!

On a side note, I wanted to try some older comedies with Audrey Hepburn & Marilyn Monroe, can anybody recommend the best ones?

I enjoyed Road to perdition, even tho bit slow at times thought it was well made and acted etc , I can enjoy slow films like this ten fold compared to good half of today's action packed slam bang wallop tonnes of action films , that offer nothing but action.
I've seen slow films and highly enjoyed them and seen action packed films and got bored shitless.

[gag]

Originally Posted by Nostalgic

For a person who loves movies so much, there are an awful lot of "classics" I've never watched! So I thought I'd delve into a couple of general movie books (The Movie Book, a copy of 1,000 movies to see before you die) and go back to my college years of giving myself an education in cinema.

I watched Seven Samurai (properly) for the first time back in November, along with Nosferatu, Fritz Lang's M and some Hitchcock. After going through 101 horror movies to see before you die (had seen most of those, was astounded to notice how many genuine classics came so rapidly together) I thought I would look outside my preferred genre and check out some well reviewed films I had yet to appreciate, so started by watching Citizen Kane last night, along with Monkey Business the night before. Loved both, but feel I need to see Kane at least a few more times to truly be in awe of it.

So on my (short) list to watch in the near future are
City Lights (chaplin)
Sunrise (murnau)
Snow White and the seven dwarves (disney)
Metropolis
Casablanca
Easy Rider


This is going to be a year of watching stuff I wasn't initially interested in but wishing to understand what makes said film a "classic". Along with my regular diet of favourites, horror, etc.

I was just wondering if anybody else wanted to join me? It's kind of a new year resolution, along with reading a couple of books I've been meaning to read. It's easier than dieting and going to the gym (which went out the window with job & family lol!).

So here's to 2018, and here's to discovering some classics!

Define classic , find it a bit hard to ,to be honest , some of today's films that are defined as classic are total crap IMO .
A lot of today films are soon forgotten but films from 50 yrs or older are not .
Part of the problem I have with a lot of films today's is watch TV shows and films from yesteryear and the acting is as if it just comes naturally without any form of effort and feels like they aren't even acting (if that makes sense ) and when a actor was a actor it was their livelihood , today's films you feel like half of them are making a effort and any tom dick or harry are actors even if they can't act , wrestlers , singers , and people who are well known for other things. As if acting today is just a job and not a livelihood .
And cult films like Basket case can be a classic to film fans who understand films go further than a Blockbuster or Hollywood style films . but to people who only watch films for sake of watching them because they are there then won't understand films like Basket case and think its awful and a pile of crap.
Feel like classic is over used to much in today's films .
Years ago a film was a film now its all about trying to wow the audience with action, huge budget , CGI , who who in the film etc etc etc .
Not sure if all this makes sense or not because I'm not very good trying to explain this in writing

[Nostalgic]

Cool Hand Luke- A good film that I watched in 3 parts due to work/other commitments, it seems to have (I guess) set the standard for prison movies to come, even Shawshank.
The behind the scenes info is good (Newman ate about 8 eggs during the whole shoot, the writer was an ex con, the story based on prison gossip).
Recommended but a bit slow if you're not in the mood.

[Nostalgic]

Just finished The Apartment with jack lemmon, very funny but also very grim come halfway through the running time, definately a classic, and the Arrow Academy release has some good extras, however it's a bit pricey!

Watching To Sir With Love, brilliant Sidney Potier movie, by today's standards pretty tame version of a "rough" school drama, but a perfect picture of 60's London, very cool and engaging throughout.

Next up, the rest of 2001 A Space Odyssey, waiting for a day off as need a quiet atmosphere to enjoy it.

[bizarre_eye@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by Nostalgic

Just finished The Apartment with jack lemmon, very funny but also very grim come halfway through the running time, definately a classic, and the Arrow Academy release has some good extras, however it's a bit pricey!

I love The Apartment and also own the LE Arrow Academy when it was released last year. Glad you enjoyed it.

[Nostalgic]

2001: A Space Osyssey.

Really enjoyed it, although slow, very engaging & thoughtful, the music particularly creepy! Only the last 30 mins did I think WTF?????

A classic, possibly best enjoyed while in an "altered state" lol!

[nosferatu42]

That's why it has such a reputation and cult following, all the tripped out hippies in 69 freaking out at the multicoloured light tunnel(?) section and giant space baby.

The universe is within us and we are the universe, tethered by a psychedelic umbilical cord.

[nosferatu42]

I find the first 1/2 of 2001 pretty dull, it's well shot but very dry and remote.
Memorable but a drag.

The Hal sequence is sublime and very creepy for a U certificate, nothing is shown, everything is psychological. Claustrophobic and paranoia inducing.
Then the whole film just freaks out from there on in.

Classic.
Imagine seeing that on acid with no prior knowledge of what to expect.
They'd be scraping you off the walls.

[Nostalgic]

Has anyone on here seen Punch Drunk Love? Have seen Boogie Nights, There Will Be Blood (loved them) and Magnolia (hated it), Punch Drunk love is one I haven't seen, just wondering what it's like/what you would compare it to?