I've never seen....a filmic topic....

[greypoint]

An item about a run on a bank heard on the radio whilst at work yesterday led me to muse on the film It's a Wonderful Life and I was somewhat bemused to find neither my boss or his mate [both over 65] had seen it or even heard of it. I've lost count of the times I've watched it. But then I thought of all those 'everyone's seen' films that have passed me by....The Sound of Music, Gone With The Wind, Ben Hur, Lawrence of Arabia,Mary Poppins, Silence of The Lambs, Nightmare on Elm Street, Notting Hill, all the Harry Potter and Hobbit stuff....... and almost everything made in the past 5 years!
What's your choice when it comes to an evening in with a movie and what leaves you cold?

[top totty]

For me any biblical Ben Hur/Sparticus/Ten Commandments, God Father Triology, the Sopranos, Battle of Britain, Silence of the Lambs, quite like the last two 007 films.

At the minute I'm loving it that Jordon is getting all the Bush Tucker Trials, the trollope

[picsfor]

not a big watcher of films etc when i'm in. Tend to watch documentaries if i'm gonna watch anything.

Of the films i do watch they tend to fall in the comedy bracket - though i do enjoy the LOTR trilogy and the Harry Potter stuff.
Favourite film i suppose would have to be Life of Brian - so many classical lines in that film.

[Oldboy]

not a big watcher of films etc when i'm in. Tend to watch documentaries if i'm gonna watch anything.

Of the films i do watch they tend to fall in the comedy bracket - though i do enjoy the LOTR trilogy and the Harry Potter stuff.
Favourite film i suppose would have to be Life of Brian - so many classical lines in that film.

You mean, "What have the Romans ever done for us?" 

[greypoint]

why are films always so much better when they're B/W? Modern films seems sometimes to have an over reliance on slick technology. Can't beat a bit of film noir from the 40s/50s - or almost anything by Hitchcock. Other B/W goodies - The Third Man, Brief Encounter, Rebecca  and Went The Day Well. And of course film stars are'nt what they were then either!

[picsfor]

You mean, "What have the Romans ever done for us?" 

"I'm Brian and so is my wife!"

[Hinfrance]

Nostalgia is definitely not what it used to be . . .

The main problem I have with most modern films, not all, some are superb, is the appallingly bad scripts.

[chris@seary.com]

why are films always so much better when they're B/W? Modern films seems sometimes to have an over reliance on slick technology. Can't beat a bit of film noir from the 40s/50s - or almost anything by Hitchcock. Other B/W goodies - The Third Man, Brief Encounter, Rebecca  and Went The Day Well. And of course film stars are'nt what they were then either!

Don't forget that time tends to sort the wheat from the chaff. Many of the films in the cinema now won't be remembered at all in thirty years' time - only the good ones will still be seen, and everyone will say how much better the films were back in 2009!

We tend to think of the 1950s as a time of fabulous quality films. If you look through a film almanac you'll see it was an era of mostly poor quality, cheaply made crap, with loads of dodgy horror, sci fi and anti-communist propaganda.

A kind of summing up of some of the era can be seen through the life of a chap called Ed Wood. Here's the guy's life story, and the films that he made (including Plan 9 from Outer Space):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ed_wood

You couldn't make it up, could you?

They made a movie of Ed's life story, starring Johnny Depp:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ed_Wood_(film)

I recommend this - very funny.

[picsfor]

Nostalgia is definitely not what it used to be . . .

And back we come to "what did the Romans ever do for us..." - whilst not intentioned that way no doubt, it could just as easily been included in a Python sketch or film!

quote]
We tend to think of the 1950s as a time of fabulous quality films. If you look through a film almanac you'll see it was an era of mostly poor quality, cheaply made crap, with loads of dodgy horror, sci fi and anti-communist propaganda.

But Hammer made a name on dodgy horror, and most Sci Fi's of the era were stuck with the special effects of the time. I wonder what they would have done with current special effects?

I think in all eras you have a large supply of chaff with very little wheat - as for cheaply made, i think most are made for as little as possible - it's just that budgets sound more now. After all they have to have specially accredited burger vans and bottled water suppliers. Some one to vacuum the red carpet from the set to their trailer van etc. Have you looked at the credits of a modern day film compared with a film from the 50's? I'm waiting for an Oscar to be announced for the best end credits! And when will the body doubles jave to have their own stunt doubles? As for 'no animals were hurt in the making...' when will that have to include plant life, environment, carbon statistics etc.

[spinner]

why are films always so much better when they're B/W? Modern films seems sometimes to have an over reliance on slick technology. Can't beat a bit of film noir from the 40s/50s - or almost anything by Hitchcock. Other B/W goodies - The Third Man, Brief Encounter, Rebecca  and Went The Day Well. And of course film stars are'nt what they were then either!

Well I like both, but very little in between. Stuff from the 70's & 80's were mostly crap. They tried to be slick, but looking back they are badly dated IMHO.