Recommendations required - top ten films (no wait - come back!)
- Thread starter baboon2004
- Start date
Corpsey
bandz ahoy
All of these are fantastic, I sort of wish I'd put The Lives of Others on my list.
rubberdingyrapids
Well-known member
apparently pauline kael (most readable film critic ever?) never watched a film more than once. i think she might have had the right attitude (though sometimes films i had problems with the first time appear much better the second viewing... though honestly, most of the time id rather just see something new than one ive already seen - who has the time?)
IdleRich
IdleRich
Don't know anything about horror films but had a stab at a top ten as follows - no real surprises in there I'm afraid:
The Passenger (Antonioni)
The Shooting (Monte Hellman)
The American Soldier (Fassbinder)
Mirror (Tarkovsky)
Narcisz es Psyche (Gabor Body)
Possession (Zulawski)
The Legend of Suram Fortress (Parazhanoff)
Last Year at Marienbad (Resnais)
The Big Heat (Fritz Lang)
The Day the Earth Caught Fire (Guest)
When I look back at that it's "ten films I really like that I thought of first when I was trying to pick a list of best films" but how else can you do it? Was going to add on some honourable mentions but that way madness lies.
The Passenger (Antonioni)
The Shooting (Monte Hellman)
The American Soldier (Fassbinder)
Mirror (Tarkovsky)
Narcisz es Psyche (Gabor Body)
Possession (Zulawski)
The Legend of Suram Fortress (Parazhanoff)
Last Year at Marienbad (Resnais)
The Big Heat (Fritz Lang)
The Day the Earth Caught Fire (Guest)
When I look back at that it's "ten films I really like that I thought of first when I was trying to pick a list of best films" but how else can you do it? Was going to add on some honourable mentions but that way madness lies.
craner
Beast of Burden
Come on, that doesn't matter! In fact it could make your choices even more interesting. These could include films you consider horror that others might not. Try it.
I would like to know what you see in Last Year at Marienbad.
I was really, really excited to see you choose The Day the Earth Caught Fire. I love this film, but I thought I was alone and eccentric in this. It is a terrific journalism/Grub Street movie and has one of the sexiest "sex" scenes I've ever seen. Plus the earth catches fire because of nuclear bombs, which could've happened.
IdleRich
IdleRich
Marienbad - I love the atmosphere and the way that the ornaments don't leave shadows, I love that guy who plays nim ("What's the point in playing if you can't lose?" "I can lose, it's just that I always win") and I love the book which it may or not be based on and the way it keeps turning up, in Marienbad and La Disporition. In fact I like pretty much all the films Alain Robbe-Grillet was involved in and I guess he had more to do with the way this film works than Resnais did but it's good for him to have a decent director for once and someone to rein him in and steer him away from s&m scenes.
I can't think of any film that feels as much like a dream as this does.
I can't think of any film that feels as much like a dream as this does.
IdleRich
IdleRich
The Day The Earth Caught Fire - yeah, I agree with you (although it's a while since I've seen it and I can't remember the sex scens). It's so gritty and fast-paced and surprisingly vivid when the earth starts getting close to the sun and everyone is overheating. If I remember correctly the first scene is his last broadcast from a radio station as the world reaches the point of no return, the rest of the film leads up to that point..?
IdleRich
IdleRich
And ok, I'll have a shot at horror..
Onibaba
Eyes Without a Face
Blair Witch Project
Jacob's Ladder (scared the life out of me)
Threads (even scarier)
The Seventh Victim
Invasion of the Body Snatchers
The Thing
Jaws
The Brood
I like a lot of zombie ones too I guess but I can never remember which one is which. I think vampires are much better monsters than zombies but there are few good films about them - maybe some of the Rollins ones and Daughters of Darkness but they're not really horror films I'd say.
Onibaba
Eyes Without a Face
Blair Witch Project
Jacob's Ladder (scared the life out of me)
Threads (even scarier)
The Seventh Victim
Invasion of the Body Snatchers
The Thing
Jaws
The Brood
I like a lot of zombie ones too I guess but I can never remember which one is which. I think vampires are much better monsters than zombies but there are few good films about them - maybe some of the Rollins ones and Daughters of Darkness but they're not really horror films I'd say.
baboon2004
Darned cockwombles.
Speaking of Resnais, Hiroshima Mon Amour could be in my top ten.
Edit: And Seventh Victim is an excellent choice. I think I Walked With a Zombie would shade it for me, but they're both great.
Edit: And Seventh Victim is an excellent choice. I think I Walked With a Zombie would shade it for me, but they're both great.
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baboon2004
Darned cockwombles.
I don't think I've watched it for a very long time, but I remember it being a pretty special film, if not the easiest to watch
craner
Beast of Burden
I lost patience with Marienbad quite quickly, but I still have the DVD and mean to give it another go. It might just be that I prefer Luigi Bazzoni's hack rip-offs after all.
I knew you'd do a good horror list. I've never really developed a taste for Jean Rollin and I need to watch Daughters of Darkness properly. My two favorites are Vampire Lovers (sexy, silly) and Vampyres (ferocious, carnal).
I knew you'd do a good horror list. I've never really developed a taste for Jean Rollin and I need to watch Daughters of Darkness properly. My two favorites are Vampire Lovers (sexy, silly) and Vampyres (ferocious, carnal).
IdleRich
IdleRich
Well, I wouldn't massively recommend Jean Rollins' films but they do have a certain weird something that is hard to put your finger on.
I do like films with masks it seems - that's why Onibaba trumps Kurineko (which I saw on someone else's list) for me. That bit at the end SPOILER where she turns round with the mask stuck to her face really made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.
I do like films with masks it seems - that's why Onibaba trumps Kurineko (which I saw on someone else's list) for me. That bit at the end SPOILER where she turns round with the mask stuck to her face really made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up.
craner
Beast of Burden
That looks really good. Japanese film is a tantalizing but unexplored country for me.
Incidentally, can anybody point me towards the best collection of Pauline Kael's work? I can't seem to find anything obvious or definitive, but there may be some essential volume that is out of print. I don't read any film critics and I am allergic to 'film studies' but I suspect that I am missing something. Apart from Kael, who else is good/renowned?
Incidentally, can anybody point me towards the best collection of Pauline Kael's work? I can't seem to find anything obvious or definitive, but there may be some essential volume that is out of print. I don't read any film critics and I am allergic to 'film studies' but I suspect that I am missing something. Apart from Kael, who else is good/renowned?
this is exactly the same situation I have with Marienbad. been meaning to rewatch it for ages, but I never seem to get round to it.
This is such an underrated film imo. Some really unsettling scenes in it.