PRETTY WOMAN

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NOTTING HILL - Hugh Grant, Julia Roberts

>>>L

LION KING

GONE WITH THE WIND

Clark Gable, Vivien Leigh ( 1939 )

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DANCE WITH ME

EULOGY (2004 )


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You've Got Mail

Lady in the Water

Red River (1948)

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0040724/

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Rear Window(1954)

One of my most favourite Hitchcock movies with lovely suspense. The acting by James Stewart, Grace Kelly and other actors was excellent.

White Men Can't Jump (1992)

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Pearl Harbor

Rope

Eleni (1985) - a true story based on journalist Nicholas Gage's autobiography. One of the most heart-breaking tales ever told.

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p.s. Hildebrand, I have almost all of Hitchcock's films (just a handful of silents and last few films missing coz they don't interest me). Rope was an experiment (10 minute long takes) and not very well received. Another film from his peak period that flopped was Under Capricorn.

Indiana Jones and The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull

P.S. Faraaj, I also love his movies though don't have as many as you. We share lots of interests. If and when we meet we have lots to copy from each other!

Arre yahan Hitchcock fan club hai? I am joining in

Shadow of a Doubt (1943)

Madhavi

Its not Hitch specific - the rule is your title has to start with the last letter of the previous title. So, your title had to start with L. But now I'll reply to your title which ends with T:

Touch of Evil (1958) - directed by Orson Welles, this film-noir is famous for its opening shot, which many film critics argue is the single-greatest film shot commited to celluloid. I would have to agree. It is brilliant on many levels and has to be seen to be believed...

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Missed the second part of the name... sorry. And ofc this is not Hitch specific... catch him making Indiana Jones...


Orson Welles is one of my favorites too, have written a couple of reviews of his films here :
http://www.hamaraforums.com/index.php?show...40396&st=15 (posts 22 and 23)

Would love to hear your comments on some of your favorite films.


(The) Lady from Shanghai (1947) Disregard the (The)

I, Robot

Agree with Madhavi about discussing movies. I think there's a thread for that as well. Will contribute when a bit free.

To Be or Not to Be (1942) by the great Ernst Lubitsch.




HB, will be waiting..

Have browsed through the movies thread - didn't know it existed....some comments:

Western - you must see the original 3:10 to Yuma with Glenn Ford, also check out the James Stewart-Anthony Mann series of westerns, also 2-3 Budd Boetticher-Randolph Scott films. Speaking of Ford-Wayne, have you since The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance. Really very intelligent. Clint Eastwood made two brilliant westerns -- The Beguiled and Unforgiven. Unforgiven won a heap of oscars but The Beguiled was ignored because of the controversial and disturbing themes.

Noir - My favourite genre.....have seen (and have) all the films mentioned on the page + some really rare ones not available on DVD - all pristine prints in *.avi form. Been collecting for years. Also like neo-noir....have several books on noir and its evolution is really quite fascinating....you should see some of the silent german expressionist films like Cabinet Der Doctor Caligari, Metropolis, M etc. to begin appreciating the subleties of noir....also see a French film called Les Enfants Du Paradis (1946) - the greatest french film which had poetic realism (female fatale, doomed lover etc.) which really influenced noir....Les Enfants has playing in some theater or other in Paris since the day it was released!!!

My vote history is here:
http://www.imdb.com/mymovies/list?l=17290428
My comment/musings history (just a few reviews over a brief period) is here:
http://www.imdb.com/user/ur8282981/comments
Need to find time to write more reviews...

Lady from Shanghai - that was the one with the famous mirrors scene.....the studio destroyed the film by jettisoning many of Welles' brilliant ideas....

Kind Regards
Faraaj

Faraaj,

Just checked those links. Some quick comments, will comment at length later after I get back in front of my pc and after I manage to read some of your reviews.

1215 movies rated... :thud:
17 pages of reviews... :double thud:

Read your review of Pickpocket. Watch Balthazar and Mouchette. Not cold. Do you have any Bresson in your collection?

Noir: Have seen Cabinet, Metropolis, M. Have not seen Le Enfants du Paradis. Will now.

Read some of your reviews. Found some very insightful, and will check out some movies that I have not seen among them.

You liked Punch-Drunk Love! Dunno why nobody gave it much bhaav.

Not gaga over Shanghai? I am even ready to like Welles' Irish accent!

No Truffaut?

Tim Burton?

More later

I had seen PTA's three earlier films - Magnolia, Boogie Nights and Sydney and thought he was ok. Punch-Drunk really made me sit up and take notice. I really think of the current crop of directors, he has the greatest chance of coming up with the next great classic - Dr Zhivago, Vertigo, Apocalypse Now standard. There is something classical about his camerawork, loving, long takes, with the camera constantly moving that is missing in the current crop, but was very much present in a Welles or Hitchcock. Another talent is Alexander Payne (Sideways, Election).

In my opinion, Truffaut and Godard are like Tarantino. They've paid homage to other movies all their lives instead of going out and doing their own thing. That's probably why Tarantino admires them so much. They're all the greatest movie buffs and have produced some films of interest, but nothing original.

I highly recommend Les Enfants - possibly the greatest film ever made.....its also good to read lots of reviews on it. They'll give you a historic perspective and make the viewing that much deeper....my reviews are really jottings or notes for my reference with an emphasis on observations not made by other reviewers...speaking of greatest film, have you seen Dersu Uzala?

My comments in the Hollywood section.

I have not seen Dersu Uzala, it is in the long list of movies I need to watch.

Have seen Liberty Val, and liked it very much. Have seen a couple of Mann/Jimmy S movies. Did not think much about them. Liked The Man who shot LV.

nice discussion by the two of you. Coming back to the antakshari.

Erin Brokovich


liked it for the strength of the character and appreciate it more for knowing its about a real person.

He Walked by Night (1948)

Brilliant poverty-row noir that was virtually a police procedural. Not a trace of melodrama. It inspired the landmark TV series Dragnet. Virtually all crime investigations today can trace their inspiration back to He Walked by Night.

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The Man Who Knew Too much

Loved the story, script, acting and the lovely Doris Day song Que Sera Sera. I in general like Stewart's acting a lot.
I'm talking about the 1956 movie of course which was a remake of hitchcock's 1934 movie of the same name.

See its review on wikipedia.

Good film HB. The only film Hitch remade. He was criticised at the time but felt very strongly that the original lacked something. I think he was right. Stewart-Day as a folksy, friendly American couple were great. By the way, the remake was 22 years later so this would be a 1956 release.

After Ingrid Bergman and then Grace Kelly as his icy blondes, Hitch was left without a muse and cast several actresses in a sucession of films - Day, Eva Marie Saint, Janet Leigh and Kim Novak before settling on Tippi Hedren (for whom he developed an unhealthy obsession).

He met Doris Day at a party and she told him how much she admired and he responded by suggesting they work together. Obviously she was ecstatic when an actual offer came. She was good at portraying virginal characters. Groucho Marx famously said about Hollywood "I've been here so long, I can remember Doris Day before she was a virgin"...

His Girl Friday (1940)
Superb screwball comedy directed by Howard Hawks and starring the unflappable Cary Grant and Rosalind Russel (first choice Ginger Rogers foolishly refused the role). This film has been made and re-made several times and is based on the hit Broadway play The Front Page. If I recall correctly, there was also an indian version. Howard Hawks increased the speed of the reel and thats why the dialogue comes out bullet-fast and it really works....

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Yankee Doodle Dandy 1942

Cagney was known for his "gangster" image, he did a volte face here with Yankee Doodle Dandy and danced his way with aplomb to an Oscar.

Great film Madhavi!

Cagney always identified himself as a musical star but Warners typecast him after the success of the gangster film Public Enemy (1931). He got to break out in this role and yes, he danced his way with aplomb! This is a biopic of George M. Cohan, a legendary performer and the only person whose statue is displayed on Broadway in New York. Cohan saw Yankee Doodle Dandy while he was literally on his deathbed - it was screened privately for him a few weeks before he died.

I'm uploading two of Cohan's biggest hits from the 1910s (songs which are quite rare now). I quite like them. Both songs are mp3/128 kbps....

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Yojimbo (1961)
Yojimbo, based on noir writer Dashiel Hammett's Red Harvest is a magnificently entertaining film. Toshiro Mifune stars as the nobody who calls himself Sanjuro (thirty but closer to forty). He enters a town destroyed by warring factions and plays a double-game to pit one faction against the other thus destroying the criminal element.

Yojimbo (aka The Bodyguard) is one of the coolest and most stylish films ever made. Starring Toshiro Mifune, Kurosawa's favorite actor, as the scruffy looking Samurai, Yojimbo has all of Kurosawa's qualities and none of the flaws. The music score is an essential element of the plot and strikingly good, but admittedly bettered by the Ennio Morricone version in the Spaghetti Western remake Fistful of Dollars. The visuals are great, from the samurai swordplay, to the desolate streets, the town crier announcing its 3 a.m. to the brutal torture scene.

One of the unique things about Yojimbo is the central character. He is an anti-hero. We see him initially as a killer and a man greedy for money. But then, he saves a family by re-uniting mother and child and giving them all the money he was advanced. Mifune has never been cooler than in this film and Eastwood could only aspire to equal such a performance.

Of the two remakes, I liked Fistful of Dollars for starting the Spaghetti Western genre, although Yojimbo is a far more superior and stylish film. The gangster version, Last Man Standing, was not very good and Bruce Willis made for a poor substitute to Yojimbo.

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Wonderful movie, the Kurosawa/Mifune combo at their best! Thanks Faraaj for the interesting and informative write-up and the songs.

Oliver! 1968

The cover says it all (Disregard those highbrows who look down on the Oscars )

Have not seen it yet...but one of Carol Reed's films, The Third Man is amongst my favorite films.

Madhavi

If you liked The Third Man for the superb photography and atmosphere, you have to see Oliver! Its the best Dickens adaptation (yes, it beats David Lean!), the recreation of 19th century London is amazing. No amount of CGI can match that. And the choreography on two of the lovely songs - Consider Yourself and Who Will Buy is among the best in any film english or indian.....

Raging Bull (1980)
A biopic, this is one of the most "mentally" violent films ever made - the central character of Jake LaMotta is truly repulsive and has been called a "cockroach". DeNiro played LaMotta with passion and won a well-deserved Oscar. For the role, he actually trained to be a boxer, entered into and won two boxing matches. He also gained (and later lost) 60 pounds for the role eating huge amounts of pasta for four months straight. That's dedication. The grainy black & white photography is superb and all the blood you see is actually Hershey's chocolate. Scorcese being passed over for even a nomination was a great injustice which led to the famous quip that "Raging Bull was the first film to direct itself"....

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Another film in my long list of must see films now Yes, am planning to watch it during summer, now that you have recommended it so highly...

Lantana 1982

A very interesting movie, a thriller and yet not really a thriller.

Madhavi

I haven't yet seen Lantana although it is considered one of the best Aussie films ever. Other acclaimed Aussie films I have seen and liked include Picnic at Hanging Rock (brilliant), Walkabout (quite good photography) and Ghosts of the Civil Dead (very disturbing and realistic). From my side... (it'll be interesting to see your response!)

Assault on Precinct 13 (1976)
If you've ever wondered what a cult classic is and what the fuss is all about, watch this low-budget gem. John Carpenter, who went on to classics like Halloween and The Thing (horror) and Escape from New York (thriller), is a genuine auteur and Assault absolutely proves it....very atmospheric, brilliantly directed in a guerilla film-making style, it has to be seen despite the no-name cast.

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Faraaj,

Much, much obliged for the recommendation. Just saw it. A B movie, yes inded it it epitomizes what the fuss is all about. On a budget, focussed on the specific needs of an audience, it delivers, and how! Tight, it builds up to the action with that fantastic background music, and the shocking ice-cream van scene, and then when the action comes, it is relentless and terrifying. Excellent movie. The action takes place in a police precint in inner city L.A. that is in the process of being shifted to another place. It is the last evening before it will be closed, a violent gang decides to focus its anger on it and wipe out everybody who happens to be inside it. The dialogues are a tad cheesy, the relationships are believable, and the homage to Hawkes is obvious.

Have not seen Night of the Living Dead and now I need to see Halloween again. Have not seen too many horror flicks. I prefer the sylized earlier silent horror films and the Tim Burton style which keep the horror and terror at a bit of a distance.

3rd Man (1949) (Disregard the "The" again )

What a film! If you want atmosphere and style and the romance of films, this is it. It has Joseph Cotton playing the naive American writer of bad westerns, who has come to Vienna to meet up with his friend, Harry Lime. He comes to his funeral. And then meets up and falls in love with his friend's girlfriend and then meets up with his friend. Shot on location, Reed fought with Selznick over all the details of the film and got his way. So you get Post WW2 Vienna, bombed and savaged, with its slick long streets and crumbling buildings and cemeteries and sewers. A dark city peopled with morally ambiguous characters who know about treachery and betrayal and disillusionment. You get tilted camera angles and breathtaking black and white photography, and that insistent zither (annoying at times but integral to the film). And you get Orson Welles as Harry Lime. ... What more do you want?

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The 3rd Man contains one of the greatest dialogues in film history, delivered by the evil Harry Lime

"...in Italy for 30 years under the Borgias they had warfare, terror, murder, and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and the Renaissance. In Switzerland they had brotherly love - they had 500 years of democracy and peace, and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock!"

Carol Reed hadn't scripted what Lime was going to say in the scene. Welles came up with this twisted gem!

Madhavi

You absolutely have to see a neo-noir gem called The Long Good-bye (1975) directed by the enfant terrible of the 70s, Robert Altman. Based on the Raymond Chandler (The Big Sleep) novel with the same central character of Phillip Marlowe, its a brilliant film and also intelligently plays homage to various classic noir's - including The 3rd Man. Its one of the great films.....

What do you think Ofc I have seen it and I loved it... In fact Altman is one of my favorite directors. Have seen most of his movies. Check out an obscure film of Altman, one of the first I saw of his, that set me off on checking out all his movies, strange and yet compelling.

Come back to 5 and dime Jimmy Dean Jimmy Dean

His weakest is the Greer one, cannot remember the name. Dr. something and women.



Now did you have to go and deliver the punch line of the movie!

No Country for Old Men (2008)
Roger Ebert has called the Coen Brothers an American institution. I agree! I also think that the finest fiction writer of the past three decades is Cormac McCarthy. The Coens and McCarthy joined hands on what is certainly the Coens best film and for me one of the top five of the 21st century. This is a film that works on so many different levels - as a thriller/chase film, a visual and technical masterpiece, and ultimately as a study of the nature of evil. Before seeing NCFOM, I never believed the Coens could top Fargo and The Big Lebowski. I stand corrected, but I really can't see them topping this one....

Film adaptations of two other Cormac McCarthy novels are up for release in the coming months or year - The Road (their Pulitzer prize winner) and Blood Meridian (a masterly but very violent critique of American/Indian relations)....

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North By Northwest

Its one of my favourite Hitchcock movies. Cary Grant and Eva Marie Saint did a wonderful job.
The crop duster scene and the climax at Mt. Rushmore had me riveted to my seat!
A very beautifully shot movie with wonderful music. In some ways the movie was quite Bond-like!

Hildebrand

Cary Grant was the first choice for Bond but was asking for too much money. Between his financial demands and the fact that he was ageing, the producers decide to go for an unknown scot named Sean Connery....the rest is history!

Hitchcock operated in an era of strong censorship board authority. They were especially observant of his films because of the themes and their high profile. He always managed to find a way around it and risque references abound in all his films.

In N by NW witness the last scene. Cary Grant and Eva kiss. The code didn't allow Hitchcock to show anything more. But he suggested a lot more by cutting to the train entering a tunnel.....there's loads of double entendres in all his films.....I personally enjoy the way he tormented the censor board bureaucrats.....

Them! (1954)

Possibly the greatest B movie of all time - others from the 40s-50s include Cat People and Invasion of the Body Snatchers - Them! is one of my favourite films. A sci-fi, nuclear, horror film - Them! really captures an era and the paranoia generated by nuclear testing. The low-budget gives it a marvellous visual authenticity not found in more expensive studio films of the time. This is one of my favourite films of all time....

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Yes he sure tormented them like Raj Kapoor did here!
Any pakistani filmmaker with the same distinction?

Have not seen it! Have seen both Cat People and Invasion.

And talking about Hitchcock and sex...

Marnie (1964)

It was a big flop when it was released; it is now regarded as a typical, if not great Hitchcock film. Tippie Henderson is the heroine, a compulsive liar and thief who has some strange fears. Sean Connery blackmails her into marrying him and tries to find out what is behind those fears. Gossip: Hitchcock is supposed to have been so obsessed with Tippi Henderson that he used to monitor every action of hers and finally by the end of the movie, they were not on talking terms. The film itself explores the taboo subject of sexual tension/repression obliquely (ofc) and it is this underlying, freudian psychoanalytical angle that gives the film its edginess. And it is the last score that Bernard Herrmann did for Hitchcock.

He had her under exclusive contract and in fact deliberately destroyed her career after Marnie by refusing to lend her out to anyone. She was particularly upset about Godard being interested in casting her and Hitchcock not permitting her release.....

Les Enfants du Paradis (1945)
Review I wrote the first time I saw this film....

As a film buff for well over 20 years I've seen pretty much all of the acclaimed classics of cinema. So, the odds of adding another classic to my top 10 or 20 or 50 all-time favorite list are slim. I had completed little more than an hour of Les Enfants last weekend when I knew that even if the rest of the film went downhill (which it didn't!!!) it would be in my ratings alongside other favorites like Lawrence of Arabia, Double Indemnity, another great French film Le Salaire de la Peur, The Seventh Seal and a handful of other classics.

There is nothing I can criticize about the film. If the length of three hour sounds excessive, I would say that the three hour flew by. This is a marvelously entertaining film with varied art forms - the theatrical, the mime, poetry - seamlessly combined to make a complete story. It alternates from love story to tragedy to comedy and at each moment the mood it captures is never false. Only superlatives apply in describing the acting. I had heard the name Arletty before. Now I'll never forget it. And she was the third best actor in the film. For me the actors playing Baptiste and Lemaitre (both based on real historic characters of the 1840's) gave among the greatest performances in cinema history. I could appreciate the magic of Baptiste's mime and Lemaitre's theatrics even though I can't speak french and had to rely on subtitles (not for Baptiste though!).

There are many magical moments in the film. The first mime by Baptiste reenacting to the police and the crowd is great cinema. Lemaitre first seeing and flirting with Garance is another. Oh, there are too many. I've just mentioned two from the first 20 minutes of the film! The entire film is a joy from beginning to end...
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Col. Frank Slade has a very special plan for the weekend. It involves travel, women, good food, fine wine, the tango, chauffeured limousines and a loaded forty-five. And he's bringing Charlie along for the ride...

Al pacino , finest of actors won an Oscar for this 1992 film. But somehow i feel that the picture never got the reviews / revenues it warranted.
If a film is about inspiration...or character or about how and what we come to pick on our journey of life..this takes the top prizes.
No computer graphics, nor big budgeted...this small film is about how a young boy, who stands by what he believes come to get impressed by a retired colonel...and along the way inspires the maestro to see life from a different angle. For me, it has been an experience to watch this film..If you havent watched it yet, just get it and kick your shoes off..to enjoy the beauty of life. The speech of Al pacino in the climax is something legends are made of...

This is indeed a brilliant film and Pacino won a much-deserved Oscar for his brilliant speech in the end. The film is looked down on by some critics because its a remake. However, the original - the Italian Profumo di Donna starring Vittorio Gassman in the Pacino role - was a pretty ordinary film. Scent of a Woman is definitely one of the best remakes ever....as is....

No Way Out (1987)
This is a thriller remake of the noir The Big Clock with Kevin Costner and Gene Hackman (what a great actor!) reprising the Ray Milland and Charles Laughton. Again, overlooked by critics because of the remake stigma....

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