Jim

THE MALTESE FALCON - Make a point DB7 - Humph and Peter Lorrie PLUS Sydney Greenstreet - great! :d

Good morning boys.

ChristineCB

(Thanks for writing so much, folks.)

TITANIC - a great 5-minute special effects of the ship lifting up, people plummeting to their death, etc. But my substantial complaint with the film is, "So, 1500 people are going to die here, but that's not ENOUGH of a drama for you? You have to crank up some love-triangle nonsense, too?!!" Jiminy. This gets one of my Most Hated Films Of All Time votes, although I can see why people love it. I just hate the premise of glossing over everyone's death in lieu of some capricious set-up love triangle. And when I meet lovers of the film, I always argue that point and watch them go, "oh well, yes, I guess so", but they are still cooing over Cutesy Boy and the real tragedy is lost on them.

Which takes me back to arguing for public hangings in town centres! (Where IS that rolling pin when I need it?!!)

VERTIGO is a film I can heartily recommend. It's one of those BODY HEAT, BLACK WIDOW kind of films where beautiful women get their way. Sort of.

THE CRYING GAME. Been there, done that. Never seen it again, and barely remember it except for the 'trick twist'. And that's enough.

Steve, as for Shakespeare, no, I never liked any of Shakespeare so when I've heard the Kurosawa pix described in those terms, it was another stake in their hearts. One of those films is hyped as the origin for STAR WARS, but even though I am favorable for the STAR WARS film, I remember that I like about 8 or 10 minutes of each, but everything else is boring to me! Strange...

Oooh, that's right... I haven't seen any of the HARRY POTTER films, only glimpses on TV - some giant being fought in the loo, whoopee. That was enough.

Pen, thanks for the tips about the Chaplin shorts. I have suspected my intolerance is mainly Feature Lengths. I don't really care for Keaton's THE GENERAL because of its length, although there are some fabulous stunts in it. I suspect my intolerance to Silent Features is an indictment of my lack of patience and intolerance for the stagey silent-era acting style.

MALTESE FALCON would get my highest Must-See recommendation, and I could recommend it starting with just the last scene, where Mary Astor is being led away into an elevator, with its doors closing and its bars shadowing across her face, the music building into a triumphant march of Good vs Evil. One of the great Last Lines in all of cinema - "The stuff dreams are made of". If Bogey wasn't a certified star before that line, he was after. But the whole film has some great scenes in it.

I can only recommend LORD OF RINGS in theatres, on the big-screen. Seeing them on teeny TV sets isn't the same. Sort of like LAWRENCE OF ARABIA - to me, those are Big Screen Only films.

FaceOff uttered a line that I am akin to as well - "the hype that accompanies them" can also be my determining factor. Yet, I succumb to it sometimes, and am totally turned off by it on others. I haven't quite figured out why I accept some OverHype and avoid it others. I suspect I avoid those films for other reasons - an actor or two that I don't like? I don't know.

Rob Compton

Christine

I'll join you, if I may, in never having seen "Gone with the Wind." Life's too short.....

Plus most of the Star Wars series

On the other hand, I've sat through all the Lord Of The Rings films

rgds
Rob

Ascoyne D'Ascoyne

If Miss Rowling's writings are as plagiaristic, shallow and pointless as the films based on her books suggest, they deserve to be torn into six-inch strips and hung on a hook in the loo. Miss Rowling, however, probably uses £50 notes.

faceoff

Possible spoiler

The Fat Man and Peter Lorre have never seen the Maltese Falcon either.
Elisha Cooke Jnr wouldn't be seen dead watching it either.

Cuffy

Easy Rider.

One of those films that I'd always wanted to see badly, yet somehow seems to have evaded me.

Someone inadvertently told me the ending a few weeks back. I've kinda lost interest now...

ChristineCB

Cuffy, the journey, not the ending, is what makes the film. After all, they had to end it somehow and, frankly, this isn't one of my favorites although apparently some consider it "important". I could imagine the ending is fairly justified, according to my rating system. ha ha.

thirdlady

apocalypse now taxi driver angel heart

A.S.Carroll
"Happiness isn't sold in bottles you have to achieve it in your own lifetime!"

intelligence

I have never seen these films, however still there a long list.
She Done Him Wrong (1933)
The 39 Steps (1935)
Doctor Zhivago (1965)
The wild Bunch (1969)
Elizabeth (1998)

Ascoyne D'Ascoyne

Book up to see it sometime.:

ChristineCB

I wish I was as lucky as you!


And amazingly, all three of these films hold close to the same place in my film-heart's sewer system. I know why people have hailed these, but like them? Like any of the characters? After seeing the documentary about the filming of APOC NOW, I had a bit more appreciation for it. But no more 'like' or favorable intentions to see it again.

Third, any reviews on HARRY LIME radio? Did those come out OK?

foha80

Hello ChristineCB
Oh I think we just exercise our right to choose,I have never seen Titanic and I have used your argument in conversation,but the truth is I was stupidly passing judgement on a film that I had never seen-I think its the smell of the herd that puts me off.I probally will sit down in twenty years watch it and really enjoy it.In this thread alone some people have hated films that I really have enjoyed, maybe film appreciation like music is a personal journey.

Terry

ChristineCB

"...smell of the herd..."

I hope I can remember this line the next time I'm railing against hyped-up films that I've avoided simply because my expectations of the film can't match the marketing hype I've witnessed. Smell Of The Herd seems to be a wonderful 'core' phrase! Ah, yes, and I remember the jokes about Parisians...

Wolfgang

I am ashamed to admit that I have never completely watched Casablanca, which usually battles it out with Citizen Kane for 'best film ever' honours. I even have it on tape - maybe that is my problem? If I got rid of it I would be forced into watching it next time it is on TV.

Pip

Hi Christine,
there's a lot of 'never seen but mean to sometime' here, but mines more of a 'never seen and never want to', mostly because I'm completely put off by all the hype...

Star Wars and all of its spawn.

Obviously I've caught clips on TV - didn't they learn anything from 2001? Sound does not carry through the vacuum of space! What is all this zap, whizz, whoosh nonsense?

Pip