Justin wrote:I'm mildly interested in Titanic itself and can recommend some good documentaries on it(including Disney's Ghost of the Abyss)
Ironically (in your case),
Ghost of the Abyss was directed by James Cameron.
Have you seen the 1958 film
A Night to Remember? It's probably the best movie version of the disaster. It was the first real exposure I had to the story of the Titanic when I was a kid, and is a lot more balanced than Cameron's
Titanic. Balanced as in it's a better ensemble piece that shows different classes of people on the ship and how they survive or die (as opposed to
Titanic which focuses squarely on Jack & Rose and offering fleeting glimpses and scenes at how other people on the ship lived). It's amazing to see the deleted scenes for
Titanic, as about half are Jack & Rose related, while the other half have to do with minor characters who became even more minor in the final theatrical edition.
Seriously, if they pared down half of Jack & Rose's onscreen material (especially in the first half of the film which goes on far too long before getting to the iceberg and sinking) and re-instated the "other people" deleted scenes, it would be a rather good two-hour flick.
Justin wrote:PPF- Here are some films I doubt you've seen based on your list that you should try checking out with your friends along with the ones you listed during the summer:
High Noon
The Searchers
12 Angry Men
To Kill A Mockingbird
Dr. No
Goldfinger
The Pink Panther films(the brilliant Peter Sellers franchise, not the just plain average one with Steve Martin)
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
American Graffiti
Jaws(might be R, but one of the tamest R rated films around that should be fine)
Rocky
The Naked Gun Trilogy
Back To The Future
BeetleJuice
Who Framed Roger Rabbit(it's technically Disney, PLEASE tell me you've seen this)
Groundhog Day
Jurassic Park
Ed Wood(R, but I'm sure you've heard the F word in your lifetime)
Forrest Gump
Men In Black
Shanghai Noon
Chicken Run
Catch Me If You Can
Wallace and Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit
Casino Royale
The only one I haven't yet seen on that list is
Casino Royale, so I guess I'm good for now.
Justin wrote:
PG-13 didn't get invented until 1984, which is why Jaws is only PG. Which is all the more reason you need to see the film that inspired the rating, Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom*.
*Even if it is the weakest of the trilogy.
I'm most definitely in the minority when I say this...
Temple of Doom is far from the weakest of the trilogy. Sure, it took unused concepts of
Raiders and gave the franchise a darker turn, along with a female companion that's too annoying for words, and a kid who is unnecessary to the story (but is a great way for viewers to live vicariously with Indy, as we all imagine that we could be Short Round). But it's a lot more enjoyable than
Last Crusade, which I feel is the weakest, it suffers from the following:
-
Not Enough Action - yes, there are some memorable sequences, and no, a film like Indy Jones doesn't have to be action after action. But when compared to
Raiders and
Temple,
Last Crusade is surprisingly lighter.
-
Too Many Nazis - almost sounds like the name of a really bad musical, doesn't it? But the Nazi concept was already done in
Raiders and while it *just barely* works in
Last Crusade, the Nazis didn't need to be used *again*. Especially since they're empty villains here (who pretty much are the lackeys of Donovan), compared to the real threat they were in
Raiders.
-
It's Raiders 2.0 - back to the Nazis again. Their incentive for getting the Grail, and Indy's incentive to stop them, is essentially
Raiders, but you substitute an Old Testament relic with a New Testament relic.
-
Indy Doesn't Get The Girl - I know it would have been cliched if Elsa lived and turned good. But that's exactly what the story needed, because the Indy movies are based on the old serials where you expect a happy ending. The reconciliation between Indy and his dad is satisfying, but not satisfying enough because it's pretty much an action/adventure movie staple for the guy to get the girl.
-
The Dumbing Down of Marcus - for a guy who appears to be very "with it" in
Raiders, they've turned him into a buffoon that serves as comic relief for the few scenes he's in. Also, with the whole prologue showing that Indy and Marcus are near the same age, it is suddenly very jarring now to see Indy and Marcus when they're adults, as Marcus has always been visibly older.
-
The Prologue - I love the prologue, I really do. It's a great way to showcase Indy's beginnings (especially since the TV series wasn't conceived yet), and has a great performance from River Phoenix (who played Harrison Ford's son in
The Mosquito Coast - hey, that's another film to add to your list, Panfan!). But beyond establishing the tense relationship Indy had with his father, as well as where he got the hat, the whip, and the scar, it's really not necessary to
The Last Crusade, at least not as one large chunk in the beginning of the film. Had they spread it out into "flashbacks" Indy has (perhaps along with additional material beyond that one brief adventure), it might work better. But it's otherwise just filler.
There's probably a few more reasons why I'm not fond of
The Last Crusade but I think those cover the main stuff. And made this post longer than necessary.
Anyway, I realized I never contributed a list of Famous movies I've never seen, nor have I really recommended more to other people.
Borrowing from Dottie, I took a gander at the imdb Top 250 list (which really isn't the best source, but it'll do for now) and I won't include the foreign films I haven't seen (mainly because I'm *really* behind on forum films compared to American ones), so here's a list of films I haven't seen:
5. 8.9 Pulp Fiction (1994) 280,413
7. 8.8 One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975) 140,787
20. 8.7 The Usual Suspects (1995) 192,263
27. 8.6 Memento (2000) 182,733
33. 8.5 Se7en (1995) 184,954
39. 8.5 American History X (1998) 144,432
41. 8.5 Paths of Glory (1957) 29,778
52. 8.4 There Will Be Blood (2007) 61,322
61. 8.4 Requiem for a Dream (2000) 119,837
62. 8.4 No Country for Old Men (2007) 103,499
65. 8.4 Boot, Das (1981) 51,889
72. 8.4 Metropolis (1927) 26,075
79. 8.3 Hotel Rwanda (2004) 57,287
85. 8.3 Amadeus (1984) 68,382
88. 8.3 The Prestige (2006) 111,497
101. 8.3 Strangers on a Train (1951) 22,362
106. 8.2 Iron Man (2008) 30,636
113. 8.2 Fargo (1996) 118,063
115. 8.2 Unforgiven (1992) 63,900
118. 8.2 Donnie Darko (2001) 139,850
124. 8.2 Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003) 156,377
126. 8.2 Into the Wild (2007) 32,441
127. 8.2 Gladiator (2000) 190,233
130. 8.2 Die Hard (1988) 124,027
131. 8.2 The Bourne Ultimatum (2007) 83,404
135. 8.1 The Deer Hunter (1978) 59,946
137. 8.1 The General (1927) 13,132
142. 8.1 The Killing (1956) 15,788
143. 8.1 Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949) 8,151
146. 8.1 Heat (1995) 96,483
149. 8.1 The Wild Bunch (1969) 21,384
159. 8.1 The Big Lebowski (1998) 115,919
160. 8.1 Letters from Iwo Jima (2006) 30,785
164. 8.1 Shadow of a Doubt (1943) 13,218
166. 8.1 Snatch. (2000) 108,267
173. 8.0 Trainspotting (1996) 102,914
174. 8.0 The Gold Rush (1925) 13,365
177. 8.0 Kill Bill: Vol. 2 (2004) 120,359
178. 8.0 Scarface (1983) 95,007
179. 8.0 Duck Soup (1933) 18,460
180. 8.0 The Conversation (1974) 21,545
181. 8.0 Patton (1970) 27,674
184. 8.0 Little Miss Sunshine (2006) 92,855
192. 8.0 Umberto D. (1952) 4,944
197. 8.0 Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998) 79,198
200. 8.0 American Gangster (2007) 65,215
204. 8.0 The Ox-Bow Incident (1943) 5,483
210. 8.0 Stalker (1979) 12,428
211. 8.0 All Quiet on the Western Front (1930) 14,435
212. 8.0 Magnolia (1999) 88,930
213. 8.0 Bride of Frankenstein (1935) 10,769
219. 8.0 Casino (1995) 68,722
221. 8.0 Big Fish (2003) 89,370
228. 8.0 Rope (1948) 18,990
229. 8.0 Manhattan (1979) 25,602
230. 8.0 The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962) 15,814
236. 7.9 Grindhouse (2007) 58,388
240. 7.9 Once (2006) 16,443
241. 7.9 The Kid (1921) 6,966
244. 7.9 Hot Fuzz (2007) 83,944
249. 7.9 Arsenic and Old Lace (1944) 20,812
250. 7.9 Barry Lyndon (1975) 26,161
62 films out of 250 I have yet to see. Not too shabby. Of course, that doesn't include the foreign films (which I think number in the 40s on the list), but I took a mental note of which ones I've seen, and counted between 12-15 that I've seen.
Albert