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The "Greatest" movie

Started by Savonarola, May 30, 2014, 09:00:11 AM

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Savonarola

#45
May 30, 2014, 04:21:31 PM
Quote from: Valmy on May 30, 2014, 03:20:40 PM
Birth of a Nation is fascinating.  Not only is it a beautifully shot film but it tells the Lost Cause version of reconstruction, which is horrifying to say the least.  But, on the other hand, it lets you know what white Americans at the time thought of that era.

I once saw DJ Spooky perform "Rebirth of a Nation" in which he took "Birth of a Nation" added his techno music to it and put some of the scenes slightly out of order.  By doing so he deconstructed the film; (I know this because I stayed for the Q&A part at the end  :smarty:.)  Even having stayed for Q&A I'm not sure what deconstructing the film accomplished.  :unsure:

Even at the time of it's release "Birth of a Nation" received a fair amount of criticism for it's subject matter.  This is one reason why Griffith's next film was "Intolerance."
In Italy, for thirty 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 five hundred years of democracy and peace—and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock

Ideologue

#46
May 30, 2014, 04:25:15 PM
Indeed.  I actually do really want to watch Intolerance, for its bodacious production-design-before-there-was-production-design.
Kinemalogue
Current reviews: The 'Burbs (9/10); Gremlins 2: The New Batch (9/10); John Wick: Chapter 2 (9/10); A Cure For Wellness (4/10)

Razgovory

#47
May 30, 2014, 04:30:37 PM
I don't know much about film.
I've given it serious thought. I must scorn the ways of my family, and seek a Japanese woman to yield me my progeny. He shall live in the lands of the east, and be well tutored in his sacred trust to weave the best traditions of Japan and the Sacred South together, until such time as he (or, indeed his house, which will periodically require infusion of both Southern and Japanese bloodlines of note) can deliver to the South it's independence, either in this world or in space.  -Lettow April of 2011

Raz is right. -MadImmortalMan March of 2017

Norgy

#48
May 30, 2014, 04:36:16 PM
Quote from: Razgovory on May 30, 2014, 04:30:37 PM
I don't know much about film.

Who does. Doesn't really stop anyone from having an opinion, really. You know as much as me, at least.

Capetan Mihali

#49
May 30, 2014, 04:45:43 PM
Jeanne Dielman, 23, Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles.
"The internet's completely over. [...] The internet's like MTV. At one time MTV was hip and suddenly it became outdated. Anyway, all these computers and digital gadgets are no good. They just fill your head with numbers and that can't be good for you."
-- Prince, 2010. (R.I.P.)

FunkMonk

#50
May 30, 2014, 05:52:17 PM
Casablanca.

Battle of Algiers or Paths of Glory.

The Prestige.  :nerd:
Person. Woman. Man. Camera. TV.

frunk

#51
May 30, 2014, 05:55:45 PM
Favorite: Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Best: Miller's Crossing
Most Important: 2001

celedhring

#52
May 30, 2014, 05:58:58 PM
Birth of a Nation didn't really invent anything. Most of the techniques it uses are present in older films, not necessarily made by Griffith. Nation manages to be the first comprehensive application of them, and in such becomes the watermark of the birth of the classic film language. So depending on your POV it's either the most important film in history of just a stepping stone that was bound to happen no matter what.

My list:

Favorite: Fellini's 8 1/2
Most Important: Workers leaving the Lumière factory
Best Made: hard to appraise this, but I hold Godfather I/II as the films that have the best combination of excellency in all fields of cinema (acting, script, directing, cinematography, soundtrack, etc...), while making a film that's thoughtful yet popular with the public.

Razgovory

#53
May 30, 2014, 06:06:42 PM
Quote from: Norgy on May 30, 2014, 04:36:16 PM
Quote from: Razgovory on May 30, 2014, 04:30:37 PM
I don't know much about film.

Who does. Doesn't really stop anyone from having an opinion, really. You know as much as me, at least.

Doesn't Tim and Ide?
I've given it serious thought. I must scorn the ways of my family, and seek a Japanese woman to yield me my progeny. He shall live in the lands of the east, and be well tutored in his sacred trust to weave the best traditions of Japan and the Sacred South together, until such time as he (or, indeed his house, which will periodically require infusion of both Southern and Japanese bloodlines of note) can deliver to the South it's independence, either in this world or in space.  -Lettow April of 2011

Raz is right. -MadImmortalMan March of 2017

11B4V

#54
May 30, 2014, 08:40:20 PM
Favorite: Alien
Best: Schindler's List
Most Important: Bowling for Columbine
"there's a long tradition of insulting people we disagree with here, and I'll be damned if I listen to your entreaties otherwise."-OVB

"Obviously not a Berkut-commanded armored column.  They're not all brewing."- CdM

"We've reached one of our phase lines after the firefight and it smells bad—meaning it's a little bit suspicious... Could be an amb—".

grumbler

#55
May 30, 2014, 09:20:06 PM
Quote from: 11B4V on May 30, 2014, 08:40:20 PM
Favorite: Alien
Great choice.  i saw that on opening day, not really having any idea what to expect.  It was one of the scariest experiences i've ever had in the movies, and I really liked the acting.  each death was a gutpunch, even though, after a while, you knew it was coming.

The movie may be a candidate in "most influential" as well.  You started seeing "truck driver" spaceship crews after that, whereas before they were all shiny types.
The future is all around us, waiting, in moments of transition, to be born in moments of revelation. No one knows the shape of that future or where it will take us. We know only that it is always born in pain.   -G'Kar

Bayraktar!

Drakken

#56
May 30, 2014, 10:34:52 PM
Quote from: Savonarola on May 30, 2014, 09:00:11 AM
After reading Ide and Frunk's conversation concerning Empire's "Greatest Movie" poll in the TV/Movie Megathread, I'm curious as how Languish would answer Ide's criteria for "Greatest Movie."

1.)  What is your favorite movie?
2.)  What do you consider the most important movie?
3.)  What do you consider the best made movie ever?

1. Favourite : Robocop
2. Most important movie : Ex aequo The Kid, Citizen Kane, and Star Wars. These are movies that end an era and start a new one.
3. Best made : Barry Lyndon

Iormlund

#57
May 31, 2014, 05:39:35 AM
Fav: Really hard to say. There are a bunch of films I can't seem to be tired of, for one reason or another: Groundhog Day; North by Northwest; Rear Window; One, two, Three, The Prize ...
Most important: Don't think I know enough to say this.
Best made: Something by Kubrick, perhaps. I still get shivers down my spine when I watch that shuttle docking to the Blue Danube.

Duque de Bragança

#58
May 31, 2014, 12:14:28 PM
Quote from: Valmy on May 30, 2014, 03:14:55 PM
JFK  :x

Best conspiracy theory movie ever? Except for Siege, for him it's Capricorn One.

celedhring

#59
May 31, 2014, 01:06:16 PM
Quote from: Duque de Bragança on May 31, 2014, 12:14:28 PM
Quote from: Valmy on May 30, 2014, 03:14:55 PM
JFK  :x

Best conspiracy theory movie ever? Except for Siege, for him it's Capricorn One.

I agree. I love how he uses montage and different kinds of footage to create the world of the conspiracy. It's a really well done film, one of Stone's best IMHO.
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