[whoops…verbose post warning]
“…The Fisher King!!!…spot-on performances. loss, grief, insanity, hope, redemption, with humor and - no treacle. it is perfect. not to get anyone's expectations up too high, but Netflick it and watch. it's an absolute treat, a vast and satisfying journey.”
…as well as interesting how-to tips on eating Chinese dumplings & appreciating central park @ night. One I’ve done…often enough to be a little worried ‘bout my colon…& the other probably never…well…I suppose never say never. This too is a pick for one of my all-time “perfect” movies. Colossal performances, weird sets.
For what production tools they had to work with:
(Phantasm Director) Don Coscarelli’s Bubba Ho-Tep (Bruce Campbell & Ossie Davis)
~~I expected nothing from this l’il farce…but it so takes care of bidness, baby. TCB.
Just because it rips my spleen out through my right eye…and stuffs it back up through my azz…every…time…we…screen…it:
The Indian Runner
I’ve never seen a match (in the genre) for David Fincher’s Seven.
We watched Cool Hand Luke last night, late, & I cannot recall any filmmaking guffaws therein.
I will always feel Powder is a great little movie, although the director sure put the flaming-kibosh on that film’s sea-of-faces-worthiness forever.
Can’t really imagine The Mosquito Coast being any better.
Both It’s a Wonderful Life & A Christmas Story, respectively, are aptly cinematic.
The Color Purple. Wow.
For how it’s set & everything else, The Green Mile.
The Abyss (The uncensored version).
Pink Floyd’s The Wall.
The Man in the Iron Mask is a significant (perfect, I don’t know) work of art, imo….
Two train movies:
Andrei Konchalovsky’s Runaway Train (1986).
Jon fckn Voit! directed by who-the-fck-really-cares.
Kinda like who-the-fck-needs-really-care-who-directs Christopher Walken
~ jus’ flip the switch & let ‘im go.
[Eric Roberts is…welll…I don’t know, …but it works.
Not really bagging Eric Roberts here; …he kicked-azz in Best of the Best where overplay served him very well.]
& […Possibly my only legitimate entry on this thread.]
Robert Aldrich’s Emperor of the North (Pole) (1973). Brilliantly filmed (low-key-down-to-earth-independent-like-for-the-time) & the score, by Frank DeVol, is…inspired (the one recurring composition is far too…uh…potent/hopeful…soaring or something for ‘73.) Just gets you where it counts I suppose. You see it, …you’ll maybe know what I mean. This is a flick about the conflicting principles between Depression Era hobos and the railroad industry; the bare essentials gritty & pissed-off everyman anarchic quest to get from here to there on a shoestring while avoiding the cost: The machine, the sadist conductor (enforcer) & his toadies, the elements, the nothing-left-to-lose-wiliness of one’s peers & the sorrow & the shame. Some dark poetic (black) humor therein as well.
Both of these films have parallel character sketches:
Jon Voit (Manny)/Lee Marvin (A no. 1) [Manny is far more cracked than A#1, but still]
Eric Roberts (Buck)/Keith Carradine (Cigaret)
John P. Ryan (Warden Ranken)/Ernest Borgnine (Shack)
Even if it isn’t a flawless film, you might take a look at it.
A worthy 2 hours of your time.
Tidbit, speaking of Sam Peckinpah: According to film bidness lore, this film was originally going to be directed by Martin Ritt (of lots o good movies, including Hombre & Hud & The Great White Hope & Norma Rae & Nuts). Ritt was fired by Paramount boss, Robert Evans (no clue why), who then tried to turn it over to Sam Peckinpah — but they argued over budget so the project was sold to 20th Century Fox who got Robert Aldrich to direct it.
& a couple other adaptations of Stephen King yarns:
The Shawshank Redemption & Kubrick’s, The Shining
AND…for the sheer audacity: Kill Bill 1&2. Waiting for both to come out in DVD as a set or with Kill Bill 3 altogether…eventually.
Oh yeah: And A Knight’s Tale …&… My Blue Heaven …in their own ways, perfect.
[I suppose this post is off-topic though, because…I’m not sure any of these films are actual cinematograph-ical perfections…but far far from cellulite wasted, IMHO. I’m probably not qualified to judge perfection/continuity/lighting/camera angles, etc. since …outstanding in enough areas to make a movie poignant and entertaining… is good enough for me.]
oh yeah, & what about Salvador (1986)?
& Titanic (1998)?
& Mr. Smith Goes to Washington? &...
