by NonOxCol » Fri 30 Jan, 2015 11:37 pm
Only just discovered this, very interesting.
I'm going to do this on a strict 'one film per director or trilogy' basis. Warning: I was born in 1972. I am absolute hardcore Spielberg/Lucas generation.
E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial: Other people can say what they like, I simply cannot be objective about this film. I saw it twice at the age of 10 in the cinema, and was completely spellbound. More importantly, it was the first film to have a deep emotional effect on me. I'm quite cynical about manipulative US sentimentality, and I know many people have accused this film of being a prime example. So I have tried to analyse why I love it so much; it's possible it's because I was the same age as Elliott when I saw it, and my parents were splitting up. But then I see it as an adult and I realise it doesn't need analysing. It is simply an astounding evocation of childhood innocence and wonder, and for that reason I'm liable to turn into a gibbering wreck if I watch more than ten minutes of it now (aged 42).
Goodfellas: well, there you go, that's a bit different, isn't it? The best film I saw for the first time as an adult. I am still capable of becoming incandescent with rage that Kevin Costner was given the Best Director Oscar for his first fucking film, ahead of this, the best-directed movie I have ever seen. And so they end up giving everything to Scorsese for The Departed, which is a fine way to spend two and a half hours, but it's a bit like saying a bloody Wings album is better than Revolver.
The Empire Strikes Back: because I have to have one of them, and this is the best by (*avoid trite light year metaphor*)... well, it's just the most interesting, the darkest, the one with the best score, the one that makes the back-story possible, the one where Vader is at his most compelling, the (only?) one with a decent script... Just the last half hour of this film is better than 99% of two-hour-plus sci-fi blockbusters made these days.
I'm supposed to regain credibility by putting something really mature in at this point, but sorry, I can't:
Back To The Future
: As with, say, Raiders of the Lost Ark, I genuinely think there's something strange about people who dislike this film. Ostensibly a science-fiction movie, there's actually more heart, wit and humanity in this than in hundreds of box-office smashes made in the 30 years since. Someone said that the screenplay, full of set-ups and pay-offs and not a wasted line or image, is as beautifully constructed as a Swiss watch, and they teach it at film school. That's good enough for me.
OK, the final choice could be one of several, most of which prove that I did watch films after the age of 13 (!): Monty Python's Life of Brian; Trainspotting; The Shawshank Redemption; Clerks; Chinatown; LA Confidential; Pulp Fiction. Out of those, I'll pick the one that didn't knock me out on first viewing, but got better with age. Because, at the age of 16 (when I first saw it), I did not - could not - appreciate the extent of its ambition, and the fact that there were other satirical targets apart from organised religion.
Monty Python's Life of Brian - because of its depth, the greatest comedy I've ever seen, ahead of the two films that simply made me laugh more than any others (Airplane and Clerks).
Only just discovered this, very interesting.
I'm going to do this on a strict 'one film per director or trilogy' basis. Warning: I was born in 1972. I am absolute hardcore Spielberg/Lucas generation.
[b]E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial[/b]: Other people can say what they like, I simply cannot be objective about this film. I saw it twice at the age of 10 in the cinema, and was completely spellbound. More importantly, it was the first film to have a deep emotional effect on me. I'm quite cynical about manipulative US sentimentality, and I know many people have accused this film of being a prime example. So I have tried to analyse why I love it so much; it's possible it's because I was the same age as Elliott when I saw it, and my parents were splitting up. But then I see it as an adult and I realise it doesn't need analysing. It is simply an astounding evocation of childhood innocence and wonder, and for that reason I'm liable to turn into a gibbering wreck if I watch more than ten minutes of it now (aged 42).
[b]Goodfellas[/b]: well, there you go, that's a bit different, isn't it? The best film I saw for the first time as an adult. I am still capable of becoming incandescent with rage that Kevin Costner was given the Best Director Oscar for his first fucking film, ahead of this, the best-directed movie I have ever seen. And so they end up giving everything to Scorsese for The Departed, which is a fine way to spend two and a half hours, but it's a bit like saying a bloody Wings album is better than Revolver.
[b]The Empire Strikes Back[/b]: because I have to have one of them, and this is the best by (*avoid trite light year metaphor*)... well, it's just the most interesting, the darkest, the one with the best score, the one that makes the back-story possible, the one where Vader is at his most compelling, the (only?) one with a decent script... Just the last half hour of this film is better than 99% of two-hour-plus sci-fi blockbusters made these days.
I'm supposed to regain credibility by putting something really mature in at this point, but sorry, I can't:
[b]Back To The Future
[/b]: As with, say, Raiders of the Lost Ark, I genuinely think there's something strange about people who dislike this film. Ostensibly a science-fiction movie, there's actually more heart, wit and humanity in this than in hundreds of box-office smashes made in the 30 years since. Someone said that the screenplay, full of set-ups and pay-offs and not a wasted line or image, is as beautifully constructed as a Swiss watch, and they teach it at film school. That's good enough for me.
OK, the final choice could be one of several, most of which prove that I did watch films after the age of 13 (!): Monty Python's Life of Brian; Trainspotting; The Shawshank Redemption; Clerks; Chinatown; LA Confidential; Pulp Fiction. Out of those, I'll pick the one that didn't knock me out on first viewing, but got better with age. Because, at the age of 16 (when I first saw it), I did not - could not - appreciate the extent of its ambition, and the fact that there were other satirical targets apart from organised religion.
[b]Monty Python's Life of Brian[/b] - because of its depth, the greatest comedy I've ever seen, ahead of the two films that simply made me laugh more than any others (Airplane and Clerks).