MC Yearly Consensus - 1993

[Spinal]

Submit your five favorite films from this year and in a week I will give you a top ten. IMDb dates will be used.

The point system is as follows

1st Place-5 points
2nd Place-4 points
3rd Place-3.5 points
4th Place-3 points
5th Place-2.5 points

There will be no restrictions on short films. A minimum of three films must be listed. You may edit your post freely up until the time that the voting is closed, which will be in about a week. I will give at least 24 hours warning before tallying votes.

You may begin now.

IMDB Power Search (http://www.imdb.com/list)

[Spinal]

1. The Piano
2. The Wrong Trousers
3. Schindler's List
4. Fearless
5. Short Cuts

[Melville]

1. Schindler's List
2. Naked
3. The Scent of Green Papaya
4. Jurassic Park
5. Groundhog Day

[Raiders]

1. Blue (Jarman)
2. Naked (Leigh)
3. Short Cuts (Altman)
4. A Perfect World (Eastwood)
5. Groundhog Day (Ramis)

-----------------------------

6. King of the Hill (Soderbergh)
7. 32 Short Films About Glenn Gould (Girard)
8. Three Colors: Blue (Kieslowski)
9. Schindler's List (Spielberg)
10. Matinee (Dante)

[Stay Puft]

1. Farewell My Concubine
2. Sonatine
3. Three Colors: Blue
4. The Wrong Trousers
5. Groundhog Day

[Watashi]

1. Schindler's List
2. The Nightmare Before Christmas
3. Three Colours: Blue
4. Dazed and Confused
5. Naked

[Philosophe_rouge]

1. The Secret Garden
2. The Wrong Trousers
3. Schindler’s List
4. Jurassic Park
5. The Nightmare Before Christmas

[dreamdead]

1. Naked
2. The Piano
3. Three Colours: Blue
4. Sonatine
5. Groundhog Day

H/M: The Scent of Green Papaya, Short Cuts, The Wrong Trousers

Need to see: Jarman's Blue, The Remains of the Day

[Russ]

1. Tales of the City
2. What's Eating Gilbert Grape
3. Matinee
4. The Nightmare Before Christmas
5. True Romance

hm: Rudy, The Wedding Banquet

[Pop Trash]

1. Schindler's List
2. Groundhog Day
3. What's Eating Gilbert Grape
4. Manhattan Murder Mystery
5. Clean, Shaven

6. The Fugitive
7. This Boy's Life
8. True Romance
9. Jurassic Park
10. Leprechaun

I'm kind of unenthusiastic about this year...

[Russ]

3. What's Eating Gilbert Grape
Whoops, forgot about this one. Edited.

[origami_mustache]

1. Stellar
2. The Puppetmaster
3. Three Colors: Blue
4. 32 Short Films About Glenn Gould
5. Short Cuts

6. Dazed and Confused
7. What's Eating Gilbert Grape
8. Schindler's List
9. Jurassic Park
10. True Romance

Wow, I've seen about 50 films from this year...right in the heart of my childhood.

[monolith94]

1. The Wrong Trousers
2. Three Colors: Blue
3. Much Ado About Nothing
4. True Romance
5. Madadayo

[trotchky]

1. Groundhog Day
2. Totally F***ed Up
3. Short Cuts
4. Naked
5. Even Cowgirls Get the Blues

[Boner M]

1. Naked
2. Bad Boy Bubby
3. Groundhog Day
4. Short Cuts
5. The Wrong Trousers

6. Carlito's Way
7. Blue (Jarman)
8. Three Colors: Blue
9. Dazed and Confused
10. Raining Stones

HM: Matinee, Jurassic Park, Schindler's List, Calendar, Sonatine, Kalifornia

Need to see: Good Men Good Women, A Perfect World

[EyesWideOpen]

1. The Nightmare Before Christmas
2. Batman: Mask of the Phantasm
3. Iron Monkey
4. Schindler's List
5. Sonatine

HM:

Jurassic Park
Philadelphia
Tombstone
Blue

[Kurious Jorge v3.1]

1. The Scent of Green Papaya
2. Three Colors: Blue
3. Naked
4. Arizona Dream
5. Sonatine

HM: Nightmare Before Christmas, Short Cuts

[balmakboor]

2. Totally F***ed Up
5. Even Cowgirls Get the Blues

:)

[Yxklyx]

1. The Nightmare Before Christmas (Henry Selick)
2. Groundhog Day (Harold Ramis)
3. The Wrong Trousers (Nick Park)
4. Naked (Mike Leigh)
5. Blue (Krzysztof Kieslowski)

6. The Piano (Jane Campion)
7. The Wedding Banquet (Ang Lee)
8. In the Name of the Father (Jim Sheridan)
9. The Remains of the Day (James Ivory)
10. Calendar (Atom Egoyan)

Excellent year!

[Weeping_Guitar]

1. Schindler's List
2. The Nightmare Before Christmas
3. The Colors: Blue
4. Groundhog Day
5. Faraway, So Close!

[balmakboor]

1. Schindler's List


2. Short Cuts
3. Dazed and Confused
4. Carlito's Way
5. Groundhog Day

[Boner M]

Raiders, did you forget Bad Boy Bubby or is this just a truly exceptional cinematic year for you?

[origami_mustache]

oops edited...easily better than anything I listed

[Pop Trash]

1. Good Men Good Women


This is '95 people.

[soitgoes...]

1. Schindler's List (Steven Spielberg)
2. Three Colors: Blue (Krzysztof Kieslowski)
3. Wallace and Gromit: The Wrong Trousers (Nick Park)
4. In the Name of the Father (Jim Sheridan)
5. Groundhog Day (Harold Ramis)
-----------------------------------------
6. Naked (Mike Leigh)
7. A Perfect World (Clint Eastwood)
8. The Scent of Green Papaya (Anh Hung Tran)
9. Time Indefinite (Ross McElwee)
10. The Blue Kite (Tian Zhuangzhuang)

11. What's Eating Gilbert Grape (Lasse Hallström)
12. Short Cuts (Robert Altman)
13. Searching for Bobby Fisher (Steven Zaillian)
14. The Piano (Jane Campion)
15. Dave (Ivan Reitman)

[Derek]

1. Three Colors: Blue (Krzysztof Kieslowski)
2. Naked (Mike Leigh)
3. Dazed and Confused (Richard Linklater)
4. Blue (Derek Jarman)
5. Farewell My Concubine (Kaige Chen)
****************************** ****
6. The Scent of Green Papaya (Anh Hung Tran)
7. Wallace & Gromit: The Wrong Trousers (Nick Park)
8. The Nightmare Before Christmas (Henry Selick)
9. The Age of Innocence (Martin Scorsese)
10. The Piano (Jane Campion)

HMs: Schindler's List (Steven Spielberg)
Short Cuts (Robert Altman)
Groundhog Day (Harold Ramis)
Carlito's Way (Brian De Palma)
Fearless (Peter Weir)
Searching for Bobby Fisher (Steven Zaillian)
Army of Darkness (Sam Raimi)
Spanking the Monkey (David O. Russell)
Manhattan Murder Mystery (Woody Allen)
Menace II Society (Albert & Allen Hughes)
Sonatine (Takeshi Kitano)

[Stay Puft]

Ah, Farewell My Concubine! Every single time, I always forget one. Edited my list.

[ledfloyd]

1. Naked
2. Three Colors: Blue
3. Short Cuts
4. Dazed and Confused
5. The Wrong Trousers

[MadMan]

Yeah there's still quite a good deal I have to see from 1993. But I think its sort of a forgotten year, even though some there's some good films from it.

1. Jurassic Park
2. Groundhog's Day
3. Wallace & Gromit in The Wrong Trousers
4. The Sandlot
5. The Fugitive
6. Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey
7. True Romance
8. In The Line of Fire
9. Last Action Hero
10. Cool Runnings

[Teh Sausage]

1.
2. The Wrong Trousers
3. Short Cuts
4. The Nightmare Before Christmas
5. Groundhog Day

I don't know why I haven't seen Schindler's List.

[Raiders]

Raiders, did you forget Bad Boy Bubby or is this just a truly exceptional cinematic year for you?

I forgot it initially and then saw it in your list. I didn't bother editing because I'm not sure it would crack the top five as that is a pretty exceptional top five for me. It definitely belongs in the second group, though.

[Mysterious Dude]

1. Schindler's List
2. The Wrong Trousers
3. The Nightmare Before Christmas
4. Menace II Society
5. Farewell My Concubine

[Duncan]

1. Naked
2. Three Colours: Blue
3. The Nightmare Before Christmas
4. Short Cuts
5. Groundhog Day

[Benny Profane]

1. Schindler's List
2. This Boy's Life
3. 32 Short Films About Glenn Gould
4. Groundhog Day
5. Dazed and Confused

6. What's Eating Gilbert Grape
7. Short Cuts
8. In the Name of the Father
9. The Fugitive
10. Carlito's Way


Great year! Very hard to choose a top 5.

[ledfloyd]

edited my post cause i somehow spaced on short cuts. pretty good year. 4 from my top 100.

[origami_mustache]

This is '95 people.

yeah The Puppetmaster is '93

[Lazlo]

1. Schindler’s List
2. Three Colors: Blue
3. Groundhog Day
4. The Nightmare Before Christmas
5. Dazed and Confused

[Grouchy]

1. Three Colors: Blue
2. Sonatine
3. Cronos
4. The Age of Innocence
5. Arizona Dream

I downloaded Bad Boy Bubby at the advice of a friend, but haven't seen it yet.

[baby doll]

1. The Puppet Master (Hou Hsiao-hsien)
2. Trois couleurs: Bleu (Krzyzstof Kieslowski)
3. Naked (Mike Leigh)
4. The Baby of Mâcon (Peter Greenaway)
5. Ma saison préférée (André Téchiné)

[Ezee E]

1. Schindler's List
2. Fearless
3. Groundhog Day
4. Jurassic Park
5. The Piano

6. A Bronx Tale
7. Dazed & Confused
8. The Fugitive
9. The Sandlot
10. Menace II Society

[baby doll]

Menace II SocietyI actually just saw this recently, and I have to say I wasn't overly impressed by it. Forgetting that it's so extreme that it's impossible to take seriously, just as another Scarface knock-off, it's so repeatitive and dull. The first sequence is shocking, but then it's just one pointless, senseless death after another until I became numb to it all (maybe that's the point the film is making).

[Ezee E]

I actually just saw this recently, and I have to say I wasn't overly impressed by it. Forgetting that it's so extreme that it's impossible to take seriously, just as another Scarface knock-off, it's so repeatitive and dull. The first sequence is shocking, but then it's just one pointless, senseless death after another until I became numb to it all (maybe that's the point the film is making).
Scarface knock-off?

Maybe you're confused.

The Hughes Brothers have some fascinating talent but they've gotten okay screenplays. It's disappointing that they haven't done anything since From Hell.

[baby doll]

Scarface knock-off?

Maybe you're confused.

The Hughes Brothers have some fascinating talent but they've gotten okay screenplays. It's disappointing that they haven't done anything since From Hell.If the characters were Italian or Cuban instead of black, and lived in New York or Miami instead of Watts, would it have been treated as a serious-intentioned message movie or just another stylish gangster film? There's so little insight into the characters and their culture, and there are so many jackings, drive-bys and convenience store bloodbaths that the tone of the film is actually closer to Scarface, which is pure stylization, than even Goodfellas, which aspires to a more realistic portrayal.

[Ezee E]

IF

But it is set in Watts. It's attention to dialog, regional slang, and teen life has much more dedication than an exploitation film. New Jack City is something that resembles Scarface more than anything. Menace II Society, while overblown, is still serious when it's all said and done.

[baby doll]

IF

But it is set in Watts. It's attention to dialog, regional slang, and teen life has much more dedication than an exploitation film. New Jack City is something that resembles Scarface more than anything. Menace II Society, while overblown, is still serious when it's all said and done.I'll concede the obvious that the characters in this film have a different way of speaking than the characters in Scarface, but that aside, it's serious only in that the characters are black and live in Watts, so all the jackings, drive-bys and convenience store bloodbaths are indicative of a serious problem rather than good, clean fun (like the chainsaw scene in De Palma's film or Ray Liotta pistol-whipping that guy in Goodfellas). I don't find it hard to imagine real gangsters watching the film with almost as much delight as O-Dog watching the tape from the Korean grocery store. There's no insight to the causes of inner-city violence in general or the characters in particular. Yes, the hero's father was a drug dealer, but judging by the narration, we're supposed to conclude that there's a connection between the father's choice of profession, and the rise of street drugs in general, and the riots. It's minimally accomplished as storytelling (I wasn't bored), but after a point, one becomes as blase about all the killing as the characters.

[Yum-Yum]

1. Naked
2. Arizona Dream
3. Ruby in Paradise
4. Return of the Living Dead III
5. Dazed and Confused

6. Lake Consequence
7. Household Saints
8. The Bride With White Hair
9. Twenty Bucks
10. The Crush

[Hugh_Grant]

1. King of the Hill
2. The Remains of the Day
3. Naked
4. Six Degrees of Separation
5. Wrestling Ernest Hemingway

[Kurosawa Fan]

1. In the Name of the Father
2. Schindler's List
3. Dazed and Confused
4. Madadayo
5. Short Cuts

[Ezee E]

I don't find it hard to imagine real gangsters watching the film with almost as much delight as O-Dog watching the tape from the Korean grocery store. There's no insight to the causes of inner-city violence in general or the characters in particular.

Don't you find that chilling though? The delight of seeing themselves commit violence gives more incentive to do it more since there's really no stopping to it. Great scene.

[baby doll]

Don't you find that chilling though? The delight of seeing themselves commit violence gives more incentive to do it more since there's really no stopping to it. Great scene.Well, by that point in the film we've seen so many pointless deaths, one feels as numb to it all as O-Dog.

[thefourthwall]

1. Groundhog Day
2. Naked
3. The Piano
4. In the Name of the Father
5. The Wrong Trousers

I wish I'd seen Remains of the Day more recently than '93, so I could include it; unfortunately, I don't quite trust my memory, nor do I have time to watch it soon...

[Silencio]

1. Schindler's List
2. Three Colours: Blue
3. Short Cuts
4. Naked
5. Calendar

[soitgoes...]

This is almost done!! Last chance to get your ballot in! Every vote counts!!! Double if your's is similar to mine! ;)

[Dead & Messed Up]

01. What's Eating Gilbert Grape?
02. Cronos
03. Searching for Bobby Fisher
04. The Nightmare Before Christmas
05. Schindler's List

- - - - - -

06. Groundhog Day
07. Dazed and Confused
08. Army of Darkness
09. The Fugitive
10. Sonatine

Good year.

[soitgoes...]

This is done. I'm gonna tally it tonight, and find all the accompanying purty pictures. I won't post until tomorrow though.

[soitgoes...]

#9 (Tie)

http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee171/soitgoes22/720pianooptThePiano-3-1-1.jpg

The Piano

Director: Jane Campion

Country: Australia/New Zealand/France

A mute woman along with her young daughter, and her prized piano, are sent to 1850s New Zealand for an arranged marriage to a wealthy landowner, and she's soon lusted after by a local worker on the plantation.

The last movie Nirvana lead singer Kurt Cobain watched before he died. # Jane Campion became the first woman to win the prestigious Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival with this film, though she was unable to receive the award in person as she was due to give birth.

"It is one of those rare movies that is not just about a story, or some characters, but about a whole universe of feeling - of how people can be shut off from each other, lonely and afraid, about how help can come from unexpected sources, and about how you'll never know if you never ask." - Roger Ebert

[soitgoes...]

I'll finish later, fo realz yo. I wanted to give you something to nibble on. :eek: Discuss the merits of this fine film. Consider why is this tied for #9, what the film it's tied with might be (hint: it was released in 1993), why Harvey Keitel has it in his film contracts to show his penis on screen. Please discuss. Discuss!

[dreamdead]

Yeah, Campion's film has been a perennial favorite of mine for years. Incredible performances by all, understated atmosphere that Campion weaves throughout the film, and I just love how indebted the film is to history in that the characters are a part of history rather than existing outside of history. That, basically, is a fancy way of saying that the film's many pleasures for me lie, principally at least, in how thoroughly women's subjugation is a part of this film, and how it reveals some small salvation from that oppression.

Love the whole dreamy sequence in the water that is the prelude to the coda. Still hard to believe that this is all the higher Campion's film places, but oh well.

[Pop Trash]

Yeah, Campion's film has been a perennial favorite of mine for years. Incredible performances by all, understated atmosphere that Campion weaves throughout the film, and I just love how indebted the film is to history in that the characters are a part of history rather than existing outside of history. That, basically, is a fancy way of saying that the film's many pleasures for me lie, principally at least, in how thoroughly women's subjugation is a part of this film, and how it reveals some small salvation from that oppression.

Love the whole dreamy sequence in the water that is the prelude to the coda. Still hard to believe that this is all the higher Campion's film places, but oh well.
I like The Piano but it's nagging and somewhat contrived feminism kind of makes me :rolleyes: I mean I know Campion wasn't trying to do this but I actually felt bad for Sam Neil's character. The whole thing with like "I'm a stuffy repressed woman and Harvey Keitel is this noble savage who is going to fuck me until I feel genuine passion" seems cribbed from female romance novel wish fulfillment. I'm guessing if I had a pair of ovaries and a vagina I would feel different. Honestly I prefer Sophia Coppola's more post-feminist brand of feminine POV.

[Spinal]

Way too low, you bastards.

[Duncan]

Way too low, you bastards.

On the upside, it's one more reminder that I need to see it. I'm trying to expand my female director horizons. Also must see more Varda now that I've seen Cleo from 5 to 7.

[soitgoes...]

#9 (Tie)

http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee171/soitgoes22/Msonatine_4-1.jpg

Sonatine

Director: Takeshi Kitano

Country: Japan

A world-weary yakuza in Tokyo is assigned to take his clan to Okinawa to help settle a dispute between two factions. He's suspicious of the assignment, but he goes, and within a couple days, his role remains unclear and several of men are dead. He retreats to a house on a remote beach to wait.

Sonatine was highly inspired by, and explicitly refers to, Kinji Fukasaku's 1971 Sympathy for the Underdog, starring Koji Tsuruta. Plot, location and characters are similar in both movies, even the Okinawan theme song featured in Fukasaku's Sympathy for the Underdog appears in Sonatine. Since Takeshi Kitano started directing, on Violent Cop, thanks to Kinji Fukasaku's withdrawal, some believes that Sonatine is an homage to Fukasaku, one of Kitano's masters along with Akira Kurosawa.

"In a brilliant stroke that probably no other director would have dared, the film's climactic blood bath is left to our imaginations. The violence is paradoxically diminished and romanticized by being contemplated from afar like a distant thunderstorm rumbling and flickering on the edge of a plain or a far-off Fourth of July fireworks display barely visible above the horizon." - Stephen Holden

[soitgoes...]

#8

http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee171/soitgoes22/B0682ECD06-1.jpg

Dazed and Confused

Director: Richard Linklater

Country: USA

It's the last day of school at a high school in a small town in Texas in 1976. The upperclassmen are hazing the incoming freshmen, and everyone is trying to get stoned, drunk, or laid, even the football players that signed a pledge not to.

On Thursday 7 October 2004, former high school classmates of Linklater filed a lawsuit against Universal Studios saying that the director did not get their permission to use their likenesses and surnames and now suffer from ridicule. The three men are Bobby Wooderson, Andy Slater and Richard Floyd. The three men still live in Huntsville, Texas where according to the lawsuit "we had fun in high school."

"Dazed and Confused unfolds in a loose, natural style that suits its teen-age characters, whose collective mental state is reflected by the title. To the blaring, less-than-nostalgic music of bands like Foghat and Deep Purple and Black Oak Arkansas, these high school students drive around and contemplate the future in "American Graffiti" fashion. Their drifting is treated as a form of forward momentum, even though it sometimes becomes aimless and the film's improvised quality becomes overpowering. The actors bounce off one another with crazy riffs and cosmic observations, some of them unexpectedly funny." - Janet Maslin

[soitgoes...]

#7

http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee171/soitgoes22/172214__short_cuts_l-1.jpg

Short Cuts

Director: Robert Altman

Country: USA

While helicopters overhead spray against a Medfly infestation a group of Los Angeles lives intersect, some casually, some to more lasting effect. Whilst they go out to concerts and jazz clubs and even have their pools cleaned, they also lie, drink, and cheat. Death itself seems never to be far away, even on a fishing trip.

All Jennifer Jason Leigh's phone-sex conversations are verbatim of the calls she heard when she was researching for the part. Annie Ross and Lori Singer's segment is a Robert Altman invention and has no connection to anything Raymond Carver has written.

"Part of the miracle of Robert Altman's triumphantly fierce, funny, moving and innovative Short Cuts is that you can't get this movie out of your head. You keep playing it back to savor its formula-smashing audacity, its peerless performances and its cleareyed view of blasted lives." - Peter Travers ;)

[soitgoes...]

#6

http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee171/soitgoes22/sally04dl-1.jpg

The Nightmare Before Christmas

Director: Henry Selick

Country: USA

Bored and unhappy with the life of being "The Pumpkin King" Jack Skellington of Halloween Town, Jack sets out to find something exciting. Jack discovers "Christmas Town" and takes it upon himself to take over the duties of Santa to deliver toys across the world to children.

Jack makes his first lengthy appearance in Beetle Juice (1988) on top of Beetlejuice's carousel hat towards the end when Beetlejuice rises out of the floor, after summoned by Lydia (Winona Ryder). Although this was Jack's longer appearance, he actually first appeared in Tim Burton's "Vincent" (1982), in minute 4:45, even if it is a very brief appearance.

"Working with gifted artists and designers, he (Selick) has made a world here that is as completely new as the worlds we saw for the first time in such films as "Metropolis," "The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari" or "Star Wars." What all of these films have in common is a visual richness, so abundant that they deserve more than one viewing. First, go for the story. Then go back just to look in the corners of the screen, and appreciate the little visual surprises and inspirations that are tucked into every nook and cranny." - Roger Ebert

[soitgoes...]

#5

http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee171/soitgoes22/The-Wrong-Trousers-01-1.jpg

Wallace & Gromit in The Wrong Trousers

Director: Nick Park

Country: UK

Plasticine animation of the loveable duo of Wallace and Gromit; inventors of all manner of useful devices. In this Oscar winning story, Gromit (a dog) finds himself being pushed out of his room and home by a new lodger who is actually a ruthless criminal (and a small penguin). The penguin is planning a robbery and needs to use Wallace and his mechanical remote controlled trousers to pull off the raid. However, Gromit is wise to the penguin and comes to the rescue.

When Gromit is reading the newspaper at the café, one of the headlines is "Dog Reads Paper". In one scene, Gromit is reading "The Republic" by Pluto. The actual author is Plato; Pluto is Mickey Mouse's dog.

"The film that finally dared to expose the evil that lies in the heart of penguins, The Wrong Trousers is a stunning combination of wit and craftsmanship. Working from a delightful script that has a Machiavellian waterfowl plotting a high-stakes robbery using a stolen pair of mechanical trousers, Nick Park and his team of animators draw inspiration from classic heist films to create a claymation marvel that is as exhilarating as it is silly." - Spinal

[soitgoes...]

#4

http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee171/soitgoes22/GroundKlok2-1.jpg

Groundhog Day

Director: Harold Ramis

Country: USA

A weather man is reluctantly sent to cover a story about a weather forecasting "rat" (as he calls it). This is his fourth year on the story, and he makes no effort to hide his frustration. On awaking the 'following' day he discovers that it's Groundhog Day again, and again, and again. First he uses this to his advantage, then comes the realisation that he is doomed to spend the rest of eternity in the same place, seeing the same people do the same thing EVERY day.

Bill Murray was bitten by the groundhog twice during shooting. According to an interview with Harold Ramis, he and Murray argued over the tone of the film. Murray wanted the film to be more philosophical while Ramis wanted it to be more comedic. The two argued throughout the production and have not spoken to each other since.

"The movie is like some insane mongrel commingling of "It's a Wonderful Life," "The Twilight Zone" and Luis Bunuel's "The Exterminating Angel." Yet it is very much a film by the man who directed Murray (with another burrowing rodent) in "Caddyshack." In other words, it springs straight from the heart of the great tradition of American trash surrealism, which is precisely what makes it so immediately and delightfully accessible, so multilayered and rich without pretension." - Hal Hinson

[soitgoes...]

#3

http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee171/soitgoes22/blue-1.jpg

Three Colors: Blue

Director: Krzysztof Kieslowski

Country: France/Poland/Switzerland/UK

Blue is the story of Julie who loses her husband, an acclaimed European composer and her young daughter in a car accident. The film's theme of liberty is manifested in Julie's attempt to start life anew free of personal commitments, belongings grief and love.

At one point, we see Julie carrying a box which, as a close-up shows, has prominently written across it the word "blanco", Spanish for white; in the next shot we are looking at her from behind, and she pauses in the street as a man in blue passes her on her left and a woman in red passes her on her right. This is a subtle reference to the structure of the Three Colours trilogy - blue, white, red, in that order, mirroring the French flag.

In the trilogy, Blue is the anti-tragedy, 'White' is the anti-comedy, and 'Red' is the anti-romance. All three films hook us with immediate narrative interest. They are metaphysical through example, not theory: Kieslowski tells the parable but doesn't preach the lesson. - Ebert

[soitgoes...]

#2

http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee171/soitgoes22/54nakedcrutcartlidge.jpg

Naked

Director: Mike Leigh

Country: UK

Johnny flees Manchester for London, to avoid a beating from the family of a girl he has raped. There he finds an old girlfriend, and spends some time homeless, spending much of his time ranting at strangers, and meeting characters in plights very much like his own.

The script was largely created by improvisation during 11 weeks of rehearsal before shooting. The script was only 25 pages long.

"In this case, Naked is a mournful critique about the state of male/female relationships, and more generally the danger associated with people knowing their place in the world and acting upon it (or at least what they perceive that place to be), rather than challenging and negotiating it. Leigh is not suggesting women are by nature, passive and/or submissive (or that men are dominant/aggressive), but rather suggesting the perils of relationships built on the sort of manipulation presented in the film." - Boner M

[Watashi]

Yay Spielberg!

[soitgoes...]

#1

http://i233.photobucket.com/albums/ee171/soitgoes22/schindlerslist_big_008-1.jpg

Schindler's List

Director: Steven Spielberg

Country: USA

The true story of Czech born Oskar Schindler, a businessman who tried to make his fortune during the Second World War by exploiting cheap Jewish labour, but ended up penniless having saved over 1000 Polish Jews from almost certain death during the holocaust.

Billy Wilder contributed to the first draft of the screenplay for this film, and at one time early in its production, was set to direct it. Harrison Ford was offered the title role but declined, saying that some people would not be able to look past him as a star to see the importance of the film.

"I'm generally not a Spielberg enthusiast, but it's impossible for me to deny the sheer emotional power of this film. It's heart-wrenching, gut-punching drama that is completely unflinching in its portrayal of the Holocaust. Everything from the performances to the gorgeous black and white cinematography are flawless. It is completely deserving of its immaculate reputation." - Kurosawa Fan

[soitgoes...]

1. Schindler's List - 71.5
2. Naked - 63
3. Three Colors: Blue - 62
4. Groundhog Day - 58.5
5. Wallace & Gromit in the Wrong Trousers - 41.5
6. The Nightmare Before Christmas - 39.5
7. Short Cuts - 35
8. Dazed and Confused - 24
T9. Sonatine - 16
T9. The Piano - 16

Almost: Jurassic Park - 14

At multiple points during the tallying I thought any of the top 4 films might get #1. It was quite close all the way through.

[Duncan]

Good Naked insight, Boner.

...jesus. Boner, Teh Sausage, CSC...what is this site's penis synonym capacity?

[Grouchy]

I'm very glad Sonatine is on the list.

I have to see Schindler's List and Naked sometime.

[Raiders]

Good Naked insight, Boner.

...jesus. Boner, Teh Sausage, CSC...what is this site's penis synonym capacity?

I feel dumb, and I may regret this, but what penis synonym does CSC stand for?

[Pop Trash]

I feel dumb, and I may regret this, but what penis synonym does CSC stand for?
Don't worry, I don't really get it either. I was thinking maybe someone who gives circumcisions? Or am I way off?

[Russ]

CSC = Clipper Ship Captain, and unless the implication is that he's a dick, then I don't get the penis reference either.

[Boner M]

Duncan, we're still awaiting your answer to the penis question.

[Winston*]

http://i284.photobucket.com/albums/ll39/colpot10/clippership.jpg

[Duncan]

CSC = Clipper Ship Captain, and unless the implication is that he's a dick, then I don't get the penis reference either.
Yeah, it was this. Maybe I was feeling a little dickish when I wrote it, or had just read another one of those FDT discussions where someone ends up being called an asshole that annoy me so much.

[Grouchy]

Yeah, it was this. Maybe I was feeling a little dickish when I wrote it, or had just read another one of those FDT discussions where someone ends up being called an asshole that annoy me so much.
Worst joke you've ever tried to make.

[Duncan]

Worst joke you've ever tried to make.
I think that's already been established by the four people above claiming not to get it. But thanks for the reinforcement.

[Grouchy]

I think that's already been established by the four people above claiming not to get it. But thanks for the reinforcement.
No, seriously. It's so bad it makes everything else on this page look like genius fucking writing by comparison.

Delete it or be shamed.

[Duncan]

No, seriously. It's so bad it makes everything else on this page look like genius fucking writing by comparison.

Delete it or be shamed.

:shrug:

Or I could just not care.