Match Cut Art Direction Consensus

[balmakboor]

I gave Brazil a fresh look yesterday and was really wowed all over again by the creativity in the art direction/set design. Then I thought, "I wonder what people around here hold the dearest in this respect." So, go ahead if you please and list up to ten faves and I'll compile some sort of final results in about a week -- unless only two or three people respond in which case I'll probably skip the compiling part.

I'll post my own top ten after I, you know, think beyond the obvious two for me -- Brazil and Playtime.

Oh, and by the way, you make the call on physical sets versus virtual sets. I love Rouge City in A.I. just as much as the Emerald City in The Wizard of Oz. Both are great set designs even if the former is mostly bits and bytes.

[BuffaloWilder]

Terry Gilliam's Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, Tarsem's The Fall, George Miller's Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome and Babe: Pig In the City, "Spielberg's" A.I. Artificial Intelligence, and - of course, the most obvious choice: Ridley Scott's Blade Runner.

[dreamdead]

Yeah, I immediately think of The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari. Will try to think of others.

[Ezee E]

Whenever I watch the Pirates of the Caribbean sequels, I'm amazed at the dedication that is put into the art direction in each set, world, etc. They're okay movies, but I would put them up there with some of the best Art Direction period.

Some of the old epics like Ten Commandments, Ben-Hur, D.W. Griffith's Intolerance come to mind as well.

[balmakboor]

Some that came to mind. Maybe not a top 10, but still pretty damn good in my eyes:

http://www.ebertfest.com/seven/playtime008.jpg
Playtime
This whole movie is one deviously clever set after another. Every time I watch it, I'm even more amazed by the magnitude of Tati's accomplishment.

Mystery Train
The way the motel room in each segment becomes creatively more rundown says everything about the arc of the film.

http://www.empireonline.com/images/features/hitchcock-cameos/Rear-Window.jpg
Rear Window
This whole film is one long set piece. And that set, extending from the apartment across the courtyard and into glimpses of neighboring apartments is miraculous.

Minority Report
The console where Anderton conducts (definitely the right word) his investigations, the chamber of the precogs, and the apartment building where Anderton hides out are three of Spielberg's most memorable sets.

http://www.cyberpunkreview.com/images/brazil07.jpg
Brazil
As I said in the opening post, this has few parallels for visual inventiveness.

http://flann4.files.wordpress.com/2007/10/strangelove.jpg
Dr. Strangelove
The war room is one of the greatest and most influential sets ever conceived. And the bomber and General Ripper's office are equally perfect designs.

Pulp Fiction
Granted, I picked this mostly for Jack Rabbit Slim's, but every set is lovingly detailed.

http://stylemens.typepad.com/photos/uncategorized/2008/05/30/stone_h_2.jpg
This is Spinal Tap
The stage sets a sheer genius and the source of some of its biggest laughs.

Salo or the 120 Days of Sodom
Most people remember the shit and the torture. I most remember the amazing art deco sets where the libertines and their women rest and freshen up between the shit and the torture. Oh, and the unforgettable courtyard that holds the final tortures at a distance.

http://thephoenix.com/BLOGS/blogs/outsidetheframe/TheFountain_8187.jpg
The Fountain
This may be my favorite set ever. And everything else is none too shabby either.

[Mysterious Dude]

A tentative list:

1. Suspiria (1977)
2. Satyricon (1969)
3. The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (1920)
4. West Side Story (1961)
5. Playtime (1967)
6. The Scarlet Empress (1934)
7. The Cell (2000)
8. Metropolis (1927)
9. Seven (1995)
10. Double Suicide (1969)

[B-side]

Some great ones not mentioned:

The Conformist (Bertolucci)

http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d171/Nosferatu-man/aconformistTHE_CONFORMIST_EXTE NDED_.jpg

House (Obayashi)

http://i50.tinypic.com/21jcfg7.jpg

Time Regained (Ruiz)

http://img19.imageshack.us/img19/3184/vlcsnap400667.png

In a Year with 13 Moons (Fassbinder)

http://img503.imageshack.us/img503/8535/ineinemjahrmit13mondenfwi4.jpg

[Adam]

Can't do a top ten or anything, because I'm never happy with the film-related lists I make. I'll leave a bunch of stuff out and I'm always embarrassed to look back on them even a couple of months later. I think I can say in full confidence, though, that my all-time favorite set design in film goes to Warren Beatty's candy-coated masterpiece, Dick Tracy

http://i560.photobucket.com/albums/ss47/adamstone20/DickTracy_0001.jpg

http://i560.photobucket.com/albums/ss47/adamstone20/DickTracy_0009.jpg

http://i560.photobucket.com/albums/ss47/adamstone20/DickTracy_0002.jpg

http://i560.photobucket.com/albums/ss47/adamstone20/DickTracy_0006.jpg

http://i560.photobucket.com/albums/ss47/adamstone20/DickTracy_0008.jpg

http://i560.photobucket.com/albums/ss47/adamstone20/DickTracy_0007.jpg

[Ezee E]

Dick Tracy is a great one.

[balmakboor]

Yeah, those Dick Tracy grabs are knockouts. I really should see it again. The closest things lately to that degree of cartoon world brought vividly to live action life have been Sin City and Speed Racer. (I was tempted to say Watchmen as well, but I found that quite ugly to be honest.) Warren Beatty did it without the help of CGI though.

I also could've put Black Narcissus on my list. And I narrowed a slew of Hitchcock movies down to Rear Window.