MC Yearly Consensus - 1988

[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 thread is locked, 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)

[Yxklyx]

1. Dangerous Liaisons (Stephen Frears)
2. The Last Temptation of Christ (Martin Scorsese)
3. Medea (Lars von Trier)
4. The Vanishing (George Sluizer)
5. Beetlejuice (Tim Burton)

6. Die Hard (John McTiernan)
7. A Fish Called Wanda (Charles Crichton & John Cleese)
8. Tales from the Gimli Hospital (Guy Maddin)
9. Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (Pedro Almodóvar)
10. The Thin Blue Line (Errol Morris)

[Spinal]

1. The Vanishing
2. The Last Temptation of Christ
3. Drowning By Numbers
4. Talk Radio
5. Grave of the Fireflies

Leaving out Death in the Seine because I don't think any one else has seen it.

[baby doll]

1. Chocolat (Claire Denis)
2. La Bande des quatre (Jacques Rivette)
3. Track 29 (Nicolas Roeg)
4. Landscape in the Mist (Theo Angelopoulos)
5. Damnation (Bela Tarr)

I would've voted for The Last Temptation of Christ, but it's been so long since I've seen it that I'm not sure I'd like it if I saw it again today. Either way, it'll get plenty of votes without me.

[origami_mustache]

1. Tales from the Gimli Hospital
2. Who Framed Roger Rabbit
3. Cinema Paradiso
4. Rain Man
5. The Last Temptation of Christ


I've seen so many bad movies from this year haha:
Bloodsport
Killer Klowns from Outer Space
A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master
Mac and Me
Friday the 13th Part VII: The New Blood
Crocodile Dundee II
Child's Play
Ernest Saves Christmas
Earth Girls Are Easy

[soitgoes...]

1. Landscape in the Mist (Theo Angelopoulos)
2. Grave of the Fireflies (Isao Takahata)
3. Cinema Paradiso (Guiseppe Tornatore)
4. Story of Women (Claude Chabrol)
5. The Last Temptation of Christ (Martin Scorsese)
----------------------------------------------------------
6. A Short Film About Killing (Krzysztof Kieslowski)
7. The Vanishing (George Sluizer)
8. A Short Film About Love (Krzysztof Kieslowski)
9. Stille Nacht I (Stephen Quay, Timothy Quay)
10. Salaam Bombay! (Mira Nair)

Great year.

[Russ]

1. Hairspray
2. The Vanishing
3. The Thin Blue Line
4. The Cowboy and the Frenchman
5. Tales from the Gimli Hospital

[Derek]

Crocodile Dundee II

What?? You weren't even moved by the emotionally devastating clothes switcheroo finale where Linda Kozlowski thought Mick had died?? Did you not see the masterful freeze frame at the end, man!!!?

Ok yeah, it sucks, but I still find it amusingly awful.

[Spinal]

Crocodile Dundee II is bad. Almost an Angel is worse.

[Boner M]

Great year.

1. The Vanishing
2. Dead Ringers
3. Dawn of an Evil Millennium
4. High Hopes
5. Ghosts... of the Civil Dead

HM:

Distant Voices, Still Lives
Die Hard
Cane Toads
A Fish Called Wanda
Alice (Svankmajer)
My Neighbor Totoro
Talk Radio
Midnight Run

Left out both Dekalogs 'cos I've only seen the one hour versions.

[Melville]

1. Dead Ringers
2. Chocolat
3. A Short Film about Killing
4. My Neighbor Totoro
5. The Unbearable Lightness of Being

HMs: The Naked Gun, Akira, Dangerous Liasons

[Rowland]

Bloodsport rocks. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0YDuSLXcX8)

Nightmare on Elm Street 4 isn't that bad either. The script sucks, but Harlin directs the hell out of it, so it at least has more entertaining flair than most movies of its ilk.

[Derek]

Crocodile Dundee II is bad.

Is this even debatable? Was my sarcasm really undetectable? :)

______________________________ ______

1. Distant Voices, Still Lives (Terence Davies)
2. The Thin Blue Line (Errol Morris)
3. Die Hard (John McTiernan)
4. Powaqqatsi (Godfrey Reggio)
5. Dangerous Liaisons (Stephen Frears)
****************************** *
6. The Last Temptation of Christ (Martin Scorsese)
7. My Neighbor Totoro (Hayao Miyazaki)
8. The Naked Gun (David Zucker)
9. Grave of the Fireflies (Isao Takahata)
10. The Firm (Alan Clarke)

[origami_mustache]

Bloodsport rocks. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k0YDuSLXcX8)

Nightmare on Elm Street 4 isn't that bad either. The script sucks, but Harlin directs the hell out of it, so it at least has more entertaining flair than most movies of its ilk.


haha I enjoy most of those "bad" films for nostalgic/comedic purposes at the least...especially Bloodsport.

[ledfloyd]

1. Cinema Paradiso
2. A Fish Called Wanda
3. Eight Men Out
4. Big
5. Die Hard

HM: Rain Man, Bull Durham, Midnight Run, Roger Rabbit

I really had to force myself to keep Big from being number one.

[Raiders]

1. Dead Ringers
2. My Neighbor Totoro
3. Distant Voices, Still Lives
4. The Last Temptation of Christ
5. Paperhouse

Left out Hillcoat/Cave's Ghosts... of the Civil Dead since only Boner has also seen it, and Bernard Rose's truly wonderful Paperhouse deserves at least one mention.

[Boner M]

Left out Hillcoat/Cave's Ghosts... of the Civil Dead since only Boner has also seen it.
I thought Llopin had seen it too? And Winston, but he's on a dragon-slaying holiday and doesn't participate in consensus threads. I think you should include it anyway. Morals, Raiders.

[Spinal]

Is this even debatable? Was my sarcasm really undetectable? :)


No, I thought you were totally serious. You just seem like a Paul Hogan lover. In fact, he's the actor I most associate you with because you're always all like "G'day this!" and "G'day that!" and "Now that's a knife!". It's really irritating all of us and I'm the only one man enough to say anything about it.

[EyesWideOpen]

1. My Neighbor Totoro
2. The Last Temptation of Christ
3. Grave of the Fireflies
4. Akira
5. Rain Man

HM:
Who Framed Roger Rabbit

[Melville]

No, I thought you were totally serious. You just seem like a Paul Hogan lover. In fact, he's the actor I most associate you with because you're always all like "G'day this!" and "G'day that!" and "Now that's a knife!". It's really irritating all of us and I'm the only one man enough to say anything about it.
:lol:

Spinal is the cure for the daily blues.

[monolith94]

1. Akira
2. Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown
3. The Thin Blue Line
4. Talk Radio
5. Die Hard

[Yxklyx]

...
2. Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown
...

Yeah, that's a good one. My #5 through #9 are interchangeable.

[Watashi]

Man, a lot of you really suck.

1. Who Framed Roger Rabbit (why is this not getting more votes?)
2. The Last Temptation of Christ
3. Dead Ringers
4. Akira
5. Cinema Paradiso

[Kurious Jorge v3.1]

1. The Vanishing
2. Cinema Paradiso
3. Drowning by Numbers
4. Distant Vocies, Still Lives
5. A Short Film about Killing

[Lazlo]

1. Who Framed Roger Rabbit
2. A Fish Called Wanda
3. The Last Temptation of Christ
4. Die Hard
5. Big

[Stay Puft]

1. Akira
2. Dead Ringers
3. The Last Temptation of Christ
4. Die Hard
5. Who Framed Roger Rabbit

[Ezee E]

Damn I want to see Ghosts...of the Civil Dead.

1.Who Framed Roger Rabbit
2.Die Hard
3.Last Temptation of Christ
4.Beetle Juice
5.Akira

[Weeping_Guitar]

1. Cinema Paradiso
2. Who Framed Roger Rabbit?
3. A Fish Called Wanda
4. Unbearable Lightness of Being
5. Big

[BirdsAteMyFace]

1. Cinema Paradiso
2. Grave of the Fireflies
3. Beetlejuice
4. The Unbearable Lightness of Being
5. Dead Ringers

HM: My Neighbor Totoro, Who Framed Roger Rabbit, A Short Film About Killing

[MacGuffin]

1. My Neighbor Totoro (Miyazaki)
2. I... Dreaming (Brakhage)
3. Hairspray (Waters)
4. Die Hard (McTierman)
5. A Fish Called Wanda (Crichton, Cleese)

[Spinal]

1. Who Framed Roger Rabbit (why is this not getting more votes?)


#16

[Grouchy]

1. Dead Ringers
2. Akira
3. The Last Temptation of Christ
4. Die Hard
5. Brain Damage

Even though it doesn't have much of a chance at the Top10, I must ask everybody here to INMEDIATELY watch Brain Damage (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0094793/). It's an incredible movie, and very underseen.

[dreamdead]

Hopefully A Fish Called Wanda is safe in the top ten...

1. Grave of the Fireflies
2. Dead Ringers
3. Distant Vocies, Still Lives
4. The Vanishing
5. Unbearable Lightness of Being

[Watashi]

#16

That would be my ranking for Grave of the Fireflies.

Of course, I've only seen 16 films from that year.

[Eleven]

1. Dead Ringers
2. My Neighbor Totoro
3. The Vanishing
4. Who Framed Roger Rabbit
5. Beetlejuice

HMs: The Thin Blue Line, A Fish Called Wanda, A Taxing Woman's Return.

[Kurosawa Fan]

1. The Vanishing
2. The Thin Blue Line
3. The Last Temptation of Christ
4. Bull Durham
5. Die Hard

[Sycophant]

1. Grave of the Fireflies
2. My Neighbor Totoro
3. They Live
4. Tucker: the Man and His Dream

[Kurosawa Fan]

Ugh. Fucking Totoro.

[Bosco B Thug]

3. They Live
4. Tucker: the Man and His Dream Cool I was hoping these two would get at least one mention.

More votes for Beetle Juice. This was a good year, wide range of greats (and probably-great); horror, comedy, action, animation, and John Waters being all well-represented.

[MacGuffin]

Cool I was hoping these two would get at least one mention.

More votes for Beetle Juice. This was a good year, wide range of greats (and probably-great); horror, comedy, action, animation, and John Waters being all well-represented.

Yes, John Waters is now officially its own genre. ;)

[Llopin]

1. My Neighbor Totoro (Miyazaki)
2. A Short Film About Love (Kieslowski)
3. Damnation (Tarr)
4. Ariel (Kaurismaki)
5. Landscape in the Mist (Angelopoulos)
--------
6. Dead Ringers (Cronenberg)
7. Ghosts... of the Civil Dead (Hillcoat) - yes I saw this, and it was mostly harrowing. Fucking Nick Cave.
8. Midnight Run (Brest)
9. Who Framed Roger Rabbit (Zemeckis)
10. Grave of the Fireflies (Takahata)


By the way, Spinal, I'll tally this one up, since it's my turn (or so I think).

[Ezee E]

Ugh. Fucking Totoro.
I figured it'd have a higher showing here.

But I'm right with you.

[soitgoes...]

5. Landscape in the Mist (Angelopoulos)

Nice. More people need to see this and then vote for it. It deserves to be in the top 10.

[Yum-Yum]

1. Remote Control
2. Earth Girls Are Easy
3. Miracle Mile
4. Pin: A Plastic Nightmare
5. Killer Klowns from Outer Space

6. Dance 'Til Dawn
7. Elvira, Mistress of the Dark
8. The Blob
9. Waxwork
10. My Best Friend is a Vampire

[koji]

1. Dangerous Liaisons (Stephen Fears)
2. The Vanishing (George Sluizer)
3. A Fish Called Wanda (Crichton & Cleese)
4. Tanner ’88 (Altman)
5. The Thin Blue Line (Errol Morris)
****************************** *****
6. Eight Men Out (John Sayles)
7. The Big Blue (Besson)
8. The Naked Gun (Abraham, Zucker)
9. Nuovo Cinema Paradiso (Giuseppe Tornatore)
10. Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (Pedro Almodóvar)


Otto: Apes don't read philosophy.
Wanda: Yes they do, Otto. They just don't understand it. Now let me correct you on a couple of things, OK? Aristotle was not Belgian. The central message of Buddhism is not "Every man for himself.” And the London Underground is not a political movement. Those are all mistakes, Otto. I looked them up.

[EyesWideOpen]

Ugh. Fucking Totoro.

Ugh. Fucking Die Hard.

[Qrazy]

Another great year, there's about 7 films that I have yet to see that I think I'll love and could completely change the following.

1. A Short Film about Killing
2. The Vanishing
3. Akira
4. Dead Ringers
5. Grave of the Fireflies

HMs: A Fish Called Wanda, A Short Film about Love

[MacGuffin]

3. Akira


The more I think I about this one, the more I appreciate it. Especially after watching that one movie The Place Promised in Our Early Days. The latter wasn't relevatory, but certainly put Akira and anime in general under a new light for me. I might have to give it another viewing in the future, because I think I can appreciate it more, and it's cyberpunk attitude a second time around.

[Qrazy]

The more I think I about this one, the more I appreciate it. Especially after watching that one movie The Place Promised in Our Early Days. The latter wasn't relevatory, but certainly put Akira and anime in general under a new light for me. I might have to give it another viewing in the future, because I think I can appreciate it more, and it's cyberpunk attitude a second time around.

Mos def, it's been a few years since I've seen it too. Time for a re-watch.

[Mysterious Dude]

1. The Last Temptation of Christ
2. Akira
3. Salaam Bombay!
4. Story of Women
5. The Unbearable Lightness of Being

[zazen]

1. Grave of the Fireflies (Isao Takahata)
2. The Vanishing (Georges Sluizer)
3. Damnation (Bela Tarr)
4. Landscape in the Mist (Theo Angelopoulos)
5. A Short Film About Love (Krzysztof Kieslowski)

[Spinal]

By the way, Spinal, I'll tally this one up, since it's my turn (or so I think).

Excellent.

[Spinal]

Top Songs of 1988:

1. "Faith", George Michael
2. "Need You Tonight", INXS
3. "Got My Mind Set On You", George Harrison
4. "Never Gonna Give You Up", Rick Astley
5. "Sweet Child O' Mine", Guns N' Roses
6. "So Emotional", Whitney Houston
7. "Heaven Is A Place On Earth", Belinda Carlisle
8. "Could've Been", Tiffany
9. "Hands To Heaven", Breathe
10. "Roll With It", Steve Winwood

source: musicoutfitters.com

[Spinal]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v696/joel_harmon/more/1101890102_400.jpg

[Sycophant]

I'm thinking the last Time "of the year" that didn't feel gimmicky was actually Joe Stalin.

[Watashi]

So, wait... you're telling me Neptune didn't win Planet of the Year that year?

I demand a revote!

[Spinal]

The following television programs debuted in 1988:

The Wonder Years
America's Most Wanted
Red Dwarf (UK)
China Beach
Yo! MTV Raps
Roseanne
Murphy Brown
Mystery Science Theater 3000

The #1 rated show in the Nielsen ratings for 1988:

The Cosby Show

[MadMan]

That Time cover is another reminder of why I canceled my subscription. Its a decent magazine at best. Newsweek is far better. Anyways:

1. Die Hard
2. Who Framed Roger Rabbit?
3. They Live
4. The Great Outdoors
5. The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!
6. Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
7. The Land Before Time
8. Scrooged
9. Rain Man
10. Crocodile Dundee II

[Spinal]

Sports Illustrated Sportsman of the Year for 1988:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v696/joel_harmon/more/168.jpg

Orel Hershiser

[Watashi]

Gotta love Hershiser. One of the few players who actually makes a damn good analysist.

[Spinal]

1988:

Median Household Income: $27,225.00
Cost of a first-class stamp: $0.22 ($0.25 as of 4/3/88)
Cost of a gallon of regular gas: $1.08
Cost of a dozen eggs: $0.89
Cost of a gallon of Milk: $2.30

source: 1980sflashback.com

[Llopin]

Last few hours for voting...

[monolith94]

Let's go Akira!!!

[Llopin]

Okay, closed, results tomorrow.

[Llopin]

#10 (tie)

http://www.adobe.com/uk/designcenter/dialogbox/errolmorris/images/Errol_Morris_fig02.jpg

The Thin Blue Line
director: Errol Morris

Errol Morris's unique documentary dramatically re-enacts the crime scene and investigation of a police officer's murder in Dallas. Briefly, a drifter (Randall Adams) ran out of gas in Texas and was picked up by a 16-year-old runaway (David Harris). Later that night, they drank some beer, smoked some marijuana, and went to the movies. Then, their stories diverge. Adams claims that he left for his motel, where he was staying with his brother, and went to sleep. Harris, however, says that they were stopped by police late that night and Adams suddenly shot the officer approaching their car. The film shows the audience the evidence gathered by the police, who were under extreme pressure to clear the case. It strongly makes a point that the circumstantial evidence was very flimsy. In fact, it becomes apparent that Harris was a much more likely suspect and was in the middle of a 'crime spree,' eventually ending up on Death Row himself for the later commission of other crimes. Morris implies that the D.A.'s and judge's desire for the death penalty in this case (which Harris would have been ineligible for, due to his youth), made Adams a scapegoat on which to pin this heinous crime

Morris spent 2-1/2 years tracking down the various players in the Randall Adams case and convincing them to appear in the film. In light of the new evidence uncovered by the film, an evidentiary hearing was held. David Harris testified, recanting his earlier testimony against Adams. "Adams knew nothing about this offense and was not in the car at the time," Harris testified. Adams' capital murder verdict was overturned, and he was released from prison in March 1989. Harris, at age 43, was executed by lethal injection on 6/30/04 in Huntsville, TX, for murdering a man, Mark Mays, during an attempted kidnapping. That crime occurred on 9/1/85, and was unrelated to Harris's murder of the police officer discussed in this film. The Mays case was mentioned in the film, in which Harris was wounded in the neck before the victim was killed.

"Morris' landmark film clearly demonstrates that the justice system has failed in this case, and reminds us that a Hitchcockian horror scenario could await anyone who finds himself in the wrong place at the wrong time. The judge cites the title of the documentary, and explains that the thin blue line refers to how the police "separates the public from anarchy" - John Nesbit

[Llopin]

#10 (tie)

http://www.whatdvd.net/WhatDVD-Graphics/main/92.jpg

A Fish Called Wanda
director: John Cleese / Charles Chricton

Sexy American diamonds lover Wanda and her boyfriend Otto are in England to plot alongside George and Ken the robbery of a diamond collection. Wanda and Otto want the stolen diamonds for themselves, and inform the police about George not knowing that he has already moved the diamonds to another secret place. Wanda thinks the best way to find out is by getting close to George's lawyer - Archie Leach.

When this film was shown in the theaters in Denmark, a Doctor literally laughed himself to death during the scene where Ken gets the chips up his nose. The story behind this, is that the man had made a joke a few years earlier with his family during dinner, where he put a piece of cauliflower up his and every family members nose as a joke and made a bet with them on who could eat up their carrots without the cauliflower falling out. When the scene with Ken and the chips came up, he started thinking about this dinner-incident and laughed so hard that his heart stopped. This story is well known in Scandinavia and spread around as almost an "urban legend" shortly after it happened. It later got confirmed by his son, who also told the dinner-story as an explanation to why his father laughed so hard from the chips-scene that he died.

"A Fish Called Wanda is one of the best-constructed, funniest, and most clever comedies to grace motion picture screens in recent years. It's outrageous, offensive, and even a little sick -- and all the more enjoyable because of it. John Cleese has spent his entire career rejecting conventional comedy, and, on this occasion, there's no denying that he has hit paydirt" - James Berardinelli

[dreamdead]

Awesome. The dog sequences in A Fish Called Wanda caused me to laugh so hard I hurt. One of the best comedies I've watched.

[Llopin]

(both previous films would be #11 and #10, technically, since they both got the same score at the 10th spot)


#9

http://thisdistractedglobe.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/03/Grave%20of%20the%20Fireflies%2 0.jpg

Grave of the Fireflies
director: Isao Takahata

Setsuko and Seita are brother and sister living in wartime Japan. After their mother is killed in an air raid they find a temporary home with relatives. Having quarreled with their aunt they leave the city and make their home in an abandoned shelter. While their father's destiny who was a soldier is unknown the two must depend on each other to somehow keep a roof over their heads and food in their stomachs. When everything is in short supply, they gradually succumb to hunger and their only entertainment is the light of the fireflies.

This film was initially distributed with Tonari no Totoro (1988) because it was the only way that Miyazaki could have been able to make 'Totoro'. The reason being that the original film pitch for 'Totoro' was rejected, so they pitched a double feature with 'Grave of the Fireflies' and the project was eventually backed financially by the original writer of the book 'Grave' is based on. It often was overlooked as a film because whenever 'Totoro' was screened first, people were left happy and did not wish to be saddened by 'GotF' afterwards. The film is based on a true story. Akiyuki Nosaka lost his little sister during the war to malnutrition and blamed himself for her death. He wrote Hotaru no haka (A Grave of Fireflies) in 1967 to come to terms with it. Isao Takahata was the only living animator involved on the project who had survived bomb blasts.

"There are individual moments of great beauty. One involves a night when the children catch fireflies and use them to illuminate their cave. The next day, Seita finds his little sister carefully burying the dead insects--as she imagines her mother was buried. There is another sequence in which the girl prepares "dinner" for her brother by using mud to make "rice balls" and other imaginary delicacies. And note the timing and the use of silence in a sequence where they find a dead body on the beach, and then more bombers appear far away in the sky" - Roger Ebert

[dreamdead]

Fascinating second paragraph toGrave of the Fireflies. Didn't know about Takahata's experience in the bomb blasts. More resonance for me, I guess...

[Llopin]

#8

http://www.rickmanistareview.com/dhfalling.jpg

Die Hard
director: John McTiernan

John McClane is a cop from New York City who is on his way to Los Angeles to see his kids and his wife Holly, who moved to LA because of a job at the Nakatomi Corporation. When he arrives at Nakatomi Plaza, he meets Holly's boss Joe Takagi and her co-worker Harry Ellis. He and Holly go into a private bathroom and get into an argument. When Holly leaves to give a speech, thirteen armed terrorists lead by Hans Gruber seize control of the building and take the occupants of the 30th floor, who are the only ones left in the building, hostage. Luckily, they missed John since he was in the bathroom. He sneaks out and witnesses Gruber kill Takagi. He goes to floor 32 and pulls the fire alarm, but the terrorists cancel the alarm and send someone up to kill John. However, he kills the terrorist and steals his machine gun. Now he has to kill the rest of the terrorists and save the hostages before the terrorists get their way.

In the wonderfully excruciating scenes where John McClane is required to run through a multitude of glass shards in his 'bare' feet after Hans has his men shoot out the glass partitions in the computer room, Bruce Willis is in fact wearing special 'rubber' shoes designed to look like his own bare feet. One can in fact see this if looking closely as his feet appear quite unnaturally large in some of these crucial 'barefoot' scenes. The original poster for the film did not feature Bruce Willis likeness, just the building. The producers originally thought it might deter non-Willis fans from seeing the movie. Posters were later altered after the early box office success. The Nakatomi tower is actually the headquarters of 20th Century Fox. The company charged itself rent for the use of the then unfinished building.

"Die Hard is, in a way, three movies in one. Chiefly, it is a big-scale (admittedly overscaled) action spectacle, typical of the era where such films ruled the box office. But it's also involving and even occasionally touching melodrama. And, most sneakily, it also manages to be a winking sendup of the action genre in general" - Kenji Fujishima

[Llopin]

#7

http://static.flickr.com/60/153317771_88decb7cfa_o.jpg

Cinema Paradiso
director: Giuseppe Tornatore

A boy who grew up in a native Sicilian Village returns home as a famous director after receiving news about the death of an old friend. Told in a flashback, Salvatore reminiscences about his childhood and his relationship with Alfredo, a projectionist at Cinema Paradiso. Under the fatherly influence of Alfredo, Salvatore fell in love with film making, with the duo spending many hours discussing about films and Alfredo painstakingly teaching Salvatore the skills that became a stepping stone for the young boy into the world of film making. The film brings the audience through the changes in cinema and the dying trade of traditional film making, editing and screening. It also explores a young boy's dream of leaving his little town to foray into the world outside

The new film projector installed after the fire accident in the projector room is a model Victoria IV manufactured by Cinemeccanica S.p.a, Milano, Italy. Giuseppe Tornatore's intention was that this movie should serve as an obituary for traditional movie theatres (like the one on the film) and the movie industry in general. After the movie's success he never mentioned this again. When Salvatore returns to his home and looks at the room his mother prepared for him, there's a picture on the wall from the movie Lo Sceicco bianco (1952), a Federico Fellini movie starring Leopoldo Trieste, who plays Father Adelfio in this movie.

"Cinema Paradiso touches on many aspects of film in its journey including censorship, audience reaction and the rise and fall of the Italian film industry. Although schmaltzy in places, it avoids over-sentimentality and is backed up by a surprisingly forceful score from the master, Ennio Morricone. Brilliant cinematography, making full use of the contrasting shades present in the architecture of the town is reinforced by superb sets (the cinema especially) which create a strong sense of atmosphere, of wanting to be there" - Neil Chue Hong

[Llopin]

#6

http://www.filmbuffonline.com/Features/FeaturesImages/RogerRabbit5.jpg

Who Framed Roger Rabbit?
director: Robert Zemeckis

'Toon star Roger is worried that his wife Jessica is playing pattycake with someone else, so the studio hires detective Eddie Valiant to snoop on her. But the stakes are quickly raised when Marvin Acme is found dead and Roger is the prime suspect. Groundbreaking interaction between the live and animated characters, and lots of references to classic animation.

Terry Gilliam was initially offered the job of directing this movie, but turned it down because he considered it "conceptually inauthentic to use the Looney Tunes genre/character stable as a springboard for a variation on the Howard the Duck story". Bob Hoskins watched his young daughter to learn how to act with imaginary characters. He later had problems with hallucinations. Hoskins' son was reportedly furious that his father hadn't brought any of his cartoon co-stars home to meet him. Roger Rabbit is described (design-wise) as having a "Warners face", a "Disney body", a "Tex Avery attitude", Goofy's overalls, Mickey Mouse's gloves, and Porky Pig's bowtie. Animation director Richard Williams says he based his Roger color model on the American flag (red overalls, white body, blue tie) so that "everyone would subliminally like it".

"As a labor of love it's deeply moving: cartoon characters are treated as a repressed minority threatened by genocide, and gumshoes out of Raymond Chandler (or even Robert Towne) are almost equally archaic. Giving them all one last, delirious fling, the filmmakers create a densely upholstered universe where the denizens of both worlds mingle and learn from one another; a villain from the days of silent movies is thrown in for good measure. Alternately hilarious, frightening, and awesome" - Jonathan Rosenbaum

[Llopin]

#5

http://sugee.kosciuk.net/wp-content/uploads/2007/11/akira1.jpg

Akira
director: Katsuhiro Ôtomo

Kaneda is a bike gang leader whose close friend Tetsuo gets involved in a government secret project known as Akira. On his way to save Tetsuo, Kaneda runs into a group of anti-government activists, greedy politicians, irresponsible scientists and a powerful military leader. The confrontation sparks off Tetsuo's supernatural power leading to bloody death, a coup attempt and the final battle in Tokyo Olympiad where Akira's secrets were buried 30 years ago.

This was one of the first Japanese anime films to have the character's voices recorded before they were animated. While this is the typical practice in U.S. animation, in Japan the animation is generally produced first. At one point in the 1990s, Sony contemplated a live-action version of the film, but scrapped the idea when the projected budget went north of US$300 million. The movie consists of 2,212 shots and 160,000 single pictures, 2-3 times more than usual, using 327 different colors (another record in animation film), 50 of which were exclusively created for the film. The reason for this statistic is that most of the movie takes place at night, a setting that is traditionally avoided by animators because of the increased color requirements.

"But the imagery remains incomparable among animated films. Post-apocalyptic Tokyo comes alive in Otomo's hands, both on the micro level, as bike gangs engage in an adrenaline-fueled duel in the film's opening segments, and on the macro level, as a massive urban area is laid waste in the finale. Otomo's masterful and creepy use of sound, music, and silence creates a variety of powerful moods without forcing them" - Tasha Robinson

[Llopin]

#4

http://members.arstechnica.com/x/gorice/totoro1.jpg

My Neighbor Totoro
director: Hayao Miyazaki

Two young girls, Satsuke and her younger sister Mei, move into a house in the country with their father to be closer to their hospitalized mother. Satsuke and Mei discover that the nearby forest is inhabited by magical creatures called Totoros (pronounced toe-toe-ro). They soon befriend these Totoros, and have several magical adventures.

The film is partially autobiographical. When Miyazaki and his brothers were children, his mother suffered from spinal tuberculosis for nine years, and spent much of her time hospitalized. It is implied, yet never revealed in the film, that Satsuki and Mei's mother also suffers from tuberculosis. He once said the film would have been too painful for him to make if the two protagonists were boys instead of girls. Miyazaki originally conceived the characters Satsuki and Mei as a single girl. He wanted to add suspense to the latter half of the film, and he felt it wouldn't work with just a single girl, so he split her into two separate girls. The original girl had features of both Satsuki and Mei, and was halfway between the ages of Satsuki (8) and Mei (4).

"It's hard to pinpoint exactly what makes Totoro breathe. Maybe it's that the girls run, stumble, and daydream in ways that are familiar and notably unfussy. The film examines how a family crisis affects children, but Miyazaki keeps some distance from the subject, standing back and watching the sisters be kids, preoccupied by schoolwork and chores. Miyazaki treats the forest spirits as benign but ultimately alien. Throughout the movie, Totoro adopts some human habits, like clutching an umbrella, but the point is that while we respect and rely on nature, there's something uniquely touching about being human, with lives and habits so flawed and yet so beautiful" - Noel Murray

[Llopin]

#3

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Dead Ringers
director: David Cronenberg

The Mantle brothers are both doctors - both gynecologists - and identical twins. Mentally however, one of them is more confident than the other, and always manages to seduce the women he meets. When he's tired of his current partner, she is passed on to the other brother - without her knowing. Everything runs smoothly, until an actress visits their clinic, and the shy brother is the first to fall in love. Will they be able to 'share' her?

The shots of the twins onscreen together were accomplished through one of the first uses of computer-controlled moving-matte photography. During filming, Jeremy Irons kept track of whether he was playing Elliott or Beverley by always playing one with his weight on the balls of his feet and the other with his weight on his heels. William Hurt was Cronenberg's first choice to play the twins. He regretted turning it down but had a scheduling conflict. Margot Kidder was David Cronenberg's second choice for playing the role of Claire Niveau.

"Name another film that takes as many risks, runs its astonishing course with such a steady hand, and has as much to say about brotherhood and corporeal transience. Derived from a true story about a pair of gynecologist twins who committed suicide together, but marinated in Cronenberg's unique physio-anxiety, the film tracks presents us Irons not merely inhabiting two characters in the same frame but also manifesting the dizzyingly complex dynamic between them—their history, dependencies, fears—is to see the thespian equivalent to splitting the atom" - Michael Atkinson

[Llopin]

#2

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The Last Temptation of Christ
director: Martin Scorsese

The carpenter Jesus of Nazareth, tormented by the temptations of demons, the guilt of making crosses for the Romans, pity for men and the world, and the constant call of God, sets out to find what God wills for him. But as his mission nears fulfillment, he must face the greatest temptation: the normal life of a good man. Based, not on the Gospels, but on Nikos Kazantzakis' novel of the same name.

The script for this film sat in the office of Martin Scorsese's lawyer for at least 5 years prior to being made. Although Scorsese thought the film could be brilliant, he was concerned how the public might respond to the finished film. His lawyer agreed the script was brilliant and very "brave" but advised against making the movie because he did not think movie-goers were ready for such a story. Scorsese first read Nikos Kazantzakis's novel "The Last Temptation of Christ" after being given a copy by actress Barbara Hershey while he was directing her in Boxcar Bertha (1972), his second feature film. When she read in a trade paper many years later that Scorsese was finally getting the opportunity to direct a film adaptation, she begged him to let her play the role of Mary Magdalene. To make sure she didn't feel that he was giving her the part as a favor for having recommended the book, he made her audition.

"For all the misappropriated hatred spewed about Last Temptation back in 1988, it follows the Gospels with diligence and faith. The climactic, titular final temptation, where Jesus is seen accepting the life of mankind (marriage, sex, children, domesticity), was clearly read wrong by Fundamentalists who hadn't even seen the film. If they had, they might have witnessed the way Scorsese tempts Jesus with the ultimate blasphemy—and creates one of the most rewarding conclusions in screen history when Christ makes his final choice and final sacrifice. Right after he exclaims, "It is accomplished," the film projection burns white and the ghost of movie sprockets flicker across the screen. Movies and mythology collide, and something in Last Temptation feels like it leaps off the screen" - Jeremiah Kipp

[Philosophe_rouge]

I really want to see Dead Ringers and the Last Temptation of Christ.

[Llopin]

#1

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The Vanishing
director: George Sluizer

Rex and Saskia are on holiday, a young couple in love. They stop at a busy service station and Saskia disappears. Rex dedicates the next three years trying to find her. Then he receives some postcards from her abductor, who promises to reveal what has happened to Saskia. The abductor, Raymond Lemorne, is a chilling character to whom Rex is drawn by his intense desire to learn the truth behind his lovers disappearance. The truth is more sinister than he dared imagine.

"The Vanishing is a thriller, but in a different way than most thrillers. It is a thriller about knowledge - about what the characters know about the disappearance, and what they know about themselves. The movie was directed by George Sluizer, based on a screenplay he did with Tim Krabbe, which in turn was based on Krabbe's novel The Golden Egg. Together they have constructed a psychological jigsaw puzzle, a plot that makes you realize how simplistic many suspense films really are. The movie advances in a tantalizing fashion, supplying information obliquely, suggesting as much as it tells, and everything leads up to a climax that is as horrifying as it is probably inevitable" - Roger Ebert

[Spinal]

Sweet!

[Llopin]

Total Results:
The Vanishing 49.5
The Last Temptation of Christ 46.5
Dead Ringers 37.5
My Neighbor Totoro 31
Akira 30.5
Who Framed Roger Rabbit 28.5
Cinema Paradiso 24.5
Die Hard 23
Grave of the Fireflies 22.5
A Fish Called Wanda 17.5
The Thin Blue Line 17.5

Runners-Up:
Landscape in the Mist 13.5
Dangerous Liaisons 12.5
Distant Voices, Still Lives 11.5
A Short Film about Killing 11
The Unbearable Lightness of Being 10.5

[MadMan]

"For all the misappropriated hatred spewed about Last Temptation back in 1988, it follows the Gospels with diligence and faith. The climactic, titular final temptation, where Jesus is seen accepting the life of mankind (marriage, sex, children, domesticity), was clearly read wrong by Fundamentalists who hadn't even seen the film. If they had, they might have witnessed the way Scorsese tempts Jesus with the ultimate blasphemy—and creates one of the most rewarding conclusions in screen history when Christ makes his final choice and final sacrifice. Right after he exclaims, "It is accomplished," the film projection burns white and the ghost of movie sprockets flicker across the screen. Movies and mythology collide, and something in Last Temptation feels like it leaps off the screen" - Jeremiah KippYeah I'll see about that. Considering I'm a practicing Christian I will give the film a chance, but that's also the reason why I haven't seen the movie in the first place.

I have a feeling that I will love My Neighbor Totoro and A Fish Called Wanda. Out of the ones on this list at the moment Dead Ringers and Cinema Paradiso seem to be the ones I should view it the uttermost urgency.

[Qrazy]

Who Framed Roger Rabbit has no question mark, thought I'd let ya know before altgod jumps up your ass. :) On another note Kieslowski's film ought to have kicked the crap out of the majority of that list.

[Qrazy]

Yeah I'll see about that. Considering I'm a practicing Christian I will give the film a chance, but that's also the reason why I haven't seen the movie in the first place.


The ending (prior to the film burning) may be the only powerful, interesting moment in the film. The rest is insufferable.

[Grouchy]

Yeah I'll see about that. Considering I'm a practicing Christian I will give the film a chance, but that's also the reason why I haven't seen the movie in the first place.
Scorsese is also a Christian, remember that. The movie's so-called "blasphemy" is only the acknowledgement that Jesus was a human being, something that's clearly stated in the Bible.

It's a great film. Despite its claims to fame, a lot of folks (including myself) sometimes forget it when discussing Marty.

[MadMan]

Scorsese is also a Christian, remember that. The movie's so-called "blasphemy" is only the acknowledgement that Jesus was a human being, something that's clearly stated in the Bible.

It's a great film. Despite its claims to fame, a lot of folks (including myself) sometimes forget it when discussing Marty.Ah, I did forget that Marty is a Catholic (I've heard and read that his religious beliefs do thread through many of his films, although after seeing five of his movies I'm not so sure about that). I do plan on seeing the film with as open a mind as possible.


The ending (prior to the film burning) may be the only powerful, interesting moment in the film. The rest is insufferable.I think this is the only dissenting opinion of the film I've heard so far, although I think there are others on the site who don't think highly of it either.