28 Film Discussion Threads Later

[elixir]

elixir, here's my Top 10 of 1981:

1. The Road Warrior
2. Blow Out
3. Diva
4. The Professional
5. Raiders of the Lost Ark
6. The Evil Dead (I'm watching this on the big screen tonight - coincidence)
7. Excalibur
8. Gallipoli
9. Possession (really weird shit)
10. Thief

I like weird shit. Well, not automatically, but I'm a weird guy. Thanks very much for that!

I actually just watched Raiders of the Lost Ark. I admit I'm not the biggest adventure/action person in the world, but I was totally thrilled by it. The set-pieces are so masterful and the storytelling was so well done that I couldn't help but enjoy it. And I didn't mind knowing some of the iconic scenes beforehand, though to be honest I didn't even know how it ended before I started.

Please tell me I'm not the only one who laughed when that guy in Cairo gets ready to fight Indy, and then he just pulls out a gun and shoots him.

I had some minor problems with it, but overall it was very enjoyable.

[Raiders]

1. Blow Out (De Palma)
2. Ms. 45 (Ferrara)
3. Southern Comfort (Hill)
4. Raiders of the Lost Ark (Spielberg)
5. Vernon, Florida (Morris)
6. Pennies from Heaven (Ross)
7. Excalibur (Boorman)
8. Gallipoli (Weir)
9. Do You Remember Dolly Bell? (Kusturica)
10. The Road Warrior (Miller)

... or something to that effect. I also really like Romero's The Knightriders, an overlooked film of his. I also really need to see Possession, or hell, any Zulawski film for that matter.

[Watashi]

I don't understand how someone grows up in life without seeing an Indiana Jones movie.

[Spun Lepton]

I actually just watched Raiders of the Lost Ark. I admit I'm not the biggest adventure/action person in the world, but I was totally thrilled by it. The set-pieces are so masterful and the storytelling was so well done that I couldn't help but enjoy it. And I didn't mind knowing some of the iconic scenes beforehand, though to be honest I didn't even know how it ended before I started.

Please tell me I'm not the only one who laughed when that guy in Cairo gets ready to fight Indy, and then he just pulls out a gun and shoots him.

Best of the bunch by a country mile. One of my all-time favorites.

[Mara]

I don't understand how someone grows up in life without seeing an Indiana Jones movie.

Everyone has a few like this. I didn't see Goonies until a couple of years ago (and, frankly, it's not that great.) I've never seen Jaws or any of the Alien movies.

[Russ]

I also really need to see Possession, or hell, any Zulawski film for that matter.

I strongly second the recommendation for Possession, a favorite amongst many match-cutters.

Raiders, for 1981 films, you would probably also enjoy the deliriously oddball Springtime in Greenland (though it's only 24 mins.), courtesy of John Paizs (Crime Wave).

[Qrazy]

Speaking of 1981 has anyone seen Mephisto? Is it good?

[baby doll]

1981:
1. Modern Romance (Albert Brooks)
2. Blind Chance (Krzysztof Kieslowski)
3. Diva (Jean-Jacques Beineix)
4. Lola (Rainer Werner Fassbinder)
5. Cutter's Way (Ivan Passer)
6. Ancient of Days (Bill Viola) [video]
7.
8.
9.
10.

I really need to watch The Arabic Numerals Series, Ms. 45, Orderly or Disorderly, Trop tôt, trop tard (although IMDb has this one as '82), and White Dog.

[Raiders]

White Dog.

I have this as 1982; otherwise it would be my #1 of the year.

[Ivan Drago]

I don't understand how someone grows up in life without seeing an Indiana Jones movie.

I did. I didn't see Raiders of the Lost Ark for the first time until I was 19, and The Blues Brothers until I was 22.

[baby doll]

I did. I didn't see Raiders of the Lost Ark for the first time until I was 19, and The Blues Brothers until I was 22.

I saw Raiders of the Lost Ark once on TV when I was eleven, and didn't see it again until I was nineteen when it was playing at a repertory theatre in Toronto. Oh, and I saw the crystal skulls one in Busan when I was twenty-three.

[soitgoes...]

Lists? 1981? Why not?

1. Raiders of the Lost Ark (Steven Spielberg)
2. Muddy River (Kôhei Oguri)
3. Das Boot (Wolfgang Petersen)
4. Crac! (Frédéric Back)
5. Reds (Warren Beatty)
6. Blow Out (Brian De Palma)
7. Time Bandits (Terry Gilliam)
8. Gallipoli (Peter Weir)
9. Do You Remember Dolly Bell? (Emir Kusturica)
10. Body Heat (Lawrence Kasdan)

The weakest year of the decade is buoyed by the top 4 films of awesome.

[MadMan]

Please tell me I'm not the only one who laughed when that guy in Cairo gets ready to fight Indy, and then he just pulls out a gun and shoots him.

That's one of my favorite scenes. Apparently Harrison Ford was suffering from some kind of bad stomach aliment, and thus didn't feel like being part of a lengthy fight scene. Regardless, its hilarious in that you expect Indy to fight the guy equally, instead he just cheats and moves on.

My current craptastic Top 10 for 1981:

1. Raiders of the Lost Ark
2. Das Boot
3. The Road Warrior
4. An American Werewolf in London
5. Escape From New York
6. The Evil Dead
7. Stripes
8. The Howling
9. Absence of Malice-I haven't seen this movie since high school
10. Friday the 13th: Part II

And the rest:

*History of the World Part I
*Halloween II
*Scanners
*The Burning
*For Your Eyes Only
*The Beyond
*The Fox and the Hound
*Piranha Part II: The Spawning

Half of my viewings for this year are horror movies. Interesting.

[baby doll]

Please tell me I'm not the only one who laughed when that guy in Cairo gets ready to fight Indy, and then he just pulls out a gun and shoots him.

Speaking of the movie, Jonathan Rosenbaum just posted his original 1981 review of the film on his website, in which he writes:

The most thrilling moment of sexual release for the audience I saw Raiders with was the humorously delayed decision of Jones [...] to shoot a fancy sword-swishing Arab with his gun rather than worry about using his whip. Its offhand genocidal message comes very close to being the only one that New Hollywood (from Taxi Driver to Star Wars to Apocalypse Now to Dressed to Kill) can find beyond its pretty, bejeweled navel--a pithy suggestion, derived from Conrad’s Kurtz in Heart of Darkness, that simply says, "Exterminate the brutes."

You can read the full thing here.

[megladon8]

That review was pretty silly.

[baby doll]

That review was pretty silly.

Is it?

[megladon8]

Yes.

A few sound criticisms and interesting ideas are bogged down by some absurd attempts at intellectualism and an overall "look at all the words I know! And I'm using French terms!" feeling.

I have very little appreciation for that style of writing and reporting.

[baby doll]

Yes.

A few sound criticisms and interesting ideas are bogged down by some absurd attempts at intellectualism and an overall "look at all the words I know! And I'm using French terms!" feeling.

I have very little appreciation for that style of writing and reporting.

What's wrong with French? Or knowing a lot of words, for that matter?

[elixir]

What's wrong with making sequences such an important part of the movie?

"Sexual release?" Whaaat? Anyhow, I actually felt its dealings with foreigners was the most problematic aspect of the movie, but I don't like the way Rosenbaum goes about criticizing it.

Additionally, I can't stand when reviewers attack the audience rather than the film.

[megladon8]

What's wrong with French? Or knowing a lot of words, for that matter?

Nothing is wrong with French or knowing lots of words. I'm close to bilingual, and I know lots of words too.

But his writing in this review, at several instances, boils down to simply flexing his vocabulary and not saying anything of real value.

And I'm with elixir on that "sexual release" thing - what the hell is he talking about there.

[Melville]

My favorites of 1981 are
1. Possession (horrifyingly apt and unhinged view of personal and romantic disintegration)
2. Raiders of the Lost Ark (best adventure movie ever)
3. Ms. 45 (glorious pulp)
4. Crac (magical animation).

Speaking of 1981 has anyone seen Mephisto? Is it good?

It's ok. Cabaret > The Damned > Mephisto, in answer to my own question.

[baby doll]

What's wrong with making sequences such an important part of the movie?

I think the question is how much do these sequences ultimately add up to. And I think he makes an interesting point about how Karen Black's character is rewritten every time she appears to suit the needs of the particular moment.

[baby doll]

Nothing is wrong with French or knowing lots of words. I'm close to bilingual, and I know lots of words too.

But his writing in this review, at several instances, boils down to simply flexing his vocabulary and not saying anything of real value.

Could you give me an example of what you mean?

[megladon8]

I think the question is how much do these sequences ultimately add up to. And I think he makes an interesting point about how Karen Black's character is rewritten every time she appears to suit the needs of the particular moment.

I agree, and like I said, the article is peppered with a few interesting ideas and criticisms.

[baby doll]

2. Raiders of the Lost Ark (best adventure movie ever)

Have you seen Fritz Lang's The Tiger of Eschnapur and The Indian Tomb? Or Moonfleet, for that matter?