[Cally Conan-Davies]

Aaron, Nemo gave it to me for my birthday a few years ago. I think Nemo secretly is Tarkovsky.

[Orwn Acra]

I like visual sumptuousness.

Last Year at Marienbad
The Color of Pomegranates
Ashik Kerib
Paris, Texas
2001: Space Odyssey
Play Time
Jeanne Dielman, 23 quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles
Rope
The Cook, The Thief, His Wife and Her Lover
The Brave Little Toaster

[Mark McDonnell]

Oh, this has turned into a 'favourite movies' thread hasn't it? And James wanted new stuff! Well, it's certainly revealing huge spotty cultural gaps in my viewing habits: I've never seen an Ozu film, or a Tarkovsky (really want to now). And the only Godard I can remember sitting through is 'Weekend'. I must rectify these things. I have seen a few Bergmans though and loved them. I remember 'Cries and Whispers' and 'Persona' being pretty incredible. But I'll echo others (Cally and Quincy) with

Terence Davies - Distant Voices, Still Lives and also The Long Day Closes (which David Callin introduced me to!)
Jane Campion - An Angel at My Table
Bruce Robinson - Withnail and I

and add

Terrence Malick - Badlands
Scorsese - Mean Streets/The King of Comedy
Mike Leigh - Nuts in May/Life is Sweet
Jacques Tourneur - Build My Gallows High/I Walked With a Zombie
Ken Loach - Kes
Hitchcock - Lady Vanishes/Rear Window

Hmm...as John said. Too many films. I envy this:

(I watch a movie almost every night!) - Nemo

Edit: but for pure popcorn I'd take An American Werewolf in London. That film has everything.

[R. Nemo Hill]

Ha! Nuts In May is an insanely hilarious film I had forgotten all about.

And Cally's mention of the seldom-mentioned Why Has Bodhidharma Left For The East also raised a hosanna from me!

I afraid the Star Wars movie are on my list as utter crap. I thought that when the original was released, and anytime I've returned I still think so. George Lucas is completely overrated. As is Spielberg.

One of my all time favorite movies is Elisa, Vida Mia, an early film by the great Carlos Saura starring Geraldine Chaplin.

(I'd make an endless list, but am too busy this time of year.)

Nemo

[Rick Mullin]

I have to say that, recognizing its steady collapse into big budget nonsense, I see a continuous line of great movies coming from Hollywood.

American Beauty is an example of a ... now old ...great stone cold Hollywood movie. Visually sumptuous. One has great empathy for the protagonist (Kevin Spacey), who happens to do exactly what I do for a day job before he quits. And the scene where the boy next door describes the plastic bag in the wind to the protagonist's daughter is fantastic.


Bird Man is an amazing film. Deservedly taking out Boyhood for the Oscar.



I go to the movies less and less often--even watch films at home less frequently. Never a major cineast in the film buff sense of the word--note the non-obscure references above. Though I do dig the Nouvelle Vague and the Swedes.

[Mark McDonnell]

Nemo! Nuts in May! You're a fan of Keith and Candice-Marie! Well, you've gone up in my estimation (I know...how is that possible? )

And Rick, the writer of American Beauty was responsible for one of my favourite TV shows of recent years, before I lost track of all this quality television one is obliged to watch: Six Feet Under. Very good.

[Cally Conan-Davies]

All the mentioned films, I concur! And so many more.

Sharkey, my daughter and I have watched Withnail so often we can quote vast tracts of it!

Since I was last at this thread, I realised I didn't mention a further three that have soaked through my soul (please note I'm leaving out such beloved films as Camelot and Lawrence of Arabia and Vertigo and Double Indemnity and Chinatown and The Castle and (pace Nemo) Jaws and Close Encounters of the Third Kind (I even went to Devil's Tower in Wyoming because of that film! What a great place it is!) . . . and many more . . . (I watch a film every night, too).

But the three other soul survivors are:

Robert Altman, McCabe and Mrs Miller (Just to look at it, visual perfection, makes my heart beat faster and slow down at the same time. Like a painting.)

Bryan Forbes, Whistle Down the Wind (Total identification with this one, and screenplay by Keith Waterhouse!)

Coens, Fargo (Her delivery of the last lines in this film, forever.)

[Mark McDonnell]

Cally, there's nothing I like more than a Withnail quote-off! And I agree about early Spielberg. I never get tired of Jaws and Close Encounters. The characters are human beings and there's a genuine magic to those films. They're 70s movies! Compare them to the cartoon nonsense of Jurassic Park. The 80s had a lot to answer for.

I love Whistle Down the Wind! I saw it as a child and was convinced I was going to find Jesus hiding in a shed in the woods. It seemed inevitable.

Short Cuts - Robert Altman
Leone! Once Upon a Time in the West!
Twelve Angry Men! (Hey a Henry Fonda double bill: bastard and saint)

Too too many. I'm going to get onto Ghost Story, some Tarkovsky and the Buddhist one you mentioned. What a great thread.

[Roger Slater]

For Fargo fans, the first season of the Fargo tv series was totally in the spirit and worth your while.

[Cally Conan-Davies]

Roger -- I've been meaning to watch the tv series, and will, forthwith.

Sharkey, I foresee much quaffing and a quote-off in our future. And just so you're prepared, I am Hayley Mills in Whistle Down the Wind!! You can be the little brother.