Favorite movies??

Tom

Tom

Farmer
-Babette's Feast is one I only watched once, but really liked.
-My (ex-)wife and I used to like Shadowlands with Anthony Hopkins.
-Spirited Away really isn't the kind of movie I can "like", but it's sure a memorable piece of mythic art.
-Children of Heaven (two little kids in Iran)
-I have good memories of the BBC live action The Silver Chair of the Chronicles of Narnia
-I watched Charade with Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn many times until I had it completely figured out once and for all. (And of course it's not very hard on the eyes watching those two.)
-I will watch You Can't Take It With You any time even though I think sometimes young Jimmy Stewart was insufferable.
 
PoppyForPenny

PoppyForPenny

Farmer
Not yet mentioned Ghibli movie: Kiki's Delivery Service! Other animated favorites include A Cat In Paris, and Wolf Children.
A couple of my favorite post-apocalyptic action/adventures are Waterworld and Snowpiercer.
And my favorite comedy that I love to quote is Idiocracy. "Are you sure you're not the smartest guy in the world?" Hahahaha!
 
Colleen&Potato

Colleen&Potato

Farmer
PoppyForPenny said:
Not yet mentioned Ghibli movie: Kiki's Delivery Service! Other animated favorites include A Cat In Paris, and Wolf Children.
A couple of my favorite post-apocalyptic action/adventures are Waterworld and Snowpiercer.
And my favorite comedy that I love to quote is Idiocracy. "Are you sure you're not the smartest guy in the world?" Hahahaha!
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I was literally just watching Idiocracy an hour ago!! But we had to turn it off for the… you know, not kid friendly stuff.
 
Corvus

Corvus

Sodbuster
Lew Zealand said:
There's always time for Miyazaki movies, especially My Neighbor Totoro.
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When I'm starting people out on Miyazaki I lend them Porco Rosso. It has the fantastic elements but the plot is more linear than most of his work. While I love Totoro, let's face it: It's a move where not a lot happens. Sample paragraph from Wiki.

One rainy night, the girls are waiting for Tatsuo's bus, which is late. Mei falls asleep on Satsuki's back, and Totoro appears beside them, allowing Satsuki to see him for the first time. Totoro has only a leaf on his head for protection against the rain, so Satsuki offers him the umbrella she had taken for her father. Delighted, he gives her a bundle of nuts and seeds in return. A giant, bus-shaped cat halts at the stop, and Totoro boards it and leaves. Shortly after, Tatsuo's bus arrives. A few days after planting the seeds, the girls awaken at midnight to find Totoro and his colleagues engaged in a ceremonial dance around the planted seeds and join in, causing the seeds to grow into an enormous tree. Totoro takes the girls for a ride on a magical flying top. In the morning, the tree is gone, but the seeds have sprouted.​
​
Being a Bogie fan I have The Maltese Falcon, Casablanca, and The Treasure of the Sierra Madre in heavy rotation. I'm old school -- what can I say.
 
Lew Zealand

Lew Zealand

Helper
Corvus said:
While I love Totoro, let's face it: It's a move where not a lot happens.
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Exactly.

Exaaaactly!

It is the only movie that works *really well* despite effectively nothing happening. There's no antagonist. Y'know, that thing that all stories require.

It shouldn't work. At all! But it does.

Spirited Away is a better movie. It's an amazing movie. But Totoro is a different kind of Forest Magic.


Speaking of old school, back when there were all of 3 or 4 OTA TV channels available, Ebert and Siskel were the only TV movie critic game in town. Siskel tended to criticize movies on an independent scale, where everything competes with everything else, which is fine. But Ebert tended to criticize movies by what they were trying to do, what was relevant and important within their genre.

Siskel could then criticize Totoro more pointedly because it does not even approach the cinematography and storytelling of Citizen Kane or The Maltese Falcon. And rightly so. While Ebert would emphasize what Totoro was trying to say within its narrative structure. How well did Totoro accomplish its goal? I tend to lean towards the Ebert side of things and believe that Totoro is the only movie to ever have fully accomplished its goal of telling a simple story of discovery in an amazingly calm, non-threatening, yet still strangely compelling way.

That is magic.

BTW, if you want to experience something oddly similar (though short) in a very simple children's book with no words, so you need to tell the story: try Wonder Bear by Tao Nyeu.
 
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