Angel Dust on 2/3/2009 at 02:40
Actually scratch 'Seven Samurai' and put 'North By Northwest' on there. I gotta have some Cary Grant!
demagogue on 2/3/2009 at 02:54
Quote Posted by Scots Taffer
I'm on a fucking desert island on my own for fucks sake - I just want pure entertainment.
Well the situation I'm in now isn't really the "deserted island" one, but an iPod for things like long subway commutes and domestic plane rides. I just threw that phrase out without thinking about it. I can still watch cable and rent movies for pure entertainment. I probably would go to the iPod exactly when I
don't want standard-fare entertainment, which I might not want to watch again and again.
Although the list you give is still a good one even by that standard. (Die Hard was on cable just 2 days ago and I'll be damned if I didn't watch the whole thing again like it was the first time.) Although porn is right out, lol.
But as a question, you could interpret "pick just 5 movies" any way you want to, on a deserted island or on an iPod with limited memory, or whatever. So no worries.
Angel Dust on 2/3/2009 at 04:58
Personally, I just interpreted it as '5 movies' I can watch again and again. I also don't get the whole 'pure entertainment' thing sometimes either. It's not like when I watch '2001','8 1/2', 'There Will Be Blood' etc that I'm not being entertained. Sure I respond to it in a different way than say 'Jaws' but I'm still enjoying every moment of it. Last week I managed to catch 'Waltz with Bashir' at the cinema and it was the best film I've seen in a very long time. Not because it was a serious/important that made me think etc but because it was a completely engrossing and beautiful film that had me from start to finish. Now that's what I would call pure entertainment!
Come to think of it on a desert island, all alone, I think that if for some reason I did feel like watching a film that quite often I would indeed want to watch something deep and soulsearchy but maybe that's just me.:thumb:
Scots Taffer on 2/3/2009 at 05:18
Quote Posted by Angel Dust
I also don't get the whole 'pure entertainment' thing sometimes either.
It's fairly straight forward really, while I might get a certain level of enjoyment and entertainment from a movie upon a single viewing - even movies with incredibly deep messages, dark tones or whatever - I find certain movies to be enjoyable in a pure sense, just streamlined entertainment that is like a cinematic jolt of adrenaline... or laughing gas... or viagra. Whatever.
If I got all deep and soul searchy on a desert island by myself I think I know how that particular movie ends.
WILLSOOOOONNNNNNNNNNNNNNNKolya on 2/3/2009 at 05:35
I prefer episodic stuff on my player because I usually don't have the time or attention span for a movie when riding on a train:
* Sea Lab
* Max Headroom
* Tripods
* Parker Lewis
* Anime
I also had a list of movies but decided it was 2 hot 4 u. :cool:
Angel Dust on 2/3/2009 at 05:38
I know what it means to you Scots but for me there is a not so much of a distinction. My post was really more directed at people who seem to imply that slower, more abstract films can't be 'fun'. I have watched, and undoubtedly will again, '2001', 'There Will Be Blood' and 'Vertigo' many times and I enjoy them tremendously everytime. I have found that sometimes the most purely entertaining films for me are the more abstract ones. Something about the pure fusion of image, sound, music and emotion without the complications of an involved plot but me into an almost meditative state that I love to return to.
Your list was great though, with the exception of Die Hard :p, and I could certainly live with it!:thumb:
Thirith on 2/3/2009 at 05:49
Quote Posted by Angel Dust
I would also like to know what's up with this. Also Thirith what films from the Criterion collection are making there way onto blue-ray, I would kill for some HD Herzog/Kurosawa or Fellini.
They've got the current list of Blu-ray releases (
http://www.criterion.com/library/bluray) here.
Scots Taffer on 2/3/2009 at 05:59
Quote Posted by Angel Dust
Your list was great though,
with the exception of Die Hard :p, and I could certainly live with it!:thumb:
Emphasis mine to indicate the colossal level of record scratch that comment induced.
Die Hard is probably the best straight laced action movie ever.
When you get down to action blended with other elements Predator and The Matrix have a huge fucking fight for supremacy and I still can't decide which is best.
As for your other comments, yeah... but no, I guess I'm saying there's a big difference between cerebral entertainment (of the likes you mention) and popcorn cinema entertainment (but not to the level some would go to... I have standards).
demagogue on 2/3/2009 at 06:28
Yeah, that's what was so funny when I watched Die Hard again a few days ago after a long hiatus.
I had really convinced myself that it really wasn't such a great movie, too cliche, too contrived... just in principle based on my fading memory. But then I started watching it and suddenly it was a great, fresh action movie that had me holding my breath, even though I knew what would happen. I wasn't expecting that.
It makes me wonder what other movies I've since tossed out of my mind that actually deserve more love if I'd just watch them again with an open mind.
Scots Taffer on 2/3/2009 at 06:45
Pretty much any that you watched while going through an intellectual period in your 20s.
lol just taking a stab i've no idea
