I just threw those titles out there because they were the first ones that popped into my head—films that essentially pioneered cinematic syntax through the work of Georges Méliès and then kept pushing those boundaries further with D.W. Griffith and Leni Riefenstahl. As for how much innovation in visual storytelling Citizen Kane actually brought to the table, I think it goes without saying. Then you have Jean-Luc Godard and the French New Wave crowd, who basically took the entire language of film and completely redefined it from the ground up.
I guess I’m being a bit of a nerd here, but this is just the first thing that pops into my head.
The birth of a nation, Citizen Kane, Triumph of the Will, First Man, the French New Wave (you know, all that poetic flair in Godard's intros), and Star Wars (no joke)...
As for the more modern stuff—hmmm... well, ever since Pulp Fiction came along, that non-linear storytelling style has become practically mandatory in any movie that actually wants to be taken seriously (I realize Quentin Tarantino didn't exactly invent it, but he certainly made it mainstream)
Elizabeth Garcia2 said:Before they even finished filming the first installment of that dreadful franchise, I actually found myself praying, "Lord, please spare me from ever having to sit through a single Harry Potter movie!" And honestly, He answered me. I haven't been forced to endure even one minute of them, and I am just so incredibly grateful for that divine intervention. I really don't think my psyche could have handled it.
...so, what exactly is the point of this post then?🙄
If you get a chance, you should really check out the documentary Genghis blues. It’s a pretty wild story—it follows this blind blues musician from San Francisco who happens to catch the most bizarre, beautiful music he's ever heard on the airwaves of Voice of America one night: Tuvan throat singing. He spends the next couple of years obsessively practicing the technique, and then, through a series of crazy coincidences, he actually lands an opportunity to compete in a national throat singing competition right there in Tuva. The two filmmakers who followed his journey to capture it all for the screen are actually our own countrymen—Adrian and Roko Belić.
coastalorca3 said:Apparently, there are huge debates heating up across the US about how that movie proves there's some kind of divine plan at work, mostly because they claim the penguins are monogamous and their whole lifestyle is basically pro-life.
Oh, sure, that holds up perfectly—right up until the moment scientists step in and point out that Emperor Penguins are actually serial monogamists who end up mating with a completely different partner about 85% of the time every single season.
Steven Ramirez3 said:I was just flipping through the total film from december (TF is one of those magazines that comes out a month ahead of schedule), and it mentions that Jackson and his wife have secured the film rights for Halo. Well... uh oh.
But he's really just producing the movie.
I'm not entirely convinced he actually "bought the rights." Bungie, the software company behind both Halo games, basically took matters into their own hands and kicked off pre-production for a Halo film themselves. They brought Garland on board to draft a script and then spent time pitching it to various studios until—if I recall correctly—they ended up heading over to New Zealand.
... I totally forgot to mention HC. When I watched the film later on Canadian television—right toward the end (specifically during that murder scene)—I started sweating, shaking, and my stomach just tied itself in knots. Honestly, I was a complete wreck. I don't think I've ever experienced anything quite like that before.
If that doesn't count as true art, then I don't know what does. 😁
Let’s try to bring this thread back on track for a moment.
I'm curious, how did you all first discover Steven Spielberg and his body of work?
For me, it started back in the mid-nineties when I used to pick up Paramount Pictures magazine—it somehow managed to show up at my local newsstands every single month. There was this little section tucked away in there dedicated to reviews of recent home video releases, where they’d mark their top picks with stars. > was actually one of those standout recommendations. About a year later, while I was visiting Chicago, > popped up at the Film Archive. I went to see it and, honestly, it just blew my mind. I’ll never forget that scene where those girls stand up, locked in an embrace and weeping, right before everything descends into chaos in Borovina. It was such a trip. I've sat through plenty of "intellectual" cinema over the years, but that movie really opened my eyes to just how much a director can achieve on screen.
Fast forward a few years, and I was doing my military service up in Seattle. During a weekend pass, a buddy and I were sitting in a cafe, just rambling about movies like we always do. I ended up recommending > to him, and he immediately countered with this description of some "insane movie where a guy falls off a cliff, cracks his skull open, tries to shove a piece of his brain back inside, and then ends up fighting aliens that eat their own pigment." We both realized a moment later that we were actually talking about films by the exact same director. Around that same period, there was this short-lived video magazine out that featured a profile on Spielberg's career and listed his entire filmography. Over the next several years, I made it a point to hunt down and collect those films.
Has anyone here actually sat down with the original 108-minute version of >?
Jackson is set to direct The Lovely Bones next—now that Greta Gerwig has stepped away from the project—and honestly, I feel like this could be a real return to the kind of magic we saw in Heavenly Creatures.
Honestly, at this point, the real question isn't whether he used drugs, but rather which ones he actually managed to avoid?
I’ve got this pretty funny little story from the set of blue velvet. In the original Lynchian vision, Hopper's character was actually supposed to be inhaling helium! When he mentioned that playing a total > with a voice sounding like > just wouldn't work, Hopper ended up suggesting a whole list of chemical substances that > had absolutely never even heard of (😁). To help him narrow down the options, Hopper tapped into his extensive personal history with chemistry and gave him a rather vivid demonstration of what the high from those specific compounds would actually look like. 🤣
So, for George A. Romero, it’s all an allegory. Honestly, I can't say I disagree; that's pretty much how I interpreted it too. The funniest part for me had to be that ending where the heroes just decide to pack up and head straight for Canada. 😁 It’s actually pretty fascinating how many of this year's releases can be read as political allegories or metaphors—you look at things like Batman Begins, War of the Worlds, or Star Wars: Episode II and see the patterns.
Wait, Dennis Hopper was a Republican?! Lol, I seriously had no clue. I wonder what on earth caused such a massive change of heart? 😁
To feels like pure satire of modern society to me—even if it’s a little over the top—much like how every previous installment served as a social commentary on the specific decade it was born into. The whole fireworks bit is honestly brilliant.
.... That said, I still think 28 Days Later did a much better job of actually capturing the zeitgeist.
Jose Chase2 said:Is he showing it at the local cinema or just out in the world?
Oh, he’s definitely hitting the big screens somewhere. And honestly, since Steven Spielberg has become such a massive heavyweight in the industry, I wouldn't be surprised if he even makes an appearance around our neck of the woods. (It’s been available on VHS for ages now—long since passed its prime, really.)