Yeah, this.

The opening scene seems to be always forgotten when people talk about it, but man its a great scene. Redford as double hard badass.

I'm also a really big fan of the westerns made with James Stewart when Anthony Mann directed. Such as Winchester 73, The Far Country and Man from Laramie.


And Shane.

The Magnificent Seven

Maybe. It's been 25 or 30 years since I've seen it.

Agree with The Unforgiven and TGTB&TU, but I wish Blueberry would get more love, one of the most underrated westerns, imho.

Hey guys, sorry for derailing your conversation, but maybe somebody can help me. I posted something similar in another forum, but got no help.

Has anyone read/heard anywhere how Woody Harrelson came to be in No Country For Old Men? I have long thought that it couldn't have been a coincidence the Coen's asked him.

Obviously, I'm sure you all know the story of Woody's dad and the circles he ran in: he was a contract killer, along w/ being a familiar face in high stakes poker games from Dallas to LV. He was convicted of murdering a federal judge at the asking of drug dealer/famous LV rainmaker Jamiel Chagra.

Anyway, Woody was unbilled when NCFOM came out. I was supposed to go see a movie w/ a girl at the time and we settled on NCFOM w/o knowing much and hadn't read any reviews.

So we're watching the movie and here comes Woody on screen and I literally got the chills. I immediately turned to the girl and said, "Holy ****, this is exactly the kind of people Woody's real life dad would have been involved with, including the area, West Texas."

Leaving the theatre, I explained everything to her (she clearly wasn't as enthralled by the whole thing as me) and stopped at the bookstore because I had to read the book "right now."

So I binge read the book, set in 1980, and the mention by Sherriff Bell of "dope dealers killing a federal judge a while back" had me convinced. The real life murder happened in 1979.

Anyway, for this reason, and a million others, few movies have hit me as hard as NCFOM.

If anyone knows if Woody's casting has ever been discussed, I'd love a response. Thx guys, you've got an awesome discussion group here. I lurk in here quite often. Take it easy.

I imagine there'd be a pretty large generation gap regarding westerns. I'd count both Django and Unforgiven as top westerns. Django was an absolutely amazing movie until Django became the lead character then it got incredibly stupid... but until that point it was absolutely incredibly with every scene even more exciting than the last.

I watched The Magnificent Seven for the first time within the last few years and was not that impressed. It had nothing on Seven Samurai, and it would not be in my top westerns list or anywhere close. I imagine that's the way I'd view a lot of the westerns which people who grew up watching thme claim are top tier, whereas this is probably how they'd view Django.

I think there's a few gems that anyone who sees will realize are absolute masterpieces, namely Unforgiven and Good Bad Ugly.

The ludicrous idea that Django is the most important film of the decade is pure hyperbole. Not only is it as close to a factual inaccuracy as one can get when discussing art, it's pretty easy to argue it's not even the most important film of the decade by QT. It's, at best, lesser Tarantino.

I will second that : entertaining, sure, like it, yes, but forgetful. Give me Kill Bill or Pulp Fiction any day over Django and 10 other westerns.

My favorite western is Once Upon a Time in the West. I really feel it's Leone's strongest work.

Speaking of Jimmy Stewart, depending on my mood, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance could easily qualify as my all-time favorite western.

Re: westerns, can someone please explain to me why The Searchers is so highly regarded?

Recommend some of your favorite romantic comedies please.

DB, I will go ahead and put you down for Batman Returns. What is your #2?

I don't know much about Harrelson's casting here, but find it equally fascinating. He is one of my favorite actors and I find him to be just and incredibly interesting person. Another instance similar to the above is his casting in Natural Born Killers (one of my favorite films). If you watch the BTS making-of documentary (on Special Features) Harrelson and Stone both address this -- the fact they Harrelson's dad was a convicted contract killer. They don't get too much into the specifics but you can read a lot between the lines about how Harrelson feels about playing a character like Mickey Knox. Definitely worth watching if you're intrerested in the above. I'm sure you could find it on YouTube.

Finally watched Dawn of the Planet of the Apes. Damn. So, so, so good. Matt Reeves is an incredible talent and the script was simply phenomenal. It explores these powerful themes of protecting your family -- from both the human and ape perspective -- in a way that hits you on this primal level. Really intelligent while remaining entertaining and accessible. Incredible achievement.

Agree with that. I knew Matt Reeves was an incredible talent back in his Felicity days. Gripping emotional drama is his forte. The bigger the hair, the bigger the impact.

Your posting reminds me of the guy in the movie line in Annie Hall.

Modern: Knotting Hill

Less modern: When Harry Met Sally

Classic: the Apartment

Honourable mentions: Chasing Amy, Waitress and Roxanne.

got around to watching in a world and thought it was a pretty solid albeit forgettable comedy 7/10.

brazil so I usually love sci fi but had never seen this. gonna have to add this one to the list of well loved movies that I don't really care that much for either way (felt similarly with the city of lost children when i tried watching it the other day). it was alright. I don't think I do well with movies that are older for whatever reason *ducks*

that being said lawrence of arabia was obviously super elite i just watched that for the first time ever a couple weeks ago. still wish i saw it on big screen i'm def gonna get around to seeing 2001 when it makes its big screen run later this year


a serious man- gonna come in with another hot take and say this movie was merely okay and I wasn't all that enthralled or entertained. i don't like coen brothers movies as much as most because i'm too stupid or whatever


next up for me is prob the new xmen I haven't seen and i'll prob rewatch snowpiercer which i thought was awesome in the theater but i was also really really baked and it was easy to overlook some of the absurdity



kill the messenger and citizenfour also playing at my local theater so prob will check them out. really bummed i missed out on gangs of wasseypur which was playing for one night only (then part 2 the next week) but it was during the world series game so can't be having that

pieces of april

Rom Coms...It Happened One Night, Amelie, The Apartment, any of the classic Ernst Lubitsch. Trouble in Paradise is a great rom com Lubitsch, and pre-Hays Code. His Girl Friday is pretty damn good. One of those genres where the old movies are noticeably superior in quality.

Went to a screening of Force Majeure with the director Ruben Östlund doing an introduction. Big fan of his movies and he seemed funny and smart as expected. The movie was very good and definitely his most accessible so far. It's got a great premise:


It's gotten rave reviews both here in Scandinavia and abroad from what I've seen, won the Un Certain Regard Jury Prize in Cannes and is Sweden's submission for the Oscars. So see it However, in my opinion The Involuntary and Play are better and I highly recommend getting them if you check this out and like it.

rom coms

I looked through a list and haven't seen a bunch. The list included some movies I don't consider rom com, like Princess Bride, Silver Linings Playbook, Annie Hall, there's something about mary and Groundhogs Day - leaving them off.

not in order

roxanne
moonstruck
harold & maude (might not fit in category? - super awesome movie though)
sleepless in seattle
four weddings and a funeral
the philadelphia story
it happened one night
when harry met sally

OMG... How old are you?

this is an incredibly narrow self serving view.

Rom Com...

Divorce American Style

Dick Van Dyke
Jason Robards
Debbie Reynolds
Jean Simmons
Van Johnson