1990-1999 Best Movies Draft
03-30-2011
, 09:37 AM
a **** it... let me know if this pick is not allowed and i'll pick something else, but this is a one long movie imo
Spoiler:
Spoiler:
Last edited by hotdogfallacy; 03-30-2011 at 09:52 AM.
03-30-2011
, 12:01 PM
03-30-2011
, 12:08 PM
03-30-2011
, 12:32 PM
03-30-2011
, 01:07 PM
03-30-2011
, 01:58 PM
The Hole (Tsai Ming-liang - 1998)
http://www.moviemartyr.com/1999/hole.htm
A Taiwanese virus outbreak musical romance story. Yeah, it's pretty weird.
The film takes place in the last days before the new millennium, and an epidemic called "Taiwan fever", a virus thought to be spread by cockroaches with Metamorphosis-like effects on the infected, has left the tenement where our protagonists live nearly deserted. A radio announcement warns that the water supply will be turned off, and that "one cannot survive on rainwater alone". Which is pretty ironic, because if there's one thing there's more than enough of in this film and its universe it's rain. Pretty much every scene is bathed in the noise of constant downpour, and the film consists mostly of long static takes of the man upstairs (Lee Kang-sheng) and the woman downstairs (Yang Kuei-mei) doing things like making noodles and hoarding toilet paper. So anyway what happens is a plumber makes a hole in the floor in Lee's apartment, and consequently the roof of Yang's, and slowly a connection is made. The aforementioned monotony of routine and rainfall is sporadically broken up by musical numbers imagined by Yang, consisting of her and a group of dancers (and Lee) lipsynching and doing choreographed moves to Grace Chang songs.
I had never heard of Grace Chang before this film, and am not really a fan of musicals, but it just really works here and I think the songs and dance numbers are great. It works well in the context of the story, and they are much-appreciated bits of respite from the noise and gloom that fills the rest of the scenes.
It's a challenging, slow film, but also quite funny in places and it has many beautiful scenes. Not for everybody, but I think it really works.
http://www.moviemartyr.com/1999/hole.htm
A Taiwanese virus outbreak musical romance story. Yeah, it's pretty weird.
The film takes place in the last days before the new millennium, and an epidemic called "Taiwan fever", a virus thought to be spread by cockroaches with Metamorphosis-like effects on the infected, has left the tenement where our protagonists live nearly deserted. A radio announcement warns that the water supply will be turned off, and that "one cannot survive on rainwater alone". Which is pretty ironic, because if there's one thing there's more than enough of in this film and its universe it's rain. Pretty much every scene is bathed in the noise of constant downpour, and the film consists mostly of long static takes of the man upstairs (Lee Kang-sheng) and the woman downstairs (Yang Kuei-mei) doing things like making noodles and hoarding toilet paper. So anyway what happens is a plumber makes a hole in the floor in Lee's apartment, and consequently the roof of Yang's, and slowly a connection is made. The aforementioned monotony of routine and rainfall is sporadically broken up by musical numbers imagined by Yang, consisting of her and a group of dancers (and Lee) lipsynching and doing choreographed moves to Grace Chang songs.
I had never heard of Grace Chang before this film, and am not really a fan of musicals, but it just really works here and I think the songs and dance numbers are great. It works well in the context of the story, and they are much-appreciated bits of respite from the noise and gloom that fills the rest of the scenes.
It's a challenging, slow film, but also quite funny in places and it has many beautiful scenes. Not for everybody, but I think it really works.
03-30-2011
, 02:20 PM
Actually, this is my 10th pick, not my 9th:
The Last of the Mohicans, Michael Mann, 1992
Michael Mann is (and I apologize) THE MAN. This guy's films are always exciting, always original, and always worth watching.
The Last of the Mohicans is so unabashedly beautiful and romantic, that I'm a sucker for it. Daniel Day-Lewis and Madeleine Stowe...wow...can't tell you how often I've had a fantasy about that woman.
Obviously, the story is an American classic, as I'm sure we all had to read it in the sixth grade. It really is good, though. Heartbreaking. The best stories don't have obvious villains, and this one doesn't. Everyone has their reasons, as three different cultures clash together in what will only be an inevitable tragedy.
I love the last 20 minutes of this film. How Major Duncan Heyward, up to now a bastard, sacrifices himself for the woman he loves and her lover. And how that's mirrored in Magua's sudden compassion for the "English girl" who would rather die than be held captive by him.
Just watch this sequence - the battle up the mountain, Alice's death, Magua and Unga's battle and ultimate deaths...stunning. And the actress who plays Alice - Jodhi May - gives an uncanny performance in this film that is mostly silent. Everything she needs to say she says with her amazingly expressive eyes.
Stunning North Carolina scenery, epic battles, teriffic acting. Great film.
*****
My picks:
Trois Coleurs Trilogy
Reservoir Dogs
The Piano
The Player
Heavenly Creatures
Hard Boiled
The Limey
The Grifters
La Reine Margot
The Last of the Mohicans
The Last of the Mohicans, Michael Mann, 1992
Michael Mann is (and I apologize) THE MAN. This guy's films are always exciting, always original, and always worth watching.
The Last of the Mohicans is so unabashedly beautiful and romantic, that I'm a sucker for it. Daniel Day-Lewis and Madeleine Stowe...wow...can't tell you how often I've had a fantasy about that woman.
Obviously, the story is an American classic, as I'm sure we all had to read it in the sixth grade. It really is good, though. Heartbreaking. The best stories don't have obvious villains, and this one doesn't. Everyone has their reasons, as three different cultures clash together in what will only be an inevitable tragedy.
I love the last 20 minutes of this film. How Major Duncan Heyward, up to now a bastard, sacrifices himself for the woman he loves and her lover. And how that's mirrored in Magua's sudden compassion for the "English girl" who would rather die than be held captive by him.
Just watch this sequence - the battle up the mountain, Alice's death, Magua and Unga's battle and ultimate deaths...stunning. And the actress who plays Alice - Jodhi May - gives an uncanny performance in this film that is mostly silent. Everything she needs to say she says with her amazingly expressive eyes.
Stunning North Carolina scenery, epic battles, teriffic acting. Great film.
*****
My picks:
Trois Coleurs Trilogy
Reservoir Dogs
The Piano
The Player
Heavenly Creatures
Hard Boiled
The Limey
The Grifters
La Reine Margot
The Last of the Mohicans
03-30-2011
, 02:28 PM
03-30-2011
, 02:31 PM
Mystery Men (1999) - directed by Kink Usher
Ben Stiller, Hank Azaria, William H. Macy, Janeane Garofalo, Eddie Izzard, Greg Kinnear, Tom Waites
camio by Dane Cook
Super hero comedy, 11 years before KickAss
Ben Stiller, Hank Azaria, William H. Macy, Janeane Garofalo, Eddie Izzard, Greg Kinnear, Tom Waites
camio by Dane Cook
Super hero comedy, 11 years before KickAss
03-30-2011
, 02:44 PM
03-30-2011
, 02:52 PM
03-30-2011
, 03:12 PM
Write up for my 10th pick, Affliction...
]
Written and directed by Paul Schrader (Raging Bull) and based on a novel by Russel Banks (The Sweet Hereafter), Affliction is one of those movies that is painful to watch, but at the same time you can't look away. Affliction is ultimately about the fragility of the human condition and how easily we can destroy ourselves by giving in to our own weakness. The film follows Nick Nolte's character, Wade, who is a low level employee of the sheriff's department in a small new england town. He tries to impress and build a relationship with his daughter but she rejects him and he reacts poorly, he tries to impress his boss's by coming up with a theory on a supposed hunting accident and starts following around one of the people involved in the incident, this ultimately gets him fired from his job. He refuses to listen to the advice of his brother or girlfriend, she leaves him after he accidentally hits her in an argument. And of course there is his father, whom we know is a raging alcoholic and abused Wade and his brother as children. Played by James Coburn, in a role he won the best supporting actor award for, Coburn is pure malevolence as Nolte's father. After Nolte's character, Wade, has forced everyone good in his life to leave him he praises Wade for letting his anger finally take over. The film is one the most honest and sincere portrayals of self destruction and the way our demons often get passed down from generation to generation. It makes the film hard to watch on some level, but at the same time makes it one of the best films on the subject as well.
picks thus far:
1. Rushmore
2. The Thin Red Line
3. Babe
4. The Ice Storm
5. Run Lola Run
6. When We Were Kings
7. A Perfect World
8. Carlito's Way
9. Richard III
10. Affliction
]Written and directed by Paul Schrader (Raging Bull) and based on a novel by Russel Banks (The Sweet Hereafter), Affliction is one of those movies that is painful to watch, but at the same time you can't look away. Affliction is ultimately about the fragility of the human condition and how easily we can destroy ourselves by giving in to our own weakness. The film follows Nick Nolte's character, Wade, who is a low level employee of the sheriff's department in a small new england town. He tries to impress and build a relationship with his daughter but she rejects him and he reacts poorly, he tries to impress his boss's by coming up with a theory on a supposed hunting accident and starts following around one of the people involved in the incident, this ultimately gets him fired from his job. He refuses to listen to the advice of his brother or girlfriend, she leaves him after he accidentally hits her in an argument. And of course there is his father, whom we know is a raging alcoholic and abused Wade and his brother as children. Played by James Coburn, in a role he won the best supporting actor award for, Coburn is pure malevolence as Nolte's father. After Nolte's character, Wade, has forced everyone good in his life to leave him he praises Wade for letting his anger finally take over. The film is one the most honest and sincere portrayals of self destruction and the way our demons often get passed down from generation to generation. It makes the film hard to watch on some level, but at the same time makes it one of the best films on the subject as well.
picks thus far:
1. Rushmore
2. The Thin Red Line
3. Babe
4. The Ice Storm
5. Run Lola Run
6. When We Were Kings
7. A Perfect World
8. Carlito's Way
9. Richard III
10. Affliction
03-30-2011
, 03:15 PM
03-30-2011
, 04:04 PM
03-30-2011
, 04:05 PM