Talk about the art of Film

I find a true show of the skills of a comedic actor are in their serious roles. Jim Carrey, for example, absolutely blew me away in Eternal Sunshine and the Truman Show, which I realize had some comedic elements too, but his work was very dramatic. Adam Sandler in Punch Drunk Love I also found to be surprisingly good. I feel like Bill Murray's work in both Lost in Translation and Broken Flowers is a true testament to his skills as an actor. And he's hilarious.

But you must have seen "Life is beautiful", it´s Begninis most famous movie, at least here in germany. And did you mention "Down by Law"?
Just when I was checking out the english title of "Life..." on imdb I saw a new clip of "Moonrise Kingdom".
Well, it has Bill Murray in it, which is exiting, but I´ve been waiting since forever for a new Wes Anderson movie.


Will Ferrel in "Stranger than Fiction"and "Everything must go"; Tom Hanks in everything after "Forrest Gump".

vixder/pennywise wrote:But you must have seen "Life is beautiful", it´s Begninis most famous movie, at least here in germany. And did you mention "Down by Law"?
Just when I was checking out the english title of "Life..." on imdb I saw a new clip of "Moonrise Kingdom".
Well, it has Bill Murray in it, which is exiting, but I´ve been waiting since forever for a new Wes Anderson movie.

I've heard of Life is Beautiful, but unfortunately have never seen it. And no I forgot to mention Down by Law. There's another great Jarmusch/Waits film. Actually that's both Benigni and Waits isn't it? Wes Anderson is another one I really love. Life Aquatic cracks me up every time.

Oh I really enjoyed Stranger Than Fiction too. Such a unique film. I kind of have a thing for Maggie Gyllenhaal too.

PlasticandRage wrote:...Really forum? The word G-@-Y? That is not profanity. In fact I'm pretty sure even used out of the context of a name that it's considered a politically correct term. I challenge you to that one forum.

Yeah wth, cesoring gäy is really damn weird. :|

I guess it's because too many morons use it as an insult these days...

Roberto Benigni... I never heard of him as a comedian, and I live just above Italy :roll: but yes, I remember seeing him in various movies.

And what do you mean by Renfield?

"Life is Beautiful" is a strange one. I can´t realy discribe what that movie did to me, especialy not to a non-german. It´s so funny and so heartbreaking at the same time. In case you don´t know: it´s a comedy set in an concentration camp about a father and his son. It´s such a wonderful, powerful movie, it´is funny, but you gonne cry in the end, I promise you.


Since Donnie Darko is my brother, I love Maggie like a sister.

Darkson wrote:

PlasticandRage wrote:...Really forum? The word G-@-Y? That is not profanity. In fact I'm pretty sure even used out of the context of a name that it's considered a politically correct term. I challenge you to that one forum.

Yeah wth, cesoring gäy is really damn weird. :|

I guess it's because too many morons use it as an insult these days...

And what do you mean by Renfield?

By putting emphasis on a word that is both a PC term and can be used in a derogatory sense, as a derogatory word, you empower those who would use it in a derogatory sense. I have to say I generally agree with the majority of the guidelines in this forum, but this one I absolutely do not.

In the film adaptation of Bram Stoker's Dracula, Tom Waits played R.M. Renfield, a psychiatrist who was driven insane by the power of Dracula. It's an extremely complex role and, IMO, Tom Waits absolutely hit the ball out of the park. His performance in that film is down right chilling.

All in all it's a pretty great film anyway. It managed to be good despite the presence of Keanu Reeves. Gary Oldman, one of my all time favorite actors, plays Dracula, and Anthony Hopkins plays Van Helsing. Any film with those two is going to be good regardless.

Eternal Sunshine was one of his best by far. Sandler has surprised me with his serious roles quite a bit. Speaking of Eternal Sunshine.....

Elijah Wood is one of my favorites although I admit he brings the puppy dog eyes to almost all his roles. Although as Kevin in Sin City was waaaaay different and he was pretty convincing with that character. That movie also fit Mickey Rourke well too. Everything is Illuminated with Elijah is one of the few movies that actually made me feel genuinely depressed afterwards. Beautiful movie. Runner up for best sad movie is Big Fish


Tom Waits Renfield is one of the best parts of the movie.

skarekrow13 wrote:Eternal Sunshine was one of his best by far. Sandler has surprised me with his serious roles quite a bit. Speaking of Eternal Sunshine.....

Elijah Wood is one of my favorites although I admit he brings the puppy dog eyes to almost all his roles. Although as Kevin in Sin City was waaaaay different and he was pretty convincing with that character. That movie also fit Mickey Rourke well too. Everything is Illuminated with Elijah is one of the few movies that actually made me feel genuinely depressed afterwards. Beautiful movie. Runner up for best sad movie is Big Fish


Tom Waits Renfield is one of the best parts of the movie.

It's funny that you put it that way, considering Elijah Wood's eyes are whited out in the majority of that movie. Though I completely agree. Both he and Mickey Rourke were spectacular in that film. I thoroughly enjoyed Everything is Illuminated as well. I made the mistake of going to see Big Fish in theater a month after my father died. I cried like a baby. Really embarrassed myself.

On a side note: Excellent thread Serious. +1

On another side note......my Netflix queue just got a lot bigger

skarekrow13 wrote:On another side note......my Netflix queue just got a lot bigger

What'd you add that was recommended? I'll hook mine up too if there's anything that was mentioned that I haven't seen

Ooooh Big Fish. Yeah I remember crying at the end of that one, as all the people he ever met stand there... I was a long time ago I saw that movie, I think I was like 14 or so...

That's exactly the scene that got me too. That and the scene where he makes up his father's story at the end. Love Ewan McGregor too. I don't care what anyone says, he was a great choice for Obi Wan

I added Lake Mungo, Broken Flowers, Ghost Dog, Night on Earth, Blue Angel (German Version), Howl's moving Castle, Dead Man and Sunrise: A Song of Two Humans.

I was going to add 13 Assassins too but realized I've already seen it. Great movie. Think it's a remake of a different movie but a lot like a modern Seven Samurai, one of my all time favorites.

He was a good choice for Obi Wan. I ripped on how bad Natalie Portman was in another thread and Tolvo made a good point that Episodes I-III were likely terrible acting wise more so because of Lucas than anything else. I gotta agree. A man that would add a song and dance scene to Jabba's palace, edit out the original Anakin Skywalker at the end of Jedi and a whole host of other "improvements" is a good suspect for responsibility for a bad movie.

(*the people of his stories)

You people talk about Star Wars now? Meh. :roll: It's all too... far-fetched... but it's still legendary, and especially the sountrack is legendary imo. In fact, I think without the awesome themes the movies wouldn't even be succesful

Man that last scene in the remastered Jedi, where he edited in Hayden Christensen, is one of my biggest pet peeves. Drives me nuts. Ooooo, I didn't know Night on Earth was on Netflix. I'm going to watch it again.

Let me know what you think of Lake Mungo and Dead Man. Lake Mungo starts out feeling like a lot of other contemporary horror flicks, but stick with it. It goes in a really amazing direction. I'm sure, relatively soon, I'll be responding to a post from you commenting on an image that you just can't seem to get out of your head. My god is it masterfully done. It's such a simple thing but is executed so well that it's hard to not be disturbed by it.

Darkson wrote:(*the people of his stories)

You people talk about Star Wars now? Meh. :roll: It's all too... far-fetched... but it's still legendary, and especially the sountrack is legendary imo. In fact, I think without the awesome themes the movies wouldn't even be succesful

When I moved into the apartment I'm currently living in, I discovered that when the previous tenants had moved out, they had left a lot of their stuff here. When I was going through it and cleaning it out I discovered a first edition vinyl copy of the original Starwars soundtrack. I have it hanging on my wall.

dee - dee - dee - deeeeeeeee, deeeeeeeee - dedede DEEEEE dee - dedede DEEEEE dee

DEE dee DEE deeee......

Sell it!

I watched a new Werner Herzog documentary on Netflix the other night called "Into the Abyss" that I'd recommend also. I found it to be a pretty uncomfortable watch. Has a pretty important message too, I thought.

Never. I'm going to buried with it.

The Raid: Redemption
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uWlmhMSnVdM
I wanne see this movie so badly.

That's awesome and will do Plastic. Speaking of well done imagery that sticks with you.......

Half of the scenes in The Exorcist. I saw it a few times growing up and always heard that there was footage "too scary" for the original release. I didn't believe it but then they released it with the craziest stuff added back in. For anyone that hasn't seen it I won't describe the worst scene in full detail but it involves stairs and a contortionist stunt double for the main character. The use of sound, not just music is masterful in that movie. Particularly in the beginning where the older priest is in Iraq. The blacksmiths, cart, horses, traffic and then the dogs are so well done that I actually start to feel clautrophobic (which I'm not normally) and have a literal increase in anxiety.

skarekrow13 wrote:That's awesome and will do Plastic. Speaking of well done imagery that sticks with you.......

Half of the scenes in The Exorcist. I saw it a few times growing up and always heard that there was footage "too scary" for the original release. I didn't believe it but then they released it with the craziest stuff added back in. For anyone that hasn't seen it I won't describe the worst scene in full detail but it involves stairs and a contortionist stunt double for the main character. The use of sound, not just music is masterful in that movie. Particularly in the beginning where the older priest is in Iraq. The blacksmiths, cart, horses, traffic and then the dogs are so well done that I actually start to feel clautrophobic (which I'm not normally) and have a literal increase in anxiety.

I've actually never seen the original Exorcist, and that's coming from a pretty big horror fan. I'm pretty sure that's on Netflix streaming right now as well. I think I'll check it out.

I watched the exorcit when I was like 15 on TV and I was bored to death. I couldn´t understand why this was considered such a masterpiece.
I watched it again in cinema last year. It blew me away. Such a difference: the sound, the huge screen, the people around you. I think it was the directors cut, since I couldn´t remeber any Iraq-scenes.

That documentary seems pretty interesting. If you're into that then Netflix
OJ: Monster or Myth?
There's some bias since most of the interviews are with him, his defense counsel and his daughter but it's crazy in that you get to look into his eyes sort of and hear him talk about it. I interview all kinds of people and rarely have I met a good liar. I'm not ruling anything out but this has me pretty sure he didn't do it. At the very least, most of the defense team and the private eye who helped out are convinced he's not guilty of the crime. Related and kinda creepy, there's a lot of audio recordings of Manson on the internet and some songs he recorded. Insightful into this thought processes if you dare.

Iraq scenes are just for a few minutes in the beginning. It gets creepier the older I get. The sound is what gets me. I've seen visuals done to death.

Edit: The visuals are also unique in the movie. For instance, pay attention to the demon statue at the very beginning. You'll see it again but only if you're quick. The director made some visuals near subliminal. You will literally miss the most shocking visuals if you blink.

skarekrow13 wrote:That documentary seems pretty interesting. If you're into that then Netflix
OJ: Monster or Myth?
There's some bias since most of the interviews are with him, his defense counsel and his daughter but it's crazy in that you get to look into his eyes sort of and hear him talk about it. I interview all kinds of people and rarely have I met a good liar. I'm not ruling anything out but this has me pretty sure he didn't do it. At the very least, most of the defense team and the private eye who helped out are convinced he's not guilty of the crime. Related and kinda creepy, there's a lot of audio recordings of Manson on the internet and some songs he recorded. Insightful into this thought processes if you dare.

Iraq scenes are just for a few minutes in the beginning. It gets creepier the older I get. The sound is what gets me. I've seen visuals done to death.

I've seen the OJ thing also. I enjoyed it. Hasn't he pretty much admitted that he did do it? I'm pretty sure I recall hearing that he had been trying to write a book titled: "How I did it," or "How I got away with it," or something to that effect, but his agent wouldn't let him go through with it. I've heard some of those Manson recordings. Such a sick man. Really not the kind of person you want getting into your head. I read Helter Skelter once, years ago, too. It's written absolutely horribly, as the guy who wrote it was a lawyer involved in the case and not a trained writer by any means. The content has its interesting moments however. Apparently before the Manson family got into darker things, they used to pull this prank where they would break into peoples houses in the middle of the night and rearrange their furniture really quietly, then leave. I always thought that was really funny.