WHAT FILMS HAVE YOU SEEN LATELY?

[JackFavell]

I agree, kingrat with everything you said about Marigold. Judi Densch is just beautiful in the movie. Here is young Dame Judi for comparison:

[Mr. Arkadin]

I agree with you. It's sort of the "accepted" general consensus that the 70's were blehhhh. (That would be the 80's).

The eighties are probably the roughest for me because I grew up in that period and film and marketing techniques changed after Star Wars . Previously, it was no big deal to make a niche movie for a small segment of viewers, but afterwards, the industry began to target younger audiences and instead of making money off a lot of smaller films, they rolled the dice on the summer blockbuster. While there were definitely some things that I enjoyed, much of what was promoted in that era was flashy bombast and my tastes ran back to the earlier years (which is most of what I spent time watching via the videocassette!). In retrospect, I'm now discovering all the great films that I didn't see and have come to realize there were many good things in the eighties that never got the press they deserved.

Some eighties movies I enjoy:

Copkiller (1983)
My Favorite Year (1982)
Blade Runner (1982)
Bad Timing (1980)
Cutter's Way (1981)
The Unbearable Lightness of Being (1988)
Paris, Texas (1984)
The Decalogue (1988)
Dominick and Eugene (1988)
The Killer (1989)
Coup de Torchon (1981)
Death in Full View (1981)
A Sunday in the Country (1984)
Mona Lisa (1986)
Grave of the Fireflies (1988)
Fitzcarraldo (1982)
The House by the Cemetery (1981)
Resurrection (1980)
Under the Rainbow (1983)
The Dresser (1983)
Off Balance (1988)
Gardens of Stone (1987)
Time Bandits (1981)
Das Boot (1981)
For All Mankind (1986)
Brazil (1985)
Ran (1985)
Time Regained (1988)
Down by Law (1983)
Come and See (1985)
To Sleep with Anger (1989)
One From the Heart (1982)
Diner (1982)
Ms. 45 (1981)
Drugstore Cowboy (1989)
Love Streams (1984)
The Thin Blue Line (1982)
Angel Heart (1987)
Cronos (1985)
Cruising (1980)
A Chinese Ghost Story (1987)
To Live and Die in LA (1985)


There's a lot more, but that's what's off the top of my head right now.

[ChiO]

You provided me with some suggestions there, Mr. Ark.

A few I'd add:

Deathwatch (Tavernier 1980)
Atlantic City (Malle 1980)
Mon oncle d'Amerique (Resnais 1980)
Raging Bull (Scorsese 1980)
White Dog (Fuller 1981)
Lightning Over Water (Wenders/Ray 1981)
L'argent (Bresson 1983)
The King of Comedy (Scorsese 1983)
My Brother's Wedding (Burnett 1983)
Sans soleil (Marker 1983)
Videodrome (Cronenberg 1983)
Amadeus (Forman 1983)
Broadway Danny Rose (Allen 1984)
Stranger Than Paradise (Jarmusch 1984)
Blood Simple (Coen 1984)
Stop Making Sense (Demme 1984)
Once Upon a Time in America (Leone 1984)
Prizzi's Honor (Huston 1985)
Pee-Wee's Big Adventure (Burton 1985)
After Hours (Scorsese 1985)
Blue Velvet (Lynch 1986)
Hannah and Her Sisters (Allen 1986)
The Fly (Cronenberg 1986)
Something Wild (Demme 1986)
Round Midnight (Tavernier 1986)
Damnation (Tarr 1987)
House of Games (Mamet 1987)
Housekeeping (Forsyth 1987)
Swimming to Cambodia (Demme 1987)
The Last Emperor (Bertolucci 1987)
Tough Guys Don't Dance (Mailer 1987)
Raising Arizona (Coen 1987)
Wings of Desire (Wenders 1987)
Bird (Eastwood 1988)
The Last Temptation of Christ (Scorsese 1988)
Who Framed Roger Rabbit (Zemeckis 1988)
Beetlejuice (Burton 1988)
Do the Right Thing (Lee 1989)
Mystery Train (Jarmusch 1989)
Crimes and Misdemeanors (Allen 1989)
Monsieur Hire (Leconte 1989)
sex, lies, and videotape (Soderbergh 1989)

[RedRiver]

The 80's were the last respectable decade for movies. Since then, it's been more about marketing than filmmaking. If you advertise it, they will come.

[MikeBSG]

Thanks for reminding me of "Housekeeping." It didn't seem to be my kind of movie, but I saw it because it had been directed by Bill Forsyth, and I ended up liking it a lot. Haven't seen it since, but I liked it then.

I hate to agree, but yes, the 80s seem to be the last good decade for films. There have been very good films made after the 80s, but something seems to be missing. (Would it be too much to say that the collapse of Orion Pictures marked some kind of turning point?)

[RedRiver]

HOUSEKEEPING is wonderful. Offbeat and quirky. Funny and sad. Completely unpredictable. Bill Forsyth has made several fine movies. COMFORT AND JOY, GREGORY'S GIRL, LOCAL HERO. This is his best work. The superbly talented Christine Lahti was never better. Love this movie!

[JackFavell]

I'm so happy to see some of my favorites here too, with a big nod to Bill Forsyth whom I just love. Comfort and Joy is my favorite, but Housekeeping and Local Hero and Gregory's Girl are not far behind.

I am so glad to see mention of

The Unbearable Lightness of Being (my favorite of the eighties)
Blood Simple (what a great movie!)
Amadeus (holds up perfectly after all these years)
The Fly
House of Games
Something Wild
Raising Arizona (chokes me up at the end every time)
Do the Right Thing (under appreciated)
Bird
My Favorite Year
Paris Texas (great Ry Cooder soundtrack too)
Dominick and Eugene
A Sunday in the Country
Time Bandits
Brazil
Ran (pure brilliance)
DINER

plus a few that I don't think have been mentioned:

Fast Times at Ridgemont High (so perfect a recreation, it scares me)
A Christmas Story
Ordinary People
Wings of Desire
My Left Foot
A Soldier's Story
She's Gotta Have It (how Spike Lee got inside a woman's head, I'll never know)
The Stunt Man
Last Temptation of Christ
Coming to America (which actually turns out to be a good movie)
Earth Girls are Easy (which isn't very good but is a great representation of the decade)

[RedRiver]

Love ORDINARY PEOPLE. There are people who challenge that. (On some websites, they do it with baseball bats!) But it's beautifully written, precisely directed and gets right to the heart. Bill Forsyth even made a mainstream American film I enjoyed. BREAKING IN, a burglary story with Burt Reynolds. Doesn't get more mainstream that that!

The last time I got inside a woman's head, it took me years to get out!

[ChiO]

Wings of Desire and Last Temptation... made my inflated list. And ones that certainly should have:

Fast Times at Ridgemont High -- Whenever someone whines about stupid teenage movies, my response is, "Oh, yeah? Well, there's Fast Times At Ridgemont High. So there!" Uno nickolette.

Earth Girls are Easy (which isn't very good but is a great representation of the decade) -- Maybe it's not very good...but it has Geena Davis. (sigh) You thought, maybe, The Fly made my list because of Jeff Goldblum?

[JackFavell]

You are too funny!

I never saw nor heard of Forsyth's BREAKING IN. I thought I knew all his movies! It looks like John Sayles wrote it... hmmm, should have been a good combo.

ChiO -

Fast Times has the benefit of some great performances by talented young people, but more than that, it has an uncannily accurate script with a dark tinge to it. It includes all the really dumb (I mean on a cosmic level dumb - ie: unprotected sex with the wrong person, car accidents, getting caught in the bathroom with your pants down, etc.) stuff you would like to forget that makes you run from your high school years with a vengeance.

Personally, I never really got Wings of Desire, but I do think it was highly influential and deserved a mention. Most of my friends thought it was great. I thought it was just me, I didn't really see what the big deal was. The one I really never really thought much of was Sex Lies and Videotape. Why that one got all the accolades it did, I can't imagine. Don't kick me out of the club!

I think whoever said that the 80's was the start of big hype was completely right. In looking at lists of the films, I can see many films that were hugely popular that shouldn't have been, and then a subset of more obscure films that were picked up by pseudo-intellectuals as the next greatest thing that really didn't deserve it. And yet, I found plenty of films I really liked in the era. One film, Ragtime, was hyped at the time, then lost it's reputation and hasn't even been mentioned for years, and I thought it was pretty damn good.

I thought of a couple more that I like:

The Brother from Another Planet (I wonder what the Chicago contingent thinks of this one )
Hollywood Shuffle
Airplane
Hairspray
The Evil Dead II
An American Werewolf in London
Reds (I can hear everyone groaning at this one, but I like it.)

Oh and Geena rocked the eighties! I think she was just great.

[ChiO]

The Brother from Another Planet (I wonder what the Chicago contingent thinks of this one )

This one likes it...and not just because of my three toes. It's a married-to-an-immigrant thing. Which reminds me: Return of the Secaucus Seven is another one for "Boys Will Be Boys...and Men Will Be, Too". The original The Big Chill.

Oh and Geena rocked the eighties!

Where's Buffalo Bill when we need it?

[JackFavell]

Ooh, Return of the Secaucus Seven is an awesome pick for your Boys Will Be Boys fest! I need to revisit it. I wonder what Sayles is up to lately. I have almost without an exception, liked every movie he's ever made.

Where's Buffalo Bill when we need it?

That show could run now and be totally fresh.

I even like The Long Kiss Goodnight with Geena, which I think got horrible reviews. And for me she was the only good thing about The Accidental Tourist. Talk about over hyped.

[Gary J.]

We loved THE BEST EXOTIC MARIGOLD HOTEL. The theater was at least two-thirds full, and the audience applauded at the end.

I recently read that this film is now this years biggest world-wide money maker for......how do I phrase this, for films out of the mainstream. The article broke down what films in wide release make around the world and the US box office take is rarely an indicator. I recall a discussion here last year when a sequel to Rowan Atkinson's spy spoof was made and people asked why? Because it made a boat load of money everywhere but in America. And as long as that system stays in place there will always be product for those of us not that interested in the films geared towards the multi-plex crowd.

[ChiO]

Cazale has a relatively easy part.

Not to diminish the performances of Pacino, Sarandon, Durning, Kane, et al., but I don't consider Cazale's part as "easy", relatively or otherwise. Like the others, his character is a person on the edge. To pull that off -- and do it differently and so intensely -- impresses me now as much as it did in 1975.

I don't think I ever saw him (Sarandon) in another movie, which is too bad.

You must have seen him in THE PRINCESS BRIDE. Isn't it a law that everyone has to see that movie?