Not-so-Classics, classics.

[Gold Trumpet]

OK, Since my name was spoken term wise in looking down upon a movie I think is of pure excellence, I must come to defense. First off, the reason the movie never involves itself it with any characters is because to do so would bring it back to a normal drama, which in ways, The Godfather acted as that didn't really set itself apart as being a gangster film at all, but just a drama. The quick movements in going from story to story through narration has its reasons in trying to capture the life and style that the playboy gangster life felt like. To involve itself into a normal drama that was investigative of characters would ask for it to lose the identity and feeling that set this movie apart from all others in being the definitive gangster movie since then. Like The Thin Red Line sacrificed focus on any one soldier to get a feel for all the soldiers as one during that war, this movie aims for the general feeling of what it was like to be a gangster.

And, curiously, why dislike for Citizen Kane?

~rougerum

[cowboykurtis]

i do feel that V.O. narration is extremely hard to pull off in a film -- it does have the tendancy to make the audience very aware that they are indeed watching a film. however i fell scorsese is one of the few film makers that can pull off VO -- this may very well be attributed to Paul Schrader as well -- i think one of the very few films where the VO actually adds to the atmosphere is Taxi Driver. i think the intimate, lonely atmosphere is heightened by the narration -- it seems to handle it more as passages from his journal that are counterpointing the narrative -- instead commenting on what is already obvious withing the visual frame. goodfellas as well as mean streets seem to work as well for me. your point is repectively taken, i just think differently.

[EL__SCORCHO]

2001: A Space Odyssey

[Ghostboy]

I also just watched the Wicker Man for the first time, though, and was very disappointed. And I also agree that Rosemary's Baby had a disappointing last act. I like Goodfellas, but I like Casino more (I'm biding my time right now, trying to think of something good that disappointed me -- I love most of the movies you guys already mentioned).

[Jeremy Blackman]

To involve itself into a normal drama that was investigative of characters would ask for it to lose the identity and feeling that set this movie apart from all others

That's exactly why I don't like it. But it's strange how you say "normal drama"... I don't see Goodfella's drama as eccentric or new or innovative, just empty. You usually need characters to have a movie, unless you can pull it off like Kubrick, and Kubrick Scorsese is not. Raging Bull? Taxi Driver? Bringing Out the Dead? Great characters. I don't think he can make a good movie that doesn't have characters.

however i fell scorsese is one of the few film makers that can pull off VO . . . goodfellas seems to work for me.

I like the VO in Taxi Driver, but the VO in Goodfellas is.. I don't know.. it's just trying too hard. The entire movie is trying too hard. Actually, the more I think about it, the more I dislike it.

Of course Goodfellas is a visual masterpiece, but I still don't think it's a good movie.

[Ernie]

Here are just some that I couldn't find much good in....

apollo 13
a beautiful mind
the discreet charm of the bourguisie (sp?)
forrest gump
gladiator
happiness
spartacus (just saw it)
titanic
the usual suspects (fucking hate it)

[Ghostboy]

apollo 13
a beautiful mind
the conversation
the discreet charm of the bourguisie (sp?)
fargo (fucking hate it)
forrest gump
gladiator
happiness
jfk
spartacus (just saw it)
titanic
the usual suspects (fucking hate it)

You're right about most of those. Except for The Conversation, Discreet Charm, JFK Happiness and Fargo,  which are all brilliant with a capital B. Give 'em another try.

Oh, and Titanic too.

[cowboykurtis]

apollo 13
a beautiful mind
the conversation
the discreet charm of the bourguisie (sp?)
fargo (fucking hate it)
forrest gump
gladiator
happiness
jfk
spartacus (just saw it)
titanic
the usual suspects (fucking hate it)

You're right about most of those. Except for The Conversation, Discreet Charm, JFK Happiness and Fargo,  which are all brilliant with a capital B. Give 'em another try.

Oh, and Titanic too.

agreed. the conversation is one of my top 3 favorite films. ive never seen titanic, but the others are all wonderful.

[Gold Trumpet]

But you're missing the point, the character is focus in Goodfellas is not any one character, but the whole life of the gangster. That is the main character, like the tide of war felt upon many different soldiers in The Thin Red Line, the character is the overall event that is taking place. That's the reason for the reliance upon voice overs, because thats how these guys communicated, that is how they talked and told stories. Though the film on the outside follows the rise and fall of the man, its main message is the general feeling of losing that life, when it is all said and done, and how that life incompassed the best and worst of feelings. Goodfellas couldn't have succeeded in being the best gangster film made til then unless it spoke specifically to how the feeling of the gangster life was first and foremost.

~rougerum

[cowboykurtis]

But you're missing the point, the character is focus in Goodfellas is not any one character, but the whole life of the gangster. That is the main character, like the tide of war felt upon many different soldiers in The Thin Red Line, the character is the overall event that is taking place. That's the reason for the reliance upon voice overs, because thats how these guys communicated, that is how they talked and told stories. Though the film on the outside follows the rise and fall of the man, its main message is the general feeling of losing that life, when it is all said and done, and how that life incompassed the best and worst of feelings. Goodfellas couldn't have succeeded in being the best gangster film made til then unless it spoke specifically to how the feeling of the gangster life was first and foremost.

~rougerum

amen. took the words out of my mouth friend.

[SubstanceD]

Donald Darko

[cowboykurtis]

Donald Darko

ive already spoken my disdain for darko in earlier threads. i wont go there again. ive made my peace.

[soixante]

Dr. Strangelove -- nice photography, but I didn't think it was funny (even though I usually love Peter Sellers).  Just didn't click for me, and I've seen it a few times.

On The Waterfront -- too corny and earnest.

Brazil, Blade Runner, Pennies From Heaven.

Silence of the Lambs -- basically a B-movie pretending to be an art film.  How this won so many Oscars and earned the reputation as a classic is beyond me.  I love Demme, but this is his weakest film.

[cowboykurtis]

Dr. Strangelove -- nice photography, but I didn't think it was funny (even though I usually love Peter Sellers).  Just didn't click for me, and I've seen it a few times.

On The Waterfront -- too corny and earnest.

Brazil, Blade Runner, Pennies From Heaven.

Silence of the Lambs -- basically a B-movie pretending to be an art film.  How this won so many Oscars and earned the reputation as a classic is beyond me.  I love Demme, but this is his weakest film.

i will now excersize my right to disagree.

[Sleuth]

Brazil is the only thing that comes to mind at the moment.