Dusting off the AFI's 100 Movies list

[Kete]

I skipped Birth of a Nation (for now), and I went with Raging Bull.  Man, LaMotta was a real jerk.  I watched this with my wife, and I felt like I had to keep apologizing for his behavior.

[Johnny Unusual]

Birth of a Nation is definitely an important movie from a technical standpoint, but it's not a film to watch for fun, even putting aside the fact that it's about how awesome the Klan is.  I'll say this, the acting is surprisingly subtle in the first half (for a silent film) but then everyone goes super broad in the second, offensive half.

I watched the film for a class and in another class I was telling friends about a scene (which I think is unintentionally hilarious) where a woman is chased by a black man and chooses to jump off a cliff than be assaulted by him (it's funny because I remember the actor playing the black man didn't seem to make his character to threatening, so I envisioned it as a guy just trying to talk to her while she ran in fear off a cliff.  I might not think that in rewatching, since it's been so long).  Anyway I was explaining it to my friends and one said "Well, I would make the same decision she made."  I was shocked "You would rather jump off a cliff than face a black man?" Black man?!  I though you said bears."

We had fun with him about that.  He got quite a teasing.  Still, it's not nearly as odd when our friends played scattergories and under things that bounce he put "Jews".  I don't think he's racist but I do have to ask... WHAT THE HELL DOES THAT MEAN?  We're never letting him forget that one.

[Plastic Self-Cleaning Duck]

I watched the film for a class and in another class I was telling friends about a scene (which I think is unintentionally hilarious) where a woman is chased by a black man and chooses to jump off a cliff than be assaulted by him.....

Compare that to the flashback in Enter the Dragon...where the sister seppukus herself rather than be assaulted.

Not defending the attitudes in Birth of a Nation but even now in some cultures that's a fact of life for women.

[Johnny Unusual]

I watched the film for a class and in another class I was telling friends about a scene (which I think is unintentionally hilarious) where a woman is chased by a black man and chooses to jump off a cliff than be assaulted by him.....

Compare that to the flashback in Enter the Dragon...where the sister seppukus herself rather than be assaulted.

Not defending the attitudes in Birth of a Nation but even now in some cultures that's a fact of life for women.

Grante, but it's amusing to me because the way it's presented the black guy, though broadly portrayed, doesn't seem particularly threatening.

[Plastic Self-Cleaning Duck]

I watched the film for a class and in another class I was telling friends about a scene (which I think is unintentionally hilarious) where a woman is chased by a black man and chooses to jump off a cliff than be assaulted by him.....

Compare that to the flashback in Enter the Dragon...where the sister seppukus herself rather than be assaulted.

Not defending the attitudes in Birth of a Nation but even now in some cultures that's a fact of life for women.

Grante, but it's amusing to me because the way it's presented the black guy, though broadly portrayed, doesn't seem particularly threatening.

It's funny because it's corny.  But it's also sad in that the time it portrays (and in the time it was released) just it being a black man was enough to make him threatening.

[Kete]

I watched Guess Who's Coming To Dinner over the weekend.  I thought it was great.  There were a number of funny moments, and I thought that Tracy was great.  He really nailed this role.  An interesting bit of information: Carl from Up was based on Spencer Tracy.  That must be why Carl seemed so familiar.

[Kete]

Would it make me a bad person if I said that I think the Peter Jackson King Kong was a good contribution to the film industry?  Some remakes are completely worthless, but I think that the new King Kong had some very good merits.  I really liked the original King Kong and I'm fascinated by the techniques they used, but if I were to rewatch a King Kong movie, it would probably be the new one.

[Plastic Self-Cleaning Duck]

You weren't a bad person until the end.   

Jackson's has a lot of things right.  But the original is still the best over all (IMHO).

[Kete]

I may be ruined since I saw the new one first.  I think that Andy Serkis brought so much humanity to the role that was just not possible with the old version (although they were able to accomplish more humanity with their puppets than most actors today).  I also think that Jack Black was amazing in a serious role.

I don't know.....I should probably just stop talking.

[Plastic Self-Cleaning Duck]

I may be ruined since I saw the new one first.  I think that Andy Serkis brought so much humanity to the role that was just not possible with the old version (although they were able to accomplish more humanity with their puppets than most actors today).  I also think that Jack Black was amazing in a serious role.

I don't know.....I should probably just stop talking.

Comparing the effects is apples and oranges. Yeah the new one has the advantage of being able to ape (if you'll excuse the expression) and actor's movements.  But that then makes the original that much more impressive in that it all had to be done physically and in the imagination of the animators.

And Jack Black can handle a serious role.  But I think he's too creepy for a girl to follow onto a boat where she has no idea where she's going...no matter the Depression.  Where as Robert Armstrong has this kind of bravado where you trust him in spite of yourself.   I think Nostalgia Critic said that too.

One thing is certain.  Both these films are ten times better than the other remake....despite the cast.

[Kete]

I think it's sad that so many of these movies were so good because of their perspective, and that perspective is harder and harder to recapture as time goes by.

[Plastic Self-Cleaning Duck]

I think it's sad that so many of these movies were so good because of their perspective, and that perspective is harder and harder to recapture as time goes by.

Although I think it's more a combination of Techno-Snobs (if the process wasn't created within the last year it's shit) and too little education/life experience on the part of both the creators and the audiences.

[Kete]

I'm down to 25 left!

7.    The Graduate    1967
8.    On the Waterfront    1954
9.    Schindler's List    1993
13.    The Bridge on the River Kwai    1957
16.    All About Eve    1950
17.    The African Queen    1951
19.    Chinatown    1974
21.    The Grapes of Wrath    1940
23.    The Maltese Falcon    1941
24.    Raging Bull    1980
27.    Bonnie and Clyde    1967
28.    Apocalypse Now    1979
29.    Mr. Smith Goes to Washington    1939
30.    The Treasure of the Sierra Madre    1948
31.    Annie Hall    1977
33.    High Noon    1952
36.    Midnight Cowboy    1969
37.    The Best Years of Our Lives    1946
39.    Doctor Zhivago    1965
41.    West Side Story    1961
43.    King Kong    1933
44.    The Birth of a Nation    1915
45.    A Streetcar Named Desire    1951
47.    Taxi Driver    1976
50.    Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid    1969
51.    The Philadelphia Story    1940
52.    From Here to Eternity    1953
54.    All Quiet on the Western Front    1930
56.    MASH    1970
57.    The Third Man    1949
59.    Rebel Without a Cause    1955
62.    Tootsie    1982
63.    Stagecoach    1939
66.    Network    1976
68.    An American in Paris    1951
69.    Shane    1953
72.    Ben-Hur    1959
73.    Wuthering Heights    1939
74.    The Gold Rush    1925
76.    City Lights    1931
77.    American Graffiti    1973
79.    The Deer Hunter    1978
80.    The Wild Bunch    1969
81.    Modern Times    1936
82.    Giant    1956
83.    Platoon    1986
85.    Duck Soup    1933
86.    Mutiny on the Bounty    1935
88.    Easy Rider    1969
89.    Patton    1970
90.    The Jazz Singer    1927
92.    A Place in the Sun    1951
93.    The Apartment    1960
97.    Bringing Up Baby    1938
98.    Unforgiven    1992
99.    Guess Who's Coming to Dinner    1967
100.    Yankee Doodle Dandy    1942

[Johnny Unusual]

I think you should watch Birth of a Nation just to get it over with.  Then you can move on to more fun, uplifting movies like The Grapes of Wrath and Apocalypse Now

[Kete]

I think you should watch Birth of a Nation just to get it over with.  Then you can move on to more fun, uplifting movies like The Grapes of Wrath and Apocalypse Now

You know, the vast majority of these movies a pretty depressing (but still excellent).  The last three I watched were A Place In The Sun, The Best Years of Our Lives, and Mr Smith.  A Place In The Sun is obviously depressing, but I found the other two depressing despite being known as uplifting films.  The soda shop scene in The Best Years really stood out, as well as the suits bullying the Ranger kids in Mr Smith (which I don't ever recall seeing before).  Both these scenes really changed the tone for the rest of the movie for me.