One of my college friends who was an art history major (so maybe that's why he noticed this) once asked "Have you ever watched the original Star Trek for the colors?" Last week I noticed the colorful lighting, when MeTV was airing the episode where we first meet Khan. The colors, especially lighting colors, are definitely not subtle. I adore how the set designers and lighting crew made the most of such a limited scenery budget.
I LOVED Pleasantville, Betty. VERY clever and well played. A true gem from back in the day when comedy movies delivered something better than morons at large and prepubescent fart jokes. If you liked this one, what did you think of Groundhog's Day?
Hi Peter, I completely agree that the comedy was so rich in Pleasantville, and it's hard to find that level of thinking in most comedy films these days. Not that I've seen many comedies since, on the big screen, other than the Christopher Guest movies which have a cerebral bent to the humor, but are so realistic as to be slightly more uncomfortable with each film. Groundhog Day appealed to me because it was funny, and Andie McDowell is so charming. The premise, of the protagonist living the same day over a seemingly-endless amount of times, gives the audience, in identifying with Bill Murray's character, some feeling of great potential, the way that time-travel stories often do. You get to think about what you would fix (or just savor the enjoyment of again) if you could go back and live parts of your life again, still knowing everything you have learned since. Of course in Groundhog Day, it's just a microcosm of life, being merely one day. It makes an intriguing story that he has the chance to make the most of that one single day by trial and error, and eventually get it just right, which is very satisfying. And your thoughts on Groundhog Day, Peter? I'm glad you brought it up - been a few years since I saw it and now I want to view it again!
I did some reflection on this topic and realized that I have more favorite all movies as I matured between the Peanuts stage to even after the Matrix stage. When I was single I was a romantic and my all time favorite romance movies were Falling in Love with Meryl Streep and Robert De Niro and Romancing the Stone with Kathleen Turner, Michael Douglas and of course Danny Devito. From that stage I was overwhelmed in debt and began to watch a lot of heist/crime movies. My favorite was 'Heist' with Gene Hackman. The ending of this movie still baffles me. Then I fell in love with again, the infamous James Bond movies. Pierce Brosnan and Daniel Craig. Action, adventure and more action, Bruce Willis, Angelina Jolie, Vin Diesel and Paul Walker, Pirates of the Caribbean and so many others. Then every once in a while I will find the neatest twist in a movie 'Femme Fatale' with Antonio Banderas and Rebecca Romijn. So I guess I really don't have a all time favorite movie 'cause another one has always come along and taken 1st place, again and again....
There are many movies that might qualify as my favorite at any given time, most of which I can't even think of right now. A few that do come to mind, however, are (in no particular order): "Kramer versus Kramer," "Far North," "The Point," "Monty Python and the Holy Grail," "Life of Brian," "The Passion of the Christ," "Dancing with Wolves," "Schindler's List," "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy, "The Matrix," "Interstellar," "The Silence of the Lambs," "Apocalypse Now," "The Shining," "Stand by Me," "Fargo," "Full Metal Jacket," "On the Waterfront," "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington," "The Deer Hunter," the 1940 version of "The Grapes of Wrath," "Alice's Restaurant," "Aliens," "Bull Durham," "Duck Soup," "Little Big Man," "MASH," "Of Mice and Men," and "Sometimes a Great Notion." There are certainly others, and probably some that I liked better but can't think of right now.
I've seen that film "The Gods Must Be Crazy" ages ago and i really enjoyed it. I've also seen "The Shawshank Redemption" and I found it a very memorable movie.
It's so funny you mention that. I love the book series by Lee Child, with the character Jack Reacher. Reacher's this super-buff, ex Military Police guy, who is described as being 6'5" tall and 250 lbs. When the movie comes out, who do they cast to play him - Tom Cruise - who's 5'7" and maybe 170 lbs dripping wet. What a let down! I just couldn't get through the movie, it was so badly cast. Another horrible casting was Matthew McConaughey as Dirk Pitt in the movie "Sahara". In the books (by Clive Cussler) Dirk is this serious, older, craggy, big guy, who is 6'3". McConaughey played him as a cute, loveable playboy type. It was just wrong. After years of reading these books, you have impressions of what these characters look like, how they move and talk. Then to see Hollywood mess it up so badly is just disappointing.
I don't often see movies with characters that I know from books, but the one instance of this that's always bothered me is some of the actors who have been cast as Hercules Poirot. The one feature that always stood out was that he always had dark hair, even when it became necessary to dye it. Yet I've seen Poirot with grey hair (Peter Ustinov) and bald (David Suchet). Probably the Poirot who most resembled Agatha Christie's creation was Albert Finney in "Murder on the Orient Express", which just happened to be the first Agatha Christie movie I ever saw.
Wow, when I just read your post, it reminded me so strongly of the first Agatha Christie book I ever read - I was about 11 or 12 years old and read "And Then There Were None". It was one of the first mystery stories I'd read and the ending was shocking - to find out the murderer was actually one of the "victims" (he had faked his death). It's so much fun to be reminded of these old memories and to remember them so vividly!!
I'm not sure how old I was when I read my first Agatha Christie book, but it was only after I saw that movie. To be honest I found Poirot so weird at the beginning of the movie that I thought he was one of the bad guys.
I have been mulling this topic over ever since the thread started. There are so many movies that I have really enjoyed, and such a variety of different kinds of movies, that it is hard for me to even begin to choose. Now that I see that I am not the only one who doesn't have just one "favorite movie", that makes it easier. When I was a child, I loved anything with horses in it (or even Francis the talking mule was okay). Then, I became a teenager and loved the romantic movies: Tammy, Anastasia, The King and I (yes, I was a Yul Brynner fan), and some of the old black and white movies, like Jane Eyre, with Orson Wells. Now I enjoy a blend of heartwarming movies, such as Batteries Not Included, Short Circuit, and the little trash compactor, WALL-E. I like suspense movies that twist and turn , and then once you get to the end, you have to watch them over and see how they did it. The Usual Suspects is a good example. I also liked the new version of The Italian Job. I think that if I had to pick just one movie, it would be Frequency. It has a great story line that keeps you waiting to see what happens next, almost a kind of time-travel, and is just a heart-warming movie as well.
I read my first book at the age of seven, and I've never been without a book next to me since. I too was about 11 or 12 when I first read Agatha Christie. The name of the book was, "Three Blind Mice". It was my first mystery book, and I was hooked. I still like a good mystery story, but they just don't seem to have the surprise factor today that I remember from 50 years ago.
You're quite right, Mal. I simply can't remember the last time a book-based movie came anywhere near living up to the source material. Even the celebrated Harry Potter movies, intriguing as they were, were but a pale shadow of their written incarnations. Casting the loathsome Tom Cruise as Jack Reacher (which I did not bother to go see) is just another sad example of Hollywood's penchant for inserting a big name star where a vibrant character should be.
My favourite actor is Mel Gibson and my very favourite films of all time are just his: Apocalypto Braveheart The Patriot The Passion of the Christ Harry Potter The Lord of the Rings
I don't have a favorite movie, there are several that I do like The Green Mile is one of them. Also The Matrix, got me thinking. I am into animation so alot of the movies I like are animation movies like The Transformers and Star Trek.