IMDB Top 250 films
Re: IMDB Top 250 films
I'd been thinking about this and it occurred to me that it is very similar to what I'd just been saying about Jane Austin, someone whose great talents I can clearly recognize and respect while personally finding them pretty darn annoying.
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I wanna throw my body in the river and drown
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Re: IMDB Top 250 films
Yov--
Given your philosophical leanings, I'm would be surprised if you bought into the "Rise and Fall of the Asshole" theme (great name btw). It seems like it's about the most anti-libertarian trope imaginable. Not because libertarians are assholes! No one has a lock on that distinction.
Rather, the theme must feel pretty insulting to someone who believes a combination of talent, hard work, and being left alone should yield success. The characters in question tend to succeed--while they do--by conniving, intimidation, and eliminating the competition, and when their comeuppance finally arrives, as often as not it comes from someone who's merely better at it than they are.
Given your philosophical leanings, I'm would be surprised if you bought into the "Rise and Fall of the Asshole" theme (great name btw). It seems like it's about the most anti-libertarian trope imaginable. Not because libertarians are assholes! No one has a lock on that distinction.
Rather, the theme must feel pretty insulting to someone who believes a combination of talent, hard work, and being left alone should yield success. The characters in question tend to succeed--while they do--by conniving, intimidation, and eliminating the competition, and when their comeuppance finally arrives, as often as not it comes from someone who's merely better at it than they are.
Re: IMDB Top 250 films
I would hope that success by conniving, intimidation, and "eliminating" the competition would be against most anybody's philosophical leanings!
But since you mention, it is true that I do have extra fondness for the relatively rare movie or TV show that is about smart, honest, hard-working people succeeding because they are smart, honest, and hard-working. (See: Just about anything by Aaron Sorkin. I love Aaron Sorkin.)
But since you mention, it is true that I do have extra fondness for the relatively rare movie or TV show that is about smart, honest, hard-working people succeeding because they are smart, honest, and hard-working. (See: Just about anything by Aaron Sorkin. I love Aaron Sorkin.)
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Re: IMDB Top 250 films
And on a not-entirely-unrelated note: http://www.ilona-andrews.com/brief-anal ... c-fiction/
Re: IMDB Top 250 films
That's an unfortunate shortening of the URL...
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Re: IMDB Top 250 films
"Spirits in the shape of hawks and eagles flew ever to and from his halls; and their eyes could see to the depths of the seas, and pierce the hidden caverns beneath the world."
Re: IMDB Top 250 films
Why, wish it wasn't brief?Alatar wrote:That's an unfortunate shortening of the URL...
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Re: IMDB Top 250 films
NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW NOW.
Ahem.
Ahem.
Which means you would love Firefly. I mean. Right? *adores Firefly*yov wrote:But since you mention, it is true that I do have extra fondness for the relatively rare movie or TV show that is about smart, honest, hard-working people succeeding because they are smart, honest, and hard-working. (See: Just about anything by Aaron Sorkin. I love Aaron Sorkin.)
“There, peeping among the cloud-wrack above a dark tor high up in the mountains, Sam saw a white star twinkle for a while. The beauty of it smote his heart, as he looked up out of the forsaken land, and hope returned to him. For like a shaft, clear and cold, the thought pierced him that in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King
Re: IMDB Top 250 films
* adores Firefly, too *
Firefly has been called a libertarian show before. But the Serenity crew isn't exactly succeeding, they are surviving at best.
I've also heard the Batman movies to be called libertarian. Possibly, but I was so underwhelmed by what I saw of Nolan's movies that I don't see it as a compliment.
Seriously, Bale was more charismatic and intense in the Big Short where he plays a fund manager with a glass eye and unspecified neurological disorder.
Firefly has been called a libertarian show before. But the Serenity crew isn't exactly succeeding, they are surviving at best.
I've also heard the Batman movies to be called libertarian. Possibly, but I was so underwhelmed by what I saw of Nolan's movies that I don't see it as a compliment.
Seriously, Bale was more charismatic and intense in the Big Short where he plays a fund manager with a glass eye and unspecified neurological disorder.
If there was anything that depressed him more than his own cynicism, it was that quite often it still wasn't as cynical as real life.
Terry Pratchett, Guards! Guards!
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Re: IMDB Top 250 films
Of course. But I think that just means I'm human. Right?Primula Baggins wrote:Which means you would love Firefly. I mean. Right?
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Re: IMDB Top 250 films
Mornings wouldn't suck so badly if they came later in the day.
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Re: IMDB Top 250 films
I can tell I'm going to need to watch this again soon.
“There, peeping among the cloud-wrack above a dark tor high up in the mountains, Sam saw a white star twinkle for a while. The beauty of it smote his heart, as he looked up out of the forsaken land, and hope returned to him. For like a shaft, clear and cold, the thought pierced him that in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King
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Re: IMDB Top 250 films
I'd also add that I share many of yov's philosophical leanings, and I really like the Godfather (and Citizen Kane is growing on me).yovargas wrote:I would hope that success by conniving, intimidation, and "eliminating" the competition would be against most anybody's philosophical leanings!
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Re: IMDB Top 250 films
Which also doesn't surprise me.
Really, very little surprises me any more.
Really, very little surprises me any more.
Re: IMDB Top 250 films
Here is my most recent crop of movies for this list. Most notable in this group is my first F rating so far. That honor goes to the film Ran (from legendary director Kurosawa), one of the most obnoxious, melodramatic movies I've ever seen. Kurosawa's movies often have very melodramatic acting which I generally find pretty annoying but this one took that to the nth degree with practically every character constantly shouting or sobbing hysterically at the drop of a hat. UGH.
One other note - though Heat was the only crime drama on this list, I am really really really sick of crime dramas. I have a feeling that this obsession is more of a American/English thing as the classic non-English movies don't seem to feature nearly as many stories about criminals and gangsters. If I'm right that this obsession is particular to our culture, it is interesting to ponder why that would be. It is definitely an obsession I do not share.
Forrest Gump A
Touch of Evil A
The Sixth Sense A-
Rear Window B+
Heat B-
North by Northwest C-
The Kid C-
To Kill a Mockingbird C-
Blade Runner D
Gandhi D
Ran F
One other note - though Heat was the only crime drama on this list, I am really really really sick of crime dramas. I have a feeling that this obsession is more of a American/English thing as the classic non-English movies don't seem to feature nearly as many stories about criminals and gangsters. If I'm right that this obsession is particular to our culture, it is interesting to ponder why that would be. It is definitely an obsession I do not share.
Forrest Gump A
Touch of Evil A
The Sixth Sense A-
Rear Window B+
Heat B-
North by Northwest C-
The Kid C-
To Kill a Mockingbird C-
Blade Runner D
Gandhi D
Ran F
I wanna love somebody but I don't know how
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Re: IMDB Top 250 films
Why a D for Gandhi? (And props for spelling it right! )
Blade Runner—though I loved it and it's widely considered a classic, I can see that. Awesome visuals, slow pace. If you can't just bathe in the images, it might well drag. (Plus, of course, the incongruous ending tacked on to the theatrical release by studio order. I don't know which version you saw, yov, but if it was that, you have a point. That was the biggest "Oh, man!" of any SF film I've ever seen.)
I'd argue, though, that Blade Runner has had more influence on the visual imaginations of science fiction writers than any other film since 2001.
Blade Runner—though I loved it and it's widely considered a classic, I can see that. Awesome visuals, slow pace. If you can't just bathe in the images, it might well drag. (Plus, of course, the incongruous ending tacked on to the theatrical release by studio order. I don't know which version you saw, yov, but if it was that, you have a point. That was the biggest "Oh, man!" of any SF film I've ever seen.)
I'd argue, though, that Blade Runner has had more influence on the visual imaginations of science fiction writers than any other film since 2001.
“There, peeping among the cloud-wrack above a dark tor high up in the mountains, Sam saw a white star twinkle for a while. The beauty of it smote his heart, as he looked up out of the forsaken land, and hope returned to him. For like a shaft, clear and cold, the thought pierced him that in the end the Shadow was only a small and passing thing: there was light and high beauty for ever beyond its reach.”
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King
― J.R.R. Tolkien, The Return of the King
Re: IMDB Top 250 films
Any film that contains a scene like this can't be a D. Those 3 minutes alone elevate the entire movie to at least a B.
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Re: IMDB Top 250 films
What was with Mockingbird? I don't believe that it falls into any of the categories you've criticised so far .