I think many people cant pin down their favorite film. For me I'm sucker for any one of these tings:- 1930's-1950's Period Piece
- The Cold War
- A great film score
- Medieval Fantasy
- Rallying speeches/ Monologues in film
- A bunch of friends go on an adventure
- Revenge
- good production design (Mis en Scene)
5. The Road Warrior (Mad Max 2)
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| Looks like fallout, no? |
4. Princess Mononoke
I love this film because its not only beautiful, but has great themes and message, as well as great charterers. The visuals and period are absolutely stunning (again, production design) and the charterers are unique and interesting, with their own sub motives and hidden intentions. Each character is manipulating the other, on the backdrop of a simmering war of nature against industry. I mainly love this movie due to its visual,s ala the period, but its themes of man against nature and the threat of loosing the forest are strong as well.
3. Starship Troopers
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| Yes, Vaheid, that's Neil Patrick Harris |
I'm not sure why I like this film. Its a fascist society, and they fight intergalactic bugs with Michael Ironside. Not only that, the film is intertwined with something else I love: propaganda. The film plays like propaganda film, and really makes your feel like you should join the Mobile Infantry. I love films that can inspire me, even if its brings to question the moral ambiguities of killing a demonized "bug" race, and the film changed from a novel about war to a film satire of fascism. And it has kick ass battle scenes too! The battle at Whiskey Outpost and the landing on Klendathu are breathtaking. Too bad this film was a flop! Note that this film was also an influence on a little game called Halo.2. Indiana Jones (series)
These next 2 are kinda cheating. I chose to pick trilogies as my top favorite films because they would not be complete without each other (In the case of Lord of the Rings, this is completely true) Indiana Jones is the greatest adventure-punching film of all time. Of course, we were all let down by the kids shlock of Indy 4, but this even existing makes up for it. The film is set in one of my favorite eras, the late 1930's, and once again, you guessed it, has great production design. It shares with Mad Max in that it has great stunt work as well. And no CG! All real! I think whats really strikes people about this film is the light hearted action and memorable characters, such as Sallah (who is Gimli in Lord of the Rings!) the bumbling arab who helps Indy, or Marcus Broody later in Indy 3 whose so intelligent his almost dim witted.
1. Lord of the Rings (Series)
Straight from the presses, a new mega trailer.
In conclusion, I like films with great practical effects, well used/ lightly used CG, great production design (usually in scifi or period pieces), unique and interesting characters, and a spice of great story.
And maybe some magic.
Honorable Mentions
The Last Samurai
The Iron Giant
Alien
Aliens
The Warriors
Letter from Iwo Jima
Gran Torino
The Shawnshank Redemption
Saving Private Ryan
Robocop
7 Samurai
Highlander
Monty Python and the Holy Grail
The Incredibles
Stand By Me
Dr Strangeglove
Bladerunner
Inception
Django Unchained
Reservoir Dogs
Pulp Fiction
Black Dynamite
Napoleon Dynamite
Terminator 2
Running Scared
Glory
Robot Jox
Blood Diamond
Vantage Point
And so on!
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For Mr Bigue
A type of shot I would like to try
Hey Conner I can totally relate to most of the films you've mentioned. I'm not a big fan of Mad Max, but my father is definitely fangirls over the series...well at least Mad Max 2 as you mentioned. x) As far as your other films go I definitely love that you put Princess Mononoke! Not because "woah it's another ghibli film" which i saw on other blog posts but because in comparison to other works it really had an underlying message of finding harmony between man and nature. I also liked how you put Starship Troopers, I too have been a complete fan of the series ever since my brother forced me to watch it. Now it wasn't the beautiful sort of cheesy storyline that got me; but showed a comedic side to science fiction... but still laced with action and bugs exploding! What more can you want. :D great post conner!
ReplyDelete-ps: saw that you put letters of iwo jima as a contender. Couldn't agree with you more~
Hey Conner! Lovely post as always! I enjoyed your use descriptions of each films, as I was not familiar with several of the films in your list. I completely agree with Indiana Jones! I wish I had put in my list, that series is unconditionally one of my favorites of all times. I remember I mentioned this series in my first blog post last year! The stunt work is amazing, however I also did feel that the fourth one didn't live up to the Indiana Jones series. I like how you added snap shots and a link to the trailer in your post, I was better able to visualize the films you were talking about. I haven't watched the Lord of the rings in the longest time, but after reading your post, I was reminded of the beautiful production design. I had no idea the film was nominated for 30 Oscars, and won 17! Keep up with the great posts.
ReplyDeleteConner, I'm impressed with how in-depth your justification for liking these films are, it shows that you're knowledgeable about the subject. I also appreciate the choice of films. While I haven't watched Starship Troopers, your description of it as a propaganda film seems like a great choice. And your choice of the Lord of the Rings trilogy is probably the most obvious choice I could ever imagine you making. Just saying.
ReplyDeleteHey Conner, I've been really meaning to see the Lord of The Rings trilogy, and this really reinforced my need to see it. You did an excellent job of making me feel like I NEEDED to see these films, and anytime one came up that I had seen, I basically felt accomplished just for watching it. Your segment on Starship troopers really made me remember why I enjoyed it. I really like how you pointed out the propogandic nature of the film, since it is lost to some people, and really increases the effectiveness of the movie. I also liked that you pointed out what should be contained in a film to make you like it; as that really made me further my understanding of what made you like each individual film. Finally, my absolute favorite part was your reference to "Vaheid". Hearing my name used in the post really made my heart jump, and I felt like I was special. Thank you for that feeling Conner, and brilliant post.
ReplyDeleteHey Conner! I only knew 3 of the films that you mentioned but I liked your in-depth analysis on the Indiana Jones series. I also enjoyed the time period in which the films were set and it is always fun to see how directors choose to portray specific events and the environment in a film that was set so long ago. I agree that the characters in the film were crucial because they provided realism and also the stunts used were very well done in my opinion.
ReplyDeleteHey Conner! I only knew 3 of the films that you mentioned but I liked your in-depth analysis on the Indiana Jones series. I also enjoyed the time period in which the films were set and it is always fun to see how directors choose to portray specific events and the environment in a film that was set so long ago. I agree that the characters in the film were crucial because they provided realism and also the stunts used were very well done in my opinion.
ReplyDeleteConner I really enjoyed reading your blog and each description about your favorite films. I like how you stated other topics that interested you in film because I do think our interest in topics really are what determine what our favorite films are . I especially loved your description of Princes Mononoke. Though brief description you were able to mention all the important aspects of the film and talked about the theme of it without giving away the end or significant parts of the film that would ruin it for a person who hasn't watched it. You also really made me want to watch the film as well because I love how you depicted the main message of the film as “war against nature and industry” (thanks for putting in the trailer as well). Lastly I also put Lord of the Rings on my top five, so I found myself agreeing with all your comments on the film and I liked how you mentioned all the film’s success to further express how great the film really is.
ReplyDelete