Look what a thing of beauty was delivered to Sasha’s house this morning. If you wish you could be so lucky, maybe you can be. Our wicked friends at Mouth Taped Shut sent some extras. Sasha will award TWO of these limited edition treasures in a lottery drawn from readers’ responses in the comments. To qualify, just write a paragraph or two about the visual impact of film. Check out the details of the essay question and two more photos after the cut.
When I was a little tyke, films to me were Monster Movies or Space Movies. I heard my mother talk about “shows” that were Murder Mysteries and Love Stories. Later I thought in terms of Jack Nicholson Movies or Bette Davis Movies. Before long I realized movies were genres like sci-fi and noir. Then one summer afternoon I was flipping through channels and saw the first film that made me realize what I saw onscreen was the creation of a director. Sorry to be a movie geek cliche, but the movie I stumbled across was Citizen Kane and the first director I ever cared about was Orson Welles.
So that’s the your ticket to win one of these incredible metal posters for The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. Tell us about the first movie you saw that made you realize movies were more than robot movies or comedies. When was the first time it dawned on you that there was a director in charge of what you saw onscreen? What was the cinematic flourish a director flashed in your eyes that first made you appreciate the visual magic of the movies?
The style of the movie represents the animal nature that lies in all of us. It shows that nature has a calm sinister quality that can lie dormant or rise out of us. David Fincher is a master at conveying these emotions through the evil qualities of his characters in his movies by having them fully understand their derangement and accepting it for what it is. Girl With the Dragon Tattoo is his masterpiece for showing his audience the complete evil that can lie within someone.
The first time for me was with Fight Club, I was like 13 when I saw the movie (yeah, I know) it was on tv so, and I felt in love with Edward Norton’s character, because he was real, he was showing what Chuck Palahniuk wrote in such a marvelous way. I felt in love in both characters if you know what I mean, we always have that person, that alter ego that’s ready to come out, and at that age (13) the movie for me was a movie for “man” they were fighting and stuff……then three years later I was fascinated by it in every sense, It was so underrated when it came out, FINCHER IS SO UNDERRATED but god……best movie ever made for me, and I’m a girl. 🙂
The first time for me was with Fight Club, I was like 13 when I saw the movie (yeah, I know) it was on tv so, and I felt in love with Edward Norton’s character, because he was real, he was showing what Chuck Palahniuk wrote in such a marvelous way. I felt in love in both characters if you know what I mean, we always have that person, that alter ego that’s ready to come out, and at that age (13) the movie for me was a movie for “man” they were fighting and stuff……then three years later I was fascinated by it in every sense, It was so underrated when it came out, FINCHER IS SO UNDERRATED but god……best movie ever made for me, and I’m a girl. 🙂
I think the first time I really appreciated directing was watching Memento. You could tell there was a mastermind behind the scenes crafting the storyline and the complex plot. There was something raw about that movie too that got through the complexity of the story and timeline to the emotion of the story. I thought it was masterfully done and it really did show that there was a craftsman behind the scenes directing the action, emotion, and forwarding the plot along (forwards and backwards in this case).
I think the first time I really appreciated directing was watching Memento. You could tell there was a mastermind behind the scenes crafting the storyline and the complex plot. There was something raw about that movie too that got through the complexity of the story and timeline to the emotion of the story. I thought it was masterfully done and it really did show that there was a craftsman behind the scenes directing the action, emotion, and forwarding the plot along (forwards and backwards in this case).
Has this cool competition closed yet?
Has this cool competition closed yet?
The first one for me was Die hard. It wasn’t the story, but more the extreme Bruce Willis that made me watch this one over and over. The next three Die hards were fine, but the first was the best.
The first one for me was Die hard. It wasn’t the story, but more the extreme Bruce Willis that made me watch this one over and over. The next three Die hards were fine, but the first was the best.
I’ve gotta say this was one of the most enjoyable comment threads I’ve read in ages. There’s something thrilling about a person’s dawning awareness that movies rule and it was great fun to read everyone’s different responses.
Good luck to all of you and thanks for sharing!
I’ve gotta say this was one of the most enjoyable comment threads I’ve read in ages. There’s something thrilling about a person’s dawning awareness that movies rule and it was great fun to read everyone’s different responses.
Good luck to all of you and thanks for sharing!
^You are seventeen? Damn, you write so well for your age. I couldn’t do that in English (I speak another language anyway) and I’m twice your age.
Well done, all the good for those who wait.
^You are seventeen? Damn, you write so well for your age. I couldn’t do that in English (I speak another language anyway) and I’m twice your age.
Well done, all the good for those who wait.
Like some of the other users who posted their stories here, I’m going to cheat ever so slightly by citing three films that kickstarted my cinematic passions (although, to be fair, they occurred within weeks of one another, so I count all three as one collective cinematic awakening).
I was sitting around my house, once again upset that my friends had cancelled or otherwise arranged their plans, thus causing me to be stuck at home for yet another Saturday night in. Suddenly, my mom asked if I wanted to see a “cool movie” with my dad as well as a family friend. Quickly seeing my options narrow and with increasingly having nothing else to do, I reluctantly obliged.
It was November 2008. I was 14 years old. The film was Danny Boyle’s “Slumdog Millionaire”.
By the time I came out of the screening, I was blown away. Up to that point, my experience with film didn’t consist of much outside of Disney, Pixar–(which I’m still amazed by today–and any other candy-colored kids film that arrived every few months or so. But it wasn’t just the stunning visuals, the music which still resonates with me today, the story, or the people in the audience whispering, “Jamal!” or “Latika” when one called out for the other. It was afterwards, when random strangers were discussing a person called, “Oscar.” I asked my dad, “Who’s Oscar?”
And so it started. I followed every news about this “Oscar” fellow that I possibly could. I saw any film that was even related to it that fall–from “Milk” to “Waltz with Bashir” to “Frost/Nixon” to “The Class” to everything in between. As my knowledge of Oscar grew from both newspapers as well as blogs (by sheer, non-brown-nosing coincidence, this very blog was and still is one of my primary sources of Oscar news), so did my knowledge of film. Stories became more than just cartoons and characters singing and dancing–they became vivid, exciting possibilities, with each film offering a two-hour passport from my world to the world theirs. Worlds to get lost in. People to follow and care about–if only for a short while.
However, one film from this magical three-week period carved out a permanent space in my heart–James Marsh’s “Man on Wire”. From the opening heist dramatization to the touching music to the pseudo-philosophical protagonist, I was just about in tears by the time it finished. It was the first time I ever cried during a film that didn’t deal with a cartoon dying. For a 14-year-old to see someone not only build a dream but actually pull of said dream was a beautiful thing.
That’s when I knew, right in that movie theatre, right on that overcast Saturday afternoon in early December 2008, right in my heart, that I wanted to be a filmmaker.
But the question was, what next? I knew what I wanted to do, but where could I build on from there?
Thankfully, both a recommendation from a friend in my school’s film club and a distant relative’s austere Hannukah gift (a USD$25 iTunes gift card) gave me a path.
The labors of said gift card? A recent pop song, some Weird-Al Yankovich ditties, and David Fincher’s “Fight Club.”
When I flew to my relatives’ house in Miami for New Years, I turned on my iPod and popped on the film. By the time the flight landed, I was completely and utterly changed.
I don’t know how many times I watched that film over that holiday. However, each time bought something new and dark and amazing to the table. The green-on-black hues of Jeff Cronenworth’s cinematography. The “thump-thump-wahs” of the Dust Brothers’ score. The questions that it brought up: What is true freedom? Do societal landmarks allow us to achieve said freedom? And most of all, the one vision that I’ll never forget–switching between an umpteenth viewing the last scene of the exploding CGI buildings while the port of Miami rang in 2009–and I silently rang in the rest of my life.
Today–thanks to all three of those astounding films–I am proud to be a frequent connoisseur of the amazing buffet known as cinema. I am currently applying to be the film critic of my town’s local newspaper as well as helping run my school’s film club–of which I’m vice president–all while I’m applying to film school (fingers crossed :D)
I’ve never won a contest like this before (or any contest, period) but I truly and deeply and feel with all the adjectives that I could possibly insert here that getting this poster will make everything come full circle–from Boyle’s Bollywood musical numbers to Fincher’s dark, brooding stance on humanity to an epic 2-day period in which I devoured both Stieg Larsson’s original trilogy as well as its subsequent Swedish adaptations to every other witty line of dialogue or camera movement or legendary director or great character arc in between.
For now, I wait for both the results of this contest and hope that, somewhere in the greater NYC area, a “Mouth Taped Shut” package is unwittingly depicting my ongoing love for cinema–always something extraordinary out there, waiting to be discovered.
Phew. 😀
Like some of the other users who posted their stories here, I’m going to cheat ever so slightly by citing three films that kickstarted my cinematic passions (although, to be fair, they occurred within weeks of one another, so I count all three as one collective cinematic awakening).
I was sitting around my house, once again upset that my friends had cancelled or otherwise arranged their plans, thus causing me to be stuck at home for yet another Saturday night in. Suddenly, my mom asked if I wanted to see a “cool movie” with my dad as well as a family friend. Quickly seeing my options narrow and with increasingly having nothing else to do, I reluctantly obliged.
It was November 2008. I was 14 years old. The film was Danny Boyle’s “Slumdog Millionaire”.
By the time I came out of the screening, I was blown away. Up to that point, my experience with film didn’t consist of much outside of Disney, Pixar–(which I’m still amazed by today–and any other candy-colored kids film that arrived every few months or so. But it wasn’t just the stunning visuals, the music which still resonates with me today, the story, or the people in the audience whispering, “Jamal!” or “Latika” when one called out for the other. It was afterwards, when random strangers were discussing a person called, “Oscar.” I asked my dad, “Who’s Oscar?”
And so it started. I followed every news about this “Oscar” fellow that I possibly could. I saw any film that was even related to it that fall–from “Milk” to “Waltz with Bashir” to “Frost/Nixon” to “The Class” to everything in between. As my knowledge of Oscar grew from both newspapers as well as blogs (by sheer, non-brown-nosing coincidence, this very blog was and still is one of my primary sources of Oscar news), so did my knowledge of film. Stories became more than just cartoons and characters singing and dancing–they became vivid, exciting possibilities, with each film offering a two-hour passport from my world to the world theirs. Worlds to get lost in. People to follow and care about–if only for a short while.
However, one film from this magical three-week period carved out a permanent space in my heart–James Marsh’s “Man on Wire”. From the opening heist dramatization to the touching music to the pseudo-philosophical protagonist, I was just about in tears by the time it finished. It was the first time I ever cried during a film that didn’t deal with a cartoon dying. For a 14-year-old to see someone not only build a dream but actually pull of said dream was a beautiful thing.
That’s when I knew, right in that movie theatre, right on that overcast Saturday afternoon in early December 2008, right in my heart, that I wanted to be a filmmaker.
But the question was, what next? I knew what I wanted to do, but where could I build on from there?
Thankfully, both a recommendation from a friend in my school’s film club and a distant relative’s austere Hannukah gift (a USD$25 iTunes gift card) gave me a path.
The labors of said gift card? A recent pop song, some Weird-Al Yankovich ditties, and David Fincher’s “Fight Club.”
When I flew to my relatives’ house in Miami for New Years, I turned on my iPod and popped on the film. By the time the flight landed, I was completely and utterly changed.
I don’t know how many times I watched that film over that holiday. However, each time bought something new and dark and amazing to the table. The green-on-black hues of Jeff Cronenworth’s cinematography. The “thump-thump-wahs” of the Dust Brothers’ score. The questions that it brought up: What is true freedom? Do societal landmarks allow us to achieve said freedom? And most of all, the one vision that I’ll never forget–switching between an umpteenth viewing the last scene of the exploding CGI buildings while the port of Miami rang in 2009–and I silently rang in the rest of my life.
Today–thanks to all three of those astounding films–I am proud to be a frequent connoisseur of the amazing buffet known as cinema. I am currently applying to be the film critic of my town’s local newspaper as well as helping run my school’s film club–of which I’m vice president–all while I’m applying to film school (fingers crossed :D)
I’ve never won a contest like this before (or any contest, period) but I truly and deeply and feel with all the adjectives that I could possibly insert here that getting this poster will make everything come full circle–from Boyle’s Bollywood musical numbers to Fincher’s dark, brooding stance on humanity to an epic 2-day period in which I devoured both Stieg Larsson’s original trilogy as well as its subsequent Swedish adaptations to every other witty line of dialogue or camera movement or legendary director or great character arc in between.
For now, I wait for both the results of this contest and hope that, somewhere in the greater NYC area, a “Mouth Taped Shut” package is unwittingly depicting my ongoing love for cinema–always something extraordinary out there, waiting to be discovered.
Phew. 😀
Lord of the Rings. I was 18 back then. I was completely in awe of the sumptuously rich creative visuals of Peter Jackson, who did an amazing job bringing such a wonderful classic to the big screen. I was equally impressed by the complex story telling, brilliantly supported by the amazing special effects and cinematography. This film turned me from a shy teenager into a crazy Tolkien fan, and I still am after all these years!
Lord of the Rings. I was 18 back then. I was completely in awe of the sumptuously rich creative visuals of Peter Jackson, who did an amazing job bringing such a wonderful classic to the big screen. I was equally impressed by the complex story telling, brilliantly supported by the amazing special effects and cinematography. This film turned me from a shy teenager into a crazy Tolkien fan, and I still am after all these years!
This thread revealed that I’m old. So what?
This thread revealed that I’m old. So what?
Let me start by saying, I have always loved movies. My family was constantly going to the theater as a child, and what I was watching on screen kept me thoroughly entertained almost every time, and I was like this up to about the age of 15 (I’m 17 now). Then I slowly began to appreciate the art of movie making as the films I watched became a little less mainstream. It was Memento that first help me appreciate the writing of a movie, and how a movie could challenge your brain as much as it did entertain your eyes. Then came Requiem for a Dream, the first movie ever that made me have respect for the visuals that appeared on screen. The way the movie immersed me into the strong emotion of the film, not only by the acting, but by the direction, fascinated me. With the very dark and gritty images being displayed, to the title cards smashing down as the lives of the characters came down just as hard. I was truly challenged by this film from every aspect it had. From then on, I watched more and more movies, I hoped would have the same effect on me, and two that had the biggest impact on me other than Requiem was Zodiac and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Requiem for a Dream will be permanently etched in my brain, and I cant imagine how my movie tastes would be now, if not for that film.
Let me start by saying, I have always loved movies. My family was constantly going to the theater as a child, and what I was watching on screen kept me thoroughly entertained almost every time, and I was like this up to about the age of 15 (I’m 17 now). Then I slowly began to appreciate the art of movie making as the films I watched became a little less mainstream. It was Memento that first help me appreciate the writing of a movie, and how a movie could challenge your brain as much as it did entertain your eyes. Then came Requiem for a Dream, the first movie ever that made me have respect for the visuals that appeared on screen. The way the movie immersed me into the strong emotion of the film, not only by the acting, but by the direction, fascinated me. With the very dark and gritty images being displayed, to the title cards smashing down as the lives of the characters came down just as hard. I was truly challenged by this film from every aspect it had. From then on, I watched more and more movies, I hoped would have the same effect on me, and two that had the biggest impact on me other than Requiem was Zodiac and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Requiem for a Dream will be permanently etched in my brain, and I cant imagine how my movie tastes would be now, if not for that film.
The first film I saw a movie which really impacted me and made me truly appreciate the beauty of film is Michel Gondry’s “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind”. I was about 13 years old when I first saw it. I was, and still am, a fan of Jon Brion; the composer of the film’s soundtrack. So I bought the DVD for this reason as the songs I had heard from the soundtrack were beautiful and I was curious to see if the film was equally as good. I knew I was probably in for a treat as when I went to the counter to buy it the DVD, the woman serving me was extremely enthusiastic about my purchase, telling me it was her favourite film. Before watching “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” I would say that I was fairly interested in film, but this movie truly opened my eyes and made me appreciate good cinema. Visually the film is superb. I was in awe of the cinematography and the colours in the movie. The scenes where Jim Carrey’s character, Joel Barish, has a memory erased were all beautifully thought out and executed in a stunning way. I particularly loved the scene in the book store where the book covers slowly turn white as the memory is fades away, along with the colours. In the scene where Jim Carrey’s character and Kate Winslet’s character are in the flee market and as that memory deteriorates the sound begins to muffle and the background begins to blur, which is a true visual representation of simply forgetting a memory. After watching it I couldn’t stop thinking about it for days and it truly impacted me. Every shot is so impeccably thought out and the visual effects in the film are not cliched at all but used in a very clever way. The “baby Joel” scene in particular is a good example of this. The acting is impeccable and I think it is one of Jim Carrey’s best performances, especially in a non comedic role. This film made me truly appreciate cinema and the many people behind the camera for the first time. It inspired me to make my own short films and study film at university. If it wasn’t for Michel Gondry and “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” I probably wouldn’t have been interested enough to watch the films of other incredible directors such as Christopher Nolan, Martin Scorsese and David Fincher and just stuck to the more commercial and less interesting comedies and romantic comedies which mostly aren’t a scratch on the work of these cinematic geniuses.
The first film I saw a movie which really impacted me and made me truly appreciate the beauty of film is Michel Gondry’s “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind”. I was about 13 years old when I first saw it. I was, and still am, a fan of Jon Brion; the composer of the film’s soundtrack. So I bought the DVD for this reason as the songs I had heard from the soundtrack were beautiful and I was curious to see if the film was equally as good. I knew I was probably in for a treat as when I went to the counter to buy it the DVD, the woman serving me was extremely enthusiastic about my purchase, telling me it was her favourite film. Before watching “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” I would say that I was fairly interested in film, but this movie truly opened my eyes and made me appreciate good cinema. Visually the film is superb. I was in awe of the cinematography and the colours in the movie. The scenes where Jim Carrey’s character, Joel Barish, has a memory erased were all beautifully thought out and executed in a stunning way. I particularly loved the scene in the book store where the book covers slowly turn white as the memory is fades away, along with the colours. In the scene where Jim Carrey’s character and Kate Winslet’s character are in the flee market and as that memory deteriorates the sound begins to muffle and the background begins to blur, which is a true visual representation of simply forgetting a memory. After watching it I couldn’t stop thinking about it for days and it truly impacted me. Every shot is so impeccably thought out and the visual effects in the film are not cliched at all but used in a very clever way. The “baby Joel” scene in particular is a good example of this. The acting is impeccable and I think it is one of Jim Carrey’s best performances, especially in a non comedic role. This film made me truly appreciate cinema and the many people behind the camera for the first time. It inspired me to make my own short films and study film at university. If it wasn’t for Michel Gondry and “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind” I probably wouldn’t have been interested enough to watch the films of other incredible directors such as Christopher Nolan, Martin Scorsese and David Fincher and just stuck to the more commercial and less interesting comedies and romantic comedies which mostly aren’t a scratch on the work of these cinematic geniuses.
I think the first one that made me realize what a big role a director has in a movie is Panic Room. That one particular scene where Meg (Jodie Foster) is coming out of the panic room to get her cellphone while the intruders are just downstairs arguing is really something I had never seen before. The dialogues are muted, the scenes are in slow motion, the music is subtle but really cleverly arranged that really made me literally holding my breath, felt like I was really there in the house, too scared to make any noise. That was a really different kind of approach that the director use from what I was used to seeing in other movies tense scene. Simply brilliant.
From that moment on I realize how big of a change a movie can be made from one director to another, by setting the mood, the pace, how the story is built up, the camera angles/movement, there’s just so many things that can make that much difference in the end, and that’s what the director is for, making all these elements work, supporting one another, making a perfect union, a movie.
P.S: sorry about my broken English, but I hope you get what I’m trying to say 🙂
I think the first one that made me realize what a big role a director has in a movie is Panic Room. That one particular scene where Meg (Jodie Foster) is coming out of the panic room to get her cellphone while the intruders are just downstairs arguing is really something I had never seen before. The dialogues are muted, the scenes are in slow motion, the music is subtle but really cleverly arranged that really made me literally holding my breath, felt like I was really there in the house, too scared to make any noise. That was a really different kind of approach that the director use from what I was used to seeing in other movies tense scene. Simply brilliant.
From that moment on I realize how big of a change a movie can be made from one director to another, by setting the mood, the pace, how the story is built up, the camera angles/movement, there’s just so many things that can make that much difference in the end, and that’s what the director is for, making all these elements work, supporting one another, making a perfect union, a movie.
P.S: sorry about my broken English, but I hope you get what I’m trying to say 🙂
An only child sits alone in a room and stares into a glowing box. She is entertained and transformed by the pictures and lines that create the stories and send her imagination on wild adventures all while sitting in a small living room while her family buzzes about the house. She is mesmerized by the characters and they become a part of her living.
Soon a teenager, going to theaters to screen movies with friends and sit in a big dark room and watch these funny, sometimes sad, other times terrifying stories be played out in front of her very eyes and secretly she wishes she could enter those worlds on screen and become one of the characters living there…she somehow knows it impossible and still she wonders.
The Crow, it was then that the young girl saw a film she could identify with and would forever be changed by the cast of characters, the darkness, the vengeance, the love story, the violence, the death, the good vs. evil, the mask that so many wear-even if it is not done with face paint, nor worn for protection. That film clicked, it became a realization, that someone else was creating the story, directing the cast of characters and was able to complete a film with an actor that was no longer living thanks to early technology. Isn’t that what a film is meant to do? Leave you whirring and wondering and wanting more, not just from the movie, but from life?! I believe it is.
Since that young girl saw that movie in the nineties, she’s been ravenous about film that takes dark subject matter and transforms characters from stories into film. With the end of every film, you are changed if only mildly, if it enlists opinion, disturbance, awakening, then it’s artistic nature has performed its duties to the audience.
I’ll never forget the moment I saw The Crow, the way it made me feel in my teenage years. Afterward, I delved to find any information about the movie that I could. Still, I can sit and watch that movie again and again because of the impact that it had on me so many years ago and that is in large part thanks to Alex Proyas.
Since that movie, my tastes have changed and matured but the impact it created on the way film is such a part of my living and breathing is rather remarkable.
Thank you for your consideration. I hope to be the woman that proudly owns this incredible film art piece.
An only child sits alone in a room and stares into a glowing box. She is entertained and transformed by the pictures and lines that create the stories and send her imagination on wild adventures all while sitting in a small living room while her family buzzes about the house. She is mesmerized by the characters and they become a part of her living.
Soon a teenager, going to theaters to screen movies with friends and sit in a big dark room and watch these funny, sometimes sad, other times terrifying stories be played out in front of her very eyes and secretly she wishes she could enter those worlds on screen and become one of the characters living there…she somehow knows it impossible and still she wonders.
The Crow, it was then that the young girl saw a film she could identify with and would forever be changed by the cast of characters, the darkness, the vengeance, the love story, the violence, the death, the good vs. evil, the mask that so many wear-even if it is not done with face paint, nor worn for protection. That film clicked, it became a realization, that someone else was creating the story, directing the cast of characters and was able to complete a film with an actor that was no longer living thanks to early technology. Isn’t that what a film is meant to do? Leave you whirring and wondering and wanting more, not just from the movie, but from life?! I believe it is.
Since that young girl saw that movie in the nineties, she’s been ravenous about film that takes dark subject matter and transforms characters from stories into film. With the end of every film, you are changed if only mildly, if it enlists opinion, disturbance, awakening, then it’s artistic nature has performed its duties to the audience.
I’ll never forget the moment I saw The Crow, the way it made me feel in my teenage years. Afterward, I delved to find any information about the movie that I could. Still, I can sit and watch that movie again and again because of the impact that it had on me so many years ago and that is in large part thanks to Alex Proyas.
Since that movie, my tastes have changed and matured but the impact it created on the way film is such a part of my living and breathing is rather remarkable.
Thank you for your consideration. I hope to be the woman that proudly owns this incredible film art piece.
This movies that made me realize that movies were not all transforming cars and romantic comedies was both “Dancer in the Dark” and “A Woman Under the Influence.” I had watched these movies at the same time and both films were so visually organic and real. They were beautifully shot and had so much emotion that affected me long after I had finished them. It is the first time that 2 movies mad me cry for a week.
I realized after watching these movies that this is what films are, and that I want to see more movies like that, where there is a story and a portrayal of the human suffering, because god knows how many times I’ve thought a girl would be running after me in a subway station. Lars von Trier and John Cassavetes had this style of entering the eyes and life of a character, not just as a observer but actually in their life, as if the camera was a character of its own, similar to Terrence Malick’s style. My eyes opened up and my view of the world literally changed and made me believe that one day I can find this same magic, the rare relationship of director, actor, cinematographer and film.
This movies that made me realize that movies were not all transforming cars and romantic comedies was both “Dancer in the Dark” and “A Woman Under the Influence.” I had watched these movies at the same time and both films were so visually organic and real. They were beautifully shot and had so much emotion that affected me long after I had finished them. It is the first time that 2 movies mad me cry for a week.
I realized after watching these movies that this is what films are, and that I want to see more movies like that, where there is a story and a portrayal of the human suffering, because god knows how many times I’ve thought a girl would be running after me in a subway station. Lars von Trier and John Cassavetes had this style of entering the eyes and life of a character, not just as a observer but actually in their life, as if the camera was a character of its own, similar to Terrence Malick’s style. My eyes opened up and my view of the world literally changed and made me believe that one day I can find this same magic, the rare relationship of director, actor, cinematographer and film.
I was in Yugoslavia on holiday when I was turning 13. There was this outdoor cinema and the tickets were like 50 cents, so I saw all of them.
One that stayed with me when returning home was Steven Spielberg’s Empire of the Sun. I knew it had already been released on video, so I rented it and illegally made a copy.
At that time, I didn’t even know that movies can last for 2,5 hours. I always saw the shorter ones. After seeing EotS so many times, I rented all the other Spielberg films (at that time I had only seen Raiders of the Lost Ark, but didn’t care about who directed what).
In EotS I saw a little bit of myself – being about the same age as Jim (Christian Bale). Of course, I have never experienced war etc, but something connected. I can’t tell you what, but if the film has flaws (as many have pointed out), I can’t see them. Even today.
This made me a fan of Spielberg, but also John Williams. I used to play his music from the video tape, had an external recording device and joined the choir. I believe this is also when I first realised that I can sing in tune.
I had seen the Swedish movie Mio, min Mio about a year earlier, and noticed that the lead actor was the same as in that one. EotS also got me interested in the craft of acting.
Skip two or three years, and I got to choose which movie we would show at school and review. It was this one, and my review was easily the best.
I still can’t figure out why the movie is so badly received by major critics. I’m giving this 5/5. Give us the blu-ray, Steven.
(Thanks for reading, now I will read all these 130 posts).
I was in Yugoslavia on holiday when I was turning 13. There was this outdoor cinema and the tickets were like 50 cents, so I saw all of them.
One that stayed with me when returning home was Steven Spielberg’s Empire of the Sun. I knew it had already been released on video, so I rented it and illegally made a copy.
At that time, I didn’t even know that movies can last for 2,5 hours. I always saw the shorter ones. After seeing EotS so many times, I rented all the other Spielberg films (at that time I had only seen Raiders of the Lost Ark, but didn’t care about who directed what).
In EotS I saw a little bit of myself – being about the same age as Jim (Christian Bale). Of course, I have never experienced war etc, but something connected. I can’t tell you what, but if the film has flaws (as many have pointed out), I can’t see them. Even today.
This made me a fan of Spielberg, but also John Williams. I used to play his music from the video tape, had an external recording device and joined the choir. I believe this is also when I first realised that I can sing in tune.
I had seen the Swedish movie Mio, min Mio about a year earlier, and noticed that the lead actor was the same as in that one. EotS also got me interested in the craft of acting.
Skip two or three years, and I got to choose which movie we would show at school and review. It was this one, and my review was easily the best.
I still can’t figure out why the movie is so badly received by major critics. I’m giving this 5/5. Give us the blu-ray, Steven.
(Thanks for reading, now I will read all these 130 posts).
So there I am in the plush, red, velvet womb that is my local ‘ABC’ cinema. It is May 1980. I am 8 years old, and on the cusp ~ between hoping to be Luke and wanting to be Han (ditto with Borg & McEnroe). I am experiencing ‘The Empire Strikes Back’ for the first time. It’s been awesome so far – Hoth is so cool! I knew Luke would ‘reach’ his lightsaber! I hope Han finds him in time! Eeuh, the tauntaun guts are gross…but cool! I have to get a snow speeder from Santa! And an AT-AT walker! Woah, Han’s new jacket looks cool! Princess Leia’s so pretty! I wish I had a real Millenium Falcon!…and so forth.
Then we get to Dagobah. Yoda’s cool, for a muppet anyways. I’m lovin’ Luke’s Jedi training. I’m going to try moving rocks in our garden with the Force tomorrow, it’s Saturday – no school! I know I can do it, oh look there’s Darth Vader behind a tree…WHAT THE..? But how did he get to..NO, don’t fight him, run, run away, go get Yoda, where’s Han?..oh cool – Luke killed him. But why’s everything in slo-mo? Why is the light weird? And what’s that droning noise?..I don’t think I like this..I have a bad fee..OMG!VADERSHELMETJUSTEXPLODEDANDITSLUKE!!! But..so..he..Luke..killed Luke, Vader is Luke, Luke is Vader…Daddy?
At last I am born.
So there I am in the plush, red, velvet womb that is my local ‘ABC’ cinema. It is May 1980. I am 8 years old, and on the cusp ~ between hoping to be Luke and wanting to be Han (ditto with Borg & McEnroe). I am experiencing ‘The Empire Strikes Back’ for the first time. It’s been awesome so far – Hoth is so cool! I knew Luke would ‘reach’ his lightsaber! I hope Han finds him in time! Eeuh, the tauntaun guts are gross…but cool! I have to get a snow speeder from Santa! And an AT-AT walker! Woah, Han’s new jacket looks cool! Princess Leia’s so pretty! I wish I had a real Millenium Falcon!…and so forth.
Then we get to Dagobah. Yoda’s cool, for a muppet anyways. I’m lovin’ Luke’s Jedi training. I’m going to try moving rocks in our garden with the Force tomorrow, it’s Saturday – no school! I know I can do it, oh look there’s Darth Vader behind a tree…WHAT THE..? But how did he get to..NO, don’t fight him, run, run away, go get Yoda, where’s Han?..oh cool – Luke killed him. But why’s everything in slo-mo? Why is the light weird? And what’s that droning noise?..I don’t think I like this..I have a bad fee..OMG!VADERSHELMETJUSTEXPLODEDANDITSLUKE!!! But..so..he..Luke..killed Luke, Vader is Luke, Luke is Vader…Daddy?
At last I am born.
There have been a lot of movies in my life that I have felt taken beyond just the movie going experience with. I wish I could name them all here, but there is one that sticks out in my head that will never change.
When I was 14, “Lost Highway” by David Lynch was released. Being a huge David Bowie fan, I jumped on the soundtrack the second it came out, only to love the entire thing to this day. It’s funny, there are so many people now that I hear of that say that Trent Reznor did so great on “The Social Network” and I just sit back and go, “Yeah, his work on the “Lost Highway” soundtrack was amazing years ago. So that is what initially got me into the film.
Since I was too young to see it in the theater (and I would have had to figure out a way downtown to see it since our artsy theaters are down there), I waited until it came out on VHS roughly a year later. Knowing I would watch and enjoy based on the music alone, I bought the thing used from a video rental shop. So here, I’ve got this copy of it in kind of a ratty case hiding it from my parents and watching it in the dark of night in my room so I won’t get in trouble.
I feel this way about all of Lynch’s movies, but “Lost Highway” is still probably the most prominent for me. I really felt like it had something more to it. Granted, it took about fifteen watches to understand what was really going on, but that is something about his films I find fantastic. It’s easy to simply watch a film. But to watch it and really get into it like you absolutely must do with his, that’s really a different experience. Every time I watch that film I feel like I’m catching something new.
There have been a lot of movies in my life that I have felt taken beyond just the movie going experience with. I wish I could name them all here, but there is one that sticks out in my head that will never change.
When I was 14, “Lost Highway” by David Lynch was released. Being a huge David Bowie fan, I jumped on the soundtrack the second it came out, only to love the entire thing to this day. It’s funny, there are so many people now that I hear of that say that Trent Reznor did so great on “The Social Network” and I just sit back and go, “Yeah, his work on the “Lost Highway” soundtrack was amazing years ago. So that is what initially got me into the film.
Since I was too young to see it in the theater (and I would have had to figure out a way downtown to see it since our artsy theaters are down there), I waited until it came out on VHS roughly a year later. Knowing I would watch and enjoy based on the music alone, I bought the thing used from a video rental shop. So here, I’ve got this copy of it in kind of a ratty case hiding it from my parents and watching it in the dark of night in my room so I won’t get in trouble.
I feel this way about all of Lynch’s movies, but “Lost Highway” is still probably the most prominent for me. I really felt like it had something more to it. Granted, it took about fifteen watches to understand what was really going on, but that is something about his films I find fantastic. It’s easy to simply watch a film. But to watch it and really get into it like you absolutely must do with his, that’s really a different experience. Every time I watch that film I feel like I’m catching something new.
** Addition to the post above **
I rewound the film and watched all over again immediately after the credits finished rolling.
** Addition to the post above **
I rewound the film and watched all over again immediately after the credits finished rolling.
The movie that opened my eyes to film was The Godfather. I remember there was a cable outrage that lasted a week so I checked out several films from the library, but I can only remember checking out The Godfather. It was a completely new experience to me watching that at 8 and being fully immersed into the world of the characters. Watching helplessly as Sonny was gunned down, holding onto my breath as Michael sat in the restaurant with gun in hand, and being rivted by Michael’s slow descent into evil. I realized movies were so much more about fairy tales and comic book heroes. They were about rising and falling, commitments, family and legacy. They were about all of us.
The movie that opened my eyes to film was The Godfather. I remember there was a cable outrage that lasted a week so I checked out several films from the library, but I can only remember checking out The Godfather. It was a completely new experience to me watching that at 8 and being fully immersed into the world of the characters. Watching helplessly as Sonny was gunned down, holding onto my breath as Michael sat in the restaurant with gun in hand, and being rivted by Michael’s slow descent into evil. I realized movies were so much more about fairy tales and comic book heroes. They were about rising and falling, commitments, family and legacy. They were about all of us.
After seeing so many robot movies and comedies, the first time it dawned on me that directors were in charge of what I saw on screen was my first viewing experience of Eyes Wide Shut by Stanley Kubrick. As a young teenager, the only films I viewed were summer hits and kids films. Eyes Wide Shut opened the possibility to me that film can be an art form. The visual magic of Eyes Wide Shut is the perspective that the audience follows through Dr. Bill Harford’s sexually charged adventures. The scene of Bill Harford walking through the streets, while being followed is one of those scenes that shows the power of direction and acting. Very few words are spoken in that scene, a strong musical score, powerful direction, and acting make it one of the most intense and visually magically scenes I have ever seen. Eyes Wide Shut allows many opportunities for the audience to admire and appreciate the visual magic of Stanley Kubrick, the director.
What was the cinematic flourish a director flashed in your eyes that first made you appreciate the visual magic of the movies?
After seeing so many robot movies and comedies, the first time it dawned on me that directors were in charge of what I saw on screen was my first viewing experience of Eyes Wide Shut by Stanley Kubrick. As a young teenager, the only films I viewed were summer hits and kids films. Eyes Wide Shut opened the possibility to me that film can be an art form. The visual magic of Eyes Wide Shut is the perspective that the audience follows through Dr. Bill Harford’s sexually charged adventures. The scene of Bill Harford walking through the streets, while being followed is one of those scenes that shows the power of direction and acting. Very few words are spoken in that scene, a strong musical score, powerful direction, and acting make it one of the most intense and visually magically scenes I have ever seen. Eyes Wide Shut allows many opportunities for the audience to admire and appreciate the visual magic of Stanley Kubrick, the director.
What was the cinematic flourish a director flashed in your eyes that first made you appreciate the visual magic of the movies?
The film that truly cast a new light on movies for me would have to be Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas without a doubt. Whether it had been Hunter S. Thompson’s exquisite yet filthy narration or the gripping visuals, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas was a film that really separated itself from anything else I had seen at the time. The surreal interpretation of intoxication and the disastrous reality the “american dream” were all too apparent in the film and left a very lasting impression on me. It showed that whether you are licking spilled acid off someone’s sleeve in a men’s bathroom or seeing horrifying creatures grinding against each other as they drink their concerns away, nothing is sacred. It introduced that not as a stigma, but rather as a new order that we have all come to know at some point in our lives. It shattered any preconceived notions I had about cinema, and I wouldn’t have wanted it any other way.
The film that truly cast a new light on movies for me would have to be Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas without a doubt. Whether it had been Hunter S. Thompson’s exquisite yet filthy narration or the gripping visuals, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas was a film that really separated itself from anything else I had seen at the time. The surreal interpretation of intoxication and the disastrous reality the “american dream” were all too apparent in the film and left a very lasting impression on me. It showed that whether you are licking spilled acid off someone’s sleeve in a men’s bathroom or seeing horrifying creatures grinding against each other as they drink their concerns away, nothing is sacred. It introduced that not as a stigma, but rather as a new order that we have all come to know at some point in our lives. It shattered any preconceived notions I had about cinema, and I wouldn’t have wanted it any other way.
Films to me are a way of entertainment to escape reality and enjoy what you thought might have been impossible come true. It’s a way to understand what we thought could never happen come true right in our very own to eyes. For those 90 mins (more or less) when you think you have the whole film figure out nothing else matters. The twists and turns it creates make perfect sense all in the end.
Films to me are a way of entertainment to escape reality and enjoy what you thought might have been impossible come true. It’s a way to understand what we thought could never happen come true right in our very own to eyes. For those 90 mins (more or less) when you think you have the whole film figure out nothing else matters. The twists and turns it creates make perfect sense all in the end.
I have to say Linda Blair in The Exorcist wore me out completely as a twelve year old growing up in Thailand, a country where ghosts are part of the norm. I had to spend the night alone after seeing The Exorcist that afternoon. Alone in my grandmother’s old house. Alone in that little room downstairs with the little window that opened up to the creepy little alley behind her house. Lying awake all night right after seeing The Exorcist — remains my scariest movie memory to this day.
I have to say Linda Blair in The Exorcist wore me out completely as a twelve year old growing up in Thailand, a country where ghosts are part of the norm. I had to spend the night alone after seeing The Exorcist that afternoon. Alone in my grandmother’s old house. Alone in that little room downstairs with the little window that opened up to the creepy little alley behind her house. Lying awake all night right after seeing The Exorcist — remains my scariest movie memory to this day.
Like most people, when I was a kid I enjoyed many animated films, an animated version of ‘Where the Wild Things Are’ being my favorite. I would want to watch a movie every day. It was some time in middle school when I begin to realize the the beauty of it. The color, the atmosphere, the implications the writer/director had in mind for the movie. One movie in particular, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, made me aware of these things, and probably changed the way I look will look at things for the rest of my life. As I get older, I get more and more interested in experiments in film and generally watch more movies. This is part due to the fact that my sister is in film school right now. It was her who helped make me become interested in film and directing/acting. Sometimes when I watch a really good movie (Quentin Tarantino and Woody Allen films are my favorite) I get chills and can’t imagine how different life would be if they were not part of my life.
Like most people, when I was a kid I enjoyed many animated films, an animated version of ‘Where the Wild Things Are’ being my favorite. I would want to watch a movie every day. It was some time in middle school when I begin to realize the the beauty of it. The color, the atmosphere, the implications the writer/director had in mind for the movie. One movie in particular, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, made me aware of these things, and probably changed the way I look will look at things for the rest of my life. As I get older, I get more and more interested in experiments in film and generally watch more movies. This is part due to the fact that my sister is in film school right now. It was her who helped make me become interested in film and directing/acting. Sometimes when I watch a really good movie (Quentin Tarantino and Woody Allen films are my favorite) I get chills and can’t imagine how different life would be if they were not part of my life.
I will never forget the first time I saw Battle Royale–a subject matter so disturbing, a vision so twisted, made into a thing of beauty. I never really appreciated the skill of directors, the sheer thought and ingenuity that goes into the process, until I saw this movie. It was about turning the horrific/slightly absurd premise into reality. And it was done so seamlessly. That was the first time I realized there was someone behind the camera, turning words and scenarios into one cohesive piece of work.
I will never forget the first time I saw Battle Royale–a subject matter so disturbing, a vision so twisted, made into a thing of beauty. I never really appreciated the skill of directors, the sheer thought and ingenuity that goes into the process, until I saw this movie. It was about turning the horrific/slightly absurd premise into reality. And it was done so seamlessly. That was the first time I realized there was someone behind the camera, turning words and scenarios into one cohesive piece of work.
The first director and film that reached out to me, grabbed me and said “there is more to directing then you know” was Orson Welles “Citizen Kane.” The idea that mis en scene could substantially contribute to the context of a scene blew me away. Never before had I scene a movie that had such command of each scene in every aspect of mis en scene. Set design provided me with a context for Kane’s overwhelming personality. A personality that was further exemplified by the classically trained cast of actors that all were portrayed to have a different opinion of Kane. The dark and ominous lighting and music gave a unique perspective on an otherwise unknown character. In contrast a light hearted Kane was ever personified by the brighter colors, and mood changing music, further contributing to the idea of the film that, no one really knew who Kane was. No movie could have compelled me by a single word as effectively as Citizen Kane “Rosebud” the only source of conflict pushing the story forward. Nothing impressed me more so then the ability of Orson Welles to not only direct a master piece but also include himself in the film as a main character, something no other director can do.
The first director and film that reached out to me, grabbed me and said “there is more to directing then you know” was Orson Welles “Citizen Kane.” The idea that mis en scene could substantially contribute to the context of a scene blew me away. Never before had I scene a movie that had such command of each scene in every aspect of mis en scene. Set design provided me with a context for Kane’s overwhelming personality. A personality that was further exemplified by the classically trained cast of actors that all were portrayed to have a different opinion of Kane. The dark and ominous lighting and music gave a unique perspective on an otherwise unknown character. In contrast a light hearted Kane was ever personified by the brighter colors, and mood changing music, further contributing to the idea of the film that, no one really knew who Kane was. No movie could have compelled me by a single word as effectively as Citizen Kane “Rosebud” the only source of conflict pushing the story forward. Nothing impressed me more so then the ability of Orson Welles to not only direct a master piece but also include himself in the film as a main character, something no other director can do.
I second the motion on Sasha’s photos. Love the touch of the shoes and curious cat!
I second the motion on Sasha’s photos. Love the touch of the shoes and curious cat!
I remember watching Frank Capra’s “It’s A Wonderful Life” every year growing up. And then I remember one year it took on something so much more to me than a holiday movie. I remember realizing what a cinematic masterpiece it was without all the special effects and big glitz of Hollywood. A truly great story of self worth.
I remember watching Frank Capra’s “It’s A Wonderful Life” every year growing up. And then I remember one year it took on something so much more to me than a holiday movie. I remember realizing what a cinematic masterpiece it was without all the special effects and big glitz of Hollywood. A truly great story of self worth.
Although the Russian roulette scene in the Deer Hunter, it is central to Cimino’s theme of Vietnam as a “life destroyer” if one went to war or one dodged it. If you play Russian Roulette you either shoot yourself or if you don’t play, the Viet Cong kill you by torture. The game symbolizes the choices of the POW and American society; many not unlike the other. The scene also captures the fright and violence the Vietnam War had without showing an actual war scene. Cimino’s movie was the first that stuck a realistic terror in me. So real that it appeared surreal.
Although the Russian roulette scene in the Deer Hunter, it is central to Cimino’s theme of Vietnam as a “life destroyer” if one went to war or one dodged it. If you play Russian Roulette you either shoot yourself or if you don’t play, the Viet Cong kill you by torture. The game symbolizes the choices of the POW and American society; many not unlike the other. The scene also captures the fright and violence the Vietnam War had without showing an actual war scene. Cimino’s movie was the first that stuck a realistic terror in me. So real that it appeared surreal.
The first time it dawned on me that cinema was art was with the movie, “To Kill A Mockingbird”. Director Robert Mulligan was the Rembrandt who took me the viewer into a world that moved, thrilled and touched me. Each actor like a brush stroke painted a portrait under Mulligan’s hand.
That movie helped me to see the power of the medium. A medium that could make me feel, laugh and think about the larger things of life. A medium that helped me to see the world in new ways.
I then was able to go back and revisit the old classics and to enjoy the the new classics to be.
Thank you Robert Mulligan for painting a portrait with the characters of Atticus, Jim, Scout and Boo Radley to introduce me to the art of cinema. I look forward to “The Girl With the Dragon Tatoo”.
The first time it dawned on me that cinema was art was with the movie, “To Kill A Mockingbird”. Director Robert Mulligan was the Rembrandt who took me the viewer into a world that moved, thrilled and touched me. Each actor like a brush stroke painted a portrait under Mulligan’s hand.
That movie helped me to see the power of the medium. A medium that could make me feel, laugh and think about the larger things of life. A medium that helped me to see the world in new ways.
I then was able to go back and revisit the old classics and to enjoy the the new classics to be.
Thank you Robert Mulligan for painting a portrait with the characters of Atticus, Jim, Scout and Boo Radley to introduce me to the art of cinema. I look forward to “The Girl With the Dragon Tatoo”.
the first movie that made me realize that someone there knew exactly how every scene should look like and made it look like that was Oldboy. After watching this film and a bunch of another movies made by Park-Chan Wook I understood his unique style among the other directors.
the first movie that made me realize that someone there knew exactly how every scene should look like and made it look like that was Oldboy. After watching this film and a bunch of another movies made by Park-Chan Wook I understood his unique style among the other directors.
For me the firs time I realized there was a director in charge of a film was 1981 Raiders of the Lost Ark. I was 11 years old and I went to the film because Han Solo was in it and George Lucas name was attached to it. Up until that time I had seen Disney films and Star Wars and Empire of course but it was the Raiders opening scene that hooked me. The director as the actors in the jungle and you do not see the face of our hero right away. You see his back he is looking at a map and the guys he is with want it. Our hero is not afraid of bats or a statue that scared the guys he was with, the sherpa type guys are very afraid and our hero is also not afraid of poison darts from the local natives. Its then that we see our hero is a man of action. When a gun is pulled on him he pulls out his whip and knocks the gun out of the guys hand and that is when we see our hero’s face and we are introduced to Indiana Jones. After watching Raiders of the lost ark I realized that the director is a powerful force for a movie and knowing that Steven Spielberg was the guys name I looked for other movies that he had done…which got me to see Jaws, and Close Encounters of the 3rd kind. Which introduced me to Terri Garr, Richard Dreyfus, Robert Shaw etc which in turn got me to watch The Sting, Robin and Marian and in turn turned me on to Redford and Newman and James Bond and on down the line of great movies. So to me Spielberg thanks to George Lucas was my “oracle of Kevin Bacon” getting me hooked on film and movies. To this day Raiders of the Lost Ark is among my top 25 movies of all time and I owe it all to Spielberg making me believe.
For me the firs time I realized there was a director in charge of a film was 1981 Raiders of the Lost Ark. I was 11 years old and I went to the film because Han Solo was in it and George Lucas name was attached to it. Up until that time I had seen Disney films and Star Wars and Empire of course but it was the Raiders opening scene that hooked me. The director as the actors in the jungle and you do not see the face of our hero right away. You see his back he is looking at a map and the guys he is with want it. Our hero is not afraid of bats or a statue that scared the guys he was with, the sherpa type guys are very afraid and our hero is also not afraid of poison darts from the local natives. Its then that we see our hero is a man of action. When a gun is pulled on him he pulls out his whip and knocks the gun out of the guys hand and that is when we see our hero’s face and we are introduced to Indiana Jones. After watching Raiders of the lost ark I realized that the director is a powerful force for a movie and knowing that Steven Spielberg was the guys name I looked for other movies that he had done…which got me to see Jaws, and Close Encounters of the 3rd kind. Which introduced me to Terri Garr, Richard Dreyfus, Robert Shaw etc which in turn got me to watch The Sting, Robin and Marian and in turn turned me on to Redford and Newman and James Bond and on down the line of great movies. So to me Spielberg thanks to George Lucas was my “oracle of Kevin Bacon” getting me hooked on film and movies. To this day Raiders of the Lost Ark is among my top 25 movies of all time and I owe it all to Spielberg making me believe.
The first time that I realized that movies were to be taken seriously and not as escapist entertainment was when I saw Schindler’s List on Valentine’s Day in 1994. I had to see it for a high school class and was only looking forward to it since it meant I would miss most of a school day. Little did I know what was in store for me…..
I was familiar with Steven Spielerg thanks to E.T., Raiders and Jurassic Park from the previous summer. Schindler’s List showed me that a director was capapble of doing just about anything and that if they had the right people, they could put that vision on the screen. Every shot, edit, element of the movie had the imprint of Spielberg on it, as if he was inside everyone’s head telling them this is how it’s supposed to be and you know I’m right. He’s approached that level a few times since with SPR, Minority Report and Munich, but that first time I realized what a director was capapble of is still the most powerful.
The first time that I realized that movies were to be taken seriously and not as escapist entertainment was when I saw Schindler’s List on Valentine’s Day in 1994. I had to see it for a high school class and was only looking forward to it since it meant I would miss most of a school day. Little did I know what was in store for me…..
I was familiar with Steven Spielerg thanks to E.T., Raiders and Jurassic Park from the previous summer. Schindler’s List showed me that a director was capapble of doing just about anything and that if they had the right people, they could put that vision on the screen. Every shot, edit, element of the movie had the imprint of Spielberg on it, as if he was inside everyone’s head telling them this is how it’s supposed to be and you know I’m right. He’s approached that level a few times since with SPR, Minority Report and Munich, but that first time I realized what a director was capapble of is still the most powerful.
Very, very aesthetically pleasing.
Very, very aesthetically pleasing.
I’m 22 years old and the faintest memory I have of my first moviegoing experience must be from either Toy Story or Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace. I used to love Disney movies so much I memorized lines from Mickey Mouse cartoons as a kid, and as I grew older my taste slowly shifted to the Darth Vaders and Obi-Wan Kenobis of the silver screen world. I always was a big fan of Steven Spielberg ever since I saw dinosaurs come to life in Jurassic Park, but it was not until I got around to seeing Schindler’s List a few years later that I came around to discovering that there was so much behind the cinema than just big spectacle and computer generated imagery.
I will never forget that red dress – that cold horror of a black and white Holocaust film with a lone bright red dress to ease the monotony.
Schindler’s List opened my eyes to how a director’s personal experiences and convictions can shape an emotionally stirring and visually breathtaking film, and it was around this time where I got around to exploring more movies and more genres and ultimately broaden my still underwhelming film literacy. I began with caring about Spielberg, but now I care about David Fincher, Alfonso Cuaron, Michael Mann and Darren Aronofsky, and I hope to expand that list even further in the years to come.
I’m 22 years old and the faintest memory I have of my first moviegoing experience must be from either Toy Story or Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace. I used to love Disney movies so much I memorized lines from Mickey Mouse cartoons as a kid, and as I grew older my taste slowly shifted to the Darth Vaders and Obi-Wan Kenobis of the silver screen world. I always was a big fan of Steven Spielberg ever since I saw dinosaurs come to life in Jurassic Park, but it was not until I got around to seeing Schindler’s List a few years later that I came around to discovering that there was so much behind the cinema than just big spectacle and computer generated imagery.
I will never forget that red dress – that cold horror of a black and white Holocaust film with a lone bright red dress to ease the monotony.
Schindler’s List opened my eyes to how a director’s personal experiences and convictions can shape an emotionally stirring and visually breathtaking film, and it was around this time where I got around to exploring more movies and more genres and ultimately broaden my still underwhelming film literacy. I began with caring about Spielberg, but now I care about David Fincher, Alfonso Cuaron, Michael Mann and Darren Aronofsky, and I hope to expand that list even further in the years to come.
Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction, and then subsequent films such as Kill Bill, opened my eyes to the impact that dialogue could create in movies. Until the moment I saw Pulp Fiction as a child, I was used to conventional, run-of-the-mill B-action-movie dialogue that relied heavily on archetypes. His movies made me realize that there are a lot of different ways to say something, that some ways are more effective than others, and that the things that people can say can be very extreme (i.e. Sam Jackson’s Ezekiel monologue or Christopher Walkens’ gold watch monologue).
I was also struck with the nonchalance that the characters handled violence in realistic scenarios. Until I saw that movie, I was used to naive characters who had never been subjected to the plausible violence and perversity of the real world. It was either a kid movie or an unrealistic action movie where death was treated as a joke. Pulp Fiction introduced me to characters who were born into and accustomed to a world of killing and bloodshed. I was used to characters to whom shootings in cold blood, drug use, and disillusionment were all alien concepts.
Quentin Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction, and then subsequent films such as Kill Bill, opened my eyes to the impact that dialogue could create in movies. Until the moment I saw Pulp Fiction as a child, I was used to conventional, run-of-the-mill B-action-movie dialogue that relied heavily on archetypes. His movies made me realize that there are a lot of different ways to say something, that some ways are more effective than others, and that the things that people can say can be very extreme (i.e. Sam Jackson’s Ezekiel monologue or Christopher Walkens’ gold watch monologue).
I was also struck with the nonchalance that the characters handled violence in realistic scenarios. Until I saw that movie, I was used to naive characters who had never been subjected to the plausible violence and perversity of the real world. It was either a kid movie or an unrealistic action movie where death was treated as a joke. Pulp Fiction introduced me to characters who were born into and accustomed to a world of killing and bloodshed. I was used to characters to whom shootings in cold blood, drug use, and disillusionment were all alien concepts.
So many movies in the earlier of my 21 years i remember having impacted me, but i feel that some newer films need that recognition; and i think it works in correlation with Dragon Tattoo (American version), being new as well. the movie that made realize movies were more than robots and comedies, that is not an old classic.. is pans labyrinth. no novel storyline behind it, director wrote it himself, the imagery.. the plot.. the characters.. the ending. so perfect. and that was the first time i saw effort put into such a beautiful work of art. and if i can add a less noted one.. the film Once. as beautiful, completely raw, and so, so moving.
So many movies in the earlier of my 21 years i remember having impacted me, but i feel that some newer films need that recognition; and i think it works in correlation with Dragon Tattoo (American version), being new as well. the movie that made realize movies were more than robots and comedies, that is not an old classic.. is pans labyrinth. no novel storyline behind it, director wrote it himself, the imagery.. the plot.. the characters.. the ending. so perfect. and that was the first time i saw effort put into such a beautiful work of art. and if i can add a less noted one.. the film Once. as beautiful, completely raw, and so, so moving.
For me it would have to be seeing Tim Burton’s style in Batman Returns. I was 9 years old when this movie came out. I was already a big fan of the character of Batman having previously seen the first movie which I loved. However it wasn’t until seeing Batman Returns, a movie with an obviously higher budget, that I really noticed Tim Burton’s way of visualizing a story. It’s often said of movies that the location is like another character in the cast and it’s true.
You have the somber frozen elegance of the dead zoo apparently forgotten by time. It is the home of the Penguin who can be seen as a Jesus Christ in his own wright.
The slightly too pink almost candy-wrapped apartment of Selina Kyle who just wants to be liked and live the domesticated dream
And of course there’s the tomb-like mansion of Bruce Wayne. So isolated and dark. It fits Batman’s brooding demeanor.
Then you have Gotham City itself which is modeled after Chicago, not New York. You see several decades worth or architectural styles blended seamlessly together. Gotham City, the cage. It’s mazes and tunnels keeping everyone close together whether they like it or not.
All of this is set to play out during the Christmas season which gives a sense of childlike emotionality.
For me it would have to be seeing Tim Burton’s style in Batman Returns. I was 9 years old when this movie came out. I was already a big fan of the character of Batman having previously seen the first movie which I loved. However it wasn’t until seeing Batman Returns, a movie with an obviously higher budget, that I really noticed Tim Burton’s way of visualizing a story. It’s often said of movies that the location is like another character in the cast and it’s true.
You have the somber frozen elegance of the dead zoo apparently forgotten by time. It is the home of the Penguin who can be seen as a Jesus Christ in his own wright.
The slightly too pink almost candy-wrapped apartment of Selina Kyle who just wants to be liked and live the domesticated dream
And of course there’s the tomb-like mansion of Bruce Wayne. So isolated and dark. It fits Batman’s brooding demeanor.
Then you have Gotham City itself which is modeled after Chicago, not New York. You see several decades worth or architectural styles blended seamlessly together. Gotham City, the cage. It’s mazes and tunnels keeping everyone close together whether they like it or not.
All of this is set to play out during the Christmas season which gives a sense of childlike emotionality.
I’d say that as important as the first film to make one realize that human beings actually concoct and create films, it’s even more important to identify when I realized some of those human beings may not be human after all. When I saw the Shining it was already a decade old and on a vhs tape, but it had that air of “who or what came up with this horrifying work?” My friend hyperventilated and had to leave the room, and I sat there in awe of how powerful a videotape could be if a story is simply handed to the right creator. Appropriately both The Shining and The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo were based on bestselling fiction novels, putting them at the top of the “is this acclaimed filmmaker really going mass market for their next film?” But given what I’ve seen from the trailers, This may very well be Fincher’s Shining analogue, if such a comparison exists. I expect to see people hyperventilate and walk out of the theaters, even if just from the claustrophobic ambiance established by the isolated treatment of the all too real Hedeby island. Like Kubrick, Fincher is a machine that processes and concentrates story into it’s most effective visual representation. What if Wendy Torrance stopped running and turned to fight Jack? Lisbeth Salander will show us.
I’d say that as important as the first film to make one realize that human beings actually concoct and create films, it’s even more important to identify when I realized some of those human beings may not be human after all. When I saw the Shining it was already a decade old and on a vhs tape, but it had that air of “who or what came up with this horrifying work?” My friend hyperventilated and had to leave the room, and I sat there in awe of how powerful a videotape could be if a story is simply handed to the right creator. Appropriately both The Shining and The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo were based on bestselling fiction novels, putting them at the top of the “is this acclaimed filmmaker really going mass market for their next film?” But given what I’ve seen from the trailers, This may very well be Fincher’s Shining analogue, if such a comparison exists. I expect to see people hyperventilate and walk out of the theaters, even if just from the claustrophobic ambiance established by the isolated treatment of the all too real Hedeby island. Like Kubrick, Fincher is a machine that processes and concentrates story into it’s most effective visual representation. What if Wendy Torrance stopped running and turned to fight Jack? Lisbeth Salander will show us.
I can think of several directors who have elevated film beyond a storytelling device, but the film that left me in shock at its beauty was Yimou Zhang’s House of Flying Daggers. It’s a martial arts film and has spectacular fight imagery, as in Ang Lee’s Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. But in HoFD, every scene has been painstakingly choreographed, and every frame is rendered in the most exquisite palettes, with a master’s touch in the treatment of light and shadow. I own very few films, but this was one of the first on my list.
I can think of several directors who have elevated film beyond a storytelling device, but the film that left me in shock at its beauty was Yimou Zhang’s House of Flying Daggers. It’s a martial arts film and has spectacular fight imagery, as in Ang Lee’s Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. But in HoFD, every scene has been painstakingly choreographed, and every frame is rendered in the most exquisite palettes, with a master’s touch in the treatment of light and shadow. I own very few films, but this was one of the first on my list.
As a child the ‘Sound of Music’ made a lasting impression on my psyche. By the time i was aware of the film I was young enough to be completely swept away by it while also old enough to literally think about all the masters that came together to helm this film. The cinematography, direction, acting, stage design, costuming, music-let alone the story line itself, were brought together in a a way to magically tell the story of the great beauty and intensity of the suffering we create. Even though these are much different times, our heroine in both films have edgy short hair, and a story that makes us find our courage to face the human condition! I love the original version and I’m very much looking forward to this new interpretation! I’d love to win the poster…(p.s I have edgy sort hair too!) 😉
As a child the ‘Sound of Music’ made a lasting impression on my psyche. By the time i was aware of the film I was young enough to be completely swept away by it while also old enough to literally think about all the masters that came together to helm this film. The cinematography, direction, acting, stage design, costuming, music-let alone the story line itself, were brought together in a a way to magically tell the story of the great beauty and intensity of the suffering we create. Even though these are much different times, our heroine in both films have edgy short hair, and a story that makes us find our courage to face the human condition! I love the original version and I’m very much looking forward to this new interpretation! I’d love to win the poster…(p.s I have edgy sort hair too!) 😉
The first movie that actually stuck out to me, and that I remember seeing that showed me the beauty of films and directing was Children of Men. This movie blew me away from the start; the dreary aspect of the weather and surrounding world mixed with the lingering fear of the destruction of civilization.
One scene in particular is when the whole war that is going on stops because of the crying of a baby. This scene is one of the most beautiful scenes I have ever seen, to show that in such an awful and terrible time such as war, some beauty and innocence can still exist. This movie is what made me the movie buff I am today.
The first movie that actually stuck out to me, and that I remember seeing that showed me the beauty of films and directing was Children of Men. This movie blew me away from the start; the dreary aspect of the weather and surrounding world mixed with the lingering fear of the destruction of civilization.
One scene in particular is when the whole war that is going on stops because of the crying of a baby. This scene is one of the most beautiful scenes I have ever seen, to show that in such an awful and terrible time such as war, some beauty and innocence can still exist. This movie is what made me the movie buff I am today.
“The mean reds are horrible. Suddenly you’re afraid and you don’t know what you’re afraid of. Do you ever get that feeling?” -Holly Golightly
Breakfast at Tiffany’s was most certainly the first film that changed my perspective of the industry. Specifically the character of Holly Golightly. Everything about that film is so cohesive, like I can’t imagine the movie without “Moon River” and I can’t imagine Tiffany’s with out thinking of Audrey Hepburn.
I grew up in a household of classic film. I have watched more Turner Classic Movies than any other 19 year old I know. While I’m certainly no connoisseur of film, it is something that deeply effects me every time I see a good one. I can’t describe the editing or the cinematography, but I can describe the way it makes me feel. Breakfast at Tiffany’s was the first movie to make me feel more than just a basic “Oh that was good” or “Geez, that was terrible.” I had to watch it a couple times before I truly understood it, I mean the first time I watched it was sometime in middle school. But once I grasped the film, there were just overwhelming questions about myself and everything I thought I had figured out about the world around me. Which I loved. I mean I was like 13 so clearly I hadn’t actually figured out anything. But to this day, Holly still charms me every time I watch the movie. And I still end up in tears when she and Paul finally kiss in the rain. It is romantic, it is real and I feel like I can actually relate to Holly on some level now. It will certainly almost always be one of the most important films of my youth and of my life.
“The mean reds are horrible. Suddenly you’re afraid and you don’t know what you’re afraid of. Do you ever get that feeling?” -Holly Golightly
Breakfast at Tiffany’s was most certainly the first film that changed my perspective of the industry. Specifically the character of Holly Golightly. Everything about that film is so cohesive, like I can’t imagine the movie without “Moon River” and I can’t imagine Tiffany’s with out thinking of Audrey Hepburn.
I grew up in a household of classic film. I have watched more Turner Classic Movies than any other 19 year old I know. While I’m certainly no connoisseur of film, it is something that deeply effects me every time I see a good one. I can’t describe the editing or the cinematography, but I can describe the way it makes me feel. Breakfast at Tiffany’s was the first movie to make me feel more than just a basic “Oh that was good” or “Geez, that was terrible.” I had to watch it a couple times before I truly understood it, I mean the first time I watched it was sometime in middle school. But once I grasped the film, there were just overwhelming questions about myself and everything I thought I had figured out about the world around me. Which I loved. I mean I was like 13 so clearly I hadn’t actually figured out anything. But to this day, Holly still charms me every time I watch the movie. And I still end up in tears when she and Paul finally kiss in the rain. It is romantic, it is real and I feel like I can actually relate to Holly on some level now. It will certainly almost always be one of the most important films of my youth and of my life.
To Kill a Mockingbird was my movie of awe. It had such an ambience and brought the viewers back to that time and place. That sleepy but disturbing time in our not so recent past. The screenplay was stellar and did great justice to the novel. This is one movie I never tire of watching.
To Kill a Mockingbird was my movie of awe. It had such an ambience and brought the viewers back to that time and place. That sleepy but disturbing time in our not so recent past. The screenplay was stellar and did great justice to the novel. This is one movie I never tire of watching.
As a child I went to the movies at least once a week. News, cartoons, I never got tried of it. We had one show at a time. One new one on Saturday and Sunday. Our family had a restaurant near the movie house as it was called. Ester Williams and her never wet hair and Doris Day and never mess up singing. Debra Paget was the most beautiful person I thought.
As a child I went to the movies at least once a week. News, cartoons, I never got tried of it. We had one show at a time. One new one on Saturday and Sunday. Our family had a restaurant near the movie house as it was called. Ester Williams and her never wet hair and Doris Day and never mess up singing. Debra Paget was the most beautiful person I thought.
As a child it drove me crazy to watch Ester Williams swim & dive and never seem to come up for air. Also some little filmy thing on her hair and she would take it off and her hair would be dry. My mother had to explain it to me over and over. She started pointing out little mistakes and how it made sense that they were made in pieces and put together.
As a child it drove me crazy to watch Ester Williams swim & dive and never seem to come up for air. Also some little filmy thing on her hair and she would take it off and her hair would be dry. My mother had to explain it to me over and over. She started pointing out little mistakes and how it made sense that they were made in pieces and put together.
I would say the first movie that really impacted me was “Close Encounters of the Third Kind”. Steven Spielberg understood the use of Special effects and really captured something beyond this world in that film. it was definitely a movie that is ahead of its time. I felt tht Steven Spielberg was one step ahead of everyone in that arena and understood how to portray it.
I would say the first movie that really impacted me was “Close Encounters of the Third Kind”. Steven Spielberg understood the use of Special effects and really captured something beyond this world in that film. it was definitely a movie that is ahead of its time. I felt tht Steven Spielberg was one step ahead of everyone in that arena and understood how to portray it.
The first film I can recall that truly made me aware of the importance of directors and visual artistry in film, and subsequently re-evaluate the way I now watch every film, was Requiem for a Dream directed by Darren Aronofsky. That film demonstrated what I had always read about in Citizen Kane, but had never investigated on my own in a legitimate manner; that a director using the camera can create just as much of a message as the dialogue or plot or characters. It finally made me realize that the director behind the film has just as much as an impact as the individuals in front of the camera. Aronofsky and his cinematographers had a way of conveying emotion and thoughts simply through the use of visual techniques like fishbowl lenses, shaky camera angles and fast-paced frenetic camera work. The visual aspect of Requiem for a Dream complemented everything that went on in the story. The fishbowl lens portrayed the feeling of oddness and visual distortion caused by the drugs. The use of the close up to focus on the eyes of the characters as they ingested the drugs helped demonstrate the effect the drugs had. The frenetic camera work during the scenes in which the protagonists mother is suffering from taking too much speed helped convey the sense of energy and movement that the drugs were causing in that character.
Similar visual effects were used to convey the themes in Black Swan and other films in Aronofsky’s ouevre. He was the first director to cause me to stand up and realize the true impact of direction on a film, allowing me to recognize great techniques in other films.
The final point I wish to draw attention to are the brilliant ways some films utilize techniques that are done the best in the word of cinema and television and that are not reproduced as well in other media. One such example is the use of misdirection in films like Silence of the Lambs. Clarice Starling is investigating one house, while the camera work jumps back and forth to the SWAT team investigating another. Only after the SWAT team bursts into the house does the director allow you to become aware of what has happened; the SWAT team is at the wrong house entirely. Now a technique like this has become common place and often cliched, but it still resonates and demonstrates the strength of the medium that tactics like this misdirection can be employed to heighten the tension in a film and the resulting fall out.
The first film I can recall that truly made me aware of the importance of directors and visual artistry in film, and subsequently re-evaluate the way I now watch every film, was Requiem for a Dream directed by Darren Aronofsky. That film demonstrated what I had always read about in Citizen Kane, but had never investigated on my own in a legitimate manner; that a director using the camera can create just as much of a message as the dialogue or plot or characters. It finally made me realize that the director behind the film has just as much as an impact as the individuals in front of the camera. Aronofsky and his cinematographers had a way of conveying emotion and thoughts simply through the use of visual techniques like fishbowl lenses, shaky camera angles and fast-paced frenetic camera work. The visual aspect of Requiem for a Dream complemented everything that went on in the story. The fishbowl lens portrayed the feeling of oddness and visual distortion caused by the drugs. The use of the close up to focus on the eyes of the characters as they ingested the drugs helped demonstrate the effect the drugs had. The frenetic camera work during the scenes in which the protagonists mother is suffering from taking too much speed helped convey the sense of energy and movement that the drugs were causing in that character.
Similar visual effects were used to convey the themes in Black Swan and other films in Aronofsky’s ouevre. He was the first director to cause me to stand up and realize the true impact of direction on a film, allowing me to recognize great techniques in other films.
The final point I wish to draw attention to are the brilliant ways some films utilize techniques that are done the best in the word of cinema and television and that are not reproduced as well in other media. One such example is the use of misdirection in films like Silence of the Lambs. Clarice Starling is investigating one house, while the camera work jumps back and forth to the SWAT team investigating another. Only after the SWAT team bursts into the house does the director allow you to become aware of what has happened; the SWAT team is at the wrong house entirely. Now a technique like this has become common place and often cliched, but it still resonates and demonstrates the strength of the medium that tactics like this misdirection can be employed to heighten the tension in a film and the resulting fall out.
I am young like some of the other people here, but while my film example may not be better than the other films talked about, that moment of realization it made me feel was way too powerful for me to not write this just so I can share it with someone else. The movie was V for Vendetta. I remember seeing the trailer for V for Vendetta and going “That looks cool. I wanna see that.” The action shown was what convinced me to buy a ticket, and at the time that was all it took for me to decide on a movie to watch. What I got with V for Vendetta was wayyy more than I paid for.
It was beautiful. Not just the action scenes but the storyline and the message being presented with such powerful images. The obvious comparisons between Hitler and the main antagonist, and the similarities between this totalitarian England and what America could become if we let it. The characters and their movements, especially V’s. He always wore a mask so it pretty much forced me to realize that there was body language going on, and in turn I began to pay attention to the body language of other characters. The way the music so perfectly matched every scene. Again, me realizing this was thanks to the character of V, who used well-known classical pieces of music whenever he attempted a bombing.
My favorite scene is definitely the most powerful scene. Its when Evey is in prison being tortured. She finds a letter and begins to read the story of a former prisoner. The scene switches between Evey’s dark, grim prison and the bright, blossoming life of a woman becoming an actress and finding love, even after being rejected by her parents due to her homosexuality. But in her happiness, we watch as she is brought to the very same prison that Evey is in. That story made me cry, as melodramatic as that sounds. Evey is interrogated, and the questioner’s face is always hidden in darkness, as if to seem more intimidating, I noticed, which is something I didn’t usually take note of in other movies. Evey is released from prison and has a breakthrough moment, an “awakening”. And the scene switches between her “awakening” in the rain, and V’s own past awakening in fire.
That image left an unbelievable impression on me, and after the movie I remember rushing home and for the first time trying to find out who directed the movie I had just seen. It was James McTeigue, who had worked on The Matrix, but this was his directorial debut! I was shocked at this fact, and disappointed that I had not bothered to appreciate directors before, and for some of the famous directors I had only heard about(Martin Scorcese, Stanley Kubrick) I had never even bothered to hunt down their movies! After V for Vendetta, that all changed. I have seen better directed movies since then, but without V for Vendetta I don’t think I would’ve bothered looking for them, and that movie will always hold a special place in me. I still watch it every 5th of November!
I am young like some of the other people here, but while my film example may not be better than the other films talked about, that moment of realization it made me feel was way too powerful for me to not write this just so I can share it with someone else. The movie was V for Vendetta. I remember seeing the trailer for V for Vendetta and going “That looks cool. I wanna see that.” The action shown was what convinced me to buy a ticket, and at the time that was all it took for me to decide on a movie to watch. What I got with V for Vendetta was wayyy more than I paid for.
It was beautiful. Not just the action scenes but the storyline and the message being presented with such powerful images. The obvious comparisons between Hitler and the main antagonist, and the similarities between this totalitarian England and what America could become if we let it. The characters and their movements, especially V’s. He always wore a mask so it pretty much forced me to realize that there was body language going on, and in turn I began to pay attention to the body language of other characters. The way the music so perfectly matched every scene. Again, me realizing this was thanks to the character of V, who used well-known classical pieces of music whenever he attempted a bombing.
My favorite scene is definitely the most powerful scene. Its when Evey is in prison being tortured. She finds a letter and begins to read the story of a former prisoner. The scene switches between Evey’s dark, grim prison and the bright, blossoming life of a woman becoming an actress and finding love, even after being rejected by her parents due to her homosexuality. But in her happiness, we watch as she is brought to the very same prison that Evey is in. That story made me cry, as melodramatic as that sounds. Evey is interrogated, and the questioner’s face is always hidden in darkness, as if to seem more intimidating, I noticed, which is something I didn’t usually take note of in other movies. Evey is released from prison and has a breakthrough moment, an “awakening”. And the scene switches between her “awakening” in the rain, and V’s own past awakening in fire.
That image left an unbelievable impression on me, and after the movie I remember rushing home and for the first time trying to find out who directed the movie I had just seen. It was James McTeigue, who had worked on The Matrix, but this was his directorial debut! I was shocked at this fact, and disappointed that I had not bothered to appreciate directors before, and for some of the famous directors I had only heard about(Martin Scorcese, Stanley Kubrick) I had never even bothered to hunt down their movies! After V for Vendetta, that all changed. I have seen better directed movies since then, but without V for Vendetta I don’t think I would’ve bothered looking for them, and that movie will always hold a special place in me. I still watch it every 5th of November!
When I was 8 I saw Jurassic Park in the movie theater. It was the first movie I can remember seeing that was not a cartoon. As an 8 year old in love with dinosaurs I was engaged, frightened, thrilled, and ultimately delighted! I contribute it to being the film that made me get into the entertainment business and I have watched and rewatched it since, dissecting it, analyzing it, critiquing it. For every new flaw or detail in direction I find Jurassic Park becomes more and more my favorite film of all time and definitely my most memorable film watching experience.
When I was 8 I saw Jurassic Park in the movie theater. It was the first movie I can remember seeing that was not a cartoon. As an 8 year old in love with dinosaurs I was engaged, frightened, thrilled, and ultimately delighted! I contribute it to being the film that made me get into the entertainment business and I have watched and rewatched it since, dissecting it, analyzing it, critiquing it. For every new flaw or detail in direction I find Jurassic Park becomes more and more my favorite film of all time and definitely my most memorable film watching experience.
When a 7yr old comes across the stark images of bergmans wild strawberries.
When a 7yr old comes across the stark images of bergmans wild strawberries.
Hi
Best movie ever is Blade Runner. Great story and just hard tricks without animation. Wonderful actors and amazing atmosphere.
Hi
Best movie ever is Blade Runner. Great story and just hard tricks without animation. Wonderful actors and amazing atmosphere.
The first film that made me want to be a filmmaker, was Requiem for a Dream, when I saw that film when I was 16, my eyes widened about what a director really was, how through editing, score, acting, and cinematography, a good director can make you feel the characters and the emotion they are going through cinema. From there I went to Fincher’s Fight Club, assuming it was just a film about guys beating the crap out of each other, and that was one of the few times I was glued to the tv letting the film wash over me, and influence my thinking of the outside world (granted when your 16, your mind is more open to the outside world than any other point of your life). Between those two films, I really know what it met to be a filmmaker. A good director can make you talk about a film months and years after you have seen it, and create discussion among others because the film sticks in your mind, so much that it influences your perception (whether it’s consumerism, or drug use in these cases) That’s a feeling not many other films have done for me.
The first film that made me want to be a filmmaker, was Requiem for a Dream, when I saw that film when I was 16, my eyes widened about what a director really was, how through editing, score, acting, and cinematography, a good director can make you feel the characters and the emotion they are going through cinema. From there I went to Fincher’s Fight Club, assuming it was just a film about guys beating the crap out of each other, and that was one of the few times I was glued to the tv letting the film wash over me, and influence my thinking of the outside world (granted when your 16, your mind is more open to the outside world than any other point of your life). Between those two films, I really know what it met to be a filmmaker. A good director can make you talk about a film months and years after you have seen it, and create discussion among others because the film sticks in your mind, so much that it influences your perception (whether it’s consumerism, or drug use in these cases) That’s a feeling not many other films have done for me.
I have always taken note of movies where cinematic choices effect the mood and story the director is trying to convey. A movie much more recent than most in these posts has made me realize just how important a director with the right vision is to a project. Children of Men, directed by Alfonso Cuarón, is in my opinion the most visually striking movie of my generation. Cuarón does a magnificent job conveying the different ways people would cope with the end of the world.
The scene that struck me deeply as I watched Children of Men was the death of Jasper, played by Michael Caine. The way it was shot, where the viewer becomes a silent observer of his last moments, is so powerful. The grief, love, and acceptance of his own death conveyed in the scene as Jasper turns on “Ruby Tuesday”, picks up the suicide kit and goes to sit with the love of his life for a moment makes it more memorable than any other movie I have ever seen. It hurts to watch that scene every time, but the beautiful emotion it conveys makes me watch that movie many times a year just to remember how I felt that first time.
I have always taken note of movies where cinematic choices effect the mood and story the director is trying to convey. A movie much more recent than most in these posts has made me realize just how important a director with the right vision is to a project. Children of Men, directed by Alfonso Cuarón, is in my opinion the most visually striking movie of my generation. Cuarón does a magnificent job conveying the different ways people would cope with the end of the world.
The scene that struck me deeply as I watched Children of Men was the death of Jasper, played by Michael Caine. The way it was shot, where the viewer becomes a silent observer of his last moments, is so powerful. The grief, love, and acceptance of his own death conveyed in the scene as Jasper turns on “Ruby Tuesday”, picks up the suicide kit and goes to sit with the love of his life for a moment makes it more memorable than any other movie I have ever seen. It hurts to watch that scene every time, but the beautiful emotion it conveys makes me watch that movie many times a year just to remember how I felt that first time.
When I was a little girl of 6~back in 1968~my mother promised me a day at the circus & when we got to the venue~it was sold out. I was heartbroken that we couldn’t go in and she scrambled to find something equally as good to do and she took me by the hand and led me into a theater showing The Planet of the Apes. My whole world changed that day! I was mesmerized by what I saw take place on the screen. I sat still and speechless for that 112 minutes and was taken to a place of wonderment.
I fell in love with cinema that day and had an insatiable appetite ever since! Foreign, mainstream, independent,experimental or director~I cannot narrow it down and limit myself! To this day~I love the feeling I get from watching a great film~and for that~I thank my mother to this day.
When I was a little girl of 6~back in 1968~my mother promised me a day at the circus & when we got to the venue~it was sold out. I was heartbroken that we couldn’t go in and she scrambled to find something equally as good to do and she took me by the hand and led me into a theater showing The Planet of the Apes. My whole world changed that day! I was mesmerized by what I saw take place on the screen. I sat still and speechless for that 112 minutes and was taken to a place of wonderment.
I fell in love with cinema that day and had an insatiable appetite ever since! Foreign, mainstream, independent,experimental or director~I cannot narrow it down and limit myself! To this day~I love the feeling I get from watching a great film~and for that~I thank my mother to this day.
THE GODFATHER! This is the greatest film of all time! This was the film that convincingly made me believe that films arent just “movies”. It was the total package. This film does not need further explanation on how much impact it made on film.
I am hoping for Tattoo to have that Fight Club iconic status in pop culture and I know it will. The effectiveness of a great director always springs up on how his films will be remembered for the years to come, and whether his movies will achieve iconic/cult status as they age. I know this one will, given that the Played with Fire and Hornet’s Nest books are existent.
And FYI, this will not be a remake but an new approach to the adaptation, Ficheresque style!
Please give me that razor blade!!!!!
THE GODFATHER! This is the greatest film of all time! This was the film that convincingly made me believe that films arent just “movies”. It was the total package. This film does not need further explanation on how much impact it made on film.
I am hoping for Tattoo to have that Fight Club iconic status in pop culture and I know it will. The effectiveness of a great director always springs up on how his films will be remembered for the years to come, and whether his movies will achieve iconic/cult status as they age. I know this one will, given that the Played with Fire and Hornet’s Nest books are existent.
And FYI, this will not be a remake but an new approach to the adaptation, Ficheresque style!
Please give me that razor blade!!!!!
The first film that truly touched me and made me realise that there was more to movies that robots and car crashes has to be :ast of the Mohicans. The visuals, the story line, the music–everything was magic. I couldn’t have been more than 10 when I first saw it, but it is still a standard that I hold other movies to!
The first film that truly touched me and made me realise that there was more to movies that robots and car crashes has to be :ast of the Mohicans. The visuals, the story line, the music–everything was magic. I couldn’t have been more than 10 when I first saw it, but it is still a standard that I hold other movies to!
I was a child when I rented “Fight Club”, I remember the feel of fear when I paused and saw a strange guy in a frame, just standing. That was so creepy to me that I stopped the movie and returned the next day without ending it. A few years later, just for coincidence, I saw it again, I fall in love with a movie that first scared me so hard. This experience was so amazing to me, love something that I first hate for don’t understand. That made me open my mind.
I was a child when I rented “Fight Club”, I remember the feel of fear when I paused and saw a strange guy in a frame, just standing. That was so creepy to me that I stopped the movie and returned the next day without ending it. A few years later, just for coincidence, I saw it again, I fall in love with a movie that first scared me so hard. This experience was so amazing to me, love something that I first hate for don’t understand. That made me open my mind.
I can’t wait for this movie, never have I enjoyed a trilogy like this. was late to the party, but once I arrived, I devoured all 3 books in 12 days. Incredible!
I can’t wait for this movie, never have I enjoyed a trilogy like this. was late to the party, but once I arrived, I devoured all 3 books in 12 days. Incredible!
To me, film has always been about more than the often superficial experience rendered by linear plots, the odd joke and easily digestible, two dimensional characters with which the masses are easily able to identify and relate.
Film is an art that needs to be treated with austerity and respect, while maintaining a unique feel.
To me, no director achieves this quite as phenomenally as Quentin Tarantino. Before you dismiss me as another sychophantic, gore-crazed lackey- allow me to plead my case.
I had always been a fan of his work, but after watching Pulp Fiction, I realised the true implications associated with film as an art form. Undoubtedly, the plot was excellent, but Tarantino’s true brilliance lies in his seemingly effortless aestheticisation of violence, blood and the gang-ridden underworld. A sexual assault scene in a basement is seen transformed, with the help of an edgy surf-themed 1960’s saxophone piece, into a sensual feast of dark comedy, revenge and leather.
Tarantino creates artfully stylised, stimulating and mulitdimensional scenes, characters and even word exchanges to weave together films that are a potent and moving testament to film as an art form and aesthetic platform. To me, his work is unmatched by Kubrick’s cryptic intensity and even Spielberg’s formidable Hollywood juggernauts.
To me, film has always been about more than the often superficial experience rendered by linear plots, the odd joke and easily digestible, two dimensional characters with which the masses are easily able to identify and relate.
Film is an art that needs to be treated with austerity and respect, while maintaining a unique feel.
To me, no director achieves this quite as phenomenally as Quentin Tarantino. Before you dismiss me as another sychophantic, gore-crazed lackey- allow me to plead my case.
I had always been a fan of his work, but after watching Pulp Fiction, I realised the true implications associated with film as an art form. Undoubtedly, the plot was excellent, but Tarantino’s true brilliance lies in his seemingly effortless aestheticisation of violence, blood and the gang-ridden underworld. A sexual assault scene in a basement is seen transformed, with the help of an edgy surf-themed 1960’s saxophone piece, into a sensual feast of dark comedy, revenge and leather.
Tarantino creates artfully stylised, stimulating and mulitdimensional scenes, characters and even word exchanges to weave together films that are a potent and moving testament to film as an art form and aesthetic platform. To me, his work is unmatched by Kubrick’s cryptic intensity and even Spielberg’s formidable Hollywood juggernauts.
As a child, entertainment as a whole meant nothing to me. If it wasn’t Disney then it did not exist. Until one day, I came across a VHS tape of Edward Scissorhands. I can remember being in awe the entire time while watching it. The aesthetics that Tim Burton is so well known for came as a welcomed surprise as I watched this film for the first time. I was able to see that beyond the story, there were so many other visual elements that contribute so much to the experience of cinema. The way the camera pans across the room, the way the shadows fall on scenes, the color choices to show contrasts between two worlds, and the list can go on, but they all make a difference. From that moment on, I fell deeply in love with films and the adventures they take you on.
As a child, entertainment as a whole meant nothing to me. If it wasn’t Disney then it did not exist. Until one day, I came across a VHS tape of Edward Scissorhands. I can remember being in awe the entire time while watching it. The aesthetics that Tim Burton is so well known for came as a welcomed surprise as I watched this film for the first time. I was able to see that beyond the story, there were so many other visual elements that contribute so much to the experience of cinema. The way the camera pans across the room, the way the shadows fall on scenes, the color choices to show contrasts between two worlds, and the list can go on, but they all make a difference. From that moment on, I fell deeply in love with films and the adventures they take you on.
“Some stories are like war axes to unearth”, sometimes you just dig unwisely, some movies help you to find the way to focus and channel your rage and your feelings. One of the first movies that really touched me inside with the message that the director wanted to deliver is “Twentieth Century” by Bernardo Bertolucci. Form the very beginning the strength of the painting The Fourth Estate by Giuseppe Pellizza da Volpedo, that opens the movie, is carried on in the 315 minutes of the movie by Bertolucci, and just fascinated me. The cinematography, the sound, the direction of the acting enwrapped me and just at the end I realized that I sat for five and a half hours watching the history of my Country, of the people of my country, and I lived the experiences of my forefathers lost in the trenches of the First World War, oppressed by fascism, and I lived the same rage, and somehow I found myself. The director shoot through my eyes right into my soul images that I never believed possible to be part of the history of my country, sound that I only imagined in country far away from mine, I could even imagine the smells sometimes… The story of “Twentieth Century” is a war axes that hit me.
“Some stories are like war axes to unearth”, sometimes you just dig unwisely, some movies help you to find the way to focus and channel your rage and your feelings. One of the first movies that really touched me inside with the message that the director wanted to deliver is “Twentieth Century” by Bernardo Bertolucci. Form the very beginning the strength of the painting The Fourth Estate by Giuseppe Pellizza da Volpedo, that opens the movie, is carried on in the 315 minutes of the movie by Bertolucci, and just fascinated me. The cinematography, the sound, the direction of the acting enwrapped me and just at the end I realized that I sat for five and a half hours watching the history of my Country, of the people of my country, and I lived the experiences of my forefathers lost in the trenches of the First World War, oppressed by fascism, and I lived the same rage, and somehow I found myself. The director shoot through my eyes right into my soul images that I never believed possible to be part of the history of my country, sound that I only imagined in country far away from mine, I could even imagine the smells sometimes… The story of “Twentieth Century” is a war axes that hit me.
The one movie that visually impacted and left a permanent mental scar on me, that’s quite simple. For me, it would have to be George A. Romero’s Night of the Living Dead. Some might say that’s cliché, but there’s something about releasing that kind of movie in that time period with that kind of explicit content that shows George had guts (no pun intended). I read recently that the film was deemed “historically and culturally significant” and it’s about time if you ask me. Thanks to George, zombie movies have now become main stream, and without him making that movie who knows what kind of boring, lifeless, and brain-filled world we would be in. Ever since then I have followed his films and they have continued to amaze me. I guess you could say that I’m a George A. Romero zombie.
The one movie that visually impacted and left a permanent mental scar on me, that’s quite simple. For me, it would have to be George A. Romero’s Night of the Living Dead. Some might say that’s cliché, but there’s something about releasing that kind of movie in that time period with that kind of explicit content that shows George had guts (no pun intended). I read recently that the film was deemed “historically and culturally significant” and it’s about time if you ask me. Thanks to George, zombie movies have now become main stream, and without him making that movie who knows what kind of boring, lifeless, and brain-filled world we would be in. Ever since then I have followed his films and they have continued to amaze me. I guess you could say that I’m a George A. Romero zombie.
I fell in love with movies after I started acting in high school. I could appreciate the struggle that the actor goes through to maintain character and demeanor throughout any odd situation they might find themselves in. However, it was not until I saw Danny Boyle’s 28 Days Later that I truly was able to appreciate the style of the director.
Boyle insinuates himself into every situation, adding beauty and dramatic appeal to even the most horrific scenes. The scene that sticks with me the most, and, to me, demonstrates Boyle’s masterful directorial skill at first appears to be a mistake. The two main characters fall asleep on the floor of a house. They are not safe, but they must sleep. The scene fades offscreen to reveal a dusky city skyscape, but barely visible at the top of the screen are to two characters, still peacefully asleep, even in the middle of zombie mayhem.
Now, while I am by no means a scary-movie kind of gal, 28 Days Later is one of my favorite movies.
I fell in love with movies after I started acting in high school. I could appreciate the struggle that the actor goes through to maintain character and demeanor throughout any odd situation they might find themselves in. However, it was not until I saw Danny Boyle’s 28 Days Later that I truly was able to appreciate the style of the director.
Boyle insinuates himself into every situation, adding beauty and dramatic appeal to even the most horrific scenes. The scene that sticks with me the most, and, to me, demonstrates Boyle’s masterful directorial skill at first appears to be a mistake. The two main characters fall asleep on the floor of a house. They are not safe, but they must sleep. The scene fades offscreen to reveal a dusky city skyscape, but barely visible at the top of the screen are to two characters, still peacefully asleep, even in the middle of zombie mayhem.
Now, while I am by no means a scary-movie kind of gal, 28 Days Later is one of my favorite movies.
I don’t remember enough about my childhood to really answer this question in full honesty, but I remember the time when I was a teenager when I started to be so blown away by movies that I would watch them over and over again in just a couple of days after discovering them. One of those was definitely Paul Thomas Anderson’s Magnolia. I guess I must have been about 13 or 14 when I first saw it, and I loved every bit of it: The acting, the soundtrack, the finale with the frogs… I don’t even remember what I thought it told me back then, but I know that I felt it really deeply.
I don’t remember enough about my childhood to really answer this question in full honesty, but I remember the time when I was a teenager when I started to be so blown away by movies that I would watch them over and over again in just a couple of days after discovering them. One of those was definitely Paul Thomas Anderson’s Magnolia. I guess I must have been about 13 or 14 when I first saw it, and I loved every bit of it: The acting, the soundtrack, the finale with the frogs… I don’t even remember what I thought it told me back then, but I know that I felt it really deeply.
Ha! I got got caught up in my love of films that I forgot the first movie that really won me over. But it’s hard to mention the top 3 that really did it for me. So here goes:
The Wizard of Oz was on TV once a year and I remember pining to my mother to stay up late to watch it. Even on an old color tube TV, this movie was one that drew the whole family to it’s cast of characters and fantastical sets. I’m not one for remakes, but this is one movie I would love to see done on a high budget. All it took was one look at those ruby slippers and I was hooked. A girl, a dog, a witch and a dream. What’s not to love?
Next was Star Wars. I was only 6 when I saw the movie, but it was so unbelievably real. My brother and I talked about the movie for weeks. I wanted to be Princess Leia! I’m not a huge Star Wars freak, but I do appreciate what those movies did and continue to do for the film industry. How amazing, that 34 years later, and they continue to draw a massive fan base around the world.
After that, it was E.T.
E.T. was the first movie I saw that I remember actually relating to the characters of kids who lived in a middle-class suburban town. All the characters were so believable and it was the first time I remember a movie making me cry. It’s one of the those movies I love to watch with my nephews and friend’s children to see how it grabs a hold of them, too.
Ha! I got got caught up in my love of films that I forgot the first movie that really won me over. But it’s hard to mention the top 3 that really did it for me. So here goes:
The Wizard of Oz was on TV once a year and I remember pining to my mother to stay up late to watch it. Even on an old color tube TV, this movie was one that drew the whole family to it’s cast of characters and fantastical sets. I’m not one for remakes, but this is one movie I would love to see done on a high budget. All it took was one look at those ruby slippers and I was hooked. A girl, a dog, a witch and a dream. What’s not to love?
Next was Star Wars. I was only 6 when I saw the movie, but it was so unbelievably real. My brother and I talked about the movie for weeks. I wanted to be Princess Leia! I’m not a huge Star Wars freak, but I do appreciate what those movies did and continue to do for the film industry. How amazing, that 34 years later, and they continue to draw a massive fan base around the world.
After that, it was E.T.
E.T. was the first movie I saw that I remember actually relating to the characters of kids who lived in a middle-class suburban town. All the characters were so believable and it was the first time I remember a movie making me cry. It’s one of the those movies I love to watch with my nephews and friend’s children to see how it grabs a hold of them, too.
As a child, watching Laural & Hardy with my Dad on Sunday mornings. There was something about black & white, the use of shadows, and the comic physcial stunts that brought my first awareness/appreciation of cinematography. I miss Laural & Hardy and my Dad too.
1. Hitchcock’s Vertigo
2. Carol Reed’s Third Man
3. Reggio’s Koyaanisqatsi
Nuff said – just sayin
As a child, watching Laural & Hardy with my Dad on Sunday mornings. There was something about black & white, the use of shadows, and the comic physcial stunts that brought my first awareness/appreciation of cinematography. I miss Laural & Hardy and my Dad too.
1. Hitchcock’s Vertigo
2. Carol Reed’s Third Man
3. Reggio’s Koyaanisqatsi
Nuff said – just sayin
One of the first film’s that really made me think how the world can really be was pulp fiction by Quentin Tarantino…. He is by far one of the most talented director’s i have ever had the pleasure to watch his film’s. The first time i saw Pulp Fiction it did make me think about how people get through life and live day to day via crime and punishment, i thought it was a fairly home hitting truth. He is a director who is not afraid to really put it out there, and i think his music choices are awesome too. I love all Quentin movie’s since my introduction with pulp fiction. Just the music in this movie gets my blood pumping and i find i can’t blink or take my eyes off the screen…. FANTABULOUS some might say. Keep em coming Quentin, you rock x
One of the first film’s that really made me think how the world can really be was pulp fiction by Quentin Tarantino…. He is by far one of the most talented director’s i have ever had the pleasure to watch his film’s. The first time i saw Pulp Fiction it did make me think about how people get through life and live day to day via crime and punishment, i thought it was a fairly home hitting truth. He is a director who is not afraid to really put it out there, and i think his music choices are awesome too. I love all Quentin movie’s since my introduction with pulp fiction. Just the music in this movie gets my blood pumping and i find i can’t blink or take my eyes off the screen…. FANTABULOUS some might say. Keep em coming Quentin, you rock x
I can’t pick out the FIRST movie that opened my eyes, but when I was just out of high school I remember discovering a long line of movies that blew me away. Everything from Children of Men to What Dreams May Come; from The Fountain to Everything is Illuminated. I realized how beautiful a movie can be, even if the subject matter is FAR from beautiful. It honestly changed my life and impacted the way I view other arts such as music and graphic design.
I can’t pick out the FIRST movie that opened my eyes, but when I was just out of high school I remember discovering a long line of movies that blew me away. Everything from Children of Men to What Dreams May Come; from The Fountain to Everything is Illuminated. I realized how beautiful a movie can be, even if the subject matter is FAR from beautiful. It honestly changed my life and impacted the way I view other arts such as music and graphic design.
More so than any book (and not for lack of imagination), film is the only medium that can take me to a completely different place, immerse me in it’s surroundings, it’s characters and story. Tie in the music and the emotion of the many tremendous actors and actresses, and I can walk out of a movie theater feeling like I know these people (Star Wars, Empire of the Sun and The Color Purple, Shawshank Redemption etc), or that i’ve been to a place that doesnt even exist (Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, Avatar, etc), or because of a characters will and ideals, I want to change myself (Pay It Forward, Naked Prey, Million Dollar Baby).
We all have those favorite movies that we watch again and again because they makes us feel a certain way, the bring back memories of youth, they can still make you laugh till your cry, or cry your eyes dry, or hit you so hard in the chest with such impactful words, music and scenery that you can’t let them go. Now with Blu-Ray and home theater sound, you could live in your own little movie world and never leave the house.
I take my movie moments in the 2-3 hour windows in which they were meant to be enjoyed. All the extras on the DVDs can either draw you deeper into a films labyrinth and even enhance a film’s methodicalness and artistry.
I loved the Salender trilogy of books and the original films. I think having a bigger budget, a killer cast and crew and world-wide excitement over this film’s release will only catapult Stieg Larsson’s success into the stratosphere. I’m only sorry he’s not around to see it.
More so than any book (and not for lack of imagination), film is the only medium that can take me to a completely different place, immerse me in it’s surroundings, it’s characters and story. Tie in the music and the emotion of the many tremendous actors and actresses, and I can walk out of a movie theater feeling like I know these people (Star Wars, Empire of the Sun and The Color Purple, Shawshank Redemption etc), or that i’ve been to a place that doesnt even exist (Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, Avatar, etc), or because of a characters will and ideals, I want to change myself (Pay It Forward, Naked Prey, Million Dollar Baby).
We all have those favorite movies that we watch again and again because they makes us feel a certain way, the bring back memories of youth, they can still make you laugh till your cry, or cry your eyes dry, or hit you so hard in the chest with such impactful words, music and scenery that you can’t let them go. Now with Blu-Ray and home theater sound, you could live in your own little movie world and never leave the house.
I take my movie moments in the 2-3 hour windows in which they were meant to be enjoyed. All the extras on the DVDs can either draw you deeper into a films labyrinth and even enhance a film’s methodicalness and artistry.
I loved the Salender trilogy of books and the original films. I think having a bigger budget, a killer cast and crew and world-wide excitement over this film’s release will only catapult Stieg Larsson’s success into the stratosphere. I’m only sorry he’s not around to see it.