First off:
HAPPY HAPPY JOY JOY
My computer is fixed. More in due course. But what this means is that I won't be posting and writing at the public library, with a one-hour maximum and usually a waiting list to use the public computers, something that I've been doing for the last three or four weeks. So, I can write longer pieces again.
From Empire via Tom the Dog.
I thought I saw a lot of indy films (most of the films I see are at the indy theater in town, but as you will see, massive gaps. Italics I saw.
1. Reservoir Dogs: This was one of those films that I thought I should see, but the descripton of the violence kept me away.
2. Donnie Darko: I heard nothing but good things, especially from the cinephile in my office, and yet...
3. The Terminator: Nope.
4. Clerks: Missed this one, too. Actually want to see this.
5. Monty Python's Life of Brian: FINALLY, a film I've seen. And liked. If you grew up in a religious tradition, as I have, it's either funnier (what I say), or abhorent. I laughed a LOT in this movie.
6. Night of the Living Dead. Nope.
7. Sex, Lies, and Videotape. From what I've read, this movie just about created the indy movie as a viable entity. Seeing James Spader on Boston Public, I see him as just a grown-up version of the character in this film.
8. The Usual Suspects. Loved it. Keyser Sose sees dead people.
9. Sideways. Very fond of this, although I agree with Tom that it may be "a little too recent to rank quite so high."
10. Mean Streets. Was into not seeing violent films at the time.
11. Bad Taste. Don't really know this film.
12. Eraserhead. Meant to see.
13. Memento. REALLY meant to see; life got in the way.
14. Stranger Than Paradise. Nope.
15. Blood Simple. Sometimes you see the trailer SO often you think you did.
16. She's Gotta Have It. More important as what it led to in Spike Lee's career, I think.
17. City of God. Got squeamish.
18. Withnail and I. Only recall vaguely.
19. Lone Star. Of COURSE, I saw this one. It's a Sayles' film, and possibly my favorite.
20. Slacker. This I should see.
21. Roger and Me. Any movie with my NAME in it is required viewing.
22. Nosferatu. Nope.
23. The Evil Dead. Wasn't interested in seeing.
24. Happiness. My WIFE saw this film, and I was busy that night.
25. Drugstore Cowboy. Need to see.
26. Lost in Translation. Didn't love it.
27. Dark Star. No.
28. In the Company of Men. I was very intrigued by ther trailer and the reviews.
29. Bad Lieutenant. Nein.
30. Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song: My SISTER saw this when it was brand new.
31. Pink Flamingos. Saw LOTS of Waters films.
32. Two Lane Blacktop. Don't remember it.
33. Shallow Grave. Don't remember it.
34. The Blair Witch Project. Wasn't that interested.
35. THX-1138. Falls in the category of "I SHOULD see it."
36. Buffalo '66. Only vaguely recall.
37. Being John Malkovich- I'm quite fond of this. First of several Keener films I've seen.
38. Grosse Point Blank Saw it on video, which I don't know is the same as actually SEEING it.
39. The Passion of the Christ. Actually I didn't feel like sitting through the agony, and didn't feel like giving Mel more money to prove I was a Christian.
40. The Descent. This is a recent film. I see very few recent films.
41. Dead Man's Shoes. Also too recent. (Too recent is any time after March 2003.)
42. Swingers. How did I manage to miss this film?
43. Shadows. I've seen John Cassavetes films, but I've never even heard of this one.
44. Amores Perros. Violence fear.
45. Mad Max. I may have seen parts on commercial TV.
46. The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. No interest.
47. Blood Feast. Definitely no interest. I believe FantaCo may have publish a book about this.
48. Cube. I'm not remembering.
49. Run Lola Run. Saw trailer MANY times.
50. El Mariachi. Maybe someday.
10 out of 50? I must have spent my time seeing lower quality indy films. Lots of rental ideas for me here, at least.
On the calendar: Ask Roger Anything
4 hours ago
3 comments:
If you're squeamish about violence, it's probably good that you missed Reservoir Dogs. It's a great movie, though.
If you're squeamish about language, you might want to skip Clerks. I think it's one of the funniest movies EVER, but practically every other word is vulgar. It almost got an NC-17 based strictly on the language.
Bad Taste is HORRIBLE. How it's 11th on the list is beyond me. It's a Peter Jackson film, so maybe they think it led, somehow, to The Lord of the Rings. See Heavenly Creatures instead - brilliant movie.
Memento - must see. Nosferatu - must see, not because it's THAT good a movie, but because it's so ground-breaking.
Greg's right on Bad Taste. And Heavenly Creatures -- it's a must-see. My favorite Jackson film, you should stay far, far away from, though -- DeadAlive, the goriest film I've ever seen. And if it's the goriest I'VE ever seen, it's probably the goriest ever MADE.
I'm so with you on Lone Star. I don't know how many people I've recommended it to. In fact, I think I need to see it again sometime soon.
Hey Rog, I'm not into violent movies either, but I really do recommend the original "Night Of The Living Dead" which I've seen several times.
Filmed in black and white, its gore is very tame compared to what came after (not that I ever SAW what came after, but one has only to see magazine articles to know things got really red and nasty in the years that followed). The movie is intense, though not in the way I understand "Texas Chainsaw Massacre" to be (a movie I"ve also avoided for years).
I thought "Mad Max" was a little dull, but maybe that was because I saw it after a period in the early eighties when I watched its sequel, "The Road Warrior" over and over! Wonder if I'd still like that? I was disappointed in the third film when it came out, as I recall...
Fred
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