Famous Classic Movies You've Never Watched

[Thomas II]

 

[Jarhyn]

I have seen enough of The Godfather to know I will never actually care to watch The Godfather because of how pretentious and pointlessly violent and criminally glorifying the film is.

The people who I have met that insist on The Godfather, and their appalling taste in other media (sorry sis, talking about your husband, here), are truly enough to make me realize exactly what The Godfather is: a sad tragedy about shitty people who I will not be invested in enough by the end of the movie to actually care how the movie ends other than 'hopefully with everyone's death, Scarface style'.

Edit: "Mafia!" On the other hand...

This is kind of why I don't watch The Sopranos either. It's just shitty people being shitty people.

Uh oh I brought up a TV show in a movie thread...

I mean, it kind of exposes the way those shitty people manage to be shitty?

Maybe but I don't find Tony Soprano's character all that interesting to keep watching personally.

That's fair. Also, I'll note that The Sopranos is one of the media that informs me on my brother in law's media tastes.

 

[WAB]

??

 

[Thomas II]

??

It's from the movie "The Fifth Element"...If you have not seen it, do see it!!!

 

[Thomas II]

 

[Wiploc]

I've not seen Jaws nor Avatar nor most of the Star Wars films nor the old Charlie Chaplins nor most of the super-hero and action genres. My son tells me we watched The Matrix together, but I have no recollection of it.

I’ve never seen The Godfather or Casablanca or Lawrence of Arabia.

Wow! You are missing the 2nd-best movie ever made AND the very best movie (by far) ever made. (In my humble opinion, of course ). Even Lawrence of Arabia -- with a 2nd half that drags on much too long and which is a bit over-rated -- still falls in my Top 30.

(How old are you, Shadowy Man? My hypothesis is that young people for whom WWII is an ancient bygone will lack the visceral connection that helps make Casablanca so compelling.)

To put your opinions of these films in perspective, can you tell us which films you do rate near the very top?

I love, love, love Laurence of Arabia, though I wouldn't recommend watching the second half.

I saw it as a kid when it was new. It came back to the theater later, when I was in college. I invited a friend, who refused. He said, "I saw that when I was just a kid ... and it made me thirsty!

 

[bilby]

I love, love, love Laurence of Arabia, though I wouldn't recommend watching the second half.

I saw it as a kid when it was new. It came back to the theater later, when I was in college. I invited a friend, who refused. He said, "I saw that when I was just a kid ... and it made me thirsty!

Yeah, that's the sign of a great work of descriptive art.

I recall reading Alistair McLean's novel Night Without End, which is set on the Greenland ice-cap during winter; The writing was so compelling that I could feel the cold seeping into my bones.

 

[pood]

Inspired by these comments...

Never seen The Godfather, or Scarface. Partially because I have other stuff to do. Not a huge Star Wars fan either.

I like movies but am far, far from a film buff. There are many huge films I've never seen.

I have never watched Gone With The Wind.

Never did, either, No interest in doing so, either.

 

[pood]

I've not seen Jaws nor Avatar nor most of the Star Wars films nor the old Charlie Chaplins nor most of the super-hero and action genres. My son tells me we watched The Matrix together, but I have no recollection of it.

I’ve never seen The Godfather or Casablanca or Lawrence of Arabia.

Wow! You are missing the 2nd-best movie ever made AND the very best movie (by far) ever made. (In my humble opinion, of course ). Even Lawrence of Arabia -- with a 2nd half that drags on much too long and which is a bit over-rated -- still falls in my Top 30.

(How old are you, Shadowy Man? My hypothesis is that young people for whom WWII is an ancient bygone will lack the visceral connection that helps make Casablanca so compelling.)

To put your opinions of these films in perspective, can you tell us which films you do rate near the very top?

Yeah, just finished rewatching the entire Godfather trilogy. An epic classic.

 

[bilby]

I have never watched Gone With The Wind.

Never did, either, No interest in doing so, either.

Me either. I know of it, but frankly my dear, I don't give a damn.

 

[pood]

I've never seen E.T. The Extraterrestrial.

I chalk it up to my dad...who took me and my brother to see "Jaws" when it came out, and also took the fam to see Star Wars and Close Encounters, but when it came to E.T., we showed up and there was a line around the building, no parking in the lot, and he basically said "screw this...let's go out to get something to eat and call it a day."

I never watched it on home video, and I think it's maybe a weird way of honoring my dad. Nothing against Spielberg...I'm just never gonna watch that fucking movie.

E.T. sucks, IMO of course. So does Close Encounters, a hot mess.

 

[WAB]

I loved Close Encounters. I saw it when it came out and was enchanted by the mother ship. Now, the little naked aliens seem silly.

 

[pood]

Both flicks strike me as a bunch of sappy Spielbergian sentimentalism. Not a big Spielberg fan, though he has done some good things.

 

[pood]

I loved Close Encounters. I saw it when it came out and was enchanted by the mother ship. Now, the little naked aliens seem silly.

The idea that aliens and humans would communicate by music was also ludicrous.

 

[pood]

I have not seen:

Midnight Cowboy
Deer Hunter
French Connection
Cool Hand Luke
The Hustler
St. Elmo's Fire
Breakfast Club
Dirty Dancing
Napoleon Dynamite
Papillion
Coming Home
any Harry Potter movie
Caligula
Titanic
The Color Purple
Fried Green Tomatoes
My Big Fat Greek Wedding
Sophie's Choice
many others...

I have not seen some of these either and for some of them, such as the Harry Potter flicks, I have no desire to do so.

I’d certainly recommend Midnight Cowboy, Cool Hand Luke and especially The Hustler, which I found riveting.

 

[WAB]

I loved Close Encounters. I saw it when it came out and was enchanted by the mother ship. Now, the little naked aliens seem silly.

The idea that aliens and humans would communicate by music was also ludicrous.

I viewed that as the idea that music has a certain mathematical logic to it that might be universal? It could be that when something enchants and beguiles you as a kid, it's hard to shake. ??

 

[pood]

I loved Close Encounters. I saw it when it came out and was enchanted by the mother ship. Now, the little naked aliens seem silly.

The idea that aliens and humans would communicate by music was also ludicrous.

I viewed that as the idea that music has a certain mathematical logic to it that might be universal? It could be that when something enchants and beguiles you as a kid, it's hard to shake. ??

The auditory systems of aliens (even assuming they hear stuff) and brain organization would almost certainly be so different from ours that they would fail to understand our music at all. Although this is admittedly speculative, I’d note that there is a composer who makes music specifically geared to cats and our best understanding of their auditory system and brain. It certainly sounds bizarre to me but cats queue up around the speaker.

 

[bilby]

I’d note that there is a composer who makes music specifically geared to cats

David Teie?

 

[pood]

I’d note that there is a composer who makes music specifically geared to cats

David Teie?

Yup.

 

[pood]

This is off topic (maybe worthy of a separate thread?) but some thinkers have speculated on the idea that maths are not universal and intelligent aliens may do maths in ways completely foreign and even incomprehensible to us, and vice versa.