Kevin's Watch

I have seen two films that I knew absolutely nothing about when I entered the theater, and was blown away.
The first was "Sling Blade."
The next was "the Blair Witch Project."
People tend to look down their nose at "the Blair Witch Project" because it was hyped to death, but I missed the hype.
My wife said we should check out this new horror film. I had heard nothing about it. I didn't know what to expect. I loved it.
Nor was the concept behind the film new to me-- this concept was first filmed in "Cannibal Holocaust" which I had already seen.
Has anyone else walked into a theater, absolutely cold, with no expectations, and left the theater more impressed than others who had heard the hype?

Lord Zombiac wrote:I have seen two films that I knew absolutely nothing about when I entered the theater, and was blown away.
The first was "Sling Blade."
The next was "the Blair Witch Project."
People tend to look down their nose at "the Blair Witch Project" because it was hyped to death, but I missed the hype.
My wife said we should check out this new horror film. I had heard nothing about it. I didn't know what to expect. I loved it.
Nor was the concept behind the film new to me-- this concept was first filmed in "Cannibal Holocaust" which I had already seen.
Has anyone else walked into a theater, absolutely cold, with no expectations, and left the theater more impressed than others who had heard the hype?

I second Blair Witch Project

Slingblade had no hype; it simply sucked.

Not quite the same thing, but I walked into Executive Decision knowing nothing about it and enjoyed the crap out of it.

Blair Witch is the only film I've ever seen (as an adult) that has scared me so badly I was shaking at the end.

Unfortunately, I think most films released over the past 20 years have been, at best, mediocre. There were some truly inspired films in the '70s and '80s, but I can't think of a single great film released in the last 20 years.

And when I say great, I mean like The Godfather, Rocky, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, or Die Hard.

Cail wrote: I think most films released over the past 20 years have been, at best, mediocre. There were some truly inspired films in the '70s and '80s, but I can't think of a single great film released in the last 20 years.

And when I say great, I mean like The Godfather, Rocky, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, or Die Hard.

Unforgiven, Snatch, and Apollo 13 were damn good.

Snatch was very, very enjoyable. But as much as I enjoyed both Unforgiven and Gran Torino, I can't see either of them having the staying power of the films I listed.

There was one movie I was pretty surprised by. A group of my navy buddies thought we'd go catch a movie. Didn't know what was playing. Looking at the posters outside we see a movie about "six unemployed steel workers down on their luck." Sounds good, we said. It was pretty funny until Robert Carlyle and the rest started stripping. Then we all looked at each other and realized what, exactly, The Full Monty was referring to. It was an uncomfortable moment, but... good movie, nonetheless.

The best of all time, though, was Pulp Fiction. My girlfriend at the time and I were getting away from Disney Land for the night and catching a movie, and she suggested we go see it. I didn't know anything about the movie before we walked in.

I've gone alone to see a couple other movies on a whim that were pretty good - The Prophecy and Dark City come to mind. Oh, and Trainspotting (god bless the Dream Theater in Monterey, CA). Snatch somewhat, but I'd already seen Lock, Stock, and Two Smoking Barrels, so had an idea of what to expect.

Cail wrote:Not quite the same thing, but I walked into Executive Decision knowing nothing about it and enjoyed the crap out of it.

Blair Witch is the only film I've ever seen (as an adult) that has scared me so badly I was shaking at the end.

Unfortunately, I think most films released over the past 20 years have been, at best, mediocre. There were some truly inspired films in the '70s and '80s, but I can't think of a single great film released in the last 20 years.

And when I say great, I mean like The Godfather, Rocky, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, or Die Hard.

Alright, generally speaking my taste in the 'great films' go back earlier than 70's and 80's. As for the films you cite as examples, for me only 'The Godfather' qualifies as great. And saying that, I personally prefer the operatics of 'Once Upon A Time in America'. However, I'll gladly take up that challenge, here are a few suggestions for greats in the 90's and 00's:

'No Country for Old Men' (Which I definitely rank higher than 'Rocky', 'Invasion...' and 'Die Hard'.)
'Yi Yi', by Edward Yang is an absolutely great film.
'The Pianist'
'In the mood for love'
'Le Temps Retrouvé'
- any Miyazaki film from the 90's and 00's.
'Master and Commander', an underrated film.
'House of Flying Daggers', of Zhang Yimou's martial arts flicks, the most heartfelt.
'The Incredibles', YES.
'Lust Caution', another underrated film.
'The Dark Knight', in my opinion, a sprawling and raw film, yet it made *much* more impact on me than 'Die Hard'. And a film that had it's finger on the pulse of the time, uncannily so.
'The Thin Red Line'.
'Devils on the Doorstep'.
'Eureka'

'Toto le Heros'
'Donnie Darko'
'The Devil's Backbone'
Three films that I have a soft spot for, I'll see whether that is still true a few years from now.

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.
Requiem for a Dream.

These apply both to the original 'No hype, blown away" post and Cail's "no great movies of the 90s and 00s" post.

Sling Blade was a fantastic movie!

Heat is probably the best film made since 1990.




On a related note, I thought that the remake of Miami Vice was terribly underrated. I expected to hate it, and thought it was really well done.




ESotSM and RfaD are like The Shawshank Redemption......I don't see the appeal of them at all. RfaD is a truly horrible movie.

Cambo wrote:Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.
Requiem for a Dream.

These apply both to the original 'No hype, blown away" post and Cail's "no great movies of the 90s and 00s" post.

I can relate those to 'No hype, blown away', but not to the great movies of the 90s and 00s. Although, 'Eternal Sunshine...' perhaps. 'Requiem for a Dream' is too literal, too flat, too mechanical.

Syl wrote: The best of all time, though, was Pulp Fiction. My girlfriend at the time and I were getting away from Disney Land for the night and catching a movie, and she suggested we go see it. I didn't know anything about the movie before we walked in.

I also saw this movie not knowing anything about it - I was impressed!

I just thought of another one. Unthinkable. Gripping movie.

I had this with Eternal Sunshine, Blair Witch Project... maybe a few others, but I'd have to think about it.

Requiem For A Dream was the complete opposite for me though, everyone had built it up to be the most souldestroying, bleak, depressing thing I'd ever see (and frankly that is what I'm looking for in a film) and really it just seemed incredibly bland with a few cheap emotional punches.

I was told to watch From Dusk till Dawn but given no info about it.
I thought it was just a type of Natural Born Killers movie.....and then Salma Heyak transformed and I was like...WTF was that!!!!!!

Fearless was probably the king of this for me.

Two list of movies from the 90s and 00s........

digitaldreamdoor.com/pages/movie-pages/movie_90s.html

digitaldreamdoor.com/pages/movie-pages/movie_00s.html

There are some seriously good movies in those lists....... A fave of mine (Hunt for Red October) doesn't even make the top grade and is in the honourable mention list, which is worth checking too, especially for the 00s.

What is noticeable is the increasing number of serial movies like Matrix, LotR, Harry Potter, Pirates of the Caribbean, Bourne, Twighlight, etc... and the number of Sci-Fi/Fantasy movies, Marvel, DC, etc.

High Lord Tolkien wrote:I was told to watch From Dusk till Dawn but given no info about it.
I thought it was just a type of Natural Born Killers movie.....and then Salma Heyak transformed and I was like...WTF was that!!!!!!

I got grossed out at the thought of Rodney Dangerfield raping his daughter. I don't like Oliver Stone's films. They all seem sleazy and horribly wrong to me.
Cail's post about no great movies since the 80's...
Pulp Fiction
Fargo
Idiocracy
District nine
The Silence of the Lambs
Pan's Labyrinth
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless mind
Apocalypto
the Matrix
Pineapple Express
Casino
Borat
I am Sam
Soloman Kane (my avatar )
Ali
Hedwig and the Angry Inch
the 40 year old virgin
Boondock Saints
the Big Lebowski
Army of Darkness
Ed Wood
Edward Scissorhands
Apollo 13
12 monkeys
American Beauty
El Mariachi
Kung Fu Hustle
Gattaca
the Crow
hamlet
***
Just for fun, I'll throw in some worthy remakes:
Willard
Cape Fear

Cail wrote:I think most films released over the past 20 years have been, at best, mediocre. There were some truly inspired films in the '70s and '80s, but I can't think of a single great film released in the last 20 years.

And when I say great, I mean like The Godfather, Rocky, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, or Die Hard.

I've seen Die Hard
As far as great movies in the past 20 yrs, what about Tombstone? I also think Sunshine was one of the best movies ever made.