The Mandarin

The Conversation I probably telegraphed this selection a bit. Fantastic use of film sound and motif with an excellent plot and brilliant soundtrack. The scene with Caul in the confessional is, I think, among Coppola's best (although it doesn't impress as much if taken out of its context).

The Exorcist This has groundbreaking genre conventions and special effects, religious terror and Max von Sydow going for it. It's also a violent film from the 1970s so of course it places on my list.

21 Grams I think this may be my favourite film. Ultra-realistic. Everything about this film is raw from the acting (if you haven't seen it yet, you really need to if just for Del Toro and Watts' performances) to the film stock. Some people dislike how the story is cut up, but I think it works well in building the film's feel or atmosphere. Unlike Babel it's tightly made and although it is exhausting, it's not exhaustively sentimental.

Chinatown My favourite role of one of the greatest movie stars since the end of the studio era. Everything about this film is intriguing, even the costuming.

Mulholland Dr. Sometimes, there's a buggy. How many drivers does a buggy have? A film that I'll never get tired of. It's unique, smart, sexy, disturbing, challenging; I could go on. I'm surprised I had my choice of David Lynch movies.

Blowup Antonioni works with a male fantasy: sex, drugs, rock & roll, danger, etc. It's like my favourite tale of intrigue. David Hemmings is hilarious as the film's protagonist and enviable prick. "Yeah, baby, yeah!" was funny once. Excellent mise-en-scene featuring vibrant sets, costumes and colors. It features one of those ending scenes that cause us to rethink the whole film. It's hardly a chore to watch this film more than once.

I suppose I should have sent something. My apologies. I will PM you next round.

Jaws I'd leave it, but it's just too damned enjoyable. Quint is a classic character fleshed out by a great performance from Robert Shaw and two of my all-time favourite monologues. Neat special effects, a brilliant score and the very best drinking song. When do you see masculine films like this anymore? And this is off topic, but the franchise spawned a mind-blowing video game. It takes a lot for a video game to truly intrigue me. If I'm remembering correctly, "Jaws Unleashed" for the Playstation 2 has you, playing as Jaws, spit flaming barrels at the houses of homosexual couples who are polluting the environment and then dive a good ten metres onto land so you can tear them to pieces. You can also set them on fire or spit them at their houses to win the challenge. What the fuck?

Straw Dogs Only recently did I see this. My DVD quote would be "Troubling! Four stars." Peckinpah is a better, smarter provocateur than most. I guarantee it will make you think, satisfy your filmic bloodlust and then make you think about when/why you react to movie violence. It's not quite horror, but it does have Frankenstein. The film screws with the viewer's expectations in grand fashion, if you think about what awful things occurred, who knows what, and what was really being fought for in the end. I apologize for being rather vague, but I really don't want to ruin Straw Dogs for anyone who slept on this film like I did.

THAT WAS MY ARRRRGH HAD I KNOWN ARRRRGGH HATS OFF Anyway, Pierrot le fou is indeed plenty of fun. It's playful. Belmondo doing the impression of an old man (apparently actor Michel Simon, who I admittedly don't know) is the funniest thing ever. It's also a self-indulgent mess, which you mentioned. Godard tells us what he thinks of film form, genre, and genre conventions, his own films, his marriage, politics, etc. The ending is way cool. Nobody should give up on Godard without watching this film first.

I didn't expect a raid on French New Wave, otherwise I would have already picked one of my favourite films. It does not involve Antoine Doinel.

For what it's worth, I thought Cries and Whispers was the consensus favourite of Bergman's films. It does seem like Persona provokes the most discussion, however.

The Seventh Seal An excellent existential text, let alone a classic movie. Faced with life on a desert island, I'd probably turn to Bergman and Max von Sydow before Camus or Beckett. Bergman's Death is iconic. Shot on location!

There Will Be Blood I figure I can't leave this for another round. Fantastic cinematography, a captivating plot dealing with interesting subjects and themes, and a standout performance by Daniel Day-Lewis that I'll remember years from now.

2001: A Space Odyssey I figured this would be gone before it got back to me. 2001 is a timeless film. Stunning visuals, great music. It features top-of-the-line editing and the graphic match/match cut. There's even an intermission!

To kill time and provoke discussion: Anyone else see the similarities between Taxi Driver/Raging Bull and Boogie Nights? They both feature long takes using the roaming camera, they're studies of American life in different decades and most obviously, Boogie Nights' conclusion is a homage to that of Raging Bull. Ford and Altman are noted for being influences on PT Anderson, but what about Scorsese?

Raging Bull Brilliantly shot. Taxi Driver is phenomenal, perhaps the greatest Vietnam film, but in Raging Bull I think Scorsese is more (most) careful with his editing and construction of his mise-en-scene. The opening sequence and the wedding home videos, set to excellent pieces of music, lead me to believe so. Taxi Driver vividly depicts the lonely, racist, pathetic Bickle, but Raging Bull also provides a thorough examination of its anti-hero's fragile psyche-- without the use of narration. Still, I would throw myself into the sea before I'd live on an island without both films. EDIT: Actually, I'd argue that of all films I've seen, Raging Bull is the best work of pathos. The fat, lonely La Motta is hard to watch. La Motta in his prime, sobbing "What'd I do?" after he throws the fight, is downright awful.

I'm in.

Have any of the film buffs on here (Ravenbomb?) come across or seen, well, "Come and See"? I saw it on the advice of a friend after he was very right about "The Tin Drum". It was brutal to watch at times, but it is undeniably brilliant. I think I'll listen to him about Tarkovsky too. Oh, and "The Conversation" was #1 and the best as everyone had said. I think I'll seek out "Wages of Fear" (I enjoyed Sorcerer) or "Stalker" next as part of my film education process. EDIT: Sorry for the rushed reviews, but it's not like this thread is about detailed observation anyway.

She's cute, yeah. I don't know if she'll get far with that music and wearing only one article of winter clothing at a time, however. What's up with Tucker Mao up there? I'm jealous.

I've found Guerrilla's DVD production to be far better than that of any other promotion in 2007, and I haven't even seen BOLA yet. The camera work isn't great, but they do a fantastic job with the lighting, IIRC. Plus you've got inoffensive commentary (a rarity), less filler than most indy tapes, and covers that occasionally try to hide that you've paid for wrestling. Hopefully Super Dragon can pull it together, same for Ronin and Sky. They were a lot of fun to watch in 2006.

I'm not sure how I felt about the Deposition itself. Some of the lines were clever ("divorce vows"), and I liked the resolution, but it really wasn't all that fun getting there. The B-plot though, with the uninspired trash talking, apparent lack of character development, and the introduction of yet another Dwight obsession? Awful. Jim's shirt was the highlight.

I suppose I'm the only one who thought "Have you-- have you considered satellite television?" was the funniest moment of the season so far. It was the delivery that made it, obviously. If we're ranking half hours, I'd probably go with Money 2/2 and Launch Party 1/2 as my favourites. Launch Party 2/2 was pretty rough.

I don't think he's that old. I don't think he has any concept of what a "birth date" is. I figure it's the same thing with Ed Truck's capa detation-- nothing that Creed says carries any merit. I was being distracted at the time-- what was the issue with Pam's computer? Good to see the IT Tech guy again, at any rate. I thought it was a fantastic episode and the "big reveal" of Jim and Pam was executed perfectly. I was so convinced that Michael was going to burst into tears, yet again, at the end of the race. Forever souring the moment by having Michael puke was the right way to go. I liked it just as much, if not more so, than GWH-- which is saying a lot.