Movies Worth Owning

[ADU]

The Secret of NIMH (1982)

 

[Raindog123]

 

[ADU]

Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust (2000)

 

[HiFidFan]

I am mostly an on-again Scarlett fan. And will also likely take in her latest superhero pic, at some point I suspect. (Though I'm not generally a big superhero movie fan, except for one or two oldies, like the original Superman with Chris Reeve.)

Never saw her live-action version of Ghost in the Shell though.

Some other Scarlett movies/performances that might be worth a look, if you've never seen some of them...

Been awhile since I saw this, so I don't remember a whole lot about it.

Passable near-future SF thriller, that was sort of like a more modernized Logan's Run, in some ways.

I think someone may already have mentioned this. But this is also a solid thriller about competing magicians, set near the fin de siecle. There are also a couple other excellent actors (and other familiar faces) in some supporting roles in this as well.

Another period drama, with Portman and Bana. I personally can't get enough of stuff like this. This was fairly decent though, if memory serves. Though perhaps a bit on the soapier side.

Decent rom-com-dram flick with Topher Grace of "That 70's Show". This was very well-acted all around as I recall. Though it's been awhile since I last saw it.

There are number of her other films that I either haven't seen, or just don't recall that well.

I've seen about 1/2 of these. I'll look into viewing some of the others. It's not like ScarJo isn't easy on the eyes. Thanks for the suggestions.

On Scarlett Johansson; I always thought that she is an OK actress, nothing outstanding. But in UTS she did a phenomenal job IMO. Certainly a brave role to take on. And not an easy one either.

 

[ADU]

I've seen about 1/2 of these. I'll look into viewing some of the others. It's not like ScarJo isn't easy on the eyes. Thanks for the suggestions.

On Scarlett Johansson; I always thought that she is an OK actress, nothing outstanding. But in UTS she did a phenomenal job IMO. Certainly a brave role to take on. And not an easy one either.

Agreed. There may be some better films and roles in her filmography than the ones that I mentioned.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scarlett_Johansson_on_screen_and_stage

https://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi2959392793

She's been nominated for a Golden Globe 5 times, for example, for Marriage Story, Match Point, A Love Song for Bobby Long, Girl with a Pearl Earring and Lost in Translation. And also nom'd for an Oscar for Marriage Story and Jojo Rabbit, neither of which I've seen.

I saw Match Point and think that was ok. But don't remember it that well. And also Ghost World with Steve Buscemi and Thora Birch, which was ok. I haven't seen A Love Song for Bobby Long, but that looks like it could have some potential. Nor have I seen her other SF thriller, Lucy.

 

[bluefuzz]

Sátántangó (1994) by Béla Tarr

7+ hours in the sodden mud of the Hungarian steppe – in black & white naturally. Probably one of the top three films ever made (IMHO of course). Don't watch it if you are fond of cats, or small children or ... people in general.

 

[Ro808]

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Both Coppola's masterpiece and Kieslowski's Trois Couleurs trilogy are also among my favorites.

The all-seeing eye at the top of the cinematic pyramid is Stanley Kubrick, as far as I'm concerned.
His last message to the world may not be his best work, but it's the most relevant.

How does this make you feel?

 

[bluefuzz]

As a European (and having never been there), my view of the USA is obviously distorted by all sorts of media manipulations. But I love the music. Whenever I despair of yet another kleptocrat American politician or megalomaniac corporation I watch a couple of Les Blank's documentaries. Yes the US does (or at least did) have culture, beauty and humanity.

 

[bluefuzz]

Dyn-Amo (1972) - Stephen Dwoskin

Some of my favourite soundtrack work by the incomparable Gavin Bryars is on this beautiful and disturbing film by Stephen Dwoskin. Yes, 'experimental' music and moving images can make you cry.

 

[Doodski]

As a European (and having never been there), my view of the USA is obviously distorted by all sorts of media manipulations.

I've travelled by car the West Coast and Central USA and the people where very helpful and accommodating. One must be watchful or you might end up invited for dinner and be diverted. Yes, the crime rate is higher and the murder rate/shootings are more common but generally the people are pretty kOOL and decent to talk with and hang out with.

 

[ADU]

The New World (2005) with Colin Farrell and Q'orianka Kilcher is another pretty decent film in this genre, told more from the perspective of native Americans. It is not entirely faithful to the historical accounts. But has some very nice cinematography and performances. The dialogue is quite scant though.

I can't remember whether I saw this on DVD or 2k Blu-ray, but I remember wishing that the video quality was a bit better, and that it did better justice to some of the beautifully lensed visuals.

 

[AdamG]

The New World (2005) with Colin Farrell and Q'orianka Kilcher is another pretty decent film in this genre, told more from the perspective of native Americans. It is not entirely faithful to the historical accounts. But has some very nice cinematography and performances. The dialogue is quite scant though.

I can't remember whether I saw this on DVD or 2k Blu-ray, but I remember wishing that the video quality was a bit better, and that it did better justice to some of the beautifully lensed visuals.

I’m a sucker for Movies like this. Big expansive historical drama. Watched it and remember I enjoyed it. On my watch again list now!

 

[ADU]

The Lost City of Z (2016)

This is also a pretty decent biopic, based on the life of Percy Fawcett, who was a British officer commissioned by the Royal Geographical Society to survey the Amazon region in the early 20th century. It is a bit slow-going at times. But most of the visuals and performances in this are pretty good.

 

[ADU]

The 13th Warrior (1999)

Michael Crichton's semi-historical drama about vikings of the Volga region, based loosely on the writings of the 10th-century Arab poet and traveller Ahmad ibn Fadlan, and Beowulf.

 

[gene_stl]

The 13th Warrior is on our list of major favorites!

 

[Leporello]

Truffaut and Godard have been mentioned in this thread, but Éric Rohmer, Claude Chabrol and not least Jacques Rivette seem to be seriously underrepresented in English subtitled Blu-ray releases of the original French 'Nouvelle Vague'. And they are every bit as fun as Godard and a lot more interesting than Truffaut.

I think Rohmer's whole oeuvre was released on blu ray as a box set but it be might oop.
Edit: your's for 350 €, ouch

https://www.amazon.fr/Coffret-intégral-pochette-Blu-ray-numérotée/dp/B00E8WL6EA/ref=sr_1_1?__mk_fr_FR=ÅMÅŽÕÑ&crid=1FGCE366FOLEL&dchild=1&keywords=eric+rohmer+blu+ray&qid=1629664074&sprefix=eric+rohmer,aps,200&sr=8-1

 

[Leporello]

Diva:

Ah yes, the messenger boy with a Nagra in his violin (?) case.

 

[ADU]

The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951)

1950's B&W SF thriller from the director of Star Trek: The Motion Picture, about otherworldly visitors with some lessons for the people of Earth.

This was lensed in the original Academy ratio of 1.37:1, which is roughly equivalent to a 4:3 TV ratio. So without any zooming or stretching, the image will appear pillarboxed on the sides of a standard 16:9 ratio HDTV screen.

 

[ADU]

It Came from Outer Space (1953)

Another pretty good entry in the B&W visitors-from-outer-space genre, with some pretty nice visuals. Fans of vintage 1960's TV will probably also recognize the character of George as The Professor from the series "Gilligan's Island". This was also originally lensed in 3D, and available on Blu-ray in the same format. (Though I have only seen the 2D version).

If you only want the 2D version, then the DVD is probably adequate for that in terms of the visuals, and has excellent detail that upscales quite well. I think the original DVD only came with mono sound though. Whereas the Blu-ray has a remastered 3.0 DTS-HD lossless soundtrack. Here's a review of the latter from Blu-ray.com.

It Came from Outer Space lands on Blu-ray with a DTS-HD Master Audio 3.0 lossless soundtrack that's the result of an extensive restoration of the original stereophonic three-track magnetic audio. The results are wonderful, and what the presentation lacks in the expanded channel presentations of today, it excels with proper, sophisticated, and knowing use of the channels at its disposal. Directional details are fantastic; imaging across the front impresses a good deal in the opening moments as the ship crashes to Earth, its movement along the front plane precise and following the on-screen path, opening up the scene to wonderful effect. While some heavier details, like a rocky landslide, don't stand up to the precision of the modern engineered track -- such effects can come across a bit muddled or crude in sonic definition -- the sense of room-filling immersion supplements the raw clarity of the moment and it seems the rocks tumble straight from the screen and into the theater. Much the same can be said of crashes and gunshots later in the movie. Dialogue detailing is exacting and clear, while screams are piercingly fun and rich at the top of the spectrum.

I usually listen in stereo on headphones though. And my somewhat older BD player doesn't do a very good job of decoding and mixing-down multi-channel DTS tracks to 2-channels, and will usually just drop the center channel. So the 3-channel track on BD sounded a bit funky at times on my setup.

If you're listening to this on a properly configured surround system though, then I'd imagine that the 3.0 DTS track would be fairly good. And add a bit more dimension to the sound. As noted in the above review, there are also several rather high-pitched screams in this, which can be pretty piercing to more sensitive ears. So you may also want to keep a volume control handy to tone down some of those moments, if you give this a try.

Even with the remastering, my recollection is that the sound on this still came across a little bit harsh and tinny (like many older film soundtracks do unfortunately).

 

[ADU]

Invasion of the Bodysnatchers (1956)

The original "pod people" film. Although this was made in B&W, it was originally photographed in a wider screen ratio than the other two SF films above, which were projected at the 1.37:1 and 1.85:1 ratios respectively.