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Baumer's 50 most important films of all time (JFK 3, Earthlings 2.....FREE YOUR MIND! THE MATRIX NUMBER 1)

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2 minutes ago, Baumer said:

Did you even read what I wrote about why they are important?

Yeah. It makes no sense to laugh off Harry Potter but then include Iron Man because the MCU is lucrative.

 

And honestly, only horror fans could possibly care about the remakes that came out 10 years ago and faded away quickly.

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48 minutes ago, chasmmi said:

The big question is whether citizen Kane will make it...

 

Will Baumer consider the filming techniques to make it an important film, even if it is an awful film :) 

 

 

 

J-Jonah-Jameson-laughing.jpg

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2 minutes ago, Baumer said:

 

J-Jonah-Jameson-laughing.jpg

 

The reaction I was expecting :) But it come from a semi-serious origin of whether there are films out there you consider important yet simultaneously awful :) 

 

(For me I would put Star Wars and Jaws in that category as even though I very controversially dislike both films, I have to concede that cinema in general would be a lot worse today if they had both failed [no Spielberg and no blockbusters in general potentially] )   

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Number 45

Boyz N The Hood (1991)

Ice Cube, Laurence Fishburn, Cuba Goodning Jr.

Directed by John Singleton

"Any fool with a dick can make a baby.  Only a real man can raise his children."

"GIVE ME THE MUTHFUCKIN GUN, TRE!"

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Box Office:  57.5 million

Quick synopsis of its importance:  IMO, better than anything Spike Lee had ever done, a powerful film that tries to get to the core of racial inequality in the US.

Imdb summary:  John Singleton's portrayal of social problems in inner-city Los Angeles takes the form of a tale of three friends growing up together 'in the 'hood.' Half-brothers Doughboy and Ricky Baker are foils for each other's personality, presenting very different approaches to the tough lives they face. Ricky is the 'All-American' athlete, looking to win a football scholarship to USC and seeks salvation through sports, while 'Dough' succumbs to the violence, alcohol, and crime surrounding him in his environment, but maintains a strong sense of pride and code of honor. Between these two is their friend Tre, who is lucky to have a father, 'Furious' Styles, to teach him to have the strength of character to do what is right and to always take responsibility for his actions.

Why it's important:  ‘Boyz in the Hood’ has been described as a powerful drama about growing up in black Urban America. Written and directed by John Singleton who grew up in the “Hood” (short for neighbourhood), in South Central Los Angeles. The film tells the story of three friends: Tre, Doughboy and Ricky.  All three lead very different lives but are forced to cope with the poverty and incendiary situations that they are faced with daily.  John Singleton has said he is pleased that his film reaches a wider audience than the Black community  as it “deals with ordinary human conditions. Everyone sees a part of themselves in the film.” He believes that story and character are the most important aspects of filmmaking: “Never be afraid of your material. The audience should not think they are watching a movie,” he says.  Bill Duke, star of films like Commando and Predator and an accomplished director of films like Deep Cover and a Rage in Harlem was quoted as saying “My experience is a particular one, my struggles have been particular. My people have literally not been able to sit down and eat lunch at the same counter as you, or use the same water fountain. My mother and father told me stories from the South, where they saw people lynched, hanging from trees… those are different experiences from Whites and I don’t want to ignore that.”  This is a film that opened a lot of eyes to the race problem omnipotent in the US.

Why it's important to me:  Before Boyz in the Hood, my only real exposure to understanding racism and it's evil lineage, was the TV miniseries, Roots.  I was horrified as I watched Kunta Kente get whipped so violently that his skin was excoriated from his back.  And even more horrified when they tied him to a tree and used an axe to cut off one of his feet, to prevent him from running away.  But the problem with this, is that it was a story that took place long long ago.  Blacks and whites got along now.....they lived harmoniously in the same neighbourhoods, and their children played together and so on.  At least they did where I was from.  Living in Canada, I wasn't exposed to racism, at least not to my knowledge.  My understanding of it all changed when I saw this film.  Spike Lee's Do the Right Thing just never resonated with me for some reason.  But this was a true eye opener and I think John Singleton opened a lot of eyes.  It also began Ice Cube's film career and he has really done well for himself....not that that affects me much, but it is worth noting.

 

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2 minutes ago, Jayhawk said:

If it was the original TCM, there would be a case. But I think setting off a number of mediocre to horrible horror remakes does not TCM 2003 one of the most important films of all time. Agree with pretty much everything else though.

 

I think the birth of Platinum Dunes and them able to take the risks they have has qualified TCM 2003 as one of the most noteworthy films of all time, at least in my eyes.

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Number 44

A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)

Marlon Brando, Vivien Leigh

Directed by Elia Kazan

 "I never met a dame yet that didn't know if she was good-looking or not without being told, and there's some of them that give themselves credit for more than they've got."

 

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Box Office:  8 million

Quick Synopsis:  Acting and especially the portrayal of men in the movies, changed after Brando's performance in this film.

Imdb summary:  Blanche Dubois goes to visit her pregnant sister and husband Stanley in New Orleans. Stanley doesn't like her, and starts pushing her for information on some property he know was left to the sisters. He discovers she has mortgaged the place and spent all the money, and wants to find out all he can about her. Even more friction develops between the two while they are in the apartment together.

Why it's important:  I'll let the great Roger Ebert tell you:  

Marlon Brando didn't win the Academy Award in 1951 for his acting in "A Streetcar Named Desire." The Oscar went to Humphrey Bogart, for "The African Queen." But you could make a good case that no performance had more influence on modern film acting styles than Brando's work as Stanley Kowalski, Tennessee Williams' rough, smelly, sexually charged hero.

Before this role, there was usually a certain restraint in American movie performances. Actors would portray violent emotions, but you could always sense to some degree a certain modesty that prevented them from displaying their feelings in raw nakedness.

Brando held nothing back, and within a few years his was the style that dominated Hollywood movie acting. This movie led directly to work by Brando's heirs such as Montgomery Clift, James Dean, Jack Nicholson and Sean Penn.

The film itself, hailed as realistic in 1951, now seems claustrophobic and mannered - and all the more effective for that.

The Method actors, Brando foremost, always claimed their style was a way to reach realism in a performance, but the Method led to super-realism, to a heightened emotional content that few "real" people would be able to sustain for long, or convincingly.   When "A Streetcar Named Desire" was first released, it created a firestorm of controversy. It was immoral, decadent, vulgar and sinful, its critics cried. And that was after substantial cuts had already been made in the picture, at the insistence of Warner Bros., driven on by the industry's own censors. Elia Kazan, who directed the film, fought the cuts and lost. For years the missing footage - only about five minutes in length, but crucial - was thought lost. But this 1993 restoration splices together Kazan's original cut, and we can see how daring the film really was."  Basically, this was the Basic Instinct of it's time, but to a much larger degree.

Why it's important to me:  I've always felt that a good amount of acting in films before the 70's is wooden and phoney and has one pitch.  Brando changed that.  This performance really was the catalyst to change performances to become much more of what we know today.  This film, and even I can recognize this, paved the way for that change.  

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2 minutes ago, CoolioD1 said:

eazy e was right when he called boyz an 'after school special with cursing' i recognize the influence it had though.

 

LOL, yea, no he wasn't.  It's a deep film that deals with issues that resonate with many.  Eazy is entitled to his opinion like everyone else, but isn't it possible that his feud with Ice Cube was the cause of his so called opinion and not his true feelings?

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