The most fascinating movies...

thelostdragon · Post by **thelostdragon** » 26 Dec 2006, 23:17

Hey,

a few minutes ago they had "Fellowship of the Ring" on TV and I watched the ending. Damn, is this a fine film. I mean we all know it, tend to forget it, because it starts to seem so overrated due to all the awards and everybody loving it. But heck, when I watched the ending, I remembered what it was like when I watched it at the theatre. It was one of the few films after which I couldn't watch another film for three days (although I went to see it again two days after that or so, lol). I remember how fascinated I was by that film. I never knew anything about LotR before that either, but it was one of the very few films, that when they were new to you, they reminded you why you loved movies so damn much.

So what are the films that fascinated you so much upon the first time you watched them, that you couldn't think of anything else or watch another movie for the next few days? Which made you realise again why you love film so much?

I'll try to remember which movies had such an impact on me upon my first viewing of them. In no particular order.

1. Project A (laugh all you want. It still fascinates me today

)
2. Oliver Hardy & Stan Laurel movies
3. Once Upon a Time in the West
4. Star Wars Trilogy
5. Forrest Gump
6. Braveheart (the first film that I can remember of fascinating me so much in the theatre)
7. The Killer
8. Scarface
9. Rocky
10. Battle Royale
11. Friend (Chingu)
12. Seven Samurai
13. Memories of Murder
14. Sonatine
15. A Moment of Romance
16. Fellowship of the Ring
17. Infernal Affairs 1 + 2
18. The Last Samurai
19. OldBoy
20. Once Upon a Time in China
21. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
22. The Rock (yes, that Jerry Bruckheimer blockbuster)
23. First Blood
24. Back to the Future Trilogy (yes, even part 3)
25. The Road Home (Zhang Yimou)
26. The Classic
27. Bloodsport
28. Kurz und Schmerzlos
29. The Boondock Saints
30. The Corruptor
31. Bichunmoo
32. Fly me to Polaris
33. Hero
34. JSA
35. Go (the Japanese one)
36. King of Comedy (Stephen Chow)
37. Kill Bill Vol. 1
38. Hana-Bi
39. Bullet in the Head
40. Last Life in the Universe
41. Boyz n the Hood
42. Jerry & Tom (Joe Mantegna and Sam Rockwell)
43. Fearless
44. Rear Window
45. The Weather Man
46. The Twilight Samurai

OK, I opened my DVD profiler and realized that there are quite a few films that had a huge impact on me. I'm sure there are even more which aren't even out on DVD. The list could go on and on actually, but the number of these fascinating films will never reach even a scratch of the number of how many DVDs I own. LOL!

List of films that were named at least twice in this thread:

1. Seven Samurai (3)
2. Battle Royale (2)
3. OldBoy (2)
4. Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2)
5. The Fellowship of the Ring (2)
6. Fly me to Polaris (2)
7. Bullet in the Head (2)
8. Bloodsport (2)
9. Once Upon a Time in the West (2)
10. Infernal Affairs (2)
11. Back to the Future (2)
12. The Rock (2)
13. Rocky (2)
14. In the Mood for Love (2)
15. Once Upon a Time in China (2)

thelostdragon · Post by **thelostdragon** » 26 Dec 2006, 23:18

My aim with this thread is to make members on this board get films on DVD that they haven't even heard of before. There is probably no such film in my list, but let's see what films you guys will come up with.

tom2681 · Post by **tom2681** » 26 Dec 2006, 23:51

Fellowship of the Ring ruined my life.

When I got out of the theater, I realized that this film would look crap on a small screen. That's when I decided to get into videoprojection.

Impact, you say...

-Seven Samurai (I never thought that a 3-hour black-and-white film could be so much fun).

-Battle Royale (the first film that made me want to learn more about japanese culture).

-Casshern (the first film that went beyond movie-making. The first film that grabbed my soul and made me realize what life is all about / No, I'm not exaggerating).

-OldBoy (Perfection. Just when I thought that there was no such thing as a perfect movie, OldBoy proved me wrong).

-Fly me to Polaris (the only movie / only thing in this world that can make me cry).

-Better than Sex (Taïwan / 2002). Awesome editing, music and actors. Some kind of Taïwanese take on Survive Style +5. Extremely touching.

thelostdragon · Post by **thelostdragon** » 26 Dec 2006, 23:54

LOL, is it just a coincidence? Look at the screenshot I have used for my review of "Fly me to Polaris":
http://www.asia-on-dvd.com/ftr/reviews/ ... olaris.htm

tom2681 · Post by **tom2681** » 26 Dec 2006, 23:55

It's my favourite shot.

thelostdragon · Post by **thelostdragon** » 27 Dec 2006, 00:35

Tom, any Hollywood films you really liked?

Yi-Long · Post by **Yi-Long** » 27 Dec 2006, 06:56

Hmmm... first 3 movies that immediately pop into my head, are...

-Fist of Legend: Was pretty much about the first new-wave HK kung fu flick I watched. In a bootleg VHS straight outta Hong Kong, my chinese neighbours had it. I mean, just straight from the get-go, it blew me absolutely completely away, with the classroom fight, shortly followed by many more...
It was just miles and miles and miles away from the old skool Bruce Lee stuff, of god forbid, the USA Van Damme flicks and stuff.

To this day, it's still my favourite martial arts flick.

-Hard Boiled: rented it (dubbed version VHS), was blown away by it. Bought the Tartan subtitled VHS with LE T-shirt...
Just an amazingly fun and impressive movie. No american movie at the time had even come close, in terms of style and action and coolness...

-Days of Being Wild. Also still in the early days of discovering HK cinema, I had bought A Better Tomorrow and had been impressed with Leslie's performance in that. So I bought the MIHK Days of Being Wild movie, and I was grabbed by it. At first, I was just impressed by it, but like many, I thought the main character was a bit of a senseless, egotistical dick. But repeated viewings really makes you understand the character much much better, and you come to realize he's actually a good guy.
I recognised quite a bit of the main character in myself, like the distrust and the distancing and the depression etc...
I think I must have watched this movie over a 100 times, although I havent seen it for years now. Waiting for a good DVD release to come out that would be worth buying.
(Same with FOL btw)

Other movies that have been very impressive:
- Bullet in the Head
- Kickboxer (made me realize I had a talent fo martial arts, and especially kicking)
- Bloodsport
- A Better Tomorrow
- Rouge
- Goodfellas
- Once upon a Time in the West
- Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
- Yojimbo
- Terminator 2 (How can you be a kid and NIt be blown away by that?)
- My Sassy Girl
- Ong-Bak
- Infernal Affairs Trilogy
- Princess Mononoke
- La Haine
- Nausicaa
- Whispering Heart (the artwork and love for the story by the maker(s), is just amazing)
- In the Mood for Love
- Back to the Future: All time classic. Just watched it again last night with my girlfriend.
- Superman 3 (watched it as a kid and fell in love with the whole 'superhero thing'. Obviously, now, I can also see it's not a very good movie... but it made me a superhero fan so that's pretty important

)
-Ashes of Time: Just incredibly amazing. Like a dream with a great soundtrack. Gawd please let this be released on DVD uncut and with the original score, or else I WILL kill...
- The Rock: Just an awesome actionflick that's FUN. Nothing wrong with that.

I'm sure I'm forgetting quite a few, and also sad to see that many of the so-called classics like Star Wars and Indiana Jones and such, have kinda failed to make a really lasting impression on me...

IronMonkey · Post by **IronMonkey** » 27 Dec 2006, 11:17

The Terminator.

tom2681 · Post by **tom2681** » 27 Dec 2006, 12:08

LD wrote:Tom, any Hollywood films you really liked?

Well...

Murphy's War (1971 - Peter O'Toole) was the first film I ever watched when I was four.
Some people started with Bambi, others with Snow White... I went for that "thing".

Made me realize how powerful moving images could be.

That Darn Cat ! (1965 - Dean Jones). I didn't even know what a cat was at the time. I just pointed at the screen and said to my dad: "I wants one of those !".

That's pretty much it for me.

slasher13 · Post by **slasher13** » 27 Dec 2006, 12:48

Mmm Movie which had an impact on me.....

Firstly got to be:
The Message - Just a beautiful movie which touches my heart

Salem Lot 1979 Miniseries (David Soul), Scared the life off me when I was a kid in the good old 1980's
Alien
Ringu (dark creepy girls are scary)
Halloween (a couple of piano notes can put a chill on me)
Nightmare on Elm Street

Godfather 1 (truly amazing this movie is)
Goodfellas
The Bronx

K3G (Truly a movie which I can relate to about family)

Markgway · Post by **Markgway** » 27 Dec 2006, 15:30

Enter the Dragon - My first HK/Bruce/Kung Fu movie. I became an instant Kung Fu freak and spent a disturbing amount of time imagining kicking people in the head.

Die Hard - Can't ever recall being so gripped -- and it was the edited TV version! Still my fave US action movie after 14 years.

Police Story - My first Jackie/non-Bruce HK movie. I loved it and spent the next 15 months tracking down dubbed tapes of every JC films I could find... it lead me onto Sammo, Biao, etc....

Never Say Never Again - I don't even like this film, but it's the first Bond film I remember seeing when I was a little kid, and it led me to seek out the better ones.

Robocop - I was so young when I saw this I actually looked away at the gory bits!

It softened me to the wonders of screen violence.

Rocky/The Pink Panther - I was obsessed with these series when I was a kid.

A Nightmare on Elm St Part 3 - My first '18' video. Thoguh I prefer the original.

IronMonkey · Post by **IronMonkey** » 27 Dec 2006, 15:56

Markgway wrote:...and spent a disturbing amount of time imagining kicking people in the head.

I spend a very disturbing amount of time imagining what it would be like if the girl who works in the café next door to me was to kick me in the head (she has a black belt in Karate & crikey she's gorgeous).

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 27 Dec 2006, 20:15

* Amelie - I live the sugary coated toping and fell in love with Audrey Tatou.

* Amores Perros - I was blown away by the viseral, raw, real and grit intensity of Amores Perros.

* Apocalypse Now Redux - I've yet to see the TC but Redux on the big screen also blew me away. The air strike is out of this world.

* Blade Runner: Director's Cut - Pure noir perfection, the ending is really something.

* Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon - The film to really get me into Asian cinema. I saw it twice in the cinema then again DVD and paid mega bucks ( £28 ) from China town London as I just had to have the R3 months before anywhere else (it was also way before I knew of Internet shopping)

In the Mood for Love - Wong Kar-Wai's finest hour. One of the few films to really depict love and romance. A pure joy to watch the restrained emotion of 1950s Hong Kong.

Lilya 4-ever - Not a happy film but boy it's a powerful one. I saw this during a local film festival and coming out of the cinema at nearly midnight I could barely get on the train the emotion was so strong. A film I was still thinking about 2-3 days later. It also showed me for the first time quite how bad people tracking if across Europe.

Mulholland Drive - My first David Lynch experience and still my favourite. The imagery and general fucked up nature is really something special. A real treat.

Scarface - Probably not Al Pacino's best performance but easily his most fun. I've watched this so many time and still love every second.

Taxi Driver - Easily Scorsese and De-niro's best. The power and intensity as Travis Bickle gradually transcends into madness is out of this world. It makes a nice companion piece to Amores Perros.

p.s - If you want me to be more specific of what I consider/considered "fascinating" knock Amelie and Scarface off, the rest stay.

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 27 Dec 2006, 20:18

Interesting most are Asian films.

@ LD: WTF? - The Corruptor. Sure it's a okay film but fascinating???

thelostdragon · Post by **thelostdragon** » 27 Dec 2006, 23:44

bradavon wrote:@ LD: WTF? - The Corruptor. Sure it's a okay film but fascinating???

I just love this film. Maybe because I had read the script before the film was made. When I saw it at the theatre I was sad to see that certain scenes were cancelled. Don't even know if they were ever shot, but the film still fascinated me. I treasure it more than "Hard Boiled" to be honest. James Foley takes a skilful look at the dark side of two cops. Chow Yun-Fat's performance was awesome again. It's his best Hollywood film and one that does not come with the usual clichés for Chinese people (Jackie Chan = fighter, Chow Yun-Fat = killer).

thelostdragon · Post by **thelostdragon** » 27 Dec 2006, 23:51

Updated the first post with a list of films that were mentioned at least twice by members here.

Come on everybody. We sure have more than 6 regulars here.

Yi-Long · Post by **Yi-Long** » 28 Dec 2006, 00:39

bradavon wrote:In the Mood for Love - Wong Kar-Wai's finest hour. One of the few films to really depict love and romance. A pure joy to watch the restrained emotion of 1950s Hong Kong.

Personally, I wouldnt call ITMFL a movie that is really depicting love and romance. Well, love perhaps, but they kinda get out of their to NOT get romantically involved.

For me, its more a movie about wanting to be with someone, but being unable to due to circumstances. So the love that is there remains unspoken, yet both can sense it.

bradavon · Post by **bradavon** » 28 Dec 2006, 01:10

Yi-Long wrote:Personally, I wouldnt call ITMFL a movie that is really depicting love and romance. Well, love perhaps, but they kinda get out of their to NOT get romantically involved.

There's much more to romance (IMO) than successful relationships. Romance is an extension of Love.

I'd say ITMFL is oozing with romance, even if most of it is unspoken and not consummated.

Yi-Long · Post by **Yi-Long** » 28 Dec 2006, 11:21

Hmmm.. I dont know... I would call that 'romance' perse. Just unspoken love where both parties would like more, but it remains unspoken...

Anyway, I KNEW I had forgotten a big big movie: The Fugitive (Harrison Ford). Just an amazingly great movie that's pretty much perfect in every way. An american classic.

Groundhog Day is also an american classic that I absolutely love. I feel Bill Murrey was better in this flick, than he was in Lost in Translation.

grim_tales · Post by **grim_tales** » 28 Dec 2006, 18:52

Do you mean films where just the ending affected you or films that made an impression overall?

My list is a bit of both:

Police Story 2 (No really, the first JC film I saw with the original language)
Fist of Fury/Enter The Dragon (can't remember which was my first Bruce film)
Chungking Express (a beautiful, gentle film, the cast is perfect and great use of music, - I saw it, and loved it before I met Lin

)
Gone With the Wind (Long but pure cinema on an epic scale)
It's a Wonderful Life (A perfect Christmas film, a masterpiece - was crying in one part and then laughing with joy at the end)
The Good The Bad and the Ugly
Bullet In The Head
The Killer (both superb, emotive films from John Woo)
The Lord of the Rings (as a Trilogy, though if you want I can list all 3)

Seven Samurai
Once Upon A Time In China
Groundhog Day (superb comedy, an American classic and Bill Murray is excellent in it).

grim_tales · Post by **grim_tales** » 29 Dec 2006, 15:46

Forgot Seven Samurai - DOH!

Put another one down for that.
Also Once Upon A Time In China.

EDIT: How could I forget Groundhog Day? Indeed it's a classic, a superb comedy and all the more surprising since it's a one joke movie (in a way).

Put another for Groundhog Day please.

gojensen · Post by **gojensen** » 01 Jan 2007, 23:15

I have a very odd one...

HARD TARGET

Yes.

The Jean Claude Van Damme - John Woo - movie.

Before that I had only seen "old" and dubbed Jackie Chan movies.

And this one... well.

It actually didn't make me not think about other movies, because the day after I rewatched it - took the bus to town and bought the Criterion LaserDisc of THE KILLER... for a whopping €185 (!) which I have seen numerous times.

So in a way I thank VanDamme for my introduction to Woo

It's late now, there's probably other movies but I'm gonna go sleep

wazzabi · Post by **wazzabi** » 02 Jan 2007, 15:35

One movie that I find fascinating is Primer. The flick melted my tiny little mind and basically appealed to me because, well, I'm a bit of geek! I keep going back to it to figure out a bit more.