GameBanshee Forums

I know we've had a best flick topic, but I don't know if we've done this narrower topic, before. In any case, either way, here it is. Deal with it.

My own choice would be Cocteau's 1940s film, Beauty and the Beast. (You should be able to find it in a subtitled version at many better video stores.) It's a remarkable film, because Cocteau wasn't just a director; he was a poet, with a poet's vision. When he uses special effects, it isn't to make you just say "wow," but to make your mind turn in on itself and perhaps gain a few knots.

There are so many examples of this. For instance, when the Beast kills, Beauty knows it, because his hands smoke. And when the two are arguing and the tension in the hall is enormous, the faces of gilded plaster cherubims on the mantlepiece turn and watch the protagonists move, always *smiling*--as though these faces were somehow, unsettling real, while Beauty and the Beast were false; or perhaps because they know something that the others don't.

The visual atmsophere is sumptuous, deliberately striving to recreate the images of Gustave Dore, and succeeding. The dialog was by Cocteau himself, and so there's the surface, the sexual undertones, and a whole level of ambiguity that leaves you seeing shadows in way that Beauty sees them, but inside yourself.

Great film, this. Well worth renting.

Fantasy, or Sci-fi...

Hmm...

Probably "Alien", by Ridley Scott. IMO, that movie ushered in a new type of Sci-Fi suspense and thriller. He and H.R. Gieger created an intense creature as the alien, and really freightend many people with it. It also made a believable future, making sure man isn't so much advanced (Unlike Star Trek, Star wars) but more of a grungy, dirty type of future, that man will inevitably have. Another reason I believe it too be the best is because it played on peoples fear of finding hostile life, and being able to do 'nil about it.

A Clockwork Orange.

I'm a Dark Crystal fan...okay, I admit it, I'm a Muppet fan , but Ohgra from the Dark Crystal was exceptionally cool.

I will be coureous to find fables recommendation of the Beauty and the Beast. I love seeing variations of common story lines. I can not get enough Cinderella (Ashenputtel beim brüder Grimm)

I'm a Dark Crystal fan...okay, I admit it, I'm a Muppet fan , but Ohgra from the Dark Crystal was exceptionally cool.

I will be coureous to find fables recommendation of the Beauty and the Beast. I love seeing variations of common story lines. I can not get enough Cinderella (Ashenputtel beim brüder Grimm)

Originally posted by Hekate:
<STRONG>I'm a Dark Crystal fan...okay, I admit it, I'm a Muppet fan , but Ohgra from the Dark Crystal was exceptionally cool.

I will be coureous to find fables recommendation of the Beauty and the Beast. I love seeing variations of common story lines. I can not get enough Cinderella (Ashenputtel beim brüder Grimm)</STRONG>

@Hekate, let us know your reaction to it, when you see it.

i'm a star wars fan all the way.
i'm one of the geeks that stood out for days before hand to get tickets...
for fantasy, i liked excalibur a lot. it's amazing how well that movie used just two songs for so many different situations and scenes

[ 10-15-2001: Message edited by: nael ]

Recently, AI.

Originally posted by Weasel:
<STRONG>A Clockwork Orange.</STRONG>

An impressive movie.

Well i would have to go with Metropolis, full of religious and social overtones, dealing with so many subjects that plague society, a truly revolutionary film

(either that or Barbarella LOL )

Originally posted by Weasel:
<STRONG>A Clockwork Orange.</STRONG>

Agreed.

I haven't seen Beauty and the Beast though.

Originally posted by C Elegans:
<STRONG>Agreed.

I haven't seen Beauty and the Beast though.</STRONG>

I think you'd especially enjoy it, @CE. I seem to recall that a modern print of it has also been released in the last few years.

Originally posted by fable:
<STRONG>I think you'd especially enjoy it, @CE. I seem to recall that a modern print of it has also been released in the last few years.</STRONG>

I will certainly try to get hold of a copy. I've been thinking of seeing it for years, trouble is that more "narrow" film, regardless of how famous, is very difficult to get here. You can't even rent films like Lawrence of Arabia or Seven Samurai in a video/DVD store.

Originally posted by C Elegans:
<STRONG>I will certainly try to get hold of a copy. I've been thinking of seeing it for years, trouble is that more "narrow" film, regardless of how famous, is very difficult to get here. You can't even rent films like Lawrence of Arabia or Seven Samurai in a video/DVD store. </STRONG>

That's amazing--not Seven Samurai? And I thought we had it bad in most US towns.

My personal favourit is probably Solaris, the only movie i have ever seen with a somewhat imaginative alien concept. Also the movie is full with atmosphere. And no obivous Sci-fi cliches like strange movment in zero G spoils it.

Originally posted by Mr Sleep:
<STRONG>Well i would have to go with Metropolis, full of religious and social overtones, dealing with so many subjects that plague society, a truly revolutionary film

(either that or Barbarella LOL )</STRONG>

Good choices, I like both Metropolis and Cocteaus Beauty and the Beast I also like Brazil directed by Terry Gilliam.

Does Endless Waltz qualify?

Blade Runner favorite/best sci-fi flick
Starship Troopers favortie/best sci-fi comedy

anyone else out there cursed with a sad, infectious addiction to 'B' movies. The countless hours I've wasted.

Originally posted by Hekate:
<STRONG>I can not get enough Cinderella (Ashenputtel beim brüder Grimm)</STRONG>

Might I interest you in my sister's Cinderella storybook? The illustrator's name was "Van Gool". Maybe we should add him to the swear censor...

Soon... Very soon, in a month or 2 we will be able to put "Lord of thr Rings" in the list.

Have a little patience...