Film, Cinema, Movies and Flicks

Raison d'Etre - Why Talk About Film?

Film, once maligned and considered to be low, unimportant (we are talking when the medium was first "invented" and put to use to tell a story), has become hugely important as a versatile medium, whether it is for artistic, entertainment, discursive, informational, or propagandistic purposes. We are confronted with the moving image on TV, in commercials, on the internet, in billboard advertisements, and, of course, in theaters. As art reflects life, so to does art affect life. There have been movies that help to change and shape the way we think, our social customs, our history and identities. Who could argue against the life changing effects the Matrix wrought on our culture, as it catapulted philosophy into main stream discussion, forcing people to question reality, perception, purpose and even self. Or, think about Jaws, how thousands of people were afraid to swim the summer of Jaws' release. Think about the movies of your youth and how they helped shape you identity. Once directors were able to record sound while filming, the whole industry of Hollywood changed. With sound came the normalization of slang and countless worried mothers. I could go on. Suffice it to say that movies are important and what is important should be discussed.

Movies are also entertaining and what entertains often concerns us deeply. Thus we have film reviews, ratings, clubs, discussion boards, classes and books. We have the intellectual academic side and the layman, generic side. Both are important. Each affects and is affected by the other.

And that is one of the great things about movies, they can bring people together, cross boundaries and require very little to understand, to partake and to enjoy. Of course, there are different levels of enjoyment, e.g. the pure unadulterated fun you experience at action movies when you shut off your thinker and join or even become the main character or there's the pleasing intellectual satisfaction you can have by watching a demanding art house film with excellent writing, aggressive filming, career making acting, utilizing industry changing photographic techniques (let's not forget special effects and humor). But, we like to talk about things we enjoy, regardless of the way in which they please us. Thus, my lens.

I will use this lens to talk generally about film, point neophytes in the right direction toward (what I consider) classy and classic films as well as try to engage cineophiles and general movie lovers. Hopefully, I can expand people's horizons, teach them something, and in return, I might be rewarded in kind. Consequently, I would hope for this to be interactive as much as possible. Feel free to post comments and questions, add movies where applicable, and links.

I aim to set up reviews of my favorite movies, link to outside sources, conduct polls, and debate the greatest films of all times and the greatest films when genre or other qualifications are considered. I hope you enjoy!

Terminology
Roger Ebert's Home Page
More Great Movies That I Own

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New Table of Contents

I hope this table of contents will help organize my thoughts and lead you to things you find interesting more directly. That said, I hope you check out my entire lens.

Amazon's Best DVDs
NYTimes Movie Review
Terminology
Roger Ebert's Home Page
More Great Movies That I Own
The New Batman Trailer: The Dark Night
Nicholson vs. Ledger
Go See Movies!
My All Time Favorite
Helpful Links
Great Stuff on eBay
Great Ciema Paraphenalia on CafePress
More Celebrity Porn!
New Guestbook

Amazon's Best DVDs

Originally, I was going to post Amazon's top 10 list, but they either didn't have one, I am not smart enough to figure out how to find it and post it, or the movies they select are not good. So, instead, witness my choices for which DVDs you ought to think about adding to your burgeoning collection.

Casino Royale (2-Disc Wid...

Pan's Labyrinth

Elizabeth - The Golden Ag...

No Country for Old Men

The Departed (Widescreen...

NYTimes Movie Review

Here I link to the NY Times where their film critics write very frequently on all the latest films, indie, blockbuster and obscure.

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Terminology

Here I will try to define some of the terms I use and explain why I use them.

It is true that digital movie-making is becoming more popular and will most likely displace most of the niche that film has traditionally held, nonetheless I talk about film and will use the world 'film' pretty much interchangeably with movies, cinema, flicks etc. Where it is important to distinguish between digital and the actual film on which movies are recorded, I will do so. Also, I trust no one will take offense to my using the word 'film' vs. movie or any other word. I understand 'film' can be associated with high-mindedness. While I may use such language on occasion, I hope to speak to everyone, the layman, the enthusiast and the obsessed. You should never feel alienated by so called 'fancy' words and academic catch phrases. These things are useful to everybody and permit enhanced discourse on the subject. Just look them up if you are unsure, no harm no foul. Besides, I will most likely curse and ramble in generic street tongues as much as I will pontificate with refined scholarly intent.

For definitions, please see my "Definitions" lens where I will add explanations of concepts and define words as I think of them or as the need arises.

Roger Ebert's Home Page

This is RogerEbert.com where Mr. Ebert writes about everything!

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More Great Movies That I Own

Here are some more great options to impress your friends or just simply enjoy if you're not the braggart type.

Children of Men (Widescre...

Ratatouille

Volver

300 (Widescreen Edition)

Superbad - Unrated (Two-D...

The New Batman Trailer: The Dark Night

This new Batman film is going to be amazing. It's likely to be the best movie of the summer. If you have been paying attention to rumors, Heath Ledger might receive one of the only posthumous Oscars ever rewarded for his performance. I've read that his performance is nothing short of amazing, that he is truly unhinged (in a good, filmic way) and gives a completely new identity to the the Joker specifically, and villainy in general. I posted the 1989 Michael Keaton and Jack Nicholson version for comparison. Enjoy!

THE NEW BATMAN TRAILER

Runtime: 2:06
188472 views
10 Comments:

Batman Trailer 1989

Runtime: 1:54
2316 views
1 Comments:

Batman Trailer (1989)

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Runtime: 1:47
843341 views
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Nicholson vs. Ledger

Will Ledger's Joker best the great Jack's?

Please vote on who will make the better joker when all is said and done, as it will be written in the history books, so to speak.

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Here's my favorite link:

Wedding Crashers - Uncorked (Unrated Full Screen Edition)

In this hilarious box office hit, Vince Vaughn and more...0 points

DVD Features:
Audio Commentary
Deleted Scenes
Featurette
Music Video
Other

With the knockout one-two punch of 1992's Reservoi more...0 points

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The Third Man (50th Anniversary Edition) - Criterion Collection

Orson Welles stars as Harry Lime, and Joseph Cotte more...0 points
Orson Welles stars as Harry Lime, and Joseph Cotten plays his childhood friend, Holly Martins, in this all-time classic thriller scripted by Graham Greene and directed by Carol Reed. Martins searches for Lime through the seedy underworld of postwar Vienna and gets caught up in a web of love, deception, racketeering, and murder. The Third Man's stunning cinematography, twisting plot, and unforgettable zither score are immortalized in Criterion's pristine special edition, following the 50th Annive...0 points

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Fight Club (Widescreen Edition)

"'Fight Club' pulls you in, challenges your p more...0 points
"'Fight Club' pulls you in, challenges your prejudices, rocks your world and leaves you laughing" (Rolling Stone). Brad Pitt ("12 Monkeys", "Seven"), Edward Norton ("Primal Fear," "American History X") and Helena Bonham Carter ("Mighty Aphrodite," "A Room With A View") turn in powerful "performances of which movie legends are made" (Chicago Tribune) in this action-packed hit. A ticking-time-bomb insomniac (Norton) and a slippery soap salesman (Pitt) channel primal male aggression into a shocking...0 points

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Memento

Guy Pearce (L.A. Confidential) and Joe Pantoliano more...0 points
Guy Pearce (L.A. Confidential) and Joe Pantoliano (The Matrix) shine in this absolute stunner of a movie. Memento combines a bold, mind-bending script with compelling action and virtuoso performances. Pearce plays Leonard Shelby, hunting down the man who raped and murdered his wife. The problem is that "the incident" that robbed Leonard of his wife also stole his ability to make new memories. Unable to retain a location, a face, or a new clue on his own, Leonard continues his search with the hel...0 points

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The Matrix

Set in the 22nd century, The Matrix tells of a com more...0 points
Set in the 22nd century, The Matrix tells of a computer hacker (Reeves) who joins a group of underground insurgents fighting the vast and powerful computers who now rule the earth. The computers are powered by human beings...
DVD Features:
Audio Commentary:Commentary by C. Moss, J. Gaeta, & Z. Staenberg
Featurette:"Bullet Time" Featurette (6:01) "What is the Concept" Featurette (10:50)
Music Clips:2.0 Music only with commentary
Other:HBO 1st Look Special: Making the Matrix (25:48) "White Rabbit" Clip...
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A Clockwork Orange

Stanley Kubrick's striking visual interpretation o more...0 points
Stanley Kubrick's striking visual interpretation of Anthony Burgess's famous novel is a masterpiece. Malcolm McDowell delivers a clever, tongue-in-cheek performance as Alex, the leader of a quartet of droogs, a vicious group of young hoodlums who spend their nights stealing cars, fighting rival gangs, breaking into people's homes, and raping women. While other directors would simply exploit the violent elements of such a film without subtext, Kubrick maintains Burgess's dark, satirical social co...0 points

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Singin' in the Rain

No one even bothers to argue about it any more--by more...0 points
No one even bothers to argue about it any more--by any standard and international consensus, this is the best movie musical of them all. Its arcane, unlikely milieu is Hollywood during the transition in the late 1920s from silent to sound motion pictures. Its reason for being was producer Arthur Freed's desire to use the catalog of songs he had written with Nacio Herb Brown in the '20s and '30s for various shows and movies. But, ironically, it's now the soundtrack that seems cobbled together fro...0 points

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All Quiet on the Western Front (Universal Cinema Classics)

No Description Available.
Genre: Feature Film-Drama more...0 points
No Description Available.
Genre: Feature Film-Drama
Rating: NR
Release Date: 6-FEB-2007
Media Type: DVD0 points

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Bonnie and Clyde

One of the landmark films of the 1960s, Bonnie and more...0 points
One of the landmark films of the 1960s, Bonnie and Clyde changed the course of American cinema. Setting a milestone for screen violence that paved the way for Sam Peckinpah's The Wild Bunch, this exercise in mythologized biography should not be labeled as a bloodbath; as critic Pauline Kael wrote in her rave review, "it's the absence of sadism that throws the audience off balance." The film is more of a poetic ode to the Great Depression, starring the dream team of Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway...0 points

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King Kong (1933)

An expedition exploring a remote island capture a more...0 points
An expedition exploring a remote island capture a gigantic ape and bring him back to New York for exhibition. A beautiful actress who accompanies them is menaced when the monster's love for her causes him to break out0 points

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Battleship Potemkin

Based on the unsuccessful 1905 Russian Revolution, more...0 points
Based on the unsuccessful 1905 Russian Revolution, Sergei Eisenstein's masterpiece "Battleship Potemkin" is often voted one of the ten greatest films ever made, this program includes a powerful musical score by N Kruikov.0 points

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The Seventh Seal - Criterion Collection

After a decade of battling in the Crusades, a knig more...0 points
After a decade of battling in the Crusades, a knight challenges Death to a fateful game of chess. More than forty years after its initial release, Ingmar Bergman's stunning allegory of man's apocalyptic search for meaning remains a textbook on the art of filmmaking and an essential building block in any collection. Criterion is proud to present The Seventh Seal in a pristine new transfer.0 points

13 more products: See all

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Citizen Kane (Two-Disc Special Edition)

A fascinating story of idealism corrupted by wealt more...0 points
A fascinating story of idealism corrupted by wealth Citizen Kane is frequently named the greatest film of all time and is credited with inspiring more directorial careers than any other film in history. Orsen Welles and Agnes Moorehead star.Running Time: 119 min.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA UPC: 053939656527 Manufacturer No: T6565DVD0 points

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8 1/2 - Criterion Collection

One of the greatest films about film ever made, Fe more...0 points
One of the greatest films about film ever made, Federico Fellini's 8 1/2 (Otto e Mezzo) turns one man's artistic crisis into a grand epic of the cinema. Guido Anselmi (Marcello Mastroianni) is a director whose film-and life-is collapsing around him. An early working title for the film was La Bella Confusione (The Beautiful Confusion), and Fellini's masterpiece is exactly that: a shimmering dream, a circus, and a magic act. The Criterion Collection is proud to present the 1963 Academy Award® winn...0 points

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Vertigo (1958. Directed by Alfred Hitchcock

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Psycho

Numerous critics had already sharpened their knive more...0 points
Numerous critics had already sharpened their knives even before Gus Van Sant's shot-for-shot color "re-creation" of the 1960 black-and-white Hitchcock classic was released, chiding the Good Will Hunting director for defiling hallowed ground. This intriguing cinematic curiosity, though, is hardly as sacrilegious as critics would lead you to believe. If anything, Van Sant doesn't take enough liberties with his almost slavish devotion to the material, now updated with modern references. At times, y...0 points

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Psycho (Collector's Edition)

At last--a great American movie available on video more...0 points
At last--a great American movie available on video for the first time in its original aspect ratio. For all the slasher pictures that have ripped off Psycho (and particularly its classic set piece, the "shower scene"), nothing has ever matched the impact of the real thing. More than just a first-rate shocker full of thrills and suspense, Psycho is also an engrossing character study in which director Alfred Hitchcock skillfully seduces you into identifying with the main characters--then pulls the...0 points

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Reservoir Dogs

Quentin Tarantino came out of nowhere (i.e., a vid more...0 points
Quentin Tarantino came out of nowhere (i.e., a video store in Manhattan Beach, California) and turned Hollywood on its ear in 1992 with his explosive first feature, Reservoir Dogs. Like Tarantino's mainstream breakthrough Pulp Fiction, Reservoir Dogs has an unconventional structure, cleverly shuffling back and forth in time to reveal details about the characters, experienced criminals who know next to nothing about each other. Joe (Lawrence Tierney) has assembled them to pull off a simple heist,...0 points

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The Searchers (John Wayne Collection)

Working together for the 12th time John Wayne and more...0 points
Working together for the 12th time John Wayne and director John Ford forged The Searchers into an indelible image of the frontier and the men and women who challenged it. Wayne plays ex-Confederate soldier Ethan Edwards a believer more in bullets than in words. He's seeking his niece captured by Comanches who massacred his family. He won't surrender to hunger thirst the elements or loneliness. And in his obsessive five-year quest Ethan encounters something he didn't expect to find: his own human...0 points

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La Regle du Jeu / The Rules of the Game (Director: Jean Renoir. Original French. English subtitle)

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The Gold Rush (2 Disc Special Edition)

A lone prospector ventures into Alaska looking for more...0 points
A lone prospector ventures into Alaska looking for gold. He gets mixed up with some burly characters and falls in love with the beautiful Georgia. He tries to win her heart with his singular charm.Running Time: 69 min.Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: COMEDY UPC: 0853937643260 points

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The Godfather (Widescreen Edition)

Traces the story of the Corleone family's rise and more...0 points
Traces the story of the Corleone family's rise and near fall from the pinnacle of power in the world of organized crime, and the passage of power from father to son.
Genre: Feature Film-Drama
Rating: R
Release Date: 8-AUG-2006
Media Type: DVD0 points

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The Shawshank Redemption (Deluxe Limited Two-Disc Special Edition With Book and CD)

When this popular prison drama was released in 199 more...0 points
When this popular prison drama was released in 1994, some critics complained that the movie was too long (142 minutes) to sustain its story. Those complaints miss the point, because the passage of time is crucial to this story about patience, the squeaky wheels of justice, and the growth of a life-long friendship. Only when the film reaches its final, emotionally satisfying scene do you fully understand why writer-director Frank Darabont (adapting a novella by Stephen King) allows the story to u...0 points

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Akira Kurosawa's Seven Samurai (Shichinin No Samurai) ~ Original Theatrical Version [Import, All-region] (Dvd)

One of the most beloved movie epics of all time. A more...0 points
One of the most beloved movie epics of all time. Akira Kurosawa's Seven Samurai (Shichinin no samurai) is the story of a sixteenth-century tormented village that hires seven out-of-work warriors to protect them from invading bandits. A three hour roller coaster -- featuring legendary actors Toshiro Mifune and Takashi Shimura -- magnificently weaves philosophy and entertainment, volatile human emotions and relentless action into a rich, evocative, and unforgettable tale of courage and hope.0 points

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Annie Hall

Considered to be "Woody Allen's breakthrough more...0 points
Considered to be "Woody Allen's breakthrough movie" (Time), Annie Hall won* four OscarsÂ(r), including Best Picture, and established Allen as the premier auteur filmmaker. Thought by many critics to be Allen's magnum opus, Annie Hall confirmed that he had, "completed the journey from comic to humorist, from comedy writer to wit [and] from inventive moviemaker to creative artist" (Saturday Review). Alvy Singer (Allen) is one of Manhattan's most brilliant comedians, but when it comes to romance, h...0 points

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Helpful Links

I want to help people discover information about movies on their own. This module serves that purpose. Below, I recommend my favorite and most trusted websites. Some of these sites, like IMDB really help you develope a knowledge base about more than just movies titles. Actors, Directors, Writers and Producers (as well as other elements of production that you might be into such as costume design or special effects) are hard to remember but easy to locate using IMDB. Once you look into these things, you will begin to notice the connection between movies, who helps produce and direct what, which directors and actors like to work together, and who shoots films that you like to name a few. Knowing about thse things can lead you to expand your movie knowledge and see more great films that you might have overlooked. It has certainly helped me to expanded my horizons.

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The Internet Movie Database (IMDb)

IMDb: The biggest, best, most award-winning movie more...1 point
IMDb: The biggest, best, most award-winning movie site on the planet.1 point

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Wikipedia

You know, it's an encyclopedia.1 point

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The Film File: The New Yorker

David Denby and Richard Brody review.1 point

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Movie Reviews, Music Reviews, TV Show Reviews, Game Reviews, Book Reviews - Metacritic.com

Reviews, quotes, and scores from leading critics f more...0 points
Reviews, quotes, and scores from leading critics for film, video/DVD, music, tv, books and videogames. Only metacritic.com uses METASCORES, which let...0 points

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http://www.theonion.com

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Film Study Guides - SparkNotes

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ROTTEN TOMATOES: Movies - New Movie Reviews and Previews!

Movie Trailers, Movie Reviews and New Movie Previe more...0 points
Movie Trailers, Movie Reviews and New Movie Previews from Rotten Tomatoes - The Ultimate Movie Reaction Site!0 points

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http://www.villagevoice.com/film/

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Movies: Movie Showtimes, Movies Summaries, Movie Reviews and Movie Tickets - Salon

Check out reviews by Stephanie Zacharek and Andrew more...0 points
Check out reviews by Stephanie Zacharek and Andrew O'Hehir

Sal

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Film, Cinema, Movies and Flicks

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Raison d'Etre - Why Talk About Film?

Contents at a Glance

Contents at a Glance

Explore related pages

New Table of Contents

Amazon's Best DVDs

NYTimes Movie Review

Terminology

Here I will try to define some of the terms I use and explain why I use them.

Roger Ebert's Home Page

More Great Movies That I Own

The New Batman Trailer: The Dark Night

Nicholson vs. Ledger

Will Ledger's Joker best the great Jack's?

Here's my favorite link:

My All Time Favorite

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