Kong gained him no additional love from me, but he is the guy that gave me Ian McKellen as Gandalf. That buys a lot of cred.

Oh God. Kong was awful. And why can't Naomi Watts give a decent performance? She was so great in Mulholland Drive, and has been so awful in everything since (with the exception of 21 Grams, but I didn't think that movie was very good).

I thought she was decent enough in The Ring, where she actually convinced me she was scared out of her wits. Admittedly Samara is creepier than King Kong, but you'd think she could sell terror while being slung around like Kong's arm weight in an aerobics class, or almost falling off the top of the Empire State Building.

(Ok, I really did love the movie, but very sad and made me cry a lot.)

I think I mentioned on my trip to the F2F this year, the airline movie on the tiny tiny screens was King Kong which I caught occasional glimpses of in passing. On the little screen, Kong looked regular size, and the people were teeny....

Heh, I've got King Kong on DVD and still haven't watched it. I may have to resort to it when I finish my House DVDs.

I may have to look up a few of the French films mentioned, I'm not a huge fan of them and tend to find them, ah, pretentious and self-aware. From that standpoint, Quentin Taratino should start making French films.

Tarantino was very influenced by the New Wave, especially Godard, as evidenced by his company name "A Band Apart", which I think Hec referenced earlier, and things like Uma Thurman's wig in Pulp Fiction, a copy of Anna Karina's hairstyle (Godard's wife and muse in the early 60s).

Also see list below.

For those for whom the New Wave is a bit too much, here are some more recent suggestions for French films. Almost all have been student tested, student approved. I've put them into categories, but these are only approximate.

The "Cinéma du Look" (very stylized):
Jean-Jacques Beineix, Diva (1980)
Luc Besson, Subway (1985), Nikita (1990)
Léos Carax, Lovers on the Bridge (1991)
Jean-Pierre Jeunet, Délicatessen (1991)

"Heritage Cinema" (period pieces and literary adaptations):
Daniel Vigne, The Return of Martin Guerre (1983)
Jean-Paul Rappeneau, Cyrano de Bergerac (1990)
Patrice Leconte, Ridicule (1996)

Comedy:
Coline Serreau, 3 Men and a Cradle (1985)
Jean-Marie Poiré, The Visitors (1993)
Francis Veber, The Dinner Game (1998), The Closet (2000)

Colonization/De-colonization:
Claire Denis, Chocolat (1990)
Régis Wargnier, Indochine (1992) (Deneuve scored a Best Actress nomination with this film)

Sexual Identity/Coming of Age:
Alain Berliner, Ma vie en rose (1997)
André Téchiné, Wild Reeds (1994)

Musicals:
Jacques Martineau, Jeanne and the Perfect Guy (2000) (A musical about AIDS)
François Ozon, 8 Women (2002) (A whodunit—Deneuve sings!)

Crime:
Patrice Leconte, Monsieur Hire (1989) (Adapted from Simenon)
Jacques Audiard, Sur mes lèvres/Read My Lips (2001)
Mathieu Kassovitz, The Crimson Rivers (2001)

Romance/Romantic Comedies (all with Audrey Tautou):
Tonie Marshall, Venus Beauty Institute (1999)
Jean-Pierre Jeunet, Amélie (2001)
Cedric Klapisch, L'Auberge Espagnole (2003)

World Wars:
Louis Malle, Au revoir les enfants (1987) (based on Louis Malle's childhood)
Jean-Paul Rappeneau, Bon Voyage (2003) (Isabelle Adjani does comedy!)
Jean-Pierre Jeunet, A Very Long Engagement (2005)

Hard to classify but highly recommended:
Patrice Leconte, The Man on the Train (2002)
Agnès Jaoui, The Taste of Others (1999), Look at Me (2005) (a bit pretentious but both very interesting explorations of power and social dynamics among the intellectual crowd)
Erick Zonca, The Dreamlife of Angels (1998)

Holy Crap!! I've seen a Louis Malle film!! And quite by accident!

Holy Crap!! I've seen a Louis Malle film!! And quite by accident!