Wise also did West Side Story, which had that brilliant opening shot of zooming in from above to the closeup of the Jets on the playground.
I know I'm a bad poet, but I'm a good man. All I ask is that... is that you try to see me—
William ,'Conversations with Dead People'
Buffista Movies 5: Development Hell
A place to talk about movies--old and new, good and bad, high art and high cheese. It's the place to place your kittens on the award winners, gossip about upcoming fims and discuss DVD releases and extras. Spoiler policy: White font all plot-related discussion until a movie's been in wide release two weeks, and keep the major HSQ in white font until two weeks after the video/DVD release.
Kathy A - May 14, 2007 10:48:37 am PDT #8447 of 10001
We're very stretchy. - Connie Neil
Amy - May 14, 2007 10:49:40 am PDT #8448 of 10001
Because books.
The Haunting is a nearly perfect movie in every way. ETA And I do mean the Robert Wise version. The remake was execrable.
Another strong contender is Rosemary's Baby, which is so true to the novel, it's a little freaky. (It's also one of my favorite books, so I may be biased.) I will say, though, that much as I like Mia Farrow, she wouldn't have been my first choice for Rosemary, since R. was supposed to be Midwestern to the bone and Mia Farrow came across as a bit too cosmopolitan.
Frankenbuddha - May 14, 2007 10:51:43 am PDT #8449 of 10001
"We are the Goon Squad and we're coming to town...Beep! Beep!" - David Bowie, "Fashion"
Another strong contender is Rosemary's Baby, which is so true to the novel, it's a little freaky.
Heh. I heard that the reason for that is because it was Polanski's first attempt at adapting someone else's work and he didn't realize you didn't necessarily stay that close to a novel.
Strega - May 14, 2007 11:39:34 am PDT #8450 of 10001
Movies I've seen a lot and still watch fairly regularly: Miller's Crossing, Batman Returns, Donnie Darko, Unforgiven, Yankee Doodle Dandy. ("One of these things is not like the others...")
Movies I've probably seen as many times, but not in the past decade: Back to the Future, Aliens, original flavor Star Wars, Bladerunner, Heathers, Raiders of the Lost Ark.
Runners-up: Tapeheads, Casablanca, Star Trek 2, Buckaroo Bonzai, A Fish Called Wanda, The Private Life of Sherlock Holmes, Shadow of a Doubt.
§ ita § - May 14, 2007 12:09:48 pm PDT #8451 of 10001
Well not canonically, no, but this is transformative fiction.
It occurs to me that I've seen The Secret of My Success an unholy amount of times.
Hayden - May 14, 2007 12:14:48 pm PDT #8452 of 10001
aka "The artist formerly known as Corwood Industries."
I've watched The Haunting (the Wise version), The Day The Earth Stood Still, and Nosferatu quite a number of times, too.
Jesse - May 14, 2007 12:19:32 pm PDT #8453 of 10001
Sometimes I trip on how happy we could be.
Now that it's been more than ten years, can I expunge the near-daily viewings of Encino Man from my record?
Hayden - May 14, 2007 12:21:02 pm PDT #8454 of 10001
aka "The artist formerly known as Corwood Industries."
Someone needs to check the rule book for Jesse.
brenda m - May 14, 2007 12:45:24 pm PDT #8455 of 10001
If you're going through hell/keep on going/don't slow down/keep your fear from showing/you might be gone/'fore the devil even knows you're there
I think I saw Ferris Bueller five or six times the week it came out. We were on half days at school that week for exams.
Others -
Blues Brothers
Rosencrantz & Guildenstern
Henry V (Branagh)
Top Gun, ugh. (That was on pretty much constant replay at my house for a whole summer. Not by me.)
Romeo + Juliet
Three Kings
Strange Brew
Friday
Kathy A - May 14, 2007 1:06:33 pm PDT #8456 of 10001
We're very stretchy. - Connie Neil
Branagh's Henry V is something I love to pop into the DVD player when I start cleaning the apartment. I can just recite along with some of those speeches while dusting/doing dishes!