The PG Cooper List Thread: Gamer Days

It worries me sometimes, too.

Thank goodness your around to let people know the reasons why they like movies.

Exactly, the melodrama has potential but just falls flat.  The kid and mom were really annoying, if I was Donald Sutherland I'd have just run far, far away.

"Don't Look Now" is so good, I really need to watch more Roeg. My friend owns "Walkabout" on Criterion Blu-Ray and I bugged him forever to let me borrow it and he won't even though he's already seen it. Dick.

Gotta say, I don't really understand your animosity towards The Producers. It's not my favorite comedy or anything but I think its reputation is mostly deserved. It's probably my favorite Mel Brooks film.

Spot on about "The Greatest Show on Earth", it's absolutely the worst Best Picture winner. It's so bad and directionless, it's amazing how much talent was involved with something so spectacularly terrible.

I know its not listed but worst best picture winner is chicago.

I keep forgetting you were 8-years-old in 2002. But yeah, Chicago is a good movie. Fun play too. My high school theater class did a ghetto version of it for graduation and I was in charge of making a DVD for everyone. I'll never forget it because my friend shot the video and he did such an awful job that I suggested we bury the tape in the desert like the E.T. Atari game, but no one listened to me and now there's 30 DVD's across the United States and Canada that could potentially destroy careers if ever unearthed.

2. The Music Man (Watched August 5th)


The final musical on my list, and the second appearance from director Morton DaCosta (Auntie Mame). I don’t hate musicals, but I do dislike the kind of musical The Music Man is. One where there is hardly any plot, weak characterization, and empty and bloated musical numbers which go on endlessly while simultaneously going nowhere. The basic premise of a con man scheming a small town out of their money is a fun one, but the film very quickly diverges into schmaltzy nothingness. I also highly disliked Shirley Jones character, who is built him as an intelligent and independent woman, but then throws herself at the con man despite the fact that he’s a selfish, lying asshole, and she knows that about him. Additionally, while the music numbers show seem decent choreography, DaCosta puts no effort into crafting cinematic and exciting scenes through the cinematography and compositions. And the thing is, most musicals have pretty good choreography, and you can watch any one of those instead. I’m thankful to this movie for inspiring the monorail bit from The Simpsons, but that’s about it.

1. Wavelength (Watched February 24th)


A running theme in the last few films on the list has been lack of things actually happening. I’ve never seen a film that embodies this idea as thoroughly as Wavelength. The film is only made of one shot which slowly zooms into the picture in a room, where different filters are placed on the image and a high pitched noise plays over the soundtrack. Every so often, a few characters wander onto the screen, but nothing they do is if any real significance. So basically the film is forty minutes of starring at a wall while listening to a terrible “score”. It’s simultaneously a boring and irritating film and I loathed the entire experience of watching it. Some have defended the film for being some sort of artistic statement about viewer limitations, but so what? There’s nothing to actually care about or enjoy here, it’s just a strange and surreal assault on your senses and had it not been part of my film class I never would have wasted my time with this thing in the first place. This is the definition of pretentious filmmaking.

Alright, time for the best.

Honourable Mention: The Thin Blue Line (Watched April 1st)

There are a lot of films that deserve a shout out, but one I specifically wanted to give some attention to is Errol Morris’ The Thin Blue Line. I can’t really put it in the list, mainly because I find it very hard to compare documentary filmmaking with fiction filmmaking. However this was an important cinematic moment for me so it needs some attention. Before The Thin Blue Line, I had mostly gravitated towards documentaries that were inherently aimed at my niche interests and while I enjoyed a lot of docs, very few really blew me away as a piece of filmmaking. The Thin Blue Line changed that. This is a stylish and bold work of art which chronicles an important true story and suggests a lot about the justice system. It’s far and away the best documentary I’ve ever seen and in some ways I feel this has opened up a whole new door for me as a film-goer.

30. Nights of Cabiria (1957) – Watched March 26th


The number thirty slot on my list became a tight race between three Italian filmmakers, Federico Fellini’s Nights of Cabiria, Luchino Visconti’s Rocco and His Brothers, and Michelangelo Antonioni’s Blow-Up. Visconti’s work is heavily neorealist, Antonioni’s very stylish, and I ultimately decided for something of a middle ground with Fellini. To be sure, Nights of Cabiria is rooted in realism and the film is very much about exploring the economic and social poverty of Italy in the 1950s, but there are still elements of Fellini’s more playful and dreamlike style. It’s an interesting merger that could have been a disaster, but works very well here thanks to Fellini’s own skill, but also due to the central character and the performance from Giulietta Masina. Cabiria may be living in rough conditions, but she has a certain child-like innocence and naivety that informs Fellini’s playful style. Masina’s general hardships and arc are well-realized and the film presents an interesting world view.

“Madonna, Madonna, help me to change my life. Bestow your grace on me too. Make me change my life.”

29. The Player (1992) – Watched May 25th


Movies about Hollywood have existed almost as long as Hollywood itself, and The Player is one of the best. Robert Altman presents a satirical view of the world of film production by focusing on producer Griffin Mill (Tim Robbins), as he is being harassed by a screenwriter whom Mill had wronged in the past. The satire here may not exactly be biting, but it is pretty funny and on point. Not only does the film satirize Hollywood, but the larger themes speak to the disconnect between workers and the corporate heads who make the major decisions. The film also has a great cast, particularly strong is Tim Robbins in the lead role. This is also a very technically accomplished film, with an early long shot being especially impressive. The plot is also pretty engaging on face value, and builds to a great ending which is hilarious, dark, and in keeping with the films themes.

“I was just thinking what an interesting concept it is to remove the writer from the artistic process. If we could just get rid of these actors and directors, maybe we’ve got something here.”

28. The Killing (1956) – Watched March 5th


This was the last Stanley Kubrick film I had left to see, and while it does sadden me I’ll never be able to experience one of his works for the first time again, I am glad I got to finish on such a strong work. The Killing is an early Kubrick film which revolves around a group of criminals planning and executing the robbery of a racetrack. Pretty basic pulp noir material, but the execution really elevates the material. Kubrick is very interested in exploring the meticulous planning and total control Johnny Clay (Sterling Hayden) tries to exert over the heist which is a lot of fun to see, and even more so knowing about Kubrick’s obsessive filmmaking style going forward. Speaking of, Kubrick directs with confidence and style, maintaining such a steady hand that the film is totally engrossing even when the audience isn’t entirely sure what’s going on. Additionally, the central characters are all very interesting and memorable work is especially done by Sterling Hayden, Elisha Cook, and Marie Windsor. The heist itself is very well-executed and overall the film is a tight, masterfully paced crime film which is a ton of fun. It lacks the elegant brilliance of Kubrick’s subsequence efforts, but it’s still a highly engaging film which was an important step for one of cinema’s most important directors, and a personal milestone in my own cinematic education.

“You know, I’ve often thought that the gangster and the artist are the same in the eyes of the masses. They are admired and hero-worshipped, but there is always present underlying wish to see them destroyed at the peak of their glory.”