movies...

i'm with you on 'the good, the bad and the ugly' ;D
not so much on the romcoms, though.
i'm more into samurai flicks

Why you think you are some kind of samurai yourself??? Hmmm… A ‘samurai poet’ or should we say --- a ‘poet samurai’ heh, heh! :) I have seen Seven Samurais, and The Magnificent Seven, the Hollywood version. I really like the soundtrack of many westerns --- like the one which is there in The Magnificent Seven, and in The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. Dr. Zhivago too has great music score, so does Benhur --- especially the scene, where galley slaves are rowing and the scene where Jesus, whose face is not shown, offers Benhur some water, after Benhur is denied the same by a Roman soldier. The movie doesn’t show Jesus’ face but you just feel his presence because of the music and the expression of reverence on Benhur’s face, who at that point, actually doesn’t know who Jesus is.

Don’t be such a samurai snob, don’t look down at simplistic romcoms, they are not bad, they are just a type of fantasies like all the other movies --- westerns, samurais, animations, etc, etc, etc; we all are feeding on someone else’s imagination. But comedies are real fun.

One thing I don’t really understand about Japanese animation films (and I am only familiar with Hayao Miyazaki’s films, though I have seen images of some other films on the web) is that why are characters not drawn to look like Japanese people in appearance??? Why are they made to look like Europeans??? Even the landscape is many a times set to look like . Come to think of it they don't even look European, just rather outlandish, don't you think so too?

I also like several black and white movies by Alfred Hitchcock, and second world war movies. And also classics like M, The Shop Around the Corner, Shane, I Remember Mama (it's a story of new immigrants, it's really heart-warming), On the Water Front, for comedy and feel-good factor some movies of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, for total pathos movies like Karakter (from Belgium) and Incantato (Italian), and also movies like Raising Arizona, Billy Elliot, French films like --- A Very Long Engagement, and so many other hundreds of movies, which I can’t think of right now. I will add more as they come into my head.

i might be... heh..
well, i suppose i like SOME romcoms... such as... hmmm;
does 'the princess bride' count?
i recently viewed the movie 'hitch', with will smith. i actually laughed a few times; mostly because of kevin james -
you are right about anime's proclivities... they're certainly a bit odd; although there are a good number of those films that take place in japan and depict non-euro looking characters.
you should check out 'perfect blue', so that hayao's fluffiness may be counterbalanced.
on second thought, he's not always so fluffy; but 'ponyo' was like, 'oh my gawd, this movie is for toddlers.'

I am not much of a movie buff
I like African Queen. I have seen it
a zillion times & still cry when the get
stuck in the swamp -- knowing in the
next scene they are in the lake

I watch Bread & Tulips or Panne e
Tulupani which is a great Italian movie
a romantic comedy that won many Of
the Italian awards. I watch it over & over

I dislike sad or violent movies & find most
American famous actors/actresses could
not act their way out of a paper bag!!

Scrects & Lies is a French/English movie
This is a power house of acting & full of
emotion

I like Angela Lansbury in The Shell Seekers
This is a wonderful movie that I watch
over & over

Spaghetti westerns make me hungry
Wannabe!! One rain day in Italy I try to
watch one in Italian.
I like it when the jet plane flies over in
a dramatic wide-shot!!!

Thanks for posting this picture of a black samurai, Musicboy. It is nice to know that samurais come in all colors, shapes and sizes. I was reading about samurais in wikipedia (I must sound like a total dilettante, but it is true that these days I get most of my information from wikipedia) anyway, and I liked the description of their philosophy. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samurai#Philosophy
Given this philosophy of the samurais, it seems to me that samurais were basically soldiers/warriors, loyal to their military leader or emperor who fought in wars or committed violence only in battles --- as an act of duty/dharma not as a hobby or for pleasure. 
You are right about Ponyo, it’s not Miyazaki’s best. It’s not even really for toddlers, for there are certain scenes that might be scary for little kids. I found the movie rather bizarre in parts. Ponyo’s parents, for example, human scientist (who looks really ill, like some pasty toad) married to a sea goddess (who it seems is 15 feet tall and looks totally outlandish, some fantasy) and their thousands of weird spawns, just too strange for my or any toddler’s taste for that matter.

I have seen Hitch, but it must not have made any impression on me because I have totally forgotten it. I hope you will watch some of the movies from my list.

I will watch Perfect Blue one of these days, it sounds pretty grim and depressing. I recommend  The Battleship Potemkin and Paths of Glory, two very good movies, in my opinion.

Yes, Chicory, in movies I also don’t like mindless violence. Besides comedies, I also like suspense/thrillers, so invariably action and some violence is part of the package, so I am ready to overlook it as long as there is an underlying message of disapproval in the end. I have seen Bread and Tulips, sweet movie, liked it a lot. The actors Licia Maglietta and Bruno Ganz are pretty good. I, however, don’t agree with your poor opinion of American actors, I think they are as good as any.  I have seen African Queen, and yes, it is good but I don’t know how can you keep watching it so many times. I will take a look at your other recommendations.

Ponyo’s parents, for example, human scientist (who looks really ill, like some pasty toad) married to a sea goddess (who it seems is 15 feet tall and looks totally outlandish, some fantasy) and their thousands of weird spawns, just too strange for my or any toddler’s taste for that matter.

-wannabepoet

yes, strange indeed. good call on the pasty toad resemblance, lol...
that last samurai snapshot is forest whitaker from the movie 'ghost dog'; not your typical samurai flick, but  references  'bushido' throughout... more so than most other samurai movies, in fact. awesome movie
bread and tulips was pretty good... i'd have to watch it again to refresh my memory; there's another italian comedy i'd recommend: 'ciao proffesore!' a teacher thinks he's being assigned to some well-to-do school, but ends up in the ghetto.

How ignorant of me for not recognizing the picture of Forest Whitaker, i know who he is but i have never seen any of his movies, well, i will certainly see this one. And thanks for recommending ciao proffesore, i will definitely see it, frankly, i am surprised that you have already seen Bread and Tulips.

Well, i was thinking that here we are talking about Italian films, and Chicory must be thinking --- “This wannabepoet --- this peasant, this serf, what pretensions, humph! wannabe is such an upstart, doesn’t even know the great Italian language, merely watches them with English subtitles, but pretends to be so knowledgeable. But me, Chicory, the great, the aristocrat and royalty of the poetry forum, me the polyglot of so many euro-languages actually watches the great Italian films actually in Italian, there just cannot be any comparison. Don’t mind Chicory, i am just making fun of you

lolz

There is a saying where I am from Wannabe
-- You are not as stupid as I think you are!!
LOL


I struggle with my Italian and that is the best
of my Euro languages amongst which I
dabble. I like Portugese Catalan & Castillian
I can read French slowly but could not
pronounce a single word correctly!

I do like being referred to as aristocratic &
royality for I do descend from a very high brow
family: CRO-MAGNON

Like me Wannabe you swing from insecurity
to being full of yourself!! That's why
we get along so well. !! LOL

Tickles all of your what? wannabee? your faculties?
You are an undercover movie critic, i knew it! That run-down you gave was positively
a poetic version of a movie critique, can you hear the applause? {{(())}} =these are
sound waves=

I am thinking in my crowded little mind- this...  you can tell a lot about a person by the movies
they watch, or rather, the movies they like.

stay tuned for a word from our sponsor..

cheerio
mates

I thought of this line 'Really tickle all of my faculties factually' after 15 minutes had elapsed. well, what kind of movies do you like rio11?

Psychopathic thrillers 

This Sunday afternoon I spent watching The Great Escape on PBS, and it was like seeing something old in a new light. I had watched it once before as a kid a long time ago, but its recollection was rather a blur. The characters may feel rather dated now, but it is only because they have been copied so many times in other war movies, but this was the original. And, the best part is that it is not based on some fictitious novel, but on a true story. In the beginning it feels a little frivolous, but then it builds up. It is an old movie, and it has gone a little stale, and certain personal idiosyncrasies of certain individuals may come across as rather artificial and  irritating, but the movie on the whole is really absorbing. Edward Scissorhands, When Harry Met Sally, Tobruk, Dirty Dozen, Night of the Generals, Bridge on the River Kwai, Stalag 17, Battle of Algiers, Witness for Prosecution are other movies I just remembered. And, of course, last but not the least --- Jurassic Park, first time when I saw it in 1993, I remember how nerve-wrecking, and how thrilling it was to watch the tyrannosaurus rex and all the other carnivores chasing the pip-squeak humans, but of course, I was rooting for the humans. I will add more later on.

rio, this movie's for you:

i think i saw jurassic park like, 5 times in the theater, haha..
there's a classic i'm interested in now, hell's angels; i just saw the aviator and hence became intrigued with howard hughes' first production; have you seen it?

No I haven’t seen the aviator or hell’s angels, and I sure would like to see hell’s angels. Have you seen any movies from the list I have given so far, besides Jurassic Park ??? Have you seen the goonies??? it used to be one of my favorites when I was younger. Have you seen Benhur and Roman Holiday, two of my top 10 movies?

About The Great Escape, the most important part that I forgot to mention was this movie does a really good job in showing the camaraderie that exists amongst the POWs,  how people come together, and how they look after one another in times of trouble, to the point of sacrificing one's life for the benefit of another, who is no more than a comrade. This is a message I have found common in almost all the war movies, perhaps this is the reason I like watching them.

I just watched Ladies in Lavender
Judith Dench & Maggie Smith were
awesome & I cried the last 10 minutes
of the movie. What a lovely piece
Britsh women are the best actresses
in the entire cosmos

Rio11, perhaps you will enjoy the night of the generals --- it’s pretty mild and slow compared to movies like silence of the lamb (which incidentally I found quite entertaining, but it cannot be my favorite), but it is quite interesting. There’s a scene in that movie which I find particularly arresting; it is where the psychopathic character of general tanz (played superbly by peter o toole) is mesmerized by the self-portrait of van gogh, the music in the background and how the camera focuses on this dynamic can give anyone a few goosebumps. Has anyone of you seen To Kill a Mocking Bird??? I like that movie quite a lot --- the scene where children finally meet Mr. Boo is very moving, to me.

so, Chicory, you think 'British women are the best actors in the entire cosmos' --- that's really hilarious :)