My suggestion for watching Andrei Tarkovsky’s films is to watch them in order of release. His earlier films are generally more accessible than his later ones, and it’s fascinating to see how Tarkovsky evolves as an artist throughout the course of his career.
My solution personally to this problem is that I don’t actually keep a watchlist, on letterboxd or physically or anywhere, I just watch whatever new movie I’m feeling like on the day. Less stressful for me.
Ive been doing the same lately, if something comes up and seems interesting ill just watch it then and there rather than planning on watching it and never getting to it.
It starts to feel like a check off list. I use the watch list to just keep track of what looks interesting to go see but I don't treat it like an obligation. If I see something that peaks my interest at the moment I'll watch that first before going to my watchlist instead.
In the mouth of madness is one of my favorite movies, it slowly became my favorite carpenter movie over the years. Something about it is just perfect to me
I too have struggled with the daunting size of my watchlist, and about 3 years ago, I came up with my own system that happens to be very similar to yours. I'd simply curate a "focused watchlist" each month of films from my list that I MUST watch before month's end--no excuses! Eventually, I went from a fluctuating number to a set 15 films each month, sometimes even less (last month I was in Cannes, so I whittled it down to 10 films to watch before I left). My whole system of keeping the larger watchlist manageable and picking WHICH 15 films I watch each month is far more stupidly convoluted and involves an actual physical watchlist written on paper, but the system really works to keep things efficient for me!
Interesting to see Hero and The Duellists next to each other - two films both structured around a series of duels, but at totally opposite ends of the 'realism' spectrum.
You haven’t seen From Beyond, Re-Animator, The Unnamable, Cast a Deadly Spell or The Necronomicon(it’s an anthology with a bookend story)? The problem with most Lovecraft movies is they’re low budget. The Castle Freak remake has a lot of low budget issues, yet it still has a very Lovecraft final act, and overall story. Then there are movies like Deep Horizon, or The Void, which are very Lovecraftian, but not at first. In The Mouth of Madness is one of my favorite movies, and my favorite Carpenter flick. Yet, even Prince of Darkness had Lovecraftian themes, made 5 years prior. The Thing is Lovecraftian. Go watch some movies, if you haven’t seen any of these I’ve named.
@@NagasakiBladers It does, but it’s low budget, and poor acting from much of the cast, make it difficult for many to get through. I rented it, as soon as I saw the box, because I was a Lovecraft fan, and I watch nearly every Lovecraftian movie, whether outright based on his work, or movies that have the Lovecraftian vibe, setting or plot.
Thanks, Daniel, for posting such interesting videos. Being old, I especially appreciate your interest in all eras of cinema. Far too many YT movie channels focus exclusively on new releases. I imagine that approach garners more clicks. I enjoyed your comments about watchlists. Given my age, I grew up experiencing the releases of New Hollywood first-hand, and so did not have to catch up with them later on. When home video came along, however, it felt a little overwhelming to try to get caught up on Old Hollywood. Having myself been there to witness so many decades of new releases, I imagine the sheer volume of the back catalog must be doubly overwhelming to currently youth. I only had half as much to catch up on as you now do. I also had a good chuckle in this vid when you described an action scene as "gripping". You must be an old soul, as I don't think I've heard that term in several years. When I was a kid, "gripping" was so over-used by marketing for both movies and books that my siblings and I used to use it as short-hand when we loved anything. If we were asked, "Hey, what did you think of (insert any subject)?", we would simply respond with, "Gripping!", and be forgiven any requirement to elaborate further. Keep producing your gripping content. I always look forward to each of your videos.
Great video as always Daniel! This has been my system for getting thought my watchlist for the last year. I have my watchlist on Letterboxed. I also have all the film in my phone notepad to tell me where they are available. I mostly get my movies from the library. Each week my best friend will pick 4 random years and numbers. For example say he picked the year 1964. I go into my watchlist on letterboxed for 1964. Than I see how many films I have for that year. Say I have 13. So I tell him, “Pick between 1 and 14”. Whatever he picks I have to watch. We do this 4 or 5 times till I have enough films to watch for the following week, (following week only because it takes about a week to get the movies transferred from the library) this system has been working for me so far and it’s fun to have the films in my watchlist randomly picked for me. BUT films are always being added, I always discover new things I want to watch all the time. So it’s a never ending process, but that may be a good thing!
Does anyone else think its a little mess up the Heaven's Gate revaluation only started after the directors death? I am going to go out on a limb and say he would have probably would have preferred to have people like his movie when he was alive to hear it.
In my early days on Letterboxd, I actually had my watchlist only consist of about 100 films; however, then I discovered that they'd send you emails when films on your watchlist became available, at which point I began adding everything I wanted to see, in the event that rarities suddenly became available... There is still (and always) the issue of just picking one to watch, rather than thinking about it for forty-five minutes. Hoping to cut my watchlist down to below 1000 by year's end, (140 to go if I finally stop adding films). Love hearing your thoughts on these! P.S. Thanks for including my watchlist in your video! :)
As someone who just got a Letterboxd account, and has historically been terrible with streaming watchlists (I’ve got stuff on my list going back more than a year, I swear) I actually really dig the idea of limiting it so much. Also, I’ve been interested in Heaven’s Gate for a while, but which version did you see? Because there are some versions over three hours, but the Amazon Prime version which the UK currently shows is 2 and a half.
I'm glad The Duellists is getting some love. I saw it last Xmas and loved the heck out of it. Especially for a first feature film, it's incredible! As far as Carpenter goes, I'd say his last great film is Mouth of Madness, but his last good one is Vampires (which is at least on par with Christine).
Excellent video as always, coincedentally most of these are way high on my watchlist too! Bummer to hear that about Hero as I was really looking forward to it. What you described reminds me a lot of how I feel when I hear people and local propaganda (TV, school, politicians) talk about medieval Serbia's history and unification as an unquestioned good, because, of course, the history was written by the winners. And of course a lot of those myths fueled the dangerous rethoric from the Yugoslav wars in the 1990s. On the contrary, I am so glad to hear about Heaven's Gate. I was scared by the ABYSMAL reception but it really seemed like something made for me. Much more than Deer Hunter, which I did like. After watching the footage in the video I cannot begin to comprehend why Roger Ebert called it one of the "ugliest" films he has seen. Edit: After reading about the rampant animal abuse/mistreatment that happened during the filming of Heaven's Gate I am not quite so enthusiastic 😬
On your recommendation I watched 3:10 to Yuma last night. I totally get the hype and shoulda seen it sooner, it was a great film. For me, better than High Noon and perhaps even Stagecoach
Love your videos and this was another great one Sir! Funnily enough been adopting a similar technic lately . A watchlist within the watchlist. A smaller selection sometimes motivates one more to give that 5 hour Black and white hungarian film finally a go that one has been dancing around for ages. Cant say that it does work all the way for me, there is the odd sneak ins. But I'll try. Great Movies you watched by the way. The Duellists s been on my list since ages. Time to put it on the other one.😅
Something I've wanted to know and might be an interesting topic for you to cover is how many directorial debuts Harvey Keitel has starred in. Between Paul Schrader, Martin Scorsese, Quentin Tarantino, and Ridley Scott, that man might be a human good luck charm.
my watchlist actually sits in my house. I BUY physical and they sits for sometimes years before I get around to watching them. I have at least 400+ blurays/dvds sitting in my wall stacks that I've not gotten around to watching..lol But at least I "have them" already and don't have to go trying to find a place to see them once I'm ready. MY issue isn't with a "watchlist", I'm more addicted to my "buy list" which probably distracts me from my "watchlist", ..lol I do have Heaven's Gate, The duelist, Sorcerer and Mouth of Madness, and love them.
@@EyebrowCinema I think a collector has to really know themselves and the ins and outs of their own tastes AND how to research/recognize/wade through the buzz. I'm at 2200+ blurays/dvds in my collection and I've made just 3 errors of judgement and bought a film I later hated after watching it. Pretty good record, i sift through reviews, trailers, plots and actual fan reviews (not "critics"). I don't mind spoilers 99.8% of the time. I certainly feel for anyone who isn't that way and would yes, warn them not to be buying films they haven't seen unless they know what they're doing..lol
That's close to the system I'm using. An unmanageably long watchlist that would take more than 3 lifetimes to go through on a 24/7 watching mode 😊, and one for "movies one must watch before dying" that I try to get through. But ultimately, I always end up watching the movie I had forgotten I must watch a long time ago, or one I didn't know anything about but looks promising from a 3rd type of list , i. e. a "in case I don't feel tempted by the one I had planned" from short list 2. I trim down the latter list after sifting through reviews by trusted sources (the French site "Sens critique" is a great place to get informed opinions on more obscure titles). What I end up watching ultimately depends on how I feel. I have stopped imposing myself a film as a homework. Cinema still means entertainment to me, and if a title is likely bro be too overbearing for the moment in my life or routine I'm,me in, I'll pass to the next title that I find more tempting.
I’m so glad to hear that I’m not the only one less than thrilled with Mouth’s soundtrack. One of Carpenter’s greatest strengths is his dual roles as both storyteller and music maker. His tracks are always so eerie and atmospheric. Would Michael Myers be half so scary if he weren’t accompanied by that piano number everywhere he went? Would the Antarctic be quite so chilling without that electric heartbeat rhythm? Carpenter could have really outdone himself with Mouth of Madness, but he decided to imitate Metallica instead. The main theme in particular is so reminiscent of Enter Sandman that it’s a wonder the band didn’t end up suing him. Deeply disappointing.
Maybe he's just a big metal fan and wanted to make a metal theme for his film With insane Lovecraft horror, you can easily make a metal theme that accompanies it, sure you can make a minimal eerie theme too, but I think you can easily make a bombastic metal sound track too
I also have a massive watchlist, this system works really welll for me: You make a list called UP NEXT, or something like that, and you put in ten movies that you have to watch next, you can't watch any other movies until you've gotten through all of those. Then when you watch those ten movies, you clear the list out and stick in ten more.
I actually did something similar with my watchlist. I was travelling and living in a car for a few months so i didn't have my usual DVD shelf available. The only sources I used for watching movies were UA-cam, Tubi and Cinemas of course. However, to save time and data I used to download most movies from UA-cam when I had free WiFi (mostly at libraries). That way I had to choose which movies I watch in the upcoming days and no other options available. It's amazing how many filmographies you can explore for free and legal. Mike Leigh, Alan Clarke, Antonioni, the early Verhoeven (so so good) just to name a few. I think I never had so few rewatches which I think was one positiv effect of that method.
@@EyebrowCinema Yes, those were my entry points to Leigh also. Loved every single one of them and will buy the box asap. Nuts in May and Grown Ups especially are sooo good. As a German, those feel very relatable because they depict characters, quirks and situations that I know just too well from my everyday life. I have yet to watch his most well known works like Secrets and Lies or Happy Go-Lucky. Life is Sweet was an instant favourite and Naked also very good so I am very much looking forward to that.
As one who has seen only three of the films on THIS list (I won't say which ones), I will confirm that it's a LOONNNGGGG undertaking to go through each film with the patience and understanding of a devout hardcore cinephile, published online film essayist and aspiring filmmaker. The ultimate greatest watchlist I have yet to complete is the entirety of the Criterion Collection/Janus Films, which includes films that I had already seen in childhood before I even officially started on Criterion way back in 2005 (WATERSHIP DOWN, FANTASTIC PLANET, SPARTACUS, THE INCREDIBLE SHRINKING MAN, THE BLOB, PATHS OF GLORY, NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD, THE MAN WHO FELL TO EARTH, VIDEODROME, SCANNERS, THE RED BALLOON, CITIZEN KANE, IT'S A MAD MAD MAD MAD WORLD, just to name a few).
With the time I've come to appreciate Carpenter's, ehem, Enter Sandman cover. Acquired taste maybe. Yes, it does not tune for slow burning horror. But on the other hand, I find it fitting for rapid descent into realms of madness and Mythos. Yes, it is not the same as Carpenter's soundtrack for the "Thing" or his other atmospheric and electronic music pieces. But it is such a nice artifact of 90s era, along with Stephen King craze. And speaking of 90s, horror, Lovecraft, Metallica riffs vs. atmospheric music - Doom 1&2 and Doom64 soundtracks. Boy, do they make similar games feel completely different.
EXCELLENT! As a film freak I just can't believe your list represents films (apart from three) that I've always wanted to see. I'm re-adjusting my viewing schedule. BTW, I was on the set of "One From The Heart" ( the studio was a couple of blocks from our film school) Many thanks.
Sometimes I think Coppola just blew his wad of anything important to say in the '70s. None of his subsequent movies are remotely in the same league. That said, I was one of the few who saw "One from the Heart" in the cinema. More often than not, mention the genre "musical," and even the eyes of the most avid moviegoer will glaze over. And while the characterizations in "OFTH" are lacking, and it admittedly was more theatrical in concept than cinematic, is was still a treat and a wonder to behold for this film lover. I have the original soundtrack vinyl album, and played it often back then. BTW, it's so gratifying that a B&W western from your watchlist garnered your greatest respect - another genre and format destined to occupy the bottom of the totem pole for most aficionados - especially your age! Another great video!
@@EyebrowCinema As you can imagine, Coppola was pretty much a "god" of cinema at that point. It would have been virtually impossible for any serious movie buff to sidestep his follow up to "Apocalypse Now," regardless of what the critics or the general public may have thought. And Kinski, with her notorious father, was the new "it girl," and was just one other reason to venture out to see "OFTH." Sadly, eventually her fans soon came to realize her acting talent didn't quite match her beauty! Anyway, it was an exciting and heady period for American film at that point, and Coppola was at the pinnacle in terms of both critical and commercial success.
My Letterboxd watchlist seems relatively measly compared to others in this comment section, but it is still 616 films. I originally started it in the months before college, knowing I wanted to study film but not having seen a ton of even the classics. Now I'm a junior, and have only watched maybe 100 or 200 films, all the while adding to my list. I hope to finish it by the time I'm 80, if I'm lucky.
I have my own way of getting through my watchlist. Two years ago I began watching films one year per month. So, every day I have off work (2 per week), I watch a film from 1970. As the next month rolls on, I go to the next year. Doing this, I'm currently up to 1988. It's great to see the movies,opinions, morals, and society evolve. I also get to watch many films that everyone has seen, that I haven't. I watched Stand By Me for the first time this year. This evening, I'm watching Willow. And my favourite film that I've seen on this journey so far was 1976s Network.
The Duellists might almost be my favourite Ridley Scott movie. His others are more iconic but The Duellists is just so fun. The duels are just absolutely fantastic.
I do like Wages of Fear but Sorcerer is the better version. Love the score as well. Just a simple long path to hell. Can't get enough of Carpenter's Apocalypse trilogy. The guy sure knows how to create an atmosphere. "Sutter Cane" and "Stephen King" Ha, cute.
I'm a Wages of Fear man myself. I even rewatched it recently and thought it even better than I remembered. Also, speaking of Carpenter's Apocalypse Trilogy, I really should rewatch Prince of Darkness. Been a good long while since I've seen that one.
Wow, it’s kinda funny, I’ve seen half of these, and the half I haven’t will be on my cinematic back burner for years. I don’t know when I’ll watch Heaven’s Gate or Hero, but I sure did love Blue Collar and In the Mouth of Madness, so maybe I’ll get to that other half sooner then I expect. Thank you so much for making this, I hope you inspire many others to delve into film like you have. Who watches the Watcher who watches the Whatlist? Hopefully more
Oh man, it would have an intermission. Last movie I watched with an Intermission was The Great Race like two weeks ago. It was great! Until the intermission, and then the racers got stuck doing a prince and the pauper story in Germany? That part did make me question, why does The Great Race need to be over three hours? There is that pie fight though and no one should miss that!
I finally saw One From the Heart, the new Reprise cut, and the movie sure pops on the big screen. While I fully agree with the lack of chemistry between the two lead characters, what prevented it to be a complete wash were the side characters, both composed by a stellar cast, and inherently comical in their own right, as means to complement Hank and Frannie's rather subdued presence.
I love the idea of just picking 10 movies for a watchlist and committing to it. I personally have a watchlist of about 2000, but mainly because IMDb’s watchlist feature helps to easily sort, especially by steamer. Each month I tend to pick about 10 each month that are leaving a streamer and commit to those, but it still can feel like a chore once I commit to them. Best is to just watch (or rewatch) a movie that piques my interest in the moment, as I’m far more likely to be engaged with it. If I look at my list and think “oh no! There’s only 12 days left in the month and so many movies I still need to watch!” then it’s no longer fun. Also, find older/longer movies if they are playing in a theater. It took me so long to finish my Kubrick watch because I just couldn’t commit to Spartacus at home (even though I own it on DVD!). The theater experience massively helped me to see and enjoy it.
the premise of this series feels like a direct attack at my expense. nice stuff, might motivate me to go through some of that backlog. finally watch the 3 Hoffman movies i've been saving (cause there ain't gonna be anymore..)
My watchlist is 4,118 titles long. I watch whatever I have the time for at the moment, and whatever I'm in the mood for. No chance I can do that with 10 movies and be truly pleased with my choices each day.
Hero is my go-to example of a film that’s so good I can enjoy it despite the bad politics, although that may be because I first saw it and fell in love with it before I was old enough to think critically about the message.
In The Mouth of Madness is the best Lovecraft film of all time, even thought it’s not based on any of Lovecraft, specific work (although some of his writing is read by Sam Neil’s character in the movie), it just gets the overall feel and tone of Lovecraft, right. Plus it’s probably John Carpenter’s third best film, behind Halloween and The Thing
I'm always on the way to watch movies, my watchlists are technically on streaming on services, and the HBO Max one is HUGE, If I had to pick just one streaming site to stay at, it would be that one, it's probably my favorite, and probably my main reason is: classic films. I'm a young old Hollywood fan, I need those movies to survive, I'm always being kinda retro in my tastes, used to watch classic films on TCM and Fox Classics when I visited my great uncles' apartment (my great uncle is a fan of 007, Tarzan, westerns, action movies and even martial art movies, I've got to ask him if he watched Hero and 3:10 to Yuma because I want to watch it with him). Thanks to HBO Max (and some other previous pirate movie page), I've got to watch some classic movies I always wanted to watch and I loved them, even found myself rewatching them (including the most known classics as King Kong, Gone with the Wind, The Wizard of Oz, Citizen Kane, The Maltese Falcon, Casablanca, The Treasure of Sierra Madre, An American in Paris, Singin' in the Rain, Ben-Hur, etc)... I even had a Hitchcock season and a Kubrick season. To my watchlist I added "For Whom the Besll Tolls" starring Gary Cooper and Ingrid Bergman, and I got to watch Amarcord to get introduced to Federico Fellini. About recently watched movies, my mother (who also likes movies) and I watched "Mean Streets" for the first time, I can't say I didn't liked it, I liked the atmosphere, the color palette, the soundtrack, my Mom didn't liked it, she had nothing against the actors cause she likes Keitel and De Niro, but she couldn't tell what was the story, she hoped there for a moment when the movie would 'start', and we like Scorsese, The Aviator is probably my favorite Leo and Marty movie in general and I need to watch Hell's Angels, I like Howard Hughes' story. I gotta say that I watched The Exorcist (in it's 50th anniversary) and Alien for the first time this year and I loved them, the first one in my house and the other one in a local theatre I like to go, experiencing it with all those old men that watched the movie back in it's day, now I need to watch the rest of the Alien saga (and I need to watch Predator someday). I don't know if tv shows counts but I'm recently watching The Nanny this year in it's 30th anniversary and I became a fan, Fran Drescher reminds me of my Mom and she loves icause it reminds her how she used to dress back in those days, I love the cast, the cameos, the jokes, antiquated references, etc.... my favorite character might be Grace but it also can be Niles, now I always put the show at lunchtime, is that or Looney Tunes, a Hannah Babera Cartoon, Alf and even House. M. D. which I have always liked. P. D: didn't Sorcerer had a reference in The Simpsons? I also need to watch The Duelists and Heaven's Gate.
Thanks for the detailed comment! Glad to hear plowing through classic Hollywood cinema has been so rewarding for you. Also, very sweet that you and your mom share movie watching together.
My Sorcerer CD is one that I've not revisited since ages precisely because of the overly lengthy intro (or prelude?) section. I also hate when the main plot is delayed by too many gratuitous details. It would work better had Friedkin chopped off a solid 5-10 min of all that happens before arriving in Columbia (or whichever country it is: I forgot). BTW, this video brought back memories that it isn't a bad film at all and I'll rewatch it soon.
Personally I started by watching the top letterboxd top 250. Then after that any filmmaker with similar styles to my fav filmmakers I’d add to the watchlist but I’d never let it get passed 100. I had to really ask my self 2 questions 1. Will i ever have a chance to see this some day? 2. Does this look like something that is my kind of film. And from there I managed to get my watchlist down to a near 0 now. I am content with the amount of films I have seen and if I ever add a random film on the watchlist it’s only 1-2 films so therefore they’re manageable to watch. Biggest advice is just don’t keep adding stuff you know you’ll never see or even like. Think deeply first before thinking with your emotions and just adding as much thinfs to watchlist as possible. It’s not a numbers game… take your time
The Thing and Halloween are Carpenter essentials but I’ve found infinite rewatch value In The Mouth of Madness this past year. And gained enough wisdom to skip the heavy metal intro music lol I agree it’s totally out of place but that’s the 90s for ya
In The Mouth Of Madness was weird. I loved it, but had a lot of critiques. Watched it for the first time a few months back and I'm still thinking about it.
Bruh you got me, I have an ultimate watch list on letterboxd because things were stacking up in my Google chrome pages. It's now about 250 films long and I use it for when streaming services aren't hitting the spot for me at the moment. It's growing every day and I only watch MAYBE. A film a day from it. Nevertheless I see it as a look inside my mind if others were to see it
Only in aesthetic, Hero reminds me very much of The Ghost of Tsushima. Btw, if you havent played it, go play Ghost of Tsushima right now. You absolutely will be in love with it at once as the title pops on screen as the music crescendos into its epic climactic notes, Jin riding thru the tall grass and leaning down to let his hand brush thru the grass as his beloved horse rides on. The game is beautiful, captivating in story, extremely realistic in its swordplay and secondary weapons, and 1 on 1 sword duels are a thing to remember. It nealry has infinite replayability as it is so, so long a game with the freedom of going damn near anywhere you want on the map. And the expansion, Iki Island, its to die for as far as beauty is concerned. It is my favorite game of all time, usurping God of War, which i had been championing since the playatation 2 and stuck with the playstation solely to be able to play God of War 3 once it released on PS3. Ghost of Tsushima blew it right out of the water as far as i am concerned, and that is saying a whole hell of alot since i still love God of War so so much, even naming my ashen colored kitty Kratos, in obvious honor...
I'm excited to hear your thoughts on The Straight Story. One of my favourite films and it has such a beautiful score. It's a real shame that it's not on Disney+.
I'm actually dreading the day when the length of my watchlist will decrease. I'm trying to keep it at around 350 movies, and since I watch around one movie every other day (excluding rewatches) I'll have around two years before it's empty. There's so many more directors and countries to explore so I think I'll be fine for now.
About the others: I've only seen "Hero" and "3:10 to Yuma". Nothing to say about the western. The Kung-fu one though... I HATE IT with all my heart. I think it's based entirely on a destructive philosophy that I can't get behind - and I enjoy Leni Riefenstahl movies! Finally, I have this to say about "One from the Heart". When productions are expensive, ambitious and bizarre, what directors often leave behind are the main characters. That's weird, because characters are the very reason why we're watching a movie in the first place. But it's a quite common mistake, even nowadays.
Definitely the case with One from the Heart, which is all the more surprising given strong character study is maybe the single unifying factor of his 70s movies.
Idk, not for everyone, you can have a great movie without great characters if it is built to work around that, take Fantasia for example, the only short with strong characters is the Mickey Mouse one of course, there's so much cinema can do to create a great experience, you wouldn't say portraits are the reason we look at paintings. Sometimes I wish more movies were more like hour long expressionist or impressionist or something else landscape paintings. Of course the problems arise when the structure of the film DOES hinge on the characters.
And yet, I love that Bloom County strip where Opus is a film critic and Francis Coppola calls him on the phone...COPPOLA: "Is this the critic who reviewed my film 'One From The Gut' last Tuesday?" OPUS: "Maybe." COPPOLA: "Is this the critic who wrote that my film 'Did for movies what the Jonestown Kool-Aid did for kids' drinks?'" OPUS: "Maybe." COPPOLA: "I'm comin' over with a baseball bat!" OPUS: "So I was a little grumpy Tuesday..."
I have a "main" watchlist with 3k films but actually use a smaller watchlist of films I actually am interested in seeing right now, similar to your 10 film list. That has balloned to like 180 films now though haha.
I might give "Sorcerer" another go- last time I couldnt get further than 40 minutes into it, the whole thing seemed so uninvolving. "Blue Collar" starts well but completely loses its momentum, and I disagree about Pryor. He's very good portraying the comic and frustrated elements of his character, but way out of his depth in the last 20 minutes of the film. He looks particularly uncomfortable in that confrontation scene with his boss overlooking the freeway. "In The Mouth Of Madness" is definitely underappreciated, I agree. Carpenter is one of the best directors at using the scope ratio.
I’ve given up on watchlists. When I signed up for Letterboxd I didn’t even contemplate writing one up, nor following one. If I want to watch a movie and it comes my way I watch it. Or sometimes when I watch a film that deals with specific character or topic, I try and check out other films in that range (obviously I baulk on genre, it will take me years to watch every Western ever made😊) having said that, I really want to check out Hell’s Angels. Mouth of Madness and 3.10 I actually own but haven’t got round😂 As for your list, Heaven’s Gate and Hero are aesthetically breathtaking, but boy are they nauseating. Gate is beautiful, but exasperating in its pacing, as for Hero Zhang Ziyi was for me all looks and no substance. Duellists is a great film and a great intro, whilst Sorcerer is IMO Friedkin’s greatest work and I for one think its near perfect and far better than Clouzet’s original. One From The Heart could not agree more it is a whimsical and technological marvel. Dazzling (especially the Little Boy Blue sequence) and stylish, especially when watching it on the big screen.
But how am I supposed to chase that high of finally checking off a film from my Letterboxd watch list?! (I added the film seconds before I started watching it instead of watching one of the many movies that have been on my list for years now)
@@EyebrowCinemaalso, I really love this format, I love all of your videos, but this is a really neat idea! And I cannot tell you how hard my wife and I laughed when that heavy metal music kicks in at the beginning of …Mouth of Madness. Great great movie though.
Not being from the US, my first viewing of Heaven's Gate was the complete version, and I was puzzled by its reputation of the worst film ever made. It certainly wasn't that although it was not without flaws : the colour register was strange, it looked as if some filter had been put over everything, the sound mix was poor, at times whole conversations were virtually unintelligible, but enough remained to make it a fascinating experience. Luckily, before he died Cimino approved a version which would be released on bluray, which I now have. This has fixed all of those problems and although it's not a perfect film, this version is worth anyone's time
@@EyebrowCinema Well, guess you have another film for the list :) Also I'm really glad you included 'One From The Heart' because that movie is gorgeous and despite all of it's flaws, I think it is severely underappreciated
Nice, personal video! And inspiring. I think I'm going to use the list of ten technique, at least for my home viewing experience. I have to admit, I'm am a little relieved that you are not jumping on the “Heavens Gate is a masterpiece for those who are enlightened enough to get it” bandwagon. The film is a failure. A interesting and in some ways magnificent failure. But a failure. In addition, I think records clearly proof that the fault of failure lay with one man, namely Michael Cimino. The myth that Heavens Gate was butchered by studio executives abides because it fits in the popular narrative of the wayward genius-director and the philistine studio, but that was not case here!
HEAVEN'S GATE has gone from unfairly dismissed to a little overrated at this point. I think ISHTAR's a better film, but it's gone through the same process. (It's funny how the amount of money these films lost was greeted with moral outrage in the '80s, but now, something like the Robert Downey Jr. DR. DOOLITTLE remake loses $150 million and no one bats an eye.) Have you seen ISHTAR?
Sorry but not a smart approach that limitation, you should can add _any_ movie you want to your watchlist and _put on top_ the most urgent to watch, if you forbid yourself from adding movies to your watchlist you will be missing so many movies! I think is an anxiety issue for knowing that you have a long list, you will _never_ be able to watch all the movies that pick your interest, let it go! Findings, recommendations, interests comes up any given day by a movie talk, internet post, podcast, song, whatever. Appreciate that you have interests and tastes, and don't miss out on those movies.
I'm not forbidding myself from watching anything. If I see a movie that interests me pup up on Criterion Channel or playing at my local arthouse theater I will absolutely watch it. But the official watchlist, the movies I actively track and look for, is only 10 at a time.
Nah. Zhang Yi Mou's Hero was a bloated, overrated schlock. Basic story, flat characters and terrible dialogue. made to please audiences who are not so familiar with Wuxia and Qin Dynasty period pieces. It's also arguably the beginning of Chinese cinema degrading into soulless pretty spectacles that it has become today.
I never saw that "Hero" movie because, by the mid-2000s, I was getting irritated with ancient Chinese people being able to fly like birds. Crouching Tiger, Give Me an F-ing Break. Now you tell me "Hero" is fascist, on top of everything else - looks like a movie I'll go to the grave not bothering with.
Do not believe Daniel on wages of fear. Sorcerer is a more compelling movie since you know more about the men in peril. The score is better, the imagery is better, and it has a better ending. But it is safer to promote the older foreign more obscure film.
I don't think we know more about the men in Sorcerer than we do in Wages of Fear. Wages of Fear gives less backstory but I find the film paints a far more compelling portrait of the men and their relationships to each other through their interactions than Sorcerer does through backstory. I also prefer Wages of Fear's ending, which feels less pulpy and more thematically consistent. I do like Sorcerer's score more though.
Tell me about it. That was embarrassing to listen to. It would be one thing it he was upset about a movie glorifying actual fascist regimes or even colonial empires, but ancient China? China was filled with dozens, nearly hundreds of different warlords. Qin Shi Huang is just the one that came out on top. China wasn’t going to experience a fundamentally different form of government until 1911 AD, over 2000 years later.
Harvey Keitel is a great actor for first films. He played a role in the first films of Scorsese, Shrader, Ridley Scot, Tarantino, Jane Campion etc.
Man takes chances on new talent. Gotta respect it.
"Schrader"
@markodjuric4282 The Piano wasn't Jane Campion's first film.
@@markodjuric4282 "Scott"
@@markodjuric4282 "Mean Streets" wasn't Scorsese's first film.
My suggestion for watching Andrei Tarkovsky’s films is to watch them in order of release. His earlier films are generally more accessible than his later ones, and it’s fascinating to see how Tarkovsky evolves as an artist throughout the course of his career.
That's the way I'm going about it now. Mirror is next up.
@@EyebrowCinema I hope you enjoy it! It’s my personal favorite of Tarkovsky’s films
My solution personally to this problem is that I don’t actually keep a watchlist, on letterboxd or physically or anywhere, I just watch whatever new movie I’m feeling like on the day. Less stressful for me.
True freedom right there.
Ive been doing the same lately, if something comes up and seems interesting ill just watch it then and there rather than planning on watching it and never getting to it.
It starts to feel like a check off list. I use the watch list to just keep track of what looks interesting to go see but I don't treat it like an obligation. If I see something that peaks my interest at the moment I'll watch that first before going to my watchlist instead.
In the mouth of madness is one of my favorite movies, it slowly became my favorite carpenter movie over the years. Something about it is just perfect to me
The Duelists predates Alien? It looks... extraordinarily modern... wow.
I too have struggled with the daunting size of my watchlist, and about 3 years ago, I came up with my own system that happens to be very similar to yours. I'd simply curate a "focused watchlist" each month of films from my list that I MUST watch before month's end--no excuses! Eventually, I went from a fluctuating number to a set 15 films each month, sometimes even less (last month I was in Cannes, so I whittled it down to 10 films to watch before I left). My whole system of keeping the larger watchlist manageable and picking WHICH 15 films I watch each month is far more stupidly convoluted and involves an actual physical watchlist written on paper, but the system really works to keep things efficient for me!
Whatever system results in movies being watched is a good system.
Interesting to see Hero and The Duellists next to each other - two films both structured around a series of duels, but at totally opposite ends of the 'realism' spectrum.
Kudos to your restraint cause I could never do 10 movies per watchlist.
"In the mouth of madness" is the only Lovecraft movie that truly feels like Lovecraft.
That and Color out of Space are basically perfect Lovecraft
The 2001 film Dagon does a fine job of capturing him
You haven’t seen From Beyond, Re-Animator, The Unnamable, Cast a Deadly Spell or The Necronomicon(it’s an anthology with a bookend story)?
The problem with most Lovecraft movies is they’re low budget.
The Castle Freak remake has a lot of low budget issues, yet it still has a very Lovecraft final act, and overall story.
Then there are movies like Deep Horizon, or The Void, which are very Lovecraftian, but not at first.
In The Mouth of Madness is one of my favorite movies, and my favorite Carpenter flick. Yet, even Prince of Darkness had Lovecraftian themes, made 5 years prior. The Thing is Lovecraftian.
Go watch some movies, if you haven’t seen any of these I’ve named.
@@NagasakiBladers
It does, but it’s low budget, and poor acting from much of the cast, make it difficult for many to get through.
I rented it, as soon as I saw the box, because I was a Lovecraft fan, and I watch nearly every Lovecraftian movie, whether outright based on his work, or movies that have the Lovecraftian vibe, setting or plot.
I recommend: The Void 2016, and Empty Man 2020, both movies don't mention any Lovecraft works, but the overall theme and atmosphere
This was really fun to listen to. I eagerly await the next part in this series 😁
Thanks! Glad you enjoyed it :)
I am one of the few people that totally love Heaven's Gate.
For whatever my misgivings I'm definitely gonna pick up the Blu-Ray.
Thanks, Daniel, for posting such interesting videos.
Being old, I especially appreciate your interest in all eras of cinema. Far too many YT movie channels focus exclusively on new releases. I imagine that approach garners more clicks.
I enjoyed your comments about watchlists. Given my age, I grew up experiencing the releases of New Hollywood first-hand, and so did not have to catch up with them later on. When home video came along, however, it felt a little overwhelming to try to get caught up on Old Hollywood. Having myself been there to witness so many decades of new releases, I imagine the sheer volume of the back catalog must be doubly overwhelming to currently youth. I only had half as much to catch up on as you now do.
I also had a good chuckle in this vid when you described an action scene as "gripping". You must be an old soul, as I don't think I've heard that term in several years. When I was a kid, "gripping" was so over-used by marketing for both movies and books that my siblings and I used to use it as short-hand when we loved anything. If we were asked, "Hey, what did you think of (insert any subject)?", we would simply respond with, "Gripping!", and be forgiven any requirement to elaborate further.
Keep producing your gripping content. I always look forward to each of your videos.
Really appreciate the insights on Hero, one of my favourites when I was a teenager but a lot of that went over my head.
I'm very curious how things could have been had I seen the movie young. Even as a kid the trailers intrigued me.
Great video as always Daniel!
This has been my system for getting thought my watchlist for the last year. I have my watchlist on Letterboxed. I also have all the film in my phone notepad to tell me where they are available. I mostly get my movies from the library. Each week my best friend will pick 4 random years and numbers. For example say he picked the year 1964. I go into my watchlist on letterboxed for 1964. Than I see how many films I have for that year. Say I have 13. So I tell him, “Pick between 1 and 14”. Whatever he picks I have to watch. We do this 4 or 5 times till I have enough films to watch for the following week, (following week only because it takes about a week to get the movies transferred from the library) this system has been working for me so far and it’s fun to have the films in my watchlist randomly picked for me. BUT films are always being added, I always discover new things I want to watch all the time. So it’s a never ending process, but that may be a good thing!
This is such a cool way of tackling one's watchlist.
Your channel is great......
That's it that's all I have to say about your channel. It's great. And I'm happy when ever you upload.
Thanks a lot, Brian. That's really comforting to hear :)
Thanks for the suggestions. I will now put them on my giant watchlist and then never proceed to watch them👍
As God intended.
Does anyone else think its a little mess up the Heaven's Gate revaluation only started after the directors death? I am going to go out on a limb and say he would have probably would have preferred to have people like his movie when he was alive to hear it.
It's unfortunate how often that's the case.
No, it started while they were alive
In my early days on Letterboxd, I actually had my watchlist only consist of about 100 films; however, then I discovered that they'd send you emails when films on your watchlist became available, at which point I began adding everything I wanted to see, in the event that rarities suddenly became available... There is still (and always) the issue of just picking one to watch, rather than thinking about it for forty-five minutes. Hoping to cut my watchlist down to below 1000 by year's end, (140 to go if I finally stop adding films).
Love hearing your thoughts on these!
P.S. Thanks for including my watchlist in your video! :)
Thank you for giving permission to feature it!
As someone who just got a Letterboxd account, and has historically been terrible with streaming watchlists (I’ve got stuff on my list going back more than a year, I swear) I actually really dig the idea of limiting it so much.
Also, I’ve been interested in Heaven’s Gate for a while, but which version did you see? Because there are some versions over three hours, but the Amazon Prime version which the UK currently shows is 2 and a half.
I watched the 3+hour cut which I believe is Cimino's preferred version.
This is a great idea. I think I might make mine a 5 film watchlist but give myself the option to abandon a list and replace with a new one.
Your Movie Essays are amazing. Can you do a video on Elden Ring and Final Fantasy XVI? Nice Watchlists.
I'm glad The Duellists is getting some love. I saw it last Xmas and loved the heck out of it. Especially for a first feature film, it's incredible! As far as Carpenter goes, I'd say his last great film is Mouth of Madness, but his last good one is Vampires (which is at least on par with Christine).
I also enjoy Vampires too. It's fun.
Excellent video as always, coincedentally most of these are way high on my watchlist too!
Bummer to hear that about Hero as I was really looking forward to it. What you described reminds me a lot of how I feel when I hear people and local propaganda (TV, school, politicians) talk about medieval Serbia's history and unification as an unquestioned good, because, of course, the history was written by the winners. And of course a lot of those myths fueled the dangerous rethoric from the Yugoslav wars in the 1990s.
On the contrary, I am so glad to hear about Heaven's Gate. I was scared by the ABYSMAL reception but it really seemed like something made for me. Much more than Deer Hunter, which I did like. After watching the footage in the video I cannot begin to comprehend why Roger Ebert called it one of the "ugliest" films he has seen.
Edit:
After reading about the rampant animal abuse/mistreatment that happened during the filming of Heaven's Gate I am not quite so enthusiastic 😬
Thank you for the recommendations! Added them to my ever-growing watchlist.
On your recommendation I watched 3:10 to Yuma last night. I totally get the hype and shoulda seen it sooner, it was a great film. For me, better than High Noon and perhaps even Stagecoach
I'm so glad to hear, Aidan. My best goal for this series is that it inspires more movie watching.
Love your videos and this was another great one Sir! Funnily enough been adopting a similar technic lately . A watchlist within the watchlist. A smaller selection sometimes motivates one more to give that 5 hour Black and white hungarian film finally a go that one has been dancing around for ages. Cant say that it does work all the way for me, there is the odd sneak ins. But I'll try. Great Movies you watched by the way. The Duellists s been on my list since ages. Time to put it on the other one.😅
Thanks Necros!
Something I've wanted to know and might be an interesting topic for you to cover is how many directorial debuts Harvey Keitel has starred in. Between Paul Schrader, Martin Scorsese, Quentin Tarantino, and Ridley Scott, that man might be a human good luck charm.
Gotta love the risks he takes working with new filmmakers.
my watchlist actually sits in my house. I BUY physical and they sits for sometimes years before I get around to watching them. I have at least 400+ blurays/dvds sitting in my wall stacks that I've not gotten around to watching..lol But at least I "have them" already and don't have to go trying to find a place to see them once I'm ready. MY issue isn't with a "watchlist", I'm more addicted to my "buy list" which probably distracts me from my "watchlist", ..lol I do have Heaven's Gate, The duelist, Sorcerer and Mouth of Madness, and love them.
I've tried to keep my buying to movies I've already seen but that's easier said than done.
@@EyebrowCinema I think a collector has to really know themselves and the ins and outs of their own tastes AND how to research/recognize/wade through the buzz. I'm at 2200+ blurays/dvds in my collection and I've made just 3 errors of judgement and bought a film I later hated after watching it. Pretty good record, i sift through reviews, trailers, plots and actual fan reviews (not "critics"). I don't mind spoilers 99.8% of the time. I certainly feel for anyone who isn't that way and would yes, warn them not to be buying films they haven't seen unless they know what they're doing..lol
I tend to have a shortlist for my watchlist, kinda difficult to sift through a list of 200 films on a whim. Looking forward to more of these👏
That's a good way to approach it.
That's close to the system I'm using. An unmanageably long watchlist that would take more than 3 lifetimes to go through on a 24/7 watching mode 😊, and one for "movies one must watch before dying" that I try to get through. But ultimately, I always end up watching the movie I had forgotten I must watch a long time ago, or one I didn't know anything about but looks promising from a 3rd type of list , i. e. a "in case I don't feel tempted by the one I had planned" from short list 2. I trim down the latter list after sifting through reviews by trusted sources (the French site "Sens critique" is a great place to get informed opinions on more obscure titles). What I end up watching ultimately depends on how I feel. I have stopped imposing myself a film as a homework. Cinema still means entertainment to me, and if a title is likely bro be too overbearing for the moment in my life or routine I'm,me in, I'll pass to the next title that I find more tempting.
Which version of Heaven’s Gate did you watch? I have the Criterion Blu-Ray version of that film, which is the 216 minute director’s cut.
Same here.
I’m so glad to hear that I’m not the only one less than thrilled with Mouth’s soundtrack. One of Carpenter’s greatest strengths is his dual roles as both storyteller and music maker. His tracks are always so eerie and atmospheric. Would Michael Myers be half so scary if he weren’t accompanied by that piano number everywhere he went? Would the Antarctic be quite so chilling without that electric heartbeat rhythm? Carpenter could have really outdone himself with Mouth of Madness, but he decided to imitate Metallica instead. The main theme in particular is so reminiscent of Enter Sandman that it’s a wonder the band didn’t end up suing him. Deeply disappointing.
Carpenter wanted to use Enter Sandman but could not obtain the rights.
The Haunted House from the 77 Halloween is one of the most haunting pieces of music in Horror history. Eerie yet oddly beautiful.
Hey man I love the metal music in it. Such a vibe.
Maybe he's just a big metal fan and wanted to make a metal theme for his film
With insane Lovecraft horror, you can easily make a metal theme that accompanies it, sure you can make a minimal eerie theme too, but I think you can easily make a bombastic metal sound track too
I also have a massive watchlist, this system works really welll for me: You make a list called UP NEXT, or something like that, and you put in ten movies that you have to watch next, you can't watch any other movies until you've gotten through all of those. Then when you watch those ten movies, you clear the list out and stick in ten more.
That's a smart way to tackle it.
I actually did something similar with my watchlist. I was travelling and living in a car for a few months so i didn't have my usual DVD shelf available. The only sources I used for watching movies were UA-cam, Tubi and Cinemas of course. However, to save time and data I used to download most movies from UA-cam when I had free WiFi (mostly at libraries). That way I had to choose which movies I watch in the upcoming days and no other options available. It's amazing how many filmographies you can explore for free and legal. Mike Leigh, Alan Clarke, Antonioni, the early Verhoeven (so so good) just to name a few. I think I never had so few rewatches which I think was one positiv effect of that method.
Funny you mention Leigh, I just started watching his movies made for BBC in the 70s last week.
@@EyebrowCinema Yes, those were my entry points to Leigh also. Loved every single one of them and will buy the box asap. Nuts in May and Grown Ups especially are sooo good. As a German, those feel very relatable because they depict characters, quirks and situations that I know just too well from my everyday life. I have yet to watch his most well known works like Secrets and Lies or Happy Go-Lucky. Life is Sweet was an instant favourite and Naked also very good so I am very much looking forward to that.
As one who has seen only three of the films on THIS list (I won't say which ones), I will confirm that it's a LOONNNGGGG undertaking to go through each film with the patience and understanding of a devout hardcore cinephile, published online film essayist and aspiring filmmaker.
The ultimate greatest watchlist I have yet to complete is the entirety of the Criterion Collection/Janus Films, which includes films that I had already seen in childhood before I even officially started on Criterion way back in 2005 (WATERSHIP DOWN, FANTASTIC PLANET, SPARTACUS, THE INCREDIBLE SHRINKING MAN, THE BLOB, PATHS OF GLORY, NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD, THE MAN WHO FELL TO EARTH, VIDEODROME, SCANNERS, THE RED BALLOON, CITIZEN KANE, IT'S A MAD MAD MAD MAD WORLD, just to name a few).
That is a tall and ambitious order, Jeffrey. I could see myself attempting the same thing though so I get it.
With the time I've come to appreciate Carpenter's, ehem, Enter Sandman cover. Acquired taste maybe. Yes, it does not tune for slow burning horror. But on the other hand, I find it fitting for rapid descent into realms of madness and Mythos. Yes, it is not the same as Carpenter's soundtrack for the "Thing" or his other atmospheric and electronic music pieces. But it is such a nice artifact of 90s era, along with Stephen King craze.
And speaking of 90s, horror, Lovecraft, Metallica riffs vs. atmospheric music - Doom 1&2 and Doom64 soundtracks. Boy, do they make similar games feel completely different.
EXCELLENT! As a film freak I just can't believe your list represents films (apart from three) that I've always wanted to see. I'm re-adjusting my viewing schedule. BTW, I was on the set of "One From The Heart" ( the studio was a couple of blocks from our film school) Many thanks.
Sometimes I think Coppola just blew his wad of anything important to say in the '70s. None of his subsequent movies are remotely in the same league. That said, I was one of the few who saw "One from the Heart" in the cinema. More often than not, mention the genre "musical," and even the eyes of the most avid moviegoer will glaze over. And while the characterizations in "OFTH" are lacking, and it admittedly was more theatrical in concept than cinematic, is was still a treat and a wonder to behold for this film lover. I have the original soundtrack vinyl album, and played it often back then. BTW, it's so gratifying that a B&W western from your watchlist garnered your greatest respect - another genre and format destined to occupy the bottom of the totem pole for most aficionados - especially your age! Another great video!
Thank you! Glad you enjoyed. Also fascinating to hear sone thoughts from someone who saw One from the Heart in its initial theatrical release.
@@EyebrowCinema As you can imagine, Coppola was pretty much a "god" of cinema at that point. It would have been virtually impossible for any serious movie buff to sidestep his follow up to "Apocalypse Now," regardless of what the critics or the general public may have thought. And Kinski, with her notorious father, was the new "it girl," and was just one other reason to venture out to see "OFTH." Sadly, eventually her fans soon came to realize her acting talent didn't quite match her beauty! Anyway, it was an exciting and heady period for American film at that point, and Coppola was at the pinnacle in terms of both critical and commercial success.
My Letterboxd watchlist seems relatively measly compared to others in this comment section, but it is still 616 films. I originally started it in the months before college, knowing I wanted to study film but not having seen a ton of even the classics. Now I'm a junior, and have only watched maybe 100 or 200 films, all the while adding to my list. I hope to finish it by the time I'm 80, if I'm lucky.
I have my own way of getting through my watchlist. Two years ago I began watching films one year per month. So, every day I have off work (2 per week), I watch a film from 1970. As the next month rolls on, I go to the next year. Doing this, I'm currently up to 1988.
It's great to see the movies,opinions, morals, and society evolve. I also get to watch many films that everyone has seen, that I haven't. I watched Stand By Me for the first time this year. This evening, I'm watching Willow.
And my favourite film that I've seen on this journey so far was 1976s Network.
That's a very creative way to tackle watchlist viewing. Also, Network rules.
The Duellists might almost be my favourite Ridley Scott movie. His others are more iconic but The Duellists is just so fun. The duels are just absolutely fantastic.
the 10 movie watchlist is a brilliant idea! very enlightening
24:50 that's just Carpenter's love of rock and metal man
I also cant wait for more of these vidoes
As a Metalhead I do respect Carpenter's enthusiasm.
I do like Wages of Fear but Sorcerer is the better version. Love the score as well. Just a simple long path to hell.
Can't get enough of Carpenter's Apocalypse trilogy. The guy sure knows how to create an atmosphere. "Sutter Cane" and "Stephen King" Ha, cute.
I'm a Wages of Fear man myself. I even rewatched it recently and thought it even better than I remembered. Also, speaking of Carpenter's Apocalypse Trilogy, I really should rewatch Prince of Darkness. Been a good long while since I've seen that one.
@@EyebrowCinema Go for it.
@@EyebrowCinemaprince of darkness is an incredible vibes movie
Wow, it’s kinda funny, I’ve seen half of these, and the half I haven’t will be on my cinematic back burner for years. I don’t know when I’ll watch Heaven’s Gate or Hero, but I sure did love Blue Collar and In the Mouth of Madness, so maybe I’ll get to that other half sooner then I expect. Thank you so much for making this, I hope you inspire many others to delve into film like you have.
Who watches the Watcher who watches the Whatlist? Hopefully more
Heaven's Gate's a tall order but it does have an intermission which makes splitting the viewing very doable.
Oh man, it would have an intermission. Last movie I watched with an Intermission was The Great Race like two weeks ago. It was great! Until the intermission, and then the racers got stuck doing a prince and the pauper story in Germany? That part did make me question, why does The Great Race need to be over three hours? There is that pie fight though and no one should miss that!
I finally bought Heaven's Gate Blu-ray, and really looking forward to it.
I finally saw One From the Heart, the new Reprise cut, and the movie sure pops on the big screen.
While I fully agree with the lack of chemistry between the two lead characters, what prevented it to be a complete wash were the side characters, both composed by a stellar cast, and inherently comical in their own right, as means to complement Hank and Frannie's rather subdued presence.
I love the idea of just picking 10 movies for a watchlist and committing to it. I personally have a watchlist of about 2000, but mainly because IMDb’s watchlist feature helps to easily sort, especially by steamer. Each month I tend to pick about 10 each month that are leaving a streamer and commit to those, but it still can feel like a chore once I commit to them. Best is to just watch (or rewatch) a movie that piques my interest in the moment, as I’m far more likely to be engaged with it. If I look at my list and think “oh no! There’s only 12 days left in the month and so many movies I still need to watch!” then it’s no longer fun.
Also, find older/longer movies if they are playing in a theater. It took me so long to finish my Kubrick watch because I just couldn’t commit to Spartacus at home (even though I own it on DVD!). The theater experience massively helped me to see and enjoy it.
the premise of this series feels like a direct attack at my expense. nice stuff, might motivate me to go through some of that backlog. finally watch the 3 Hoffman movies i've been saving (cause there ain't gonna be anymore..)
It's a direct attack on myself too.
My watchlist is 4,118 titles long. I watch whatever I have the time for at the moment, and whatever I'm in the mood for. No chance I can do that with 10 movies and be truly pleased with my choices each day.
A month later and my watchlist is 4,256 titles long.
Hero is my go-to example of a film that’s so good I can enjoy it despite the bad politics, although that may be because I first saw it and fell in love with it before I was old enough to think critically about the message.
In The Mouth of Madness is the best Lovecraft film of all time, even thought it’s not based on any of Lovecraft, specific work (although some of his writing is read by Sam Neil’s character in the movie), it just gets the overall feel and tone of Lovecraft, right. Plus it’s probably John Carpenter’s third best film, behind Halloween and The Thing
Dude, I love you. I feel like I can finally relax now.
Who Watches the Watchlist sounds like a rhetorical brother to Who Afraid of Viriginia Woolf
Awesome concept! Please make more videos like this!
I definitely plan to! Not sure when the next episode will hit but I like this as a recurring alternative to my usual work.
I'm always on the way to watch movies, my watchlists are technically on streaming on services, and the HBO Max one is HUGE, If I had to pick just one streaming site to stay at, it would be that one, it's probably my favorite, and probably my main reason is: classic films. I'm a young old Hollywood fan, I need those movies to survive, I'm always being kinda retro in my tastes, used to watch classic films on TCM and Fox Classics when I visited my great uncles' apartment (my great uncle is a fan of 007, Tarzan, westerns, action movies and even martial art movies, I've got to ask him if he watched Hero and 3:10 to Yuma because I want to watch it with him).
Thanks to HBO Max (and some other previous pirate movie page), I've got to watch some classic movies I always wanted to watch and I loved them, even found myself rewatching them (including the most known classics as King Kong, Gone with the Wind, The Wizard of Oz, Citizen Kane, The Maltese Falcon, Casablanca, The Treasure of Sierra Madre, An American in Paris, Singin' in the Rain, Ben-Hur, etc)... I even had a Hitchcock season and a Kubrick season. To my watchlist I added "For Whom the Besll Tolls" starring Gary Cooper and Ingrid Bergman, and I got to watch Amarcord to get introduced to Federico Fellini.
About recently watched movies, my mother (who also likes movies) and I watched "Mean Streets" for the first time, I can't say I didn't liked it, I liked the atmosphere, the color palette, the soundtrack, my Mom didn't liked it, she had nothing against the actors cause she likes Keitel and De Niro, but she couldn't tell what was the story, she hoped there for a moment when the movie would 'start', and we like Scorsese, The Aviator is probably my favorite Leo and Marty movie in general and I need to watch Hell's Angels, I like Howard Hughes' story.
I gotta say that I watched The Exorcist (in it's 50th anniversary) and Alien for the first time this year and I loved them, the first one in my house and the other one in a local theatre I like to go, experiencing it with all those old men that watched the movie back in it's day, now I need to watch the rest of the Alien saga (and I need to watch Predator someday). I don't know if tv shows counts but I'm recently watching The Nanny this year in it's 30th anniversary and I became a fan, Fran Drescher reminds me of my Mom and she loves icause it reminds her how she used to dress back in those days, I love the cast, the cameos, the jokes, antiquated references, etc.... my favorite character might be Grace but it also can be Niles, now I always put the show at lunchtime, is that or Looney Tunes, a Hannah Babera Cartoon, Alf and even House. M. D. which I have always liked.
P. D: didn't Sorcerer had a reference in The Simpsons? I also need to watch The Duelists and Heaven's Gate.
Thanks for the detailed comment! Glad to hear plowing through classic Hollywood cinema has been so rewarding for you. Also, very sweet that you and your mom share movie watching together.
Great vid
My Sorcerer CD is one that I've not revisited since ages precisely because of the overly lengthy intro (or prelude?) section. I also hate when the main plot is delayed by too many gratuitous details. It would work better had Friedkin chopped off a solid 5-10 min of all that happens before arriving in Columbia (or whichever country it is: I forgot).
BTW, this video brought back memories that it isn't a bad film at all and I'll rewatch it soon.
Describing a Carpenter rock riff as "indescribably lame?"
That's a paddlin'.
This was interesting. Checked my IMDB watch list just now and it’s up to 1,092 films. I might just take your approach and cut it to 10
It feels very liberating.
Personally I started by watching the top letterboxd top 250. Then after that any filmmaker with similar styles to my fav filmmakers I’d add to the watchlist but I’d never let it get passed 100.
I had to really ask my self 2 questions
1. Will i ever have a chance to see this some day?
2. Does this look like something that is my kind of film.
And from there I managed to get my watchlist down to a near 0 now.
I am content with the amount of films I have seen and if I ever add a random film on the watchlist it’s only 1-2 films so therefore they’re manageable to watch.
Biggest advice is just don’t keep adding stuff you know you’ll never see or even like. Think deeply first before thinking with your emotions and just adding as much thinfs to watchlist as possible. It’s not a numbers game… take your time
The Thing and Halloween are Carpenter essentials but I’ve found infinite rewatch value In The Mouth of Madness this past year. And gained enough wisdom to skip the heavy metal intro music lol I agree it’s totally out of place but that’s the 90s for ya
90s extreme. Gotta love it. At least the title didn't put random z's in instead of s's.
In The Mouth Of Madness was weird.
I loved it, but had a lot of critiques.
Watched it for the first time a few months back and I'm still thinking about it.
Bruh you got me, I have an ultimate watch list on letterboxd because things were stacking up in my Google chrome pages. It's now about 250 films long and I use it for when streaming services aren't hitting the spot for me at the moment. It's growing every day and I only watch MAYBE. A film a day from it. Nevertheless I see it as a look inside my mind if others were to see it
Only in aesthetic, Hero reminds me very much of The Ghost of Tsushima. Btw, if you havent played it, go play Ghost of Tsushima right now. You absolutely will be in love with it at once as the title pops on screen as the music crescendos into its epic climactic notes, Jin riding thru the tall grass and leaning down to let his hand brush thru the grass as his beloved horse rides on. The game is beautiful, captivating in story, extremely realistic in its swordplay and secondary weapons, and 1 on 1 sword duels are a thing to remember. It nealry has infinite replayability as it is so, so long a game with the freedom of going damn near anywhere you want on the map. And the expansion, Iki Island, its to die for as far as beauty is concerned. It is my favorite game of all time, usurping God of War, which i had been championing since the playatation 2 and stuck with the playstation solely to be able to play God of War 3 once it released on PS3. Ghost of Tsushima blew it right out of the water as far as i am concerned, and that is saying a whole hell of alot since i still love God of War so so much, even naming my ashen colored kitty Kratos, in obvious honor...
I'm excited to hear your thoughts on The Straight Story. One of my favourite films and it has such a beautiful score. It's a real shame that it's not on Disney+.
When I still had Disney+ I was constantly checking to see if it would get added.
It was on there last November according to my diary on Letterboxd
I'm actually dreading the day when the length of my watchlist will decrease. I'm trying to keep it at around 350 movies, and since I watch around one movie every other day (excluding rewatches) I'll have around two years before it's empty. There's so many more directors and countries to explore so I think I'll be fine for now.
Honestly? Looking forward to hearing you talk about Dick Tracy. That shit is my jam! >w
You HAVE to watch Its such a beautiful day.
When I get around to it :P
For real though I do really wanna see it.
The music around 11:51 is highly compelling.
The Killing Fields
About the others: I've only seen "Hero" and "3:10 to Yuma". Nothing to say about the western. The Kung-fu one though... I HATE IT with all my heart. I think it's based entirely on a destructive philosophy that I can't get behind - and I enjoy Leni Riefenstahl movies! Finally, I have this to say about "One from the Heart". When productions are expensive, ambitious and bizarre, what directors often leave behind are the main characters. That's weird, because characters are the very reason why we're watching a movie in the first place. But it's a quite common mistake, even nowadays.
Definitely the case with One from the Heart, which is all the more surprising given strong character study is maybe the single unifying factor of his 70s movies.
Idk, not for everyone, you can have a great movie without great characters if it is built to work around that, take Fantasia for example, the only short with strong characters is the Mickey Mouse one of course, there's so much cinema can do to create a great experience, you wouldn't say portraits are the reason we look at paintings. Sometimes I wish more movies were more like hour long expressionist or impressionist or something else landscape paintings. Of course the problems arise when the structure of the film DOES hinge on the characters.
I do this aswell but with 50 instead of 10
Ha been meaning to watch Son of Kong for a decade now
You can find it on UA-cam. I wouldn't exactly recommend it, but I wouldn't not recommend it either.
And yet, I love that Bloom County strip where Opus is a film critic and Francis Coppola calls him on the phone...COPPOLA: "Is this the critic who reviewed my film 'One From The Gut' last Tuesday?" OPUS: "Maybe." COPPOLA: "Is this the critic who wrote that my film 'Did for movies what the Jonestown Kool-Aid did for kids' drinks?'" OPUS: "Maybe." COPPOLA: "I'm comin' over with a baseball bat!" OPUS: "So I was a little grumpy Tuesday..."
I have a "main" watchlist with 3k films but actually use a smaller watchlist of films I actually am interested in seeing right now, similar to your 10 film list. That has balloned to like 180 films now though haha.
Great vid❤
Thanks, Sally!
2:25 very fittingly in 1980
I might give "Sorcerer" another go- last time I couldnt get further than 40 minutes into it, the whole thing seemed so uninvolving. "Blue Collar" starts well but completely loses its momentum, and I disagree about Pryor. He's very good portraying the comic and frustrated elements of his character, but way out of his depth in the last 20 minutes of the film. He looks particularly uncomfortable in that confrontation scene with his boss overlooking the freeway. "In The Mouth Of Madness" is definitely underappreciated, I agree. Carpenter is one of the best directors at using the scope ratio.
It did take me a bit to settle into Sorcerer for what it's worth.
I’ve given up on watchlists. When I signed up for Letterboxd I didn’t even contemplate writing one up, nor following one. If I want to watch a movie and it comes my way I watch it. Or sometimes when I watch a film that deals with specific character or topic, I try and check out other films in that range (obviously I baulk on genre, it will take me years to watch every Western ever made😊) having said that, I really want to check out Hell’s Angels. Mouth of Madness and 3.10 I actually own but haven’t got round😂
As for your list, Heaven’s Gate and Hero are aesthetically breathtaking, but boy are they nauseating. Gate is beautiful, but exasperating in its pacing, as for Hero Zhang Ziyi was for me all looks and no substance.
Duellists is a great film and a great intro, whilst Sorcerer is IMO Friedkin’s greatest work and I for one think its near perfect and far better than Clouzet’s original.
One From The Heart could not agree more it is a whimsical and technological marvel. Dazzling (especially the Little Boy Blue sequence) and stylish, especially when watching it on the big screen.
Love your vids. But could you please add chapters to these videos? For each movie you're talking about.
Great video!
There's another remake of Wages of Fear that is worth a look Violent Road from 1958. Not bad, but clearly a B movie.
Nice. I'll keep an eye out for it.
But how am I supposed to chase that high of finally checking off a film from my Letterboxd watch list?! (I added the film seconds before I started watching it instead of watching one of the many movies that have been on my list for years now)
Lmao fair counterpoint.
Life hack instead of having a watch list get high and scroll through free movie apps it's wild
True chaotic neutral.
you know what, I’m going to finally watch the criterion funny games today. Thank you lol how did you know? I’ve been putting it off for months.
Ha! Glad I'm not the only one with Funny Games firmly in the "when I get around to it" pile.
@@EyebrowCinemaalso, I really love this format, I love all of your videos, but this is a really neat idea! And I cannot tell you how hard my wife and I laughed when that heavy metal music kicks in at the beginning of …Mouth of Madness. Great great movie though.
The 80's didn't just killed the radio star and a lot of bands from the 60's and 70's carriers, it also killed New Hollywood quite the slasher...
F*cking love Sorcerer.
Not being from the US, my first viewing of Heaven's Gate was the complete version, and I was puzzled by its reputation of the worst film ever made. It certainly wasn't that although it was not without flaws : the colour register was strange, it looked as if some filter had been put over everything, the sound mix was poor, at times whole conversations were virtually unintelligible, but enough remained to make it a fascinating experience. Luckily, before he died Cimino approved a version which would be released on bluray, which I now have. This has fixed all of those problems and although it's not a perfect film, this version is worth anyone's time
Why have a list when the only movie you need to watch is Shaolin Soccer (2001)
I haven't actually seen that.
@@EyebrowCinema Well, guess you have another film for the list :)
Also I'm really glad you included 'One From The Heart' because that movie is gorgeous and despite all of it's flaws, I think it is severely underappreciated
There's never enough time.... Never enough.............................
Nice, personal video! And inspiring. I think I'm going to use the list of ten technique, at least for my home viewing experience.
I have to admit, I'm am a little relieved that you are not jumping on the “Heavens Gate is a masterpiece for those who are enlightened enough to get it” bandwagon. The film is a failure. A interesting and in some ways magnificent failure. But a failure.
In addition, I think records clearly proof that the fault of failure lay with one man, namely Michael Cimino. The myth that Heavens Gate was butchered by studio executives abides because it fits in the popular narrative of the wayward genius-director and the philistine studio, but that was not case here!
HEAVEN'S GATE has gone from unfairly dismissed to a little overrated at this point. I think ISHTAR's a better film, but it's gone through the same process. (It's funny how the amount of money these films lost was greeted with moral outrage in the '80s, but now, something like the Robert Downey Jr. DR. DOOLITTLE remake loses $150 million and no one bats an eye.) Have you seen ISHTAR?
Good comparison with regard to these massive studio flops. I have not seen Ishtar but it does have a very comparable legacy.
These men are pawns!
Ishtar? Lol
Sorry but not a smart approach that limitation, you should can add _any_ movie you want to your watchlist and _put on top_ the most urgent to watch, if you forbid yourself from adding movies to your watchlist you will be missing so many movies! I think is an anxiety issue for knowing that you have a long list, you will _never_ be able to watch all the movies that pick your interest, let it go! Findings, recommendations, interests comes up any given day by a movie talk, internet post, podcast, song, whatever. Appreciate that you have interests and tastes, and don't miss out on those movies.
I'm not forbidding myself from watching anything. If I see a movie that interests me pup up on Criterion Channel or playing at my local arthouse theater I will absolutely watch it. But the official watchlist, the movies I actively track and look for, is only 10 at a time.
Nah. Zhang Yi Mou's Hero was a bloated, overrated schlock. Basic story, flat characters and terrible dialogue. made to please audiences who are not so familiar with Wuxia and Qin Dynasty period pieces. It's also arguably the beginning of Chinese cinema degrading into soulless pretty spectacles that it has become today.
Heaven's Gate is both genius and awful at the same time. I saw it in the theatre and i can't recommend watching it at home.
I never saw that "Hero" movie because, by the mid-2000s, I was getting irritated with ancient Chinese people being able to fly like birds. Crouching Tiger, Give Me an F-ing Break. Now you tell me "Hero" is fascist, on top of everything else - looks like a movie I'll go to the grave not bothering with.
Do not believe Daniel on wages of fear. Sorcerer is a more compelling movie since you know more about the men in peril. The score is better, the imagery is better, and it has a better ending. But it is safer to promote the older foreign more obscure film.
I don't think we know more about the men in Sorcerer than we do in Wages of Fear. Wages of Fear gives less backstory but I find the film paints a far more compelling portrait of the men and their relationships to each other through their interactions than Sorcerer does through backstory. I also prefer Wages of Fear's ending, which feels less pulpy and more thematically consistent.
I do like Sorcerer's score more though.
Stop being so pedantic
103123
"This movie is bad and dangerous because it isnt confirming my cringe far-left political bias."
Tell me about it. That was embarrassing to listen to. It would be one thing it he was upset about a movie glorifying actual fascist regimes or even colonial empires, but ancient China? China was filled with dozens, nearly hundreds of different warlords. Qin Shi Huang is just the one that came out on top. China wasn’t going to experience a fundamentally different form of government until 1911 AD, over 2000 years later.
I give the 666th like 😈