On topic. Probably Annie Hall. Endlessly quotable, infinitely perceptive. There's probably - on average - a hilarious, thoroughly outlandish and/or provoking observation every 15 or 20 sec.
Spunkie wrote:Outside of this realm the characters are uninteresting and don't come to life. Seeing that you have a serious involvement in cinema, way more than the average viewer, I'm quite sure we wouldn't be having this conversation if a larger portion of your viewing appetite consisted of those scary subtitled ones, you'd be surprised how much of the stuff you like are imitations of those.
Not scary, obnoxious and obstructive, at least for me. And it isn't like I'm completely unaware of Europe's stuff. I went through a period when I was going to them regularly, but I realized I was going just because I thought I was being more sophisticated or something, but I was only being phony because they rarely had what I was looking for most in a movie--a point well made, which usually requires an adept dialogue. So much of the stuff coming from Europe seems so pointless and isn't that entertaining either, in my never to be humble albeit subjective opinion. BTW, I haven't rated a lot of those films because I saw most of them a long time ago and they just ended up in a mostly depressing mental heap from which it was hard to extract individual details.
And I don't see Hollywood as imitating Europe. I see them pursuing two different markets for the most part, one with a less sophisticated audience, and the other to an overly-sophisticated one.
All About Eve Inherit the Wind To Kill A Mockingbird Dr. Strangelove Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf A Lion in Winter Guess Who's Coming to Dinner Moonstruck (I must be missing something here, this is the only movie in a 20 year gap. Some would say I also have a 30 gap with only All About Eve in it, but so much dialogue then was trite, had a forced pacing and/or was just boring. There's also a fair number I haven't seen like Key Largo.) Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil The Devil's Advocate Fight Club Magnolia O Brother Where Art Thou Undisputed Stranger Than Fiction V for Vendetta The Brave One Interview (2007) Doubt (500) Days of Summer Carnage
Johnny: How dare you talk to me like that! [pushes Lisa back on the couch] Johnny: You should tell me everything! Lisa: I can't talk right now. Johnny: [sits next to Lisa] Why, Lisa? Why, Lisa? Please talk to me, please! You are part of my life! You are everything! I could not go on without you, Lisa. Lisa: You're scaring me. [Lisa gets up, but Johnny also gets up] Johnny: You're lying! I never hit you! You are tearing me apart, Lisa!
Johnny: [walks into flower shop] Hi. Flower Shop Clerk: Can I help you? Johnny: Yeah, can I have a dozen red roses, please? Flower Shop Clerk: Oh, hi, Johnny. I didn't know it was you. [grabs bouquet of roses] Flower Shop Clerk: Here you go. Johnny: That's me. How much is it? Flower Shop Clerk: It'll be 18 dollars. Johnny: [hands over cash] Here you go. Keep the change. [grabs flowers and pats dog on the counter] Johnny: Hi, doggie. Flower Shop Clerk: You're my favorite customer. Johnny: Thanks a lot. Bye! Flower Shop Clerk: Buh-bye!
Johnny: Are you OK Denny? Denny: I'm OK. Johnny: Are you *OK*?! Denny: I'm OK!
Mark: You can take your stupid comments and leave in your stupid pocket!
Mark: Yeah, man, you'll never know. People are very strange these days. I used to know a girl; she had a dozen guys. One of them found out about it... beat her up so bad she ended up at a hospital on Guerrero Street. Johnny: Ha ha ha. What a story, Mark.
Thought I'd bump this and make it a three year long thread due to the subject coming up in another thread.
I agree with a lot of the movies mentioned besides the ones in my OP list, to which I'm adding:
Carnage The Words (highly apropos) Detachment Zero Dark Thirty (yes, MF and all)
And for the record, I'm sticking to my guns on (500), to which a good portion of this thread's contentiousness became dedicated. I started to try to find the Woody Allen movie it supposedly copied but I just couldn't bring myself to wade through the pretentious crap to find it, if it exists at all.