Movies you have watched a lot of times.

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Ayu
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Re: Movies you have watched a lot of times.

Post by Ayu »

Hey, I never saw this thread before. I don't think, there is any harm in necroing this one, because it's quality is not focussed on discussion.

These movies come to my mind spontanously:
The Graduate (a real artwork IMO and I watched it countless times),
The Color Purple,
What Dreams may come,
Evita,
Hair,
Some like it Hot (this is strangely a film I always can laugh about, no matter how often I saw it - most probably because the timing is absolutely perfect),
The Sixth Sense
and The Truman Show.
I'd love to see again Little Big Man, Papermoon and Jentl, but they do not show them.
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Re: Movies you have watched a lot of times.

Post by reiun »

Ayu wrote: Mon Feb 22, 2021 7:02 pm . . . Some like it Hot (this is strangely a film I always can laugh about, no matter how often I saw it . . . )
Yeah, me too!
I'd love to see again Little Big Man, Papermoon and Jentl, but they do not show them.
In the U.S., Paper Moon is on Paramount streaming service, or can rent thru some providers for $3.99.
Little Big Man is free on Amazon Prime, but a fortune to buy.
Yentl is free on Pluto TV, a great free live TV and On Demand service.
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tkp67
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Re: Movies you have watched a lot of times.

Post by tkp67 »

I recently saw "in and of itself". Normally it is a challenge to keep my attention. I sat and watched it through. I was enjoyable. Some people seem to get more out of it than others. It does a neat job of showing the magician of the mind.
Storyteller and Conceptual Magician Derek DelGaudio attempts to understand the illusory nature of identity and answer the deceptively simple question 'Who am I?'

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt11916302/
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Re: Movies you have watched a lot of times.

Post by Budai »

Everything Star Wars. :mrgreen: :jedi:
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Matt J
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Re: Movies you have watched a lot of times.

Post by Matt J »

The real question: how does one watch the same movies over and over? :lol:
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Re: Movies you have watched a lot of times.

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Matt J wrote: Tue Feb 23, 2021 2:09 am The real question: how does one watch the same movies over and over? :lol:
Are you married?
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Re: Movies you have watched a lot of times.

Post by Norwegian »

Matt J wrote: Tue Feb 23, 2021 2:09 am The real question: how does one watch the same movies over and over? :lol:
Well, usually a typical Hollywood mega blockbuster movie of some sort is very superficial. If there were any questions in your mind about it, they're all usually answered one after another, leaving nothing for you to think about. They tend to be pretty mindless. So when the movie is over, that's that. Those kind of movies are rarely enjoyable watching again, simply since there's nothing more to find.

But when you watch films by directors like Tarkovsky, Bresson, Bergman, Mizoguchi, Tarr, Parajanov, Rivette, Angelopoulos and so on, there's quite much to unpack. Questions continuously arise, answers perhaps not always given. Such is up to you to find. And these questions may linger for a very long time, which means watching these films again is quite easy. One reason is that much like many of the great works of literature, they do not rely on plot. And when you don't rely on plot, there's nothing really to be spoiled about (in general). And so the work is not propped up by such a device. This means that when you watch great arthouse film, world cinema, etc. you can come across works of art, and to really get the sense of what a work of art is about, it is not enough to just experience it once. One can repeat such an experience many times more, and always find something new to consider.
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Re: Movies you have watched a lot of times.

Post by PeterC »

Matt J wrote: Tue Feb 23, 2021 2:09 am The real question: how does one watch the same movies over and over? :lol:
Easy - there aren't many films made these days that merit watching even a second time. Lots of older films can be watched again and again, and they seem only to improve with age.

The ones I'm always happy to see another time would include:

The wind rises, maybe also Porco Rosso
Lord of war, if only because it has some of the best lines of any film ever written.
Anything by WKW
Anything by Godard, but particularly Pierrot le fou
Le Samourai - the noir film that hollywood could imitate but never beat
The 'second-era' Westerns - the 'dollars' trilogy, high plains drifter, pale rider, Shane, the Kurosawa remakes, etc. That was a genuinely novel and uniquely American genre.

It's hard to think of anything from the last decade or so that would make the list. Perhaps Eastern Promises? Definitely The Death of Stalin.
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Re: Movies you have watched a lot of times.

Post by Budai »

Anyone ever get the feeling that movies aren't all acted out and filmed with cameras? Maybe there's like something more behind the film. Industry secrets and some deep truths? ;)
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Re: Movies you have watched a lot of times.

Post by Svalaksana »

Matt J wrote: Tue Feb 23, 2021 2:09 am The real question: how does one watch the same movies over and over? :lol:
Much like Norwegian has already stated, there are films that are highly textured and which elude and escape the total grasping of a one time watch. Take for instance Tarkovsky's Stalker, Bergman's Persona, Bresson's L'argent, Resnais The Last Year in Marienbad, Kiarostami's The Taste of Cherry or Angelopoulos' Eternity and a Day. These are films that do not end once the credits appear, they ask questions and impel you to meditate, instead of just entertaining you. They are highly lyrical, personal, unique and engrossing, exactly because they provide something utterly absent on conventional Hollywood productions.
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Re: Movies you have watched a lot of times.

Post by Svalaksana »

Norwegian wrote: Tue Feb 23, 2021 3:55 am
Matt J wrote: Tue Feb 23, 2021 2:09 am The real question: how does one watch the same movies over and over? :lol:
But when you watch films by directors like Tarkovsky, Bresson, Bergman, Mizoguchi, Tarr, Parajanov, Rivette, Angelopoulos and so on, there's quite much to unpack.
Great to find someone with exactly the same taste as me. In terms of living filmmakers, what are you fond of, other than Tarr? For me, I get drawn to the theatres if there's a new film by Haneke, Ceylan, the Dardenne Brothers, Costa, Hsiao-hsien or Kar-wai. Zvyagintsev, Östlund, Mungiu or Sokurov would probably convince me as well.
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Re: Movies you have watched a lot of times.

Post by Johnny Dangerous »

The Shining, 2001, Eraserhead, Blue Velvet, Blade Runner, Stalker, Taxi Diver, lots of others I'm just not thinking of right at the moment.
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Re: Movies you have watched a lot of times.

Post by Bristollad »

Matt J wrote: Tue Feb 23, 2021 2:09 am The real question: how does one watch the same movies over and over? :lol:
In the same way that one can laugh at a joke you've heard before. An experience does not have to be novel to be entertaining. Some people approach films like a puzzle, to be analysed and understood, personally, I just like to be entertained. Sometimes I fancy an exquisite dish full of complex flavours - most times I just want something tasty and filling (actually, beans on toast with fried mushrooms on the side is my default choice).

Little Big Man is a great film and surprisingly faithful to the book. Brassed Off is a great English comedy full of moments that will make you cry too. Shawshank is hard to not watch whenever I get the chance, same with Green Mile. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead is another good comedy. And musicals - the oldies from Rodgers and Hammerstein or Rodgers and Hart, also Oliver! and Across the Universe. Into Great Silence is a wonderful film but I have to be in just the right frame of mind. At the other end of the scale, I've seen Kung Fu Hustle 2 or 3 times and enjoyed it each time.
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Re: Movies you have watched a lot of times.

Post by denise »

"Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" (johnnie depp flavor) "Suckerpunch" both interestingly done
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Re: Movies you have watched a lot of times.

Post by Ayu »

Matt J wrote: Tue Feb 23, 2021 2:09 am The real question: how does one watch the same movies over and over? :lol:
For me it's similar to a dance or to singing a song. Your not finished once you've danced it.

And like Norwegian mentions, some good films have so many different aspects on different layers , e.g. text, chief characters, supporting characters, the plot (how logical is it from the end to the beginning), how does the story affect me?

E.g. The Graduate is an artwork. You won't say: "I saw that Van Gogh painting already, I don't need to look at it again." Or: "I don't need to listen to Simon & Garfunkel. I heard their songs already."
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Re: Movies you have watched a lot of times.

Post by narhwal90 »

I never could like The Graduate... tried a few times but honestly found it boring and just couldn't care. OTOH I really the the Lord of The Rings and The Hobbit movies- mostly I put them on when sick with a cold or similar, and doze in and out; sometimes they're walking, now climbing, now theres a war, more walking lol

I like the Depp Chocolate Factory too- and Suckerpunch is fun. I've been on a spagetti western kick the last couple weeks- the original Sabata trilogy most recently, it makes me think of the more recent Machete (Trejo) for some reason. Perhaps its that Sabata and Machete both get the girls lol

Or perhaps I just have bad taste...
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Re: Movies you have watched a lot of times.

Post by tkp67 »

Matt J wrote: Tue Feb 23, 2021 2:09 am The real question: how does one watch the same movies over and over? :lol:
I didn't get what you meant at first lance.

Then I went through the list and so many of the movies I have watched obsessively. As is the nature with my obsessive cycles I tend to do something repetitively until I no longer want anything to do with it. It had me thinking about all the changes my "self" and I saw your comment and thought what self is there to see it again lol.


Some movies I didn't see on the list that still come to mind are Sin City, 12 Monkeys.
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Re: Movies you have watched a lot of times.

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Matt J wrote: Tue Feb 23, 2021 2:09 am The real question: how does one watch the same movies over and over? :lol:
The best films are comparable to music, where further listening/viewing simply brings out nuances and details you hadn't seen before.
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Re: Movies you have watched a lot of times.

Post by Malcolm »

Mad Max movies; Seven Samurai, Yojimbo; The Night Porter; but I mostly only watch films once.
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Re: Movies you have watched a lot of times.

Post by Matt J »

Wow, my most quoted DW comment ever!

For the most part, this is exactly what people are NOT listing.

My involvement with avant garde cinema did not last long, however. I saw Tarkovsky's the Sacrifice in my college movie theater. I could follow the overall, but a lot of it didn't make sense. Like geese running around for no reason. I turned to one of my Russian housemates, who was in tears. "I didn't get a lot of that," I said. "You're not supposed to," was her reply.

I later enrolled in a modern art class. The amount of theory one had to learn to "truly understand" the art made my head spin.

I thought the Graduate and Citizen Kane were, in many ways, perfect movies. However, I have never felt the desire to watch them again (unless I were to "show it to some one"). The same goes with my other favorites, like Memento and the Matrix. When I watch older movies (showing them to my son for example--- we've gone through the Terminator, the Matrix, the Sixth Sense, Goldfinger, Die Hard etc.), they typically aren't as good the second time around, except to show how much of memory is reconstructed and untrue.

But had I stuck to rewatching, I may never have discovered such things like the Warrior (HBO), the Kingdom (Netflix), Lillyhammer, The Americans, Better Call Saul, etc.
Norwegian wrote: Tue Feb 23, 2021 3:55 am But when you watch films by directors like Tarkovsky, Bresson, Bergman, Mizoguchi, Tarr, Parajanov, Rivette, Angelopoulos and so on, there's quite much to unpack.
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