Wife and I attended yesterday a movie watch and discuss group. We will be joining it on a weekly basis.
Last night they were covering Clint Eastwood’s Space Cowboys as the last of the monthly series dedicated to Clint.

Next week we will start watching Scott’s movies. The first and his first one is The Duelist. It’s excellent.
But I wonder what the following ones should be.
What do you think?

Blade Runner defined how cyberpunk literature looks on film.
Alien is iconic
Black Hawk Down is one of the top 5 war movies ever made. IMO.

Then there are Gladiator and Thelma and Louse. Personally don’t bother with T&L but i guess it can’t be ignored.

So, what are your personal five, in no particular order.

0-0

Alien
Blade Runner
Gladiator
Black Hawk Down
The Martian

That said, you could have pretty good experience watching a totally different group of 5. He’s made a bunch of great films.

Alien
Black Hawk Down
Gladiator (Director's Cut)
Kingdom of Heaven (Director's Cut)
Blade Runner (Director's Cut)

(Notice a trend with Scott repeatedly needing Director's Cuts to fully realize the potential of his films?)

The director's cut of Kingdom of Heaven is awesome. That film has some detractors; I really don't understand how anyone could find it unlikeable.

The Kingdom of Heaven theatrical cut is just okay. The Director's Cut really adds a lot to its plot and coherence.

Compared to something like Gladiator, which was great as it was, and the Director's Cut is then only a little bit better.


I suspect Napoleon will turn out the same. The theatrical cut is middling, but it could be great.

His first three films are my three favorite, in order too- The Duellists, Alien, and Blade Runner.
The next two are Black Hawk Down and American Gangster.

I haven't seen all of his movies, but I do consider myself a fan. Body of Lies is a little-talked-about sleeper, IMO.

Kingdom of Heaven (director's cut) is in my all-time top ten. I think the protagonist is very admirable. I like the themes of integrity and honor. It has great, unlikeable antagonists, in the form of the Templars. The leaders of each side of the conflict are awesome. It has an excellent cast of auxiliary characters too.

To the OP, so what was the take on "Space Cowboys"?

quote:

Originally posted by RogueJSK:
The Kingdom of Heaven theatrical cut is just okay. The Director's Cut really adds a lot to its plot and coherence.

I never saw Kingdom of Heaven, so when I saw they had it on Prime I sat down to watch it. I felt like Orlando Bloom was trying to sell me pizza, I don't know how else to explain it. Like at some point he was going to turn to the camera and say, "It's not delivery, it's Dijiorno."

Turns out I was watching the theatrical cut.

quote:

Originally posted by Sacramento Johnson:
To the OP, so what was the take on "Space Cowboys"?

My first time attending this type of Class. Bunch of ladies and just a couple of guys. Not much exchanging of opinions or observations.

The “teacher” was OK. This was the last lesson on Eastwood so i mostly kept my mouth shut in case what i had to say had already been discussed. Teacher made some interesting observations regarding how the story was not the theme of the movie but a vehicle.
I made an observation about how Eastwood handled the astronaus physical and technical training with minimal resources while Armaggedon threw everything they had to offer and more. Another far fetched similarity is how both crews got to go into space by some sort of blackmailing and being unique in an emergency. Not worth discussing in the Teacher’s opinions. Yet those parts take a good chunck of both movies. IMO.
Space Cowboys is a forgettable movie in Clint’s catalogue but we arrived too late in the month to do anything about it. Would gave loved to see Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil analyzed but don’t think they viewed it.
Clint’s ever present jazz moods wasn’t part of this last class either. Some of his soundtracks are impressive. Such a great taste and talent.

0-0

quote:

Originally posted by KSGM:
I haven't seen all of his movies, but I do consider myself a fan. Body of Lies is a little-talked-about sleeper, IMO.

I agree, had forgotten completely about it.
Since BHD, a lot of movie soundtracks picked similar type songs and rythms to depict anything african or middle eastern. Scott did it again with BOL. Haven’t watched the movie in ages but i seem to recall that at some points it really looked like Tony’s work, not Ridleys.

0-0

Hard to pick just five, he made so many good ones.
Alien
Blade Runner
Black Hawk Down
Gladiator
Prometheus

quote:

Originally posted by 0-0:
So, what are your personal five, in no particular order.

0-0

1. Black Hawk Down

2. The Counselor

I really liked this one when it came out. I don't know why it got so destroyed by so many people. Maybe they had high hopes that it was going to rival Cormac McCarthy's No Country for Old Men. I hope it'll be rediscovered and reevaluated later like Michael Mann's Miami Vice movie.

3. Alien

4. Blade Runner

5. Hannibal

It's a bizarre movie, but based on a bizarre book. It's edgier and less mainstream and crowd-pleasing than Silence of the Lambs, which I appreciate. I am also a fan of that twisted Grand Guignol aesthetic. Julianne Moore rockin' a SIG P226 in the beginning doesn't hurt my liking either.

quote:

Originally posted by KSGM:
The director's cut of Kingdom of Heaven is awesome. That film has some detractors; I really don't understand how anyone could find it unlikeable.

This - the Directors Cut version is fantastic!

You are starting with my favorite Ridley Scott film -- the Duelists (in my personal top three favorite films of all time). I have literally seen every Ridley Scott film, but would be hard pressed to rank them in any particular order to watch -- with one exception. I'm an amateur Napoleonic era historian, so while the Duelists resonates with me, Scott's most recent film -- Napoleon, is likely my least favorite of all his films. Yes, while I can appreciate the cinematography, the acting and the atmospheric effects I just found it "lacking" in a number of areas. Perhaps knowing too much about the era makes me too picky, but I was somewhat disappointed. It is sort of ironic, few film makers do that period of history once, let alone twice and the results, at least to me, were very different.

It's mostly a repeat, but...

1) Alien
2) Blade Runner
3) Black Hawk Down
4) Gladiator
5) Black Rain

1. Black Hawk Down
2. Gladiator
3. Black Rain
4. Body of Lies
5. Someone to Watch Over Me

quote:

Originally posted by airsoft guy:
I never saw Kingdom of Heaven, so when I saw they had it on Prime I sat down to watch it. I felt like Orlando Bloom was trying to sell me pizza, I don't know how else to explain it. Like at some point he was going to turn to the camera and say, "It's not delivery, it's Dijiorno."

Turns out I was watching the theatrical cut.

Yeah I agree. It was the same in Troy. I really loved Troy, but Bloom in that, oh my. He says something like I knew it would bring “Wooh”. He is saying war, but it’s so over the top bad. Great film except his performance

5 Scott film favorites:

Blade Runner
Black Rain
Gladiator
American Gangster
The Martian

And a couple of honorable mentions, GI Jane, because Demi Moore was hot back then, lifting weights, etc and “Suck my DICK!” Is just hilarious. Comedy to me. And House of Gucci also because Leto is a fucking riot in that. Any scene he’s in is just RMMFAO.

quote:

Originally posted by tartan427:
You are starting with my favorite Ridley Scott film -- the Duelists (in my personal top three favorite films of all time). I have literally seen every Ridley Scott film, but would be hard pressed to rank them in any particular order to watch -- with one exception. I'm an amateur Napoleonic era historian, so while the Duelists resonates with me, Scott's most recent film -- Napoleon, is likely my least favorite of all his films. Yes, while I can appreciate the cinematography, the acting and the atmospheric effects I just found it "lacking" in a number of areas. Perhaps knowing too much about the era makes me too picky, but I was somewhat disappointed. It is sort of ironic, few film makers do that period of history once, let alone twice and the results, at least to me, were very different.

Found Napoleon painful to watch, so unimpressed given the opportunity to make something absolutely magnificent. Scott certainly has the talent and the skills to come up with a far better result. Maybe there will be a completely different movie once he releases his Director Cut. Scott is famous for selling the same movie in various opportunities, the Extended, Uncut, Special Ed and Director’s Cut. We will have to wait.

Just watched The Duellists today and was struck by the very british way the dialogue was delivered. Entremely polite but English IMO. Have watched my share of french movies and i don’t remember them ever usibg such type of language. Specially. esring in mind that French was the preferred language of most European Courts.

Am also thinking about Scott’s TV series and specials being left aside. The Andromeda Strain was very good and recent Raided by Wolves was ok.

Napoleon is one of his uninspired movies IMO but otherwise i consider his work as carrying a Seal of Quality until proven otherwise.

0-0

quote:

Yeah I agree. It was the same in Troy. I really loved Troy, but Bloom in that, oh my. He says something like I knew it would bring “Wooh”. He is saying war, but it’s so over the top bad. Great film except his performance

I have to agree. Bloom was OK in LOTR, but he should not be a leading man. Too wimpy.