for movie fans: between casablanca and citizen of cain

[Ack]

I've seen both and enjoyed both, but for different reasons. Part of what makes Casablanca so great is the adventure itself, and watching the bonds that form between characters during this adventure. Citizen Kane is enjoyable, but in my opinion for vastly different reasons: I see it as a much more technical movie. Orson Welles was a genius at using a camera, and some of his shots were amazing at the time(some are still amazing). But as far as story goes...I never felt it was as compelling as Casablanca. They are very different films, with very different plots. Both are worth watching if you're interested in the evolution of American cinema, of course.

Of course, there are a lot of other great movies from those decades that are worth checking out. If you're interested in the detective noir of the period, check out Maltese Falcon. It's not as dark as many of its brethren, but it's still a defining film of the genre.

Somebody recommended Seven Samurai, which is an excellent example of Japanese cinema of the era it was filmed(1950s post-war Japan), as well as one of Akira Kurosawa's best known works. If you're interested in Japanese film, it's a great place to start, but since you were discussing American films, I don't know if it'd be up your alley.

[marurun]

Seven Samurai also pioneered a number of technical movie tricks, such as filming a few people close up to make it seem like a hectic encounter with many more people. Also, Akira Kurosawa is very much the father of the modern western (yes, western). Seven Samurai, Yojimbo, and Sanjuro took the older western style and transplanted it into rural Japan, in the process modernizing the style some. Fistful of Dollars is, in fact, a remake of Yojimbo, just as The Magnificent Seven is a remake, of sorts, of Seven Samurai.

[Droid party]

Fistful of Dollars is, in fact, a remake of Yojimbo, just as The Magnificent Seven is a remake, of sorts, of Seven Samurai.

I knew about the magnificent seven being a remake of Seven samurai, I didn't know that hollywood had remade Yojimbo. I may have to check that out.

[Ack]

Technically Battle Beyond the Stars is also a remake of Seven Samurai...heheh.

[ThunderPrince]

Citizen of Cain: SOUL REAVER

[marurun]

Well, if you want to go that route, technically most modern fantasy novels (in the past 30 years or so) are remakes of Tolkien. But we tolerate it because, deep down, we think we likes it.

[Ack]

I don't think you understand...

"The story is a pastiche of Akira Kurosawa's film Seven Samurai and its western remake, The Magnificent Seven. The farmers of the peaceful planet Akir, named in honor of Akira Kurosawa, are threatened by the space tyrant Sador (played by Corman regular John Saxon, carrying the old Eli Wallach role). Richard Thomas plays Shad, who sets out to recruit a band of mercenaries to fight Sador. This band includes Gelt, played by Robert Vaughn in a part that is essentially a reprise of his role in The Magnificent Seven with many of the same lines of dialogue; George Peppard (who was originally considered to play Vin, Steve McQueen's character, in The Magnificent Seven) as a space cowboy; and Saint-Exmin, a member of the alien Valkyrie race, played by Sybil Danning."

[RCBH928]

the japanese movies and noir movies you are talking about
are they on dvd or vhs?
id like to check them out

[RCBH928]

The last US manufacturer of VHS tapes has closed its doors. In the US, the VHS is dead. And I don't think any new major releases are coming out on VHS any longer. It's not impossible, but nearly so, to find a VHS player that doesn't also have a DVD recorder or player built in.

but i heard they still make betamax up till 2002 ,o while it was dead in the 80's.
or do you mean no new material is published on vhs?

I meant do people still buy and watch VHS movies, and vhs players

well, maybe the last vhs tape manufacturer in the US closed its door, but the world doesn't consist of only the US now does it?

[Spoiler Duck]

I cannot speak for Casablanca, but I can for Citizen Kane. It is not so much "the best" as it is one of the most important. By modern standards it is a very flawed film, but it was also perhaps one of the first films to truly justify cinema as something of artistic worth.

Citizen Kane has a narrative that could only be told via cinema (though nowadays videogames would all for Kojima cutscenes with random infiltration gameplay segments inbetween), and it was still brilliant (very important point). Very few films up until that point could claim such a thing; to a large degree they were still photoplays - theatre recorded onto film.

I'm not entirely sure I would encourage, or even accept Citizen Kane argued as the greatest film ever. It is instead cinema's emergence into true relevance and the beginning of something great, but to suggest it still remains the best that can be is to say that the art form has not evolved since its adolescence, which is an insult to subsequent great artists in the medium.

As for your comparisons to gaming - we haven't had our Citizen Kane yet. A few months ago I would have argued that it was Braid, but in retrospect that game is far too flawed. It remains a narrative that could only be expressed within a game, but I don't think it is entirely successful as a narrative in the first place. For all Jon Blow's intelligence, design and critical eye, I don't think he is as good an artist as he is a critic, scholar and pioneer. Hopefully sometime over the next decade we'll get there.


(besides, we all know The Godfather is the greatest film ever made!! ... if you add the qualifier "within the Hollywood studio system")