Films that left you with a sense of wonder and awe

[Stearmen]

It may seem like a tedious Hollywoodism, but it was based on a real incident that was told to writer Robert Rodat by a World War 2 vet when he was doing research for the screenplay.

Doug

The ending is pure Hollywood. Interestingly, it turns out one of his brothers was still alive, so the whole mission was for not! At lest the Normandy landing was very realistic according to men I knew that landed that day.

 

[Mario]

I love Stand By Me. I was about fifteen when I first saw it, but it impacts me on a whole other level now as an adult looking back on being a kid as opposed to a kid watching other kids.

Agreed. I loved it when it was first released and I still love it now. Wonderful film.

 

[rue]

Agreed. I loved it when it was first released and I still love it now. Wonderful film.

Also agreed. My friends and I watched it so many times that we knew every word by heart and would annoy the audience by saying them aloud lol

 

[Mario]

Also agreed. My friends and I watched it so many times that we knew every word by heart and would annoy the audience by saying them aloud lol

Back in the 80's and up to the very early 90's they were showing a couple of films (most notably Life Of Brian, Rocky Horror Picture Show, Blues Brothers) at the Waldbühne here in Berlin, an open air amphitheatre-sytle concert venue (actually a reproduction of the theater of Epidaurus from 3BC). Sometimes you'd have about 15.000 or more (up to 23.000) people gathering for a huge picnic. Everbody would get happily wasted, watching, taking and singing along with the films (sometimes all of them during the same, endless night). There would be people on the stage, acting along with what happened on screen, an incredibly spectacular sight especially with the Rocky Horror Picture Show as you'd sometimes have almost the full emsemble dancing and singing it out to the audience. That was hell breaking loose. Ah, merry were the times...and quite different from now!

 

[Edward]

Ah, now.... the stories I could tell of that sort of thing with Rocky Horror.....

 

[Mario]

Yes?

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

It may seem like a tedious Hollywoodism, but it was based on a real incident that was told to writer Robert Rodat by a World War 2 vet when he was doing research for the screenplay.

Doug

In the real incident it was an army chaplain who tagged along with various patrols that happened to be heading in the same general direction.

 

[Benzadmiral]

I am unfamiliar with this critic, but... Raiders is an undeserving target for her ire. That said, I often suspect that the fact Spielberg or Lucas ever made anything good was a serious case of monkeys, typewriters and Shakespeare.... Spielberg destroys almost everything he touches with cloying, mawkish sentimentality, while Lucas would be better sticking to creating video games as he has no concept of people, plot, script, dialogue, emotions....

Not sure about Spielberg -- though in his early directing days, he produced some wonderful stuff. "Duel" and "Jaws" come to mind.

Lucas, however, showed astonishing promise with "American Graffiti." My friends and I, who were about 10 years younger than the characters in AG, all came away saying, "I knew somebody in school just like Curt [Richard Dreyfuss] or Terry [Charles Martin Smith] or John [Paul Le Mat]."

Maybe GL has lost whatever touch he once had, but he did have it once.

 

[Edward]

Not sure about Spielberg -- though in his early directing days, he produced some wonderful stuff. "Duel" and "Jaws" come to mind.

Lucas, however, showed astonishing promise with "American Graffiti." My friends and I, who were about 10 years younger than the characters in AG, all came away saying, "I knew somebody in school just like Curt [Richard Dreyfuss] or Terry [Charles Martin Smith] or John [Paul Le Mat]."

Maybe GL has lost whatever touch he once had, but he did have it once.

I think, given his overall record, it's more likely to be the monkeys / typewriters / Shakespeare thing.... c/f Joel Schumacher & The Lost Boys.

 

[Worf]

I personally think that Lucas has lost his ability to tell a story (some might say "if he ever had it")... simple as that. Everything after the first 2 Star Wars has been a bit of a disaster. I was so disappointed in "RedTails" I can't even begin to tell the tale. I swore off him after Jar Jar Binks, I came back to see if he could tell a straight war story with soul and character, I should've stayed away.

Worf

 

[Edward]

I personally think that Lucas has lost his ability to tell a story (some might say "if he ever had it")... simple as that. Everything after the first 2 Star Wars has been a bit of a disaster. I was so disappointed in "RedTails" I can't even begin to tell the tale. I swore off him after Jar Jar Binks, I came back to see if he could tell a straight war story with soul and character, I should've stayed away.

Worf

He's good at video games, but he can't write or direct for humans. You could repopulate the rain forest with the dialogue he writes.

 

[deco_droid]

Uh-oh -- I won't get involved in the Lucas mini-debate...

Star Wars did really impact me though. The original trilogy was the set of films I measured everything else up to -- until the late 80s or so, anyway.

In college I became a big fan of Greta Garbo movies though, and I would have to pick Camille as the one that really moved me. That or Anna Karenina is probably my favorite. Although I was able to see Ninotchka on the big screen a few years back and that was really a treat, being that I am not old enough to have seen her films at the theater during their original runs.

More recent films that really affected me include Amelie, The Piano and Moulin Rouge.

 

[Otter]

Apocalypse Now, saw it in the Glasgow Film Theater around 1981, on my own as no one else wanted to see it. They provided notes about the film, sat down to watch the opening scene. Ok thought I, a train is passing in frnt of the camera, I guess they still used steam back in vietnam in those days, camera focuses, that is not a train, it is a Loach! Treeline goes up in smoke and I am just gobsmacked (Glasgow expression, aka stunned).

Other than that, sat down offshore halfway through Shawshank Redemptin and was just caught, had to sit at 2 in the morning and watch the rest of it.

Edit to add: Sorry Worf, that might be a little insensitive in view of your service, no disrespect intended I am ex Royal Artillery.

 

[Metatron]

Star Wars V: The Empire strikes back: Epic, funny, dramatic, the dynamics are spot on, it's really got it all.

Steetcar Named Desire: The acting and the atmosphere are something else, very uncomfortable film to watch.

Antichrist: Horrifying, but oh so beautifully shot and acted.

Nosferatu the Vampire (1979 remake by Herzog): Again, beautifully shot and acted. Each shot is a painting, and the leading female actress is breath-taking, feminine yet strong and heroic. It'll make your disgust for Twilight increase.

 

[bulldog1935]

Waterloo, 1970, saw it on the big screen at the Aztec Theater in downtown San Antonio - I was 12.
The most visually astounding war picture ever photographed - the cast includes 200,000 soviet soldiers.
Growing up, never forgot the death of Ponsonby or the aerial views of Ney's charge.
Rod Steiger was a perfect Napoleon, and Christopher Plummer was a perfect Wellington.
Picked up the dvd last year - the film is still big in both Russia and Korea.

 

[davidraphael]

When I was a little kid:

The 7 Faces of Dr. Lao
The Wizard of Oz
Close Encounters
The Glenn Miller Story
Star Wars & The Empire Strikes Back
Invaders from Mars
Raiders of the Lost Ark
Where Eagles Dare
ET
Jason and the Argonauts
2001


When I was a bigger kid:

Come and See
Aguirre, the Wrath of God
Umberto D
This is England
12 Angry Men
Berlin, Symphony of a City
Stardust Memories
My Name is Joe
Taxi Driver
A Woman Under the Influence
Radio Days
Koyannisqatsi
The Godfather I & II
1900
The Barbarian Invasions
The Deer Hunter
Clockwork Orange
Mulholland Dr.
The Shining
Performance
Rear Window
M
21 Grams
Don't Look Now
Cinema Paradiso
The Lives of Others

 

[LocktownDog]

Anything worked on by Ray Harryhausen. He really was the biggest influence to this little boy's imagination.

 

[Chowderhouse]

This: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dgpfMxYFSmE

 

[davidraphael]

LOL. Partly. But as a huge James Bond fan (I used to watch the movies on TV with my dad growing up), I was truly impressed with the direction they took with the character.

Yeah, me too.
Craig's the best Bond since Connery. Can't wait for Skyfall next week!
Bond movies frequently 'wowed' me in the 70s when I was a kid (Moonraker, The Man with the Golden Gun etc), but as I grew up I realised that many of the Roger Moore movie were kinda cheesy (doesn't stop me re-watching them again and again though! )

 

[Gregg Axley]

Star Wars came out when I was 7 years old, and yes it was one of the biggest films to me (as a kid) because nobody had ever come out with something like that.
As I got older, I saw American Grafitti, and once again thought Lucas did a great job on this film. Hey I'm a car guy, and I enjoy some of the music being played in the movie, so what's not to like?
I don't get into movies as much, now that I'm older, just too busy I guess.
So I can't say "oh I'm waiting in line for this or that" shoot I'll just wait a few months and it will appear in DVD form on my front porch.
The movie that had the most impact on me, with a sense of awe and wonder is EIGHT MEN OUT.
I'm not a huge baseball fan, but I enjoyed the story line, and the fact that it was based on true events.
Even though I've seen it numerous times, I can still sit and watch it each time it comes on.
I guess because of D.B Sweeney and John Cusak. Both portrayed their characters well, and towards the end of the movie you feel sorry for Joe, he just wanted to play the game (according to the movie), and was conned into the fix, as well as a confession, because of his illiteracy.
Great movie IMHO.