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Triviachamp
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
254 Posts |
 Posted - 07/04/2006 : 1:11:29 PM
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Recently the AFI had their latest list of the most inspirational movies of all time.
http://www.afi.com/tvevents/100years/cheers.htm
Unsurprisingly It's A Wonderful Life is the no. 1 film. But if you really think about it is a very dark film. I mean George Bailey's life is a disappointment and he feels his life to be pointless so he decides to kill himself. Hard to get any darker than that. Not to mention that Potter gets away with stealing the money.
I am not too sure what they are going with this list. It doesn't seem they are interested in feel good films. In fact quite a lot of these films are depressing. |
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Capt. Nemo
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
630 Posts |
Posted - 07/04/2006 : 4:37:26 PM
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SERPICO
BIRDMAN OF ALCATRAZ
2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY
ALL THE PRESIDENT'S MEN
THE BRIDGE ON THE RIVER KWAI
THE GRAPES OF WRATH
These movies are inspirationial? |
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BradH812
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
USA
1294 Posts |
Posted - 07/04/2006 : 11:04:48 PM
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Don't forget One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, The Day the Earth Stood Still, and City Lights (which has, if I recall, an ambiguous, serious ending that doesn't exactly call for cheering). And Guess Who's Coming To Dinner is in there, too (ah, what an inspiration: an enlightened liberal white couple finds the courage to accept SIDNEY POITIER as their son-in-law).
I think Wonderful Life belongs right where it is, at #1, although Triviachamp is right about it being pretty dark until the last ten minutes. Funny how people call a feel-good movie "Capra-esque" without realizing that this movie really earned its sentimental ending by putting George through the wringer.
I will give them credit for putting Searching for Bobby Fischer on the list. Glad to see that movie finally get some of the credit it's due. |
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John Nowak
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
USA
1017 Posts |
Posted - 07/05/2006 : 11:49:46 AM
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What about Night of the Living Dead? I know it's schmaltzy, but I admit it -- it never fails to make me feel weepy.
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We've always been united in stupidity. That's why there is no hope. But, then again, when has that ever stopped us?
-- hbrennan |
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RVHorror
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
USA
532 Posts |
Posted - 07/05/2006 : 5:39:42 PM
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In order for a film to be considered inspirational, wouldn't the main character have to overcome great odds? I don't see a problem with a film as initially dark as It's A Wonderful Life being considered inspirational.
The problem with an idea like that, though, is that it's easy to see any film where the main character survives as "inspirational." Dawn of the Dead and Alien can be seen as "inspirational." I'll bet they didn't make the list, though. |
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zombiewhacker
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
USA
1475 Posts |
Posted - 07/06/2006 : 01:56:39 AM
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Saving Private Ryan, though a great movie, was one of the most depressing films I've seen in recent years. Unlike Schindler's List where the lead character saved thousands of lives, Private Ryan was at best a Pyrrhic victory: all those brave soldiers sacrificed to save one man, who was no better or worse than the rest of them. How is that inspirational?
Pinocchio? Personally, I don't care for most of the early Disney movies. Story is almost non-existent, the pacing is sluggish, lead characters are deadweight (in this case literally), and the humor is strictly tame and cutesy (like all of Walt's cartoons). Pinocchio may well be the worst offender of all. And exactly what was the inspirational part?
All the President's Men??? Bleh. If memory serves, didn't that movie end on a down note, when Woodward & Bernstein discover they've screwed up reporting the Watergate case? Not to mention the fact that this movie was about as exciting to watch as paint dry.
The Killing Fields??????????? Again, another terrific movie, but how is a film about a genocide where no one was rescued (no Oskar Schindler on the premises here, folks) possibly perceived as inspirational? Compared to this film, yeah, even Night of the Living Dead belongs on the list. Heck, even Martin comes across as an MGM Gene Kelly musical compared to Killing Fields.
My humble alternate suggestions:
Mr. Holland's Opus
Lord of the Rings: Return of the King
Rocky II (come on, Karate Kid is on the list but this isn't?
and instead of Pinocchio how about
Mulan
The Lion King
The Brave Little Toaster
Toy Story
Any one of these films, in addition to being entertaining, put a heck of a lot more spring in my step than Pinocchio (or even a lot of live action movies I saw on that list).
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Sardu
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
1126 Posts |
Posted - 07/06/2006 : 02:16:46 AM
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The most inspiring movie ever is Barfly. It's inspiring because
A) no matter how pathetic you are you have to be better off than those people
B) if you are as pathetic as, say, Mickey Rourke you'll still get to have sex with Faye Dunaway
Coming soon-
Eraserhead: The Musical!! |
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Terrahawk
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
USA
644 Posts |
Posted - 07/06/2006 : 06:22:54 AM
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How can The Day the Earth Stood Still be on the list? We have aliens, with the moral spines of jellyfish, who have given up their freedoms to the decision making of robots. Remember, Klaatu says:
In matters of aggression we have given them absolute power over us.
Is it aggressive if I colonize a planet in your solar system? Is it aggressive if a large number of citizens from one planet peacably settle on another member's planet without permission? You could go on and on. Yet, it appears from this statement that the robots have absolute decision making over these matters and thus Klaatu and his gang really have no freedom. If their ruling body does have some sort of veto power over the robots, then Klaatu is lying.
It's a well made film. However, it's definitely not inspirational.
I concur that Searching for Bobby Fischer is a good inspirational film.
The ROPe gives you three options, convert, submit, or die. There is a fourth, resist. |
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Greenhornet
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
1791 Posts |
Posted - 07/06/2006 : 6:24:01 PM
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MST3000, show #1012- SQUIRM
Short sabject: "A Case Of Spring Fever" Or the inspiration for "It's A Wonderful Life"!
Watch SPRING and try not to laugh at LIFE. Just try.
"The Queen is testing poisons." CLEOPATRA, 1935 |
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commodorejohn
Diocesan Ecclesiarch of the Sacred Order of Jabootu
76 Posts |
Posted - 07/08/2006 : 12:15:32 PM
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quote:
Originally posted by zombiewhacker
Pinocchio? Personally, I don't care for most of the early Disney movies. Story is almost non-existent, the pacing is sluggish, lead characters are deadweight (in this case literally), and the humor is strictly tame and cutesy (like all of Walt's cartoons). Pinocchio may well be the worst offender of all. And exactly what was the inspirational part?
Aside from Snow White And The Seven Dwarves, (supersaccharine-kiddie-musical filmmaking at its worst, folks, and why did Snow White have to look like she stepped living and breathing out of a kitchen-appliance ad from the period?) I think Pinocchio was the worst of the early Disney films. Although Carlotti's original story was about 3x more disturbing, at least it wasn't the watered-down mess this is. Lonely old man wishes for a kid (hello, Pygmalion and Galatea...,) Ms. Deus-Ex-Machina appears out of nowhere, brings a puppet to life, promises to make him a real boy if he reaches some arbitrary level of goodness, gives him a thoroughly unreliable conscience (even if he is the least obnoxious character in the movie, Jiminy sucks at his job,) and bails on him. Pinocchio proceeds, throughout the course of the whole movie, to completely fail at even the simplest tests of his goodness, winds up waterlogged dead, and Ms. D-E-M pops in again to make him a real boy even though he hasn't remotely achieved qualified status. And they lived happily ever after, the end, what the heck?
And no, there wasn't really any inspirational part, unless you count the movie's message that the forces of the universe will do anything you want, even if you totally fail to meet their prerequisites, which is patent nonsense.
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Who -are- the overlords of the UFO? |
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Sardu
Holy Cardinal and Five Star General of the Righteous Knighthood of Jabootu
1126 Posts |
Posted - 07/08/2006 : 5:39:11 PM
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I've never liked Pinocchio, even as a kid. It's good to hear I'm not alone. I've always loved Snow White though, even though it's resemblance to the actual tale is beyond tenuous. IMO it's brilliantly made and drawn- probably the studio's best work ever!
Coming soon-
Eraserhead: The Musical!! |
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