I really loved this fantastic film. What is funny, though, is I spent much of the film thinking about how much one of the characters reminded me of Catherine O'Hara and then I see the end credits and see that it is her sister.
I wouldn't really call this an animated short. It's a commercial, and there are almost no gags. It's pretty clever for a commercial, I guess, as the whole thing serves as an homage to the great Goofy "How to..." cartoons of the 40's, but it isn't enough. The animation is a little rough, especially when compared to a lot of the recent Mickey Mouse shorts that have been airing on the Disney Channel, which are beautiful and often hilarious.
I really applaud this list! It's a great alternative to the IMDB 500 Horrors. I noticed there are a few years that are unrepresented like 1952. It was a pretty bad year for horror but I was wondering if you had ever seen The White Reindeer (aka Valkoinen peura)? It's a bizarre Finnish film about a vampire reindeer that was released that year. It is on a lot of the greatest Finnish films lists and it even won a special prize at the 1953 Cannes film festival. I saw it recently and I would really recommend it to anyone interested in the history of horror films. It has really spooky atmosphere and because the culture focused on (Laplander) is so alien to me, it seemed even scarier for some reason. It is available as a region 2 DVD w/ English subtitles under the title, La renne blanc.
Also from that year was the Bugs Bunny cartoon, Water, Water Every Hare with a mad scientist and the hairy monster, Gossamer, and a Donald Duck cartoon, Trick or Treat, which featured Halloween night with a witch named Hazel and even a Halloween song that was a staple of my childhood during that time of the year. Both of these shorts have pretty minor contributions to the history of horror films but are pretty fun anyway.
This film is brilliant, and the Muppets are magical. The Rainbow Connection always hits me right in my heart. Jim Henson was a genius of Walt Disney proportions and the creations thought up by him and the people of his company will live on forever.
The thing about the film is that it isn't necessarily hilarious, but sweet and touching. The main muppets and especially Kermit are so fully realized that you forget they aren't autonomous beings. Their performers seem to disappear and you believe in them. Kermit is such a sweet, gentle soul and he's a bit of an underdog whose belief in himself is always slightly shaky, but he always finds the strength to come through in the end.
In the middle of marathoning this show, and while I really like it, I hate the ridiculous theme song that plays over the end credits in every episode. So annoying and loud! I have to remember to push the mute button as soon as the credits come up every time.
edit: I have since finished this show and the finale is one of the strongest series finales I have ever seen. I don't understand how this series wasn't as popular as something like Breaking Bad. I still hate the theme music though.
It looks like this list has the wrong film listed for Black Lizard. You have the Kinji Fukasaku version from 1968 listed and it should be the Umetsugu Inoue version from 1962.
edit - You have fixed the error so I withdraw my complaint.
I just want to voice an alternative opinion to the other comment on this page and say that this film is worth-while, especially to families with small children. 80 minutes is not too short at all and I thought the footage captured was very beautiful. My all-time favorite nature program was Planet Earth, also by Fothergill, and this is not in the same class, but I am not the target audience for this film. The Discovery Channel is great but this story is meant to appeal to a younger audience than that channel attracts. It is meant to spur interest in the natural world among a new audience and it is very effective in that regard. Would I have payed theater prices to see it on the big screen? Probably not. But at home, on blu-ray, it was a relaxing watch.
Disneynature is also a conservation effort and helps raise awareness on the subject. To suggest that Disney stick to animation, especially when Disney itself very rarely puts out animated product (usually one film a year), is strange.
My first Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis film... I really disliked it. I cannot believe anyone found Lewis antics funny. I thought they were cloyingly irritating. I haven't given up on the duo quite yet though. Maybe this was a low point of their output.
edit: I recently saw Artists and Models and I found it a lot more enjoyable but it might have been due to director Frank Tashlin and his background in animation and making a lot of the gags very cartoon-like.
I have a lot of nostalgia for this film for some reason and watched it repeatedly while I was growing up. It is goofy as hell and the storyline is some of the most insane nonsense I have ever seen outside of Teen Wolf. And on top of all that, Blackbeard is played by Peter Ustinov!? How did this film ever get made? Some stars must have been aligned the day this was given the green light. I am glad it did though. As an adult, this is comfort food for me and brings me back to a simpler time.
Also, this film and another Disney film, The Ugly Dachshund, is what started my lifelong obsession with Suzanne Pleshette. She was so beautiful in these films that I would watch them just for her.
For everyone saying there is no meaning to this film... What are you, crazy? Of course there is meaning to the film. Why would someone spend years making a film with no meaning? Just for laughs? I could possibly see someone doing something for a day or two that had no real meaning but to work on a three hour feature for months or years? No. That would get old pretty quickly.
I think it is totally hilarious that there are so many people complaining in the comments section about one of Hitchcock's masterpieces. For one thing, I see one of the lists that the film is in is Akira Kurosawa's top 100 films. Do you people honestly think you know more about film than Kurosawa? I promise you, you don't.
about 20 minutes before the end when it is revealed that all the very convincing home movie footage was all faked and everyone was portrayed by actors. I kept asking to myself, "How is possible that one family had so much footage of themselves as well as friends also?" When it was finally revealed I confess I felt a little foolish for believing it so easily but also extremely impressed that Sarah Polley had created this footage that looked so convincing.
This is one of my favorite films of 2013 and I have been impressed with Polley ever since I saw her feature directorial debut, Away From Her. I still haven't seen Take This Waltz, but now I will have to seek it out. I have read a brief plot summary of it and it seems like maybe she got the inspiration for TTW from her personal journey documented in this film.
I've basically finished this list. The only things on it I cannot find are Mary (which is really the same film as Murder! but in German) and the two short films, The Fighting Generation and Watchtower Over Tomorrow, which I cannot find anywhere. Maybe they'll end up as special features on a disc somewhere someday, but for now, I've hit a brick wall on these three.
I had so much fun going through this list in chronological order as I was able to watch Hitch develop over his lengthy career. I also watched all the TV episodes that he directed as well. This was the first time I had ever gone through a director's filmography in order and it was so interesting, I have decided to do the same for Orson Welles.
My personal favorite film and it has been since I first saw about seven years ago. This is where I sat up and realized the potential and possibilities of film as something that could be artistic and meaningful. After I saw this, it kickstarted my craze over film. Collecting and watching films (at home and in the theater) has become my greatest passion. It opened so many doors for me and I have discovered so many gems. There are certain films where, if I just see a still from the movie, I get overwhelmed with feelings and remembrances. This is one of them for me.
The first three seasons are great. Season four was completely forgettable. Hopefully, they can turn that back around now that Dan Harmon has been hired back. It is a little sad that they've lost two of the main cast though.
edit: Season 5 was ok. It wasn't as good as 1-3 and certainly not as bad as 4. I miss the cast they've lost but I am happy that the show got picked up for a 6th season after being canceled.
I don't understand people that label a film as being "crap." To look at something, that a group of artists and technicians have poured months or possibly even years of their lives into, and then just label it as "crap" and then dismiss it entirely with such self-righteousness, seems so crazy to me (not to mention extremely lazy film criticism.) There are plenty of films that I do not enjoy or just downright loathe but I understand that they just weren't made for me. I recently watched The Phantom Menace and did not enjoy it and saw many problems with the film but I could still see how someone else could have a good time with it.
I remember seeing this in theaters and being so excited to be there. I think I was 15. I loved it.
Then, I went to see it again and then I started to be worried. I went for a third time and fell asleep.
I just saw it for the first time since I was in high school and time has not been good to this film. The CG looks pretty terrible. The acting is wooden and all the comedy relief falls flat. The script is terrible and often the plot is nonsensical. It seems like they just wanted to get you from one set-piece to another, logic be damned.
This movie wasn't made for me at the age I am now. I think I would appreciate it if I was a very young child though.
This made strides towards redemption for the series after the extremely frustrating second season. I am actually glad that they used a feature film format rather than a series. It simply seems to work better in this case, in my opinion. I hope to see some more Haruhi someday.
I feel like this early horror film is so hugely influential and so many films have repeated parts of its formula that it can be hard to truly evaluate its merits today. Bela Lugosi is great and so are a lot of the sets and the mood that the film generates. It has eerie-ness down pat. Oh, and I really liked the over-the-top Renfield.
I do have some complaints however. Because this is such an early sound film, the sound design is pretty terrible. There are extended moments of complete silence that could have been filled with some kind of musical scoring or sound effects. The moments I am thinking of stand out because it feels like something is missing. They lessen the impact for me.
To back up what other users are saying: Nosferatu is the much better version of the Dracula story.
A true Horror masterpiece! This is still one of the scariest films I have ever seen. The only trouble is that this film basically created a new genre in Horror that spawned so many imitators that it can be hard to see what made it so special today as so many aspects of the film have become tropes. If you go into the film with the mindset is that it is 1974 and you have never seen anything like it before, then you will have a much better time.
Comments 201 - 225 of 247
Movie comment on Museum Hours
essaywhu
I really loved this fantastic film. What is funny, though, is I spent much of the film thinking about how much one of the characters reminded me of Catherine O'Hara and then I see the end credits and see that it is her sister.Toplist comment on 150 Movies You Should Die Before You See
essaywhu
Nope! This list is terrible. For every Howard the Duck, there's a decent to great film listed.Movie comment on Checkin' in with Goofy
essaywhu
I wouldn't really call this an animated short. It's a commercial, and there are almost no gags. It's pretty clever for a commercial, I guess, as the whole thing serves as an homage to the great Goofy "How to..." cartoons of the 40's, but it isn't enough. The animation is a little rough, especially when compared to a lot of the recent Mickey Mouse shorts that have been airing on the Disney Channel, which are beautiful and often hilarious.Toplist comment on TOP 666 HORROR MOVIES (HIDDEN HORIZONS)
essaywhu
I really applaud this list! It's a great alternative to the IMDB 500 Horrors. I noticed there are a few years that are unrepresented like 1952. It was a pretty bad year for horror but I was wondering if you had ever seen The White Reindeer (aka Valkoinen peura)? It's a bizarre Finnish film about a vampire reindeer that was released that year. It is on a lot of the greatest Finnish films lists and it even won a special prize at the 1953 Cannes film festival. I saw it recently and I would really recommend it to anyone interested in the history of horror films. It has really spooky atmosphere and because the culture focused on (Laplander) is so alien to me, it seemed even scarier for some reason. It is available as a region 2 DVD w/ English subtitles under the title, La renne blanc.Also from that year was the Bugs Bunny cartoon, Water, Water Every Hare with a mad scientist and the hairy monster, Gossamer, and a Donald Duck cartoon, Trick or Treat, which featured Halloween night with a witch named Hazel and even a Halloween song that was a staple of my childhood during that time of the year. Both of these shorts have pretty minor contributions to the history of horror films but are pretty fun anyway.
Movie comment on The Muppet Movie
essaywhu
This film is brilliant, and the Muppets are magical. The Rainbow Connection always hits me right in my heart. Jim Henson was a genius of Walt Disney proportions and the creations thought up by him and the people of his company will live on forever.The thing about the film is that it isn't necessarily hilarious, but sweet and touching. The main muppets and especially Kermit are so fully realized that you forget they aren't autonomous beings. Their performers seem to disappear and you believe in them. Kermit is such a sweet, gentle soul and he's a bit of an underdog whose belief in himself is always slightly shaky, but he always finds the strength to come through in the end.
Movie comment on The Shield
essaywhu
In the middle of marathoning this show, and while I really like it, I hate the ridiculous theme song that plays over the end credits in every episode. So annoying and loud! I have to remember to push the mute button as soon as the credits come up every time.edit: I have since finished this show and the finale is one of the strongest series finales I have ever seen. I don't understand how this series wasn't as popular as something like Breaking Bad. I still hate the theme music though.
Movie comment on The Adventures of Baron Munchausen
essaywhu
I cannot believe someone downvoted ThomasFTB.Toplist comment on
essaywhu
It looks like this list has the wrong film listed for Black Lizard. You have the Kinji Fukasaku version from 1968 listed and it should be the Umetsugu Inoue version from 1962.edit - You have fixed the error so I withdraw my complaint.
Movie comment on Araki Mataemon: Kettô kagiya no tsuji
essaywhu
Wow... this movie was so tense! I felt on the edge of my seat for the last 20 or 30 minutes!Also, I had no idea this was written by Akira Kurosawa! Really cool!
Toplist comment on Total Film 50 Most Disappointing Movies of All Time
essaywhu
Eyes Wide Shut and Kill Bill, Vol.2? I can understand pretty much everything else on this list but these two?Movie comment on Chimpanzee
essaywhu
I just want to voice an alternative opinion to the other comment on this page and say that this film is worth-while, especially to families with small children. 80 minutes is not too short at all and I thought the footage captured was very beautiful. My all-time favorite nature program was Planet Earth, also by Fothergill, and this is not in the same class, but I am not the target audience for this film. The Discovery Channel is great but this story is meant to appeal to a younger audience than that channel attracts. It is meant to spur interest in the natural world among a new audience and it is very effective in that regard. Would I have payed theater prices to see it on the big screen? Probably not. But at home, on blu-ray, it was a relaxing watch.Disneynature is also a conservation effort and helps raise awareness on the subject. To suggest that Disney stick to animation, especially when Disney itself very rarely puts out animated product (usually one film a year), is strange.
Movie comment on Sailor Beware
essaywhu
My first Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis film... I really disliked it. I cannot believe anyone found Lewis antics funny. I thought they were cloyingly irritating. I haven't given up on the duo quite yet though. Maybe this was a low point of their output.edit: I recently saw Artists and Models and I found it a lot more enjoyable but it might have been due to director Frank Tashlin and his background in animation and making a lot of the gags very cartoon-like.
Movie comment on Lazybones
essaywhu
The storyline to this film is so odd but the beautiful photography and the emotion captured in it is so affecting. I loved it.Movie comment on Blackbeard's Ghost
essaywhu
I have a lot of nostalgia for this film for some reason and watched it repeatedly while I was growing up. It is goofy as hell and the storyline is some of the most insane nonsense I have ever seen outside of Teen Wolf. And on top of all that, Blackbeard is played by Peter Ustinov!? How did this film ever get made? Some stars must have been aligned the day this was given the green light. I am glad it did though. As an adult, this is comfort food for me and brings me back to a simpler time.Also, this film and another Disney film, The Ugly Dachshund, is what started my lifelong obsession with Suzanne Pleshette. She was so beautiful in these films that I would watch them just for her.
Movie comment on Inland Empire
essaywhu
For everyone saying there is no meaning to this film... What are you, crazy? Of course there is meaning to the film. Why would someone spend years making a film with no meaning? Just for laughs? I could possibly see someone doing something for a day or two that had no real meaning but to work on a three hour feature for months or years? No. That would get old pretty quickly.Movie comment on The Birds
essaywhu
I think it is totally hilarious that there are so many people complaining in the comments section about one of Hitchcock's masterpieces. For one thing, I see one of the lists that the film is in is Akira Kurosawa's top 100 films. Do you people honestly think you know more about film than Kurosawa? I promise you, you don't.Movie comment on Stories We Tell
essaywhu
For me the biggest reveal wasThis is one of my favorite films of 2013 and I have been impressed with Polley ever since I saw her feature directorial debut, Away From Her. I still haven't seen Take This Waltz, but now I will have to seek it out. I have read a brief plot summary of it and it seems like maybe she got the inspiration for TTW from her personal journey documented in this film.
Toplist comment on Alfred Hitchcock Complete Filmography
essaywhu
I've basically finished this list. The only things on it I cannot find are Mary (which is really the same film as Murder! but in German) and the two short films, The Fighting Generation and Watchtower Over Tomorrow, which I cannot find anywhere. Maybe they'll end up as special features on a disc somewhere someday, but for now, I've hit a brick wall on these three.I had so much fun going through this list in chronological order as I was able to watch Hitch develop over his lengthy career. I also watched all the TV episodes that he directed as well. This was the first time I had ever gone through a director's filmography in order and it was so interesting, I have decided to do the same for Orson Welles.
Movie comment on Fa yeung nin wah
essaywhu
My personal favorite film and it has been since I first saw about seven years ago. This is where I sat up and realized the potential and possibilities of film as something that could be artistic and meaningful. After I saw this, it kickstarted my craze over film. Collecting and watching films (at home and in the theater) has become my greatest passion. It opened so many doors for me and I have discovered so many gems. There are certain films where, if I just see a still from the movie, I get overwhelmed with feelings and remembrances. This is one of them for me.Movie comment on Community
essaywhu
The first three seasons are great. Season four was completely forgettable. Hopefully, they can turn that back around now that Dan Harmon has been hired back. It is a little sad that they've lost two of the main cast though.edit: Season 5 was ok. It wasn't as good as 1-3 and certainly not as bad as 4. I miss the cast they've lost but I am happy that the show got picked up for a 6th season after being canceled.
Movie comment on Nosferatu: Phantom der Nacht
essaywhu
I don't understand people that label a film as being "crap." To look at something, that a group of artists and technicians have poured months or possibly even years of their lives into, and then just label it as "crap" and then dismiss it entirely with such self-righteousness, seems so crazy to me (not to mention extremely lazy film criticism.) There are plenty of films that I do not enjoy or just downright loathe but I understand that they just weren't made for me. I recently watched The Phantom Menace and did not enjoy it and saw many problems with the film but I could still see how someone else could have a good time with it.Movie comment on Star Wars: Episode I - The Phantom Menace
essaywhu
I remember seeing this in theaters and being so excited to be there. I think I was 15. I loved it.Then, I went to see it again and then I started to be worried. I went for a third time and fell asleep.
I just saw it for the first time since I was in high school and time has not been good to this film. The CG looks pretty terrible. The acting is wooden and all the comedy relief falls flat. The script is terrible and often the plot is nonsensical. It seems like they just wanted to get you from one set-piece to another, logic be damned.
This movie wasn't made for me at the age I am now. I think I would appreciate it if I was a very young child though.
Movie comment on Suzumiya Haruhi no shôshitsu
essaywhu
This made strides towards redemption for the series after the extremely frustrating second season. I am actually glad that they used a feature film format rather than a series. It simply seems to work better in this case, in my opinion. I hope to see some more Haruhi someday.Movie comment on Dracula
essaywhu
I feel like this early horror film is so hugely influential and so many films have repeated parts of its formula that it can be hard to truly evaluate its merits today. Bela Lugosi is great and so are a lot of the sets and the mood that the film generates. It has eerie-ness down pat. Oh, and I really liked the over-the-top Renfield.I do have some complaints however. Because this is such an early sound film, the sound design is pretty terrible. There are extended moments of complete silence that could have been filled with some kind of musical scoring or sound effects. The moments I am thinking of stand out because it feels like something is missing. They lessen the impact for me.
To back up what other users are saying: Nosferatu is the much better version of the Dracula story.
Movie comment on The Texas Chain Saw Massacre
essaywhu
A true Horror masterpiece! This is still one of the scariest films I have ever seen. The only trouble is that this film basically created a new genre in Horror that spawned so many imitators that it can be hard to see what made it so special today as so many aspects of the film have become tropes. If you go into the film with the mindset is that it is 1974 and you have never seen anything like it before, then you will have a much better time.Showing items 201 – 225 of 247