Favorite Movies By Genre
Submitted by grandpa_chum on Tue, 11/09/2004 - 10:05
Tags:
- Gangster: Once Upon A Time In America
- Comedy, Light: A Guide For The Married Man
- Comedy, Dark: Dr. Strangelove
- American Western: Ride The High Country
- Euro-Western: Once Upon A Time In The West
- Adventure: Lawrence Of Arabia
- Sci-Fi: The Thing(1982)
- Horror, Natural: Psycho
- Horror, Supernatural: The Fog
- Horror, Vampire: John Carpenter's Vampires
- Horror, Zombie: Day Of The Dead
- Social Criticism: Network
- War: Once Upon A Time... The Revolution
- Anti-War: Paths Of Glory
- Crime: Bring Me The Head Of Alfredo Garcia
- Film-Noir: Touch Of Evil
- Cop: Dirty Harry
- Musical: Blues Brothers
- Semi-Fictional Biography: A.Citizen Kane B.Rocky
- True Story: Rudy
- Action: Companeros
- Suspense: The Shining
- Tear Jerker: Adventure
- Road Movie: Rain Man
- Holiday: Scrooge(1951)
- Sports: The Hustler
- Surreal: Stardust Memories
Author Comments:
added some genres and took some away from bertie's list I cloned... took em away if i didn't have a favorite...
I never thought of Manhattan as social commentary, although I guess it's a kind of snapshot of 70s Manhattanites. What do you see it commenting on, specifically?
not sure really... when i cloned the list there was a genre called "social criticism"... decided to keep it but liked the ring to social commentary better... i can't really say what precisely it's commenting on, i just see most, if not all, Woody Allen films as kind of making fun of society and the way we do things... it's just his sort of comedy, and manhattan is my favorite of his so far.
I mean correct me if i'm wrong... i'm not declaring to know anything about social commentary in films, cause i don't... but don't most Woody Allen films fit into this mini-genre? Not that 99% of films couldn't... i just think it represents the genre i know nothing about well enough.
Oh, I see what you mean. Now that I think about it, I guess it's the lack of social commentary in some of his later films that have made them less interesting. Plus, he's plagiarizing himself way too much. But I still think he could have one more great film in him.
not that he really needs to... but it's definitly in his cards... when and if that'll happen i'm not sure
I see you have altered some of my genres - and that's perfectly fine by me. If I may offer a friendly opinion: I think changing 'social criticism' to 'social commentary' weakens it somewhat; after all, as you admit, almost any movie could be considered social commentary. Criticism has more bite: you may not notice when your society is being commented upon, but you usually notice when it's being criticised.
That aside, I admire many of your movie choices (and not just those that are the same as mine). Others I find...well...quirky.
out of curiosity... which ones do you find quirky? And do you think Manhattan would qualify as a "social criticism"? and if you haven't seen that then woody allen films in general at least. If you do i may just change it... i guess i just had a hard time tying down a movie to such a strong term as Social Criticism... and your right... it is much stronger than commentary.
Okay, I'll tell you. But keep in mind that my finding a couple of your choices quirky is just as valid as your choice of them. So I'm not saying your choices aren't valid (with one exception which I'll mention below). First, They Live is not generally considered an excellent movie (6.5 / 10 at IMDb), nor even one of Carpenter's better movies. Second, Rope was an interesting experiment by the master of suspense, but few people would rank it among his most suspensful. Still, as I said, they are both valid choices.
Now to the choice which I find not valid. You have placed The Thing in the supernatural horror genre, but it doesn't belong there. It's sci-fi; there's nothing supernatural in it that I've noticed.
Manhatten does qualify as (mild) social criticism, being partly about the ease with which its characters change romantic partners.
Oh, and I meant to say before that I particularly admire your choice of Lawrence of Arabia for the adventure slot.
actually rope was sort of outdated and i just overlooked it when updating the list... at the time i had only seen psycho, rope, and a few other subpar Hitchcock films... rear window will replace it right now as a matter of fact...
i can see the quirkiness of a pick like they live... it's just a movie i love... and all three of my favorite carpenter films are on this list so...
I guess i just mis-genre'd the thing... it's a horror but i guess it's not supernatural... i just figured since it definitly wasn't natural it had to be supernatural... i'll pick another for that and bump the thing into the sci-fi pick.