it always seems to me that when i read a wonderful book - and then see the movie, it is such a big letdown - except for maybe godfather I and a few others, perhaps The Notebook that comes to mind in the moment.
for instance, when i read The count of Monte Cristo, damn how i loved that book, it had everything of Life in it for me but when i saw the movie[s] what a letdown.
i suppose it is just because we can take ourselves to places within ourselves with a book that a movie cannot perhaps because it is someone else who is doing the leading - to be a movie that truly moves and creates chaos within us and allows us to question our own existence and place here, our own actions, and to mourn it and them, and then rise above it, we need an artist capable of creating that kind of chaos within himself and most often, well, where are they?
addendum - of course i realize that my thinking - at least in part - may be flawed here. but who knows?
The Fifth Element, Requiem for a dream, Pi, The Big Lebowski, Donnie Darko, The Gods Must Be Crazy, Princess Mononoke, everything by Miyazak, the Rocky Horror Picture Show, Pulp Fiction, A Clockwork Orange, Rob Zombie’s Halloween, the Song Remains the Same, Burn after reading, Until the Light Takes Us, Anvil! the Story of Anvil, Little miss sunshine, 12 monkeys, Journey to the Center of the Earth (1959), Lost Boys, the Village
Fantastic Planet
The Big Lebowski
Dr. Strangelove
Eraserhead
Psycho
The Birds
Notorious
The Maltese Falcon
The Man Who Knew Too Much (Both the '34 and '56 versions)
M (The original Fritz Lang German one)
Duck Soup
Monty Python’s the Holy Grail
The Discreet Charm of The Bourgeoisie
etc.
Wouldn’t even get in my top 5 Scorcese films. Plus it’s a remake, which kind of makes me disinclined to see it as “great”, however much fun it is to watch Nicholson and Wahlberg chew scenes.
Mal’s just about managed to save this thread with his list.
Even the Deep Blue Something song bearing the same name was written about a different Aubrey Hepburn movie, they just felt that, “Breakfast at Tiffany’s,” worked better in the refrain.
I’m pretty fond of trashy 50’s sci-fi, but I wouldn’t exactly put them up there for “greatest movie of all time”. Dawn of the Dead is prolly the best zombie movie of all time though, if that’s any good to you. The old one, not the terrible re-make.
A couple that have stuck with me since childhood are The Princess Bride, Labyrinth (LOVE David Bowie), and The Neverending Story.
Now is a bit harder. Let’s see. The Royal Tenenbaums, A Clockwork Orange, Pulp Fiction, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, Donnie Darko, Snatch, Pan’s Labyrinth, Superbad, August Rush, Reservoir Dogs, Reign Over Me, (Best in Show, A Mighty Wind, Waiting for Guffman), Stranger Than Fiction, Across The Universe, Sean of the Dead, The Fifth Element, Wristcutters/A Love Story, Drumline (ONLY because of the drumline sequences), Trainspotting, Edward Scissorhands, Cry Baby (not sure if that’s one word or two), etc. etc. etc.
My best movie is by far, and it pains me to see it listed as a “kids movie” earlier, The Princess Bride. It has everything I could ever want in a movie… Still watch it at least once a year if not many more depending on the year. Hell I even picked up the book, and I must say it was reather spectacular! lol