Future Classics - Page 3

I have a feeling Spartan will get remembered. It's not a cinematic revolution, like say... The Dark Knight, but you know. It'll show up on TNT Classics or people's Netflix recommendations. And really, is there a higher honor?

SpArTan? U guYZ mEAn 300 rIght? LOLOLOLOL

Maybe I missed it, but has nobody mentioned Lord of the Rings? This is an interesting case to me. When they were brand new, they were considered shoo-ins for "future classic" status, but I'm not so sure. Leaving aside my personal feelings (I think there are too many instances of bloat and self-indulgence), I just don't see future generations getting on their knees to pleasure these films the way the current generation has. Or maybe I just can't leave aside my personal feelings.

Now, are we talking about future generations of film geeks like ourselves, who go out of their way to seek out great cinema of the past? Or are we talking the general public? Because that nets us different results. I think future film geeks are going to be all over The Assassination of Jesse James By the Coward Robert Ford (Yeah, I typed the whole fuckin' thing! Make somethin' of it). But I don't see it being widely discovered.

If there's any justice, Forrest Gump and Titanic will eventually be recognized as naked emperors. But there is no justice, so that won't happen, and people will be admiring those clothes for generations to come.

In terms of general public:
Ocean's 11
The Bourne Identity
Rocky Balboa
Pirates of the Caribbean?

In terms of quality:
Brick
Pan's Labyrinth
Collateral
There will be Blood
Jesse James
No Country for Old Men

Actually, I thought about that as well, but then I noticed that Fellowship is already on that list of the 1000 greatest films that Dellamorte posted. Personally, I think all three of them deserve to be considered as future classics, but if I had to pick just one, Fellowship is it.

And I think Chris Meyers is right about Pirates of the Caribbean (at least the first one) being considered a classic by the general public, and I also think it deserves to be.

Well then let's wish really hard, because that movie deserves all the love it can get. It's one of those rare comedies that just seems to get funnier every single time I watch it.

Triple yes.

ETA: With regards to Spartan, that yes is tripled.

I've never been able to wrap my brain around all the fondness for the "it's ok" UNITED 93. Beside the obvious sentimental angle. No wheels being reinvented there.

Frankly the only way it will deserve any credit in the future is as part of a forced double feature with the criminally underappreciated THE INCIDENT. As if only to say what Hopkins' Nixon acutely observed - "When they look at you, they see what they want to be. When they look at me, they see what they are."

Too soon?


p.s. ...and I'm really going to earn some enmity for this one...While AMELIE is a great film, it has the distinct honor of owing the preposterously disproportionate response it received in the US to the September 11th attacks. Without something emasculating folks usual desire for mindless action/death spectacles for the short spell the attacks did, there would be no fertile ground for such exposure to have taken root. Not on the scale it did. For me, it's like Two-Face called it. Luck! Blind, stupid, simple, doo-dah, clueless luck! (Well, one Two-Face at least)

I mentioned it in the first few posts of the first page. I love LOTR. Fellowship over all of them, but they are all classics. I'm not a fanboy, but I think the films are on a completely different level than most films out during this decade.

A quick thing that I thought may be tangentially related to this thread: On Roger Ebert's blog, he posted a new article called "The Effect of Effects." Very interesting stuff. This was in the comments section:

I think this decade has a fair share of great re-releases too, like Killer of Sheep and Army of Shadows that have already been classics in some circles for decades now. Were CHUD to do an end of the decade piece, I'm sure they could find room for an appendix of re-releases.

Also, I'd like to add some to that list I made on the last page that haven't been mentioned yet: Everything is Illuminated, The Motorcycle Diaries, Amores Perros, The Green Butchers (was I the only one who found this hillarious?), Bloody Sunday, Grizzly Man, Murderball, Good Bye Lenin!, and the 25th Hour - which you people should be ashamed of yourselves for not remembering by now.

There was a thread similar to this that mentioned Tideland, Angel-A, and Mirrormask. I regret to inform the individuals who named these films that they were in fact quite mistaken.

I AM ashamed. Motorcycle Diaries is so good, and is pretty much solely responsible for my man crush on Gael Garcia Bernal. Also, Grizzly Man and Murderball are pure greatness. Can't believe I didn't think about any of those. I'm going to go flog myself with a copy of Norbit as penance.

The Masterpiece AKA The Dark Knight.

Stop that.

Rotton Tomatoes is running a 'best reviewed movies of the past 10 years' thing, and I think half of them are Pixar movies. I'm thinking just about every single Pixar film so far, with the exception of Bug's Life, Monsters Inc, and Cars will make the list in the future.

Also, Iron Giant was the third best reveiwed film of 1999. Does that bode well for its chances, or is it still too unknown. In the end public opinion really does decide what films make these lists because critics usually reflect public opinion in the end (and by 'in the end' I mean a decade or so later most of them change their minds).

Monsters INC. is one of my favorite Pixar films, so hopefully it can get into that canon of future classics. And as for Iron Giant... I still tear up every time I see that film. In terms of audience, it's near criminal that many people haven't seen it. In my opinion it's a classic.

I always wondered why animated movies aren't included amongst the more prestigious "best of" lists. Total BS that they seperate the animated from the live action. It's a medium of film, not a seperate form of entertainment. (End rant.)

I'm a big fan of Moster's INC too, but it seems to me that opening between the studio's greatest critical success (Toy Story 2) and its greatest monetary success (Finding Nemo), along with losing the first Animated Feature Oscar to Shrek (which better fucking not ever make one of these lists) has set it back a bit in both public and critical minds.

I can see that. And when it comes to Toy Story, I much prefer the original to the sequel.

Really? Toy Story 2 is probably one of my top 20 all time favs. Not to shit on the original though, that one's still amazing too.

That list of the 1000 greatest movies did include Spirited Away and My Neighbor Totoro, thought I can't remember if any other animated films made the cut. Probably a few Disney films (Pinocchio might have, but I don't recall).

I agree with you guys that pretty much any of the Pixar flicks should make the future lists, as should Iron Giant. I'm trying to think of other animated films that could be considered, but I'm drawing a blank.

I've always seemed to be in the minority when it comes to that opinion, and I think that I saw Toy Story at exactly the right age, and it has a certain charm to it that I just didn't feel with the second. And that's not to put the second down at all either, because I think it's a great movie, but I always seem to gravitate towards the original.

I can't pick between the Toy Storys. They're in or near my top twenty too and I just tie them.

I think time will be kind to The Iron Giant, but whether it'll ever become more than a cult classic I don't know. I do know that it's a DVD I've been trying to float around to friends and there's not a ton of interest sadly.

With Iron Giant my experiance has been once I get someone to watch it, they fall in love with it. It always seems to hit guys harder than the girls I've shown it to, which is a nice turn around and something they don't usually expect because it's animated. I guess it's also worth mentioning that most of the people I know still consider animation that isn't on Adult Swim strictly for kids.

I watched Toy Story 2 and started laughing at the Sarah McLachlan song scene because I thought it was so over the top and sappy.

Then I noticed my friends trying to kill me with their glares.

So yeah, while I like 2, I think Toy Story is superior.

Its going back about 20 or 25 years, but When The Wind Blows is amazing.

My 1st response was to mention the 2006 trio of hopeful fables:
PAN'S LABYRINTH
THE FOUNTAIN
CHILDREN OF MEN

And then I started thinking of the best of '07 (you know which ones)... The tide certainly turned to nihilism and pessimism real quick didn't it? That's a discussion in an of itself.

I'd love LAYER CAKE to be regarded as a cult classic in the vein of GET CARTER.

Anyone saying ZODIAC's not a classic is utterly wrong.

And if we're talking up BRICK as a classic (and rightfully so), KISS KISS BANG BANG deserves its day in court as well.

I see where you're coming from, Spike. I just reckon it's about as obscure as half the other stuff that's being talked about here. It's about as high-profile as BRICK or THE ASSASSINATION OF JESSE JAMES, for instance.

Damn right Zodiac should be remembered as a classic...but it won't be. Too many people are still way too impressed with Fincher's other (weaker) films to be objective about Zodiac. People wanted Seven or Fight Club and they got a thoughtful little movie about a serial killer.

I agree with Brick but I still think Kiss Kiss is way overrated. Funny? Sure. Not much else going on there. I don't think it's the wonderful deconstruction that people said it was. Hot Fuzz did a better job in that vein.

Zodiac's going to be a classic. If only because it's been the focus of every page of this thread. You people need not worry.

You preach the "obscurity" of ZODIAC, then follow with... THE WIND THAT SHAKES THE BARLEY???

If you say so.



I'd like IN BRUGES, THE MIST, and KING OF KONG to be fondly remembered.

Murderball.

It's well regarded in film cirlces (rightfully so), but the general populace either ignored it outright or doesn't seem to get it. Granted, lots of little seen movies or initial failures eventually get recognized as classics, but I don't think Zodiac is going to be one of them. It absolutely SHOULD be, but I don't think it will. I don't think it will ever register highly enough in the public conciousness to make the cut. I'd love to be wrong about that.

RE: The Iron Giant, people have been trying to make that one a classic-in-waiting for the better part of a decade, but it just hasn't happened yet. Harry Knowles (yeah, I know) once proclaimed that it would find its audience in cable showings and become a beloved family classic, but almost ten years after the movie was released it hasn't happened. Higher profile animated films (Miyzaki/Ghibli and Pixar) will overshadow it on various lists. Not saying it doesn't get critical love, but almost a decade later it still hasn't found it's audience.

But aren't we the types who create these lists, anyway? If anything, it'll make some kind of 'Best of' list, if not the one compiled by the general movie-going public, then by the one compiled from film critics.

And keeping in-line with the thread - I'd like to see Castle in the Sky as one of the Miyazaki flicks that'll be considered classic. It's the first Ghibli film I ever saw, and I've been in love with it, and the studio, ever since.

I think MAN ON FIRE is going to have a very long shelf life. It's one of those movies that had a weird discrepency between how critics reviewed it (poorly) and how many average filmgoers seemed to embrace it as a serious, emotionally charged revenge drama. It seemed to me anyway, to gain more in popularity after it's initial release. On Youtube, there are loads of fan videos and fanmade trailers dedicated to the film, so it has a fanbase. It's Tony Scott's most emotionally visceral film by far (which might explain the appeal), and it's got an iconic star in the lead, which helps it cause. I think the public is keeping this one alive at the moment, but I can see critics changing their opinion of it down the line.

I also think Tony Scott is one of those chronically critically disrespected genre directors who some future critics will try and "rehabilitate" as a great genre auteur (this sort of thing often happens), and retroactively claim a few of his films to be genre masterpieces. MAN ON FIRE would be high up on the list if a retroactive critical re-evaluation of Tony Scott becomes in vogue.

I don't know about that. I absolutely love the movie, but I really can't say that it'll ever be looked upon as a classic. Maybe in the same vain that we regard Lethal Weapon or Die Hard as classics, but are those really classics? Sure, we and many others love them, but they're not really looked at by the general public as great movies, just great "popcorn" movies. Whether or not they deserve such a distinction is debatable, but it's rare when an action/revenge/whatever movie is considered more than great for an action movie by everyone. First Blood might be there. Maybe Dirty Harry. But there are only so many that are that well regarded. I'm not saying that it's fair, but that's just how it is unfortunately.

Regardless, I love the movie at least, and I already consider it a classic, but I think the same thing about Zodiac, and you guys have already discussed to death how that might never get the recognition it deserves.

Lethal Weapon and Die Hard are both classics. Man On Fire is not.

Well, yeah, perhaps those weren't the best examples. But I agree with Holistic about the quality of Man on Fire, but it doesn't have the makings of a movie that will become recognized outside of its target audience.

Narc ought to be on this list, without a fucking question. Joe's directorial debut is searingly stunning and one of the best cop films of the last few decades.

Jason Patric puts in a relatively amazing performance, not mention Liotta. And of course, Busta Rhymes makes a great cameo. I shouldn't even need to explain this flick. If you haven't seen it, go watch the shit out of it.

When the day comes that sees Tony Scott being looked at as a great, unfairly-maligned director, that is the day that all life on Earth will mysteriously and unaccountably cease. Just so you know, that will be me, striking out from beyond the grave to punish mankind for its abject stupidity.

Not sure it's aging well. Kind of falls apart in the end. And some of the casting choices are questionable. Feel the same way about TRAINING DAY.

Can't believe Hustle and Flow hasn't been mentioned. It always reminds me of Rocky(think about it) but with hop instead of boxing. It even has the same ending where the protagonist doesn't fully succeed, but is better off than before.

And Terrence Howard is just on fire.