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I own Children of Men and it might be my favorite flick.... top 10 at least.

I saw Valerian at the cinema, and I wouldn't say I loved it..... but I saw it.

 Easy E wrote:
I own Children of Men and it might be my favorite flick.... top 10 at least.

I saw Valerian at the cinema, and I wouldn't say I loved it..... but I saw it.

Valerian fits with the Avatar films in a genre of my own design: Pretty over Plot. Where your response to watching one is, "wow - that movie looked good."

 Easy E wrote:
I own Children of Men and it might be my favorite flick.... top 10 at least.

I saw Valerian at the cinema, and I wouldn't say I loved it..... but I saw it.

Yeah. But…you’re quite right on Children of Men.

But in the other thread you also said you don’t hate Jared Leto.

In this thread? Good Man.

Other thread? DIRTY BOY!

And now I don’t know if you need a skoosh from the water spray bottle or not.

Raise the Titanic. 1980.

One of those films which you avoid for years due to poor reviews, but eventually you end up watching it and wondering what the hell the reviewers were smoking.

The acting was about average for the time and the story is relying on the cold war of all things, but it does feel like an early hi-tech thriller that preceeded Firefox and The Hunt For The Red October. At times the vfx made me wonder if I was watching an early James Cameron movie. John Barry's score is pretty good too, heavy lifting us through any low points.

Some of the criticism has been aimed at the real physical state of the Titanic and it's location, and yet the wreak would not be discovered until 1985, five years after the film's release. Hindsight is a wonderful thing and Raise The Titanic does at least cover the dangers of deep sea exploration, and an all too similar tragedy we saw in the news not long ago...

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:

 Easy E wrote:
I own Children of Men and it might be my favorite flick.... top 10 at least.

I saw Valerian at the cinema, and I wouldn't say I loved it..... but I saw it.

Yeah. But…you’re quite right on Children of Men.

But in the other thread you also said you don’t hate Jared Leto.

In this thread? Good Man.

Other thread? DIRTY BOY!

And now I don’t know if you need a skoosh from the water spray bottle or not.

For his Crimes Against Humanity Good Deeds, Easy E is being nominated as the Inaugural Forum President of the Jared Leto Appreciation Society.

All in favor? Any opposed?

Aye!

Watership Down

Not as gruesome as I was led to believe.

Still pretty dark in places, though.


Watership Down is a classic story, timeless and hard hitting. Featuring cozy painted backgrounds and usually beautiful but sometimes hideous hand drawn animation, it’s a must see for any animation fan. The music is haunting in places and the voice acting is very British. Especially loved the opening scene and the black rabbit bits.

If you like Watership Down there is another film by the same team called "The Plague Dogs", which has a pair of dogs escape from a research laboratory and run off into the English countryside. First time I watched it I was getting all upset at how we treat animals, and half way through the RSPCA knocked on the door collecting. Thats another one for an episode of Strange But True...

SamusDrake wrote:
If you like Watership Down there is another film by the same team called "The Plague Dogs", which has a pair of dogs escape from a research laboratory and run off into the English countryside. First time I watched it I was getting all upset at how we treat animals, and half way through the RSPCA knocked on the door collecting. Thats another one for an episode of Strange But True...

Plague Dogs and Watership Down were also both written by Richard Adams. Depressing stories about animals appear to be his thing.

I vaguely recall seeing Watership Down as a kid, but I read both books many times, because depressing stories about animals were also my thing. Or depressing stories about anything else, for that matter... I have no idea how many times I read the Lord of the Flies in primary school. I don't think I had ever come across the movie of the Plague Dogs... might have to see if I can track it down.

Yeah whilst Watership Down gets a lot of press - Plague Dogs is one of those forgotten gems

Star Trek V, The Final Frontier

Yes, it’s an odd numbered Trek film, and so should be crap.

But I love it. After the hell the crew went through in the three previous movies, it’s nice to see them enjoying a bit of shore leave, and one another’s company.

Still not keen on Sybok being a hitherto undisclosed Spock Sibling, but as a villain he’s interesting. Because the man himself isn’t exactly villainous. Misguided and abusing his powers? Yes. But he genuinely believes in his mission. And had he been right, and it wasn’t some Hideous Monster but Actual Mr Goddington, he’d have been hailed as a hero, all sins forgiven.

The plot is also Very Star Trek, which I enjoy.

 Lathe Biosas wrote:


For his Crimes Against Humanity Good Deeds, Easy E is being nominated as the Inaugural Forum President of the Jared Leto Appreciation Society.

All in favor? Any opposed?

I would like to thank the little people for this honor. I will send you all a box of various objects that may or may not be a live rat, a dead pig, etc.

My mother will be so very proud!



Edit: British Cold War animation is very Not-Disney.... to put it lightly.

@warhead01: Title song of "All the way boys" just came on the radio.



Of Watership Down I watched parts, never seen Plague Dogs, but it sounds almost worse. How many of you watched Felidae? 1994 German animated film based on a 1989(?) book. It's basically a psychologial whodunit thriller with some horror elements (one scene that was burnt into my brain too. ). All characters are cats. I wasn't aware that it was a German production. Interesting. Anyway, interesting film to watch, and IIRC pretty well produced too.

I’ll add Felidae to my list.

I’ve heard the Plague Dogs might be too depressing. How does it compare to Watership Down?


So we’re now interested in watching the evolution of (mostly non-Disney) animation. What movies do you think are essential?

I’ve got Bakshi’s Hobbit, The Thief and the Cobbler, All Dogs Go to Heaven, Felidae (now), Fantastic Planet(?), Rock and Rule (maybe?), Kiki’s Delivery Service or another Ghibli, the old Fleisher Superman cartoons, and when my son’s older, Heavy Metal and Fritz the Cat. What am I missing?

We’re mostly looking for western animation, although we want to include Studio Ghibli and maaayyyybe Akira. If there is another classic of anime that is friendly to western mainstream sensibilities, I’m open to it.

Just include EVERYTHING Ghibli did - save Grave of Fireflies for last as its right up there with Watership and Plague dogs in being a gut-punch of sadness.


Also don't forget Land Before Time. Whilst its spawned a huge number of direct to dvd/tv sequel films the original film is still a landmark.
Also Fern Gully (only the original don't bother with the sequel) and Rats of Nimh are both must have includes in any animation collection.

If you wanted non-film based I'd throw in the early Defenders of the Earth cartoon episodes (if memory serves the longer the season went they at some point cheapened out on the quality); Conan the Barbarian; Pirates of Blackwater (sadly ended way too soon); Peter Pan and the Pirates; Animals of Farthing Wood (that's a long one)


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 BobtheInquisitor wrote:
. If there is another classic of anime that is friendly to western mainstream sensibilities, I’m open to it.

Ghost in the Shell and Akira are both amazing animated films. Both are more adult, but utterly awesome films. Heck Ghost includes a 7-10 min segment in the middle of the film that's fully silent storytelling and just a huge musical and animation score. Second film does the same though the story in the second is a bit weaker than the first; but still VERY well worth it.

And despite all the reboots/SAC series and such - nothing in the animated series that has followed has ever topped the original Ghost in the Shell film as a work of animation. Some of the SAC are more faithful to the original source material - but the original film is just a masterwork of animation.

I mean it's rather japanese, but (in my mind) a better film than Ghost in the Shell: Perfect Blue. Psycho-thriller about a member of an all girl pop group. Aronofsky bought the rights to that just to redo a bunch of scenes in his non-animated films.

I hear great things about Mars Express (as something newer). And Flow (the one with the cat on the boat).

As Overread said- everything by Ghibli. And if you only include one, I'd make it Princess Mononoke. Nothing against Kiki's Delivery Service. It rocks hard. But Princess Mononoke is just the grandest of them, I think. And it features so many typically Ghibli things.


Make sure to put The Last Unicorn on that list too. And Coraline. And Ernest & Celestine. That one rocks too. And Mary&Max. Maybe The Triplets of Belleville for something a bit different. Amazingly drawn and animated.




Automatically Appended Next Post:
Oh, and this:




voiced by the same guy who voiced Pingu. Apparently using a very similar 'language' too.

Cool World and Fern Gully?

 Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
Star Trek V, The Final Frontier

Yes, it’s an odd numbered Trek film, and so should be crap.

But I love it. After the hell the crew went through in the three previous movies, it’s nice to see them enjoying a bit of shore leave, and one another’s company.

Still not keen on Sybok being a hitherto undisclosed Spock Sibling, but as a villain he’s interesting. Because the man himself isn’t exactly villainous. Misguided and abusing his powers? Yes. But he genuinely believes in his mission. And had he been right, and it wasn’t some Hideous Monster but Actual Mr Goddington, he’d have been hailed as a hero, all sins forgiven.

The plot is also Very Star Trek, which I enjoy.

LOVE. THIS. MOVIE.

"I am well versed in the classics, Doctor."

"Oh yeah? Then how come you don't know row-row-row-your-boat?"

Perfect Blue is absolutely a stand out film. It's a credited inspiration for Black Swan.

The Plague Dogs is rather depressing, and just as good as Watership Down.

I remember in primary school, we watched Watership Down in the assembly hall before breaking up for Easter and...omg...they even invited the infant class to the ordeal!! Bloody traumatized them all for life!

Might as well have sent them to Klendathu to fight the friggin bugs!

Even funnier, a few years later, we got to watch Black Adder episodes with our science teacher before breaking up for Summer and that was brill. But next door was the younger kids that were "first year", just left primary school, and they were treated to Jurassic Park, and then allowed - comically - to "go play outside" and we were there - in true Jeremy Clarkson poses - to royally take the piss out of them as they faithfully reenacted scenes from the film...

"Awwwwwwwwww are you playing Jurassic Park? Ha-haaaaa! Yeah, don't you guys think it's pathe...wait, what? WTF ARE YOU DOING?? GET BACK HERE YOU ****ING IDIOT!!!!"

...lets just say that someone had to play the T-Rex and I answered the call!

When The Wind Blows is another horror fest for kids.

Who’d have thought the writer of Fungus the Bogeyman and Father Christmas’ Holiday could turn out something so dark.

I’ve added Fern Gully and Ghost in the Shell. By The Rats of Nimh, do you mean The Secret of NIMH, or is that a sequel?

We’ll likely get through all the Ghibli and most of the Don Bluth movies because my wife enjoys those. Most of the rest we’ll probably watch while she is in choir.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Also adding Flow, Perfect Blue, Coraline and Linea. Thanks for all the suggestions. The Last Unicorn is one we were thinking of reading the book first, but maybe we’ll just go with the cartoon.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Easy E wrote:
Cool World and Fern Gully?

Is Cool World good? I remember it had a cool trailer…
Was Monkeybone a Cool World type of film?

Yah I mean The Secret of Nimh - Rats of Nimh is the book I believe which is why I mix them up.

Ohh and another - Who Framed Roger Rabbit!

We’ve seen both of those. Both are great.

We even watched Anchors Aweigh, the earliest “Roger Rabbit”

The Secret of NiMH is awesome. Love that film.

The Time Masters is another one that messed with my head as a kid, when it was shown on...Channel 4? Or was it BBC2? Urggghhh...can't remember.

Bakshi's American Pop is bloody brilliant. Its thanks to that film that I walked into a music shop last year and asked for a Harmonica, only to be one year later still struggling to play Blazing Saddles...

Who Framed Roger Rabbit is still one of the most insane pieces of traditional animation ever put together. It broke basically every "rule" of producing mixed medium media that existed at the time and had been laid down in stuff like Mary Poppins and Song of the South.

Moving camera shots, fluctuating lighting. The scene of Roger cuffed to the detective where Roger hits the physical ceiling lamp and it starts swinging, meaning that every frame of animation needed a different lighting and was being drawn by hand. Incredibly impressive art.

There's an old miniseries called Red Planet. It's western sci fi animation, and definitely not Disney. Here's a link to its youtube, because I don't think it's streaming anywhere.

https://youtu.be/u5XWbLyOE3w?si=hCAvQFH1KpfbBEi6

And although it's much later, definitely get The Road to El Dorado.

Oh, and if you haven't already- Transformers The Movie. The one where Starscream (briefly) wins!

 A Town Called Malus wrote:
Who Framed Roger Rabbit is still one of the most insane pieces of traditional animation ever put together. It broke basically every "rule" of producing mixed medium media that existed at the time and had been laid down in stuff like Mary Poppins and Song of the South.

Moving camera shots, fluctuating lighting. The scene of Roger cuffed to the detective where Roger hits the physical ceiling lamp and it starts swinging, meaning that every frame of animation needed a different lighting and was being drawn by hand. Incredibly impressive art.

You should read the book the movie was based on. It's pretty wild too.

Oh and there's a sequel novel (haven't read it so I can only share my knowledge of its existence).

 Gitzbitah wrote:
There's an old miniseries called Red Planet. It's western sci fi animation, and definitely not Disney. Here's a link to its youtube, because I don't think it's streaming anywhere.

https://youtu.be/u5XWbLyOE3w?si=hCAvQFH1KpfbBEi6

And although it's much later, definitely get The Road to El Dorado.

Oh, and if you haven't already- Transformers The Movie. The one where Starscream (briefly) wins!

Yeah, many people like Road to El Dorado. Same with Anastasia, and the Treasure Planet is at least cited as interesting IIRC. I haven't seen either, so I can't comment.

Titan A.E. is another solid movie.