Film/TV that...

[ian.64]

....means a lot to you

A Matter Of Life And Death.

Because it's one of those rare works that causes me to go into mild philosophical thinking and feeling. It's a poem, really.

....could see over and over again

Choose any between Lawrence of Arabia, The Godfather 1 & 2, Amadeus, the aforementioned Powell/Pressberger masterpiece, Blade Runner and many, many more. A changeable list that threatens to be longer than it is.

....I'd avoid like the plague after one viewing

Machete

It reeks. There's many I could name, but this'll do for the moment.

....that almost makes me want to be creative

Spartacus and I, Claudius. I want to write like that. Take a bow, Dalton Trumbo and Jack Pulman.

[Sits]

Film/TV that...

This needs serious thought.

[Rogin the Armchair fan]

Film/TV that...

...means a lot to you

I can't explain why, but films where an anti-hero achieves redemption. The Fisher King, for example, or Field of Dreams. Léon: The Professional is probably my go-to Sunday afternoon film if I fancy a damned good manly sniff and wipe of the eyes on the back of my sleeve.

...could see over and over again

The Fast Show. Early Doors.

...I'd avoid like the plague after one viewing

Noel Fielding's Luxury Comedy.

...that almost makes me want to be creative

I wish Ridley Scott had let me re-write Prometheus for him, to take out all the shit bits. Okay, this would have been an almost total re-write.

[jason voorhees]

Film/TV that...

....means a lot to you

Babe.

It was the last movie I saw with my mother, and it was a movie that was tailormade for my animal-loving mom (who collected wind-up toy animals.)

....could see over and over again

Choose any between Mulholland Drive, The Godfather 1 & 2, Twilight Samurai, Seven Samurai, Rashomon, and Ugetsu. The latter Japanese films with those wailing screaming voices and banging gongs that sound like someone banging on a cookie sheet just send me to another place for the first time, meaning each time I see those films it's actually for the first time. Others are like well-worn comfortable operas.

....I'd avoid like the plague after one viewing

My eternal Film Festival of Hell, the movies that will be playing on an endless loop when I am sent to Hell...(the same ones I've been banging on for 12 years now...)

Last Days of Disco (amongst any and all Whit Stillman film,) Road to Perdition, Gummo, Made of Honor, and luckily I've forgotten 1 or 2 more.

....that almost makes me want to be creative

The thing is, that's always why I've watched Doc Who. It really sparks my imagination. But Miami Blues made me want to move to Miami to partake in Miami prostitution and/or marriage to Jennifer Jason Leigh, which would have required a lot of creative thinking. I'll have to think of others.

[Amor de Cosmos]

Film/TV that...

....means a lot to you

Miracle of Morgan's Creek

Because it showed me my parent's world wasn't anything like I'd thought. No one got carelessly pregnant out of wedlock in the 40s, especially not in such a gut-splitting comedy.

....could see over and over again

The Maltese Falcon

There are others, but The Black Bird always delivers. I don't think any English speaking film has been so perfectly written or cast.

....I'd avoid like the plague after one viewing

A Man and a Woman

An extended commercial for Ford Mustangs. Shot with the kind of graininess that screams "fag-end of the New Wave," and imbued with all the import of a Sunday Times colour supplement.

....that almost makes me want to be creative

Alphaville

The first Godard I saw. "I could do that... I really could." I thought when I was 17. I was probably wrong, but the assumption persisted. Now it's probably too late to find out.

[Sam]

Film/TV that...

....means a lot to you

The Sting, because I never knew my dad's mum (we met, and indeed had our photo taken together, when I was a few weeks old; she died following a stroke a few months later), but saw The Sting when I was at university. I absolutely loved it (still do), and on returning home for a holiday I bought it on DVD. When I got home with it my dad informed me it had been my grandma's favourite film.

....could see over and over again

The Maltese Falcon

I'm seconding Amor on this one, and I only saw it for the first time a few weeks ago. It really is a superb film in absolutely every way.

Also The Third Man, Arrested Development, Seinfeld (a show I'd never seen so much as a second of before I moved to Argentina) and The Wire. None of these are particularly original choices, I realise.

....I'd avoid like the plague after one viewing

I can't really think of anything that fits this category, mostly because I actually rather enjoy truly dreadfully written film and television (see my nascent @KellyOnFilm Twitter account, neglected since the World Cup began, for proof). But The Blair Witch Project is the outstanding candidate for the worst thing I've ever seen, and which I didn't even enjoy.

....that almost makes me want to be creative

Law & Order: SVU. It's on TV right now. It's absolutely awful (see previous point). Bad acting, clunky scripts which bang the viewer over the head repeatedly with the moral of the story or even with the minor narrative point they're making. It is in so many ways the anti-Wire that I was surprised to learn some of the writers and actors overlap between the shows.

It makes me want to be creative precisely because it's a brilliant example of how not to do scriptwriting, and yet it's been wildly successful.

[Sits]

Film/TV that...

....means a lot to you

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. Every time I watch it I become incredibly invested in all the characters, and even though they're not real, I worry for them. It's so beautifully made; there are little things that are etched on the subconscious: the look on Danny DeVito's face when McMurphy borrows/steals the fishing boat; Harding's meltdown ("I'm talking about form! I'm talking about context!"). And the "Ah, Juicy Fruit" moment gets me every time. The relationship between McMurphy and Chief Bromden must be one of the finest created in a movie.

This could fit equally well in the next category.

....could see over and over again

The Big Lebowski and O Brother, Where Art Thou? My favourite Cohen Brothers (Fargo is close, and fantastic, but doesn't have quite the same hold). Every time I watch there's a little something I've missed before, a line somewhere, something one of the great ensembles does or says. And in OBWAT, spotting bits of TheOdyssey.

On a more basic level, Shooting Stars.

....I'd avoid like the plague after one viewing

Actually it wasn't a full viewing as the DVD was removed from the machine after about 20 minutes: Dr. T and the Women. A horrendous Richard Gere vehicle, which I only remember as a muddled mess of overlapping, crap dialogue delivered self-consciously by too many cast members.

....that almost makes me want to be creative

Funny Ian mentioned I, Claudius. This and other "ancient" stuff are in an area of personal interest so that resonates. If they're good, like the above, they're inspiring. If they're garbage, like... well there are plenty, I think "I wouldn't have done it like that" etc. Not that I ever would of course.

Great thread.