Visually, your favourite films

Chronos. As good as Baraka and Samsara are, Ron Fricke's Chronos gets me excited every time I see it. Best viewed in an IMAX theater. If you can't, see it on the biggest screen you can, with the best sound system you can.

I first saw this at the Boston Museum Of Science IMAX theater. It's struck me so deeply that I had to wipe tears from my eyes - of joy. When I see a film that is so well made, I have to share it. So I went back again and again with different people. I've never seen a film that has a soundtrack so well done to express emotion, perfectly, with the images. The profundity of some of the scenes, the sequencing. Just draw dropping.

It's never says "isn't this pretty?" It bellows you to LOOK. Look at this art, even if you don't give a damn about art. You have no choice. That's what I love about it.

Music by Micael Stearns.

Goosebumps guaranteed.

And for Pete's sake, don't watch it on YouTube. You'll be completely missing the point.

 

Metropolis

 

The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari

 

9

 

- L'Année dernière à Marienbad (Alain Resnais)
- Stalker (Andrey Tarkovsky)
- 2001 - A Space Odyssey
- Blade runner
- Matrix
- Play Time (Jacques Tati)
- THX1138
- Brazil (Terry Gilliam)
- The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (Terry Gilliam)
- Sleepy Hollow (Tim Burton)
- Fitzcarraldo (Werner Herzog)

 

House of the Devil, Black Dynamite

 

Paris, Texas

 

Michael Mann's Manhunter has to be at the top of the list for me, followed by Kubrick's The Shining, and Oliver Stone's JFK.

 

I had forgotten that movie, since it was remade. The Iron Butterfly sequence at the end is great and visually wonderful.

 

Mine are really pretty mainstream choices:

2001: A Space Odyssey
Tree of Life
The Fountain
Manhattan
Vertigo
Lilo and Stitch*
Blade Runner
The Empire Strikes Back
Requiem for a Dream
The Princess and the Frog




*In a deviation from several decades' worth of Disney features, Sanders and DeBlois chose to use watercolor painted backgrounds for Lilo & Stitch, as opposed to the traditional gouache technique. While watercolors had been used for the early Disney animated shorts, as well as early Disney features, the technique had been largely abandoned by the mid-1940s in favor of less complicated media such as gouache.

Sanders preferred that watercolors be used for Lilo & Stitch to evoke both the bright look of a storybook and the art direction of Dumbo. The character designs were based around Sanders's personal drawing style, eschewing the traditional Disney house style. The film's extraterrestrial elements, such as the spaceships, were designed to resemble marine life, such as whales and crabs.

 

Days of Heaven
The Tree of Life
Paris, Texas
Baraka
2001
Drive
Her
Upstream Color

 

Escape from New York
Mary Poppins
What Dreams May Come
Zodiac
The Illusionist (2010)
Oliver!
The NeverEnding Story
Perfume
Trick 'r Treat
Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory
Sleepy Hollow
Silent Running
Duel

 

This. +1

 

Some (or all) have been named already:

Amélie
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Metropolis
Vertigo
What Dreams May Come

 

seconding Collateral. Even Blackhat has some beautiful shots.. there's something really appealing about Michael Mann's visual style, the atmosphere that he creates. Some others:

The Master - great-looking film, and the soundtrack is lovely, not as overbearing as There Will be Blood
Tekkonkinreet - an anime favorite, it features a few different graphic styles, but the primary one is visually appealing.
Norwegian Wood (2010)
Casino (1995)

There are others, but I'm drawing a blank

 

Neill Blomkamp has some great-looking visual effects in his movies. While I didn't care much for Elysium, there are some great sequences w/close-proximity action.. the explosives/weapon effects are excellent, there's a convincing/physical look to many of the mechanical/robotic elements in the movie, as well as those in District 9 and Chappie.

 

Days Of Heaven

Heaven's Gate

Andrei Rublev

Barry Lyndon

 

Oh yeah - for sure!

 

THE KILLING. Also GROSSE FREIHEIT NR. 7:

 

I'm not too familiar with the film industry. I imagine that those people responsible for the look of a film varies greatly from film to film.

Generally speaking though, can anyone knowledgeable, offer which roles typically have the strongest impact on the look, and in what percentage?

Director
Cinematographer
Art Director
Production Designer
Costume Designer
Lighting Designer
Casting

Others?

Thanks.

 

'Rear Window' by Alfred Hitchcock, 1954
'Mon Oncle' by Jacques Tati, 1958
'Death In Venice' by Luchino Visconti, 1971
'Aguirre' by Werner Herzog, 1972
'3 Women' by Robert Altman, 1977
'Suspiria' by Dario Argento, 1977
'La Reine Margot' by Patrice Chéreau, 1994

 

"Heaven's Gate" has been mentioned, and I second that as a reference work of great color visuals.
For B/W, I add to the other choices: "The Turin Horse" by Bela Tarr.
A master class in cinematography, particularly in the use of discreet indoor lighting to augment existing light.
Fred Kelemen was the DP.

 

Any Stanley Kubrick film basically. But let's go with 2001: A Space Odyssey. More than the others that one revolutionized images into a new type of cinema.

 

One of the more eye-opening Bu-ray experiences I've had was watching Road Warrior [Mad Max II] on Blu-ray. Despite a couple dozen viewings including the theater, I don't think I'd ever seen this movie in its true aspect ratio before.

It was startling to see how well this all-out action film was, well, filmed. The shots are beautiful, carefully framed and composed. The movie's always been a personal favorite but I would not have told you that it was a "beautiful" film until I saw the Blu-ray.