films that have influenced you.

Hi everbody,

I thought it might be interesting to have a thread in which we share movies which have influenced us in our film-making methods and styles. I know that I have discovered many inspirational (albeit very obscure) films, strictly upon the recommendation of a friend.

So feel free to post the title of the films, along with a few notes about why it inspired you.

(note: try to stay away from really common films: LOTR, the MATRIX, STAR WARS, and please don't give your top 10)

-Kol.

Here are some films that really affected me:

Vidocq: a French film (w/subtitles) about a detective during the French Revolution investigating a trio of murders and a mysterious creature with a glass mask. The film has a distinctive visual style, the fight scenes are absolutely amazing.

ghost Dog: a modern-day tale of an assassin following the ancient code of the Samurai. A very interesting concept, well-written dialogue and great visuals.

 

Orgazmo

It's a Trey Parker film about a Mormon missionary who becomes the world's most famous adult film star. Mix in the Mafia, a genius who brings to life the Orgazmorater gun (which shoots orgasm-inducing lasers), and an asian Sushi-bar owner named G-Fresh, and Hilarity Ensues(tm)!

 

Braveheart

Showed me that films can still have story, and a length that goes over expectations...also that it can touch you emotionally.

 

Off topic? I don't mean to bug or anything, but there have been A LOT of OT threads posted recently. This might be put into the category, worse even that you didn't put an "OT:" at the beginning. I believe there might be a better place to post this. I can see how you could relate this to at least films, but poo.. my 2 cents...

 

Casablanca

The greatest love story ever made acording to AFI, and I would probably say its close between that and Gone with the Wind. Casablanca has incredible character development, priceless dialogue, and an exotic locale.

The Maltese Falcon

Ever since we saw this, we have been trying to mimic the style of The Maltese Falcon as well as other film noirs like

Double Indemnity
Key Largo
The Big Sleep.

On the Waterfront

Beautifully acted, and written, On the Waterfront film was the prime basis for one of our most recent films.

Other influences in the crime category are

The Asphalt Jungle
High Sierra
Scarface (1932)

and many of the Cagney gangster films of the 30s like

White Heat
The Public Enemy
Angels with Dirty Faces


To Have and Have Not

Lauren Bacall's performance in this Howard Hawks film is one of the best performances ever given by an actress in my opinion.

Lawrence of Arabia
Doctor Zhivago
Ben-Hur
Gone with the Wind

I have always loved epics and have always longed to make one. These are my four favorties, and we try to occasionally use methods or elements from them.

Vertigo
North by Northwest
The Man who Knew Too Much
Dial M for Murder

These are our favorite Hitchcock films, and have influenced us so much with how we try to set moods and set up scenes for the ultimate impact.

As for action films . . .

The James Bond films
Indiana Jones

There are so many more. I can go on for days, but these are the most important obviously along with Star Wars.

 

As for serious, gloomy, detective stories:

Memento
LA Confidential
Mission: Impossible (the first one, not the crap sequel)

The heroic, adventurous, fun, dangerous stories:

Back to the Future Part I & II
Raiders of the Lost Ark
The Temple of Doom
Star Wars (of course)
Jurassic Park


I pretty much grew up on some of these movies, so they have had a real influence on my style.

 

I'd call this one on-topic, myself... filmmaking influences... could get some people to check out stuff they SHOULD see...

For me, it was THE WIZARD OF SPEED AND TIME, Mike Jittlov's effects and stop-motion epic, barely fictionalized from his experiences trying to break into the Hollywood system in the 1970s... filled with amazing pre-digital effects and some of the best stop-motion animation ever done, coupled with a witty and insightful script, this is one that *ANY* aspiring filmmaker should make a point to see...

My own TWOSAT website

TWOSAT at the IMDB

Fenn

 

The Beach (Yes the leonardo dicaprio movie)
The Blue lagoon - just cause okay
Edward scissorhands - A man whos so gentle and creative, yet involuntarily destructive??? Can't beat it.
Signs--The one that just came out...Its a pure masterpeice

Book: Catcher In The Rye

Video Game: Final Fantasy VII (otherwise known as just VII)


Krapitino : Thats the best movie!!! i remember seeing it late night on HBO a year or so ago...thats the best!! haha

 

As I said RealFennShysa (I apologize if forgot how to spell that), I can see how it would be on-topic, I just have a problem with the wording of it in a way. I myself would have instantly seen the on-topic-ness of a thread called "OT: Films that have influenced your productions or fan films."

I just feel that something influencing "you" is a bit broad. Once more, I don't mean to bug, I'm just in a really picky mood right now.

 

HELL YEAH ORGAZMO!!!!!!!!

Random guy: (frusterated) JESUS!
Mormon Missionary: WHERE!?!?!?!?!?!

LOL... That movie is CLASSIC.

Anyways, I'd say Clerks, Life as a House, Devil's Advocate, Lord of the Rings (i couldn't resist... how can a man think of those beautiful shots)...

Analyze This, Jaws, and A Bronx Tale

Cya
Mike

 

LOTR, THE MATRIX, AND STAR WARS!

Seriously though, I really did like PJ's style in LOTR. The camera is almost constantly moving and the shots are amazing. Other than that, I really liked Memento and Signs was also good as they were differently directed movies. And one of my all time favorites and it had a sort of "classic style" was A Beautiful Mind.

 

The Maltese Falcon - One of my favorites and certainly genre defining

M - Lang and Lorre created one of the most interestingly demented psychopaths

Apocalypse Now - One of the most beautiful and haunting films I've ever seen

The Game - Fincher's style is on full display here and the twists and turns kept me on the edge of my seat

Bottle Rocket - Wes Anderson and Owen Wilson wrote one of the most quirky and inventive scripts I've ever seen

Clerks - Kevin Smith wrote and directed a savagely witty and entertaining film

2001: A Space Odyssey - Simply beautiful.

Miller's Crossing - Characterization is everything

Reservoir Dogs/Pulp Fiction/Jackie Brown - Dialogue matters

Baraka - Dialogue doesn't matter

Citizen Kane - Try everything you can think of and don't take "no" for an answer


Obviously Star Wars, Indiana Jones, and LOTR are bound to have made an impression as well

 

Whoa!!! I just saw Baraka yesterday!!! GREAT cinematography... i was stunned...

THE CHICLETS... MY GOD THE CHICLETS!!!

(anyone who's seen Baraka knows what I mean)

Cya
Mike

 

Not a FILM film but most definitely A Question of Faith.

Also, I think I was the one person in the world that like Pitch Black for its cinematography. Vin Diesel is the man. Pitch black has such an interesting contrasting cinematography, the odd story doesnt matter.

~Neszis~

 

Ghostbusters - the perfect comedy.
the View Askew series - dialogue-heavy, stylized dialogue at that.

I'm sure there's more...



Rick McCallum loves you!

 

come on guys:

Citizen Kane (best movie in history)
and
Casablanca
and
Starwars - of course the movie that got me in to SFX.

 

Citizen Kane - What movie buff can not like this film, it is almost the perfect film.

The Rock - My favorite film of all time. It is a great mix of action and comedy, possibly the best 'hollywood' style film ever

The Killer/Hard Boiled - These are my poster films. I look to John Woo's style of gunplay and hope to take it to the next level one day in actual film. Both of these Chinese films are a Must See for anyone who loves action movies. I admire the way that John Woo was able to take the typical point gun shoot bad guy 1, bad guy 2, bad guy 3 ad infinitum and turn it into a delicate ballet of choreographed slow motion chaos! Absolutely briliant!

The Matrix - The style of this film makes me so jellous I could cry! It takes the principals that I wish to convey in film such as slow motion and the revolving camera (When I say this please DO NOT think of the 'bullet time effect' I am talking about the direction style of the Wachowskies not any specific effect).

Star Wars - I am going to say it here and now! I built my life upon the principals of Star Wars. I grew up with it and you will very rarely see me angry since I was always taught that nothing good comes of it. Also I will fight if I have reason to, just like Luke, he does his dubty and fights for good. None of this American Media crap I keep hearing 'Are you sure we should kill terrorists? Why are you sending them to military tribunals etc. etc. etc.'

 

Duality
Storm Ahead
Star Wars
Blue Crush
Pearl Harbor
Fast and the Furious
Sacriliage
Black Hawk Down

I've also been inspired by the enders game's books(their they best)

 

Ok, i'm going to add a few...

Dead Man on Campus-- for some reason, I can watch this movie over and over and never get board.

Can't Hardly wait-- it managed to have so many storylines and flowed so well together... it captures high school senior party life PERFECTLY.

Van Wilder-- just saw it last night on DVD and the menu flashed before my eyes (inside joke to anyone who's seen the DVD). The movie was also pretty good.

Citizen Kane-- because I'm supposed to say it. I wonder how many people who say this movie actually LIKE it, or no what it's about. Sure, it was good... but not mind blowing... that's right, I said it... I didn't like it the first time I saw it and haven't seen it since. My philosophy book mentioned it so I gave it a gander... ended up actually not thinking it was mind blowing... would halve made a better book...

Cya
Mike

 

Hmmm... I've only made 3 short films in the last 6 years... Fall of the Jedi (when it's finished, sometime this millenia) will be number 4... The films that most inspired my "style" would have to be:

"Brazil", "Dark City", "Pi" and "Jacob's Ladder" - they're just so interesting. I love the feel of these... A lot of the strange things I do are inspired by these films...

"Blade Runner" - the ultimate first person narative for me. Sci-Fi, with a heap of Film Noir style. But mostly because I love Ridley Scott's work...

Gotta mention "The Matrix"... Loved the style of the film - even if the story lacked a 3rd act - but I suppose "The Matrix Reloaded", and "The Matrix Revolutions" will fix that for me next year...

Finally, "Star Wars" of course... You can't have a thread like this and not expect EVERYONE to mention it...

 

Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back: Parody to beat all parodies, and pop culture to the extreme

Space Balls: same, but more geeky, and minus the culture

Jurassic Park, Indiana Jones and The Temple of Doom, and Back to the Future Part II: best adventure movies ever.

Signs: Best suspense this side of Hitchcock.

Book: Ender's Game (would be an awesome film!)

Bridge to Toko Ri and Black Hawk Down: capture the feeling of war. (spr is too obvious, for me, and its a little melodramatic.)

MI:2, Blade: Best action

DBZ movie 11, end of evangelion, who framed roger rabbit, Shrek: best animated films, PERIOD.

I could go on and on....

oh, and AI, for the saddest movie in existence.

 

Oh Yes, Dark City and PI... beautiful pieces of work. PI showed me that cinematic masturbation can actually be rewarding and Dark City has one of the best feels for a movie ever... man just so good.

Now I have to check out Jacob's Ladder and Brazil to see if they stack up to the rest.

 

Actually, every film I see influences me in a way. I think the films that really got my filmmaking thoughts going were the original Star Wars trilogy. From there I became interested in Harrison Ford and made a documentary on his life (i was like 8, but hey) and then from there I made some corn-a-licious horror flick (with titles like Terror on the Titanic, and Chaos in Colorado, how can you lose?) and then it just all shot off from there.

 

STRANGE BREW

TIME BANDITS

 

Hmm. For me, I guess it was three things.

My approach to visuals written into the writing often comes from Fight Club, but I'm starting to get away from that, given how prevalent it is these days. My dialogue comes stright from watching way too much by Aaron Sorkin, like A Few Good Men, West Wing, and so forth, while my writing style (the different layers I tend to use) were more influenced by J. Michael Straczyski's Babylon 5 work.