Forrest Gump...

Just for the sake of balance, and perhaps also to prevent me from ripping all my own hair out reading this thread, I have to say, by comfortable margin FORREST GUMP holds the distinction as the worst movie I've ever seen. It's saccharin pablum around a nougatty core of deeply offensive propaganda.

Hank's performance is embarrassing, but he can't automatically be personally faulted, at least beyond the decision to take the role in the first place. Using mental retardation as a metaphor for ANYTHING is galling, of course, but it's not inherently fatal to a work of art - OF MICE AND MEN works as a story; you might throw LA STRADA in there too - but the way GUMP actually exploits it as a virtuous ideal is sickening.

And when a movie is thematically vile, technical proficiency shouldn't necessarily mitigate our opinion of it. The classic example is BIRTH OF A NATION.
 
and the Wheels go round and round

round and round

round and round

round and round

FORREST GUMP holds the distinction as the worst movie I've ever seen
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I can't even take that comment seriously. I practically demand a TOP 25 from you. Worst film ever ?

Pffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffttttttttttttttttttttttttt !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
Forrest Gump is storytelling and filmmaking perfection. It has a great balance of drama and comedy, and it's also a film that inspires (one man can make a difference). When he's at Jenny's grave, at the end, and he's talking about their boy and says, "He's so smart, Jenny. You'd be so proud....") That is..... so..... hang on.... (sniffle, sniffle) I gotta go.... there's something in my eye.

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Seriously, FG is a great film. But maybe you saw it at a bad time or when you weren't in the right place. Some films have to be exposed to a person at just the right time in their life or they'll never be able to appreciate it or connect with it. Ex: I love the film Reality Bites (Ben Stiller), but very few others do. Not sure, but there's just something about it that clicks. Maybe because I happened to have seen it when I could totally relate with the characters (I was living in Houston (where it was shot) and I was their ages, listening to their music, etc.). Now, each time I view it, it reminds me of that time and it's like a blast from the past, filled with nostalgia (and music). It's sentimental. Whereas others see it as just a movie. Not that there's anything wrong with that. There's a lot of films people connect with that I sure don't.

Maybe Forrest Gump is one of those films that people don't connect with because, at the moment they saw it, they don't feel like "life is like a box of chocolates". And if you don't feel that way then there's no chance you'll cry at the end when he's telling Jenny, "He's so smart, Jenny...." Oh man! Here I go again....

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Oh God, not this again. ::crybaby:

There are two types of people in this world. People who like Solaris and get its nuances, and those who don't like it and walk away empty. I've noticed that those who don't like Solaris are in love with REALLY bad movies like We Were Soldiers, or Signs, for example. Just an observation.
 
Jesus

I don't fit any of those molds

I like SIGNS and WE WERE SOLDIERS

Are they the best ever ? No

Are they good flicks ? Yes
 
To further elaborate

I subscribe too the filmmaker that speaks the magic language

Soderberg aint in the category

M Night totally is

We Were Soldiers is just a preety effin good Nam films
 
Hey john...What are you opinions on Terrence Malick?

doesnt really have anything to do with anything....besides just directors that speak the language..but i was just wondering.
 
Thanks for asking

A few years ago I had some issues with Malick but have since discovered some things I did not know were inside me

I find Malick to be a total inpiration; his work is moving; poetic

Put a better way

I take something from him

He speaks too me
 
Forrest Gump is one of those few films that make me sit down and watch it every time I come across it on TV. And it never fails to move me. It seems that every time I find something new about it. For example, when I was a teenager it was a love story; when I was in college it was about never giving up your pursuits; when I was training for a marathon I wanted to be Forrest plus cool beard; and the Jenny Grave scene ALWAYS gets me.

Regarding being of a specific age and cultural disconnect, I'll say that I'm 26 but find myself very drawn to the classics. For some reason films like Rear Window or Casablanca (even Foreign Correspondent, a lesser known Hitchcock) are more 'fun'. Can't quite explain it.
 
thanks for the opinion...

Malick is great. Ive only just recently discovered his films..having seen the New World and The Thin Red Line and am hoping to get my hands on days of heaven and badlands as soon as possible.

But anyway...his work is some remarkable stuff...really like nothing ive ever seen before. His films have more...feel or mood...to them than anything. That whole montage in the new world of the love between smith and pocohontas that ends with the shot of lighting...set to Wagners Das Rhiengold...that one of the best things ive ever seen.

Are badlands...and days of heaven alot different than his two newer films?
 
Very different, but with some common threads. Especially (visually) between Badlands and Days of Heaven.
 
Sad Max said:
Very different, but with some common threads. Especially (visually) between Badlands and Days of Heaven.
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Hmmm....well I definately look forward to checking them out.

But anyway....back to forest gump. Iv'e always thought it was a great movie. I really don't see how anyone couldnt feel anything for the characters...especially forest.

The running across country thing is always cool for me to watch because my dad ....back before I was around....biked across the country twice. Once alone and once with my mother.

He has alot of pictures from it...and they look very similar to some of the scenes from forest's trips. Unfortunately my dad didn't grow a cool beard though.
 
I really hated GUMP. :) When I say it's the bottom of the list, I mean it, but it's definitely not an opinion unclouded by emotion. That said, I have a strong stomach for crap movies - has anyone here endured VAMPIRE STRANGLER? - but there's bad and there's BAD, and shlock is, at least, harmless.

A top 25? Man, lemme see... I always say ANDREI RUBLEV is the greatest film ever made, mainly because I think it's the MOST movie ever made. Tarkovsky reached a few greater peaks with his later films, but RUBLEV was made when he was still willing to meet his audience halfway. This movie isn't entertainment, it's a life experience, as impactful as gaining or losing a loved-one.

Next, I guess I have to say NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD. I love first films, and this might be the most important. Perfection can be achieved even with missing and broken parts.

The best filmmaker of all time is Ingmar Bergman; the breadth and depth of his body of work is unmatched, as are his advances to the medium. If I had to pick just one, maybe PERSONA. Ask me on a different day, I might say WINTER LIGHT or THE SILENCE.

The rest, no order... EXTERMINATING ANGEL - Bunuel, PICKPOCKET - Bresson, THE PASSION OF JOAN OF ARC - Dreyer, L'HUMANITE - Dumont, THE MERRY WIDOW - Lubitsch, POSSESSION - Zulawski, LAST YEAR AT MARIENBAD - Resnais, FIRE WALK WITH ME - Lynch, MESHES OF THE AFTERNOON - Deren, SHIVERS - Cronenberg, LE CORBEAU - Clouzot, SALO - Pasolini, BAY OF BLOOD - Bava, THE TENANT - Polanski, CAT PEOPLE - Tourneur, EVEN DWARVES STARTED SMALL - Herzog, THRONE OF BLOOD - Kurosawa, WOMAN IN THE DUNES - Teshigahara, THREE WOMEN - Altman, PETULIA - Lester, BIRDS - Hitchcock, and an indefensible pleasure, since it's also the poster on the wall above me, CANDY - Marquand.
 
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ncje said:
Apart from scenes mentioned by John, one scene that sticks in my head : when he has Jennys house torn down. That really got to me.
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The entire film is an excursion into the uncharted emotional wilderness, but that↑↑is one of the most powerful to me...
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"...Sometimes, I guess there just aren't enough rocks."​


Other moments that just reach right in and fist your heart are:

"You know it's funny what a young man recollects? 'Cause I don't remember bein' born. I don't recall what I got for my first Christmas and I don't know when I went on my first outdoor picnic. But I do remember the first time I heard the sweetest voice in the wide world..."
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forrestgumpmountains.jpg

Jenny: Were you scared in Vietnam?
Forrest: Yes. Well, I...I don't know. Sometimes it would stop raining long enough for the stars to come out... and then it was nice. It was like just before the sun goes to bed down on the bayou. There was always a million sparkles on the water... like that mountain lake. It was so clear, Jenny, it looked like there were two skies one on top of the other. And then in the desert, when the sun comes up, I couldn't tell where heaven stopped and the earth began. It's so beautiful.
Jenny: I wish I could've been there with you.
Forrest: You were.
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(as mentioned by Jeremy and PK)
"You died on a Saturday morning. And I had you placed here under our tree. And I had that house of your father's bulldozed to the ground. Momma always said dyin' was a part of life. I sure wish it wasn't. Little Forrest, he's doing just fine. About to start school again soon. I make his breakfast, lunch, and dinner every day. I make sure he combs his hair and brushes his teeth every day. Teaching him how to play ping-pong. He's really good. We fish a lot. And every night, we read a book. He's so smart, Jenny (Forrest breaks down crying, but continues) You'd be so proud of him. I am. He, uh, wrote a letter, and he says I can't read it. I'm not supposed to, so I'll just leave it here for you. Jenny, I don't know if Momma was right or if, if it's Lieutenant Dan. I don't know if we each have a destiny, or if we're all just floating around accidental-like on a breeze, but I, I think maybe it's both. Maybe both is happening at the same time. I miss you, Jenny. If there's anything you need, I won't be far away."


Edit:
Goddamn...I am honestly getting emotion just ****ing thinking about these scenes.
Jenny: I wish I could've been there with you.
Forrest: You were.
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Powerful stuff. Powerful, Powerful stuff.

This film is a major reason why Zemeckis is right at the top o' my list of living directors. Talk about consistancy...

Oh, and I think saying this is the WORST film of all time is ban-worthy.
 
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I considered it

I haven'tbanned anybody since 1984. Goddamn his soul to burn for eternity in ****ing hell for making me get my hands dirty. Go over to this comedian's son's apartment, come back with something that tells me where that asshole went, so I can wipe this egg off my face and finish this ****ed-up family for good.
 
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