adamkemp
Posts 54
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5/25/2007 3:33 PM
posted awhile ago
Top 5 Sea/Water Movies
Sam and I share our Top 5 Sea/Water Movies on Filmspotting #162, tying in with our Pirates of the Caribbean 3 review. Films that made our list include: Master & Commander, Jaws and The African Queen. What would have made your cut?
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totoro
Posts 11
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5/25/2007 3:58 PM
posted awhile ago
Re: Top 5 Sea/Water Movies
Thanks for getting on the soap box about Master and Commander. I agree that the film is tragically underappreciated. Also, Sam, Dead Calm is actually decent as far as 80's films go. It is worth renting again. Did you know it was partly based on Roman Polanski's Knife in the Water? It is a film I keep meaning to watch. The only film I would add to your list is Cast Away, which I felt had some of the most powerful shots of water I have ever seen.
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Tonester
Posts 2
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5/25/2007 5:13 PM
posted awhile ago
Re: Top 5 Sea/Water Movies
Agreed on Dead Calm, strip away those 80's cues (Billy Zane's Walkman for one) and this film holds up very well. Phillip Noyce is an underrated director - I have heard that his Rabbit Proof Fence is very good, but haven't seen it. I'd heard that Orson Welles had just about completed a very similar film to Dead Calm based on the same source material in the sixties, but so like so many of his projects he ran out of money before he could edit it. Welles himself was in the Sam Neill role, with Laurence Harvey playing the bad guy. Harvey is brilliantly cold in the original version of The Manchurian Candidate, this sounds like it could have been a lost gem. By the way, I still don't understand why Das Boot didn't get a mention. Somewhat ironically, it's much beloved here in the UK and frequently referenced in comedy and the like. I think this is because the mini series version shown on the BBC in the early 80's was probably the first foreign language movie I ever watched.
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Superstar_Trade sman
Posts 2
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5/26/2007 6:21 AM
posted awhile ago
Re: Top 5 Sea/Water Movies
 totoro: Also, Sam, Dead Calm is actually decent as far as 80's films go. It is worth renting again. Did you know it was partly based on Roman Polanski's Knife in the Water? It is a film I keep meaning to watch.
Knife in the Water - glad it has been mentioned, I only had to glance at the top 5 title and this film came straight to mind. Its so simple yet so compelling, it seems pretty much eventless until the lat 15 minutes, but I didn't even realize that until I afterwards when I tried to tell my friend about it and could only think of a few minor things tht had happened throughout.
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ottobud
Posts 55
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5/26/2007 11:59 AM
posted awhile ago
Re: Top 5 Sea/Water Movies
A River Runs Through It?! Well, at least Das Boot was mentioned, even though it wasn't actually included on the list (it would be my #1). Some others I would definitely include would be A Night To Remember (certainly the best film based on the Titanic disaster), Lifeboat (great single-set Hitchcock that takes place entirely on the water), Run Silent, Run Deep, The Caine Mutiny and, of course, Open Water.
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treybourn
Posts 3
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5/26/2007 2:32 PM
posted awhile ago
Re: Top 5 Sea/Water Movies
When I started listening to this week's podcast and heard what the top-five list would be I immediately thought, "Lamest. Top. Five. Ever." But when Sam said the list was just an excuse to get everyone to watch "Master and Commander," I laughed. It is so true. No one remembers this movie at all. I love that movie, and everyone should see it. Luckily, I saw it at the theater and got to experience the creaking of the boat and the splash of the waves in incredible sound. I think their list was also an excuse not to mention, "Titanic," and feel so good about it. "A River Runs Through It," though, was a horrible choice. Why not just say, "Caddyshack" because there are two swimming pool scenes and a boat launch.
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cactus_jack
Posts 4
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5/26/2007 3:32 PM
posted awhile ago
Re: Top 5 Sea/Water Movies
Does the Goonies count? Ships on the sea......hanging out under a wishing well......well it's wishful thinking to get one of my favorite movies on the list.
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chesterfilms
Posts 24
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5/27/2007 2:31 PM
posted awhile ago
Re: Top 5 Sea/Water Movies
1. Jaws (1975)
What more can be said about this film. This film never gets old, and it's still just as frightening today as it was on my first viewing. Unbelievable direction (understatement of the year).
2. Fitzcarraldo (1982)
The greatest scene in this film has a boat in it, but the boat is being pulled over a mountain (does that still count). An incredibly ambitious film about an incredibly ambitious man.
3. Lifeboat (1944)
When the whole movie takes place in a life boat you better have a great story, and a great cast. Thankfully it's Hitchcock, so the tension and suspense is always building.
4. The African Queen (1951)
Boogie and Hepburn on the run from German troupes. Battling crocodiles, rapids, and everything else that the African jungle throws at them. Huston makes a film that goes into my small list of perfect films.
5. Burden Of Dreams (1982)
I'm gonna throw a curve ball here. Les Bank's documentary chronicling the production of Fitzcarraldo is a perfect example of art imitating life. Herzog is a madman.
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FullMetal_Athei st
Posts 9
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5/27/2007 2:40 PM
posted awhile ago
Re: Top 5 Sea/Water Movies
I'd like to nominate two classic films from my homeland, the UK. First, Ice Cold in Alex (1958) - a movie where the actual absence of water makes it eligible imho. Secondly, A Night to Remember (also 1958) which remains the definitive Titanic movie and thus should be included on any list of Sea/Water movies for obvious reasons.
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FullMetal_Athei st
Posts 9
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5/27/2007 3:12 PM
posted awhile ago
Re: Top 5 Sea/Water Movies
Hmmm....also what about the films of the great 'Beat' Takeshi Kitano. Don't know if you guys are familiar with him but pretty much all of his films feature the sea in key scenes - Boiling Point, Sonatine, Hana-Bi, A Scene at the Sea, Kikujiro no Natsu etc. etc. all have sequences that make use of the pacific ocean and they're all wonderful movies too.
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