It's a good thing to read up on the technical aspect of films. Knowing a bit about acting, writing, lighting and such often times makes films a lot more enjoyable. But it has the unfortunate side effect often times of ruining otherwise decent films.

Not always, I can still enjoy Will Smith movie even though he does the same character pretty much every movie, the way that John Wayne did.

EDIT: Left out my point, a lot of those old slasher flicks were surprisingly sophisticated in terms of camera technique and the plot devices they used.

I do love to read up on the development of movies. It's so much fun. And as for the slasher movies, it is very true. The '80's had a lot of derivitive shit (fun derivitive shit, generally) but because of that, everybody was trying to find a niche, and so you got a lot of unique slasher films, even if they were occasionally absurd.

Glad to hear you're showing more sense than I did!

I feel the same way. And that really does mean something, the movie is more than three and a half hours long, after all.

It should be mentioned that the studio system was chiefly an American phenomenon.

Hell yes! This is a good example of a movie that really worked for my younger self. I mean, it's maybe not even that great a movie, it seems to have suffered due to the Hays Code, but the Paul Newman character is one I think every adolescent can relate to. I wonder if if the movie had worked for me just as well, had I seen it only recently? I should definitely watch it again.

Citizen Kane is not the best movie of all time, it's the most acclaimed one. I think this distinction can't be stressed enough. Like you said, on what basis can a movie be declared the best?

I'm really not convinced that being informed about the techniques of film making or the development of the art form does add anything at all to the experience of watching a movie. It's certainly interesting in it's own right and it probably pays off during subsequent viewings, but beyond that? I mean, as soon as you notice something like cinematography or make a connection to another movie, you're to some degree taken out of the experience. Things get worse when you've specifically informed yourself about the movie you're intending to watch. It's obvious why one would do that, of course, but I'd argue that by preparing yourself for what's to come, you're diminishing the impact of it.

Like I said earlier, my favourite movie watching state is one of absolute unpreparedness. Maybe even in conjunction with exhaustion after emotional turbulences. I think that would lower any defense mechanisms and in turn enable the movie to really get under one's skin. I mean, even if you'd rent a move you know is famous, without having any information about it at all, you'd obviously get in a certain "OK, I'm going to watch a cool movie now!" state of mind which detaches you from the experience.

I fixed that. Sure, it's debatable whether Citizen Kane is the best movie ever made, but it's easily a contender for the greatest film of its respective times, and I think beats the first two Godfather movies in that regard.

Oh, and let me too chime in with a couple of movies that are near perfect (in terms of story and themes):

Blade Runner
Chinatown
Groundhog Day
One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest

I still have a lot of older (and non-American) films to see though. Recently saw Some Like it Hot, now going for Fiddler on the Roof (so glad we have access to the Belgian station Canvas here).

Sigh, you should watch it again because you clearly missed the point. The point is that this rich shut in as you put it, has all the money in the world to make his dreams come true, and yet he's essentially imprisoned by the money, the fame, and through the flashbacks Orson Welles shows us the way in which it ate away at his soul, leaving him with everything except the one thing that he wanted.

Rosebud is essentially a McGuffin, a thing that is of the utmost importance to characters, but is of no real importance to the movie itself, just basically something for the plot to crystallize around.

I'm not really sure how exactly you got the message that this was a film about people wondering about a rich shut in, because they were just a plot device to get at the bigger story.

I'll watch any film. Netflix is unbelivably good for older stuff but the newer films aren't always there.

Anyway the film I currently love a lot is In the Loop. New-ish but more swearing than an Irish sports bar.

Hardly old, but I just watched Nordwand (North Face) last night. How depressing. And then going online to find how much was actually true.

Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction for the win!

I don't know whether I have to disagree with the OP or not. I have hated some movies which I had heard that they were good but was disappointed and liked some which I hadn't even heard of but decided to give a try.

Some movies which I had heard were good and got utterly disappointed were The Shining - a terrible movie which doesn't make any sense at any point in the movie and Stalker - a boring snooze fest where it doesn't even matter whether you watched the movie or not. The entire plot can be explained in 2 lines.

Since this is a discussion of old movies, I gave only those 2 as examples. There are many more new movies which I hate along with many new movies which I love. But when it comes to those 2 movies, avoid them at any cost, they are a complete waste of your life's 2-3 hours for each movie.

After all "Beauty is in the beholder". So you might like them too.

If you liked the miniseries of Shogun, you should check out the book. It is friggin massive, at around I believe 1,100 some odd pages.

The miniseries didn't "butcher" the book, but it intentionally focused on Blackthorn more. Probably to make it relating to the western viewers. Where as in the book, the book starts very narrow like the miniseries, but it eventually opens up more into the politics of Japan, a significant portion on learning basic Japanese, and you can actually understand the Japanese characters.

I still don't get why they didn't subtitle Mifune in the miniseries...

Thanks, when I get more free time I will check it out . . . =)

Just wanted to add my vote with Hawk52. The book is really good, just finished reading it again. There are some definite variations, but I attribute them more to the different restrictions of each medium.

The ShoGun miniseries was great, I also have really fond memories of the V and North and South Miniseries.

The only black and white movie I've ever really liked and defend up and down is Miracle on 34th St. I refuse to touch the new one. There have been a few other classics I did enjoy. 12 angry men comes to mind.