The most visually stunning films

I don't know that CGI extravaganzas deserve the attention; Jurassic Park, shockingly, still holds up, but that's pretty special.

CGI ultimately benefits from good taste as well although a lot of the work in LOTR was sets, minatures, etc. I mean Jackson wasn't making some arthouse feature but shots like this surely deserve respect...

 
CGI ultimately benefits from good taste as well although a lot of the work in LOTR was sets, minatures, etc. I mean Jackson wasn't making some arthouse feature but shots like this surely deserve respect...


Absolutely, It wasn't simply locations, Jackson made gorgeous films despite what he did to Tolkien's work.
 
Absolutely, It wasn't simply locations, Jackson made gorgeous films despite what he did to Tolkien's work.

I actually think the key to Jacksons success is he correctly understood that a lot of the appeal of Tolkien isn't just in the complexity of his myth making/world building but in his ability to create atmosphere. So a lot of the time whilst your dealing with a simplified story the films do capture the atmosphere of the books very effectively, helped of course by using Alan Lee and John Howe as designers.
 
Last edited:
I actually think the key to Jacksons success is that correctly understood that a lot of the appeal of Tolkien isn't just in the complexity of his myth making/world building but in his ability to create atmosphere So a lot of the time whilst your dealing with a simplified story the films do capture the atmosphere of the books very effectively, helped of course by using Alan Lee and John Howe as designers.
... he ass-raped the books.
I've read them all multiple times since I was a kid.

By the end of Towers, I didn't have much interest in ROTK.
The Hobbit movies looked fucking awful in the trailers and I knew it wasn't for me.
 
... he ass-raped the books.
I've read them all multiple times since I was a kid.

By the end of Towers, I didn't have much interest in ROTK.
The Hobbit movies looked fucking awful in the trailers and I knew it wasn't for me.

So have I but I'm fine with the films which I think capture the atmosphere/spirit and most importantly work independently of them,

The Hobbit films I think basically looked for a style halfway between the LOTR films and the more childiike style of the book.
 
So have I but I'm fine with the films which I think capture the atmosphere/spirit and most importantly work independently of them,

The Hobbit films I think basically looked for a style halfway between the LOTR films and the more childiike style of the book.
*Radagast and SuperLegolas*

The childlike style of the book was exactly why it shouldn't have been bloated into a three film, characters invented and story altered mess. The movies looked terrible and I wouldn't want to stain the happy memories I have of the book with watching what it became onscreen.

But I'm not on subject anymore!
 
*Radagast and SuperLegolas*

The childlike style of the book was exactly why it shouldn't have been bloated into a three film, characters invented and story altered mess. The movies looked terrible and I wouldn't want to stain the happy memories I have of the book with watching what it became onscreen.

But I'm not on subject anymore!

1-2 Legolas scenes going a bit far was one of the minor problems I had with Jacksons films although I think banter with Gimli was generally good, pretty similar to the relationship in the book but updated a little without becoming too meta/crass.

Honestly I think any Hobbit adaptation was always on a bit of a hiding to nothing, the source material is both familiar in events(mirroring a lot of the LOTR plot, rivendel, orc filled caves, mysterious forests, etc) meaning it has the potential to be overly familar but also vastly different in the tone expected by audiences pf his LOTR films, at the end of the day I think Jackson made the best of it and came up with films inbetween the extremes that were rather uneven(such as radagast) but effective in places.

Probably the best way to do the Hobbit would have been a production totally indepednant of Jacksons LOTR many years latter although even that would have to deal with the book being very dense in terms of events with the potential to sprall when adapted to screen.
 
Watched a few Takeshi Miike films lately. Blade of the Immortal was awesome. Gonna check out Izo soon.
 
There was a scene in Django Unchained where they were in the snow with the mountains as a backdrop. It was absolutely gorgeous.
 
I watched The Book of Life on LSD, that was a fucking ride.
 
96507_agonia_e_gloria151602078897.gif
 
Watched a few Takeshi Miike films lately. Blade of the Immortal was awesome. Gonna check out Izo soon.

I don't always like his films but they're almost always value for money (Not that I technically buy them all but you know what I mean). Dead or Alive is probably my favourite of his. Stuff like Full Metal Yakuza and Gozu are also great
 
Alien
Kingdom of Heaven Directors Cut
Barry Lyndon
RAN
Red Cliff
Apocalypto
Ex Machina
Brooklyn
The Way Back
Darjeeling Limited
Road to Perdition
Skyfall (movies trash, but fuck it looks great)
Incendies
Dunkirk
BR:2049
Lost in Translation


My personal favorite though: Midnight in Paris

big fan of movies that are able to make me romanticize the setting/city, thats a sign that the director has captured its settings perfectly to illustrate its story

Glad someone gave a shoutout to Ran. It's my GOAT film so I feel like an asshole that I didn't

10-ran.jpg


akirasan.jpg


140945-004-_EDDC502_D.jpg
 
Another one that I rarely see mentioned is Asif Kapadia's(of Senna fame) The Warror, definitely brings Lawrence of Arabia to mind..

asif_kapadia_the_warrior_2001_1-width-1000-1024x576.jpg
 
Easy Top 25 Film of this Decade.

Personally I felt it was a great example of a leftfield film maker producing something more mainstream whilst retaining his edge with characters like Shinrokurō, Naritsugu and Koyata and indeed the general anti establishment tone.

Looked excellent as well, especially the travel though the woodlands.
 
Back
Top