Monday, September 18, 2006

Nominations for October Films!

Hello everyone! I'm excited that this group blog idea has gained so many members in just a day. I hope that everyone will have fun and enjoy the movies, conversations, and projects as we move forward. I do want to start discussion about nominations for October movies.

Before the blog had members, I thought that beginning with film noir would be a good idea. It goes well with October. There's a great article on film noir that you can find here. In essence film noir isn't a genre but more a film's mood and theme. The themes often included "melancholy, alienation, bleakness, disillusionment, disenchantment, pessimism, ambiguity, moral corruption, evil, guilt, desperation and paranoia"(Film Noir, Tim Durks). There are cinematic conventions that are often used in film noir such as the use of the femme fatale, the double cross, the cynical leading male being made a fall guy, etc. Classic film noir films were made in the 1940s through the early 1960s. There have been many more recent films that take a page from film noir, or could be considered to be modern representations of the type.

Some classic examples of film noir are:
The Maltese Falcon
Double Indemnity
Laura
Touch of Evil
The Naked City
Vertigo

Some newer films with film noir themes include:
Chinatown
Dirty Harry
Body Heat
Blade Runner
LA Confidential
Dark City
Blood Simple
Sin City
Memento
Minority Report

So what I thought is I'd open it up for nominations. Please leave a comment to this post with two films that you'd like to nominate. I'll leave the nominations open for a week, and then we'll vote in the last week of September.

12 comments:

Mel said...

I nominate:
Gaslight
Shadow of a Doubt

Gaslight because, well, I love it. I saw the play (Angel Street) with my mom in college, during one scene, the lady in front of me lost it and started calling out to the characters on the stage (don't want to give it away). I don't think people know what "gaslighting" someone means, so this is practically educational.

Unknown said...

I'd like to nominate:
- "D.O.A." (original or the Dennis Quad remake).

- "Talented Mr. Ripley", or if that's not considered properly noir, I nominate "Sorry, Wrong Number" instead.

Knittymama said...

I'd love to see one of the other ones. I've never seen The Maltese Falcon.

Gaslight also sounds interesting.

Unknown said...

Well I have never seen any of them. But Maltese Falcon sounds good. I have seen talented Mr. Ripley but it has been a while.

Gretchen said...

I nominate-
"The Third Man"- a great Orson Welles movie
"Sunset Boulevard"- I'm ready for my closeup Mr.DeMille....

I love this theme! Very topical, given that "The Black Dahlia" and "Hollywoodland" just came out. I'm excited about particpating in my first KAL!

Jennifer said...

I'm going to second Shadow of a Doubt, and nominate a newer film, Dark City.

thursday said...

I loved the Maltese Falcon (Humphrey Bogart - film noir perfection!), so I'll third that one...

The Third Man sounds interesting also (haven't seen it, but the reviews I read make it sound like a great film noir!)

mc78 said...

I didn't know Sunset Boulevard was Film Noir, but we have got to watch that! I'm not knitting a turban, but someone should.

Amy Boogie said...

My nominations:
Dead Reckoning
12 Angry Men

Although I think 12 Angry Men might not be considered film noir. In that case I add Blue Dahlia.

Carrie K said...

The Third Man sounds good to me.

In a Lonely Place with Humphrey Bogart and Gloria Grahame, just because I like the two of them.

Saun said...

I nominate:

Sunset Boulevard
Gaslight
D.O.A
Double Indemnity

I'm really looking forward to this.

Kirsty said...

I nominate Usual Suspects & Memento