Apocalypse Now - Greatest movie of all time

[wasted]

Thats kind of the story of hollywood. All those directors wanted to change cinema. Easy Rider broke through and everyone thought this is it, but by the end of the decade Star Wars had invented the blockbuster, the rest is hollywood.

The same thing happened with american indies. In the end those directors got sucked into the system and in the end beaten by Superhero movies and marketing remakes.

So I go back to Apoc Now and see that this is one of the few times a director had his vision, fought for his gradiose thing and in the end won. Theres more to it than just smooth movie experience for the audience.

[Georgy Zhukov]

They came up with a formula where they make big budget and profitable films and dish out that money to make smaller budget "indie films" or art films where they could make a small profit. Home media plays a role in this, you still have film lovers willing to spend money on something that is not superhero or action packed.

The Godfather is one of those films that saved Hollywood. In the late 60's people stopped going to the theater. Why pay a ticket when they can watch television? Instead they bet everything on film students who watched Italian, French and Japanese language films and new film was invented for extended location shooting instead of relying on sets. Films got more violent, more nudity and profanity was used. For a brief period, Hollywood has made films that compared to French New Wave, Italian Neo-Realism and Kurosawa films.

Spielberg and Lucas brought an end to that with Jaws and Star Wars but they didn't know at the time. Hollywood has finally found that formula in profitable blockbusters and they took control of it.

[wasted]

I dont feel those new art movies are actually really coming from the right place. Theres somwthing inauthetic about them. But there are still good films around. It seems like Nolan, Bay, Cameron along with DreamWorks are more interesting or whats really important. Its like theyve been reselling Star Wars over and over.

[KBear]

Finally got around to watching this. Maybe I'm just thick but I don't get the fascination with this film. Thought the idea was good but the execution kind of sucked. It just felt weird, almost like I was watching a dark comedy and not anything that I needed to take seriously.

[Facekicker]

I can't watch it sober. I fucking love it though.

[Rdeyahlxp]

Amazing scenery, soundtrack and camera work. You won't get those iconic, long camera shots in today's action packed "Bournesque" cinema blockbusters. Great use of colors to add to the scenes. Only weak points I can think of are the Redux version and particulary those boring scenes from that French family. Another weak point was fat diva Brando who couldn't be arsed to prepare for his role, the fact that you don't see him for 95% of the movie really took away from it. Last point is that sometimes it just drags on for too long with Martin Sheen mumbling, some scenes just could've used some more action. Other than that it is indeed a classic. Really like the helicopter scene and the "don't look at the camera"-scene, there's just so much stuff going on in the background that it really feels like a warzone. Amazing choreography.

[Len Cnut]

Amazing scenery, soundtrack and camera work. You won't get those iconic, long camera shots in today's action packed "Bournesque" cinema blockbusters. Great use of colors to add to the scenes. Only weak points I can think of are the Redux version and particulary those boring scenes from that French family. Another weak point was fat diva Brando who couldn't be arsed to prepare for his role, the fact that you don't see him for 95% of the movie really took away from it. Last point is that sometimes it just drags on for too long with Martin Sheen mumbling, some scenes just could've used some more action. Other than that it is indeed a classic. Really like the helicopter scene and the "don't look at the camera"-scene, there's just so much stuff going on in the background that it really feels like a warzone. Amazing choreography.

You've just torn some of the best things about it to shreds

[bran]

love the movie, not the greatest of all time IMO but a masterpiece no doubt.

[Georgy Zhukov]

They managed to make Marlon Brando not look so fat. That alone deserves praise.

[KBear]

The fact that Brando appeared only at the end was a good thing I think. It helped to build the anticipation. Martin Sheen's character felt as if he was high for most of the film.

Perhaps I would appreciate it more on repeated viewings.

[Len Cnut]

Brando was a fuckin' G, he could pull a performance out of nothing, just him being alive and like...behaving, i can't think so what else to call cuz it's not acting, it's like some kind of cosmic embodiment, it's behaving, other people act, Brando behaved. Nothing and no one could've played Kurtz better, Brando gave dimensions to things where you'd think it impossible, the man was so brilliant if i go on about it long enough I'll just start to gush, there was not a single solitary thing out of place about his Kurtz.

[spliff]

it's in my top 3

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2_U4a8YoB9w

definitely the greatest intro of all time

[Georgy Zhukov]

Brando was a fuckin' G, he could pull a performance out of nothing, just him being alive and like...behaving, i can't think so what else to call cuz it's not acting, it's like some kind of cosmic embodiment, it's behaving, other people act, Brando behaved. Nothing and no one could've played Kurtz better, Brando gave dimensions to things where you'd think it impossible, the man was so brilliant if i go on about it long enough I'll just start to gush, there was not a single solitary thing out of place about his Kurtz.

It was said before Brando everyone acted, after Brando they wanted to behave like Brando.

[wkuk04]

Got it recorded. It was on itv4 other night, gonna watch it soon. x

[KBear]

Brando was a fuckin' G, he could pull a performance out of nothing, just him being alive and like...behaving, i can't think so what else to call cuz it's not acting, it's like some kind of cosmic embodiment, it's behaving, other people act, Brando behaved. Nothing and no one could've played Kurtz better, Brando gave dimensions to things where you'd think it impossible, the man was so brilliant if i go on about it long enough I'll just start to gush, there was not a single solitary thing out of place about his Kurtz.

Yeah, I guess I see that. I didn't have a problem with him in this film. But I think where many do is they look at how he was before AN and how he was in AN and it's supposedly a night and day kind of thing. But not having really seen a Brando film before this one (yeah, I know) I don't have that frame of reference.

I expected a different kind of person when Kurtz was finally discovered but how he was in hindsight probably isn't much of a surprise given the life he was leading. But I guess the big problem I had with this film is that there just wasn't any tension at all for me, and Kurtz and his followers weren't as scary as I think he and they were supposed to be - though by that point he was too far gone to be a real threat - and so that suspension of disbelief I felt was missing.

[Len Cnut]

Brando was a fuckin' G, he could pull a performance out of nothing, just him being alive and like...behaving, i can't think so what else to call cuz it's not acting, it's like some kind of cosmic embodiment, it's behaving, other people act, Brando behaved. Nothing and no one could've played Kurtz better, Brando gave dimensions to things where you'd think it impossible, the man was so brilliant if i go on about it long enough I'll just start to gush, there was not a single solitary thing out of place about his Kurtz.

Yeah, I guess I see that. I didn't have a problem with him in this film. But I think where many do is they look at how he was before AN and how he was in AN and it's supposedly a night and day kind of thing. But not having really seen a Brando film before this one (yeah, I know) I don't have that frame of reference.

I expected a different kind of person when Kurtz was finally discovered but how he was in hindsight probably isn't much of a surprise given the life he was leading. But I guess the big problem I had with this film is that there just wasn't any tension at all for me, and Kurtz and his followers weren't as scary as I think he and they were supposed to be - though by that point he was too far gone to be a real threat - and so that suspension of disbelief I felt was missing.

Thats what i took to be the point though, in an odd way, Kurtz isn't that scary and what he's doing isn't really insane when taken in the context of where he is and what he's meant to be doing. The insanity is in the whole enterprise of war. I don't think he was ever meant to be scary in a ghostie sense of the world, i always took Kurtz to be a man who knew what had to be done and how to do it, he appeared to me to be a man struggling to be understood. He's struck a kind of unholy enlightenment that makes him see the world for what it is, Kurtz isn't supposed to be evil, he's supposed to be holy in an evil world. Fundamentally Kurtz is a good man and Willard knows this. But then he knows what he has to do too, just like Kurtz.

[KBear]

Yeah, it's interesting looking into it a bit further. I think this is one movie that warrants watching at least one or two more times because there is more there than it would appear after just one viewing.