…probably not available in the Guinness Book of World Records or Ripley’s Believe It or Not
CowboyCaleb mentioned that Primer is “possibly the best, most mentally challenging and brilliant movie ever made about Time Travel.”
It is a 2004 independent film written, directed, produced by and starring Shane Carruth. A “sci-fi puzzle thriller”, it explores the effects of an accidental invention on its two creators.
It “only” got 6.9/10 on IMDB but eminent movie reviewer Roger Ebert gave it an outstanding 3.5/4.
Somebody even commented that it’s way better than Memento (2000).
The movie:
Now this is a film which will make me drop that PS3.
Triumph of the Will (German: Triumph des Willens) was released 28th March 1935 and written and directed by Leni Riefenstahl. Adolf Hitler himself commissioned it.
The overriding theme is “the return of Germany as a great power, with Hitler as the True German Leader who will bring glory to the nation.”
Leni Riefenstahl:
Movie poster:
The documentary-style film glorifies Adolf Hitler and the 1934 Nazi Party Convention in Nuremberg, chronicling 4 days. It contains parts of speeches given by Nazi leaders at the Convention, including those made by Adolf Hitler and mixed with footage of many thousands of Nazi party members, of course with top Nazis like Himmler, Goebbels, Hess and Goering.
The film showcases Adolf Hitler’s unmatched oratory skills, a “unique and terrifying ability to entice crowds to his beliefs by the very power of his words.”
This is one of his speeches in the film (with English subtitles):
This is his speech at the closing ceremony (no subtitles):
One of the more unnerving scenes in the movie is the following exchange:
Konstantin Hierl: [Reich Labor Service Corp/Reicharbeitdienst chief presents his men to Hitler] My Führer! I report 52,000 Labor Services men for review.
Adolf Hitler: Hail, my Labor Service men!
Reich Labor Service Men: [All 52,000 men, in thundering unison] Hail, my Führer!
It is widely renowned as the greatest and most infamous propaganda film ever made.
After Germany’s defeat in World War II, she was arrested but never convicted of any crimes.
According to The Economist, this film “sealed her reputation as the greatest female filmmaker of the 20th century.”
It must be said though that Riefenstahl herself said that it was “only intended as a documentary.”
Here is the full movie, all 104 minutes of it:
The following is a really outstanding 5-minute-long short film: awkward humour between 2 naked men, Bill and Blueberry.
Some people call it “creepy humour”.
Kudos to Randall Park (Bill), Marques Ray (Blueberry) and his team!
Randall, and definitely me, lost it when Blueberry started crying “jerk”.
That peeing scene reminded me of the film Naked Gun.
… what if they used plastic knobs as props?
It was in the movie Forbidden Kingdom, released April 2008.
The story of the movie is based on the Chinese epic “Journey to the West”, one of the four classic novels of Chinese Literature. The novel tells the story of the Buddhist monk Tang Sanzhuang’s pilgrimage to India during the time of the Tang dynasty to get some Buddhist scriptures.
Jackie Chan played Lu Yan / Old Hop, the famous Taoist Saint in Chinese mythology, while Jet Li played the Monkey King / the Silent Monk.
I agree with some people who commented that this should’ve been done earlier in their careers, when they were faster and stronger.
Still, this scene between two martial arts legends is definitely still worth watching.
youtube link (embedding disabled)
I wouldn’t say it’s the best on-screen match-up I have ever seen, there’s at least another film released in 2008 that had a better fight scene, and that Bruce Lee v Chuck Norris scene in the 1970s remains the reference standard.
Not every actor in Hollywood looks like Tom Cruise or Brad Bitt.
Jesse Heiman, whose first major role was in “American Pie 2″ gives hope for the rest of us.
If there’s a Grand Slam for the arts, this would be it.
Of course there’s that Holy Grail: add a Nobel Prize to the end of the list but apparently nobody has ever done that yet.
If there’s a membership card for this level of achievement, there would’ve been only 2 ever issued, for Richard Rodgers (1902 - 1979) and Marvin Hamlisch (b. 1944).
Richard Rodgers
Rodgers of course was part of the famed Rodgers - Hammerstein songwriting partnership, who was responsible for the world-famous and much-loved The Sound of Music musical which started in 1959 and later turned into that legendary movie.
Rodgers & Hammerstein
Rodgers wrote more than 900 songs and 40 Broadway musicals and also created music for films and TV. His other famous collaborator was with lyricist Lorenz Hart.
Academy Award
1. 1945 : Best Song - “It Might As Well Be Spring” from State Fair
Emmy Award
1. 1962 : Outstanding Achievement in Original Music Composed - Winston Churchill-The Valiant Years
Grammy Award
1. 1960 : Best Show Album (Original Cast) - The Sound of Music
2. 1962 : Best Original Cast Show Album - No Strings
Tony Award
1. 1950 : Best Musical - South Pacific
2. 1950 : Best Producers, Musical - South Pacific
3. 1950 : Best Score - South Pacific
4. 1952 : Best Musical - The King and I
5. 1960 : Best Musical - The Sound of Music
6. 1962 : Best Composer - No Strings
Special Award
1. 1962 : Special Tony Award “for all he has done for young people in the theatre and for taking the men of the orchestra out of the pit and putting them onstage in No Strings”
2. 1972 : Special Tony Award
3. 1979 : Special Tony Award, Lawrence Langner Memorial Award for Distinguished Lifetime Achievement in the American Theatre
Pulitzer Prize
1. Special Award and Citation in Letters for Oklahoma! in 1944
2. Pulitzer Prize for Drama for South Pacific in 1950
Marvin Hamlisch
Academy Award
1. 1973: Best Music, Original Dramatic Score - The Way We Were
2. 1973: Best Music, Original Song - The Way We Were
3. 1973: Best Music, Scoring Original Song Score and/or Adaptation - The Sting
Emmy Award
1. 1995 : Outstanding Individual Achievement in Music Direction - Barbra Streisand: The Concert
2. 1995 : Outstanding Individual Achievement in Music and Lyrics - Barbra Streisand: The Concert
3. 1999 : Outstanding Music and Lyrics - AFI’s 100 Years… 100 Movies
4. 2001 : Outstanding Music Direction - Timeless: Live in Concert
Grammy Award
1. 1974: Song Of The Year - The Way We Were
2. 1974: Best New Artist Of The Year
3. 1974: Best Pop Instrumental Performance - The Entertainer
4. 1974: Album Of Best Original Score Written For A Motion Picture Or A Television Special - The Way We Were
Tony Award
1. 1976 : Best Musical Score - A Chorus Line
Pulitzer Prize
1. Drama for A Chorus Line in 1976.
Movies that were apparently banned in Malaysia at some point of time are listed at the Internet Movie Database. Some are still banned as of 2008.
I am not sure if this has ever happened in any other country. Since 2007, there had been 5 deaths of well-known actors, actresses or singers in South Korea.
South Korea has Asia’s highest suicide rate, higher than even Japan. It has more than doubled in the past decade, from 11.8 per 100,000 people in 1995 to 26.1 per 100,000 in 2005.
On average 38 people a day in South Korea take their own lives.
South Korea’s National Statistics Office attributes the high suicide rate to economic hardship in the aftermath of the 1997 financial crisis.
2nd October 2008
Choi Jin-sil, 40 aka “the Nation’s Actress”, one of South Korea’s most popular actresses, is believed to have hanged herself in the bathroom of her apartment with an elastic band wrapped around her neck and shower rail. No suicide note, but she texted her make-up assistant asking “take care of (my) children no matter what happens”. It is believed she had been suffering from depression since 2004, after the end of her marriage to baseball star Cho Sung-min. She left behind 2 children.
Click here to read about and see photos about the other 4 suicides
In Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade (1989), there’s a scene where Indiana and his father Henry travel to Berlin to get back a diary containing clues on the Holy Grail, which Hitler wants for himself.
That led him to a Nazi book burning rally in Berlin, where Indiana Jones bumps into the Fuhrer himself. Michael Sheard played Adolf Hitler in this scene. The scene is extremely funny in that Hitler did not realise he has met Indiana or that he is actually holding the Grail Diary. He then proceeded to casually open the diary to a random page, sign his name, then give it back to an incredulous Indiana:
… was played by Sharon Stone in Basic Instinct (1992), in that infamous Catherine Tremmel interrogation scene, no matter that the film received a mere 6.8 at imdb and given 2 stars by eminent movie reviewer Roger Ebert.
To add juice to the matter, it was reported that while appearing in a later movie “Inside the Actors Studio” (1994), Sharon Stone said that she did not know that director Paul Verhoeven was “filming up her dress” during this scene, and that when she saw the rushes, she slapped Verhoeven’s face and asked him (or rather ordered him) to remove the shot. But Verhoeven said that what Sharon said she did, did not happen at all.
My favourite is in the movie Total Recall (1990), a movie starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, when the bad guy Vilos Cohaagen (played by Ronny Cox) is blown out of the alien machine compound onto the airless surface of Mars where dies a very horrible death: asphyxiation and decompression, with his eyes and neck bulging out and tongue pulled out.
Here’s the scene in slow motion:
Arguably, the earliest and greatest ever car chase in the movies was made 40 years ago in “Bullitt”, that 1968 police thriller, starring legendary actor Steve McQueen as Lieutenant Frank Bullitt.
It won an Oscar for Best Film Editing.
It’s will always be remembered for THE car chase scene, lasting about 9 minutes, in downtown San Francisco, where Bullitt, in a dark “Highland Green” 1968 Ford Mustang GT-390 CID Fastback chasing 2 bad guys in a “Tuxedo Black” 1968 Dodge Charger R/T 440 Magnum.
Bullitt and his Mustang burning rubber
A little tech info:
- the car that Bullitt drove was a first-generation, modified Mustang.
- 2 V8 Mustangs (325 bhp) were actually used
- the Mustangs’ engines, brakes and suspensions were highly modified for the chase by veteran car racer Max Balchowsky.
- the cars reached speeds of over 110 mph (175 kmph)
The movie poster
Such was the impact of the film that in 2007, it was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant”.
Finally, I saw the film for the first time a few years ago, and even though I’ve seen many later films with impressive car chases, I think I have yet to see another to surpass this, with the possible exception of the French Connection.
The Hottie and the Nottie, released in February this year, directed by Tom Putnam and starring Paris Hilton received “exceedingly negative reviews across the board,” including from top online movie review sites.
In April 2008, the film is ranked number 1 in the seminal guide to movies, Internet Movie Database (IMDb) bottom 100 (rating of 1.1 out of 10). That means, out of the hundreds of thousands of movies from almost 100 years of motion picture history, this is the pits, the absolute worst of the worst.
In the same month, Rotten Tomatoes said a mere 5% of critics gave the film positive reviews, out of 55 reviews.
Metacritic reported that it scored 6 out of 100 (17 reviews), meaning “extreme dislike or disgust.”
IGN gave it a 0 star review: “Hottie and the Nottie presents a problem because there are just no words to adequately express how clumsy, trite and deeply offensive it is from start to finish.”
Rolling Stone gave half a star: “the half-star was because it takes guts (or gross dim-wittedness) [for Hilton] to appear on screen again after House of Wax.”
You could be forgiven if you think reviews do not usually match the general public’s reception, but in this case, you’d be wrong: it was a total box office failure, a massive bomb. The movie’s collection on opening day was a mere USD9,000. It grossed only USD27,696 on its opening weekend. If you think that’s not too bad, consider the fact that it opened in 111 theatres! That means each theater only collected an average of USD249, meaning only 28 persons seeing the movie per theatre on its opening weekend, or only 4 PER showing!
Watch how the movie get bashed by top movie review TV show Ebert & Roeper (movie trailer follows):
The World Is Not Enough (1999) was the 19th Bond film. In it, Denise Richards played Dr. Christmas Jones, a nuclear physicist, Bond’s ally. She was reported to have said that she liked the role which was “brainy”, “athletic”, and had “depth of character, in contrast to Bond girls from previous decades.”
However, in 2008, Entertainment Weekly named her the worst ever Bond girl, an unlikely nuclear scientist who likes to wear tank tops and hot pants. Someone commented that “even Q didn’t have a gadget to help Bond escape from that disaster.”
A short video clip of her in action in the movie:
Made in 1962, Dr No was the first Bond film.
There’s a scene there where Ursula Andress, then 26, playing the role of Honey Rider, emerges from the sea wearing a bikini. She also has a knife strapped to her waist, and she’s holding 2 sea shells.
In 2003, that scene topped the UK’s Channel 4’s list of 10 sexiest scenes of all of film history.
Others say it’s iconic, and that Andress is the best Bond girl ever, in a UK Daily Mail poll published in February 2008. Malaysia’s Michelle Yeoh is rated the 7th best Bond girl.
The bikini was sold in an auction for US $61,500. Is a bikini worth that much, and is that scene as good as it’s touted to be?
You be the judge, check out that scene:
…as in movies that have been allowed to be publicly screened by the authorities.
“Comolot” is Malaysia’s first movie which deals with homosexuality. It’s written and directed by Amy Ikram Ismail, 24.
Homosexuality is illegal in Malaysia. The penalty ranges from a fine to 20 years’ imprisonment.
Apparently the movie was released in July 2007. It seems that you can’t actually buy this movie yet - you can only catch it at selected locations/dates.
It’s about Danial (played by newcomer Remy Ishak) who’s engaged to a girl named Juwita (think diamond rings), who finally left her for his true love, Aiman (played by Ben Quariel).
There’s a scene there that’s quite shocking for Malaysian standards: Juwita goes to Danial’s place, and finds 2 mens’ jeans, condoms and KY Jelly in his bedroom. A bigger shock awaits here in the shower, when she finds Danial and Aiman there, naked, in erotic embrace.
The film also touches on religious sensitivities, when at the end, Aiman gatecrashes Danial’s wedding ceremony and the two of them holding hands as they enter a car, and share a kiss inside it.
I think it’s safe to say that Yusof Haslam will never ever direct a film, let alone write the script, for a film like this.
I can sense a revival in Malaysian moviemaking, with the advent of people like Yasmin Ahmad, Osman Ali and Amy Ikram Ismail.
Here’s some trailers of the movie:
Both are from the movie Ibu Mertuaku (My Mother-in-Law), a 1962 film directed by and starring Malaysian silver-screen legend, the late Tan Sri P. Ramlee. The plot revolves around a tragic love affair between Kassim Selamat (played by P Ramlee), a poor musician, and Sabariah (played by Sarimah), the only daughter of Nyonya Mansoor, a wealthy matriarch (played by Mak Dara). The movie starts out as a light-hearted romantic comedy, but during the last half hour turns into a dramatic tragedy.
This film is one of the greatest Malaysian film ever made, containing many evergreen songs and the infamous eye-stabbing-with-forks scene, which has been censored in later editions.
Mak Dara (1907-1970), playing Nyonya Mansoor, the mother in law from hell delivers a flawless performance and steals the show in every scene she’s in. Later, she recalled in various documentaries that upon the release of the film, the impact of her performance was such that random people would stop her in the streets to berate or spit on her.
Here, she utters the immortal line(s):
Filmsite.org has listed the most controversial films of all time, films that “have the ability to anger us, divide us, shock us, disgust us, and more. Usually, films that inspire controversy, outright boycotting, picketing, banning, censorship, or protest have graphic sex, violence, homosexuality, religious, political or race-related themes and content. They usually push the envelope regarding what can be filmed and displayed on the screen, and are considered taboo, “immoral” or “obscene” due to language, drug use, violence and sensuality/nudity or other incendiary elements. Inevitably, controversy helps to publicize these films and fuel the box-office receipts.”
The list includes Entertainment Weekly’s June 16, 2006 issue which contained a listing of their top 25 “Most Controversial Movies of All-Time” and more.
What I have included in the following is the list of films that I’ve seen myself, and was mesmerised, and indeed shocked on at least the first viewing:
Blue Velvet (1986): an original look at sex, violence, crime and power under the peaceful exterior of small-town Americana in the mid-80s. Beneath the familiar, peaceful, ‘American-dream’ cleanliness of the daytime scenes lurked sleaziness, prostitution, unrestrained violence, and perversity - powerful and potentially-dangerous sexual forces that might be unleashed if not contained.
It was considered controversial, shocking, and lurid when released. The compelling film was often criticized for its depiction of aberrant sexual behavior, as well as highly ridiculed and disdained as an extreme, dark, vulgar and disgusting film, especially for its cinematic treatment of Isabella Rossellini - director Lynch’s wife at the time.
Its most repulsive scene was the one in which clean-cut, all-American boy/trekker Jeffrey Beaumont (Kyle MacLachlan) first voyeuristically watched the fragile nightclub singer named Dorothy (Isabella Rossellini) from her closet — when she discovered him, she forced him to strip at knifepoint and fondled him — but they were interrupted by the entry of a monstrous, loathsome, nitrous-oxide sniffing kidnapper - the evil, vile and depraved drug-pusher psycho Frank (Dennis Hopper). Beaumont witnessed the sexually-depraved, blackmailing relationship between the abused/brutalized, sado-machochistic mother and Frank - who used an oxygen inhaler while terrorizing and raping Dorothy as he play-acted being both her Daddy and Baby (”Baby wants to f–k”). After Frank left the scene of victimization, Dorothy pleaded with a consoling Beaumont to further abuse her: “Feel me. Hit me.” Later in the film in a scene considered gratuitous and personally degrading, a vulnerable Dorothy appeared naked and battered on the Beaumont’s front lawn.
Cannibal Holocaust (1985): This extremely graphic, hotly-debated cult classic Italian film - the uncredited inspirational precursor of the faux-documentary The Blair Witch Project - was filled with violent, grisly, and disturbing images. The exploitation film was purportedly the story of a film crew, led by Alan Yates (Gabriel York), that disappeared while making a documentary (a feature entitled “The Green Inferno” about the last surviving tribes that still practiced cannibalism) in the wilds of South America’s Amazon area. Masterful cinematic tricks and special effects created an unnerving view of the fate of the team - found in undeveloped film cans by a search and rescue team.
Grisly, realistic-looking scenes included a woman impaled on a pole, a castration, some beatings with large hammers, guts-eating, a forced abortion, numerous animal slaughterings (including a horrible turtle murder), and gang-rape.
For his work on the film, the director was arrested by Italian authorities on suspicion of murder charges and faced life in prison, following its 1980 Milan premiere. He endured a trial when Italian authorities were unconvinced that the footage was indeed staged. Deodato lost the original trial, and all prints were to be destroyed, but he managed to have the ruling overturned in the early ’80s when the actors finally appeared on TV to prove otherwise. Some five years passed before the film saw release in Deodato’s home country. This movie was banned for twenty years in certain countries, including the UK.
Citizen Kane (1941): This widely-acclaimed film from debut film director/actor Orson Welles (24 years old) is usually regarded as the greatest film ever made. The film, budgeted at $800,000, received unanimous critical praise even at the time of its release, although it was not a commercial success (partly due to its limited distribution and delayed release by RKO due to pressure exerted by famous publisher W.R. Hearst).
The film engendered controversy (and efforts at suppression in early 1941 through intimidation, blackmail, newspaper smears, discrediting and FBI investigations) before it premiered in New York City on May 1, 1941, because it appeared to fictionalize and caricaturize certain events and individuals in the life of William Randolph Hearst - a powerful newspaper magnate and publisher. The film was accused of drawing remarkable, unflattering, and uncomplimentary parallels (especially in regards to the Susan Alexander Kane character) to real-life. The notorious battle was detailed in Thomas Lennon’s and Michael Epstein’s Oscar-nominated documentary The Battle Over Citizen Kane (1996), and it was retold in HBO’s cable-TV film RKO 281 (1999) (the film’s title referred to the project numbering for the film by the studio, before the film was formally titled).
The gossip columnist Louella Parsons persuaded her newspaper boss Hearst that he was being slandered by RKO and Orson Welles’ film when it was first previewed, so the Hearst-owned newspapers (and other media outlets) pressured theatres to boycott the film and also threatened libel lawsuits. Hearst also ordered his publications to completely ignore the film, and not accept advertising for other RKO projects.
A Clockwork Orange (1971, UK): At the time, Stanley Kubrick’s randomly ultra-violent, over-indulgent, graphically-stylized film of the near future - and most controversial film - was one of only two movies rated X on its original release (the other was Midnight Cowboy (1969)) that was nominated for a Best Picture Academy Award. The film was hotly debated when it was released - both highly praised and objectionable for its bleak outlook, and for its pairing of comedy with violence.
The dystopic film about fascist social conditioning and free will was heavily criticized and opposed by religious groups for its sexual and violent content. Feminists were outraged with some of the misogynistic images - such as the obscene female poses of the supine furniture in the Korova bar. Makes for interesting office furniture? Then, of course there was the the prolonged rape of a big-breasted woman, a gigantic penis sculpture being used as a murder weapon on the Cat Lady, and a view of the protagonist’s snake gliding toward a woman’s vagina.
The most infamous was the rape scene of Mrs. Alexander (Adrienne Corri) in her opulent house, Alex’s (Malcolm McDowell) gang of droogs (Pete, Georgie, and Dim) who were wearing masks with comical noses. After cutting away her skin-tight red jumpsuit Alex delivered horribly vicious blows of his boots to Mr. Alexander’s (Patrick Magee) mid-section — timed rhythmically to his singing of Gene Kelly’s tune “Singin’ in the Rain”. In a later scene, Alex was subjected to corrective treatment — experimental aversion therapy imposed by the state in which he was behavioristically conditioned (with his eyes clamped wide-open in order to view scenes of violence in films while drugged to induce nausea and forced to listen to his beloved Beethoven) to suppress his violent and sexual drives - and in the process gave up his own individual and personal rights.
Because of the copy-cat violence (some gangs dressed as droogs sang “Singin’ in the Rain” as they carried on violently) that the film was blamed for by the media and courts, Kubrick withdrew it from circulation in Britain about a year after its release. Some believed it was because it was rumored that Kubrick and his family had received death threats. It wasn’t officially available there again - in theaters or on video - until 2000, a year after his death.
The Deer Hunter (1978): Storywriter/producer/director Michael Cimino’s epic about war and friendship was a powerful, disturbing and compelling look at the Vietnam War through the lives of three blue-collar, Russian-American friends in a small Pennsylvania steel-mill town before, during, and after their service in the war.
Although a Best Picture Oscar-winner, the meandering, sometimes shrill, raw film was extremely controversial on many accounts - political, historical and emotional. The flawed, extravagantly-expensive film was often pretentious, ambiguous, overwrought and excessive, and loosely edited, with under-developed character portrayals and unsophisticated, careless film techniques. Critics argued that the film grossly distorted historical fact.
The most talked about sequences were the contrived, theatrical, and fictional Russian Roulette tortures, imposed twice in the narrative - on the American POW’s during wartime, and played as a game in a Vietnamese gambling den. [However, there were no documented cases or historical reports of the deadly game in actuality.] Historically inaccurate or not, the fabricated scene of a Vietcong atrocity metaphorically depicted the brutal absurdity of the war. Director Cimino was also criticized as distortedly and one-sidedly portraying all the Asian characters in the film as despicable, sadistic racists and killers. He countered by arguing that his film was not political, polemical, literally accurate, or posturing for any particular point of view.
The Exorcist (1973): The director adapted William Peter Blatty’s best-selling, 1971 blockbuster book about satanic demon possession (based on a true-story of a 13 year-old Maryland boy in 1949), and created one of the most disturbing, frightening, shocking, and exploitative films ever made. The horror film masterpiece, the first major horror blockbuster, was one of the most opposed and talked-about films, especially during its pre-release time period. Viewers and the studio took note that there were accompanying ominous events, including the deaths of nine persons associated with the production (including Jack MacGowran and von Sydow’s brother) - and a request was made to exorcise the set.
Its controversial content, sensational, nauseating, and horrendous special effects (360 degree head-rotations, self-mutilation/masturbation with a crucifix, the projectile spewing of green puke, a mixture of split-pea soup and oatmeal, etc.), for its depictions of desecrations, vivid representations of evil, and for its intense scenes of exorcism (accompanied by blasphemies, obscenities and graphic physical shocks). One of the most controversial scenes was the long sequence of invasive medical testing performed on the hapless patient - criticized as medical pornography.
A sweet pre-teenaged girl Regan MacNeil (Linda Blair) became possessed by a malevolent evil spirit - and after urinating on the carpet in public and experiencing a shaking bed, was soon transformed and disfigured into a head-rotating, levitating, green vomit-spewing, obscenity-shouting creature. Her divorced, film-star mother Chris MacNeil (Ellen Burstyn) was at wit’s end, until she called on a dedicated, faith-questioning Jesuit priest Father Karras (Jason Miller) to exorcise the malevolent devil from her daughter’s body. An elderly priest Father Merrin (Max von Sydow), whose archaeology project released the Satanic being, also risked his life (and died of heart failure) to administer rites of exorcism with incantations and holy water.
The film was enormously popular with moviegoers at Christmas-time of 1973, but some portions of the viewing audience fled from theaters due to nausea, convulsions, fainting or sheer fright/anger (Headlines proclaimed: “The Exorcist nearly killed me!”), and it was reported that one patron in San Francisco literally attacked the screen in an attempt to kill the demon. Mass hysteria led to paramedics being called to some theatres, and others were picketed in protest.
The film’s showings also led to a reported increase in temporary spiritual possessions or psychoses by individuals, and an increase in requests for priests to exorcise everything from loved ones and pets to houses, neighborhoods and appliances. Evangelist Reverend Billy Graham stated that he “felt the power of evil buried within the celluloid of the film itself”. The film was also banned on video in the UK for fifteen years.
Fahrenheit 9/11 (2004): Michael Moore’s controversial ‘documentary’ film was a critical expose and scathing indictment of the George W. Bush presidency and administration for its handling of the terrorist crisis and his alleged connections to Al-Qaeda leader Bin Laden’s family. It was accused of being propagandistic - especially in an election year - and that it contained half-truths and distortions of facts, and some conservative groups called for theaters to not screen it.
The documentary film was included among the Cannes Film Festival’s main competition (only the second time in 48 years for a documentary) - and won the top prize called the Palme D’or - the first for a documentary in nearly 50 years. It also broke the record for highest opening-weekend earnings in the US for a documentary, and established a significant precedent for a political documentary (eventually earning $119 million) as the highest-grossing, non-concert, non-IMAX documentary film of all time.
The controversial film had earlier gained further publicity and notoriety when Disney opted not to distribute the film through its Miramax subsidiary unit, and Moore accused the company of censorship. Disney’s refusal to let Miramax release it, because it would risk causing a partisan battle and alienate customers, actually contributed to the film’s great success. [Supposedly, Disney also feared the film might endanger tax breaks Disney received in Florida where its theme parks were located, and where the president's brother, Jeb Bush, was governor at the time.] Although the film was rated R, under protest from filmmaker Moore, some theaters defied the rating and allowed teenagers (without guardians) to attend.
Memorable images include Bush’s continued reading of the children’s book “My Pet Goat” in a Florida elementary school after the first plane crashed into the World Trade Center (filmmaker Michael Moore narrated: “When informed of the first plane hitting the World Trade Center, where terrorists had struck just eight years prior, Mr. Bush decided to go ahead with his photo opportunity…”), the many self-incriminating Bush clips (such as when he demonstrated his golf swing - “Now watch this drive!” - immediately after calling on nations to stop terrorist killers, his stumbling through speeches and delivering such damning lines as: “What an impressive crowd: the haves, and the have-mores. Some people call you the elite, I call you my base”); the documentarian’s questioning of Democratic and Republican politicians about enrolling their sons for military duty; the mall scenes in which Marine recruiters targeted minority teenagers for enrollment, and Bush’s inept handling of the terrorist crisis and his agenda (after 9/11) to illegitimately launch a pre-emptive war in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Last Tango In Paris (1972, It./Fr.): Bernardo Bertolucci’s film was a landmark, controversial erotic film with raw (yet simulated) sexual scenes and primitive force - critics and audiences alike asked - was it erotic art or pornography? In the film’s story, a distraught, confused, grieving widower and middle-aged, overweight American exile Paul (Marlon Brando) plunged into a sado-masochistic, physical (yet impersonal and basically anonymous) relationship with young, big-breasted 20 year-old Parisienne ingenue Jeanne (Maria Schneider). Paul’s gutter-language and set of ‘no questions asked’ rules was notable for the time: “We are going to forget everything we knew - everything” - and their relationship became increasingly more vile, slavish, empty, humiliating, and unromantic (i.e., “You know in 15 years, you’re going to be playing soccer with your tits. What do you think of that?”).
It was noted for Paul’s scatological monologues, its bathtub washing scene and the disturbing and explicit ‘butter’ scene during anal intercourse, in which she passively acquiesced to rape and forced sodomy (with an application of butter: “Get the butter”) in an empty, rented apartment, as he forced her to repeat phrases such as: “the will is broken by repression”. Later, Paul reciprocated by letting Jeanne penetrate him anally with her fingers - part of his objective to “look death right in the face…go right up into the ass of death… till you find the womb of fear.” By film’s end, she had shot him with her father’s gun, and confessed to police: “I don’t know who he is” and “I don’t know his name”.
It was noteworthy as the first “mainstream” film to carry the dreaded “X” rating. In 1974, it became the first film to be prosecuted under Britain’s Obscene Publications Act - and the sodomy scene was ordered deleted. In the director’s own country, the film was seized and banned, and charged for its “obscene content offensive to public decency”. In the mid-70s, it was permanently banned in Italy (with all prints seized), its stars and director were condemned, and Bertolucci was given a 4-month suspended prison sentence.
The Passion Of The Christ (2004): Co-producer, co-writer, and director Mel Gibson’s R-rated, self-financed, independent smash-hit film, a brutal depiction of Jesus’ last 12 hours on Earth, stirred up considerable controversy. It was filmed with dialogue in three languages (Aramaic, Hebrew, and Latin) with subtitles, and although Gibson claimed that the account was authentic and ‘truthful’ - it would be nearly impossible to derive a strict and true historical account of the events from the Gospels. The scourging (a 10-minute sequence) and crucifixion scenes in particular were overpoweringly graphic, bloody, torturous and vicious. Even Gibson admitted that the film was deliberately “shocking” and “extreme” in order to depict Jesus’ enormous sacrifice.
Even before it was released and viewed, religious leaders were indignant over its Catholic-tinged interpretation of the Bible, its use of extra-Biblical sources, and its poetic license, and Jews protested the film as anti-Semitic - believing that the “obscene” film would blame Jews for the death of Jesus. Even Gibson had difficulty securing a distributor for his film.
The film went on to be one of the most successful R-rated films ever, with $370 million US box-office receipts, mostly due to its embracing by evangelical church groups. An unrated, re-edited re-release of the film (still R-rated), named The Passion Recut (2005), with Gibson’s own edits (removal of about 5 minutes of graphic violence) was shown in theatres for a short time a year later.
Source
http://www.filmsite.org/controversialfilms1.html
Some movies are done only for the fun of it. Hence, amateurish mistakes are common. But others are of a totally different category - they are done to be sold and to gain profit; they are commercial products. That means, as consumers, we have certain expectations to its quality.
Hence, I’d like to read what you have to say about this particular scene of a local (Sabah, Malaysia) movie entitled “Jovitah” produced in 2004. It has the worst editing in a movie I have ever seen.
The bottom line is, would you buy it?
Eddie Murphy plays multiple characters in one of the most hilarious dinnertime scenes in movie history in The Nutty Professor (1996), where all social taboos are broken in a mere few minutes. The dialogue is fast and furious, so here’s a transcript of that particular scene courtesy of script-o-rama:
- There’s nothing Iike being with family!
I am hungry. Come on now.
- Carla, where are you from? - Chicago.
- Oh, Chicago! We have family there. - Windy City, huh?
I was workin’ on a skyscraper in Chicago once and my lunch blew off the 7th fIoor.
Yeah, I figure your fat ass would remember somebody’s sandwich flyin’ off a building.
- Oh, baby, eat some bread.
Miss Purty, are you and Sherman havin’ relations?
- That’s a good question. - Uh, no, Grandma.
It’s not like - like that. We’re colleagues.
- Oh. - We just work together.
That’s how it start out - colleagues.
Me and your grandfather were colleagues. Next thing you know he’s on top of me in the shed, pumpin’ and a-sweatin’.
- It’s not like that. - Will you hush up?
You never brought a girl home. The least you can do is let us talk to her.
Yeah, I’d like to get to know her a little better myself.
Ain’t nothing wrong with havin’ relations. Don’t be ashamed of that.
Relations is beautiful. When I was young I used to always have relations. Every night, if a nice gentleman bring me flowers and candy, take me to a movie, show me a lovely evenin’, then I would take him home and give him hot, lovely relations. Relations is a beautiful thing. It’s nothing to be ashamed of. Especially two young peopIe.
- That blowhole. - Cletus!
- Sometimes when I’m alone, I relate to myself. - I can relate.
- Oh, Mama. - I don’t wanna hear this shit whiIe I’m eatin’.
- Cletus! - I’m gonna kill you later.
- Carla, do you like children? - Yes. Oh, that’s wonderful.
I can’t wait for Sherman to bring me home some grandbabies. I know you’re gonna enjoy making them babies. Got those childbearing hips.
- Baby’ll pop right out.
Your family got any money? I ain’t payin’ for no big-ass wedding.
I know a wonderfuI minister. What religious background are you?
I still got my wedding dress. If you want it, I’ll take it in. You’d look so lovely in it. It’s white, though. Can you wear a white wedding dress, young lady? Now, Sherman, you can wear a white tuxedo. ‘Cause you know Sherman - Sherman has never had relations.
Mama, you gonna embarrass my baby.
- I hope you got a strong back. - Oh, look at my baby blushin’.
When you get all that man, and release all that that’s been built up… for years - Just wantin’ and wantin’ and wantin’! Whoo! Might make your head blow off.
Pop goes the weasel!
I got my own self hot tellin’ that story.
Pop goes the weasel, ’cause the weasel say “”pop”"!
You gonna get married here or in Chicago?
Do you cook? ‘Cause somebody’s got to feed my Sherman.
Yeah, I know a wonderful church down there on Main Street, but they won’t marry you if you’re a lesbian.
Not that I have anything against lesbians. I love lesbians.
- Lesbians is cooI. - There’s nothing wrong with a little bingo. A little cunnilingus ain’t never hurt nobody.
- Why is it the woman always gets the choice where they’re gonna be married? - Tradition.
Tradition, my ass! I ain’t gonna pay for everybody flyin’ to no Chicago!
- You know how much plane tickets cost? - You cheap bastard.
We’re gonna have to drive down there.
I’m not driving over to Chicago.
* Sherman gonna have relations *
- My baby’s not gettin’ married-
There you go again, poppin’ off gas in front of this lovely young lady.
We’re trying to have a meal. Put that brake on this gas.
I hope your ass turn into a frog.
- Don’t nobody want to hear your flatulence, Cletus Klump.
You’re such a disgrace!
- I stopped hoIding my gas a long time ago. - You spoiled the dinner!
- Say one more word-
Rambo: First Blood (1982): Bring in the chopper (helicopter)! -> Bawa kapak!
Goodnight, cutie pie. -> Selamat malam, kuih manis
Serial killer -> pembunuh bijirin (cereal killer)
Star Wars (?): We are approaching light speed (?) -> kami tengah menuju halaju ringan
A war movie: Duck! -> Itik!
Another war movie: Fire! -> Api!
Romancing the Stone -> Berasmara Dengan Batu
Saving Private Ryan -> Simpanan Peribadi Ryan
Hi Babe -> Hi Bayi
I mean business -> saya bermaksud perniagaan
On comedy sitcom How i Met Your Mother, a character says “Cheap Trick” (the name of the US band playing on the jukebox) is translated as “Helah Murahan”
…and did you hear the one about how Sly Stallone spoke Bahasa Malaysia in Judge Dredd: I am the law -> Ayam Telor
I think it was said by Michelle Pfeiffer in 1983. The movie is Scarface 
Can’t you stop saying fuck all the time?
The following clip shows all (or almost all) the F-words said in that movie, and at 1:02 you can see how Michelle Pfeiffer said her infamous line.
It’s from an episode entitled Arena 
In Star Trek universe, the Gorn are “intelligent reptilian humanoids from the Gorn Hegemony.”
According to wikipedia:
Despite limitations in make-up technology which made it obvious the Gorn Captain (Agave) in “Arena” was simply an actor (Bobby Clark was the actual actor in the suit) in a lizard suit (see picture), the Gorn has nonetheless become one of the most popular aliens to ever appear on Star Trek due to the striking design of Wah Chang and the Gorn’s memorable personality: a hissing, slow-moving beast, the Gorn is nonetheless quite devious, chuckling wickedly to himself as he sets a trap for Kirk and promising that if the captain gives himself up, the Gorn will make his death “merciful and quick.” “Arena” is also considered one of the series’ classic episodes and was the template for a similar, critically acclaimed episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation entitled “Darmok”.
The following clip shows the duel, and if anything, this has got to be the slowest fight scene ever.
I have 2 scenes in this category. The first is apparently from Telugu movie Alluda Majaka released 1995 where a horse manages to slide under a truck. Unsurprisingly, it was a major flop at the box office.
Then there’s the scene from an Indian movie (if anybody knows the title please tell me) where Superman and Spiderwoman sing a “3 acre song” Bollywood style.
From the movie Heat
According to wikipedia, at the time of writing, there are 123 movies in which the word “fuck” is said more than 100 times, and where the champ is the appropriately titled F**k - A Documentary (2005) in which the word is said 857 times. It runs for 93 minutes, hence on average the word is said once every 8.6 minutes.
The documentary revolves around the history of the word and why it is deeply offensive to some people. It also includes some of the most famous (and infamous) film and TV clips in which the word has been said.
The rest of the top 10:
2nd: Nil by Mouth
3rd: Casino (Widescreen 10th Anniversary Edition)
4th: Alpha Dog 
5th: Jarhead 
6th: Twin Town 
7th: Summer of Sam
8th: Martin Lawrence Live - Runteldat 
9th: GoodFellas
10th: Narc
Looking at the full list, it can be concluded that the censors are becoming more liberal when it comes to foul language. The oldest film in the list is Apocalypse Now (1979), at no.91 and 126 uses of the word. Most of the films in the list are from the 90s or later. All the top 10 are films produced in 1995 or later.
Goodfellas (1990), where according to Maxim magazine, Joe Pesci wrote and directed this particular scene at Martin Scorsese’s request. The extremely realistic presence of the brutish and intimidating Tommy De Vito, played by Joe Pesci and the stuttering nervous wreck that is Henry Hill, played by Ray Liotta, is a must-see for any movie lover:
Watch the video
This is possibly the best scene in the entire Indiana Jones trilogy, or at least in Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark
One particular scene consistently brings the house down - Indiana Jones, having survived an
elaborate chase through the casbah, is confronted by a swordsman whipping through a flashy routine with a scimitar. With a look of infinite fatigue and disgust, Indy simply pulls out his gun and blows the bad guy away.That bit flowed not from the pen of a screenwriter but from the desperation of Harrison Ford. His desire to spend less time on this scene and more in a washroom led to an actor-inspired script change that was ultimately worked into the film.
Three months’ of shooting in the blazing heat in Tunisia had resulted in a terrible bout of dysentery for Harrison Ford. The original scene, as called for in the script, would have required approximately three days to shoot. Not looking forward to another lengthy shoot under that
blistering sun, Ford persuaded Spielberg to try the scene this much shorter way.
In this movie, Sly Stallone tries to sing country in Rhinestone
This scene from Austin Powers in Goldmember
Stanley Kubrick (1928-1999) could be the world’s most demanding film / movie director ever. Universally regarded as one of the greatest movie directors who ever lived, he directed several all-time classics such as 2001 : A Space Odyssey (1968), A Clockwork Orange (1971) and The Shining (1980).
He is known for his seemingly wasteful shooting ratio and many takes.
According to imdb.com: he reportedly exposed an incredible 1.3 million feet of film while shooting The Shining (1980), the release print of which runs for 142 minutes. Thus, he used less than 1% of the exposed film stock, making his shooting ratio an indulgent 102:1 when a ratio of 5 or 10:1 is considered the norm.
While making The Shining: (more…)
I think it’s a tie between Louis J Horvitz, 60 (pic above) and Walter C Miller (pic below). These two guys are responsible for directing the world’s most prestigious live TV shows, year in and year out. Horvitz has directed the last 11 Annual Academy Awards (also known as the Oscars) show and Miller has directed the last 8 Annual Grammy Awards show. (more…)
How can the humble pillow be interesting?
When it’s the Horse Head Pillow. (more…)
Why?
Your father is Indian movie legend Amitabh Bachchan. Your mom is renowned Bollywood actress Jaya Bachchan, who is also an MP. Your family is well off. You are an up and coming movie star, adored by millions. That should set most people for life. But it doesn’t end there, because he’s going to get married to the world’s most beautiful woman, Aishwarya Rai. (more…)
The Skeleton Project lists 10 films that they believe:
…if watched by the majority of US citizens there would be demands of impeachment, a push to pull out of Iraq and a complete shift in thought or at the very least some questioning of the government.
The writer also notes that only a few people have seen most of these these films, even the “popular” ones. (more…)
According to bullz-eye.com, the best of all time is Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody performed in the film Wayne’s World. (more…)
Cracked.com lists eleven horror movies that are so bad that in hindsight, they are good! (more…)
The TV academy faced uncomfortable questions about its procedures after Ellen Burstyn was nominated for a best supporting actress Emmy for a 14-second performance. (more…)
In his heyday, P “Ibu Mertuaku” Ramlee was probably only second to the legendary Akira “Shichinin No Samurai” Kurosawa as the greatest movie director in Asia.
Now Ang Lee has surpassed them both. Never mind that the movie he directed (Brokeback Mountain) is highly controversial. (more…)
