SOAPBOX: Gallipoli + Prometheus: Best Works of Art in History

[NickyJ]

Aye. Drink until you can't see straight. Then watch Zardoz, and enjoy.

Eh, I'm not sure. It looks pretty bad. I'd play it safe and get high while drunk.

My motivation for making this thread:
I love these movies, I really do but something had to be done to stop the asshats.

If it ever came to that, you could pull a Fahrenheit 451 and move to a survivalist colony with lots of dvd players.

 

[Borachio]

Fahrenheit 451 is possibly one of the worst movies I've ever seen. And I read the book. What's worse is they've done a remake!

Link to video.

Here's another one they never should have remade:

Link to video.

Talk about crap. What are these people thinking of, eh? They spend literally millions of squillions and make utter crap. Then 30 or 40 years later, think it's a great idea to do the same thing again!

 

[NickyJ]

Did Sean Connery have no shame?

 

[hobbsyoyo]

Wizard of Oz: still a better action film than Gallipoli.

Did Wizard of Oz have WWI in it?

 

[Dachs]

Did Wizard of Oz have WWI in it?

Did Gallipoli have WWI in it?

 

[hobbsyoyo]

Yeah it was right after the wrestling and running around the pyramids and trekking across the outback and and and stuff.

 

[Borachio]

Speaking of works of art, how's this for a photo?

Brunel, and some serious chain work.

 

[NickyJ]

Pathetic. Next question?

 

[Borachio]

You, sir, have no soul. Much less the soul of an engineer.

 

[sophie]

Did Gallipoli have WWI in it?

I think I might have seen a machine gun in there at some point...maybe.

 

[NickyJ]

You, sir, have no soul. Much less the soul of an engineer.

From what I've heard, you can't kill that which has no soul, so I can't complain.

Now, if you want to look at a real work of art, look at this:

Look at it! LOOK AT IT! It has strength! It has fear! Love! Hate! Ambivalence! IT HAS PASSION!

Look at it, and tell me that you didn't weep with joy after realizing how empty and devoid of color your life was without it!

 

[Borachio]

Bah! That's nothing.

 

[ricketyclik]

Gallipoli is one of my favourite films. I related much more to the character of Archy than Frank when I saw it as a boy, but these days I'm more of a Frank (Gibson) when it comes to attitudes toward war.

When Archy is trying to explain his youthful, idealistic form of nationalism to a desert vagrant justifying his intention to lay himself down as cannon-fodder for the colonial masters with "We dont stop them there, they could end up here" the old-timer's response, after disdainfully surveying the vast salt pan they're in is "And they're welcome to it". An hilariously succinct retort to the crazy propaganda used to stir up volunteers to go off to fight in someone else's war.

I spent some of my youth growing up in the wheat belt of Australia in the 70's and 80's, and lots of the people out there back then were in a real time-warp. Remember, this was when the region was lucky to have one TV and radio station, let alone the internet. Some of the old-timer farm hands had no birth-certificate, no fixed address and were illiterate. Anti-Japanese sentiment was still central to the cultural identity.

Gallipoli's screenplay writer David Williamson (Australia's most celebrated playwright) captured the language and attitudes of early 20th century rural Australia brilliantly, based on my experiences.

I particularly enjoyed the hugely effective juxtaposition of Jean Jarre's electronica against early 20th century action, the music evocative of the urgency of the youthful characters and the chaos of war. It reminded me a lot of Vangelis against the youthful athleticism in Chariots of Fire - both similar styles of music used in similar styles of movie - period pieces set around the same time in part celebrating youthful athleticism.

I enjoyed Prometheus too.

 

[ricketyclik]

Oh yes, our family has a picture of my great-uncle on a horse in front of the pyramids at pretty much exactly that time (I think he was a Major). Egypt was indeed a staging post for Australian and New Zealand troops on their way to Turkey.

 

[LamaGT]

To me any film where everybody or almost everybody dies does not have a good plot, if you have to kill your entire cast in order to make it interesting you've clearly done it wrong.
Prometheus is just filled with so much bullsh*t that it's simply not interesting to watch.

 

[Winston Hughes]

To be described as one of the best works of art in history, a work must capture something unique and profound about the nature of existence, something which can only be imagined by a visionary genius at a moment of transcendental inspiration, something which enlightens and invigorates the very souls of those lucky enough to experience it, lifting them to a higher plane of emotional and spiritual understanding:

Spoiler :

 

[Lambert Simnel]

Hadn't seen this thread before, but gotta say I thoroughly enjoyed the OP.

You didn't mention the fundamental artistic conundrum at the heart of Gallipoli though - it is indeed, a work of such beauty which truly indicates (as you argue) than all "art" before 1980 is worthless. On the other hand, it relies critically on the genius of Albinoni's Adagio which was written in 1708 or 1958, either of which would disqualify it as the magnificent counterpiece which the rest of the movie deserved. So which is it:

a) Gallipoli is marred by heavy reliance on outdated "art" ,
b) Albinoni's Adagio is lifted up to artistic excellence by mere proximity to his Mel-ness,
c) Neither Albinoni nor Giazotto wrote this music, and instead it was written for the movie by Gibson himself, and Wikipedia and others are just trying to cover it up?

 

[Borachio]

To be described as one of the best works of art in history, a work must capture something unique and profound about the nature of existence, something which can only be imagined by a visionary genius at a moment of transcendental inspiration, something which enlightens and invigorates the very souls of those lucky enough to experience it, lifting them to a higher plane of emotional and spiritual understanding:

Spoiler :

A snorty laugh out loud, at that.

 

[Antilogic]

What the hell, I don't even...

Curious the OP didn't mention the awesome 1980 scifi classic Flash Gordon as a work of art.

 

[AlpsStranger]

Link to video.