Stuff you LOVE, baby

[Sajainta]

Congrats!  That's wonderful! 

[Romana]

BANG SHISHIGAMI

BANG 

A HERO OF LOVE AND JUSTICE

[Lord J Esq]

I love public radio! The KUOW 94.9 Spring Pledge Drive is on right now, and I'm feeling hot under the collar because I can't afford to make a pledge this time around. =(

[Truthordeal]

Bollocks to you, good sir, I am of vermilinguan decent!

[Lord J Esq]

Lawrence of Arabia. Good movie.

[GenesisOne]

Lawrence of Arabia. Good movie.

Ah, so you like the classics like I do.  In that case...

Let's not forget Alien.  Sigourney Weaver's acting in that movie was nothing short of a miracle.

[Lord J Esq]

At my dad's urging, I've been on an Alec Guinness survey. =)  The British made some damn good movies.

[Sajainta]

Alien is considered a classic now??  Wow...  I mean, it's a good movie, but hardly a classic.  It was made in 1979.

[GenesisOne]

I mean, it's a good movie, but hardly a classic.  It was made in 1979.

A classic is a movie that will stand the test of time. It doesn't matter how old it is. One will hear the term "instant classic," and while it is usually not applied correctly, there are movies (e.g. Titanic, The Lion King) which you can know for certain will remain part of our culture at the time of their release and will continue to watch long after it's gone from theaters. Usually, it takes time for a movie to become a classic because we have to see whether or not it can survive a few years, much less a few decades.

[Shee]

Just got word that DirecTV will be airing all 5 seasons of The Wire, uncut, commercial free.  I don't have the dish but just spreading the word.

[Thought]

A classic is a movie that will stand the test of time. It doesn't matter how old it is.

Actually, yes it does. A movie that has yet to stand the test of time cannot be called a classic, since the very criteria has not yet been fulfilled. So it does matter how old it is.

But Alien is probably old enough by all but historical standards. And it still usually considered to be one of the top ten science fiction films of all time (take THAT, Ewok Adventure).

[Lord J Esq]

I'm ambivalent about considering Alien a classic. However, I've got a bet going with myself as to whether or not two other popular sci-fi films will achieve "classic" status. The bet has been an exercise in making objective judgments despite having strong personal opinions. I consider Fight Club and The Matrix to be the two most overrated, undeserving-of-the-hype science fiction films of our generation, yet both of them were hugely popular in their time of release and contain enough artistic material that we cannot summarily dismiss them to the dustbin of history.

[GenesisOne]

What?  Fight club was a science fiction movie?

I remember it being a satire novel, but a science fiction movie? Talk about coming out of left field.  By all means, Lord J, explain your view of the movie being sci-fi in terms of tone and elements.

@Thought: That's what I mean when I say people the term instant classic like it's good praise for the film they saw, but an instant classic is an oxymoron.  Only when the film has withstood years of viewership and such viewers shout (almost) in unison, "I'd still watch it," that's when you know it has become a classic.

[Lord J Esq]

The science is psychology and the fiction is Brad Pitt. =)

[FaustWolf]

I'm curious as to why Alien (1979) should be chosen as a classic over Aliens (1986). I guess Alien felt a little more like a horror art film, whereas Aliens was definitely more of an action flick. Could the different "mood" set these films apart in terms of classic-worthiness, or other aspects? For my own part I'd tend to rate Aliens slightly higher than Alien just for the writing and deeper exploration of Ripley's character.