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Top 10 Films to Watch for Cinematographers


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Here is my list :

 

1. Persona (Sven Nykvist) - the single-point lighting and the unique way of capturing close-ups of faces

 

2. Fanny and Alexander (Sven Nykvist) - organic, logical, naturalistic lighting at its best. Complimented by the great art direction.

 

3. Red Desert (Carlo Di Palma) - unique use of colour (which is not saturated, which is not glossy). the colour depicts the mood.

 

4. 3-iron (Jang Seung-Beck) - the abstract story expressed through abstract angles and soft lighting...

 

5. Chungking Express, Away with words (Christopher Doyle) - highly stylish. The compositions, a daze of colour, camera movements of the hand-held cam that will show you more than can be seen by naked eye. Integral with the poetic tone of the film

 

6. Amelie (Bruno Delbonnel) - Highly eloquent. this fairy tale has each and every shot carefully crafted like a painter's work.

 

7. Turtles can fly (Shahriar Assadi) - haunting compositions and lighting. unsettling frontal shots to depict the micro-effects of a war

 

8. Melancholia (Manuel Alberto Claro) - the grand compositions, the colour, organic camera movement, shows the melancholy of a nice world in this apocalyptic drama.

 

9. Jalsaghar (Subrata Mitra) - The declining legacy of a landlord. Wonderful naturalistic lighting, simplistic compositions, minimalistic sets, how objects enter and leave the frame. Great chemistry between a film-maker and cinematographer.

 

10. Requiem for a dream (Matthew Libatique) - unconventioned narrative of this ensemble well supported by the cut-crisp cinematography will have a long-lasting impact on you

 

11. Go go second time virgin (Hideo Ito) - one of the most unsettling movies ever. the casual, informal camera work

 

12. Pieta (Cho Yeong-Jik) - dark, sinewy. Not just the light, but also the shadow is important in cinematography.

 

13. La Dolce Vita (Ortello Martelli) - Cinema is resemblance of life, but gets more real than life itself. Grand, highly organic.

 

I won't say that these are the greatest, but my favourites and the ones I remember right now.

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Titles from everywhere get ignored because it's just a thread about what pops into peoples head. I think international films are making a good showing.

 

Certainly Germanys doing fantastic with Nosferatu, M, Faust, Cabinet of Dr Caligari and Sunrise.

 

The UK is even doing surprisingly well with Prosperos Books, Lawrence of Arabia, Peeping Tom, The Red Shoes, Black Narcissus and Man of Aran! (I'm shocked)

 

...and theres lots of other international films too! I'm just surprised nobody has mentioned any Christopher Doyle films yet!

 

love

 

Freya

 

Absolutely, watch some films done by Wong Kar-Wai & Chris Doyle!!!

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Look at the dates of those films:

Sunshine (2007)

Bronson (2008)
Only God Forgives (2013)
Fury (2014)
Jiro dreams of sushi (2011)
Old Boy (2003)
Fight Club (1999)
Brazil (1985)
No country for old men (2007)
The Fountain (2006)
Only two movie predate the year 2000, out of over 100 years of cinema. Would a list of the top ten novels ever published mostly be things written in the past few decades?
These are all fine films, but they were shot by people who studied earlier films, and those films were shot by people who probably were inspired by even earlier films. If you want to get into the heads of these modern cinematographers, find out what inspired them.
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Eraserhead

The Color of Pomegranates / Sayat Nova

Beauty and the beast

Persona

Nosferatu

Inauguration of the pleasure dome

Stalker

Prosperos Books

The Holy Mountain

The cabinet of Dr Caligari

 

 

 

Good call on Tideland Adrian! Very underated film! Reminds me of my childhood, so a bit of a horror film for me, but really amazing film.

 

How about Brazil?

 

I want to fit Lost Highway in there somewhere but I already had Eraserhead...

 

love

 

Freya

 

Top 10s are always impossible. Apart from the fact that there are more than 10 films in the universe that deserve to be in a top 10 list (strangely enough) the list one proposes at any given time is but one out of any number of lists one might propose over the course of a lifetime, or even over the course of a couple of hours.

 

So rather than try and propose my own list I want to agree with this one. I'm very much in tune with this list. Including the fustration of not being able to fit Lost Highway. ha ha.

 

C

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Here's my list for movies cinematography students should watch, and it's incomplete and it doesn't go past 1999...

Silent Era:
Broken Blossoms (1919)
The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1921)
The Last Laugh (1922)
Nosferatu (1922)
Battleship Potemkin (1925)
Sparrows (1926)
Metropolis (1927)
Sunrise (1927)
Wings (1927)
The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928)
1930’s:
All’s Quiet On the Western Front (1930)
Morocco (1930)
Dishonored (1931)
Scarlet Empress (1934)
Bride of Frankenstein (1935)
Midsummer Night’s Dream (1935)
Garden of Allah (1936)
The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938)
Alexander Nevsky (1938)
Drums Along the Mohawk (1939)
Gone With The Wind (1939)
Wuthering Heights (1939)
Young Mr. Lincoln (1939)
1940’s:
Grapes of Wrath (1940)
The Long Voyage Home (1940)
Rebecca (1940)
Citizen Kane (1941)
How Green Was My Valley (1941)
Casablanca (1942)
The Magnificent Ambersons (1942)
The Life & Death of Colonel Blimp (1943)
Henry V (1944)
Jane Eyre (1944)
Meet Me in St. Louis (1944)
Mildred Pierce (1945)
Spellbound (1945)
Beauty and the Beast (1946)
Duel in the Sun (1946)
Great Expectations (1946)
A Matter of Life & Death (1946)
My Darling Clementine (1946)
Black Narcissus (1947)
The Fugitive (1947)
Out of the Past (1947)
Hamlet (1948)
Oliver Twist (1948)
The Red Shoes (1948)
The Third Man (1949)
1950’s:
Rashomon (1950)
An American in Paris (1951)
Moulin Rouge (1952)
Othello (1952)
Singin’ In The Rain (1952)
Ugetsu Monogatari (1953)
On the Waterfront (1954)
Seven Samurai (1954)
Night of the Hunter (1955)
Pather Panchali (1955)
Aparajito (1956)
Lust for Life (1956)
Moby Dick (1956)
The Searchers (1956)
The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)
The Seventh Seal (1957)
Throne of Blood (1957)
Wild Strawberries (1957)
Touch of Evil (1958)
Vertigo (1958)
Apur Sansar (1959)
Ben-Hur (1959)
1960’s:
Psycho (1960)
Spartacus (1960)
El Cid (1961)
One-Eyed Jacks (1961)
Yojimbo (1961)
Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
Cleopatra (1963)
8 1/2 (1963)
Hud (1963)
The Trial (1963)
Dr. Strangelove (1964)
I Am Cuba (1964)
Dr. Zhivago (1965)
Help! (1965)
Red Beard (1965)
Bonnie & Clyde (1967)
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly (1967)
In Cold Blood (1967)
Hell in the Pacific (1968)
Romeo & Juliet (1968)
2001 (1968)
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)
The Wild Bunch (1969)
1970’s:
The Conformist (1970)
Patton (1970)
Ryan’s Daughter (1970)
A Clockwork Orange (1971)
The Devils (1971)
Fiddler On The Roof (1971)
The French Connection (1971)
Klute (1971)
The Last Picture Show (1971)
McCabe & Mrs. Miller (1971)
Cabaret (1972)
Cries & Whispers (1972)
Deliverence (1972)
Fat City (1972)
The Godfather (1972)
Last Tango In Paris (1972)
The Exorcist (1973)
The Long Goodbye (1973)
Paper Moon (1973)
The Three Musketeers (1973)
Chinatown (1974)
The Godfather, Part II (1974)
Lucky Lady (1974)
Murder on the Orient Express (1974)
The Sugerland Express (1974)
Barry Lyndon (1975)
Day of the Locust (1975)
Three Days of the Condor (1975)
All the President’s Men (1976)
Bound For Glory (1976)
Network (1976)
1900 (1976)
The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976)
The Return of a Man Called Horse (1976)
Robin & Marion (1976)
A Bridge Too Far (1977)
Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)
The Duelists (1977)
Eraserhead (1977)
The Exorcist II (1977)
Jesus of Nazarith (1977)
Days of Heaven (1978)
The Deer Hunter (1978)
Interiors (1978)
Superman (1978)
Agatha (1979)
Alien (1979)
Apocalypse Now (1979)
Dracula (1979)
Manhattan (1979)
1941 (1979)
Tess (1979)
1980’s:
The Elephant Man (1980)
The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
Heaven’s Gate (1980)
Raging Bull (1980)
The Shining (1980)
Stardust Memories (1980)
Chariots of Fire (1981)
Excalibur (1981)
Pennies From Heaven (1981)
Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
Reds (1981)
True Confessions (1981)
Blade Runner (1982)
Das Boot (1982)
E.T. (1982)
One From the Heart (1982)
Sophie’s Choice (1982)
Fanny & Alexander (1983)
The Right Stuff (1983)
Rumblefish (1983)
Wagner (1983)
Yentl (1983)
Amadeus (1984)
Dune (1984)
Greystoke (1984)
The Natural (1984)
1984 (1984)
Brazil (1985)
The Color Purple (1985)
Ladyhawke (1985)
Legend (1985)
Mishima (1985)
Out of Africa (1985)
Ran (1985)
Blue Velvet (1986)
The Mission (1986)
A Room With A View (1986)
Angel Heart (1987)
Empire of the Sun (1987)
The Last Emperor (1987)
Red Sorghum (1987)
Someone to Watch Over Me (1987)
Baron Munchausen (1988)
Tequila Sunrise (1988)
Tucker (1988)
Born On the Fourth of July (1989)
Fat Man & Little Boy (1989)
Mountains of the Moon (1989)
1990’s:
Akira Kurosawa’s Dreams
Dick Tracy (1990)
Ju Dou (1990)
The Godfather, Part III (1990)
Hamlet (Zefferilli) (1990)
Henry & June (1990)
Memphis Belle (1990)
Miller’s Crossing (1990)
The Sheltering Sky (1990)
Barton Fink (1991)
Bugsy (1991)
Delicatessen (1991)
The Doors (1991)
JFK (1991)
Raise the Red Lantern (1991)
Terminator II (1991)
Tous Les Matins Du Monde (1991)
Batman Returns (1992)
Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992)
Far & Away (1992)
1492 (1992)
Jennifer 8 (1992)
Howard’s End (1992)
Like Water For Chocolate (1992)
Unforgiven (1992)
The Age of Innocence (1993)
Little Buddha (1993)
The Piano (1993)
Remains of the Day (1993)
Schindler’s List (1993)
Searching For Bobby Fischer (1993)
The Hudsucker Proxy (1994)
Legends of the Fall (1994)
Natural Born Killers (1994)
The Secret of Roan Inish (1994)
The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
Wyatt Earp (1994)
Braveheart (1995)
Casino (1995)
City of Lost Children (1995)
Crimson Tide (1995)
Flamenco (1995)
A Little Princess (1995)
Nixon (1995)
Seven (1995)
A Walk in the Clouds (1995)
The English Patient (1996)
Evita (1996)
Fargo (1996)
Michael Collins (1996)
Amistad (1997)
Character (1997)
Kundun (1997)
Titanic (1997)
A Civil Action (1998)
Dark City (1998)
Saving Private Ryan (1998)
Tango (1998)
The Thin Red Line (1998)
The Matrix (1999)
Sleepy Hollow (1999)
Snow Falling On Cedars (1999)
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Not in order as far too hard to give a pecking order!

 

Barry Lyndon

Skyfall

Saving Private Ryan

Blade Runner

2001 A space odyssey

Apocalypse Now

The Tree of life

Seven

Lawrence of Arabia

12 Years a Slave

 

Hard enough to give 10!

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The 70's is a crucial period. And of everything in the 70's, from which there is so very much, I'd grab "The Deer Hunter". It was revolutionary in so many aspects.

Douglas Slocombe's work on the three Indy Jones should be compulsory memorising. They're a hard light festival drawing from the golden age of cinema. I can never ever tire of them. Slocombe Slocombe Slocombe!

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Here's my list for movies cinematography students should watch, and it's incomplete and it doesn't go past 1999...

 

Is your list long, because you think that each of these films teaches a unique and necessary lesson or because watching many films is educational, in and of itself?

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Is your list long, because you think that each of these films teaches a unique and necessary lesson or because watching many films is educational, in and of itself?

 

Because I don't believe anyone who wants to study a subject should limit themselves to 10 movies, 10 books, 10 paintings, whatever. Even a non-cinephile who isn't interested in cinematography can manage to watch 10 movies! The number is so small as to be unhelpful and misleading because it's so random. 5 movies per decade would be a better starting point, at least you'd begin to see some trends over time.

 

All the films on my list are worth watching for the cinematography. If I thought merely watching any movie was enough as long as there were a lot of them, I wouldn't have bothered to compile a list.

 

Honestly, anyone who becomes passionate about any subject is going to explore it quite thoroughly. I can't imagine someone who says they are a fan of Civil War history asking for a list of three books he should read on the topic -- he's probably already read twelve of them before he even thinks to ask what he might have missed, or how else would he know he was a fan of the topic? It probably takes watching 10 movies with great cinematography for a beginner to even know if he's interested in cinematography, which is the point where he should start asking for suggestions. So I'm not even sure who a list of 10 movies is even for, other than the complete novice who has hardly watched movies.

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I think it is best to watch movies of one well known director and then move on to another. That way one can learn a lot. After a break of a month or two, I again go back to Kurosawa's movies. Every time I am amazed. Apart from the cinematography, use of shadows and light, different lenses, technique, I ponder over the philosophy of these movies.

 

The long list of movies mentioned by David is of help. That will help to pick and choose movies of directors of a particular era.

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As David said, if you are passionate about something, you will eventually want to learn the history of it. That's how it was with me and I wound up doing my graduate thesis on the Dawn of Cinema - a period that truly embodied the creative spirit (and one many would be surprised at how much they really don't know.)

 

And it's not only about cinematography. If you look at the photography and only the photography, without putting anything into context, you really won't learn much. My interest in cinematography grew out of the many films I've always loved for their stories. You should watch as many films as possible - from all different genres, periods, countries, etc. - and examine them for every aspect of their craftsmanship.

 

Then repeat...

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Here's my list for movies cinematography students should watch, and it's incomplete and it doesn't go past 1999...

Silent Era:
Broken Blossoms (1919)
The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (1921)
The Last Laugh (1922)
Nosferatu (1922)
Battleship Potemkin (1925)
Sparrows (1926)
Metropolis (1927)
Sunrise (1927)
Wings (1927)
The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928)
1930’s:
All’s Quiet On the Western Front (1930)
Morocco (1930)
Dishonored (1931)
Scarlet Empress (1934)
Bride of Frankenstein (1935)
Midsummer Night’s Dream (1935)
Garden of Allah (1936)
The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938)
Alexander Nevsky (1938)
Drums Along the Mohawk (1939)
Gone With The Wind (1939)
Wuthering Heights (1939)
Young Mr. Lincoln (1939)
1940’s:
Grapes of Wrath (1940)
The Long Voyage Home (1940)
Rebecca (1940)
Citizen Kane (1941)
How Green Was My Valley (1941)
Casablanca (1942)
The Magnificent Ambersons (1942)
The Life & Death of Colonel Blimp (1943)
Henry V (1944)
Jane Eyre (1944)
Meet Me in St. Louis (1944)
Mildred Pierce (1945)
Spellbound (1945)
Beauty and the Beast (1946)
Duel in the Sun (1946)
Great Expectations (1946)
A Matter of Life & Death (1946)
My Darling Clementine (1946)
Black Narcissus (1947)
The Fugitive (1947)
Out of the Past (1947)
Hamlet (1948)
Oliver Twist (1948)
The Red Shoes (1948)
The Third Man (1949)
1950’s:
Rashomon (1950)
An American in Paris (1951)
Moulin Rouge (1952)
Othello (1952)
Singin’ In The Rain (1952)
Ugetsu Monogatari (1953)
On the Waterfront (1954)
Seven Samurai (1954)
Night of the Hunter (1955)
Pather Panchali (1955)
Aparajito (1956)
Lust for Life (1956)
Moby Dick (1956)
The Searchers (1956)
The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)
The Seventh Seal (1957)
Throne of Blood (1957)
Wild Strawberries (1957)
Touch of Evil (1958)
Vertigo (1958)
Apur Sansar (1959)
Ben-Hur (1959)
1960’s:
Psycho (1960)
Spartacus (1960)
El Cid (1961)
One-Eyed Jacks (1961)
Yojimbo (1961)
Lawrence of Arabia (1962)
Cleopatra (1963)
8 1/2 (1963)
Hud (1963)
The Trial (1963)
Dr. Strangelove (1964)
I Am Cuba (1964)
Dr. Zhivago (1965)
Help! (1965)
Red Beard (1965)
Bonnie & Clyde (1967)
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly (1967)
In Cold Blood (1967)
Hell in the Pacific (1968)
Romeo & Juliet (1968)
2001 (1968)
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)
The Wild Bunch (1969)
1970’s:
The Conformist (1970)
Patton (1970)
Ryan’s Daughter (1970)
A Clockwork Orange (1971)
The Devils (1971)
Fiddler On The Roof (1971)
The French Connection (1971)
Klute (1971)
The Last Picture Show (1971)
McCabe & Mrs. Miller (1971)
Cabaret (1972)
Cries & Whispers (1972)
Deliverence (1972)
Fat City (1972)
The Godfather (1972)
Last Tango In Paris (1972)
The Exorcist (1973)
The Long Goodbye (1973)
Paper Moon (1973)
The Three Musketeers (1973)
Chinatown (1974)
The Godfather, Part II (1974)
Lucky Lady (1974)
Murder on the Orient Express (1974)
The Sugerland Express (1974)
Barry Lyndon (1975)
Day of the Locust (1975)
Three Days of the Condor (1975)
All the President’s Men (1976)
Bound For Glory (1976)
Network (1976)
1900 (1976)
The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976)
The Return of a Man Called Horse (1976)
Robin & Marion (1976)
A Bridge Too Far (1977)
Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977)
The Duelists (1977)
Eraserhead (1977)
The Exorcist II (1977)
Jesus of Nazarith (1977)
Days of Heaven (1978)
The Deer Hunter (1978)
Interiors (1978)
Superman (1978)
Agatha (1979)
Alien (1979)
Apocalypse Now (1979)
Dracula (1979)
Manhattan (1979)
1941 (1979)
Tess (1979)
1980’s:
The Elephant Man (1980)
The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
Heaven’s Gate (1980)
Raging Bull (1980)
The Shining (1980)
Stardust Memories (1980)
Chariots of Fire (1981)
Excalibur (1981)
Pennies From Heaven (1981)
Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
Reds (1981)
True Confessions (1981)
Blade Runner (1982)
Das Boot (1982)
E.T. (1982)
One From the Heart (1982)
Sophie’s Choice (1982)
Fanny & Alexander (1983)
The Right Stuff (1983)
Rumblefish (1983)
Wagner (1983)
Yentl (1983)
Amadeus (1984)
Dune (1984)
Greystoke (1984)
The Natural (1984)
1984 (1984)
Brazil (1985)
The Color Purple (1985)
Ladyhawke (1985)
Legend (1985)
Mishima (1985)
Out of Africa (1985)
Ran (1985)
Blue Velvet (1986)
The Mission (1986)
A Room With A View (1986)
Angel Heart (1987)
Empire of the Sun (1987)
The Last Emperor (1987)
Red Sorghum (1987)
Someone to Watch Over Me (1987)
Baron Munchausen (1988)
Tequila Sunrise (1988)
Tucker (1988)
Born On the Fourth of July (1989)
Fat Man & Little Boy (1989)
Mountains of the Moon (1989)
1990’s:
Akira Kurosawa’s Dreams
Dick Tracy (1990)
Ju Dou (1990)
The Godfather, Part III (1990)
Hamlet (Zefferilli) (1990)
Henry & June (1990)
Memphis Belle (1990)
Miller’s Crossing (1990)
The Sheltering Sky (1990)
Barton Fink (1991)
Bugsy (1991)
Delicatessen (1991)
The Doors (1991)
JFK (1991)
Raise the Red Lantern (1991)
Terminator II (1991)
Tous Les Matins Du Monde (1991)
Batman Returns (1992)
Bram Stoker’s Dracula (1992)
Far & Away (1992)
1492 (1992)
Jennifer 8 (1992)
Howard’s End (1992)
Like Water For Chocolate (1992)
Unforgiven (1992)
The Age of Innocence (1993)
Little Buddha (1993)
The Piano (1993)
Remains of the Day (1993)
Schindler’s List (1993)
Searching For Bobby Fischer (1993)
The Hudsucker Proxy (1994)
Legends of the Fall (1994)
Natural Born Killers (1994)
The Secret of Roan Inish (1994)
The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
Wyatt Earp (1994)
Braveheart (1995)
Casino (1995)
City of Lost Children (1995)
Crimson Tide (1995)
Flamenco (1995)
A Little Princess (1995)
Nixon (1995)
Seven (1995)
A Walk in the Clouds (1995)
The English Patient (1996)
Evita (1996)
Fargo (1996)
Michael Collins (1996)
Amistad (1997)
Character (1997)
Kundun (1997)
Titanic (1997)
A Civil Action (1998)
Dark City (1998)
Saving Private Ryan (1998)
Tango (1998)
The Thin Red Line (1998)
The Matrix (1999)
Sleepy Hollow (1999)
Snow Falling On Cedars (1999)

 

Hello David,

 

Thank you for this wonderfully specific list. I had originally compiled a list with some of these films included, but this list is the perfect starting reference.

 

Is it possible if you could collate a list for the 2000s?

 

I wondered if it would include films like Hero or the Revenant.

 

Thank you once again.

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the point of Top Tens , as I see it, is to give people references what other persons are interested in and they can cross reference the trends and highly appreciated styles to get ideas where they can head on next for inspiration. A single person's Top Ten is totally insignificant but if, for example, 20 different people mention the same movie for cinematography, then it is probably worth checking

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for learning Cinematography it is also very important to watch BAD movies. seeing clearly which of their choices are working and which are not, and all the time thinking how and why they ended using that solution and would there have been any better choice considering the time and budget etc.

Appreciate the good ones - Learn from the bad ones -type of thinking ;)

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I'm not a pro cinematographer, but here is my list of films I like best for cinematography. Will probably think of others. Some of it is not swish camera moves, framing, or the use of colour. Sometimes it's just the locations, the time of day chosen for the light ... you get the picture. Funnily enough I think editing can have a crucial place in how good the cinematography comes across (plus of course the directing, and even acting talent as it can make the image on the screen 'shine' with life). Some of my explanations below are illogical and not really about cinematography. Couldn't put any more time into explaining my choices. Would take all day. In no particular order (and yes, these are mostly older films):

 

Gallipoli - the light; beautiful on the big screen, film projection

The Man from Snowy River - the light, the composition, the action shots

The Third Man - beautiful film noir, mood, perspective

Dr Zhivago - colour and composition

The Piano - mood

Titanic - especially loved the cinematography leading up to and including the ice berg sequence

Raiders of the Lost Ark - fresh and inventive

Star Wars IV - the light, the composition, lots of things

Alien - use of light and colour, noir, the list goes on

Bladerunner - as above

The Elephant Man - a beautiful depiction of a serene world within a sad story, shown mostly in pictures

Far from the Madding Crowd (1967) - on location shots; wonderful long, opening pan of southern england coast; landscape as emotion

The Sound of Music - a visual feast

Carousel - colour and composition

Casablanca - like a jewel to look at

Superman (1978) - use of colour, beautiful use of movement, wonderful action shots (the helicopter sequence especially)

King Kong (1976) - difficult to pin down, but exciting on location photography.

Psycho (the original, with Janet Leigh) - very artistic use of camera (could go into more detail but I think you know what I mean)

Ryan's Daughter - beautiful to look at from start to finish

Gone With the Wind - as above. Favourite scene is under the old tree with flaming sky and the heartfelt declaration

Gladiator - action sequences and dream sequences. Moving.

Manon de Source - outdoor locations and nicely lit interiors.

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid - Just great to look at. Use of sepia tones.

The Phantom Menace - well photographed I thought (and on film too, George!)

Breaker Morant - Australians used to knock out some nicely photographed pictures. They probably still do.

Shane - 3 strip Technicolor gave this picture an oil painting look. Beautifully photographed interiors and exteriors Joe's cabin

Sunday Too Far Away - artistic in my opinion.

The Bicycle Thief - haven't seen this for a long time but fond memories of down to earth b&w cinematography.

A Big Country - outdoor scenes, horse and carriage race, fight out on the field in the gloom

Dr No - probably more to do with snappy, fast-paced editing in places

Whistle Down the Wind - evocative outdoor and interior of the barn shots. Beautiful b&w

It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World - colourful, full of life, hard to define (why bother to try?)

The Time Machine (George Pal) - Probably more to do with what's in front of the camera, than cinematography itself

The Guns of Navarone - colour and lots of other things

Duel - earthy, real, you can almost smell the overheated plastic on the car's dashboard

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Come on, now. Haven't we lost something in film? Don't we need to get that back? Too many flicks these days about narcissistic themes. Too much boring CGI. And an apparent fascination with crime - as if it was something rather interesting rather than tragic. That's it from me. I'm off to the show (a type of Australian 'State Fair').

Edited by Jon O'Brien
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Bit off topic but recent splurge of viewings.. in last 3 days..

 

Dunkirk

Lala Land

Manchester by the Sea

Alien Covenant

Nocturnal Animals

 

Lala land was great.. as was Manchester by Sea.. in a very different way..Dunkirk.. totally forgettable .. a very exp reenactment with a bit of jingoism thrown in.. "well fight them on the beaches blah blah".. I think he's lost the plot a bit compared to fantastic earlier films..

 

Aliens.. didnt even see to the end.. big disappointment ..

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