# Great Visual Movies **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 2, 2007, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-visual-movies/390601 "2007-02-02T20:34:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Spoke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a88e57/32.png) [@Spoke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoke)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2007, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-visual-movies/390601/41 "2007-02-03T16:26:44Z")
not mentioned yet… **Last of the Mohicans** **Lolita** (1997 version) **The Devil’s Backbone** **Amadeus** All have very nice cinematography. ---
**Author:** ![delphica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9a140/32.png) [@delphica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/delphica)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2007, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-visual-movies/390601/42 "2007-02-03T16:44:50Z")
I think Altman often looks great visually, you always hear about the rambling plots and the overlapping dialogue and the crazy characters (love them or hate them), but I also _love_ how his films look, especially _Nashville_, _MASH_, _Short Cuts_, and the otherwise lackluster _Kansas City_. I don’t love them so much because they’re beautiful, exactly, but everything is so intentional you can geek out on the composition of it all. The OP said no black and white, but just in case anyone else opened this thread looking for ideas who doesn’t mind black and white, and er … subtitles, _L’Avventura_ is a visual classic. So Italian! So mod! You’ll want to lick your screen. I want to second **CalMeacham’s** suggestion of _The Road to Perdition_. I think I watched it again with the sound off, I was so impressed. ---
**Author:** ![Only\_Mostly\_Dead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/f19dbf/32.png) [@Only\_Mostly\_Dead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Only_Mostly_Dead)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2007, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-visual-movies/390601/43 "2007-02-03T16:51:30Z")
Somebody else beat me to _Dark City_, but if your new screen has a high contrast ratio (I’m thinking 1500:1 or better), there are some amazingly shot black and white classics (I know you said you didn’t want them in the OP, but tough), especially ones that have been given the Criterion treatment. I long to watch my copy of [The Third Man](http://www.criterionco.com/asp/release.asp?id=64) on such a screen. All that darkness, all that sharp relief, all so very noir! Plenty of Bergman, Fellini, and (especially) Kurosawa have come out on Criterion discs. Just soak in the atmosphere. ---
**Author:** ![Only\_Mostly\_Dead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/f19dbf/32.png) [@Only\_Mostly\_Dead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Only_Mostly_Dead)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2007, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-visual-movies/390601/44 "2007-02-03T17:11:22Z")
[QUOTE=Only Mostly Dead] a high contrast ratio (I’m thinking 1500:1 or better) [/QUOTE] Oh, you said Plasma, not LCD. 10000:1 is pretty much the standard contrast for plasma. From my experience, some monitors don’t really perform to that level, at least not without some coaxing, but you’re doing yourself a disservice not taking advantage of one of the major benefits of a plasma, as opposed to an LCD (where contrast will range anywhere between about 450:1 to about 7000:1 at the highest end): Crisp differentiation in grays. If you are going to stick to your guns on color, then sci-fi really is the way to go for visually appealing movies. Check out the **Dune** and **Children of Dune** miniseries that were made for Sci-fi Channel. And say what you want about their stories, **Star Wars** One through Three really do look cool. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2007, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-visual-movies/390601/45 "2007-02-03T19:42:21Z")
For all of its flaws, _The Time Machine_ of a few years ago was visually very impressive. And I was going to mention _What Dreams may Come_, before seeing it in the OP. ---
**Author:** ![Darryl\_Lict](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7cd45c/32.png) [@Darryl\_Lict](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darryl_Lict)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2007, 6:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-visual-movies/390601/46 "2007-02-04T06:15:28Z")
[QUOTE=Sapo] Fifth Element [/QUOTE] People talk about how HD is going to bring out all the flaws in porno stars. Milla Jovovich has no flaws and will look GREAT on HD in that Ace bandage outfit! ---
**Author:** ![ianzin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/ed655f/32.png) [@ianzin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ianzin)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2007, 11:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-visual-movies/390601/47 "2007-02-04T11:33:48Z")
Already mentioned: Brazil, 2001, Moulin Rouge. Not already mentioned: City of Lost Children, Close Encounters. ---
**Author:** ![eleanorigby](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@eleanorigby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eleanorigby)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2007, 12:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-visual-movies/390601/48 "2007-02-04T12:00:02Z")
_Girl With a Pearl Earring_ with Colin Firth and Scarlett Johannsen…if you like Vermeer. They didn’t do such a great job translating the plot to film, but the lighting and the cinematography are stunning. ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2007, 12:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-visual-movies/390601/49 "2007-02-04T12:54:27Z")
**The Phantom of the Opera** was a great visual picture. It didn’t make up for the fact that the lead couldn’t sing worth a lick, but impressive to look at nonetheless. ---
**Author:** ![Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/96bed5/32.png) [@Patty\_O\_Furniture](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Patty_O_Furniture)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2007, 6:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-visual-movies/390601/50 "2007-02-04T18:43:12Z")
[QUOTE=Ranchoth] Speaking of _Akira_—I’ll suggest _Last Exile; Metropolis_ and _Steamboy_ on the anime front. [/QUOTE] I was blown away by the visual impact of [Casshern](http://www.casshern.com/), in fact I feel like I missed a lot of the story because my brain shut down most of my other senses to free-up more bandwidth for visual input. I can’t find a non-flash site showing pictures, but a [google image search](http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&q=casshern&btnG=Search+Images) will bring up some of the eye candy. The movie is dystopian-themed mixture of Metropolis, Blade Runner, X-Men and a few others I might be forgetting about. I was shocked and amazed to learn, after watching, that …it was among the first feature-length live action films to be shot on a digital backlot, with the actors performing in front of a greenscreen and all but the simplest stage elements added digitally after the fact. ([from Wiki](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casshern)) That wasn’t a plot spoiler, it’s a production detail that I think might have made watching a little less fun if I had known beforehand. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2007, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-visual-movies/390601/51 "2007-02-04T18:57:57Z")
TCM recently showed, for the very first time, the 1944 Gene Kelly/Rita Hayworth musical _Cover Girl_. And because this was a big-budget Hollywood film, the colors are COLORS, with every outfit, backdrop, and little touch bursting with bright color. After seeing that on my plasma screen I’d strongly recommend seeking out other true [Technicolor](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technicolor) movies. To the modern eye the over-saturated colors that the Technicolor process creates gives the frame a slightly artificial look like an early hand-tinted print. But they reproduce beautifully and without fading, unlike many of the other older color processes. They’re special in a unique way. ---
**Author:** ![ZebraShaSha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/eada6e/32.png) [@ZebraShaSha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZebraShaSha)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2007, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-visual-movies/390601/52 "2007-02-04T19:00:37Z")
Shouldn’t the standard for this kind of question be Ran? Kurosawa was going blind, so he painted out every scene before hand. Every scene looks like a painting. Sexy. I’d also suggest, for a BW film you wouldn’t mind banging, check out The Man Who Wasn’t There. It’s lushy. ---
**Author:** ![devilsknew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4da419/32.png) [@devilsknew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/devilsknew)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2007, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-visual-movies/390601/53 "2007-02-05T05:00:31Z")
Little Big Man and Jeremiah Johnson For nostalgia and scenery… the color is so right too, some kind of je ne ce quois that I cant put my finger on- the brilliant film they used and its “wash” – my youth in smart color. ---
**Author:** ![Trunk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/87869e/32.png) [@Trunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trunk)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2007, 1:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-visual-movies/390601/54 "2007-02-05T13:17:43Z")
I think _The Big Lebowski_ is a visually beautiful movie. The Coen Brothers seem to be one of the few modern directors who really think about shot composition in a way that a guy like Sergio Leone did. Great colors, and materials, and fades, and lights, and “deep” shots, and wide shots. One of the reasons that it’s great is that it’s a beatifully shot movie. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2007, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-visual-movies/390601/55 "2007-02-05T14:03:26Z")
[QUOTE=teela brown] … Amelie … [/quote] I’ll second that - it happens to be one of my favourite movies, partly because of the stunning cinematography. ---
**Author:** ![Unauthorized\_Cinnamon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/bc8723/32.png) [@Unauthorized\_Cinnamon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Unauthorized_Cinnamon)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2007, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-visual-movies/390601/56 "2007-02-05T14:19:03Z")
[QUOTE=pool] Silent Hill [/QUOTE] I came in just to mention this. I saw a review somewhere, or perhaps it was even a comment here, that we should accept some movies as hinging on visuals, rather than plot, just as we can appreciate paintings as much as we do novels. People who didn’t like the movie most likely had problems with the plot, which is admittedly a bit awkward. But this movie is truly about creepy, disturbing, and downright scary images, and it works perfectly on that level. ---
**Author:** ![justrob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a9adbd/32.png) [@justrob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/justrob)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2007, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-visual-movies/390601/57 "2007-02-05T15:02:47Z")
[QUOTE=d11218w] **Titus** , starring Anthony Hopkins [/QUOTE] I think this movie is outstanding all around. Watch it even if you don’t have a huge plasma screen. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2007, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-visual-movies/390601/58 "2007-02-05T20:47:26Z")
Peter Greenaway studied oil painting before he turned to cinema. His movies are often more interesting for the visuals than for the stories. _The Cook, the Thief, his Wife, and her Lover. Drowning by Numbers. Prospero’s Books._ Pre-World War I war movies. _Zulu_ and _Zulu Dawn_ —British redcoats vs Zulus in warpaint. _Gettysburg_ and _Glory_ —Johnny Reb vs Billy Yank. _The Battle of Autsterlitz_ _War and Peace_ – the Hollywood version with Henry Fonda and Audrey Hepburn. _War and Peace_ – the 9-hour Russian version ---
**Author:** ![HoboStew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/f17d59/32.png) [@HoboStew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoboStew)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2007, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-visual-movies/390601/59 "2007-02-05T21:31:00Z")
[QUOTE=Unauthorized Cinnamon] I saw a review somewhere, or perhaps it was even a comment here, that we should accept some movies as hinging on visuals, rather than plot, just as we can appreciate paintings as much as we do novels. [/QUOTE] Actually, thats pretty much the reason I started this thread. I have my TV on a wall mount, at a level roughly where a painting might hang, so I got to thinking about using the tv as a sort of moving painting when I have guests over. I’m throwing a party on saturday and my idea was to have the iTunes visualizer running for the first half of the party and then later running a movie with no sound, but one with particularly excellent visuals. We’ll see how it works out. Thanks for all the suggestions everyone. I am kind of at the mercy of netflix here, and their library is not comprehensive so I won’t be able to check them all out, but I will see most of them. And yes I WILL check out the b&ws eventually I promise! ---
**Author:** ![TV\_time](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f17d59/32.png) [@TV\_time](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TV_time)\ **Post date:** [February 5, 2007, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-visual-movies/390601/60 "2007-02-05T22:28:01Z")
By far the most visually stunning film ever in my opinion is _Barry Lyndon_. It will take your breath away with its photography, scene selection and scenery. Speaking of Ireland (and Barry Lyndon is located in Ireland), _The Quiet Man_ is a delightful visual montage. It is John Ford’s love letter to Ireland. Wonderful visuals. Speaking of John Ford, take any of the westerns he shot in Monument Valley (most with Wayne). Those are visually wonderful too. A remake of a Ford (and Wayne) classic, _Stagecoach_ visually was better than the original. But the visual aspects actually stole the show from the actors and plot. You lost them admiring that which they were in. For black and white, non Ford, yeah, _The Third Man_. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-visual-movies/390601.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/great-visual-movies/390601.md?page=4)