The movies directed my Miami Vice maven Michael Mann back in the ‘80s were visually very striking. Manhunter (the original movie version of Thomas Harris’ Red Dragon) and The Keep particularly come to mind.
The latter is a badly muddled version of a pulpily entertaining F. Paul Wilson horror novel set in Nazi-occupied Romania, but great eye candy throughout. Two brief matte shots in particular must have been just jawdropping in a theater – one as Scott Glenn’s character passes through a border checkpoint, and another sequence where German soldiers exploring a tunnel reach a huge underground chamber, and the camera seems to fly back in a continuous shot hundreds of feet through the cavern.
Ah, no mention of Snow Falling on Cedars? Breath-taking visuals that overshadowed the story, but I didn’t really care; the movie as a whole seemed like a haunting poem. The specific story fades, but the visual artistry remains evocative and emotionally charged in my mind to this day (more than a year after seeing it).
I saw City of Lost Children and Babe 2, and I think they used some of the same locations.
In addition to all the great reccomendations, I will add Shanghai Triad. Actually, I can’t remember if the whole movie has good cinematography, but there were some really nice “magic hour” scenes in it.
Wow. The lists are endless. And these are great for cinematography:
The Patriot
American Beauty
The English Patient
Forest Gump
JFK
Dances with Wolves
Doctor Zhivago
Indiana Jones (all)
Fiddler on the Roof
Romeo and Juliet
Cleopatra
Ben Hur
And I second:
Lawrence of Arabia
Out of Africa
Spartacus
Braveheart
Amadeus
and almost everything else everyone said…
I too second (or third or fouth) Amélié. It’s one of the most stunning movies I’ve ever seen. It doesn’t push the boundaries like many of the movies mentioned here, but every time I see it, I just can’t believe that every single frame of Amélié is composed perfectly. It’s also a great example of * good uses* of CGI.
Others have recommended Brazil. While I concur in theory, you really want to buy\rent the Criterion version. I believe the “regular” $15.99 version of Brazil has the stupid “Love Conquers All” ending that showed only in American theatres. The Criterion has this version, the version that showed in theatres in every other country, as well as Terry Gilliam’s “definitive” version.
I can’t understand that noone has mentioned *Hero * yet! Granted, the story is rather thin (it’s a sort of fairy-tale or legend), but the visuals are absolutely stunning - it’s doing with colour, what black and white film does with light and shadow.
“Laura,” directed by Otto Preminger and starring Gene Tierney, Clifton Webb, and Dana Andrews. Made in 1944, but very, very stylish noir and with really beautiful photography.
And I don’t think anyone’s mentioned Gone With The Wind yet - but your system would have to be REALLY good to do it justice. It is best seen on a big screen, in a beautiful old theater, with someone you love (and who loves old movies).
I’ll second Baraka, but my first recommendation would be Cremaster 3. I don’t think you can get the whole thing on DVD, but you can get one segment (titled “The Order”). You’ll find it pretty damn confusing, but I wouldn’t worry too much about that.
I’ll second this. I saw it at the local CC on Friday. It’s brilliant.
Using ultralights and remote control gliders and helicopters it records birds of all sorts migrating over the course of a year.
The scenery is excellent and varied. But the most amazing thing is how graceful and well-designed the birds look in flight. Even the best looking duck or goose looks ungainly walking along the ground but up in the air from three feet away…that’s a well-engineered shape for flying. All the clumsiness melts away and they’re beautiful.
Heaven’s Gate. Yeah, yeah…I know it’s widely considered to be the worst movie in the history of film. Well, I disagree. It’s just beautiful.
Another one that is quite striking visually is The Reflecting Skin. It’s the first thing I ever saw Viggo Mortensen in, and it’s a real mind-blower. Not for the squeamish. It’s actually quite disturbing. But really, REALLY beautiful.
Anything with Gregg Toland’s cinematography (Citizen Kane, The LIttle Foxes, etc.)
Raise the Red Lantern for its formal composition
Hello, Dolly! for it’s incredible period detail and depth-of-focus (always something going on in the background)
Snow White and the Seven Dwarves, Pinocchio or Beauty and the Beast for its brilliant and beautiful animation.
The Ten Commandments for breathtaking color.
Lawrence of Arabia (superbit version only)
The 6 hour+ Russian version of War and Peace by Bondmarchuk (sic)
