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Yeah I've never heard of Thief of Baghdad (other than color version).

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I'm surprised how much people think that classical music is an acquired taste. For me it's just as easy to listen to as any other music... Try the Richter recording of Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier if you ever get the chance. Just put it on in the background (I wouldn't expect you to just sit and listen to the whole four hours) and it's so absolutely beautiful.

Sorry if I'm turning this thread into classical music recommendations, I'll stop. I just think it's a style that's deeply misunderstood in terms of being "upper class" and "snob" music. It's really the most accessible style out there, because it has something for everyone.

I'd say classical music is as much as natural to ear as it is an acquired taste, as any form of true art.
The same way you'd enjoy a painting or a film in different ways depending on your knowledge about its metaphors or authors, you'd also enjoy Bach's Well Tempered Klavier differently if you just listened to it as a nice piece of music or knowing why it's so special and all the techniques behind it. Of course that requires a huge amount of training that pretty much only musicians have, but I think that's the beauty of it. The more you know about it, the more things there are to love. That's what separates art from entertainment, in my opinion.

Cool Hand Luke

The story of Christ told through the lens of a prison work camp. First of all, Newman undoubtedly has a great acting performance here. He is one of the best actors of all time, probably, and he does not disappoint in Cool Hand Luke. He sure makes us believe that he is a cool guy who always has a cool hand. His performances is the best thing about the film. The direction is solid if not masterful. There's probably a reason I'd never heard of the director though. This is a film where the acting carried. That's not a bad thing, since I really liked this movie. The script too is very well written and has genuine moments of delight and fun. Luke's final scene in the church before repeating "What we've got here is a failure to communicate" is chilling and the best scene in the movie. But these slice of life redemption dramas are really my thing, I think. Fantastic movie, sure to rank high on my ballot.

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Ok, time to start this:

The Squid and the Whale (2005)

I've watched this 3 or 4 days ago but as I was writing my thoughts on here the internet went down and I lost everything, and didn't have the patience to redo it at the time.
I've read what everyone in here thinks about this film, and I'd say I disagree with most. Sure it's not a masterpiece or even probably a great film, but it has its merits. I especially liked the characters and the way they were built. Even though they are not exactly deep they are an awesome way to channel the emotions and reactions that I think the director intended to convey.

First of all, I don't get all the hate for Walt. Sure, he comes across as a pseudo-intellectual and annoying, but the film makes it pretty clear why he is the way he is. The kid has a father whom he hugely admires that constantly talks down everyone who isn't as cult and enlightened as he is. The moment he realizes that it was the relationship with his mother that actually made him happy it's when it's pretty obvious that all this kid needs is love and attention, which pretty much everyone does too.
The younger kid comes across as a lunatic but I also think his reactions are not exagerated. His clearly going through an age where he wants to copy the grown ups and discovering his body and sexuality, while his family is being torn apart so he turn into traditional grown up escape methods: alcohol and sex.

Then we have the parents, and here I have some mixed feelings about the way the film portrays them: I respect the fact that it's the loving and caring mother that is the cheater which had the potential to show that in a situation like that there are really no innocents (except for the kids), but I hate that even so the film decided to pick a side. I was always getting the feeling that I was supposed to root for the mother, and I don't like it.

The rest of the characters are pretty forgetable, because they served only has ways to portray this family, but they are quite useful doing that.

I enjoyed it. Easy watch, well paced and light. Thanks to whomever nominated this.

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Does Cool Hand Luke remind anyone else of One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest?

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Haven’t seen Cuckoo yet so no opinion.

You should see it. It's a great movie.

Yes, I did get a Cuckoo's Nest vibe from it and they definitely had very similar themes.

I much prefer One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest though as I feel much greater sympathy for its characters. I also find Nurse Ratched much more intimidating than any of Luke's bosses.

@ahwell - Definitely check it out. It's one of my favorites.

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I'm story / words driven person so I rarely listen to music without vocals. Classical music works on soundtracks for me (the movie supplies the story) but I rarely can actively just listen to it.

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I usually like Paul Newman much more than Jack Nicholson, but I prefer One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest over Cool Hand Luke.

This.

I think classical music works well in film to heighten certain emotions, but I don't have the focus to just sit and listen to it. Without words or images to accompany the sounds, I get bored.

Classical music is ok casually but I won't go out of my way for it.

You remind me of myself when I first came here. You have a lot of great stuff still to watch which is awesome.

There's classical music with words too you know?

Yeah I honestly got so excited just looking at the lists section for the first time and seeing everything that I could potentially check off in the future. Ive only heard good stuff about One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest so I’ll have to see it one of these days

Exactly. First of all plenty of non vocal pieces tell a story (Beethoven Pastoral Symphony, literally everything Gustav Mahler wrote), but vocal music is just as prominent in classical music. Wagner and Mozart both wrote a crap ton of operas and other vocal music. The Ring Cycle, which was the inspiration for the Lord of the Rings trilogy and basically any other epic fantasy ever made, is probably my all time favorite classical piece. Don’t be daunted be it’s 14 hour length, it feels like 10 minutes.

Kind of, I suppose. Usually it just sounds more like another instrument though and it's hard to even pick words from it. It's rarely (as far as I know in my very limited exposure to classical music) anything like vocals and lyrics in let's say rock music. I guess I should also say that in addition to instrumental music I don't really enjoy a cappella either, it's the combination of instrumentation, vocals and lyrics I need to fully enjoy my music.

EDIT: And I've tried to listen to some Wagner operas but just can't really get into them.

I'll definitely be considering this as I watch it. Thank you!

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How about Bernstein? West Side Story, Candide, and Chichester Psalms are all solid combinations of the three.

Wagner is an interesting guy. Have you heard the Ring or just listened to his other stuff? The only piece I really love of his is The Ring but I’m also getting into Die Meistersingers (ignoring the fact that it was also Hitlers favorite opera).