Backyard Movie Suggestions
March 29, 2021 3:51 PM Subscribe
We recently got enough of a setup together in the backyard to do backyard movie nights. What are some movies with especially good/pretty/interesting cinematography to view on a largish screen?
Some good suggestions in this earlier AskMe: What to watch on the big screen?
posted by We had a deal, Kyle at 4:06 PM on March 29, 2021 [2 favorites]
posted by We had a deal, Kyle at 4:06 PM on March 29, 2021 [2 favorites]
Master and Commander! Filmed on an actual replica three-masted ship with a crew of actual historical reenactor sailors. It has some of the most stunning action scenes I've ever seen, plus just a lot of pretty ocean.
Any of those big-budget Chinese historical action dramas - Hero is my favorite of those. When we saw it in the theater, there was one scene where my sister and I literally gasped out loud at just the sheer beauty of a still, silent landscape shot.
An out-of-left-field suggestion: Speed Racer, the Wachowski one. I don't remember a damn thing about the plot but it looks goddamn incredible.
And of course, Mad Max: Fury Road.
posted by showbiz_liz at 5:05 PM on March 29, 2021 [4 favorites]
Any of those big-budget Chinese historical action dramas - Hero is my favorite of those. When we saw it in the theater, there was one scene where my sister and I literally gasped out loud at just the sheer beauty of a still, silent landscape shot.
An out-of-left-field suggestion: Speed Racer, the Wachowski one. I don't remember a damn thing about the plot but it looks goddamn incredible.
And of course, Mad Max: Fury Road.
posted by showbiz_liz at 5:05 PM on March 29, 2021 [4 favorites]
Also if you're not too fussed about the "movie" part, or the "having a plot" part, anything David Attenborough (Planet Earth, etc) is just indescribably stunning on a big screen.
posted by showbiz_liz at 5:07 PM on March 29, 2021 [2 favorites]
posted by showbiz_liz at 5:07 PM on March 29, 2021 [2 favorites]
I’ll repeat what I said in the linked thread above: Anything directed by Vincente Minnelli, but esp. Meet Me in St. Louis. A screening of that at the local art house for a multigenerational audience who seemed universally charmed, turned out to be the last movie I saw in a theater in the Before Times. It’s a very fond memory.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 5:18 PM on March 29, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by The Underpants Monster at 5:18 PM on March 29, 2021 [1 favorite]
I think the medium-new Star Wars movies, Phantom Menace and Attack of the Clones, esp., are beautiful - the worlds created fascinated me. I saw one of the Matrix movies, Reloaded probably, on Imax and it was great. 2001 and Fantasia are pretty much required. You can always look up what movies got awards for cinematography.
posted by theora55 at 5:31 PM on March 29, 2021
posted by theora55 at 5:31 PM on March 29, 2021
You could probably go down this list of films shot in 70mm and pick whatever sounds cool.
Kurosawa and Hitchcock are excellent on the big screen because you really get to feel the filmic qualities - so often we watch these on small screens and forget that they're BIG cinema.
Blade Runner, both original and new, are visually very stunning.
Indiana Jones of course - fantastic looking movies. Temple of Doom isn't a very good film but it sure looks like one!
The Lord of the Rings films just got a fabulous 4K remaster, I was skeptical (the last big release was a bit weird) but it looks amazing.
Miyazaki movies like Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away on big screens really let you take in the details of the animation.
Cheesy old horror movies like House of Wax and Horror of Dracula are tons of fun. Anything with Vincent Price, Peter Cushing and/or Christopher Lee.
posted by BlackLeotardFront at 6:01 PM on March 29, 2021 [4 favorites]
Kurosawa and Hitchcock are excellent on the big screen because you really get to feel the filmic qualities - so often we watch these on small screens and forget that they're BIG cinema.
Blade Runner, both original and new, are visually very stunning.
Indiana Jones of course - fantastic looking movies. Temple of Doom isn't a very good film but it sure looks like one!
The Lord of the Rings films just got a fabulous 4K remaster, I was skeptical (the last big release was a bit weird) but it looks amazing.
Miyazaki movies like Princess Mononoke and Spirited Away on big screens really let you take in the details of the animation.
Cheesy old horror movies like House of Wax and Horror of Dracula are tons of fun. Anything with Vincent Price, Peter Cushing and/or Christopher Lee.
posted by BlackLeotardFront at 6:01 PM on March 29, 2021 [4 favorites]
Go with the epics, big scenes, like the Coliseum, cast of thousands, etc. Spartacus, The Man Who Would Be King, (2nd’ing) Lawrence of Arabia, Branagh’s Henry V, any Indiana Jones, Ben Hur, Gladiator, and a whole bunch of Westerns. Also, classic matinee monsters ft. Godzilla, Mothra, Gamera, Ghidorah, etc. Pop the popcorn - I’ll be over.
posted by sudogeek at 6:35 PM on March 29, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by sudogeek at 6:35 PM on March 29, 2021 [1 favorite]
I love Microcosmos, Fury Road, Princess Bride, and Days of Heaven.
posted by ReluctantViking at 6:36 PM on March 29, 2021 [3 favorites]
posted by ReluctantViking at 6:36 PM on March 29, 2021 [3 favorites]
Jaws
posted by EXISTENZ IS PAUSED at 6:42 PM on March 29, 2021
posted by EXISTENZ IS PAUSED at 6:42 PM on March 29, 2021
Another green thread to take in: Spectacular Spectacular, in which OP has a new projector and wants to know which movies look best when they're BIG.
I'm happy to reiterate my suggestion: The Fall, by Tarsem. It's an inventive and visually sumptuous fantasy carried from the lips of a drug-addicted stuntman to the ear of a young immigrant girl who, Wizard-of-Oz-style, pulls into her fantasy vision all the people she knows in the way that she understands English, which isn't quite the way he means it, but the result is awesome.
posted by Sunburnt at 8:40 PM on March 29, 2021 [5 favorites]
I'm happy to reiterate my suggestion: The Fall, by Tarsem. It's an inventive and visually sumptuous fantasy carried from the lips of a drug-addicted stuntman to the ear of a young immigrant girl who, Wizard-of-Oz-style, pulls into her fantasy vision all the people she knows in the way that she understands English, which isn't quite the way he means it, but the result is awesome.
posted by Sunburnt at 8:40 PM on March 29, 2021 [5 favorites]
Powaqqatsi and Koyaanisqatsi.
posted by pompomtom at 4:13 AM on March 30, 2021 [4 favorites]
posted by pompomtom at 4:13 AM on March 30, 2021 [4 favorites]
For quiet and beautiful, The Scent of Green Papaya.
For epic feelings, Farewell, My Concubine.
For absolute hilarity, Noises Off!
posted by rrrrrrrrrt at 10:27 AM on March 30, 2021
For epic feelings, Farewell, My Concubine.
For absolute hilarity, Noises Off!
posted by rrrrrrrrrt at 10:27 AM on March 30, 2021
Oh, and in addition to Minnelli, also anything by Stanley Kubrick.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 7:12 PM on March 30, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by The Underpants Monster at 7:12 PM on March 30, 2021 [1 favorite]
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posted by jquinby at 3:59 PM on March 29, 2021 [4 favorites]