Awesome indeed. I'm gonna go see a public screening of this soon! Yay!

That was interesting. Is the room worth watching?

@Sam sweet, hope you enjoy. I've been to see it at the theater twice now. Don't forget plastic spoons!

@Arran definitely, but the theatrical experience is probably far superior to watching it on your own. Check screening times for local arthouse theaters, you might be lucky enough to find a midnight screening. They play it in Auckland on the first friday of every Month.

I think it's a good idea to watch it on your own/at home before seeing it in the cinema. Then again... If you went to a public screening first of all, it would be even more random and weird!

They play it at the Prince Charles Theatre here in London once every month. A very cool local independent.

Well, I think it's best to see it at a cinema first so you learn all of the audience injokes (like yelling "Go go go" at the Golden Gate bridge scenes).

I have been advised against seeing it. :P

I strongly advise you to see it. I wouldn't trust the advice of anyone who advises against seeing The Room ;)

He, my brother, laughs.

Sweet, this has already made it into my most commented posts list. I can't understand people who can't appreciate the ironic brilliance of a truly awful film, but on the other side of the coin I have friends who can't understand why I like the Room..

Hah.. Seen Wild Zero? I _really_ enjoyed that. :P

Personally I think from the ad I don't think The Room would go far enough for me. It still seems to address "serious issues."

No I haven't seen Wild Zero, looks interesting though, I'll keep an eye out for it. I think the key difference is Wild Zero looks to be deliberately cheesy, whereas the Room was a hilariously failed attempt to make a serious drama.

Yes, the Room does address 'serious issues', but in an awfully amateurish way. For instance there is a scene where one of the main characters casually mentions she 'definitely has breast cancer' but the topic is never brought up again.

I think it's amazing when a movie comes along that is bad in a completely different way... Bad on an almost inexplicable level... usually because it's the totally confident outpouring of one misguided 'auteur'. Manos: The Hands Of Fate is another good example.

Agreed. It's often said that The Room is the Citizen Kane of bad films, and much like Citizen Kane it was driven almost solely by the creative vision of one man. If someone could be called the opposite and equal of Orson Welles, it'd almost certainly be Tommy Wiseau.

Incidently, Citizen Kane was very good, must watch it again sometime. I think, along with Casablanca it made 1941 the best year in cinematic history..

Heh. "Serious issues" mentioned once and never again? Sounds a bit like my work place! :P

Yeah Wild Zero was great.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manos:_The_Hands_of_Fate

Sure it doesn't get something for being so old?

Wow. I didn't expect to need to be able to talk about bad movies! Is Citizen Kane really a bad movie? I remember someone mentioned something about it to me before, but I didn't really get the bad movie vibe from it.

May I ask why is 1941 the best year in cinematic history?

Uh, seriously dude, I don't know if you're just taking the piss, but Citizen Kane is widely agreed to be the best movie of all time. Hence The Room comparison, if Citizen Kane is the most well made movie of all time, The Room is the exact opposite.

And I thought I made it clear why 1941 was the greatest year in cinematic history - Citizen Kane and Casablanca, both from that year, are among the most brilliant movies ever.

No I am not taking the piss. I haven't seen the movie, all I was saying was it isn't something I remember people talking poorly of. In the context of bad movies. :S

Ah right. I should add them to my list of things to see. Any other great movies from that period that you have seen and recommend? Have you seen the 1959's Twilight zone?

I was always disappointed by Citizen Kane. However, I'm currently reading an excellent biography of Orson Welles (by Barbara Leaming) and it's fascinating. Knowing so much about the man might inspire me to rewatch it with new eyes.

Note: I do appreciate the film for all of the techniques it invented. It just doesn't seem as mindblowing now, after every subsequent filmmaker adopted those techniques!

@arran4 Any of the Sean Connery Bond films are good, although they're almost comically chauvinistic today. 'The Third Man', another Orson Welles flick from around that era, was pretty good. I really liked the 1930s Scarface, and it's definitely worth watching if you're a fan of the Al Capone version (It's surprising how faithful the Al Capone version is despite completely changing the setting and background of the protagonist).

@sam I have to admit, I wasn't hugely impressed by most of Citizen Kane while I was watching it, but I was amazed by the left field ending. I also enjoyed the 'semi true' historical context and Welles' acting.

It's been many years since I last watched Kane. I actually picked up a copy today and am gonna watch it tonight.

Two BRILLIANT movies from the early 1930s:

* Grand Hotel (1932)

* Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (NOTE: Make sure it's the 1931 version, directed by Rouben Mamoulian!)

Trust me :)

Have you seen google movies? http://www.youtube.com/movies Mostly old ones or independents. I wonder if nay there are worth watching?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GuZ6fm5F7bE&playnext=1&list=PL0AAB443C37C8CEFA Citizen Kane on youtube.. Woot.

Added this entire thread to my "things to watch" list. ;P

Now that is interesting. 'Bad taste' (free) is Peter Jackson's first movie, and is one of the best comedy horrors to ever to come out of NZ. I'd love to see a Simon Pegg and Nick Frost remake...

Of the ones I haven't seen, these are the ones I intend to

• Battleship Potemkin
• Phantom of the Opera (Lon Chaney version)
• Teenagers from Outer Space (Thanks Sam!)

I think at Archive.org there's quite a few public domain movies for download. I got Plan 9 From Outer Space and Nosferatu.

Yeah, there's some good stuff at Archive.org. I'd recommend an old, expertly made b-movie called 'The Sadist' that I'm pretty sure you can download from there. It's not as extreme as its title suggests, btw :)

Thanks for the google movies link, arran4. From flicking through, it's a pretty random selection. Most of those films I've never heard of and/or look pretty dodgy. But I'm sure there are some gems. 'Bad Taste' does look to be the pick of the bunch, maybe! A classic! And there are some of Jackie Chan's older, brilliant movies like 'The Young Master'.

I watched Citizen Kane last night. I liked it more than last time... a lot more, in fact. It has to be one of the most intricate, stylishly shot and inventive movies ever made. It's beautiful to look at. There are also some good laugh-out-loud comedy moments (It becomes a huge farce)... but... I don't think the story and the character of Kane are quite interesting enough. Kane is a remarkable character (brilliantly portrayed by Welles) but I'm not *fascinated* by him. Kane's life is oddly cold, and so is the movie.

/end critic mode :)

I think we'll have to agree to disagree, but personally I found the character of Kane to be facinating, and probably the aspect of the movie I enjoyed the most. I did find him cold and self destructive, but for me the ending explained it in a way that I could completely understand. Though I think I despised Kane through most of it, I could only feel sympathy for him after the movie ended.

I think the part of the movie I found the funniest was at the start where it implies that Kane was formerly a Nazi sympathiser, and that he believed another war in Europe is an impossibility. I can certainly understand Hurst believing it portrayed him in an unflattering light ;)

I'll need to drag out my copy of Citizen Kane again.. and have you seen The Third Man?

Yeah Google/Youtube movies is great. I can't believe that they let us access it here. Although based on the content they let us see, it's not so much. The only movie title there that I thought that I must see was: http://www.youtube.com/movie/metropolis Based on the amount of talk I have heard from it.

The feel is very iTuens/iPhone app store ish. Also I don't feel it is a very accessible page or integrates that well to youtube. Although I do strongly like how it uses the youtube mediaplayer, which to be fair, is actually quite nice compared to some others. (Ie vimeos, archive.com [although mostly downloads] or megavideos.)

Goddamn it, this thread has caused me to want to watch MORE movies. I already am starting watching the old james bonds. (Did Dr. No last week, will do what ever one comes next maybe next week.)

Attempted Wild Zero yet?

http://www.filestube.com/search.html?q=wild+zero+&select=All

Also, sam... When are you going to get a "verified" account? :P

Haven't attempted Wild Zero yet. Incidently the next Bond movie is From Russia With Love (I'm not really a hardcore Bond fanboy anymore, but I can still recite the 22 official Bond films in order of release).

I never used to like the James Bond movies when I was a kid, but I really like 'em now. Connery is just perfect in the role but Moore is also great and the more ridiculous his movies get (Moonraker!), the more fun they are. Also Lazenby = underrated!

arran: Strangely enough, I *do* have a verified account. I just, um, for some reason haven't been using it :) So I will from now on.

Oh yeah, Erik, it's pretty bad reading about what happened to Welles after Kane came out. It was critically well-received but a box office flop. After that, Welles lost most of his support at RKO, had movies taken away from him, recut, shelved...... Looks like no copies of his cut of 'The Magnificent Ambersons' have survived. Hollywood = evil >:|