best sayles film
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dg-7 — 20 years ago(August 18, 2005 07:53 AM)
- City of Hope - brilliant, exciting film about different characters in a small town. Devastating.
- LoneStar - great american film. I was in a video store and the clerk told me he thought this film was boring. God. I told this idiot that LoneStar's considered to be one of the great american films of the 1990s
- Passion Fish - hard to not make this number one. Two great female characters.
- Men With Guns - this is a film that grows more powerful the more the story unfolds until the viewer becomes shaken.
- Brother from Another Planet - like Slacker, this fil5b4m takes you on a wild ride. Last thirty minutes is just a wild trip.
- Lianna - great performance by Linda Griffiths. Probably the most underrated of Sayles' films.
- Matewan - what a great-looking film. Fascinating story.
- Limbo - a great film - if you don't think so, you must have movies. The ending is exactly how it should be. I think it's pretty obvious what the ending is suggesting.
- Return of the Secaucus Seven - began the modern independent film movement - a fascinating time capsule
- Sunshine State - not one of my favorite Sayles' films, but an interesting character study.
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jamesbourke59 — 20 years ago(October 11, 2005 07:35 AM)
Two camps of thought here.
John Sayles as a writer, His best movies writtten would have to be:
1] Alligator
2] Piranha
3] The Brother From Another Planet
4] Wild Thing
5] The Howling
6] Eight Men Out
As a director, best movie by far, in terms of content and watchability has to be 'Eight Men Out'
james -
genericimdbid — 20 years ago(January 08, 2006 03:48 PM)
List is of Sayles films I have seen.
- Men With Guns- Very powerful film. True to it's content right down to the casting of actual Indians as characters.
- Matewan- I love the way that this was shot with dark colors and very grainey. It sets the mood.
- Limbo- This film always gets panned, but I don't know why. The characters get developed where I feel like I know them. Perfect ending as well.
- Eight Men Out- For some reason this never really gets mentioned with Sayles' best work. I guess because it was so main stream. If it wasn't so popular, it would be considered one of his best by most people.
- Lone Star- You can really get lost in this film- in a good way.
- Return of the Secaucus 7- Destroys the Big Chill
- City of Hope- Very gritty and true to subject matter.
- Passion Fish- I'm I guy. but I still thought the bond between the two women was very sweet.
- Sunshine State- For some reason I could not get into this film.
- Brother From Another Planet- Too many people give this film too much credit. I love Sayles, but this is not a very good movie. The meaning of the movie is a little bit of a stretch with the content.
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chunba — 20 years ago(January 29, 2006 12:28 AM)
- Passion Fish is one of my all time favorite movies. Such a great sense of locale, interesting characters, and great performances by Mary McDonnell and Alfre Woodard. People who are into plot-driven movies will think I'm crazy, but I didn't want it to end.
- Limbo
- Lone Star
- Matewan
- Men with Guns
- Lianna
- City of Hope
- Casa de los Babies
- Sunshine State
*plus, special mention goes to The Lady In Red (which he wrote) - a great guilty pleasure!
When is he coming out with something new?
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kmn5774 — 20 years ago(February 01, 2006 03:42 PM)
Apparently, "The Carlisle School" is still 'in development' according to Walden Media's(Producers) website: http://www.walden.com/web/teach/carlisle
It was supposed to have started shooting last fall, in Pennsylvania, but I guess the massive success of The Chronicles of Narnia have delayed some schedules.
I hope it starts shooting soon.
Sounds like an interesting story about Jim Thorpe's early days. -
tgladek — 20 years ago(February 14, 2006 08:41 PM)
- Lone Star - My favorite movie. Period. The ending really made me sit back and THINK. I really examined a lot of my beliefs and opinions about fate, destiny, and how we define "truth"
- Men With Guns - This story breaks my heart. I loved that he didn't use English sub-titles.
- Eight Men Out - I'd never heard this story before
- Sneakers - He was so witty and charming with the "World Peace" line
- Limbo - Subtle
- Return of the Secaucus - Wow! So much better than The Big Chill
- City of Hope- Had to watch it a couple of times to really get into it
- Brother From Another Planet - Just for fun
I admire his loyalty to the actors who worked with him on multiple projects, and theirs to him. I think the continuity of those relationships makes his films more nuanced and subtle. They already know each other, know how they work so they don't have to work through all that "getting to know you" nonsense with every film.
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Anasazie — 20 years ago(February 20, 2006 09:26 PM)
On occassion he's been one of the best A-merican film-makers of the last 20 years, although the majority of his conceptions aren't completely successful.
- Men with Guns (1997)
8/10 - Sunshine State (2002)
8/10 - Lone Star (1996)
7.5/10 - The Secret of Roan Inish (1994)
7/10 - Matewan (1987)
6/10 - Honeydripper (2007)
6/10 - Passion Fish (1992)
6/10 - City of Hope (1991)
6/10 - Limbo (1999)
5/10 - Silver City (2004)
5/10 - Eight Men Out (1988)
5/10 - Casa de2000 los babys (2003)
4/10
I haven't been very impressed with the most recent ones, a shame because he was a on a good run.
"You must have chaos within you to give birth to a shining star"
- Men with Guns (1997)
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keithjarrettfan — 19 years ago(April 12, 2006 04:57 PM)
Here's the ones I've seen, in the order I liked them (though I liked them all):
Return of the Secaucus Seven
the more I watch, the more I realize how The Big Chill celebrates 60s sellouts.
Baby It's You
Rosanna Arquette, the ultimate Femme Fatale
Eight Men Out
Complex tale of morals and how easy it is to get suckered out of them.
Matewan
Loved Sayles as the preacher.
Lone Star
Really appropriate as immigration is a hot topic these days and Sayles handles it with dignity and perspective.
Brother from Another Planet
I remember loving it when it first came out, but it's been too long since I have seen it. -
mrthefink — 19 years ago(April 26, 2006 08:47 PM)
Lonestar, Eight Men Out and Matewan are extraordinary films. They are very high up on my list. (Matewan is very fascinating to watch again after reading Sayles' book "Thinking in Pictures".)
But, my personal favorite is "Sunshine State". Not only because I think it is overall a very good picture, but being from Florida it resonates even deeper. Everything you see in that film is happening today. Be it the community separatism in some parts of the state, the running out of working class people for the rich land developers or even something as simple as the capturing of the atmosphere.
John Sayles is one of our finest filmmakers. Can't wait to see what's next. -
sluggr-2 — 10 years ago(October 10, 2015 09:40 AM)
Matewan. You know who is good, who is bad, and why. In my top 10 all time movie faves.
Secaucus Seven perfectly describes my college experience, it was like seeing the future.
Brother from Another Planet is just pure magic. It is one of those rare movies where just thinking about it can make the hairs stand up on your back.
The scene of Spano walking into the cafeteria while "Saint in the City" is playing in "Baby It's You" is one of my favorite movie scenes. Right up there with "Woke Up This Morning" as the intro song on The Sopranos as a vehicle to completely describe a character in 30 seconds or less.
I think my percentage of Chimp DNA is higher than others. Cleaver Greene