^ nice clarification of Reservoir Dogs
alasdairm said:
i guess the extent to which film titles bear no relation to the content o fthe movie depends on how loosely you interpret the question. how about:
american history x
apocalypse now
brazil
eternal sunshine of the spotless mind
one flew over the cuckoo's nest
requiem for a dream
the return of the king
the shining
ok, i'm joking about the return of the king. that was just to keep you on your toes
alasdair
There have been some good ones

But…
'American History X' was the name given to the ad hoc class by that influential teacher who takes that troubled child under his wing. It's been a while since I've seen that film, but I'm not paying that
The 'shining' was name given to the ESP type thing the boy has, as mentioned by that groundskeeper Willy character, played by Scatman Crothers, who incidentally has the coolest name ever.
I'm not sure about the cuckoo being associated with mental illness, i.e. whether the cliché of someone who is ‘cuckoo’ being less than sane spawns from the movie itself, or was already a phrase to begin with. This is interesting in itself, as I always thought of cuckoos as rather sly and cunning. There must be some truth to the story that they lay their eggs in the nests of other birds. The eggs being tended to, protected and incubated through the labour of the other species, totally oblivious that some of those eggs aren’t theirs, thus leaving the cuckoo more time to frolic and play. And why put the poor bastard in a clock??
Apocalypse Now and Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind I think can easily be interpreted to fit the story line. And The Silence of the Lambs is also quite obvious, remember something about that haunting, traumatic childhood memory of lambs being slaughtered?
I too, don’t know about Brazil. It was one of those movies I’ve never watched in a coherent enough mental state to properly understand or remember.
I’m with Goat on Requiem for a Dream, but ultimately it’s a cool title that can be interpreted in different ways. I consider it the lost, sorely missed dream of a well-slept life that is being bereaved through staccato churchy songs.
My last edition, Gummo- that movie by Harmony Korine, which incidentally is the
least cool name for a guy, with that bunny ears character on the cover. I never quite figured that one out.
And ‘Innocence’ the English title to the sequel to Ghost in the Shell. My argument being robots, ok,
cyborgs are not real people, therefore are amoral, above responsibility for their actions, and thus labels of ‘innocent’ or ‘guilty’ are inappropriate. They aren’t real people so it’s the overseer who should be held responsible for their actions…. Enter Nat Turner
