All-time favorite movies

And definitely don't watch the American remake with Nicolas Cage, unless you're watching the RiffTrax version.

Eldorion wrote:The Godfather

Another classic (though I suspect Petty will disagree) Just rewatched part II the other day, actually. Not sure what my favourite film of that genre is, but it's got to be either The Godfather part II, Goodfellas or Once Upon A Time In America. All great films

And Eldo, I think you'll like The Shawshank Redemption - it's not for nothing that it's been ranked #2 on IMDB for so long

Eldo I cannot bare to even watch a parody of that awful remake, the original was parody enough so is it spoiler free for Pip? Or should I warn Pip off it before watching the original?

Ringdrotten the Godfather part one is one of those films I can watch and know its good, I can see its good, but it doesn't move me. So in the end for me its not good, I just don't engage with it for some reason.

As far as I know the American remake bears only the slightest resemblance to the original, so I don't think we need to worry about spoilers. RiffTrax (aka the guys from Mystery Science Theatre 3000) don't really add any spoilers of their own, at least not in that video.

NB I ended up watching Memento tonight and I liked it a lot, but it was certainly ... different. I thought I had things figured out until the very end, when it was revealed that

Spoiler:

I certainly didn't see that coming, but I'm not sure what I think of it. Also worth noting is that the official companion website suggests that

Spoiler:

I suppose the light this casts on the rest of the story is just a bit too cynical for me, but it is without a doubt a brilliant piece of film-making and I am glad to have watched it. I would like to see it again to see if it (a) makes more sense or (b) changes my opinion of the film at all.

Its definently a watch it twice film. The bit where he is on the phone and cant remeber who he is talking to, about what or when he started the conversation is genius.

Still brings a buckie tinted tear to my eye this, great scene, great song.

Just seen this thread, nice,

1. LOTR
2. Wizard of Oz
3. Withnail and I
4. Orlando
5. Wicker Man
6. A Matter of Life and Death
7. The Time Bandits
8. Brazil
9. The Singing Ringing Tree
10. Its a Wonderful Life

Gotta love LOTR. I only ever saw Oz once though, when I was very young, and didn't like it that much, but I don't know if I would like it more or less now.

Gotta love LOTR.

As a book of course. As a film not if I had a gun to my head Eldo.

LOTR, of course, but alsoa fan of Iron Man, I Am Legend, iRobot, and others.

Iron Man is pretty damn awesome. I was disappointed by the sequel but the original is one of my favorite superhero movies. I'll be interested to see how they use him in the superhero mashup that is The Avengers movie next year.

Top 50 sci-fi films. Do you agree ?

http://totalfilm.tumblr.com/post/13782383778/the-50-greatest-sci-fi-movies-ever

Jurassic Park and Star Trek 11 ahead of Predator and District 9? And AVATAR ahead of all of those? At least they had the good sense to put Inception in the Top 10 and two Star Wars films in the Top 5, but still. I can live with Blade Runner beating the SW films since that film is great, though I wouldn't personally place it at No. 1.

I would put Space Odyssey at no. 1,
2. Bladerunner
3. Close Encounters
4. The man who fell to earth
5. Alien
6. Pitch Black, Chronicles of Riddick
7. The Abyss

District 9 would have been very good, except the ending was f^#*ed.

poor little alien

I gave up reading the list when I saw they couldn't think of 50 quality sci fi films at all -the evidence for which is the inclusion of Independence Day on the list. I've always assumed it was meant to be a comedy.

I had a chance to see a bunch more movies that I wanted to see (both current and older -- if only by a few years) over the past few months, though I've been in a bit of a lull so far this year as far as movie watching is concerned. That's primarily due to TV, especially Sherlock, taking up the time that would normally be allocated for renting and going to the movies. Before I get back into that, though, I wanted to post one of the periodic updates to my Top 10 list so I can continue to chart how my tastes have changed over time. I've also added an Honorable Mention section for the first time since I keep running out of room!

I was able to see a lot of the movies I mentioned wanting to see back in October. Quentin Tarantino confirmed his place as one of my favorite directors with Inglourious Basterds, but I found Reservoir Dogs to be something of a let down in comparison to some of his other work. It was still very good, but I felt that some of Tarantino's growing pains were quite evident, so I don't think it's all-time material. Chris Nolan also continued to impress with Memento, which I know I've mentioned elsewhere on this forum.

As I've seen more movies it's become harder to narrow them down to a list of just a few. Of course, such exercises are ultimately subjective and arbitrary, but I like list-making so I continue to try my hand at it every now and then. Part of the difficulty is that as I experience more and different kinds of film, the clear-cut favorites from my childhood seem a little less stunning in comparison. That's not to say I don't like them anymore (although nostalgia definitely plays a role in my continued enjoyment of some films), but there is a temptation to move them down just so that I have more room to position other films that I've seen more recently.

In the end, however, most of the films on the list are ones that have some sort of special meaning to me. Most of them are either movies I've loved since I was a little kid, movies that helped start my interest in film as an art form, or movies that have changed the way I look at the medium. There are also those that speak to me on a personal level, though most of those ended up below the Top 10. On the other hand, my new #1 took that spot through sheer awesomeness and enjoyment factor on top of being a very well-made movie with a surprising number of layers. It took a few viewings to fully embrace it, but I think it's great!

The list is still certainly skewed towards recent years: that's a result of a number of factors, I think. Part of it is my age and the cinematic/cultural climate I grew up in, which affected my preferences and can also sometimes make the style of older films seem weird and off-putting by comparison. A large part of it is also that I'm still working on expanding my cinematic horizons, which is a slow and on-going process, but one I'm enjoying a lot.

Anyway, I'm sure I've rambled for too long already, so on to the list.

Top 10 (ordered)

1. Inglourious Basterds
   
2. Pulp Fiction
   
3. The Lord of the Rings
   
4. Inception
   
5. Princess Mononoke
   
6. Star Wars
   
7. Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl
   
8. Memento
   
9. Spirited Away
   
10. The Social Network

Honorable Mentions (alphabetical)

• Boyz n the Hood
  
• Casino Royale
  
• Gandhi
  
• Good Will Hunting
  
• The Hangover
  
• Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
  
• A History of Violence
  
• Saving Private Ryan
  
• Sherlock Holmes
  
• Tropic Thunder

A final note: I feel more confident in the contents of this list than I have for most of my earlier ones, but I'm a little less sure about the ordering (though I'm pretty secure in my #1 spot ... for now). Who knows what will change over the next few months by the time I update the list again. Anyway, if you're still reading at this point, thanks for making it this far! I hope my thoughts about exploring film are at least marginally interesting.

What? No Wickerman on that list Eldo?! I can only assume you have still not seen it to explain its continued absence.

I think nostalgia does play a large part in forming favourite films- when you see a thing can be almost as important as what you see. I have a few films are favourites but are perhaps not the best in their genre, but they were the first time I encountered that genre and so they had a greater impact. But occasionally you get a film which has all the impact of nostalgia and still holds up in later life under more subjective scrutiny (Wickerman is one of those for me).

Spirited Away> Is that the anime movie, Eldo? My best mate lent me his copy on DVD. He thought it great. Yaaaaawwnnn... You put LotR there too. I rest my case.

Wicker Man? Never seen it.

(Actually, I might have seen some of it... If I'm right, it was kind of strange. As you know Petty, I don't like "strange". "Strange" doesn't help make one Popular I've found. "Straight" is the road one needs tread, my friend. The straight road to Popularity - straight) (Though one should never allow one's Popularity to consume his every thought. I've known people like that. It's sad).

Pettytyrant101 wrote:What? No Wickerman on that list Eldo?! I can only assume you have still not seen it to explain its continued absence.

Sadly I have not. I've been watching more films on DVD (the local rental people may have started to recognize me when I was in full swing this December) and so I've been less inclined to watch movies on my computer. I looked for The Wicker Man on DVD but couldn't find it, though I'll look again. Aside from being eager to get back to the theatre (there are finally a few interesting movies coming out that aren't in super-limited release!) I don't have many that are urgent on my list of movies to see. Drive and Source Code are the only ones I'm feeling antsy about. If I can find a DVD copy (and perhaps even if I don't) then there's a good chance that I'll see Wicker Man soon. It's been a while since I watched some of the clips and songs but they were all excellent.

I think nostalgia does play a large part in forming favourite films- when you see a thing can be almost as important as what you see. I have a few films are favourites but are perhaps not the best in their genre, but they were the first time I encountered that genre and so they had a greater impact. But occasionally you get a film which has all the impact of nostalgia and still holds up in later life under more subjective scrutiny (Wickerman is one of those for me).

I think those are both very true for me. I know you sometimes seem baffled at how people can like LOTR especially when they agree with you about many of the flaws, but for me nostalgia is at the root of much of it. While I do think that there is a lot of good in LOTR that out-weighs most of the bad, the LOTR movies were a major part of my life growing up (the book even moreso) and the exhaustive EE documentaries were responsible for much of my early knowledge about film-making. It's really hard to be objective about them since I'm more inclined to overlook their flaws.

I think your point about genres is really interesting. Continuing on the LOTR tangent, I think that the fantasy genre has a lot of weak films in it, so I might still name LOTR my favorite fantasy film. On the other hand, fantasy has a very fluid definition, so the genre can be very small and ghetto-ized or it can be ridiculously inclusive. I tend towards a more limited definition and I group sci-fi, superheroes, and horror separately. Still, there is more to fantasy than Tolkien and Tolkien-knock-offs, though that can sometimes be hard for me to remember. I think Princess Mononoke is an incredible movie: it's probably my favorite animated film and capable of standing proud next to LOTR. But if I had to choose I'd probably put LOTR first because of the impact it's had on me as a person, even though I love PM too and it has far fewer flaws.

Orwell wrote:Spirited Away> Is that the anime movie, Eldo? My best mate lent me his copy on DVD. He thought it great. Yaaaaawwnnn...

Yep, it's an anime movie (from the same director as Princess Mononoke, actually). It was the first anime movie I saw, but I also saw it at the same time as I was becoming more interested in film in general, so it represented a combination of two major interests. That undoubtedly contributed to my opinion of it. I still think it's a great contemporary fairy tale and a beautifully animated movie, but I don't like it quite as much as I used to.

Even though I saw it much later than, say, LOTR, there is still a measure of nostalgia involved. However, there is also less of the "wow" factor of seeing a movie unlike anything I had before (my parents kept me away from Disney movies when I was young so I'm less familiar with classic animated films, which might also be part of it). It's still a great film, though.

You put LotR there too. I rest my case.

You caught me: I like fantasy movies. Should I feel ashamed?

My soft spot for Bakshi despite its many obvious flaws no doubt has something to do with me stumbling upon it in my local video library (yeah it was like a proper library with shelf upon shelf of videos to hunt through) I had no idea a film version of Lotr's existed (think I was about 11) and I nearly had a heartache when I saw it on the shelf. I think the excitment of that discovery has always slightly tainted my view of the film.

Do remeber when you get round to seeing Wickerman that the theatrical cut is a travesty and an offence against art- better not to see it at all than see that version- make sure its the directors cut!

Oh how very growed up you've become, Eldo. Troll's don't stay young forever, I guess.

I think you accidentally posted here, and not on the Wholesome Tales thread, Orwell. I wish you'd concentrate. You make these kinds of errors quite often you know.