All-time favorite movies

Congratulations on reaching 1000 posts, Odo! And yes, Orwell, please keep your under-the-bridge fantasies in the already-dirty thread.

1000 respectable posts.(HA!)

Pettytyrant101 wrote:My problem with the ST reboot plot was just it wasn't very ST.
Black holes as time travelling devices!
Why does a Romulan mining ship have more armaments than all of starfleet?
If the chain supporting the drill can be shot down by Spock why does not a single ship get scrambled on Vulcan or earth to intercept it?
Why does the Romulan blame Spock- it was a natural disaster- all Spock did was fail to stop it, he didn't cause it and at least he tried?
Why did the entire crew of the Romulan ship happily go along with mass genocide?
Where did they go while they waited for Spock to turn up, did they just hang about space for 20 years?
Why didn't they go to Romulus and warn them then hand over their uber ship so the Empire could destroy Starfleet?
None of it makes any sense.

Coming late to this thread as usual.

The reboot was not Star Trek because
A) it didn't take itself seriously enough
B) it didn't do the inverse of A and go straight to poking fun at itself with nothing in between.

In short, it wasn't made by someone who actually loved Star Trek.

Galaxy Quest, on the other hand, rocked. It was a better star trek movie than the reboot.

Galaxy Quest is indeed a highly entertaining film elevated to a superbly entertaining film if youre an original ST fan.
Last I read about the direction of the latest ST film in this new franchise was they said they had established the characters now they would introduce more of a story and make it about something- as they identified (quite rightly) its lack of any sort of purpose, message or theme was one of the reasons it failed as a ST film- even if it did well at box-office. Perhaps they realised that the way they did the first one you can get away with once but you cannot sustain a long running franchise out of it.

halfwise wrote:In short, it wasn't made by someone who actually loved Star Trek.

That's very true. JJ Abrams has been an outspoken Star Wars fanboy for years before he took on the ST job. Some of his comments in the Star Wars DVD documentaries (alongside other SW-influenced directors, including PJ, actually) are pretty funny in retrospect.

EDIT: I looked back at the beginning of this thread and I seem to have mentioned this before, but in my defense, it was over a year ago.

I thought the reboot did set up some good atmosphere though and the younger versions were quite entertaining, and not bad considering, the romance between Uhura and Spock was a surprise, but my favourite was the kid who played Chekov, so sweet.

As there hasn't been a post here for a couple of weeks and I don't have the time (or stamina) to read the preceding 1000+ posts, I thought I'd just list my top five in no particular order (apart from first place). Hope that's OK.

Apocalypse Now
The list of "great" war films is as long as your arm, but, to me, this isn't a war film, it just happens to be set during one and to be very good at depicting it. Damn good, in fact. The best. It's just so, so, so much more than a war film, too. And it's my Number One.

Raiders of the Lost Ark
It was the first film that I went to the cinema unaccompanied to see (apart from my similarly aged cousin) and to this day remains, in my mind, the absolute pinnacle of the action genre. Thrills, spills, humour and a genuinely unsettling supernatural edge that the subsequent films didn't quite nail. Perfection.

Gladiator
For years and years and years, this slot was actually occupied by Spartacus (and occasionally still is, depending on my mood!), but Scott's epic has a certain intimacy to it, a personal aspect, that, on repeated viewings, still tears me to pieces. Oh, and it has Hans Zimmer's score, too.

Inception
Hollywood is forever churning out interminably dull "event movies". One man, more than any other at the moment, is bucking that trend and giving us gorgeous, visceral, spectacular and yet cerebral blockbusters. I cannot speak highly enough of this film. So I'll stop there.

The Fellowship of the Ring
For obvious reasons, really. Out of the three, I think it's the one that comes closest to the feeling of the text. I've watched it approximately 40 times and it still moves me.

If I wasn't feeling quite so "mainstream" tonight, I'd have another list that included Zhang Yimou's "Hero", Ang Lee's "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" and Wong Kar-Wai's "In The Mood For Love", but there's no point trying to salvage my artsy-indie credentials now, is there?

I enjoyed Hero a lot more than Crouching Tiger -is that wrong of me? (Altough I will take Seven Samurai over the lot of them any day)

Raiders- best of the action movies, both a tribute and a class film in its own right- great dialogue, peformances and conept- its very Who really, perfect for children and with scary bits you dont forget in a hurry when you are 10! Love it. (It and Back to the Future are I reckon the two best studio blockbusters of the 80's-if only current blockbuters had half their heart, wit or writting).

Apocolypse Now- no arguments here- classic war film.


Inception I was pretty cool on- the concept is good but was better frankly in its orignal guise (A Scrooge McDuck comic- I kid you not). Perhaps if the concepts to do with dreaming wre not already so well known to me (I learnt controlled draming in my early twenties) it would have more of an impact- they get dream states pretty good though, I will give it that. For Hollywood mindbenders I preferred Vanilla Sky.

FotR!- thats a whole discussion in itself why its not worthy of a top slot! (I know its your list and personal choice so you can damn well have what you like- but just don't expect me pass up an opportunity to be crabbit about it !)

Gladiator- for me was ok middle of the road popcorn fodder, but didnt speak to me or have anything to say I was interested in or hasn't been said better in film before.

I think that's a very respectable list, Kendalf! Arthouse cred is overrated anyhow. I've actually never seen Apocalypse Now (shame on me ) but someone recently showed me the opening scene - with The Doors - on YouTube and I thought it was really well done. I've been curious to see the film since.

I've only seen Gladiator once and I enjoyed it and was definitely moved in places, but I don't think I enjoyed it as much as a lot of people I know did. I'd be interested to see how my perspective changes on a re-watch, especially since some of my favorite movies took multiple viewings to grow on me. Raiders is another one that I haven't seen for a while that I'd like to see again. In terms of period adventure I grew up on Pirates of the Caribbean so that always occupied the place in my heart that Raiders seems to hold for older generations.

Agreed on Inception and FOTR. I personally think that the latter two movies in the trilogy, while they suffer from some of PJ's excesses more than the first film, also do certain things better than the first. FOTR is definitely the closest to Tolkien but in some ways I think the others are better cinema. Although my opinion on which film is the best of the trilogy changes daily.

I saw gladiator. Great movie and great music, though I laughed so hard at the movie mistakes that I can't remember what it was about

for me it's LOTR all the way, and POTC of course, and HP. And I've always had a thing for dreamwork's animation movies. Ice Age I believe. It's genius!

The Royal Movie List
(In no particular order)
1. LOTR
2. Inception
3. POTC
4. How to Train Your Dragon (great kids movie )
5. Count of Monte Cristo
6. Treasure Planet
7. Caddy Shack
8. The King's Speech

(There's probably more, I just can't think of them right now...)

Norc wrote:I saw gladiator. Great movie and great music, though I laughed so hard at the movie mistakes that I can't remember what it was about

what movie mistakes in particular? the history around Marcus Aurelius and Saturninus in particular is so obscure that I wouldn't expect someone of your age to know it so well as to find the deviations funny. This is more Junior year college major stuff.

Give us a list!

well the air-tank used to tip a cart over was visible for about two or three.. five seconds... and a sound-technician hurried out of a shot, clearly visible in blue jeans to mention some.. (and these kind of mistakes are far more worse than continuity mistakes like bottles or hands moving..)

hm. I have the dvd and I didn't notice any of that. sharp eyes, dear Norclet. I'll call you next time I lose my keys.

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I was too busy goggling at Russell Crowe.

Mrs Figg!
And I was too busy oggling Connie Nielsen! Gooooooooooooorgeous!

Eldo!
It's very interesting what you say about FotR "as a film". I've heard it said many a time (and have noticed it myself) that fans of the book regularly cite FotR as their favourite whilst those who have never read it more often choose TT or RotK. Hmm.
As for Apocalypse Now, you need to see it. Everyone needs to see it! Obviously, it's on my subjective list but it would make it on to any objective list, too, of the greatest movies ever made. It's a quite mind-boggling achievement and the stories behind the making of it (captured in Hearts of Darkness by Coppola's wife) just add to the myth. As a side note, watch the original version first. The Redux version adds a lot of material but it just serves, arguably, to puncture the pacing (even more than it already is!).

Petty!
Nope, there's nothing wrong with liking Hero more; I'm the same! I think it's quite possibly the most beautiful film I've ever seen. It's such a shame (as far as I can tell) that a quality blu-ray transfer hasn't yet materialised. I'd disagree about Gladiator, though! Yes, when it boils down to it, it's a fairly standard revenge pic, but the art direction, the performances, the soundtrack all served to elevate it above matinee fodder for me. I found Phoenix to be a refreshingly nuanced baddie, found Nielsen and Jacobi's scheming to be deliciously convincing, found the battle scenes to be face-meltingly thrilling. That, and my girlfriend at the time's Dad's in it

PS As an anonymous Senator with no lines!

Connie Nielson =
{{{ Thanks Amarie + ".." }}}

{{{ }}}

yeah Russell Crowe ver ver nice.

It seems as usual I was the only one paying attention and not being distracted by the eye candy!! This is exactly how PJ got away with it too you know!

And look at the retard over here.. discovers the movie mistakes and laughs so hard that I can't take the movie seriously xI

Norclet wasnt distracted! she saw the puffer upper thing and the jeans whatever wotsit, but maybe you are right once I saw The Crowe in his Roman sandals I was a gonner, likewise The Bean in LOTR.

what's the origin of Norclet? I've seen someone call me that lately, I like it, but where does it come from?