Top Ten Favorite Films
This has been done before in various ways Im sure.
Regardless, Im interested in others lists. Gives me a better sense of people and hopefully some ideas for what to watch.
Regardless, Im interested in others lists. Gives me a better sense of people and hopefully some ideas for what to watch.
Comments (217)
[i]Seven Samurai
Shawshank Redemption
2001: A Space Odyssey
The Usual Suspects
No Country For Old Men
Persona
8 1/2
Dances with Wolves
Goodfellas
There Will Be Blood[/i]
(I'll check out Persona which I've never seen.)
2. Holy Grail.
3. Snatch.
4. 2001 A Space Odyssey
5. A Clockwork Orange
6. Bullets over Broadway.
7. Michael Clayton.
8. Jason Bourne (the first three of the Quatregy).
9. Fargo.
10. Badlands.
Special Mentions:
Point of No Return (American, not the original French),
Dead Gorgeous,
Flawless,
Fracture,
Perfume (German).
Wizard of Oz
Casablanca
The Graduate
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy - the 1980s version with Alec Guinness. Ok, it's a TV series. So sue me.
LA Confidential
The Donald Trump Jr. Story
The Last Starfighter - It has sentimental value. I remember watching it while holding my infant son (now 37) as he screamed for the whole movie film at a drive in theater.
Tombstone
Annie Hall
Manhattan
Raising Arizona
Caddyshack
The Long Goodbye
Say Anything
More than 10.
Doesn't this belong in the Lounge?
Didn't see Michael Clayton or Bullets Over Broadway I liked the rest except 2001. I should have put Fargo on my list.
Anything by Bergman is good, and Seventh Seal is certainly up there but for me, Persona may be his greatest.
Seen everything there except Snatch and Bullets Over Broadway (surprisingly, since I love Woody Allen). Thanks for reminding me of Allen. I should have included one of his at least
Quoting T Clark
Never seen that one, but Alec Guinness is always fantastic.
Including TV mini series isnt out of bounds. In that case I would include the Canadian (1980s) version of Anne of Green Gables. Wonderful.
Quoting T Clark
Eh. I put it under interesting things.
Quoting god must be atheist
Which version?
Oo. I think the actor's name is Emma something or other.
Hurray!! All the episodes of Benny Hill. He is sexist, he is infantile, he never showed an original joke he had created, but he was superb, funny, entertaining and to the core.
2. Pulp fiction
3. The Godfather (all the parts)
4. Tokyo Monogatari
5. A clockwork orange
6. Ikiru
7. Yojimbo
8. Ran
9. Akira
10. Paprika.
If you have a good three hours (and perhaps something to drink) definitely worth a watch I'd say.
[hide="Reveal"]
[i]2001: A Space Odyssey
The Lion in Winter
Five Easy Pieces
Sleuth
The Godfather I & II
High Plains Drifter
Blade Runner
A Soldier's Story
Barfly
Crimes and Misdemeanors
Glory
The Field
Glengarry Glen Ross
Shindler's List
Unforgiven
The Edge
Ray
Doubt
The Grey
The Sunset Limited
Lincoln
12 Years a Slave
Ex Machina
Fury
I Am Not Your Negro [/i]
Happy Lunar New Year :sparkle: :party:
The Wicker Man
The Truman Show
Pulp Fiction
2001...
Mulholland Drive
Andrei Rublev
12 Angry Men
Taxi Driver
Stalker
Blade Runner
The Long Goodbye
Star Wars
The Empire Strikes Back
12 Angry Men
Back to the Future
Headhunters
The Lives of Others
Ex Machina
About Time
Amadeus
The Seventh Seal
Chef
Sound of Metal
Calvary
The Fall
The Salvation
The Father
1917
Oldboy
Fight Club
Dark City
Donnie Darko
Little Miss Sunshine
Groundhog Day
Wish I Was Here
The Milagro Beanfield War
Wag the Dog
The Russia House
Finding Forrester
Gandhi
Turtle Diary
Bulworth
Midnight in Paris
The Gods Must be Crazy
Tootsie
Are you thinking of "Sense and Sensibility?" The 1990s version has Emma Thompson, Hugh Grant, Hugh Laurie, Kate Winslet, Alan Rickman...
Quoting Jamal
Should have been on my list.
Quoting Luke
Is this the one with Lee Pace about the injured stunt man? If so, I agree. It really liked it.
Quoting Luke
This should have been on my list too.
Quoting Vera Mont
Woody Allen has his ups and downs. This was definitely one of the ups.
The Last Picture Show
Solaris by Tarkovsky
Richard II, with Lawrence Olivier
Alexander Nevski and Ivan the Terrible by Eisenstein
Koyaanisqatsi
Lawrence of Arabia
Heart of Glass by Herzog
High Noon
The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie
Next is to prioritize which of the following to see first. :chin:
Quoting javi2541997
Quoting javi2541997
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Quoting Jamal
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Quoting Vera Mont
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Damn...
Indeed. I'd add Scorsese, Wes Anderson, PT Anderson, and the Coen brothers whose entire filmographies everyone should watch.
Yes, they are worthy.
Close Encounters and Fantastic Voyage are idiotic. What did we ever like about these lame SF offerings? Obviously, the film-makers were besotted with special effects.
But Apollo 13 and The Day the earth Stood Still (1951 - but the remake didn't stink) are still excellent.
So's The Martian among new ones. And 2010 The Year We Make Contact was better than 2001, if you consider story vs novelty. I couldn't Include Avatar, because I only liked the first half.
We watched Lawrence recently, too and was less impressed, but it's still big, smart and engaging.
I had left of
Searching for Bobby Fisher
Cider House Rules
Dave
and
The Princess Bride
The Last Picture Show
Harold and Maude
Five Easy Pieces
Night of the Hunter
Citizen Kane
A Thousand Clowns
Rear Window
Whos afraid of Virginia Wolff
The Conversation
Midnight Cowboy
Bonnie and Clyde
Blazing Saddles
Spellbound
Carnal Knowledge
Days of Wine and Roses
Straw Dogs
Klute
Almost Famous
Bullitt
and
Finding Forrester are pretty good, too.
For example: You can see in the following video that his anime is based on surrealism but full of colours and weird characters.
In the other hand, Tokyo Monogatari is a 1953 film of Yosujiru Ozu. It is old but according to Japanese film historians, is one of the most important films of Japan. If you are not so interested in Japanese culture it could be boring because the plot is basically the ordinary life of a family in Tokyo and how the modernity is surpassing the traditional conventions of Japan after WWII. An iconic pic of the film is this one:
12 angry men
The grapes of Wrath
To kill a mocking bird
Gettysburg
Waterloo
Lord of the rings (all of them)
Powder
Sunset Boulevard
Platoon
Oops. Yes I did see that I know it as Tokyo Story. The Japanese didnt ring a bell. Ozu is incredible and its a great movie.
I love almost everything Ive seen out of Japan, which admittedly isnt a lot. Ozu and Kurosawa are at the very top. Miyazaki is up there too.
Glad someone mentioned that one. I forgot but I still think its great, no matter what anyone says.
:up: Alba gu bràth, BUT, my earthling status means more. Braveheart is historically inaccurate, but the main story is true ........ or at least as true as any such historicity is true.
I cry like a baby when I watch the movie 'Powder,' thankfully, not all the way through, but some scene's just destroy me. I try not to watch it in company.
:up:
They are in the top of Japanese films. I have seen all Ozu's films, and they are fantastic. We can learn of a complex culture such as Japanese one thanks to his works.
Another film I recommend of him is Good Morning (????, Ohay?).
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (The evil of authority generally, but perfectly personified by Nurse Ratchett).
Being There (We walk blindly among miracles)
The Shining (The face of insanity)
A Beautiful Mind (Awareness of confusion)
American Beauty (Suburban existentialism)
The Matrix (Not overrated and stupid Cartesianism, but but it made the point well)
The Secretary (a sideways love story of true devotion)
Blue Velvet (fuckupedness on steroids)
Bananas (a potpourri of 1960s quirky ridiculousness)
Airplane (cartoonish characters who evoke no sense of humanity in an absurd reality)
Never even heard of this one. :up:
Yes!! Stardust, too.
Also:
Nightmare Before Christmas
The Dark Crystal
Caveman
Bicentennial Man
Orlando
Conrad Halls cinematography alone puts it up there. Another one I forgot.
Quoting T Clark
Me too should have done the top 25. Just too many good ones.
Closeaup
Firestarter
ET
Brief Encounter
Jesus Christ Superstar
Yes, 25 is closer.
2001...
Blade Runner
Paths of Glory
The Shining
Anything with Jack Nicholson.
As Good as It Gets
Coccoon
... and never thought I'd say this...
Men in Black
Im glad at least a few people are including fun ones like Star Wars and Men in Black. I love those. I still love Disney movies too, frankly. Some of Don Bluths were great.
Im surprised no one threw in Who Framed Roger Rabbit. That movie was my world as a child.
Mike Leigh films:
Mr Turner.
Happy-go-Lucky.
Vera Drake.
Ken Loach films:
Cathy Come Home.
I, Daniel Blake.
Kes.
Other films wot I like:
The Bedsitting-room.
Educating Rita.
Shirley Valentine.
Passport to Pimlico
Kind Hearts and Coronets
The Railway Children.
Trainspotting.
Edit: Dennis Potter films ( well more series really):
The Singing Detective.
Cold Lazarus.
Pennies from Heaven.
Righto!
I have seen half of that list. I better get to work on the rest.
One of my all-time favourites. Love Pauline Collins. Did you see the series Upstairs Downstairs? The girl was incandescent. Plus, it was cool to see Joanna Lumley, one of the British documentary presenters I like, in an acting role.
Kind Hearts and Coronets
What fun!
The Railway Children.
Excellent!
A Walk in the Clouds
The Aviator
State Fair
The French Connection: Hackman at his superb best
Lawrence Of Arabia: Epic
In Bruge: Brilliant casting and script
Snatch: A breath of fresh air
Godfather I and II: A masterpiece
Casablanca: Classic scene after scene
The Deer Hunter: I'd watch it every day.
No Country For Old Men: The Cohens' best (and so true to the book)
Pulp Fiction: Not a wasted minute.
Unforgiven: Thanks, Clint...
Honourable mentions:
Fargo
The Deer Hunter
Airplane
Goodfellas
Saving Private Ryan
Se7en
Spinal Tap
Brokeback Mountain
Chinatown
The Big Lebowski
Another great one. Even despite the cringey parts.
Quoting Bradskii
Thats been mentioned a few times. I like that movie, but Ive never understood exactly why so many people think its so great. I feel Im missing something.
Heres another unpopular opinion of mine. Ill have to watch it again, but I remember hating this one. I think its because I had just read the book.
I tried a couple. You Tube wants to charge me rent for Doctor Strangelove and Being There. So does Amazon Prime.
Quoting Mikie
?? I didn't cringe once. Now I'm curious.
Some of it is just too silly I guess.
Seven Samurai (1954) - Kurosawa
Harakiri (1962) - Kobayashi
Alice in the Cities (1974) - Wenders
The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928) - Dreyer
Satantango (1994) - Tarr
Apur Sansar (1959) - Ray
The Weeping Meadow (2004) - Angelopoulos
L'Eclisse (1962) - Antonioni
Late Spring (1949) - Ozu
Dersu Uzala - (1985) - Kurosawa
Some of the above could rotate with (but not limited to) the below:
Ran (1985) - Kurosawa
Spirit of the Beehive (1973) - Erice
Cleo from 5-7 (1962) - Varda
Landscape in the Mist (1988) - Angelopoulos
The Tree of Wooden Clogs (1978) - Olmi
Oh, now I'm really curious. Wondering whether it's a generational gap in communication.
The coincidences might have seemed silly, but I thought they were necessary to bring all the historical and cultural references into a coherent story.
Love Good Morning. His silent film,I Was Born, But... which is loose remake, is also excellent.
Quoting Mikie
Quoting 180 Proof
Persona is my favorite Bergman :up:
Yes. Made me realize I'd left out Michael Caine:
The Man Who Would be King
Educating Rita
Billion Dollar Brain
Hannah and Her Sisters
Noises Off
Quoting Bradskii
Should have been on my list.
Quoting Bradskii
Great movie. The only movie with Jack Nicholson I really like.
Quoting Bradskii
Hated the book so much I wouldn't watch the movie.
Quoting 180 Proof
Disturbing movies - Really like them. Really never want to watch them again.
Ex Machina
On the Beach
Manhunter - Pre-Anthony Hopkins Hannibal Lecter
Let the Right One In - Swedish version. Wikipedia calls it a "romantic horror movie." Well...no... calling it romantic is like saying Psycho is a movie about plumbing. Also - they're like 12 years old.
Miracle Mile - Really believable and scary movie with Anthony Edwards. Now this is a romantic horror movie. Also had Tasha Yar from Star Trek the Next Generation.
Crimes and Misdemeanors
Quoting Joshs
I forgot about his. A really good movie. Not like anything else I've ever seen with Jason Robards.
How about some musicals
The Bandwagon
Cabaret
The Wizard of Oz
An American in Paris
Singing in the Rain
Low Brow Comedy Favorites
The Meaning of Life
High Anxiety
Twelve Chairs (Brooks)
The Producers
Pink Flamingos
Priscilla Queen of the Desert
Midbrow Comedy Favorites
What about Bob
Bob Carol, Ted, and Alice
Play It Again Same
Throw Mama Off the Train
Annie Hall
Love and Death (Allen)
Wizard of Oz
highbrow film
Midnight Cowboy
Casablanca
The Graduate
Annie Hall
Fanny and Alexander (Bergman)
Godfather
The Last Detail
One Flew Over the Cuckoos nest
The Last Winter (Film Board of Canada)
The Boys in the Band
The Seventh Seal
Koyaanisqatsi
Dr Strangelove
On the Beach
Z (With its dark view of Greek politics and its downbeat ending, the film captures the director's outrage about the junta that then ruled Greece
Brokeback Mountain
Notorious
Dim Sum: A Piece of Heart (Wayne Wang)
Gone With the Wind
Australian
Breaker Morant
A Town Like Alice
Gallipoli
`
And a few dozen others.
Forgot "Cabaret"
- One movie from Charlie Chaplin: Perhaps City Lights or Goldrush, The Kid, the Great Dictator...
- Thin Red Line (a great poetic war film from Terrence Malick)
- Heat (a great Al Pacino and Robert de Niro faceoff, likely best film from Michael Mann)
I read the book last week. It was like reading the script. Hardly anything was changed and even some of the dialogue was verbatim. The film played out in my mind as I read it. Now reading anotherof Cormac's books - Blood Meridian.
And damn, I Jjust remembered The Thin Red Line. Has to be top ten.
:up:
A great reminder that film is art.
Films like 'the grapes of wrath' are films I return to, to remind me of what's important in life.
How about:
Inherit the wind
Mississippi Burning
Hoffa
Malcolm X
Agree. I generally find his performances mannered and appalling. Post 1980 this was probably Kubrick's fault.
Quoting universeness
I don't enjoy 'noble' message films. And recent era cinema with overstated movie scores, swimming in clichés are really off putting. I prefer to see something visually inventive, with a focus on milieu and plots generally don't interest me much. Character does and sometimes dialogue. Clever production design can take your breath away and make something highly watchable.
10 chosen at random
[i]
In the Mood for Love
Sunset Boulevard
Psycho
Sweet Smell of Success
F for Fake
The Trial
The Third Man
Brazil
Walkabout
Leon
[/i]
A masterpiece :up: :sparkle:
Best psychodrama since unsliced Cuckoo's nest. When are y'all going to make the film of Sometimes a Great Notion by the way?.
So how do you feel about movie's such as A Streetcar Named Desire or Scarface or Taxi Driver or Falling Down?
Quoting Tom Storm
Absolutely.
Forgot about Leon and If
Quoting Tom Storm
Hated it. Just too, too, too much. Same with Imaginarium.
Not everything needs to be illustrated with cartooney exaggeration.
We just watched Falling Down again a couple of days ago. Still good.
Oh no! See the movie anyway. I implore you. I had to see it 3 times in the theater a modern masterpiece on all levels.
Just barely missed my top ten. As I get older the impact has diminished a bit, but still an excellent film.
You mentioned Michael Mann and Heat. Good movie. His best, however in my opinion is The Insider, which continually rises a few notches higher as I rewatch over the years. In my 20s I liked it but now I feel I actually understand it.
I havent seen any of those. I saw a few minutes of Malcolm X and maybe a few moments from Mississippi Burning (Gene Hackman, yes?).
Quoting Vera Mont
A funny movie. I always thought it was a satire of conservative ideology and middle aged male fantasy.
That certainly shows how very differently we perceive things. I didn't find it at all; I thought it was tragic.
Mulholland Drive
Pulp Fiction
Goodfellas
Airplane!
Oldboy (Korean version)
The Matrix
Dr. Strangelove
Lost in Translation
The Departed
Monty Python and the Holy Grail
I'm surely missing some, haven't seen a good movie in ages - novels tend to be just so much more fulfilling.
Oh, you should definitely watch Mississippi Burning!
Kinda makes you wish you could have fought against the confederates, based on how black people and those who tried to help them, were abused in America during the civil rights movement. I say that as a Scot who has never experienced anything like that stuff, on either side of such divides.
Inherit the wind is a famous one with Spencer Tracy and Fredrich March, about the scopes monkey trial. Are you sure you have never watched it: Here's the trailer:
I was also thinking about the best comedy movies: That's probably another at least top ten:
It's a mad mad mad mad mad mad world
Duck Soup
Are two of my favourites. I still laugh at the same scenes, 40 years after first seeing them
I see the humour aspect of Falling Down, based on 'what could feasibly go wrong for you, all in the same day?' So, that kind of 'a series of unfortunate events' humour, but that's the only humour I could garnish from such a horrific portrayal of 'inner city' pressure.
I guess it was given a different name, Never Give and Inch, but I remember seeing it as Sometimes a Great Notion.
All About Eve
Whatever Happened to Baby Jane
American Graffiti
The Year of Living Dangerously
The Last Wave
Hair
The Hustler
Blow-Up
A Face in the Crowd
Fail-Safe
Invasion of the Body Snatchers(1956)
The Court Jester
Fantasia
The Five Thousand Fingers of Dr T
The Red Shoes
Flight of the Phoenix
Play Misty for Me
They Shoot Horses Dont They
Manchurian Candidate
Andromeda Strain
Little Murders
Actually, I liked the too, too much. I remember laughing. I kept thinking it was over. Then something else bad happened. After all, it was made by a member of Monty Python. What can you expect?
The Magnificent Seven
Tombstone
Little Big Man
Cat Ballou
Appolusa
Hidalgo
Destry Rides Again - James Stewart. Some scenes here were parodied in Blazing Saddles.
The Warriors Way - A kung fu, western, fantasy about carnival freaks, cowboys, and a kung fu master. Kind of like a surrealist Kung Fu, the television show. Really neat, funny movie.
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly - I'm surprised no one has mentioned this. Also:
A Fist Full of Dollars
For a Few Dollars More
Once Upon a Time in the West
The Marx brothers are still awesome. As I child when I was in Seattle (for two years), my father took us to this incredible movie theatre showing black and white films. It's one thing to see on DVD Duck Soup and other all time classics. It's totally another to see the film in a movie theatre with an audience howling in laughter during the mirror scene. I remember laughing in the car when going home.
Duck soup's famous mirror scene:
Movies that made you laugh as a child and still make you laugh older are really precious.
Quoting T Clark
How about High Noon?
Or the epic Searchers by John Ford with John Wayne?
A bit older, but still.
One thing about that movie I will never forget; Javier Bardem was entirely too good at playing his role.
I cannot watch him in other movies because I cannot unsee him from there.
Good list.
I would add
Stagecoach
My Darling Clementine
The Wild Bunch
The Ballad of Cable Hogue
Butch Cassidy
( and so much more!)
Quoting ssu
I had the same reaction to Night at the Opera. If you liked those you probably also loved the Court Jester (The Chalice with the Palace has the pellet with the poison. The vessel with the pestle has the Brew that is True. Or was that the Flagon with the Dragon?)
Der Untergang (the Downfall, 2004): Yes, you know it from the various memes from one specific scene from the film, but note that this is one of the historically most accurate war films as Apollo 13 (or films depicting real historical events) and Bruno Ganz make simply the best depiction of Hitler ever.
Das Boot (1981): submarine films don't get better as this and perhaps the best naval warfilm. Puts the sound of sonar in a totally different perspective.
Although I think the most grim warfilm, a film that really makes war as awful as it can be is Elem Klimov's Come and See from 1985, a quite rare film from the Soviet Union. Nowdays Russian warfilms are even more jingoistic than American ones were earlier.
Heven't seen that one. :lol:
Caddyshack - Cinderella story
Woody Allen:
Manhattan
Midnight in Paris
Take the Money and Run
Everybody Says I Love You
Annie Hall - my favorite scene
Lots of good silents by Buster Keaton.
The Navigator - This is my favorite.
Steamboat Bill Junior
Seven Chances. Tell me you didn't laugh at this:
I've always loved this scene from Modern Times
One of my favourites too. On another day it might make my top ten.
Quoting T Clark
No list of classic Woody Allen comedies is complete without Sleeper.
The Duellists (Outstanding swordplay with various weapons, during the Napoleonic Wars; what could be better? Makes me wish I could still fence sabre without hurting myself);
Seven Beauties (The best of Lina Wertmuller's cheerful films);
Fellini's Roma (What can I say? I'm a big fan of Rome);
The Godfather
Citizen Kane
2001: A Space Odyssey
Chinatown
Dr. Strangelove
There Will Be Blood
A Man for All Seasons
I like Taxi Driver the others no.
Quoting Vera Mont
I get it. Brazil is the only one of Gillian's that I like. It holds some of the most striking production design and visual invention of 80's cinema.
I generally dislike westerns, especially those priggish productions by John Ford. But I loved Deadwood the series and I like Once Upon A Time in The West. I think it's the Italians who got what Westerns should be, the dust, the filth, the sound editing...
Speed
Adventures of Priscilla Queen of the Desert
Sister Act 2
Being John Malkovich
True Lies
La mala educación,
The Exorcist
Inferno
Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon
I tend to agree with you about the older Westerns. They upheld the moral values of the times, which the 60s did their best to overturn. Thats why Im a big fan of the anti-Western, and Sergio Leones films with Clint Eastwood were among the first of these. Anti-Westerns turn the tables on the standard view of the hero as establishment figure. The rebellious anti-establishment outlaw becomes the new hero.
Agree with you. I'm more into overturning.
Everyone has a soft spot for a particular type of movie. The movies which had the biggest impact on my life were made between 1965 and 1973. These were the films which tapped into the social revolution of that era. It didnt last very long. By 1976 most of the big changes in outlook had already taken place, and in my opinion movies since that time have gotten progressively more timid and constricted in their scope. For a short period of time a window opened and everything we thought was true was up for grabs. The great films in the decades since that time draw from that inspiration without pushing us far enough beyond it.
Yes, they went nuts over visual invention in the 80's. Lighting effects, camera magic, fantastic stage sets, big industrial machinery, walls of computer screens, everything overstated and flashy. And it's attention-grabbing, I admit. But after 15 or 20 minutes, I've seen enough, laughed enough, been impressed enough and I just don't want another 2 hours of it. I did sit through it, for the sake of my friend, an artist herself, who loved it so much she wanted to see it a third time. Different sensibilities.
Requiem for a Dream
Pi
Natural Born Killers
Gummo
Julien Donkey-Boy
Stay
Oldboy (original)
Akira
The Shape of Things
Enter the Dragon
300
Gladiator
Rambo
Dont be a Menace to South Central while Drinking Your Juice in the Hood
Whats Eating Gilbert Grape
I meander across the eras when it comes to films. But not so much in the last 10-15 years. I'm bored with stories and tired of CGI. I privilege films that have strong visual style and production design. Form Citizen Kane and Singing in the Rain to All that Jazz. I want to look at something visually astonishing. I often watch movies with the sound off. I dislike John Ford not just for his conservative mythmaking tedium, but also the look of those films has dated. The west was dusty and filthy - people stank and looked grimy. Ford's characters all look like they are off to church. Which in a way they are...
Quoting Vera Mont
Yes, sensibilities. I can't get enough of visual invention - plots don't much interest me. You'd hate Natural Born Killers then? I like that one a lot too. But I think it had to be seen at the time.
Charlie Kaufman is brilliant and this one is a masterpiece. Thanks for reminding.
Wtf?
Great score by Leonard Cohen in that first one. What did you think of Brewster McCloud?
The French Lieutenant's Woman
The Crying Game
Hamilton
A Fish Called Wanda
The Matrix
Alien
Bridesmaids
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
Blade Runner
Quoting T Clark
I wanted to special mention this one, though, because I grew up with that movie (and later read it was the first movie to use CGI effects in it). So it's definitely one of those movies I'll watch but would never recommend unless someone wants to watch a cheesy 80's sci-fi film with me.
EDIT: Over time, this category has grown. There's a lot of movies I grew up with that I enjoy for what they are, but when I think about them now in some aesthetic sense I'm like "ehhhh"
Oh yes. But I liked Knives Out andA Perfect Murder For me, it's mostly about the story. Though I do appreciate a nice backdrop and pretty people - like the Austen movie - I get all the gimmicks I need from Sci-Fi.
Quoting Maw
I've only recently come to terms with subtitles. I've liked some Australian films, like Red Dog and of course the visually incomparable Walkabout.
Quoting Moliere
I'd revisit it. Something I've seen only once, and long enough to forget most of it, would be a nice change.
I can't really say I have a favourite, or even ten favourites. It depends on the day, the season, the mood, what happened that week in Crazyland, what I had for dinner and what we watched the night before.
Disliked those films.
Personal taste. For me good cinema is art - mise-en-scène - composition, framing, lighting, art direction, cinematography, editing, when artfully considered are the reward of watching. I don't consider these gimmicks - I consider them the reason for sitting still, like I am silently regarding a Rembrandt. The first 10 minutes of Once Upon a Time in the West, for instance to me is as rich and wonderful an experience as standing in front of a good Goya or reading a paragraph of Edith Wharton.
Quoting Vera Mont
And that. I find it exceptionally moving and mystical. The book is a junk.
I'm not a huge fan of Australian films - they often seem made for the international market. Although Mad Max 2 and Chopper are pretty amazing aesthetic experiences.
I love action movies because they are almost exclusively composed of that. And there's a genuine difference between the masters of visual story-telling and the cheesy spin-offs. (although, I'll admit, I like the cheese, too)
We agree on something! Good story, good settings, good effects, good staging and production.
Same with Lawrence.
Don't miss the Vatican fashion show in Fellini's Roma
I thought about this. I can see why people think it's good, but I didn't like it that much.
Quoting Maw
Never heard of it. Sounds interesting.
What do you think of Peter Greenaway? His films are among the most painterly Ive seen.
As always, too many choices...
I'm impressed with your ability to just have one :D I also enjoy that trilogy. I'll just try a grab-bag for a list of action movies I love that haven't been mentioned yet:
Mad Max: Fury Road
Kill Bill, v 1 and 2
Terminator 2
The 36th Chamber of Shaolin
Predator
I don't agree. Although, as I noted, it has sentimental value for me, I think it's a pretty good movie too. I don't love the science fiction and movies considered great. I liked the first three Star Wars, but wouldn't put them on my list of favorites. Ditto with Indiana Jones. Didn't like Alien and didn't watch the rest. Didn't like the Lord of the Rings movies, Blade Runner, or Harry Potter. Didn't like any of the Star Trek movies much.
Which reminds me of two of my favorite movies I left off my list:
Things to Come - 1936. Really striking cinematography. Raymond Massey. I think it reflects the fact that people in Europe knew a war was coming, but the one in the movie was even worse than WW2. Well made. It has that 1930s, futuristic, art deco vibe.
Primer - Made for $7,000 using the director's parent's credit card. By far my favorite time travel movie. After I saw it I said to myself - Yes, that's how it will happen if it ever does.
I'm surprised. You're such a popular culture curmudgeon. I have no problems with suspension of belief, but the story just didn't hold together for me. Last straw - the face melting scene. Not because it was creepy, but because it came from nowhere in an otherwise more or less realistic movie. An almost literal deus ex machina.
Quoting T Clark
Interesting. See, I think it as a carefully crafted, meticulously layered film, each step in the story progression leaving clues of God's presence and increasing anger as the film moves on. Wind appearing when God's name is mentioned, a gathering storm when the ark is lifted, the swastika burning off the crate in the hull of the ship and finally God's judgement of Nazi ideology and (quoting from 1 Samuel 6:7) for daring to fuck with the ark and invoke a Jewish ritual. The film is also swollen with Zoroastrian light and darkness motifs, it seems to me, with fire as the symbol of cleansing purity - from the bar fight to the fiery ending.
But most of all the use of practical effects, set design, moving camera and Michael Kahn's prodigious editing was absolutely staggering and overnight made all the James Bond action films with Roger Moore look dowdy, flabby, embarrassing. To me Spielberg pretty much reinvented the idea of what action on film looks like.
Sermon over.
Note on reflection, the fire motif is Jewish, not Zoroastrian.
Can't go wrong with Klaus Kinski
Quoting Joshs
Haven't seen it, but I did enjoy Altman's Nashville and The Long Goodbye
Oldboy :fire:
Have you seen Blow Out from 1980, which Brian De Palma modelled on Blow Up? Another of my favourites.
Children of Men
Stalker
The Lord of the Rings
Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy (2011)
Mirror
Ah add this to my list.
When I like a movie, I try to think back and figure out why. Often, it has to do with character - George Smiley in Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy; Phillip Marlowe in The Long Goodbye; Rick Blaine in Casablanca; Wyatt Earp in Tombstone - people who might seem weak, or frivolous, or cynical, or brutal - but who when tested have a deep moral center.
And that's my lecture.
Nonetheless, I'd like to recommend to you my favourite film that are not so known by the people.
Vacas. It is a rural drama between two Basque families. To help you to understand, the plot of the film covers the years 1875 - 1936. There were social conflicts and civil wars but the film shows how the basque allied themselves despite the differences and controversies of families. There are scenes and dialogues related to metaphysics and the concept of time.
Note: cows (vacas) are a very important animal for basque families in rural areas.
Wow, I would love to watch that. Do you know anywhere that it's available from?
Rather than a lack of quality, it's probably because they're less available to watch outside Spain. A long time ago, the films of Almodovar used to be shown on TV in the UK. More recently, I watched a lot of the Spanish films on Netflix when I was in Spain, if they had English subtitles.
I liked these:
El hoyo
Tiempo compartido
Tarde para la ira
Handia
Errementari
I've included those last two because they were only on Spanish Netflix, though I'm aware they're Basque.
I haven't seen Vacas though.
Well, I personally think that the quality is not good enough. You mentioned Almodovar's films but even their films are weird and wacky. The problem is not about the availability outside Spain, because if ours films were acceptable, many translators would pay for them. I guess that some cultures are more interesting than others. For example: I see that some users put a lot of films of Kurosawa and ?zu in this thread and they are "so Japanese" and despite this fact, their movies are over the world and translated in different languages.
I must accept (and this is true) that Japanese culture is more interesting than Spanish one, it is a fact. I understand that for a foreigner could be boring our dramas about politics and territories.
Quoting Jamal
This film is so awesome. I wanted to recommended too and yes it is basque and it is also set in a rural area of Basque Country in the XIX century. Pretty good movie. It is still in Netflix.
Quoting T Clark
Buster was so mistreated by the 'Hollywood' system. The General was a brilliant film and he was one of the best stuntmen EVER!
Chaplin and Laurel & Hardy are to comedy what Einstein and Newton are to science, imo.
I also respect Chaplin for standing up to horror's like Edgar Hoover. But I digress from the thread so, how about films like Arsenic and old lace?
Did you like any of the UK Ealing comedies? such as:
Kind Hearts and Coronets
Whisky Galore
The Lavender Hill Mob
The Man in the White Suit
The Ladykillers
:lol: The mirror scene! ...... :rofl: ....... when Groucho did that turn ..... :lol: and Chico .... :lol: ..... he just ... :rofl: .... he just ..... :rofl: .... moves his arms at the end of Groucho's turn ..... :lol: :rofl: ...... pure f****** class man!!!
What did you think of the point made in the comedy show 'The big bang theory,' where one of the characters points out a fatal flaw in that movie, in that Indiana Jones need not have been involved at all and the outcome would have been the same. The Nazi's open the box and they all die. :rofl:
What a useful box that would be to have around today! You could gift it to folks like Putin and then say go ahead Vlad baby, open your gift! (not whilst you are in the same room as him and the box of course!)
Quoting javi2541997
So, the Spanish film industry is small because of a lack of global demand (perhaps even domestic and Hispanic demand in general), and this is because Spanish stuff is less attractive, interesting, or fashionable than, e.g., Japanese stuff.
You might be right, but it doesnt follow that the proportion of Spanish films that are high quality is lower, only that there will be fewer high quality films coming out of Spain than e.g., Japan, because there are far fewer films being made there.
Personally, I have no real preference when it comes to Spain vs Japan. Feels like Im as likely to be interested in a Spanish film as a Japanese one.
On the other hand, I do enjoy films from unfamiliar cultures, partly for the novelty. When I met my wife she introduced me to Soviet movies, most of which I hadnt heard of but which are massively popular in Russia and the other ex-Soviet countries.
Highlights were Kin-dza-dza and Office Romance, the latter partly because there were no subtitles and my wife had to translate, which was fun, but also because it was fascinating to see everyday office life in late 1970s Moscow, in the context of a romantic comedy.
Two absolute legends from the silent films, Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton together at older age in Chaplin's Limelight. Too bad the film was in many places in the US boycotted in 1952 as of allegations of Chaplin being a communist. A good film, even if not in the top ten category.
I never heard of those either. I guess this is due to the fact that Francisco Franco blocked all products and stuff from Soviet countries. I watched a post-Soviet film called "Burnt by the Sun" and it is a pretty good movie. The plot is based on Soviet times but the film is of 1994 so I guess we cannot consider it as "Soviet"!
On the other hand, it is interesting how your wife showed you "Soviet films". I mean, movies which represents how that era looked like. Here in Spain we had something similar in a cinema called "NO-DO". The films were about family topics about Franco's era and most of them were even so far from reality. If one day you watch one (I wish not) you would see they are so eccentric on the reality about middle-class families. Most of them are even available nowadays in a program called "cine de barrio" (it is special and is only available in Saturday) and only older people see them. I remember watching one with my grandmother and laughed at the actors and plot because everything was so forced.
Yeah, I have watched that one many times. It's one that gets me thinking about a 'dream team of comedy' list/thread.
Which comedians would you choose for the best comedy team ever in history? and you must explain why you would include each one, based on how they would compliment your previous choices. All of them would be at the prime of their profession of course.
Charlie Chaplin, Billy Connolly, Robin Williams, Stan Laurel, Buster Keaton. Would that team work, for example?
Regarding Spanish films, Carlos Saura's Blood Wedding is fantastic:
Interesting. From what you say, it seems like those films are not as popular in Spain as Soviet films still are in the ex-Soviet sphere, where they are familiar to all ages, though obviously the nostalgia is a big part of it.
Hero (with Jet Li)
Young Frankenstein
Apocalypse Now
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
It Follows
Pandorum
Solaris (American version)
Adaptation
House of Flying Daggers
I agree with most of your list, although I've never loved Laurel and Hardy. I've seen Billy Connolly on TV and doing standup, but the only movie I remember seeing him in is The Last Samurai. Let's see, who would I include?... Bill Murray, Nicholas Cage, Woody Allen, Jim Carrey, Tom Hanks, John Cusack, Monty Python guys.... Ok, my favorite comedies:
Moonstruck - I can't believe I haven't mentioned this before
Diner - Should have mentioned this before too
The Navigator + other Keaton movies
High Fidelity
Groundhog Day
Annie Hall
Manhattan
Say Anything
The Three Stooges Meet Donald Trump Jr.
The Truman Show
Raising Arizona
The Graduate
Singing in the Rain
Caddyshack
Get Shorty
The Princess Bride
The Shop Around the Corner
Forgot about this. This and Truman Show are the only Jim Carrey movies I really like.
Man on the Moon was pretty good.
Never saw it.
All of those, yes, but not in the top favourites.
Those were all fairly low-key, cerebral comedy. I have very low tolerance for rowdy humour, none at all for slapstick, and my idea of effective visual comedy is the wall-washing scene in Life of Brian.
I suppose, overall, my preference is for quiet, contemplative movies, so the top two that come to mind are Brief Encounter and Turtle Diary.
A funny thing happened on the way to our movie night yesterday.
Started with Out of Africa - beautiful to look, but it's the one role in which I really hated Robert Redford (Not quite true - I just remembered Indecent Proposal, in which I hated pretty much everybody, including Oliver Platt, which is next to impossible.)
Anyway, the tape was lousy quality, so we watched The Milagro Beanfield War instead, which was produced and directed by Redford and is damn near perfect.
Dudley Moore seems to fit in with this crowd.
I see you left out Judd Apatow and work by his crew (Seth Rogen, Jonah Hill, Paul Rudd, Jason Segal, Jay Baruchel)
I figured his films deserve mention given that they have had a dominating influence on American comedy the past 20 years
Knocked-Up
40 year old Virgin
This is 40
Forgetting Sarah Marshall
Get Him to the Greek
Trainwreck
The King of Staten Island
Bridesmaids
The Dewey Cox Story
As was his Ordinary People, in my opinion. He gets slighted as an actor because he tended to shy away from dark or complicated characters, but I thought he was brilliant in films like Downhill Racer and The Candidate.
See, I think Billy Connolly is the greatest 'observational comic,' there has ever been.
Even simple ones like, "I couldn't believe it when walking in a Belfast street after xmas. There was a shop advertising half price bomber jackets!!" :rofl:
Robin Williams was another phenomenal observational comic.
Chaplin, Laurel and Keaton are amongst the greatest physical comedians ever. So Connolly and Williams doing the writing and Chaplin, Laurel and Keaton doing the physical enactments would be unbeatable imo.
Based on that kind of set-up, would you still choose the names you chose for your all time greatest comedy dream team?
Quoting Joshs
are both excellent. So is The Natural and All the President's Men and Our Souls at Night and I guess The Horse Whisperer , though, as with Indecent Proposal, I found the story distasteful. Whatever else, nobody can call the man idle!
That point was made by a critic a long time before that show. Not sure how the ark would have gotten safely to the US without Indy, but as it turns out Indy (like all of us) is impotent against two things - the rage of god and the implacable bureaucracy of the American government. The ark gets boxed up and put away in an anonymous warehouse. I always got a chuckle out of that.
Yeah Redford has been fantastic in some films and awful in others.
I think indecent proposal is crap as well and I hate 'The way we were' but Redford was amazing in
The Sting
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
Brubaker
:up: but shhhhhhhh no one knows where the box is now!
https://www.businessinsider.com/billionaires-only-bank-vault-opening-in-london-2019-12
If I want a laugh I might pop on Blue Velvet. Most contrived comedy irritates me - whether it is stand up or the mawkish material of Chaplain. I liked Billy Connolly and Robin Williams in some dramatic roles.
I really stopped watching movies much just about 20 years ago, so, although I'm familiar with the names, I haven't seen any of the movies you listed.
As for Dudley Moore, I really liked the original "Bedazzled" with Peter Cook as the devil. Didn't like Arthur or 10. What else was he in?
Those are the main ones I can think of, although do you remember his small but hilarious role in Foul Play as a pathetically horny conductor? Bedazzled was brilliant,btw.
Whereas some movies I'll just put out there as something I think anyone can find something good in, or at least I'll have some cinematic reason (like with Predator on the list I was thinking about how it really encompasses the barely hidden homo-eroticism of 80's action flicks -- even if you don't like the movie, I'd point out that it's a perfect demonstration of a particular aspect of a kind of movie)
There might be something wrong with you.
Yes, actually.
Lol, its a parody of the movie Menace II Society.
The Dark Knight
American History X
Morvern Caller
The Chumscrubber
Elephant
The Elephant Man
Saw
Se7en
A Huey P. Newton Story
TV Shows:
Avatar: The Last Airbender/The Legend of Korra
House
Person of Interest
The Andy Griffith Show
SpongeBob SquarePants
Criminal Minds
Oz
Chopped
Anne With an E
Deadliest Warrior
Forged in Fire
:up:
Always been one of the best 1990s films. Edward Norton did a magnificent acting.
Hey, how did you know where I keep my first edition, signed copies of priceless Vera Mont books!!!
Quoting Mikie
Quoting god must be atheist
(Mostly for style and atmosphere, which is where Kubrick excels.) I think my favorite Kubrick movie is one of his lesser known ones: Barry Lyndon.
Quoting T Clark
Quoting javi2541997
Quoting 180 Proof
Quoting Jamal
My favorite Tarkovsky film, along with Rublev, is probably The Mirror.
Quoting Luke
Quoting Vera Mont
Quoting Joshs
Quoting Paine
Quoting tim wood
Quoting universeness
Quoting Mikie
Check out Kore-eda Hirokazu if you haven't seen him: Nobody Knows, Still Walking, Shoplifters.
Quoting javi2541997
:up:
Quoting Maw
I was fortunate to have seen this in a theater with an honest-to-goodness live piano accompaniment!
Quoting Hanover
I am not into horror, but The Shining is classic for a reason.
Quoting unenlightened
+ Another Year
Quoting unenlightened
I've seen these:
Raining Stones
The Wind that Shakes the Barley
I should see more limey working-class kitchen-sink dramas :)
Quoting unenlightened
Quoting Bradskii
Quoting Maw
Of Angelopoulos I've seen only Eternity and a Day - loved it. The music is still stuck in my head.
Quoting Maw
Not my favorite, but worth watching, especially as part of a retrospective.
Quoting BC
Quoting BC
Quoting BC
Quoting ssu
Quoting ssu
Quoting Tom Storm
Quoting javi2541997
:up: I also liked his Chungking Express, though it is very different.
Quoting Manuel
Quoting Joshs
Quoting T Clark
Quoting Joshs
I kind of skipped classic Hollywood westerns (there are two or three that I like) and went straight for Sergio Leone's spaghetti westerns. So for me these are the classic westerns. In any case, though there is a great distance between Ford and Leone, I wouldn't call the latter anti-western: there is a clear line of continuity between them.
Favorite anti-western: Altman's McCabe & Mrs. Miller
Quoting ssu
:up:
Quoting ssu
:up:
Quoting Andrew4Handel
I've watched dozens, scores, hundreds of westerns at the movies and on TV since I was a kid. Back then, when I thought of actors, it was always John Wayne. "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence" was a big favorite of mine. But in terms of westerns that really stand out after all this time, Sergio Leone's are the ones I remember best.
Angelopoulos is one of my favorite directors. Sham his movies are so difficult to come by. Music is an important element in The Weeping Meadow.
Indeed I willappreciated!
The Limey (Soderbergh)
The Insider (Michael Mann)
Both 1999.
Have I just become old and cranky, but are especially Hollywood films become worse? What do you think about current films compared to 20th Century films? Especially the last few years have seem to me as a quite downer when it comes to great films.
When we have now six pages of lists of great movies, there's not so many movies from the last ten years (or this milennia), even if that starts to be quite a long time already. Seems that some are from the first decade of this Century, but not much else. Or is the reason that we haven't gotten fond of the new ones?
Exactly, and as you pointed out most of the users didn't type a film of the 2010's. I think the decline of cultural cinema is based on two important factors:
1. The youngest generations are not open to culture as old days and even the basic concept of art has diminished in the past decades. It looks like that we call art or culture to everything and this only leads to films with zero effort where the people only wants to see trivial scenes such as relationships, abusive sexual dialogues, violence, etc...
Note: I am sorry for being a millennial and I assume part of the responsibility of my weak generation. For example: I don't know anyone of my age who watched Yojimbo or had read Yukio Mishima, for example.
2. In the other hand, the money is now invested in Netflix or HBO series and other digital platforms. If you check the "top 10 series of this month" you would see that most of them are trivial or related to mafia or violence with zero clue or arguments...
Quoting javi2541997
Or the scary issue is when people read less. You see, with reading you really have to use your imagination: you are confronted only with words in a book, you have to create the image yourself of what is happening. But especially now, when listening to a book isn't difficult (all that mess with cassette tapes etc.) it's far more easy to listen to a book and do something else when you are listening.
Reading the social web and it's messaging isn't like reading a book. I think the reason is that just watching films doesn't create your imagination. So you won't have totally new ideas, I guess. And you don't have the knowledge about the classic literature, where you find the great stories.
I don't know. At its best, Hollywood has produced quality entertainment, as well as some solid, earnest but accessible works, the kind that contend for Oscars and Golden Globes. And I don't see this trend changing in recent times. Sure, style and tone has changed somewhat, but don't they always?
Here are some recent films that are quite good, in my opinion (though I am not sure that all of them are, technically, Hollywood productions):
Anomalisa (2015)
Dunkirk (2017)
Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio (2022)
Hell or High Water (2016)
Inside Llewyn Davis (2013)
Leave No Trace (2018)
Manchester by the Sea (2016)
Paterson (2016)
The Green Knight (2021)
The Shape of Water (2017)
The Tragedy of Macbeth (2021)
Yes.
The reason is obvious. Streaming services have largely destroyed the importance of theaters, attention spans are shorter than they were before, and box office receipts have slowly become the only measure of success. Now studios take no risks, and go with franchises and theres less studios than before. Disney alone owns nearly everything: Avatar, Star Wars, etc.
Theres much more to watch on TV these days. I go up the theater still to see a handful of directors: Scorseses, PT Anderson, Woody Allen, Wes Anderson, Coen brothers, sometimes Spielberg, sometimes Fincher, handful of others.
AMC theaters will soon charge more for prime seating. Maybe they'll bring back ushers with small flashlights that theaters had sixty years ago.
Ditto :up:
Top Ten TV series???
I'm so old I forget what I've watched. But some are Rake, Lillehammer, Luther, White Lotus, Veronica, True Detective, Fargo, Money Heist, You, Sopranos, and on and on. I enjoyed them all.
1. Breaking Bad
2. Weeds
3. City on a hill
4. Better call Saul
5. The Makanai: Cooking for the Maiko House
6. Stranger
7. Social experiment Lain
8. Death Note
9. Neon Genesis Evangelion
10. Inuyasha
My baker's dozen ...
All in the Family 1971-75
The Boondocks 2005-10
Chappell's Show
Deadwood (+ Movie)
The Expanse 2015-18
Fawlty Towers
Firefly
I, Claudius
Mad Men 2007-10
Rome
Star Trek 1966-69
True Detective 2014
The Twilight Zone 1959-64
I agree with what you say. The actions of Disney come to mind as a perfect example. A company that had the valuable "Marvel-universe" and an American icon, the Star Wars films, to make money. And now they are in trouble.
Even if there are, especially with Pixar, still great animated films (if computer-made movies can be said to be animated). But usually the corporate system just makes disasters and lousy reurgitated stuff. In fact George Lucas in a prior interview when he hadn't yet sold Lucasfilm yet to Disney pointed out that Disney wanted to make a rehash Episode IV... which in the end years after they surely did with Episode VII and the complete shitshow of the others.
I think it isn't anymore about the wokeness after the traumatic scandals of Harvey Weinstein and me too -era. It's basically that the corporate system doesn't take anymore chances and are totally happy with mediocre films.
It's statistical reasoning, which makes films so bad.
First of all, they aren't made for the movie-lovers, but the occasional movie goer who goes to a film only once or twice a year. And to get this infrequent moviegoer to get up and go to the cinema, you have to have a huge media blitz that makes the film nearly a phenomenon which "everybody is talking about", such like Avatar etc. Hence the media campaign takes a huge chunk of the budget and when the budgets are colossal, no reason to make something that isn't untried.
And because films aren't made for those who like films, who know the stories and previous films and can be critical, we get the trash we have. Hollywood assumes that these people just to tag along and go to see it even if it's crap... or that the film gets free publicity from "toxic fans" having something against it.
Akira Kurosawa was a master of cinema and a very wise person. I recommend you this video (link below) about Kurosawa speaking about modern film-makers and screenwriters. It is magnificent.
A Few Good Men for its content in general, the final courtroom scene in particular for the justification of it, and the ending for the subliminal ramifications because of it.
:fire:
Yeah, they werent that impressive.
Best cast overall ..LOTR series? Not counting old westerns and war epics.
I walked out of Fellowship of the Ring (too annoyed demand a refund) by the time "they fought the cave troll" in Moria. I can't say I'd liked any aspect of Peter Jackson's DnD-fan wank adaptations; it was all so wrong for me. I'm still waiting for LotR & The Hobbit as well as the Earthsea Saga, The Black Company, The Prince of Nothing trilogy, stories of "Conan the Cimmerian", etc to get a proper multi-season series treatment like HBO's GoT received (at least for the first 4 seasons).
Ok. So best cast overall? Any favorite?
From my own list of favorite films
https://thephilosophyforum.com/discussion/comment/774715 I think most of those casts were perfect.
I'd also add
[i]Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf
In the Heat of the Night
Guess Who's Coming to Dinner
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
The Good, The, Bad and The Ugly
Chinatown
Jaws
Alien 1-3
Annie Hall
The Color Purple
Star Trek 2, 4, 6
The Cook, The Wife, The Thief & Her Lover
Full Metal Jacket
Hannah and Her Sisters
Do the Right Thing
Miller's Crossing
Reservoir Dogs
Pulp Fiction
Se7en
Casino
Gladiator
Analyze This
Serenity
Bourne 1-3
No Country for Old Men
Mystic River
Batman Begins
The Dark Knight
Fences
Inception
The Children of Men
Inglorious Bastards
Django Unchained
Margin Call[/i]
etc ...
Ive watched that multiple times. Not only is it great advice for filmmakers, its great advice for life. Fantastic.
Good anime, I watched a few years ago and I liked it. Nonetheless, I felt sad when L died and the plot just continued without zero reasons. I mean, it was a great anime until the episode of his death, later on I remember it as a ok anime...
Same. I remember getting disappointed when Kira killed him. I never liked the personality of Kira... such arrogant. L is more related to my personality, introvert and silent.
For sure. But this was often at play, Pauline Kael made a similar argument over 40 years ago in 'Why Are Movies So bad? Or, The Numbers'. She was politically incorrect and brazen. Obviously written before TV got good.
Might be Oliver Stone's JFK
Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou.
Or maybe Royal Tenanbaums.
The Firm also had a great cast.
Just barely ... The Lion in Winter
-Peter O'Toole
-Katherine Hepburn
-Anthony Hopkins
-Timothy Dalton
-Nigel Terry
-John Castle
-Jane Marrow
Earlier it was the idea that the studios have the "blockbusters" and then you can dare to have something interesting on a "smaller" budget.
Best cast?
I'd go with what @Mikie noted, the Godfather.
Older era actors ensemble might be "A Bridge too Far", even if the film isn't great, but just good. (Thin Red line had also a stellar cast ...of men, not surprisingly.)
Pulp fiction had a good cast too.
That's an understatement ... :smirk:
A lot of political correctness to boot.
They also were the start, in my opinion, of Oscar-baiting movies, carefully crafted for critical praise. Dances with Wolves a 1990 film and movie Ive always loved is in this tradition too.
In particular, the long form has been explored a lot by the streaming TV services. I think that at this point there are so many shows which use this form that we can likely see its downsides, but there were still some really good films that came out of this way of telling stories that was basically unheard of pre-2000. At most there were mini-series, but nothing like the sheer magnitude of shows which have connected episodes, and even seasons, across years like a book does.
Prior to streaming, due to commercials, episodic was the mode of storytelling, and long-form was something only explored by theatre nerds.
Though I still like the whole movie experience. But I'm in home-body mode mostly now
The Girl With a Dragon Tattoo
The Girl Who Kicked The Hornet's Nest
The Girl Who Played with Fire
(As history and war-movie friend Band of Brothers come to mind.)
Under the Skin
The Green Knight
The Killing of a Sacred Deer
The Cabin in the Woods
Midsommar
Us, Get Out (havent seen Nope yet)
Once Upon a Time in Hollywood
Triangle of Sadness
Nightcrawler
Birdman
Edge of Tomorrow
There are many I havent seen, especially foreign language films. I dont watch a lot of anything these days.
It was bound to happen! I rather enjoy letting myself be cranky - hell, I'm old; I've earned it!
Quoting ssu
Too soon to tell. We're not talking about all the movies made in the 20th century, just the ones from the second half that were memorable for some reason. Most of every century's artistic output is discarded and forgotten; only the good stuff survives.
Some of those popular favourites, like the Godfather series and Cuckoo's Nest were good movies, but I didn't like them as much as the books. That's a problem with reading: the movie never quite lives up to your internal image. They always have to leave out parts you're particularly fond of, or cast the wrong actors or something.
I can think of two exceptions: Cider House Rules and Fried Green Tomatoes.