A "post your top ten movies" thread.

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Protagonist X
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A "post your top ten movies" thread.

Post by Protagonist X »

Unregistered Pinback wrote:
Ice Cream Jonsey wrote:We should start a "post your top ten movies" thread.
2001
Apocalypse Now
Blade Runner
The Godfather
Fight Club
Alien
Leaving Las Vegas
Close Encounters of the Third Kind
Clockwork Orange
MY BIG FAT GREEK WEDDING!!!

Protagonist X
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Post by Protagonist X »

Just ten? Tough. Tough indeed.

By "favorite," I'm assuming a definition of "I can watch it again and again and not get tired of it."

Amadeus
American Beauty
Braveheart
Brazil
Citizen Kane
City of Lost Children
Dr. Strangelove, or, How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb.
Ed Wood
Lawrence of Arabia
Singles

List is subject to change without notice as I think about the topic.

bruce
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Post by bruce »

Hunh.

Ten off the top of my head, could change at any time, etc.:

Casablanca
Raiders of the Lost Ark
Apocalypse Now
A Clockwork Orange
The Big Sleep
Fantasia
Fight Club
Blade Runner
Brazil
something by the Coen Brothers, probably The Big Lebowski, but could be Fargo, Raising Arizona, or Brother, Where Art Thou?

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Post by bruce »

bruce wrote: something by the Coen Brothers, probably The Big Lebowski, but could be Fargo, Raising Arizona, or Brother, Where Art Thou?
Or Barton Fink. Or I might replace that with Clerks.

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Post by gsdgsd »

Off the top of my head, and in alphabetical order rather than ranking...


Apocalypse Now
Casablanca
Fargo
Insomnia (Norwegian version)
Le Samouraï
Point Blank
Rushmore
Slap Shot
The Usual Suspects
Vertigo

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Ice Cream Jonsey
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Post by Ice Cream Jonsey »

Okay, I was planning on making this a "feature" one of these days, but what the hell.

First off -- there are a ton of movies that I haven't seen yet. This is explained, partly, in the text of #1. But Casablanca, Shichinin No Samurai, Double Indemnity, Citizen Kane, Schindler's List, Das Boot (all the way through)... these are movies that I should probably go watch before spouting off an opinion. But when I was younger I hated black and white, and for whatever reason, a bunch of "classic" movies like that are never on HBO.

This article is poorly written, poorly thought-out, and poorly proofread. On the other hand... it exists. Anyway, here we go:

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10. The Shawshank Redemption. One reason I've never done a list is because I can't settle on #10. Sometimes it's this one. Sometimes it's the Empire Strikes Back. I keep meaning to go re-view The Brotherhood of the Wolf as well, because it was the only sub-titled movie that I've ever been able to stand in my life. But regardless, my brother and I are glued to TNN or TNT or whichever station happens to be playing it on TV when it's on -- and we *own* the friggin' DVD. Tim Robbins's best performance, and he's lucky he had this movie because otherwise... Jesus Christ.

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9. The best sports movie ever made, and it's not even about one of the big four American sports. Nothing gets you more pumped to go out and live your worthless goddamn life than Rounders. Full of great lines, full of great performances... it's one of the most quotable movies ever, and hasn't quite reached that level that Monty Python's Holy Grail is at where you're a tool for mentioning a line in the thing.

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8. The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers. When I left this thing the first time, I turned right to Danzaland and exclaimed NOW THAT'S A FUCKING MOVIE. Andy Serkis was fucking robbed, it should be stated, because Gollum is possibly one of the best characters in all of written fiction, and he nailed his part for this thing. I didn't think it possible. For a D&D nerd, this is as good as it currently is. A bunch of guys made up of various races and classes start kicking the shit out of everyone in their way. Even the two useless hobbits there who spent the entire film in a CGI tree hit a homer when they are up to bat. More than any other film on my list, this is the very definition of what feeling you should get after leaving a movie theatre.

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7. Out of Sight. This is actually pretty embarassing, seeing how Clooney and Lopez have done everything in their power to make this movie seem like an aberation, but I'm not going to lie to the good denizens of Jolt Country. First off, Lopez is so hot that she might as well be from another planet. Normal humans don't look this good throughout an entire film -- it's too bad she got really, really annoying immediately afterwards. I hated Don Cheadle for two movies after this one because he did such a good job with his role here. Ving is even bringing the noise in this one, remarkably enough. Great "crime" flick -- admittedly, if I had watched any of the million of crime flicks that existed in the 40s I'd probably think otherwise, but I haven't. So that's that.

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6. Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. My favorite TV show brought to the big screen and done right for the first time, and as it turns out, for one of only two times ever. This was a big sloppy hummer given to all the geeks who followed James T. Kirk and his 78 adventures on TV. Regardless of what a person happens to be "into" -- whether it's TV shows, or sports, or music, whatever -- that person deserves to have their interests done as well as Wrath of Khan. If you're a fan of Kirk, you get to see him do his best work ever in this film. The Ultimate Alpha Male taking care of shit that needs taking care of. And possibly the best single scene in all of science fiction when Spock dies. You can go on and on about this thing before even bringing that bit up.

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5. Blade Runner. Oh, Ridley did his best to fuck this one up, but I am not buying it if he's telling me that Deckard was an android. Actually, fuck it -- if he is, or if he isn't, this thing still works. No movie has ever come close to showing such an immersive world. It launched my absolute favorite "genre" in the world, even though Hollywood has done shit with it. The colors and imagery and pace and soundtrack put everything else, ever, to shame.

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4. Mallrats. OK, this probably shouldn't be ranked above Blade Runner, but Mallrats was more personal, so it wins. Brodie Bruce is the best character ever created, and even though the parts with T.S. flat-out blow, he brings so much to the table that this is the movie that I have probably seen more than any other. Jason Lee completely carries this train wreck otherwise. This guy isn't even a comics geek himself, yet he runs through his lines with such force and authority that every comics nerd who *is* out there finally got to enjoy their hobby without feeling like they had some kind of disease.

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3. Re-Animator. Horror is my second favorite genre, and there is hardly any decent or compelling work in that field, either. A bunch of nobodies put this thing together (it's based off a story of H.P. Lovecraft) and managed to improve on the source material. The scene at the beginning with the lone lightbulb on a string rocking back and forth is the best single use of lighting I've ever seen in my life. Creepy, cheesy, depraved, funny... it's all there in this thing.

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2. Highlander. The thing I dig about this film is that it is the creation of an entirely new genre and mythology. Nothing was really "borrowed" from other material -- sure, everything in this movie is ruined by the shows and flicks that followed -- but for a single experience this thing is my second favorite movie. There's not a wasted scene in it. It depicits the 80s right before they escaped the miserable clutches of the 70s, oh, and it's all about people chopping each other's fucking heads off with swords. I don't know how it got this good, but it did.


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1. Chasing Amy. This movie is important to me for three reasons -- first, it has a "message" that every twenty something Generation Xer needed to hear. Secondly, it showed me that there was another guy out there who had similar interests to mine. I was blown away when this was revealed. Lastly, it's the movie that got me interested in movies. I used to really think nothing of films at all. They were no more compelling than TV. It was something generated by a bunch of rich jerks and sluts and I had absolutely nothing in common with them, and they had nothing that they could possibly tell me. Chasing Amy changed all that. My eyes were opened that there *were* some directors out there who had something to say and more, were right around my age while saying it. All the movies in this list except for Highlander and Khan I went and caught *after* I saw Chasing Amy. I got on a movie kick due to this film and this film only. I'm interested in DVDs and the like only after coming in contact with it. Furthermore, I caught it the Big Breakup of my life, and I was able to throw myself into a brand new hobby rather than mope about with a miserable expression on my face 24/7. Chasing Amy, regardless of whether or not anyone thinks it "the best movie," is the best movie ever for me. A copy of it, "Zork I" and _When Gravity Fails_ are the three most important and cherished bits of media in my life. They changed everything.
the dark and gritty...Ice Cream Jonsey!

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Post by Roody_Yogurt »

I'm not sure if I'm going to make a list, but yeah, Andy Serkis was robbed.

Pinb-- err, Movie Maven!!

Post by Pinb-- err, Movie Maven!! »

bruce wrote:something by the Coen Brothers, probably The Big Lebowski, but could be Fargo, Raising Arizona, or Brother, Where Art Thou?
If you want my advice, which you don't, and which I've already given on this very BBS, I suggest you pick Barton Fink here. It's the best, and perhaps most underrated Coen movie. Miller's Crossing might be similarly underrated, but Barton Fink is everything the Coen's are about, boiled down into a single film.

(But if you don't pick BF, pick Arizona.)

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Post by Worm »

I've watched very few websites.

To kill the anticipation I'll start with number one.

Uhm, I can't think of it.

I really have no idea.

Blade Runner is in there somewhere.
[23:17] LeetCoDe: so i just watched blade runner..pretty disappointed overall
[23:17] InsertClicheName: You, sir, are a scum bag.
[23:20] LeetCoDe: i know
[23:20] LeetCoDe: but i dont get the big fuss about it
I liked pretty much all of what Kevin Smith did explicitly Chasing Amy and Clerks.

I like Jackie Chan Movies. The Legend of the Drunken Master. I liked Jet Li in The Legend 2. Oh, I liked Twin Warriors too.

Total Recall ... I really like that.

Seven.

Okay, so let's arrange these fuckers.

1. Total Recall
2. Clerks
3. Blade Runner
4. Chasing Amy
5. Twin Warriors
6. Drunken Master
7. The Legend II

Okay, that is it.
Good point Bobby!

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Post by Violet »

I finally compiled a list of my own.

1) Amelie
2) Fight Club
3) Babe
4) Monty Python and the Search for the Holy Grail
5) Spirited Away
6) The Usual Suspects
7) American Beauty
8) Office Space
9) State Fair (not the one with Anne Margaret)
10) Labyrinth


Kevin Spacey rocks.
The End

Guest

Post by Guest »

In no particular order...

Ghost Dog
Princess and the Warrior
Run Lola Run
Matrix
Waking Ned Devine
Piano
The Last Unicorn
Jesus Christ Superstar

Souffle of Pain

Post by Souffle of Pain »

That list wasn't so embarassing that you had to post it anonymously, was it?

Okay, yes. It was.

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Post by Ice Cream Jonsey »

Souffle of Pain wrote:That list wasn't so embarassing that you had to post it anonymously, was it?

Okay, yes. It was.
Shut up, Souffle. I can't begin to imagine what your top ten consists of, though I'm sure that the amount of faux-pretention in it will cause projectile vomiting for all who unfortunately view it.
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Post by Violet »

The Last Unicorn, I didn't think anyone else had seen that movie. Not that its one of the greatest of all time but it is one odd movie. What a combination, a whole soundtrack full of America songs and Jeff Bridges as the voice of the prince. That was one interesting movie. Now I am going to have America songs in my head all day.
The End

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Post by bruce »

Ice Cream Jonsey wrote: Shut up, Souffle. I can't begin to imagine what your top ten consists of, though I'm sure that the amount of faux-pretention in it will cause projectile vomiting for all who unfortunately view it.
I can't even imagine what faux-pretention is. It's such a .... meta .... concept.

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Post by Worm »

Violet wrote:The Last Unicorn, I didn't think anyone else had seen that movie. Not that its one of the greatest of all time but it is one odd movie. What a combination, a whole soundtrack full of America songs and Jeff Bridges as the voice of the prince. That was one interesting movie. Now I am going to have America songs in my head all day.

They where playing it on the Sci-Fi channel a while ago.
Good point Bobby!

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Post by Ice Cream Jonsey »

bruce wrote: I can't even imagine what faux-pretention is. It's such a .... meta .... concept.
WITH ME OR AGAINST ME, BRUCE, WITH ME OR AGAINST ME.
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Post by bot »

What's the point of my spouting off the names of a bunch of movies that you have all mentioned already?

There is none. So instead I'll just mention a few that seem to have been left out, namely -

Glengarry Glen Ross ... grittiest, most "masculine" dialogue film, ever
Momento ... best film defense of the thesis "without memory, life is meaningless" by showing the futility of attempting to defend the opposite
The Tenant ... most disquieting film
Aguirre, Wrath of God ... rawest screenplay adaptation of life in general (tm), the utter insignificance and unescapable tragedy of ... also, most haunting film, ever, the final scene will stay with you for at least 4 or 5 days, makes ApocNow look like a heap of dung

And, for my money, best Coen Bros. would be Barton Fink.

Best director, Stanley Kubrick.

Incidentally, ICJ - you aren't saying that you prefer original release Blade Runner to the director's cut are you? ARE YOU?
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Post by Ice Cream Jonsey »

bot wrote:Incidentally, ICJ - you aren't saying that you prefer original release Blade Runner to the director's cut are you? ARE YOU?
I can't remember which is which. I have the DVD version that does not have Ford's voice overs, and has (which the original release did not) the unicorn scenes.

In my opinion, the director was incredibly retarded for making the decision that Deckard was a replicant in the film without telling his lead actor this niggling detail. If Scott wanted to change the source material, well, rock on. It doesn't blink the book out of existence or anything. But if you're going to adapt some source material and change everything that it's about, you need to do a much better job of thinking things through. PKD never had to answer the question "why would Deckard get his ass handed to him by these androids?" because he was human. Roy smacking the crap out of Deckard in the film is a giant hole in which logic cannot escape, because they are supposed to both be replicants.

Scott sloppily leaving in that one line at the beginning regarding how many androids escaped (one more is mentioned than can actually be accounted for) doesn't say much to his favor, either. If he wanted to add Clue-like elements to his movie then he's got to be able to spell Professor Plum right. Or something.

Ford's voice-overs are insulting to mankind on a very real level. I think even Ford himself knew that, which is why he did such a crappy job. I don't know where producers of cinema got the idea that Americans can't handle figuring things out for themselves, but it's been going on for at least twenty years, what with the brain trust in charge of churning out those Ernie Eaglebeak -- I mean, Harry Potter films having the audacity to remove "Philsopher's Stone" from the title for something that doesn't even exist.

Er, kind of got off on a tangent there.
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