Your Top Ten Films... EVER. - Page 16

Quote:

Originally Posted by Art Decade 

FE, I'd be interested in hearing about the greatness of your picks & why you chose them. Your list mostly resembles my list of "films I know exist but haven't reason enough to sit down & watch yet".

1. PULP FICTION - the movie that made me the film geek I am. It's perfect.

2. THE BLUES BROTHERS - the music and Belushi at maximum rock star

3. WHITE LIGHTNING - Burt at his coolest. A sweaty, southern flavored 70's Action movie

4. BLUE COLLAR - the brillant story of friendship betrayed by the divide and conquer deviousness of the man. Pryor, Kotto, and Keitel are all excellent, but Pryor's performance is stunning

5. WINCHESTER '73 - I love all the Mann/Stewart collaborations, but this raw revenge tale is my favorite

6. THE BIG COUNTRY - You want to be a better man? Try to be like Peck in this movie. I love how he's able to embody dignity like no other. Also, there's a fistfight with Chuck Heston that's epic.

7. DEEP RED - the culmination of Argento's giallo period. Mesmerizing blend of mystery and horror

8. THE FURY - there's some amazingly staged sequences in this underrated (but Godard loved) DePalma.

9. USED CARS - cinematic anarchy! Early Zemeckis/Gale is like nothing else

10 STREETS OF FIRE - pure cinema, and the ultimate Walter Hill It's like an amalgam of everything geek cool

11 FREEBIE & THE BEAN - the original buddy cop flick; it's as nasty as 48 HRS and as exciting as LW; Caan + Arkin have hilarious combustible chemistry

12 DEAD END DRIVE IN - I love the sharply satirical dystopian world created

In alphabetical order, because I don't like ranking. Also if you ask me next week, or tomorrow, it'll probably be different.

Brazil - A disorienting menagerie of ideas swirling around in a maelstrom of unfiltered creativity. It's an inimitable statement about freedom and imagination, and features the saddest happy ending in movie history.

Children of Men - This is the movie that popped my film appreciation cherry. The one that made it click in my head that there's an art to the movement of the movie camera. From that point on it all snowballed. It's such a breathlessly intense experience.

Fanny & Alexander - Boring art film pick. I don't care. This is the best movie about family and religion that I've yet seen. It's five hours long but drifts by in a wonderful, heartwarming breeze

Fight Club - I swear I like this movie for the right reasons. I can't claim to have always liked it for the right reasons, but a man can reform, can't he? Another film that really woke me up to "hey, movies... they're art!"

Grizzly Man - My great awakening on the documentary. Who says you have to make a movie about herd migrations or a political screed? You can explore unique, amazing, unbelievable personalities. I really believe that Werner Herzog crafted the single best character study of a real person in film history with this.

Once - Whenever I try to explain this... I can't. Yeah, there's the two sympathetic, likable leads and their involving relationship. Yeah, there's terrific music. But there's something... more. Maybe it's the beautiful simplicity about it all. The pure sincerity. I can't put it fully into words. I figure I'll have advanced as a film critic when I can explain why I love Once.

Oldboy - My grand introduction to Korean cinema, and to extreme violence in general. And for that I am eternally grateful.

Pulp Fiction - One of the first films I watched after I realized I wanted to work with movies. About half of my picks are based on their meaning to me, rather than objective quality. But hey, that's what "favorite" is all about right?

Seven Samurai - Another boring, predictable pick. What can I say? It's a masterpiece of acting, of plotting, of cinematography, of everything.

Z - A gripping, infuriating film. An anti-authority screed, a cry for the power of the people. As I become more politically aware it resonates with me ever stronger. It's a harrowing conspiracy story, and the ending is a brilliant one-two punch of triumph followed by tragedy. And it's basically all true.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fat Elvis 

1. PULP FICTION - the movie that made me the film geek I am. It's perfect.

2. THE BLUES BROTHERS - the music and Belushi at maximum rock star

3. WHITE LIGHTNING - Burt at his coolest. A sweaty, southern flavored 70's Action movie

4. BLUE COLLAR - the brillant story of friendship betrayed by the divide and conquer deviousness of the man. Pryor, Kotto, and Keitel are all excellent, but Pryor's performance is stunning

5. WINCHESTER '73 - I love all the Mann/Stewart collaborations, but this raw revenge tale is my favorite

6. THE BIG COUNTRY - You want to be a better man? Try to be like Peck in this movie. I love how he's able to embody dignity like no other. Also, there's a fistfight with Chuck Heston that's epic.

7. DEEP RED - the culmination of Argento's giallo period. Mesmerizing blend of mystery and horror

8. THE FURY - there's some amazingly staged sequences in this underrated (but Godard loved) DePalma.

9. USED CARS - cinematic anarchy! Early Zemeckis/Gale is like nothing else

10 STREETS OF FIRE - pure cinema, and the ultimate Walter Hill It's like an amalgam of everything geek cool

11 FREEBIE & THE BEAN - the original buddy cop flick; it's as nasty as 48 HRS and as exciting as LW; Caan + Arkin have hilarious combustible chemistry

12 DEAD END DRIVE IN - I love the sharply satirical dystopian world created

Thanks, FE, that's awesome.

Hmmm...  This is tough.  In no particular order:

Blade Runner

Casablanca

Lawrence of Arabia

The Empire Strikes Back

Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan

Godfather, part 2

Raiders of the Lost Ark

Galaxy Quest

Batman '89

From Russia With Love

Ronin gets an honorable mention.

If I had to pick two out of my top ten, definitely Godfather, part 2 and Casablanca.  Or maybe TESB and TWOK...  I can't decide...

Movies I can throw on at any time and always enjoy, or be completely engrossed by and watch until the end if I come across it.

1. Ghostbusters

2. Repulsion

3. 2001: A Space Odyssey

4. Night of the Living Dead(1968)

5. Alien

6. Star Wars

7. Chinatown

8. Die Hard

9. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas

10. There Will Be Blood

No particular order:

Blade Runner

The Terminator

Thunderbolt & Lightfoot

Kill Bill Vol. I & II (cheating!)

Close Encounters of the Third Kind

Star Wars

Paper Moon

Hud

Robocop

Miller's Crossing

Honorables:

The Road Warrior

O Brother Where Art Thou?

Poltergeist

The Empire Strikes Back

The Warriors

The Last Picture Show

Powwow Highway

1.Boogie Nights-Simply to me the greatest American film of the last 30 years. The whole scene with the church bells chiming is as haunting as anything i've seen in film.

2.Goodfellas-More like 1a, Liotta should have been nominated and won an oscar for his performance.

3.Melvin and Howard-One of the top 5 films of the 80's IMO, Paul Le Mat is so underrated.

4.The Big Lebowski-Still tickles my funny bone after 15+ viewings. 

5.In Cold Blood-Simply haunting, one of the darkest, bleakest films I've ever seen.

6.Mean Streets-Pure Scorsese, best use of music ever in a film.

7.Annie Hall-Woody has never been better.

8.Prince of the City-Best cop movie you haven't seen. I'm a sucker for expansive crime sagas.

9.The Graduate-The editing and the lighting and the colors still are among the best ever.

10.Pulp Fiction-The Film along with Boogie Nights and Goodfellas that started my cinephilia. 

Honorable Mention: American Psycho, Five Easy Pieces, Heat, Something Wild, Jackie Brown, Straight Time, Over The Edge, Risky Business, Shoot The Piano Player, Magnolia, Dazed and Confused.

Number 8's probably a bit dubious since I only saw it last night but I was so blown away by it I put in there anyways.

Shitsnacks!

I forgot Goodfellas, My Life As A Dog, The Straight Story, The Thing ('82), I could go on...

Edit: Yes, Art: "Philbert, let's look at your diet. Grease. Sugar. Beer. That's all you eat!"

I also love Smoke Signals and that could be on the list as well.

In my last post in this thread I said that I, like most of you, probably have this list in constant flux in my head due to how palpably fucking HARD it is to narrow it all down to just ten films, and in which order.

Well I've made one attempt so far a page or so back, so here for today is the current incarnation of my list:

1. The Fly

2. Taxi Driver

3. Eraserhead

4. Do the Right Thing

5. Big Trouble in Little China

6. Barton Fink

7. The Big Kahuna

8. 12 Angry Men

9. Hard Boiled

10. Singapore Sling

Taking off The Shining, Dead Man, and Naked Lunch caused me actual physical fucking PAIN. And I still can't find a way to make room for Psycho. You SURE we can't just extent this to 15 or something? :P