Favorite Movies

[Samba Mentality]

I was scrolling through the media discussions, and I noticed that there was no thread for favorite movies, so I started one. Some of my favorite movies are The Truman Show (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=loTIzXAS7v4), Memento (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0vS0E9bBSL0) (R), all of the Star Wars and Lord of the Rings movies, and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gLpZ_5bHmo8), to name a few. (All links are to trailers for the movies.) What are yours?

[Olinser]

Shawshank Redemption

An amazing movie in its own right, it also effectively launched the 'Morgan Freeman narrates everything' meme.

[House Greyjoy]

Top 10:

1. Casablanca
2. Star Wars: A New Hope
3. Raiders of the Lost Ark
4. The Warriors
5. Animal Crackers
6. The Maltese Falcon
7. Meatballs
8. King Kong (1933)
9. Frankenstein
10. The Seven Samurai

[comicshorse]

Usual Suspects
Zulu
Goodfella's
Monty Python and the Holy Grail
Mr Vampire

[Farynator]

Matrix definitely. Did you see all the hidden detail or possible motives of Neo? Just search "matrix alternate ending" on youtube, you will go crazy :)

[Wookieetank]

In no particular order:

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Army of Darkness
Shaun of the Dead
Hot Fuzz
World's End
Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Scott Pilgrim Vs. The World
Serenity

[veti]

Usual Suspects
Zulu
Goodfella's
Monty Python and the Holy Grail
Mr Vampire

I second all these. To round out a top 10, I'll add:
Pulp Fiction
This is Spinal Tap
Singin' in the Rain
The Good, the Bad and the Ugly
Paths of Glory

Note, all opinions are my own and should not be held to apply to anyone else, including me tomorrow.

[Sinewmire]

Serenity as the finale of Firefly. So many heart rending moments, some unexpected. "In five or ten years, maybe a million miles away, maybe on this world swept clean, they will swing back to the notion that you can make people better."

The Empire Strikes Back I love how well delivered the lines are that can make fairly unimpressive dialogue shine like gold. The battle on Hoth, the duel between Luke and Vader, Yoda's training... all the good stuff from Star Wars is here. "Obi wan has taught you well. But you are not a Jedi yet."
I love Return of the Jedi, but it loses points for the Ewoks.

The Emperor's New Groove silly and light-hearted, one of my favourite party movies, guaranteed to raise a laugh. "Who does that little worm think he is? Why, I practically raised him!" "Yeah, you would've thought he'd turn out better."

The Seven Samurai even 70 odd years later it mostly stands up. The action, the comedy, the tragedy and the ambitious period setting. Shows the nobility of warriors without glorifying war, and the glory of the Samurai whilst deconstructing their unthinking cruelty. Great stuff. "They're nothing but stingy, greedy, blubbering, foxy, and mean! God damn it all! But then who made them such beasts? You did! You samurai did it! You burn their villages! Destroy their farms! Steal their food! Force them to labour! Take their women! And kill them if they resist! So what should farmers do?"

The Crow it's a glorious piece of early 90s cheese, but it has so many great action set pieces, and it's overwrought style makes it gloriously baroque. A slasher film in reverse, as a victim returns as a revenant to exact vengeance on the men who murdered him and his fiancee. It's score is still hauntingly good, and such strong performances from Brandon Lee and Michael Wincott. Action, passion, morbid romance. Pure late Goth fantasy material, and I ate it up as a moody teen and I still love it. "I guess it's not a good day to be a bad-guy, huh Skank?" "I'm not Skank! That's Skank right there! Skank's dead!" "That's right."

I could go on all day. Does anyone really have any one single favourite movie?

[Razade]

The Big Lebowski: A move about a rug gets strange. I can't tell you why I love it, the humor is difficult to explain and the story goes more or less nowhere but the Coen Brothers are great at telling such stories. Fargo is much the same, a story focusing on the mundane and exposing why it's strange.

Kill Bill vol 1, 2. Gorey, roaring rampage of revenge with some heart at the end. Solid acting, solid action, this is Tarantino at his best and even if Django Unchained is one I enjoy more, it shows the bloated ego that the director has gained over the years. Even enjoyed Hateful 8 but man...

Hero and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Tiger are probably my favorite non-American movies though Curse of the Golden Flower is up there.

I echo Hot Fuzz and Shaun of the Dead though I found Worlds End to be...kinda boring and the ending annoyed me greatly. I put these in the order I like the trilogy. Hot Fuzz is a masterpiece.

[Misereor]

Many of my favorite movies are already mentioned (such as anything by the Cohen brothers).
But I don't think I saw anything by Stephen Chown, and I think he deserves a mention.
- Kung Fu Hustle (2004).
- Journey to the West (2013).

[Razade]

Kung Fu Hustle is indeed a great movie and one I ought not have left unsaid.

[Lvl 2 Expert]

My top 5 is probably something like:

1 The Beast (1988)
2 Cube (1997)
3 Pan's Labyrinth (2006) (probably the semi-objectively best movie on this list, it's basically a must watch, there is no overstating how good this movie is)
4 How To Train Your Dragon (2010)
5 The Transporter (2002) (it's a bit generic, but Luc Besson needs to be somewhere in the top)

From there on it's a lot more fluid depending on the day I try to write the list, but some movies that could fill out the top ten in rough descending order of likeliness (slightly weighed in favor of the less popular films) are:

Starship Troopers (1997) (the list needs a little Paul Verhoeven, although I'd probably put this at spot 10 or something)
Fanfare (1958)
The BFG (1989)
From Dusk Till Dawn (1996)
The Thing (1982)
The Matrix (1999)
Babar the Movie (1989)
Aladdin (1992)
Beauty and The Beast (1993)
Any of the first three Indiana Jones movies (1981, 1984, 1989)
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990)
Jurassic Park (1993)
The Descent (2005)
Memento (2000)
Any semi-random obscure movie I liked that I pick over a bigger name in an attempt to give the list more personality.

Edit: I am forgetting so many great movies and personal favorites:
The Terminator (1984)
Pirates of the Carribean, The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003)
Alien (1979)
The Mummy (1999)
Banlieue 13 (2004)
Shoot 'Em Up (2007)
Ong Bak (2003)
I'm forgetting them as quickly as I'm remembering them, will update this list a few times. Even though it is getting pretty ridiculous.

[Callos_DeTerran]

Hmmm...Probably...

Pacific Rim
Mad Max: Fury Road
Pan's Labyrinth
Kung-Fu Hustle
Jurassic Park
Tucker and Dale vs. Evil
Captain America: Winter Soldier
Man of Steel
Repo: The Genetic Opera
The Prestige
Prometheus/Alien: Covenant
Tangled
The Mummy
The Forbidden Kingdom

Covers most of the bases for me.

EDIT:

Ah! And also Godzilla (2014) and the original.

[veti]

I echo Hot Fuzz and Shaun of the Dead though I found Worlds End to be...kinda boring and the ending annoyed me greatly. I put these in the order I like the trilogy. Hot Fuzz is a masterpiece.

Yeah, World's End is set up to be a masterpiece for the first 90% of the movie, but the last 10% just lets it down so badly, it takes itself quite out of the running.

It's often the way with inexperienced writers. Finishing a story is - hard. Even masters are more likely to stumble over the ending than any other part of the story.

[veti]

Starship Troopers (1997) (the list needs a little Paul Verhoeven, although I'd probably put this at spot 10 or something)

Nobody needs Verhoeven.


Any semi-random obscure movie I liked that I pick over a bigger name in an attempt to give the list more personality.

In that vein, may I suggest you replace The Matrix with Dark City (1998), a movie with a similar theme but near-infinitely greater heart, soul and thought?



Alien (1979)

Ooh, good pick, how did I miss that one.

Also I'm slightly surprised at the slender representation of Spielberg in this thread. Duel, anyone? Jaws? Schindler's List?

[Razade]

Also I'm slightly surprised at the slender representation of Spielberg in this thread. Duel, anyone? Jaws? Schindler's List?

Never saw Duel, looking at at wiki...I may not be the target audience. Maybe I am and I just don't know it. But I don't think I am.

Jaws...was good. A masterpiece? I don't think so and I don't think I'd really enjoy sitting down and watching it again unless everyone else hadn't seen it.

Schindler's List....is a masterpiece but I don't really think it fits what I think of when I think "Favorite movie". Which is why a lot of movies that I absolutely love (Blade Runner 2049, Seven Samurai and The Magnificent Seven, Pulp Fiction and Reservoir Dogs, Alien and Aliens, a lot of the Marvel films, )

The thread is for favorite movies. I consider them a "favorite" if I'd watch them again. I wouldn't, ever, watch Schindler's List again.


I will however add that Arrival is probably in my top five along with The Big Lebowski, Kill Bill 1 and 2 (one movie), Hot Fuzz and Hero.

[Misereor]

Oh, and I forgot Ratatouille. I got some definite (and very funny) Cyrano de Bergerac vibes from it.

[Hunter Noventa]

I've enjoyed many movies in my time, but here's a random sampling of what comes to mind right now-

Star Wars
The Empire Strikes Back
Raiders of the Lost Ark
The Last Crusade
Spaceballs
Ghostbusters
Revenge of the nerds
The Last Starfighter
Pacific Rim
Mazinger Z Infinity
Rogue One
Thor: Ragnarok
Doctor Strange

...and that's all I have off the top of my head.

[thorgrim29]

Off the top of my head and in no particular order except the first which is my favourite movie:

Hot Fuzz
Life of Brian (less quotable but overall better than Holy Grail IMO)
Blazing Saddles
Empire Strikes Back
Scott Pilgrim vs the World
Django Unchained
Mad Max Fury Road
Aliens
Terminator
Army of Darkness
The Princess Bride
Casino Royale
Rocky
Bon Cop Bad Cop
Léon, The Professional

[Lvl 2 Expert]

Nobody needs Verhoeven.
A list of my favorite movies does. Verhoeven, Besson, del Toro, in ascending order of how much my list needs them.

And now that I think about it, maybe Don Bluth kind of actually. I should consider The Land Before Time.


In that vein, may I suggest you replace The Matrix with Dark City (1998), a movie with a similar theme but near-infinitely greater heart, soul and thought?

Dark City is a very good movie, as is The Thirteenth Floor, but the Matrix is mostly there because it's supercool visually. Trinity kick, mind blown. It redefined what we thought off at the words "science fiction", which did some big favors to the genre. The twist is a cool twist, but not as philosophically important as the movie itself seems to think it is. In that sense for me its closest competitors are films like Blade 1 and 2 and Pacific Rim, something like that.


Also I'm slightly surprised at the slender representation of Spielberg in this thread. Duel, anyone? Jaws? Schindler's List?

Spielberg made some several great movies (ET?), but somehow I don't have that many Spielberg films that really jump out at me as "that's a personal favorite of mine", and I don't think of Spielberg as a guy who specifically makes movies I like, in contrast with the three I mentioned earlier (and Verhoeven only when he does Hollywood scifi, the rest of his oeuvre is a little too porny). With Luc Besson I know I'm in for a good movie that opens spectacularly awesome and slightly disappoints for not living up to that briliant opening at the end, because how could it? Doesn't matter if he's directing, producing, writing, anything, it's a good time and I know what I'm getting. Spielberg is "just" a great director who put a huge footprint on modern movie making and who has made a whole bunch of good films, but I don't get as excited hearing his name. Although maybe that's because he disappointed me with the BFG. If he was just a little bit more willing to scare the audience his version could have been just as great as the earlier one.

[Anonymouswizard]

Starship Troopers (1997) (the list needs a little Paul Verhoeven, although I'd probably put this at spot 10 or something)


That piece of rubbish. I found it horrible that they took a Fillipino character (a nationality I practically never see in stories) and made him white still annoys me. Although I'll leave the whitewashing aside for a bit.

I also found that the film left out our replaced all the book's moments where it actually explained it's position (I disagree with a lot of it, but it got me to accept having an army as worthwhile). No meeting with the recruiting sergeant just before Juan ships out, no lecture on controlled application of force, no hard hitting skirmishing MI, no OCS, no entire platoon jumping into the tunnels after Juan to help save their Sergeant. Even the few good bits that made it in (Juan being disciplined for not properly following procedure) aren't any good (and he was arguably in the right in the film, he kills nobody in the book and admits that he shouldn't have treated the weapon as the simulation it was).

Anyway back to the white- no this isn't just because I have a major crush on a Fillipino girl, so insisting that's the case, I just don't see what's so wrong about keeping an Asian main character Asian!

[Tyndmyr]

Like World War Z, it would probably have been better off if it'd not been forced to bear the same name as a vaguely similar book. Then, it'd simply be another meh film, without disrespecting a well liked literary work.

Anyways, in the topic of great movies, Edge of Tomorrow is glorious. This is true even if you despise Tom Cruise.

[Lvl 2 Expert]

I just don't see what's so wrong about keeping an Asian main character Asian!

In this case: he wouldn't have made for as visually recognizable a Nazi.

Because that's the point of the movie.

Starship Troopers the movie is a big mashup of ridiculing Nazi's, ridiculing the book it's sort of based on, lots of dark humor, ridiculing the Nazi's some more and even a bit of a given the circumstances surprisingly accurate look ahead to the war on terror. What it is not is an even halfway faithful adaption of the book, and for fans of the book it's a disappointment almost by default. I'm not a fan of the book. Never read it. I like the humor in this movie. I also love me some gore every now and then. And I like films that you can watch in several ways, in this case with the heroes as heroes and with the heroes as villains. So I like the film. Quite a lot in fact.

[Anonymouswizard]

In this case: he wouldn't have made for as visually recognizable a Nazi.

Because that's the point of the movie.

Starship Troopers the movie is a big mashup of ridiculing Nazi's, ridiculing the book it's sort of based on, lots of dark humor, ridiculing the Nazi's some more and even a bit of a given the circumstances surprisingly accurate look ahead to the war on terror. What it is not is an even halfway faithful adaption of the book, and for fans of the book it's a disappointment almost by default. I'm not a fan of the book. Never read it. I like the humor in this movie. I also love me some gore every now and then. And I like films that you can watch in several ways, in this case with the heroes as heroes and with the heroes as villains. So I like the film. Quite a lot in fact.

The thing is that the whitewashing to create more Nazi imagery literally tramples over the best thing about the book, that the society in it cares so little about race that there's only one in the entire book that establishes that the main character is Fillipino (which I didn't realise the first time, because I didn't know where the language was film). Yes, the society in the book is messed up, but I really hate that the way they thought they could show that was to make the society into a ridiculous caricature of itself and remove it's good elements, instead of letting the good bring the bad into stronger contrast. So Juan would be an Asian Nazi, it would have been potentially interesting as a starting point, it would have been potentially more shocking to see him wholeheartedly embrace the ideology (which is changed from the book, but eh let's go with the film's version), and at the same time make the thing less heavy handed.

[Lvl 2 Expert]

But you're writing a different movie here. You want either a faithful adaption of the book or a nuanced and clever analysis showing the flaws in another person's utopia. But neither of those things are what this movie is. Was it other than for marketing reasons a mistake to even call this movie Starship Troopers? Quite possibly. Is it, completely separate from the book, an awesome movie for what it is and not what else it could have been? Yes. I'd go as far as to say that most of my favorite comedies are animated kids movies because adult fare usually misses the mark by a mile. They're either too ashamed to actually try and be funny or they only go for the obvious and usually sex themed jokes, rather than anything humoristically interesting. Starship Troopers to me is a good comedy. (The only other not-specifically-for-children comedy I posted is Fanfare, which I'm happy to say isn't nearly as bloody.) Maybe that just means I'm weird, but it's my list, and I did say I wanted to give it some personality. So come on you apes, you want to live forever?!

[Razade]

But you're writing a different movie here. You want either a faithful adaption of the book or a nuanced and clever analysis showing the flaws in another person's utopia. But neither of those things are what this movie is. Was it other than for marketing reasons a mistake to even call this movie Starship Troopers? Quite possibly. Is it, completely separate from the book, an awesome movie for what it is and not what else it could have been? Yes. I'd go as far as to say that most of my favorite comedies are animated kids movies because adult fare usually misses the mark by a mile. They're either too ashamed to actually try and be funny or they only go for the obvious and usually sex themed jokes, rather than anything humoristically interesting. Starship Troopers to me is a good comedy. (The only other not-specifically-for-children comedy I posted is Fanfare, which I'm happy to say isn't nearly as bloody.) Maybe that just means I'm weird, but it's my list, and I did say I wanted to give it some personality. So come on you apes, you want to live forever?!

But it wasn't trying to be either a faithful adaption or a clever analysis showing the flaws in another person's utopia. The title of the movie wasn't even Starship Troopers until the studio got the rights to the name. It was originally Big Hunt at Outpost Nine.

Also, Johnny Rico isn't white in the movie (the actor...is...) he's Argentinian.

[Lvl 2 Expert]

The title of the movie wasn't even Starship Troopers until the studio got the rights to the name. It was originally Big Hunt at Outpost Nine.

Now that we're digging up the movies' history anyway, it's kind of cool how a lot of the people involved stayed pretty loyal to the franchise. Edward Neumeier, who wrote that original Bug Hunt at Outpost Nine script and got it made into a blockbuster movie out of basically nowhere, is still involved with the sequels and follow up projects that still come out from time to time. They're pretty much the biggest projects he does these days. And the actors from the first movie keep returning as well. They probably have double feelings about the film, it was the project that both started and ended their career as an A-list movie star, but they seem to be able to see the positive side over the negative. (Verhoeven himself also executive produced a bunch of stuff and such, but since he was the only pre-existing big name involved they would have payed him to keep using his name anyway.)

I'm not saying any of these sequel projects are actually good but they certainly have moments where you feel like people had fun making them. It is after all a good day to die (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KIsv1YOFNys).

[Razade]

Verhoeven, since we're still on this, actually survived the German occupation of the Netherlands. So it makes sense that he'd take a book that a lot of people think is fasciest and do a de-construction of it. Can't imagine he'd be really...eager to paint them in a good light.

[Anonymouswizard]

But you're writing a different movie here. You want either a faithful adaption of the book or a nuanced and clever analysis showing the flaws in another person's utopia. But neither of those things are what this movie is. Was it other than for marketing reasons a mistake to even call this movie Starship Troopers? Quite possibly. Is it, completely separate from the book, an awesome movie for what it is and not what else it could have been? Yes. I'd go as far as to say that most of my favorite comedies are animated kids movies because adult fare usually misses the mark by a mile. They're either too ashamed to actually try and be funny or they only go for the obvious and usually sex themed jokes, rather than anything humoristically interesting. Starship Troopers to me is a good comedy. (The only other not-specifically-for-children comedy I posted is Fanfare, which I'm happy to say isn't nearly as bloody.) Maybe that just means I'm weird, but it's my list, and I did say I wanted to give it some personality. So come on you apes, you want to live forever?!

Part of the problem is that there is enough of the book in it that I can't seperate the two. Sure, it was originally Bug Hunt at Outpost Nine, but so much is based off (at least a synopsis of) the book that the film has to have been rewritten beyond just name changes.

Is it a good film? Maybe, it's certainly an okay one. It's okay like I, Robot was, or like Duke Nukem Forever was, it would be rather inoffensive if it wasn't for the name attached. As it is one of the funniest scenes in the movie just reminds me how much better the book did that scene, with a thoughtful explanation analogy about required force.


Verhoeven, since we're still on this, actually survived the German occupation of the Netherlands. So it makes sense that he'd take a book that a lot of people think is fasciest and do a de-construction of it. Can't imagine he'd be really...eager to paint them in a good light.

Leaving aside if the book is facist or not, IIRC Verhoeven didn't read the book beyond the first few chapters, which explains why his film is lacking quite a bit of the complexity of the book (which I could go into and such, but we begin to run into politics). It's why Juan being cast as white is so annoying to me, the revelation he's Fillipino near the end of the book allows you to see some of the previous scenes in a different light and look at both the merits and the flaws of the society presented.While you can't pull the same trick in a film it just shows to me that there was so much more subtle or layered satire that was missed out on in exchange for screaming 'Nazis Heinlein was a Nazi' at the audience.

Something something Godwin's law.

[Mightymosy]

If we are allowed to cheat and name a trilogy as one entry, then I nominate the Matrix Trilogy. For me it's one big movie, and probably my favourite one.

If we must name single movies, then I'll say Matrix 2.

Also, to make my list personal, I'll say Closer, as my favourite romance type movie. Loved that one.

Favourite new movie: Guardians of the Galaxy.

Favourite animated movie: Wreck it Ralph, closely followed by Puss in Boots.

Favourite "Remake": Maleficentl Awesome piece of art. I don't normally like remakes much, but this one was definitely worth making.

What else do we have....other categories?

[2D8HP]

Off the top of my head, some films that I liked, and the years they were first screened:


The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Cabinet_of_Dr._Caligari) - 1920


The Thief of Bagdad (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Thief_of_Bagdad_(1924_film)) - 1924



Things to Come - 1936



The Prisoner of Zenda - 1937



Alexander Nevsky - 1938



The Adventures of Robin Hood - 1938



His Girl Friday - 1940



The Grapes of Wrath - 1940



The Great Dictator - 1940



The Sea Hawk - 1940



The Thief of Bagdad (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Thief_of_Bagdad_(1940_film)) - 1940



The Maltese Falcon - 1941


Casablanca - 1942



Double Indemnity - 1944



La Belle et la Bête (Beauty and the Beast) (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beauty_and_the_Beast_(1946_film)) - 1946



It's a Wonderful Life - 1946



The Third Man - 1949



Orphée (Orpheus) (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orpheus_(film)) - 1950



On the Waterfront - 1954



The Seven Samurai - 1954



Cyclists Special (https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=QPkT0paGEnQ) - 1955



Paths of Glory - 1957



The Seventh Voyage of Sinbad - 1958



Vertigo - 1958



Journey to the Center of the Earth - 1959



On the Beach - 1959



The Time Machine - 1960



Yojimbo - 1961



Billy Budd - 1962



First Men in the Moon - 1964



Le Roi de cœur (King of Hearts) -1966



De Duva (The Dove) (https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=L1TlAd6M-xU) - 1968



Johnny Got His Gun - 1971



The Conquest of the Planet of the Apes - 1972



Monty Python and the Holy Grail - 1975



The Rocky Horror Picture Show - 1975



At The Earth's Core - 1976



Logan's Run - 1976



Jabberwocky (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jabberwocky_(film)) - 1977



Star Wars - 1977



Wizards - 1977



Monty Python's Life of Brian - 1979



Dragonslayer - 1981



Excalibur - 1981



Raiders of the Lost Ark - 1981



The Road Warrior - 1981



Time Bandits (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_Bandits) -1981



Blade Runner - 1982



The Wrath of Khan - 1982



Conan the Destroyer - 1984



The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension - 1984



This is Spinal Tap - 1984



Young Sherlock Holmes - 1985



Raising Arizona - 1987



The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Adventures_of_Baron_Munchausen) - 1988



The Princess Bride - 1988



Gattaca (https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=BpzVFdDeWyo)



Galaxy Quest - 1999



A Knight's Tale - 2001



Hott Fuzz - 2007



The Grand Budapest Hotel - 2014



J. R. R. Tolkien vs George R. R. Martin. Epic Rap Battles of History (https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=XAAp_luluo0) - 2015