My list has been shaken up. I'm not yet sure where Birdman fits into my all-time top-10, but it's in there. No question about it.
top-list What are your top ten films of all time?
- Thread starter harmonica44
- Start date
10. The Departed
9. The Shawshank Redemption
8. Seven
7. Schindler's List
6. Reservoir Dogs
5. Goodfellas
4. Lord of the Ring (Trilogy)
3. Goodfellas
2. Forrest Gump
1. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
9. The Shawshank Redemption
8. Seven
7. Schindler's List
6. Reservoir Dogs
5. Goodfellas
4. Lord of the Ring (Trilogy)
3. Goodfellas
2. Forrest Gump
1. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
I know what you people mean about lists changing, I have recently re-watched JFK and Malcolm X, and feel I should put them on mine, and would therefore, have to bump two off.
You know what's strange, is when you look at top 10, or even top 100 lists on sites like AFI and Sight and Sound, they are usually picking real epic classics like Citizen Kane, Casablanca, and Gone With the Wind, etc.
Does a movie have to be epic to be one of the best films of all time? On my list, some people might not consider For A Few Dollars More, The Skin I Live in, or This Film is not Yet Rated, to be 'epic', so does a movie have to be epic to be thought of as a masterpiece, as oppose to just good?
You know what's strange, is when you look at top 10, or even top 100 lists on sites like AFI and Sight and Sound, they are usually picking real epic classics like Citizen Kane, Casablanca, and Gone With the Wind, etc.
Does a movie have to be epic to be one of the best films of all time? On my list, some people might not consider For A Few Dollars More, The Skin I Live in, or This Film is not Yet Rated, to be 'epic', so does a movie have to be epic to be thought of as a masterpiece, as oppose to just good?
10. Lucky
9. Primer
8. The Cube
7. Donnie Darko
6. Fargo
5. Leon
4. The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!
3. Mad Max (1979)
2. Once Upon a Time in the West
1. Hana-bi
Not easy to choose and I think with the list you choose films that you have seen most recently. But I did at least try. Most likely the list will change over the time anyway and I did try to choose films that are someway special, not necesssary known classics. Also with some movies they might work before, but now you watch them and start to wonder what made them so great, for example The Usual Suspects is one of them.
9. Primer
8. The Cube
7. Donnie Darko
6. Fargo
5. Leon
4. The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!
3. Mad Max (1979)
2. Once Upon a Time in the West
1. Hana-bi
Not easy to choose and I think with the list you choose films that you have seen most recently. But I did at least try. Most likely the list will change over the time anyway and I did try to choose films that are someway special, not necesssary known classics. Also with some movies they might work before, but now you watch them and start to wonder what made them so great, for example The Usual Suspects is one of them.
2014 when this topic started....pfew!
1.Songs of the second floor
2. Eraserhead
3.π
4. Gummo
5. Synecdoche, New York
6. Wrong
7. El Topo
8. Suburbia (1996 version)
9. Holy motors
10. Conan the Barbarian (1982 version)
1.Songs of the second floor
2. Eraserhead
3.π
4. Gummo
5. Synecdoche, New York
6. Wrong
7. El Topo
8. Suburbia (1996 version)
9. Holy motors
10. Conan the Barbarian (1982 version)
I saw these movies a minimum of 10 times each. They influenced me the most.
ALIEN
TERMINATOR 2
EVIL DEAD 2
NEAR DARK
CREEPSHOW
ROBOCOP
STAR WARS
THE HITCHER
STARSHIP TROOPERS
THE THING
To avoid sounding repetitive, I left TERMINATOR and ALIENS off the list, as they are somewhat represented by the other two. They certainly belong there. I see a few people listed SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION. That movie has the most satisfying ending I can remember.
When my list goes longer, the genres mix a bit more.
BAD TASTE
CAPRICORN ONE
THE BOURNE IDENTITY
LA FEMME NIKITA
EDGE OF TOMORROW
STAR TREK: INTO DARKNESS
SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION
THE FUGITIVE
GROUNDHOG DAY
THE DARK KNIGHT
ALIEN
TERMINATOR 2
EVIL DEAD 2
NEAR DARK
CREEPSHOW
ROBOCOP
STAR WARS
THE HITCHER
STARSHIP TROOPERS
THE THING
To avoid sounding repetitive, I left TERMINATOR and ALIENS off the list, as they are somewhat represented by the other two. They certainly belong there. I see a few people listed SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION. That movie has the most satisfying ending I can remember.
When my list goes longer, the genres mix a bit more.
BAD TASTE
CAPRICORN ONE
THE BOURNE IDENTITY
LA FEMME NIKITA
EDGE OF TOMORROW
STAR TREK: INTO DARKNESS
SHAWSHANK REDEMPTION
THE FUGITIVE
GROUNDHOG DAY
THE DARK KNIGHT
Not necessarily in this order....and if I answer again tomorrow, half of them will probably change:
1. Casablanca (that one never changes)
2. Love, Actually
3. Bull Durham
4. Rear Window
5. Vertigo
6. Unfaithful
7. The Philadelphia Story
8. All The President's Men
9. The Best Years of Our Lives
10. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
1. Casablanca (that one never changes)
2. Love, Actually
3. Bull Durham
4. Rear Window
5. Vertigo
6. Unfaithful
7. The Philadelphia Story
8. All The President's Men
9. The Best Years of Our Lives
10. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
just as some of my top 'favorite films' and in order of my discovery of them
Near dark
Jurrasic park
Animal house
Blues brothers
Blues brothers 2000
Velvet goldmine
Young guns
Young guns 2 - blaze of glory
Teenage dirtbag
Get out
they don't really have anything to do with my writing or film making style though (although I love the clever writing of the last 2)
Near dark
Jurrasic park
Animal house
Blues brothers
Blues brothers 2000
Velvet goldmine
Young guns
Young guns 2 - blaze of glory
Teenage dirtbag
Get out
they don't really have anything to do with my writing or film making style though (although I love the clever writing of the last 2)
The Shawshank Redemption
Avatar
Movies Marvel
Avatar
Movies Marvel
Scared the crap out of me, I thought Harmonica 44 was back... in no particular order:
In The heat of the Night
The Lion In Winter
To Kill a Mockingbird
Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid
Get Shorty
L.A. Confidential
Battle of Britain
Citizen Kane
Chinatown
Guess Who's Coming To Dinner
and honorable mentions to my guilty pleasures: The Big Picture and Blazing Saddles.
In The heat of the Night
The Lion In Winter
To Kill a Mockingbird
Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid
Get Shorty
L.A. Confidential
Battle of Britain
Citizen Kane
Chinatown
Guess Who's Coming To Dinner
and honorable mentions to my guilty pleasures: The Big Picture and Blazing Saddles.
Boyhood? I'm glad someone liked it, interesting concept but I thought it was severely painful.
Some time has passed since I answered the OP's question. "Birdman" is now my #2. Sorry, "Pulp Fiction" but you're off the list. I probably need to find someplace on there for "Endgame".
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A follow-up to a previous convo a few years ago: back then, I really wasn’t in the mood for defending my affinity for “Avatar”. It weirded me out that I had to do that (even more often IRL than on here). Like, we don’t think it’s weird when someone says they like Thai curry more than pizza, we just accept that they do.
If anyone is curious why I enjoy that movie so much it’s rather simple - Jake Sully’s life parallels mine in many ways.
Jake Sully is a colonizer. I’m not, but my parents are. At the age of thirteen my family uprooted me from my PNW roots and took me to the island of Saipan. Most indigenous people on Saipan don’t want us there. I had to assimilate to the local culture in order to not get bullied. I’ve survived attempted murder, literally, and the person who tried to kill me was doing so because of the color of my skin. My strategy worked; I assimilated the F out of that culture and I’m now accepted as local, an incredibly rare thing for a haolie to do.
Sound familiar? That’s basically the premise for “Avatar”. James Cameron turned my life story into a blockbuster sci-fi.
There’s also the fact that I have always loved the idea of rebirth (I have a large tattoo of the Phoenix, for context). Jake Sully is literally reborn. So that’s the 2nd way it speaks to me.
The audio and music are wonderful. The SFX are the best CGI ever to exist and the art direction was mesmerizing.
And then there’s my affinity for James Cameron. He has two movies in my top-ten. I also think he’s just cool. After shattering box office records with “Avatar”, any other filmmaker would’ve capitalized by rushing a sequel. But he was like, “nah, I feel like going to the bottom of the Mariana Trench”. Mind you, he didn’t fund a group of scientists to go to the deepest spot in the world - HE wanted to go himself, so he did, lol.
And finally, I have a degree in anthropology, meaning I’ve spent a great deal of time studying how Culture works and what happens when two very different cultures clash and don’t get along. Just my two cents - they nailed it. A lot of people think the Na’vi represent indigenous Americans, but in my opinion they could represent ANY indigenous culture being colonized by another culture with more advanced weapons and technology, from the Inu in Japan, to the Chinese in Nanjing, all people of Oceania, including the Aboriginals in Australia and the Maori in New Zealand, the Inuit in Canada and Alaska and the thousands of indigenous tribes spanning N and S America, the Aztec, the first Irish peoples, and the entire continent of Africa. In every single situation, the colonization of those lands happened exactly as it went down in “Avatar”. James Cameron didn’t just write a movie he thought would be fun - he clearly did some research in both the fields of history and archaeology. As a science nerd, I like that, as contrasted to a shitty movie like “10,00 BC”, which completely ignored science (the pyramids weren’t built by slaves but indentured servants who were treated quite well, wooly mammoths and saber-toothed tigers were both extinct, and how the F did the hero walk from Northern Europe to North Africa in like two days?! Hahaha!
I certainly don’t need everyone else to like it, and I do recognize that it has some flaws (some of the dialog is wonky and some of the acting off-putting) but just let me have my Thai curry.
If anyone is curious why I enjoy that movie so much it’s rather simple - Jake Sully’s life parallels mine in many ways.
Jake Sully is a colonizer. I’m not, but my parents are. At the age of thirteen my family uprooted me from my PNW roots and took me to the island of Saipan. Most indigenous people on Saipan don’t want us there. I had to assimilate to the local culture in order to not get bullied. I’ve survived attempted murder, literally, and the person who tried to kill me was doing so because of the color of my skin. My strategy worked; I assimilated the F out of that culture and I’m now accepted as local, an incredibly rare thing for a haolie to do.
Sound familiar? That’s basically the premise for “Avatar”. James Cameron turned my life story into a blockbuster sci-fi.
There’s also the fact that I have always loved the idea of rebirth (I have a large tattoo of the Phoenix, for context). Jake Sully is literally reborn. So that’s the 2nd way it speaks to me.
The audio and music are wonderful. The SFX are the best CGI ever to exist and the art direction was mesmerizing.
And then there’s my affinity for James Cameron. He has two movies in my top-ten. I also think he’s just cool. After shattering box office records with “Avatar”, any other filmmaker would’ve capitalized by rushing a sequel. But he was like, “nah, I feel like going to the bottom of the Mariana Trench”. Mind you, he didn’t fund a group of scientists to go to the deepest spot in the world - HE wanted to go himself, so he did, lol.
And finally, I have a degree in anthropology, meaning I’ve spent a great deal of time studying how Culture works and what happens when two very different cultures clash and don’t get along. Just my two cents - they nailed it. A lot of people think the Na’vi represent indigenous Americans, but in my opinion they could represent ANY indigenous culture being colonized by another culture with more advanced weapons and technology, from the Inu in Japan, to the Chinese in Nanjing, all people of Oceania, including the Aboriginals in Australia and the Maori in New Zealand, the Inuit in Canada and Alaska and the thousands of indigenous tribes spanning N and S America, the Aztec, the first Irish peoples, and the entire continent of Africa. In every single situation, the colonization of those lands happened exactly as it went down in “Avatar”. James Cameron didn’t just write a movie he thought would be fun - he clearly did some research in both the fields of history and archaeology. As a science nerd, I like that, as contrasted to a shitty movie like “10,00 BC”, which completely ignored science (the pyramids weren’t built by slaves but indentured servants who were treated quite well, wooly mammoths and saber-toothed tigers were both extinct, and how the F did the hero walk from Northern Europe to North Africa in like two days?! Hahaha!
I certainly don’t need everyone else to like it, and I do recognize that it has some flaws (some of the dialog is wonky and some of the acting off-putting) but just let me have my Thai curry.
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I don't know why some people criticized AVATAR to the extreme that they did. Maybe because it seemed derived from DANCES WITH WOLVES, which I also love. Different enough, though. Like a fine wine it gets better as the years go by. I never get tired of watching it.