Coincidentally, my friends and I just made lists of our favorites. Here's what I came up with, fwiw. I love old movies, can you tell?
Star Wars Vertigo The Third Man Out of the Past To Have and Have Not The Quiet Man Lawrence of Arabia The Maltese Falcon Singing in the Rain Pulp Fiction Fantasia It Happened One Night Amelie The Matrix
I have none, really. At the very least I haven't met one that's worth to call 'favourite' per se. Most of the time their characters are just so horrible bland and uninteresting, without any decent character developement it#s not funny anymore. Or the movie simply utilizes all kinds of cliché's that thousand of other authors already used before them. Personally, I prefer books over movies. At least they are not watered down, shortened due to screentime limits, or were mainstreamed somehow.
That being said the Alien franchise is pretty close. But I'd honestly prefered it if the movies were portrayed from the xenomorph's side, not from the victim's.
Cloverfield was rather amusing though. Even so, many of its monstrous casts lacked in much needed screentime.
Dances with Wolves The Lord of the Rings Trilogy The Shawshank Redemption Yentl Dragonheart Practical Magic Serenity (Anything Firefly! We like to play the whole series and then the movie as one long movie.) Music and Lyrics (Silly, sweet and fun. Just works for me.) August Rush Dolores Claiborne The Piano
Hmmm, a nice one (thread)! Like good old games, i love good old movies. I like many genres. I especially like cult classic ones, Like Bram Stocker's Dracula, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, Legend of the Sleepy Hollow, or that old, classic movie and its 1997 TV remake, the House of Frankenstein (which pretty much contains ALL supernatural creatures together in one movie, like vampires, werewolves, the Frankenstein construct, etc). I like fantasy to a certain extent, with Lord of the Rings and Pirates of the Caribbean being on top of my list.
A special place in my preference list is reserved for historical biography/portrayal of real people/eras/events, even with some fantasy elements mixed in. Like Rasputin the TV movie (made in honor of finding the mass burial place of the murdered Tzar's family), Joan of Arc (with Mila Jovovich), the Kingdom of Heavens, Braveheart, Excalibur, the Last Samurai...
Finally, i am not very fond of sci fi or comedy, but i liked VERY much the outstanding Stargate (the first, original movie, not the later versions and that horrible tv series), which made me play the sega genesis and snes games (the genesis one was a great action/shooting mind you), the Fifth Element (Mila Jovovich, mmm what a babe), and from Comedy, everyone should watch the "Anger Management", it was hilarious for the laughs!
From superheroes, i only watched the Batman ones. All old ones, and all new ones. They also made me purchase the games, too. Games like the Arkham series, which got awarded as the best superhero games to have ever happened as a video game transition, that is (that Arkham Asylum, wow...).
Horror, you say? I liked Hellraiser pretty much. As well as the saw (with that looney jigsaw), Jacob's Ladder, the Ring, and generally those asian inspired and ported to west movies, especially that with pregnant housewife turning murderer on her man (he was a godawful prick, too), but unfortunately, i do not remember their names.
Unknown or abandonware movies, you ask? I was eagerly expecting the Castlevania and the Suffering ones, and one or two more that had been announced from 2009 and there is still no feedback on as of today, based on video games all of them... Well, most probably they will never happen.
Film Noirs, earlier Coen Brother Movies are great like Fargo, O Brother Where Art Thou, and The Man Who Wasn't There (personal favourite) as well the Usual Suspects
Comedies, would have to be Made, Swingers and There is Something About Mary. Lock Stock and two smoking Barrels is another favourite adventure comedy of mine.
Dramas would have to be 21 Grams, Mystic River and I am Sam.
City of God, a Brazilian film is another amazing film and ranks in my top 5 of all time.
1- The Dark Knight (2008) 2- Gladiator (2000) 3- The Godfather (1972) 4- Excalibur (1981) 5- Seven Samurai (1954) 6- Conan the Barbarian (1982) 7- The Silence of the Lambs (1991) 8- Before Sunrise (1995) 9- The Departed (2006) 10- Pulp Fiction (1994)
I am so pumped to read/post on this thread. In alphabetical order:
13 Assassins (NIS 08-10-14) Airplane! Apollo 13 (dir. Ron Howard)* Apollo 18 (NIS 08-10-14) Argo The Bay (NIS 08-10-14) The Dark Knight Below (NIS 08-10-14) Black Death (NIS 08-10-14) The Blues Brothers Carriers Centurion* (NIS 08-10-14) Deathwatch (NIS 08-10-14) Defiance District 9* Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb* Edge of Tomorrow Gandhi Groundhog Day* The Hunt for Red October (NIS 08-10-14) Inception* Indiana Jones and the (Last Crusade/Temple of Doom/Raiders of the Lost Ark) Ironclad (NIS 08-10-14) John Dies at the End (NIS 08-10-14) Jurassic Park* Lord of the Rings (dir. Peter Jackson; The Fellowship of the Ring/The Two Towers/The Return of the King) Mad Max (NIS 08-10-14) The Matrix Monty Python and the Holy Grail October Sky Pirates of the Caribbean (The Curse of the Black Pearl, e.g. #1) (NIS 08-10-14) The Princess Bride Shaun of the Dead Shutter Island Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan* (NIS 08-10-14) The Sum of All Fears (NIS 08-10-14) Valkyrie V for Vendetta
Stars indicate that they are my favorites amongst favorites. Some are on Netflix; others are not. Those marked with (NIS 08-10-14) are available for instant streaming as of August 10, 2014.
The rest you could get through their disc service (if subbed), but personally I recommend you actually try your local public library. If the library doesn't have it itself, it's still very possible that as a member of a library system it will be able to get a copy of said movie delivered to that branch, often at speeds comparable to Netflix's disc service. You won't be able to hold onto it as long as you might a Netflix disc, but for the low low price of free, who's complaining? That's my cinematic lifehack of the day.
I can't stand modern movies, they always have too much CGI and shaky cam. But I'm not a fussy movie person... Just give me Arnie, Sly, Clint, Mel, or Van Damme with a large helping of 80s cheese.
I guess if you forced me to pick... I'd choose the Terminator as my favourite.
Star Wars Trilogy (no prequels, thankewverimuch) Shaun of the Dead Hot Fuzz The World's End Evil Dead II Army of Darkness The Princess Bride Labyrinth The Lego Movie The Avengers (or Avengers Assemble to us brits) Tucker and Dale vs Evil Pieces Cabin In The Woods Dog Soldiers Lord of the Rings trilogy Heat Ronin The Dark Knight Batman (1966 movie) Dune Conan The Barbarian Commando Predator Aliens Scott Pilgrim vs The World Dredd Pacific Rim The Departed
Pi Ghost Dog Kill Bill Planet Terror Sin City The Saddest Music in the World Last Night (good luck finding this one--I have it only on VHS) Blues Brothers The Adventures of Baron Munchausen The Seventh Sign
I conur with @Walstafa--a new fave of mine is Guardians of the Galaxy
An incomplete list, to be certain. Distilling a list of favorites can be difficult.
This is kinda my favorite movies in order of which one I liked the most Brazil (1985 movie directed by Terry Gilliam) Blade Runner Star Wars: The Empires Strikes Back Star Wars, later on renamed to A New Hope. Rushmore (1998 film directed by Wes Anderson) Monty Python and the Holy Grail (funniest most awesomely stupid movie I've ever seen) Star Wars: The Return of the Jedi Grand Hotel Budapest (another one by Wes Anderson, recorded in 2014, strange for such a good movie) Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark The Life of Brain (another one by the Monty Python) Mon Oncle (a very good french movie, can't remember anything else) The Matrix (just the first movie, please) Time Bandits (another one by Terry Gilliam) Life of Pi The Adventures of the Baron Munchaunsen Gladiator Pursuit of Happyness (with Will Smith) Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom LotR: The Two Towers Labyrinth LotR: The Fellowship of the Ring Ghostsbusters Braveheart It's a Wonderful Life Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade The Fifth Element Batman (the 1989 film) LotR: The Return of the King 300
Movies I want to see (not in order): Pulp Fiction Citizen Kane Taxi Driver Apocalypse Now Dirty Harry Quadrophoenia The Wall Gone with the Wind The Godfather
My favorite film is probably Tombstone, however. An excellent Western with a really great script, and is incredibly quotable. Also has an all star cast and features what was probably Val Kilmer's greatest performance.
My second favorite movie is probably an odd one... it is Jingle All the Way with Arnold Schwarzenegger. I watch it every Christmas Eve with my brother and my mom. My dad thinks we are crazy, but we laugh every year.
Other than that, I love Heat by Michael Mann (I also enjoyed his Collateral and Last of the Mohicans). Really love that movie. Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, Val Kilmer, Jon Voight... star studded cast
I enjoy almost all of the Marvel movies, and love what they did with that world.
Another great movie that is underrated is The Lookout. The best Joseph Gordon Levitt performance in my opinion and another really good script. I'd actually recommend this one to @JLee since you appear to be a fellow Noir fan
Other great noir: Laura. Great mystery movie, one of the most well constructed I've seen. Also The Big Sleep and In a Lonely Place are very good.
When I am in the mood for fun action flicks, I find Van Helsing, Equilibrium, Boondock Saints, Fast Five (don't love the series as a whole but this movie is just pure awesome) and OF COURSE Terminator 2 to be very rewatchable. All solid movies that never fail to entertain. Oh yeah, and Highlander is the coolest concept ever (though I preferred the show!)
The Usual Suspects is one of the first movies to blow me away, and I credit it with awakening my love for film in general.
Once Upon a Time in America is another movie that really captures my imagination. I like Sergio Leone in general, but this is his best movie. Crazy fact about Boo: I actually prefer For a Few Dollars more over The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.
American History X is a very moving movie that impressed me. I have watched it many times and it always makes an impression on new viewers.
Glengarry Glenn Ross is another classic, and one that @jackjack loves too (good taste that guy)
Now, I usually HATE comedies, but a couple have stood out for me. Superbad is great, and really speaks to me. Its a comedy I can actually relate to. Zoolander is so dumb, and seems like the exact kind of movie I would hate, but its so goofy that I adore it. Also like My Big Fat Greek Wedding.
Funniest movie though? Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. Love a few Guy Ritchie films, but this one takes the cake. Endlessly quotable. Every scene is money, from the opening to the very end. Just amusing in every way, while also being exciting. The only other movies funny enough to give it a run for its money are the first two Rush Hour movies. I LOVE those both, and may actually prefer the second by a whisker.
Secondhand Lions is the best family movie I have ever seen after Jingle All the Way. Really touching story that will make you appreciate the father figure in your life.
KISS KISS, BANG BANG is legendary stuff. Funny take on noir
Payback is an awesome noir-ish movie based off of a book series that I enjoy. Mel Gibson is the best Parker ever.
Kurasawa films are great, and my favorite is Yojimbo (though Ran and 7 Samurai are classic as well, this one is the most entertaining and the has the best pace)
Best horror movie you've never heard of: Session 9. You know that feeling in a good horror movie where you KNOW something scary is about to happen but still can't prevent yourself from getting scared? This movie has you in that zone the entire time... but never lets you off the hook. You think something scary will happen but it doesn't... until it does. Like someone holding a gun to your head saying they will shoot for two hours and just letting you sweat it out. Love it! Must watch it alone in your room by yourself at night with no lights.
Since I'm already getting waaaayyyyyy too long (love movies...) I just want to add the Godfather I and II (even III is underrated, gets too much flak), Rocky series, Star Wars (of course), Mean Girls, Nolan Batman, Shutter Island, Reservoir Dogs, The Patriot, Taxi Driver, Dawn of the Dead, Braveheart, Gone Baby Gone, Changeling, Underworld, Cinderella Man and Harry Potter (big fan)
There are so many more... but I can go all day
edit 1: oh yeah... Army of Darkness is a perfect 10/10 movie.
edit 2: I forgot to add Serenity, and I think that this is either a crime that violates the Geneva Conventions or the 8th deadly sin. Not sure which.
Ugh, I can never think of a favorite movie, especially when someone asks. I'll just list some that I liked.
Words End The Great Gatsby 2001: a space odyssey(the book was better, but I think most people don't even know it exists. Sad face.) Wall-E Hmmm.... Ratatouille The matrix was good.... Terminator was meh..... Hmmmm..... I'm using a lot of ...'s ... Star Wars was... Ok... I guess....
Ugh. Like I said, I can never just conjure up all the movies I like.
Many movies I enjoy, but in truth, my favourite is The Matador. So god damn levels to this movie, so much interpretation required! On the surface, we have the absurd commedy, but scratch the surface, and lo, behold depths you never would have expected. Truly profoundly intriguing characters if you pay attention. Masterwork of philosophy in film!
Recent standouts include Paprika (I cry every damn time I watch this, and I am not an emotional man), Cowboy Bebop: The Movie, Howl's Moving Castle, Disney's Sword and the Stone (eternal favourite), Wrath of Khan, decent Bomd movies (Casino Royale and Skyfall were truly grand, but I love Goldeneye, The World Is Not Enough, The Man With The Golden Gun, Dr. No, Goldfinger), Beerfest, Supertroopers... damn, this list is growing!
I dont typically like most movies that much, but I discovered that being a bit intoxicated can VASTLY improve some movies I would otherwise be disapointed with. I dont like most TV or movies as a medium, as I am by nature a reader.
@CrevsDaak I'm coming to Argentina and we are having a slumber party, eating ice cream, complaining about girls and then watching this movie. Also want to see these two movies (which is crazy considering so many say they are the best ever)
I really appreciate the time people took to list their favorites. I love movies and tend to see the best side of most of them. I'm glad to see so many listed here that I have never seen. I have a great many more movies to watch now!
I do notice that @elminster is conspicuously absent from the thread. You started it, what's on your list?
@booinyoureyes I love Noir and could have listed many more.
Laura is terrific. Gene Tierney was so beautiful. I also liked her in The Razor's Edge and Leave Her to Heaven.
Yojimbo is so fun. I love that one. I'm a big fan of Kurosawa. Have you seen Stray Dog or High and Low? Toshiro Mifune was so great. Dersu Uzala is one of my favorites as well, but quite a different tone.
I have never even heard of Session 9, but I guarantee you that it is next on my list.
I also could have listed several more Hitchcocks. If I had to pin my love of classic movies to one film, it would be Notorious with Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman. I was up late one night and was bored. My dad had a ton of videotapes. I put Notorious on and was thunderstruck. I don't suppose many other people will have that reaction to that movie, but I was much more interested in classics after that one. That one just builds slowly to a great finish.
CrevsDaak I'm coming to Argentina and we are having a slumber party, eating ice cream, complaining about girls and then watching this movie. Also want to see these two movies (which is crazy considering so many say they are the best ever)
CrevsDaak I'm coming to Argentina and we are having a slumber party, eating ice cream, complaining about girls and then watching this movie. Also want to see these two movies (which is crazy considering so many say they are the best ever)
Sniff… Are girls allowed? I promise not to listen while you complain about girls. I’ve never seen Citizen Kane and it has been so long since I watched Gone with the Wind, or eaten ice cream…
Pulp Fiction Godfather Seven Samurai Star Wars trilogy (The trilogy, no Jar Jar) There Will Be Blood Taxi Driver Goodfellas Austin Powers LoTR trilogy The Big Lebowski Psycho
e: Oh. And Casablanca. And Lock, Stock. Should be done now.
I've collected movies, mainly horror, since my teens. In recent years, however, I came to the same point as mentioned by @Kamigoroshi above - movies as a medium became rather predictable, after having seen so many. To me, there is little difference if Captain America defeats A, overcomes obstacle B, saves city C and ends up with lady D, or if Captain Ersatz defeats E, overcomes obstacle F, saves planet G and ends up with lady H. In the end, the summary is "X saves Y", no doubt the hero will win, be a noble hero (or edgy anti heroic cynic, depending on genre) and I don't need to know how exactly that happened. Villain defeated, everything is fine, what's more to know?
Characters more often than stories stay bland and cliche archetypes. Which is simply neccessary in the limited time a movie has to tell the story, but that doesn't make them more interesting or layered. Not even trilogies get much of a chance to develop a character or go much off the beaten track - in most cases, they'll either just get a new villain/threat and the main character(s) stay the same, or the entire franchise is rebooted and I'm being expected to have forgotten the characterization from before. It is a complete mystery to me how people can still be unaware of various currently popular superheroes and their origins. In what jungle are you living if "Spiderman's origin story" can surprise you? I don't get it.
Generally, I've always been more into series where characters as well as stories get a chance to grow and develop over time. I guess it spoils a bit to have deep, layered characters you get to know over years and characters that get 90 minutes to show who they are stand no real chance.
That said, there are a few movies that I still enjoy, for different reasons - Dark City (for the atmosphere, story and philosophy behind it), most Star Trek (even the ones considered "bad", for nostalgia - it's what I grew up with), 300 (for the visual art), A Serbian Film and Human Centipede (Full Sequence more than the first; both for crossing limits - as a long time horror/gore viewer, it is a hard task to live up to the expectations of "shocking" and "genre re-defining", which is something movies often listed along with them - Antichrist, Martyrs - did not achieve for me. Serbian Film and Full Sequence stand out for not leaving me disappointed, though they also did not shock or offend), the first two Saw (for indeed being "genre re-defining" and more intelligent than the average gorefest) and Freaks (the 1932 b/w movie, for everything it is).
I've collected movies, mainly horror, since my teens. In recent years, however, I came to the same point as mentioned by @Kamigoroshi above - movies as a medium became rather predictable, after having seen so many. To me, there is little difference if Captain America defeats A, overcomes obstacle B, saves city C and ends up with lady D, or if Captain Ersatz defeats E, overcomes obstacle F, saves planet G and ends up with lady H. In the end, the summary is "X saves Y", no doubt the hero will win, be a noble hero (or edgy anti heroic cynic, depending on genre) and I don't need to know how exactly that happened. Villain defeated, everything is fine, what's more to know?
Characters more often than stories stay bland and cliche archetypes. Which is simply neccessary in the limited time a movie has to tell the story, but that doesn't make them more interesting or layered. Not even trilogies get much of a chance to develop a character or go much off the beaten track - in most cases, they'll either just get a new villain/threat and the main character(s) stay the same, or the entire franchise is rebooted and I'm being expected to have forgotten the characterization from before. It is a complete mystery to me how people can still be unaware of various currently popular superheroes and their origins. In what jungle are you living if "Spiderman's origin story" can surprise you? I don't get it.
But how else would they make money?
Really though, @KidCarnival makes a good point. More often than not, the theater is like mcdonalds. You come in and pay knowing exactly what you get. The same way a Big Mac and fry are always the same, the next superhero flick is always the same(to a point, of course). Not necessarily all bad(I actually really liked the latest cap. A movie, if only for the fight choreography) but definitely not fine dining. This is why I prefer television. You get a lot more room for story and character, and just more. And it's certainly cheaper. 2 hours of movie for $10, or a month of pretty much everything tv on Hulu for $8?
Also, @CrevsDaak its not that I don't like Star Wars. I love Star Wars. It's just gotten a bit out of hand.
More often than not, the theater is like mcdonalds. You come in and pay knowing exactly what you get. The same way a Big Mac and fry are always the same, the next superhero flick is always the same(to a point, of course). Not necessarily all bad(I actually really liked the latest cap. A movie, if only for the fight choreography) but definitely not fine dining. This is why I prefer television. You get a lot more room for story and character, and just more.
That depends on. As there are movies which follow the same events, there are others that are pretty much different and are done without monetary purposes, most of these movies don't end up being famous in the short time, because they aren't mostly mainstream.
There are _many_ movies which don't follow that and are completely weird, the best example of this would be Brazil, from the movies I have seen, I'd consider it the best.
There's also stuff like the Cap. A movies, yes, I fell asleep while watching the first one, so I am not even thinking of watching the second one.
Comments
Star Wars
Vertigo
The Third Man
Out of the Past
To Have and Have Not
The Quiet Man
Lawrence of Arabia
The Maltese Falcon
Singing in the Rain
Pulp Fiction
Fantasia
It Happened One Night
Amelie
The Matrix
Most of the time their characters are just so horrible bland and uninteresting, without any decent character developement it#s not funny anymore. Or the movie simply utilizes all kinds of cliché's that thousand of other authors already used before them. Personally, I prefer books over movies. At least they are not watered down, shortened due to screentime limits, or were mainstreamed somehow.
That being said the Alien franchise is pretty close. But I'd honestly prefered it if the movies were portrayed from the xenomorph's side, not from the victim's.
Cloverfield was rather amusing though. Even so, many of its monstrous casts lacked in much needed screentime.
The Crying Game
One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest
The Odd Angry Shot
Dances with Wolves
The Lord of the Rings Trilogy
The Shawshank Redemption
Yentl
Dragonheart
Practical Magic
Serenity (Anything Firefly! We like to play the whole series and then the movie as one long movie.)
Music and Lyrics (Silly, sweet and fun. Just works for me.)
August Rush
Dolores Claiborne
The Piano
A special place in my preference list is reserved for historical biography/portrayal of real people/eras/events, even with some fantasy elements mixed in. Like Rasputin the TV movie (made in honor of finding the mass burial place of the murdered Tzar's family), Joan of Arc (with Mila Jovovich), the Kingdom of Heavens, Braveheart, Excalibur, the Last Samurai...
Finally, i am not very fond of sci fi or comedy, but i liked VERY much the outstanding Stargate (the first, original movie, not the later versions and that horrible tv series), which made me play the sega genesis and snes games (the genesis one was a great action/shooting mind you), the Fifth Element (Mila Jovovich, mmm what a babe), and from Comedy, everyone should watch the "Anger Management", it was hilarious for the laughs!
From superheroes, i only watched the Batman ones. All old ones, and all new ones. They also made me purchase the games, too. Games like the Arkham series, which got awarded as the best superhero games to have ever happened as a video game transition, that is (that Arkham Asylum, wow...).
Horror, you say? I liked Hellraiser pretty much. As well as the saw (with that looney jigsaw), Jacob's Ladder, the Ring, and generally those asian inspired and ported to west movies, especially that with pregnant housewife turning murderer on her man (he was a godawful prick, too), but unfortunately, i do not remember their names.
Unknown or abandonware movies, you ask? I was eagerly expecting the Castlevania and the Suffering ones, and one or two more that had been announced from 2009 and there is still no feedback on as of today, based on video games all of them... Well, most probably they will never happen.
Comedies, would have to be Made, Swingers and There is Something About Mary. Lock Stock and two smoking Barrels is another favourite adventure comedy of mine.
Dramas would have to be 21 Grams, Mystic River and I am Sam.
City of God, a Brazilian film is another amazing film and ranks in my top 5 of all time.
2- Gladiator (2000)
3- The Godfather (1972)
4- Excalibur (1981)
5- Seven Samurai (1954)
6- Conan the Barbarian (1982)
7- The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
8- Before Sunrise (1995)
9- The Departed (2006)
10- Pulp Fiction (1994)
2.Hobbit
3.LOTR
13 Assassins (NIS 08-10-14)
Airplane!
Apollo 13 (dir. Ron Howard)*
Apollo 18 (NIS 08-10-14)
Argo
The Bay (NIS 08-10-14)
The Dark Knight
Below (NIS 08-10-14)
Black Death (NIS 08-10-14)
The Blues Brothers
Carriers
Centurion* (NIS 08-10-14)
Deathwatch (NIS 08-10-14)
Defiance
District 9*
Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb*
Edge of Tomorrow
Gandhi
Groundhog Day*
The Hunt for Red October (NIS 08-10-14)
Inception*
Indiana Jones and the (Last Crusade/Temple of Doom/Raiders of the Lost Ark)
Ironclad (NIS 08-10-14)
John Dies at the End (NIS 08-10-14)
Jurassic Park*
Lord of the Rings (dir. Peter Jackson; The Fellowship of the Ring/The Two Towers/The Return of the King)
Mad Max (NIS 08-10-14)
The Matrix
Monty Python and the Holy Grail
October Sky
Pirates of the Caribbean (The Curse of the Black Pearl, e.g. #1) (NIS 08-10-14)
The Princess Bride
Shaun of the Dead
Shutter Island
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan* (NIS 08-10-14)
The Sum of All Fears (NIS 08-10-14)
Valkyrie
V for Vendetta
Stars indicate that they are my favorites amongst favorites. Some are on Netflix; others are not. Those marked with (NIS 08-10-14) are available for instant streaming as of August 10, 2014.
The rest you could get through their disc service (if subbed), but personally I recommend you actually try your local public library. If the library doesn't have it itself, it's still very possible that as a member of a library system it will be able to get a copy of said movie delivered to that branch, often at speeds comparable to Netflix's disc service. You won't be able to hold onto it as long as you might a Netflix disc, but for the low low price of free, who's complaining? That's my cinematic lifehack of the day.
I guess if you forced me to pick... I'd choose the Terminator as my favourite.
Star Wars Trilogy (no prequels, thankewverimuch)
Shaun of the Dead
Hot Fuzz
The World's End
Evil Dead II
Army of Darkness
The Princess Bride
Labyrinth
The Lego Movie
The Avengers (or Avengers Assemble to us brits)
Tucker and Dale vs Evil
Pieces
Cabin In The Woods
Dog Soldiers
Lord of the Rings trilogy
Heat
Ronin
The Dark Knight
Batman (1966 movie)
Dune
Conan The Barbarian
Commando
Predator
Aliens
Scott Pilgrim vs The World
Dredd
Pacific Rim
The Departed
And the new guy:
Guardians of The Galaxy
Ghost Dog
Kill Bill
Planet Terror
Sin City
The Saddest Music in the World
Last Night (good luck finding this one--I have it only on VHS)
Blues Brothers
The Adventures of Baron Munchausen
The Seventh Sign
I conur with @Walstafa--a new fave of mine is Guardians of the Galaxy
An incomplete list, to be certain. Distilling a list of favorites can be difficult.
Brazil (1985 movie directed by Terry Gilliam)
Blade Runner
Star Wars: The Empires Strikes Back
Star Wars, later on renamed to A New Hope.
Rushmore (1998 film directed by Wes Anderson)
Monty Python and the Holy Grail (funniest most awesomely stupid movie I've ever seen)
Star Wars: The Return of the Jedi
Grand Hotel Budapest (another one by Wes Anderson, recorded in 2014, strange for such a good movie)
Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark
The Life of Brain (another one by the Monty Python)
Mon Oncle (a very good french movie, can't remember anything else)
The Matrix (just the first movie, please)
Time Bandits (another one by Terry Gilliam)
Life of Pi
The Adventures of the Baron Munchaunsen
Gladiator
Pursuit of Happyness (with Will Smith)
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom
LotR: The Two Towers
Labyrinth
LotR: The Fellowship of the Ring
Ghostsbusters
Braveheart
It's a Wonderful Life
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
The Fifth Element
Batman (the 1989 film)
LotR: The Return of the King
300
Movies I want to see (not in order):
Pulp Fiction
Citizen Kane
Taxi Driver
Apocalypse Now
Dirty Harry
Quadrophoenia
The Wall
Gone with the Wind
The Godfather
Anyway, I prefer reading
These are all classic movies that I love
My favorite film is probably Tombstone, however. An excellent Western with a really great script, and is incredibly quotable. Also has an all star cast and features what was probably Val Kilmer's greatest performance.
My second favorite movie is probably an odd one... it is Jingle All the Way with Arnold Schwarzenegger. I watch it every Christmas Eve with my brother and my mom. My dad thinks we are crazy, but we laugh every year.
Other than that, I love Heat by Michael Mann (I also enjoyed his Collateral and Last of the Mohicans). Really love that movie. Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, Val Kilmer, Jon Voight... star studded cast
I enjoy almost all of the Marvel movies, and love what they did with that world.
Another great movie that is underrated is The Lookout. The best Joseph Gordon Levitt performance in my opinion and another really good script. I'd actually recommend this one to @JLee since you appear to be a fellow Noir fan
Other great noir: Laura. Great mystery movie, one of the most well constructed I've seen. Also The Big Sleep and In a Lonely Place are very good.
When I am in the mood for fun action flicks, I find Van Helsing, Equilibrium, Boondock Saints, Fast Five (don't love the series as a whole but this movie is just pure awesome) and OF COURSE Terminator 2 to be very rewatchable. All solid movies that never fail to entertain. Oh yeah, and Highlander is the coolest concept ever (though I preferred the show!)
The Usual Suspects is one of the first movies to blow me away, and I credit it with awakening my love for film in general.
Once Upon a Time in America is another movie that really captures my imagination. I like Sergio Leone in general, but this is his best movie. Crazy fact about Boo: I actually prefer For a Few Dollars more over The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.
American History X is a very moving movie that impressed me. I have watched it many times and it always makes an impression on new viewers.
Glengarry Glenn Ross is another classic, and one that @jackjack loves too (good taste that guy)
Now, I usually HATE comedies, but a couple have stood out for me. Superbad is great, and really speaks to me. Its a comedy I can actually relate to. Zoolander is so dumb, and seems like the exact kind of movie I would hate, but its so goofy that I adore it. Also like My Big Fat Greek Wedding.
Funniest movie though? Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels. Love a few Guy Ritchie films, but this one takes the cake. Endlessly quotable. Every scene is money, from the opening to the very end. Just amusing in every way, while also being exciting. The only other movies funny enough to give it a run for its money are the first two Rush Hour movies. I LOVE those both, and may actually prefer the second by a whisker.
Secondhand Lions is the best family movie I have ever seen after Jingle All the Way. Really touching story that will make you appreciate the father figure in your life.
KISS KISS, BANG BANG is legendary stuff. Funny take on noir
Payback is an awesome noir-ish movie based off of a book series that I enjoy. Mel Gibson is the best Parker ever.
Kurasawa films are great, and my favorite is Yojimbo (though Ran and 7 Samurai are classic as well, this one is the most entertaining and the has the best pace)
Best horror movie you've never heard of: Session 9. You know that feeling in a good horror movie where you KNOW something scary is about to happen but still can't prevent yourself from getting scared? This movie has you in that zone the entire time... but never lets you off the hook. You think something scary will happen but it doesn't... until it does. Like someone holding a gun to your head saying they will shoot for two hours and just letting you sweat it out. Love it! Must watch it alone in your room by yourself at night with no lights.
Since I'm already getting waaaayyyyyy too long (love movies...) I just want to add the Godfather I and II (even III is underrated, gets too much flak), Rocky series, Star Wars (of course), Mean Girls, Nolan Batman, Shutter Island, Reservoir Dogs, The Patriot, Taxi Driver, Dawn of the Dead, Braveheart, Gone Baby Gone, Changeling, Underworld, Cinderella Man and Harry Potter (big fan)
There are so many more... but I can go all day
edit 1: oh yeah... Army of Darkness is a perfect 10/10 movie.
edit 2: I forgot to add Serenity, and I think that this is either a crime that violates the Geneva Conventions or the 8th deadly sin. Not sure which.
Words End
The Great Gatsby
2001: a space odyssey(the book was better, but I think most people don't even know it exists. Sad face.)
Wall-E
Hmmm....
Ratatouille
The matrix was good....
Terminator was meh.....
Hmmmm.....
I'm using a lot of ...'s
...
Star Wars was... Ok... I guess....
Ugh. Like I said, I can never just conjure up all the movies I like.
Recent standouts include Paprika (I cry every damn time I watch this, and I am not an emotional man), Cowboy Bebop: The Movie, Howl's Moving Castle, Disney's Sword and the Stone (eternal favourite), Wrath of Khan, decent Bomd movies (Casino Royale and Skyfall were truly grand, but I love Goldeneye, The World Is Not Enough, The Man With The Golden Gun, Dr. No, Goldfinger), Beerfest, Supertroopers... damn, this list is growing!
I dont typically like most movies that much, but I discovered that being a bit intoxicated can VASTLY improve some movies I would otherwise be disapointed with. I dont like most TV or movies as a medium, as I am by nature a reader.
Star Wars okay?
Dems fighting words!
also, I didn't like the Great Gatsby much legendary movie! @CrevsDaak I'm coming to Argentina and we are having a slumber party, eating ice cream, complaining about girls and then watching this movie. Also want to see these two movies (which is crazy considering so many say they are the best ever)
I do notice that @elminster is conspicuously absent from the thread. You started it, what's on your list?
@booinyoureyes I love Noir and could have listed many more.
Laura is terrific. Gene Tierney was so beautiful. I also liked her in The Razor's Edge and Leave Her to Heaven.
Yojimbo is so fun. I love that one. I'm a big fan of Kurosawa. Have you seen Stray Dog or High and Low? Toshiro Mifune was so great. Dersu Uzala is one of my favorites as well, but quite a different tone.
I have never even heard of Session 9, but I guarantee you that it is next on my list.
I also could have listed several more Hitchcocks. If I had to pin my love of classic movies to one film, it would be Notorious with Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman. I was up late one night and was bored. My dad had a ton of videotapes. I put Notorious on and was thunderstruck. I don't suppose many other people will have that reaction to that movie, but I was much more interested in classics after that one. That one just builds slowly to a great finish.
@meagloth Y U NO LIKE SW?!?!?!
That really does sound like fun!
Godfather
Seven Samurai
Star Wars trilogy (The trilogy, no Jar Jar)
There Will Be Blood
Taxi Driver
Goodfellas
Austin Powers
LoTR trilogy
The Big Lebowski
Psycho
e: Oh. And Casablanca.
And Lock, Stock. Should be done now.
Characters more often than stories stay bland and cliche archetypes. Which is simply neccessary in the limited time a movie has to tell the story, but that doesn't make them more interesting or layered. Not even trilogies get much of a chance to develop a character or go much off the beaten track - in most cases, they'll either just get a new villain/threat and the main character(s) stay the same, or the entire franchise is rebooted and I'm being expected to have forgotten the characterization from before. It is a complete mystery to me how people can still be unaware of various currently popular superheroes and their origins. In what jungle are you living if "Spiderman's origin story" can surprise you? I don't get it.
Generally, I've always been more into series where characters as well as stories get a chance to grow and develop over time. I guess it spoils a bit to have deep, layered characters you get to know over years and characters that get 90 minutes to show who they are stand no real chance.
That said, there are a few movies that I still enjoy, for different reasons - Dark City (for the atmosphere, story and philosophy behind it), most Star Trek (even the ones considered "bad", for nostalgia - it's what I grew up with), 300 (for the visual art), A Serbian Film and Human Centipede (Full Sequence more than the first; both for crossing limits - as a long time horror/gore viewer, it is a hard task to live up to the expectations of "shocking" and "genre re-defining", which is something movies often listed along with them - Antichrist, Martyrs - did not achieve for me. Serbian Film and Full Sequence stand out for not leaving me disappointed, though they also did not shock or offend), the first two Saw (for indeed being "genre re-defining" and more intelligent than the average gorefest) and Freaks (the 1932 b/w movie, for everything it is).
Really though, @KidCarnival makes a good point. More often than not, the theater is like mcdonalds. You come in and pay knowing exactly what you get. The same way a Big Mac and fry are always the same, the next superhero flick is always the same(to a point, of course).
Not necessarily all bad(I actually really liked the latest cap. A movie, if only for the fight choreography) but definitely not fine dining. This is why I prefer television. You get a lot more room for story and character, and just more.
And it's certainly cheaper. 2 hours of movie for $10, or a month of pretty much everything tv on Hulu for $8?
Also, @CrevsDaak its not that I don't like Star Wars. I love Star Wars. It's just gotten a bit out of hand.
There are _many_ movies which don't follow that and are completely weird, the best example of this would be Brazil, from the movies I have seen, I'd consider it the best.
There's also stuff like the Cap. A movies, yes, I fell asleep while watching the first one, so I am not even thinking of watching the second one. Watch 300. It's actually a pretty good movie when it comes to fighting and blood. Yeah I know. That's why I treat them as single movies (or as a Trilogy) and *not* as a saga with 6 Episodes.