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The 10 Best Movies You've Ever Seen


ztejas

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For a ten best movies you've ever seen, my opinions would probably line up well with the top of the IMDB list.  However the best movies of all time aren't always the movies I enjoyed the most. 

Some that haven't been mentioned that might fit the best made of all time:

Akira
Se7en

...probably think of more later.

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my list hasn't changed much in the past 10 years, don't know if that says something about me or crappy movies. if i come across any of these i can't look away...

Fargo

Alien

Jaws

LA Confidential

The Big Lebowski

The Godfather II*

Goodfellas 

The Talented Mr. Ripley

There Will Be Blood

A Fish Called Wanda

 

* trying not to cheat and count I and II together, original is epic but i've always been more partial to cold-blooded Michael in II

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2 hours ago, Loco said:

Going with some not frequently mentioned

Forrest Gump

Amen x 1,000. 

Forrest Gump was a serious flashback.  I was eleven years old on June 11, 1963 when that fuckhead George Wallace "stood in the schoolhouse door" in Tuscaloosa, less than a mile from my home.  Some neighborhood pals and I were holed up in a treehouse in full Alamo siege mode (slingshots and BB guns) while National Guard troop trucks rumbled up and down our street and Guard helicopters flew overhead.  Unaware the nonviolent events to come had been scripted in Washington and Montgomery, we were expecting Armageddon to break out at any moment. 

Fast forward to a Friday night in September, 1994 before an Alabama home game.  It was a truly visceral experience watching newly-released "Forrest Gump" in a packed out Tuscaloosa theater.  When Forrest, sporting that dead-solid-perfect early sixties uniform and single-bar helmet, caught the kickoff in a checkerboarded end zone and zigzagged all the way back through the hated Tennessee Vols,  every last hair on the back of my neck stood up as the theater audience went apeshit.  In one second I was transported back thirty years back to games I had witnessed during that same era.  The end zone checkerboard detail was a nice touch.  When Bama played Tennessee in Birmingham in those years, one end zone was checkerboarded crimson and white and the other orange and white.  Tennessee always brought a dude who paraded all around the field on a prancing,  jet black Tennessee walking horse in the moments before kickoff, as the Vol band playing "Tennessee Waltz." I saw the Alabama home crowd give horse and rider a standing ovation, something you'd never see today.

The references to JFK, Viet Nam, student protests, John Lennon's murder, crackerism, racial harmony and disharmony, drugs, music, true love and college life all really hit home.  Bravo Winston Groom, bravo Robert Zemeckis, bravo Tom Hanks.  The sound of Viet Cong rifle rounds ripping through elephant grass and human bodies haunts me still.  No wonder vets have PTSD.

My favorite line: Cracker asshole school admissions guy to young Forrest after nailing his mother: "Yew don't talk much, dew ya?"  Forrest: "Ouggh! Ouggh! Ouggh!"

Loved the book, loved the film, hated so much of the godawful shit those in power did in those days.  This film brings it all back and does it with an impact.

Not sure if it's true but I read in an interview with Winston Groom in a Mobile paper that his contract was so full of weasel clauses, he did not make a cent on the film's worldwide box office, which was $600 million at that time, likely another $600 million by now.  Watch out what you sign, people.

Edited by Bama Llama
Messed up 2 x
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The Third Man

Breaker Morant

Trainspotting 

The Philadelphia Society

Do the Right Thing

The Treasure of the Sierra Madre

Chinatown

Matewan

Spirited Away

Young Frankenstein

Certainly not a movie expert, but these movies are the best to me.  From being a fan of Graham Greene to seeing some in Hogg auditorium on a big screen to having early morning discussions after watching it at midnight and part of these were from watching with my kids.

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3 hours ago, Butch Had Not said:

1 pulp fiction

2 shawshank

3 dark knight

4 apollo 13

5 full metal jacket

6 godfather 1 and 2

7 goodfellas 

8 american Beauty 

9 empire strikes back

10 smokey and the bandit

I realize that putting smokey and the bandit just took down the entire list but fuck it. I loved it. 

I feel like me and you could watch a movie together. For starters, I could write 20 pages on the utter brilliance of The Dark Knight that I feel is lost on probably 90% of the people that have seen it.

And no, it didn't take down your list. Smokey and the Bandit is one of my favorite comedies and an all-time Jackie Gleason performance. Props.

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2 hours ago, 52-80 said:

Best means it has to be nearly impeccable in almost every way - casting, acting, direction, score, dialog, photography, story, set, etc.  And enjoyable, too.

 

So hard to think of one, especially one that fulfills even half of those criteria. 

TWBB is one of the few I've seen that fits all of your listed criteria in my opinion. Probably the only one on my list I'd argue for in that regard. That and Goodfellas. 

I tend to like (and rate more highly) films with sweeping themes or that attempt to compartmentalize some aspect of the human experience. I get less caught up in the technical proficiency or film-school criteria than some.  

 

 

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2 hours ago, HornsOverIthaca said:

Akira

Rep. Absolute gamechanger for animation.

Probably the most visually stunning animated film ever made given the era (yeah I'm including you, Miyazaki, come at me bitch).

Some Wiki:

Akira is regarded by many critics as a landmark anime film, one that influenced much of the art in the anime world that followed its release with many illustrators in the manga industry citing the film as an important influence.[60] Manga author Masashi Kishimoto, for example, recalls becoming fascinated with the way the poster was made and wished to imitate the series' creator Katsuhiro Otomo's style.[61]The film had a significant impact on popular cultureworldwide. The film led the way for the growth in popularity of anime outside Japan as well as Japanese popular culture in the Western world. Akirais considered a forerunner of the second wave of anime fandom that began in the early 1990s and has gained a massive cult following since then. It is credited with setting the scene for anime franchises such as Pokémon, Dragon Ball and Naruto to become global cultural phenomena.[4][13]

Akira has influenced numerous works in animation, comics, film, music, television and video games.[4][13]It inspired a wave of Japanese cyberpunk works, including manga and anime series such as Ghost in the Shell, Battle Angel Alita, Cowboy Bebop, and Serial Experiments Lain,[12] live-action Japanese films such as Tetsuo: The Iron Man,[62] and video games such as Hideo Kojima's Snatcher[63] and Metal Gear Solid.[12]Outside of Japan, Akira has been cited as a major influence on Hollywood films such as The Matrix,[64]Dark City,[65] Kill Bill,[66] Chronicle,[67] Looper,[68] The Dark Knight,[69] Midnight Special, and Inception,[4]television shows such as Stranger Things,[70] and video games such as Valve's Half-Life series[71][72]and Dontnod Entertainment's Remember Me.[73] John Gaeta cited Akira as artistic inspiration for the bullet time effect in The Matrix films.[64] Akira has also been credited with influencing the Star Wars franchise, including the prequel film trilogy and the Clone Wars film and television series.[74] Todd McFarlane cited Akira as an influence on HBO animated television series Spawn.[75] Akira has also influenced the work of musicians such as Kanye West, who paid homage to Akira in the "Stronger" music video,[4] and Lupe Fiasco, whose album Tetsuo & Youth is named after Tetsuo Shima.[76] The popular bike from the film, Kaneda's Motorbike, appears in Steven Spielberg's film Ready Player One,[77][78] and CD Projekt's video game Cyberpunk 2077.[79] Deus Ex: Mankind Dividedvideo game developer Eidos Montréal also paid homage to the film's poster.[80]

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3 minutes ago, HornsOverIthaca said:

I wonder what it would be like if they had waited until the Akira manga was finished to create the film, but they had to strike when the iron was hot.

Well the director kind of big-dicked the manga and went "Hey, yo, this is how you should be drawing it" and the manga went "oh okay, apologies"

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Psycho (1960)

The Godfather (1972)

The Godfather Part 2 (1974)

Jaws (1975)

Goodfellas (1990)

Jurassic Park (1993)

Toy Story (1995)

Fargo (1996)

No Country for Old Men (2007)

Inglourious Basterds (2009)*

 

 

* I know this one probably won't be popular, but I think this is an absolutely outstanding movie and the best movie Tarantino has made.

 

 

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6 minutes ago, BigOrange1 said:

Psycho (1960)

The Godfather (1972)

The Godfather Part 2 (1974)

Jaws (1975)

Goodfellas (1990)

Jurassic Park (1993)

Toy Story (1995)

Fargo (1996)

No Country for Old Men (2007)

Inglourious Basterds (2009)*

 

 

* I know this one probably won't be popular, but I think this is an absolutely outstanding movie and the best movie Tarantino has made.

 

 

Inglorious is great. Probably in my 2nd Tarantino Tier after Pulp Fiction and Reservoir Dogs. 

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22 hours ago, RPM said:

The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)

They Were Expendable (1945)

Blazing Saddles (1974)

The Wild Bunch (1969)

Apollo 13 (1995)

The Right Stuff (1983)

Some Like it Hot (1959)

North by Northwest (1959)

The Long Voyage Home (1940)

Dr. Strangelove (1964)

Great fucking list!!!! I don't have Blazing Saddles, going to get that ASAP. 

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4 hours ago, BigOrange1 said:

Psycho (1960)

The Godfather (1972)

The Godfather Part 2 (1974)

Jaws (1975)

Goodfellas (1990)

Jurassic Park (1993)

Toy Story (1995)

Fargo (1996)

No Country for Old Men (2007)

Inglourious Basterds (2009)*

 

 

* I know this one probably won't be popular, but I think this is an absolutely outstanding movie and the best movie Tarantino has made.

 

 

Scrolling through the thread, Coen Brother's kept coming to mind.  No Country for Old Men would be on my top 10 - Fargo would be top 20.

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4 hours ago, BigOrange1 said:

Psycho (1960)

The Godfather (1972)

The Godfather Part 2 (1974)

Jaws (1975)

Goodfellas (1990)

Jurassic Park (1993)

Toy Story (1995)

Fargo (1996)

No Country for Old Men (2007)

Inglourious Basterds (2009)*

 

 

* I know this one probably won't be popular, but I think this is an absolutely outstanding movie and the best movie Tarantino has made.

 

 

Strong list. I loved toy story but not in my pantheon. I'd take Jurassic park out as well, another favorite though.  If it ends up on a lunch box it's not gonna make my all time list probably.  I'll probably eat those words.

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So I am going with movies that I enjoy that are among the best ever made but are not necessarily the movies I enjoy most.  In no particular order: 

Citizen Kane (1941)

Network (1976)

M (1931)

The Godfather (1972)

Casablanca (1942)

The Rules of the Game (1939)

Full Metal Jacket (1987)

Yojimbo (1961)

Vertigo (1958)

The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (1974)

Edited by Continental Op
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Younger gen here but still appreciative of the classics. Also love a good method actor. No particular order, 

Taxi Driver 

The Deer Hunter 

The Godfather 1-2

The Man From Snowy River

Good Fellas

Empire Strike Back

The Pianist

Saving Private Ryan 

Good Will Hunting 

Inglorious Bastards

Others I like are Shawshank Redemption, Pulp Fiction, Casablanca, Anything with John Wayne, Tombstone. 

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On 1/26/2019 at 6:14 PM, ztejas said:

I thought this would be a fun thread to start. 

Basically, what are the 10 films you've seen that you consider the "best"? Not necessarily your 10 favorites (although how much you like the film should definitely be a factor - not looking for a copy/past of Ebert's top 10).

If you can, include the year it came out. 

I'll put myself on the chopping block to start (chronological order):

Casablanca (1942)  The Godfather: Parts I & II (1972, 1974)
Cinema Paradiso (1988) Cool Hand Luke (1967)
Goodfellas (1990)
The Shawshank Redemption (1994)

Princess Mononoke (1997)     The Blues Brothers (1980)
The Matrix (1999) Pulp Fiction (1994)
Lord of The Rings Trilogy (2001-2003)
There Will Be Blood (2007)  The Big Lebowski (1998 )
The Dark Knight (2008)
Moonlight (2016)  Full Metal Jacket (1987)

Others: Pulp Fiction (1994), The Empire Strikes Back (1980), Alien (1979), Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969), One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest (1975), The Good, The Bad, The Ugly (1966)

 

We had enough overlap I that I just figured I'd borrow your list and throw in the others.

Edited by Al_4_ISU
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7 minutes ago, Al_4_ISU said:

We had enough overlap I that I just figured I'd borrow your list and throw in the others.

Lebowski and FMJ both in my top 50. 

(I mean I don't have a list of 50 movies somewhere but that seems right for my affinity for them.)

I think Raising Arizona is my favorite Coen, though. Fargo and Lebowski rounding out the top 3. Not really a big fan of No Country. 

 

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1 minute ago, ztejas said:

Lebowski and FMJ both in my top 50. 

(I mean I don't have a list of 50 movies somewhere but that seems right for my affinity for them.)

I think Raising Arizona is my favorite Coen, though. Fargo and Lebowski rounding out the top 3. Not really a big fan of No Country. 

 

If I had to rank Top 5 Coen, I'd go:

Lebowski

Fargo

No Country

True Grit

Raising AZ

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On 1/27/2019 at 6:09 AM, Bama Llama said:

In random order;

Sunrise

The Commitments

Silence of the Lambs

To Kill A Mockingbird

Casablanca

The Third Man

The Castle

Monsieur Hulot's Vacation

In Cold Blood

Alien

 

Dude, it's like  you read my mind! (although I know that film as Mr. Hulot's Holiday)

Jacques Tati is awesome! I guess you've also seen Mon Oncle?  I bought Playtime (along with some other Criterion films) years ago and still haven't gotten around to watching it.

Of course Citizen Kane, Godfather(s), and The Searchers are some of the absolute best, so my list won't include those, but I'll try to list some hidden and not so hidden gems, imo.

 

Princess Mononoke (a must see)

Spirited Away (another classic by Miyazaki, also Howl's Moving Castle)

Local Hero (a Bill Forsyth movie. if you get into this one, check out Gregory's Girl and Comfort and Joy).

One, Two, Three - a Billy Wilder film with James Cagney and, wait for it, Horst Buchholz. (I never miss a Horst Buchholz film! - bonus points if know who said that)

The Man Who Would Be King - John Huston directing a Rudyard Kipling work. A must see, imo.

Wonder Boys - Curtis Hanson at his second best (we all know his best.... LA Confidential)

To Catch a Thief - Cary Grant at his finest. Maybe not as good as North By Northwest, but damn good nonetheless.

The Happy Time - a 1952 comedy that takes place in Quebec, iirc. Charles Boyer and Louis Jordan star in it. As an aside, it has what I think is the very best "sex ed" talk out there. 

Smilla's Sense of Snow - Julia Ormond in Denmark. Here's what Roger Ebert said about it "Here is a movie so absorbing, so atmospheric, so suspenseful and so dumb, that it proves my point: The subject matter doesn't matter in a movie nearly as much as mood, tone and style." For a work of art, it's not so much what it's about, but how it's about what it's about. 

Map of the Human Heart - a Vincent Ward film, so you know the visuals are breathtaking.

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29 minutes ago, Al_4_ISU said:

If I had to rank Top 5 Coen, I'd go:

Lebowski

Fargo

No Country

True Grit

Raising AZ

Personally, I enjoyed Fargo as much as No Country for Old Men.  However, No Country was just a better movie from the acting of Javier Bardem and Tommy Lee Jones to Cormic McCarthy's story.  I would rank Blood Simple in the third spot behind Fargo.

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13 minutes ago, Jerry Callo said:

Personally, I enjoyed Fargo as much as No Country for Old Men.  However, No Country was just a better movie from the acting of Javier Bardem and Tommy Lee Jones to Cormic McCarthy's story.  I would rank Blood Simple in the third spot behind Fargo.

Bardem's performance is tied with Goodman in the Lebowski for best acting performance in a Coen Bros movie, IMO.

Fargo earns sentimental points from me, because a lot of the landscapes, and culture of the film hit pretty close to home, compared to No Country.  It's more resolved too, which probably has more to do with Cormac McCarthy than the Coen Bros.  I've never read No Country and don't know how faithful the film is, plot-wise.

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Let alone the great simplicity of Blood Simple.

TSPDT Guide
Highly Recommended

Blood Simple (1984) ✖︎, Raising Arizona (1987) , Miller's Crossing (1990) ✖︎, Barton Fink (1991) , Fargo (1996) ✖︎, The Man Who Wasn't There (2001) ✖︎, No Country for Old Men (2007) ✖︎
Recommended
The Hudsucker Proxy (1994), The Big Lebowski (1998) ✖︎, O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000) , True Grit (2010) , Inside Llewyn Davis (2013)
Worth a Look
Intolerable Cruelty (2003), The Ladykillers (2004), Burn After Reading (2008) , A Serious Man (2009)
Approach with Caution
Hail, Caesar! (2016)

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3 hours ago, Al_4_ISU said:

Bardem's performance is tied with Goodman in the Lebowski for best acting performance in a Coen Bros movie, IMO.

Damn... this is a tough debate. Sure those two are great but you have Frances McDormand (obviously, she won the damn Oscar for it) and William H. Macy in Fargo, and Holly Hunter in RA. Bridges and Steinfeld are both great in True Grit but prob not up there with the others. 

Can't speak to the full list - will have to catch up on a couple that Tantric listed. 

4 hours ago, Asithappens said:

Princess Mononoke (a must see)

Spirited Away (another classic by Miyazaki, also Howl's Moving Castle)

Spirited Away is more beloved and accessible but Mononoke leaves you with a lot more to think about and weaves together a better story imo. Spirited Away immerses you in a fantasy to get lost in, Princess Mononoke offers more parallels and is more complex at its core. It's like Finding Nemo vs. Wall-E. 

37 minutes ago, Continental Op said:

There were some seriously batshit crazy exploitation films made before TCM but this was the one that really flipped the switch on modern horror IMO.  

The first time I watched it I had to sit still for a few minutes to gather myself after it ended. Pretty sure my expression would have looked like I just witnessed an actual murder. 

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4 hours ago, Asithappens said:

One, Two, Three - a Billy Wilder film with James Cagney and, wait for it, Horst Buchholz. (I never miss a Horst Buchholz film! - bonus points if know who said that)

Have a Coke and a smile!

Spoiler

Martin Crane's oldest son.

 

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DS Top 10 in no particular order:

The Godfather

Cinema Paradiso

Lawrence of Arabia

The Searchers

Glory

Das Boot

City of God

Good  Fellas

Alien

Apocalypse Now

 

DS Next 10:

Blazing Saddles,  The Thing,  The Wild Bunch, Schindler's List,  Raiders of The Lost Ark, The Outlaw Josey Wales, City of God, 12 Angry Men, Chinatown, To Kill A Mockingbird

 

 

 

 

 

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3 hours ago, tantric superman said:

Let alone the great simplicity of Blood Simple.

TSPDT Guide
Highly Recommended

Blood Simple (1984) ✖︎, Raising Arizona (1987) , Miller's Crossing (1990) ✖︎, Barton Fink (1991) , Fargo (1996) ✖︎, The Man Who Wasn't There (2001) ✖︎, No Country for Old Men (2007) ✖︎
Recommended
The Hudsucker Proxy (1994), The Big Lebowski (1998) ✖︎, O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000) , True Grit (2010) , Inside Llewyn Davis (2013)
Worth a Look
Intolerable Cruelty (2003), The Ladykillers (2004), Burn After Reading (2008) , A Serious Man (2009)
Approach with Caution
Hail, Caesar! (2016)

Your highly recommended and recommended list needs some revising and flipping places IMO. It's all personal preference pf course.

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1 minute ago, deadshank said:

DS Top 10 in no particular order:

The Godfather

Cinema Paradiso

Lawrence of Arabia

The Searchers

Glory

Das Boot

City of God

Good  Fellas

Alien

Apocalypse Now

 

DS Next 10:

Blazing Saddles,  The Thing,  The Wild Bunch, Schindler's List,  Raiders of The Lost Ark, The Outlaw Josey Wales, City of God, 12 Angry Men, Chinatown, To Kill A Mockingbird

 

 

 

 

 

12 Angry men and Glory are both high high on my list of all time favorites.  The Hustler hasn't been mentioned yet, but it's also one of my personal favorites. Newman, Gleason and Scott are masterful and powerful.

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1 minute ago, Onboard 2.0 said:

Your highly recommended and recommended list needs some revising and flipping places IMO. It's all personal preference pf course.

I got that list from TSPDT, which I tend to pimp around here.

It's got the three best Coen Bros movies IMO, - Raising AZ, Miller's Crossing, and No Country in the top tier, so no real issues.  I never warmed up to the cold Barton Fink or even remember finishing Ladykillers.  Other than that, I like them all.  Looking at the list, I think two quiet ones - Serious Man and Llewelyn, are a bit underrated.

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5 minutes ago, tantric superman said:

I got that list from TSPDT, which I tend to pimp around here.

It's got the three best Coen Bros movies IMO, - Raising AZ, Miller's Crossing, and No Country in the top tier, so no real issues.  I never warmed up to the cold Barton Fink or even remember finishing Ladykillers.  Other than that, I like them all.  Looking at the list, I think two quiet ones - Serious Man and Llewelyn, are a bit underrated.

Yeah Barton Fink is a bit of an acquired taste, but I dig Turturro and Goodman so I liked it, but it's not to memorable . I'd put Lebowski over that easily. I'd also have O' Brother on the must see list just for the music alone, and that doesn't over shadow the great epic journey of the story, and again Turturro for the win. 

Raising Arizona is my all time Coen brothers favorite, and I loved Hanks in the Ladykillers (he had to have a blast playing that over the top role), it's definitely cartoonish in it's characters, but damn they all played together for me very well.

Haven't seen a couple of those, so I'll add 'em to the list of movies I need to see.

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