The Movie Review and Discussion Thread

[surfdude12]

Originally Posted by lDlisturb3d

excuse me sir but 8 1/2 and LOTR's is way to far down!

haha yeah. 8 1/2 I need to watch again...I think it takes repeated viewings to appreciate. LOTR? I like it a lot, but you gotta remember - action/adventure is not my kind of genre, so the fact that its on the list at all is impressive

[iam1bearcat]

Originally Posted by surfdude12

wow, 4 of the same top-10, and 5 of the same top-11...that's sick!

we should probably stop talking so much about movies. this is freaking me out!

[Show spoiler]

or it just means

[Show spoiler]WE'RE FREAKING GENIUSES

when it comes to films

[lDlisturb3d]

my top 20 because im sleepy and i cant go to 50 or 100. No order

1. 8 1/2
2. Benjamin Button
3. Ratatouille
4. North By Northwest
5. The Watchmen
6. Gladiator
7. Run Lola Run
8. Memento
9. Triangle
10. The Godfather
11. The Godfather 2
13. LOTR 1-3
16. We Were Soldiers
17. The Princess Bride
18. Storm of the Century
19. A Clock Work Orange
20. Fight Club


Keep in mind im still seeing movies that have been out for years for the first time

[Diesel]

Originally Posted by iam1bearcat

i know. i'm having a nice, quiet discussion with DJ about our favorites list and then suddenly everyone chimes in, as if i care or talk to these people

[Show spoiler]

but that's okay, it's my goal to get this thread to 20,000 posts by December 31, 2010 11:59pm

[Show spoiler]

Attachment 25481

That's a long way to go (8,300+)

[lDlisturb3d]

Originally Posted by surfdude12

haha yeah. 8 1/2 I need to watch again...I think it takes repeated viewings to appreciate. LOTR? I like it a lot, but you gotta remember - action/adventure is not my kind of genre, so the fact that its on the list at all is impressive

I was on edge during that whole trilogy. I've never been entertained like that before. I dont know what it was seriously.

When i get back home im seriously gonna check at 2001 ASO again. I wanna like it so imma try harder to adapt it. Its just so f*ck SLOW! This has to be the slowest slower burner of Slowest slow burning movies of all time slowness.

[Diesel]

I attempted to make a favorites list just now, but I could only get 4 movies in before it became, "Hmm...should this be here? Or should this? Or maybe that one?"


So those four were


Return of the King (Theatrical)

The Dark Knight

The Two Towers (Extended)

Empire Strikes Back




Others that came to mind immediately, but I'm not sure of placement, were things like The Lion King (my #1 animated movie), the Toy Story films (1 and 3), The Prestige, Gladiator, Star Trek 09.

[iam1bearcat]

Originally Posted by Diesel

[Show spoiler]

Attachment 25481

That's a long way to go (8,300+)

if this site had anymore "laugh" options i would have put them above.
i was totally not expecting that picture, and laughed for about 5 straight minutes and scared the dickens out of my dog by laughing so hard

[iam1bearcat]

Originally Posted by Diesel

I attempted to make a favorites list just now, but I could only get 4 movies in before it became, "Hmm...should this be here? Or should this? Or maybe that one?"


So those four were


Return of the King (Theatrical)

The Dark Knight

The Two Towers (Extended)

Empire Strikes Back

try not putting them in any order. just mentally put them 'side by side' instead of 'okay, my favorite goes on line 1, and then second favorite on line 2' that's what i've been doing for years and then later rearranging. at least that way you know which ones are your favorites, just without any number attached to them

[surfdude12]

Originally Posted by iam1bearcat

we should probably stop talking so much about movies. this is freaking me out!

[Show spoiler]

or it just means

[Show spoiler]WE'RE FREAKING GENIUSES

when it comes to films

yeah on both counts! I should watch any of your favs I haven't seen...i'll have to go look at your list again.

[surfdude12]

Originally Posted by Diesel

I attempted to make a favorites list just now, but I could only get 4 movies in before it became, "Hmm...should this be here? Or should this? Or maybe that one?"

why theatrical on ROTK but Extended on TTT?

[iam1bearcat]

Originally Posted by surfdude12

yeah on both counts! I should watch any of your favs I haven't seen...i'll have to go look at your list again.

i'm definitely going to do the same with your list, which probably consists of about 80% of films i haven't seen / maybe not even heard of!

[surfdude12]

Originally Posted by lDlisturb3d

I was on edge during that whole trilogy. I've never been entertained like that before. I dont know what it was seriously.

have you read the books? I've heard that helps make it even better. I've got the books and plan to read 'em before I watch the EE blu's when (or if) they ever come out

When i get back home im seriously gonna check at 2001 ASO again. I wanna like it so imma try harder to adapt it. Its just so f*ck SLOW! This has to be the slowest slower burner of Slowest slow burning movies of all time slowness.

just remember this while watching it: this is the actual speed in space.
pretend you're at the park. would you think "damn, this is too slow. that swan can't swim for shi%"? what would you say if you heard me say that, then get up and walk home saying "this park sucks ,its waaaaay too slow"
No, you'd just tell me to watch and enjoy nature at its natural speed. no different here.

[jhiggy23]

surf, i haven't forgotten about TTRL----i'll comment tomorrow

[shinseiRomeo]

Originally Posted by Diesel

[Show spoiler]

Attachment 25481

That's a long way to go (8,300+)

Okay, seriously that pic just made me laugh out loud.

[Show spoiler]

[surfdude12]

Originally Posted by jhiggy23

surf, i haven't forgotten about TTRL----i'll comment tomorrow

no worries bro -- me of all people understand that you got shi% on your plate

[Lepidopterous]

Originally Posted by surfdude12

holy crappola DJ that was a surprise! Like Bearcat, I was expecting nearly all 30 to be classic/drama. A very mixed list, particularly for someone who was able to give a theory on Marienbad! <-- a feat of its own!

Hey don't judge!

I've seen plenty of classic/intellectual films, and many of them are some of the most brilliant movies ever made. I know where you're coming from because my list just screams out "this guy has no idea what cinema is about! These movies are mostly from the past two decades!!" But the way I look at it, my favorites have to be personal, no matter how ignorant they make my list look. I won't fill my list of favorites with movies that aren't personal to me simply so it can accurately embody my preferences. That might be why my list is so surprising. It's the logic behind it. How well-made or thought-provoking a film is makes up only one bit of my selection process, but a whole lot of our discussions.

Some of my criteria:
- I'm able to watch it any time.
- A good amount of time has passed after watching it so that excitement does not account for its ranking.
- I've seen it by myself (my perspective can be skewed one way or another when watching a movie with someone).
- It's been viewed multiple times.
- It connects with me on a personal level. Whether inspiring (Amelie), tragic (The Wrestler), romantic (A Lot Like Love), or representative of trauma I have either been through, can relate to, or witnessed (Babel - I know a woman whose daughter went missing in the desert after trying to cross the Mexican border, until they identified her body six months later).
- Overwhelming in some regard (i.e. Hiroshima Mon Amour - extremely beautiful and poetic. Batman Begins - overwhelming first impression. Watched it twice in a row the first time and hey what do you know, it eventually stuck).
- Instilled in my very personality (Ace Ventura)
- Entertainment or Acting. I simply dig everything about the movie (i.e. Collateral, Sin City)
- Cerebral/Thought provoking i.e. Ghost in the Shell.
- Nostalgia (i.e. Princess Mononoke, The Fast and the Furious)

Most of these might seem fairly obvious, but I find most people's favorite lists aren't as much about their experience, and have a lot to do with the movie's cinematic achievements or brilliance (totally understandable).

P.S. Surf: You might notice Mr. Marienbad's previous film made my list!

[Lepidopterous]

Originally Posted by iam1bearcat

with some i am nostalgic as well. with one of the majors being The Blair Witch Project. it was the first horror film i ever saw in the theater (with my mom who hated it and was completely bored and i was 10 and scared sh*tless ) and it was the first (and really only 1 of like 5) scary movie to really traumatize and scare me. and the films scares are my own personal fears / scares. little things like yelling when outside in the dark (really creeps me out and makes my skin crawl just thinking about it ).

as for why i love Michael Clayton... i can clearly see why a lot of people find it boring, it is slow moving and i would NEVER watch it with friends or the girlfriend. it's definitely a film that i watch by myself because it is so slower paced. but as to why i really enjoy it, i LOVE the cinematography - the color palette especially fits perfectly, the score, the performance by Clooney and the character he portrays: someone who has a very cryptic, unknown job and it seems like something i would love to do, but he really doesn't have it all, he's

[Show spoiler]broke, divorced and his family life isn't perfect and now his job might be gone and he will have nothing left

, but in the end, he perseveres

i remember the first time i watched it, i was just hypnotized. the performance by Tom Wilkinson was phenomenal as well. i guess it's kind of hard to explain? (and i haven't watched it in forever, but just going off memory and remembering things that stood out to me) although bringing it up now makes me want to watch it in a bit

I know what you mean about Blair Witch. Poltergeist nearly traumatized me as a kid. As a result, it always finds itself near the top of my horror lists.

I don't think I'll ever give Clayton another viewing, but that's good to know. I completely agree with Wilkinson's performance. I think that film's strongest asset is its acting.

[Lepidopterous]

Originally Posted by surfdude12

my top 100:

[Show spoiler]
1 2001
2 Mulholland Drive
3 Apocalypse Now Redux
4 The Lives of Others
5 Eyes Wide Shut
6 Gone With The Wind
7 Last Year at Marienbad
8 Playtime
9 Memento
10 The Fountain
11 There Will be Blood
12 Vanilla Sky
13 Howards End
14 It's A Wonderful Life
15 Citizen Kane
16 Rear Window
17 Paris Texas
18 Barry Lyndon
19 Baraka
20 Wings of Desire
21 Revanche
22 A Clockwork Orange
23 The Leopard
24 The Shining
25 28 Up
26 Dark City
27 Psycho
28 Amadeus
29 Babel
30 The Orphanage
31 The Wizard of Oz
32 Godfather 2
33 Godfather 1
34 Dawn of the Dead (78)
35 Halloween (78)
36 Magnolia
37 El Norte
38 Fargo
39 The Fall
40 Casino
41 The Third Man
42 Monty Python and HG
43 Seven Samurai
44 Walkabout
45 Pan's Labrynth
46 Vertigo
47 The Ring
48 Casablanca
49 The 400 Blows
50 The Seventh Seal
51 Big Fish
52 Black Narcissus
53 Kingdom of Heaven
54 Dr. Strangelove
55 28 Days Later
56 The Others
57 Braveheart
58 Gladiator
59 Unforgiven
60 Cast Away
61 Cinderella Man
62 Corpse Bride
63 Dances With Wolves
64 The Descent
65 Eternal Sunshine of the Sp
66 Following
67 Schindler's List
68 Karate Kid
69 The Thin Red Line
70 Chungking Express
71 The Big Lebowski
72 The Blair Witch Project
73 Across the Universe
74 The Passion of the Christ
75 Requiem for a Dream
76 Summer Hours
77 The Shawshank Redemption
78 The Silence of the Lambs
79 Tell No One
80 Star Wars IV
81 Star Wars V
82 Jaws
83 The Last Emperor
84 Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolf
85 Gandhi
86 8 1/2
87 No Country for Old Men
88 Groundhog Day
89 Terminator 1
90 Terminator 2
91 On the Waterfront
92 Gran Torino
93 Alien
94 City of God
95 Triangle
96 Bram Stoker's Dracula
97 LOTR Series
98 The Grapes of Wrath
99 About Schmidt
100 The African Queen

Your list would knock my list out in a cage match

#93 is a masterpiece. What do you think of the sequel?

[Show spoiler]

[Lepidopterous]

Originally Posted by jhiggy23

My favorites?

[Show spoiler]1) The Fountain
2) 12 Angry Men
3) To Kill a Mockingbird
4) The Lives of Others
5) Judgment at Nuremberg
6) The Werckmeister Harmonies
7) Vivre Sa Vie
8) Amelie
9) Braveheart
10) Forrest Gump
11) The Deer Hunter
12) The Godfather
13) The Cove
14) Room in Rome
15) Solaris
16) The New World
17) The Thin Red Line
18) Psycho
19) Alien
20) Aliens
21) 400 Blows
22) Everlasting Moments
23) Last Year at Marienbad
24) Paris, Texas
25) Playtime
26) The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
27) A River Runs Through It
28) Atonement
29) The Assassination of Jesse James
30) Gattaca
31) House of Flying Daggers
32) The Last Samurai
33) My Cousin Vinny
34) Red Cliff
35) The Orphanage
36) Lolita
37) Tell No One
38) The Matrix
39) American Beauty
40) Road to Perdition
41) Casablanca
42) Sophie Scholl: The Final Days
43) Dial M for Murder
44) Apocalypse Now redux
45) Heat
46) Beauty and the Beast
47) Titanic
48) Sin Nombre
49) Bicycle Thief
50) Traffic

Not in order, of course.

Man up and rank em.

You're studying law right? Looks like you take a liking to courtroom dramas.

[Lepidopterous]

Originally Posted by Diesel

Wooooo!!





It's not even that high (or close to it) among my favorite movies....even though I don't have a list

This movie pretty much sums up my "bro" high school days.