There is a very, very large difference between 'best ever' and 'favourite'.
Well, I guess so. I tend to like clever, well-shot, artistic films, though. I guess if you have different criteria you might give something like "Final Destination" as your answer.
Also, could you clarifiy - are you naming Easy Rider 'best movie ever', or your 'favourite'? I kind of need to know so I can figure out how long to laugh for.
I'm putting Easy Rider down as best film ever. It's also my favourite.
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JacobkoshGamble a stamp.I can show you how to be a real man!Moderatormod
Here's a nice blog post from Bordwell and Thompson about David Koepp, screenwriter of Jurassic Park, Panic Room, and many other big movies, and an unassuming writer/director auteur in his own right (I'm personally pretty fond of the intimate Kevin Bacon ghost story, Stir of Echoes). It contains some neat close readings of some directorial choices from his movies, as well as this great advice from Brian De Palma: “For every shot, ask: What value does it yield?” A lot of current directors could do with taking that to heart.
Thanks for posting this. Koepp is interesting. I don't know if he's ever blown me away, but he seems like a stolid, reliable journeyman. His brand of quiet competence would have been welcome in a lot of pictures I've seen the last few years.
@zagdrob I'd consider skipping J. Edgar if I were you. It's just not good. And not in the way that Running Man is not good. You're better off watching Tinker Tailor twice.
I live to see you eat that statement, but I hope you leave enough room for my fist, because I'm going to ram it into your stomach and break your god-damn spine!
So wait, you don't like Super Troopers, but you do like Running Man? I'm gonna need some graph paper for this one...
My favorite movies ever are probably Back to the Future and Raiders of the Lost Ark (tough to choose; don't make me!). They might not be the deepest films ever, but in my opinion both are executed about as close to perfect as you can get.
@zagdrob I'd consider skipping J. Edgar if I were you. It's just not good. And not in the way that Running Man is not good. You're better off watching Tinker Tailor twice.
I live to see you eat that statement, but I hope you leave enough room for my fist, because I'm going to ram it into your stomach and break your god-damn spine!
So wait, you don't like Super Troopers, but you do like Running Man? I'm gonna need some graph paper for this one...
In all things I endeavor to be a mathematical irregularity.
Though I really don't know why you'd compare The Running Man and Super Troopers; it's not even apples to oranges. The former is a an 80s sci-fi action flick with lots of over the top and unintentionally funny violence, some hamfisted social commentary, and just enough self awareness to have fun with being what it is. The later is presumably a comedy in the "underdog sports team" paradigm with occasionally funny one-off jokes, but with an overall weak narrative and largely one-dimensional characters incapable of carrying the plot, so the entire thing feels like an aimless meandering sequence of disconnected scenes that inadvertently manages to form a very thin story if you tilt your head just right and squint a little.
I don't think my comparison sinks to that level. I just see a movie that was funny on accident and a movie that was funny on purpose. That's as deep as I get.
It's been many years since I've seen The Mummy, but from what I remember it was hella fun. I think it's a far better movie than Raiders of the Lost Ark, which I saw for the first time all the way through last week.
Spielberg and Ford did their best to elevate the material, but how did nobody notice that George Lucas was a terrible writer until modern times? Had I been capable of intelligently critiquing Raiders before seeing Episode I, I would have probably skipped on seeing it in theaters, and probably all of the prequel trilogy, for that matter.
Raiders tried to be a fun, mostly-light-hearted film reminiscent of pulp stories from the 30s and 40s. It... pretty much nailed it perfectly. The script and story and action scenes were striving for exciting in a campy sort of way, and they nailed that. Harrison Ford was at his most charismatic, turning in a performance as a smart guy who likes to get his hands dirty, who is cocky as hell, and who tends to wind up in difficult situations, yet who manages to squeak by with some cleverness and a good amount of luck.
I'm not sure what the material should've been "elevated" to. It's like criticizing the one of the best hamburgers ever made for not being a Porsche.
There are definitely better films, but there aren't a lot of films that better succeed at doing exactly what they set out to do. In that respect, it's on par with Jurassic Park, Die Hard, T2, and a few other nigh-perfect films. I'd probably throw All of Me in there, because the list needs a comedy and Steve Martin is a treasure and he's at peak form in that movie.
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The Departed and Cashback are among my favorite movies. Cashback because it's a gorgeous film with endearing characters, and The Departed because it's so thoroughly engaging from start to finish and the performances are top notch.
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KalTorakOne way or another, they all end up inthe Undercity.Registered Userregular
edited June 2013
It's been a while since i was able to pick a favorite movie; it was Snatch for a while, now it's tied between a half dozen Coen Bros. movies, There Will Be Blood, and Dr. Strangelove.
Unforgiven is pretty high up on my list. Not sure if it can unseat Die Hard as my favorite, though. There's more to it than Die Hard, but Die Hard has no flaws and brings me joy.
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AstaerethIn the belly of the beastRegistered Userregular
My favorite film history goes something like The Shawshank Redemption, Donnie Darko, Taxi Driver, and then a long while when I didn't really have a top contender. Nowadays it would probably be Vertigo, or at least it was for a while.
At any given point I have maybe 100 movies that I hold in super high esteem and will generally rewatch given the chance or the inclination, and maybe about a dozen in pretty heavy rotation in the category of "movies I am looking forward to seeing again." Then I watch them 6 times in a year, get bored with them, and they sink down into the 100.
Thankfully, every year since I started paying attention to it gives me about 3 to 5 top 100 movies, which I think is a pretty good clip. Still, I did the math recently and realized that my deep and abiding respect for the heights of cinema is founded on, like, 200 movies (out of the 1500 or so I've seen). Somehow that seems odd to me.
My favorite comedy is probably Tommy Boy, i have seen it dozens of times and still laugh throughout the movie, and it's immensely quotable, but a lot of movies the SNL cast made i find funny (and also horrid), movies like Trading Places, Coming to America, Billy Madison, Fletch, older Lampoons stuff (love christmas vacation) just seem to stand the test of time.
I have no idea what I'd call my favorite movie. I hate making favorite lists anyway, but let's lay out a little criteria.
It would have to be something that not only could I sit down and watch whenever I wanted, but if I stumbled across it on TV I would almost certainly stop and watch it. A lot of films fit that description, but many of them I have seen so often that I no longer feel that desire.
Narrowing it down a little more, it would need to be one that I'm comfortable recommending to anyone, regardless of their tastes or preferences. Or possibly forcing them to watch if I find out that they have not seen it.
I'm going to cheat a little and crib a few that have already been mentioned and list three: Raiders of the Lost Ark, Back to the Future, and The Princess Bride.
My favorite comedy is probably Tommy Boy, i have seen it dozens of times and still laugh throughout the movie, and it's immensely quotable, but a lot of movies the SNL cast made i find funny (and also horrid), movies like Trading Places, Coming to America, Billy Madison, Fletch, older Lampoons stuff (love christmas vacation) just seem to stand the test of time.
I really do miss Chris Farley.
Though you know if he was alive he would be staring in Grown Ups instead of Kevin James
Favorite Films: Lawrence of Arabia, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, Mary Poppins, The Hidden Fortress, The Searchers, Dances With Wolves (fuck the haters), The Wild Bunch, Rushmore, Dr. Strangelove, Lolita, A Clockwork Orange, Once Upon A Time in the West
God damn I wish Kubrick had made a western...
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jefe414"My Other Drill Hole is a Teleporter"Mechagodzilla is Best GodzillaRegistered Userregular
I'll watch pretty much anything with Cary Grant at any time. Favorite? His Girl Friday is pretty damn high on the list.
I went into Star Trek: Into Darkness expecting disappointment based on the harsh vibes buzzing around and... it was on par to the first one which I liked a lot? Weird, people are too picky and whiny these days. Now, I fully expect to be disappointed by Man of Steel, and I had some spoilers to know why too...
There weren't that many people (at least on here) that actively disliked it.
Specific scenes/arcs, yes, but the general opinion I got was that most people liked it.
Into Darkness was disappointing because it was an extremely solid movie that took some stupid turns
it wasn't terrible by any stretch of the imagination
+1
KalTorakOne way or another, they all end up inthe Undercity.Registered Userregular
I went into Star Trek: Into Darkness expecting disappointment based on the harsh vibes buzzing around and... it was on par to the first one which I liked a lot? Weird, people are too picky and whiny these days. Now, I fully expect to be disappointed by Man of Steel, and I had some spoilers to know why too...
There weren't that many people (at least on here) that actively disliked it.
Specific scenes/arcs, yes, but the general opinion I got was that most people liked it.
Into Darkness was disappointing because it was an extremely solid movie that took some stupid turns AND HAD WAY TOO MUCH GODDAMN LENSFLAIR
it wasn't terrible by any stretch of the imagination
I mean, I get the joke of JJ Abrams = Lensflair but dear god was it distracting in this film. It was even present in interior shots...
I have a deep and abiding love for the extended director's cut of The Abyss.
It was one of the first films I bought with my own money, back on VHS. It was a great way to kill 4 hours on a rainy afternoon.
My favorite movie was Brazil for a long time, largely because it was the first great movie I watched after I had learned how to really appreciate film. I still think it was great, but it probably wouldn't crack my top ten any more.
I don't even know what my top ten would look like offhand, but movies that I am compelled to watch whenever they're on include: The Matrix, all Indiana Jones movies that don't involve Crystal or Skulls, the Star Wars OT, All of Me, Fight Club, the first Austin Powers, Blazing Saddles, Die Hard, Harvey, and Ghostbusters. So that's fourteen movies? We'll call that my top 14.
Magnolia is one of my favoritest movies ever, and the only reason I don't watch it more is because it's 3 hours long.
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NocrenLt Futz, Back in ActionNorth CarolinaRegistered Userregular
Question for Blazing Saddles fans... Edited or not? I mean, it's still funny if I catch it on basic cable, but not AS funny as if I pop in the DVD.
The unrelenting racism and constant N-bombs are part of what makes the movie work. So... unedited.
Blazing Saddles without the racism is like Inglorious Basterds without the Nazis.
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Two of my all-time favorite comedies are Tommy Boy and Black Sheep.
I'm pretty positive a big part of those scripts were 'Farley does his thing, Spade stays out of the way'.
I like David Spade, but since Farley died I always get the feeling I'm looking at one of those birds that mates for life, and when their partner dies they just kind of...turn listless and stop trying to do much of anything.
Also, Kevin James wouldn't be doing anything if Farley were still around. You can really see it anytime the cast is interviewed for Grownups. It's glaringly obvious that he's just a chunky guy trying to fill a Chris Farley sized hole and...not doing bad, but he's no Farley.
I don't have a favorite movie. Movies that I can and will go back and watch whenever the mood strikes me includes things like BttF, the original Star Wars trilogy, the Indiana Jones trilogy, The Matrix, Willow, The Incredibles, The Mummy... I'm sure I could think of more if I tried.
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VariableMouth CongressStroke Me Lady FameRegistered Userregular
Two of my all-time favorite comedies are Tommy Boy and Black Sheep.
I'm pretty positive a big part of those scripts were 'Farley does his thing, Spade stays out of the way'.
I like David Spade, but since Farley died I always get the feeling I'm looking at one of those birds that mates for life, and when their partner dies they just kind of...turn listless and stop trying to do much of anything.
Also, Kevin James wouldn't be doing anything if Farley were still around. You can really see it anytime the cast is interviewed for Grownups. It's glaringly obvious that he's just a chunky guy trying to fill a Chris Farley sized hole and...not doing bad, but he's no Farley.
they spend a lot more time together in Tommy Boy
then for Black Sheep farley wanted to have more focus on the family story with his brother
(this is in the Chris Farley book his brother put together)
there was s possibility of him doing some mroe serious movies but he never got his shit together and obviously passed away before anything like that could happen in his career. I believe he had it in him.
NocrenLt Futz, Back in ActionNorth CarolinaRegistered Userregular
I also liked Black Sheep more, mainly because there was less sniping by Spade at Farley. There were points in Tommy Boy where it just seemed mean where there was no need for it.
Standing in line for Fast 6 my friends and I did the classic "stuck on an island with 5 movies" thing. I decided to pick one from different genres to have a bit of everything.
Action/Adeventure: Raiders of the Lost Ark
Comedy: I couldn't decide between Blazing Saddles and Young Frankenstein
Musical: Singing in the Rain
Sci-fi/Fantasy: Starship Troopers (I don't even care. I love the movie)
Western: Open Range
I happened to watch The Mummy again last week. Of course, I thought it fell just on the wrong side of cheesy even when I first saw it, and that hasn't really changed. I never liked the comparisons to Indiana Jones because Jones was always this confident, competent anchor whom the events of the movie swirled around, and the villains somehow convince me they're serious in their villainy. I don't know if they were attempting the same with Fraser but he always acts overwhelmed, and Imhotep is a series of weightless special effects. And all the one liners sap whatever drama is left.
Also, the special effects suffer from being revolutionary-but-kinda-bad in the way that early CGI can be.
I should love that movie, but I don't! Perhaps I hate fun.
My favorite movie of all time is probably Blade Runner, but I can recognize that it has a certain soporific effect on a lot of people. In fact, a lot of people I know have stories about people falling asleep during Blade Runner, but it's still one of the most visually entrancing movies in my mind, and I find myself longing for it if I haven't seen it in a while.
In terms of movies that I have memorized and will watch if I see that they're on, I will almost always make time for Mean Girls, Empire Records, and Pulp Fiction. I probably have these three memorized at this point.
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jefe414"My Other Drill Hole is a Teleporter"Mechagodzilla is Best GodzillaRegistered Userregular
Action/Adventure: Raiders of the Lost Ark (can't argue with you on this)
Comedy: Big Lebowski
Musical: Robin and the Seven Hoods
Sci-fi/Fantasy: 5th Element
Western: Silverado
There needs to be more Who Framed Roger Rabbit on all those lists, people! Get to it!
But yeah, I've never really been able to say 'this is my favourite movie'. It's a thing in flux, I guess.
We do all have those movies, as some have said, that we could sit down and watch any time, even if they're not necessarily our favourites. I'm pretty sure Tremors isn't my all time favourite movie, but I could go watch it right now.
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Well, I guess so. I tend to like clever, well-shot, artistic films, though. I guess if you have different criteria you might give something like "Final Destination" as your answer.
I'm putting Easy Rider down as best film ever. It's also my favourite.
Thanks for posting this. Koepp is interesting. I don't know if he's ever blown me away, but he seems like a stolid, reliable journeyman. His brand of quiet competence would have been welcome in a lot of pictures I've seen the last few years.
So wait, you don't like Super Troopers, but you do like Running Man? I'm gonna need some graph paper for this one...
In all things I endeavor to be a mathematical irregularity.
Though I really don't know why you'd compare The Running Man and Super Troopers; it's not even apples to oranges. The former is a an 80s sci-fi action flick with lots of over the top and unintentionally funny violence, some hamfisted social commentary, and just enough self awareness to have fun with being what it is. The later is presumably a comedy in the "underdog sports team" paradigm with occasionally funny one-off jokes, but with an overall weak narrative and largely one-dimensional characters incapable of carrying the plot, so the entire thing feels like an aimless meandering sequence of disconnected scenes that inadvertently manages to form a very thin story if you tilt your head just right and squint a little.
Raiders tried to be a fun, mostly-light-hearted film reminiscent of pulp stories from the 30s and 40s. It... pretty much nailed it perfectly. The script and story and action scenes were striving for exciting in a campy sort of way, and they nailed that. Harrison Ford was at his most charismatic, turning in a performance as a smart guy who likes to get his hands dirty, who is cocky as hell, and who tends to wind up in difficult situations, yet who manages to squeak by with some cleverness and a good amount of luck.
I'm not sure what the material should've been "elevated" to. It's like criticizing the one of the best hamburgers ever made for not being a Porsche.
There are definitely better films, but there aren't a lot of films that better succeed at doing exactly what they set out to do. In that respect, it's on par with Jurassic Park, Die Hard, T2, and a few other nigh-perfect films. I'd probably throw All of Me in there, because the list needs a comedy and Steve Martin is a treasure and he's at peak form in that movie.
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but when people ask I always go to Zodiac, Trainspotting, Paris Texas, and Dazed and Confused. There are more but those are my official answers.
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At any given point I have maybe 100 movies that I hold in super high esteem and will generally rewatch given the chance or the inclination, and maybe about a dozen in pretty heavy rotation in the category of "movies I am looking forward to seeing again." Then I watch them 6 times in a year, get bored with them, and they sink down into the 100.
Thankfully, every year since I started paying attention to it gives me about 3 to 5 top 100 movies, which I think is a pretty good clip. Still, I did the math recently and realized that my deep and abiding respect for the heights of cinema is founded on, like, 200 movies (out of the 1500 or so I've seen). Somehow that seems odd to me.
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favorite comedy is so hard
Best movie ever is either Spinal Tap or Goodfellas.
It would have to be something that not only could I sit down and watch whenever I wanted, but if I stumbled across it on TV I would almost certainly stop and watch it. A lot of films fit that description, but many of them I have seen so often that I no longer feel that desire.
Narrowing it down a little more, it would need to be one that I'm comfortable recommending to anyone, regardless of their tastes or preferences. Or possibly forcing them to watch if I find out that they have not seen it.
I'm going to cheat a little and crib a few that have already been mentioned and list three: Raiders of the Lost Ark, Back to the Future, and The Princess Bride.
I really do miss Chris Farley.
Though you know if he was alive he would be staring in Grown Ups instead of Kevin James
Favorite Films: Lawrence of Arabia, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, Mary Poppins, The Hidden Fortress, The Searchers, Dances With Wolves (fuck the haters), The Wild Bunch, Rushmore, Dr. Strangelove, Lolita, A Clockwork Orange, Once Upon A Time in the West
God damn I wish Kubrick had made a western...
Into Darkness was disappointing because it was an extremely solid movie that took some stupid turns
it wasn't terrible by any stretch of the imagination
for me, you can't beat "The Philadelphia Story"
I mean, I get the joke of JJ Abrams = Lensflair but dear god was it distracting in this film. It was even present in interior shots...
It was one of the first films I bought with my own money, back on VHS. It was a great way to kill 4 hours on a rainy afternoon.
I don't even know what my top ten would look like offhand, but movies that I am compelled to watch whenever they're on include: The Matrix, all Indiana Jones movies that don't involve Crystal or Skulls, the Star Wars OT, All of Me, Fight Club, the first Austin Powers, Blazing Saddles, Die Hard, Harvey, and Ghostbusters. So that's fourteen movies? We'll call that my top 14.
Magnolia is one of my favoritest movies ever, and the only reason I don't watch it more is because it's 3 hours long.
Blazing Saddles without the racism is like Inglorious Basterds without the Nazis.
I'm pretty positive a big part of those scripts were 'Farley does his thing, Spade stays out of the way'.
I like David Spade, but since Farley died I always get the feeling I'm looking at one of those birds that mates for life, and when their partner dies they just kind of...turn listless and stop trying to do much of anything.
Also, Kevin James wouldn't be doing anything if Farley were still around. You can really see it anytime the cast is interviewed for Grownups. It's glaringly obvious that he's just a chunky guy trying to fill a Chris Farley sized hole and...not doing bad, but he's no Farley.
they spend a lot more time together in Tommy Boy
then for Black Sheep farley wanted to have more focus on the family story with his brother
(this is in the Chris Farley book his brother put together)
there was s possibility of him doing some mroe serious movies but he never got his shit together and obviously passed away before anything like that could happen in his career. I believe he had it in him.
Action/Adeventure: Raiders of the Lost Ark
Comedy: I couldn't decide between Blazing Saddles and Young Frankenstein
Musical: Singing in the Rain
Sci-fi/Fantasy: Starship Troopers (I don't even care. I love the movie)
Western: Open Range
Also, the special effects suffer from being revolutionary-but-kinda-bad in the way that early CGI can be.
I should love that movie, but I don't! Perhaps I hate fun.
In terms of movies that I have memorized and will watch if I see that they're on, I will almost always make time for Mean Girls, Empire Records, and Pulp Fiction. I probably have these three memorized at this point.
Comedy: Big Lebowski
Musical: Robin and the Seven Hoods
Sci-fi/Fantasy: 5th Element
Western: Silverado
But yeah, I've never really been able to say 'this is my favourite movie'. It's a thing in flux, I guess.
We do all have those movies, as some have said, that we could sit down and watch any time, even if they're not necessarily our favourites. I'm pretty sure Tremors isn't my all time favourite movie, but I could go watch it right now.