[Lunatique]

We had top 10 threads before, but it's been probably a few years, and I'm sure as we get older, our taste shifts a bit. So, what are your current top 10 films of all time?

Mine are (in no particular order):

Un Coeur En Hiver (A Heart In Winter) - I love the portrayal of this dysfunctional man who is incapable of love and friendship, and how it causes pain to those who are drawn to him. The film doesn't judge him nor make excuses for him--he is who he is, and it's chilling because there are more people out there like him than we think.

Bladerunner - Atmospheric, poetic, and visually stunning.

Pulp Fiction - The definition of dynamic filmmaking. Highly entertaining and oozes with style while without sacrificing substance.

Waking the Dead - Heartbreaking and a powerful portrait of the long-lasting love that endures even after death.

Trois Couleurs: Rouge (Three Colors: Red) - One of the finest European films I've ever seen. It has all the markings of the "European film appeal" while without getting too intellectual or too abstract. It strikes the perfect balance that many European films don't have.

American Beauty - The perfect suburban satire that manages to be also forgiving and tender.

Heat - Loyalty, honor, and mutual respect among men of strength. One hell of a crime drama too.

Lost In Translation - Wry, languid, kooky, and touching.

Aliens - One of the finest sci-fi action/horror films ever made, and incredibly influential in creating classic character types. Mastery of pacing that keeps a very long movie tense from beginning to end.

Dawn of the Dead (remake) - Has all the ingredients that makes the perfect popcorn flick, while never veering into the crass. Entertaining from the first scene to the very last. Great character development without needing to dwell on developing, but simply propelling them along with the plot and exposing their personalities through situations.

So hard to trim it down to 10 though. If I could cheat I'd add:

Michi - very obscure Japanese film from the 80's that I've only seen once and never found again. I have yet to meet a Japanese person that's heard of it either. It's about a disillusioned truck driver and the turmoil in his life, and tragedy that followed after having finally found happiness.

Skyggen af Emma (Emma's Shadow) - Touching story of a runaway little girl who befriends an ex-convict, and how he filled the hole in her heart left by cold and uncaring parents.

La Cite Des Enfants Perdus (City of Lost Children) - Twisted fairytale with gorgeous visuals and a heart-warming friendship.

Goodfellas - One of Scorsese's best films, showing off his mastery of storytelling, and contains some of the most imitated scenes in gangster film history.

The Breakfast Club - A rare film that instead of portraying caricatures of teens, really captures the pains of being a teenager.

Cheung fo (The Mission) (Cheung fo actually means "gunfire flash" in Cantonese.) - Unconventional gangster film that has a unique flavor that's very different from typical Hong Kong gangster films.

[Jabo]

Uh, a hard one. This is hypothetical of course, but my list would probably look like this:

The Abyss
28 Weeks Later
Indiana Jones: Raiders Of The Lost Ark
Blade Runner
Alien3
The Thing
Mad Max
Dreamers
Jurassic Park
The Blob

Not sure which Mad Max movie is my favourite, really. They're all good, even though they're quite different. I always loved watching Jurassic Park. Not so much because there were dinos in it, but the production- and set design is awesome imo.

Generelly, everything that either plays in space, has a scientific base or is from the 80s could be on the list. Films like "The Thing" demonstrate that even if rather bland in terms of themes, how rich the 80s were from a production stand point.
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[Gort]

Bladerunner
Alien
The Lord of the Rings Trilogy
Mad Max
The Road Warrior
Pulp Fiction
Snatch
Gladiator
Saving Private Ryan
War of the Worlds (Speilberg's version)
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- Tom Carter

"You can't stop the waves but you can learn to surf" - Jack Kornfield

[Ranath]

not in any order

Letters from Iwo Jima
Lord of the Rings Trilogy
Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon
Platoon
Memoirs of a Geisha
Master and Commander
Jurassic Park
War of the Worlds
Stalingrad
Pianist

[Jimmyjimjim]

Raiders of the Lost Ark
Blade Runner
Akira
The Killer
The Godfather Epic (Parts 1&2 put together chronologically)
Close Encounters of the Third Kind
The Thing
Election
Batman Begins
Rushmore

Also-
Alien 1-3
Royal Tenenbaums
Rumble Fish
The Party
Stalker
Throne of Blood
Tremors
28 Days Later
2001: A Space Odyssey
X2: X-Men United
Andromeda Strain

[Tzan]

Lots of awsomeness listed already. Just to be different I wont repeat.


Metropolis (1926, I would like to see this at a theater with an orchestra)
Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead
Memento
Ran (at a theater)
Rashomon
Lawrence of Arabia (at a theater)
Brazil
LOTR ( ok one repeat )
Clint Eastwood westerns (pick one, The Good The Bad & The Ugly, that 3 way gun battle at the end was amazing!!)
World War II movies in general

[watmough]

The Empire Strikes Back
Bladerunner
Totoro
Fellowship Of The Ring
Raiders Of The Lost Ark
Akira
Fight Club
Alien
Close Encounters
Jaws

[Nag]

In no particular order

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly - I�m a big fan of the spaghetti westerns, I guess it�s just sums them all up pretty well

Aliens - I don�t really think I need to explain Aliens, it just simply rocks!

Bladerunner - Same as above, every sci-fi fan�s favorite movie

Spirited Away - It took me by surprise this one, I�m not a big fan of manga (well spirited away does�nt really fall into manga I think), but this is just an amazing movie, I liked Akira as well of course but in a totally different way.

The Godfather - Can�t have a top 10 list without Godfather

Pan�s Labyrinth - Loved everything about it, great story, simple, dreamy, adventurous, extremely convincing visuals. It just works. And I don�t know why but I don�t think it would have been as good in English, something about having it in Spanish that made it more convincing.

Das Boot - If you have�nt seen it, see it

Inland Empire - The most surreal movie I�ve seen, took me a while to figure out what I had just seen, I�m a big David Lynch fan and I think Inland Empire just sums a lot of his stuff up.

Amelie - One of the best feel good movies, great characters and atmosphere, makes me want to live in a small town in France.

LOTR - I�ve read the books around 4 times and the movies were probably about as good as was possible. The book is still better

Schindler's List - Shows pretty well how humans can be both incredibly evil and amazingly kind. It�s just a masterpiece.


add:

Full Metal Jacket
The Shawshank Redemption
La Vita � bella
Fight Club
Pulp Fiction
Requiem for a Dream
Lilia-4-Ever
Donnie Darko
Stand by Me
Lost Highway
Mulholland Drive
Once upon a Time in the West
2001
Reservoir Dogs
City of God

[Max]

It would be interesting to hear why you like those movies :
I'll list those which have influenced and inspired me a lot back then.
That doesn't mean they are "quality movies". I just love the world and feelings they created in my mind!

Lord of the Rings Trilogy: I am a huge fan of the books. The movies were and still are the most inspiring ones I have ever seen. I was 14 when the first one came out. It was pure magic. Today I start seeing alot of things I don't like about those movies. Nonetheless they have influenced me more than any other movie.

Old Star Wars Trilogy: When I first got a collection of these movies as a present I watched them everyday for months. I was addicted. SW influenced all of us anyway...

The Good The Bad & The Ugly: This one just represents the Italo Western. Hard to describe those movies,...deep drama. Awesome atmosphere. And the music,...alluring.

Indiana Jones Trilogy: Adventure! We all wanted to be Indy right? ;D

The Matrix: It was just a damn cool movie back the and still is. Eventough the philosophy going on in the movie is vaguely the discussions itself were something new these days. (for me)

Shining: Best psycho-horror flick imho. Wonderful atmophere. Great soundtrack. Especially the opening scene. Let's add Eyes Wide Shut here too.

The Philidelphia Story: Wonderful dialoges. Incredibly funney! A classic!

Donnie Darko: Weird end time movie. Makes you think. Very congenial characters.

Das Boot: The ending was so dramatic. Awesome movie. Especially the silent scenes underwater,...you have to see this! The soundtrack is wonderful too!

King Kong: Old one and even better (people will kill me for saying that) the new interpretation of Peter Jackson. There was something of that Indiana Jones feeling going on that made me feel like a little kid again. Nostalgic power I call this. The vfx blew my mind,...I still have no clue how the,..�(/&"�5,..anyway,...powerful film!

Halo The Movie...ergh....okay,.....but it could get into that list because I love Halo and trust Peter Jackson,..and....well,...just continue that flick make it work,..please!


Nag, oh yeah, Lilia-4-Ever is a wondeful movie. Not in my top ten but it was very touching.

These aren't all movies that come to my mind of course,....theres so many,..wait,.let me add The Emperor's New Groove, SO FUNNY!!

[Lunatique]

[Ranath]

yeah, nice idea, I'll explain my reasons too:


Letters from Iwo Jima: Incredible mood and colors, stunning editing in the beginning, TOUCHING. You really cared for the people and I have never before understood so well what it must have been like fighting (and dying) in war. It wasn't so much of a war movie rather than a drama film almost, war wasn't the main thing, it was about people's reactions to it. Oh, and acting was world class.

Lord of the Rings Trilogy: Love all Tolkien's books. Movie design differed from what I had imagined (surprise) but there was a lot of good stuff here. First one was by far the best, RotK was worst. All were still very good and at least entertaining.

Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon: I'm not really a fan of wuxia but this was great, nice action, nice mood, great music and landscape. There's this one shot that shows a scene before a storm, I can feel the wind in my face everytime I see it. Again a movie that's kinda sad, I tend to like that stuff.

Platoon: Very strong depiction of the Vietnam war, some good characters and daring scenes.

Memoirs of a Geisha: You just gotta love all the sets and costumes. Very visual movie in that sense. Story wasn't bad either, though the book was better.

Master and Commander: Great story, and the film had this realistic feel to it, had none of the Pirates of the Caribbean craziness to it which was a good thing.

Jurassic Park: I really liked the feeling of the film, the same was with the book. I liked how everything just collapsed around them and hell was set loose. Like they said, life found it's way

War of the Worlds: Great action, great vfx. It had this really creepy feeling to it, tripods were really badass.

Stalingrad: One of the sadest films I've seen. You get just sick of thinking that stuff, which is exactly the goal. I don't agree with the critics about the ending, I thought it was appropriate if you consider what it must have been really like for an individual.

Pianist: Again WW2 era, again incredibly mournful. This film made me physically sick, I guess I'm so emotionally attached to the characters and stuff. Or then it's just a sign of a good, powerful and effective movie.

[The Insane Lemur]

no one has mentioned Roadhouse??!!! Dalton weeps for your souls

[Jimmyjimjim]

Raiders of the Lost Ark In my mind, one of the most exciting films ever made. Indiana Jones is quite possibly the most iconic action hero (or Anti-hero?) ever. The infecting score by John Williams helps things along quite a bit, too.

Blade Runner The most perfect film ever made. The true director's cut just released fixed all the little ticks that are distracting (like the mismatched mouth movements, the visible wires on Spinners, the reused shot of Roy Batty) and made a perfect film even better. The best lighting, sets, and photography ever put to film.

Akira An absolutely stunning animated film done before computers made the job easier. The story is hard to follow, and the BOTH the english dubs leave something to be desired for, the the sheer scale of the film has never been matched.

The Killer The best of the HK action films, and what every action movie from the 90's aspired to be.

The Godfather Epic (Parts 1&2 put together chronologically) This took two of the most moving dramas ever and turned them into one VERY long film that is never boring. I doubt there was one person that saw this film that didn't wish to be just a little bit Italian.

Close Encounters of the Third Kind The kind of magic I go to movies for. It's nice to see a film that is intense, yet there are no bad guys and ends on a very optimistic note.

The Thing The scariest fucking movie ever. The scene where the doctor tries to use the defibulator [sic?] on the guy ion the table STILL makes me wet my pants every time I see it.

Election One of the VERY few High school comedies that represents high school as it actually is. The kids actually look like high school kids, the parents and teachers look accordingly as well. Very creative editing and score.

Batman Begins There has necver been a film that more effectively jump-started a superhero. BB rose from the ashes of Joel Schumacher's abortions and delivered a solid film that only occasionally suffered from idiocracy that plagues the genre. The first half of the film is nearly perfect.

Rushmore Wes Anderson can do no wrong in my book, and this story of a precocious, yet intelligent and accessible underachiever has a unique tone and a redeeming end rarely seen in films that aren't made by Wes Anderson.[/b]

[Jabo]

Ok, here you go:

The Abyss
Very intense, one of the most consistent suspense curves in film history. Even though it's almost three hours long, it is damn good from beginning to end. A scientific background story, a very imaginative setting, and some really good characters. Defines the intelligent action genre for me.

28 Weeks Later
One of the few horror flicks that I really enjoyed. It's british, it's underground, it's fresh. I didn't like the weird humor in the first one, so the sinister seriousness of Weeks really put me into the whole thing.

Indiana Jones: Raiders Of The Lost Ark
First of all: Harrison Ford. My absolute top favourite actor. A sympathic guy, smart but clumsy. Also, it's weird but i love how Ford handles and conveys physical pain on screen. In all his movies, he's always the weaker one in a fight, and wins by chance. The rest of the reasons are: Top-notch and fresh script, awesome setting, and the kind of road movie feeling you don't find a lot in today's movies.

Blade Runner
Uh, yeah. I guess we all know.

Alien3
I'm a sucker for the black sheeps of a franchise. I always like The Empire Strikes Back most of the Star Wars movies and in this case, it's just perfect. Of course, the original Alien has a bonus for defining a genre, but I love how Fincher handled this particular film. I even think the type used in the advertisements are one of the best, if not the best in history.

The Thing
Fuck, it's just great. The score, the acting, again a distant and sealed off setting. Also, the effects are mindblowing. NO FUCKING CG CREATURE could ever make me fear so much.

Mad Max
I just like them. Probably for nostalgic reasons, but the whole desert settings make me want to cuddle this series. Looking forward to Rage from id as well.

Dreamers
My favourite serious movie. I was shocked because it was the first time I was exposed to explicit erotic components in a feature film. Never saw such deep acting.

Jurassic Park
As I said, production design, effects, the feeling and the pace make this one perfect. I think when I am asked about movies I watched when I was a kid, the scene of the T-Rex hunting the jeep has been burned into my mind forever.

The Blob
I just watched it again after more than a decade and I instantly fell in love. Like The Thing, the remake from the 80s is a lot better than the original from the 50s. I like the sheer brutality that it conveys.
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[genocell]

[balistic]

Dr. Strangelove
Seven Samurai
Robocop
2001
Kingdom of Heaven (the three hour director's cut)
Ghost in the Shell
Solaris (Tarkovsky's original)
Nude on the Moon
Baraka
Godzilla 2000
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[Mikko K]

Couple of ones that should be added:

Ravenous
Sleepy Hollow
Fight Club
Memento
The Usual Suspects
The Proposition

..and the list goes on

[Nag]

Max: Yeah, Lilja-4-Ever is a great movie, not really a feel good one though, I had pain in my stomach for 2 days after seeing it.

balistic: I totally forgot Dr. Strangelove, saw it again the other day and it�s just as good as I remembered.

also adding the reasons in my original post.

[B0b]

FMJ
Starwars EP:V
Terminator
Aliens
Toy Story
James Bond: Thunderball
Batman
Yojimbo
Seven Samurai
X-Men

[neff]

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Hitchhikers Guide To Galaxy
Bad Santa
Fargo
Lord of The Rings Trilogy
Stars Wars
Star Trek - The First Contact
Last Boy Scout

and some others i dont remember now
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[jr]

two overlooked movies
over the top: stallone at his stallonest. lincoln hawk arm-wrestles for the custody of his son.
last man on earth (L'Ultimo uomo della Terra) there's a scene where vincent price starts off laughing and ends with him crying, in one continuous take.
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