Top Ten Movies

[malyss]

Lay out your top ten and why.

Don't try to impress anyone with some art-class bullshit either (I'm looking at anyone who is going to say Citizen Kane... it's not about the top ten movies ever made and how they advanced cinema etc. Just what you actually have seen at least a few times because you wanted to - not because you had to). Hopefully this will show some movies we wouldn't normally think to watch. Or we will discover that we all have roughly the same fucked up taste.

Don't worry about putting them in order - just pick your favourite 10.

1) Star Wars - I credit it with turning me on to sci-fi
2) Army of Darkness - B movies can be awesome too - see my quote
3) Dead Poets Society - Robin Williams can act... holy shit, never saw that coming
4) Conan - I credit this with introducing me to fantasy
5) Equilibrium - I must like it... I have watched it at least 9 times "Have you taken your dose?"
6) Weird Science - I saw this a ton of times when I was a kid, and it was a perfect example of the 80's
7) Porkys - boobs. "Why do they call you Meat?"
The Fifth Element - just a fun movie that I watch a lot "Moultipass."
9) Leon - Gary Oldman, Jean Reno, Natalie Portman - twisted awesome "No women, no kids."
10) Commando - mindless action with great one-liners "Where's Sully?"

[Tadanori Oyama]

Hot Fuzz, everything you need from a cop action movie on a Brittish budget
Press Start, best no budget movie ever made
V for Vendetta, Hugo Weaving uses roughly 1,000 "v" words in one speech, tortures Natalie Portman to make her immune to fear, and kills a bunch of guys with knives
Dodgeball, fuckin' Chuck Norris
The Gamers, gaming joke delivery system
The Gamers: Dorkness Rising, jokes about gaming that non-gamers can get
Twilight, because with the Rifftrax you'll piss yourself
El Dorado, the Duke in some of his most enjoyable work
Murder on the Orient Express, a Belgian makes a massive guess and a dozen people get away with murder

I can't think of a tenth on right now.

[crash2455]

Murder on the Orient Express, a Belgian makes a massive guess and a dozen people get away with murder

Wasn't this the one with Gene Wilder?

[clockworkjoe]

These movies have affected me more than any other films I have ever seen I think - a combination of their power and seeing them when I was young

The Seven Faces of Dr. Lao
The Seven Samurai
Akira Kurosawa's Dreams
Rashomon
Dr. Strangelove
The Third Man
Full Metal Jacket
Night of the Living Dead
8 1/2
The Thing (carpenter remake)
Kentucky Fried Movie
Airplane
Monty Python and the Holy Grail

movies I keep showing to other people so I have seen them many times

Battle Royale
The Room
Versus
The Lost Skeleton of Cadevera
MST3k episodes

[Tadanori Oyama]

Murder on the Orient Express, a Belgian makes a massive guess and a dozen people get away with murder

Wasn't this the one with Gene Wilder?

No, it was not.

[BeyondSandrock]

This is difficult since this is a list that is in constant flux.  But if I have to narrow it down to the current list:

10. Return of the Jedi - This movie not only introduced me to the Star Wars universe, but also sparked my appreciation and love for the Sci-Fi genre as a whole.  Plus did I mention how much I love space battles?

9.  Clue - Brilliant ensemble cast (Tim Curry, Madeline Kahn, Michael Mckean, Christopher Lloyd to mention a few), hilarious slapstick, dead-on-timing (literally) and the only movie I'm aware of to include all of it's alternate endings in the final cut.  Plus I can make the case that this was the first dark comedy I ever saw.

8.  X-Men 2 - This movies stands as a testament of how to correctly combine two very different storylines into a coherent and excellent script.  The writers of this one not only were able to seamlessly blend one of the strongest X-Men stories of all time God Loves, Man Kills with the continuing Weapon X arc; they were also able to insert decent foreshadowing of the Phoenix Saga as well.

7.  The Muppet Movie - "Life's like a movie, write your own ending. Keep believing, keep pretending, we've done just what we've set out to doooooooo."

6.  Attack the Gas Station - Korean life-lesson movie involving street punks, whipped small buisness owners, over-dressed gangs, delivery boys and one of the best Mexican standoffs ever to be filmed.

5.  Wall-E - By far one of the most beautiful and unique pieces to come out of Pixar to date.

4.  Iron Man - For finally perfecting part of the comic movie formula and setting Marvel on the path to creating THE GREATEST COMIC MOVIE EVER.

3.  The Lord of the Rings (Jackson Trilogy) - By far the best adaptation of any fantasy story to film. 

2.  Ghostbusters -   Science, Sarcasm and the Supernatural.  Oh, and Egon.

1.  Raiders of the Lost Ark / The Last Crusade - The heros of serialized 20's action pulp reborn in form of a Nazi-stomping-artifact hunting-badass historian!

[ethan_dawe]

*SIGH* I'm never good at top ten lists, but who can resist!

Citizen Kane! <- Not really. Don't think I've ever seen the whole thing :-)

In no particular order....

Amelie
Kontroll
Strictly Ballroom
A Little Romance
The Thing (John Carpenter version)
Conan
Excalibur
Skin Deep
Lord of the Rings
Sixteen Candles


Crap, ten already :-(

[clockworkjoe]

forgot to list why these particular movies are important

The Seven Faces of Dr. Lao - sums up my personal philosophy of life more than any other movie
The Seven Samurai - this is THE action movie because it is truly epic in every sense of the word
Akira Kurosawa's Dreams - some dreams, particularly the tunnel dream, still haunt me to this day
Rashomon - I think I learned to appreciate complexity and nuance - what is truth and what is deception?
Dr. Strangelove - The greatest black comedy of all time - subversive and hilarious
The Third Man - the ambiguity of Orson Welles' character and the famous ferris wheel speech
Full Metal Jacket - a war movie that affected me more than any other - one of the reasons why I didn't join the military
Night of the Living Dead - the first movie I saw with an utterly nihilistic ending plus it's pretty fucking terrifying
8 1/2 - again, a movie that made me appreciate complexity in life
The Thing (carpenter remake) - holy shit this is a scary ass movie

All three of these movies probably did more to shape my sense of humor than anything else aside from reading stacks of Mad magazine.
Kentucky Fried Movie
Airplane
Monty Python and the Holy Grail

[Patrick]

1. Dawn Of The Dead (1979): Smart, funny, horrifying and a poetic statement (and dare I say condemnation?) on American consumerism.

2. Somewhere In Time: The perfect blend of science fiction and romance. Jane Seymour was at her most beautiful when this movie was filmed. One of my late grandmother’s favorite films and film scores. Nuff’ said…

3. Indiana Jones And The Last Crusade: The best “Indy” flick of the entire bunch!

4. Full Metal Jacket: My mother was in the Marine Corps, my father was in the Marine Corps and all three of my step dads were in the Marine Corps. I grew up in the Marine Corps.

5. Heartbreak Ridge: See above. The thing about Heartbreak Ridge is that it was sort of a musical at the same time: a lot of guys singing in this film that I thought odd. Adapt, Improvise, Overcome could be anyone’s motto.

6. The Empire Strikes Back: Quite simply one of the best sci-fi films ever made. Han Solo pulling a Bear Grylls on that Taun-taun?! Come on!?

7. Dune (the unedited version): The film that David Lynch refuses to admit he ever made. This film inspired just about every “futuristic” revisionist sci-fi film made from then on. Steam-Punks owe a debt of gratitude to this film whether they want to admit it or not.

8. Return Of The Living Dead: Perhaps the greatest zombie comedy ever made with one hell of a soundtrack!

9. Evil Dead II: Sam Raimi finds his creative stride. Bruce Campbell’s fight with his demon possessed hand? Ahhh, pure golden goodness…

10. Ran: Think King Lear with samurai and epic samurai combat. To be honest Kurosawa made many great movies and I think that Dreams deserves an honorable mention as probably his most accessible film. Ross might disagree though…

[ethan_dawe]

I forgot to add the reasons also!

Many of these movies qualify as "romantic" so I guess I'm a romantic.

Amelie: A view of isolation while being surrounded by people and how it is ultimately overcome. This protagonist has an enjoyable sense of justice.

Kontroll: Funny, dark, and mysterious. The symbolic struggle of good versus evil.

Strictly Ballroom: Individualism versus the system.

A Little Romance: Name says it all, plus it had Lawrence Olivier!

The Thing: (John Carpenter version) What Ross said. Scary, and it stands the test of time.

Conan: Revenge adventure made more by astounding music.

Excalibur: One of the most powerful adaptation of King Arthur's tale.

Skin Deep: This movie made me laugh until I couldn't breathe when I really needed it. Full of great lines.

Lord of the Rings: I love these films, despite a few agregious changes (no...not Tom fucking Bombadil) to Aragorn that bug me. Still an amzing piece of cinema.

Sixteen Candles: It was the 80s, you had to be there.

[crash2455]

Inception - One of only a few films in recent history that I've gone and seen again.

The Matrix - Good enough to make me watch the terrible sequels and buy the god-awful videogame.  I think that says something.

Independence Day - A yearly tradition (Every July 4th).  The world gets blown up, and the president shoots down aliens.  KICK ASS.

Terminator II - This is where the Terminator series should have ended.  Terminator on Terminator action, and the stop of Judgment Day (except the 3rd movie had to ruin that)

Unleashed - No-holds-barred Jet Li action with a much deeper storyline than 99% of Kung Fu movies.  Also Morgan Freeman.

Phone Booth - It created a lot of drama by just having Colin Ferrel stand in a phone booth.

Quigley Down Under - Tom Selleck as a cowboy in Australia.  'Nuff Said

Die Hard - Bruce Willis does all his own stunts.

Planet of the Apes - I knew the ending the whole time, and still, something about this movie got me.

UHF - Weird Al makes a movie.  Hilarity ensues.

[malyss]

Wow, there were a lot of good movies in there. I actually think I need to watch a few of the ones I haven't yet. And memories - the list brought back a lot of good ones.

[Patrick]

Crash, I liked your picks... Especially Planet Of The Apes.

Ethan, Basil Poledouris's soundtrack to Conan The Barbarian is probably one of the finest movie scores ever written. Totally and completely captures the essence of the film. One of my favorite pieces of music of all time. I'm also a huge John Barry fan as well.

[Setherick]

I don't have time to provide explanations, so I'll just give the movies now.

1. Requiem for a Dream
2. Pi
3. Dark City
4. Logan's Run
5. American Psycho
6. Freejack
7. Dave
8. Go
9. Run Lola Run
10. Natural Born Killers

I'm an Aronofsky fanboy and have been since my sophomore year in college when I saw Pi and Requiem.

[Patrick]

Another brilliant piece of music was the score to Aronofsky's film The Fountain.

I love, love, LOVE this movie's score, but as for the movie itself... Well, I tried watching it and honestly, I found it quite unwatchable. It was a bit too "artsy" and dense for me.

Eventually I will give The Fountain a second chance if only for the music.