Author Topic: What are your top 5 favorite movies?  (Read 4772 times)

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Offline soupytwist

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Re: What are your top 5 favorite movies?
« Reply #35 on: August 13, 2022, 02:13:28 PM »
These aren't the greatest movies ever, but they are a few movies that I can watch time and time again and they will make me happy.  Duvet days films.

Stand By Me.
A Knights Tale.
Hot Fuzz.
Infinity War/Endgame.
Scream.


Offline lonestar

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Re: What are your top 5 favorite movies?
« Reply #36 on: August 13, 2022, 03:53:02 PM »
Dead Poets Society fell a bit flat for me, but that My Captain scene at the end is aces.

I am by no means the film aficionado I wish I was, but I am a little shocked there are films on these lists I have never even heard of.

When I was 16, it was my favorite film. But my adult self…while still being sympathetic to the hopelessness that one can feel…just thinks Neil’s suicide is just sheer stupidity.

I’m reminded of that line from The Pass by Rush, “someone set a bad example. Made surrender seem alright. The act of a noble warrior who lost the will to fight.”

When I was a kid, I bought into that “bad example” and thought of Neil as a “noble warrior who lost the will to fight.” In my mind he became this amazing martyr.  But now his act seems so selfish and childish and shortsighted and stupid that it takes me out of the whole film.

But Robin Williams performance as Keating will always be one of my favorite movie characters of all time.

Definitely a valid criticism, almost to the point of romanticizing the act.

So, fresh upon watching it again, it does stand out as an extreme reaction to the situation, probably one that wouldn't have been taken in real life from someone who up till that moment other than having a dick for a dad really didn't show any signs of suicidal thinking. On the other hand, I really don't see how they could've transferred the story to where it needed to be without Neil's death. Some other scenes stand out as a bit teen angst cringy, especially the romance bit between Charlie and the girl, but it still holds its emotional pull, especially the scenes with Robin and Todd. I totally forgot about the scene where Robin had him create a poem on the spot, loved that one. Still deserves to be in my personal top 5 conversation, solely on how much that aspect of the film guts me to the core.

Offline lonestar

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Re: What are your top 5 favorite movies?
« Reply #37 on: August 13, 2022, 07:15:50 PM »
So...I blame this thread...

I'm on day one of a 5 day mini-vacation, and have basically been at home doing re-hab for a knee injury from a few weeks ago that I just haven't had time to rest, and am going on movie 3 of my list.

Started with Dead Poets, just watched Return of the King, and now on to Shawshank. If I'm not too tired, maybe I'll do Green Mile after, though that's a tall order at 3 hours. So many perfect scenes in RotK though, but for me "I am no man" and "You bow to no one" stand out. I was going to mention Eowyn's cage scene as well, but that's Two Towers. Now I want to do a top 5 scenes list. :lol

Offline jammindude

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Re: What are your top 5 favorite movies?
« Reply #38 on: August 13, 2022, 08:06:47 PM »
Dead Poets Society fell a bit flat for me, but that My Captain scene at the end is aces.

I am by no means the film aficionado I wish I was, but I am a little shocked there are films on these lists I have never even heard of.

When I was 16, it was my favorite film. But my adult self…while still being sympathetic to the hopelessness that one can feel…just thinks Neil’s suicide is just sheer stupidity.

I’m reminded of that line from The Pass by Rush, “someone set a bad example. Made surrender seem alright. The act of a noble warrior who lost the will to fight.”

When I was a kid, I bought into that “bad example” and thought of Neil as a “noble warrior who lost the will to fight.” In my mind he became this amazing martyr.  But now his act seems so selfish and childish and shortsighted and stupid that it takes me out of the whole film.

But Robin Williams performance as Keating will always be one of my favorite movie characters of all time.

Definitely a valid criticism, almost to the point of romanticizing the act.

So, fresh upon watching it again, it does stand out as an extreme reaction to the situation, probably one that wouldn't have been taken in real life from someone who up till that moment other than having a dick for a dad really didn't show any signs of suicidal thinking. On the other hand, I really don't see how they could've transferred the story to where it needed to be without Neil's death. Some other scenes stand out as a bit teen angst cringy, especially the romance bit between Charlie and the girl, but it still holds its emotional pull, especially the scenes with Robin and Todd. I totally forgot about the scene where Robin had him create a poem on the spot, loved that one. Still deserves to be in my personal top 5 conversation, solely on how much that aspect of the film guts me to the core.

Interesting because I never thought Mr Keating had him “make up a poem on the spot”

My interpretation of the scene was that Todd had completed the assignment as he was asked to do. He had, in fact, written a poem. (Maybe not on paper…but the idea had been in his head ever since it had been assigned) But he thought it was so stupid and embarrassing that he would have rather lied and say he never wrote one and take the F than suffer the embarrassment of reciting such a “dumb” poem in front of the class.

Only Mr. Keating knew that he had done it, believed it was going to be amazing, and wasn’t going to let him get away with lying about not doing it.

I think the “sweaty toothed madman” had been in his head for a long time, the entire poem had been percolating…but he needed a push to get it out in public form.
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Offline lonestar

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Re: What are your top 5 favorite movies?
« Reply #39 on: August 13, 2022, 09:39:33 PM »
I always took it as a spontaneous stream of consciousness thing... With the prompt being the picture of Whitman... Everything that came out was stuff he lived with on a minute to minute basis.

Offline hefdaddy42

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Re: What are your top 5 favorite movies?
« Reply #40 on: August 14, 2022, 08:37:56 AM »
The Godfather
Raiders of the Lost Ark
Citizen Kane
Ghostbusters
Unforgiven
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Offline pg1067

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Re: What are your top 5 favorite movies?
« Reply #41 on: August 14, 2022, 03:12:57 PM »
Not giving this a ton of thought...

The Empire Strikes Back
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade (although it could just as easil be Raiders)
Field of Dreams
A Few Good Men
Silence of the Lambs

Honorable mention to Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure, This is Spinal Tap, Mr. Holland's Opus, and the original Star Wars.
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Offline Cool Chris

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Re: What are your top 5 favorite movies?
« Reply #42 on: August 14, 2022, 06:48:32 PM »
The Godfather
Raiders of the Lost Ark
Citizen Kane
Ghostbusters
Unforgiven

Raiders and Unforgiven probably make my Top 20.

I rarely see anyone list Citizen Kane as one of their favorite movies - despite it appearing on many "Greatest Movies of all time" lists.
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Offline jammindude

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Re: What are your top 5 favorite movies?
« Reply #43 on: August 14, 2022, 07:05:17 PM »
The Godfather
Raiders of the Lost Ark
Citizen Kane
Ghostbusters
Unforgiven

Raiders and Unforgiven probably make my Top 20.

I rarely see anyone list Citizen Kane as one of their favorite movies - despite it appearing on many "Greatest Movies of all time" lists.

What’s funny about that is that I finally broke down and watched it to see if it was worth the hype.

I concluded that, while not one of my favorite films of all time, I actually get it.  I immediately recognized it as being totally groundbreaking for its time, and therefore it was likely worthy of being recognized as one of the most important films ever made.

Personally, I wouldn’t mind seeing it again.
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Offline Metro

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Re: What are your top 5 favorite movies?
« Reply #44 on: August 14, 2022, 09:01:32 PM »
Couldn’t rank them if I tried, but they are:

The Master
12 Angry Men
Apocalypse Now
Terminator 2: Judgement Day
Inglourious Basterds

Offline LithoJazzoSphere

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Re: What are your top 5 favorite movies?
« Reply #45 on: August 14, 2022, 09:22:22 PM »
1:  Alien (probably not surprising)
2:  The Matrix
3:  Predator
4:  Return of the Jedi
5:  The Terminator

I feel kind of shallow, preferring spectacle and visuals over most everything else (and also nostalgia), but hey, that's what the escape of the medium is primarily for me. 

Honorable mentions:  Back To the Future, Blade Runner, Castaway, Cube, The Dark City, Gremlins, Groundhog Day, Jaws, Jurassic Park, The Karate Kid, Lord of the Rings, Memento, A Nightmare On Elm Street, Starship Troopers.  I could see Infinity War/Endgame going up here at some point, I just don't have the same history with it that some did.

Favorites of past decade:  Alita: Battle Angel, Annihilation, Enemy, Ex Machina, Interstellar, It Follows, John Wick 3, The Edge of Tomorrow
« Last Edit: August 15, 2022, 05:13:37 PM by LithoJazzoSphere »

Offline T-ski

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Re: What are your top 5 favorite movies?
« Reply #46 on: August 15, 2022, 09:37:25 AM »
These types of lists are impossible for me, but I’ll throw five out there…

1. Empire Strikes Back
2. Jaws
3. Inception
4. Usual Suspects
5. Halloween
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Offline Stadler

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Re: What are your top 5 favorite movies?
« Reply #47 on: August 15, 2022, 11:08:56 AM »
1. Godfather
2. Star Wars
3. Grease
4. Bladerunner
5. No Way Out (Kevin Costner)

This Is Spinal Tap should be in there somewhere too.

Offline El Barto

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Re: What are your top 5 favorite movies?
« Reply #48 on: August 15, 2022, 04:03:20 PM »
Close Encounters of the Third Kind
American Beauty
Natural Born Killers
Young Frankenstein
Goodfellas


Movies than on a different day might supplant any of the above (I'm bad at ranking things) :
The Big Country
Apocalypse Now
Animal House
The Guns of Navarone
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Offline Cool Chris

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Re: What are your top 5 favorite movies?
« Reply #49 on: August 15, 2022, 05:40:09 PM »
Cool to see The Usual Suspects make so many lists. I have not seen it in years but last time I did I thought it aged well, but didn't know if others would feel the same.

Animal House
The Guns of Navarone

Not too many lists of any kind where you see both of these movies together!

I know we've discussed this in general, but if you are including Apocalypse Now, are you going with a specific version?
"Nostalgia is just the ability to forget the things that sucked" - Nelson DeMille, 'Up Country'

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Re: What are your top 5 favorite movies?
« Reply #50 on: August 15, 2022, 05:45:06 PM »
The Guns of Navarone gives me fond memories of watching movies with my dad. 
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Offline ronnibran

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Re: What are your top 5 favorite movies?
« Reply #51 on: August 15, 2022, 06:22:17 PM »
The Shining
Rocky IV
Signs
The Fugitive
Fletch

That's leaving out Star Wars since various SW movies would dominate most of my top 5 list and make it very uninteresting.

Offline Adami

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Re: What are your top 5 favorite movies?
« Reply #52 on: August 15, 2022, 07:16:08 PM »
I own well over 500 movies on DVD/Blu Ray and under no circumstance could I rank much at all. I'm just awful at rankings. The best I can do is a top 3, which might change tomorrow.

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Offline Cool Chris

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Re: What are your top 5 favorite movies?
« Reply #53 on: August 15, 2022, 08:52:53 PM »
The Shining
Rocky IV
Signs
The Fugitive
Fletch

That strikes me as the most eclectic list so far.

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"Fletch."
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Offline jammindude

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Re: What are your top 5 favorite movies?
« Reply #54 on: August 15, 2022, 09:15:29 PM »
The Shining
Rocky IV
Signs
The Fugitive
Fletch

That strikes me as the most eclectic list so far.

"What's your name?"
"Fletch."
"Full name?"
"Fletch F. Fletch."

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Offline El Barto

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Re: What are your top 5 favorite movies?
« Reply #55 on: August 16, 2022, 08:14:26 AM »
I know we've discussed this in general, but if you are including Apocalypse Now, are you going with a specific version?
In for a dime, in for a dollar. Redux. Some of the scenes ran on too long, but I think they really showed a different side of Willard. Made him much more human. When he's with the crew he's always wound up pretty tight. Redux has him stealing the surfboard. Smoking opium with the cute French girl. Bargaining for time with the bunnies for the rest of the crew. Really develops him. And as off-putting as it is, the scene with the bunnies also shows a different side of the rest of the crew. Those guys were really screwed up.

And though you didn't ask, there are countless versions of CEotTK, too. Director's Cut is the only way to go. The studio version was too short. The Special Edition was too long. The director's cut was exactly as Spielberg wanted it to be, and he knew what he was doing.
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Offline ronnibran

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Re: What are your top 5 favorite movies?
« Reply #56 on: August 16, 2022, 08:48:20 AM »
The Shining
Rocky IV
Signs
The Fugitive
Fletch

That strikes me as the most eclectic list so far.

"What's your name?"
"Fletch."
"Full name?"
"Fletch F. Fletch."

Haha nice.  Wasn't even going for eclectic.  Hard to narrow down to just five movies. 

Honorable mentions since I'm typing anyway:  First Blood,  Grumpy Old Men, Silence of the Lambs, Total Recall.

Offline emtee

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Re: What are your top 5 favorite movies?
« Reply #57 on: August 16, 2022, 09:49:14 AM »
Very difficult.

Willy Wonka And The Chocolate Factory
Godfather I & II
Monty Python And The Holy Grail
The Graduate

Offline pg1067

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Re: What are your top 5 favorite movies?
« Reply #58 on: August 16, 2022, 11:22:08 AM »
I own well over 500 movies on DVD/Blu Ray and under no circumstance could I rank much at all. I'm just awful at rankings. The best I can do is a top 3, which might change tomorrow.

Dogville
That Thing You Do!
Casino

Interesting choice (and a very good movie).  Have you seen The Commitments and, if so, what do you think of it?
"There's a bass solo in a song called Metropolis where I do a bass solo."  John Myung

Offline lonestar

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Re: What are your top 5 favorite movies?
« Reply #59 on: August 16, 2022, 12:22:59 PM »
I own well over 500 movies on DVD/Blu Ray and under no circumstance could I rank much at all. I'm just awful at rankings. The best I can do is a top 3, which might change tomorrow.

Dogville
That Thing You Do!
Casino

Interesting choice (and a very good movie).  Have you seen The Commitments and, if so, what do you think of it?

Absolutely loved The Commitments

Offline pg1067

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Re: What are your top 5 favorite movies?
« Reply #60 on: August 16, 2022, 01:57:55 PM »
I own well over 500 movies on DVD/Blu Ray and under no circumstance could I rank much at all. I'm just awful at rankings. The best I can do is a top 3, which might change tomorrow.

Dogville
That Thing You Do!
Casino

Interesting choice (and a very good movie).  Have you seen The Commitments and, if so, what do you think of it?

Absolutely loved The Commitments

A friend/co-worker turned me onto it sometime after its run in the theater (which I don't think was very long).  I really loved it, but I don't think I've watched it in 20 years or more.  Need to revisit (and maybe replace my VHS with a DVD or Blue Ray).
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Offline ZirconBlue

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Re: What are your top 5 favorite movies?
« Reply #61 on: August 16, 2022, 03:06:53 PM »

5. No Way Out (Kevin Costner)


Good movie.  Alas, I haven't seen it in years.

Offline ZirconBlue

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Re: What are your top 5 favorite movies?
« Reply #62 on: August 16, 2022, 03:08:17 PM »
In no particular order:

Tombstone
L.A. Story
Highlander
Princess Bride
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang

Honorable mentions:

Angel Heart
Bladerunner
Groundhog Day
Avengers
Cast a Deadly Spell
Heathers
Young Frankenstein
The Sixth Sense

Offline Adami

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Re: What are your top 5 favorite movies?
« Reply #63 on: August 16, 2022, 03:26:08 PM »
I own well over 500 movies on DVD/Blu Ray and under no circumstance could I rank much at all. I'm just awful at rankings. The best I can do is a top 3, which might change tomorrow.

Dogville
That Thing You Do!
Casino

Interesting choice (and a very good movie).  Have you seen The Commitments and, if so, what do you think of it?

I have not! Never even heard of it. Will check it out though.

Also, my preferred version of TTYT is the extended cut. Just so great. In fact, my fiancée and I are using a song from the soundtrack as our first dance.
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Offline pg1067

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Re: What are your top 5 favorite movies?
« Reply #64 on: August 16, 2022, 03:34:23 PM »
I own well over 500 movies on DVD/Blu Ray and under no circumstance could I rank much at all. I'm just awful at rankings. The best I can do is a top 3, which might change tomorrow.

Dogville
That Thing You Do!
Casino

Interesting choice (and a very good movie).  Have you seen The Commitments and, if so, what do you think of it?

I have not! Never even heard of it. Will check it out though.

I watched That Thing You Do sometime in the last six months.  Probably the first time since it came out, and I was pleased that I still liked it as much as I remembered.  The Commitments is thematically similar, although VERY different circumstances.  And, I just learned today that the members of the Corrs had minor roles (yet another reason for me to re-watch).
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Offline lonestar

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Re: What are your top 5 favorite movies?
« Reply #65 on: August 16, 2022, 03:41:11 PM »
In no particular order:

Tombstone
L.A. Story
Highlander
Princess Bride
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang

Good to see this make an appearance, it's my kid's favorite for sure, along with Star Wars and The Mummy. Even scored an original poster and got it personally signed by Cary Elwes for her.

Offline Cool Chris

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Re: What are your top 5 favorite movies?
« Reply #66 on: August 16, 2022, 08:00:09 PM »
And though you didn't ask, there are countless versions of CEotTK, too. Director's Cut is the only way to go. The studio version was too short. The Special Edition was too long. The director's cut was exactly as Spielberg wanted it to be, and he knew what he was doing.

I generally won't cite Wikipedia as a source, but I found this. I have only seen this once, and am sure it was the theatrical cut. 

Running time   
135 minutes (Theatrical Version)
132 minutes (Special Edition)
137 minutes (Director's Cut)
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Offline Stadler

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Re: What are your top 5 favorite movies?
« Reply #67 on: August 17, 2022, 06:09:02 AM »
And though you didn't ask, there are countless versions of CEotTK, too. Director's Cut is the only way to go. The studio version was too short. The Special Edition was too long. The director's cut was exactly as Spielberg wanted it to be, and he knew what he was doing.

I generally won't cite Wikipedia as a source, but I found this. I have only seen this once, and am sure it was the theatrical cut. 

Running time   
135 minutes (Theatrical Version)
132 minutes (Special Edition)
137 minutes (Director's Cut)

That doesn't seem right to me; I went down that rabbit hole when my wife, daughter and I watched it (we had a poster with 100 great movies and during COVID set out to watch them all).   We ended up watching the theatrical version, to see what the people saw back in '77 or whenever, and then went back and watched the Director's Cut.  I too liked the Director's Cut but I would bet a six pack it wasn't two minutes difference.

Offline Harmony

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Re: What are your top 5 favorite movies?
« Reply #68 on: August 17, 2022, 12:11:38 PM »
Top 5 IMO best made movies?  Best acted movies?  Best directed movies?  Best story?  Best cinematography?

Top 5 movies I've watched over and over?

Lots of ways to categorize "favorite."  So hard to make choices here.

Some Like it Hot *TIE* Young Frankenstein
The World According to Garp
Apollo 13
The Last Temptation of Christ
Out of Africa


 
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Offline TAC

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Re: What are your top 5 favorite movies?
« Reply #69 on: August 17, 2022, 12:27:09 PM »
Off the top of my head...

1. River's Edge
2. A Clockwork Orange
3. This Is Spinal Tap
4. Gettysburg
5. White Chicks
would have thought the same thing but seeing the OP was TAC i immediately thought Maiden or DT related
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