It occurred to me today while reading of the apparent idiocy of Russell Crowe that he is truly one of my favorite actors perhaps one of the great modern actors because he has starred in a number of my favorite movies (“great” to me)in a relatively short time span. These do not include that for which he won an Oscar - Gladiator, which but for an opening riveting battle scene is only slightly better than Spartacus and probably not as memorable. Among my personal favs are L.A. Confidential, A Beautiful Mind and Master and Commander.
That said, what are your five favorite movies of all time - only five. Mine are:
Well, I would hardly call my knowledge of movies comprehensive, but here’s my list as of right now:
The Producers
Sling Blade
Pulp Fiction (see avatar)
Dr. Strangelove, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb
Monty Python and the Holy Grail
This will probably change in ten minutes.
EDIT: Tyler reminded me, I’m not including the Star Wars movies. It would be like asking what your favorite Beatles’ album is. Everyone knows it’s Sgt. Pepper, but they want to know what’s your other favorite.
The Italian Job (Michael Caine verson) Star Wars (I’ll just lump them all into one here, but I’m excluding the prequels of course) Fight Club Bullit Monty Python’s And Now For Something Completely Different
I’ve never even watched five whole movies. It’s just never been something I’ve gotten interested in, and growing up we didn’t have a moviehouse so as a consequence now I mainly read.
Star Wars, ESB
Monty Python and the Holy Grail
The Bride of Frankenstein (the Boris Karloff one)
The Gods Must be Crazy
LOTR (if I have to pick, I guess ROTK)
Five? Don’t be silly, dahling. I watch five per week. I like some of the ones mentioned so I won’t repeat them, but add a few more to the list that I keep finding myself coming back to:
Pow Wow Highway
Buckaroo Bonzai
Killer Klowns
Eraser Head
LOTR (the whole shebang)
Henry V (Branagh version. TOo bad he made a great deal of dreck afterwards)
Saving Private Ryan
Apollo V
Pi
EDIT: Monty Python and the Holy Grail has been bumped in favor of Spinal Tap (The original, of course.)
It is easy to over rate recent films but after some considerations these are my top five:
Down by Law (Jim Jarmush)
The Hairdressers Husband (Patrice Leconte)
Yojinbo (Akira Kurosawa)
The Double Life of Veronica (Krzysztof Kieslowski)
Big Blue (Luc Besson)
Can’t belive that no one listed Down by law yet, it’s a cinematic milestone
/MarcusR
Edit: couldn’t pick just one of the Three Colors Trilogy and felt the need to change to another favorite by Krzysztof Kieslowski. This is tough, I think I’ll changed my mind again
And three I liked because they actually were good:
Wallace and Gromit: The Wrong Trousers
Amelie
Better Off Dead (this one I wasn’t sure if I should call it good, or so bad it’s good. I think it’s good, because they meant it to be the way it is. It gets a bit boring toward the end though.)
Well, I have watched three. When I was in grade school the class went on a trip to see 101 Dalmatians (I can just barely remember it, I was about 7 or 8 years old), and then we went to watch Deep Impact when I was in junior high. And a cousin took me in 1999 to watch The Blair Witch Project with her. That’s the last time I stepped foot into a moviehouse.
The other day the people at my lunch table were talking about Rocky Horror and they said something about a certain scene or some such so I asked a question and everybody thought I was joking but I honestly didn’t know the answer because I’ve never watched it. They seemed to think that watching Rocky Horror was a required part of being fully human. From the way the conversation went, I think I am the only person in the entire world who has never watched it!
They didn’t merely think it, it is a well-known fact. (Its just a jump to the left …)
Man, I had forgotten Freaks. But that’s a one-time view. I didn’t include one-timers (you have to see it once, but then you can’t watch it again), e.g. The Game, The Sixth Sense.
Has anyone seen this new media format, I think its called UMD? I’m guessing its a new DVD format for hi-def tv, but I haven’t seen anything specific yet.
djm
Its astounding
Time is fleeting
Madness takes its toll
Oh, s**t, Cran. Now you’ve got me started …
Yes, American Graffiti was a great movie, and wasn’t it one of the first “our gang” type films of a group of young adults having adventures and coming of age etc.? I think it was a precursor for films like St. Elmo’s Fire and stuff like that.
But the music in AG was what really set it apart - all that grease!
Hot patootie, bless my soul
I really love that Rock and Roll
Hot patootie, bless my soul … oh … darn …
Did you ever see that episode of Drew Carey where the Rocky Horror crowd ran into the fans of that transvestite movie and they had a big sing & dance off in the streets outside the theatre?
)
But that’s a one-time view. I didn’t include one-timers (you have to see it once, but then you can’t watch it again), e.g. The Game, The Sixth Sense.
