Jump to content
Join the Unexplained Mysteries community today! It's free and setting up an account only takes a moment.
- Sign In or Create Account -

Your Top/Favourite Films and WHY!


sees

Recommended Posts

I am suggesting giving your top 3 favourite films and say why (else we are no wiser!).  It can be a longer list if you want.

- The Fisher King - it is quirky, unconventional/eccentric, original, delightful and evocative.
It deservedly picked up 4 awards.  Robin Williams excels in it.

- The Odd Couple - a Neil Simon screenplay chockful of excellent one liners and depicting 2 conflicting characters, wonderfully played by Walter Matthau and Jack Lemmon

- would be a tie between The Sunshine Boys - another Neil Simon classic - 2 cranky comedy act has-beens meeting to put on another show...again, great acting from Walter Matthau and also George Burns.  

The other, joint favourite is Barefoot In The Park - newly weds (Jane Fonda and Robert Redford) starting out in married life to great comic effect, principally due to her mother, actress Mildred Natwick.

 

Again I make no apologies for it being another Neil Simon playwright.

Edited by sees
  • Like 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I haven't seen many films, I find it hard to concentrate for 90 seconds let alone 90+ minutes but 3 of my favourites are:

Trainspotting, I loved the book and the film is just as good and is one of the defining films of the 90s I think.

Little Otik, Quite a weird little Czech film, I don't know why I like it but I do

Kingpin, Just because it's such a funny film.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1. My Neighbour Totoro
I watched it as a young, young child. It came out before I was born, so I would have watched it when I was 3 or 4, in 1993/1994. It is largely the reason why I have such love for the dark forest and the quiet places in the wilderness. I may be a software developer, but I am called by the forest.

 

2. Warriors of the Rainbow
Taiwanese film about the Taiwanese indigenous peoples who lived on the island before the Chinese or Japanese got there. I have spent a lot of time in Taiwan, and the treatment of the natives is done in a very educated way. Very good movie, very realistic, and with fantastic martial arts scenes. It's 6 hours long, which is a bit of a problem, but it's totally worth it.

 

3. Monty Python and the Holy Grail
This is pretty self-explanatory. The movie is a masterpiece of comedy.

  • Like 6
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Nice to see 'The Sunshine Boys' mentioned. In the same way, 'Grumpy Old Men' is a favorite. In a similar way, 'The Horse's Mouth', another movie about a grumpy old artist. I think what attracts me to these movies is these characters disregard for convention. They're old enough to have earned the right to just be themselves and don't care what people think of them or their eccentric behavior.

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

My favorite movie is Stand By Me.

Can't tell you how many times I have seen it. The music, the story line, the narrative, the acting. It's just plain enjoyable.

  • Like 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

'Apollo 13' with Tom Hanks and 'Lincoln' with Daniel Day Lewis are two films I can watch again and again. I like period pieces based on true stories.

'Amistead' was great, so was 'Unbroken'... there are too many to list.

Of course, anything by Monty Python is a classic.

Edit: for the soundtracks, 'Apocalypse Now', 'Pink Floyd: The Wall' and the 'Rocky Horror Picture Show'... don't even get me started on horror films.

...and anything Jimmy Stewart appeared in.

Edit v.2: Chaplin, Buster Keaton, Laurel & Hardy. I also like musicals, what can I say?

Edit v.3: I left out the animated and science fiction. Do documentaries count?

Edited by Likely Guy
  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

2001: A Space Odyssey - there had never been a film like it and as an eager 12 year old sci-fi-enthusiast the special effects alone blew me away (for 1968)...  The finale enthralled but puzzled me, until I read the novel.  Then I had even more respect for what they had brought to the screen.

Dead Pool - I'm not a Marvel enthusiast, but this film had me in absolute stitches of laughter, plus again, the story and special effects were just brilliantly executed.  Forgive the cliche, but definitely not a film to take your mother/kids to, though... or indeed any sensitive person.. :D

 

  • Like 5
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Oh another favorite is What we do in the Shadows by Taika Waiti.

I watched this on the plane to Australia for my father's funeral. The poor guy sitting next to me must have been worried I was a cot case, swinging between silent tears and outright laughter.

https://www.nzonscreen.com/title/what-we-do-in-the-shadows-2014

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

8 hours ago, StarMountainKid said:

Nice to see 'The Sunshine Boys' mentioned. In the same way, 'Grumpy Old Men' is a favorite. In a similar way, 'The Horse's Mouth', another movie about a grumpy old artist. I think what attracts me to these movies is these characters disregard for convention. They're old enough to have earned the right to just be themselves and don't care what people think of them or their eccentric behavior.

Ha yes...a bit like Jack Nicholson in "As Good As It Gets"

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

This is so hard.

Leon - el professional. Recently seen directors cut, they said it would never work as the hero dies.

Aliens. Sigourney Weaver and marines. Awesomeness.

This is a mash up, gone in 60 seconds(1974), death proof, Christine, vanishing point, the hitcher(Rutger Bauer) and RoboCop.

Edited by Redefining Success
  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'll just list the ones I go back to time and again, needless to say to limit myself to just three would be impossible ...

~

 

If getting the DvD best go with the 0th Anniversary Remastered / Restored Release

~

 

~

 

Plenty more from the Ghibli Studios but this is one that is most dear to my heart ...

~

 

~

 

I highly recommend this one to anyone who likes Historical pieces ... the set done in the spirit of the old MGM days where 'authenticity' was created by the craftsman and set designers ...

~

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

third_eye - interesting, diverse selection!

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 minutes ago, sees said:

third_eye - interesting, diverse selection!

I tried to cover something from across the expanse of what I most normally watch ... since many of my favorites were already mentioned I thought I'll just mention those that are not commonly mentioned ... second mention would be Camelot for My Fair Lady, Akira for Spirited Away and RAN for The Emperor and the Assassin

:lol:

~

If you get a chance to come across the Akira Original Movie Soundtrack (Japanese) give it a spin ... pure mastery and genius ... even after all these years, kinda like Ridley Scott's Blade Runner in that sense ...

~

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Of course, if we want to educate ourselves about film we can look at the American Film Institute's list of the 100 greatest American movies if we're a real film buff. Of all the movies made, I think the top 10% and the bottom 10% are the most interesting. For instance, "Plan 9 From Outer Space' is always fun to watch. :)

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Last of the Mohicans - it is so damned good.

Braveheart - it is so damned good.

Gladiator - it is so damned good.

Guardians of the Galaxy - it is so damned good.

Mad Max Fury Road - it is so damned good.

Lord of the Rings - they are so damned good.

The Hobbit - they are so damned good.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Odd movies stick in my head. '1941', because it had mad-cap magic to it.

'The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming', because it was funny and didn't seem to fit in any film category.

'Neighbors', with John Belushi and Dan Akroyd because it's strange and unsettelling. 

"Brazil' and 'Time Bandits', because they're odd science fiction movies.

'Evil Dead', because it's stupid.

'My Dinner With Andre', because its profound.

''Motorama', because it's a real good movie.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

The movies I seemed to watched at least a few times:

Repo Man (  extremely quoteable, 1980's nostalgia and the song Reel Ten.  Probably too much violence though).

Spinal Tap. I must have seen it 50 times over the years.  It was the rock and roll parody that the world needed.

Mainstream films such as Star Wars, Empire Strikes Back, Raiders of the Lost Ark, and Last Crusade are good.  But just say no to bad sequels.

These previously mentioned movies are also enjoyable but not for everyone:

2001: A Space Odyssey
Spirited Away (also Howl's Moving Castle)

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

little_dreamer - yes Spinal Tap was a spoof waiting to happen!  Great stuff e.g. 'this goes up to 11" and the undersized replica of Stonehenge! Ha!

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Donnie Darko has always been  a favorite. 80's teen movie/sci fi/time travel/giant rabbit and other weirdness all mashed into one movie. Patrick Swazy plays a real sleazeball, and Seth Rogan even is in it. Not sure if ti was his first role, but at least one of his first

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

The Christopher Nolan film 'Inception' is my favorite. I like movies that I have to watch more than once to figure out what's happening. The theme of reconciliation between Cillian Murphy's character and his dying father was very touching. Great soundtrack too.

Second place has to go to Zhang Yimou's film 'Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon'. Michelle Yeoh acts with her eyes, and with very subtle facial expressions. I had a crush on her for years after seeing that performance. Chow Yun Fat was excellent as the wise mentor to Zhang Ziyi, and as the clueless love interest of Michelle Yeoh. It was interesting to see Zhang Ziyi in her first starring role, and to watch her career continue over the years with 'Memoirs of a Geisha' and 'Hero' and other artistic films. I'm looking forward to the middle-age roles she'll be in some day. I'm hoping she transitions as smoothly as Gong Li has.

Third place: 'Shawshank Redemption'. Morgan Freeman's smooth narration, especially during the Opera singer scene, made me feel like a little kid listening to a bedtime story.  

Special mention: Bruce Lee's 'Enter the Dragon'. It really should be watched in context of Bruce Lee's boyhood in China, his struggle to be accepted as an Asian actor in Hollywood, and his development of a new martial art form, Jeet Kune Do. He learned Kung Fu from the famous martial arts master Ip Man, whose 'hollywoodized' life story was made into a film trilogy. Aside from the unfortunate circumstances surrounding his death, Bruce Lee was a very respectable role model.

  • Like 3
Link to comment
Share on other sites

1 hour ago, simplybill said:

It was interesting to see Zhang Ziyi in her first starring role,

You'll love this one ... a very simple beautiful movie from Ms Zhang's early days that has so much more and little else to prove ...

-

Quote

~

The Road Home (1999 film) - Wikipedia

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Road_Home_(1999_film)
The Road Home is a 2000 Chinese romantic drama film directed by Zhang Yimou. It also marked the cinematic debut of the Chinese actress Zhang Ziyi.
~

Zhang Yimou's Long Road Home | Boston Review

bostonreview.net/film/alan-stone-zhang-yimous-long-road-home
Zhang Yimou's Long Road Home from Boston Review. ... Ang Lee's Zhang Ziyi—the young star on display at the Oscars and other award shows, now ...
~

Wo de fu qin mu qin (1999) - IMDb

www.imdb.com/title/tt0235060/
Rating: 7.9/10 - ‎10,637 votes

Drama · Prompted by the death of his father and the grief of his mother, a man recalls the story of ..... Zhang Ziyi, who has now become an International star thanks to Crouching Tiger, Hero, House Of Flying Daggers and Memoirs Of A Geisha, never ... They involve walking with the casket a long way home, hence the title.

~

 

 

 

~

The Soundtrack is a skin tingling Orchestral Masterpiece ... youtube page link

-

~

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thank you, third_eye. I will add it to my Netflix queue. The soundtrack clip was beautiful! I think part of Zhang Yimou's genius is the way he matches the soundtrack to the emotional and visual content of his movies. It really draws you into the story.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 11/24/2016 at 9:43 PM, Likely Guy said:

'Apollo 13' with Tom Hanks

Yes! God I love that movie. I quote it (often out of context) and one of my favorites is "I'm aware of the goddamn gimble!!" I dunno why I find that funny - it's not meant to be a joke in the movie - but it cracks me up.

This question is really hard to answer but things that come to mind are

Snatch

O Brother Where Art Thou?

Jurassic Park

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

third_eye -

I went to add 'The Road Home' to my Netflix queue and discovered I'd already watched it in September, 2009. I rated it 5-out-of-5 stars. Apparently I really liked it! 

That's one of the benefits of getting older: you can watch a movie, then watch it again 6 months later and it's like seeing it for the first time!

  • Like 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.