Exceptional. I watched it three times in a row once. Look at that painterly shot. :pray: :clap:

What about Bob — BC

Best psychodrama since unsliced Cuckoo's nest. When are y'all going to make the film of Sometimes a Great Notion by the way?.

I don't enjoy 'noble' message films. And recent era cinema with overstated movie scores, swimming in clichés are really off putting. I prefer to see something visually inventive, with a focus on milieu and plots generally don't interest me much. Character does and sometimes dialogue. Clever production design can take your breath away and make something highly watchable. — Tom Storm

So how do you feel about movie's such as A Streetcar Named Desire or Scarface or Taxi Driver or Falling Down?

The Third Man — Tom Storm

Walkabout — Tom Storm

Absolutely.
Forgot about Leon and If

Brazil — Tom Storm

Hated it. Just too, too, too much. Same with Imaginarium.
Not everything needs to be illustrated with cartooney exaggeration.

We just watched Falling Down again a couple of days ago. Still good.

No Country For Old Men
— Bradskii
Hated the book so much I wouldn't watch the movie. — T Clark

Oh no! See the movie anyway. I implore you. I had to see it 3 times in the theater— a modern masterpiece on all levels.

Thin Red Line — ssu

Just barely missed my top ten. As I get older the impact has diminished a bit, but still an excellent film.

You mentioned Michael Mann and Heat. Good movie. His best, however— in my opinion is The Insider, which continually rises a few notches higher as I rewatch over the years. In my 20s I liked it but now I feel I actually understand it.

How about:
Inherit the wind
Mississippi Burning
Hoffa
Malcolm X — universeness

I haven’t seen any of those. I saw a few minutes of Malcolm X and maybe a few moments from Mississippi Burning (Gene Hackman, yes?).

Falling Down — Vera Mont

A funny movie. I always thought it was a satire of conservative ideology and middle aged male fantasy.

A funny movie. I always thought it was a satire of conservative ideology and middle aged male fantasy. — Mikie

That certainly shows how very differently we perceive things. I didn't find it at all; I thought it was tragic.

In no particular order:

Mulholland Drive
Pulp Fiction
Goodfellas
Airplane!
Oldboy (Korean version)
The Matrix
Dr. Strangelove
Lost in Translation
The Departed
Monty Python and the Holy Grail

I'm surely missing some, haven't seen a good movie in ages - novels tend to be just so much more fulfilling.

Oh, you should definitely watch Mississippi Burning!
Kinda makes you wish you could have fought against the confederates, based on how black people and those who tried to help them, were abused in America during the civil rights movement. I say that as a Scot who has never experienced anything like that stuff, on either side of such divides.
Inherit the wind is a famous one with Spencer Tracy and Fredrich March, about the scopes monkey trial. Are you sure you have never watched it: Here's the trailer:


I was also thinking about the best comedy movies: That's probably another at least top ten:
It's a mad mad mad mad mad mad world
Duck Soup
Are two of my favourites. I still laugh at the same scenes, 40 years after first seeing them

A funny movie. I always thought it was a satire of conservative ideology and middle aged male fantasy.
— Mikie

That certainly shows how very differently we perceive things. I didn't find it at all; I thought it was tragic. — Vera Mont

I see the humour aspect of Falling Down, based on 'what could feasibly go wrong for you, all in the same day?' So, that kind of 'a series of unfortunate events' humour, but that's the only humour I could garnish from such a horrific portrayal of 'inner city' pressure.

Sometimes a Great Notion — unenlightened

I guess it was given a different name, Never Give and Inch, but I remember seeing it as Sometimes a Great Notion.

Honorable mentions in various categories:

All About Eve
Whatever Happened to Baby Jane
American Graffiti
The Year of Living Dangerously
The Last Wave
Hair
The Hustler
Blow-Up
A Face in the Crowd
Fail-Safe
Invasion of the Body Snatchers(1956)
The Court Jester
Fantasia
The Five Thousand Fingers of Dr T
The Red Shoes
Flight of the Phoenix
Play Misty for Me
They Shoot Horses Don’t They
Manchurian Candidate
Andromeda Strain
Little Murders

Brazil
— Tom Storm
Hated it. Just too, too, too much. Same with Imaginarium.
Not everything needs to be illustrated with cartooney exaggeration. — Vera Mont

Actually, I liked the too, too much. I remember laughing. I kept thinking it was over. Then something else bad happened. After all, it was made by a member of Monty Python. What can you expect?

Westerns
The Magnificent Seven
Tombstone
Little Big Man
Cat Ballou
Appolusa
Hidalgo
Destry Rides Again - James Stewart. Some scenes here were parodied in Blazing Saddles.
The Warriors Way - A kung fu, western, fantasy about carnival freaks, cowboys, and a kung fu master. Kind of like a surrealist Kung Fu, the television show. Really neat, funny movie.
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly - I'm surprised no one has mentioned this. Also:
A Fist Full of Dollars
For a Few Dollars More
Once Upon a Time in the West

I was also thinking about the best comedy movies: That's probably another at least top ten:
It's a mad mad mad mad mad mad world
Duck Soup
Are two of my favourites. — universeness

The Marx brothers are still awesome. As I child when I was in Seattle (for two years), my father took us to this incredible movie theatre showing black and white films. It's one thing to see on DVD Duck Soup and other all time classics. It's totally another to see the film in a movie theatre with an audience howling in laughter during the mirror scene. I remember laughing in the car when going home.

Duck soup's famous mirror scene:


Movies that made you laugh as a child and still make you laugh older are really precious.

Westerns — T Clark

How about High Noon?

Or the epic Searchers by John Ford with John Wayne?


A bit older, but still.

Oh no! See the movie anyway. I implore you. I had to see it 3 times in the theater— a modern masterpiece on all levels. — Mikie

One thing about that movie I will never forget; Javier Bardem was entirely too good at playing his role.
I cannot watch him in other movies because I cannot unsee him from there.

Good list.

I would add
Stagecoach
My Darling Clementine
The Wild Bunch
The Ballad of Cable Hogue
Butch Cassidy
( and so much more!)

It's totally another to see the film in a movie theatre with an audience howling in laughter during the mirror scene. I remember laughing in the car when going home — ssu

I had the same reaction to Night at the Opera. If you liked those you probably also loved the Court Jester (The Chalice with the Palace has the pellet with the poison. The vessel with the pestle has the Brew that is True. Or was that the Flagon with the Dragon?)

As Thin Red line was mentioned, I have to note that two of the best warfilms ever done aren't American, but German.

Der Untergang (the Downfall, 2004): Yes, you know it from the various memes from one specific scene from the film, but note that this is one of the historically most accurate war films as Apollo 13 (or films depicting real historical events) and Bruno Ganz make simply the best depiction of Hitler ever.

Das Boot (1981): submarine films don't get better as this and perhaps the best naval warfilm. Puts the sound of sonar in a totally different perspective.

Although I think the most grim warfilm, a film that really makes war as awful as it can be is Elem Klimov's Come and See from 1985, a quite rare film from the Soviet Union. Nowdays Russian warfilms are even more jingoistic than American ones were earlier.

Heven't seen that one. :lol:

It's a mad mad mad mad mad mad world
Duck Soup — universeness

Caddyshack - Cinderella story
Woody Allen:
Manhattan
Midnight in Paris
Take the Money and Run
Everybody Says I Love You
Annie Hall - my favorite scene

Lots of good silents by Buster Keaton.
The Navigator - This is my favorite.
Steamboat Bill Junior
Seven Chances. Tell me you didn't laugh at this:



I've always loved this scene from Modern Times

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.- I'm surprised no one has mentioned this — T Clark

One of my favourites too. On another day it might make my top ten.

Woody Allen:
Manhattan
Midnight in Paris
Take the Money and Run
Everybody Says I Love You
Annie Hall - my favorite scene — T Clark

No list of classic Woody Allen comedies is complete without Sleeper.

In no particular order:

The Duellists (Outstanding swordplay with various weapons, during the Napoleonic Wars; what could be better? Makes me wish I could still fence sabre without hurting myself);
Seven Beauties (The best of Lina Wertmuller's cheerful films);
Fellini's Roma (What can I say? I'm a big fan of Rome);
The Godfather
Citizen Kane
2001: A Space Odyssey
Chinatown
Dr. Strangelove
There Will Be Blood
A Man for All Seasons

So how do you feel about movie's such as A Streetcar Named Desire or Scarface or Taxi Driver or Falling Down? — universeness

I like Taxi Driver the others no.

Hated it. Just too, too, too much. Same with Imaginarium.
Not everything needs to be illustrated with cartooney exaggeration. — Vera Mont

I get it. Brazil is the only one of Gillian's that I like. It holds some of the most striking production design and visual invention of 80's cinema.

I generally dislike westerns, especially those priggish productions by John Ford. But I loved Deadwood the series and I like Once Upon A Time in The West. I think it's the Italians who got what Westerns should be, the dust, the filth, the sound editing...

The Mask
Speed
Adventures of Priscilla Queen of the Desert
Sister Act 2
Being John Malkovich
True Lies
La mala educación,
The Exorcist
Inferno
Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon

↪Joshs I generally dislike westerns, especially those priggish productions by John Ford. But I loved Deadwood the series and I like Once Upon A Time in The West. I think it's the Italians who got what Westerns should be, the dust, the filth, the sound editing... — Tom Storm

I tend to agree with you about the older Westerns. They upheld the moral values of the times, which the 60’s did their best to overturn. That’s why I’m a big fan of the anti-Western, and Sergio Leone’s films with Clint Eastwood were among the first of these. Anti-Westerns turn the tables on the standard view of the hero as establishment figure. The rebellious anti-establishment outlaw becomes the new hero.

They upheld the moral values of the times, which the 60’s did their best to overturn. — Joshs

Agree with you. I'm more into overturning.

Agree with you. I'm more into overturning. — Tom Storm

Everyone has a soft spot for a particular type of movie. The movies which had the biggest impact on my life were made between 1965 and 1973. These were the films which tapped into the social revolution of that era. It didn’t last very long. By 1976 most of the big changes in outlook had already taken place, and in my opinion movies since that time have gotten progressively more timid and constricted in their scope. For a short period of time a window opened and everything we thought was true was up for grabs. The great films in the decades since that time draw from that inspiration without pushing us far enough beyond it.

I get it. Brazil is the only one of Gillian's that I like. It holds some of the most striking production design and visual invention of 80's cinema. — Tom Storm

Yes, they went nuts over visual invention in the 80's. Lighting effects, camera magic, fantastic stage sets, big industrial machinery, walls of computer screens, everything overstated and flashy. And it's attention-grabbing, I admit. But after 15 or 20 minutes, I've seen enough, laughed enough, been impressed enough and I just don't want another 2 hours of it. I did sit through it, for the sake of my friend, an artist herself, who loved it so much she wanted to see it a third time. Different sensibilities.