Personal Top Ten Movies of All Time - and why so

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gaffo
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Personal Top Ten Movies of All Time - and why so

Post by gaffo »

for me:
in order:

1.2001 A space odyssey - why: nature of "alive/conscienceness"(Hal9000),nature of man vs animal /superman(starchild to man) to man - i.e evolution from one state of nature to the next (movie assumes a higher one). another "why i like" - its slow and quiet and empty in the middle majority part of the flick (Jupiter mission)..............God how i love its quieteness...............like space - all empty and quite (I have no impulse to be "entertained" (thanks but no thank Kirt C - liked your music, but per that song - i never had the need to be entertained, prefer silence so i can think).

2. Threads - why: realism per the shitstorm that would result after World War 3............no not "all will die", a third more likely will - the rest will live on via their short lives due to radiation/starvation/etc.............centuries at least (BTW the southern hemisphire will do fine enough to maintain "Functional gov/economy - for recovery in a generation (Threads does address the state of Argentina after ww3. i just make a personal note here) first viewed it about 8 yrs ago via youtube, and then me buying the DVD of 7 yrs ago. just bought the Bluray of last week

3. Nothing But A Man - why: honest humanist view concerning racism in 60's america, with characters i liked and felt for. Hogan's Heroes (what a dumb show! - forget the actor's name - "Ivan" something - did great in movie - showed he was better than that dumb TV show. Abby Lincoln was great too. About "love - in spite of husband being a dick (due to pride and social injustice/ and insulting his father in law for being a toady/ and kicking-shoving his pregnant wife in a fit of anger over sense of powerlessness) - Why the fuck is this NOT on Bluray? - it was filmed in 1965? for fks sake - in 35 mm! so twice the detail of what DVD offers!


4. Dark Blue World - why: theme is about friendship above all else even if one felt betrayed by said friend. (BTW this movie is bleak - don''t be a friend to another in order to be "saved" -(so yes his movie is not hollywood bullshit). be a friend because of your mutual nature/connection. damn near all die by end of movie - even the protagonist's Dog leaves his side! movie if Chech, so you will have to read subs - deal with it.

5. The lives of others -why: theme is about redemption-personal growth. A fanatical communist, after seeing his boss as not a true believer, but instead an opportunist (WRT to his bose's hypocrisy - so also the seeing the bosses' boss' opportunism - rather than conviction as a believer in communism.) started to see the "traitor/capitalist/liberal" he is spying on "alive" (we see how dead the protagonist is and his "growth" via his obersvation of his "pray"). its a great movie that affirms the good nature of man/humanity. the main guy in movie starts out as a "true believer" - but in what outside of "party line" is not clear to the viewer,but we sense though he is not "mean" he lives a dead life (not character - let me be clear here - he has character for he is a "true believer in communism!" - but its an empty life if honourable one......................the one he spies on give him "self actualization"/life.

again subtitles. advice, if you value the human condition - the learn to read, because hollywood left it 20 yrs ago - that leave only foreign movies.



...................

I'm typed out - will continue with 6-10 later,


hope other will contribute to my thread - what are your top 10 movies and why.

thanks to all.
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Re: Personal Top Ten Movies of All Time - and why so

Post by -1- »

The Bicycle Thief
Monty Python's Holy Grail
Monty Python's Life of Brian (No.1.)
Ecce Homo Homolka
The Homolkas on top of the Pickle Tree
The Tattooed Man
Some Like It Hot
2001
Lives of others
A Clockwork Orange
The Harder They Come
Almost all Woody Allen Movies
Snatch (No. 2 in my books)
Men in Black
The Scary movie, I, II, III, IV
The Jason Osbourne series
The Girl Who Played With Fire series
Exactly half of the Coen Brothers movies (the other half sucks the big one)
Badlands with Sissy Spacek and that famous actor when he was young
Kontroll (the hungarian one...)
Lee Marvin movie when he collects his dues from the heist... brilliant
Three or four INCREDIBLY funny Polish movies
The French-language spoof on 007 == brilliant, funny, to the point, cutting, sardonic
Zabriskie Point (Europe's answer to Easy Rider)


(The Astute Observer will notice I was at my most impressionable in movie tastes in the 1970s.)

That's enough for now.
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Re: Personal Top Ten Movies of All Time - and why so

Post by vegetariantaxidermy »

I can't get past the 'of all time' bit. What does that even mean?
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Re: Personal Top Ten Movies of All Time - and why so

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vegetariantaxidermy wrote: Sat Jun 02, 2018 7:57 pm I can't get past the 'of all time' bit. What does that even mean?
Good question. I think it means time infinite past, to time infinite future.

But we'll just be happy if you concentrate on the twentieth and the twenty-first centuries.
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QuantumT
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Re: Personal Top Ten Movies of All Time - and why so

Post by QuantumT »

My 10 Top 2 Movies:

1. E.T. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0083866/
1. Star Wars https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0076759/
1. Poltergeist https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0084516/
1. Back to the Future https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088763/
1. Return of the Jedi https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086190/
2. Forrest Gump https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0109830/
2. The Terminator https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088247/
2. The Matrix https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0133093/
2. Frequency https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0186151/
2. Borat https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0443453/

Why? 'Cause they're freakishly great movies!
Especially movies about breaking the boundaries of time, seems to rock my boat.
Sci-Fi is a true weakness for me.
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Re: Personal Top Ten Movies of All Time - and why so

Post by duszek »

Inspector Columbo is nice to see, even several times.

The gestures are well studied and you can get some of the warm climate in L.A.

Not that I like Columbo himself, he is passively aggressive and this is sneaky. But if you are chasing a murderer then you are excused.

And Inspector Barnaby is a nice watch too. Some scenes are too cute for my taste but the general impression is nice. The series gives you an idea of the British taste for theatricality. The spectator might feel like in the Golden Globe of today.
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Re: Personal Top Ten Movies of All Time - and why so

Post by vegetariantaxidermy »

QuantumT wrote: Sun Jun 03, 2018 7:11 pm My 10 Top 2 Movies:

1. E.T. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0083866/
1. Star Wars https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0076759/
1. Poltergeist https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0084516/
1. Back to the Future https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088763/
1. Return of the Jedi https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086190/
2. Forrest Gump https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0109830/
2. The Terminator https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0088247/
2. The Matrix https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0133093/
2. Frequency https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0186151/
2. Borat https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0443453/

Why? 'Cause they're freakishly great movies!
Especially movies about breaking the boundaries of time, seems to rock my boat.
Sci-Fi is a true weakness for me.
No bias there↑

Three films that stand out to me:
Das Boot (German)
Farewell my concubine (Chinese)
Being John Malkovich (American)

And some old British or American films, like The Third Man, The African Queen..
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QuantumT
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Re: Personal Top Ten Movies of All Time - and why so

Post by QuantumT »

vegetariantaxidermy wrote: Wed Jun 06, 2018 7:05 pm No bias there↑
I was a kid when I saw most of those movies. Perhaps I would not like them so much, if I had seen them for the first time as an adult. Who knows?

But Hollywood is the master of Sci-Fi IMO, and I am a sucker for good Sci-Fi. Biased? Hmm... Not in my book. That's like calling someone a snob, because they like Apple computers and smartphones.
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Re: Personal Top Ten Movies of All Time - and why so

Post by gaffo »

-1- wrote: Sat Jun 02, 2018 3:58 pm The Bicycle Thief
Monty Python's Holy Grail
Monty Python's Life of Brian (No.1.)
Ecce Homo Homolka
The Homolkas on top of the Pickle Tree
The Tattooed Man
Some Like It Hot
2001
Lives of others
A Clockwork Orange
The Harder They Come
Almost all Woody Allen Movies
Snatch (No. 2 in my books)
Men in Black
The Scary movie, I, II, III, IV
The Jason Osbourne series
The Girl Who Played With Fire series
Exactly half of the Coen Brothers movies (the other half sucks the big one)
Badlands with Sissy Spacek and that famous actor when he was young
Kontroll (the hungarian one...)
Lee Marvin movie when he collects his dues from the heist... brilliant
Three or four INCREDIBLY funny Polish movies
The French-language spoof on 007 == brilliant, funny, to the point, cutting, sardonic
Zabriskie Point (Europe's answer to Easy Rider)


(The Astute Observer will notice I was at my most impressionable in movie tastes in the 1970s.)

That's enough for now.

To be honest - i only have heard of about 1/4th of your above list (noted your Woody Allen note and concur, social commontary couched in dry humor - and most of which are definately top stuff. of the 1/4th i have heard of in agree with you (so it looks like we have similar taste).

I'd like to thank you for replying with a list - so as to allow me to write them down and view/learn of them in order to expand my appreciate movies about "the human condition/i.e. humanity" - as opposed the escapist pap which 90-percent of all movies are (Strugen(sp) - the sci-fi author was right IMO).

thanks again sir.
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Re: Personal Top Ten Movies of All Time - and why so

Post by vegetariantaxidermy »

QuantumT wrote: Sun Jun 03, 2018 7:11 pm
Especially movies about breaking the boundaries of time, seems to rock my boat.
Sci-Fi is a true weakness for me.
I loved Men in Black 3 for that reason. It was surprisingly intelligent. Josh Brolin's Tommy Lee Jones impersonation was almost unbelievably good (I thought the voice was dubbed in) and I even managed to get past the fact that Will Smith is possibly the most annoying person 'of all time'.
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Re: Personal Top Ten Movies of All Time - and why so

Post by gaffo »

QuantumT wrote: Wed Jun 06, 2018 11:30 pm
vegetariantaxidermy wrote: Wed Jun 06, 2018 7:05 pm No bias there↑
I was a kid when I saw most of those movies. Perhaps I would not like them so much, if I had seen them for the first time as an adult. Who knows?

i.e tastes change with one's age (I'm speaking for myself - but assume it is the same for all others (and i hope it is - for if not there is no "growth" of the man/woman with ageing (experience of life).

so yes, i think you are right. you many not like your list as much as you did as a kid.

QuantumT wrote: Wed Jun 06, 2018 11:30 pm But Hollywood is the master of Sci-Fi IMO,

have to disagree here. hollywood is good with effects (i.e. Avatar is a good case in point - not "human theme" - just an infantile "Human colonizers are all bad guys that mine our "unobtanium" (christ that movie was infantile!!!!!!!!!!!) - oh bu the effects were so good!!!!!!!

another case: all the remakes of Planet of the Apes removed the WHOLE THEME of the ORIGINAL series (and yes i know "hollywood" made the original (but todays hollywood is even more inane than that of 50 yrs ago!).


No "Law Giver" - no quotes upon God creating Apres in His image,and man as one of the beasts of the field................then seeing the "enlightened Apes" act like beasts toward men in that series. in the last movie (which was about racism) - we see apes treating men (including a black man - i think he was the "vulcan specialist in the Star Trek series - I don't think it was Hari Roades(sp)...who looked similar and was in many movies back then (i think Hari was in Conquest of Apes) - so maybe it was him in the next movie - conquest of?

anyway the last one was about the Opressed acting like the oppressor - and being racist against the humans that lived peacefully with the ages for decades....until the crisis of the nutball (Hari's bose in prior movie) in "atomic city" decided to even the score.


there is no "social theme" - none - in the remakes.

that make them lesser by default.

QuantumT wrote: Wed Jun 06, 2018 11:30 pm and I am a sucker for good Sci-Fi.
so am i. that leave damn near all sci-fi movie out.

first requirement is a good work - so that means unless one is creative and rights a script from nothing (as might have been he case with Silent Running (ex movie BTW) - sci-fi movies are pulled from written works.

if one wants that movie to be good that means from:

Bradbury, Heinlein, Azimov, Herbert, Clarke (the Sci Gods).

then you need to have a decent director to transfer the excellent written work to screen (which usually fails - and why Brave New World/1984 TV series and movies sucked! the directors sucked.

and why with a better calibler director we can get works almost as good as the written work they are based upon.

Roller Ball ("Murder") - original of course.
Farinheit 451 - i'm sure they will make a shit remake soon - as they do with all movies theses days.
Soylent Green (written work is "male room make room" - by Harry Harrison).
QuantumT wrote: Wed Jun 06, 2018 11:30 pm Biased? Hmm... Not in my book. That's like calling someone a snob, because they like Apple computers and smartphones.
i don't like snobs - but do champion dicernment/critique.

so that prob makes me a snob ;-/.
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Re: Personal Top Ten Movies of All Time - and why so

Post by QuantumT »

vegetariantaxidermy wrote: Thu Jun 07, 2018 1:05 am and I even managed to get past the fact that Will Smith is possibly the most annoying person 'of all time'.
Oh, you should see a Jim Carrey movie :mrgreen:
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Re: Personal Top Ten Movies of All Time - and why so

Post by gaffo »

-1- wrote: Sat Jun 02, 2018 3:58 pm
Exactly half of the Coen Brothers movies (the other half sucks the big one)
I've seen around 3/4 of their stuff. hated some - raising arizona, read before burning.

thought the highly regarded big Lobowsky was average.

for me they best works are within the top 25 and include in order of quality:

Fargo
Blood Simple
No Country for Old Men
Barton Fink

..............love their black humor in their works

- saw Hudsucker Proxy 22 yrs ago and do not rem it well enough today to comment upon its rank.
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Re: Personal Top Ten Movies of All Time - and why so

Post by gaffo »

vegetariantaxidermy wrote: Wed Jun 06, 2018 7:05 pm
And some old British or American films, like The Third Man, The African Queen..
old BW movies of highest category include:

Night and the City
Marty (TV version is almost as good (playhouse 90))
The Best Years of Our Lives (number 6 in my top ten)
A Face in the Crowd (7?)
Baby Doll
Fail Safe (10?)
Seven Days in May
Patterns (the TV version - "playhouse 90" is equally good)
Paths of Glory (singing German gal in bar at the movie become Kubrick's wife)
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Re: Personal Top Ten Movies of All Time - and why so

Post by gaffo »

I'd say:

City of Life and Death - is no8 of all time ("a real" war movie - fully bloody and bleak and historically based. Chinese Black and white "new movie" 2010? - yes you have to read subtitles - oh the horror. unless you know manderin of course.

no9:

Snowtown - the bleakest movie i ever saw - take 2 weeks of your lifespan with each veiwing. "shoot the fking dog!!!!!" - gives a clear picture of pschopathy and stockholm syndrome - up front and center.

the "dog scene" and the "bathtub torchure" ("yes master") - are horrific. and all the moreso since it is based upon real events/people.
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