Best movies of all-time?
I was reading a thread earlier about movies that made people cry, and it really made me think about the extensive library of riveting cinemas. What makes a good movie? What do the all of the greatest movies have in common? Movies affect us powerfully because the combined impact of images, music, dialogue, lighting, sound and special effects can elicit deep feelings and help us reflect on our lives. They can help us to better understand our own lives, the lives of those around us and even how our society and culture operate.
I’m curious to hear from my fellow monkeys. What are greatest movies of all-time and what makes a great movie?
I do not get much joy out of movies these days but for me, what makes a good movie, is an unexpected twist.
I can't help but think of the dweebs writing and directing the movie, so they do not influence my life like you describe.
365 days - don't need to say much
Favorite movies in no particular order: Godfather parts 1/2, The Dark Knight trilogy, Once Upon a Time in America, Django Unchained, LOTR, Lion King, Grave of the Fireflies. I could keep going but I'll stop here.
I'm not enough of a movie buff to give a good answer as to what makes a good movie. But all the above are my favorites because the score, the acting, writing, and the overall vibe of each film is unique. They don't feel like just another movie each has its own character that makes it special, at least to me. I have some special memories with each film as well. For example, the Dark Knight trilogy will always hold a special place in my heart, it was basically my generation's version of the Tim Burton Batman movies that kids who grew up in the '80s and '90s loved
Once Upon a Time in America is so underrated.
It's so good, my favorite gangster movie for sure.
I was just going the reply this. Once Upon a Time in America is the greatest movie I've watched, and I've watched a lot.
Once upon a time in America is the perfect movie for anyone who has trouble understanding why godfather is so good.
Coppola takes Leone to school.
once upon a time is merely a decent movie. Godfather is great art.
If you took out the long epilogue, I’d say Return of The King is up there. If it ended with the crowning of Aragorn and everyone bowing to the hobbits it’d be damn near perfect. But on their own, I’d say The Dark Knight, Pulp Fiction, The Godfather, and Caddyshack. Best in action, crime, drama, and comedy.
For me, the movie was so good, I wish it never ended so I kind of like the multiple "endings".
.
The Godfather 1&2
Once Upon A Time in America
Taxi Driver
The Dollars Trilogy
2001: A Space Odyssey
Barry Lyndon
Amadeus
The Dark Knight
Pan's Labyrinth
The Princess Bride
Chinatown
Shawskank Redemption
Mystic River
No Country For Old Men
Casino
The Departed
A Bronx’s Tale
The Prestige
Goodfellas
Road to Perdition
Catch Me If You Can
Inglorious Basterds
Wedding Crashers
Gangs of New York
RocknRolla
ISpy (w/ Eddie Murphy)
(it’s safe to say, I like violence)
All that violence and no Mad Max?
I actually just watched The Prestige last night lol. Awesome movie
No Country For Old Men is underrated. Anton is my favorite villain in any movie
Did you just include Wedding Crashers in a list with The Godfather, The Departed, Inglorious Basters, etc?
rocknrolla a solid movie
I like how you snuck a porn parody in there.
Interstellar
Arrival
Bladerunner
Sicario
The Witch
Wind River
Dumb and Dumber
Nacho Libre
Napoleon Dynamite
The Incredibles
John Wick
Those are some movies that come to mind when I think of good movies, all for different reasons.
Also adding “Lion” to the list
That Sicario soundtrack...
That movie keeps you at the edge of your seat - and Benicio del toro is phenomenal
Airplane, Gladiator, Bad Boys 2, Top Gun
In college, that was my go-to karaoke song.
"God damn it, danger zone guy is back." - Bartender
INTERSTELLAR
What do you guys think about Bollywood?
Bollywood back in the 90s was top tier especially Dil, Kuch Kuch Hota Hai and Hum Aapke Hain Koun. SRK is the goat and Bollywood was enjoyable when they stuck to their style but now it's trying way too hard to be westernized and dilutes the experience imo. Factor in the other social issues with Bollywood and it's not a good look anymore. Still bullish on Sara Khan becoming big but long term I see secular headwinds.
agree. bollywood gotta go back to pre-2010 style of movies. 3-idiots and all those bangers
Bollywood is just garbage. There are a few exceptions such as Zindagi Na Milegi Dobara and Gangs of Wasseypur. Bollywood just can’t be compared to Hollywood.
.
A classic
Yeah great concept and execution of this movie. Leo was perfect actor.
Will try not to rehash any of the above but Dark Knight, Godfather 1/2, and Shawshank are top 3 IMO. Other obvious greats are Good Will Hunting, Silence of the Lambs, Breakfast Club, Django, Caddyshack, Wedding Crashers. Pirates of the Caribbean is also an all time favorite given my age when it came out.
Some of the underrated / slept on very good movies are:
90s ganger: Paid in Full, Menace II Society, Juice
Thrillers: Prisoners, Gone Girl, Seven, Molly's Game
Other: Donnie Brasco, King, The Talented Mr. Ripley, Wall Street (1987), The Gentlemen
Prisoners is dark. I’d rank it near Beasts of No Nation with how dark it is
lol this is an odd one - you liked it?
A Serious Man
Almost Famous
Apocalypse Now
Ash is Purest White
Blue Velvet
Columbus
The Florida Project
Ida
In The Mood For Love
Inside Llewyn Davis
It's Such a Beautiful Day
Lost In Translation
On the Waterfront
Raw
The Rider
Sex Lies and Videotape
Shoplifters
The Social Network
Wall•E
These 3 are great, will need to check out some of the others.
It's a pretty eclectic mix of movies on that list haha, so if you're interested in something more specific I can recommend which might fit.
The Martian
Zero Dark Thirty
Love Zero Dark Thirty. I’m reading a book right now called “The Shadow Factory” about the NSA’s involvement with that.
American Psycho
Scarface.
Rosemary’s Baby, Pulp Fiction, Shawshank Redemption, Parasite, City of God, Gran Torino, Good Fellas, Pan’s Labyrinth, The Shining, The Big Lebowski, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Superbad, LOTR, Schindler’s List, Spirited Away, Your Name, Toy Story, Taxi Driver, Forrest Gump
Fight Club is a good movie
One of my favorites too.
Shutter island, Big Short, Social Network are 3 of my favorites. Basically, I like movies that treat the audience as if they are somewhat intelligent, since most films treat the audience as if they are idiots
you mean threeeee of your favorites?
I have a lot on my list:
A Beautiful Mind
Shawshank Redemption
Wolf of Wallstreet
Pursuit of Happiness
Seven
LOTR
Silence of the Lambs
It's A Wonderful Life
The GodFather
It’s called “Se7en” - yeah good flick
Surprised Snatch hasn't had a mention yet.
If you haven't seen Swingers please for the love of god watch it. Best movie to watch with the boys. Vince Vaughn and Jon Favreau.
Some of my favorites not yet mentioned on here:
North by Northwest-My favorite classic film of all time. Cary grant oozes with style and class.
Patton-George C Scott portrayal of the World War II general is what I consider to be the singular best acting of a real life person in film history.
Dirty Harry-Eastwood and late 1960's/early 1970's San Francisco both were in their prime. A man's film/series.
The French Connection-Gene Hackman is one of the most underrated actors of all time.
The Fugitive-Early 90's prime Harrison Ford & Tommy Lee Jones. Also love Clear and Present Danger and Patriot Games.
Big Fish-Early 2000's borderline indie film. Really cool storyline that captures the deeper meaning of life.
The Rider-The most recent film that brought me to tears. Chloe Zhao might be our generation's most important film maker.
Black Swan-Haunting film and Natalie Portman's role and execution were unbelievable.
The Blues Brothers-One of the funniest films and seeing Chicago in 1980 just makes you smile.
Walk The Line-Joaquin Phoenix nails Johnny Cash in everyway.
Black Swan is phenomenal and same goes for Whiplash
Seven Samurai (Akira Kurosawa) ranks up there on some lists. Loved the action and great story about the underdog. I had a “Kurosawa phase” growing up. “Ran” was also a favorite. Loved the colors and battles, the ending was powerful.
Star Wars Empire Strikes Back - George Lucas is a multi billionaire, so that says something.
True Lies - love the different story lines, almost like watching two movies, and then it all comes together. Boom. Wouldn’t say it’s one of the greatest, but it’s enjoyable.
Matrix - mind blowing, cool theme. Might have launched more space-time, alternative dimensions type movies like Interstellar and Inception, which I love. But add in the fight scenes.
Jurassic Park - made anyone with an imagination a kid again
y’all sleeping on what about bob
I never would have expected that movie to show up in this thread. I watched it yesterday because it's going to expire from Hulu, and to me it was pretty mundane. It had a unique story, I suppose, but not necessarily a great one.
It's a family favorite, for us the movie never gets old. I feel like it's one of those movies where you need to watch a few times to really enjoy it.
It is John Wick for me - great movie, great action, great direction/cinematography.
Yeah John Wick is entertaining
Enjoy Bruce Willis Movies: The Die Hards, Armageddon, etc.
The Police Academy was a funny one
Arnold Schwarzenegger's Movies: Predator, Terminator, Commando, Kindergarten Cop, True Lies, etc.
Lots of Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn
Fan of James Cameron Movies: Aliens (1986), Avatar
I like some Ben Stiller and Adam Sandler movies mixed in from time to time as well. Grown Ups, Happy Gilmore and Waterboy come to mind for Sandler. Fockers, among many others for Stiller
Eddie Murphy has some funny ones too (Coming to America). He and Stiller played in Tower Heist, which I thought was great and funny
Fan of Chevy Chase: Griswolds and Memoirs of Invisible Man
Harrison Ford Movies: Indiana Jones, Air Force One, etc.
Tommy Lee Jones in The Fugitive and US Marshals
Liked Will Smith in Independence Day and in Enemy of the State
Many more that I cannot remember off the top of my head, but are still great.
I know you put etc under the Arnold section so it's technically included, but I think Total Recall deserves a mention. One of my favorite sci-fi films
Agreed.
Best list in the thread
What’s not the best is Citizen Kane....it’s an overrated movie.
A great underrated film is Dirty Harry.
The Big Lebowski
Fargo
Training Day
Remember the Titans
Dazed and Confused
Momento
Big Daddy
Kill Bill Vol. 2
10 Things I Hate About You
Terminator 2
The Usual Suspects
Idiocracy
Rocky 4
Tombstone
Boyhood
I really like Training Day too
In no particular order here are a few:
1. Dark Knight Trilogy (Christian Bale). The combination of him + Hans Zimmer on the soundtrack + Christopher Nolan makes these three the best superhero movies of all time, bar none. The whole Avengers saga was great, but I could re watch Dark Knight infinitely.
2. Pirates of the Caribbean (first movie in particular). I could re-watch it infinitely
3. As this is a finance forum I think I want to include The Big Short on this list. It does a really good job at illustrating what happens when businesses go unregulated and unchecked, Steve Carrell's performance in it is phenomenal. I used to hate him in everything (I hate cringy characters) but he really impressed in this movie.
4. Big Lebowski. I mean c'mon.
5. The first Guardians of the Galaxy movie. Combining a superhero movie with such an epic old school soundtrack created a wonderful amalgamation of nostalgia for a future that hasn't happened yet.
6. The Matrix. I re-watched that so many times.
I had the Matrix on a Dell laptop with DVD drive in 2001 and felt like I was on the bleeding edge of technology. omg wow lol
Definitely Shrek!
In general, Interstellar.
another movie's thread are you fucking kidding me. next time one of these gets made it needs to be more specific
Anyone noticing how the 2010s, especially 2015 onwards were complete crap in terms of movies?
Gladiator
The Patriot
Kingdom of Heaven
Last of the Mohicans
Robin Hood
300
Troy
Man on Fire
Equilibrium
The King
Outlaw King
Fury
Lone Survivor
Empire of the Sun
Gattaca
Beasts of no Nation
Blood Diamond
Skyfall 007
Unforgiven (1992)
Sort of a swansong to the traditional western. I'm a huge fan of Italian westerns (Dollars Trilogy, Django series, pretty much anything touched by Sergio Leone, Sergio Corbucci, Eastwood, Franco Nero, Lee Van Cleef, etc.), and Unforgiven carries on the anti-hero spirit of that movement and presents it in a more Hollywood-friendly package. Clint Eastwood's William Munny is simultaneously sympathetic and terrifying.
"Its a hell of a thing, killing a man. You take away everything he's got and everything he's ever gonna have."
Wolf of Wallstreet
Pursuit of Happiness
Collateral Beauty
LOTR
I’m surprised no one has said Dallas Buyers Club
Good Will Hunting is number one for me
Pretty good flick
how bout dem apples?
le haine
Well, for me, Martin Scorsese is highly overrated, so almost every other movie has the chance to be better
Saving Matt Damon:
Dark Knight Series
Last Samurai
Troy
Shawshank Redemption
The Prestige
Inception/Shutter Island
Catch Me If You Can
Ben Hur
Gone with the Wind
Roman Holiday
Jerry Maguire
Armageddon
Grease
Gone in 60 Seconds
Family Man
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