Im sure there are already hundreds of topics just like this one, but seeing as how they are not on the first page, I don't care. haha. Pretty simple, what movies do you consider the greatest of all time and why? No top ten bullshit, just give a genre and give a movie. Easy, huh?

• Mafia: This is painfully obvious, The Godfather is without a doubt the best mafioso movie ever if not the greatest movie ever made. I've heard some people question this and I'll give you a simple answer. Marlon Brando as Vito Corleone was f**kin cool as shit. He's the Jack Sparrow of the early 70's for those of you still too young to have seen this masterpiece. It's not for restless types, three hours long and almost all dialogue, but trust me this is a friggin gem.
  
• Cult Classics: John Carpenter's Escape from LA is in my opinion one of the best movies because it's so friggin pointless. This is the movie that Snakes on a Plane would have been if they had taken it seriously. There is an infamous scene in which Snake Plisken(for all you Metal Gear fans this might sound familiar. Hideo Kojima pretty much stole this character directly) has just been shot in the leg and is then able to surf a tidal wave and then jump from his surfboard onto a moving car, then commandeer the vehicle and drive off. Greatest stupid scene in any movie I've ever seen. It's worth the watch just for that one part. f**kin histerical.
  
• Science Fiction: This might throw you off a little. Darren Aronofsky's The Fountain is quite possibly the best movie I have ever seen, but it is not a movie for everyone. To enjoy this movie fully, you have to meet some criteria. First, you have to be a little open minded. Second, you have to see films as an art form and as entertainment, not merely the latter. The Fountain is cinema art, from the heartbreaking story to the astounding visuals all backed by a great soundtrack composed solely by Clint Mansell. And it was all done under a modest budget, as opposed to a movie like Spiderman 3 which has almost 8 times it's budget and absolutely no depth whatsoever. Hugh Jackman more than makes up for his horrible performance in Van Helsing. I could go on and on about this movie, just watch it. If you didn't understand all of it the first time, watch it again. Eventually you will see just how extraordinary this movie is.
  
• Horror: With the immense outpour of incredibly bad horror movies of recent years, it's no real wonder why I go to a classic. Candyman was in my opinion the scariest movie I have ever seen. Not so much anymore unfortunately, with the constant release of gore flicks that go strictly for shock value, I'm afraid I've become desensitized. When I first saw this movie, I was about seven. This was the only movie I have ever left the room it was playing in out of pure fear. Any kid who has ever actually gone to the projects in Brooklyn, New York can possibly relate. I unfortunately had to visit my grandmother the next day who lived in a project building and I was shaking the entire time. This is a fairly simple movie about a former slave turned demon-like character now residing in an abandoned project building who frames an innocent woman of murder in order to take her deeper into his world. Horrible synopsis but I refuse to ruin anything about this movie. It will not have the same effect it did almost 20 years ago, but it's interesting to see what real horror used to be.
  
• Action: I am not a big action movie fan, but I'd have to say the best action movie I've ever seen was Terminator 2: Judgement Day. Better than the original and enormously better than the piece of shit third one that young kids of today are forced to relate upon. Great story, great acting(even for Arnold who can't act his way out of a nutsack), this is the perfect movie for movie lovers.
  
• Historical: Gladiator by Ridley Scott is an intentionally great movie. They probably went into production knowing how good this would turn out. Russel Crowe gives a good performance but he could have been terrible and probably not have made much difference. Ridley Scott is one of the best directors in movie history, one of the very few directors around today that I will pay to see, regardless of plot and I am rarely disappointed. This is a man who brought us the original Alien, Blade Runner, Black Hawk Down(screw the cynics, this was a great movie), Kingdom of Heaven, and other great epic movies, another of which has made this list.
  
• Gangsta Movies: There seemed to be a lot of these types of movies in the mid-90's but they seemed to have settled down a bit. My choice would be 187 starring the great Samuel L. Jackson. This movie gives a fairly in-depth look on a good man pushed to do evil things. Jackson gives one of the best performances in his career which is definitely saying something. There is not one thing I would change in this movie, it is great throughout.
  
• Fantasy: Ridley Scott makes the list again with his fantasy classic Legend, starring a very young Tom Cruise. Some of the people who have actually taken the time to read this might be thinking "Hey, why not Lord of the Rings?" I'll tell you why. Legend was made over 20 years ago with almost no computer effects because at the time the technology didn't exist to the extent it does today. Lord of the Rings is about 75% CGI using the most advanced special effects ever with three books that gave such precise detail on everything that almost any good director could have done just as well with the material. The original Legend is not as good as the re-released Director's Cut which is to say the movie that Ridley Scott originally intended. This is a great movie that the whole family can watch, seeing as it's rated PG.
  
• Comedy: This was the hardest genre to choose from seeing as how there are endless amounts of great comedies that come out every year, particularly since the millenium, but after careful deliberation and a very strenuous thinking process(which is to say I got up and looked through my DVDs), I have to go with the Dude. The Big Lebowski was made by the Cohen brothers and is definitely the best movie they have ever made. Jeff Bridges and John Goodman both give the best performances of their careers. This is the kind of movie you put on when you're really bored(or stoned) that always stays fresh and funny no matter how many times you watch it. I'm sure that there are much better comedies than this one, but I'm hardpressed to find one at 1:30 in the morning.
  
• Foreign Independent: Alexandra's Project is a creepy friggin movie from Australia, I believe. It's about a woman who is fed up with the way her husband treats her as an object and gets revenge in a pretty twisted way, by locking him in the house and taking the kids, but not before filming herself f**king the neighbor and forcing him to watch. Weird, weird movie and entirely believable which is the main reason why I added this movie.
  
• Martial Arts Films: I would have expected myself to say Enter the Dragon with Bruce Lee, but alas I am thinking of another one. A fairly unknown movie entitled Mortal Combat: Crippled Avengers a.k.a. Return of the Five Deadly Venom, not to be confused with the video game movie which pales in comparison. This Mortal Combat has the typical elements to any great Martial Arts movie with a great taste of originality. The story is fairly simple, two feuding clans are at war. One clan sends assassins to kill the head of the main clan but instead they find his wife and son. They rape and murder his wife and chop his sons hands off. The son grows into a skilled martial arts fighter with special metal arms that happen to shoot darts from the fingers. He and his now insane, tyrannical father share a hatred for anyone who might stare or accidentally bump into them or just talk back, and they show that hatred by crippling anyone who crosses them. One they blind, another they make mute, then deaf. Another they cut off his legs and the last they make him retarded through the use of some special helmet with levers on the sides. These now crippled men go off to learn kung fu and come back to settle the score. Great movie, if you can find it.
  
• Animated: Seeing as how computer animated movies have taken over, probably for good, I'm gonna split this group into classic and computer.
  1. Classic: This is a very simple choice for me. A Goofy Movie is such an underated movie but so worth the time to watch it. Based on the incredible show Goof Troop from the Disney renaissance of the early 90's, this movie had me in stitches from start to finish as a kid. Great characters, great plotline, awesome songs, this is a great kids movie.
  2. Computer: This is another easy choice and it is so obviously a Pixar movie. The Incredibles was a great kids movie that I found suprisingly enjoyable for adults as well, especially the jokes that would intentionally go way over the kids heads. Great animation, though now it seems like any studio with a will and a way will make a computer animated movie, this along with all the Pixar movies remains at the top.

That's it, I'm done. haha. Kind of tired. Please feel free to disagree with me. You might notice there are no Star Wars, Spiderman, Star Trek, Indiana Jones, or Alfred Hitchcock movies listed here. I'm not a huge fan of Star Wars, I hate the Spiderman movies with a passion, Didn't care too much for Star Trek, possibly because I didn't see the original show until I was 14. I like Indiana Jones but the place it would have taken was full and Hitchcock movies were dated when I was a little kid so I never got into them, though I have seen one or two of them. If you can think of any others or would like to critique my choices, be my guest. Seeing as how I work for a movie survey place, I am fairly well versed in both classic and upcoming movies.

You're missing the main point of this entire thread. What you've failed to see was my subtitle, my safety net if you will. These are the movies I've listed as best movies ever(most entertaining, whatever), but my failsafe was when I wrote "In My Opinion at Least." Granted you clearly disagree with my opinion, which is fine, I love debating but also tire of it quickly when it obviously goes nowhere. This may sound like a cop-out(I don't like it any more than you do), but I completely disagree with practically everything you've said and vice-versa, so we've kind of reached a stale-mate. For the record, I never chose The Godfather because it was popular. I was 8 when I first saw this and barely knew what a classic movie was. I didn't even like it the first time I saw it, I thought it was boring, but tastes change and people change(I used to like COLD and Trust Company, what the f**k was I thinking?). Then I read the book and watched it again and grew to love it. The reason I like this movie so much and honestly believe it to be the best in the genre has absolutely nothing to do with public opinion. I am a fan of well-written, well-delivered dialogue(which is my main complaint with Kevin Smith movies, especially Clerks. Decent dialogue, poor delivery). Marlon Brando, I know almost none of his movies. I watched street car named desire and like I said, I found it boring and outdated. Same with Bogart, same with Heston, same with Hitchcock, I don't find them entertaining. Granted I do also appreciate the artistry in a movie, but it at least has to hold some interest which those movies did not. The Godfather did keep my interest for the same reason Reservoir Dogs, which is almost entirely dialogue, did. Great dialogue, great delivery. I have seen a good number of Al Pacino movies, though certainly not all of them and I honestly feel The Godfather was his best movie. Scarface I didn't much care for and really don't see what is so great about it. It is among the most overrated movies ever(again, In my Opinion), and shares that list with the Blair Witch Project, which though I'm sure you see as a crowning achievement in horror cinema, I found dull and pointless, and I'm definitely not the only one. But my main handicap has to be the fact that though I have seen my fair share of films, I dont make it a point to do so. That is to say, I don't put forth an effort to find movies that are classic and old and worthy of your goddamn stamp of approval because to be honest I really dont care. If it's good, I'll watch it, but Im not gonna watch something that does not entertain me just because everyone else says it's a classic and I should like it. If anyone is following public opinion, it's you my friend, though our publics seem to be very seperate. So how does my genuine opinion have anything at all to do with public opinion? Screw public opinion when they say movies like Spiderman and King Kong are groundbreaking achievements. f**k those movies, they were both horrible. One movie with horrible dialogue, horrible acting(even the good actors, what the f**k Dafoe?), cartoon effects, absolutley no f**king depth whatsoever(though of course it is for kids as well, so I'll let that slide), and the other a 3 1/2 hour long chase scene that grew tiresome 5 minutes into it. I guess one of the point's I'm making is that though I'm sure you don't believe so, I don't follow anyone's opinion but my own. The other point I'm trying to make is that I'm a fan of dialogue and delivery more than special effects.
Towards my Gladiator argument, I'll refer to what I said towards the top, we're all entitled to our opinion. Mine says that even though it had flaws, even though it was not historically accurate, it was still one of the most entertaining movies I've ever seen. And I'm definitely not alone in that way of thinking, other people in this same post have agreed with me. So Godfather and Gladiator aside, what other movies would you object to? Don't you dare f**kin say Escape from LA, I already explained that it was bad which was what made it so damn good.
P.S. Im not ignoring old movies because they're old, I've seen plenty of old ass movies from the early black and white, hitchcock, citizen kane era. My argument is that I find them very, very boring. Artistic? Sure. But soooo f**king boring.

I agree. Pixar movies are the best computer-animated movies. Dreamworks and the other companies can't compare (well, not really anyway).

XD Now I have that song in my head. (sorry for the topic segue)

The Killing Fields.

Oh Jesus, I saw The Fountain a few weeks ago.
Easily the worst film in recent memory.
Such pretentious and boring tripe.
Don't give Jews money, they'll make bad movies.

YOU ARE JUST AN ANTI-SEMITE!

But in all honesty, The Fountain was terrible.

That wasn't a terrible list. Instead, it was just painfully boring, which is probably far worse. All it's missing is Donnie Darko and Fight Club. Possibly Pan's Labyrinth.

As for me, I don't really have a top ten.

How about this...
Movies that I gave five-stars to on Netflix and I could see being in my top ten assuming I had one:
Adaptation
The Blair Witch Project
Blue Velvet
Crash (David Cronenberg. None of that racial tension bullshit.)
Eraserhead
Evil Dead
Gummo
INLAND EMPIRE
Nightmare on Elm Street
Videodrome

Sounds good enough to me.

Banana in Pajamas the MOVIE

Titanic. Honestly, it never gets old. No matter how many times I watch it.

i haven't seen most of these movies...
but i very rarly sit down to watch tv or movies...
unless it's a reality show.
movies put me to sleep... unless they grab my attention in the first 20 mins.

The Butterfly Effect

I didn't like Donnie Darko. It was, I don't know boring. Then again I'm tasteless in these kinds of things.

Am I the only one who thought Amadeus was hilarious? I loved it! Call me crazy but I love his laughter.

I don't particularly like or dislike Donnie Darko. It definitely isn't nearly as interesting as so many people make it out to be.

I really have a problem with Donnie Darko. I don't want to sound too pretentious, but it was overrated to the point of disappointment for me. I really heard great things about it, and I was ready for something that was not brought to the table. Maybe it's one of those movies that "isn't for me", but I really felt cheated watching it. It's strange, really.

No 'American History X' fans?
I thought that movie was amazing.

I agree with Candyman and a few others.

This has to be a joke, right?




Alright, we get it! You're all a bunch of comedians!




Ew. You people like awful movies.

Haha, you guys are just a bunch of ass hats. Personally, I would much rather easily amused than have a cork shoved so far up my anus that I can't enjoy a movie unless it's damn near perfect. However, I have always hated the Butterfly Effect (Nate). Yeah, most movies suck these days but anyway...

This may come as a surprise, and I know that these movies haven't named. I like "The Cable Guy" and "The Beach". I don't know why. I know they are definitely not the best movies ever made, but I loved watching them and could watch them over and over and over again.

In fact, I watched "The Cable Guy" every night for about half a year. I enjoyed it every time. I still can't get enough of the part when Jim Carey sticks the chicken skin on his face and says, "Hello Clarice, it's very nice to see you again." It makes me laugh every time. I think he's the most obnoxious asshole ever, and that's what I like about it. I laugh every time I watch that movie.

The Beach, I don't know why I liked that movie either. I just liked it. I never knew what was going to happen the first time I watched it. I loved the ending. I don't know. It was just a fun movie to watch. I only own these movies.

The Beach
The Cable Gay
Fight Club
Wayne's World
The Weather Man
The Family Man
The Never-ending Story

I choose to watch movies that aren't deemed "Best Picture" by the worlds richest hypocrites. While I agree with most of you guys lists, I must I am surprised by some of the "Top Movies" some of you have chosen.

I am a cinematography major and on technicality alone, the talent showcased in Children of Men is by far some of the best camera work I have seen since Hitchcock's old movies.

I am partial to Donnie Darko, and just about anything Sam Mendes does. Alfonso Curon and Christopher Nolan are my top directors, anything they produce I will watch just because of there camera direction. Pans Labyrinth is one of my favorite foreign films, as well as M (German film.) To follow the cult classics, I deem A Clockwork Orange and Pi two movies that are quite often overlooked.

Fantastic movies. The Cable Guy is by far my favorite Jim Carrey and may be one of my favorite comedies of all time (I'll never understand how that film ever got such a bad rap, it's hilarious and smart). The insanity and frustration in that film is characterized wonderfully. The Beach is one of my favorite Boyle films, and it's definitely underrated. The desperation, hope, and tragedy here is really insightful. I can't help myself, my cynicism makes me partial to films where Utopian dreams are crushed and pissed on.

The rest of the movies you own aren't really anything special, aside from Never-ending Story.



Donnie Darko is highly overrated and sort of simpleton for my taste. I mean, I actually really enjoy the film, but I think for a lot of reasons others overlooked or aren't particularly concerned with.

I've been waiting to see Y tu mamá también for a million years now, but I thought Children of Men looked like piss. I think I would have to wait before I commented.

As goes Nolan, I've only ever really seen Memento and that didn't really capture my interest enough to inspire me to seek out his other work. Memento, to me, was clever and entertaining, but a bit too gimmicky, a bit too twilight zone, and a bit too emotionless for such a plot line. Altogether, I just think it's a monstrously overrated film.

Started Pan's, seems alright. M is sweet, if not only for its treatment of a child murderer. As goes Pi and A Clockwork Orange; I can't really understand how you think either of these films are overlooked (especially Clockwork). But, I am definitely a fan of both, despite the fact that I don't think Clockwork is Kubrick's best.

Children of Men, has this amazing panning shot that now I understand is rather difficult to achieve. The reason I rate it so highly is because of that one shot in the streets. I have directed 4 films now, (all short) and nothing is more difficult then a continuous panning shot, and Cuaron did an amazing job at perfecting that feat.

Memento was gimmicky, but once again I don't base my ratings on talent. The camera direction and script were what sold the movie for me.

ClockWork and Pi, (at least in Rural Texas) are overlooked, in classes as well as society. Something about following a man who achieves his goal in raping women and overcomes his struggles as his life deteriorates, only in the end to pick himself up again..doesn't sit right with rednecks. As for Pi? Nobody in this town except for Film Geeks, has even heard of the movie...which is sad. I live in a city where Larry the Cable Guy is worshiped more then Jesus.

Donnie Darko is one of my favorite movies, because of the following it has achieved. The cult success, is exactly why I like it. The camera direction is good, but in this movie it WAS the Talent that sold me.

Nolan also did The Prestige, which I also think highly of.

I agree with you that M is amazing, and you need to see Y Tu Mama Tambien, the raw honesty and passion the movie carries, makes it a foreign classic. It does get a little explicit, however I have a feeling by your knowledge of films, that won't bother you. Good luck finding it,

cheers,
Lunatix

I'm really surprised that you liked those movies. Lol, the only reason I have:

• Fight Club
• Wayne's World
• The Weather Man
• The Family Man

is because they were in the five dollar bin at Wal-Mart. I'm not saying I didn't enjoy them though. If I spent more than five dollars I wouldn't have.

When I first started arguing with you over this thread, I figured "Hey, this kid is annoying but maybe he knows what he's talking about." Now that I do know you, I've realized you're just an ignoarnt douche who gets off by pissing off other people. You're just an annoying dickpimple who cant make any friends so you watch movies all day and then pretends you're educated online to a bunch of pre-teen asians who dont know the difference. You're a fucking waste of time and looking back at this thread, Im so pissed I actually took the time to debate with you.

The Fountain was SOOOOOOOOOOO much better than Blair Witch. Blair Witch is that little piece of shit that won't drop off the asshole of the movie industry.

Oh man dick pimples are horrible.