Best Movies Ever Made, In My Opinion At Least Options

[bat19]

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.

[*superstitious*]

I'm curious about something. Are most of you just posting your favorite films? Or are you at least making an attempt to use a little objectivity in selecting the "Best Movies Ever Made." I mean, I know that it's subjective objectivity, since opinions differ but honestly? It looks like most of you are just posting films you like, not necessarily films you respect, if that makes any sense.

I could be completely missing the point here (wouldn't be the first and most certainly will not be the last).

For example, I wouldn't watch Metropolis all that often and may not even consider the film a favorite of mine. I would, however, easily put this in a "Best Movie Ever Made" classification. In contrast to this, I consider The Two Towers one of my favorite films to watch, but wouldn't put in in a "Best Movie Ever Made" type classification. One I would watch many times with much enjoyment, the other I would watch periodically.

PS - I'm not judging or anything, just curious about the perspective(s) used when making such lists.