Favorite Movies!??!

[JasonEvans]

Far, far, far too many for me to list. It often is a matter of mood for me.

Right now, I am in the mood where Princess Bride and Shawshank are my favorites-- I just loaded both in my DVD traveller case for a vacation. A week ago, I was in a mood where I am embarassed to say that Matrix was my favorite as I watched it for about the 15th time with my son. I am jonesing to watch The Incredibles right now though, because my kids brought it with us on vacation. In a week, I'll probably be maxing on Raiders or (I'm embarassed to say) Independance Day.

Sometimes I turn on Pulp Fiction or Reservoir Dogs just to watch one of the segments and end up watching the whole thing.

I don't think anything makes me cry like Schindler's List does, except maybe the ending of Field of Dreams or perhaps the ending of Glory.

I adore twist endings and can watch Fight Club and Memento endlessly. Of course, for twists, nothing tops the ending of Usual Suspects.

Holy Grail is the Holy Grail of comedy, IMO.

I still think no greater crime has been committed in Oscar history than the way Finding Neverland was overlooked for virtually every award in 2005.

Is there anything more uplifting than watching Redford hit that homerun with the blood on his shirt at the end of The Natural? And is there a better freeze frame in history than Redford and Newman at the end of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.

Then there are the classics from my youth like One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, The Sting (more Redford), Bridge Over the River Kwai, The Man Who Would Be King (love me some Connery!), All The President's Men, Blazing Saddles, and Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.

Like I said, the list is long... and (thank god) always growing

-Jason "next week, I could probably add 7 different ones to this grouping-- that's for sure" Evans

[JBDuke]

Far, far, far too many for me to list. It often is a matter of mood for me.

Right now, I am in the mood where Princess Bride and Shawshank are my favorites-- I just loaded both in my DVD traveller case for a vacation. A week ago, I was in a mood where I am embarassed to say that Matrix was my favorite as I watched it for about the 15th time with my son. I am jonesing to watch The Incredibles right now though, because my kids brought it with us on vacation. In a week, I'll probably be maxing on Raiders or (I'm embarassed to say) Independance Day.

Sometimes I turn on Pulp Fiction or Reservoir Dogs just to watch one of the segments and end up watching the whole thing.

I don't think anything makes me cry like Schindler's List does, except maybe the ending of Field of Dreams or perhaps the ending of Glory.

I adore twist endings and can watch Fight Club and Memento endlessly. Of course, for twists, nothing tops the ending of Usual Suspects.

Holy Grail is the Holy Grail of comedy, IMO.

I still think no greater crime has been committed in Oscar history than the way Finding Neverland was overlooked for virtually every award in 2005.

Is there anything more uplifting than watching Redford hit that homerun with the blood on his shirt at the end of The Natural? And is there a better freeze frame in history than Redford and Newman at the end of Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.

Then there are the classics from my youth like One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, The Sting (more Redford), Bridge Over the River Kwai, The Man Who Would Be King (love me some Connery!), All The President's Men, Blazing Saddles, and Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.

Like I said, the list is long... and (thank god) always growing

-Jason "next week, I could probably add 7 different ones to this grouping-- that's for sure" Evans

Jason, like you, I have many, many movies that I'd call "favorites". I generally put Casablanca, Lawrence of Arabia, and Gone With the Wind at the top of my list, but there are many more films that I have trouble turning away from. Some of these are critical "greats", some are just my personal "guilty favorites":

Comedies: The Holy Grail makes me laugh from opening to ending credits. Animal House, The Producers, Blazing Saddles, Some Like It Hot, Arsenic and Old Lace, Dr. Strangelove, The Philadelphia Story, Airplane!, As Good As It Gets, A Christmas Story, Groundhog Day, Raising Arizona, Waking Ned Devine, and The Princess Bride are some of the others on my list.

Musicals: I love musicals, and my favorites are probably The Wizard of Oz, Singin in the Rain, The King and I, and The Sound of Music. Close behind: An American in Paris and Meet Me In St. Louis

Epics: In addition to Lawrence and GWTW, I'd add Ben Hur, The Ten Commandments, El Cid, Out of Africa, Ghandi, The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, and Dr. Zhivago.

Film Noir: Laura, Double Indemnity, Touch of Evil, The Third Man, Body Heat, and LA Confidential.

War: Saving Private Ryan, Patton, The Longest Day, Tora Tora Tora, The Dirty Dozen, The Great Escape, and Where Eagles Dare.

Action: The Adventures of Robin Hood, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Jaws, The Searchers, High Noon, and The Fugitive

Period Pieces: The Age of Innocence, Howard's End, Pride and Prejudice (the Keira Knightley version), Cyrano de Bergerac (both Ferrer's and Depardieu's versions), A Room with a View

Comics/Superhero films: Batman Begins, Superman (1978), The Rocketeer, Spider-Man, and Spider-Man 2

Animation: Beauty and the Beast, Pinocchio, Fantasia, the entire Pixar library, just about anything Miyazaki does, the Wallace and Gromit shorts (The Wrong Trousers and A Close Shave), and The Snowman

Sci-Fi: Blade Runner, 2001, The Day the Earth Stood Still, Star Trek 2: The Wrath of Khan, Serenity, The Matrix, Buckaroo Banzai, Alien, Aliens, Close Encounters, Contact, Dark City

Sports: Chariots of Fire, Bull Durham, Slap Shot, The Natural, Hoosiers, The Rookie, and Seabiscuit

Romance/Romantic Comedies: Amelie, Shakespeare in Love, Romeo and Juliet (the Zefferelli version), Chasing Amy, Sleepless in Seattle, and When Harry Met Sally

Drama: The Godfather (I and II), It's a Wonderful Life, The Remains of the Day, Schindler's List, Scrooge (1951 version), The Shawshank Redemption, The Sting, Unforgiven, The Usual Suspects, American Graffiti, and The Mission

And last but not least, just about all of Hitch's movies (Rebecca tops my list, but I love Rear Window, Vertigo, North by Northwest, Notorious, Suspicion, The Birds, Psycho, To Catch a Thief, etc.)

That's a long list, but I could have listed twice that many, I think.

[dukemomLA]

As a movie lover -- and the originator of this post, I can't tell you how thrilled I am by the responses so far. Almost every movie mentioned is a favorite of mine also. And, as I said in my original post -- there are too, too many to list! BUT, that said, I feel that we are providing a wonderful service to those who are not cinemaphiles, (sic) and need some help finding that great movie to cherish.

I think I might try (if I can find the time) to do an AFI type of thing -- and list "DBR's 100 favorite movies" or "Top Ten DBR Movies by Genre" or something of that nature.

Thanks everyone for your input!! I've seen a couple of my favorites listed that I hadn't thought about for a while. THANKS.

[captmojo]

For having it all..."Time Bandits"

History-Little people-comedy-Sir John Guilgud-Sean Connery-adventure-Pythons

Everything in one neat little package including Satan and the Supreme Being.

[allenmurray]

Bull Durham

This world is made for people who aren't cursed with self-awareness.

[Clipsfan]

There were some movies mentioned above which I tend to list in my favorites, even if I sometimes feel embarrassed to do so due to the fact that they're not the most "manly" movies (Princess Bride, When Harry Met Sally). A few others which I've always enjoyed (even if only for mindless entertainment in some cases):

Four Weddings and a Funeral
Total Recall
Snatch
The Game
Romancing the Stone
I'm Gonna Git You Sucka

[mapei]

JBDuke mentioned Waking Ned Devine, which reminded me of one of my favorites, Local Hero. The wonderful Mark Knopfler soundtrack alone is reason enough, but it also a very sweet, beautifully filmed movie.

[darthur]

I guess I'm a little late to this party, but here are my choices:

Comedy: The Big Lebowski and A Fish Called Wanda
Drama: The Godfather (I and especially II), The Sixth Sense, and Finding Neverland
Action, etc.: Lord of the Rings, Hero, and The Incredibles

I like almost all "classic" moves to some degree, but I often find the characters hard to believe (either because I am too young, or because they are too stylized - I'm not sure which). By and large, this means my all-time favorites are more recent. Among classics, however, some of my favorites are: The Sting, Twelve Angry Men (although its been a long time since I saw that), and Casablanca.

[throatybeard]

BlueDiablo:

I love arty movies, and on of my arty-movie-loving friends recommended In the Mood For Love to me on that basis, and I totally did not get it. What am I missing?

[BlueDiablo]

BlueDiablo:

I love arty movies, and on of my arty-movie-loving friends recommended In the Mood For Love to me on that basis, and I totally did not get it. What am I missing?

I dunno, man. If you didn't like it, then you didn't like it. It was slow, I'll give you that.

I thought it was beautifully filmed (typical for Wong Kar-Wai), and really enjoyed the performances. I'm also a sucker for movies about platonic, unrequited love.

The sequel (of sorts), "2046," is really good too, but very much more bizarre and makes less sense. It's got some very, very attractive people in it though, so it's exceedingly easy on the eyes.

It will be interesting to see if Wong Kar-Wai can make a successful American movie. His latest project, "My Blueberry Nights," (which I think debuted at Cannes this year) has Nora Jones, Rachel Weisz and Natalie Portman, along with some male actors that I'm less interested in.