Favorite Movies: Get 'Em Here!

[noitcefrep]

I seem to always be stuck when thinking about which movies to download and watch. I know there are so many good ones out there, but how to find them? So post your all-time favorite movies (doesn't matter the reason for you liking them) and perhaps we can all expand our movie knowledge!

[noitcefrep]

Here are a few that I HIGHLY recommend.

1. American Beauty (1999)
   
2. Donnie Darko (2001)
   
3. Requiem for a Dream (2000)
   
4. Meet Joe Black (1998)
   
5. Memento (2001)
   
6. Michael Clayton (2007)
   
7. Vanilla Sky (2001)
   
8. American Pie (1999)
   
9. Dead Poets Society (1989)
   
10. K-PAX (2001)
    
11. Contact (1997)
    
12. The Dark Knight (2008)
    
13. Closer (2004)
    
14. Erin Brockovich (2000)
    
15. Eternal Sunshine of the Spo… (2004)
    
16. The Island (2005)
    
17. Rain Man (1988)
    
18. The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
    
19. The Sixth Sense (1999)
    
20. The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
    
21. Training Day (2001)
    
22. A Beautiful Mind (2001)
    
23. Changeling (2008)
    
24. Secret Window (2004)
    
25. V for Vendetta (2006)
    
26. Wristcutters: A Love Story (2007)
    
27. The Matrix (1999)
    
28. Minority Report (2002)
    
29. Mr. Deeds (2002)
    
30. Prozac Nation (2001)
    
31. Spirited Away (2002)
    
32. The Virgin Suicides (1999)
    
33. The Weather Man (2005)
    
34. Crash (2005)
    
35. Jerry Maguire (1996)
    
36. October Sky (1999)
    
37. Atonement (2007)
    
38. Children of Men (2006)
    
39. Good Will Hunting (1997)
    
40. Patch Adams (1998)
    
41. The Machinist (2004)
    
42. Wimbledon (2004)
    
43. A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001)
    
44. Almost Famous (2000)
    
45. American History X (1998)
    
46. Austin Powers: Internationa… (1997)
    
47. Babel (2006)
    
48. Blood Diamond (2006)
    
49. Blow (2001)
    
50. The Bourne Supremacy (2004)
    
51. The Breakfast Club (1985)
    
52. A Christmas Story (1983)
    
53. Cruel Intentions (1999)
    
54. Face/Off (1997)
    
55. Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986)
    
56. Forrest Gump (1994)

[elucidate]

I know you said not to bother with reasons why we like them, but I felt the need to anyway...

Well, I watched Avatar for the first time last night on DVD, and it just uplifted me and filled me with awe at all the crazy amazing creatures of that world...like those spiritual seeds that floated around like jelly fish, but in the air. I'd love to own a copy of that movie for when I need a good injection of awe and wonderment. It really took you on an emotional rollercoaster, from joy to despair and tears, back to upliftedness and awe.

Baraka is another one if you want to be uplifted and amazed by our world and all the beauty in the world.

I watch alot of funny movies as therapy, so I have to recommend The Breakfast Club and Ferris Bueller's Day Off as classic 80's gold.

Donnie Darko is another one I love. The concept of space/time and time travel are themes in this one, and it also touches on the possibility that people we write off as mentally ill or schizophrenic in society may just be that much more perceptive and sensitive to seeing things that are infact possibly there and the questioning of whether use of medication is what really causes these people to become sick. This one's a keeper, and I own a copy myself.

Requiem for a dream is just flat out trippy, but brilliant in it's cast and execution. The soundtrack for this movie is also excellent.

My all time fave is Willy wonka and the chocolate factory (the original with Gene Wilder) Do I really need to go into why?

Another close second is Dangerous Liasons with John Malkovich, Glenn Close and Uma Thermann. Such a bad boy

There are some awesome Arthouse films like Delicatessan, and The cook, the thief ,his wife and her lover.

I'll come back when I remember more.

Oh, I also LOVE American Dream, can't think why I didn't think of it straight away, but it's up there with my faves. Actually, pretty much everything you listed noticefrep has my stamp of approval as well.

[noitcefrep]

Originally Posted by elucidate

Well, I watched Avatar for the first time last night on DVD, and it just uplifted me and filled me with awe at all the crazy amazing creatures of that world...like those spiritual seeds that floated around like jelly fish, but in the air. I'd love to own a copy of that movie for when I need a good injection of awe and wonderment. It really took you on an emotional rollercoaster, from joy to despair and tears, back to upliftedness and awe.

Baraka is another one if you want to be uplifted and amazed by our world and all the beauty in the world.

I watch alot of funny movies as therapy, so I have to recommend The Breakfast Club and Ferris Bueller's Day Off as classic 80's gold.

Donnie Darko is another one I love. The concept of space/time and time travel are themes in this one, and it also touches on the possibility that people we write off as mentally ill or schizophrenic in society may just be that much more perceptive and sensitive to seeing things that are infact possibly there and the questioning of whether use of medication is what really causes these people to become sick. This one's a keeper, and I own a copy myself.

Requiem for a dream is just flat out trippy, but brilliant in it's cast and execution. The soundtrack for this movie is also excellent.

My all time fave is Willy wonka and the chocolate factory (the original with Gene Wilder) Do I really need to go into why?

Another close second is Dangerous Liasons with John Malkovich, Glenn Close and Uma Thermann. Such a bad boy

There are some awesome Arthouse films like Delicatessan, and The cook, the thief ,his wife and her lover.

I'll come back when I remember more.

Thanks for the recommendations!

I've just finished downloading Baraka and started Delicatessen along with The cook, the thief, his wife and her lover . Looking forward to them!

And LOL when I searched for The Cook, I watched this trailer and was like !!!!!! Are you serious!? lmao YouTube - The Cook Trailer (Spot #1) if so, AHAHAAH looks HILARIOUS

[noitcefrep]

Originally Posted by elucidate

I know you said not to bother with reasons why we like them, but I felt the need to anyway...

Oh, I also LOVE American Dream, can't think why I didn't think of it straight away, but it's up there with my faves. Actually, pretty much everything you listed noticefrep has my stamp of approval as well.

I didn't realize you added to your post until now; you do that a lot, I've noticed . I didn't mean that I wouldn't like to hear the reason for you liking them, just that I don't care if the reasons are silly/serious etc. There is another thread about inspirational movies, and I just wanted to make it clear that any kind of movie is more than welcome in this thread. And if you have time to tell me why you like them, that would be great!

And I'm done downloading all of the ones you previously recommended, and I'm about to download American Dream, as per your recent epiphany .

Any one else have some favorite movies that they recommend others to see?

[noitcefrep]

Originally Posted by elucidate

Oh, I also LOVE American Dream, can't think why I didn't think of it straight away, but it's up there with my faves.

I'm trying to find this movie, but it looks as thought there are quite a few movies with this title, or with slight variations. Is this the one you're talking about?

American Dream (1990)

Thanks!

[Lioness]

Random picks:
Se7en
Pulp Fiction
Goodfellas
A history of Violence
Bad Lieutenant
A Bronx Tale
Donnie Brasco
Unbreakable
Aliens
The Gift
When Harry Met Sally
The Prestige
Die Hard
The Firm
2 Films saw recently w/disturbing theme of child abuse, but very good: Mysterious Skin, The Girl Next Door. 2 good horror flicks are: Wrong Turn and Wolf Creek.

[Mounds]

I'm a horror movie buff myself... here's a few pics that come to mind:

The Thing - John Carpenter's version is possibly the best horror movie of all time, still quite effective today. I honestly can't think of a better horror movie.

Predator - first DVD I ever bought and one of my favourites. The sheer awesomeness of the Predator is what makes the movie. It kills off Arnold's entire team with ease and then slaps around Arnold for a while until he beats it by chance.

The Hitcher - 1980's version. The remake of The Hitcher is considered an embarrassment. Ironically, they're practically the same movie.

That's all I got. If you want to do your senses a big favour, check out John Carpenter's "The Thing".
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Now for a movie rant! What is up with horror movies in the last twenty years? I have seen very few worthwhile horror flicks. Seems like all the best ones came out before I was born.
Nowadays, I visit a horror forum and people are talking about how the movie "Scream" revolutionized horror. Holy ****, did you really just say that? "Scream", as in that steaming pile of crap that Hollywood churned out to make some money? Do you realize that slashers existed before "Scream"? Horror movies in the 70's and 80's had balls. Now we have refined trash.
Case in point, Nightmare on Elm Street remake.... How do you screw that up? Seriously. How? 15% on Rottentomatoes.com. Booooo!!!! Wanna know what simple plot change could have taken that 15% to 60-70%? Make Freddy innocent. In the trailer, they made it seem like Freddy could have been innocent and I thought, "Wow, now that would be wild". Then I heard that they changed him from a child killer to a child molester and he's guilty as charged. Think about how cool that franchise could have been if the parents had burned an innocent man. Then he's got a right to be mad! Now he's just an ******* and the franchise is pretty much dead. Thanks Platinum Dunes! Another nail in the coffin. Between Rob Zombie and Michael Bay, pretty soon they're going to ban horror as a genre.
Who gives these guys money? I know I'm not paying for any of their trash! I make a point of it. I can just see the Hollywood execs... "Ya know, Rob Zombie sings about witches and ****... I bet he'd make a good horror movie"
"Ya, let's give him Halloween and see what he does with it"
... fast forward a year...
"Wow Rob, your version of Halloween was a critical and box office flop! Want to try again?"
...fast forward a year
"Wow Rob, H2 was even worse! We'd let you make another movie but we just plum ran out of money!"...at which point the horror community breaths a sight of relief in unison.
Now for Michael Bay. Lets look at the movies his production company has churned out (with rating):

TCM - 36%
TCM: The Beginning - 13%
Amityville Horror - 24%
The Hitcher - 19%
The Unborn - 12%
Friday the 13th - 25%

Daaaaamn. That's rough. Horror today is awful.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

-Tim

[KaleidoskopicVision]

Awesome picks, noitcefrep.

I'll add my own.

Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (watch this especially if you have Jim Carrey typecasted as Ace Ventura )

Trainspotters (very harsh movie about heroin addiction, a riveting story)

A Beautiful Life (excellent movie, so so very good and heartwrenching)

Pineapple Express (hilarious)

The Wrestler

Brokeback Mountain (watch this especially if you have heard all the cruel 'Brokeback Mountain' jokes but haven't actually seen the movie)

Apocalypse Now (absolutely epic. Ridiculous. Over the top. Vietnam. Surfing. Need I say more? "The horror!" )

The Hurt Locker (excellent movie about a U.S. Army bomb squad in Iraq and the awful war going on there. By an indie film company. Very good movie)

How to Train your Dragon (really good kids movie, if you have kids or a little sister . Also excellent if you appreciate good animation)

Saw (brilliant horror movie. Absolutely not a kids movie though)

Event Horizon (another brilliant horror movie)

Sybil (not for kids, about extreme child abuse and dissociative identity disorder. Excellent acting)

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Visioneers (Zack Galifianakis plays a businessman at an interesting corporation. Set in the near future, it shows just how soulless materialism can be. A poignant dark comedy)

Pan's Labyrinth (one of my favorites. Mixes a girl's flight into fantasy amidst a very real war)

[KaleidoskopicVision]

Originally Posted by Mounds

I'm a horror movie buff myself... here's a few pics that come to mind:

The Thing - John Carpenter's version is possibly the best horror movie of all time, still quite effective today. I honestly can't think of a better horror movie.

Predator - first DVD I ever bought and one of my favourites. The sheer awesomeness of the Predator is what makes the movie. It kills off Arnold's entire team with ease and then slaps around Arnold for a while until he beats it by chance.

The Hitcher - 1980's version. The remake of The Hitcher is considered an embarrassment. Ironically, they're practically the same movie.

That's all I got. If you want to do your senses a big favour, check out John Carpenter's "The Thing".
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Now for a movie rant! What is up with horror movies in the last twenty years? I have seen very few worthwhile horror flicks. Seems like all the best ones came out before I was born.
Nowadays, I visit a horror forum and people are talking about how the movie "Scream" revolutionized horror. Holy ****, did you really just say that? "Scream", as in that steaming pile of crap that Hollywood churned out to make some money? Do you realize that slashers existed before "Scream"? Horror movies in the 70's and 80's had balls. Now we have refined trash.
Case in point, Nightmare on Elm Street remake.... How do you screw that up? Seriously. How? 15% on Rottentomatoes.com. Booooo!!!! Wanna know what simple plot change could have taken that 15% to 60-70%? Make Freddy innocent. In the trailer, they made it seem like Freddy could have been innocent and I thought, "Wow, now that would be wild". Then I heard that they changed him from a child killer to a child molester and he's guilty as charged. Think about how cool that franchise could have been if the parents had burned an innocent man. Then he's got a right to be mad! Now he's just an ******* and the franchise is pretty much dead. Thanks Platinum Dunes! Another nail in the coffin. Between Rob Zombie and Michael Bay, pretty soon they're going to ban horror as a genre.
Who gives these guys money? I know I'm not paying for any of their trash! I make a point of it. I can just see the Hollywood execs... "Ya know, Rob Zombie sings about witches and ****... I bet he'd make a good horror movie"
"Ya, let's give him Halloween and see what he does with it"
... fast forward a year...
"Wow Rob, your version of Halloween was a critical and box office flop! Want to try again?"
...fast forward a year
"Wow Rob, H2 was even worse! We'd let you make another movie but we just plum ran out of money!"...at which point the horror community breaths a sight of relief in unison.
Now for Michael Bay. Lets look at the movies his production company has churned out (with rating):

TCM - 36%
TCM: The Beginning - 13%
Amityville Horror - 24%
The Hitcher - 19%
The Unborn - 12%
Friday the 13th - 25%

Daaaaamn. That's rough. Horror today is awful.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

-Tim

Ooh Mounds if you're into horror you gotta check out the Masters of Horror series. Imprint was my definite favorite. Check out the trailer,
YouTube - Masters of Horror - Imprint - trailer

And I agree with you. Rob Zombie? Michael Bay? They have no finesse. It's all explosions and bigger explosions.

[Lauxa]

Hey Mounds, did you like the Zombieland movie? Just wondering. I'm not a horror movie fan, so I like it when they make 'em really funny like that and Scream. Can't take the creepy like Hitchcock and Edgar Allen Poe.

Comedy (my favorite genre):
The Big Lebowski, Life of Brian, Maverick, The Whole Nine Yards, Liar Liar, Man on the Moon, Get Shorty, Raising Arizona, Little Miss Sunshine (dark comedy), Groundhog Day, Twins

Action:
Fight Club, The Fifth Element, The Saint, The Fugitive, Total Recall, Dr. Strangelove, A Clockwork Orange, Good Morning Vietnam

Relationship:
The Princess Bride, 50 First Dates, My Big Fat Greek Wedding, Enchanted, Ever After, Romeo and Juliet (1996), Roman Holiday (1953)

[KaleidoskopicVision]

Originally Posted by Lauxa

Hey Mounds, did you like the Zombieland movie? Just wondering. I'm not a horror movie fan, so I like it when they make 'em really funny like that and Scream. Can't take the creepy like Hitchcock and Edgar Allen Poe.

Comedy (my favorite genre):
The Big Lebowski, Life of Brian, Maverick, The Whole Nine Yards, Liar Liar, Man on the Moon, Get Shorty, Raising Arizona, Little Miss Sunshine (dark comedy), Groundhog Day, Twins

Action:
Fight Club, The Fifth Element, The Saint, The Fugitive, Total Recall, Dr. Strangelove, A Clockwork Orange, Good Morning Vietnam

Relationship:
The Princess Bride, 50 First Dates, My Big Fat Greek Wedding, Enchanted, Ever After, Romeo and Juliet (1996), Roman Holiday (1953)

I liked Zombieland. Hilarious. Good picks, especially Little Miss Sunshine

YouTube - Little Miss Sunshine Dance Scene

[elucidate]

I liked Zombieland, saw that one recently. And I enjoyed The Thing also...saw that a while back. I used to love seriously gorey splatter flicks when I was a teenager...but I lost my taste for horror movies. One I did see a few years ago that still is the scariest thing I ever saw is The exorcism of Emily Rose...freakin' scary because it is a true story of a girl who was apparently posessed by not one but 7 demons

[elucidate]

Oh that wasn't the movie I meant...but yeah it looks pretty goofy

The cook, the thief, his wife and her lover is totally different though. Have you found it yet?

Originally Posted by noitcefrep

Thanks for the recommendations!

I've just finished downloading Baraka and started Delicatessen along with The cook, the thief, his wife and her lover . Looking forward to them!

And LOL when I searched for The Cook, I watched this trailer and was like !!!!!! Are you serious!? lmao YouTube - The Cook Trailer (Spot #1) if so, AHAHAAH looks HILARIOUS

[Desert]

noitcefrep

You seem like someone that may find Andrei Tarkosky's "Stalker" (1979) an interesting watch. But it's kind of glacial in motion, an art film and it runs at around 2 hr. 43 m. In other words, it's an acquired taste for some. Let's say that it's the kind of movie that some like to enjoy with strong 'popcorn'.

Not into vid games myself but for those that are this is the movie that 'S.T.A.L.K.E.R.' was developed from.

Here's a download site (torrent):

Stalker


This is one of the sequences on youtube. The other youtubes are for the game.

Youtube

As for favorites in general, well, I run it by decades so too many to mention here especially when you add indies, art films, etc. But I will recommend any of Fellini's movies. All of them go well with popcorn, especially 'Satyricon'. Watch it at midnight.

Desert

[elucidate]

Gloomy Sunday is another must-see.

It is also based on a true story about a man who worked in a restaurant as a pianist and he wrote a song about his love for the woman who was married to the owner of the restaurant...his boss essentially, which thousands of people found so moving and melancholy that they actually killed themselves because of the mood it put them in...though not because it was just so sad , but because it was such a sad and beautiful song about a bizarre love triangle that he was involved in with a woman and her husband, that they felt they couldn't go on afterwards. This is documented so you can read about it via google.

The person who wrote the song also killed himself from guilt at having created a song which spawned so many deaths. Set at the time of the German occupation in Hungary. Really beautiful movie, with an awesome soundtrack. Loads of awesome singers including Billie Holiday have sung their own version of this famous song.

Watch it on a rainy gloomy day...but be careful, if you are feeling a bit down it probably isn't the best movie to watch(;!

[IamAlsoThat]

I liked pretty much everyone's list but I think people might have forgotten: shawshank redemption
the green mile
american history x
a time to kill
paycheck
dogma
a few good men

[elucidate]

I thought of Dogma as well today. The others are pretty good also.

Clerks? Now that is a funny fim...part 2 also.

[Jon Tore]

Hellooo, HELLOOO? The Lord of the Rings?
It's THE masterpiece.

Apart from LOTR.. the Matrix is amazingly amazing too. Everything with Jim Carrey, check out Man on the Moon, as previously mentioned by Lauxa. Everything from Monty Python.

Donnie Darko has been one of the greatest movies for me and I've seen it many times. Totally caught me all the way through and was kinda lifechanging the first times I saw it.

Check out Funny Games. (U.S.) I thought the movie was amazing in a special and cruel, strange way. Nice. Don't watch it if you're afraid of watching violence and unfair stuff. And don't see the trailer first, it's a spoiler.

Everything with Jackie Chan is wonderful. Love that guy.

[anniecooper]

Hot tub time machine!

[IamAlsoThat]

Oh ya and bedknobs and broomsticks
and...The Game-

[mindset]

Great list you guys! You pretty much cover some of the fave movies that I would want to recommend. Well you can add, The Notebook, Harry Potter (for the young at heart ), Pirates of the Carribean, The Lord of the Rings. Horror movies would be Freddy Krueger (Nightmare on Elm Street), The Omen, The Exorcist, Hellraiser...those are just some that I had in mind.

[Lauxa]

Forgot to add ... Tank Girl! OMG, it's soooo campy, but if you would enjoy a movie about a scrawny blond girl who kicks some serious @$$ then don't miss it.

[elucidate]

I lOVE Tank Girl. Got a copy on DVD for whenever I get the itch to see a spunky punky woman driving her own personal tank

[robcartoons]

Here's a few that I love and return to every couple of years:

The Producers - Zero Mostel and Gene Wilder version, although the newer one is fun too.

Lennigrad Cowboys Go America - A bit of Finnish black dark humour for you!

Les Parapluies de Cherbourg - French musical starring a very young Catherine Deneuve. Like nothing else you've probably ever seen! Worth it for the colours alone.

Les Tripplettes de Belleville - French animation with very quirky humour.

Police Squad! - Not a movie but I love this series! I spot different gags in it every time I watch it.

[Jon Tore]

Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy. Please watch it, it has Will Ferrell and Steve Carell and stuff and is constantly funny

[freddy]

The Truman Show With Jim Carrey is fun to watch.

[elucidate]

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ that is one funny movie. I always want to run out and hire it whenever I am reminded of it...like now

Originally Posted by Jon Tore

Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy. Please watch it, it has Will Ferrell and Steve Carell and stuff and is constantly funny

[Jon Tore]

Originally Posted by elucidate

♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ that is one funny movie. I always want to run out and hire it whenever I am reminded of it...like now

Also, must not forget BASEketball. The creators of south park are the actors, and it's hilarious! YouTube - Baseketball Trailer

[elucidate]

Hmmmm...not sure about that one?...Maybe...

Originally Posted by Jon Tore

Also, must not forget BASEketball. The creators of south park are the actors, and it's hilarious! YouTube - Baseketball Trailer