Best film/movie ever

And my vote goes to........Jean de Florette which was shot back to back with the sequel Manon des Sources in Provence in the late 1980s. Good plot, good acting,,great cinematography, and soundtrack plus  subtitles to make it more exotic.

In general, like music, I think there is always something new to discover in films, but there are films that are long term favourites. These are the ones that I can think of today.

•  Anything by Stanley Kubrick in the golden age: 1963-1975. Peerless IMO. Also Paths of Glory.
•  Most Pier Paolo Pasolini.
•  The Name of the Rose (still struggling through the book!)
•  The Lion in Winter. Great soundtrack by John Barry
•  Get Carter (the 1971 original) 
•  A Canterbury Tale (Powell & Pressburger)
•  The Conformist
•  Perfect Friday (1970 crime caper)
•  Three Colours Blue White Red + Dekalog
•  Radio On
• Withnail & I
• The Seventh Seal. Saw this only a couple of weeks ago and it is worth all the hype.

Favourite recent releases:

•  Paddington 2. Love the sock gag
• Blade Runner 2049. Much better than the original IMO

 BFI Player is great for finding new stuff!

Favourite director (this has not changed for me for at least 30 years): Stanley Kubrick. His films ask important questions but provide little in the way of answers. Masterful.

As a very young TOBYJUG I loved watching the old B/W classic horrors that used to be shown on the telly during the summer holidays whilst staying up long past bedtime.  Then one time I happened on this. Being colour and fantastical it blew all those olden goldies out of the water without blowing up the baby. Since then I've watched this many times.

Bruce Woodhouse posted:

All these lists are very personal. I make no attempt to say my list are the best movies, they are just some of my favourites. I'll wager there is minimal overlap of any of our lists.

Lost in Translation and Fargo my top two. I basically know the script of both.

Moonrise Kingdom, There Will Be Blood, LA Confidential, Goodfellas, Le Quattro Volte and various others are close behind.

Must admit I think Saving Private Ryan is amazing for 30mins then pretty clichéd Hollywood fare. I can think of a number of war movies I find far more affecting. I'd rate Dunkirk as more emotional for starters-although flawed. The Thin Red Line as visceral, and Das Boot would probably be the most compelling and complete for me.

Bruce

Lost in Translation and Fargo are FABULOUS.  I realllllly love Lost in Translation -- it's "just" a people story about two people whose lives randomly intersect for a relatively brief period of time.  Fabulous.  My favorite movies are like that -- people stories.  Add Paris, Texas.  What's Eating Gilbert Grape.

I've never seen Private Ryan.  Apocalypse Now would have to be my favorite war movie.

I enjoyed the comments above from both Bruce and Bart. Best movie ever made? I tend to think in terms of serious films and real events, so war epics dominate my mind. Then there are the darker 'noir' genres, many superb as the aforementioned "There Will Be Blood" (fantastic cinematography) branching into dark comedies like "Fargo" (anything from the Coen Brothers is must-see for me) as well as the quirkily-splendid Quentin Tarantino, with his focus on conversational dialog and sustained, unedited takes (the circling camera), and of course excessive amounts of blood. Pure comedies? I'd never give these consideration as best movies because most are simply silly fun, designed purely for a laugh. The lone exception for comedies in my mind are several Woody Allen films. Sophisticated humor that forces you to listen and be involved with the dialog. Frequently shot on the streets in real locations. Extended, unedited takes that allow you to appreciate the talent of the actors. That said about Woody, I realize he's divisive; folks seem to either love or hate his films. My wife finds him obnoxiously whiny and refuses to watch his movies with me.

Steve2 posted:

King Pin obviously.

Love that film Woody Harrellson at his comic best. 

Anything to do with John Waters and Russ Meyer,

Pink Flamingoes

Female Trouble

Hairspray

Faster Pussycat Kill Kill!!

Beyond the Valley of the Dolls.

Cinema Paradiso 

Malena

Jean de Florette

Manon des Source

Being There

Lawrence of Arabia

The Bridges of Madison County

THE GREASY STRANGLER.    2016

Definitely the best worst film I have ever witnessed.  Transgressive masterpiece of moronic depravity.

sjt posted:

 

 

Favourite recent releases:

•  Paddington 2. Love the sock gag
• Blade Runner 2049. Much better than the original IMO

 

 BFI Player is great for finding new stuff!

Favourite director (this has not changed for me for at least 30 years): Stanley Kubrick. His films ask important questions but provide little in the way of answers. Masterful.

Agree with your 2 faves. Both great.

I'm also leaning to 2049 being better than the original, too. And that's saying something, because the original was perhaps my all-time favourite. "much better"? No. But better.

My favourite director/writer is Wes Anderson. Scorcese probably next, but I couldn't forgive the continuity errors in The Departed. Just careless.

Timbo posted:

The Bridges of Madison County

Music artists Johnny Hartman and Dinah Washington are amazing, that is a highly recommended soundtrack

Life of Brian?

Or do you want to haggle?

JamieWednesday posted:

Life of Brian?

Or do you want to haggle?

Oh, yes, Jamie. I'd forgotten about Life of Bbbbbbbbbrian. The stoning scene was one of the funniest I've ever seen 

JamieWednesday posted:

Life of Brian?

Or do you want to haggle?

Such a rich supply of one-liners in that film.

Clive B posted:

JamieWednesday posted:

Life of Brian?

Or do you want to haggle?

Such a rich supply of one-liners in that film.

What have the Romans ever done for us?

MDS posted:

Clive B posted:

JamieWednesday posted:

Life of Brian?

Or do you want to haggle?

Such a rich supply of one-liners in that film.

What have the Romans ever done for us?

The bog...

Amongst many of the great movies already listed I must confess a soft spot for ‘The Remains of the Day’.

G

Blade Runner. A perfect blend of story, cinematography and above all music. 

The Lost Horizon (the original uncut 1937 version). For me one of the perfect, gentle movie with the greatest impact. It was heavily censored during the war to remove much of its pacifist message. It burnt its way into my youth and re-watching a DVD recently had only grown in stature. Great sense of longing at the end.

Barbarella. OK, so I was a teenager in love with Jane Fonda. My lounge is filled with Mathmos lava lamps to this day

After having a think about everything, and looking at other people's top tens, here are what I think are the ten best pictures ever made (all of them are favourites, to one degree or another, of course)

1. La Passion de Jeanne d'Arc  (Carl Theodor Dreyer, 1928)
2. La Regle du Jeu (Jean Renoir, 1939)
3. Citizen Kane (Orson Welles, 1941)
4. A Matter of Life and Death (Michael Powell & Emeric Pressberger, 1946)
5. La Grande Illusion (Jean Renoir, 1937)
6. The Colour of Pomegranates (Sergei Paradjanov, 1969)
7. Tokyo Story (Yashujiro Ozu, 1953)
8. Badlands (Terrence Malick, 1973)
9. Apocalypse Now! (Francis Ford Coppola, 1979)
10. Barry Lyndon (Stanley Kubrick, 1975)

Tony2011 posted:

MDS posted:

What have the Romans ever done for us?

The bog...

(Great movie by the way )

Alley Cat posted:

There are many movies I absolutely love, but one eclipses them all, for so many reasons, this has beauty, ticks virtually any box you'd empathise with and has an utterly fantastic musical score.

Truly, I think the best movie ever made:

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0325710/

Big fan of the cute Cruise.  One of his best.  His best yet is in the new movie " Constipated".   

Dont worry, it hasn't come out yet.

TOBYJUG posted:

As a very young TOBYJUG I loved watching the old B/W classic horrors that used to be shown on the telly during the summer holidays whilst staying up long past bedtime.  Then one time I happened on this. Being colour and fantastical it blew all those olden goldies out of the water without blowing up the baby. Since then I've watched this many times.

The Fearless Vampire Killers [ 1966 ] has to be the very best vampire film ever, the constant injection of clever humour, superb mountain scenes [The Alps?], fantastically perfect for the part characters, and a fantastic music score. Polanski's alternative dark endings, and his contributing to the acting is top drawer too. A film i return to enjoy about once every other year.

However, although i hold huge praise for this film i feel it's legacy holds much sadness from the tragedy of what happened to Sharon Tate just a couple of years later, something that just should never have happened : (

Debs