OT: G.O.A.T Movies
1. The Godfather
2. Star Wars: Empire Strikes Back
3. Silence of the Lambs
Whenever these movies are on Television etc. I watch them... every time...
There are only two movies I watch at least every other month.
1. Rounders
2. Tombstone
they both speak for themselves.
jdon
On the Waterfront (1954)
The acting is so strong- all of them: Brando, Eva Marie Saint, Rod Steiger, Karl Malden, Lee J Cobb. The B & W cinematography perfectly captures the grittiness of the NY docks. The sonundtrack enhances the mood without being showy, and the thems of redemption is an important one.
The Razor's Edge (1946)
The original from the 1940's with Tyrone Power, Gene Tierney, Anne Baxter, John Payne and Herbert Marshall. Very philosphical and the story of a very good man (Larry Darrell) struggling to give meaning to his life. Love Bill Murray's work in general. His remake (1984) did not work but I respect him all the more for the fact that this was one of his favorites.
The Wild Bunch (1969)
powerful, beautiful, and horrifying, I appreciate it a little more on each re-watching. The opening scene with the children and the scorpion is fantastic as well as the famous ending as the Bunch go to collect Angel, and everything in between. William Holden had a great body of work, but he was never better. Ernest Borgnine, Warren Oates, Robert Ryan, all superb.
Honorable mention because I want to include
Sunrise 1927 (silent)
I was aware of the movie for years but had resisted watching it because reading plot summaries of it did not appeal, but I'm glad I took the plunge. great example of how powerfully one can act and display emotions with one's eyes and expressions and body language alone.
There are so many more great ones ......
The backstory to On the Waterfront Is what really what puts the movie together for me. If you have the DVD its one worth watching the extras for.
Not all movies are just escapism, and On the Waterfront certainly is one of those.
There's no flaws in that movie, even with Fat Rosie in it.
I'm no Rosie fan, but you've got to give her her due. She was one of the few women in that movie who could actually throw the ball.
A few other classics I haven't seen mentioned yet:
Anatomy of a Murder: Courtroom drama that goes in another direction. Its a rather cynical movie that goes against grain for Jimmy Stewart. Sadly, I think history would suggest the movie is pretty much correct.
The Hustler: I really enjoy Paul Newman's early stuff, basically before he started pairing up with Robert Redford. Cool Hand Luke is good, but I prefer this, and find his role more iconic. CHL sort of feels like a cliched idea of counterculture, but the Hustler still feels fresh to me.
Notorious: Early Hitchcock. Its a love story and also a spy story about infiltrating a ring of Nazis who fled to South America. I'm not a huge Hitchcock guy but this one is great. I liked Rear Window a ton, too.
Casablanca is everyone's favorite Bogart, but he's got some other good stuff. The Treasure of Siera Madre is fantastic, he really loses it. But its probably on par with other like Key Largo, Maltese Falcon, and the African Queen.
This is by no means a complete list:
Casablanca
Saving Private Ryan
Singing in the Rain
Schindler's List
The Philadelphia Story (the Katharine Hepburn/Cary Grant movie, not the Tom Hanks one)
When Harry Met Sally
Lincoln (Daniel Day-Lewis just disappeared into that role)
The King's Speech
Blazing Saddles
Young Frankenstein
How does a UM board discussing movies not have a permanent place reserved for The Big Chill atop the list? (Not that it's the best movie...but it's got Michigan all over it)
The Dark Knight is really good but not great. And when you get past the slick imagery, it doesn't really hold up. There are tons of flaws and the dialogue and acting are terrible.
Ledger's Joker is the star of the show and presented a deeper and darker psychological profile of the character, but aside from that, the dialogue sounds like its written by a 13 year old kid. It's TERRIBLE. DKR suffers from this too. Bain rules, but everything else is lame as hell. There are weak plot points, annoying characters and shitty one-dimensional dialogue that sounds like its trying to be smart and dramatic.
Most of the good guys in TDK are insufferably lame. I was glad when the Joker fucked up that dopey detective in the interrogation room and escaped and I practically cheered when Maggy Gyllenhall's character got blown up. And Eckhart overacted the shit out of his part.
The prisoner's dilemma boat thing was so stupid (also - you think any city in this country would give a shit about its incarcerated population in a situation like that? )
Also - way too long. If you want to see a great flick, Tim Burton's 1989 Batman is a freaking masterpiece.
Sorry - I love those new Batman movies and they're so close to being excellent but their flaws make me crazy.
The dude sucks at writing diologue. And yeah Maggie Gynenhall I think is overrated as an actress, something is missing with her. She's alright in HBO's new show The Deuce I guess but I don't really care for her comp[ared to other characters.
Some of my personal favorites that haven't been mentioned:
Law Abiding Citizen
Beerfest
Team America: World Police
1 - Passion of the Christ - I was fortunate enough to have toured Israel and walked the Via Dolorosa. As a follower of Christ, that was a profound experience, even as an 18 year old. the movie is just a well done, very real reminder.
2 - Shawshank Redemption - great writing/story-telling. The fact that when I land on it when flipping channels and can't turn past it is reason enough to make my top 3.
3 - The Matrix - groundbreaking effects at the time. Cool story, and Keanu says, 'whoa'.
Ask me tomorrow...my mood will probably generate a different the top three.
Watched Passion of the Christ only once. Back when it came out, when I still believed in that sort of thing....not so much anymore, but that's a whole other ball of wax. I don't think you could pay me to watch that movie again.
I understand why many Christians view it as a very moving and powerful movie, and I do respect Gibson's commitment to only using local dialects from the time. But that movie is just a two hour snuff film to me. Might just be because I don't associate myself with religion much anymore, so I can't really appreciate it's message like a true follower, such as yourself, can do.
That being said, right there with you on Shawshank. Didn't see it for the first time up until a few years ago, but it's definitely a movie for me where if I see it on TV, I'm turning it on unless Michigan is playing at the same time.
I can see your point on Passion. I found the DVD in a resale store, watched it, and promptly donated it back. After seeing it once, I didn't need to see it again. Very powerful, and doing the whole movie in Aramaic? That's dedication.
But "two hour snuff film" isn't far off the mark. Like any Gibson movie, there's an emphasis on gore. I remember reading an article by a professor of religion, who reviewed the movie. He asked his father, who'd been a doctor for over 30 years, for his professional opinion.
Doctor Dad said that he doubted any human being could take that much of a beating, and lose that much blood during the scourging, and still have the strength to haul a cross up Golgotha. Based on what was portrayed, he wouldn't have been surprised if Jesus had died of shock and exsanguination.
was very well done and captured the feeling of the time (at least as I imagine it to have been). An interesting companion piece which was controversial but I think brilliant is The Last Temptation of Christ. It enphasized the duality of Jesus and the struggle between his human side and his divine side- which doesn't ever seem to have been depicted before.
I think if those devout Christians (I do not consider myself to be devout) who abhorred the film gave it more thought they would find it to be intensely religious. Willem Dafoe was amazing in playing a Jesus who had to overcome his doubts. Harvey Keitel (who is almost always good) was great as Judas in an unconventtional take as one who was frustrated with Jesus because he was wanting a revolutionary figure to help rebel against Rome in a more typical rebel manner (violent overthrow).
If I had to choose one, it would probably be Citizen Kane, but it's not realistic to pick one GOAT movie.
Having said that, reading the comments in this thread has me transformed from a "glass half full" guy to a "glass half empty" guy.
Honestly, I could think of about 50 movies I could put into my Top 5, but I'll give it a shot.
1. Shawshank Redemption
2. Saving Private Ryan
3. Bull Durham
4. Good Will Hunting
5. Silver Linings Playbook
Side note, if you ever get a chance, The Ohio State Reformatory (Old prison where Shawshank was filmed) in Mansfield does overnight tours. I did one a few years ago. It was awesome!
Only worth it if you get to crawl through the sewage pipe.
Heres a hot take: The beginning of the end for Robert De Niro was Casino. His career really took a nose dive fast after he was such an important actor for basically 25 years.
I don't think his career took a nosedive in the traditional sense. I think he just came down from the summit of Mt. Everest but is still fairly high up from base camp. I agree the quality of movies went down but nosedive is a relative term here. It's not a Sean William Scott situation where no one would case the guy anymore.
He's still an A-list actor, and I think you're being a little bit unfair comparing the first half of his career to the second half, because there is no way to compare them. The first half includes all-time classics in Godfather II, Once Upon a Time in America, Goodfellas, Raging Bull, Taxi Driver, Deer Hunter, Cape Fear and Casino. No matter what he did after Casino, everything else was going to pale by comparison to these previous movies.
I've been thinking about this since posting, what I said is really true of a bunch of actors that were huge in the 80s and 90s.
You could probably name about 2 dozen actors that you might call A list for the 90s. Today, its a handful. At least in my opinion. Hollywood focuses on popcorn franchise movies more than ever, and as a result you don't get a lot of great movies, and therefore not many great performances.
2. There Will Be Blood
3. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
4. Goodfellas
5. Office Space
Honorable Mention: Heat, The Godfather, The Hangover (Part 1, only), 28 Days Later, A River Runs Through It, Mystic River, JFK, Resevoir Dogs, The Shawshank Redemtion, Superbad.
Most Overrated Films of Note - Forest Gump, Saving Private Ryan (sorry OP), Inglorious Basterds, A Clockwork Orange, Punchdrunk Love (that movie sucked, I don't get why people like it).
I can't even get close to getting down to 3, so I'll go for my 3 favorite comedies:
1) Dr. Strangelove
2) Blazing Saddles
3) Hot Fuzz
I won't claim this is the best movie, but most underrated / deserving of many sequels:
Master and Commander - Russel Crowe and Paul Bettany are fantastic, and I can't imagine a better casting choice for a book series that really deserves more adaptations. Maybe a prestige TV series?
1. The Godfather
2. Saving Private Ryan
3. The Bridge on The River Kwai.
Thor
Avengers: Infinity War
Avengers
Avengers: Age of Ultron
A Few Good Men
The Internship (for some reason I think it's hilarious)
Willow- My first movie that I loved as a kid..
First time caller, long time listner, love the topic....Great Show.
Off the radar comedies:
Walk Hard - The Dewey Cox Story
Hotfuzz
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
Thanks for taking my call, I'll hang up and listen.