The World’s Largest Coalition of Nontheists and Nontheist Communities!

What do you consider to be the best films ever made?

Taking into consideration some of the following:

1. Great production and direction
2. Great cinematic execution, good photography, sets, costumes, etc.
3. Good and meaningful plot
4. Meaningful thematic development
5. Great acting
6. The stories ability to draw the viewer in
7. The main characters transformation during the process (which is fundamental, I think)
8. The timeless and universally enduring quality of the film
9. Whatever else you might consider

What then do you think are some of the best movies ever made?

Using the above criteria, my top two choices would be To Kill a Mockingbird with Gregory Peck, and Apocalypse Now Redux with Martin Sheen.

Personally, on these kinds of lists that you see floating around, Citizen Kane is always at the top. Yet I fail to see how that could be. I hated Citizen Kane, and I can't help but feel that its classification as The Best Film Ever Made is one of those self-perpetuating lies or mistakes that just keeps being retold and retold because someone sees that list, thinks there must be something in it, and then repeats what they read.

What do you think?

Tags: Cinema, Film, Movies

0 members like this

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Badjuggler on February 12, 2009 at 8:27am

I have a friend who has a Top 50 list he keeps up to date. "I saw X Movie last night and it is now #9 on my list." I fail to see how anyone can somehow say a comedy is "better" than a documentary or drama. It's apples and oranges, in my opinion.

That said, some favorites of mine include:
Stranger Than Paradise
Pulp Fiction
Let The Right One In
The Big Lebowski
Silence of the Lambs

Permalink Reply by Dallas the Phallus on February 12, 2009 at 8:29am

X movie. Never heard of it. What is it about? Not familiar with Stranger than Paradise or Let the Right One In either. SotL is good, but I would not put it on a level of the two I mentioned in my post -- though I've seen it like a dozen times.

Permalink Reply by sacha on July 29, 2009 at 3:54pm

I quite liked Let The Right One In. A few cheesy gory scenes, but otherwise a good film.

Permalink Reply by Dallas the Phallus on July 29, 2009 at 4:06pm

Yeah, I've since learned about it, and it is supposed to be good. I have it on request at the library, but the wait list is very long.

Permalink Reply by Martin Snowden on March 24, 2009 at 12:32pm

Some of my favorites:

Cinematography:

Curse of the Golden Flower (great plot, stunning effects, good acting)

Lord of the Rings (all 3, for effects especially)

Barry Lyndon (beautiful countryside shots, Stanley Kubrick's ironic and funny side)

Historical:

A Man for all Seasons (wonderful acting by a superb cast, period scenes)

Little Big Man (Dustin Hoffman at his best, always brings me to tears)

The Bridge on the River Kwai (old WWII classic)

Horror:

The Thing (John Carpenter version, great suspense and effects)

The Shining (suspense, imagery, Jack Nicholson at his scary best)

Scifi:

Blade Runner (very original, good effects)

2001: A Space Odyssey (hard to leave out, classic)

Darker Comedies:

Boogie Nights (unusual, underrated, great acting by Burt Reynolds & of course Mark Wahlberg)

Pulp Fiction (John Travolta & Samuel L Jackson shine)

Trainspotting (grisly realism and surrealism, good acting, especially Ewan McGregor & Robert Carlisle)

The Matador (quirky & funny, underrated, best acting ever by Pierce Brosnan)

In Bruges (plot reminiscent of the Matador, but darker, good acting)

Lighter Comedies:

Waking Ned Devine (very quaint Irish comedy)

The Full Monty (unusual, funny and realistic)

Death at a Funeral (non-stop fun)

Three Weddings and a Funeral (funny & good acting all round, Hugh Grant's best work)

Dark Star (goofy old sci-fi comedy)

Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (funny London gangster comedy)

Snatch (similar to Lock, Stock, director Guy Ritchie again, but with Brad Pitt & Benicio del Toro)

Monty Python and the Holy Grail (a classic, of course)

The Life of Brain (ditto)

Being John Malkovitch (quirky, love it)

My Dinner with Andre (very unusual)

Austin Powers (all three movies, Mike Myers hams it up well)

Wallace & Grommit (all of them, Nick Park's claymation & humor is brilliant)

Satirical Comedy:

Borat (of course)

Musicals:

Cabaret (favorite musical, good acting)

Martin.

Permalink Reply by Dallas the Phallus on March 24, 2009 at 12:35pm

Martin, thanks for responding. This is a good list. I'm not familar with all of these. I'll check out the unfamiliar ones. Thanks.

Permalink Reply by Martin Snowden on March 24, 2009 at 2:16pm

No Problem Dallas,

I immediately thought of a few more I should have included:

Cinematography:

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (first of the chinese mystical martial arts genre, Ziyi Zhang is equisite)

House of Flying Daggers (nice camera work, twisting plot, Ziyi Zhang...)

Hero (did I mention Ziyi Zhang?)

Lighter Comedy:

Bedazzled (the Peter Cook & Dudley Moore 1967 original, superb)

This is Spinal Tap (best rock band send up ever)

Arsenic and Old Lace (An Alec Guinness showcase, classic)

Risky Business (The 1st of that teenage genre and still the best)

Woodie Allen (nearly all of his movies)

Scifi:

The Matrix (very original, sequels tapered off)

Alien (original too, again sequels tapered off)

Drama

Do the Right Thing (Spike Lee's best)

The Crying Game (unusual)

A Clockwork Orange (shocking, another Kubrick classic)

Blue Velvet (David Lynch original, Dennis Hopper really scared me)

Martin.

Permalink Reply by Dallas the Phallus on March 29, 2009 at 9:31pm

The Night of the Hunter - Isn't that the one where he plays a man who murders his wife and then the kids run away and Lillian Gish take them in? If it is, I'm sorry, but I hated that movie (though I like Lillian Gish -- and I just love Charles Laughton as an actor).

Ran was fine, but I like Throne of Blood better, I think. Edward II was nice too, though I am not a huge Jarman fan. Sorry, didn't like the Singing Detective either.

I've not heard of the others, but I will check them out soon if I can. Thanks.

Permalink Reply by Dallas the Phallus on March 30, 2009 at 8:57am

I just thought Throne of Blood was more engaging for me, but I've seen in multiple times and only seen Ran once. I do want to see Ran again though, in time.

I've not seen Blue. As far as the Singing Detective, I think it was the original, but that was a billion years ago it seems.

I did watch Salo, but I'm not sure that I remember what I thought of it as a movie. I have not seen his Gospel, but I will add it to my list.

Permalink Reply by Curtis, Joseph on March 30, 2009 at 4:14pm