Favorite movie

[Mistress Fei]

& why! GO!

[JustAGuy]

"The Blues Brothers" has been my favorite movie since I was a child, and it will always be my favorite movie.  As an adult who actually got a degree in film, I think I can objectively say it's a damned good film.  Sometimes if we go a long time without seeing each other, my brother and I are tempted to embrace the way they do over the title card.

 

Why?  It has the best soundtrack ever...seriously, Aretha Franklin, Cab Calloway, James Brown and Ray Charles in the same movie!?.  It has Carrie Fischer with a machine gun.  It has Dan Aykroyd singing "Stand By Your Man."  It has John Belushi wising off to a nun and getting whacked by a ruler, and she has to keep whacking him because he keeps swearing in pain.  It has Illinois Nazis (though I hate Illinois Nazis).

[jpcpat]

The Princess Bride is my favorite. A storybook romance done as a comedy with swordfighting, pirates, brilliant dialogue, and truly memorable characters.  Inigo Montoya is my favorite character, and his most intense moment comes when he confronts (at swordpoint)  the six fingered Count who murdered his father:

 

Inigo Montoya: HELLO! MY NAME IS INIGO MONTOYA! YOU KILLED MY FATHER! PREPARE TO DIE! 

Inigo Montoya: Offer me money. 

Count Rugen: Yes! 

Inigo Montoya: Power, too, promise me that. 

Count Rugen: All that I have and more. Please… 

Inigo Montoya: Offer me anything I ask for. 

Count Rugen: Anything you want… 

Inigo Montoya: I want my father back, you son of a bitch!

[questionmarks]

My absolute favorite is Ingmar Bergman's Persona. The night after the first time I watched it I had the only nightmare I've had since I was nine years old! (To me, that's a reason to love it.) Bergman pushes his audience to interrogate notions of personality and identity, and the bonds and boundaries that can form between people and re-form who those people are and how they experience themselves and the worlds around them. Most interestingly, he simultaneously pushes the audience to consider the nature of film itself, and thus to re-consider what might actually be arbitrary distinctions between things that are "artificial" or "constructed," like a film, and things that are "real" or "whole," like a self or soul.

 

I also love just about any Yasujiro Ozu film I've seen (especially from the latter half of his career) about as much as I love Persona. Even though they're very different, I love them both for somewhat similar reasons. Ozu's films, like Bergman's, are always formally interesting. He crafts shots with more care than any other director I know, and never lets a shot go to waste. He will compose a simple expositional shot of two characters walking from one location to another in such a way as to comment on their relationship, or the way that humans engage in the structures they create, or the curious parallels between human spaces and natural spaces, or the role of time in human life. His characters are archetypes and yet fiercely unique in their motivations, dreams, and anxieties, and so his films always show us, like Persona but in a very, very different way, the ways that we, too, are distinct and yet, at the same time, culturally-determined types. He depicts relationships with sensitivity and deep insight, so his films are always captivating.

[Dannyboy]

Favorite movie? Impossible.

 

A stab at the top 5?

 

1. West Side Story.

 

2. Citizen Kane.

 

3. The Silence of The Lambs.

 

4. The Godfather.

 

5. The Hustler.

 

Wish I had time to list 25.

 

Why? Perhaps I'll follow-up with some thoughts.

 

Dannyboy

[Shyrob]

This has always been tough for me to narrow down just one because I love so many and always enjoyed rankings and lists.

 

If I had to choose one movie though I would probably go with 'Back to the Future'. To me that movie embodies the fun, magic & imagination you're supposed to expereince with cinema. I know it can be a little campy but I will never get tired of watching that movie.

 

And since it tis the season 'Love Actually' is definitely my favorite Chrismas movie.

[tommygermany]

Dear Ms. Fei,

 

do you really have ONE favorite movie????

I have movies that never fail to entertain me

or make me feel better, depending on what kind

of mood I am in...

Then there are movies, that may not even get close

to being one of the best, regarding actors and the

way it was directed, but maybe are connected to a

situation in life, so that they still are memorable

and stick out... out of different reasons...

 

The first movie, that I really considered to be

pretty amazing was:

 

The Great Escape

 

when you know, it was a John Sturges movie with

Elmer Bernstein music, you might not be surprised

that I loved

 

The Magnificent Seven

 

too

 

movies I have watched more than 50 times:

 

SCARFACE - Al Pacino is reason enough

THE CROW

BRAVEHEART

TOP GUN

DIE HARD (I like I and III best)

LETHAL WEAPON

BASIC INSTINCT

THE DARK KNIGHT (Heath Ledger is brilliant)

 

for light mood:

NOTTING HILL (Spike is hilarious)

A KNIGHT's TALE

BACK TO THE FUTURE, just the first scene,

when the speaker explodes makes me laugh

every time...

and many more...

 

of course one of the best movies ever made

must be:

 

BEN HUR

 

I really wonder, if they would manage to

make it such an epic movie, if they decided

to make a re-make nowadays...

 

and there are so many more movies I could

mention for different reasons... come on...

 

STAR WARS (the original trilogy) and then even

the parody SPACEBALLS, when I am up for it I

can throw myself away for LOADED WEAPON, too

while others don't understand that kind of

humor at all...

 

MONTHY PYTHON.... I love them....

 

so, as you can see... I am always bad in picking

a fav.... that's why I end up seeing almost all

of you ladies on each vacation, when I am back

in New York... you are all unique and special...

[EdgarAH]

The Longest Day.  Great (and huge) cast from the greatest generation, and perspective from so many different views of a major event in world history.  Based on the book by Cornelius Ryan.  

[Manpeach]

Mary Poppins!

 

I was 10 when this movie came out. My Mom used to drop me and a friend off at the theater and pick us up afterward. I saw it 14 times (yes, mother was that desperate to get me out of her hair for a few hours)

 

Everything about this musical is so magical. I especially loved the chimney sweepers dancing over the rooftops of London.

It was great when my kids were young and we would watch it with them over and over. We'd sing all the songs. Someday maybe I'll sit with my grandchildren.

 

 

Second fav, Pulp Fiction.

Mostly because of the intertwining stories and characters. Like in real life, we all have are own lives and stories going on, yet we mix in from time to time and move on to the next. The effects on our interaction play out the rest of our lives.

[Outcast]

Couldn't resist not chiming in on this one. Love everyone else's selections. Like most I could never narrow it to one and the.few I mention are the ones that strike me right now:

1: The Wild Bunch----I love this movie for the realistic view of violence. I love the cinematography of the old west, the premise of aging gunman knowing their time is closing. I love the comradery and friendship they had for each other ,even though at times they almost killed each other (literally). A sick part of me envied the way they went out,screaming your last death cry behind a gatlin gun AHHHHHHH ....powerful scene.

2. The Bad Lieutenant----Harvey Keitel's depiction of a man inflicted with so many demons was fascinating and in many ways, hit home. Don't get me wrong, I was/am no where near as fucked up as he is in.this movie but I know some places he's been. The story is also about redemption. Very entertaining.

3. Taxi Driver----- The seventies in NYC. The city itself made this movie great for me. The madness of the 70s, loneliness, insanity ....what more can I say???

4. The Hustler------like Dannyboy this is one.of my all-time favorites. This movie captured the gambling sub-culture quite well. I grew up around bookies and gamblers so I know the.mindset. The highs of winning and how some people set themselves up to lose. Piper Laurie's character reminded me a lot of an ex girlfriend. She had the same sadness and sweetness and when I see the.movie I think.of her. Plus Newman and Gleason, great acting!

[loveinthetimeofcollaring]

& why! GO!

 

Lost in Translation.

 

I'd originally seen it about a year and a half before I moved to Japan, and of course it was a great way to build excitement for the country and its very weird (but wonderful) culture. Though the real reason I love the movie is because of the exploration of relationships, especially in that vast grey space between 'friendship' and 'romantic relationship'. Add to that a transient quality to such relationships and it all just rang so true to me--the sudden closeness, the time together trickling away, the fact that nothing will ever be the same as that relationship in that time.

 

I really do love the film, even though it breaks my heart every time I watch it, as nowadays it reminds me more and more of such 'relationships' that have either vanished or transmuted into something completely different (and, of course it goes without saying that Bill Murray is terrifically sarcastic in it and Scarlett Johansson still had that pre-sex-bomb warmth going on that I appreciated).

 

This past September, I had the incredibly good fortune to stay at the Park Hyatt Tokyo for a week and lived out a bucket list item I've had for 11 years now. It was everything I could've hoped for

[Mistress Fei]

My absolute favorite is Ingmar Bergman's Persona. The night after the first time I watched it I had the only nightmare I've had since I was nine years old! (To me, that's a reason to love it.) Bergman pushes his audience to interrogate notions of personality and identity, and the bonds and boundaries that can form between people and re-form who those people are and how they experience themselves and the worlds around them. Most interestingly, he simultaneously pushes the audience to consider the nature of film itself, and thus to re-consider what might actually be arbitrary distinctions between things that are "artificial" or "constructed," like a film, and things that are "real" or "whole," like a self or soul.

 

I also love just about any Yasujiro Ozu film I've seen (especially from the latter half of his career) about as much as I love Persona. Even though they're very different, I love them both for somewhat similar reasons. Ozu's films, like Bergman's, are always formally interesting. He crafts shots with more care than any other director I know, and never lets a shot go to waste. He will compose a simple expositional shot of two characters walking from one location to another in such a way as to comment on their relationship, or the way that humans engage in the structures they create, or the curious parallels between human spaces and natural spaces, or the role of time in human life. His characters are archetypes and yet fiercely unique in their motivations, dreams, and anxieties, and so his films always show us, like Persona but in a very, very different way, the ways that we, too, are distinct and yet, at the same time, culturally-determined types. He depicts relationships with sensitivity and deep insight, so his films are always captivating.

LOVE PERSONA

need to better acquaint myself with ozu. loved your answers

[Mistress Fei]

Couldn't resist not chiming in on this one. Love everyone else's selections. Like most I could never narrow it to one and the.few I mention are the ones that strike me right now:

1: The Wild Bunch----I love this movie for the realistic view of violence. I love the cinematography of the old west, the premise of aging gunman knowing their time is closing. I love the comradery and friendship they had for each other ,even though at times they almost killed each other (literally). A sick part of me envied the way they went out,screaming your last death cry behind a gatlin gun AHHHHHHH ....powerful scene.

2. The Bad Lieutenant----Harvey Keitel's depiction of a man inflicted with so many demons was fascinating and in many ways, hit home. Don't get me wrong, I was/am no where near as fucked up as he is in.this movie but I know some places he's been. The story is also about redemption. Very entertaining.

3. Taxi Driver----- The seventies in NYC. The city itself made this movie great for me. The madness of the 70s, loneliness, insanity ....what more can I say???

4. The Hustler------like Dannyboy this is one.of my all-time favorites. This movie captured the gambling sub-culture quite well. I grew up around bookies and gamblers so I know the.mindset. The highs of winning and how some people set themselves up to lose. Piper Laurie's character reminded me a lot of an ex girlfriend. She had the same sadness and sweetness and when I see the.movie I think.of her. Plus Newman and Gleason, great acting!

nice to have you back!

A good mixture of films- TAXI DRIVER! 

[Jeriko13]

The two movies I could watch every time, Shawshank Redemption and Fight Club.

[Manpeach]

THE DARK KNIGHT (Heath Ledger is brilliant)

  

 

Agreed, I would watch this movie and fast forward to his screen time.

 

The two movies I could watch every time, Shawshank Redemption and Fight Club.

Fight Club, love Palahnuik!

[theotherone]

The Godfather.

And if you have 1b. The Godfather II.

 

Why, lol, the absolute best cast, story, dialogue and acting in a single movie.

Plus I grew up in Brooklyn and saw enough gangsters get killed,whacked, done and I hang out in Las Vegas, before the Vegas you see today.

 

On top of that the all time classic lines -

leae the gun take the cannoli

 

exterminate-that's a bad word....

 

https://video.search.yahoo.com/video/play;_ylt=A0LEVvTHo5NUMgwA41wPxQt.;_ylu=X3oDMTBsa3ZzMnBvBHNlYwNzYwRjb2xvA2JmMQR2dGlkAw--?p=drop+the+gun+take+the+cannolis&tnr=21&vid=55FD76A346770110556F55FD76A346770110556F&l=147&turl=http%3A%2F%2Fts3.mm.bing.net%2Fth%3Fid%3DUN.608045383851510094%26pid%3D15.1&rurl=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DY-AhOoJKjLQ&sigr=11boqiqk6&tt=b&tit=The+Godfather+-+Leave+The+Gun%2C+Take+The+Cannoli&sigt=11fsk1t8q&back=https%3A%2F%2Fsearch.yahoo.com%2Fyhs%2Fsearch%3Fp%3Ddrop%2Bthe%2Bgun%2Btake%2Bthe%2Bcannolis%26ei%3DUTF-8%26hsimp%3Dyhs-001%26hspart%3Dmozilla&sigb=13adkkhno&hspart=mozilla&hsimp=yhs-001

[Outcast]

nice to have you back!

A good mixture of films- TAXI DRIVER!

 

Thanks M.Fei-----You talkin to me??? (Taxi Driver)

[VirginslaveboyKK]

This has always been tough for me to narrow down just one because I love so many and always enjoyed rankings and lists.

 

If I had to choose one movie though I would probably go with 'Back to the Future'. To me that movie embodies the fun, magic & imagination you're supposed to expereince with cinema. I know it can be a little campy but I will never get tired of watching that movie.

 

And since it tis the season 'Love Actually' is definitely my favorite Chrismas movie.

I have to agree. The back to the future trilogy is definitely a favorite of mine. Since the holiday is almost upon us I'm gonna mention my favorite Christmas movie Polar Express. 

 

This is one of those movie where you either really love it or you hate it. While the animation itself is pretty great a lot of people will tell you that the children look a bit creepy, but personally I was never bothered by them. The necessity to put others before yourself is both a common trait in the hero as well as a common theme in most Christmas stories, and seeing that in the hero boy just feels like an interesting take on the holiday spirit. It's definitely a pretty good Zemeckis film in my opinion.  

[Dannyboy]

I added 5 more and wrote explanations about the first 5.  Before I could submit the post something went wrong and I lost the work.

 

So I will just add the 5 and revisit the matter some other time.  I have quite and agenda today which already started before 7 am.

 

6. Doctor Strangelove

 

7. Zulu

 

8. Forbidden Planet

 

9. Patton

 

10. What's New Pussycat?

 

Dannyboy

[questionmarks]

LOVE PERSONA

need to better acquaint myself with ozu. loved your answers

Ah, I can't wait to meet you in a few weeks, Mistress Fei! Any (late) Ozu film with a season in it (spring, summer, etc) is a good bet, and I highly recommend the later Floating Weeds film (he has an earlier silent one by the same

title). Tokyo Story is his most famous.

[Big Trouble Baby]

As Dannyboy mentioned earlier, almost impossible to pick just one. Maybe we should pick from different categories.

 

Some of my favorites Westerns:

 

Shane

 

The Searchers

 

Fort Apache (1948)

 

The Man Who Shot Liberty Vallance

 

Winchester 73

 

The Magnificent Seven

 

Destry Rides Again

 

Stagecoach

 

The Last Wagon

[Zantafio]

Easy: Gigli. Why ? Because such a choice shall compel you to inflict wrathful chastising, Mistress Fei.

[Dannyboy]

As Dannyboy mentioned earlier, almost impossible to pick just one. Maybe we should pick from different categories.Some of my favorites Westerns:ShaneThe SearchersFort Apache (1948)The Man Who Shot Liberty VallanceWinchester 73The Magnificent SevenDestry Rides AgainStagecoachThe Last Wagon

Ray:

 

I think the why, as opposed to the what, is the goal of the question. I hope to get to my "whys" soon.

 

Of your Western list I saw them all and would select "The Man Shot Liberty Valance" with John Wayne, Jimmy Stewart and Lee Marvin. The Stewart character a cerebral, principled, underdog type makes his point against all odds. He even knocks John Wayne on his ass in one scene. Only Stewart could have gotten away with it.

 

The Gene Pitney song of the same title is on my MP3 player but never played for a Mistress.

 

I'm sure we've seen thousands of movies in our lives. Even the top 5% would cover at least 200 movies between us.

 

Dannyboy

[JustAGuy]

Oddly, I just watched my favorite movie ("The Blues Brothers," as stated earlier) while visiting my family for Christmas, because it popped up on cable.  Complete with TV edits and commercials.  Even though I have it on DVD at my place and never watch it.  Does anybody else do that?  Get movies on DVD and only watch the when they pop up on TV?

[sissyrobbi]

dead poets society

 

be true to yourself. and if you can't be. just shoot yourself in the head

 

right?

 

freedom!!!