TheShining1980: Top 25 Movies (definitive)

Havey 09.11.14	1/25
Torontonian 09.11.14	i like many of these
Torontonian 09.11.14	Anyone seen "calvary"? it came out this year and its easily the best movie of the year.
Torontonian 09.11.14	@static nah, i liked this one better tbh. have you seen it?
Torontonian 09.11.14	and i didn't llike boyhood too much tbh. i thought it was really overrated and had its many cliche/cringeworthy moments.
TheShining1980 09.11.14	@Torontonian: I have no theaters near me that play art movies, so I couldn't see The Calvary, Rover, Snowpiercer, and Boyhood, which is a shame because I wanted to see all of those. I guess my favorite so far this year is either Grand Budapest Hotel or Guardians of the Galaxy, all though Gone Girl, Interstellar, Exodus, and Hobbit 3 come out soon, so we'll see.
TheShining1980 09.11.14	And Sin City 2 was awesome.
EnyaFangirl 09.11.14	Whoa huge props for including 7 it's one of the best :]
Torontonian 09.11.14	@theshining Sorry to hear than man. though grand budapest and GOTG were pretty decent agreed. If you ever get the chance definitely go see Calvary, you should man. It was filled with a lot of (dark)humor, great acting, and just a really well done introspective critique on society and the Catholic church.
TheShining1980 09.11.14	@Torontonian: Does it show the Church in a negative way, positive way, or in the middle? Just wondering.
Torontonian 09.11.14	pretty negatively. @theshining
Torontonian 09.11.14	even if someone disagrees with the messages the movie portrays i still think its worth the watch considering how well the movie is put together. oh and props for 21 m8, that p much my fave movie ever.
TheShining1980 09.11.14	@Torontonian: Did you ever see the Wall movie? What was your opinion on it?
Torontonian 09.11.14	Never seen it! i've heard great things about it though. I really think i should check it out though considering how much i enjoy PF. :p
robertsona 09.11.14	the imdb disease
TheShining1980 09.11.14	You have to really suspend your disbelief a lot, as it's probably the strangest film ever made. Makes Eraserhead look like... I guess Office Space. I give the edge to The Shining however, because of the performances, scenes, and just impacted me more, I suppose.
TheShining1980 09.11.14	@robertsona: What?
Torontonian 09.11.14	@robertsona fuck off. these are good movies regardless of what any site says.
Torontonian 09.11.14	@shining Ya i've seen the shining and i agree its rly good. Especially for its time era when suspense movies weren't as evolved.
TheShining1980 09.11.14	@Torontonian: Too bad it bombed though. Can't believe Popeye made more money than it did. Well, I can, but I don't want to. Do you believe that Kubrick Moon conspiracy?
furpa 09.11.14	Great list. Interesting choice putting Casino above any other Scorsese flick. Also interesting to see only 2 Scorsese movies on this list. Solid picks though, I absolutely love most of these movies.
apert 09.11.14	Calvary is probably my favourite movie of the year so far, didn't care much for Boyhood which is that great once you get over its central gimmick. 10 is 1966 btw
Satellite 09.11.14	fear and loathing was a dogshit film. 11 and 14 invalidate the entire list 1/10 would not recommend.
riffariffic7 09.11.14	@Satellite - I call BS, man. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas is a phenomenal psychedelic film, Depp and del Toro are brilliant in the film (I still think del Toro should have won the Oscar for that film, his performance is equal parts hilarious and absolutely terrifying; the scene where he tries to get himself killed during a drug-fuelled rage is nightmarishly funny). Depp made another Hunter S. Thompson inspired film called The Rum Diary which was pretty great as well, not as great as Fear and Loathing, of course, but it does come close at times. I hope Depp makes another Hunter based film to complete this trilogy of sorts that he's started. Oh yeah, and 11, Unbreakable, is a brilliant film. I wouldn't put The Dark Knight on a list like this though, that film gets enough praise as it is IMO. But Unbreakable... that film is just incredible in every way. Tarantino described it perfectly when he praised it, saying that it's a film about a Superman who doesn't know he's Superman. By far, it's my favourite performance ever from Bruce Willis. The "Orange Man" scene is one of the most beautiful scenes in film history in terms of visual storytelling and music.
Masochist 09.11.14	"Whoa huge props for including 7 it's one of the best :]" [2] Also for 'Mask of the Phantasm', which held the undisputed title of Best Batman Movie before Nolan's films, and even then it still contends for the title. 'Unbreakable' is one of my favorite films, and it is definitely the directing that pushes it over the top (Shyamalan's best film, IMO). Not to ignore the two lead actors, who put in some of their best work (especially Sam Jackson playing against type. 'Inception', I think, is a bit overrated though. And if this is a definitive list, at least one of the Godfathers have to be on here.
Phobonnika 09.11.14	Laughable list
TheShining1980 09.11.14	@Phobonnika: What's yours?
TheShining1980 09.11.14	@Masochist: I mean't it's definitive for me, this is my definitive list. This isn't the list to end all lists.
pedro70512 09.11.14	The Thing (1982) Unbreakable (2000) both these movies are so under-appreciated. The Thing is my favorite horror movie ever. list is solid. I'd add The Terminator 1+2 and Gladiator.
guitarded_chuck 09.11.14	good list yeah i like that it's an objectively good list but obviously you are going by your personal favs as opposed to say imdb ratings
adr 09.11.14	The Shining is overrated. Yeah. I said it. 6, 9, 10, 15, 20, 21, 22, 24 are amazing agreed
guitarded_chuck 09.11.14	kubrick is a mastermind and even though the shining isn't my favorite kubrick it is still fantastic
adr 09.11.14	yea, not saying it's bad, but def not my favourite kubrick, and overall is pretty overrated movie imo. A Clockwork Orange and Full Metal Jacket should be here hard.
Phobonnika 09.11.14	1. Stalker 1979 2. Oldboy 2003 3. Paris, Texas 1984 4. The Conformist 1970 5. Metropolis 1927 6. La Jetée 1962 7. Tetsuo: The Iron Man 1989 8. 2001: A Space Odyssey 1968 9. Come And See 1985 10. The Great Dictator 1940 11. Apocalypse Now 1979 12. Mother 1926 13. Aftershock 2010 14. Rear Window 1954 15. Satantango 1994 16. Nausicaa 1984 17. Wild Strawberries 1957 18. Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives 2010 19. Alien 1979 20. Man With A Movie Camera 1929 21. The Spirit Of The Beehive 1973 22. Hiroshima Mon Amour 1959 23. Battle Of Algiers 1966 24. Hotel Rwanda 2004 25. Tokyo Story 1953 500 word + explanations for each available on request.
guitarded_chuck 09.11.14	start with stalker
Tunaboy45 09.11.14	Fight Club???
Phobonnika 09.11.14	How long have you got?
guitarded_chuck 09.11.14	ill check back in a few days, proceed fight clubs overrated imo i dont hate it tho or anybody who likes it
pedro70512 09.11.14	"1. Stalker 1979" I'd never heard of that one until I read that The Ocean used it as a basis for the lyrics to Pelagial. Pretty sweet if you ask me.
CoolCalmJoe 09.11.14	What's your favorite non Nolan movie from 2000s?
insanedrexl1 09.11.14	7, 16 and 25 are fantastic.
apert 09.11.14	Phobonnika i want 500 words on satantango. never seen it but at 7 hours I wanna know if it can actually hold interest for that long
Yotimi 09.11.14	Not bad Phobo. Rear window is only decent and 24 is meh. Come and see is fantastic and obviously Stalker is. Check The Passion of Joan of Arc.
Havey 09.11.14	yea nice nice
Yotimi 09.11.14	I wanna see your list sometime havey
Yotimi 09.11.14	Also 1/25 is harsh. 1,6,10,20 are good to great
YetAnotherBrick 09.11.14	fuck 19. once you read the book the movie is utterly pointless. johnny depp is the only redeeming quality it has
apert 09.11.14	Havey's list would be essay films unknown to anyone else of sputnik and maybe one Dreyer film
TheShining1980 09.11.14	@Phobonnika: Good list. I chose these films because they are the ones that left the biggest impression and impact on me, but still, you've got a good list. Come to think of it, Goodfellas is probably better than Casino. Request a 500+ word explanation on 2001, even though I like that movie.
Intothepit 09.11.14	List reeks of bullshit.
Phobonnika 09.11.14	@apert As you probably know it's a seven hour long documentary-style study of a closely-knit and decadent rural life in Hungary using a group of fictional misfits and an abandoned, isolated machinery plant as the medium. Why? That’s really quite an essential question regarding Sátántangó, despite the fact that you might not realise it quite yet. Why did this film happen? Its seven hour runtime is unattractive and impractical to prospective viewers, ipso facto the one-screening-a-day bulk structure defies profit motive and its characters, self-proclaimed 'poor, ugly, sad and damned people' deny expectations of pleasure. So, why? By process of elimination upon pre-viewing research: to make a statement, and after viewing: obsession. Such a transition of outlook opens new avenues for filmmakers and audiences to explore the two most important parameters that structure the medium: space and time. An accomplishment with such calibre is worthy of considerable attention and acclaim. Its easy to give Sátántangó a share. Drunken amounts of synergy emerge from the screenplay of this film, which redefines the phrase ‘the whole is greater than the sum of its parts’. Its effect is puzzling but sincerely lifting. pto
Phobonnika 09.11.14	What does spring to mind, of all things, is the middle class pretentious prick's favourite philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein and his theory of ‘language games’. In his work, he writes of an attitude towards faith and trust in God, and how those who take part in this ‘game’ will be able to understand the specific, exclusive language used within it and be rewarded eschatologically (after death). A similar attitude, although sometimes difficult and certainly impractical, if taken toward Sátántangó, yields equal bounty cometh the close of the seven and a half hours of slow, drunkenly beautiful meandering shots and marmite characters both bickering and caring amongst and for each other. Cometh the close, I felt many things: relief, depression, for all I can concentrate: Stockholm Syndrome (after being locked in with a set of the most flamboyant lovable and hateable characters I’ve ever seen) and scepticism to whether European cinema could ever match the immaculate and painstakingly poured over directing of Sátántangó during my lifetime. To see being invoked within me such a reaction from a single piece of artwork was giddy. It’s a film with a stature and a reputation about it, one too leviathan to be shunned, one too long and that requires too much of a commitment to slander for no good reason. It's the 1990s golden seal of artistic merit and power amidst claptrap crime spin-offs and rushed all-American ‘masterpieces’ (cough that piece of shit Pulp Fiction), and is something of almighty reward and calibre that sits sentinel and humble in the face of those it will influence and the audience that it shall seduce and accept as one of its own, imho. But whatever.
Phobonnika 09.11.14	@chucl Stalker involves a guide who leads two men through an area known as the Zone to find a room that grants wishes. To show no respect for this film is to sin. From a cinematographic viewpoint looking in, it’s most certainly close to flawless. Tarkovsky presents to us a journey into the heart of darkness, through the eyes of the breathtaking decadent beauty of the Soviet Union’s cinema, by way of what could be an exhibition in a gallery for us to breathe and to absorb. Tarkovsky is one of the most impeccable and original directors, if not the most, of all time, hailed by Ingmar Bergmam as simply: ‘The Master’, and Stalker represents the height of what the human mind is capable of casting on a screen if you ask me. Many a time has Stalker been criticised for being too slow paced, too drawn out; but my goodness does it work. It will weld you to our seat with some sort of invisible energy the poetic acting, an awe-inspiring location, and engrossingly reflective concepts throw at us. Such wisdom, such aura, such an off- the-wall perspective laced with metaphor. An encapsulating quote from Stalker reads as follows: “While I am digging for the truth, so much happens to it that instead of discovering the truth I dig up a heap of, pardon... I'd better not name it. A man writes because he is tormented, because he doubts. He needs to constantly prove to himself and the others that he's worth something. And if I know for sure that I'm a genius? Why write then? What the hell for? The Zone wants to be respected. Otherwise it will punish.” The nature of the zone itself: its mystery, its tantalising fear and its stagnant silence elevate to one of the greatest fictional supernatural worlds of all time: alongside the ranks of Narnia and The Galaxy. pto
Phobonnika 09.11.14	@chucl Stalker involves a guide who leads two men through an area known as the Zone to find a room that grants wishes. To show no respect for this film is to sin. From a cinematographic viewpoint looking in, it’s most certainly close to flawless. Tarkovsky presents to us a journey into the heart of darkness, through the eyes of the breathtaking decadent beauty of the Soviet Union’s cinema, by way of what could be an exhibition in a gallery for us to breathe and to absorb. Tarkovsky is one of the most impeccable and original directors, if not the most, of all time, hailed by Ingmar Bergmam as simply: ‘The Master’, and Stalker represents the height of what the human mind is capable of casting on a screen if you ask me. Many a time has Stalker been criticised for being too slow paced, too drawn out; but my goodness does it work. It will weld you to our seat with some sort of invisible energy the poetic acting, an awe-inspiring location, and engrossingly reflective concepts throw at us. Such wisdom, such aura, such an off- the-wall perspective laced with metaphor. An encapsulating quote from Stalker reads as follows: “While I am digging for the truth, so much happens to it that instead of discovering the truth I dig up a heap of, pardon... I'd better not name it. A man writes because he is tormented, because he doubts. He needs to constantly prove to himself and the others that he's worth something. And if I know for sure that I'm a genius? Why write then? What the hell for? The Zone wants to be respected. Otherwise it will punish.” The nature of the zone itself: its mystery, its tantalising fear and its stagnant silence elevate to one of the greatest fictional supernatural worlds of all time: alongside the ranks of Narnia and The Galaxy. pto
Phobonnika 09.11.14	Looking back at some of the great moments in cinema history like the horse’s head in the bed etc, I think few are left out of the dust by Stalker’s ‘dream sequence’, whereby the characters balm us with a beautiful and thoughtful script whilst the camera pans over a river filled with objects in sepia, each representing something so different, and inviting a convention of interpretation: is the Zone’s room an allegory for the threshold of heaven, because there is a picture of St Peter in the river? Or is the Zone’s invisible and mythical aggression a metaphor for nature’s reclaim of the abandoned and the inhospitable, as the dust and sediment covers a sunken syringe just upstream from St Peter. The significance and depth of this film is otherworldly and almighty. Eduard Artemiev’s score is in perfect balance with the images shown to us, mixing a sensual blend of eastern and distant melodies with the screen’s mists, mosses and relics. Few films which specialise in the power of one specific emotion can conjure as much effect as Stalker does for suspense (specifically the phenomenal scene in the tunnel/meat grinder), philosophy, fear, choice and anguish. Never fails to stun me. Will always be my greatest.
apert 09.12.14	wow i didn't actually think you were gonna write 500 words, anyway nice insight. Satantango is one of those films that i've had on a list of films to watch for quite a long time, but the sheer length of time required to watch it has meant i never have, i'm sure i'll get round to it at some point.
klap 09.12.14	boyhood gave me so many feelz
TheShining1980 09.12.14	@CoolCalmJoe: Unbreakable by M. Night Shyamalan
TheShining1980 09.12.14	@Memes: Not too much now, the man has work to do.
TheShining1980 09.12.14	@Phobnnika: But really, while you provided good films, what's so laughable about mine?
Phobonnika 09.12.14	@Shining Firstly I think it's too Americanised. There isn't a single world cinema film on there if we're not counting TGTBATU.. Not saying that world cinema objectively is better than American cinema but so many different cultures can add great insight into a film. After a binge on some of the best works from the best directors (Tarkovsky, Bergma, Tsukamoto, Ozu) you kinda feel that films like The Matrix and Goodfellas are just silly and immature. They may be entertaining but I don't think they can be called great. I think a film should unlock at least 4 different emotions whilst you watch it, but I don't think any of these do, they just focus on entertainment value and soft core surrealism (apart from Alien and The Thing.) They've got no body to them. Also it kinda reeks of the IMDB250 which is a good representation of the populous opinion but you'll be the first to agree with me that Shawshank is not a standout film. Thirdly I hate Pulp Fiction. Awful and empty when you take it seriously, tedious and unnecessary when you don't.
Avagantamos 09.12.14	2/25 fucking terrible list
guitarded_chuck 09.12.14	thanks for that phobo i'll get around to watching stalker hopefully very soon and i'll return with comments :)
TheShining1980 09.12.14	@Phobo: Goodfellas. Immature. No. What's "immature" or "silly" about Goodfellas? It was a good look inside the life of the mob, not a retarded action flick like you're making it sound like.
Torontonian 09.13.14	"The Drop" sucked. avoid.