Here we go, you've all been waiting for #1. The rest of the top 10 has all been revealed and now it's time for... the greatest movie... of all time... (drumroll)...
#1 BRAVEHEART (1995 Academy Award for Best Picture) - No doubt that this is the greatest movie ever made!!! First of all, every time I watch it I want to become Scottish (even though I'm American and a little bit Irish) & go fight in the Scottish army. I'm like "sign me up!" This is definitely the most inspiring movie I've ever seen. It's also the 1st movie I saw as a kid that didn't play out like a storybook at every turn... good guys die. I loved the fact that it was unpredictable like this. But still an unbelievable GREAT story. And of course, who
didn't want to be William Wallace... or at least wear the cool face paint and have the pimp accent.
YOUR turn now. what do you think are the greatest movies of all time?
#1 BRAVEHEART (1995 Academy Award for Best Picture) - No doubt that this is the greatest movie ever made!!! First of all, every time I watch it I want to become Scottish (even though I'm American and a little bit Irish) & go fight in the Scottish army. I'm like "sign me up!" This is definitely the most inspiring movie I've ever seen. It's also the 1st movie I saw as a kid that didn't play out like a storybook at every turn... good guys die. I loved the fact that it was unpredictable like this. But still an unbelievable GREAT story. And of course, who
didn't want to be William Wallace... or at least wear the cool face paint and have the pimp accent.YOUR turn now. what do you think are the greatest movies of all time?
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2 comments:
Okay buddy, we've obviously got some WAY different tastes. I think only one of our top fifteen overlap. I must admit I'm not a plot-driven action flick kind of guy... I tend to go for more intense, psychological, character-driven films. That being said, here are my tops.
My honorable mentions are:
Letters From Iwo Jima: You've got to admit that Clint Eastwood is the MAN, and this film is my favorite of his (that I've seen). I usually hate war movies, mostly because I feel like they tend to focus solely on the winners while reducing the losers to mere caricatures. This films gives the story of WWII from the viewpoint of the Japanese. It's chilling, and it contains one of the most intense, emotional, horrifying scenes I've ever seen. A definite classic.
No Country For Old Men: This film affected me. I thought I had become desensitized to suspense in the movies, but this film maintains a sense of dread and uneasiness for OVER TWO HOURS. The villain in this film is the first serious contender to de-throne Hannibal Lecter as the most horrifying villain on film. This film is SO INTENSE... I really think you'd like it. Honestly, this movie reminded me why I love movies so much.
Memento: The narrative structure of the film must be seen to be believed. Again, this is another movie I think you'd really like. It's got a killer story, a mesmerizing main character, and the twists are just incredible. It's like watching an episode of Lost backwards.
Children of Men: This movie BARELY misses my top ten. One of the most chilling dystopian films I've seen. The shots in this film are frickin ridiculous, and the story is just amazing. I love this movie. I'd say more, but I really want to get into my top ten.
TOP TEN
10. Closer: Okay, don't judge me. I love this film because I feel like it accurately portrays the way a lot of people think about love. The main characters talk about love as if it's a commodity, which I find to be true of a lot of people I encounter, especially in NYC and Boston. People fall in and out of love, act truly horribly to those they say they love, and at the end of the day no one's learned anything. It's completely depressing, but it's real. One of my mottos is that I'd rather see an R-rated truth than a PG-rated lie, and this movie exemplifies that. Not to be watched on a romantic date night, but the movie is FULL of material you could use in a sermon on love.
9. Match Point: This is Woody Allen's best movie BY FAR. The acting is a little unbearable at times, but the story is so engaging. This is one of those films that successfully manages to defy all expectations. You think it's going to be one kind of movie, but about half way through it completely changes and turns into the most compelling 45 minutes of film I've viewed in a while. And the best part is that the "twist" is completely believable, and the way it plays out is believably as well, so much so that it's incredibly horrifying yet intellectually satisfying. Rare is the movie that manages to pull that combo off.
Fight Club (and Seven): Okay, I just can't separate the two. David Fincher did such an amazing job on both of these films that I couldn't pick one over the other. You already know about Seven, but if I HAD to pick one I'd probably choose Fight Club. I just love the anti-consumerism messages littered throughout the film in a totally non-preachy way. Plus, the story is just incredible and the whole movie itself is immensely quotable. If you haven't seen this, I know without a shadow of a doubt you will enjoy it. I wouldn't be surprised if it ended up on your top ten as well.
That brings me to my top seven. I seriously can't order them because I love them all for completely different reasons. I'm just going to list them in alphabetical order.
City of God: I saw this movie three times in the theater (at $10 a shot in New York as a poor college student) and paid $25 when it came out on DVD. That's how much I love this film. It's a foreign film (made in Brazil, dialogue in Portuguese) but if you can deal with the subtitles you will see one of the most vivid depictions of slum life in Brazil. It's absolutely heartbreaking the things these children are forced to do to survive. Apparently people from Brazil are not shocked by the last ten seconds of the movie, but when I first saw it my jaw dropped. I don't want to give it away in case you decide to watch it, but it was those last ten seconds that triggered me watching the movie two more times in theaters and paying way too much for it on DVD. A true masterpiece.
Dogville: This is probably the weirdest movie on here. Not many people have seen this, and even a lot of people who start it do not finish it (when I saw it in theaters about half the audience walked out before the movie was over), and I wouldn't even particularly recommend that you see it. But I love this movie. It's completely unconventional in that it's told on an almost completely empty sound stage, yet all the sound effects are still heard, and all the characters act as though all the props are on the set. What's awesome about the movie, though, is that only those props that are ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY to the telling of the story are on the set. It took me a few viewings to get this, but it's really interesting on repeated viewings to see why one door is on the set but another isn't, or why one room has furniture and another does not. By stripping away all the visual elements that distract from the storytelling, you're left to focus solely on the story. And what a story it is. It's heavily character driven, but it's amazing to see the depths to which human sin can destroy lives. I don't want to give anything away, but honestly the ending of this movie is BRUTAL. It takes three hours to et there, but if you persevere the payoff is incredibly cathartic, in a very melancholy kind of way though.
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind: This is the love story that I feel defines our generation. This film defines our generation. I really think this is one of those movies that critics will be talking about decades from now as ignored at the time of its released but later discovered to be a true masterpiece. Again, the narrative form is unusual in that it's a love story told in reverse, but it's completely different than Memento. While in Memento the structure is a bit of a gimmick, in Eternal Sunshine it's absolutely integral to the telling of the story. You can't separate it from the story itself. And that's why this movie is a masterpiece and Memento is just a cool movie. THIS is the movie you should watch with your wife on date night. It will remind you of why you fell in love, and why you want to spend the rest of your lives together. Trust me, you must watch it.
Kill Bill: YOU WILL LOVE THIS MOVIE. It's split up into two parts, so it's over three hours long all together, but it's the most fun three hours you'll have in a theater. Quentin Tarantino is just a master at dialogue, and this movie has a LOT of awesome dialogue. The fight scenes have to be seen to be believed. The plot is really not that unique or interesting (it's a simple revenge story) but honestly this movie is all about the ride.
Magnolia: This movie shows man at his worst. There are themes of rape, incest, murder, alcoholism, theft, abuse, and more. And yet, this movie is the most beautiful depiction of the Gospel I have ever witnessed. This is the movie that convinced me that the Christian subculture a lot of people live in is more harmful than anything else. Jesus didn't hang out with the religious people while He was on earth... He hung with the prostitutes, the thieves, the sinners. He came for people like the people in this movie. And He forgives them if they ask. This movie is so beautiful in that it takes you to the depths of despair, of helplessness, of hopelessness, and just when it brings you to the point of asking how it can possibly get resolved, along comes redemption. Again, I don't want to give too much away, but this movie reminded me of my own depravity and the awesomeness of God saving me from that. While this movie is decidedly NOT Christian, and in fact most Christians wouldn't dare watch it, I think that it presents the Gospel more vividly (if you're looking for it) than any other movie I've seen, Christian or not.
Requiem for a Dream: I usually don't fall for "issue" movies like this or like Crash, but I LOVED this movie. Yes, it's a drug movie, and yes it's incredibly heavy-handed, but for some reason I can't get it out of my head. Oh wait, I know exactly why I can't get it out of my head. It has THE MOST DISTURBING IMAGE I'VE EVER SEEN IN MY LIFE. It's not even graphic, but whenever I see the shot of one of the characters shooting up on his totally infected arm, it sends shivers up my spine. The acting in this movie is incredible and really needs to be seen to be believed. It's probably the movie up here most likely to fall out of my top seven, but for now it stays.
Vertigo: I can't even begin with this movie. I mean just read any article on the movie online. This movie is consistently ranked rather highly on "Best Movies of All Time" type lists, so you can read more there. All I can say is that it's my favorite Hitchcock film, the performances are amazing, and the way the movie revolutionized story telling is astounding. Watching it now one can think that it's cliche and dated, but every movie copying this movie is what makes it seem cliche. It's incredible. Absolutely incredible.
Wow, I wasn't planning on writing that much. Oh well. I hope you actually read it and watch a few of these movies. Talk to you later.
dude, you're the man... nothing like a movie list from an NYU grad. several of them i own & have seen several more, but there's some i've never even heard of. thanks for hooking it up on here, we're definitely gonna check some of these out.
oh, and it's cool that you wrote long - you just made up for everybody else who wrote nothing :)
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