Favorite Movies

[Avaitor]

22- Dial M for Murder
30- Rear Window

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Yeah, correct for both of them.

[Neomysterion X. Prime]

I'm not a big movie buff myself, but I'll share some of my fave movies.
Most of them are animated, though.

-Every Pokemon Movie ever made
-My Neighbor Totoro (as well as all the other Miyazaki films)
-Both of those Bleach (the anime) movies
-The Toy Story series
-Kirby: Fright to the Finish
-Red Green: Duct Tape Forever
-The Triplets of Belleville

This ain't all of them.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

For the first 10 on Avaitor's List:

1. Pulp Fiction
2. (no idea)
3. The Nightmare Before Christmas
4. A Clockwork Orange
5. The Seven Samurai
6. Psycho
7. (no idea)
8. Lawrence of Arabia
9. Batman: Mask of the Phantasm
10. X2: X-Men United

[Spark Of Spirit]

Have any of you guys seen The Karate Kid Part II?

I know most people have seen the first and many movies have ripped it off wholesale since (including every other movie in the series), but Part II is unique. It's not a carbon copy of the first one and actually continues the story quite well as we learn more about Mr. Miyagi and Daniel tags along with him. In many ways, I think this one is the better movie, and actually would rather consider it the end of the series. It's not like the other movies went anywhere other than copying the first one, anyway.

[Angus]

Hmm, I can't remember what he did in II vs. III, but I remember that he tried the crane and failed. One of them he started flailing his arms back and forth like those hand drum thingies.

[No-Personality]

Hmm, I can't remember what he did in II vs. III, but I remember that he tried the crane and failed. One of them he started flailing his arms back and forth like those hand drum thingies.

I think the hand-held drum thingies were from II. Part III ... was about the rainforest with the bonzai trees that grew out of the trees or something. I think there was a big cliff. Wow, I don't remember Part III at all. I know there's a scene at a dance club where he punches a totally innocent, nice person in the nose. And the girl from Teen Witch is in it. Robin something I think.

[Angus]

The Next Karate Kid had Hilary Swank in a debut starring role. 

I read the wikipedia summary for the remake; didn't seem like they made much of a change from the original, although gone is the good ol' station wagon that you had to push from the back and pop the clutch with a bang to get going.

[Avaitor]

Hey EK, are you up for trying this again?

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Heh, Sorry, I completely forgot about the rest of your list. I'll try doing some more in a little bit, though I have to admit that I have a hard time identifying anything past your top 30.

I was also thinking that a good idea for this thread would be to talk about some of our favorite movies and why its our favorite. I myself kind of wanted to do my own short little review for The Untouchables. I was also thinking of trying to review some of your favorite movies (though I won't say anything about Pulp Fiction, even though I'm sure that its a superb movie for its intended audience). It would actually be interesting to see other people review other peoples' favorites and giving their honest thoughts on them. All of our top movies are pretty great stuff, though, so I'm sure it would all mostly be positive reviews, though, anyways.

[Avaitor]

Sounds good. I'll do your top 5 now.

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly- Goddamn, I love this movie. Was more than enough to make me an Eastwood lover for life and a believer in the strength of westerns. Everything about it is great, from the soundtrack to the cinematography to the strong characteristics. I barely even notice that the English version is dubbed when I watch it, and that is worth some bonus points alone.
The Untouchables- I wrote about this earlier for your benefit, and we've gone into greater detail in private, but this is a damn fine crime flick. Certainly worth a rewatch somewhere in the near future.
Aliens- Best sci-fi film ever? That's a mighty tough claim, but I get more enjoyment out of Aliens than a vast deal of them, and few movies like this have as strong replay value as it.
Terminator 2- More gold from Cameron. The first Terminator is about equal to me, but T2 has better visuals and an effective humanizing subplot with the Terminator and John Connor. It's a thrill from start to finish that doesn't let go of you until that climatic finale.
Forrest Gump- Not really one of my favorites, but there's plenty of good in the film. Tom Hanks was outstanding, for one. And some moments are just great, like the Black Panther scene you referenced earlier. I don't think it's Best Picture worthy myself, but worse films have won the award before, so I'll cut it some slack tonight.

Here's my current top 5, if anyone's up to it.

The Apartment
Pulp Fiction
The Nightmare Before Christmas
Psycho
A Clockwork Orange

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

After I finish watching today's Physiology lecture online, I'll get right onto doing those. However I can't do The Apartment as I haven't ever watched the full movie (I remember seeing part of it once, quite a while back I think).

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

Heh, Sorry, I just realized I can't do A Clockwork Orange either, yet. Man, I feel so ashamed of myself.

Pulp Fiction- While I'm not into Tarantino films that much, I can certainly respect the guy and most of his work (except for Kill Bill, which I utterly loathe), and I'm sure that Pulp Fiction must be a true classic if someone of Avaitor's taste regards it so highly (and also my older brother, who himself is a film buff, and did actually study film in college as his major a few years ago). I haven't seen the movie in a while, though, so I will certainly give it another chance someday.

The Nightmare Before Christmas- This definitely deserves to be here in this spot. While I know I didn't rank it in my list (to be fair its a list that's always changing, though), I can't say enough great things about this movie. Beyond the brilliant use of stop motion to the highly addicting songs and expertly scored music, I find this to be such a classic yet also refreshing story. Its one of the best interpretations I have seen of the spirit of 2 holidays, but really that's not even what the film is about. The holidays themselves are more of an afterthought, really. Its Jack Skelington who really makes everything work so well. He's and interesting character, and most of the theme of the movie is him wanting to venture out of the norm of his world to explore something new. Honestly, while I strictly believe that no film is absolutely perfect or flawless, this is one of the few films that I honestly can't think to say anything bad about (at least not off the top of my head, anyways). Great film, and it also reminds me that I wish there were more stop motion films these days (seriously, the most recent one that I can think of was the last Wallace and Gromit movie.

You know, I really think we should do a special review for this film at the next opportunity we get, as a sort of special feature. The best thing about it is that it could work perfectly if we wrote it around either around Halloween or Christmas.

Psycho- What can I say about this film? Its a Hitchcock classic. Sure, the twist may be no surprise to anyone today, but that's only because of how obvious it has been made in pop culture. Even so, the twist isn't want makes the movie as great as it is. Its the extremely well-crafted story, the top-notch performances from the actors (seriously, Norman Bates is perhaps one of the most convincing villain performances of all time), the superb writing and dialogue, and of course its all topped off with Hithcock's masterful directing, as the master of suspense himself easily manages to make this film so intense to watch (even when you already know how it all plays out), from beginning to end. There is also the fact that you can actually analyze the hell out of this movie for some of its deeper hidden symbols, and how you can psychologically analyze Norman Bates, but even without that stuff this film is nothing short of a masterpiece of artwork. Also, I still disagree with Roger Ebert about the ending. While I can see where he's coming from, I don't feel that the ending is needless exposition, as I honestly feel that most people would never really have understood the ending without an explanation of Norman Bates's psychological mindset (and yeah, it seems obvious to all of you now, but once again, that's only because of how much everyone has been exposed to these sorts of characters which were themselves of course ripped straight form this highly influential film).

[Avaitor]

It's cool, and bound to happen.

Oh, and we've had some stop-motion films since Wallace & Gromit. Corpse Bride came out that year, and since then, we've had Coraline and Fantastic Mr. Fox. Sure, they may not be as good as Nightmare, but I think they're all good films that keep up to the best of stop-motion animation's abilities.

Goodfellas- Scorsese's best, and one of the best acted films ever made. He might have peaked here, though.
I never got 7. Sorry man.
Back to the Future- It's still an annual tradition to watch the trilogy each Christmas and sometime in the summer. The first is still the best, though, since it feels the briskest, has more fun than the sequels, and has too many classic scenes and lines to name. Huey Lewis's song will forever be stuck in my head.
Mackenna's Gold- I've only seen this once, a year or two ago per your request, but really enjoyed it. It's a solid western flick that deserves a rewatching sometime soon.
The Lion King- I pulled out my VHS a few weeks ago, watched it, forgot all the problems in my life and in the film, and just lost myself to this film. Every single frame from the opening shot of the sunrise in Africa to that great ending shot with the birth of Simba and Nala's child. While I'd tone down Timon & Pumbaa's humor a little in hindsight, just about everything else has me forget about that- the songs, the soundtrack, the animation, the stampede scene, Mufasa's return, the explosive final fight, the return of Pride Rock, and that ending.

I can't think of too many movies that give me such a thrill of the excitement of film no matter how many times I watch them like it. The ones in my top 5, as well as my next three favorites and a few more I'll mention later if you want me to. From this list, I think BTTF would make it there. I also think Snow White would be the only Disney classic to make it there for me as well.

It's easily Disney's most effective triumph post-Walt, and arguably one of theirs in general, with or without him.

[Dr. Ensatsu-ken]

#7 On my list was Rain Man, just so you know.

Lawrence of Arabia- A beautiful film that is truly an amazing achievement in cinema, even if its not as credited as other great films from its time. That said, its been ages since I last watched it, so there isn't much that I can comment on about it until I get to re-watch it someday.

Batman: Mask of the Phantasm- I love Tim Burton's Batman films for what they are even if others don't really like them anymore, and I equally enjoy the newer films from Nolan which take a deeper and more faithful exploration into the character, but if you had to ask me, Mask of the Phantasm is the best film adaptation that the Dark Knight himself has ever been subject to. It tells the most captivating Batman tale that I have ever seen while exploring his character in a time that most adaptations don't seem to spend that much time on, and that's at the time where he's at the actual crossroads between whether he actually chooses to become Batman or live a normal life. In this film you feel the tragedy of Bruce's life, and of those around him, yet you also feel the triumph of his endeavors and the legacy which he as created as Batman. Simply put, this is Batman at his best, IMO, and not even Nolan has managed to top this film for me.

X2: X-Men United- There are so many great things about this movie that I don't know where to begin. The first film was generally a good start to the films and the sequel just takes the characters and the story to a whole new level. I love how the stakes are escalated and the whole movie feels much darker and more intense than the first film. Yet, at the same time, the movie manages to capture all of the high-octane action and great special effects (honestly, to my surprise, these special effects hold up a lot better than I expected they would upon a recent re-watch, to the point that if this movie were released today it would still come off to me as a high-quality production) of a great action movie to keep you entertained between all of the interesting story segments and character development. If there's any superhero film that I would call the complete package, this one would be it.