What's Your Favourite Movie?

Take this, baby (list compiled about a month ago for Imbd purposes):

Title [Englisht title] (year), directer/writer

1. Fight Club (1999), David Fincher
2. The Godfather 1 (1972), Francis Ford Coppola
3. Dr. Strangelove or: How I stopped worrying and love the bomb (1964), Stanley Kubrick
4. Platoon (1986), Oliver Stone
5. Conan the Barbarian (1981), John Milias
6. Il Buono, il brutto, il cattivo [the good, the bad and the ugly] (1966), Sergio Leone
7. Shichinin no samurai [Seven Samurai] (1954), Akira Korusawa
8. Apocalypse Now (1979), Francis Ford Coppola
9. The Boondock Saints (1999), Troy Duffy
10. The Big Lebowski (1998), Joel and Ethan Coen
11. Monthy Python and the Holy Grail (1975), Terry Gilliam and Terry Jones
12. Wong Fei Hung [Once upon a time in China] (1991), Tsui Hark
13. Pulp Fiction (1994), Quentin Tarantino
14. C’era una volta il West [Once upon a time in the West] (1968), Sergio Leone
15. The Godfather Part II (1974), Francis Ford Coppola
16. Terminator 2 (1991), James Cameron
17. Das Boot (1981), Wolfgang Petersen
18. Last Man Standing (1996), Walter Hill
19. Per qualche dollaro in più [For a Few Dollars More] (1965), Sergio Leone
20. Dark Crystal (1982), Jim Henson
21. Wo hu cang long [Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon] (2000), Ang Lee
22. Hot Shots! part deux (1993), Jim Abrahams
23. The Usual Suspects (1995), Bryan Singer
24. Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring (2001), Peter Jackson
25. Full Metal Jacket (1987), Stanley Kubrick
26. Labyrinth (1986), Jim Henson
27. Monthy Python’s The life of Brian (1979), Terry Jones
28. Per un pugno di dollari [For a Fistfull of Dollars] (1964), Sergio Leone
29. Mad Max 2 (1981), George Miller
30. Scarface (1983), Brian de Palma
31. The Deer Hunter (1978), Michael Cimino
32. Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998), Guy Ritchie
33. Silence of the Lambs (1990), Jonathan Demme
34. American Beauty (1999), Sam Mendes
35. Gangs of New York (2002), Martin Scorcese
36. The Gold Rush (1925), Charles Chaplin
37. Taxi Driver (1976), Martin Scorcese
38. Resevoir Dogs (1992), Quentin Tarantino
39. The Shining (1980), Stanley Kubrick
40. Citizen Kane (1941), Orson Welles
41. All Quiet on the Western front (1979), Delbert Mann
42. Spartacus (1960), Stanley Kubrick
43. Snatch (2000), Guy Ritchie
44. Hot Shots! 1 (1991), Jim Abrahams
45. American History X (1998), Tony Kaye
46. Donnie Brasco (1996), Mike Newell
47. Leon (1994), Luc Bèsson
48. La Vita è Bella (1998), Roberto Benigni
49. Airplane! (1980), Zucker Abrahams Zucker
50. Planet of the apes (1967), Franklin J. Schaffner

Actually, I should update this soon, especially since it's missing the brilliant movie Yojimbo (also by Akira Kurosawa, see #7). And please don't be shocked by the low position of AFI's oficial "best movie of all time" Citizen Kane. Good movie, sure, but not the best.

 

Aye, you have good movie tastes.

Can you believe I actually borrowed the Big Lebowski to two of my friends and both of them didn't like it? I'm so going to kick their asses next time I see them. Not liking the Big is a sin.

 

Look, dude, I just spent two/three/four (don't remember) hours in an Irish pub drinking pints of Guiness (agh! King of draughts. A friendly reminder, kids; Guiness is not a beer), so I have a valid excuse.

I'll make you pay, though. Prepare to meet...my cat!

PS: Borrowed from, loaned to, is that correct?

 

Damn right!

Heh, it's allowed.

Let me make one thing clear here, though. If you ask me "What is your favourite movie" in all-round impact and entertainment, Fight Club would probably win, but that doesn't mean I think it's the greatest movie of all time.

If you ask me, "What's the greates American movie of all time?" I'll say, without a doubt, Citizen Kane.

Compare to my taste in classical music. My favourite composer is Tschaikovsky, my favourite single part of a composition is "Morning stimmung" out of Grieg's 1st Peer Gynt, my favourite complete composition is a close tie between Tschaikovsky's Swan Lake ballet and Mahler's 1st ("der Titan"). However, if you asked me "Who is the greatest composer of all time", I would say Bach, no doubt.

Citizen Kane was so incredibly important and is such a beautifull and complete work that I can do no different than acknowledge its greatness, even if its not to my taste.

Note: I said greatest American movie. If we're talking greatest movies of all time, it'd have to compete with Dr. Strangelove (which is a British movie). But it'd probably beat Kubrick's works, what it'd have a harder time of beating is Akira Kurosawa's Shichinin no Samurai. That movie in its original form is 3.5 hours of pure perfection. Seriously. Best...movie...ever.

Those are some really great movies. I have only one objection:

2001.

I hate that movie.

Well, hate's a strong word. I appreciate its importance and how incredible it must've been in its own days, but nowadays it just strikes me as boring and incredibly longwinded and unclear.

And the loud breathing forced me to mute the movie at times. Goddamned annoying breathing. And worse of all...Strauss' And der Schone Blaue Donau. I hate An Der Schone Blaue Donau, I really do.

 

This whole discussion reminds me; who does everyone think is the best director of all time? Before you answer, please see if you can agree on these points:

1. 1-hit wonders are not impressive. Michael Cimino (the Deer Hunter) is not a good director

2. Kevin Smith (Dogma, Chasing Amy, Mallrats, Clerks) and Richard Kelly (Donnie Darko) are excellent writers, but absolutely terrible directors. They should both learn to leave their films to other people.

3. Quentin Tarantino makes good movies because he has a talent in combining writing skills, directing skills and musical skills. This doesn't make him a great director, it makes him a great all-rounder.

That said, I myself could probably not decide; it'd be a close race between Coppola, Kurosawa and Kubrick.