all time favourite film

Blacklodge29

what is your all time favourite film?

biko

What is yours?

Cazale

The Seven Samurai.

tricky D

Blacklodge29 wrote: »

what is your all time favourite film?

Haven't seen that one yet. IMDB linky??

abouttobebanned

Shindler's List thread.

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

A matter of life and death

i was trying to sleep on a friends sitting room floor years ago after having consumed various inebriating substances all night long, i was just nodding off when around 4am his flatmate stumbles in the door drunk and not giving a damn that I was trying to sleep sticks this movie into the video player all the while talking to me about what a great movie it was. for the entire runtime of the movie he spoke to me about what an amazing movie it was while I lay there refusing to say a word, hoping he would drop dead so I could get some sleep. A few weeks later I decided I just had to check this film out to see what it was like and I've been in love ever since. it started my appreciation for all things Niven (best james bond ever) and opened my eyes to the fact that there were movies made before the 1980's.

the movie is about peter carter, a british bomber pilot in ww2 and june (who I just now realise... doesn't have a last name?) the american radio operator who took his distress call. his plane was badly damaged and all his crew had either bailed out or been shot, he had no way to land it safely and no working parachute. He and june talk for a couple of minutes before peter decides it's time to accept his fate and jumps from the plane. but somehow he wakes up on the beach alive and well, he and June meet a few minutes later and instantly fall in love.
from wiki

Peter meets June, who is cycling back from her night shift, and the pair fall in love. Conductor 71 (an aristocrat executed in the French Revolution) stops time to explain the situation to Peter and urge him to accept his death and proceed to the Other World. Peter refuses and demands that the matter be appealed. While Conductor 71 goes to consult his superiors, Peter continues to live his life. His visitor returns to inform him that he has been granted appeal and has three days to prepare his case and appoint a counsel, which he can pick among all the people who have ever lived but are now dead.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JSruSe_m8OI

the movie jumps back and forth between heaven and earth, heaven being black and white and the scenes on earth in colour.. the conductor has a nice little line about being starved for 'technicolour up there'. just a fantastic movie, the heavenly appeal has some very funny scenes.. anyone who's seen it will remember the bit with the radios or the jury

honourable mention to the life and death of colonel blimp... probably would be my favourite movie of all time if only it had some David Niven.

Blacklodge29

mine would be mulholland drive.

MagicMarker

Scary Movie.

candy-gal1

pretty woman or moulin rouge



its a hard decision to pick one or two though tbh

The Pontiac

Here come The Shawshank Redemption brigade!

sillo

The Royal Tenenbaums. I saw this movie knowing absolutely nothing about it and it blew me away. I've subsequently become an Anderson fanatic and while I recognise the brilliance of the more indy-credible Rushmore & Bottlerocket, for me RT will always be his magnum opus. The amazing soundtrack is a particular highlight, but anderson's pernickety way of shooting a movie seemed to mesh so well with the eccentricities his characters act out on screen.

I have seen this movie at least 30 times and I am still not bored of it.

krudler

Raiders Of The Lost Ark for me, its cinematic perfection. I never get sick of seeing it.

johnny_ultimate

So given some recent complaints about our handling of list threads, as an experiment I will leave this open. However please give some description of why you chose the film in question - this doesn't need to be an essay, it can be a single sentence. But, as per the charter, any post that simply lists the name of a film will be deleted. It is your favourite film after all - surely you have something to say about it

Ellian

Sir Digby beat me to it. A Matter of Life and Death. Great film and also the circumstances in which it was made were interesting. Powell and Pressburger were given money by the Ministry of Information to make a film promoting American involvement in WWII. They came back with what most critics now consider to be a masterpiece but at the time the MOI's attitude was "what the f**K is this..????"

yabadabado

Cool hand Luke.Love that film,great storyline/characters and Paul Newman on top form.

Tipsy McSwagger

krudler wrote: »

Raiders Of The Lost Ark for me, its cinematic perfection. I never get sick of seeing it.

My number one film that I want on blu ray:)

krudler

Tipsy McSwagger wrote: »

My number one film that I want on blu ray:)

you in Dublin? its being shown in the IFI tomorrow at 2pm, and again on the 29th

the whole year inn

Either Shawshank or Dark Knight

Theres something about these movies just the way its shot,music everything seems to work for them.

Kiith

<Ollie> wrote: »

Here come The Shawshank Redemption brigade!

Too ****ing right :P

It's Shawshank for me, without a doubt. Has so many amazing scenes, and a fantastic soundtrack. One of the few films that i will watch regularly. Amazing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WkSjw9h_FTs

Heisenberg1

Shawshank Redemption is my pick.

Andy Dufresne - who crawled through a river of **** and came out clean on the other side.

Quality and of course

Name's Red.

Why do they call you that?

Maybe it's because I'm Irish.

I'd probably have to go with pulp fiction.

Why? Well there's the action, the blood, the fantastic actors, the interconnectivity of the various storylines, but mostly it's down to the fantastic script.

I could watch it over and over again and pretty much never get bored with it. True romance would be up there too.

spurious

Always been a fan of Harold and Maude.
I'm well aware there are much 'better' films out there, but in terms of repeat viewings I come back to it again and again. Ruth Gordon is always reliable and seems to have a ball with this one, Bud Cort is spot on in his weirdness, but Vivian Pickles as Harold's mother steals the show for me.

Nolanger

Harold and Maude still holds up. There are scenes in that film that inspired the look of later movies e.g. Danny Boyle's Millions.

venividivici

In Bruges......two manky hookers and a racist dwarf

Mickeroo

spurious wrote: »

Always been a fan of Harold and Maude.
I'm well aware there are much 'better' films out there, but in terms of repeat viewings I come back to it again and again. Ruth Gordon is always reliable and seems to have a ball with this one, Bud Cort is spot on in his weirdness, but Vivian Pickles as Harold's mother steals the show for me.

Don't forget his soldier uncle with the prosthetic salute! D

Nolanger wrote: »

Harold and Maude still holds up. There are scenes in that film that inspired the look of later movies e.g. Danny Boyle's Millions.

Never nade the connection with millions now I have to say. I think Wes Anderson's movies were heavily influenced by it though.

Great soundtrack too.

number10a

Todo sobre mi madre/All About My Mother. I must have watched it about 40 or 50 times and every time I watch it I see something new. Absolutely love it.

ImpossibleDuck

Hard to narrow it down to one, but I'm gonna have to say Fight Club.

For a few main reasons:

1. The plot, and how enjoyable it is the first time you watch it.

Like, the first time you see this film, the twist just makes it fantastic! At that point of realisation, you look at the film from a whole different angle. I love when films do this - it was recently mentioned in the Alfred Hitchcock thread about how in the 'letter scene' in Vertigo, you immediately look at the film in a different way.

2. The themes or issues - This film deals with sooooo many brilliant themes without overdoing it (somehow),

3. How it can be read on so many different levels and how there's always something new to be discovered. For example, when you read the different academic interpretations of the film it blows the whole film open and you begin appreciating just how intricate it is

4. My final and perhaps my most favourite one is how when you get talking to someone else who loves this film, you can find yourself talking for hours and hours about it and having a massive amount of conversations about it...I've never came across another film that I can do this with.

There ya go And I didn't even get to characters, directing, soundtrack, acting

Bad Panda

<Ollie> wrote: »

Here come The Shawshank Redemption brigade!

Go on, give us your pretentious choice that's not really your favourite, but you 'like it so much' even though you've only seen it once and it will make you seem like you have a more refined cinematic taste...*






*Shawshank's not my favourite, but it's up there. Incredible film.

Could be anyone of 5 for me, but I'll list An American Werewolf in London seeing as how it hasn't been said. Fantastic film. The start of it scared the bejaysus out of me as a kid. And watching it as I got older, I could appreciate the dark comedy aspect of it.

The FX look amazing, even to this day.

Griffin Dunne is great in it!

Tipsy McSwagger

krudler wrote: »

you in Dublin? its being shown in the IFI tomorrow at 2pm, and again on the 29th

No Kilkenny:(

The Goonies is my favourite film. Chunk is probably the funniest child character in the history of movies.

mikemac1

The Sixth Sense

This film was seriously hyped around Ireland, it had more people talking then Titanic
Xtravision couldn't keep the rental copies in stock, flying out the door. I know as it took me a few visits before I got a copy

I was blown away by the twist, never saw it coming

And this scence has me sobbing every time

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FLyYYHqVTsE

The director has been producing ****e ever since

dark crystal

Gone With The Wind. I must have seen it at least 40 times at this stage!

I first watched it when I was only seven or eight and fell in love with Rhett Butler right there and then.

Also, Viven Leigh as the spoilt, brazen Scarlett O'Hara was perhaps the most beautiful woman I had ever seen.

It may be a four hours long, but I'm always sorry to see it end and am always left wanting more and wanting to know what happens to those wonderful characters after the film ends.

A great great film in every way.

Lamper.sffc

mikemac1 wrote: »

The Sixth Sense

This film was seriously hyped around Ireland, it had more people talking then Titanic
Xtravision couldn't keep the rental copies in stock, flying out the door. I know as it took me a few visits before I got a copy

I was blown away by the twist, never saw it coming

And this scence has me sobbing every time

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FLyYYHqVTsE

The director has been producing ****e ever since

Unbreakable

misan9

Its a Wonderful Life.

Its what i look forward to most at christmas time.

FlashD

Raiders of the Lost Ark

It has everything,

......great cast and story, amazing soundtrack, action, adventure, violence, romance, mystery, comedy without trying, some horror, exotic locations around the world, baddest of the 'bad ass' bad guys , an edgy, flawed hero......fantastic stuff

...when you hear that familar theme music, you know you're in for a great two hours.....unless its got skulls and crystal in the title.

hidinginthebush

That's a very tough one, I find my choice vary widely on my mood. If I want something fuzzy and warm, "how to train your dragon" all the way. I can't say enough good things about it (though some of ye might have bad things to say about it :pac:), I think its the perfect animated film (take that up, wallE, toy story 3 etc., brilliant as they are).

If I'm in a more somber mood, la vita e bella (life is beautiful) in just incredible. Its absolutely incredible,the surreal story and the most likable main character ever!

Even more somber I'll go das boot. Nothing says tension more than this. Epic war drama, so claustrophobic and almost terrifying in parts.

So there you go, depending on my mood, colourful children's film of high brow classic foreign cinema

hidinginthebush

That's a very tough one, I find my choice varies widely depending on my mood. If I want something fuzzy and warm, "how to train your dragon" all the way. I can't say enough good things about it (though some of ye might have bad things to say about it :pac:), I think its the perfect animated film (take that up, wallE, toy story 3 etc., brilliant as they are).

If I'm in a more somber mood, la vita e bella (life is beautiful) in just incredible. Its absolutely incredible,the surreal story and the most likable main character ever!

Even more somber I'll go das boot. Nothing says tension more than this. Epic war drama, so claustrophobic and almost terrifying in parts.

So there you go, depending on my mood, colourful children's film or high brow classic foreign cinema

hidinginthebush

Tipsy McSwagger wrote: »

krudler wrote: »

you in Dublin? its being shown in the IFI tomorrow at 2pm, and again on the 29th

No Kilkenny:(

The Goonies is my favourite film. Chunk is probably the funniest child character in the history of movies.

What about Mouth?! He steals that film for me

Tipsy McSwagger

hidinginthebush wrote: »

What about Mouth?! He steals that film for me

Mouth is great but he tries to be funny while Chunk is just funny, like Vern in Stand By Me. The scene where Chunk is gonna get his hand blended by the Fratelli's, and he tells them all the bad things he has done in his life is so perfect. One minute he is crying and scared to death and the next he is licking ice cream off a spoon:D

hidinginthebush

Tipsy McSwagger wrote: »

hidinginthebush wrote: »

What about Mouth?! He steals that film for me

Mouth is great but he tries to be funny while Chunk is just funny, like Vern in Stand By Me. The scene where Chunk is gonna get his hand blended by the Fratelli's, and he tells them all the bad things he has done in his life is so perfect. One minute he is crying and scared to death and the next he is licking ice cream off a spoon:D

Haha I'd forgotten that bit, brilliant scene. Must give it a watch soon.

M cebee

Magnum Force

harry callaghan versus a rogue unit within police force


harry asking a criminal for directions:)

Harry: Say, excuse me. Could you help us out?

Driver: What do you want?

Harry: Maybe you cold help us, we seem to be lost. We were looking for the entrance to San Quentin. You know where that is?

Driver: It's back there. Don't you see too good?

Harry: Yeah, I see fine. I just wanted to know whether you knew where San Quentin was. And you do, don't you, a@*hole.

jcf

Tough one but I think The Prestige shaded it for me
Amazing film the atmosphere when I saw it in the cinema was electric - no pun intended.

krudler

Tipsy McSwagger wrote: »

Mouth is great but he tries to be funny while Chunk is just funny, like Vern in Stand By Me. The scene where Chunk is gonna get his hand blended by the Fratelli's, and he tells them all the bad things he has done in his life is so perfect. One minute he is crying and scared to death and the next he is licking ice cream off a spoon:D

Isnt the story about the fake puke in the cinema something Spielberg did as a kid? remember reading about that once.

Tipsy McSwagger

krudler wrote: »

Isnt the story about the fake puke in the cinema something Spielberg did as a kid? remember reading about that once.

Think I read that too.

abouttobebanned

I'm a self proclaimed snob. When people say that their favourite film of all time is the shawshank redemption, I feel like shaking them. It's an ok yarn but employs some of the most obvious tactics that a movie like this can.

Don't abuse me...I've already admitted to being a snob.

My favourites are The Sting and 12 angry men. Just fantastic story telling.

Marty McFly

American History X: For me it undoubtedly my favorite film of all time, It has a fantastic plot with a few twists and amazing acting by Ed Norton and Ed Furlong showing what he was capable of and he could have become.

OldeCinemaSoz

Tough question but pairing everything down to one it's gotta be DIRTY HARRY.

i first saw it in the old plaza cinerama paired with the enforcer in the late '70s, then made a point of catching it although heavily cut on the bbc on first showing, then rented it as one of my first rentals on VHS, then rented it numerous times again before buying it on video, then buying it again in widescreen, then buying it on dvd and then finally buying it again on bluray...

Yep, top dog!

Ironman76

Goodfellas for me.

Perfect casting, acting, plot, humor and most of all the directing

Such as the one take scene where Henry Hill takes Karen to the restaurant

. Has been my favorite movie for about 20 years now and nothing will ever better it. Funnily enough Frank Darrabont (the Shawshank director) says the same.

marwelie

The Shawshank Redemption, I was one of the few people (if not the only one) to pay to see it twice in the cinema. I watch it at least once a month. I'm going to watch it again tonight.

The way it looks, the script, the twist and most of all the voice over I'd listen to Morgan Freeman read the phone book, he has the most comforting voice ever.

Inbox

Rambo first blood for me

Technocentral

Impossible to pick one, but probably Casablanca (just perfect in every way plus I'm a huge Bogie fan), Dr. Zhivago (Julie Christie never looked better) or Blade Runner (best sci film ever).

Cork boy 55

The happening