Top Ten Greatest Films of All Time

[Dr.Strangefate]

All of a sudden I looked at my list and felt it was no longer accurate... I started to think of what movies I would consider to be perfect, or nearly perfect. Movies that affected the industry, Pop Culture, and the people who watched it

1 ) Dr. Strangelove, or How I Stopped Worrying and Learned to Love the Bomb : The most daring Political Comedy ever created, that doesn't come across any less potent today than it did upon its release however many decades ago it was released.

2 ) Casablanca : The perfect romance story. One of the most beautifully constructed films ever released, one of the most touching stories, and some of the greatest characters in the history of film.

3 ) The Silence of the Lambs : The perfect thriller. Brilliantly constructed and portrayed... Anthony Hopkins developed a new archetype in film villainy that you can see and will continue to see in films for the rest of your life. This movie gets at your soul.

4 ) The Godfather Parts 1 and 2 : The greatest mob story the world has ever seen. So rich in detail and meaning that I can't help but recognize its brilliance. Anyone who can't see how much of an impact this single movie has made on the world is blind.

5 ) Beauty and the Beast : There's a reason this is the only animated feature ever to be nominated for Best Picture. The story is great, the music is great, and most importantly, it has the best message of ANY disney movie with its demonification of vanity and superficial love.

6 ) Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back (original cut) : This dark episode of the Star Wars saga is undoubtedly the greatest, exploring the darkness within us all using one of the most allegorical stories released in the 20th century. This movie introduces Yoda, and begins to show the extent of Vader's corruption. This is also where the love story between Han and Leia -really- begins, and the exchange "I Love You" - "I Know" is just one of my favorite movie moments ever.

7 ) Miller's Crossing : The Coen Brother's greatest movie. There's a weird fantastical side to this brilliant modern reworking of the Film Noir movie. Also: Albert Finney kicks so much ***...

8 ) Pan's Labyrinth : My favorite foreign film ever... A Beautifully Woven fantasy world that clashes with the terrible. I hope the success of this movie means we'll see more heartfelt horror fantasy.

9 ) The Royal Tenenbaums : My favorite Wes Anderson film, and probably the most influential of his work. Anderson's films are beautiful, and this movie is so intricately created and manifested that you really get something different out of it every time you watch it.

10 ) Kill Bill : This is subject to change, but I love Kill Bill with ALL my heart, I think it's the greatest conceptualized universe seen in any movie in a decade... And despite referencing so ****ing many movies, it manages to create a unique, strange, intriguing world that leaves you wanting more.

I like this list MUCH better than my initial list, which was a little heartless, and I think the Coens, Wes Anderson and Kill Bill give it that heart that helps show all of you how my taste in movies really is.

 

[Joe Kalicki]

I need to put together a list like this. But I can't just coem up with the movies off the top of my head because I always feel like a moron when I leave things out. I'll do a little research and get back to this.

I'll probably have more than 10 though, because I'm like that.

 

[marvelman]

All of a sudden I looked at my list and felt it was no longer accurate... I started to think of what movies I would consider to be perfect, or nearly perfect. Movies that affected the industry, Pop Culture, and the people who watched it

1 ) Dr. Strangelove, or How I Stopped Worrying and Learned to Love the Bomb : The most daring Political Comedy ever created, that doesn't come across any less potent today than it did upon its release however many decades ago it was released.

2 ) Casablanca : The perfect romance story. One of the most beautifully constructed films ever released, one of the most touching stories, and some of the greatest characters in the history of film.

3 ) The Silence of the Lambs : The perfect thriller. Brilliantly constructed and portrayed... Anthony Hopkins developed a new archetype in film villainy that you can see and will continue to see in films for the rest of your life. This movie gets at your soul.

4 ) The Godfather Parts 1 and 2 : The greatest mob story the world has ever seen. So rich in detail and meaning that I can't help but recognize its brilliance. Anyone who can't see how much of an impact this single movie has made on the world is blind.

5 ) Beauty and the Beast : There's a reason this is the only animated feature ever to be nominated for Best Picture. The story is great, the music is great, and most importantly, it has the best message of ANY disney movie with its demonification of vanity and superficial love.

6 ) Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back (original cut) : This dark episode of the Star Wars saga is undoubtedly the greatest, exploring the darkness within us all using one of the most allegorical stories released in the 20th century. This movie introduces Yoda, and begins to show the extent of Vader's corruption. This is also where the love story between Han and Leia -really- begins, and the exchange "I Love You" - "I Know" is just one of my favorite movie moments ever.

7 ) Miller's Crossing : The Coen Brother's greatest movie. There's a weird fantastical side to this brilliant modern reworking of the Film Noir movie. Also: Albert Finney kicks so much ***...

8 ) Pan's Labyrinth : My favorite foreign film ever... A Beautifully Woven fantasy world that clashes with the terrible. I hope the success of this movie means we'll see more heartfelt horror fantasy.

9 ) The Royal Tenenbaums : My favorite Wes Anderson film, and probably the most influential of his work. Anderson's films are beautiful, and this movie is so intricately created and manifested that you really get something different out of it every time you watch it.

10 ) Kill Bill : This is subject to change, but I love Kill Bill with ALL my heart, I think it's the greatest conceptualized universe seen in any movie in a decade... And despite referencing so ****ing many movies, it manages to create a unique, strange, intriguing world that leaves you wanting more.

I like this list MUCH better than my initial list, which was a little heartless, and I think the Coens, Wes Anderson and Kill Bill give it that heart that helps show all of you how my taste in movies really is.

Dude, love the list, but I think Lion King is in the same boat, if not greater than, Beauty and the Beast. Agree or disagree?

 

[Dr.Strangefate]

Dude, love the list, but I think Lion King is in the same boat, if not greater than, Beauty and the Beast. Agree or disagree?

The Lion King is fantastic, but there are places where it loses me... Its still probably my next favorite Disney movie of all time. And while the message of taking hold of your own desiny is good, I think Beauty has a stronger message which is reaaaally important for kids movies.

 

[Caduceus]

I fail to understand the Lord of the Rings hype. So many people put them in their top ten lists but...why? I mean, I'm not saying they weren't good, they were. Just that they weren't that good.

 

[Lynx]

I fail to understand the Lord of the Rings hype. So many people put them in their top ten lists but...why? I mean, I'm not saying they weren't good, they were. Just that they weren't that good.

I disagree. The LotR trilogy will have an effect on people and movie making for years of come. It is THE trilogy now.

I'd love to do a list, but, to be honest, its too difficult. The only ones I can pinpoint without a shadow of a doubt are the first two Godfather films, which would top my list (As my favorite movies of all time and the greatest movies of all time). There's plenty more, but separating my personal favorites from actual great movies is too difficult.

 

[Dr.Strangefate]

I fail to understand the Lord of the Rings hype. So many people put them in their top ten lists but...why? I mean, I'm not saying they weren't good, they were. Just that they weren't that good.

I'm with you. The film's are definitely great, but I don't think that as a Trilogy they will have much impact on the history of film. The only real evidence i've seen that's carried from LotR is how to advertise a Fantasy Film, and the fact that studios. Nothing about the film in and of itself is unique enough to be great.

It's like Indiana Jones... They are fantastic Action-Adventure movies. They set the ground for many other Action-Adventure movies. But at the end of the day, they don't transcend their genre to make a comment about anything about the world at large. LotR is the same. Great fantasy, possibly the greatest fantasy movie of our lifetimes, but its just that.

Lord of the Rings, the movie, can't change the film industry or impact the development of films, because the book changed what fantasy could do decades ago... If anything, LotR made it harder for an original fantasy story to be told in film, studios now reading through libraries to turn other great fantasies into film, at great cost to the stories original purposes (Like the de-religiousification of The Golden Compass).

I really like LotR, but it is just not one of the greatest movies ever.

 

[vintsukka]

I just edited to give my list a huge overhaul, and expanded it to list my Top-12 films instead of just 10. Here it is: http://www.ultimatecentral.com/forum/showpost.php?p=227091&postcount=13

Have you noticed there are 18 movies in your Top-12? I counted.

 

[thee great one]

Have you noticed there are 18 movies in your Top-12? I counted.

Don't use logic with Planet-man. You'll break him.

 

[Planet-man]

5 ) Beauty and the Beast : There's a reason this is the only animated feature ever to be nominated for Best Picture.

Yep. That reason being that, as Ultimatedjf pointed out a while ago in the Disney thread, since they introduced the Best Animated Feature category, no animated film has been eligible.

Because I dare anyone to look me in the monitor and say Spirited Away didn't deserve to be nominated for Best Picture.

10 ) Kill Bill : This is subject to change, but I love Kill Bill with ALL my heart, I think it's the greatest conceptualized universe seen in any movie in a decade... And despite referencing so ****ing many movies, it manages to create a unique, strange, intriguing world that leaves you wanting more.

True.

I'm with you. The film's are definitely great, but I don't think that as a Trilogy they will have much impact on the history of film.

What's your point? Do you think that The Royal Tennenbaums or Millar's Crossing will?

The impact or lack thereof a movie has really doesn't have much to do with it's quality.

And to top it all off..... I think it'll have a gigantic impact. It's set the bar incredibly high for fantasy epic, and the breakthroughs it made in CGI and motion capture have already begun to change cinema.

It's like Indiana Jones... They are fantastic Action-Adventure movies. They set the ground for many other Action-Adventure movies. But at the end of the day, they don't transcend their genre to make a comment about anything about the world at large. LotR is the same. Great fantasy, possibly the greatest fantasy movie of our lifetimes, but its just that.

I still don't understand your logic. Why does a movie have to "comment" about the world at large to be a great movie? Why does it have to change the genre? Does a song have to do that to sound good too?

That stuff is just one of the many ways a film can be great. It's far from manditory.

And if it was, why would you have said that the Spidey films shouldn't be anywhere near my list? They fit that bill perfectly.

Have you noticed there are 18 movies in your Top-12? I counted.

Well, first of all, LOTR is really one long film, the same way Kill Bill is. Peter Jackson's said as much. I count it as one, anyway. So my Top-12's actually 16, not 18.

The way I see it, the one's where I've listed several sequels are cases where it would be unfair to do other wise(DSF did the same thing with the Godfather films).

Take the Terminator films for example. The first one is one of the best films ever made. The second film is not only better, but it actually improves first one. I can't list just one or the other, and splitting them up to list consecutively would just make the list too long.

With Indy, it takes all three films to make him the greatest original screen hero ever.

And finally, with Spidey 1 & 2.... I just honestly can't decide which I like better. It's a tie.

 

[Random]

The impact or lack thereof a movie has really doesn't have much to do with it's quality.

And to top it all off..... I think it'll have a gigantic impact. It's set the bar incredibly high for fantasy epic, and the breakthroughs it made in CGI and motion capture have already begun to change cinema.



I still don't understand your logic. Why does a movie have to "comment" about the world at large to be a great movie? Why does it have to change the genre? Does a song have to do that to sound good too?

That stuff is just one of the many ways a film can be great. It's far from manditory.

I completely agree with you on that

 

[SSJmole]

And finally, with Spidey 1 & 2.... I just honestly can't decide which I like better. It's a tie.

I think 1 is better

 

[Lynx]

I still don't understand your logic. Why does a movie have to "comment" about the world at large to be a great movie? Why does it have to change the genre? Does a song have to do that to sound good too?

That stuff is just one of the many ways a film can be great. It's far from manditory.

I one hundred percent agree. The Lord of the Rings novels are easily one of the best written works of the 20th century and they most certainly would be among my top greatest books of all time, and yet, other than being superbly written novels, they don't really have a clear cut message. Why does a movie have to have a such a message to be a great movie?

 

[Gideon Stargrave]

I disagree with everyone who claims the Lord of the Rings movies to be the greatest (or even close to being) the greatest ever made. They are amazing, visually, have spectacular acting and tell an interesting story. They set the bar for fantasy/action/drama/whatever films for years to come.

But it's still just 9 hours of people walking to a mountain. I nearly fell asleep in the theater. It seemed like every other scene was unnecessary. I know that this is going to spark up a lot of hatred, but I just can't feel the same sense of awe watching LOTR that I can watching...oh say...Star Wars.

 

[Planet-man]

I think 1 is better

I think 1 has a better story and character arcs, but 2 is a more powerful film overall. Whenever I really weigh the two out I just can't decide. I have to give them a straight tie.

I one hundred percent agree. The Lord of the Rings novels are easily one of the best written works of the 20th century and they most certainly would be among my top greatest books of all time, and yet, other than being superbly written novels, they don't really have a clear cut message. Why does a movie have to have a such a message to be a great movie?

Consider this post concured.

But it's still just 9 hours of people walking to a mountain. I nearly fell asleep in the theater.

As much as I love Clerks II, and the LOTR vs SW scene is one of my favourites in it, it drives me crazy that it popularized an argument that was intended as a joke.

How is it 9 hours of people walking to a mountain? Did "nearly falling asleep"(presumably due to some sort of crippling attention disorder) cause you to miss the death-defying gauntlet of Moria in the first part? Or the hour-long battle scene in the second part? Or the 2-hour long war-to-end-all-wars in the third?

The movie has about 20 main characters, and after the end of FotR, only three of them are still "walking to a mountain". And if what they went through is your definition of "walking", my half-hour stroll home from scholl every day would be a lot more interesting.

 

[SSJmole]

I think 1 has a better story and character arcs, but 2 is a more powerful film overall. Whenever I really weigh the two out I just can't decide. I have to give them a straight tie.

The only reason I say 1 is better is this. To me it felt like 2 was basically the same film. They handled doc ock the same goblin , they had more of peter wanting mJ but not wanting to risk it , When he lost his powers and tried to get them back felt like 1 when he was first learning.


enjoyed both but to me 2 felt like they took the first script crossed off green goblin and wrote dock ock and that was it.

 

[Gideon Stargrave]

I think 1 has a better story and character arcs, but 2 is a more powerful film overall. Whenever I really weigh the two out I just can't decide. I have to give them a straight tie.



Consider this post concured.



As much as I love Clerks II, and the LOTR vs SW scene is one of my favourites in it, it drives me crazy that it popularized an argument that was intended as a joke.

How is it 9 hours of people walking to a mountain? Did "nearly falling asleep"(presumably due to some sort of crippling attention disorder) cause you to miss the death-defying gauntlet of Moria in the first part? Or the hour-long battle scene in the second part? Or the 2-hour long war-to-end-all-wars in the third?

The movie has about 20 main characters, and after the end of FotR, only three of them are still "walking to a mountain". And if what they went through is your definition of "walking", my half-hour stroll home from scholl every day would be a lot more interesting.

:roll: I knew you were going to get all bent out of shape about this. That's ok. I get pissed when people start saying they Don't like Star Wars. I suppose I'll elaborate on my reasoning.

I've been using this argument since I first saw the movies...I'm not just quoting Clerks II. Your counter-statement seems to be that fight scenes add a dynamic that the Frodo/Sam/Gollum scenes were lacking. And there's the thing; Even the battles in this movie bored me. It was like they took the same footage for all of them and put it in front of a different blue/green screen. I found the parts with Gimli and Legolas to be over acted and lacking substance (making Gimli comic relief, and just having Legolas turn into an uber-badass because they couldn't think of anything else to do with him) and...and...I don't know. As epic as the battles were, I just didn't find them to be very exciting. You're welcome to disagree.

The Frodo, Sam and Gollum scenes are some of the most boring I've ever seen. Now, I'm sure that there's some snide remark you'd like to put here about me needing to broaden the films that I watch. Whatever, wether that's true or not, what we're essentially arguing is the fact that I claimed to dislike the rings trilogy. You found my arguments to be lacking substance. Well, while Ellija(sp?) Wood is a fantastic actor, and I saw that these scenes had plenty of drama...I was just bored to death. The fact that so many people enjoyed watching these parts tells me that they were very well done, and I'm not arguing the quality of the rings movies. I just didn't like them.

I've actually been banned from boards before for getting to heated in a Rings/Star Wars debate, so I'm trying to be as Civil as possible. It's great that you managed to enjoy these films. I thought that they were visually interesting but boring.

 

[Planet-man]

The only reason I say 1 is better is this. To me it felt like 2 was basically the same film. They handled doc ock the same goblin , they had more of peter wanting mJ but not wanting to risk it , When he lost his powers and tried to get them back felt like 1 when he was first learning.

Well that's why I say that 1 definitely had a better story. It was odd how they did things. The sequel homaged the first one in a lot of ways. I think most of them worked well(the fire scene in particular comes to mind), but others didn't.

My biggest problem by far with Spidey 2 was how they handled Doc Ock. He looked great, he fought great, and whenever he was in full Ock mode he seemed completely true to character. Molina was the perfect choice for him, and all around they did a good job. Except for one thing. The whole "the sentient tentacles are talking in my head" thing was retarded, and like you said, an obvious attempt to make him more like the Green Goblin.

What stopped that aspect from ruining it was that it wasn't intrusive, except as exposition/the motivational catalyst. You could forget all that during the actual Ock scenes and just enjoy the character.

 

[Planet-man]

I've been using this argument since I first saw the movies...I'm not just quoting Clerks II. Your counter-statement seems to be that fight scenes add a dynamic that the Frodo/Sam/Gollum scenes were lacking. And there's the thing; Even the battles in this movie bored me. It was like they took the same footage for all of them and put it in front of a different blue/green screen. I found the parts with Gimli and Legolas to be over acted and lacking substance (making Gimli comic relief, and just having Legolas turn into an uber-badass because they couldn't think of anything else to do with him) and...and...I don't know. As epic as the battles were, I just didn't find them to be very exciting. You're welcome to disagree.

Well I can accept all of that just fine. Believe me, when you're as into movies as I am you can't not learn to accept differing opinions. What gets me is when people give opinions on films and support them with things that just aren't true, like the walking argument.

I mean, your above post is a whole different story, and actually makes sense(in terms of an opinion). Why didn't you just say that in the first place?

 

[SSJmole]

I get pissed when people start saying they Don't like Star Wars.

these people exist?