Top Ten Favorite Films

[Indiana John]

Ok, Top 10 favs eh?

1. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
The story that defined a generation. 1971 in all it violence, and chaos. These guys just strolled right through it.

2. Texas Chainsaw Massacre
This movie was the gauntlet that just about all other horror movies following looked up too. It's intense and darkly hilarious. Partly based on true American history, how much sweeter can it get?

3. The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys
Half kick ass acting, half Todd McFarlane animation. Need I say more?

4. FUBAR
Canadian independant films finest yet. The story of two head bangers and their journey into emotion. Just go out and give'r!

5. Jesus Christ: Vampire Hunter
Another Canadian independant film. And equally awesome. Jesus fighting Vampires, what else can you ask for?

6. Blue Velvet
Dennis Hopper and the weird oxygen thing. So great, so great. "Candy coloured clown they call the Sandman, creeps into my bed room every night..." A-mazing

7. Dumb and Dumber
It childish and stupid and totally ridiculous. But, we've all done something like they do. They are what we as civilized human beings are at heart. Plus everytime I watch it, it seems to get funnier!

8. Mad Max: Beyond the Thunderdome
Post Apocalyptic future, and a big metal dome of death in a place called Bartertown. Pure Excellence.

9. The Goonies
Mouth, Chunk, Data and all the rest, the ultimate adventure. One-Eyed-Willy's gold and the Fertelli's.

10. Silence of the Lambs
Hannibal Lecter, Agent Starling, Buffalo Bill and a girl in the bottom of a well. Just gives me the creeps.

Honorable Mentions:
Rules of Attraction
Go
Monty Python's Life of Brian
Ghostbusters
Pulp Fiction
Reservoir Dogs
True Romance
Bringing Out the Dead
The Toxic Avenger
Nightmare on Elm st.
Fight Club
American Psycho
The Crow
Jaws
Full Metal Jacket
and anything and everything by the Coen Bros




I could keep going but I'd probably end up naming every movie ever!


Indiana John Hill

[The King LGM]

1. Carlito's Way
2. The Shawshank Redemption
3. Memento
4. The Godfather
5. The Godfather Part II
6. 12 Monkeys
7. Clerks
8. Boyz N Tha Hood
9. Hoop Dreams
10. Pulp Fiction

[DarkAnnie]

My Top 10: (oh, this'll be though...)

10. Texas Chainsaw Massacre
9. Memento
8. Amelie
7. Silence of the Lambs
6. Shadow of the Vampire
5. Edward Scossorhands
4. The Rocky Horror Picture Show
3. Either Fellowship of the Ring or Two Towers...
2. Nightmare Before Christmas
1. Sleepy Hollow

Honorable Mentions:
Punch Drunk Love, Interview with the Vampire, From Hell, Fight Club, Gosford Park, Ed Gein, Carrie, Red Dragon, The Crow, Snatch and the Hellraiser films.

[Johann]

I like your lists, Indiana.
Fear and Loathing is awesome, and I just heard that Criterion is releasing a version..
Fubar was great! A Canadian classic!

True Romance is a hell of a good movie. Tarantino can WRITE.

Silence of the Lambs gets a lot of kudos. Am I the only one on earth who thought it was merely good?

[Ilker81x]

I always base my top ten list on movies that I can watch over and over and over again and never get bored. I'm sure we all do, but I thought I'd just clarify that. My top ten list always changes anyway, as I'm sure everybody's does at some point or another...so for this week, hehe...

*Note: #1, #2, and #3 will ALWAYS stay the same for me...they are my top three favorite movies of all time, forever!

#1) Blade Runner
#2) Akira
#3) Amadeus
#4) Lost Highway
#5) Withnail and I
#6) The Killer
#7) Se7en
#8) The Silence of the Lambs
#9) The Exorcist
#10) Taxi Driver

Honorable mentions go to: The Shining, 2001: A Space Odyssey, 12 Monkeys, American Beauty, The Lord of the Rings (all three...even though I haven't seen "Return of the King" yet), The Vikings, Jackie Brown, Pulp Fiction, City on Fire, Hard Boiled, and The Boys from Brazil.

[Johann]

Ridley Scott used footage that Kubrick didn't in The Shining for the ending of Blade Runner. I'm amazed Stanley allowed it- he refused Milos Forman's request for his "modified mitchell" to use on Amadeus.

[Ilker81x]

According to an interview with Ridley Scott featured in the "Future Noir: The Making of 'Blade Runner'" book, Ridley Scott had asked Kubrick who he knew through the editor.

Plus, I discount that bogus happy ending anyway since The Director's Cut removes it, and that does seem to be the more popular version...rightly so in my opinion.

[Perfume V]

Originally posted by Ilker81x
Withnail and I
The Exorcist
Taxi Driver
The Shining, 2001: A Space Odyssey, 12 Monkeys, The Lord of the Rings (all three...even though I haven't seen "Return of the King" yet), Pulp Fiction

You rule the school.

Incidentally, my review of Withnail for the IMDb is one of the pieces of writing I'm most proud of. Maybe I should post it sometime.

[Ilker81x]

Thanks a lot. :) It's nice to know somebody out there has seen that movie besides my friends who I've shown it to. I'll have to look for your review on IMDB now.

A few additions to my favorites list:

Manhunter (Red Dragon vs. Manhunter...Manhunter gets my vote)
Ghost in the Shell
Vampire Hunter D: Bloodlust
Interview with the Vampire
Mona Lisa
The Crying Game
The Usual Suspects (can't believe I forgot it one in my first post)
Basquiat
Romeo is Bleeding
Colors

[Perfume V]

Withnail's very big in Britain, it just doesn't seem to have travelled for some reason that I can never really understand. Incidentally, I adore Neil Jordan.

My ten favourite films (in, it has to be said, no particular order) are Mulholland Drive, Dr. Strangelove, Ed Wood, Heathers (a fairly sentimental choice, I admit, but I stand by it) Apocalypse Now (especially the Redux version) The Wages of Fear, Repo Man, Magnolia, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and Fight Club.

Bubbling under somewhere would be Night of the Hunter, Bound, Duck Soup, The Company of Wolves, Dawn of the Dead, Crash, Twelve Monkeys, Donnie Darko, City of God, more or less anything by Almodovar or the Coen brothers, Being John Malkovich, North by Northwest, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, Rashomon, The Life of Brian, Tenebrae, Withnail & I, This Is Spinal Tap and La Dolce Vita.

[Ilker81x]

I too adore Neil Jordan, although I haven't liked all of his films. I liked "In Dreams," but at the same time I honestly did feel it was weaker than "Mona Lisa" and "The Crying Game." I do find it fascinating though how his best films always deal with the strangeness and complications of relationships, often from a somewhat abnormal standpoint (i.e.: a prostitute in "Mona Lisa," a transvestite in "The Crying Game," an adult child in "Interview with the Vampire").

Hey, I like "Heathers." I love "Magnolia," and "Apocalypse Now" is one of my favorites...but I can only watch it so many times before I can't take anymore. Same for "Fight Club," I thought it was brilliant, but I can only take so much. Believe it or not, I've never seen "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre." Not a big fan of gore-flicks. I like 'em occasionally, but I'm much more a fan of intellectual and psychological horror. That's not to say I don't like my "Living Dead" trilogy and "Evil Dead" trilogy (two of my favorite movie series).

I knew "Withnail and I" was big in Britain...after all, it came from there. But still, it pains me sometimes how Americans don't always get British humor. All my friends who saw it with me loved it, but my parents and their friends were kinda lost on the humor. But my take on Foreign film vs. American film is in another thread, so...

I HATED "Crash." I LOVE the book, but I hated the movie. I wrote a review on IMDB which basically said what I feel...it's a great concept, very original and interesting...but it works better in written form than in film form. The idea of being sexually bored and then finding stimulation in near-death sex by car-crashes...I guess you'd have to be pretty fucking bored, and that's how I felt after watching the movie. It bored me. The book is interesting as hell though.

[Johann]

Too bad you didn't like Crash. I felt it was one of the best films of the 90's. Cronenberg's best work imho- although Spider was almost as great.

"Little Spider, what have you done?" ooooh the goosebumps are coming back....

[Ilker81x]

I do applaud David Cronenberg's direction. I think he has a distinct style and I think the film is well made and well written. The reason it fails for me is because of the performances...as I said before, the concept is intriguing...but when dealing with characters that have to find auto-erotic stimulation because of boredom, it's inevitable that the characters have to SEEM bored and emotionally detached. They did a good job of it, I think they were good performances. They captured the characters perfectly...the trouble for me is that it's easier to read a book about these people and their predicament because there is some insight into their humanity or lack thereof. In the movie...that insight is lost on me because they all came off...not there. Aside from the car crashes and sex scenes (which were only occasionally appealing IMHO), the film could easily be described as a bunch of people sitting around, blank-faced, looking at each other for a little bit, maybe asking about the weather for a minute, before deciding to fuck. Okay, that's an original concept for a film too...but originality isn't ALWAYS good if the concept doesn't work in film form. I think "Crash" IS an important movie, and I agree it's one of the best of the '90's. It was brave in what it tried to do, but for me personally...I wasn't impressed with anything about it beyond the music score (Howard Shore's an awesome composer) and the original book.

[Perfume V]

Originally posted by Ilker81x
Believe it or not, I've never seen "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre." Not a big fan of gore-flicks.

Actually, you'd be surprised at how un-gory it is - the opening's fairly unpleasant, but beyond that I think the only blood seen in it is from minor cuts. No viscera, brains, guts etc at all.

On a slight tangent, isn't the forthcoming remake the worst idea in the whole history of human endeavour?

[Ilker81x]

They're doing a remake of THAT movie?
Uuuuuuh...WHY?!

[Perfume V]

Bwahahaha! It's even worse than you imagine! They're remaking it with some no-mark music video director and Michael Bay as the producer, they're probably going for a PG-13 rating, and the early publicity material calls it "less gory but more suspenseful". Best of all, though - even funnier than all that - here's the first official photo from the film:

http://images.rottentomatoes.com/images/movie/gallery/10001716/TheTexasChainsawMassacre-photo_02.jpg

A shoo-in for Film of the Year 2003, then.