Best Movie of ALL TIME

[Emboldened Chimp]

Poll question: Best Movie of ALL TIME

Okay, there are only ten spaces, but I'll do my best...

[Cheswick2.0]

1. kick

I think there are many left off, but I wouldn't even try to say what they should be. My list changes every year

[Emboldened Chimp]

5. Like I said

There are only 10 open slots!

[Nomad559]

2. Apocalypse Now

From that list, I choose Apocalypse Now.

Star Wars = :puke:

[mitchum]

3. "Aguirre, The Wrath Of God"

the only masterpiece made by a director who threatened to shoot the star and then turn the gun on himself.
The Godfather, La Strada, Citizen Kane, and Days of Heaven aren't too shabby either

[ThorsteinVeblen]

6. Fitzcarraldo was also very good.

Kinski dancing to Caruso while floating down the Amazon - doesn't get much better than that.

[whirlygigspin]

31. Koyaniskatsi

(I have no idea how to spell that)

[-..__...]

51. I've probably seen 100's of movies at the theater...

(not counting TV or video). That was one of the three or four movies
I had to leave the theater after 10 - 15 minutes.

[mitchum]

53. I understand. The only good thing is Glass' score

I can't count the number of times I've had to endure portions of that movie, just in order to partake of someone's drugs

[zekeson]

47. I couild watch that a dozen times

and probably have. Excellent call.

[PurityOfEssence]

15. The end of that movie is my image for the end of Junior's Presidency

Floating down river on a raft of the people he's killed that's now overrun with monkeys as he proclaims himself "King of the World" at the top of his lungs. (Big paraphrasing there, it's been about 20 years since I saw it...) I love Herzog.

Great picture.

Remember Kinski as the loudmouth revolutionary on the train in "Dr. Zhivago"? He goes on some frenzied political rant to Ralph Richardson's character, and after listening patiently, Richardson moistens his own thumb and applies it to Kinski's forehead, making a "sss" sound. Love that moment...

[mitchum]

19. Kinski was a fantastic actor...

and that's a good thing. Can you imagine someone who looked like that, and that insane, doing anything else? I don't think Klaus could have ever fit into society.

[ThorsteinVeblen]

4. Citizen Cane

Does anyone really like that film?

I mean, come on. We all know it is "great" but has anyone ever seen it twice? Does anyone really like it that much?

[Emboldened Chimp]

7. I love that movie

I've seen it four times, and I'd see it again in a heartbeat. It is definitely the best movie of all time, imho.

[MasonJar]

9. Citizen Kane

Yes, I have seen it several times; I love the outstanding use of black and white film. GWTW is a great film: Clark Gable, Vivien Leigh and an amazing cast. This film was premiered in 1939. That is quite impressive.

[Kat45]

14. I thought it was boring

but I watched it on late night TV when I probably wanted to go to sleep instead. :-)

[regnaD kciN]

41. Seven or eight times...

...and I'm always catching something new. The last time (which was the first time I'd watched the fantastic DVD release), what struck me the most about it was that, as it was being "told" by the interviewees in flashback, we gradually become aware of how they're all old (except for Susan Alexander) and broken-down (including Susan Alexander). Being in Kane's orbit was a time when they were at the top, vibrantly alive, with no limit in sight. Now, they are just ordinary people, with their great future behind them, reduced to the level of trying to get the interviewer to smuggle a cigar past the retirement home nurses, spending their time replaying the past. Kane may be dead, but their lives and their time are essentially over, too, and they know it.

[SOteric]

8. Blade Runner.

[BansheeBarbie]

10. Kurosawa's Rashomon

Or maybe

Bergman's Fanny and Alexander

[Individualist]

11. Shouldn't you add

To Kill A Mockingbird?

[Az]

12. Kurosawa's Rân

The man painted the screen. The paintings moved. The master mastered Shakespeare.

I also consider contenders Dark City and the Lord of the Rings (pending completion).

[HEyHEY]

13. Lawrence of Arabia rules!

I love that movie, desert scenes good acting, it had it all.

[regnaD kciN]

42. Agreed...

One of the few intelligent epics, one which managed to be both a war story and an anti-war story (in the best, least dogmatic sense). A film which respects its audience by not manipulating it to a "big ending," but allows its triumphs to come early and the decay to set in after we've committed to the principal character. Even without the "bang-up" conclusion, one of the best-written endings of all time, as each character makes his final appearance and departs, leaving Lawrence where he essentially always was, alone.

[CanuckAmok]

16. Fight Club? Wings of Desire? Raging Bull? Wages of Fear? n/t

[Emboldened Chimp]

17. Fight Club?

Um, no.

Raging Bull...thought about it, but decided no. I don't know the others.

[AmandaRuth]

18. my choice

The Man who would be king

[Darth_Ole]

20. 2001: A Space Odyssey.

The ending has to do with Nietzschke. And the whole movie is mysterious and wonderful (but everyone thinks it's too boring.) Music by Johann Strauss. I thought it was great.

Life is Beautiful is great also. It's definately the best foreign film I've ever seen. It's a nice blend of humor and the horrors of the Holocaust. I've never laughed so hard in my life (except for maybe Robin Williams' appearance on Inside the Actor's Studio).

But 2001:ASO is my favorite.

[sujan]

29. I dont think the movie is boring at all

more of a mind expanding...The best thing about the ending is that it is open to your interpretation and most of all, the movie makes you think. Makes us think about our humanity in a very subtle way.

[JackDragna]

21. These are all good. I would add..

The Wild Bunch. The Best Years of Our Lives. Modern Times. A Place in the Sun. Triumph of the Will (if you can get past the theme.) Giant. Jaws.

[Rabrrrrrr]

23. Wild Bunch - good choice

Had the plesure to see it on the big screen back in '95 or '96 when that, Lawrence of Arabia, 2001, and Bladerunner were being toured around with new masters, extra footage, etc.

GREAT film.

But still, it's not quite Citizen Kane.

[JackDragna]

24. It depends on one's tastes..

While I think "Citizen Kane" was an important movie in terms of cinema history, "The Wild Bunch" helped reshape how people thought about westerns. It's a matter of personal preference, of course. Some movies are definitely better than others, but when it comes to comparing movies like Kane and The Wild Bunch, it's a pick 'em situation, at least for me.

[Rabrrrrrr]

25. Yep, totally true

It's like asking what's better: white truffles or black truffles? 30 year old scotch or 30 year old armagnac? Foie gras or caviar? Sex in the morning or sex in the evening?

They're all at the top! And fine distinctions become totally a matter of personal taste and lose the ability to say objectively.

Top Gun or Citizen kane: that's objectively easy. Citizen Kane or Wild Bunch - that's subjective.

[lpbk2713]

22. Of the list, GWTW.........

one of my personal all-time faves is "Giant".

[GreenArrow]

26. The Wizard of Oz

ordinarily I can't stand musicals, but this is in a class by itself.

[Section_43]

27. Rear Window n/t

[sujan]

28. 2001: A space odyssey

[George_Bonanza]

30. Apocalypse Now is overrated

Or maybe because I watched the awfully over-long Redux only. But Apocalypse disappointed me. It started off great with some interesting characters, a broody mood, and some spectaular action. Then Marlon Brando comes in, with that annoying Dennis Hopper character, and it turns to crap. It annoys me that so many of its admirers tout it as greatness because of Col. Kilgore, or the Ride of the Valkyries moment, or whatever. Does anybody realize how pointless the third act is? How can a movie be great if 1/3 of it is incoherent?

The latest great movie I saw? Chinatown.

[whirlygigspin]

32. Doctor Zhivago

also, the original french Beauty & the Beast (visual masterpiece)

[corarose]

33. Harold & Maude

That's my all time favorite outside of all of the Christopher Lee movies.

[MiltonLeBerle]

34. Days of Heaven.

Terrence Malik is an artist.

[mitchum]

50. Great choice

Watched it again last week

[SmileyBoy]

35. You didn't put "Schindler's List" on there.

I voted "The Godfather", but you REALLY should've put "Schindler's List" on the poll. Speilberg's masterpiece, IMO.

[MiltonLeBerle]

36. Did you notice the title of the thread?

that's why.

[SmileyBoy]

37. I loved Schindler's List. I'm assuming you didn't. More power to ya.

I'm a WWII-history fanatic, and that's one reason I liked it so much. It also won a lot of Oscars, too...

[MiltonLeBerle]

39. I bet you expect me to make an anti-semitic remark-

about how 'them jews' run Hollywood, and that that's how it won all those undeserved awards.

well, I'm not gonna do it.

[SmileyBoy]

40. I'm not Jewish, so I wouldn't take personal offence.

But I will, in all honesty, say that Jews have a large influence over Hollywood. It was still a wonderful movie, tho.

[regnaD kciN]

43. I didn't...

...because I thought Spielberg lost focus. It seems to me that he couldn't decide whether to do a relatively-small-scale story specifically about Oskar Schindler and how he saved his Jewish workers, or a large-scale story about how the Jews suffered during the Shoah. He kept veering toward the latter in the middle of the former (such as several sequences of Nazis gunning down Jewish children when one would have sufficed, the sadistic Nazi commandant played by Ralph Fiennes, etc., etc.).

The problem with that loss of focus was twofold. First, the story of Schindler was new to most of us, and hence inherently interesting. The Shoah as a whole...? Well, my thought at the time was "we didn't really need Steven Spielberg, in 1993, to tell us that the Nazis weren't very nice people." Most of us had probably come to that conclusion several decades before. Worse, innundating the viewers with repeated scenes of brutality and genocide actually worked against the premise of the Schindler story, since it made his efforts look puny and insignificant in the big picture. By the time he broke down at the end, weeping that he should have found a way to save more, I found myself thinking "You're right about that - considering everything, you didn't do jack sh*t. And I'm supposed to feel 'inspired' by what little you accomplished?"

[JVS]

38. Zing!

[leftofthedial]

44. I can't pick one

but you did a great job picking the list.

[ThoughtCriminal]

45. Wizard of Oz!

Perfection.

[DealsGapRider]

46. 2001

Sucked big time.

[jafap]

48. give a third vote to the Wizard

if "It's a Wonderful Life" does not make the list.

James Loewen says of GWTW: "Gone with the Wind suggests that slavery was an ideal social structure whose passing is to be lamented...Such arguments constitute the "magnolia myth," according to which slavery was a social structure of harmony and grace that did no real harm to anyone, white or black."

Of course, he is speaking of the book, and not the movie, which I have not seen.

[BritishHuman]

49. Donnie Darko

It's the only movie that has affected me so much. I stumbled across it by accident, and have infected all my friends with it.

Genius movie.

[VermontDem2004]

52. I didn't like any of those movies.

I did like Gettysburg though.

[Malikshah]

54. LOTR (ALL THREE)

When put together 9+ hours...

In reality though...

Lion in Winter needs to be added to list...after all...
What family doesn't have its little ups and downs