There is a devastating number of bad or at best mediocre movies out there but some are different, they stand out and shine. After reading the entire thread I recognized many that are among my favorites, plus some that I didn’t have on the radar yet but according to the respective comment might be worth watching.
When thinking about these favorites of mine I noticed that I, like many other commenters on this thread, have a hard time putting one on top, thereby degrading others that don’t deserve it, so it despite OP’s request will become a list depending on age, mood, degree of intoxication and other reasons.
That is a really great movie and features one of my favorite ever scripts. It is very clever that the standard dirty cop drama unfolds while the detective on their trail is elsewhere, involved in an Amish love triangle.
The original “The Thing From Another World” (not the John Carpenter Thing, though I did enjoy that), or Blade Runner. Depends on what day of the week it is.
My second favorite film is “Shaun of the Dead.” It’s got humor, pathos, drama, romance and action. It is tightly scripted and brilliantly edited. It rewards rewatching to find the foreshadows and call backs. It’s much like my favorite movie in that way:
Agreed.
There must be a Men in Black flashy thing at the end of In Bruges. I’ve seen it four times and I remember really liking it but each time I watch it, I forget every part of the plot and dialog by the next day. I should rewatch it.
In my top five, for sure.
I use this line from time to time but if I ever knew it was from Arthur, I’d long since forgotten.
That was one of the historical inaccuracies of the movie. Pope Lucius III wasn’t in Rome in 1183, which was the year the film was set in. The Pope and the Emperor were having an ongoing dispute and the Romans were siding with the Emperor. So riots have driven the Pope out of the city.
I originally thought Shaun of the Dead was an almost perfect movie, but I hated how irritating his pudgy friend was throughout the movie. Until I realized that he had to be that annoying so you wouldn’t mind so much how he ended up.
In Bruges was on our On Demand menu forever a number of years of ago. I avoided it because the synopsis didn’t grab me. But I broke down and watched it and really liked it.
Since people are giving more than one. My top 10:
Arthur (1981)
Airplane!
Harvey
Born Yesterday (1950)
The Nun’s Story
To Kill A Mockingbird
On the Waterfront
Murder By Death
Little Shop of Horrors (1988)
The Philadelphia Story
If I can mention some others on my all-time favorite lists:
Breaker Morant
Limitless
Pride & Prejudice
Notting Hill
Star Wars: A New Hope
True Lies
Memento
Notorious
Trading Places
Ghostbusters
Saving Private Ryan
Dark City
2001: A Space Odyssey
Raiders of the Lost Ark
In the Line of Fire
Groundhog Day
All very different, but each, in its own way, an outstanding film IMHO.
