This is hard, but there are some movies that if I’m channel surfing and I find them, I usually watch until the end.
Guess I like caper/crime movies. Might as well put Training Day in there.
I miss it too. :( Sadly, toddler + full time job means I have to be extremely strategic about my hobby time.
Sorry, I was a little drunk and in my existential terror mood.
There can only be one sober answer:
The Wrath of Khan
The Matrix. I’ve watched it at least 50 times. Maybe 100.
Aliens was the first thing that came to mind for me, given that I watch it most years. I’ve not seen it that many times though, whoa!
No excuses or apologies needed!
Today it is Howard Hawk’s Bringing Up Baby. Watched with my in-laws last night and my otherwise dour, highbrow English professor FiL was laughing out loud and slapping his knee. His health is in steep decline so anything that gives him that kind of joy makes me very happy.
Can’t do it. Films come in too many different styles and genres. It would really depend on what I was looking for in a movie at that moment.
So instead I will name what I thought was pretty much a perfect film. Young Frankenstein. Comedy perfection! No wait, Raiders of the Lost Ark. No, it was Fargo. Wait, I meant Psycho or Frenzy or The Birds. Dammit, see I just cant do it.
I have a top 5. Maybe even a top 10. But it is very fluid, the and the top 3-5 swap places based on mood, how recently I saw it, rose-colored glasses, etc.
Today, the number 1 spot is Inception.
The rules I don’t think stated that I couldn’t list a different top movie tomorrow.
(it tends to drift between Count of Monte Cristo, The Game, LOTR, Braveheart, Prestige, the bolded ones being in highest contention).
If I had to pick one it would be Brazil ,
The Draughtsman’s Contract (1982)
Terminator 2: Judgment Day. By far the best (action) film ever made, amazing music, incredible attention to detail in almost every scene, easter eggs way before everyone was doing them, CGI way before everyone was doing them (which still look good 30 years later), a perfect balance of drama, action and banter, zero Arnold cringe moments (no other film of his achieves this), a teenage support who somehow manages to not be obnoxious, badass female support before everyone was doing them, badass lead and a villain who, despite a slim, apparently nonthreatening build, emits an evil aura that makes Darth Vader look harmless. What’s not to love about this masterpiece?
The Prosecution: “Your honor, exhibit A”
Exhibit A: “Now I know why you cry” (Ahnold)
Made up for by Edward Furlong cringe moments:) You only mentioned it in passing, but the best part of T2 is, without doubt, Linda Hamilton. It took me many years (and The Sarah Conner Chronicles) to understand how seriously she took her knowledge of the future, the lengths she went to to prepare for it, and the depths to which that informs the character.
To me, as a kid, Star Was was was the ‘old testament’ of sci-fi, and Alien/Aliens was the ‘new testament.’
Cameron’s fusion of military tropes with sci-fi, while certainly not original across all media, was something I had never seen before in a movie. It was some kind of a revelation to this twelve-year-old just getting introduced to the wonderful world of ‘R’ rated films. (I didn’t actually see it in the theater – saw a VHS rental of it the following year. It would be years before I would see it on the big screen and without pan-and-scan. Didn’t matter a bit as far as its impact went.)
For me, the Arnold cringe moment in T2 is clearly “I need a vacation.”
It’s still a great movie, lacking the structural perfection of T1 but redeemed by some amazing action sequences and some of the most groundbreaking VFX this side of King Kong. The development of Sarah Connor is also a wonderful bit of characterization, and Linda Hamilton steps up to the plate to bring it to life.
To describe Chupacabra Terror as merely a ‘film’ would be to diminish its aesthetic eminence unforgivably.
And that is sad. The build up in Aliens almost makes up for the crying of Newt! Newt!
Well, I mean my experience of them as a kid. Watching the Aliens felt like growing up.
The Princess Bride.
The is no more quotable a film. Written, acted, directed with true love.
I love your thread, @RichVR. Because of all the people you’ve gotten to come in and comment. :) Waaaay beyond the usual suspects.