What do you think are the best movies ever made?

[sahgwa]

Hollywood has gotten lazy.   It just does remakes of good movies, making crap and trying to sell them as 'new and improved'.   And they make woke social engineering message movies that ruin what could have been good stories.  Lots of junk.  

Some stuff comes out that is good ... like 'Once Upon A Time In Hollywood' was excellent.  But it's not 'classic' material like the old days of Ben Hur and The Ten Commandments and that kind of thing.

Sad but true.  I am still building my film library on DVD and Blu ray and most of the stuff I buy is pre 2000....better writing!

We were talking the other day - we never thought stuff we liked in the 90s as 'okay' would now seem to be quality and classic, compared to the shit they put out now.

[Raptured]

My list (in no particular order)

Close Encounters of the Third Kind
Inception
The Fifth Element
Shawshank
Goodfellas
Dredd
Office Space
Saving Private Ryan (not Ryan's Privates)
Jaws
Poltergeist

[UltraBudgie]

Sad but true.  I am still building my film library on DVD and Blu ray and most of the stuff I buy is pre 2000....better writing!

We were talking the other day - we never thought stuff we liked in the 90s as 'okay' would now seem to be quality and classic, compared to the shit they put out now.

yes i agree although this is perhaps nostalga effect, and i suspect cmplain about new media is some sort of culturesplit trap, for example friend told of someone he talk to who said never watch any movies from before 2000 so take that for what its worth

also here is sad, perhaps movies are just dying dying dead, as in i have large collection of prettygood movies, but for some reason no inclination to watch any of them haven't turned on tv in i don't know how long.  very rare mood.  just seems like wornout way to tell a story.

perhaps this is because its all formalized tropework now.  too much legacy.  hard to make new way to work the medium fresh.  look at metropolis.  gotta just let unscript actors hope something new happens -- this is genius!  ha!  otherwise its just tvtrope mashup even if not intended that is what it can be factored to.  too much snapple in too little bottle, trying to put newway emotionshow onscreen.

also theatergoing is now passee and for some reason that is big part of movies as special things, not just at personal level but as culture event, camping out in lines, allhype allin defining moments for everyone.

[Letsgoviking]

For me at this time it would be (no particular order):

1. Casa Blanca
   
2. Always
   
3. High Plains Drifter
   
4. Gran Turino
   
5. Tombstone
   
6. The Lion in Winter
   
7. The Devil at Four o'clock
   
8. The Old Man and the Sea
   
9. Dangerous Liaisons
   
10. 2001 A Space Odyssey
    

[sahgwa]

yes i agree although this is perhaps nostalga effect, and i suspect cmplain about new media is some sort of culturesplit trap, for example friend told of someone he talk to who said never watch any movies from before 2000 so take that for what its worth

also here is sad, perhaps movies are just dying dying dead, as in i have large collection of prettygood movies, but for some reason no inclination to watch any of them haven't turned on tv in i don't know how long.  very rare mood.  just seems like wornout way to tell a story.

perhaps this is because its all formalized tropework now.  too much legacy.  hard to make new way to work the medium fresh.  look at metropolis.  gotta just let unscript actors hope something new happens -- this is genius!  ha!  otherwise its just tvtrope mashup even if not intended that is what it can be factored to.  too much snapple in too little bottle, trying to put newway emotionshow onscreen.

also theatergoing is now passee and for some reason that is big part of movies as special things, not just at personal level but as culture event, camping out in lines, allhype allin defining moments for everyone.

Sind Sie Deutscher?
Here we still go to the cinema, it's fun. But we have less reason to go often, as 'go out and see' worthy films are few.  We went out for Beetlejuice 2024 just for fun.  I give it maybe a 68% and I am generous with films since I like to be entertained.  I read a lot of books so I like the other medium.
Are you saying the new Coppola Megalopolis is unscripted? I didnt know that! I havent seen it yet, the cinemas seem to only be playing it during the week , like they want it to go away. It may explain why a lot of the reviews say its terrible and the acting and dialogue is 'wooden' hmmmm

[Oldcarpy2]

Apocalypse Now?

2001?

Hell comes to Frogtown?

The Wraith?

Not sure about the last two.....

[FlyersFan]

Two that are really good that you never see anymore .... 

The Ghost and Mrs Muir - 1947 Rex Harrison.

The Time of Their Lives - 1946 Abbot and Costello

[Tecate]

Arsenic and Old Lace?
13th Warrior
Gorky Park
The Doors
The sixth sense
The Village

Really, it just never ends…

Tecate

[argentus]

This is a fascinating thread and thought experiment.    It's like when you see an actor in an advert, and you say, "OH!  He/she is one of my FAVORITE actors!"   

Ever just sit down and list all your "favorite" actors?   
They will likely be more than a hundred.   In fact, it's easier to list those few which you detest, and the couple dozen about whom you are ambivalent.  

I feel that way about movies, even -- as in this case -- we are talking about the 'best movies ever made'.     Stephen Jay Schneider is an author and critic and producer and I'd never heard of him before I saw his list of 1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die."   1001 Movies You Must See Before You Die (All Editions Combined) (imdb.com)    Still don't know much about him, but he makes a mean movie list.   When I go through his 1001 movies, close to half of them are "favorite movies of mine".  

So, I think we should all continue to add things as we think of them.   

"Sometimes A Great Notion."  GREAT movie, and as long as we're on Paul Newman, 
"Hombre", a classic based upon the Elmore Leonard Novel, and as long as we're on Elmore Leonard,  
"3:10 to Yuma", the first one (the second one was good) and as long as we're on mystery writers, 
"Appaloosa" with Ed Harris and Viggo Mortensen, based upon a book by Robert B. Parker, as speaking of Ed Harris, 
"A Beautiful Mind", and as long as we're talking about Russell Crow, wul
"Gladiator", of course, and 
"Master and Commander"

[Maxmars]

In terms of listing "greatest movie ever made" it is a hard task to narrow down...

I get that we a re all different, and what I may have found impressive and might simply not translate to anyone else.
Is my choice going to based upon how I received the impact of the story itself, or the technical superb production, the artful and moving acting, or something else?

Each of my entries might have a lot to do with the time of my life when I experienced the movie, the pertinence to my personal interests and biases, or even what happed around the movie itself...

Here's an admittedly short list which I feel are movies I would strongly recommend to someone "like me:"
(some of these are "subtitled" films not in English... I know many people don't like those for many valid reasons -  but I don't exclude them.)

2001 a Space Odyssey
Seven Days in May
The Maltese Falcon
Treasure of Sierra Madre
12 Angry Men
Ben Hur
The Day the Earth Stood Still
Fail Safe
Moby Dick
Lawrence of Arabia
Gone with the Wind
Jason and the Argonauts
It! The Terror from Beyond Space
The Mummy
The Ten Commandments
The Exorcist
The Godfather
Key Largo
Spartacus
Dracula
Dune
Beckett
The Lion in Winter
Frankenstein
Cleopatra
Rocky
Fantastic Planet
The Lord of the Rings
The Hobbit
The Omen
Rashomon
Sanjuro
Yojimbo
Seven Samurai
Godzilla
Soylent Green
Alien
Star Wars

Just for starters... but these are just mine... mileage may vary.  And then there are "TV" movies which span several days of viewing.... I'll leave those out for now.