[jdonn]

Sorry if I wasn't clear.

One of the greatest movies of all time
+
Top 5 on the all time list of movies I've seen.
=/=
One of the 5 greatest movies of all time

[ggwhiz]

Just watched Second Hand Lions. Good entertaining "small" movie from 2003.

Given that I had never heard of it, it was a very pleasant diversion.

[Winstonm]

I wouldn't place Pulp Fiction into a top 10 list of great stories but it is a captivating presentation of what amounts to a slice-of-life plot.

Tarantino makes quite stylish movies, but the stories to me always seems to lack. Kill Bill is a movie representation of a comic book - if you like comic book characterizations you should like the style of the movie. I found it entertaining - for what it was trying to do. But then, I find I am entertained as much by Tarantino's influences on the movie as the movie itself, from his choices of music to the recurring use of specific actors.

A movie that did not lack story and again IMO should have won the oscar for best picture was L.A. Confidential. Speaking of which, I just looked it up and 1997 was an awesome year for movies. Here are the nominees for Best Picture that year:

As Good As It Gets
The Full Monty
Good Will Hunting
L.A. Confidential
Titanic

IMO, Titanic was the 4th best movie that year, better than The Full Monty but nowhere close to LA Confidential, As Good As It Gets, or Good Will Hunting.

[Lobowolf]

jdonn, on Jan 2 2010, 09:39 PM, said:

I think Shawshank is one of the greatest movies of all time, in the top 5 on my personal list. It's not just some personal opinion of mine either, almost everyone I have ever talked to about it in person agrees. I think someone who otherwise tends to like movies would have to be going into it with a really bad attitude not to think it's a classic!

Strongly concur. Great book, and it held up to be a great movie.

[Lobowolf]

Winstonm, on Jan 2 2010, 11:10 PM, said:

I wouldn't place Pulp Fiction into a top 10 list of great stories but it is a captivating presentation of what amounts to a slice-of-life plot.

Tarantino makes quite stylish movies, but the stories to me always seems to lack. Kill Bill is a movie representation of a comic book - if you like comic book characterizations you should like the style of the movie. I found it entertaining - for what it was trying to do. But then, I find I am entertained as much by Tarantino's influences on the movie as the movie itself, from his choices of music to the recurring use of specific actors.

A movie that did not lack story and again IMO should have won the oscar for best picture was L.A. Confidential. Speaking of which, I just looked it up and 1997 was an awesome year for movies. Here are the nominees for Best Picture that year:

As Good As It Gets
The Full Monty
Good Will Hunting
L.A. Confidential
Titanic

IMO, Titanic was the 4th best movie that year, better than The Full Monty but nowhere close to LA Confidential, As Good As It Gets, or Good Will Hunting.

I'd take Good Will Hunting from that list, but agreed...stong year.

[Mbodell]

[quote name='Lobowolf' date='Jan 2 2010, 08:23 PM'] [quote name='Winstonm' date='Jan 2 2010, 11:10 PM']A movie that did not lack story and again IMO should have won the oscar for best picture was L.A. Confidential.  Speaking of which, I just looked it up and 1997 was an awesome year for movies.  Here are the nominees for Best Picture that year:

As Good As It Gets
The Full Monty
Good Will Hunting
L.A. Confidential
Titanic

IMO, Titanic was the 4th best movie that year, better than The Full Monty but nowhere close to LA Confidential, As Good As It Gets, or Good Will Hunting. [/quote]
I'd take Good Will Hunting from that list, but agreed...stong year. [/quote]
Agree strong year, but 1999 is really the top year of films for the past 20 years (although there were a number of strong years in the 90s so maybe only past 15). Here were some of the movies from 1999, say a possibly best picture nominees of:

[quote]Fight Club
American Beauty
Boys Don't Cry
The Sixth Sense
Being John Malkovich[/quote]

Don't like that list, a whole additional top 5 best picture nominees could have been:

[quote]
The Cider House Rules
The Insider
The Green Mile
Magnolia
Girl, Interrupted
[/quote]

And how about some more reasonable picks:

[quote]
Sweet and Lowdown
The Hurricane
The Straight Story
The Talented My. Ripley
Election
[/quote]

Disappointed by Jar Jar and silly sand effects in:

[quote]
Star Wars I
The Mummy
[/quote]

how about:
[quote]
The Matrix
[/quote]

or a couple of decent sequels:
[quote]
Toy Story 2
Austin Powers 2
[/quote]

or some musical numbers:
[quote]
Topsy-Turvy
South Park
[/quote]

That was 22 movies! More than half or which are truly best picture nominee quality and nearly all of which were reasonable. Even the "bad" movies were at least exciting or big events (The Mummy, Austin Powers 2, and of course Star Wars 1).

Probably 1994 would be the biggest threat (certainly with its top couple of movies), although maybe 1997 could be close too. 1994 had the ones that were being discussed here:

[quote]
Pulp Fiction
The Shawshank Redemption
Forest Gump
Leon [aka The Professional]
Quiz Show
Four Weddings and a Funeral
The Madness of King George
The Lion King
Little Women
Maverick
The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert
Speed
True Lies
Red (the three colors trilogy)
[/quote]

Which is also a very impressive year, and may have the better top 5, but doesn't have the depth of 1999 IMO.

1997 has:

[quote]
LA Confidential
Good Will Hunting
As Good As It Gets
The Full Monty
Wag The Dog
Titanic
Princess Mononoke
Amistad
Boogie Nights
Gattaca
Men In Black
[/quote]

again a pretty good top 3-5 movies, but not as deep.

Although all these years run laps around 2009.

[Winstonm]

The criteria I looked at was quality at the top - how good were the top 5 movies compared to other years. 1997 was extremely strong in that regard. I don't know if I would say it was the top year, but it would be hard to find a year with 5 better best picture nominees IMO.

[Fluffy]

Nothing can beat 1970 with Kelly's Heroes, Patton and MASH , oh and Love Story if you like it too.

Sorry this is recent movies thread, I shouldn't had said so.

[mike777]

Winstonm, on Jan 3 2010, 09:07 AM, said:

The criteria I looked at was quality at the top - how good were the top 5 movies compared to other years.  1997 was extremely strong in that regard.  I don't know if I would say it was the top year, but it would be hard to find a year with 5 better best picture nominees IMO.

Alot of really good movies in 1997, I agree.


Movie historians and film buffs often look back on 1939 as "the greatest year in film history". Hollywood was at the height of its Golden Age, and this particular year saw the release of an unusually large number of exceptional movies, many of which have been honored as all-time classics, when multitudes of other films of the era have been largely forgotten.

August 15 - The Wizard of Oz premieres at Grauman's Chinese Theater in Los Angeles, California, USA.

October 17 - Mr. Smith Goes to Washington premieres in Washington D.C.

December 15 - Gone with the Wind premieres in Atlanta, Georgia, USA with a 3-day festival.

[edit] Top grossing films


http://en.wikipedia....ki/1939_in_film

[mike777]

Also 1974 was a really great year.

http://www.films101.com/y1974r.htm

The Godfather 2
The Conversation
Chinatown.
Blazing Saddles
Young Frankenstein
Harry and Tonto
A Woman under the Influence.
Sugar Land Express

[Ant590]

Speaking of Avatar, did anyone see it in 2D? Do those that saw it in 3D think I'll be missing much if I saw it in the local (non-3D) cinema?

[Al_U_Card]

I saw it from a torrent with Russian sub-titles and it was still excellent.

At some point we will likely go to an Imax to get the full effect.

[Lobowolf]

Mbodell, on Jan 3 2010, 12:26 AM, said:

Agree strong year, but 1999 is really the top year of films for the past 20 years (although there were a number of strong years in the 90s so maybe only past 15). Here were some of the movies from 1999, say a possibly best picture nominees of:

Quote

Fight Club
American Beauty
Boys Don't Cry
The Sixth Sense
Being John Malkovich

Don't like that list, a whole additional top 5 best picture nominees could have been:

Quote

The Cider House Rules
The Insider
The Green Mile
Magnolia
Girl, Interrupted

And how about some more reasonable picks:

Quote

Sweet and Lowdown
The Hurricane
The Straight Story
The Talented My. Ripley
Election

THe Insider was nominated for the 2000 award, along with Cider House Rules, The Green Mile, American Beauty, and The Sixth Sense. That's a strong group. No real quarrel with American Beauty (other than the ending, which I could have vastly improved). The real crime that year, though, was Michael Caine (sorry Michael) over Hayley Joel Osmont for Best Supporting Actor.

[gwnn]

Ant590, on Jan 3 2010, 03:48 PM, said:

Speaking of Avatar, did anyone see it in 2D? Do those that saw it in 3D think I'll be missing much if I saw it in the local (non-3D) cinema?

I saw it in 3D and I think you'd lose a lot if you saw it in 2D. The scenes on the planet are breathtaking.

[Fluffy]

I also had the impression that 2D wouldn't be as good.

I though that the plot could be improved of course, but you cannot risk so much money investment and make an anti-commercial plot I guess.

[hrothgar]

Watched Sin City on News Years Eve, waiting for the ball to drop...
Kick ass film, especially with the right company

Still convinced that "Better Off Dead" is one of the greatest accomplishments of modern cinema...

[akhare]

hrothgar, on Jan 3 2010, 03:13 PM, said:

Watched Sin City on News Years Eve, waiting for the ball to drop...
Kick ass film, especially with the right company

Still convinced that "Better Off Dead" is one of the greatest accomplishments of modern cinema...

Sin City is absolutely kick ass -- definitely one of the best graphic novel adaptations ever.

The PQ on the BluRay version is jaw dropping!!!

[gwnn]

how is (500) Days of Summer not the sweetest movie ever? <3

[jonottawa]

gwnn, on Jan 4 2010, 02:26 AM, said:

how is (500) Days of Summer not the sweetest movie ever? <3

You're joking, right? What a disappointment that was. Heard good things. Was mediocre at best.

[gwnn]

sorry i guess i'm just needier than you so i liked the main character better