Reply With QuoteShit Bonerz! was ruined by the sequel Shit Bonerz! 2: Electric Chooglepants.
Star Wars
Star Trek II
Blade Runner
2001
Avatar
Lord of the Rings
The Godfather
Gone With the Wind
The Wizard of Oz
Casablanca
Patton
The Sting
Bullitt
The French Connection
Raiders of the Lost Ark
E.T.
Jaws
Citizen Kane
Groundhog Day
Finding Nemo
This poll very intentionally does not give a "none of the above/something else" type choice. Yes, we all have personal, semi-obscure favorites. Yeah, I probably missed a few that some folks say were no brainers to include on this list. Tough toenails.
The poll is about the best movie from the list given, which attempts to capture 20 movies that might be credible contenders among the audience for this forum.
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In making your response, use whatever criteria you like. Downgrade a movie for bad sequels. Upgrade it for a improvements in the director's cut. Whatever.
Then feel free, if you desire, to post here and complain about the nature of the poll, the choices omitted, and so on.
Shit Bonerz! was ruined by the sequel Shit Bonerz! 2: Electric Chooglepants.
That was an easy one. I would have complained if you had left out LOTR and The Godfather. The Two Towers still always makes me happily shudder during the scene where the horn of Helm Hammerhand is being blown.
I think that within mere weeks we can have the poll:
"Top 20 greatest polls started by Phil"
Not even one foreign film? Really?
Also, wouldn't it have made more sense to pick a Sight & Sound (or something similar) list of the twenty best movies, instead of "the twenty best movies Phil_Stein has heard of"?
Of the list, anyone who does not pick 'Casablanca' has no heart. The scene where the bar is shut down because of the French anthem always moves me to tears, especially knowing that some of the actors in that scene had just escaped Nazi rule themselves.
A lot of the other movies are great, and pretty, but none stir the heart like Casablanca.
What a bizarrely arbitrary list.
Sigh, again with the proclamations.Of the list, anyone who does not pick 'Casablanca' has no heart.
I love Casablanca and know that movie back to front and line by line and shot by shot and music cue by music cue. But to say you "have no heart" if you pick Citizen Kane or 2001 or The Godfather instead... whatever, I suppose you're using standard forum snark-speak. It just makes me so very very weary.
Yeah, I kinda get where Phil is going with this, but I find some pretty peculiar bedfellows there. Still, should spark discussion.Originally Posted by Zylon
The movie I happen to think is the greatest ever made (2001: A Space Odyssey) is indeed on this list, so I voted for it. I could easily name fifty movies I think are better than Raiders of the Lost Ark (which I love dearly), and a hundred better than Star Trek II, but that's me in film-art-geek mode, which isn't really what this is about...
"I've reorganized the movies into three sections. Good movies. Bad movies. Movies I haven't seen."
Is there a discussion somewhere on the forum about Phil's poll thread obsession?
No, it's about you dramatically sighing over how tiring everyone on the internet is.
This forum is not likely to have full overlap with the tastes of various film critic groups with 60+ year old guys who sometimes barely tolerate sci-fi and the like.
I included a few choices that fall within many traditional "best" lists (Citizen Kane, The Godfather), a healthy dose of geeky stuff, and a few others that I think represent some different tastes and might have some appeal.
I probably overrepresented 70s crime flicks and I'm a little doubtful that The Wizard of Oz is gonna be a big contender to win the poll, but I did the list kinda quick.
Part of putting up a poll like this is to nail people down on specific choices, and part is to stir the pot a bit. And part of the pot being stirred is folks criticizing what's even on the list. Fire away - I'm a big boy, I can handle it.
Well, aside from the film shot in New Zealand by a New Zealand Director, featuring heavy special effects and costume work by a New Zealand shop, starring mostly English and Kiwi actors, adapted from a novel written by an English dude.
The only way to fix this thread is to drill holes in it.
Yeah, made by New Line Cinema - an American company.
If it makes you feel better, New Line got its start as a distributor of foreign films for college campuses.
So, does 2001: A Space Odyssey count as a "foreign" film, too? Filmed in England, filmed by an ex-pat American who spent four decades living in England, co-written by another Englishman?
Citizen Kane - not even a contest, in my opinion. Orson Welles' film is a masterpiece of artistic and technical ingenuity. Then again, Human Centipede isn't on that poll, so it's inherently flawed.
Well, I voted for Casablanca and the only movie I feel might be superior to that one is The Seven Samurai, which was omitted. Which is an odd movie to omit but the poll is what it is. Other movies that I might have contemplated for best ever are:
The Maltese Falcon, The Elephant Man, The Good, The Bad and The Ugly and The Seventh Seal.
Apparently I don't think color is vital for a great movie.
Here's looking at you, kid.
And how could I forget the best lines:
Captain Renault: What in heaven's name brought you to Casablanca?
Rick: My health. I came to Casablanca for the waters.
Captain Renault: The waters? What waters? We're in the desert.
Rick: I was misinformed.
Last edited by Miramon; 02-10-2011 at 11:38 AM.
I don't know how anyone could not vote Citizen Kane (unless they haven't seen it, which is blasphemy. Blasphemy I say!)
Can't believe I am the only one voting Blade Runner.
Groundhog Day? Really? Why don't you throw Private Benjamin up there, as well?
I cast my Vote for The Sting, but would have taken Road Warrior.
Also, where's Lawrence of Arabia, Ben Hur, Bridge on The River Kwai, African Queen, or a dozens more so much better than E.T.?
Recognizing Blade Runner as one of the most overrated movies ever would be a good start losing your belief quickly.
If I weren't boycotting this poll, I'd probably have voted for it.
Lynch's bitchfit was totally worth it though.
Jaws, no doubt. It works incredibly well as both a character piece and a slow-build suspense film with a terrifying (if a bit rubbery) antagonist.
The list was so arbitrary I decided to apply this rule of them. If all of them were on cable at the same time which one would I be watching. Raiders won.
Second place - The Sting
Third place - Lord of the Rings
Casablanca never worked for me. I have seen Citizen Kane and it is a monster of a movie full of ingenuous uses of technology but something I want to see again? No. Never
best movie (not series)Lord of the RingsYour staff is broken, pollster!(not series)
Nah, yours get's my vote:
The only way to fix this thread is to drill holes in it.
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