The Best Movie You’ve Ever Seen. Why?

To honor the OP here is his thread.

SOME LIKE IT HOT. It's the perfect comedy-- perfect cast, perfect writing, perfect direction, perfect pacing. There just isn't one damn thing wrong with it.

Today only, to honor his passing, The Dresser 1983. Albert Finney and Tom Courtney

What's up Doc? Completely LOL screwball. The Godfather & Part 2, hard to choose. Just perfect movies in all ways. Acting, music, storyline.

I love Airplane.

Kill List. I know this is a very strange choice, but the whole thing gave me chills, and the ending fucked me up for weeks. I had to watch it again and again to really make sense of it, and it was so well-made and creepy and unpredictable--I've never seen anything like it.

On another note, Amadeus. I have watched it at least 80 or 90 times and everything about it is sublime. F. Murray Abraham (WHET?) was a revelation, Tom Hulce was adorable, the music made me run out and purchase all of Mozart's works....even noted pedophile Jeffrey Jones was charming. Possibly my favourite film of all time.

"Godfather," but counting 1 & 2 together.

This set has everything: Loyalty; ambition; betrayal; love; hate; lust; tradition; power; corruption; family.

I don't know how people can pick comedies. They stop being funny pretty quickly.

R8 there are some great comedies, but Comedy differs based on individual preference.

Cabaret. Apart from the concession to making Michael York hate his bisexuality (which Christopher Isherwood rightly took umbrage at), it's pretty much perfect.

Singing in the Rain

The Graduate.

Watching any movie 80 or 90 times must qualify as one of the Circles of Hell.

R13 wtf

R14 I was responding to R6. Please follow along.

The most perfect film ever made (but arguably not the best): Goodfellas

Groundhog Day. Very funny and reveals profound fundamental truths about the human experience.

9 songs, not the best but I watched countless times.

Either Barry Lyndon or Early Summer for me. Every frame of both absolute art, one describing the worst of people, the other describing something more quotidian but Setsuko Hara makes it utterly compelling.

I've seen The Godfather movies and Citizen Kane once. But I've seen Showgirls many more times than that!

"On another note, Amadeus. I have watched it at least 80 or 90 times and everything about it is sublime."

You do know that the movie was mostly fiction, right...???

I love the Money Pit. That is my response to that.

A work of art

Thread needs one Woody Allen

[quote]You do know that the movie was mostly fiction, right...???

What the fuck difference does that make?

Did you first see the film thinking it was a documentary?

Au hasard Balthazar

Oh, you know.

What is Meryl pointing at in OP?

Godfather 1 or 2, depending on which one I happen to be watching. Perfection, never equaled.

The Exorcist. I watched it 40 years ago and have seen it at least 3 dozen times and it still has the same effect on me. Traumatizing.

R21, I know that it was based off a Peter Schaeffer play, which--yes--was mostly fiction. This is what storytelling is about. The movie was a masterpiece. Don't be a condescending, finger-wagging asshole, please.

"I don't know how people can pick comedies. They stop being funny pretty quickly."

Fuck off and die!!!!!

Taxi Driver. Perfect mood. Thought-provoking.

Gidget Goes Hawaiian.

"Mama Mia," thanks to M.

WAH-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha-HAH!

How can you name one when there are so many different genres?

I guess my favorite movie is "Wizard of Oz", but I know it's not the BEST movie ever made.

Three-way tie:

Gui lai (Coming Home)

Raise the Red Lantern

Nueve Reinas (Nine Queens)

All the elements of cinema as it should be: Superb storytelling, consummate acting, and not a frame wasted.

showgirls, there goes my baby, slaves of new york, the war of the roses, basic instinct, common threads, the prince of tides, longtime companion, trick, the client, can't buy me love, waitress, hello again, jersey girl(with dylan and jamie gertz), not love just frenzy

Apparently, some of you girls don't comprehend the singular form of a word.

Streetcar

Well r39, in his defense, all the movies r38 listed put together may have the artistry and creativity of one good movie....🎥

My vote goes to Sunset Boulevard, in all its over the top, disturbing, creepy, noir wonderfulness.... I never tire of it.

The Best Years Of Our Lives.

Fearless. Emotionally devastating.

I know it's cliche, but "The Wizard of Oz" is the movie I'm still delighted and obsessed with 50 years after my first viewing.

Other than that, I think Lubitsch's "To Be or Not to Be" is my current favorite.

The Heiress

Terms of Endearment

'Elaine' would have had me decipatitated, but 'The English Patient'. It made me sob so badly that I called my ex-BF to tell him how much I love him. I will admit to how stupid iI am, but so am I.

The sheer nerve, creativity and skill it took to make this happen in 1968

^ As profoundly boring in 2019 as it was in 1968.

Oh, don't be so hard on yourself, r49.

A Letter To Three Wives

I don’t think I’ve ever read a lousier, more depressing string of titles than R38’s.

Bumblebee

For some reason i just adored a little known movie in the 90s called Impromptu. It was about Chopin and the writer George Sand . I had the VHS and watched it incessantly in the 90s. I found it so charming.

Victor/Victoria

I loved the story, the dialogue, the actors, the sets, the costumes, the musical numbers...everything. And Lesley Ann Warren deserved the best supporting actress Oscar that year.

The Silence of the Lambs because it's perfect.

I can't pick just one. My top 5 are The Exorcist, citizen Kane, Psycho , The Third Man, Jaws.

The Best Years of our lives is such a frustrating movie for me. The first 45 minutes or so are so strong and well done, but then it gets bogged down in a sappy, and unconvincing,romance between Theresa Wright and Dana Andrews. There are other great scenes later like the plane graveyard scene wtc. However the movie is too soapie in general for me to love it.

Either "Smiles of a Summer Night" or "The Thin Man." Each perfect in its own way.

My fave movies of the 1940s are:

The Philadelphia Story Citizen Kane The More the Merrier Notorious Miracle on 34th Street Out of the past The Heiress The Third Man Adams Rib Act of Violence

Zelig. It's not my favourite movie but it's up there just because of this hilarious scene. The old lady is priceless. Sorry for the subtitles, it was the only clip I could find.

Anyone else seen Act of violence from 1949, starring Robert Ryan and Janet leigh??

Dog Day Afternoon.

Perfect in every aspect of movie making.

It was one of my favorite post-Godfather Pacino films, r63 (Cruising wasn't).

R43, after reading your post I hopped right over to Amazon Video to find that movie because of course I want it to emotionally devastate me too - why the hell not - anyways THIS is the only FEARLESS available, with Joan Collins for 99 cents.

Planet Of The Apes (1968).

R61-Where is the hilarity? I can't find it in that clip. It didn't even elicit a giggle from me.

Sunset Boulevard.

It's a hell of a story!

[quote]My vote goes to Sunset Boulevard, in all its over the top, disturbing, creepy, noir wonderfulness.... I never tire of it.

I could not agree more. I just wish Wilder had not allowed that British hack to ruin it with yet another of his one hit tune "musicals". I always imagined it as an opera. A star vehicle for a diva of a certain age, costarring (as they call them these days) a Bari-hunk, and a kick-ass character tenor.

If I want to laugh - The Mel Brooks 1972 duo never fail to deliver. I could watch Young Frankenstein and Blazing Saddles once a month for the rest of my life and still laugh my ass off every time.

R67, Mia, honey, you're humorless, remember? Now just go back to bed and dream about Ronan's father Frank diddling you in the attic.

The Sound of Music

The Terminator

The Shawshank Redemption

All About Eve. Love it!

Space Camp

I'm gonna go with Jerry Maguire. I don't know why. Maybe I saw it at a time in my life when I needed a positive underdog story, but it really is an excellent film. Runners-up: Tin Cup and Thelma & Louise, also underdog stories.

Tokyo Story. So simple but powerful.

Go ahead and hate me: Shakespeare in Love. Love the writing and the plotting and alls well that ends well.

CALL ME BY YOUR NAME.

of course.

Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Why? The crisp black and white cinematography and the sharp, witty, and infinitely quotable dialogue. Also, Richard Burton had the best speaking voice of anyone in cinema, ever.

Tom Jones, with the iconic albert finney a whole bevy of brilliant brits.

I like Sunset Boulevard too. But my favorite, for the intricate plotting, human betrayal and highly skilled acting, is THE PRIME OF MISS JEAN BRODIE. MAGGIE SMITH and Celia are incomparable. And, Terms of endearment sucks so bad...it is one of the worst movies EVER.

- The Way Back, probably the best movie I've ever seen. - Call me by your name, best romance movie, I rarely watch romance tho, so I don't have that many references. - Toy Story 3, best animated movie, I always feel nostalgic when watching this movie. - Logan, best superhero movie.

The question is an impossible one - too many genres to cover. As for movies that I can watch over and over and over...here we go: Auntie Mame - everything about this film is perfect from the acting to the sets to the script. I loved it as a kid and still love it now - best of the best. E.T. - I am not a big fan of Spielberg, but this is his greatest work (not to mention the only tear-jerker that I can personally think of - movies never effect me that way..but this one sure does). Blade Runner - the greatest science fiction movie ever in my opinion. It's eerie, poignant, beautiful and poetic - a rare combination for the genre. The Birdcage - comedy gold and so well-acted. I have probably watched it 150 times and could watch it again tonight.

Female Trouble. It still makes me laugh 45 years later.