Perfect Films

I'll probably never watch it again and I don't necessarily rate it super highly, but Birdman (2014) is a fairly recent example of a perfect movie in my eyes. And of course the usual suspects: Citizen Kane, Casablanca, The Seventh Seal...

But perfection can get boring so I prefer rougher movies, myself.

The Earrings of Madame de… , Sunset Boulevard AND Double Indemnity (Some Like It Hot is a bit long), Scarface 1932, Frankenstein

Perfection is boring. It’s the messiness that makes great films great.

No, perfection can mean complete mastery of all elements and it not boring. Nothing wrong with messy and exciting, by kudos to the masterpieces, such as Early Summer (1951).

Where's Mildred Pierce?

Tokyo Story

Some Like It Hot

Chinatown

Another Year

If you need a plot, this movie isn't for you. But if you don't mind just watching people, then this movie is perfection.

Magnolia. The Others. Melancholia.

2001: A Space Odyssey

Technically perfect, boring if you’re only in it for an AI-gone-wild story and mind-blowing if you’re in it for something greater. It’s both conventional and totally avant garde and abstract. I think it’s the greatest movie ever made.

Body Heat

The Fabulous Baker Boys

Of for crissakes. Beaches, then.

Barry Lyndon

Groundhog Day. I wouldn’t change a single thing about it. Even the extras are perfect.

CHILDREN OF PARADISE

CHINATOWN

YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN

LA REGLE DU JEU

2001

LA DOLCE VITA / 8 1/2

The Brown Bunny

Trash Humpers

R16

That’s an excellent example. Tootsie is pretty damn great too.

Goodfellas.

Elf

Ishtar

Terminator 2: Judgment Day

Ex machina is another perfect film, in my opinion.

The first matrix comes pretty damn close. Before sunrise and before sunset and a scanner darkly are pretty fucking solid. Dazed and confused. Hell, the entire *league later a while* (Linklater oeuvre)

Silence of the lambs.

My Little Pony: The Movie

Bronie alert!

I just watched Scenes from a Marriage on TCM and blown away by Liv Ullman’s performance. I remember that several Hollywood actresses lobbied for an Oscar for her performance but the Academy determined that the film was ineligible because it had been broadcast on Swedish TV before it was released internationally as a movie.

The Poseidon Adventure

Strictly Ballroom

Clueless

Momento

Rashomon

“Zodiac”

A lesser known example: “Margin Call”

The Graduate. Every scene, every song, every line in that movie is perfection and the casting is flawless.

Dazed and Confused is impeccably written and cast as a slice of mid-70s suburbia.

Fearless

Any film Gong Li, Liv Ullmann, Sharon Tate, and of course the unforgettable Capucine.

I second Goodfellas

Oh, totally Goodfellas.

The Buzznet examples are retarded. False premise.

I was just going to write that R32.

Can't think of anything more perfect that "Cabaret"!

Victor/Victoria

Saturday Night Fever is at the very least, near perfect.

Rosemary's Baby

Young Frankenstein

All About Eve

Blade Runner

The Love Bug

Godfather 1, Godfather 2, and Seven Samurai (Kurosawa).

[quote]The English Patient Perfectly Captured the Drama of World War II

FUCK. YOU.

Now Voyager.

Absolutely no argument can be said (from anyone educated) with a straight face.

Triumph des Willens

The Battle of Algiers

Galaxy Quest.

For me: The Shining. It is perfection.

Ordinary People

Terrible list. No mention of Bergman, Fellini, Antonioni.

In addition to La Dolce Vita, Melancholia, The Seventh Seal, Cabaret already mentioned, I will add

Wings of Desire

A New Leaf

Death in Venice

The Conformist

The Talented Mr Ripley

Love and Death in Long Island

Performance

L'Homme du Train

and a number of Merchant/Ivory films.

I just re watched Billy Elliott, beautiful film.

[quote]The Talented Mr Ripley

Only because Jude Law was absolute perfection.

Diary of a Country Priest

Also want to add Crimes and Misdemeanors, Wild Strawberries, The Dreamers, Blow-Up, Match Point and Alice in Wonderland (1999).

A perfect film is one where you would change nothing.

THE CURSE OF EDGAR

Totally agree about THE CONFORMIST and PERFORMANCE.

-R17

Not a fan of eternal sunshine’s heavy handed quirk. I’m sick of quirk. We are drowning in it.

[post redacted because linking to dailymail.co.uk clearly indicates that the poster is either a troll or an idiot (probably both, honestly.) Our advice is that you just ignore this poster but whatever you do, don't click on any link to this putrid rag.]

Muriel's Wedding

This movie delivers completely. It is thought of as a comedy but it is really a slightly sad, insightful look at a woman opening her eyes to what is really going on around her.

"Star Wars". It will always be just "Star Wars" to me. Dramatic, funny, clever, gorgeous to look at. Thrilling with a cheering crowd.

Alien

Both Godfathers

Amarcord

Chinatown

LA Confidential

Midnight Run

My Dinner with Andre

Silence of the Lambs

Goodfellas

Ghostbusters

The Empire Strikes Back

Some Like It Hot

Bonnie and Clyde

All the President’s Men

Sullivan’s Travels

Two:

Rules of the Game

Cleo from 5 to 7

Clue

Midnight Cowboy

All About Eve

Withnail And I

Silence is so unintentionally campy. So overwrought and laughable.

There are only 8 films I consider to be absolutely flawless and they are:

The Wishing Tree

Z

Welcome to the Dollhouse

4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days

Il posto

A tanú

Babette's Feast

The Wizard of Oz

Special mention: White Chicks. Say what you want about this movie and its lowbrow humor but it's probably the most rewatchable film ever made.

I agree with Clueless. Everything about it is delightful and, like another poster said, there’s nothing I would change. I could watch it over and over.

I got through 10 minutes of Eternal Spotless.. Kate Winslet's character was so intolerably annoying I couldn't bear another second.

A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

Mrs. Miniver

I Remember Mama

Serial Mom (for laughs)

Sorry to admit my taste also includes the lowbrow, but I wouldn't change a thing about Blazing Saddles or Weekend at Bernie's.

Mame. Song of Norway.

Yes, Mame featuring Lucille Ball is the very worst film of all time, therefore perfect.

The only perfect thing about Mame was the poster art.

Nights of Cabiria

Jeanne Dielman, 23, Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles

Cleo from 5 to 7

It Happened One Night

Amadeus

16 Candles Crimes and Misdemeanors Hannah and her Sisters Lars and the Real Girl Roma Tootsie Godfather 1 and 2 Sound of Music Rocky Fargo

The Lion in Winter

McCabe and Mrs. Miller

Children of Men

The most insufferable Fassbinder, Godard and Pasolini movies are, of course, perfection.

Amadeus, some like it hot, all about Eve, Frida, A.I., clueless, I know many don't like the ending of The Florida project, but to me it was perfect, melancholia, the out of towners, Slumdog millionaire.

All back to the future movies.

BEFORE NIGHT FALLS, made by Julian Schnabel, about the life of Reinaldo Arenas, is just about perfect, very original.

Godfather and Godfather II, Ordinary People, Terms Of Endearment, Lawrence Of Arabia, Call me By Your Name, The Social Network, Casablanca, The Searchers.

"Rosemary's Baby"

"The Women"(1939)

L'Année dernière à Marienbad, Dirty Grandpa, Memorias del subdesarrollo, Powertool.

Scarlet Street

Walkabout

Once Were Warriors

On Borrowed Time

The Heiress

Three Women

Boogie Nights

Fanny

Bonjour Tristesse

Barry Lyndon

Black Narcissus

That Hamilton Woman

The Lives of Others

Godfather I and II

Some Like It Hot

Goodfellas

THE LOVED ONE

Yes, R10 and R53. I loved Billy Elliot and The Others. Two of my favorites. Talented Mr. Ripley is also fantastic and always rewatchable.

Oh Midnight Run was a good choice!

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest

The Accidental Tourist

Terms of Endearment

Ladri di biciclette (1948)

東京物語, Tōkyō Monogatari (1953)

Psycho (1960)

Au Hasard Balthazar (1966)

2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)

Five Easy Pieces (1970)

Philadelphia Story. Billy Elliott. The Graduate. The Lion in Winter

Want to add: Pirate Radio

No Hitchcock?

The 39 STEPS

THE LADY VANISHES

REBECCA

SHADOW OF A DOUBT

NOTORIOUS

STRANGERS ON A TRAIN

REAR WINDOW

VERTIGO

NORTH BY NORTHWEST

PSYCHO

Goodfellas

Black Swan

3 Billboards

Casino

Blue Jasmine

Grumpy Old Men

Stepmom

Wow, judging from the posts in this thread most Americans really are afraid of watching foreign movies. Subtitles won't bite you, you know!

Casablanca

The Maltese Falcon

Double Indemnity

Roman Holiday

Sabrina (1954)

Witness for the Prosecution (1957)

Local Hero

"Resurrection"

"Field of Dreams"

Weekend at Bernie's 2

Some of you have very LOW standards.

Always has to be a pretentious judger when it comes to art. Heres looking at you, R104!

In Bruges

I agree about Goodfellas. I watch that movie several times a year and never get tired of it. Thank God they essentially made it in to a TV series when they made the Sopranos.

Sometimes I tend to be less critical of nostalgic movies. Like the first two Home Alone movies or Mrs. Doubtfire. Arthouse films while deep and moving can make it hard for repeat viewings. The White Ribbon is my favorite foreign film, followed by Y Tu Mama Tambien. I had a friend who would gush on about foreign films and have me watch them, which I was open to, but as we got closer she let her guard down I found out that when alone she was watching Devil Wears Prada and 13 Going on 30 all the time. People who go to extremes are nutty, someone who sits around only watching films with French subtitles is just as full of shit as some retard who watches Adam Sandler all day, both stubborn and afraid to break their image.

Bigger Than Life

Crouching Tiger, hidden Dragon. Ang Lee’s masterpiece, by turns suspenseful, romantic, thrilling, dreamlike, and tragic. Michelle Yeoh’s deeply soulful performance has never gotten its due.

I can go back to it again and again.

"The Time of Their Lives" 1946 Abbott and Costello comedy, tight, funny and a real comedy gem.

I think Aliens was pretty fucking perfect. Especially because Michael Biehns was so hot.

Days of Heaven

Manhattan

Sunday Bloody Sunday

Harold and Maude

Birds

Something for Everyone

Why Shoot the Teacher?

Remains of the Day

The Innocents and Alien

[quote]Silence is so unintentionally campy. So overwrought and laughable.

So is Psycho. SOTL is still a great movie.

But this thread is without any sense of illumination. Is the definition of a perfect film "one where you wouldn't change anything?" That sounds like your favorite movie to me. Some of the entries here are ridiculous and the rest are either on every list of great films or some posters idea of textbook pretensions. It's kind of like jerking off. Best done in private and never interesting to anyone else.

I believe perfect works of art do exist. But there is criteria to judge them by. Not here apparently.

Dr. Strangelove, Before Sunrise, Psycho, 2001: A Space Odyssey, Citizen Kane, Mulholland Drive, Almost Famous, Grave of the Fireflies

R68

“White Chicks” had been out for at least 15 years before someone insisted that I watch it.

By the time I simply let go of my brain and realized that I was watching an acid trip on celluloid I fell in love.

Now I’ve got a list of great older movies to watch during my upcoming downtime.

Thanks to everyone that responded.

Glen or Glenda. Andy Warhol - Empire. L'avventura. A Madea Christmas

Dangerous Liasions Fatal Attraction Albert Nobbs The Wife

G, you forgot to sign your post at r121. Another senior moment?

Scott Pilgrim vs. The World.

Brokeback Mountain

It's a very good film, R123.

The Color Purple

Nuts

A movie that's very difficult to find these days, and wasn't seen by many... but it really was perfect in my book:

PaperHouse

Lethal Weapon

[quote] A movie that's very difficult to find these days, and wasn't seen by many... but it really was perfect in my book: PaperHouse

Difficult to find?! It's even on youtube, for Christ's sake.

I watched it recently after hearing so many wonderful things about it and I must admit it didn't really live up to its reputation.

r5 Here I am!

Melodrama: Mildred Pierce. Comedy: Some Like It Hot Drama: Casablanca Tearjerker: Brief Encounter Western: Shane Musical: Cabaret Mystery: Laura All-Star: The Women (86 that fashion show) Biopic: Yankee Doodle Dandy Epic: Gone With the Wind Tearjerker: Make Way For Tomorrow Pre-Code: Dinner At Eight Silent: The General

My tastes haven't changed much since I was a gayling.

I prefer “I Dismember Mama” to “I Remember Mama.”

Brokeback Mountain

Call Me By Your Name

La Cage

Love Simon

Weekend

Harvey

The Bad Seed

Judgement at Nuremberg

Up the Down Staircase

Love & Death

Sixteen Candles

Ordinary People

Terms of Endearment

What's Up, Doc?

Tanguy

La tourneuse de pages

French Cancan

The Wedding Banquet

Agree with "Local Hero"

Would add "My Favorite Year"

Also, R87, even reading the words, "Once Were Warriors" breaks my heart. Love that movie.

Perfect

EDGE OF SEVENTEEN

Xanadu, for four reasons:

1. Gene Kelly; 2. Roller skating; 3. Music by Jeff Lynne/ELO; 4. All of the above reasons happening at once - Gene Kelly on roller skates while music by Jeff Lynne/ELO is playing.

Xanadu is perfect for what it is: a terrible movie that has a peculiar, amateurish charm with a mishmash of elements (Greek mythology, roller disco, classic Hollywood Star Gene Kelly, misguided pop star ONJ, synth rock ELO, and a burst of animation in the middle) that somehow beautifully fits a 1980 Zeitgest while flopping stupendously on release.

I love it for its off-kilter, wrongheaded perfection.

Jaws. The pacing, the performances, the writing, but most of all the music. The music is perfection except for that one out of place jaunty sea shanty as they head out to tackle the shark on the Orca.

Does “Tanguy” star George Hamilton?

Some of you must ADORE Light in the Piazza because you, too, seem like you've been kicked in the head by a pony.

Cinema Paradiso.

The ending was just breathtaking.

In The Mood For Love if we're bringing up Chinese films.

My top three favorite movies of all-time:

1). "The Wizard of Oz" (1939)

2). "Boys Town" (1939)

3). "Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein" (1948)

Are they perfect? Well, they are to me.

Sound of Music

My Fair Lady

R130, I've spent decades looking for that movie on VHS (it was available briefly at my movie rental place, then it was impossible to find), then on DVD (never US Region 0 available anywhere), and then on Blue Ray (nada).

If it's suddenly becoming available, that's great, and I'd love details... but "YouTube" hardly counts unless it's a decent full HD or 4K stream, which I doubt. I've never found it on Netflix, Hulu, etc. I think they showed it on ShowTime many years ago a few times, but... seriously, it's been VERY difficult to find.

I'm sorry it didn't live up to your expectations, but it really is a nearly perfect movie. One of my top ten of all times.

Room With a View

Sense and Sensibility

Spiderman: Into the Spider-Verse

Mission: Impossible - Fallout

The Silence of the Lambs. Jurassic Park. Dumb and Dumber. Perfection in each of their genres. x

[quote] Sense and Sensibility

That would have been a perfect film if it wasn't for ancient-looking Dame Thompson playing a teenager. That ruined the whole film for me.

Did she actually think she could pass for a 19-year old?!

Amadeus

For the screenplay, the direction, the performances, the cinematography, the production design, the costumes, and - of course - the music.

[quote]Spiderman: Into the Spider-Verse

OH MY GOD YES!

Bound (riveting from start to finish)

The Wings of the Dove (darkly interesting plot that ends up breaking your heart)

Dogman is pretty perfect. True character study, well plotted, emotional without being sentimental, devastating, very human, great cinematography. Great soundtrack/score. Superb acting. Just hits you in the guts.

I'll never listen to R149 again: I watched that one last night and I couldn't believe how dull it was. It's a perfect example of style over substance cinema, which I personally hate. It was fun admiring Maggie Cheung sashaying around in her fabulous cheongsams for a while but that quickly got old too. What a fucking overpraised movie that is!

Luckily I watched a haunting Hungarian film called "Love" right after that and Mari Torocsik powerful performance in that one quickly restored my faith in cinema.

Alien

Dangerous Liasons

A River Runs Through It

Amadeus

The Last Emperor

Return of the King

I will still watch the original Ben Hur whenever it comes on, the best chariot race scenes ever!

Mothra

Zorba the Greek

Whore

Wonder Boys

Requiem for a Dream. Brutal, not rewatchable, but perfect.

Foreign ones: Pan's Labyrinth, Roma, Come and See (Soviet movie about WW2 that is brutal, but superbly acted and mesmorizingly filmed. It's on YouTube).

Romy and Michele's High School Reunion. Not being snarky.

It's the perfect campy, funny fluff.

R163, I love Wonder Boys. It’s got such a distinctive feel.

Hobson's Choice

Brief Encounter

Holiday

Groundhog Day

Desert Hearts

Space Camp

Thelma and Louise

Monsieur Verdoux (Charlie Chaplin's "Bluebeard" talkie with Martha Raye; highly recommend this)

Halloween

Black Christmas

The Exorcist

The Grapes of Wrath Inherit the Wind The Little Foxes The Yearling

Any movie featuring Anton Walbrook.

Some that I haven't seen mentioned that to me were perfect:

The Ice Storm

Diabolique

88 Charing Cross Road

The Thin Man (and many of the sequels)

I like a story to sweep me into a particular time and place.

Mommy by Xavier Dolan

I don’t know about perfect but well executed and entertaining

Contact Heat Independence Day Deep impact

And for me, movies that introduced ideas that weren’t necessarily original, but changed the way subsequent movies were made.

Matrix Blue velvet

Rear Window

Notorious

The Usual Suspects Ferris Bueller's Day Off Mean Girls Midnight Cowboy

Alice in Wonderland (1999)

Les Amants du Pont Neuf

The Producers

Fiddler on the Roof

McCabe & Mrs. Miller

The Player

The People vs. Larry Flint

Valmont

Sound of Music

The Year of Living Dangerously

Black Orpheus

Maurice

Out of the Past

I Know Where I'm Going

Night of the Hunter

The Princess Bride

Any of the Bresson films.

No, I'm not joking: "Mom & Dad Save The World"

The General is perfection and Buster Keaton was a genius.

Perfect is perfect.

As some have stated it does depend on the criteria you use. There are some "popcorn" movies I consider to be perfect in that they are entertaining, they draw you in, might bring up emotion, the acting is good or excellent and when it's over you feel satisfied. No great dramas or high concepts just take me away and tell me a story so I can forget my life of a couple of hours.

Groundhog Day

Ghost

Rain Man

UP!

Mrs. Doubtfire

Back To The Future

Princess Bride

My Best Friends Wedding

Shawshank Redemption

Mask

The Sting

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid

Thelma and Louise

you get the idea right?

Tootsie

I absolutely LOVE Jackie Brown, have seen it a million times.

R188, your taste in movies is awfully middlebrow. And most of your selections are flawed in some way.

3 women. Perfect. Shelley Duvall's character is devastatingly pathetic. Sissy Spaceck is like a strange child looking for someone to latch onto and imitate. Robert Altman made a lot of perfect movies. 3 women was inspired by Ingmar Bergman's Persona, another movie I consider perfect.

Three Musketeers 70's version. The General Singing in the Rain Barry Lyndon North by Northwest

Excalibur

Amelie

R180 - My idea of hell is being strapped in a chair and forced to watch The Sound of Music!

Big Fish

People will laugh, but let them. I think Die Hard is a perfect film.

I mean, of course, for its genre. It's insanely entertaining and a great action film start to finish.

Blood Simple

Tell No One (2006)

Ruthless People

Headhunters (2011)

Throne of Blood

Akira Kurosawa's adaptation of Macbeth

Bonnie and Clyde

Rear Window Butch and Sundance Some Like It Hot

Lost in Translation

Pan's Labyrinth

God's Own Country

God's Not Dead

Orlando.

R207 = Kirk Cameron

i agree with you Op, endless sunshine is the perfect film. Great absurdist metaphor for romantic love. it is a must see.

What about Michael Haneke’s movies. I liked Cache with Juliette Binoche and his latest, Happy End, with Huppert.

Silence of the Lambs

Charlie Chaplin's talking Monsieur Verdoux with Martha Raye

Brief Encounter

Holiday

Groundhog Day

Muriel's Wedding, Tootsie and Ruthless People ... hmmm .... they are good, enjoyable movies, but placing them next to Fellini, Bergman, Kurosawa seems like some kind of misunderstandig. Andrzej Wajda is certainly among the greatest filmmakers. His "Canal" and "The Promissed Land" deserve mention here as well.

Porky's

Django Unchained

Bad News Bears 2

Chinatown

Rosemary's Baby

Godfather

Goodfellas

Sing Street... Beautiful movie! Set in Dublin in the 80s

Sing Street:

With the recession hitting people hard in Dublin during the 80s, Conor is moved from his private school to a tough inner-city alternative. As he tries to adjust to a new way of life, he decides to start his own band.

It has a great rewatch value too.