Greatest Movies of All Time

[Some Schmo]

OK, let's hear it. What are the greatest movies ever made, in your opinion?

For me, it's:

Godfather (the trilogy - I'm not going to pick among them)
Crimes and Misdemeanors
Empire Strikes Back
12 Monkeys

Those were the ones I thought of off the top of my head.

What are your favorites?

[Morley]

Lars and the Real Girl.

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.

Being There.

Casablanca.

The first two of the Godfathers.

[yellowstone123]

Breaking Away 1979/1980. I saw it in the Cinemax in the City of Orange.

[Gadianton]

I almost never watch a movie twice and have only ever owned about 4 DVDs. Based on number of times I've watched the movie, how much I thought about the movie after watching it, and did I buy the movie/soundtrack or anything else related to the movie.

Tied for first place is essentially it's the same movie:
Dune (Lynch/Smithee)
The Ten Commandments (Cecil B. DeMille)

Tied for second place:
The Matrix
Close Encounters of the Third Kind

Third place:
Gladiator

Fourth:
2001 A Space Odyssey

[huckelberry]

I always find this sort of question both interesting and frustrating at the same time. I find it hard to choose perhaps Gadiantons choice to select movies he willingly watched more times is a good indicator. Even if it reveals my taste to be ordinary and clichéd.

First comes to mind,
Sparticus
Ben Hur
Its a Wonderful life.(probably seen too many times necessitating current avoidance)

Cool Hand Luke stuck itself into the list which may be because I was at an impressionable age when it came out. That would be true for Dr Zivago as well.

River Runs Through It is a personal favorite because of various personal attachments.
The Shining and the first Terminator. ( I completely hated the sequel to the terminator)

The Good Bad and Ugly for fun

I cannot list Godfather despite the luscious almost intoxicating film quality. It is a bit like watching a trainwreck, how do you look away?. Perhaps I feel guilty. It is too d easy to like mobsters, see Trump.

[honorentheos]

Phew. This is a difficult question to answer. Even if I reframe it as my favorite movies rather than attempting to assess which movies are the greatest the temptation is there to engage in just about every form of self deception. I have movies I remember fondly from youth that didn't hold up (Tron, anyone?). And there are movies that impacted me that I wouldn't recommend to anyone else. Example, Lars Van Triers Melancholia which I find beautiful and which captures some kind of truth otherwise not seen in film, in my opinion. But is it a great movie? No.

I've watched the Coen Brother's O, Brother, Where Art Thou? probably more than any other movie, and could rewatch it right now and feel it was time well spent. One of the greatest? It's very good, quotable, but when I get together with film geeks we don't talk about it.

I saw Oppenheimer on the Friday of its opening weekend. I participate in a bar trivia game on Mondays with a few coworkers, one of whom loves film and we spent over a half hour after everyone else went home discussing it. Did I love it? Yeah, both as narrative device and as film. Is it a great film? Hmmm. I don't think it will be seen that way years from now. I could talk about it for hours, though.

Part of what makes this difficult is I am a different person with different needs at different times, so I know I'd pick different films at different times as favorites. What's strange is I can answer, True Detective Season 1 as my definitive favorite television series of all time. I can't do that with film.

Maybe by genre? Favorite superhero movie is probably Logan?

There's a film by the Korean director Kim Ki-Duk called Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter, and Spring I love visually and allegorically. But I also don't think most folks would like it and it is not very subtle.

Memento? I could watch it now if someone were down especially if they had never seen it before because it's fun to watch with someone for their first time.

Anyway, what a question.

[honorentheos]

Lars and the Real Girl.

Wow, nice pick.

[Moksha]

1. Dr. Zhivago
2. 3. 4. The Lord of the Rings Trilogy

Others:

Shawshank Redemption
To Kill a Mockingbird
Westside Story
Pale Rider
The Adventures of Robinhood with Errol Flynn
Léon: The Professional
2001: A Space Odyssey
Forrest Gump
The Green Mile
Valerie and Her Week of Wonders
King of Hearts

[Xenophon]

Lots of good stuff already from folks. Like others above I always struggle with these kinds of rankings. Media means so many different things to me in so many different ways and as honor points out what was made impactful or moving to me and turned a movie from good to great may not translate to others or may have aged poorly (rampant sexism was basically a "must" in every 80's film I loved growing up just for one example). I also need some more liberating constraints to help me focus my thoughts.

If I try to list a few of my fairly consistent top picks under categories to help organize my picks it might look something like:

Comedy-

• Kung Fu Hustle (or any Chow really)
• Princess Bride
• Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs

Drama-

• What Dreams May Come
• Shawshank Redemption
• Children of Men

"Newer" films that likely will continue to climb my list as time goes on-

• 12 Years a Slave (yeah I know 2013 ain't that new but it is one that continues to grow on me)
• Parasite
• Everything Everywhere All at Once

Super Hero (thanks honor)-

• I'd probably lump Dark Knight, Batman ('89), and The Batman together and just pick one based on current mood
• Blade 1 and 2
• '78s Superman

Some of my favorite "classics"-

• Rear Window
• Casablanca
• Rebel Without a Cause

I saw Oppenheimer on the Friday of its opening weekend.

I enjoyed it a lot too but like you I'm not sure how long that holds up. I'd probably slot it pretty high in my list of "movies I loved but will probably never see again". Which might sound negative but there are some true bangers in that one.

[Some Schmo]

So, I had had a few beers before making this thread, and I have to admit to having put almost no thought into it. I was just feeling conversational. I've enjoyed everyone's answers here, but it occurs to me after reading honor's post that I'm not sure how I would react to my own question. I loved honor's point about how movies will hit you differently at different times.

I remember watching The Big Lebowski when it first came out, and I did not get it at all. It was tedious; that's what I thought. Over the years, it became a cult classic, and so a couple years ago I decided to give it another chance. I remembered nothing about it, but on second viewing, I loved it. It was ahead of my time.

The main thing about this thread is that, like football players or musicians or actors or any other source of entertainment, I resist the urge to call anything or anyone "the greatest of all time," as I've mentioned. So in my sober state, I'm bothered by my own question. There are tons of great movies, and so many different kinds. It makes sense to list them by category.

I also noticed I left a ton off my list that you guys have mentioned.

The Ten Commandments. That's awesome. That was one of the first movies my family ever taped off TV with our brand new fancy VCR (1979ish) and as kids we watched it over and over. I've recently seen a few scenes from it on YouTube, and it's hilariously bad, but I'd love to watch the whole thing again. It's a fun rendering of a Bible story with outrageous 50's style acting, over the top and not at all believable.

The Matrix, at the time, was mind-blowing. I remember seeing that in the theater and coming out feeling a little different. I don't think it's aged that well, but it was awesome at the time. Maybe the sequels soured me to the original a little.

Gladiator, on the other hand, should definitely have been on my list. I never tire of that movie. I watch it every few years.

Shawshank Redemption is still the best thing ever to come from a Stephen King story. It's pretty faithful to the book, and where it deviates, it actually makes the story better.

I do love Christopher Nolen's Batman movies. They would be my favorite superhero movies (although I've got to watch Logan. I keep hearing that's good. Just never been a Wolverine fan, and I haven't seen the other movies).

A few more I left off:
- Amadeus
- Scarface
- Fearless
- Boogie Nights
- Life of Brian
- Dave (I can come in at any point in this movie and will get sucked in to the end)
- Anchorman (Same with this one)
- The Fisher King
- Fight Club
- Once Upon a Time in... Hollywood

Also, I recently watched Babylon with Margot Robbie and Brad Pitt, and also The Wolf of Wall Street. Talk about movies I enjoyed but doubt I'll ever watch again.