TOP TEN TOPICS: MOVIES!

Man, I've made so many top 10 movie lists but every time I get the opportunity to do a new one I can't find the old ones to reference. Well at least the top is always the same, but below that there's just so much good shit. Actually the top 9 is set but I tend to compress the top 9 into two.

1. Star Wars
Star Wars is one of those films that have defined my life. I would not be who I am without Star Wars. I've watched Star Wars since before I went to school and I queued overnight to get tickets to the last Star Wars film. I don't really care how shit the new trilogy is. Star Wars is and will always be hella-cool to me. And top 1.

2. The Lord of the Rings
The only contender against Star Wars really. A film I was looking forward to for many years and when I saw it it didn't fill my expectations. Instead it exceeded them. The films truly are better than the books in almost everything. For the last film I thought "this will make or break if this is better than Star Wars or not". After seeing it I was on the Lord of the Rings side for a while. But eventually nostalgia just won me over and Star Wars remained on top position.

My favorite scene? "Fireworks Gandalf!" brings a tear to my eye every time.

3-10.
Various good movies.

I'll try to do this list as good non-american/hollywood movies. Just for fun. Possibly I'll try to make it non-English too.

3. Jean-Pierre Jeunet films
Alright, he's made a lot and out of the meagre non-English films I've watched his films would probably take up a fair amount. Amélie is awesome A Very Long Engagement is also awesome. City of Lost Children and Delicatessen also rank very highly to me.

4. Der Untergang
Hitler's Last Days. Awesome movie where they actually lifted the swastika ban in Germany to be able to shoot. Deeply touching in showing that Hitler really was a human being while still showing his derangeness and the people surrounding him.

5. Joyeux Noël (Merry Christmas)
The famous early Chrismas of the first world war. Where the soldiers took a break during Christmas to share stories and play a game of football. Now I'm a big war movie fan (as seen by this list so far: A Very Long Engagement, Der Utnergang and this) and this is the aspect of war I'm most interested in (again as seen by this list). The people who are in war from all sides. A great movie to watch now when Christmas is approaching. Just invite the whole family to movie evening and share the Christmas spirit :D

6. Battle Royale
I borrowed this from an army buddy while I was in the army and was awestruck. It had so many layers and was so lovingly awesome that it made a bunch of my "must see" lists. My favorite scene is the instruction video, where the lovely contrast is most apparent.

7. Pan's Labyrinth
Haha, again war era. I guess that's all I really watch. 1940s Spain about a kid and her fantasy world and about fascists and guerilla. The film greatly combines the fantastic with the real without ever having them interact. Something I find very intriguing. It doesn't hurt that the visuals are stunning as well.

8. Ronja the Robber's Daughter
A Swedish fantasy movie based on the novel by Astrid Lindgren. It's a children's story about two clans of bandits in a fortress somewhere and their feud. This is all seen through the eyes of the child Ronja and her adventures with a boy from the other side and all that regular stuff that tends to come from these kinds of stories. It's nicely shot with beautiful landscapes and as it usually is with Lindgren, all the characters feel very much real.

9. Asterix & Obelix, Mission Cleopatra
I guess I should really have the original Versus Ceasar here but I just get a buttload more laughs out of Mission Cleopatra. Asterix, Obelix and Miraculix set out to Egypt to help Cleopatra build a palace and loads of movie parodies ensue. Of course, instead of doing them poorly like Insert Movie # this one pulls it off wonderfully with all the references. I would also like to mention the new Asterix & Obelix at the Olympics which is coming out soon and the teaser trailer is just awesome. If you search you can find it on youtube (it's distributed by Pathé)

10. Vidocq
I didn't really know what to put here but then I remembered that Vidocq is a pretty interesting movie. Shot completely digitally about 19th century France in something that is half fantasy and half detective story. I'm not entirely sure if it ended up fantastical or if it was scientific in the end. But it's a great movie that I heartily recommend.

Honorable mentions (movies I thought of but couldn't find a spot for):
-Night Watch (the Russian vampireesque movie. It has a sequel (Day Watch) but apparently it's dubbed in English almost everywhere. I hope I can find a proper copy eventually)

-Le Visiteurs (The first French movie I watched and enjoyed. Before that I just thought dismissively about French films that they always had to be weird. But this was a comedy true and proper and finally something that wasn't so damn arty.)

-Sophie Scholl: The Final Days (Story about a person in the German resistance during World War 2. Very well made, a movie that is essentially an interrogation movie. Still kept me at my toes througout)

-Brotherhood of the Wolf (Fantasyesque story with cool fighting coreography, very similar to Vidocq in many ways and could easily have replaced that on the list. Both would not have fit in in any way though.)

1. Lord of the Rings Trilogy
2. Star Wars Trilogy
3. 300
4. The Matrix
5. The Bourne Series
6. Braveheart
7. Saving Private Ryan
8. Minority Report
9. The Last Samurai
10. Full Metal Jacket

1. Transformers: The Movie (1986)
2. The Curse of the Golden Flower
3. Transformers (2007)
4. Dumb and Dumber
5. Star Wars Episode III - Revenge of the Sith
6. Lord of the Rings - The Return of the King
7. The Matrix
8. The Last Samurai
9. The Cable Guy
10. 300

Honorable mentions: Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, The House of Flying Daggers, Lord of the Rings trilogy (remaining), The Matrix trilogy (remaining), The Nightmare Before Christmas, Spider-Man trilogy, Star Wars trilogy (remaining), Troy, X-Men trilogy,

Full Metal Jacket is pretty awesome too, harmonic.

10 - Reservoir Dogs
9 - 300
8 - Crash
7 - Saw
6 - Ocean's Eleven (2001)
5 - The Ladykillers (2004)
4 - Lord of War
3 - Requiem for a Dream
2 - Fight Club
1 - Citizen Kane

I also really want to add Ratatouille in there somewhere but don't know where to add it in.

author=Despain link=topic=409.msg5475#msg5475 date=1196051248
10 - Reservoir Dogs
9 - 300
8 - Crash
7 - Saw
6 - Ocean's Eleven (2001)
5 - The Ladykillers (2004)
4 - Lord of War
3 - Requiem for a Dream
2 - Fight Club
1 - Citizen Kane

I also really want to add Ratatouille in there somewhere but don't know where to add it in.

Citizen Kane?!! Tis a classic, but I would've never expected to see it on one of these lists!

From a technical standpoint, Citizen Kane was the first 'modern' movie. It introduced loads of new technological advances that were not seen before - especially so when it comes to cinematography and lighting, but the non-linear storytelling was also a feat at the time. It's probably the most important movie ever made, after the bullshit racist movie Birth of a Nation and its ironic 'sequel', Intolerance - both of which also introduced many new concepts and technologies.

1 ) The Searchers
2 ) Chinatown
3 ) Citizen Kane
4 ) Nightmare Before Christmas
5 ) Lion King (Biggest ripoff of everything that succeeded)
6 ) Princess Bride
7 ) Finding Nemo
8 ) Once Upon a Time in the West
9 ) Twelve Angry Men
10 ) Cinderella Man

Changes daily.

Kentona, you are the awesome.

1. The Princess Bride
2. Children of Men (Seriously, go watch it.)
3. Dogma
4. The Shawshank Redemption
5. The Lion King
6. Lord of the Rings Trilogy
7. Independence Day
8. Disney's Tarzan
9. A Christmas Story
10. Armageddon

Man, all my favorite movies are these cool artistic foreign ones that always air on the local intenational channel. And I can never remember their names...