I want your opinion on the greatest film of all time
Me personally I think it is star wars and matrix comes second
I have been having an argument with some friends and I need your opinion to settle the debate.
so please help

Snatch, has a very good lesson, which is, never mess with Irish Gypsies or Jewish mobsters.

who was stupid enought to do that on the first place

LOL Snatch is a laugh but you're not seriously saying it's a contender for greatest film ever??
Anyway, depends what greatest is. Dan, do you mean the most moving? Most sitting-on-edge-of-seat-inducing? Funniest? Best special effects? Or the one that you're watched the most times? Or simply the one that's left you the most emotionally drained whether with excitement or sadness?
There's loads of good films I've seen but to be honest, I can't think of any truly GREAT films out there. And yes I have seen all the Star Wars films and Lord of The Rings etc. Guess I'm just hard to please. If I do think of one, I'll let you know. Probably one that comes close is Ben Hur.

I just meant the best film in general

u preferred snatch over lock stock and two smoking barrels? lock stock is one of my fave films, but talking as a series of favourites then i probably gotta say the james bond series, because what else can keep you entertained for 30 odd hours? (or whatever approx they come too) though star wars again is a serious contender, as yet matrix on its own is a good film, but i dont think it beats star wars just for the scale of starwars and what it achieved with a relatively low budget and lack of any a-list stars (at the time) .

Thanks, that makes it a whole lot clearer. [img]tongue.gif[/img] What is "best"? Have a look at possibilies in my previous post. I'll guess that you mean the last one: the one that made you experience the most emotion. I'd say that's best in my book. Whether it's excitement, laughing, sadness etc.

[ 12-19-2002, 10:37 AM: Message edited by: Vaskez ]

got two ways of looking at it, the best for you personally and the best that you consider the best because of its overall popularity, actors involved, the things you consider a film to be, i had some film student trying to convince me she must be right that alien is a better film than aliens, she wouldnt hear an argument at all just saying she studies films so she knows best (Bah!) anyhows i found aliens more entertaining though i can appreciate alien was a better film from a filmography point of view, but for entertainment and a good action sci-fi romp aliens was superb, i consider overall therefore aliens better than alien because i enjoyed it more (this didnt stop her arguing with me still, boy i hope she failed if she couldnt even listen to the other side of the coin [img]tongue.gif[/img] ) anyhows overall probably the most successful and best films in so many departments are the bond series

1) always entertaining full of action, cheesy lines, they almost define a certain type of film

2) the different bonds are all superb actors (cept lazenby [img]tongue.gif[/img] ) and full of charisma

3) the characters are always larger than life and extremly entertaining

4) its lasted from the 1960s on film until now (dont mention casino royale [img]tongue.gif[/img] ) and its still going strong

5) each film has almost every ingrediant required for a popular film, drama, action, comedy, sci-fi so its appeal is broad

6) its family orientated in some respects as most of the adult parts are kept to a bloodthirsty or sexual minimum and left to the imagination hence families happily watch it broadening its appeal

There have been so many bond films made and no sign of it stopping either, its a series that just keeps on going, so overall IMO its the best just for its full range of crowd pleasing and cinematically works to perfection from the OTT starting song and visuals to the big bang explosions and industry leading stunts. So on all levels it performs [img]smile.gif[/img]

yeah yeah ok you got me, its got a cool bloke with a gun who shoots some baddies, has his end away with lovely ladies and makes cheesy quips continually, ya got me, thats why i like it [img]smile.gif[/img]

LOTR's series when finished im sure will also be up there as one of my personal faves.

"The Man who shot Liberty Valance"

dont think i even heard of that one, whats it about? type of film etc?

<font color="Deepskyblue">The Shining
No question, no doubt! I love this film and can watch it uncountable times, Jack Nicholson has always been my idol ever since I first saw this when I was like 10, his acting in this is unrivaled.
The only film I think that can come close to this is Fear And Loathing In LasVegas, with Johnny Depp and Benicio Del Toro, funny as hell, great acting on both accounts, and in some weird way despite what is shown by the effects of some of the stuff they take glamorises it in some ugly low way :D </font>

Big up to Rugrats In Paris! :D [img]tongue.gif[/img]

Clerks... it is just the perfect movie... [img]smile.gif[/img]

My vote is for "Gregster: His Life, His Loves, His Towering Achievements."

It hasn't been made yet...but when it is, it'll be the greatest movie of all time. :D :D

Aw hell, I'll just be lazy and say "Citizen Kane" since I can't make up my mind and that's what all the film snobs would say. ;)

My all time favourite movie is without a doubt As good as it gets. Excellent performances by Jack Nicholsen and Helen Hunt as well as an outstanding story. I recommend it to all that haven´t seen it. [img]smile.gif[/img]

I think he meant "normal" movies Greg, not X-rated ones. :D

If the criteria are : the film I have watched the most times, has my favorite stars in it, and had the greatest impact on popular culture, my answer is, Casablanca. By a long chalk.

[ 12-19-2002, 01:32 PM: Message edited by: Attalus ]

For me its a tie, between the matrix and Monty Python the search for the Holy Grail. The matrix was cool but The Search for the holy grail had unforgetable lines.
king arthur-but i've taken you arm off
Black Knight-i've had worst

Peasant man-Just becuase some watery tart threw a sword at you is no reason for you to be called king. i mean if some moistend bint lobbed a scimitar at me and i ran around calling meself emporer they'd call me a loon

[img]tongue.gif[/img]

[ 12-19-2002, 01:39 PM: Message edited by: Bruce The Aussie ]

lord of the rings 1 & 2
and soon to be 3 are the greatest movies of all time imo:)

<font color=green>Greatest movies of all time. Star wars and MP holy grail. The best. hell i love it so much i have two coconuts that i have had since childhood.</font>

Definitely star wars...a groundbreaking film, and even though films today have surpassed it in box office gross, they still haven't achieved the feat that star wars did - stay in theatres for months on end. I think the closest anythings come in recent memory would be either titanic or Fellowship of the Ring.

I can't think of a single other film that stayed in the public conciousness as long as star wars, terrifically done SFX and amazingly watchable for a film that's supposed to be an emulation of the "cliffhanger" era of filmmaking.

"The Man who shot Liberty Valance"
It's Western, B&W, John Wayne, Jimmy Stewart, Lee Marvin.

Difficult one.
To those who said 'The Matrix', have you ever seen a film called Dark City? It worked on very much the same premise, but was a far superior film in my opinion.

Some of my personal ones would be:

Metropolis (Fritz Lang, absolutely groundbreaking 1927 futurist distopian political sci-fi)

Lawrence of Arabia (David Lean, 1962, if you have the stamina for nearly 4 hours)

Battleship Potemkin (Sergei Eisenstein, 1925, how many times has the scene on the Odessa steps been ripped off?)

Twelve Monkeys (Terry Gilliam, 1995, absolutely classic reworking of Chris Marker's 1962 film La Jetée)

[ /film buff]

OK first of all you know there is a book, movie and TV forum for this kind of stuff right????? just click on forum home and scroll down the list till you see it, and as for the best movie, I have to agree with the AMA and vote "Citizen Kane" Orsen Well's masterpiece.

Fight club is the finest peice of film ever to be made. The dialoge had so much meaning, so much wisdom, so much insite. You possesions wind up owning you. How true is that? (sorry for any misspelled words i try :D )

I think he meant "normal" movies Greg, not X-rated ones. :D </font>[/QUOTE]Actually, the sexual content of a movie about my life would probably be suitable for basic cable...in Saudi Arabia! :D :D :D

<font color="yellow">The Highlander!</font>

<font color="plum">Although the LOTR series is well on it's way to replacing it. Still, I doubt there will ever be another movie that I watch so many times that I have the script almost completely memorized.

Other notable mentions are....

<font color="lime">
The Matrix
The 13th Warrior
Silverado
Tombstone
</font>

I could watch all of these movies over and over and over.

My favorite comedy movies....

<font color="skyblue">Porky's (from my teen years - I've never laughed so hard at any other movie)
My Cousin Vinny (from my "grown up" years)</font></font>

For me it's David Lynch's ERASERHEAD.
It is everything to me - funny, scary, puzzling, familiar... one of the most beautifully photographed films ever, and THE best sound design

After that I'd vote for a Peter Greenaway film like Zed & Two Noughts or Belly of an Architect, or Kubrick's Clockwork Orange or Barry Lyndon

dunno how you can compare dark city to the matrix, both good films but in totally different ways, dark city is really dark and gothic and more a detective story, the matrix is more about action and special effects.

and how could i forget the holy grail! aiyeee indeed a contender, seen the dvd version with extra funny bits? and the original trailer? plus llamas taking over the credits, ahhhh a classic indeed [img]smile.gif[/img]

Actually, I saw the "llamas taking over the credits" thing a long time ago. From what I understand, there were actually 4 or 5 different versions of the movie with minor differences between them. The credits was one of those differences. I guess these were randomly distributed for "monty scholars" to discover...

A movie that really impressed me was 'Saving private Ryan'
Another one that I really love is 'To kill a Mockinbird'

There are two movies, I keep watching over and over again: 'A few good men' and 'The 13th warrior'

well you had the fjords one and the llamas is on every version i watched, dvd just has extra bits its worth watching just for the sorta pythonesque extras.

saving private ryan was a good film too but was beaten sideways by band of brothers i thought, though that was a series rather than a film, if i could nominate that i probably would [img]smile.gif[/img] awesome realism, attention to detail and more importantly most of it actually happened, love that series [img]smile.gif[/img]

Rosebud? [img]graemlins/hehe.gif[/img]

did anyone seriously actually enjoy citizen kane? everyone i know "appreciated it" and pointed out how it can be classed as the greatest movie, but film critics and friends alike neither actually enjoyed it, they wouldnt buy it, and wouldnt sit through it again given the choice, who here truly would buy this film and enjoys it? and why?

i actually watched 12 angry men once and was surprised to find i enjoyed it, not normally my kinda film at all, anyone watched that? 12 people sitting around in a room for an entire film would normally be exceptionally boring but this one pulls it off [img]smile.gif[/img]

Is 12 angry men the one directed by Sidney Lumet (with Henry Fonda)? It's difficult for me, to identify the titles, because they translate every title over here. If so, then I have to admit that I like the movie very much. Great acting, great story!! And big tension without a single special effect.
Concerning Citizen Kane: I didn't even manage to watch the movie until the end. I couldn't get involved if you understand what I mean... Hard to explain

[ 12-20-2002, 08:28 AM: Message edited by: Borvik ]