I post a lot about movies in my schlock review thread, but I often struggle with the question about what movie is my favorite of all time. It was not until recently that I came to the conclusion that Jurassic Park is my favorite movie, as I am a huge Spielberg fan.

So what's YOUR favorite movie? What movie inspired you as a kid? What movie made you dream of new worlds beyond reality? What movie made you into who you are today.

The 1992 version of The Last of the Mohicans. People who mistakenly assume that Michael Mann doesn't care about women or can't write women need to see this movie. Madeline Stowe's Cora is both luminous and tough as nails. And Daniel Day-Lewis's Hawkeye is a great hero (and those long dark locks...)

That might also be mine.

That's on my list of movies I need to see.

Wait Until Dark. Is one of my favorites. I can watch it over and over.


I also am thinking of Rosemary's Baby as far as chic.


Also, Sorority Boys makes me laugh hysterically whenever I watch it.

Another one of my favorites is Predator. I love 80's Schwarzenegger flicks and this is the best of his work, even better than Terminator 2 and Total Recall, which are also awesome! The Predator design is a masterpiece and Stan Winston's effects in the movie are top notch, which really add to the suspense throughout the movie.

One of mine too.

Hard to pick one. I have different favorites for different moods.

For movies I like to watch over and over, it's down to Lost Boys (favorite vampire movie), Labyrinth (child-like nostalgia), Sahara (feel good movie) or Clue/Oscar/Fish Called Wanda/Soapdish (want to laugh).

It really does depend on my mood. There are a lot of movies I can re-watch over and over when the mood strikes but The Godfather is always first in my mind.

Quentin Tarantino's ( True Romance ) with Christian Slater, Patricia Arquette, Dennis Hopper, Val Kilmer, Brad Pitt, Gary Oldman, Christopher Walken, Samuel l.Jackson and James Gandolfini.

I don't really have a favourite... thinks... nope.

Some of the most beautifully shot, thought inspiring movies are ones I wouldn't necessarily put on for entertainment.

I do remember being amazed at Fritz Lang's Metropolis (If you've not seen it there's a newer restored version out that fills in a lot of gaps)

I've probably seen the Thing more than practically any other, as it's one I couldn't skip past if I tripped across a channel showing it.

I really enjoyed the Two Faces of January recently. It was a real noir story, it didn't just grab the aesthetic.

I didn't see Touch of Evil growing up, so it was a real treat to see that one. Welles and Heston, plus a few cameos.

I can add a couple after thinking about it:


well a few:

Excalibur
Bullets Over Broadway
Cradle Will Rock

I love a good farce, (or satire) my favorite genre .... however I thought Birdman was nothing like a good farce.

J'adore Excalibur!

Excalibur is one of those movies I need to watch ASAP.

Other John Boorman films worth seeing besides Excalibur include The Emerald Forest, Hope and Glory, Deliverance, Point Blank, The Tailor of Panama, and Exorcist II: The Heretic.

I just re-watched my sentimental all-time favorite last night: The Empire Strikes Back!

I know I've seen better movies in my lifetime, but absolutely none has been more influential and beloved by me!

I've seen Exorcist II before and I found it to be quite bizarre. It's a very different movie than its predecessor.

Merlin will never have any other accent after Excalibur

I saw the actor that plays Merlin in a film called The Human Factor, a spy film. Was pretty good but slow, and Iman was in it, and she's weird.

I like spy films. a lot.

Loved Excalibur for many reasons, not the least of which was Nicol Williamson's take on Merlin.

I hadn't seen Excalibur since I was a child when it kind of inundated premium cable channels until a few months ago when I recorded it on DVR and watched it. It's a very beautifully-shot movie but seemed a bit choppy and kind of woodenly-acted at points. The guy who played Arthur was especially flat. But the whole thing has an eerie dreamlike quality that makes me want to watch it again.

I remember Lancelot.

Well said, Lardy. It was ground-breaking, and it didn't come easy. Director Irvin Kershner tested George Lucas' patience with his meticulous approach, but in the end it was all well worth it.

Lawrence Kasdan must also be credit for his fantastic script!

^^Not to mention Leigh Brackett's early work on it, to bring in the Legion connection.

I was hooked with the first "Star Wars" (to me that's what it will always be, though I have to often use "A New Hope" these days, so people will know which one I mean). But "Empire" just took it way beyond the next level. It still amazes me, the bravery it took making a film in which our heroes get their asses completely handed to them and only escape (well, most of them) by the skin of their teeth. The movie really sells the threat of the Empire and the odds the Rebels had against them. In many ways Return of the Jedi is a disappointment in comparison, but the greatness of Empire as a film can never be diminished in my eyes.

Bors: I'm hungry
Arthur: Right. Let's stop for lunch. Who brought the provisions?
Knights: Ummmmmm...
Arthur: Oh, for heaven's sake. All that riding through cherry blossom, and no one thought to bring more than their armour? Right. Back to Camelot. And turn that bloody music off too.


These days, there would be hordes of CGI knights and enemies in the movie. Would it be better for it? Possibly not, although it does seem like a bit of a skirmish than a war.

This is tough. The movies I re-watch most were mostly made before me, lol and I'm more about story that appeals to me than art.

The Long Grey Line has that stuff I like: biography, over achievement, dedication, a bit of humor, man tears are okay and doesn't pull punches when it needs to. Hard to go wrong with a John Ford movie.

Green Mile would probably be my post birth favorite.

It's like picking a favorite Legion story, I'll have a different answer tomorrow.


More recently, probably Rent or Across the Universe. Watched both of those several times already.

LOVE "Across the Universe"!!! Such a great visual and musical treat that all Beatles fans should experience!

The performances held up well I thought, considering who they would be compared to. Across the Universe could have fallen prey to forcing the scenes to match the songs but I thought they did an amazing job as if the story preceded the songs.

The bohemien lifestyle in both movies probably hit home for me a bit but I really liked the relationships built in both movies.

The Bourne Identity for action, Dogtooth for general weirdness and Bridesmaids for comedy.

For the last 30 years or so I've always tried to go to the cinema a least once a month so usually like to think I'm fairly knowledgeable about films but there have been quite few mentioned that I've never seen so must get streaming soon.

Oh.. Rosencrantz & Guildenstern are dead!

A movie, not an announcement

One of my favorite scenes in a film has to be the tape recorder scene in Manhattan Murder Mystery.

hahaha!

I an pretty sure that I have successfully navigated entirely around Woody Allen's portfolio.

Just checked IMDB

I saw part, a small part of Midnight in Paris. Only found one that I watched. Antz. How odd is that?

"Naked Lunch" continues to be my all-time favourite, it's just so sad, funny, bizarre and a perfect fusion of Cronenberg and Burroughs aesthetics, that I can just watch it again and again.


Short list of other contenders:

London Kills Me
Exotica
Beautiful Creatures
Monty Python and the Holy Grail
Empire Strikes Back
Donnie Darko
Casablanca
Diggstown
Jesus de Montreal

I have to go with The Princess Bride. It's one of the few I am willing to watch more than once. In fact, it's the only one to make it past three viewings (I'm really not a big movie fan).

I'm a huge movie buff. But its really hard for me to come up with a favorite without going into a huge mega-long post about dozens of movies that I love.

When I was younger, there were really only two contenders: Casablanca, which I used to watch again and again from age 11 onwards, and the Godfather (Part 1), which I was just mesmerized with. Now, I think Godfather Part 2 is probably the superior film, but Godfather Part 1 is a more sentimental favorite that I love.

There are so many other great ones though. The Quiet Man, The Maltese Falcon, Bridge on the River Kwai, On the Waterfront. But I'm not just totally betrothed to classics or even poignant movies. I love Top Gun, Predator, Reservoir Dogs, Rocky, First Blood and others. Even the Lion King is a major cinematic achievement.

Blockade Boy mentioned another favorite of mine, "Long Grey Line", which I used to watch with my Mom all the time. Also in that vein are Going My Way, Bells of Saint Mary's and It's a Wonderful Life.

In recent years, the King's Speech was nothing short of astounding. I loved Gladiator. Loved Dallas Buyers Club.

See? I better stop now.

Cobie, Predator is one of my all time favorite movies. You just can't beat classic Schwarzenegger.

I like a lot of junk movies...

Ever go into watching a movie thinking, this is going to suck, then loved it? "King's Speech" did that for me.

Cobie nailed on my tastes better than I did. It's a Wonderful Life makes me gag but Bells and Going My Way, watch these every Christmas season. Tough guys and city kids... Cagney with the Bowery Boys as boys... gold!

Fish out of water movies, particularly those that show in a good turn, people some might think too humble to have a lot of wisdom, I like many of those.

Not a huge fan of Sidney Poitier but Lilies of the Field is another re-watcher.

The Mission inspired a good bit of my traveling into remote areas.

Several friends and family rave on that movie and I've still never seen it. Sounds like a date movie, I'll just have to remember it. Could be awhile.


sigh


lol

A few classics that I don't believe have been mentioned:

Harvey
Arsenic and Old Lace
Tons of Hitchcock films, though it's hard to single out a favorite.

Two that I see fairly often. I didn't see On the Waterfront growing up, despite having heard a lot about it. The Marlon Brando I knew of was the parody version in Alan Moore's DR & Quinch.

"Mind the Oranges Marlon!"

I think that's a good thing, because On the Waterfront packed more emotional punch than it would have done otherwise.

I've seen The Third Man a few time in the last few years too.

I forgot to mention that North by Northwest is a genuine contender for my favorite film as well!

As Eryk knows, since we're huge Hitch fans, I also love a ton of his other ones. A few that stand out: Rope, Strangers on a Train, Rear Window.

And speaking of Rope, which can be read as a play, it reminds me of another movie I adore: 12 Angry Men.

And... I told you guys I can't stop...when we start to talk about westerns, which has its own thread, there's Good, Bad & Ugly, Tombstone, the Searchers, Horse Soldiers and The Oxbow Incident.

Also, Lardy and BB mentioned Across the Universe earlier and it is hands down my favorite movie that I've rewatched in the last 3 years. No kidding: I've watched it 100+ times. It's my go to movie when it's 12:00 am on a Saturday, my wife is asleep and I'm enjoyably inebriated. I love it so much that to write about it will bring almost pain like feelings.

And I love Rent too. Seen the play 4 times and that can't be beat, but damn if they didn't do the movie so damn well that it comes pretty close.

Yup for Strangers on a Train. Then there's Double Indemnity.

I really like 12 Angry Men, but there's a parody of it from Hancock where the main character changes his mind at the end. I can't watch the movie without thinking of that.

Double Indemnity is great! It's another I own that makes the rotation when I go through a noir phase.

Another one I worship: Jaws. An incredible, incredible film that truly holds up. Seen it a minimum 50 times.

I'm a massive Spielberg fan so a lot of my favorite movies were made by him: Indiana Jones trilogy, Jaws, Close Encounters of the Third Kind, Jurassic Park, Catch Me if you Can

Fourth Indiana Jones movie? What Kingdom of the Crystal Skull? I have no idea what you're talking about and am bound to turn violent if you threaten my delusion

Although to be fair the buoyancy of the water helped here

Rear Window is one of my favorite movies. Just one of the reasons is that when Grace Kelly first appeared on the screen, it took my breath away. I'll never forget that.

The original Invasion of the Body Snatchers is at the top of my list. Along with Forbidden Planet, I think those two works stand as the seminal movies of 1950's science fiction that went beyond their pulp/schlock roots.

Forbidden Planet was one I'd always watch. Great sci-fi and there's a similarity to some of Shooter's Legion stories in that there are similarities between Forbidden Planet and The Tempest.

It would be a tough job comparing lady Legionnaire legs to Anne Francis' legs, but if someone has to volunteer...

All About Eve

Bette Davis was at her most fabulous. "Fasten your seatbelts, its going to be a bumpy night".

And I could actually sympathize with Eve, in spite of all the horrible things she did. To want fame and stardom that bad.... she was a victim of herself.

"Rear Window" is definitely tops on my Hitchcock list and a contender for my all-time favorite movie. "The Great Escape" is up there too. It's really hard to just pick one.

I bought the dvd of the great escape, but when i went to watch it, the dvd box was empty :-)

Love the Great Escape. Out of all those all-star cast type movies in the early and mid-60's, it was clearly the best with excellent performance after excellent performance.

They're all great but James Garner and Richard Attenborough steal the movie.

WHAT!!! No way! Tunnel King babeeeee!


That's only one of the things great about that movie, everyone can pick a favorite. Very LSHish.

WHAT!!! Better than Escape to Victory with Stallone, Caine and half the Ipswich footy team?!


Oh yeah, it is isn't it?