Your All Time Favourite Movies?

[westendboy]

Everyone definitely has their own favourities and my list is a rather personal one.  I don’t know about others but for me, I really love the movie experience ever since I was a small kid, persuading my parents to bring me to see JAWS because the poster looked so cool or asking my mom to chaperon me (Pri 5) to see ALIEN because the movie tagline (In space no one can hear you scream) intrigued me.  I can go further and proclaim that most of the time I can even recall who I watched it with, where it was screened and on what occasion it was.  Movies that I watched are like sign-posts in my life.  There I go rambling again… I have tons of movies that I like but I am going to pick 20 (tough choices) and they are listed in alphabetical order, all except for my all time favourite.

 

20  Audition

Awesome Japanese horror classic by Takashi Miike.  I remember reading that in a lot of the screenings all over the world during the final relentless bloody finale, there will be always be some traumatized viewers floundering in the dark to the exits.  Sure enough, when I saw this at Orchard Cineleisure, this girl sitting 2 seats from me rose up and ran out!  Unlike the numerous horror stuff out there, this one will definitely survive through the ages because of its huge relevance, weird structure and its melancholic pinings (pun intended Haha) that intensify the finale.  I love also the cleverness of the director in that we are not sure what we are watching in the first one hour – going from comedy to romance to drama to detective-noir to full-blown horror in the last reel…. kili kili kili… that is definitely the true sound of terror.

 

19  The Breakfast Club

John Hughes was a director who truly understands the teenage soul… God rest his soul.  Of his impressive canon – Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, Some Kind Of Wonderful, Pretty In Pink etc, this is the one that will forever resonate the strongest with me.  I recently watched this again and I dare say the teenage issues discussed are still very relevant.  Filled with pitch perfect performances all over and this is the movie that introduced the term Brad Pack.

 

18  Cinema Paradiso

If ever there’s a movie about the love of/for movies, this is it.  Absolutely magical stuff.

 

17  Forrest Gump

This movie literally changed my life – this was the movie that ‘spoke’ to me to make the decision to believe in God.  Great use of CGI to merge Tom Hanks with historical figures.  I doubt there’s anybody who hails themselves as a film fanatic who has not seen this.

 

16  The Game

One of my favourite directors – David Fincher.  When it came down to choosing one movie of his I can take to Heaven with me, The Game is the one.  Don’t get me wrong, I love Fight Club, Se7en, Zodiac… heck I even love Alien 3 but The Game was just such a freaky exhilarating ride right up to last leap.  In the hands of a lesser director it will probably suffer a dismal fate but in Fincher’s assured hands we are vested in Michael Douglas’ journey to the final revelation… at times when I thought I ‘got’ the movie, Fincher pulled the rug from under my feet.

 

15  Godfather 2

Empire magazine did a piece on the top 500 films of all time voted by the  who’s who in the film industry and Godfather was rightly proclaimed as Numero Uno.  Godfather 2 came up at position 19 but this is my favourite one.  Love the flashback sequences and the performances of Pacino and De Niro.  Art and violence merge so well together.

 

14  Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade

I remembered seeing this twice at the cinema (there are very few movies that make me do that).  I love that it explains Indiana’s fear of snakes and his motivation to become who he is later… and all this done subtly.  The father angle was superbly done and the final 3 tests were just awesome.

 

13  Infernal Affairs

I was watching the HK TVB drama Moonlight Resonance recently and this movie was referenced.  How many movies can be referenced like this after so many years?  Only the ones that have resonated with the public consciousness.  Such a clever idea of having a police mole in the gangster triad and a gangster mole in the police department, and it came out of the creative minds of Asians and not Hollywood.  However I just feel that the 2 sequels dilute the mythical quality generated by this film.

 

12  Jerry Maguire

I actually saw this in KL about a month before it even descended into our cinemas.  Went in there, having know nothing about it which is never like me and I was completely mesmerized by the performances and clever dialogue… I lost count of the numerous memorable inspired lines… Let’s see – “Show me the Money!”,  “You complete Me”, “Shut up, just shut up, you had me at hello”.  This movie made me hunt down Cameron Crowe’s entire film catalogue then.  Checkout Almost Famous man… Here’s hoping he goes back to making a good movie soon.

 

11  Leon the Professional

One word… WOW!  What a trip!  I can never forget Gary Oldman’s devilish deviant performance and his great line – “I love these calm moments before the storm”.  Jean Reno’s measured acting striking a fine balance between cold killer and childlike innocence.  Natalie Portman was also in her game in her very first major role.

 

 

[westendboy]

10  Lord of the Rings 

Peter Jackson’s magnum opus is so expertly done that nobody will ever dare take up Tolkien’s book and remake it.  I have ever watched all 3 extended versions in one-sitting at home… great experience.

 

9  Memories of Murder

Hemmed by Bong Joon-ho (The Host, Mother), a movie that won tons of film awards but miss our sunny shores completely.  This is a more of a police investigative procedural movie with an ending that left me so inept, stressed, baffled, frustrated and ironic, all at same time.  However I have come to really love the ending.

 

8  Once

First time I saw this I thought I was watching a documentary about the beginning of a love between two ordinary folks that no one will cast an extra look along the street.  It feels so unrehearsed, real, authentic and refreshing.  Though the two leads are not professional actors, they are professional singers.  And the songs… the songs came from the heart.  Again, it is a shame it didn’t reach our cinemas.  After watching it the first time, I picked up my then girlfriend drove back to my place and watched it a second time.  It’s that good but it’s obvious some studio chap, sitting in his big office, thinks no Singaporean will appreciate this.  Somebody give me his job… please.

 

7  Psycho

Saw this on TV a long time ago when I was a primary school kid and what an impression it made.  Ever since then, I continue to seek out new special edition of this movie and watch all the special features about it.  I don’t think I have to remind anyone of the shower scene murder or that Alfred Hitchcock had the audacity to kill off the lone female star in the first reel.  Brilliant.

 

6  Rashomon

By the great Akira Kurosawa, this is my favourite from his entire impressive canon.  Saw this first on TV and I can never forget the impact it had on me and one other friend who called me after it ended and we discussed it over the phone.  One of the feelings I got after watching it was that it actually made me feel smarter like I just sat through a lesson on human nature and its redeeming qualities.  Love the tracking shots of the wood-cutter in the forest that went on for a long time.  Absolutely mesmerizing.

 

5  Saving Private Ryan

If the opening 30min doesn’t make your stomachs churn, you must be really be a hard person.  And this movie has definitely, in my book, the best last words uttered in one’s dying breath…. “Earn this”.

 

4  The Shawshank Redemption

Adapted from my favourite story ever.  I actually read the 100-page story every Dec as the year closes.  The film is just as worthy.  The pace is so languid that it actually mirrors prison life.  My favourite shot is the one when Andy is white-haired and he stood up and spoke to Red about hope.  Andy is framed in sunlight (impending freedom) and Red in the shadows (he is resigned to his fate).  My second favourite shot is Andy being baptized by the rain after climbing through football fields of human excrement.

 

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3  Star Wars – The Empire Stikes Back

I can still remember watching this at the now defunct Capitol, circle seat no less.  I remember I kept looking at my watch as it was revealed that Darth Vader is Luke’s father and Han Solo being cast in carbonite being taken by Boba Fett (the coolest baddie in the galaxy) to Jabba… O my gosh… how is Lucas going to end the movie when the next screening is in 15min!  What a cliff-hangar!  I remember I was in a daze when it ended and didn’t once feel I was cheated of a proper ending. 

 

2  Spiderman 2

Probably the best superhero movie ever (Dark Knight is probably on par) in my humble opinion.  It had everything and other stuff – when has another superhero movie ever addresses the difficulties of being a superhero well and I love how a subway train of patrons actually saw Spiderman’s face and the inspiring resolution to his predicament... no silly contraption to wipe away everybody’s memories. 

 

1  The Killer

I have lost count of the number of the times I have watched it and in all the video formats possible – VHS, LD, VCD, DVD (3 versions) and I can’t wait for the blu-ray coming out real soon… Yeh!  Saw this twice at the cinema.  Something about it spoke to me.  I adored the structure – the first 15min devoted to Chow Yun-Fatt’s hitman character then the next 15min for Danny Lee’s hardboiled cop character.  No doubt a not so subtle message that they are mirror images of each other in terms of their unwavering sense of honour. Then a cool assassination sequence to merge both of them.  I love John Woo’s simple use of editing to convince us that a speedboat can elude another in open sea and his clever use of graphic matches in Chow’s shot out apartment, culminating to an image of both of them holding a burning cigarette with ashes hanging precariously like joss sticks in a temple.  The graphic matches anchor a certain mythical prowess the heroes have in understanding each other.  Remember the now cliched scenes consisting of slow-motion shot of showing the hero then when someone or something passes by and the hero disappears?  If I am not wrong, this is first done here.  The final shootout at a church no less was way over the top and when the Virgin Mary statue exploded, one get the sense that we are not just watching a good versus bad story but a metaphysical collision of Good versus Evil in the world.  And you know what - I definitely know that Evil lost but I am not sure whether Good won in the end.  Watch it and you will know what I mean... an ending you will never see in a Hollywood movie.

 

There it is… my top 20.  I know it’s not everybody choices, especially my number one choice.  Well… like I said, it is a personal choice.  And did I say I actually met the man, John Woo and gave him a copy of my thesis of his HK movies.  We shook hands and mumbled a few words and I got to feel like a wide-eyed boy again… Haha.

So what’s your favourite movies… I sure would like to know and would really like to watch your fav stuff.  Thanks for reading.

 

[j45yip]

...the scene i find disturbing is the hand to hand combat with the bayonet and the yank knows he can't prevent the bayonet from penetrating his body. you can feel his desperation.

 

5  Saving Private Ryan

If the opening 30min doesn’t make your stomachs churn, you must be really be a hard person.

[Guest cheekycheeky]

thanks for finding time to list your top 20 all time favourite movies! must have been tough for you to list top 20 since i'm certain, you like many movies!

 

i have caught several films in your list. like forrest gump, jerry maguire, spiderman 2, the killer, the game and infernal affairs.

 

i'm looking forward to getting infernal affairs in bluray. i want to relive the scene whereby andy lau steps into tony leung's hifi shop!

 

forrest gump is without a doubt, one of my most favourite films. i have watched it 7, 8 times. i do refrain from watching it because it gets me kind of emo.

 

i have watched the killer 2, 3 times. can't really recall much except the church part and the part where the girl went blind. the scene when she went blind always gives me the goosebumps because i always imagine it happening to me haha.

 

i caught the killer on television channel 8. channel 8 used to show those old hongkong films late at night on friday, saturday and sunday. i rmb there's a show whereby chow yun fatt did butterfly swimming in a river/lake. i can't rmb if it's the killer.

 

i have always had a penchant for 80s, 90s hongkong films. sam hui & brother, chow yuen fatt, andy lau, jackie chan, stephen chow and several other comical actors.

 

i have always liked to watch andy lau play gangster in hongkong flicks. there's this movie (i can't rmb the title) whereby 2 women fell for andy lau (gangster). one, a lawyer (gigi leung) and the other his wife's best friend. both women sacrificed a lot for him. andy lau died in the end though..

 

sam hui films are very comical. somehow i find hongkong no longer makes such funny films.

 

chow yuen fatt has a few funny films as well. one of them will be the romancing star. there's this film, prison on fire. i caught it on channel 8 late one night. i could feel the frustration and hatred. quite emotions evoking..

 

have you caught older jackie chan films? like in the 80s.. jackie chan's movies have very bad plots and the story doesn't quite progress well. but jackie chan movies are sure comical and innovative (referring to stunts and places filmed etc) for the 80s. i prefer his older films as compared to his more recent films.

 

it's my goal to collect all jackie chan, andy lau, chow yuen fatt, sam hui and stephen chow movies! i really hope their movies will be released in bluray. but it seems bluray hongkong scene is pretty slow. and they don't seem to be proactive in releasing older films..

 

wonder if i should just collect the dvds instead..

 

 

[westendboy]

Wow you sure like retro HK movies. Me too. Especially Hui brothers stuff. They can portray the everyday man so marvellously well.

 

On the Blu Ray end, I do have Police Story 1-3 on Blu. 1 and 2 are the worst Blu Ray movies I own. PQ is just plain awful. Bass sounds manually dialled up. But I can tell u I still sat through them like a small boy. Jet Li's Once Upon a Time in China 1 and 2 don't fair well too but I didn't really care because these stuff bring back so many memories. I remember skipping my NUS class to see OuTC at Clementi and as I walked in there with my soft drink Fanta grape, I dropped it and was so pissed with my carelessness but when e movie started I forgot all about it. Haha

 

Old HK movies on Blu Ray ... I really don't have high hopes for it looking good. I am keeping my fingers crossed for The Killer Blu though. On e DVD end, good news for people like us. Some guy put all of Hui bros, Andy Lau, Jackie Chan, chow Yun-fatt etc movies together and I mean all their entire catalogue out on DVD. You can get them in Malaysia 

[landis]

On the Blu Ray end, I do have Police Story 1-3 on Blu. 1 and 2 are the worst Blu Ray movies I own. PQ is just plain awful. Bass sounds manually dialled up

 

certain hong kong blurays titles are known to be badly mastered. jackie chan's drunken master is an example

[SiriuslyCold]

"brat pack" (Breakfast Club) Brad Pitt was a member of the brat Pack

 

awesome writeup, as usual - thanks

[Guest cheekycheeky]

They can portray the everyday man so marvellously well.

 

nice way to put it. i was trying to find the right description to describe the feeling those old HK movies gives me.

 

 

was the PQ of police story that bad?! i was thinking of purchasing the police story 1-3 set! do they actually fare worse than DVDs?

 

ah, i was looking at once upon a time in china set too!

 

one reason why i liked to watch these older movies is bc there're so many things to reminisce about..

 

fanta grape sounds pretty old school to me! the glass bottle?

 

nice..mind PM-ing me where to get those DVDs in malaysia? johor bahru area still can get..if further than that..sigh :(

[westendboy]

"brat pack" (Breakfast Club) Brad Pitt was a member of the brat Pack 

 

thanks for the correction

[westendboy]

was the PQ of police story that bad?! i was thinking of purchasing the police story 1-3 set! do they actually fare worse than DVDs?

 

The PQ of Police Story 1 and 2 is really bad.  Every screen is filled with grain and no definition at all.  Sounds are definitely pushed up manually.  Sounds very false

 

Once Upon a trime in China not as bad but many times in one scene the lighting can change for another.  Sounds and bass are pushed up.  Oh... and you can literally see the wire as the baddie fights Jet Li in the warehouse in part 1. Haha

 

But still I never regretted getting them. . . I will double-dipped in a heartbeat once a remastered version comes out... seriously.

 

For HK blu-rays get the newer stuff like Johnnie To's Vengeance, The Exiled etc are amazing

[armoury]

"brat pack" (Breakfast Club) Brad Pitt was a member of the brat Pack

 

Well, actually, I don't think Brad Pitt was really a member of the Brat Pack: this consisted of (IIRC) Rob Lowe, Judd Nelson, Anthony Michael Hall, Ally Sheedy, Mare Winningham, maybe Molly Ringwald, maybe Demi Moore, maybe Andrew McCarthy and a few others (not sure for instance about James Spader, but I don't he was).  The defining Brat Pack movies are Breakfast Club and St. Elmo's Fire, i.e. it consists mainly of the cast of these two.

 

Pitt didn't come to prominence until Thelma & Louise in 1990, and wasn't a star until a bit later, by which time the whole Brat Pack thing was already a bit passe.

 

I wish I could draw up a Top 20.  But it's hard to rank films, e.g. how do I rank Star Wars, The Godfather, The Matrix, Die Hard, Serenity, Dune, The Blues Brothers, Blade Runner, Raiders of the Lost Ark and Ocean's 11?  Even assuming this is my top 10, which I can't confirm it is -- I just listed 10 movies I love off the top of my head -- how do you put them in order?

[Pingu1624705792]

talking about Rob Lowe reminds me of About Last Night. May not be a top 20 movie but still... ;)

[kenasai]

Another great writeups by westendboy!

 

... me use to like John Woo for his "A Better 2molo" n Face Off... but his Red Cliff I, II put me off big time...

 

My memorable HK triad movie is still "狱中龙", with Andy Lau n He Jia Jing... A super blood-boiling classic to me!

[SiriuslyCold]

Well, actually, I don't think Brad Pitt was really a member of the Brat Pack:

 

really? I thought he was.. no matter ;)

 

... how do I rank Star Wars, The Godfather, The Matrix, Die Hard, Serenity, Dune, The Blues Brothers, Blade Runner, Raiders of the Lost Ark and Ocean's 11? 

 

Dune??  ;)

 

I think I would have The Usual Suspects and Clerks amongst my top 20 

 

 

 

[westendboy]

talking about Rob Lowe reminds me of About Last Night. May not be a top 20 movie but still... ;)

 

I love that movie... I owned it on VHS, VCD, DVD and Blu-Ray... the last part when Rob and Demi met again on the baseball field always warms me up.  I even have the soundtrack on CD

[armoury]

Dune??  ;)

 

I think I would have The Usual Suspects and Clerks amongst my top 20 

 

Oddly yes.  The story/script is a mess and incomprehensible if you've never read the book, and even then many, many liberties are taken.  But production value/art design is superb, and oddly its Lynch-ian trippiness works.  I think I have more DVD copies of Dune than any other -- offhand I think I already have 4 different releases, and when BD comes out I'll porbably get that too.  And add an old VHS widescreen copy as well. 

 

Call it a 'guilty pleasure'.  The title is "favourite", after all, not "best".

 

(As an aside, the 'weirding module' they introduced in the movie, that turns sound/voice into a weapon, does not exist in the book -- which only refers to some abstract "weirding way" as if it's some form of martial arts -- yet the concept of the Atreides using sound as a weapon is used in the Dune II game.)

 

I'd agree with Usual Suspects.  Not such a big fan of Clerks: I enjoyed it, but it wouldn't be in my top 20 favourites.

 

Whaddya know, Wikipedia as ever has an answer, for the Brat Pack:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brat_Pack_(actors)

 

I see I got the two core movies right.  Bah, I don't know whether to be pleased, or appalled, that I actually knew such useless trivia... 

[vieri]

No STAR WARS in this list?

Ive been a DeNiro fan so obviously films like Deer Hunter, The Mission, Midnight Run (very touching albeit profanity littered comedy), Heat are all up there in my list. Plus someone mentioned Johnie To's movies. Am hooked on to his films like the classic Election 1 &2, Throwdown & the very thought provoking "Mad Detective".

[kenasai]

 

I think I would have The Usual Suspects...

 

Oh yeah... Kaiser Soze! How can I leave that out from my fav list too...

[armoury]

No STAR WARS in this list?

 

Well, it was the very first one in my 'off the top of my head' selection.  And despite my whinging about not being able to definitively rank various movies from #1 to #20, But I daresay Star Wars would in fact be #1.  Partly for nostalgic reasons, of course.  Or sheer inertia, to look at it another way.

 

For westendboy, he does have ESB at #3. I guess he's not a big enough SW geek to put more in his top 20.  While I don't entirely disagree with most critics ranking ESB above SW, when it comes to 'favourite' I personally would put SW ahead of ESB.  Similarly, critics usually put G2 ahead of The Godfather, but I wouldn't.

[westendboy]

My list from 20 to 2 is in alphabetical order, they are not ranked except my number one which is my numbero UNO.

 

I wanted to put SW in but I only have a limited choice. ESB will have to be the one but that said, I will never forget the first time I saw SW. I was wowed! I remember my parents brought me and after that we were walking at Yaohan and begged them to get me Luke and Darth Vader action figures at $5 each. But they said they used up all their spare cash on the movie. That's how 'poor' we were last time. Since then I have gotten back most of the SW toys and I dare say I have a really impressive collection. So I guess I am as rabid a  SW fan as any on this earth.

[armoury]

hmmmm... that makes your "top 20" sound more like a 'best of'.  Re-reading it carefully, it does seem like you tried to balance the entries; for me if I tried to do this exercise, I'd stick in whatever was indeed favourite, and both SW and ESB would probably show up, as would probably both G1 and G2.  (Note absence of the two part 3s of both trilogies...)

 

If you have the toys, I'll readily concede you may be a bigger SW geek than me.  I've never collected toys, although I do have the comics and books.

[wind30]

why your writeup for cinema paradiso is sooo short?

 

Other than stephen chow shows, that was my all time favourite. Somehow that show really touched my heart when I first watched it. The pace of the show is not fast, not much action and yet I felt so much for the characters and the ending was really touching.

 

 

my another all time favourite is the korean love story, the Classic.

[westendboy]

Haha I thought that one sentence for Cinema Paradiso was enough. Not to say it is less worthy than those I wrote more. Did you checkout the extended directors cut which added 51min to it?  It has more back story on the present day director, Toto. I still prefer e theatrical version for it's tightness.

 

The Classic I like too. But the tricky thing abt it is that it tries to balance and mirror a present and past stories. If both are done well then it will be amaZing. But I always much prefer the past story more than the other. Just my thought. But I get movies work differently for different people becoz of our life experiences are diff. The Classic I did admit made me cry haha

[SiriuslyCold]

Oddly yes.  The story/script is a mess and incomprehensible if you've never read the book, and even then many, many liberties are taken.  But production value/art design is superb, and oddly its Lynch-ian trippiness works.  I think I have more DVD copies of Dune than any other -- offhand I think I already have 4 different releases, and when BD comes out I'll porbably get that too.  And add an old VHS widescreen copy as well. 

 

Call it a 'guilty pleasure'.  The title is "favourite", after all, not "best".

 

thanks - you didn't really have to defend your choice - it's just that a lot of people think Dune was poorly executed. I, on the other hand, even enjoyed watching the miniseries

 

I see I got the two core movies right.  Bah, I don't know whether to be pleased, or appalled, that I actually knew such useless trivia... 

I'd go with appalled ;D

[armoury]

thanks - you didn't really have to defend your choice - it's just that a lot of people think Dune was poorly executed. I, on the other hand, even enjoyed watching the miniseries

 

I also enjoyed the miniseries, for the exact opposite reasons compared to the movie: the script was faithful and therefore it was an accurate book-to-screen adaptation, but being a TV series, its production value was not as good as the movie.  Also, having watched the movie so often, you just get stuck with a view as to how each character looks, so the casting of the series could never live up to that in the movie.  In addition, they hired Vittorio Storraro, as either DP or lighting designer, but the way he works, he likes to use coloured lighting in distinguishing settings or moods, which is genius in the context of the theatre, or a highly stylised production, but is completely "unrealistic", and again having been 'spoiled' by the movie, made it even more jarring to watch.

 

Sorry, we're digressing into a Dune appreciation fanclub...  back to your regularly scheduled programming, westendboy's top 20 favourite movies...  just to comment I'd also rate Infernal Affairs quite highly, but no love for A Better Tomorrow (either 1 or 2)?