Tantalus wrote:

I love how you can get a pretty good idea of someone's age by perusing this list... : )

Some of my favourites (off the top of my head)...  <snip>

Oh my gosh, how could I forget 'The Prestige'?!  Thank you!  There's even a book I absolutely love, for it's story/love story and beautiful style, called 'The Night Circus', where the author said on her site that that movie was a favorite and partly influenced her with the book.  You might like that, too.      And a 'definitely yes' to Gladiator, too.  Just too many....  ;D  I find it kind of intriguing/hilarious that almost no one's put up any Sherlock though!  I loved those films, don't get me wrong, just had too many others to mention...
And, I….  wait a minute…  I kind of resemble that remark!  I think!     (what, with the 'older films' some people pick, or childhood ones? : ) )
I kinda like seeing the handful that pop up on several lists....

I think I can't choose only 20 favourite films. I've watched and liked a lot of different types of films and most of them can't be compared. Here's my top 20 list,let's say, at the moment:
Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (I indeed enjoyed PJ's films, also The Hobbit (but with some ifs and buts))
Imperium Strikes Back (I'm Star Wars fan, especially old trilogy)
Apocalypse Now
The Prestige
Big Fish (and some older Tim Burton's films)
The Blues Brothers
As Good as It Gets
Det Sjunde inseglet
Million Dollar Baby (this film was really nice surprise to me)
Love Actually
Spy Game (Despite not being a fan of Brad Pitt I like the way he's playing in this film)
The Bridge on The River Kwai
Good Night, and Good Luck
Back to the Future
Der Himmel über Berlin
Life of Brian
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
Dracula
Se7en
Shine
 

Difficult to tell whether these are my favourite films, but they are the ones that come into mind:

Sophie Scholl The final days
The Lord of the Rings trilogy
Billy Elliot
Nico
Das Boot
One flew over the Cockoo's Nest
As good as it gets
 

I don't have 20 favorite films, but these are my favorites (no order):
- Jurassic Park
- Notting Hill
- Independence Day
- Rio
- The Lion King
- Catching Fire
- Watership Down
- Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
- Tangled
- Pirates of the Caribbean
- Spider-Man
- Spirited Away
- Brother Bear
- WALL-E

I have a host of films that I count as my favourites...

Lawrence of Arabia
Sophie's Choice
Citizen Kane
Midnight Cowboy
Paths of Glory

Amadeus
Solaris
Hiroshima Mon Amour
Casualties of War
Rashomon

All the President's Men
Star Trek (2009)
Back to the Future (all three)
Sex Lies and Videotape
Fargo

Bowling for Columbine
Before Sunrise
Blood Diamonds
The Way We Were
Twelve O'Clock High

There that's 20 but there are lots more where they came from.

I love film and we go to the movies all the time and now have Netflix so we see lots of films.  I thought 2013 was a banner year and there were at least half a dozen movies that probably will go on my favourites list - but I like to wait a bit before I add them just to make sure they make the grade of movies I just can't live without seeing again and again and again...

-Val





 

That's kind of difficult because I often feel I haven't seen the best films yet.
Well, from the ones I have seen (sorry, with some I don't know an english title)

Jenseits der Stille (it's beautiful in a sad way)
Fried Green Tomatoes (I love the mixture of love and crime, but it's also funny)
Zugvögel - Einmal nach Inari (very melancholic but in a good way)
Forrest Gump (just an awesome take on history)
Sonnenallee (just a feel good film, the good kind of nostalgic)
Lord of the Rings (the landscapes... the pure epicness of it)
Schindlers Liste (cannot put that into words)
Once (because it's about ireland, love and music... can't resist that)
Der Name der Rose (crime in a great setting)
The Pianist (very moving)
Das Orangenmädchen (like the story)
Billy Elliot (because it makes you believe in living your dreams against all odds)
Hawking (Hawking=interesting man, Benedict=great actor, good combination)
Chocolat (it has a feeling of freedom)
Waking Ned (it's so funny)
StarWars IV-VI (lightsaber fights. han solo. luke. star ships.)
Les Choristes (the music is beautiful)
About A Boy (good story)
Phantom of the Opera (the music. the phantom. the music.)
It's a wonderful life (a feel good movie)
Kick it like Beckham (I like the idea)
Amelié (best lovestory)
Whale Rider (it's about emanzipation, and I love whales, and the main actress is very good)

ok stop stop more than 20 already!
in no particular order. It's just the ones I watch again and again.

Last edited by Whisky (December 19, 2014 8:03 pm)

Some of my absolute favorites (in random order):

Tokyo Story
Die Fetten Jahre zind Vorbei
Heavenly Creatures
An Autumn Afternoon
Late Autumn
Maborosi
Hero
House of Flying Daggers
Lord of the Rings Trilogy
Harry Potter series
Blade Runner
Casablanca
Dirty Dancing
The Others
Sunset Boulevard
Chocolat
The Ninth Gate
Gymnaslærer Pedersen
Reprise
The Indiana Jones Trilogy (Yes, trilogy)

 

Last edited by Vhanja (July 27, 2015 2:21 pm)

Yitzock wrote:

.....

This is actually a lot harder than I thought it would be, to name 20 of my favourite movies.  In fact I needed to read some of your lists to help me remember my own favourites. ...
 

I find that surprising. Don't you own copies of your favourite movies? I have most of my favourites on DVD (in the longest version with the most bonus material available). So the difficulty for me was only to decide on which are the ones I like best (given that I like all the ones that are on my shelves - the unloved ones have been moved to the guest bedroom).
Apart from my internet connection simply not being up to watching films fluidly (at least not always), I really, really like well-made bonus materials. Sometimes better than the film itself (in the case of LOTR, for example. Or Blackhawk Down - it has wonderful commentary tracks).
As happy as I am to be able to borrow DVDs from the Mediatheque - when I really like a movie I've seen that way, and especially if I learn that there's a bonus-enriched version available, I'll buy the DVD.
And if I ever switch to Bluray, I probably will buy my favourites again, if I have reason to believe that the bluray disk will have some added value.

Honestly? I can't list 20 films ... There are only a few films that really impressed me and that I can rewatch from time to time (not permanently).
They are:

Lord of the Rings Trilogy (the best I've ever seen and they must be seen at cinema!)
Out of Africa
Thelma and Louise
Alien I+II
Event Horizon

 

Kittyhawk wrote:

Yitzock wrote:

... I do wish I could buy more movies, because I do enjoy bonus material.  ...

My condolences, I've just seen that DVDs cost a lot more on Amazon Canada than on Amazon.co.uk. I easily manage to purchase my favourites of the year (used, obviously - once a movie is a few years old it costs next to nothing) with the money I save by not having tv reception (the fee for which is 130 €/year in France). In your place I would check into Amazon shipping costs and the regional encoding (or lack thereof) of your PC (or the possibility of hacking your DVD player, assuming its not region-free).
 

The cost isn't so much the problem, it's just that I either don't have time to buy them or have nother things to do, or if they come on TV a lot then I don't always think of buying them.  I've found that it's not something I always think of.  We used to buy DVDs a lot, but we sort of got out of the habit, and I'm not entirely sure why, despite the reasons I've just given.  I just haven't asked for them in a long time, and plus in a way I feel kind of bad asking since I got so many DVDs of movies I liked when I was kid.  I know I shouldn't feel guilty, but I kind of do.  
But I think we're veering off the topic a bit.