Movie Thread -- Happy Stuff (Non-Wizards)

[barelyawake]

Back to the Future? I'd take ET, Blue Velvet, The Shining, Full Metal Jacket, Airplane, Raising Arizona, etc etc before Back to the Future.

And Food Inc was much better than Super Size Me.

[Scabs304]

90's Shawshank Redemption and Seven

I know this probally won't be on anyone's list as best in the Haywoods, but first thought I had was Zombieland.

[Nivek]

closg -- I like your list for the most part, but I didn't like Solaris at all.

BA -- I agree with your take on Juno. Great opening, definitely a terrific "Sign O The Times" film. Just didn't think it was great.

My favorites by decade:

40s -- Casablanca, Citizen Kane, The Maltese Falcon

50s -- Seven Samurai, On the Waterfront, Sunset Boulevard, Singin' In The Rain, 3:10 to Yuma, High Noon

60s -- Lawrence of Arabia, Cool Hand Luke, The Dirty Dozen , The Magnificent Seven

70s -- The Godfather, Chinatown, Apocalypse Now, Star Wars, Jaws, Taxi Driver, Rocky, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Animal House, Alien,

80s -- Raiders of the Lost Ark, Cinema Paradiso, Empire Strikes Back, Full Metal Jacket, Airplane!, The Untouchables, Terminator, Die Hard, Princess Bride, Scarface, Spinal Tap, Back to the Future, A Fish Called Wanda

90s -- Shawshank Redemption, Pulp Fiction, Schindler's List, Saving Private Ryan, Unforgiven, Reservoir Dogs, The Usual Suspects, Toy Story, Terminator 2, The Fugitive, Beauty & the Beast, Groundhog Day, Miller's Crossing

If I had to pick ONE and only one for each decade, it'd be:

40s -- Casablanca
50s -- High Noon
60s -- Lawrence of Arabia
70s -- The Godfather
80s -- The Princess Bride
90s -- Shawshank Redemption
00s -- Finding Nemo

[doclinkin]

80's for me has a number of movies that I'll watch everytime they're on; many are popcorn chompers more than stellar artistic achievements, but re-watchability is the mark of an Iconic movie to me.

Bladerunner
Aliens
The Princess Bride
The Road Warrior
A Christmas Story
Spinal Tap
Airplane
Die Hard
Brazil
Runaway Train
Evil Dead 2
Raising Arizona
Do the right thing.
The gods must be crazy.

I liked Indiana Jones just fine, but Aliens probably just edges out Brazil for me in this decade. And A Christmas Story will outlast us all, our grandchildren's grandchildren will be watching that one.

[doclinkin]

60's

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
The Hustler
West Side Story
Seven Samurai -- edit: holy crap no, 1954. I had no idea this was out that far back...
Cool Hand Luke
The good the bad and the ugly
Sound of Music
The Jungle Book
Night of the living dead.


Tough choice for me. If re-watchabilty is the key then the musicals are probably in a death struggle with the seminal zombie flick. I'll go with NOTLD in my personal pantheon, but I wouldn't push it on anyone as the 'Best' of the decade, it just satisfies me the most.

[W. Unseld]

If you are married and can put your movie snobbery aside for an hour and a half or so "Hall Pass" definitely has some funny moments.

Cedar Woods also has some great lines and good moments. Neither is a masterpiece but both are entertaining.

[W. Unseld]

Has no one mentioned a single Hitchcock film? Vertigo is my personal favorite. (I apologize if I missed it, I was dumb enough to stay up and watch the Wiz last night).

I don't know the era but the original Manchurian Canidate was also well executed. Sinatra actually did a decent acting job and Angela Lansbury nailed it.

For another entertaining murder mystery with the slightest hint of the supernatural, go see the 1980's "Dead Again" with Kenneth B (I can't spell in this mind state) and his then wife Emma Thompson.

[Nivek]

I read "Hall Pass" and thought it was reasonably funny, but not as good as some other stuff.

The one I'm amped to see is "Source Code." Best spec screenplay I've ever read.

[W. Unseld]

I read "Hall Pass" and thought it was reasonably funny, but not as good as some other stuff.

The one I'm amped to see is "Source Code." Best spec screenplay I've ever read.

That's cheating, you have to watch it. I'm thinking this would be the rare time when the movie is better than the book. That type of humor I think translates to the screen better than printed word.

[Nivek]

I read the screenplay. Is there a "Hall Pass" book? I will say that reading comedy screenplays can be tricky. The visual is soooo important in comedies.

[Spence]

Dawn of the Dead makes my Best of the 1970s list. Perhaps the smartest horror movie ever made.

The 2004 remake was a fun action film and the first 20 minutes of it are great, but if you take the brain out of the story, which is what Zach Snyder did, you diminish the film.

[Spence]

Nivek, you're not much of a Hitchcock fan, I guess. "To Catch a Thief" is easily in my 1950s top 5. Probably "Rear Window," too.

For anyone who likes Hitchcock, but hasn't seen everything he's done, I heartily recommend "The Trouble With Harry." The movie opens with a dead body, which is buried and exhumed multiple times before the final credits. And it's a comedy.

[Nivek]

Nivek, you're not much of a Hitchcock fan, I guess. "To Catch a Thief" is easily in my 1950s top 5. Probably "Rear Window," too.

For anyone who likes Hitchcock, but hasn't seen everything he's done, I heartily recommend "The Trouble With Harry." The movie opens with a dead body, which is buried and exhumed multiple times before the final credits. And it's a comedy.

Actually, I am a Hitchcock fan. My Hitch favorites -- Psycho, Dial M For Murder, To Catch a Thief, Rear Window, Strangers on a Train.

I liked North By Northwest, but HATED the ending. Notorious was also good.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

Along with the first time I saw the original Psycho, The Birds is another Hitchcock movie that scared the I don't know what out of me.

[pancakes3]

The only movie ever that's truly scared me was It, and it was because i watched it when i was 6

[montestewart]

^
The Birds was the first Hitchcock movie I saw. It scared me. I was probably 6 or 7 too.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

^
The Birds was the first Hitchcock movie I saw. It scared me. I was probably 6 or 7 too.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KwLiH8bWFdM&feature=related[/youtube]

monte, you never want your wife to come home and to discover you in this condition.

[montestewart]

^
She's seen me look worse.

[Ruzious]

Here's a youtube of part of a really good nature-based movie with suspense worthy of Hitchcock - the great filming part starts around 1:15 and ends around 5:00. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VgX6WDYS ... re=related

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

I saw a film that was far from Hitchcock genre quality, but entertaining if you like simple action movies: Battle of LA. My 11-yr old and I got a lot of laughs and how the humans seemed more indestructible than the aliens. The good part is that it really did make extraordinary heroes out of ordinary NCOs and enlisted tasked to rescue some civilians trapped during an alien attack.

The protagonist of the story is a marine who's already put in his retirement papers. Young bucks are faster than he is. He's had bad experiences from losing men in combat. He wants out. And that's when the marines are mobilized to help repel the attacking aliens who are set on taking out LA.

What I liked, having way back been in the AF was how they IMO accurately depicted mistrust of superiors/subordinates. I also liked that even though the main characters are marines, the writers worked in soldiers, a bad ass female AF Tech Sgt, and a Navy-trained medic.

If you're into military movies you'll like this. Just don't expect it to be realistic. I mean the guys in this movie survive head shots, blunt force trauma, burns, falls from 20-30 feet. The main hero even kills the alien hand-to-hand!

I liked it because I guess I like simple-minded stuff. Of course there's some death and crying and stuff. But in the end ....