LU's Favourite Movie - 2015 Edition

[Zoidberg]

It's more practical effects than CGI. I think the complaint might be over the quality of the CGI when it is used, which isn't world class by any stretch.



I absolutely loved The Village right up until the arbitrary twist. It was atmospheric, well acted, and thoroughly engaging. The outrage tends to be because the twist cheapened what had come before it.

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I'll do the next five this evening. Studying for my law final atm.

Totally agree with you about The Village. It was a pretty intense, moving film until the twist.

 

[vvvrulz]

Be warned about The Village. I'm in the extreme minority on that film, and I actually haven't seen it in quite a few years.

Signs and The Village was misfires, promised plenty but didn't have the pay-off to make it a classic.

I'm not even a massive fan of the 6th Sense to be honest, even though the twist is amazing it relies far too heavily on that. I found the repeat viewing pretty disappointing, good movie but not great.

Unbreakable imo is Shyamalans most complete and enjoyable product, and unfortunately totally misunderstood at the time.

All his other efforts were more or less full genius.

 

[pennywisealfie]

Yes! 2 other people voted for my favourite film ever, Orgazmo!!!!

Step forward guys, and claim your virtual high five from me.

 

[pennywisealfie]

#59 - Any Given Sunday (1999) - 60 points from 3 voters

[/B]Arguably the biggest and most well known of the many NFL films out there, Any Given Sunday features an all-star cast starring as a struggling, fictional NFL team. It was lauded as a return to form for Stone after a few lean years, and features some damned fine football sequences in addition to the acting chops of the likes of Pacino, Quaid, Foxx, Woods, and Diaz.

I really wish you added LL Cool J to your list of actors with acting chops so I could see what you would call him in that situation. Would you go with just J or Cool J going with the theme of surnames or LL or LL Cool J?

Also my favourite part of the movie was LT being a bad ass and cutting Beamans truck in half so add him to the list as well

 

[Misanthrope]

#45 - 41
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#45 - Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981) - 84 points from four voters.

Starring: Harrison Ford, Karen Allen, and John Rhys-Davies.
Director: Steven Spielberg.

Writer: George Lucas & Phillip Kaufman.
Awards: Five Academy Awards (Sound Editing, Art Direction, Sound, Film Editing, and Visual Effects).

Proving that Star Wars was no fluke, George Lucas co-wrote the seminal adventure flick that gave the world Indiana Jones and would go on to spawn one great sequel, one passable sequel, and one that was likened to the pinball machine rape scene from The Accused.

Harrison Ford was born to play the cool as ice, smart-talking, utterly bad-ass archaeologist as he raced against nefarious Nazis to uncover the Ark of the Covenant. A film that still holds up remarkably well to this day.

#44 - Gladiator (2000) - 86 points from 4 voters

Starring: Russell Crowe, Jaoquin Phoenix, Connie Nielsen, Richard Harris, and Oliver Reed.
Director: Ridley Scott.
Writer: David Franzoni, John Logan, & William Nicholson.
Awards: Best Picture, Best Actor (Russell Crowe), Best Visual Effects, Best Costume Design, and Best Sound Mixing.
Russell Crowe's most critically acclaimed performance might have come elsewhere, but it was for his performance as the Roman general cum gladiator, Maximus that he won an Academy Award.

A balls to the wall swords and sandals epic the likes of which Hollywood had not seen in some time, Gladiator can be partially credited for the likes of King Arthur, Kingdom of Heaven, and company that came out in the wake of the film's immense critical and commercial success.

Jaoquin Phoenix was positively diabolical as the villain, we got a pre Game of Thrones incestuous brother-sister relationship, and there was plenty of blood to boot. An absolute cracker of a film.

=42 - The Sound of Music (1965) - 87 points from 3 voters

Starring: Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer.
Director: Richard Wise.
Writer: Ernest Lehman.
Awards: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Film Editing, Best Sound Mixing, and Best Score.

I can't even blame this one's inclusion on women, as one particularly musical St. George/Illawarra fan also registered a vote for this all singing, all dancing film about a family looking to escape from Nazi occupied Austria. Still a part of today's pop culture vernacular, you'd be hard pressed to find a person who didn't know what the hills were alive with.

=#42 - Once Were Warriors (1994) - 87 points from 3 voters

Starring: Rene Owen, Cliff Curtis, and Temuera Morrison.
Director: Lee Tamahori.
Writer: Riwia Brown.
Awards: N/A.
The other half of #42 couldn't be more unlike the syrupy sweet, optimistic film above. Once Were Warriors was a brutally unflinching look at domestic abuse, sexual abuse, and alcoholism within Maori culture.

While its sequel wasn't quite as enjoyable, Once Were Warriors is a raw and unflinching film that stands out as a truly great film even among international opposition.

=#40 - The Tower Towers (2002) - 90 points from three voters.

Starring: Elijah Wood, Sean Austin, Andy Serkis, Viggo Mortensen, Ian McKellan, John Rhys-Davies, Bernard Hill, Christopher Lee, Cate Blanchett, Brad Dourif, Miranda Otto, Orlando Bloom, Hugo Weaving, Billy Boyd, and Dominic Monaghan.
Director: Peter Jackson.
Writer: Fran Walsh, Philippa Boyens, Stephen Sinclair, & Peter Jackson.
Awards: Best Visual Effects and Best Sound Editing.

The first of the three Lord of the Rings film to make it into the count-down, it's no surprise that the film generally considered the weakest of the trilogy comes in at the lowest spot on the ladder.

While it features far more action than its predecessor, its place as a bridge between the wondrous introduction to the world that was Fellowship and the explosive conclusion that was Return of the King always hurt it a little.

Still, it featured the introduction of the beloved and praised performance of Gollum by Andy Serkis as well as the series' first truly huge battle scene, with the Helm's Deep confrontation being a huge step up from anything from the first film.

 

[alien]

when do we get the next ones???

 

[mackdadday]

Just remembered Watchmen..would totally be in my top 3!

 

[Misanthrope]

#40 - #36

=#40 - The Big Lebowski (1998) - 90 points from three voters

Starring: Jeff Bridges, John Goodman, Julianne Moore, and Steve Buscemi.
Director: Joel Coen.
Writers: Joel & Ethan Coen.
Awards: N/A

From the brilliantly witty and twisted minds of the Coen Brothers came this career redefining film starring Jeff Bridges as the cool as a cucumber 'Dude'. With bizarre characters and even more bizarre situations, the film epitomises the directorial style of the oddball brothers and is worth a look for anybody who likes the absurd.

#39 - Django Unchained (2012) - 96 points from four voters

Starring: Jamie Foxx, Christophe Waltz, Leonardo DiCaprio, and Samuel L Jackson.
Director: Quentin Tarantino.
Writer: Quentin Tarantino.
Awards: Best Supporting Actor (Waltz).

Tarantino's most recent offering saw him taking on the spaghetti western with a healthy dose of stylized violence and black-sploitation for good measure. While Foxx was cold as ice as the titular Django, it was the performances from Waltz as his eccentric sponsor and DiCaprio as a slave-trading southerner that garnered the most critical plaudits.

#38 - The Castle (1997) - 100 points from four voters.

Starring: Michael Caton, Anne Tenney, Stephen Curry, Sophie Lee, and Eric Bana.
Director: Rob Sitch.
Writers: Santo Cilauro, Tom Gleisner, Jane Kennedy, and Rob Sitch.
Awards: AACTA Award for Best Screenplay.

The highest ranked Australian film on the list, The Castle stands as one of the most universally beloved films in the history of Australian cinema. With its easily approachable story of a battling Aussie family standing up against a corrupt government and with the comedic talents of the Working Dog crew behind the camera, it was an immediate hit at home.

"How's the serenity?", "He's an ideas man," and many other phrases entered the Aussie vernacular as a result of the film. A classic.

#37 - The Princess Bride (1987) - 107.5 points from five voters.

Starring: Cary Elwes, Mandy Patinkin, Robin Wright, Andre the Giant, Christopher Guest, Wallace Shawn, and Chris Sarandon.
Director: Rob Reiner.
Writer: William Goldman.
Awards: N/A.

Another beloved childhood favourite with a few of the voters, The Princess Bride adapts William Goldman's novel of the same name as a tale of love, swashbuckling, and humour as Robin Wright's 'Buttercup' is kidnapped by bumbling bandits and inadvertantly reunited with her childhood love. It's all terribly silly, but one that kids and adults alike still enjoy to this day.

#36 - Back to the Future II (1989) - 110 points from four voters.

Starring: Michael J Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Lea Thompson, and Thomas F. Wilson.
Director: Robert Zemeckis.
Writer: Bob Gale.
Awards: N/A.

Not as popular as its predecessor (but infinitely moreso than its sequel), Back to the Future II reunited Marty McFly and Doc Brown as they had to go to the future to save Marty's kids from being colossal screwups. With some pretty bold predictions for the future and the same fun-spirited approach as the first film in the series, it was a welcome addition to the series and was clearly rated quite highly by LU voters.
​

 

[vvvrulz]

Just remembered Watchmen..would totally be in my top 3!

Was in mine

imo it is the best superhero movie period, and probably ahead of it's time.

Even more annoying is the amount of free love the Marvel movies get in comparison.
Some are good but many are really lazy and average.

 

[vvvrulz]

Surprised that Back to the Future II got ahead of the original.
Very good movie but relied a bit too much of Biff to carry it (he was awesome though)

 

[Misanthrope]

Surprised that Back to the Future II got ahead of the original.
Very good movie but relied a bit too much of Biff to carry it (he was awesome though)

It didn't. It finished ahead of Back to the Future III, but Back to the Future I is much higher in the countdown.

 

[vvvrulz]

It didn't. It finished ahead of Back to the Future III, but Back to the Future I is much higher in the countdown.

:shock: Don't know where the hell I got that from.
I must have read some other list somewhere and got my wires crossed.

 

[alien]

Surprised that Back to the Future II got ahead of the original.
Very good movie but relied a bit too much of Biff to carry it (he was awesome though)

i voted for the second one. i like futuristic stuff

actually i think it voted for all 3, but the second one the highest

 

[T.S Quint]

Was in mine

imo it is the best superhero movie period, and probably ahead of it's time.

Even more annoying is the amount of free love the Marvel movies get in comparison.
Some are good but many are really lazy and average.

Watchmen is better than anything Marvel have done.
I even loved the 3.5 hour 'Ultimate Cut'.

 

[T.S Quint]

Oh and Mis, Tarantino won an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay for Django Unchained.

 

[vvvrulz]

Watchmen is better than anything Marvel have done.
I even loved the 3.5 hour 'Ultimate Cut'.

Yeah I really enjoyed the ultimate cut too, apart from a few goofs-ups and miscasts it's about as faithful as you can get to the comics.

Just came out of Avengers 2 which really summed up what you said, it was fun but so damn lazy. How many times will they churn out the 'generic new bad guy wants to blow up the planet' shtick?

Was just another Saturday morning cartoon, and somehow its 8.0 on imdb and higher than Watchmen.

 

[T.S Quint]

It's a shame because they had to opportunity to make Ultron something different, but just went with the generic option.
They did give him a purpose, but he was just underwritten. That happens when you have too many major characters (and introduce even more throughout the movie - seriously did we even need Scarlet Witch, Quicksilver or Vision in this?)

 

[veggiepatch1959]

As usual, I'm doing my LU versus IMDB ratings for the 2015 Countdown.

After Misanthrope posts the full 100 Favourite Movies, I will start posting the comparison in five lots of 20 movies every day or so.

Almost 25% of LU's 36-100 placed movies are not even rated in IMDB's Top 1000. To be honest, most of those movies didn't even deserve a single vote.

Some of them will shock you....fanboy love does not maketh the movie. :lol:

 

[alien]

Who gives a f**k what IMDB thinks! We know what we like!

 

[vvvrulz]

Who gives a f**k what IMDB thinks! We know what we like!

IMDB overrates the crap out of the recent Marvel movies.