netflix :/

[MrDonut]

ok, here are my 5 star movies. they are in alpha order, not from favorite to least. i think my taste is eclectic, so i don't know if it will be easy to tell me. i tried to keep the list as short as possible. i have purposely included some movies that a lot of people love and I hate. I hope this helps.

5 star
40 year old virgin
akira
alien (s)
beautiful girls
amelie
band of brothers
the celebration
blade runner
cool hand luke
dune
fight club
high fidelity
hunt for red october
hustler
leaving los vegas
lost in translation
pieces of april
the squid and the whale
goonies
waterland (not waterworld)

notable movies I didn't like
american splendor
armageddon
breach
crash
election
get shorty
in the bedroom
the insider
speed
spiderman (2)
i heart huckabees
easy rider
adaptation
annie hall

i'll agree on beautiful girls, fight club, and leaving las vegas... great films...

on the other side i did like election, speed, and the spider-man series

some movies that i've seen lately that were better than expected were click and hitch... i really wasn't expecting much from either of them but they were (not great but) entertaining...

as far as critically acclaimed movies, pan's labyrinth was pretty good..

[Hunter Morrow]

Commenting on movies i haven't seen.

Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas
I just took that off my queue. i am nervous about it

Clerks 1&2
Clerks 2 is in my queue.
Cowboy Bebop: The Movie (Noticed Akira ... if you want more anime series recommendations let me know, NetFlix has a very nice Anime selection)
I can't remember if i have seen this one...
Grave of the Fireflys (more anime)
Miller's Crossing
Man on Fire
I'll check these out, thanks

Fear and Loathing is good. Not great, but good. See the first Clerks movie before the sequel. The first one is better and you aren't going to understand some parts in the sequel without it.

[Mothman]

ok, here are my 5 star movies. they are in alpha order, not from favorite to least. i think my taste is eclectic, so i don't know if it will be easy to tell me. i tried to keep the list as short as possible. i have purposely included some movies that a lot of people love and I hate. I hope this helps.

Hmmm... I've been thinking about this since you first posted your list. I really liked some of the movies on your "didn't like" list and really disliked a few of the movies on your "5 star" list so I don't know how helpful I can be.

For example, I liked American Splendor, Adaptation and Spider-Man 2 but disliked Akira and Dune. That said, I consider most of the movies on your 5-star list good movies, even if I wouldn't give them all 5 stars, so we have some common ground.

A few suggestions:

If you liked Amelie, you might like another Audrey Tautou movie, A Very Long Engagment. The movies have a very different feel but are both quite good.

She was also in "Dirty Pretty Things", a film I'd highly recommend.

If, by some chance, you haven't seen Stanley Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket, I recommend that movie too.

If you liked The Hustler, you might enjoy the sequel, The Color of Money. Stay away if you have Tom Cruise issues (some people do) but otherwise, it's a good movie. You can rarely go wrong with Paul Newman. He was in an awful lot of good movies.

Someone mentioned Pan's Labyrinth and I liked that quite a bit. I also thought Capote was good, well worth checking out.

Finally, if you haven't seen L.A. Confidential, rent it. Trust me, it's good!

Oh, and regarding The Maltese Falcon... if you don't like that one, there's nothing any of us can do to help you.


Jim

[Hunter Morrow]

I agree with everything Mothman just said, especially the Full Metal Jacket and Kubrick suggestion.
M-I-C K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E!

[Cliff]

Hmmm... I've been thinking about this since you first posted your list. I really liked some of the movies on your "didn't like" list and really disliked a few of the movies on your "5 star" list so I don't know how helpful I can be.

For example, I liked American Splendor, Adaptation and Spider-Man 2 but disliked Akira and Dune. That said, I consider most of the movies on your 5-star list good movies, even if I wouldn't give them all 5 stars, so we have some common ground.

A few suggestions:

If you liked Amelie, you might like another Audrey Tautou movie, A Very Long Engagment. The movies have a very different feel but are both quite good.

She was also in "Dirty Pretty Things", a film I'd highly recommend.

If, by some chance, you haven't seen Stanley Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket, I recommend that movie too.

If you liked The Hustler, you might enjoy the sequel, The Color of Money. Stay away if you have Tom Cruise issues (some people do) but otherwise, it's a good movie. You can rarely go wrong with Paul Newman. He was in an awful lot of good movies.

Someone mentioned Pan's Labyrinth and I liked that quite a bit. I also thought Capote was good, well worth checking out.

Finally, if you haven't seen L.A. Confidential, rent it. Trust me, it's good!

Oh, and regarding The Maltese Falcon... if you don't like that one, there's nothing any of us can do to help you.


Jim

I agree with most of what you said (Except I like akira).

I wasn't all that impressed with Capote though. The movie moved soooooo slowly IMO.

[Mothman]

I agree with most of what you said (Except I like akira).

You're sure not alone. A lot of people seem to like it. I found it almost unwatchable but then, other than Miyazaki's films, I haven't found much Japanese animation that I like.

I wasn't all that impressed with Capote though. The movie moved soooooo slowly IMO.

It didn't seem that way to me but it's not exactly action-packed, so I understand your reaction.

Jim

[Minniman]

Dirty Pretty Things is a really good movie.

Dune? Loved the book, but the movie isn't great. The TV movie version is good though. Which one is the one on the list?

Full Metal Jacket isn't one of my favorite war movies. I liked Platoon much better.

I didn't like The Thin Red Line at all. Terrence Malick has a narration style that makes films boring in my opinion. The New World is the same thing in a different era.

If you like 40 Year Old Virgin, you would likely also like The Wedding Crashers.

Mr. and Mrs. Smith is a fun movie if one doesn't take it seriously.

I really liked Grave of the Fireflys. It isn't a real happy film, but it is very well done.

[Mothman]

Full Metal Jacket isn't one of my favorite war movies. I liked Platoon much better.

I had the opposite reaction. Platoon was good but it felt much more contrived to me.

If you like 40 Year Old Virgin, you would likely also like The Wedding Crashers.

Good call. I thought both movies were really funny.

I really liked Grave of the Fireflys. It isn't a real happy film, but it is very well done.

I'm not familiar with that one. I'll have to look into it...

Jim

[Minniman]

I had the opposite reaction. Platoon was good but it felt much more contrived to me.

In Full Metal Jacket, R. Lee Ermey was great as ever, but I really cannot get into Matthew Modine.

I'm not familiar with that one. I'll have to look into it...

It is subdued, but it gives a good look into how civilians had to live through war on the other end of the bombings of Japan during WWII.

[Cliff]

It is subdued, but it gives a good look into how civilians had to live through war on the other end of the bombings of Japan during WWII.

It stirred more emotion in me than a lot of other drama's with "Real actors" in it that I've seen.

[jackal]

Full Metal Jacket is an awesome war movie


I rented three movies this week.

Freedom Writers I really liked this move

Pursuit Of Happiness Good movie Will Smith did
a great job

Smokin' Aces good movie , but really graphic violence
sorta of sin city Kill Bill type movie..

[TrenchGoon]

Here comes the trenchgoon to drop his wacky opinions. I certainly do not represent the mainstream with my tastes so feel free to disregard my opinions all together if you wish. First let me say that by far the best movie last year was The Lives of Others. Pan's Labyrinth, and the Last King of Scotland were also good. Zodiac, Pursuit of Happyness, Rocky, Fracture and Freedom Writers get credit for being entertaining.

Worst movies I've seen recently, Breach, Good Shepherd, Spiderman 3 (I liked 2), Pirates 3 (I liked 2), Nomad: The Warrior, Seraphim Falls (Walked out), Grindhouse(Tarantino needs some rehab, he has lost it), Lucky You.

Troy and the Color Purple are probably the 2 worst movies I have ever seen and I'll add the Patriot just to make it 3...

Now, if you haven't ruled out my judgment based on that sampling, here are my 25 favorite movies of all time in alphabetical order.

Adventures of Robin Hood (Flynn)
Big Lebowski
Big Trouble in Little China
Blue Velvet
Die Hard
Goodfellas
High Noon
Hud
In the Heat of the Night
Inherit the Wind
Jackie Brown
Junior Bonner
Lives of Others
On the Waterfront
Patton
The Princess Bride
Royal Tennenbaums
Secrets and Lies
Sense and Sensibility
The Seventh Seal
Straw Dogs
Tender Mercies
To Live
True Romance
Yojimbo.

HONORABLE MENTION
The Age of Innocence
Bad Santa
Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
demolition man
A Family Thing
LA Confidential
Lawrence of Arabia
Life is Beautiful
Lonesome Dove (miniseries)
Mulholland Drive
Mr Smith Goes to Washington
My Dinner With Andre
Punch Drunk Love
Remains of the Day
Repo Man
Seven Samurai
Shanghai Noon
Sideways
The Sweet Hereafter
Wild Bunch

[BGM]

Wow, a lot of people hated The Good Shepherd. I actually liked it. It certainly was no "cloak and dagger" high intensity spy flick, and I think that is the fault of the marketing for portraying it as such. I actually enjoyed the personal look. Choosing Edward Wilson, a "stone", as your protagonist is bound to offer some challenges. To me it offered a more authentic look at what the CIA does. I rather enjoyed it, but I can see why folks really did not like it.

BGM

[VikingMachine]

To me it offered a more authentic look at what the CIA does.

Really??

[BGM]

Really??

Yes. The idea that what the CIA does is what you see in movies like "Air America" or Tom Clancy novels is romanticism. Truth is, there is a lot of behind closed doors stuff that is not very exciting. I also viewed the movie more as a character study than as anything else.

Of course, YMMV. And it may vary wildly from mine.

BGM