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1) Legionnarre: IMO one of Jean-Claude Van Damme's best moives.
2) Dragonheart: The end scene? Manly. Fething. Tears. (The sequel was a travesty that deserves death-by-firing-squad)
3) Braveheart: Not the first time the Scots have mooned the English, and definitely not the last.
4) Jurrasic Park: What can I say? RAWR.
5) Aliens: Take off, nuke it from orbit. Only way to be sure.

Honorable Mentions:
- Dance With Wolves
-Dr. Zhivago (thanks Vladsimpaler ) Touching. But I was a little confused at some points.

1. JAWS
2. A Clockwork Orange
3. The Godfather
4. Night of the Living Dead
5. Apocalypse Now

1. JAWS
2. BladeRunner
3. Aliens
4. Ghostbusters
5. Strange Days

1. Bladerunner
2. Three Colours Red
3. Near Dark
4. Dark Star
5. Fight Club

Honourable mentions: Beetlejuice, Heathers, The Terminator, Dr. Strangelove.

Edited for Peter Sellers

Could we maybe get some reasons behind these? (A single sentence will do)

I notice Blade Runner has been mentioned a couple of times.

Pre-2000 eh? Right before my heyday of movie going, but I'll give it a shot.

1. Good Will Hunting - Favorite movie of all time.
2. Saving Private Ryan - Grandfather, a WWII vet, couldn't watch it. He owns almost every war movie ever made.
3. Schindler's List - Love Oscar Schindler.
4. Braveheart - Seen it dozens of times, and I still watch it.
5. Mystery Men - Hilarious. As above.

Honorable Mention:

McLintock - Dad's favorite movie. Hilarious, and I grew up on it.
Ocean's Eleven - Dad's second favorite movie. Love the cast.
Apollo 13 - Pure awesome.
Forrest Gump - I could write a book about why I like this.
Shawshank Redemption - Morgan Freeman
The Great Escape - Steve Mcqueen

Ah yes, how could I forget Shawshank Redemption?
(I didn't know that Forrest Gump was pre-2000 )

1994

Emperors Faithful wrote:
-Dr. Zhivago Touching. But I was a little confused at some points.

There we go.

The part of Dragonheart I really liked was the scene where the dragon was shielding the knight from the rain with his wing and the knight's introspection just prior to that scene.

Hell, so many good movies, heres my personal favs not in any particular order:

Bladerunner - yep, every film trying to create a dark future since this have used Bladerunner as their template. Rutger Hauer stole the show with his speech at the end.

The Empire Strikes Back - Yoda & Darth Dad, The cast did the best with what they had, and it was pretty good too!

Ice cold In Alex - A bit left field, quality World War 2 movie. I enjoyed it and could bunch a few old war epics in the same bracket.

Akira - Yes, Its anime but this blew my mind when I first watched it, what first drew me in was the flickering neon sign during the first few frames, never saw that attempt at detail in animation before.

Some like it hot! - Jack Lemmon, Tony Curtis, Martlin Monroe brilliant comedy with a great cast.

In no particular order:

Bullit - Steve McQueen for starters, then there's that car chase. Dodge Charger versus a Ford Mustang. Did I mention Steve McQueen?

Unforgiven - "I was building a house, I don't deserve this!" Oddly enough I like the kind of western that de-constructs the whole genre. Plus it's shows of Frazz I mean Clint really well.

the Empire Strikes Back - No comment needed.

The Wild Bunch - Another one of those de-constructing westerns. Ultra-violent, it also has some strong themes running through it, not to mention a stellar cast.

Raiders of the Lost Ark - This is how adventure movies should be done. Period.

1. Seven Samurai (well worth it if you've got the patience to sit through a three hour, black and white, subtitled film)
2. Aliens (never, ever gets boring)
3. The Empire Strikes Back (Star Wars saga reaches it's peak before the big plunge)
4. Twelve Angry Men (best use of a single room)
5. Rear Window (best use of Grace Kelly )

Flashman wrote:4. Twelve Angry Men (best use of a single room)

YES. An excellent story, each angry man gets his own share of time on screen, one of the few court themed movies I thoroughly enjoyed despite it's age and lack of colour.

BrookM wrote:Unforgiven - "I was building a house, I don't deserve this!" Oddly enough I like the kind of western that de-constructs the whole genre.

Unforgiven isn't a deconstruction - the idea of the gun (and gunman) as both threat and defender of civilisation is pretty much the classic Western theme. It sure is a great movie though.


My favourites, in the very specific order of when I thought of them;

1. Trainspotting
2. The Thin Red Line
3. Heat
4. Chinatown
5. The Big Lebowski


Honourable mentions to A Clockwork Orange, The Usual Suspects, The Empire Strikes Back, Fargo, Godfather pt II, Apocalypse Now, Schindler's List, Annie Hall, Die Hard and a whole pile of other movies, all of which could have made the top five if I'd thought of them before the five above occurred to me.

1. Usual Suspects - Great ending, almost better the second time when you know the whole story.

2. Se7en - David Fincher at his best and a very creepy Kevin Spacey. The ending car ride scene is amazing.

3. Big Lebowski - Possibly the funniest movie I have ever seen.

4. LA Confidential - Great cop movie.

5. Fight Club - Edward Norton, Brad Pitt, and David Fincher ftw.

It hard choosing just 5. Honorable mentions to Heat, Blazing Saddles, Aliens, Saving Private Ryan

Amateurs!

1. Conan the Barbarian
2. The Blues Brothers
3. Dr. Strangelove
4. Roadhouse
5. Star Wars, Episode V.

1. Usual Suspects - Re-watchable, and almost better the second time.

2. American History X - The climax of the film is very distressing.

3. Big Lebowski - The genius of the script, the sheer brilliance of John Goodman, all of the other amazing performances. Everything in this film is impressive.

4. LA Confidential - An ensemble cast in which every important character is fully realised and every star of the movie could have carried a lesser film on their own.

5. Fight Club - Again, almost better the second time you watch it.

6. Aliens - Best sequel ever.

Emperors Faithful wrote:Could we maybe get some reasons behind these? (A single sentence will do)

I notice Blade Runner has been mentioned a couple of times.

1. Bladerunner - This film captures perfectly a dystopian future that is plausible yet still far enough removed from everyday experience to be fantastic, and asks that great question: Just what does it mean to be human?

2.Three Colours Red - A film that makes us empathize with someone utterly abhorrent.

3. Near Dark - Vampires are cool. This came out at the same time as 'Lost Boys', was utterly ignored, yet was the most humane treatment of the vampire 'myth' ever. Go figure.

4.Dark Star - Satirised Alien before it came out and established the 'piss-take' movie genre. Like Dr.Strangelove it was a film that made fun out of the people that tried to criticize it.

5.Fight Club - Wonderfully inventive attack on the way of life that nearly all of us hold dear. Breaks down the ideas that form our society and pisses on them. What more do you want from something you pay $9.99 to own on dvd?

13th Warrior - Not a fan of Antonio Banderaz(sp? on that one?) but this movie is just AWESOME! Vikings folks, vikings.

Conan the barbarian - Its Arnold (I have a man crush on him) killing things. Whats better?

Braveheart/The Patriot - I have both because they are both REALLY good movies to me, and I could never pick one over the other.

Terminator - (Told you I have a man crush on Arnold lol) Seriously TERMINATOR?!? This is one of the greatest movies of all time. And the end where the 101 stands up from the fires of that tanker and starts limping towards Sarah Conner, DAMN that part still creeps me out.

SE7EN - If you havnt seen this movie, get off your ass and go see it. Its dark, twisted and disturbing. Yet its SUCH a great movie.

Hell the hell can I narrow it down to 5? How about 5 released for every year of my pre-2000 life? (Not ranked in any order)

1981:
1. Clash of the Titans - I love Greek Myths and I enjoy the cheesy Harryhausen effects. Aside from that owl.

2. Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior - Fantastic chase movie, and still the best post-apocalyptic landscape I've seen on celluloid

3. Raiders of the Lost Ark _ Do I have to explain this? It's Indy, it's awesome.

4. For Your Eyes Only - Roger Moore is my favorite Bond, and it's a toss up between this and The Spy Who Loved Me for his best movie.

5. History of the World: Part 1 - I'll watch any parody movie, and this one has the decency to be actually funny.

1982:
1. Blade Runner - I like the way it messes with the perception of what is humanity, and it has fantatsic production design that influenced every dystopia since.

2. E.T. - For making my sympathise with an alien that looked like a turd with a neck.

3. Star Trek II: Wrath of Khan - KHAAAAAAAN!!

4. Porky's - It's dumb, it's crass and it has tits. I liked it when I saw it aged 12

5. Personal Best - A pretty good of handing gender/sexuality issues in a coherent story.

1983:
1. Monty Python's the meaning of life. - It's Python. Just one wafer-thin mint?

2. National Lampoon's Vacation - One of the only 3 times Chevy Chase was funny in a film. Wally World was hilarious, even at gunpoint.

3. Return of the Jedi - Weak, but still part of one of the best space opera sagas ever.

4. WarGames - Taught me the futility of Tic Tac Toe

5. The Hunger - a great little forgotten vampire movie. Plus Bowie. I love Bowie.

1984:
1. Ghostbusters - Simple, funny and full of great lines.

2. Gremlins - Showed me that horror and humour were very close cousins

3. The Karate Kid - Life lesson: the best way to not be picked on is to kick a dude in the face.

4. The Terminator - Very tense move, great special effects (pre-CGI) and of course, Arnie as believably unstoppable

5. This is Spinal Tap - because this list goes up to eleven.

1985:
1. Back to the Future - A time travel movie that's mostly logically consistent. Plus Marty & Doc had great chemistry.

2. The Goonies - Chunk love Sloth

3. Clue - just for the Tim Curryness of Tim Curry

4. Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome - Because Tina Turner was simply magnetic

5. A View to A Kill - Bond. Roger Moore. Also, Christopher melon-fething Walken

1986:
1. Aliens - It's simply brilliant. Not as good as Alien though.

2. Highlander - Great concept with the Immortals among us theme, great Queen soundtrack. There were no sequels/spin-offs

3. The Hitcher - Rutger Hauer plays the creepy stalker perfectly

4. The Transformers: The Movie - I'm an unashamed Transformers fanboy, and this was brilliant.

5. Labyrinth - Again, Bowie.

1987:
1. Full Metal Jacket - Full of great performances, and Kubrick really gets across the insanity of war.

2. Masters of the Universe - Okay, it's a crap movie, but it's the first one I remember seeing in theatres.

3. The Princess Bride - Is there a more quotable movie in existence? Inconceivable!

4. Withnail & I - It's delightfully odd

5. Robocop - A satire of consumerism that also happens to be a bloody, violent kick-ass action movie

1988:
1. Die Hard - The perfect action movie. A template that's been mimicked many times, but never bettered.

2. Rain Man - Simply fantatsic acting by Hoffman

3. Who Framed Roger Rabbit? - Great blending of animation and live action.

4. Naked Gun - I love spoofs, and Zucker-Abrams-Zucker still had their fastball here.

5. A Fish Called Wanda. - It's funny, and a semi-Python reunion

1989:
1. Batman - It's not aged well, but it was the first non-goofy superhero movie, plus it has the best Batmobile of all.

2. Indiana Jones & The Last Crusade - Great sequel. Like the holy grail mythology, and Harrison Ford & Sean Connery are a dream team

3. Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure - Sure it was dumb, but it was funny and it introduced my to George Carlin

4. Major League - It was a funny movie despite being about the most boring sport on the face of the Earth.

5. Heathers - Seemed a very accurate representation of school

1990:
1. Goodfellas - My favorite mafia movie. Plus Pesci is hilarious

2. Total Recall - I like the theme of what is memory. Plus it wraps up a fairly high concept plot in an accessible action movie.

3. Memphis Belle - Might be why I'm a plane geek

4. The Krays - awesome little London gangster movie. True story too.

5. Edward Scissorhands - This is what the inside of Tim Burton's head looks like. I like it here

1991:
1. Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves - Unabashed fun, history be damned. Also features the worst attempt at an English accent outside of Mary Poppins' Dick van Dyke

2. The Silence of the Lambs - Chilling.

3. Star Trek VI - My favorite Kirk & co. movie

4. Terminator 2 - Maid CGi mainstream, and is a fantastic sequel, superior to the original.

5. Beauty & The Beast - It revitalised Disney, and has gorgeous animation.

1992:
1. A Few Good Men - A perfectly constructed movie, and every time I flip past it on TV, I have to go back and watch it till the end.

2. Last of the Mohicans - Daniel Day-Lewis makes this movie.

3. Reservoir Dogs - A brilliant heist movie - with no heist shown. Plus the director had talent.

4. Wayne's World - Simple dumb humor done well. We're not worthy.

5. My Cousin Vinny - Simply great comedy/drama. Weird how Ralph Macchio looks the same as in Karate Kid though.

1993:
1. The Fugitive - Thanks to Tommy Lee Jones, you almost root for Harrison Ford to be caught as much as you do for him to clear his name

2. Groundhog Day - A great film built around a simple high concept gimmick. Plus, Bill Murray.

3. Jurassic Park - the dinosaurs looked real! The effects in this movie still hold up today, especially compared to the sequels

4. Schindler's List - Fabulous. And very moving.

5. So I Married an Axe Murderer - Possibly the last time Mike Myers was actually funny

1994:
1. Forrest Gump - I loved the way it weaved through history convincingly

2. Heavenly Creatures - The fantasy world that Peter JAckson creates as a metaphor for the strange psyches of the girls is as magical as it is disturbing when one heinous act shatters it.

3. Interview With The Vampire - Like Twilight, if Twilight were good and not about fake sparkly vampires. Plus Tom cruise, Brad Pitt & Antonin Banderas is a sexy as hell cast.

4. The Shawshank Redemption - Hope triumphing over adversity ha snever been so cathartic.

5. Speed - High Concept, killer action, executed well = win

1995:
1. Braveheart - Inaccurate as all hell, but the battle sequences were epic. this is how I imagine WFB battles going.

2. Get Shorty - A guilty pleasure of mine, plus the dialog just crackles

3. GoldenEye - A good Bond again, and not too ludicrous

4. Seven - Creepy noir, and a fantastic serial killer villain. Plus a cool twist ending

5. The Usual Suspects - An even better twist ending.

1996:
1. Bound - A compact little gangster thriller. Great direction from the Wachowski's, plus I love Jennifer Tilly. The lesbianism aspect is just gravy on top of a great little plot.

2. Different for Girls - An obscure little British movie about transgenders that manages to not come of as a 'Very Special Episode' writ large. Fantastic soundtrack too.

3. From Dusk Till Dawn - because the complete change in direction halfway through makes this movie.

4. Jerry Maguire - Just a compelling watch. Although the idea of an agent with ethics seems anachronistic

5. Independence Day - Jingoistic, but neat effects for the time.

1997:
1. Jackie Brown - My favorite Tarantino movie, with generous doses of Elmore Leonard style

2. Starship Troopers - Unrelated to the book, but a fun satire on fascism

3. L.A. Confidential - Good noir

4. Boogie Nights - A great movie with a different sensibilty with a palpable sense of things changing when the movie reaches the 80s

5. The Game - You just lost it.

1998:
1. Saving Private Ryan - The opening is so so visceral

2. Velvet Goldmine - a fictionalised version of Bowie's life. I love Bowie. He hated this and refused to co operate

3. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas - A hell of a trip.

4. Primary Colors - a political comedy that succeeded in being funny, very rare thing.

5. The Big Lebowski - A tour de force on how the Coen's have a skewed view of life

1999:
1. Fight Club - An examination of nihilism that ultimately concludes "feth it" Also a great twist ending. You have to watch it twice in a row.

2. The Matrix - for better or worse, it revolutionised film special effects. Also like the premise of questioning what reality is.

3. South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut - An expose on the western world's attitudes to censorship as expressed with crude (in every sense) animate characters

4. Galaxy Quest - A spoof of Star Trek, that's as affectionate as it is funny

5. Being John Malkovich - Mind-bending and plain weird, but it somehow throws so many starnge ideas together that it works.

If you don't know this quote you have not seen this movie:

"Bring me.....A SHRUBBERY!"

Captain Shrike wrote:If you don't know this quote you have not seen this movie:

Well that's quite the tautology.

Also, that quote appears in the musical Spamalot! so someone might know it from there instead..

1. Ben-Hur - Just an epic movie by all accounts
2. Braveheart - How can you not like this movie?
3. Fight Club - Just entertaining the whole way through, especially the ending. What really made me a fan of Edward Norton.
4. Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark - I grew up on this film. It is really one of the best adventure films ever.
5. Tombstone - Its a nocturne. You know, by Frederick Fething Chopin.

- Aliens: Favorite film since age 5.
- Terminator 2: Fantastic movie.
- Predator: So many classic lines in this movie...plus it's the first film in one of my favorite scifi universes.
- JAWS: Dum dum...dum dum...dum dum dum dum...
- A Clockwork Orange: One of my favorite thriller/drama movies of ALL time.


Overall, it seems I'm a big fan of James Cameron and Steven Spielbergs early works . But to be honest, most of my top 10 movies are pre-2000 with the exception of the third LotR movie and The Dark Knight.

1. Twelve Angry Men. Great drama and proof you don't need special effects to sell a story.
2. To Kill a Mocking Bird. One of the greatest actors, protraying one of the movies greatest Heros.
3. Patton. The man was one of the best.
4. Forrest Gump. Brings back memories
5. Osca. Much under apprecaited movie.

sebster wrote:

BrookM wrote:Unforgiven - "I was building a house, I don't deserve this!" Oddly enough I like the kind of western that de-constructs the whole genre.

Unforgiven isn't a deconstruction - the idea of the gun (and gunman) as both threat and defender of civilisation is pretty much the classic Western theme. It sure is a great movie though.

That would be true except that wasn't what was going on in the movie. It was a deconstruction of the western for several reasons, one being that there is not truly good or bad guy; if anything everyone is more bad then good. No character is all good or all bad but morally ambiguous. There is no hero, there is no villain. It also tried to demystify the excitement of westerns as well as make violence seem unpleasant and nasty, with actual impact on people.

1. Forrest Gump - Tom Hanks had one of his greatest performances backed up by a lovable story that traces America from the 50's to modern day which entertains history fans like myself.

2. Pulp Fiction - Definitive Tarantino movie that had a throughly entertaining screenplay and praise-worthy performances that jump-started Samuel L. Jackson, John Travolta, and Uma Thurman's career.

3. Patton - I'm a huge WW2 and Patton buff; although it wasn't exactly historically accurate it was an excellent film that showed the appeal and impact the man had. Oh yea and George C. Scott was at his best making it one of the best acting performances...ever.

4. Terminator 2 - Its what all blockbusters should aspire to be: setting benchmarks in special effects while delivering the story, fun, characters, and substance to back it up.

5. Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back - Star Wars at its best. Unfortunately Lucasfilm turned to the dark side after this.

Ahtman wrote:

sebster wrote:

BrookM wrote:Unforgiven - "I was building a house, I don't deserve this!" Oddly enough I like the kind of western that de-constructs the whole genre.

Unforgiven isn't a deconstruction - the idea of the gun (and gunman) as both threat and defender of civilisation is pretty much the classic Western theme. It sure is a great movie though.

That would be true except that wasn't what was going on in the movie. It was a deconstruction of the western for several reasons, one being that there is not truly good or bad guy; if anything everyone is more bad then good. No character is all good or all bad but morally ambiguous. There is no hero, there is no villain. It also tried to demystify the excitement of westerns as well as make violence seem unpleasant and nasty, with actual impact on people.

Actually that is several of the older westerns. The Searchers and Shane are just two of the older ones that come to mind right away. And also most of the Magnificent Seven were men of questionable character.

Ahtman wrote:That would be true except that wasn't what was going on in the movie. It was a deconstruction of the western for several reasons, one being that there is not truly good or bad guy; if anything everyone is more bad then good. No character is all good or all bad but morally ambiguous. There is no hero, there is no villain. It also tried to demystify the excitement of westerns as well as make violence seem unpleasant and nasty, with actual impact on people.

Again, the idea of a gunman as both threat and saviour of society is a key to the genre, and in the best Westerns that needs a morally questionable main character.

Otherwise, as jbunny said, The Searchers, Shane and The Magnificent Seven aren't classic Westerns.