How Do You Decide On Your Favorite Movies?

I have a question. You probably already know what it is.

How do you decide on your favorite movies? I hope this isn't a topic that has already been discussed.

What I want to know is -- how do you decide what's #1, #2, #3, #4, #8, #10, #16, #22, #30, #40, #50, #62, #76, #88, #91... and so on and so on. And all of the other numbers that I didn't mention?

How many times do you watch a movie before you decide it's #12 on your favorite movies list?

How are you even sure something is truly your favorite? This could apply to anything in your life, but for now, let's stick to movies. Though, if you give other examples, I'll pay attention.

Thanks. Looking forward to hearing your hopefully thought provoking responses. Ciao!

Whenever I put a Top list together, I compile my favourites alphabetically in a word doc.


Then, I go over them and order them and move them up and down one by one by comparing them to the films that are either side of them.


Like, I might have to choose between


Raiders Of The Lost Ark
Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes
RoboCop
Se7en


I'd look at Raiders first, compare how much I like it compared it to the others... and adjust...


Then Rise is next...


Then RoboCop


Then by that point the fourth one, Se7en will be where it should be as I've already compared it to the other 3 by that point.


The order would be for those 4...
Raiders Of The Lost Ark
Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes
Se7en
RoboCop




Takes a while to go over a whole Top 100... but there are some films in the list I initially put together, that I just know straight away will be near, or in, the Top 10 without needing to compare them too much to the others. When I get to those near the end of organising, I go over them and do the same thing to get the Topest Of Top 10 Favouritestest together.

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Would be nice to have a program that organizes your favorites for you by asking you questions about all the films you enter, then it puts it together for you. Yoda should build this for us. It could be somewhere on this site.

Rodent, when you are deciding, though... what is that like? Describe the feeling, if you can. Is it always easy? Or do you ever get stuck? Have you ever changed your mind frequently? If so, how did you resolve the conflict? Cup of tea? Beer? Nap? Pizza? Meditation?

Deciding how much I like one film over another is just the same as deciding if I like one pizza topping over another. Or choosing between tea and coffee.
Or between genres... chick flick or sci-fi... no comparison there tbh, sci-fi all the way...


But it's the same thing.


Sometimes nostalgia comes into play but not often. I mean, Dredd is my #2 film yet has no nostalgia attached to it.

My advice is to compile your list, leave it for a few weeks, look at it again and you are sure to go: "why have I ever put that before that!?". You will be able to use the moment of clarity to adjust the list appropriately.

Happens to me every time I look at my list.

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But there must be SOMETHING that puts "Dredd" at number 2 for you... and other things at #44 and #51 and #73, etc.

I mean, the process of deciding on all this... so mysterious. If you prefer beef on your pizza instead of just mushrooms, why? If it's coffee time instead of tea time, why is it coffee time? Why isn't it lemonade time if you also like lemonade? Or milk? Or vodka? Or pineapple soda?

Free will...

Yes, that came to my mind, but I wasn't gonna go there. Though you know I don't believe in it.

When I did my top 100 last year, I took the list of my entire collection of movies (if I don't own it, then it's not a favorite unless it's simply not yet available on DVD), except for the ones I'd rated and then went through one by one and asked myself a series of questions.

1. What do I like about this movie? (The more things that immediately jumped to mind, the higher I placed it)
2. When was the last time I watched this movie? (If I hadn't watched it in a long time, it tended to get a lower ranking or get deleted from the potential list)
3. How much desire do I have to rewatch it?
4. Does it have any nostalgic value?

Then I just reshuffled the list until it looked right at that moment. Favorites are something that shift from one moment to the next anyway so there's not much sense in trying to analyze it or stress too much over placement.

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When I started making my very first Top 25 films before I joined this site, I first went with a rough list. After that, I then starting writing why I loved the movie. I did this based on what I liked, craft of the film making, whether I can rewatch the films over and over, fanboy squee, whether the film has a personal or emotional connection, and has favorite themes, stories, etc. After this I found it very easy to put them in order after I wrote down why I loved the film. Helped make the movie a lot more concrete.

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Fear and Loathing in MoFo... The Gunslinger 45's Top 50 Favorite Films

In the 10 Ring: Gunslinger45's reviews

Mostly Alzheimer's. If I can remember it at my age, it must be a favorite. That combined with stubbornness - I can actually remember my ancient faves, but I do reorder them still based on my last watch.

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I don't number them because depending on my mood, it would just change anyway. To continue with the pizza analogy; some days I want green olives and tempeh. Some days it's onions and banana peppers. Today I feel like I like olives better but if I become a little bored with them or I am just feeling banana peppers, I'll tell you I like them more.

I more or less have tiers: my most-loved movies, movies that fall somewhere in the middle, and movies that I love but they don't hold the kind of meaning for me the other movies do.

It changes all the time but the true greats stay at the top of the list. A film that shoots up every time I see it would be Psycho. When I first saw it I pegged it somewhere around 60. Now, it's gotta be a top 20 film.

I base my rankings on my mood.

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#31 on SC's Top 100 Mofos list!!

Im going to start with my top film listed..why is it my top film?

1. Storyline... a film must have an amazing story to it. It must be something I enjoy. Something that holds me captive.
2. Cinematography ... It must be visually appealing to me.. the scenery .... the movement of the acting...
3. Director/Direction .. What I mean by this.. is the ability of the Director to be able to move the actors into the "moment". I have seen one other film by Cocteau.. and I could tell by the fluidity of the movement of the actors.. that it was a "Cocteau" film.
4. Visualization.... what I mean by this is how Cocteau visualized the "Beast" turning into the "Prince" and thru the ability of CGI (in this film mainly), it was amazing for its time. (1940's CGI... really amazing for this film).
5. Music... the music in a film (if any) must be captivating.. and for this film.. it definitely is..

I take a bunch of obscure films nobody ever heard of and put them into my list randomly. Nobody's gonna ever watch them, so order doesn't matter.

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Look, I'm not judging you - after all, I'm posting here myself, but maybe, just maybe, if you spent less time here and more time watching films, maybe, and I stress, maybe your taste would be of some value. Just a thought, ya know.

Edit to my post..... under "Visualization"... of course CGI was not possible back in the 1940's so the term should be "Special Effects".... I guess I just need to watch the era of film Im discussing and using the proper term for it...

I was wondering about that.

i use flickchart.com as an aid. it's a site where movies are pitted against each other head to head and you end up getting your rankings

it's fun bc it makes it feel like movies are fighting against each other Mortal Kombat-style





that's how it should be. a fight to the top

I will look at this site and see if I like it. It sounds like what I want.

Thanks, everyone.