Cinemaafficionado's 300 Most Memorable Movies

60. Amadeus

One of the most equisite movies of all time, beautifully filmed and scored.
The story about the great music composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, very aptly portrayed by Tom Hulce.
The story is told via flashbacks by Antonio Saliery ( from an insane asylum ), brilliantly portrayed by F. Murray Abraham.
In 1985, this movie was nominated for 11 Oscars and garnered 8, most notable being: Best Picture, Best Director - Milos Foreman, Best Actor - F. Murray Abraham and Best Screenplay -Peter Shaffer.

Of your top 15, 5 are in my top 10: Pulp, Godfather I and II, Shawshank, and Gladiator. I also really like Good Bad Ugly. Legends is a movie I should revisit, I really loved it when I was 18 but have not seen it sense, that's 18 years ago, definitely due for a revisit.

Watched Amadeus fairly recently for the first time (few months ago I think) and thought it was great. Nice pick.

There's something I've been meaning to ask you for ages CA, and apologies if you've already adressed it. Do you already know all 300 films you're going to list, or did you just pluck that number out of the air and you're going to keep going till you hit that target? For example I remember you listing The Raid but I don't think that was even released when you started the list.

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Good question. I have over 300 that I could name now but I am just letting my mood guide me and pace me. By the time I finish, I hope to have over 15,000 views and a legion of cinema fans.

61. Training Day

In one of the best cop movies ever made, Denzel Washington takes a detour and brilliantly plays a villian rogue cop training an earnest and idealistic rookie, played with conviction by Ethan Hawke.
This casting is dead on as is the ultimate clash of the two main characters.
The cast is aptly rounded off with Scott Glen, Tom Berenger and Eva Mendes.
In 2002, Denzel Washington swept the Best Actor Oscars, Golden Globes and SAG for his riveting performance.
Ethan Hawke was also nominated for Oscar Best Supporting Actor.

I have to disagree about the casting. How can it be dead on when Denzel's performance clearly indicates that either he or the director thought that Samuel L Jackson was the perfect choice?

I've only seen it once, but I didn't care for Training Day, at all. An horrifically overrated pos, IMO.

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5-time MoFo Award winner.

I don't know where you heard that. Actually, Denzel himself has said that this was one of his favorite roles, as it was his own son that suggested Denzel audition for it and director Antoine Fuqua cast him, against type, over a six year older Jackson.
Whatever you think of the movie, Denzel's performance was on par with Glory and John Q.

Nope, couldn't disagree more. I didn't hear it anywhere, I saw the film and thought "well, if you wanted Samuel L. Jackson, you should've just cast him."

Who wanted Jackson? I just don't see the chemistry between Jackson and Hawke but you are intitled to your opinion.

62. Rocky

In 1976 a starving actor, Sylvester Stallone, wrote a movie script and shopped it around Hollywood. Metro Goldwyn Meyer offered him $200,000 just for the script but Stallone insisted that he wanted to play the lead role. He held out for a month before they called him back and the movie made him and movie history.
This is one of the best boxing movies ever made ( along with Raging Bull ), about a journeyman boxer that get's a shot at the title and puts all his blood, sweat and tears into achieving his personal best.
In terms of sheer inspiration and motivation, it could very well be one of the best sport movies of all time.
In 1977, this movie was nominated for 10 Oscars and garnered 3: Best Picture, Best Director - John G. Avildsen and Best Film Editing - Richard Halsey and Scott Conrad.

Wish I could rep you twice for that one! I adore the Rocky films and have done so since I was a wee lad.

63. American Beauty

A movie straight out of Hollywood that can teach us how to appreciate our individual lives. Sam Mendes's direction is superb and the match up of Annette Bening and Kevin Spacey is casting perfection. Looking at Ann, I can see why perennial bachelor and playboy Warren Beatty settled down.
This visually stunning movie was nominated for 8 Oscars in 2000, out of which it garnered 5: Best Picture, Best Director - Sam Mendes, Best Cinematography - Conrad L. Hall, Best Actor - Kevin Spacey and Best Original Screenplay - Alan Ball.

American Beauty is one of my favorites and I also love Rocky. Training day is my type of move, but I wasn't crazy about it.

64. The Matrix

One of the most innovative movies of it's time, it set the mark for future sci-fi thrillers. Although they didn't receive Oscars for their effort, Andy and Lana Wachowski brilliantly wrote and directed this reflection on existence.
Keanu Reeves and Lauwrence Fishbourne left their mark on this movie.
In 2000, this movie did receive 4 Oscars for: Best Film Editing - Zach Staenberg, Best Sound, Best Effects - Sound Effects Editing, and Best Effects - Visual Effects.

You're on the quite the run CA! Following Rocky that's another two I love in American Beauty and The Matrix. In fact all three of those are in my top 35/40 films I'm pretty sure

Thanks buddy. It's nice to have similiar tastes with those whose opinion one respects.

You respect my opinions? That's so nice! *sniff sniff* I promised myself I wasn't going to get emotional on this site anymore.


^ Don't worry, those are happy tears!

65. Platoon

A naive, young American soldier (Charlie Sheen) experiences the horrors of the Vietnam war as well as the conflict of good and evil within his own company.
Willem Defoe and Tom Berenger give excellent performances as his feuding sergeants. Johnny Depp and Forest Whitaker round-off an excellent ensemble.
In 1987, this memorable war movie was nominated for for 8 Oscars.
Although Oliver Stone didn't win for writing this superb screenplay, he did win Best Director and the movie won Best Picture as well as Best Editing and Best Sound.

Platoon's a great film. Back then, I think I prefered Hamburger Hill but, while I've not seen that film for a very long time, I suspect I'd like Platoon more now.

I think Platoon is a great film. I've seen it many times and never realized Johnny Depp was in it. I just looked it up on YouTube; thanks for the trivia!