Top 50 Favorite Movies

28. All Quiet in the Western Front (1930) (Milestone, US)



One of the most powerful movies I have watched (a common theme in this thread , well powerful is my favorite type of movie, because movies among "the greatest" for me are the ones which produced a powerful response). Thanks very much for being nominated for the Hall of Fame, I actually was planning to watch this film for a long time (since 2009) but I haven't found the will to do it until the HoF came. I regret not watching it earlier.

Idealization of war:


"We live in the trenches, we try to not get killed but sometimes it happens." - paraphrasing the main character. The First World War was the worst tragedy of the last 200 years, because of it the other main tragedies of the 20th century happened: besides the 15 million killed in the 4 years at the fronts, it destabilized Russia, causing the Russian revolution which lead to a tyrannical regime which killed 60-70 million people,.Germany's bitter defeat and subsequent reparations lead the country to bid for a second round, which caused another world war which killed further 60 million, in all WW1 and all it's subsequent related wars which went until the Korean war in the early 50's, nearly 40 years after the first war, killed about 100 to 150 million people. This film criticizes the idealization of warfare that is common and was and still is a severe problem.



It's a simple film in a way, a film about the absurdity of sending people to die in a collective ritual which brings nothing good for either side.

All Quiet On The Western Front is a great film. After seeing how much you liked it I was wondering if it'd make the cut.

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5-time MoFo Award winner.

Nicely done write up Guap! I liked the way you included history into your review of the film. The first time I seen All Quiet on the Western Front I knew it was special.

@ Citizen Rules I like history and so I like movies which deal with historical issues (many movies here do).

Without a doubt a magnificent movie and perhaps the first true anti-war film, too. My favourite scene:

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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.

That's also my favorite scene (that and the scenes with his mother as well).

27. Late Spring (1949) (Ozu, Japan)



Late Spring simply is "the classic Japanese drama movie", it's an incredible film bursting with emotional power underneath it's superficial layer of slice of life nonsense.



Well, to be fair it's actually much more aggressive than Ozu's later films (as he got older I guess his films got progressively less aggressive), though certainly much more subtle than pretty much everything else in this thread.



One of the most revered masterpieces of Japanese film it's also one of the most powerful. It was the second Ozu film I watched and it has been several years since I first watched it, overall, I think that the fact so many scenes have stayed in my mind, specially the one where Noriko (also the name of the main character in Anno's Gunbuster ) says to her daddy that she doesn't want to marry that she wants to stay with him. That scene was incredible.



Ozu's films are generally characterized by their realism and lack of a very strong driving plot, they are the film representative of the genre of Japanese fiction know as slice of life. Late Spring might be Ozu's most accessible film among his 1949-1960's output and it's the prototype and one of the first films to use pillow shoots, now regularly used in Japanese film, animation and even manga.

Late Spring was a very good movie. I hope Tokyo Story shows up.

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

In the 10 Ring: Gunslinger45's reviews

If a movie with a guy peeling an apple makes you sad, then you know it's a good movie.

26. Star Wars & Empire Strikes Back (1977-1980) (Lucas, US)



Although it had been over 5 years since I watched all these classic films back to back they still linger in my memory as precious moments of my childhood and teenager years. They are indeed great films, a mixing up between Kurosawa, science fiction and Lord of the Rings. Combining the great elements of each of these movies made up such masterpiece.



The original film is incredibly gripping and entertaining, in fact, among the stuff I posted before in this thread only Gunbuster can be said to be similarly entertaining and gripping. The Death Star run level of tension and "gripping quality" has never been surpassed and rarely matched.



Also, when Luke rejects the use of the targeting machine and decides to use the force to drive the torpedo into the Death Star's ventilation tubes, it also represents an important moment in the evolution of science fiction movies: before Star Wars man was depicted as slave of technology, specially in movies like 2001, where the most human character is Hal 9000. In Star Wars what we have is first and foremost a human drama/adventure about a boy in pursuit of his dreams and his place in the galaxy, the setting is science fiction not for the purpose of depicting science fiction themes but because it's cool!

I also love the starship designs (heavily copied elsewhere):


For example, doesn't these Gunbuster ship's (another entry in my top 50) look like a mix between Empire's Star Destroyers and Mon Calamari cruisers?

The soundtrack is also really special easily one of the best movie soundtracks of all time.

When I was a little kid I would watch only a part of the movie, because it would end late and my mother wouldn't let me stay awake for so long. Therefore, I've seen the first part of it about 5 times, but the second part only once.

25. Only Yesterday (1991) (Takahata, Japan)



Psychological slice of life drama in the tradition of Naruse and Ozu, is Takahata's most underrated masterpiece of cinema. Easily one of the best films of the decade and extremely affecting. It's also a beatiful exercise in minimalism in animation, being extremely realistic it uses animation not for depicting something fantastical or science fiction elements but for magnifying the reality of daily life in our world.



It was the second time I cried while watching an animated film (as an adult), the first time was when watching Princess Mononoke (for the second time, for the first time I though it was forced). I felt moved to the deepest reaches of my soul after I finished watching it. It's a movie that showed to me that animation can be truly powerful serious mature art.



It's sad that this movie didn't make the top animated films list even after many members watched it. It's such incredible masterpiece of cinema.



Perhaps the least cute 27 year old anime girl you will ever watch, Takahata is a believer of animation as a medium that allows for more realism than live action film (he is one of the very few who believe that way):


The ending is incredible as well, it's a film that doesn't contain any tropes/elements commonly associated with Japanese animation (such as giant robots and transformation sequences) though it's firmly in the tradition of the medium, in the tradition of adult manga for women, depicting things that interest mature women. It's not surprising that it's among my mother's favorites Ghibli films.

24. Ugetsu (1953) (Mizoguchi, Japan)



Mizoguchi's films are extremely simple and extremely intense and powerful. In a way his style is similar in these respects to James Cameron's but of course very different overall. Ugetsu is the most powerful of the Mizoguchi films I have watched and it's ending is truly devastating. All the other Mizoguchi films I have watched have been extremely powerful films as well though Ugetsu felt the most natural for me, Sansho felt a bit too slow paced while Ugetsu's shorter running time felt to be just about right.



It's a ghost story of the most simple and minimalistic style there is. Depicting the horrible conditions of medieval Japan as well, when human life was worth nothing.



The cinematography and the set pieces are impressive for their austerity and beauty. In fact, Mizoguchi's films are more like moving photorealistic paintings which have some simple story underneath.

Two great films I saw when they were out-Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back.

Two great movies I saw for the 6th Hall of Fame-Late Spring and All Quiet on the Western Front.

Only Yesterday sounds familiar; I think it was on my animation countdown watchlist and I didn't get to it. I would like to see it still.

Ugetsu is on my watchlist.

Serial Experiment Lain isn't a movie though...

Great list so far. There's several I'm not familiar with that look really awesome. Lord of the Rings does look a bit odd among so many really strong titles, but I understand the appeal.

Ugetsu is a very good film. A must watch. Though I do prefer Sansho the Baliff when it comes to Mizoguchi. Keep em coming dude!

@ Zotis, Serial Experiments Lain was released as a TV series but it's best binge watched and it's an incredible piece of cinema, it's even listed as a movie in MUBI.

23. Aguirre: The Wrath of God (1972) (Herzog, Germany)



I watched very few Herzog films, which is a sad thing considering how great director he is and the fact one of his films is in my highly selective top 50. It also has nearly 90 minutes of pure glory from the greatest actor of all time, Klaus Kinski and it's an incredible film shoot in an almost documentary style.



It is an excellent analysis of how crude was the conditions of the first expenditions into the Americas, many which shared the same fate as the one depicted in this film.



Kinski is so expressive!

22. Eraserhead (1977) (Lynch, US)



Last time I did a top 200 movies this one was placed around 100th place, why so high right now? Because as time wen't by my memory of it did not lose any clarity. It's an extremely disturbing film, in a way similar to Lain which I posted around the number 30.



Lynch is widely regarded as one of the greatest film makers and I agree completely, however, many regard as his best film his later movies but since I like aggressive stuff I found his first and perhaps most aggressive film his best one. The first time I watched it I was so affected by it that I couldn't even sleep. It's austere visual style makes for a powerful atmosphere.



While not being structured in a conventional way the movie is actually pretty clear in it's main theme being about the insecurity of becoming a father and forming a family.

I really liked Aguirre, and pretty much everything else I've seen from Herzog.

Eraserhead was just ok for me.