HandyApe's 50 Favorite Films

Too bad you had to cut this short, but I'm sure you'll finish strong!

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Here, if you have a milkshake, and I have a milkshake, and I have a straw. There it is, that's a straw, you see? You watching?. And my straw reaches acroooooooss the room, and starts to drink your milkshake... I... drink... your... milkshake!
-Daniel, There Will Be Blood

I know. I'm heading back to uni soon and unless I do 4 sets a day I won't have time.

I'll post the full list when I finish the countdown, though, so at least you can see what would have been there!

BLADE RUNNER is a film that gets better with age (the film's and that of the viewer)

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"Yes, citizen, there is no cause for alarm -- you may return to your harpsichord."

Sunset Boulevard is a great film that would probably be on my top 100 too

Nice choice and one that I really need to rewatch.

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"Puns are the highest form of literature." -Alfred Hitchcock

9. Taxi Driver

(Martin Scorsese / 1976)

Watching Martin Scorsese’s Taxi Driver is a sweltering experience. It’s such an intense yet meditative examination of its main character, Travis Bickle (Robert De Niro), that you may not at first completely understand what the movie is trying to say. (I’ve seen the film at least ten times and I still don’t exactly know who Bickle is made out to be.)

The movie is shot in such an incredibly detailed way (the fragmented shots of Travis’ cab, I think, signals the many different places the character is in). The depth of the characters is also very striking, and Scorsese/Paul Schrader decide to leave many parts of the film opaque and ambiguous. Bernard Herman’s score is among the finest I’ve ever heard; the way it juxtaposes with the ugliness onscreen is…refreshing…if not quite uncomfortable.

Taxi Driver is such a powerful and overwhelming film it’s no wonder so many people admire it — and I’m one of those admirers.

(P.S.: If you get the chance to watch the film with Robert Kolker’s commentary, please do — it reveals a lot about the film.)

Amazing choice. Amazing list. Keep em' coming.

Fantastic choice! I absolutely adore Taxi Driver.

Now there's a fun watch! (Great film, though!)

Taxi Driver! My favorite movie!

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

In the 10 Ring: Gunslinger45's reviews

Have you seen it with Robert Kolker's audio commentary? It really opened my eyes to the film's greatness.

I have not. I need to check it out.

+ rep for Taxi Driver because it's great.

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5-time MoFo Award winner.

Taxi Driver is brilliant, and was in my last 10 too, so a great choice

8. Rome, Open City

(Roberto Rossellini / 1945)

Although Rossellini has a handful of truly great films (Germany, Year Zero; Europa ’51; Journey to Italy), none of them moved me quite like Rome, Open City did. It’s such an honest and heartbreaking representation of what the Nazis called the “open city”, even though it was only made a couple of months after the liberation.

*Spoiler warning*

Professor Fabio Troncarelli wrote beautifully of Pina’s final scene, saying, “In the scene of Pina’s death, Rossellini was able to create a modern ‘Pietà’, sculpting the air better than Michelangelo with marble and putting a woman’s body where Christ’s body traditionally lies.” Indeed, Anna Magnani’s performance as Pina really is something spectacular: like in most of her films, she captures the essence of working class Italian motherhood. Not many films have made me feel so deeply for its characters.

Never heard of this movie, but it sounds very good.

If you ever get the chance to watch, I seriously advise you do. I really wasn't expecting it to be as raw and powerful as it ended up being.

The only Rossellini I've seen is Voyage in Italy, which I thought was really good. I'll have to check this one out.

7. Blue Velvet

(David Lynch / 1986)

Unlike with most outstanding movies, Blue Velvet’s greatness is hard to describe. Sure, you can say it hosts incredible performances from the entire cast — especially Dennis Hopper and Isabella Rossellini — or that it has a lot of interesting motifs and beautifully symbolic imagery, but quite frankly that’s not just all it is. It’s something far beyond words. It’s something you feel. It has a power that holds on to you, and it doesn’t let go until long after you’ve seen the film.

Blue Velvet is a fantastic film and one that's probably in my top 10, and I mean my real top 10 and not the place holding Lynch one that I am currently using!

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