Cinemaafficionado's 300 Most Memorable Movies

Thank you kindly Sirs, but seriously if you haven't seen Amorres Perros, you need to check it out. I watched it for the third time, the other day
and just kept marveling at the way it was put together.

24. Lord Of The Rings: The Return Of The King

Adapted to the screen from J.R.R. Tolkeins trilogy, based on the Hobbits and the smoking chasms of Mordor, director Peter Jackson surpasses all expectations in this final and best instalment.
Aragorn ( Vigo Mortensen ) is revealed as the heir to the ancient kings.
He is supported by Gandalf ( Ian McKellen ) and other members of the broken fellowship trying to save Gondor from Sauron's forces as Frodo ( Elijah Wood ) and Sam ( Sean Austin ) attempt to bring the Ring closer to the heart of Mordor, the dark lord's realm.
Pure cinematic magic, beautifuly filmed and staged, this epic won 11 Oscars including Best Picture, Best Director and Best Adapted Screen Play in 2004.

25. Silence of The Lambs

This is the first movie to truly memorably focus it's attention on serial killers. Masterfully directed by Jonathan Demme, Jodie Foster stars as a gifted trainee FBI Agent, mentored by Scott Glen, Head Of A Special Investigative Unit persuing serial killers.
Her task leads her to seek help from one of the most fascinating characters ever, incarcarated Hannibal Lecter, a deranged but brilliant psychiatrist turned hoimicidal cannibal, flawlessly brought to life by the marvelous Anthony Hopkins.
In 1991 this was the first suspence thriller to garner the coveted 5 Oscars: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor ( Anthony Hopkins ), Best Actress ( Jodie Foster ) and Best Adapted Writing For The Screen ( Ted Tally ).

26. Apocalypse Now

A war movie like no other, where Lt. Killgore, head of US Army Helicopter Cavalry Group, flawlesly portrayed by Robert Duval, wakes up in the morning, and as he stand on top of a hill overlooking jungle carnage, utters the now immortal line " Ahhh... I love the smell of napalm in the morning ".
Using a classic piece of literature as inspiration, Joseph Conrad's Heart Of Darkness, Francis Ford Coppola creates a film of brutal war realism mixed with fantasy.
The cinematograpy is superb, interlacing scenes of technicolor smoke, as it paints a portrait of the Vietnam War, where a US army captain ( Martin Sheen ) is sent into Cambodia on a special mission to locate and terminate a renegade Green Beret Colonel
( ever so fleetingly presented by Marlon Brando ).
In 1979, this timeless movie was nominated for 8 Oscars, out which it received 2: Best Cinematography - Vittorio Storaro and Best Sound.

Lord Of The Rings: The Return Of The King

Silence of The Lambs

Apocalypse Now

27. Chariots Of Fire

This beautifuly flimed movie, evokes feelings of inspiration and achievement. Two runners of different faiths compete for the British team in the 1924 olympics, facing intense pressure and personal tests of faith.
Ben Cross 's character is a free spirited but very introspective Jewish scholar (Harold Adams ) and Ian Charleston portarays a rigid Presbyterian missionary ( Eric Liddell ), based on a true story.
The music is an integral part of this movie and is extermely uplifting.
1981 this movie was directed by Hugh Hudson, who turned out to be a master at directing sports movies.
In 1982 it got 7 Oscar nominations and won 4 Oscars:Best Picture, Best Music Original Score ( Vangelis ), Best Screen Play ( Collin Welland ) and Best Costume Design Milena Canonero ).

28. Chinatown

One of the most classic fim neonoirs of all time, this master piece was fittingly directed by Roman Polanski.
Private eye J.J. Gittes, perfectly portrayed by the incomprable Jack Nicholson, gets hired by femme fatale ( Faye Dunaway ) and in the process gets his nose slashed uncovering crooked dealings in the La waterworks, while dicovering a nasty family secret.
In 1975, this movie was appropriately nominated for 11 Oscars but won only one for Best Original Screen Play - Robert Towne.
It also did win 3 Golden Globes for Best Director - Roman Polanski, Best Actor In A Male Role, Drama - Jack Nicholson and Best Screenplay Motion Picture - Robert Towne.

29. Psycho (1960)

The grand daddy of all suspense horror flicks, Psycho, is Alfred Hitchkock's masterpiece. With an uncanny knack for pace and anticipation, Hitch delivers ko suspense in this flick and ushers in a style often imitated but seldom duplicated.
Real estate clerk Marion Crane ( played by the beautiful and talented Janet Leigh ) absconds with her boss's money and winds up in a remote and isolated motel for the night.
Little does she know that the seemingly gentle young proprietor, Norman Bates ( played to perfection by Anthony Perkins ) has a dead mother in his bedroom, who still talks to him from her grave and prompts him to act out his fantasy, which is to brutaly terminate Marion, in the shower, of all places.
This timeless classic was nominated for 4 Oscars in 1961 and won the Golden Globe For Best Supporting Actress - Janet Leigh.

^My favorite film Some really brilliant choices here.

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

30. Seven Samurai

In 1954 Akira Kurosawa made the 3 and 1/2 hour long Japanese epic and established himself as one of the world's greatest movie directors.
The theme of the movie is seven samurai who are gathered together, coming from different backgrounds but with the purpose of defending a village from encroaching bandits. The character development is extraordinary and the culmination of the movie is one great cinematic battle masterpiece.
In the movie, Toshiro Mifune, brilliantly portrays the seventh samurai recruited, Kikuchiyo ( not really a samurai but a farmer's son who nevertheless holds his own in battle ), and goes on to establish one of the best director-actor collaborations ( Kurosawa-Mifune) in cinema.
Takeshi Shimura ( Kambei Shimada ) plays the leader of the Samurai band with astonishing intensity that makes his charrismatic character greatly admired and unquestionable.
In 1957, this movie was nominated for 2 Oscars: Best Art Direction and Best Costume Design.
To this day Seven Samurai remains a timeless masterpiece that set the bar for other movies to follow.

Everything I've seen, I've loved. Particularly Psycho and Silence of the Lambs.

31. Reservoir Dogs

In 1992, Quentin Tarantion wrote and directed Reservoir Dogs and became a legend.
The interplay of dilogue and violence among six criminals durring and after a robbery, cements Quentin as an icon of American cinema.
Quentin, Steve Buscemi, Harvey Keitel, Tim Roth, Michael Madsen, Chris Penn and Edward Bunker are outstanding in their combatible roles.
Of cousre, Quentin went on to make Pulp Fiction but Reservoir Dogs is the movie to first spotlight him on Hollywood's map.
It won numerous smaller awards but did not receive a single Golden Globe nor Oscar nomination, but is the kind of movie that has a very srong cult following and will be remmembered long after some of the movies that won big awards fade into obscurity.

32. Daas Boot

In 1981, Wolfgang Peterson captured the perfect feel of a Nazi Germany U-boat crew. A group of young nationalist boys find themselves in the iron confines of a submorine and the claustrophobia that ensues makes them begin to doubt their cause and their Fuhrer, whom they've been nurtured to love and trust.
The script and character development, as well as the directing and acting,
make this realistic portrait one of the finest war movies ever made.
In 1983, this movie was nominated for 6 Oscars.

33. The Last Emperor

Having lived in Asia, I'm a fan of many things Asian and am fairly informed of various Asian histories and cultures so I was pleasantly surprised how well made and informative this movie was when I saw it.
It's a movie about China's last emperor Pu Yi, whose dethroning ended the Ching Dinasty and ushered in Mao Tse Tung and comminism in China.
This lavish drama takes us into the life of Pu Yi, from childhood, as he became the absolute ruler of half a billion people, to his death, as he died in poverty as a poor citizen of communist China.
It is sad watching someone who had everything, and wasn't a bad man,
decline and fade into obscurity as just another Chinese peasant worker.
From a brief reign in the Forbidden city to a person left with nothing other than the dignity to die alone.
This unforgetabble epic was made in 1987 and lasted 163 minutes.
It was directed by Bernardo Bertolucci. Pu Yi was marvelously portrayed by John Lone and the able cast was rounded off with Joan Chen, Peter O'Toole and Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa.
In 1988 this film won 9 Oscars, including Best Picture, Best Director,Best Cinematography and Best Adapted Screenplay.

34. Rashomon

One of director Akira Korosawa personal masterpieces. Made in 1950, it reamains a timeless classic about the relativity of truth.
Four witnesses to rape and murder report each own's varying version of the same event.
Cinematographer Kazuo Miyagawa eeriely and beautifully creates perfect light angles that precisely capture the atmosphere of the woods, where the crime takes place.
In 1953, this movie was nominated for an Oscar - Best Art Direction and Akira Kurosawa received Outstanding Directorial Achievement In Motion Pictures from the Directors Guild Of America.

^ Great movie. Though I'm highly disappointed with the ending. Why end with such a false note? The rest of the movie was trying to drive home the point that humanity sucks, that we are deceiving idiots. And saving the baby wont change the fact that we are still lying idiots.

Man was born alone and will die alone and no matter the goodness orientation, man is predominantly selfish. It's his selfishness that colors his perception. That perception some call truth. Rashomon hits that nail on the point. Unfortunately reality is not geometry and what we hope for something to be is not necessarily so.

That does not explain the orphaned baby... Or are you just writing to yourself?

The orphaned baby becomes incidental to the plot or would you make it raison d'etre?

35. The Green Mile

A beautiful and best adaptation of a Stephen King novel, this finely directed movie by Frank Darabont, takes us into a 1930's death row Southern prison, where a gentle giant, so sensitively portrayed by Michael Clarke Duncan, performs the miracle of healing.
The story is captivating, even has a mouse to go with a villian, and the cast ansamble is very well put together.
Tom Hanks is the head cellblock guard, who recognizes the giant's power to heal and believes in his innocence, and desperately tries to prevent his execution. David Morse, Bonnie Hunt,James Cromwell , Michael Jetter, Harry Dean Stanton round-off the cast.
Where the Shawshank Redemption is a great movie about friendship, Miracle Mile is a great movie about a miracolous man and the way he affects the lives of others.
In 2000, this movie was nominated for 4 Oscars, including Best Picture, Best Supporting Actor ( Michael Clarke Duncan ) and Best Adapted Screenplay.