A few days ago I decided to add just one category of interests to my nearly blank blogger profile. Justified or not I'm always cautious about launching too much personal information into cyberspace but I figured a list of my favourite movies couldn't hurt much.
After adding the list of some of my favourite films I found that each movie in my list became a clickable link to a page which shows all of the other bloggers who included the same movie in their lists and of course the constantly changing total number of people who did. (I'm sure you all knew about this stuff but it was news to me.)
Anyway, my list of thirty films includes many of my favourites but I wouldn't necessarily say it includes all of them. It's just a list I came up with off the top of my head. You may notice the absence of many hugely popular big blockbusters or well known, well loved classics. It's not that I don't like some/many of them it's just that I didn't see the point of including them as it wouldn't give you much information about my own specific taste in movies.
What I found most interesting was to see how many other people shared my interest in each particular movie. The range was from a whopping 250,000 people who love The Princess Bride (no surprise there) all the way down to only 2 people (just me and Lizy from Chile) who both love The Road Home. Actually that is not much of a surprise either since it is a little known (at least in North America) Chinese picture. It is a shame though. Although my favourites fluctuate somewhat The Road Home is often at the very top of my list and never ever out of my top five. In fact all three of the movies on my list which only show a single digit after them are usually in my top ten. The Road Home, To Live and Grave of the Fireflies.
So here it is, my list of thirty uplifting, dramatic, magical, romantic, heart rending, gut wrenching, epic, elegant, fantastic, cool, rejuvinating, hilarious, smart, lovely, mind bending, captivating, tragic, hopeful, inspiring and just plain awesome movies.
Roman Holiday 119,000
Braveheart 180,000
The Shawshank Redemption 195,000
Stardust 78,900
The Road Home (Wo de fu qin mu qin) 2
The Lives of Others (Das Leben der Anderen) 28
To Live (Huozhe) 5
Groundhog Day 73,400
The Big Lebowski 83,100
Peter Pan (2003) 320
Out of Sight 4,600
Grave of the Fireflies (Hotaru no haka) 9
The Princess Bride 250,000
The Station Agent 13,000
Aliens 74,800
Before Sunrise 41,900
Kill Bill Vol. 2 5,300
Snatch 178,000
Lost in Translation 230,000
The Usual Suspects 93,900
To Kill a Mockingbird 102,000
Immortal Beloved 4,700
Run Lola Run (Lola Rennt) 22
The Prestige 73,200
Big Fish 202,000
Tombstone 67,900
Ghost World 47,300
Last of the Mohicans 33,200
Gosford Park 16,400
Open your Eyes (Abre los ojos) 12
Does any of these make your list?
What is one of your lesser known but favourite movies?
Would you like to know more about any of these?
Do you have any recommendations?
I sure would like to meet Lizy from Chile some day.
P.S. The number of other bloggers who have favourited the same movies seems to fluctuate wildly. I'm not sure just what, if anything, is indeed up with that.
15 comments:
Where does Wethering Heights sorry for the spelling come in your list. I have a very old version there at the house, maybe even in the kitchen cupboard downstairs. And my favorite musical among others Brigadoon for the music of course. Love Mom
Cool list there Lorin. Can't say that I've even seen half of them (or maybe I have and I've just forgotten). I wish my memory was better. Off the top of my head, I think Annie and Sound of Music are right up there...and then a new one we just saw...Australia. Besides of course what we always watch in this house...HSM 1, Cars, and Dora goes to the Beach or sometihng like that! Classic!
Mom - I have never seen or read Wuthering Heights but often hear the title and am aware of it. Maybe I'll borrow your copy of the movie and watch it. I haven't seen Brigadoon either but I'll look into that one as well.
Jewel - I don't think I've ever seen Annie properly. Maybe bits and pieces of it on TV now and then.
The Sound of Music of course I have seen a few times.
By the way, any of you Sound of Music lovers will definitely want to watch this YouTube video. You may have already seen it but in case you haven't here is the link.
You'll just need to copy and paste it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7EYAUazLI9k
Holy. I've only seen 4 of those movies. good grief!
I have seen The Road Home on your recommendation a few years ago and we liked it. We will definitely have to look up some of the others that I have never heard of. I would add two thumbs up on Tombstone, and Last of the Mohicans. I think I would add The Matrix, The Count of Monte Cristo (newer version) and a childhood favorite...Little Rascals (1980's movie).
Oh and we loved Big Fish and Stardust too. What is your favorite movie from the last 5 years? Did you like the Lord of the Rings?
Ray - I really liked The Matrix (but not the sequels) and The Count of Monte Cristo too.
My favorite movie from the last five years? That's easy, Stardust. I only watched it because Krissy said that you guys liked it. Thanks for that. I will say that I have found fewer and fewer movies to like recently.
I did like The Lord of the Rings trilogy with one significant exception. I found Frodo's girlyness, his sparkly diamond studded nighty/armour, his constant deer caught in headlights expression and his overall damsel in distress nature to be annoying and a huge distraction.
Frodo was definitely the weakest link. By the end of the third one I was almost hoping he would go in with the ring j/k.
And I agree that the Matrix sequels were let downs, but entertaining at least...I sure did like those Alien-2-esque-human-robot-gun-machines.
Do you like any of M. Night Shyamalan's movies? I know they seem to be getting worse each time but Signs is one of my favorite movies, and I liked Unbreakable a lot. Sixth sense is good but too creepy to own. The village was interesting but a let down and Lady in the water was emotional but kind of weird. I never did see The Happening but I heard it was lame. I like his style but he needs a good story.
Ray - Of Shyamalan's movies I have seen:
The Sixth Sense
Signs
Unbreakable
The Village
I thought 6th Sense was awesome and one of the best scary movies I have ever seen but of course it loses much of its rewatchability once you know the ending.
I really liked Signs as well. I especially liked the scene where they are showing video/news footage taken from between a building and some bushes looking into the street and one of the aliens just walks by. No false alarm stupid cat jumping out or even the alien rushing at the camera. That simple walk-by was especially creepy in its simplicity and more effective than any of the usual tricks movies use to try and scare us.
Unbreakable and The Village I liked as well but slightly less.
I haven't heard many good things about his most recent movies so I haven't watched them yet.
Great movie list Lorin. I will have to watch a couple of those. A lot of my favorites are on your list as well. I LOVED the clip you posted with the Sound of Music "thing". It was great. I would have loved to be in that! I should have been born into a movie musical!
Marlan - Here are five from my list that I think you would like and that you may not have seen yet.
Roman Holiday
The Lives of Others (German w/subtitles)
Gosford Park
Before Sunrise
Immortal Beloved
Ditto on several of the movies you listed - I was glad to see Groundhog Day on your list as well as Tombstone. Here are a few I've watched more than I'd like to admit: Dune "long live the fighters!"(still looking for the full uncut version), Finding Forester, Simon Birch, 13 days, Hearts in Atlantis, Gladiator, Saving Private Ryan and The Man Who Knew Too Little.
I'll be printing your fav's for future reference. Thanks
Russ H.
Russ - I liked Dune too. I haven't seen Finding Forrester, Simon Birch, Hearts in Atlantis or The Man Who Knew Too Little but I will keep them in mind.
I thought 13 Days, Gladiator and Saving Private Ryan were all excellent. I watch 13 Days and Gladiator once in a while but I have only watched SPR once on DVD. It's just too heavy and draining to watch often.
I love Simon Birch too Russ. Very funny and touching.
Post a Comment