A good argument can be made that Kubrick was the American/British answer to the deliberate, contemplative, intellectually exploratory Russian films of Tarkovsky et al. I wonder if the Soviet filmmakers were as demanding of their casts and crews as Kubrick was notorious for.

Personally, I enjoy crawling on my eyelashes, but a brisk run suits me too!

JAWS, because I've always dug sharks, and I grew up watching that film since I was around 7.

GOODFELLAS, because it proved to this then-14 year old that I can see a movie like that in the theatre 6 times. And it solidified my choice to be a filmmaker.

THE THIRD MAN, which is just plain great.

RUSHMORE, for being a fantastic, funny film.

JURASSIC PARK, for no other reason than it still transports me to someplace else. It's fun, and still has great effects.

TOY STORY, because the story, and the animation, are incredible. And what friendship means.

ALIENS for scaring me.

DIE HARD for re-defining the action film. Before THE MATRIX came along, it was "Die Hard on a..."

Old Universal Horror Films, which got me thinking about filmmaking as a very young guy. Plus, I dig Frankenstein's Monster!

Man, there are so many others...I'll have to post up more when I'm more awake.

heath

Wha---. No one liked Last Tango in Paris? Eraserhead? Blade Runner? Dune? Oh, so many interesting movies out there....

Dune?! First movie I ever walked out on. But I'll grant you the other three. ;)

Yeah, it was slow, and it could have been a bit better with story---to many pieces missing. However, I enjoyed it. Whenever I want to put my wife to sleep (slow, long movie, plus she hates sci-fi), I pop it into my VCR.

Everything I've ever seen from the Studio Ghibli crew, I saw "Princess Mononoke" mentioned earlier and "Spirited Away", I think that was the English title, is another. These guys produce the most beautiful anime you'll ever see and the stories show human understanding and compasion you don't often see here in Japan. Others from this neck of the woods include 7 Samurai, Samurai Fiction, the Lone Wolf and Cub series, and Red Shadow.

I'm with Robert on Empire Strikes Back, and quite a few on the first Matrix movie. For my popcorn value, aka toilet humor, I can't go past college comedies like Animal House, Road Trip, American Pie, and the South Park movie.

For tea and crumpet value there's Snatch and Mean Machine, and yes I know it's a remake of The Longest Yard.

Not in any particular order...

Citizen Kane - The scene in the screening room with all the smoke.

Office Space - Been there, done that.

Apocalypse Now - I love the smell of Napalm in the morning.

Shakespeare in Love - Brilliant screenplay.

My friend and I may have been the only ones in the theatre the weekend OFFICE SPACE opened in January 5 years ago.

I felt robbed when SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE beat out SAVING PRIVATE RYAN for the best picture Oscar.

heath

Yes, Robert, I have heard this of this comparison being made too, indeed, Kubrick had everything to do with my taking in Tarkovsky's work in stride, but, knowing Tarkovsky's films as well as I do, now, and knowing Kubrick somewhat, I find the likeness a superficial one. Slow, atmospheric, contemplative the works of both can be said to be, but Kubrick's films scream TECHNIQUE much more so, to me. Too clever and too many shots/edits that serve to move a linear plot along, to be wholly transcendental. These words don't capture everything I mean, but....
Tarkovsky's is sprirtual, with the intellect acting as a boat only until reaching the shore, so to speak. I don't mean to say that Kubrick offered none of this, but, anyway, they are very different filmmakers in their scope and intentions, I think.
Let me know if you would like to continue this conversation, perhaps elsewhere would be a better place for it?

Shawn

I'd love to continue it, and this is as good a place as any, but I'm afraid my love (tolerance?) for Tarkovsky's lot is limited and so my exposure has been likewise. So I probably wouldn't have much else to say--but I do understand and to some extent agree with your point of view regarding the distinction between the Russians and Kubrick.

One of my favorite annual events in my hometown is the Case Science Fiction Marathon--a life altering experience if ever one can be had by penning several hundred film geeks alone in a darkened room for 30 hours--and last year we were Surprised with the original Solyaris. As if the first two hours of the film didn't test the crowd's collective patience enough, the final half-hour of the movie--predominantly long, static shots of plant life growing around a pond, or a man's still face--prompted agonizing cries throughout the whole theater for the man to throw himself in the pond and for the credits to hurry up and roll.

I don't think the audience response would have been terribly different if the film were, say, Eyes Wide Shut.

Ah, yes, you can, by that audiences reaction, imagine, then, my feelings about the vapid remake of said science fiction film, made by people desperately trying to distinguish themselves as artists.

A Place in the Sun-That Monty Clift, what a bad ass actor
Vanishing Point-mopar power
House of Games-Mamet
Homicide-see above
Raising Arizona- cause i know every line
Giant-james dean, big west texas skys

Office Space - for content and making me feel better about my job!

Snatch - Great writing, great acting, great story

Leaving Las Vegas - Nick Cage is incredible in this film

National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation - Just freakin' funny

Scarface - Pacino, need I say more

Heat - Pacino and De Niro, need I say more (and one of the best gun fight scenes ever)

True Romance - Good story with all the Tarentino twists (also another great gun fight)

Top Two

Race For Your Life Charlie Brown The greatest white water rafting/war of the sexes movie of all time. Plus, who's cooler than Snoopy? Nobody.

Tremors IMHO, the best balance of scary, funny adventure ever.
I watch it over and over.

Other favorites

Pulp Fiction
Blade Runner
Apocalypse Now
Das Boot
Star Wars/Empire/Jedi
Lady X Ep. 13: The Ronin
Seven Samurai
Akira
Spirited Away
Predator
Vista Valley P.T.A.
Night Of The Living Dead
Zombie (Lucio Fulci's)
Joss Whedon's Firefly (I know it's TV, but if I watch all the DVDs back to back it's like a movie, so shaddap!)

I've got a top 20 list, but that's enough for now.

SNOOPY COME HOME made me cry when I was 5 years old. Only movie that ever did that.

heath