Jrefs 100 films to see before you die: Nominations

[Mycernius]

Recently on Channel 4 (UK TV station) there was one of these 100 lists for films to see before you die. It was complied using critics and those in the film industry. There is also a book recently come out in the UK called the 1001 movies to see before you die. I wondered what the Jref communities idea of the best 100 films would be. Having a wide selection of nationalities on Jref we might get a good selection.
The critrea is that you put forward several films with a brief idea on why it should be a film before you die. It doesn't nessessarily have to be one of your favourite films, after all we all have a film we like, but in reality we know it does suck. Even if someone else has put forward a film you would nominate still put it forward. Your ideas on why it should go in could be different from another members
You can discuss films other members have put forward and in a few months time I shall try and draw up a list. It might exceed 100, let's see how it goes

[Mycernius]

I'll start:
Blade Runner - OK it is my favourite film, but it is visually stunning considering the year it was made (1984) and it is like a live action Anime film. Instead of showing the Future to be bright, it shows a future where our problems still exist and focuses on the little people and there evryday life.

Star Wars - Not the best film for originality or plot, but told in a damn good way. It revitalised sci-fi films and showed that a a story told well can make it big.

The Godfather Trilogy - I cheat a little that it is three films, but they need to be complete. The third is the weakest, Sofia Copolla is much better behind the camera, but in scope and following Michael is one of the best Gangster films ever made.

Battle Royale - It caused a fuss when released in Japan, even getting discussed in parliment. It show another dystoptian future were kids are running out of control. Despite being dropped into a slaughter house, it show that they are just children with hopes and dreams that we all have, only to have them taken away. Even made to feel sorry for Misuko when she finally meets her end.

Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind - The channel 4 poll voted in Princess Mononoke. While a good film Nausicaa is the film that created Ghibli and the quality in its story and animation that have made Ghibli what it is today. A studio that in a lot of ways surpasses Disney.

[yukio_michael]

Okay, I'll try to keep is that un-pretentious as possible, yet at the same time, there are a list of movies give or take that any film student drop out will tell you (and it's mostly true) are recomended viewing... They drone on and on about it though, so it gets a bit academic and boorish, in short some of them are titles such as...

...The Bicycle Thief, Umberto D, Eyes without a face, Blowup, 400 Blows, Fritz Lang's Metropolis, Solyaris, Citizen Cane, Psycho.

Here is my own personal list, which is probably just another man's list of pretentious esoterica all the same...

Yi Yi (2000) (dir: Edward Yang)
It's hard to describe this movie to people. It is a three hour long movie about a upper-middle class Taiwanese family that starts with a wedding, ends with a funeral, and touches on among other things a murder in between--- It's a grandiose film that never feels like it took on more than it could chew--- It's touching, it's my favourite film, and unless you have a heart of stone, its ending will make you cry the way a good movie makes you cry. You'll see also, its where my avatar comes from. ;)

Badkonake sefid (1995) (The white balloon) (dir: Jafar Panahi)
The story of a little Iranian girl who is given money by her financially strapped family (her mother) to buy a goldfish for New years day, the story of how people try to hustle this money from her and how she tries to regain it... simply beautiful, a great movie.

Alien (1979) (dir Ridley Scott)
Okay, Myc touched on Bladerunner (actually made in '82, not '84, which makes it all the more ahead of it's time...). One of the other really great movies by Scott was of course Alien... You can skip all the sequells as they are basically crap... But from the look and feel and gradual tension and horror that was obtained in this film (on practically a shoestring.... they built the craft interiors out of old discarded areoplanes...) is amazing... Along with Bladerunner possibly one of the two best sci-fi films ever made along with being one of the best horror films ever made. Watch this movie and think: "1979", its by war without equal even today.

Maadadayo (1993) (dir: Kurosawa, Akira)
This review is a little bit tricky... This movie tells the story of 'real-life' author & essayist, Uchida Hyakken (1889-1971) as a man who retires from teaching to publish his litterary work during a pre & post WWII Japan & the students who idolize him and take care of him. It's a very touching and very Japanese film... It hints at a lot of nationalistic qualities, and is outwardly sentimental for an older time. It's also Kurosawa's great homage to... himself... If you can get over this fact, and you can watch it for its more austere qualities, I think you'll like it... Kurosawa's final film.

China Town (1974) (dir: Roman Polanski)
You should credit Bob Town (who wrote the original screenplay) and Polanski who directed rather than Robert Evans the prodcuer of this film, but this was Evan's first picture under his own company for Paramount... This is a fantastic private eye film staring Jack "Irish" Nicholson, who uncharacteristically wears a bangage across his face for a good portion of he film. I agree with Evan's when he calls this the "quintessential private eye film..."

Marathon Man (1976) (dir: John Schlesinger)
This is another picture produced under the Evan's banner... Staring Dustin Hoffman, it's a great suspensfull pesudo-espionage flick, with one of the most gut-wrenching interogation scenes in any film I've seen. Stylistically, it looses some points, & doesn't age well--- but for overall presesence & theme its well worth the viewing, and should be considered "recommended".

Nogiku no gotoki kimi nariki (1955) (dir: Keisuke Kinoshita)
The title of this film ---you might notice that the Japanese in the title is of an antiquated vernacular, is "You were like the wild Chrysanthemum". This is I think one of Japan's premier films---- It tells the story in parts, of the village life of two harrassed and chastised individuals whos friendship grows to become something of a more adult form of love. Simple, sentimental, but in the end, still touching & scincere.

Dare mo shiranai (2004) (dir: Hirokazu Koreeda)
Everyone knows this movie, asides from the adult actors, of which one of my favourite celebrities, "You", as the mother is included, the children were all amatuer actors, none of whom had any sort of script to read. This is the fictionalised true story of a mother who abandons her children in Tokyo to chase after her own selfish needs as an aging materialistic woman. One of the interesting things about this film is that the characters in it actually age as the film progresses, voices change--- and the children grow. This film gets mentioned time and time again on this forum, and it shouldn't be missed. Its dialogue and scenes, everything about it yields an almost documentary feel of sorrow and loss, only briefly puncutated by the types of childish outbursts oddly shared by the mother of the children.

...okay, that's a few of my favs.

[Foxtrot Uniform]

2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)

Although the storyline is a bit hard to understand if you haven't read the novel by Arthur C. Clarke, Kubrick's directing has made the film simply beautiful to watch. One of the most memorable scenes is where the shuttle is docking to the space station (all silent in the vacuum of space of course) while Strauss' "Blue Danudbe" plays in the background. The scene is done so well that it seems like the shuttle and space station are doing some sort of zero-gravity waltz in outer-space. God that scene always brings tears to my eyes. Then theres the man-ape scene where it finds a bone and slowlys discovers its use as a tool (beating other apes on the head) and in that scene you can watch as the ape gains intelligence. Oh, and then there's HAL, the cold and calculating computer who ends up murdering the crew becuase of logic. His voice is done so well too, how the actor made him sound human, yet you can tell he is devoid of human feelings. Oh, and the scene where Dave basically takes HAL's brain apart, and you can feel the fear in HAL's voice and insanity takes over him as he gets closer to "death," but I digress... Basically, the movie is directed so well that its a work of art, with so many moving scenes.

Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)

A movie with two great actors, who basically say so many memorable lines. There was nothing spectacular about the storyline, although it was pretty amusing, but what really makes this film a classic are Paul Newman and Robert Redford. They say so many memorable things that almost every line they say is a classic. I could spend all day quoting them, but its easier just to watch the film.

North by Northwest (1959)

Another great piece of Hitchcokian work, but this one is truly great because it is one the greatest thrillers ever made. Although it requires a bit of suspense of disbelief (who would send a cropduster to kill someone lol?) the film is well scripted, not over-the-top ye exciting, and of course, has some great directing (and a bonus were the still shots, incrediby beautiful, almost like a photograph).

Das Boot (1981)

Gritty. This is such a great film because it truly captures what submarine warfare was like (of course, how would I know? I've never been in one). As the viewer, you really felt that you were in that metal coffin with the rest of the crew, and you understood what it was like to be in a U-Boat. You really do feel claustrophobic but the best scenes were when the U-boat was being hunted by destroyers. You could actually feel the horror of being trapped in a small metal tube under the ocean as people intent on killing you dropped explosives that detonated around you. Those scenes were truly frightening, and I too felt like screaming out to anybody to make those depth charges stop. A very realistic, intense, and immersive film about a U-boat captain and his crew and their survival.

Alright, I have about 10 other films that one should see before one dies, but I'm tired so I'll type them up later.

[ricecake]

I may add to the list,my 2 all time favorite Jules Verne's Hollywood films.


* Twenty Thousand Leagues Under The Sea ( 1954 - James Mason and Kurt ouglas )

Story plot - A ship sent to investigate a wave of mysterious sinkings encounters the advanced submarine,the Nautilus commanded by Captian Nemo.


* Journey to the Center of the Earth ( 1959 - James Mason and Pat Boone )

Story plot - A Ediburgh professor and assorted colleagues follow an explorer's trail down an extinct Islandic volcano to the earth's center.

[MeAndroo]

Blazing Saddles - A Mel Brooks masterpiece excelling in every comedic aspect, from the lowest of the low brow to something slightly more witty.

[detox]

I always get recommended movies to watch, already having watched many many many indie/mainstream american flicks myself.. I try to look for foreign movies. I've watched a few, IE: battle royale, love me if you dare, amelie, ichi the killer, etc.

I really enjoy foreign movies, especially japanese ones and I'd like to try and find some of the movies I see on this thread.. but I was wondering if anyone had advice as to where I could possibly find them, a certain store? or possibly even download from somewhere?

Thanks in for the help.

[misa.j]

Wow, you guys got some excellent movies listed there. Foxtrot Uniform mentioned Das Boot, which I was also thinking of, is a really great movie.

Here are my recommendations. I tried to give them a variety, but all of them are comical in some ways.

Dr. Strangelove(1964)
Seven Samurai(1954)
Night of the Living Dead(1968)
American Splender(2003)
I Heart Huckabees(2004)

[ricecake]

Night of the Loving Dead was one classic horror flick,I am a lifetime fan of horror films.



Sleepy Hollow and Frank Coppola's Dracula are great scary films from several years back.

[Dutch Baka]

Originally Posted by misa.j

Seven Samurai(1954)

AGREE!!! Seven Samurai is a must see.

Some movies I love

Ben Hur (1959) (just because!)
When a Jewish prince is betrayed and sent into slavery by a Roman friend, he regains his freedom and comes back for revenge.

Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels (1998) (Because it's a Guy Richie movie!!!)
Four London working class stiffs pool their money to put one in a high stakes card game, but things go wrong and they end up owing half a million pounds and having one week to come up with the cash.

Fight Club (1999) ( It's weird, and you got Brad pitt and Edward Norton)
An office employee and a soap salesman build a global organization to help vent male aggression.

American History X (1998) (Edward Norton in his best role ever IMO!!)
A former neo-nazi skinhead (Norton) tries to prevent his younger brother (Furlong) from going down the same wrong path that he did.

Some Like It Hot (1959) (MARILYN MONROE!!! plus it is really funny )
When two musicians witness a mob hit, they flee the state in an all female band disguised as women, but further complications set in.

Kill Bill: Vol. 1 (2003) ( I don't have to tell you why, because this movie is just the BOMB, especially GOGO)
The Bride wakes up after a long coma. The baby that she carried before entering the coma is gone. The only thing on her mind is to have revenge on the assassination team that betrayed her - a team she was once part of.

Finding Nemo (2003) ( because you got some Turtles in it that can say Dude)
A father-son underwater adventure featuring Nemo, a boy clownfish, stolen from his coral reef home. His timid father must then search the ocean to find him

The Green Mile (1999) ( Because he made me cry)
The story about the lives of guards on death row leading up to the execution of a wrongly accused man who has the power of faith healing.

Saving Private Ryan (1998) ( One the of the best Europe WW2 movies, and because it is just so realistic.)
Based on a World War II drama. US soldiers try to save their comrade, paratrooper Private Ryan, who's stationed behind enemy lines.

Simon (2004) (One of the best Dutch movies ever, funny and life changing)
a Dutch film about two friends, one heterosexual and one gay person. In the film you can see many aspects of the typical Dutch society: gay marriage, euthanasia, sex. The film has won 4 prizes of the 'Gouden Kalf' (Golden Calf).

(That's it for now )

[inki]

Daremo shiranai - Nobody Knows (2004) ... Four siblings live happily with their mother in a small apartment in Tokyo. The children all have different fathers and have never been to school. The very existence of three of them has been hidden from the landlord. One day, the mother leaves behind a little money and a note, charging her oldest boy to look after the others. And so begins the children's odyssey, a journey nobody knows. Though engulfed by the cruel fate of abandonment, the four children do their best to survive in their own little world, devising and following their own set of rules. When they are forced to engage with the world outside their cocooned universe, the fragile balance that has sustained them collapses. Their innocent longing for their mother, their wary fascination toward the outside world, their anxiety over their increasingly desperate situation, their inarticulate cries, their kindness to each other, their determination to survive on wits and courage. (plot summary from imdb.com)

Kashân - Casshern (2004) ... my favourite Anime-Real-film version

[Riyko]

Shogun: John Blackthorne, an English ship pilot, whose vessel wrecked upon the Japanese coast in the early 17th century is forced to deal with the two most powerful men in Japan in these days. He is thrown in the midst of a war between Toranaga and Ishido, who struggle for the title of Shogun which will give ultimate power to the one who possesses it.

I pick shogun (yes it's also a movie) because it's not only interesting to see what it was like in Japan in the 16th and early 17th century, but to compare it to how life in japan is now. It's a good, but powerful movie (the mini series and book are better). I can't really say much about it without giving away alot of the story, but it's a good movie.

[Flashjeff]

Okey dokey! This looks like fun! Here's a couple of selections:

Pulp Fiction: In my mind, this is Quentin Tarantino's best work ever. An interconnected trilogy of stories revolving around two low rent hitmen (Samuel L. Jackson and John Travolta), the coke fiend wife of their employer (Uma Thurman) and an aging boxer after one last big payday (Bruce Willis). Funny, violent and bloody, PF was Tarantino at the height of his powers as a writer/director and is my all-time favorite movie.


Thirteen Days: This is a vastly underrated historical piece about what happened inside the Kennedy White House during the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis. Incredibly gripping, it details just how close the world came to nuclear war, especially at the height of the Naval blockage of Cuba. The performances of Bruce Greenwood and Steven Culp as John and Bobby Kennedy were absolutely amazing and more than a little eerie.

[RockLee]

Lord of the ring trilogy !!! : No need to explain

Gladiator : It's on of the best epic stories I've seen.

I'll think of more later

[Goldiegirl]

Airplane! I love that movie it cracks me up everytime I watch it. Ok, maybe it's a really cheesy comedy/spoof but it's hilarious.

RockLee....LOTR rules...I personally love the extended version of the movies. It's a book that should be on the a list for the top 100 books to read.

[ricecake]

John Travolta's 2 box office movie hits from the mid-1970's



* Saturday Night Fever

* Grease

[DoctorP]

LOL...I watched Grease last night!

[Ho-te-ru]

40
Amelie stars Audrey Tautou, Mathieu Kassovitz, Rufus, Yolande Moreau, Dominique Pinon..The young heroine of the title is brought up in strenuous circumstances: her overloving but kooky parents teach her from home, and she is raised in a world devoid of physical contact.

41
Onibaba - old Japanese horror film

42
Twenty Fourty Six - Part of a trilogy Wong Kar-Wai's follow on to his film Mood For Love

43
Gattaca very good sci-fi movie

44
Fritz Lang's Metropolis milestone of sci-fi and German expressionism.

45
Shiri highest grossing in Korean history

46
2001: A Space Odyssey - wonderful science fiction

47
Run Lola Run great German movie

48
Huozhe or To-Live, great Chinese film stars Gong Li and Yimou Zhang displays a piece of cinematic brilliance

49
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest shocking, funny, dramatic and touching movie

[jurek1810]

My favourites movies:
Seven Samurai, Kelly's Heroes, Blade Runner, 2001: Space Odyssey, Das Boot, Battle of Britain, A Bridge Too Far, The Longest Day, Zorba the Greek, The Guns of Navarona, Taxi I - III, Diuna, Mondo Cane, Faraon (Polish movie),1941, Shrek I - III, Krzyżacy (Polish movie), Wilcze Echa (Polish movie)

[jurek1810]

I think you looks too small polish movies. WRONG!!!! Take and look more polish movies, you will know polish culture, art, property etc. Poland can't make S-F movies but sometimes we make fantasy Wiedźmin (Witchman), Tajemnica Sagali (Secret of Sagala) and others, historical Quo Vadis, Faraon
(Pharoah), Krzyżacy (The Teutonics), Ogniem i Mieczem (Fire and Sword), Potop (the Flood), Pan Wołodyjowski (Mr. Wolodyiowsky) and others. Of course Poland made many war movies Stawka większa niż życie (Stake the bigest than life), Wilcze echa (Wolfs echos), Gdzie jest generał? (Where the general is?) and others.

[Han Chan]

This a list of the films I have given highest rating 10/10:

Äideistä parhain (2005)
"Berlin Alexanderplatz" (1980)
"Riget II" (1997) (mini)
"Riget" (1994) (mini)
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
8 1/2 (1963)
Alien (1979)
Amarcord (1973)
Apocalypse Now (1979)
Blade Runner (1982)
Blue Velvet (1986)
Boot, Das (1981)
Breaking the Waves (1996)
Buono, il brutto, il cattivo, Il (1966)
C'era una volta il West (1968)
Cabaret (1972)
Cape Fear (1991)
Chinatown (1974)
A Clockwork Orange (1971)
Dancer in the Dark (2000)
Dare mo shiranai (2004)
Decameron, Il (1971)
The Deer Hunter (1978)
Dogville (2003)
Dolce vita, La (1960)
Donzoko (1957)
Elsker dig for evigt (2002)
Enfaldige mördaren, Den (1982)
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
Fanny och Alexander (1982)
Festen (1998)
Fiore delle mille e una notte, Il (1974)
The Godfather (1972)
The Godfather: Part II (1974)
The Matrix (1999)
Metropolis (1927)
Million Dollar Baby (2004)
Modern Times (1936)
Narayama bushiko (1983)
Nattevagten (1994)
North by Northwest (1959)
Once Upon a Time in America (1984)
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975)
Pelle erobreren (1987)
"Twin Peaks: Pilot (#1.1)" (1990)
Rashômon (1950)
Scarface (1983)
Se7en (1995)
Sen to Chihiro no kamikakushi (2001)
Shichinin no samurai (1954)
The Shining (1980)
Simon (2004)
Taxi Driver (1976)
Trois couleurs: Bleu (1993)
Un chien andalou (1929)
Unforgiven (1992)
Vertigo (1958)
Vita è bella, La (1997)
Why We Fight (2005)
Wild at Heart (1990)
Yojimbo (1961)

ENJOY!

[Han Chan]

If you can not recall what movies you like the best, you could check the 250 highest rated films: http://us.imdb.com/chart/top

[XxBroken-ButterflyxX]

Versus
Audition-XD XD
Pet Semetary
Candyman
Ringu
The Green Mile
The Crow<---best.movie.EVER( or one of them at least)

[bakaKanadajin]

I'm surprised no one has mentioned:

Taxi Driver, 1976: starring Robert DeNiro, directed by Martin Scorsese
The Shawshank Redemption, 1994: starring Morgan Freeman, Tim Robbins

[Kirie_Maiden]

I need to vote here.

My votes are The three prophecy films. They star Christopher Walken. They are about angels on earth and the prophecy of a second angel war due to God placing humans higher than Angels in his estimations. They are really good films.

Then I'll go for Ju-On 1 and 2. You MUST see those... and take the mick all the way through. They are amazing films (much better than the original) and make for good horror, but you need to make fun of them to regain sanity.

Also the Death Note films are in my top. They rule so much for one reason. Kenichi Matsuyama. Mmm. Alright... it's a good storyline and they are well made and blak blah blah... Kenichi Matsuyama.

I can't think of any more, so I'll probably post again when I get home and raid my DVD collection.