Modern Vespa

My word, there are two people out there who agree with me! You and Redhandmoto!! Miller's Crossing is my favorite film of all time....and I have seen a LOT of movies...a LOT...I mean really...LOT LOT LOT.

The Cohen brothers can do no wrong in my eyes (though they have had some highs and lows). Miller's Crossing is one of those I just never tire of watching again and again. Lebowski is definitely at the top of my list but Miller's Crossing is just...perfect.

I am not a big fan of Road to Perdition mostly because I believe Tom Hanks (as wonderful) as he is, is just simply wrong in the role. He just didn't pull it off for me.

Funny as all get out! Those guys are plumb nuts. Having said that, I still like watching PF and any Coen Bros offering.

Am I the only one who's watched Sergio Leone's "Once Upon a Time in America"? Ennio Morricone's soundtrack alone makes this my all time favorite! Robert Di Nero and James Wood at their best.

Bob

You're not the only one, Bob... That was, indeed, a fantastic film!

Not a Hollywood blockbuster, but have to show my age here. "On Any Sunday" with our MC greats of the past. Definitely infected me with the PTW virus.

Bob

Scarface, Godfather, Apocalypse Now, Punch Drunk Love, Magnolia, Royal Tenenbaums, Fight Club, One Flew over the Coocoo's Nest

I love the early Tarantino and Cohen brothers films. The 90s saw some great movies, Se7en and The Usual Suspects are probably up there with Pulp Fiction for me. I wouldn't call them perfect though. For me that's a movie you will watch time and time again and never tire of it. Blade Runner perhaps? Zulu and A Brigde Too Far, I've seen hundreds of times.

12 Angry men (the original) and Double Indemnity for me.

Here's a film you might of missed but in it's niche (music documentary) it's almost perfect - Searching for the Sugar Man. It's about a guy that became a superstar, never knew it and then faded into obscurity. I'd recommend watching it without knowing any more about it than that.

Yeah, me too. Love Leone/Morricone, a match made in heaven. My tastes have changed over the years, but Leone's films are among a very select few that have remained favourites all my life. Loved them as a teenager, still love them now.

Yep, I have the soundtrack of all of their movies, from "Fist Full of Dollars", "The Mission" and of course "Once upon a time..."
Having said that, "Shane" with Alan Ladd is my most watched movie!
Bob

While terms like 'best' are much too subjective for anything associated with taste, I agree that PF is on my 'cinema short list'.

My litmus test for including a film on the list is as follows:

If I would be channel flipping at 2:00 AM and stumbled on a film I'd seen before (even multiple times), would I watch it in its entirety... even if it was near the beginning... and even if it meant I would be wrecked for the next two days due to sleep deprivation?

If the answer to all those questions is yes, it's on the list.

So yeah, PF and TBL are both on the list.

You pulp people might like Buffalo 66, odd but one of my picks.

...that is, I've never seen Pulp Fiction. I'll correct that soon.

To stay more or less "on-genre", the two films I have seen that resonate well in my memory banks are The Usual Suspects and Lock, Stock, & Two Smoking Barrels, in that order. Fight Club had a certain nihilistic jolt, but not much staying power for me.

Lebowski? Good crazy fun.

A perfect film? I've pretty much gone off that notion. Something that comes close? Terry Gilliam's Brazil does it for me. Wim Wenders' Wings of Desire is right up there, too. If we throw sci-fi in the mix, Blade Runner tops them all, even if the eye-popping visuals were all this flick had going for it, which thankfully isn't the case*. There are a few others as well (anything by Sergio Leone, for example), but I think I've gotten sufficiently carried-away here as it is.

Oh...particular directors' pecadillos? That conversation could get ugly PDQ. I say let's skip it, like certain other hot-button topics.

(*I think the first "director's cut" was the best. The Bowdlerized scene between Roy and Tyrell in the "final" cut should've been left intact, regardless of whose ears might've been offended.)

Funny you should say that. I pulled out "The Usual Suspects" the other day.

Fantastic. I even love Baldwin in that film.

That is a top 5 film for me.

Hey, we are just talking about movies, not oil. Relax.

Top 5.

1.Goodfellas.

2.Shawshank. Those first two are interchangeable.

3. Carlito's Way- Pacino was brilliant.

4. The Big Lobowski- Somebody needs to stand up for those brothers.

5. The Usual Suspects- Straight great gangster flick.

Just my mind.......love all others also

Pulp Fiction was the perfect movie for the audience it was aimed at on the week it came out. I remember it caused sensation and I still love it. But had I not seen it then as a young man of a certain ilk at a certain time and place, I'm not sure what I'd think of it now. But I guess you could say that about anything.

OK, I'll just throw it out there. "Guardians of the Galaxy".

The perfect movie is not there. Humans make these movies. That alone makes them imperfect.

Really sad a film nut didn't chime in. Meh.

the magnificent 7 has to be up there somewhere

I'm guessing it was like the expendables in its day using all the big stars at the time in one film

Not to mention both the film that heavily influenced this one (The Seven Samauri) and the films it influenced as well (you know most of those.) Yep, a good one.

I know it's cliche but my favorite not a word wrong movie is Casablanca. The Star War original trilogy is probably second. PF would be in the top five. I liked Lebowski a lot but it was not in the elite for me. 3 1/2 out of 4 stars.

3 1/2 is right for Lobowski. Maybe a 3.

Casablanca? Total different realm of movies. Bogart? Are you kidding me?

Yeah, brother, Casablanca is probably the best movie I have ever seen.

Followed closely by Goodfellas.

My favourite movie is......well, here is a clue (another patch I had made up )

I agree with all of this, especially Wings of Desire.

w.

That was the movie I most identified with but that just makes me a candidate for therapy and antidepressants. Anything that Terry Gilliam touches is fine by me.

w.

Begin film lecture...

I used to teach university film classes and in my lectures, the sole two measurements I used for criteria in judging a film is "Does it achieve it's purpose?" and "Does it put you in a momentary suspension of disbelief?" If it does those two things, it could be argued to be a "perfect" film. I don't like when people tout "Citizen Kane" or "The Godfather" as the best films ever because in my view, any movie can achieve greatness if it achieves this criteria.

For example, if you go to see a horror movie and it scares the crap out of you and you are engrossed throughout its length, it's a success. If it does this to a level better than ever before, it's perfect. Things like the script, acting, set design and music all contribute or detract from the success of a film. If you see a wonderfully acted film but the music sucks and it takes you "out" of the movie, it fails. If you are bored but love the scenery, it fails. If you love the action and enjoy everything about the story but its got horrible camera work, it fails.

This is why it's so hard to achieve a "perfect" movie because getting all these elements right is tough. Pulp Fiction is great on so many levels. It has great performances, interesting script, good plotting, great music and even at close to 3 hours, never drags at all. It definitely achieves it's purpose of being an arty yet engaging drama. In the end, it is "a" perfect movie but it's not the perfect movie.

Obviously there are those who want to see movies attempting to create art be placed on a pedestal and achieve some of special recognition. I don't disagree completely. Stretching the boundaries of the medium is important. An amazing film like this is Bela Tarr's "The Turin Horse." It's close to two and half hours, has only 30 takes in the entire movie, shot in black and white and has about one page of dialogue for the whole film. Yet, it's a deeply dark and tragic film about the entropy of life. It's absolutely beautiful and haunting. I LOVED it but would I recommend it to anyone, nope. It's not for anyone but those who want to watch film as art.

I think the art in itself is the act of movie making. Something like "The Raid," "Lord of the Rings," or even "The Terminator" deserves as much praise as art house creations like "Love & Friendship" or "The Turin Horse." We need entertainment as much as need art. In a perfect world those two come together at times and give us perfection.

End film lecture...the test will be next Friday.

Just landed on Punch Drunk Love on Showtime. Perfect romantic bridge between the USA and GBR. Adam Sandler and Emily Watson with a little Hawaii in the mix.

w.

I saw "Swiss Army Man" today. It's not perfect, but you should see it. PFFFFFFF

iwatched no country for old men all the way through yesterday

I had never seen it properly but it was a pound so bought it

what a brilliant film

reminds me a bit of fargo which is another film ive never seen all the way through in one go but watched bits of it

I figured I'd watch all the films on this thread I hadn't already seen. I started with this one last night. Perhaps there's two films with the same name? the one I watched was an unbelievably cheesy 1980's action film. I want my 2 hours back!
Then again I suppose it would be boring if we all liked the same stuff. I disagree. All decent films should meet those criteria. Perfection requires something far more - perhaps a comment on the human condition or revealing an emotion you never knew you even had.

If there were only 100 films we might be able to say one of them was perfect. But, each person would have a different idea of perfect.

For me, I would stop the world to watch Little Big Man, Stalag 17, any Zatoichi film, Fiddler on the Roof, King Rat, 12 Angry Men, Rear Window, Kung Fu Hustle, The Man With No Name series. The list goes on.

Those engage me, take me out of my own reality and put me in theirs. I don't think "hey, there's that actor" and I enjoy the story.

I saw No Country For Old Men the week it was released (projected on film, the way it was shot...talk about a feast for the eyes!), along with Sidney Lumet's swan-song Before The Devil Knows You're Dead (projected on film, but shot digitally...not the best, but didn't get in the way of enjoying it). Both were brilliant, but also a depressing punch in the gut in regard to their very corrosive take on human nature. Wouldn't advise seeing both in succession unless you've got a strong stomach.

Always have an argument Robin???...hehe

The abundant of bad films out there proves that these two questions are hard to achieve. I don't disagree that "perfection" delivers what you describe but that's a personal thing that cannot be measured. I only propose those two as a starting point to great films. If they achieved their purpose and suspend your disbelief, you can begin to measure them.

All good movies, but they're not all-time greats to me.

Only when duty calls

Nope. You got it right. Very cheesy 80s action film.

But it's a send up. Notice that Kurt Russell is doing John Wayne the whole time. His boxing beats the "oriental" martial arts. It's West beats East. Definitely not to be taken seriously in any way.

"Kurt Russell plays hard-boiled truck driver Jack Burton, who gets caught in a bizarre conflict within, and underneath, San Francisco's Chinatown. An ancient Chinese prince and Chinatown crime lord has kidnapped a beautiful green-eyed woman, who is the fiancee to Jack's best friend. Jack must help his friend rescue the girl before the evil Lo Pan uses her to break the ancient curse that keeps him a fleshless and immortal spirit."

Really?

I certainly wouldn't consider it a "perfect" movie, but it it's a lot of fun when viewed with a large dose of irony.

Now, the Kurt Russel film that approaches perfection a bit closer is "Overboard" with Goldie Hawn. Delicious and hilarious.

And while we're at it, how about "The Last Starfighter"? Talk about a sweet, pure, funny, touching movie that knows not to take itself too seriously.

It was one of the first two films (along with "Tron") to use CGI in live action.

It also featured Robert Preston getting to reprise a flim-flam man Harold Hill ("The Music Man") character one last time before leaving us.

cheesy 80s films has to be the goonies or gremlins