Log in

While maybe not considered a classic (yet), I really think this movie deserves to be on the list.

Atonement was based on a novel by Ian McEwan, screenplay by Christopher Hampton, and directed by Joe Wright. Released in January of 2008, Won an Oscar for Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Score, nominated for 6 more Oscars including Best Picture (won BAFTA & Golden Globe for Best picture), and was nominated for everything under the sun.

General synopsis for anyone who hasn't seen it: A 13 year old with a vivid imagination mistakenly accuses her older sister's lover of a crime changing the course of all their lives.

This is one of the very, very few movies I truly believed lived up to the hype. I'm normally very skeptial of critics & films that are highly awarded & hyped. I went into this one expecting to be dissapointed. I was not. At all.

The portrayals were amazing, the story engrossing, the visuals breathtaking. This movie had the ability to lul you into a sense of...not security...but you felt at ease & comfortable in the film & suddenly you were smacked in the face by something unsettling & unexpected. It was not an easy movie to watch, not a chick flick by any standards. It could honestly leave an emotional toll on you.

If you haven't seen it, do so. But be sure to watch it in one setting. That is a must.

OK, one last nod for the day.

Toy Story. November 1995. Pixar & Disney films.

Yes, I know. It's a children's movie. But it was the first feature length computer animated film & now, more than a decade later, very few animated movies are made any other way. I was in college whe it came out & I remember very clearly how in awe everyone was at the detail in the movie & how realistic everything (except the human characters) was.

And it was one of the first major animated films where major hollywood actors were used as voice over artists (I know it had been done for years before...Last Unicorn...but this movie seemed to spark that as a trend).

Think of the movies it has spawned & the actors that have now forrayed into voice over work for them since...it's staggering.

Great choice! I love Toy Story.

Two more.

I didn't think I'd nominate a relatively recent movie, but I have to nominate Pan's Labyrinth (2006). It is entirely in Spanish, so reading subtitles is a headache, unless you've watched tons of other foreign films before (which I have... *cough*anime*cough*). This movie is dark. Extremely dark. Long story short, a young girl uses this insane escapism to avoid the horror of wartime Spain. It is suspenseful and brutal. I had to look away several times. I cringe just now thinking about it. It is part realistic, part fantastic, and all horrific. It's hard to believe that del Toro could pull off a fantasy story that was so real and so damn scary. What significant impact has it made? Everyone I know who's seen it has had nightmares about the Pale Man. If you've seen it, you know what I'm talking about. The images from this film just stay with you.

The next one: Full Metal Jacket (1987). Yes, another Kubrick. It's raw, it's real, it's classic. The Vietnam War era is always hard to revisit when talking about American history, and this movie doesn't really make it any easier--but it does make you laugh in a twisted way. I do believe this has to be one of the most quoted movies EVER. And people don't even know they're quoting it! "Me love you long time"... Yeah. I've heard people say that was from Good Morning, Vietnam. I don't really know what to say about this film other than it was well-executed and very memorable. (And it was also not filmed on Parris Island, where it takes place. Go figure.) Oh, and R. Lee? We love you.

I am not a huge sci-fi fan. Don't mind a bit now & then, but futuristic/apocolyptic movies are not my cup o'tea.

The Matrix blew me out of the water.

We (my hubby & I) were told about 7,000 times that we had to see it, so I rented it not expecting much.

Boy was I wrong. That was one of the few movies that truly messed with my mind. Normally if I spend half the film thinking, "What the heck is going on?" I'm not a happy camper. This movie was just the opposite. It made no sense at all for about 15 minute & then suddenly it was like, "This is the coolest thing EVER!"

I'm not putting all the specifications on here because everyone's heard of it.

I'm also not nominating the second & third movies becase they didn't touch the first movie. Didn't come close.

Each decade needs a movie all of it's own. Something that relates to the youth of the time & still relates to today's Youth.

For your viewing pleasure, I submit The Breakfast Club. Not gonna post all the who-hah about it. Check IMDB if you've not seen it (and crawl out from under your rock). 1980's it movie, the Brat Pack, snarky humor, MUSIC, exceptionally quotable, great movie!

And for the 1990's I think it may be a toss up between Reality Bites & Singles. Both were kind of the voice of Gen X. Seattle grunge music, the 1980's suddenly became retro, quite a few up & coming stars, coming of age films....

Oh, and speaking of coming of age films, jump back to the 1980's and add Say Anything! Oh heavens. What girl hasn't been in love with the trench coat wearing Lloyd Dobbler? The boom-box held over his head as it blares Peter Gabriel....classic.

So, officially, there's my newest nods.

Hey guys, we need to get back to this. And in the spirit of the thing, I have a new nomination!

Harvey, (1950) starring Jimmy Stewart. Excellent story, excellent movie. Who doesn't love a story about an imaginary rabbit and a pleasant alcoholic? ^_^ I think most everyone here is familiar with this one, so I'll leave it at that.

I second Harvey & raise you Aresnic & Old Lace....it's about old women who bury men they've killed in their basement while their nephew thinks he's Teddy Rosevelt digging the Panama Canal. What more can you ask for? Oh, yeah, Carey Grant!

And I have to add <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0051459/">Cat on a Hot Tin Roof </a>. Tennessee Williams at his best, Elizabeth Taylor & Paul Newman at the height of their carrers, the 1950's south & all it's oddities, morphine, crazy relatives, no neck monsters, sex, lies, and Burl Ives who just happens to be a cousin to Dorkboy & myself (seriously. No lie).

There's not a mis-cast in the entire film. Elisabeth Taylor is Maggie the Cat. Paul Newman nails the washed up, alcoholid football player who looks so much better than he has any right to (Maggie even tells him she wished he'd lose his looks like other drinking me). Judith Anderson is the perfect overbearing, whiny, old south matriarch & Big Daddy couldn't possibly be anyone other than Mr.Ives.

It's a brilliantly made movie. A wonderful script. It's raw & heart breaking & makes you want to inflict violence on May & Gooper's no neck children....and then there are the names...Brick, Gooper, Big Daddy...

I love it all.

I second those noms. Both are great classics.

If someone else doesn't pick up where Rish & I have left off, I'm going to start randomly nominating movies like Howard the Duck, The Happening, Crank, Lost Boys: The Tribe, and Love in the Time of Cholera.

So, get to it!

A couple of movies on my list are one the Breakfast Club, Night of the Living Dead the original, House on Haunted Hill with Vincent Price of course, Akira a great anime classic, Dave with Kevin Kline, National Lampoon's Animal House, Blues Brothers, Clockwork Orange, Seven Samaurai, Clerks, and another movie will have to be Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.

Pride & Predjudice both the Laurance Olivia & Donald Sutherland versions

It's getting to the point, for me anyway, that I'd just be listing movies I've seen and not really ones of outstanding merit. If I think of anything else, I'll let you guys know. For now, I'm gonna compile a list of the candidates and see where we are.

[EDIT] I have been remiss! I thought for sure I had nominated it, but no! A Philadelphia Story!! With Cary Grant, Katharine Hepburn, and Jimmy Stewart! Greatest movie ever in my book, and what a cast!

Also, as the list stands, there are only 42 unique nominations. We have a long way to go, as we need about 200 in order to whittle the list down properly. Let's get to it!