Allotments 4 All

OK this is where I confess to being a great big softie . . .

I am currently watching Meet Joe Black, and really enjoying it. I particularly enjoy watching romantic films now, having got past the stage where I felt self conscious or ashamed about it. I have got 'When Harry met Sally' lined up too, and watched 'The Seventh Sign' recently. Also 'Excalibur', as the best King Arthur film I have seen. And Fifty First Dates was another favourite. Plus loads more that I have forgotten.

What do others think of as their favourite films, and why?

Derekthefox  :D

Have to cop out if this one - I think most films are just stretched out single episode soap operas.  As for period pieces, they are soap operas with grand constumes to hide the lack of meaningful plot.

Bah humbug!

Oh go on then - Apocoplypse Now

QuoteMeet Joe Black,

~ i could drool over brad all day(http://bestsmileys.com/drooling/1.gif)(http://bestsmileys.com/drooling/1.gif)

My favourite is Cling

Cling who?  Eastwood  ;D         Sorry  ;)

I'm with you RC I think most films are over-hyped crap and I hate going to the pics only to watch a film that stinks  ;D

Most films my husband watches are rot and I can't be bothered to sit still long enough to see one through.  The films most folk think are good I think are shite eg Ghost (apart from Whoopie Goldberg, without whom the film would have deffo been a stinker), Sleepless in Seattle (yuk), and the very worst must be Titanic.  That one sent me running up the aisle  ;D      Anything with Bruce Willis in must a no-see film for me.  My oh and I were once on hol and it was pouring with rain so we went to pics and didn't know which one to watch.  Phoned niece who recommened Armageddon. I was banging on the door to be let out  ;D  The little rotter knew I would hate it so she recommended it as a joke  :)  I must say I do like Westerns and High Noon is my fave and Greg Peck in Big Country.  I do love Gregory Peck films - it must be his voice  :)  I like Clint Eastwood but some of his films are a bit rubbish but I love him in that spag western where he's all legs and understated bravado - the one where he makes tin body armour and puts it under his poncho  ;D   Love Casablanca too (even though Clint wasn't in it) oh and  Now Voyager.  Oh I can't stop now so I spose I do like films after all.  Aristocats, Bed Knobs and ..... :)

Harold & Maude~it was on tv when i was about 13 & i absolutely loved it.

my best film is a kids film but i love it wacth it hundreds of times bugsy Malone best kids film ever made

also love Barefoot in the Park~this time i'm drooling over Robert ;D ;D

i think BM's a great kids film~but my kids have never liked it ::) :-[

Toy Story - the best kids film I think

Tombstone, with Val Kilmer as Doc Holliday is something definitely in my DVD collection, also like Leon - like the way he loves his plant!
Pulp Fiction because I love John Travolta in it with Samuel L Jackson, the path of the righteous man and all that!

Whoopie Goldberg, Yes! There was a film I cannot recall the name, where she was in hiding, using internet chat to communicate . . . would love to know the name . . .

Derekthefox  :D

jumping jack flash?

Thank you, thank you thank you !

He he he

Derekthefox  :-*

Let's get down to earth?

Wings (193?)
Lives of a Bengal Lancer
Little Women
Deanna Durbin
??

The Italian job (Michael Cain version) I was fortunate to meet the chap who supplied the vehicles for the film, and remember him saying that he did quite well out of it, owing to the fact that they wrecked most of the cars.
                             
                             (http://img73.imageshack.us/img73/4417/shot42yb.jpg) (http://imageshack.us)

Anything with Cary Grant, Doris Day, David Niven, but also liked Underworld and sorry to say, loved Lord of the Rings! Magic Rounadbout crap though. Lottie  ;D

David Niven very suave  :)  I liked him with Gregory Peck in the fantastic film The Guns of Navarone.  We wore two videos of that out  ;D

I loved Jumpin Jack Flash too, esp when Whoopie got her posh long frock stuck in the shredder  ;D

I've got Tombstone too but not as mad on it as the early one - Gun Fight at the OK Corral.  Hee hah!

I like the Water Margin films as well.  Dead barmy but great fun  :)

And the original Italian Job, the mini's in the pipes remember, that was filmed in Coventry, not far from where I lived, we used to play in those sewer pipes (he hehe).

Derekthefox :D

Quotewe used to play in those sewer pipes

That's interesting Derek. How long were they, and are they still there?
                             (http://img353.imageshack.us/img353/5793/shot125hh.jpg) (http://imageshack.us)

Hate Robin Williams in movies.....BUT..... The World According to Garp I adore! Bugsey Malone is up there also, along with The Yellow Rolls Royce (Ingrid Bergman, Rex Harrison, Shirley MacLaine, Jeanne Foreau, George C. Scott, Omar Sharif, Alain Delon), Ghost Train (Arthur Askey), The VIP (Liz Taylor, Richard Burton), Best Little sleeper House in Texas (Dolly P), Officer and a Gentleman (cos I like a soppy love story once in a while!)

They were a new sewer system being installed right across Coventry, about 14 foot diameter, enormous excavation project. The system is still operational yes. Clever filming of course.

Derekthefox :D

I agree with you EJ - Yellow Rolls Royce is a fantastic film  :)

Undercarraigeplan
My 4 year old's fave film is Calamity Jane, so she'd agree with you on the Doris Day bit!
I love a real oldie with Doris Day and Frank Sinatra where he plays someone called Barney and there's a whole family thing going on, he tries to crash the car in the snow - anyone know what it's called?
would love to search it out on DVD.

Hi all,
        my favourites at the moment are:- Kingpin,Captain Corelli's Mandolin and,my all time favourite, One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest.
               Cheers-Marky

I love Doris Day films (I know  :-[), and my favourite is Calamity Jane.  All of her films are great to watch on a cold rainy Sunday afternoon, with some goodies to eat and drink and a blanket on the sofa.  I also like all the other big musical movies, South Pacific, West Side Story, Sound of Music -  Christmas holidays  wouldn't be the same without them. I thought Saturday Night Fever was great and I can watch The Abyss over and over.   I also liked Master and Commander with Russel Crowe, as well as Gladiator. My most favourite film of all time though, (shows what a big softie I am) is It's a Wonderful Life.   :D busy_lizzie

absolutely right buzzie lizzie - have to rely on dvd's these days as they don't put the good old films on anymore.
what about the king and I? Also Larry Parks in the Jolson Story.
Must also confess to a weakness in the shape of Keanu in that long leather coat in The Matrix!

Wot no samurai movies??

'Zatoichi' is my desert island dvd.

Madmum you daughter has good taste love calamity Jane is a great film , what a charlie and the chocolate factory the origanal is brilliant , the new one out is a load of crap not even worth watching

  THE KING AND I, LOVELY LOVELY FILM.  ALSO "THE BRIDGE OVER THE RIVER KWAI.  THE KILLING FIELDS :'( :'(. (THE CHAMP ) IF YOU NEED TO HAVE A GOOD CRY :'( :'( :'( :'(.,

TM   I like that old Samurai film that Clint's spagetti western character is based on - can't remember what it was called  - Seven Samurai I think  :)    I really liked the Water Margin on TV - not in the same class as the former - but it did liven up Saturday teatimes in our house  ;D  My son buys me an episode or two when he finds them  :)

Hi Derek, I like escapist adventure stories (Star Wars:  A New Hope, The Lord of The Rings), especially if they also have jokes (Raiders of the Lost Ark, La Fille de D'Artagnon, Charade).  I also like funny films with good stories (The Ladykillers, Kind Hearts And Coronets, Clueless), and sometimes funny films without much of a story (The Blues Brothers, Harvey, Les Vacances de M. Hulot).  Sometimes I like arty films (32 Short Films About Glen Gould) but usually only if they are funny (Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, Women On the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown).  I don't much go for sad or serious films, but occasionally I'll like one if it's about a subject I care about (Dead Poets Society - Robin Williams at his most restrained, EJ).  My favourite film is In The Bleak Midwinter - it's ... er ... escapist, funny, arty, & about a subject close to my heart, so it covers all bases.

Wardy - you have impeccable taste: allotmenting, martial arts movies and reggae music...!

If you liked the Water Margins give 'Zatoichi' a go, I'm sure you'll love it...

( I think the Seventh Samurai was inspiration for the Magnificent Seven)

Couldn't agree more, Dibs, Calamity Jayne brilliant! What's that one with Deborah Kerr and top of Empire State Building? Love her too! Also on Charlie Choc front! Have first one, new one  :P! Lottie  ;D

Glad I am not the only one who didn't like the second Charlie film. What was so wrong with the 1st one it needed remaking anyway  ??? It had none of the magic, the umpalumpas ?? were awful and Johnnie Depp was sinister. I was SOOOOOOO disappointed. All of the films currently at the cinema are remakes: Herbie, Dukes of Hazard, Bewitched, Charlie, Fantastic 4 !! is their no one out there with an original idea.

My favourite film is Breakfast at Tiffanys, simply because I only watch it when I am too ill to do anything else and it never fails to make me feel loads better. I am still not convinced I have seen it all the way from start to finish in one sitting as it is so relaxing to watch I normally nod off! But love it anyway.

Yes daisymay, "Breakfast at Tiffany's" was a fabulous film.  When it first came out I was working in a cinema, so I saw it about 40 times.  At one time I could say the dialogue along with the actors word perfect.  I never got sick of it.   :D busy_lizzie

Undercarraige Plan,
Think the Deborah Kerr film with the empire state building film you mean is An affair to remember. It also starred Cary Grant, and was the one that they watched in sleepless in seattle.

Sorry, got to stick up for Johnny Depp - I loved the new Charlie and the Choc Factory. My kids loved it, I adore the first one but this is so different. Depp was great, and really spooky.

The Green Mile has to be my top fave film, oh and Moulin Rouge, and Meet Joe Black, and most of the pixar movies because they make me laugh, and some like it hot, has to be one of the funniest films going!
Not a great film lover though, hate most of hubbies shoot em up, lets kill people type films, but I do enjoy a good film in the depths of winter!

Despite having been brought up watching cling film (see palustris) my votes are for bugsy malone and rita, sue and bob too.

Thanks Madmum! That's the one. Love Jonny Depp too, but not in Charlie, he can whisk me off in a pirate ship anythime...... ;) Lottie

Hurrah, we're talking about one of my favourite things to do when I'm not gardening!

I will try to restrict myself to 10 favourite films or less:

- Pulp Fiction - So cool and such snappy dialogue and black sense of humour!
- Gladiator - great historical epic
- The Matrix - Love the whole look of the film, and how on first watching you spend the first half of the film dying to know what is going on.
- Legally Blonde - I like how she is ditzy but not dumb, and achieves her goals by being nice to everyone.
- Moulin Rouge - Love the singing and the costumes, and laughed my head off the first time I saw it, over all the well known song lyrics done so differently.
- Lord of the Rings - all of them - just epic!
- Bridget Jones' Diary - for a soppy rom-com
- Pirates of the Carribbean - for Mr Depp and Mr Bloom, and just a fun film that doesn't take itself too seriously
-Finding Nemo/Toy Story 2 - can't decide between them
-Pride and Prejudice - the bbc mini-series with Colin Firth - does this count?

Got to agree with Madmum about the new Charlie and the chocolate factory - thought it was much closer to the original book, which I absolutely loved as a child. And the director Tim Burton made everything look so colourful and amazing!

Guys and dolls - really like this one a lot
Miracle on 34th street (the original)
Forrest Gump - thought it was clever with the original film footage and the sound track is fab
Momento - keeps you guessing
Loads of others bit too many to mention here.

Some Like it Hot here too, oh and Guys and Dolls  :)

Yet another Doris Day fan here, but especially the films which also starred Rock Hudson.

Casablanca because it's flawless.
Kiss of the Spiderwoman because it made my jaw drop for about a week.
Superman because it was the first movie that I loved loved loved when I was 6, and Christopher Reeve was so handsome even when he was doing his Cary Grant/Clark kent.
The Big Chill...I don't know why.
The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, new addition and everyone should see this film.

M.

Superman was the first film we took our son to see at the age of five.  He loved it and was entranced.throughout the whole film.  Lovely Christopher Reeves it is a good legacy from him, seeing him so fit and handsome. busy_lizzie

I too am an 'old softie' when it comes to romantic comedies - love all the old Doris Day, Gary Grant  films. 
Also was a big fan of Hitchcock - Cary Grant again ;D
Kevin Costner - 'Field of Dreams' and 'Robin Hood'
Crocodile Dundee - the sound effects on these films were just amazing when played through the hi-fi speakers :)
AND not forgetting Chevy Chase - love all his films, especially the Christmas one with the lights - hilarious :D ;D
Could go on and on........ :)

Oh yes of course BL - not forgetting the lovely, unforgettable Chris Reeves, what a brave man he was.

Where to start...

- The Philadelphia Story (1940)... brilliance from start to finish. For me, quite simply, still the best film I have ever seen.
- Night of the Hunter (1955)... Charles Laughton's only turn as a director produces Robert Mitchum's finest performance, and a powerful and hauntingly sinister film.
- Any of the Anthony Mann/James Stewart collaborations... The Man From Laramie, Winchester 73, The Naked Spur, The Far Country, Bend of the River.
- The Prisoner of Zenda (1937)... classic adventure, beautifully shot, scripted, acted and set.
- Lost Horizon (1937)... restored version only (studio snipped out the best bits). A superb book that was actually enhanced by Frank Capra's desire to do it justice. You'll never see a better interpretation of Robert Conway.
- Romuald et Juliette (1989)... stunning social comedy based around a corporate frame-up, a corporate high-flyer, and a cleaning lady.
- Le Bossu (1997)... magnificent swashbuckler with the same drive and verve of Gerard Philippe's 'La Tulipe Noire'. A rare treat.
- La Belle et la Bete (1946)... nothing much you can say that hasn't already been said.
- Blade Runner (1982)... spartan, bleak, compelling.
- The Empire Strikes Back (1980)... Leigh Brackett dialogue at its best, even tops 'Rio Bravo' and 'El Dorado'.
- Witness (1985)... manages to mix three genres (drama, romance, thriller) yet never miss a step.
- Dances with Wolves (1991)
- Pulp Fiction
- 12'o'clock High (1949)... Henry King and Gregory Peck
- 3.10 to Yuma (1957)... Glenn Ford
- The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)... Wyler
- Shane (1953)... George Stevens' masterpiece, Alan Ladd's finest role.
- The Big Heat (1953)... a Fritz Lang study of corruption and decency, delivering all the punch of the book.
- Babette's Feast (1987)... Danish film, looks at the impact of a French refugee on an austere religious village and its inhabitants. Sounds dull. Anything but. An inticate study of three women, food, and religion. There... I've managed to make it sound even worse! If you like drama, without any of the histrionics; and admire subtlety and nuance... and haven't seen this... then what a treat awaits.
- Day of the Evil Gun (1967)... Glenn Ford. A little film about a storekeeper who is forced to revisit his past, and the townsfolk who at the same time want his help, but not his presence. A little gem.
- Diva (1981)... operatic surrealistic thriller. Not everyone's cuppa, but the use of music is terrific.
- Destry Rides Again (1939)... Marlene Dietrich & James Stewart.
- Enchanted April (BBC TV Film) 199?... Michael Kitchen, Miranda Richardson, Joan Plowright (among others) in a gentle, carefully thoughtout drama set in a Tuscan Villa.
- The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938)... never flags, never falters.
- The Golden Gate Murders (TV Film) David Janssen does another great world-weary turn as the detective told to protect a nun. Yup, sounds trite, and the story's average, but (given you see the unedited version) the playing is quite superb.
- Friendly Persuasion (1956)... Gary Cooper, Quakers and an approaching Civil War. Delightful, thoughtful and wry. Not to be missed.
- Grosse Pointe Blank (1997)... a hitman who wants to retire, his impending High School Reunion, the girl he ditched at the School Prom, and a contract ... all conspire to produce a wonderfully chaotic black comedy.
- The Gunfighter (1950)... Henry King and Gregory Peck, again.
- It Happened One Night (1934)... Capra, Gable & Colbert, need I say more?
- It's a Wonderful Life (1946)... Capra and James Stewart's first post-war film.
- Jacknife (1988)... careful drama looking at two Vietnam vets, one apparantly coping, one not, and his sister. Ed Harris, Robert de Niro, Kathy Baker.
- The Jericho Mile - prison drama with Peter Strauss, directed by Michael Mann.
- La Grande Illusion (1937)... Renoir, Gabin and Stroheim. WW1 drama, impeccable, tragic, unforgettable. Once seen, never forgotten.
- Longtime Companion (1990)... made before 'Philadephia' and far, far superior, with Bruce Davison delivering the goods. A look at the start of the AIDs epidemic in the USA.
- Nobody's Fool (1994)... Paul Newman, Jessica Tandy. An aging construction worker, a feisty old landlady, and a joy from the opening scene to the closing fade-out. Class.
- Le Samourai (1967)... Melville's best, with Alain Delon playing the perfectionist hitman who hits a snag. Breathtaking.
- The October Man (1947)... John Mills, a murder, and a case of amnesia.
- Proof (1991)... Jocelyn Moorhous and Hugo Weaving, a blind photographer meets a kitchen-hand, and from there on it's all about trust. Can't say anymore. Brilliant but unassuming drama, where all the little touches suddenly add up... and take your breath away.
- Random Harvest... the melodrama which isn't. It shouldn't work, but does. A traumatised amnesiac ex-soldier builds a new life, and then...
- Rawhide (1950)... Hathaway & Tyrone Power, a claustrophobic hold-up at a way-station along a stage line.
- The River (1984)... Scott Glenn, Mel Gibson, Sissy Spacek; the river's about to flood, and if it goes...
- Roseanna's Grave.... Jean Reno. Deft comedy. There aren't many plots left in the local graveyard, and Jean Reno's ill wife wants to be buried in one of them.
- The Sheepman (1958)... a hoot.
- The Shop Around the Corner (1940)... James Stewart & Margaret Sullavan, two penpals, two work colleagues. The first two may love each other, the second two feel the precise opposite. Shame they are the same two people. Crackles throughout.
- Singing in the Rain... hilarious perfection.
- The Magnificent Seven and the Seven Samurai.
- The Talk of the Town (1942)... an escaped prisoner masquerading as a gardener, a law professor, and a housekeeper. Philosophy, comedy, and still manages to sparkle deliciously after more than 60 years.
- Odd Man Out (1946)... James Mason as the wounded IRA man on the run. Black and white photography at its finest, and a performance to match.

I'm a movie fanatic.  My pass allows me to go as much as I like - which is usually 2-3 times per week.  Nothing beats seeing a good film on the big screen.  I have so many favourites it would be impossible to list them all but here's just a few from the past 2-3 years:

Secondhand Lions (Michael Caine, Robert Duvall, Haley J Osmet) 
Lord of the Rings (even if you're not a Rings fan you simply cannot deny the sheer class of this trilogy)
Castaway (Tom Hanks)  I was never a Hanks fan until this film.  I almost got the feeling of how desperate that situation would be he played it so brilliantly.
The Count of Monte Cristo
Big Fish
The Motorcycle Diaries ("The Motorcycle Diaries" is based on the journals of Che Guevara, leader of the Cuban Revolution. In his memoirs, Guevara recounts adventures he, and best friend Alberto Granado, had while crossing South America by motorcycle in the early 1950s)

Other favs include Grease, Half a Sixpence, West Side Story, See No Evil, Hear No Evil, Platoon, Full Metal Jacket, Hamburger Hill, Birdy, Good Will Hunting.  Oh I must stop, the list will go on for about seven pages otherwise hehehe.

Quote from: BAGGY on September 05, 2005, 18:16:33

Momento - keeps you guessing

Now there's a film you cannot take your eyes off of for one minute or you're completely lost! LOL  Top notch though.

The Terminator
Amadeus
Excalibur
Gladiator
Lord of the Rings trilogy
Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey
All those Sinbad and Jason and the Argonauts films with fighting skeletons and cyclops etc.
King Kong. The one in colour.
The Great Escape. (I'm happy at Christmas)
Bullet
The Getaway (original)
Star Wars
Return of the Jedi
Empire Strikes Back
Jurassic Park
The Land that Time Forgot

Goodness, Gadfium, I thought my list was long!  Now I can see I was very restrained  :D.  You have chosen several films I like too, though - The Philedelphia Story, Witness, Grosse Pointe Blank, It Happened One Night ...

And Heldi, in the days before video, I had The Great Escape recorded onto audio tape (OK, I'm weird  :-[) - used to listen to it when I couldn't sleep!  Think I could probably recite whole chunks of it ...

ooo ooo, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, West Side Story, & Grease - my musical input.

Another case of where to begin...

It's a wonderful life
Harold and Maude
The shop around the corner
You can't take it with you
Dawn of the Dead (the original)
Asian Extreme films such as Sympathy for Mr Vengeance, the films of Takeshi Miike such as Audition and Ichi the Killer, and others I can't think of.
Alexandro Joderowski films, especially Santa Sangre and Holy Mountain
Rushmore
Time Bandits
Singing in the rain
Raising Arizona

ooh - can't think of more right now, but this list could go on and on.

I'm with you EJ
Grease has to be one of THE best films EVER
(Summer Loving - it doesn't get any better than that segment)
Loved West Side STory too, haven't seen it 4 yonks tho

I love all of the musicals like King and I, Oklahoma, 7 Brides, South Pacific . . . .i could go on

musicals huh...hmmmmmmmmm  well have already said Moulin Rouge, Dirty Dancing, Saturday Night Fever (sneaked in the cinema underage for that one!)  and I am sorry but it has to be said.........The Sound Of Music! :-[  :-[ 
I just wanna make my kids clothes outta curtains! ;D
Dp wanders off muttering   "high on a hill sat a lonely goat herd..............................."
(bet you are singing it now! ;D)

yodle ay-e yodle ay-e yodle ay-e ooh ooh

Is there an echo in ere?  ;D ;D

no Wardy that's the celebratory hangover kicking in!

let us know next time you are up at 6.30am cooking sausages,
were they pork and courgette?

One that has surprised me not to be mentioned, White Christmas.

Derekthefox  :D (posting !!!)

Hey Derek - you're still here - fab!

Do you know I've never seen either White Christmas nor the SOund of Music. And I call myself a huge film fan.  ::)

I love White Christmas, Derek.  Wouldn't be Christmas without it.  Despite how old it must be now, still retains the magic.  :) busy_lizzie

ooh - just remembered - Harvey. Fantastic film! (love Jimmy Stewart too). there are so many films I love, but can't currently think of any more. Anyway, it's home time.

Juliet  you have found a soul mate. I watched it so many times I could recite it too. Bit rusty now so would have to revise.  I had a giant poster of Virgil Hilts on his motorbike complete with barbed wire in the background.