Pinback's Ten Best Movies

Ice Cream Jonsey · Post by **Ice Cream Jonsey** » Wed Mar 01, 2006 10:06 pm

I think I would have to add Dog Soldiers and Shaun of the Dead to my list of favorite movies. I'd like to see Dog Soldiers again, though, to ensure its quality in my mind's eye.

But, years later, I still maintain that The Two Towers is the best LOTR film. God dayum, I wish I had four hours to spare right now so I could watch it again. Have any of you seen Samwise's performance on 24? I caught a brief clip the other night. This is a guy they were talking Oscar about for the Two Towers. Now look at him. NOW LOOK AT HIM. Tell me again that The Two Towers isn't brilliant. Shouldn't an actor's body of work outside that movie really matter?

JQW · Post by **JQW** » Thu Mar 02, 2006 10:47 am

Blade Runner is the most awful, overrated piece of sci-fi shit since 2001. Or Dark City, that Ebert loves so much. Or motherfucking GATTICA. Vomit! For the record, I have only ever seen the non-voiceover "director's cut" of BR. I bought the DVD, movie unseen, based on the positive comments, despite my snippets of previous viewings being negative. It was terrible, I could barely make it through.

2001 - first off, instead of orbiting space stations and evil artificial intelligence, we had planes being flown into buildings. Didn't see that one coming, did you, Clarke? Seriously though, what a pompous, dull movie, which can only be enjoyed by those who are in an altered state of consciousness.

Character tension? You probably don't see that much because you generally don't watch those kind of drama movies, and only saw that one after your degenerate buddy went on and on about it.

Regardless. Worst top ten movie list ever. (Or "EVAR!" if you're into such things.)

Jonsey, if you're seriously interested in expanding your movie tastes, grab to Ebert's website and look at some of the stuff on his "Great Movies" list and pick out a few that sound like they might appeal to you. I don't agree with all the picks but they are a good starting point to see something other than just big multiplex Amurrikan movies that make uncultured dweeb's best movie lists.

Dog Soldiers is very good but the follow-up movie, "The Descent", is spectacular, and scary as hell. Watch for a theatrical release in the US, probably this summer.

Ice Cream Jonsey · Post by **Ice Cream Jonsey** » Thu Mar 02, 2006 7:57 pm

JQW wrote:Blade Runner is the most awful, overrated piece of sci-fi shit since 2001.

You're wrong.

Simply put... you're wrong.

You're actually the only person I know that doesn't like it. I know why you don't like it (you have no soul - literally). It's just very amusing to me when you try to pass your own personality failings off on this movie. But it doesn't surprise me. Someone who grew up worshipping Star Wars to the exclusion of all else - of course you're going to dislike a thoughtful, poingant piece like Blade Runner. Because you consume movies and media without ever giving it a second thought, you cannot apperciate the art direction or hell, just the direction in general. I have always felt bad for you that you somehow find this movie to be lacking, and always laughed at you for trying to pretend that even a small, small minority of other people agree with you in any way.

You're wrong.

Or motherfucking GATTICA. Vomit!

That's so precious. Blade Runner sucks because someone made GATTICA. Why didn't I think of that?

On the other hand, of all the shitty Eurotrash horror movie debacles you've recommended, some ARE from the same, incompetent director. But I have a good argument and you have a crazy one.

2001 - first off, instead of orbiting space stations and evil artificial intelligence, we had planes being flown into buildings. Didn't see that one coming, did you, Clarke? Seriously though, what a pompous, dull movie, which can only be enjoyed by those who are in an altered state of consciousness.

Ahh, I see. You think 2001 is a pot movie. Nuff said. By the way, you are unbelievably wrong in everything you believe about this flick.

Character tension? You probably don't see that much because you generally don't watch those kind of drama movies, and only saw that one after your degenerate buddy went on and on about it.

By all means, name another movie that has five different plotlines going for an hour, each ramping up the tension. "Don't watch those kind of drama movies" -- LISTEN TO THIS FUCKING GUY, JC DENIZENS. I can't believe I'm having this argument with you. There are hardly other movies out there with five distinct groups of characters, period. Man, are you flailing about in this thread.

Jonsey, if you're seriously interested in expanding your movie tastes, grab to Ebert's website

I like how you think you can offer advice on how *I* can expand my "movie tastes" when you will tell the populace at large that Starship Troopers and Tomb Raider are good, but 2001 and Blade Runner are bad.

And Ebert became irrelevant when he mouthed off with his loathesome comment about how video games can't produce anything artistic. I haven't read one of his reviews since and I never will again. Don't get me wrong -- the millions of stupid gamers trying to tell him that Metal Gear Solid and Final Fantasy are ahhhhhhhrt were hilarious and did more to prove Ebert's impotent point than Ebert could have realized, but that doesn't mean that everyone involved isn't worthy of never being heard from again.

Ice Cream Jonsey · Post by **Ice Cream Jonsey** » Sat Mar 04, 2006 2:44 pm

My current top ten. This is a work in progress. I had to officially drop Mallrats off it, EVEN THOUGH Brodie Bruce is the best character ever to appear in a movie.

10. The Shawshank Redemption
9. Brotherhood of the Wolf
8. Double Indemity
7. The Two Towers
6. Blade Runner
5. Shaun of the Dead
4. Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
3. Re-Animator
2. Highlander
1. Chasing Amy

By the way, on Wednesday the giant movie theatre an exit up from where I work (so far south of where I live that it might as well be Mexico City) was running Wrath of Khan on the big screen. I had the IF pre-meeting that night, though. But I mention this because *I* was the person who picked a day for the pre-meeting. SON OF A!!!

If they made Dog Soldiers a few years later I would have had it on the list -- as ridiculous as the wolves looked in Brother of the Wolf, they looked a hundred times worse in Dog Soliders. We get Star Wars remade but nobody will fix Dog Soldiers? There's no justice.

Ice Cream Jonsey · Post by **Ice Cream Jonsey** » Sat Mar 04, 2006 2:45 pm

Oh.

I have "Ultimate Avengers" on my PSP, I just haven't watched it yet. I predict that it will make the list, just because.

pinback · Post by **pinback** » Sat Mar 04, 2006 3:26 pm

Ice Cream Jonsey wrote:10. The Shawshank Redemption

Excellent.

9. Brotherhood of the Wolf

Never saw it.

8. Double Indemity

Never saw it.

7. The Two Towers

Didn't like any of the LOTR movies. Perhaps I would call this the best of them. But I couldn't even sit through all of the third one. Maybe it got really good at the end.

6. Blade Runner

This definitely belongs.

5. Shaun of the Dead

Never saw it. Seems awfully... Well, no, this is your list. I don't wanna be one of those guys who starts calling people idiots because of the movies they like.

4. Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan

Without question, the best of the Star Trek movies, and the only one of them which can stand on its own as a good movie, even for those who don't know Star Trek. Still, though. One of the ten best movies ever?

3. Re-Animator

Never saw it.

2. Highlander

Never saw it.

1. Chasing Amy

Maybe the best of the K. Smith movies I've seen. (But see: Star Trek II.)

Ice Cream Jonsey · Post by **Ice Cream Jonsey** » Sat Mar 04, 2006 3:40 pm

Adam Cadre wrote an article that had a line that went, 'If the creation of Powers (a comic book) and A Crimson Spring (a game) weren't concurrent, one would think that somebody ripped somebody else off.' Shaun of the Dead and Necrotic Drift are somewhat similar as well. But, of course, Necrotic Drift was released on June 20th, 2004 and Shaun of the Dead hit America in September of 2004.

(But it - Shaun - was released in the UK in April.)

I think you'd like it.

I love how it only got a limited release in America. Why? WHY??? I guess we don't get to see movies where people have British accents?

As soon as I fix my tax problem I'm buying you a copy of Re-Animator and Highlander. What the fuck is this garbage.

pinback · Post by **pinback** » Sat Mar 04, 2006 3:57 pm

You know why we don't see movies with British accents?

Compare Requiem for a Dream to Trainspotting.

As we beat the Brits to form a new country, we also beat them in making movies about heroin. Not even close.

Not. Even.

Close.

Ice Cream Jonsey · Post by **Ice Cream Jonsey** » Sat Mar 04, 2006 6:27 pm

Okay. A fair point could also be made about zombie movies. I think it's something that American do better than anyone, in general.

I'd be happy to work out some kind of arrangement where I watch the Godfather & Godfather II all the way through if you do the same for Highlander and Shaun of the Dead.

By the way, Shaun of the Dead has one of THE worst titles of any movie, ever. That's what turned me off to it for the longest time.

(Then I saw it in Walrustitty's home theatre, so I managed to see it on a big screen anyway. KHAAAAAAAAAN!!!)

pinback · Post by **pinback** » Sat Mar 04, 2006 6:45 pm

I would be happy to watch Highlander and Shaun.

Ice Cream Jonsey · Post by **Ice Cream Jonsey** » Sat Mar 04, 2006 6:46 pm

Moving Godfather and Godfather to my queue.... presently.

Vitriola · Post by **Vitriola** » Sat Mar 04, 2006 6:54 pm

I ALREADY ADDED THEM I TOLD YOU.

I was turned off Shaun, too, because of the title, but that was a GREAT movie. It was just as good sober as when I was tossing down $8 NY state pinots in Walrustitty's HT.

Ice Cream Jonsey · Post by **Ice Cream Jonsey** » Sat Mar 04, 2006 10:30 pm

Thank you! Aren't you wonderful? Isn't she wonderful?

Excellent. I now have something to consume seven hours of my time next week, or whenever we get them. What can I do? What can I do?

I CAN BE A MAN!!!!

JQW · Post by **JQW** » Tue Mar 07, 2006 1:24 pm

To sum up:

Jonsey has shitty taste in sci-fi, but we all knew that.

I don't vigorously defend Tomb Raider. It's not as bad as most videogame-to-movie translations, but it's no masterpiece. Watchable.

Starship Troopers is less a scifi movie than a parody of WW2 movies in specific and war movies in general, and is certainly not in the same genre as 2001, Blade Runner, etc.

Gattaca got a mention as it is shitty scifi. And I'm not blinded by Star Wars lust - THX1178 wasn't spectacular, either. (Though impressive for a student film.)

2001 isn't a pot movie, it's an acid movie.

Movies with different plotlines going? Try nearly any British crime movie. Obvious pics would be Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels or Snatch, but also plenty of others. Or maybe Pulp Fiction? Or countless other flicks?

Shunning Ebert for his ignorant stance on video games is tossing the baby out with the bathwater.

Your top ten list is certainly better than Pinback's, and even has not one, but two foreign movies! Amazing! Of course, you'd probably be disgusted that I bought Highlander and could never make myself finish watching it. I watch the first 20 minutes or so and time just slows to a crawl and I get bored and restless.

Dunno if you're into extras and so on, but I have the Canadian 3-disc version of Brotherhood of the Wolf, if you want some bonus content for it some day.

Thanks goodness "Mallrats" fell off your list. That would, by its mere presence, invalidate everything else. That'd be like "In Pursuit of Greed" making your top ten videogame list.

Did I mention that I have ST2 KHANNNNNNN in highdef? In case you want to watch it sometime when you're in town in sparkling HD on a big screen.

pinback · Post by **pinback** » Tue Mar 07, 2006 1:33 pm

How can someone's list of their favorite movies be better than another's? As long as they both accurate reflect the author's favorite movies, they are perfect in every way.

Vitriola · Post by **Vitriola** » Tue Mar 07, 2006 3:30 pm

Because the subject is Pindick's 10 BEST movies, i.e., what movies you think are the BEST, not Pindick's 10 FAVORITE movies. Had to jump in for JQW there, as he won't be back for another week most likely.

pinback · Post by **pinback** » Tue Mar 07, 2006 3:36 pm

I do think those are the ten (8) best. It is a perfectly accurate reflection of the movies that I, Ben Parrish, think are the best. As distinguished from those that Ice Cream Sherwin thinks are the best.

co · Post by co » Tue Mar 07, 2006 3:52 pm

JQW wrote:Starship Troopers is less a scifi movie than a parody of WW2 movies in specific and war movies in general,

It's a shitty movie, with some of the cheesiest dialogue, most cliche characters, formulaic plot, and sad special effects I've seen.

pinback · Post by **pinback** » Tue Mar 07, 2006 4:03 pm

I liked it a lot. Delightfully over-the-top.

Vitriola · Post by **Vitriola** » Tue Mar 07, 2006 4:16 pm

It is a prime example of my experience that the good-time, curly haired girl gets the short end in every single movie. It's always the straight-haired sophisticated girls who are not only the most boring characters, but the one's we're supposed to root for. Curls and those that sport them are expendable. Fuck Hollywood and their hair bias.