no, no, no, Shawshank is about HOPE, that's really the point of the whole story/film. So it should end, like the short story, as Red narrates that ending speech about hope, and as the Greyhound bus slowly drives off into the distance. Instead, the film then tacks on a silly beach scene, where Red is reunited with his friend. That is not only not needed, it ruins the point of the "hope" speech and theme ;-(
I'm really not a loony, or a film snob:
Dumb & Dumber nearly made it onto the 'perfect' list. 🙂
You can have a great action film with also has depth and subtlety.
Point Break & Top Gun are just all surface and bluster - the 80/90's
encapsulated in celluloid - meaningless and vapid, cynical and tawdry.
Watching The Matrix is like being trapped in a corner at a party by a very pretty but terminally stoned, boring young lady who thinks she's worked out the meaning of life and insists on telling you all about it:
OK for five minutes but after half an hour you wish it was all over.
Shawshank (The Film) and Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption are, from memory, as close an adaptation as you'll find anywhere.
Still a bit saccharine all the same, not perfect.
I don't see how that scene is "silly". I think it provides an excellent juxtaposition to the grimness that has gone on before. It proves that having hope can bring it's own rewards; that hope is not just a futile gesture used to get through difficult times.
Stop trying to bamboosle me with long complicated words like juxtaposition!! That scene is silly and unecessary unless you are american and/or have the IQ of a letuce sandwich.......... 😉
think I'm first to say the first film that popped into my head - The Road. It's so bleak, but so so good. But oh so bleak. My god it's bleak.
Else,
Robocop
Batman Begins
Heat
Drive
End
City Of God.
Dr Zhivago.
Lawrence of Arabia.
The Machinist.
Have to say the only thing that stopped Memento from being perfect was the fact i had to watch the 1st 15 mins again to get it. (i was a little tipsy).
Anything with keanu reeves is is utter shite, as he is the worst actor never to be in coronation st
The Prestige is just about to start on BBC3 btw - good film 🙂
Got to be Goonies for me.
Also, agree on the City of God call.
And 'Carve her name with pride' starting on BBC4 now for B&W Virginia McKenna nostalgia
[i]The life that I have, is all that I have...[/i]
Very good film Rusty
Goodfellas is on tonight as well.
Spoiled for choice
Agree with lots on here. My list would include:
Citizen Kane
Some like it hot
Delicatessen
Chinatown
Shawshank
Blade runner (directors cut)
In Bruges
Pulp Fiction
Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang
The Matrix (but none of the sequels)
Alien
Star Wars
North by Northwest
Psycho
I almost put Bambi but I'm still traumatised from watching it when a was little 😥
Apocalypse Now
Star Wars ep4 a new hope
Crash
Raiders of the lost Ark
Predator
Casino
Platoon
Wonder if source code is worth a watch
bit like a Dr Who plot but enjoyable non the less
oh sh1t i forgot...
The Shining
the end 🙂
I'd say Raiders of the Lost Ark is close too, although how Indy manages to swim from the ship to the German u-boat and then casually takes a ride to the u-boat base does irk me a bit.
Some interesting points & some very good films mentioned... I cannot think of any films that I would call perfect.
I'm surprised no-one has mentioned any Kubrick or Hitchcock films (although someone might've. I have just read through 5 pages of people arguing about Shawshank's ending & Alien's merits)
The nearest I can think of is something like the Wizard of Oz, was watching it the other night & when you consider it's age & the technology available at the time it's a great great achievement.
& Cougar, regarding Source Code, thought it was good but the ending pretty much ruined it for me. Totally with you on Aliens tho!
EDIT: The chap who's mentioned the Shining above me wasn't there when I was writing this!!
Bad Santa
Bronson
Man on the moon
The man who would be king
Watchmen
Snatch
Intouchables
What about the guns of navarone?
The Straight Story
Sexy Beast
Dead Man's Shoes
Duel ? (Spielberg )
Prince 'sign o the times' - slightly off topic but as near perfect as you can get I reckon in a film
Actually, Weird Science has to be a almost perfect example of teen geek celluloid dream.
I know they're a bit childish, but I really enjoyed:-
Kung Fu Panda,
Surfs Up,
and The Incredibles.
One flew over cuckoos nest
Top gun
Lock stock and two smoking barrels
Forest gump
Bitter moon
Four weddings and a funeral
Leon +1
Intouchables +1
Starship troopers+1
I don't necessarily like all these but they achieve what they set out to perfectly IMO
I cannot believe nobody has mentioned home grown (Bristol) talent.
I re-watched Wallace and Gromit a matter of loaf and death yesterday and I can't think how it could be improved.
Andrei Rublev is the greatest, most perfect film of all time.
Closely followed by IMO:
Stalker
Solaris (Tarkovsky version)
Mirror
Ivans Childhood
Jaws....almost perfect but not quite as good as the book.
I thought it was better than the book...
+1 for Delicatessen!!!!
Also the Big Blue, Life is Beautiful, the Pianist, Fever Pitch and High Fidelity
24 Hour Party People
Seven Samurai
The Godfather Parts 1 & 2
Quadrophenia
Dead Mans Shoes
Scareface (Pacino version)
empire strikes back
apocalypse now
bladerunner
predator
alien
terminator
the thing
pans labyrinth
princess bride
big lebowski
no country for old men
akira
5th element
(& shawshank is cheesey sentimental pap)
The only two I can think of that I wouldn't cut or add anything to are Withnail and I, Requiem for a Dream and Napoleon Dynamite.
Others that are great for me but could be tweaked are;
The Thing
A Scanner Darkly
Alien
Elephant man
Fargo
Eraserhead
Taxi Driver
The Fountain
Time Bandits
A Texas Chainsaw Massacre
The Mission
Mutiny on the Bounty (1984) The best acting I've ever seen from Hopkins.
Haven't seen The Illusionist pop up yet.
Would agree with 'Some like it hot', 'Starship Troopers', and 'Fifth Element'. All are really internally consistent in quality and pace, and (for Troopers and Fifth Element) effects and props - nothing ever drags or jars.
The Matrix would be perfect if the humans in pods were being networked as a giant computer (as the W Bros reputedly initially envisioned) but the 'battery' nonsense renders it merely the best film ever - but not perfect. 😆
LA Confidential
The Fly (Jeff Goldblum version)
Agree with Bounty. Great acting. Lots of tension between the main characters and a terrific soundtrack by Vangelis.
Frost/Nixon
Collateral
Jason and the Argonauts
Rope
Matrix, best film ever?
Leave the thread now...
Airplane
Pulp Fiction
Intermission
In Bruges
Midnight Express
One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest - how could I forget that?! Perfect.
[i]I know they're a bit childish, but I really enjoyed:-
...The Incredibles.[/i]
Nothing childish about the Incredibles.. brilliant film (much better than Up, says I)
LA Confidential
Yeah good choice, I can't think how they would have made it better, therefore perfect.
More exploding helicopters? That makes any film better, surely?
Russell Crowe could have died, that always improves a fillum.
Hero
Fear and Loathing In Las Vegas
Nothing childish about the Incredibles.. brilliant film
Except now I wait the whole film to see the kid right at the end
"THAT WAS TOTALLY AWESOME!"
