Ask Lemmy

3 Days of The Condor.

It's a 70's paranoid thriller with Robert Redford, just an awesome film.

If you don't include Clint Eastwood: Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Spirited Away, My Cousin Vinny.

If you include Clint Eastwood: The Good the bad the ugly, just a few more dollars, the man with no name and gran Torino.

TV shows: Star Trek: TNG, House MD (specifically season 4), Gilmore Girls.

I can't stress enough how good season 4 of house is.

Lord of the Rings trilogy, John Wick, Spiderman 1, 2, 3 and the ones with Andrew Garfield. Train to Busan, Shutter Island, Sixth Sense, Back to the Future, Terminator: Judgement Day, The Dark Knight, Joker, Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocal, Pirates of the Caribbean, Now you see me films

Not movie, but shows: Breaking Bad, Barry, Bojack Horseman

Ikiru and High and low by Akira Kurosawa.

I have a lot of different favorites but the ones I've been thinking about watching lately are "Polyester" and "A Serious Man". I really like both of those.

I used to always automatically answer Apocalypse Now for this question. I'm not sure anymore, but it's still a great movie.

Don't watch the director's cut. It's longer and adds nothing of value.

Blade Runner is also up there. Do watch the director's cut with no narration.

My favorite three movies are Toy Story 3 (for nostalgia reasons), Spirited away and City of god.

I'm willing to concede that Toy Story 3 isn't that good but the other 2 are amazing movies IMO.

Off the top of my head (after scanning the thread):

• About Time
• Looper
• Nightcrawler
• Dark Knight trilogy
• Your Name (Kimi no Na Wa)
• Suzume

Wreck it Ralph is made with such a love for (classic) gaming and in general being a really good animated movie I love it.

Also The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists! Is great and can be rewatched endlessly.

Then again, Idiocracy. Getting less and less funny and more scary as we come closer to that future.

There is no way I can pick one.

There are really good recomendations here. But there are very few recomendations for films around the world, while I like American films a lot I'm going with my favorites from other countries.

• Korea

  • Memories of a Murder (2003)
  • The Handmaiden (2016)
  • A Taxi Driver (2017)
  • My sassy Girl (2001)
  • Ajeossi (2010)
  • Whatever Chan-wook Park did, especilly the vengeance trilogy

• Hong Kong

  • Comrades almost a love story (1996)
  • Infernal Affairs (2002)
  • In the mood for love (2000)
  • Exiled (2006)
  • Fallen Angels (1995)
  • A better Tomorrow (1986)

• Japan

  • Seppuku (1962)
  • All the old Zatoichi films (epecially the ones directed by Kimiyoshi Yasuda)
  • Hana-bi (1997)
  • Perfect Blue (1997)
  • Rashomon (1950)
  • Of course Seven Samurais, Yojimbo (everything Kurosawa made), GITS, Ghibli, etc....

• Italy

  • Sergio Leone, everyhting
  • Cinema Paradiso (1988)
  • Suburra (2015)

• Spain

  • La Isla minima (2014)
  • Que Dios nos perdone (2016)
  • As bestas (2022)
  • El milagro de P. Tinto (1998)

• Argentina

  • Relatos Salvajes (2014)
  • El secreto de sus ojos (2009)
  • Un oso rojo (2002)
  • 9 Reinas (2000)

I'm going to stop here, there are a lot of countries I didn't mention, this comment is already long enough. Don't stop yourself because the film is in another language, there are fantastic films out there.

The Korean version of hellboy was pretty good if you're in the mood for a mindfucking.

moves my top is the lotr trilogy for series its firefly. still.

Animalympics.

That is an impossible question because it depends on so many factors of what's going on on the particular day that I'm asked.

So instead I'll give you the three that most often rotate into top spot:

1. Children of Men

2. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind

3. LA Confidential

Give us a few to go on, OP.

i.e. Sci-Fi

• Arrival

• 2001

• Dune (2021)

i.e. Crime

• Heat

• Sicario

• Brick

i.e. Non-Blockbuster Comic Book

• Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys

• Comic Book Villains

• Dredd (2012)

i.e. Beautiful/Painful international

• Dancer in the Dark

• Incendies

• La Vita e Bella

True Romance

The Prestige

Heavy Metal

Synecdoche, New York or Lost in Translation

Someone else mentioned Hot Fuzz, which is mine. Another I love is Tucker & Dale vs Evil. It’s an excellent satire about conflict borne from nothing but preconceptions. Also a rare movie in which the “jock”-type characters are the good guys.

House of Flying Daggers is one of the most phenomenally made story’s of love, surprise, action, heartache, and betrayal ever made.

Leon: the professional

The Wicker Man (1973)

Safety Last (1923) starring Harold Lloyd. I think it's one of the funniest movies ever. Seen it dozens of times.

I don't deal in absolutes, but one move I watched recently that I really enjoyed was Predator: Badlands (2025).

Like a Verhoeven move from the 80s, Predator sneaks in genuine and interesting themes into an ostensibly crappy sci-fi movie. The Thia character is good feminism that reminds me of Lewis in Robocop (1987). That is to say she's powerful without being coded masculine. And her relationship with Dax is as a partner and eventually a mirror. Dax's character arc can be summed up as overcoming toxic masculinity. Just delightful, I watched it twice in two days.

The Fifth Element

Don't even need to watch it ever again, it just plays on a loop in my mind.

Big Trouble in Little China

In the 40s & 50s, Alfred Hitchcock made a series of incredible thrillers that hold up to this day. Some were B&W, some were color, but ALL of them were at least 4 star movies, and many are 5 stars, and some are absolute CLASSICS.

My favorites:

• Lifeboat (1944)
• Notorious (1946)
• Rope (1948)
• Strangers on a Train (1951)
• Dial M For Murder (1954)
• Rear Window (1954)
• The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956)
• The Wrong Man (1956)
• Vertigo (1958)
• North By Northwest (1959)
• Psycho (1960)

He made a lot more than these, and like I said, they're all terrific, but these are my personal favorites. Rear Window is my favorite film of all time, a PERFECT movie. Also, in Rear Window, Grace Kelly was the most beautiful woman who has ever appeared on screen. Watch it, and tell me I'm wrong.

Hitchcock is addicting.

The Thing, one of the most suspenseful and terrifying movies ever

Duck Soup, comedy mostly a satire on politics, society, government, and military

Die Hard, classic 80s action, lots of guns and explosions and jumping off things. Terminator 2 for the 90s version.

project hail mary

everything everywhere all at once

Eternal sunshine of the spotless mind

little miss sunshine

Fight Club (1999). If you don't know the twist, don't read anything about it, just watch it. I really like David Fincher's films but this is definitely my favorite.

Honorable mentions: Poor Things (2023) Parasite (2019) Midsommer (2019) Requiem for a Dream (2000) Oldboy (2003)