Skip Navigation
282 comments

  • Somehow I stopped watching movies a few years ago, which kind of annoys me but we can't find time that much for a long movie. Of course binge watching TV series is another thing...

    For me, the three rewatchables were:

    • Stanley Kubrick: Barry Lyndon - If you're into cinematography and ultra techy perfection, this is the movie. And the main character is such an asshole.
    • Celine Sciamma: Portrait of a Lady on Fire - This beautiful piece hits hard. Celine has an eye for women, and the story how the ladies take care of their own business since the beginning of time is really captivating.
    • Pedro Almodóvar: All About My Mother - A queer classic. I really like the old Almodóvar telenovelas on acid, but this mid-career masterpiece has everything: the cinematography, the crazy characters and the melodrama.

    • That mid-Almodovar peak was incredible, now that you mention it. My personal favorite from that time has to be Habla Con Ella (Talk To Her), in parallel Woody Allen filmography terms I would equate it with Hannah & Her Sisters, in artistic achievement.

      Barry Lyndon is currently a rising "underrated masterpiece" topic with most of the best film critic podcasters. My personal favorite film has nearly always been 2001: A Space Odyssey, but I just recently rewatched Barry Lyndon and man... in any other filmography this would have stood alone at the top.
      And we still have the rest of Kubrick's work to contend with... Dr. Strangelove, The Shining, Paths Of Glory, Eyes Wide Shut... it's just ridiculous.

      For a long time now, I've regarded two people as my artistic heroes of the 20th century: Stanley Kubrick and John Coltrane. Mark Rothko could be up there, too, I cannot imagine my day-to-day life without his work to stop and look at, or to simply have as a presence in my surroundings.

      • Do you have some good podcast recommendations on Barry Lyndon? I really like the movie. For people who are reading this and thinking Barry Lyndon is some kind of super boring and high-minded art movie, just watch it. If you appreciate photography, pictures in general, the movie is done really well. It's like watching live paintings from that era, nothing else looks like that movie.

        Edit: And what is fascinating with Barry, is how the actor Leon Vitali who did Lord Bullingdon in the movie, just abandoned his acting career and started working as an assistant for Kubrick until his death in 2022.

    • How could I forget these

      • Hayao Miyazaki: Kiki's Delivery Service - the perfect movie for a sick day. A guaranteed good mood after.
      • Hayao Miyazaki: My Neighbor Totoro - the kids are some of the best kid characters in any movie ever.
      • Hayao Miyazaki: Spirited Away - cold shiver moments like the train on top of the flooding water.
      • Hayao Miyazaki: Princess Mononoke - how we can finally maybe agree even when we disagree.

  • Peter Jackson's lord of the rings trilogy extended edition. I bought a 4k tv and bluray player just for the 4k release last summer I think it was. (not the shitty hobbit)

    • We do an extended edition marathon at least twice a year, sometimes more if it's been a tough time. Last time we watched them was the week before getting married, to distract me from my stress.

      I'm currently rereading the books and once that's done we'll do our first marathon as marrieds! 😄

      I simultaneously hate to think, and also am very proud, of how many times we must have seen them by now.

  • Possibly the first Pirates of the Caribbean. Dunno exactly how many times I've watched, but it's close to 10. It's such an iconic movie, with excellent scenarios, acting, and so revolutionary at the time.
    I've watched some older Pixar movies (from their golden age imo) a bunch of times, like Monsters Inc and Nemo, as well as the masterpiece Shrek 2 from DreamWorks.

  • The Martin Freeman hitchhiker's guide to the Galaxy, easily. I watch that every year on my birthday

  • You know... I've never really thought about it that way, but my three favorites may be the same most watched.
    2001: A Space Odyssey
    The Empire Strikes Back
    Miller's Crossing

    Sometimes I'll watch Miller's Crossing with English subtitles/captions, just to take in all that insane and masterful dialogue, it truly is as if William Shakespeare had written a 1920s mob tragicomedy.

    You ain't got a license to kill bookies and today I ain't sellin'. So take your flunky and dangle!

  • Just Because I didn't see it mentioned:

    The Good, the Bad, the Ugly and Tombstone

  • The Boondock Saints or The Matrix for me, both way over a dozen times.

    • So many good lines/references in Boondock Saints between the rope, the cat, and Willem Dafoe. Fantastic movie, sequels were kinda of meh.

282 comments