PF's favorite movies poll - nominations

[DennisN]

Hi movielovers of PF!
I just had an idea.
After having participated and read posts of others in these two recent movie threads...

http://www.physicsforums.com/threads/movie-classics-that-totally-escape-me.976678/http://www.physicsforums.com/threads/movies-that-you-watch-over-and-over-again.977933/
...I thought it might be fun to do a poll on which are the favorite movies of PF'ers.
I normally don't like lists with points or individual rankings of things like movies, songs, music etc., but nevertheless I got interested in which movies would end up on such a list here on PF.

My idea is to conduct a poll, but first I would need nominations from a number of PF'ers so we can achieve a significant result. 5 sigmas please (no, I'm just kidding).

To achieve a more significant result than just doing a poll where I have selected the movies, I'd like each of you who want to participate to do the following here in this thread:

1. Nominate twenty (20) of your absolute favorite movies. The movies can be of any genre (except X-rated), any year, any language and any origin, but they need to be full length movies, i.e. at least 90 minutes long (ca). This means no short movies. Other than that, everything is fair game.
2. Before your nomination, try to avoid reading the nominations of others below, in order to minimize the possibility of being influenced by the nominations of others.
3. Note from me: I will also nominate 20 movies, but I'll do so as the last person, and I won't read the nominations of others until then.
4. After there has been a decent number of posts in this thread, I will go through all the nominations and pick out the twenty* movies that have received the most nominations.
   
   * The number of final movies may not be twenty though, depending on the number of nominations and movies that end up with the same number of nominations, or only one. But there will be full transparency, as I will write out the calculations of nominations before doing the final poll.
5. After that, I will post a new thread with a final poll on these 20 top nominated movies, and after that poll we will have a list of the favorite movies on PF from number 1 to 20.

Sounds fun, doesn't it?
I hope this thread takes off, and if so, I look forward to reading the nominations, and then doing the final poll!

 

[fresh_42]

1. Pulp Fiction
2. Kill Bill Vol. I
3. Kill Bill Vol. II
4. Les rivières pourpres
5. Wasabi
6. Décalage horaire
7. The Fifth Element
8. Last Man Standing (Willis)
9. Twelve Monkeys
10. Bulletproof Monk
11. MIB II.
12. The Lake House
13. Le Comte de Monte Cristo (Depardieu)
14. Werner - Beinhart!
15. R.E.D.
16. In The Heat Of The Night
17. Grumpier Old Men
18. Deja Vu
19. 12 Angry Men (Fonda)
20. Life Of Brian

 

[marcusl]

Fun idea! I tend to like "classics"...
1. Casablanca
2. Singin' in the Rain
3. Ikiru
4. Some Like It Hot
5. Mister Roberts
6. The Maltese Falcon
7. North by Northwest
8. Sanjuro
9. Floating Weeds
10. The Wizard of Oz
11. 2001
12. Cleo From 5 to 7
13. Jean de Florette
14. La Dolce Vita
15. Apocalypse Now
16. Woodstock (original theater release)
17. My Man Godfrey
18. Citizen Cane
19. Rome, Open City
20. Stagecoach

 

[Bystander]

1. The Great Escape
2. Papillon
3. Support Your Local Gunfighter
4. " " " Sheriff
5. Hallelujah Trail
6. Dirty Harry
7. " "
8. GB&U
9. For Few Dollars More
10. For a Fistful of Dollars
11. Bullitt
12. Back to the Future
13. " " " "
14. " " " "
15. The Count of Monte Cristo
16. Les Miserables (not the Liam Neeson version)
17. Moby Dick (G. Peck, not Patrick Stewart)
18. Guns of Navarone
19. The Eiger Sanction
20. Hatari (bet you thought I was going to omit John Wayne; it was this or Hellfighters)
(plus, in case the "franchises" are counted singly,
N by NW, Trading Places, Death Becomes Her, The African Queen)

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

You can learn a lot about someone's age from their list

 

[collinsmark]

I'm somewhat confident that this is the definitively correct list.

1. Monty Python and the Holy Grail
2. The Exorcist
3. Alien
4. The Princess Bride
5. Kung Pow! Enter the Fist
6. The Evil Dead
7. Better Off Dead
8. Aliens
9. Full Metal Jacket
10. American Beauty
11. Aaah! Zombies! (Also known as "Wasting Away")
12. Shindler's List
13. Freddie Got Fingered (Actually, this one is tied with "The Wraith")
14. Paranormal Activity
15. Friday the 13th Part 2
16. Polyester
17. The Dark Crystal
18. Robocop
19. Star Wars (Episode IV -- A New Hope)
20. Krull
21. (and as a special bonus:) The River's Edge

 

[Klystron]

You can learn a lot about someone's age from their list

Age for sure. Can even make reasonable guesses about the person. My guess is that a preference for Steve McQueen flicks might indicate a general preference for shorter hair styles at least among males. Clint Eastwood fan's might speak at low volume in a growly tone of voice. Elizabeth Taylor lovers would speak loudly, firmly, remain the center-of-attention and life-of-the-party. Sheer guesswork but fun to contemplate.

I may concoct a list just to include "Putney Swope" 1969 or "Watermelon Man" 1970 though the 21st Century video's appear so different from the original theatrical releases that viewers may be confused. Knowing and living through the 1960-70 political crises certainly helps understanding these movies. A moot point perhaps as the running times may not meet the OP's criteria depending on excluded scenes and how many songs are included or cut by the video directors.

 

[DaveC426913]

I guess I'm a pretty "Blockbusters of the late 20th century" kinda guy.

1. Raiders of the Lost Ark
2. Star Wars: a New Hope
3. Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back
4. The Princess Bride
5. Total Recall (Original)
6. Jurassic Park
7. Highlander
8. A Christmas Story
9. Love, Actually (Don't judge me)
10. Goodfellas
11. Jaws
12. Terminator
13. Avengers: Ragnarok
14. Blade Runner
15. Trainspotting
16. John Carpenter's: The Thing
17. The Fifth Element
18. Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
19. Alien
20. Aliens

If Raiders, Star Wars and Princess Bride isn't on your list, we can't be friends.

 

[PeroK]

In chronological order:

All Quiet on the Western Front	1930
Life and Death of Colonel Blimp, The	1943
Bicycle Thieves	1948
Third Man, The	1949
Sunset Boulevard	1950
Streetcar Named Desire, A	1951
La Strada	1954
Les Diaboliques	1954
On the Waterfront	1954
Searchers, The	1956
Saturday Night and Sunday Morning	1960
Jules et Jim	1962
Midnight Cowboy	1969
Godfather, The	1972
Apocalypse Now	1979
Jean de Florette	1986
Withnail and I	1987
Thelma and Louise	1990
Remains of the Day, The	1993
Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon	2000

 

[Klystron]

I like the use of tables. Going to begin my list then edit the post to add movies also directors.

[Hi, trimmed list to comply with rules. Added release dates, etc.]
[Edit2: Changed "Maltese Falcon" to 1941 release.]

Title	Director	year released
Godfather II and I	Francis Ford Coppola	1974, 1972
Apocalypse, Now	"" ""	1979
2001, A Space Odyssey	Stanley Kubrick	1968
The Shining	"" ""	1980
A Clockwork Orange	"" ""	1971
Eyes Wide Shut	"" ""	1999
Reservoir Dogs	Quentin Tarantino	1992
Pulp Fiction	"	1994
Tora, Tora, Tora!	Fleischer, Masuda and Fukasaku	1970
Yojimbo (The Bodyguard)	Akira Kurosawa	1961
Seven Samurai (Magnificent Seven)	"" "" w/ Toshiro Mifune	1954
Throne of Blood (Macbeth)	"" "" "" ""	1957
Ran (Lear)	"" ""	1985
Hamlet	Laurence Olivier	1948
Cyrano de Bergerac	Michael Gordon	1950
Shane	George Stevens w/ Alan Ladd	1948
"Babes in Toyland"	Stan Laurel & Oliver Hardy	1934
Maltese Falcon	John Huston	1941
"Key Largo" + "Have and Have Not"	'Bogart and Bacall'
Metropolis	Fritz Lang	1927

 

[BillTre]

In no particular order:

1. Brazil
2. Meaning of Life/Life of Brian (I choose to group these together, give them each a half point)
3. Indiana Jones I
4. Dr. Strangelove
5. Blade Runner I
6. Matewan (union organizers in 1920 W. Virginia): wikipedia
7. Back to the Future
8. 2001/2010 (I choose to group these together, give them each a half point)
9. Alien/Aliens (I choose to group these together, give them each a half point)
10. Terminator 2
11. The Thing (Carpenter)
12. The People Under the Stairs (a realistically possible horror film)
13. The Music Man (a really great musical)
14. Stop Making Sense (Talking Heads music show)
15. Kingdom of Heaven (a guy trying to be good in Jerusalem during the Crusades)
16. Oh Brother Where Art Thou (funny story, great music)
17. Pulp Fiction
18. Empire of the Sun (cinematically superb IMHO, great symbolic use of an atom bomb)
19. Young Frankenstien
20. Casablanca

 

[Buzz Bloom]

It was a problem for me to choose 20. After I made a list of 40, it took me quite a while to pick the top 20.

1. The illusionist (2006)
2. The Time Traveler’s Wife (2009)
3. Shakespeare in Love (1998)
4. The Age of Adaline (2015)
5. The Horses Mouth (1959)
6. Beat the Devil (1954)
7. Star Trek IV – The Voyage Home (1986)
8.The Day the Earth Stood Still (1951)
9. The Lion in Winter (1958)
10. The Thirteenth Floor (1999)
11. Source Code (2011)
12. Bull Durham (1988)
13. The Goodbye Girl (1977)
14. Personal Best (1986)
15. A Taxing Woman (1987)
16. Ladyhawke (1985)
17. The Princess Bride (1987)
18. When Harry Met Sally (1989)
19. Harold and Maude (1972)
20. The Thief of Baghdad (1940)

ADDED
I have had the thought for several days now that I left out a favorite I could not remember. Very early this mornng I remembered it. It is my number 1 favorite, so I have edited my list accordingly.

 

[pinball1970]

I had a loose list, then read all the below. I skipped the rules...

I will post in a few days when I am less influenced (forget..)

 

[DennisN]

I will post in a few days when I am less influenced (forget..)

I look forward to it.

 

[DennisN]

Hi all, and many thanks for all submitted nominations so far! (which I haven't read, though )

I was thinking about keeping this thread going for another week in order to receive more nominations from members if possible. My plan is to start the final poll sometime next weekend (9-10 november), after I have gone through all received nominations at that point. And regarding the final poll, I personally don't take it very seriously, for me it's just for fun!

So, if you are reading this and have not nominated any movies, I would appreciate if you do so here.

It's simple:

Just post twenty (20) of your all-time favorite movies in this thread. You don't have to rank them or anything.

Cheers!

 

[fresh_42]

I was thinking about keeping this thread going for another week in order to receive more nominations from members if possible.

The longer it's open the more movies I remember which I had not on my list. I could easily do a second one with another 20.

 

[OmCheeto]

The longer it's open the more movies I remember which I had not on my list.

I was having that problem, so I skimmed through both the Rotten Tomatoes and IMDB top 100 films lists. That's how "The Grapes of Wrath" got on my list.
It does though bring up the problem of having to weed out the 20+ movies one would like to include.

Sorted by year of release.

1. The Grapes of Wrath, 1940
2. The African Queen, 1951
3. To Kill a Mockingbird, 1962
4. First Men in the Moon, 1964
5. Dr. Strangelove, 1964
6. Dr. Zhivago, 1965
7. 2001, 1968
8. Harold and Maude, 1971
9. Being There, 1979
10. Life of Brian, 1979
11. Bladerunner, 1982
12. Brazil, 1985
13. Mindwalk, 1990
14. Total Recall, 1990
15. Fargo, 1996
16. Contact, 1997
17. Men in Black, 1997
18. The Fifth Element, 1997
19. Dogma, 1999
20. Idiocracy, 2006

Weird that only one movie was made within the last 20 years. I guess Greg was right.

----------
2019.11.02.1500 edit: replaced "The Sixth Sense, 1999" with "Dogma, 1999"
2019.11.09.2100 edit: replaced "The Shining, 1980" with "First Men in the Moon, 1965"

 

[pinball1970]

That was hard. Skipping through without reading all the other selections.
I don't think these are in strict order, my fallible memory jumped around a bit with this.

1.Jaws
2.12 Angry men
3. Contact
4. On the water front
5. Die Hard
6. The Terminator
7. Million Dollar Baby
8. Alien
9. It could happen to you
10. The rock
11. Cat on a hot tin roof
12. Phenomen
13. The Omen
14. The God father part one
15. The birds
16. The apartment
17. The day after tomorrow
18. Cool hand Luke
19. Oceans 11 (remake Brad Pitt)
20. 7

As per @fresh_42 I could do another 20 right now ( I did not cheat, I just remember the comment when I scrolled through first, then read the rules)

 

[DennisN]

The longer it's open the more movies I remember which I had not on my list. I could easily do a second one with another 20.

I understand. Shortly after I started the thread I wrote my own favorites list. I found it quite difficult to narrow it down to 20, so I decided to force myself to select 5 dramas, 5 thrillers, 5 science fiction and 5 others (e.g. comedies, animated). The reason it became those genres was when I checked all the titles in my own movie library, I found out that most of my favorite movies were dramas, thrillers or science fiction.

@fresh_42 , by the way, if you like to change your nominations, feel free to do so.

Edit: And the same goes for everybody else too, of course! If you can't edit your post, just post a new nomination post here in the thread and write e.g. "Updated nominations:" first in the post.

 

[pinball1970]

Reading through now it's a matter of which film would I replace

I understand. Shortly after I started the thread I wrote my own favorites list. I found it quite difficult to narrow it down to 20, so I decided to force myself to select 5 dramas, 5 thrillers, 5 science fiction and 5 others (e.g. comedies, animated). The reason it became those genres was when I checked all the titles in my own movie library, I found out that most of my favorite movies were dramas, thrillers or science fiction.

@fresh_42 , by the way, if you like to change your nominations, feel free to do so.

Edit: And the same goes for everybody else too, of course! If you can't edit your post, just post a new nomination post here in the thread and write e.g. "Updated nominations:" first in the post.

It is hard reading back because you spot one you want to include then try and decide which of your own you can live with ditching.

 

[pinball1970]

I understand. Shortly after I started the thread I wrote my own favorites list. I found it quite difficult to narrow it down to 20, so I decided to force myself to select 5 dramas, 5 thrillers, 5 science fiction and 5 others (e.g. comedies, animated). The reason it became those genres was when I checked all the titles in my own movie library, I found out that most of my favorite movies were dramas, thrillers or science fiction.

@fresh_42 , by the way, if you like to change your nominations, feel free to do so.

Edit: And the same goes for everybody else too, of course! If you can't edit your post, just post a new nomination post here in the thread and write e.g. "Updated nominations:" first in the post.

I need to add some
Marathon man
The Rain man
One flew over the cook coo's nest
Planet of the Apes Heston
King Kong 1930s
Kill Bill
Pulp fiction
Independence Day

Which do I drop?

Top 30 films has a ring to it...or 50??

 

[DennisN]

It is hard reading back because you spot one you want to include then try and decide which of your own you can live with ditching.

It's the burden of being a reviewer .

 

[fresh_42]

@fresh_42 , by the way, if you like to change your nominations, feel free to do so.

No, that isn't the point. It is more like: oops I forgot "Sin City (both)" (as I watched it last night on TV), "Lucky Number Slevin" as I saw "7" on @pinball1970's list, "Final Destination (Series)" remembered by Halloween, "Oh Brother, We Art Thou" while searching for another title on imdb, and so on. I can't say one of the movies on my list is worse than those. They just belonged on the list, too. And the ones I mentioned here are only a few examples of many.
Plus there is an entire list of what a girlfriend of mine used to call "Mamma Movies". Movies which are not especially good, but pleases the soul when down, e.g. movies like "One Fine Day" or some of the many Christmas Movies.

 

[Bystander]

or some of the many Christmas Movies.

Damn. I forgot Xmas Story and Home Alone.

 

[DaveC426913]

Airplane!
One if the funniest films of all time, along with Young Frankenstein, Foul Play and (don;t judge me) Porky's.

 

[epenguin]

I always find distinctly lacking Internet things where people are invited to list their preferences with just lists, no motivations or arguments. Anyway I'll play by the rules and just add minimal notes for some films that are probably not very widely known, and grouped a bit for genre.

You can learn a lot about someone's age from their list

I no doubt I confirm this. My list is all fairly old classics (14/20 b&w) – for best films I think that's the way it is! Mnyah mnyah. Since we can alter our choices, maybe some of them will jog memories of what you forgot and cause some changes?Smiles of a Summer's Night
Jules and Jim

From Here to Eternity

The Running Jumping Standing Still Film (Groundbreaking humour)

Seven Samurai
Red Beard (Kurosawa) (Think this is right. More even than the telling human stories I was struck by the (b&w) photographic framings by this Hokusai of our times)
The Master of Tea (Again for the magnificent photography, colours)

Kim
A Passage to India

The Forbidden Planet
When Worlds Collide (Much less well known than Forbidden Planet but IMHO as good or better.)

All the King's Men
The Third Man. (Two films again notable for photography)
The Man who Wasn't There

The Good the Bad and the Ugly

Hamlet (1948 Olivier)
Alexander Nevsky

Nosferatu (1922) (never surpassed nor equalled in its genre IMO)

La Grande Illusion
Le Caporal Épinglé
La Règle du Jeu

 

[DaveC426913]

You know what would be cool? A Venn diagram of all our choices.
There are several contributors here with which I would have virtually zero overlap.

Or maybe some other visualization that's more scalable than a Venn (which will get pretty hairy after about 6 people.)

 

[fresh_42]

There are also movies which are not on my list, but on someone else's, only because I didn't think of them or they didn't make it into the 20, e.g. Casablanca. It would have made more sense to allow lists of arbitrary lengths, or likewise different categories, and then see how many people voted for them. The restriction to 20 is not very meaningful. How could anyone decide whether Casablanca or MIB is the better film? Makes no sense.

 

[DaveC426913]

It would have made more sense to allow lists of arbitrary lengths

The fixed length prevents people from simply posting everything they like. Narrowing your faves to only 20 forces you to think about what ones merely belong and what ones absolutely must be there, making for a better

• 'signal-to-noise ratio' or
• 'survival of the fittest' or
• 'if I can only have 20 on my deserted island'

list of our individual all-time classics.

How could anyone decide whether Casablanca or MIB is the better film?

'better' is not the ask. The ask is simply '20 in any order you see fit'.

So don't choose between Casablanca and MIB. Put them both on - and bump the bottom one off your list.

 

[BillTre]

In the end, there can only be one.
or maybe twenty.Alternative way to show relationships:

• two lists (movies and list makers)
• group songs by type (SciFi, Mystery, Comedy, Classic, etc.)
• connect the list makers with their selections via lines

 

[pinball1970]

The fixed length prevents people from simply posting everything they like. Narrowing your faves to only 20 forces you to think about what ones merely belong and what ones absolutely must be there, making for a better

• 'signal-to-noise ratio' or
• 'survival of the fittest' or
• 'if I can only have 20 on my deserted island'

list of our individual all-time classics.
'better' is not the ask. The ask is simply '20 in any order you see fit'.

So don't choose between Casablanca and MIB. Put them both on - and bump the bottom one off your list.

Yes desert island came into it for me.
Then decades, actors, genres and films that I happen to recall at the time.
Casablanca top trumps all of films but I did not think of it.
My poor memory should not be a criterion.
ALL films need to be reviewed. ALL of them.
@DaveC426913
Over to you.
Casablanca is a better film than kill Bill and deserves to in the top 20 that humanity takes to the next generation.
Yes?
Do we need some scoring system?

 

[pinball1970]

Yes desert island came into it for me.
Then decades, actors, genres and films that I happen to recall at the time.
Casablanca top trumps all of films but I did not think of it.
My poor memory should not be a criterion.
ALL films need to be reviewed. ALL of them.
@DaveC426913
Over to you.
Casablanca is a better film than kill Bill and deserves to in the top 20 that humanity takes to the next generation.
Yes?
Do we need some scoring system?

No. This is a emotional thing. First 20 has value.

 

[DennisN]

I always find distinctly lacking Internet things where people are invited to list their preferences with just lists, no motivations or arguments. Anyway I'll play by the rules and just add minimal notes for some films that are probably not very widely known, and grouped a bit for genre.

That's welcome, no problem. The reason I asked for lists of favorite movies was because my plan was to put all nominations into an excel sheet and then sort them alphabetically in order to more easily count the number of nominations for each movie.

(note: I read epenguin's post without reading the nominations)

You know what would be cool? A Venn diagram of all our choices.
There are several contributors here with which I would have virtually zero overlap.

Or maybe some other visualization that's more scalable than a Venn (which will get pretty hairy after about 6 people.)

That is a great idea! I'll see what I can do after all nominations have been posted. Maybe I'll go 3D with the Venn diagram idea .

Edit: I decided to post my list here a while ago even though I said I would be the last to do so, and then I changed my mind and deleted the post. I will post my nominations last .

 

[DaveC426913]

Casablanca is a better film than kill Bill and deserves to in the top 20 that humanity takes to the next generation.
Yes?

So, you highlight another nuance of this topic:

The ask was actually "favorite" - not "better" and not "carried to the next generation".

Those are perfectly good criteria - they're just not my criteria.

For me, it's easy how I define it.

If
- it comes on TV spontaneously, and
- I have watch just this scene, because it's the best, and
- OK, this scene too, and
- just this next one too, and
- suddenly the end credits are rolling

then it's on my favorite list.

There are about 20 movies I cannot flip past.

 

[Bystander]

about 20 movies I cannot flip past.

Only twenty?

 

[DennisN]

So, you highlight another nuance of this topic:
The ask was actually "favorite" - not "better"

Yes, that was exactly my intention, and maybe I should have been more descriptive about that.

To everybody:

My intention was for participants (nominators) to list your favorite movies (primarily), not the movies you consider the best (there could of course be overlapping here, since some of your favorite movies may also be among those you consider to be the best ones).

The reason is that my objective with the upcoming poll is to get a list of the most liked movies among PF members. And thus the final poll result will mainly reflect movie popularity and not (necessarily) esthetic value.

And if anyone wants to change the nominations due to this or anything else, feel free to do so.
Just post a new nominations post here in the thread and write e.g. "Updated nominations:" first in the post.

 

[epenguin]

I won't change anything in my list for the moment, it has a sort of balance. But I thought of a few oustanding films maybe forgotten, not mentioned by anyone yet that I could see, but that somebody like might like to be reminded of :

High Noon
The Invasion of the Body Snatchers
The Hill
King Solomon's Mines
Small Time Crooks

 

[pinball1970]

Yes, that was exactly my intention, and maybe I should have been more descriptive about that.

To everybody:

My intention was for participants (nominators) to list your favorite movies (primarily), not the movies you consider the best (there could of course be overlapping here, since some of your favorite movies may also be among those you consider to be the best ones).

The reason is that my objective with the upcoming poll is to get a list of the most liked movies among PF members. And thus the final poll result will mainly reflect movie popularity and not (necessarily) esthetic value.

And if anyone wants to change the nominations due to this or anything else, feel free to do so.
Just post a new nominations post here in the thread and write e.g. "Updated nominations:" first in the post.

I think I'll stick with mine and curse my bad memory.
Rambo first blood is one that I should not have forgotten but I will have to live with it.

 

[DEvens]

What about favorite movie about a physics hero. _Infinity_ is about Richard Feynman up to just after WWII.

Spoiler: Brief Description of Movie with Spoilers

The movie deals with his experiences just before being on the bomb project to just after.

There are many of the beloved stories form _Surely you Must Be Joking_ and _What do You Care What Other People Think?_, the two books of anecdotes Feynman published. Such as going out through a hole in the fence, then in through the front gate, then out through the hole and in through the gate, again and again until somebody noticed. Or getting a double-dorm room to himself by putting his wife's bathroom stuff and nightgown out on the other bunk, scandalizing the cleaning staff. And, of course, "safe cracking."

On of the more emotional parts is, of course, his wife's illness. She was in a sanatorium not very far from Los Alamos, trying to cope. They would send letters with little codes to challenge each other, and that was not allowed in a war-time weapons lab. So they both but most especially she chaffed under this requirement.

There were also many little stories about his efforts to manage the trip between the lab and the sanatorium. Borrowing cars, sharing rides with other people from the lab, etc. And dodging some trouble when one of the people he caught a ride with was Klaus Fuchs.

When she died, Feynman repressed the emotion because he was deep in the most intense part of the bomb project. We get to watch with him as the Trinity test goes off. He managed to hold it in until months later when he was walking down a street and saw a dress in a shop window, and happened to think how much his wife would like that dress. And then he lost it.

 

[pinball1970]

What about favorite movie about a physics hero. _Infinity_ is about Richard Feynman up to just after WWII.

Spoiler: Brief Description of Movie with Spoilers

The movie deals with his experiences just before being on the bomb project to just after.

There are many of the beloved stories form _Surely you Must Be Joking_ and _What do You Care What Other People Think?_, the two books of anecdotes Feynman published. Such as going out through a hole in the fence, then in through the front gate, then out through the hole and in through the gate, again and again until somebody noticed. Or getting a double-dorm room to himself by putting his wife's bathroom stuff and nightgown out on the other bunk, scandalizing the cleaning staff. And, of course, "safe cracking."

On of the more emotional parts is, of course, his wife's illness. She was in a sanatorium not very far from Los Alamos, trying to cope. They would send letters with little codes to challenge each other, and that was not allowed in a war-time weapons lab. So they both but most especially she chaffed under this requirement.

There were also many little stories about his efforts to manage the trip between the lab and the sanatorium. Borrowing cars, sharing rides with other people from the lab, etc. And dodging some trouble when one of the people he caught a ride with was Klaus Fuchs.

When she died, Feynman repressed the emotion because he was deep in the most intense part of the bomb project. We get to watch with him as the Trinity test goes off. He managed to hold it in until months later when he was walking down a street and saw a dress in a shop window, and happened to think how much his wife would like that dress. And then he lost it.

That's on another thread, I can't remember which though.
I watched it recently, it's not focused on the physics that much but it's still good.

 

[epenguin]

What about favorite movie about a physics hero. _Infinity_ is about Richard Feynman up to just after WWII.

Spoiler: Brief Description of Movie with Spoilers

The movie deals with his experiences just before being on the bomb project to just after.

There are many of the beloved stories form _Surely you Must Be Joking_ and _What do You Care What Other People Think?_, the two books of anecdotes Feynman published. Such as going out through a hole in the fence, then in through the front gate, then out through the hole and in through the gate, again and again until somebody noticed. Or getting a double-dorm room to himself by putting his wife's bathroom stuff and nightgown out on the other bunk, scandalizing the cleaning staff. And, of course, "safe cracking."

On of the more emotional parts is, of course, his wife's illness. She was in a sanatorium not very far from Los Alamos, trying to cope. They would send letters with little codes to challenge each other, and that was not allowed in a war-time weapons lab. So they both but most especially she chaffed under this requirement.

There were also many little stories about his efforts to manage the trip between the lab and the sanatorium. Borrowing cars, sharing rides with other people from the lab, etc. And dodging some trouble when one of the people he caught a ride with was Klaus Fuchs.

When she died, Feynman repressed the emotion because he was deep in the most intense part of the bomb project. We get to watch with him as the Trinity test goes off. He managed to hold it in until months later when he was walking down a street and saw a dress in a shop window, and happened to think how much his wife would like that dress. And then he lost it.

Ah, I had forgotten that genre! I love it! The intellectual biography film.

Sort of film shown only in Arts Cinemas. Though in more recent years tending to break out of that area with bigger productions as with "Theory of Everything". And the various films based on Turing. And "A Dangerous Method" about Jung and Freud. Hope to see Ramanujan.The most obscure of these, and probably the obscurest film mentioned on this thread must be "Death of a Neapolitan Mathematician" about Renato Caccioppoli who only in a place like PF would a few people have heard of. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_a_Neapolitan_Mathematician
Googling the title turns up many pages and you can see clips from it, but I think not much in English.

Other films of that type I remember one on Wittgenstein and there is one on Hannah Ahrend. But the best of all IMO is "Song of Summer" about the singular English composer, Frederick Delius, with a part also for the Australian composer and whirlwind, Percy Grainger. I won't put it on my list but you can see it all on Youtube

 

[DennisN]

Hi PF'ers!
The clock is ticking...
If anyone wants to nominate their 20 favorite movies and have not done so yet, I suggest doing it here in the thread as soon as possible. For more information, see the first post.

I plan to post my nominations some time tomorrow and then start to go through all the submitted nominations in order to do a final poll of the favorite movies on PF (and maybe a Venn-like analysis).

 

[DennisN]

Here are my nominations (chronologically listed, not ranked) with brief comments inspired by @epenguin.
I also add below some honorable mentions which could have been on a larger list of more than 20 movies.

Science Fiction:

1. The Empire Strikes Back (Star Wars V, 1980)
Sinister, mature and very well written. The chemistry between Leia (Fisher) and Solo (Ford) is great, as well as the chemistry between Luke (Hamill) and Yoda, who is played by a puppet.

2. Back To The Future (1985)
Science fiction, action, humor, drama, romance and good music. This allround movie has definitely stood the test of time.

3. Aliens (1986)
Action... good action... no, exceptionally good action. And very thrilling.

4. Contact (1997)
Jodie Foster, James Woods et al. in a movie that elegantly aims for the stars.

5. The Truman Show (1998)
A science fiction satire about a very popular reality tv show that is recorded live 24/7 in the largest studio ever built. Jim Carrey is splendid as Truman Burbank, which is a role that is remarkably serious considering Carrey's other roles. The movie is also eerily visionary; compare with modern popular media like reality tv, personal blogs and personal video channels on youtube nowadays.

Drama:

1. Casablanca (1942)
Tight story, great dialogue, entertaining and suspenseful.

2. The Right Stuff (1983)
The story of test pilots trying out new aircraft and trying to break the sound barrier, and the story of the first American astronauts and the Apollo program.

3. Amadeus (1984)
A wonderfully filmed tale about brilliance, envy, romance, plotting and madness.

4. Empire of the Sun (1987)
Great story, good acting, beautiful and engaging.

5. Almost Famous (2000)
Good story, good acting, thoughtful and funny.

Thriller/Action:

1. Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
A great, thrilling adventure with a historical and mythological flavor.

2. The Untouchables (1987)
A thrilling police versus gangsters story with great actors.

3. The Silence Of The Lambs (1991)
Thrilling to the bone.

4. Shutter Island (2010)
A thriller mystery story with quite many surprises.

5. The Imitation Game (2014)
A WW2 drama/thriller based on a true story. Great acting.

Other (comedies/animated):

1. The Jungle Book (Disney, 1967)
Great story, great music and entertaining. I love it.

2. The Sting (1973)
A wonderful heist movie with many surprises.

3. Life of Brian (Monty Python, 1979)
A very funny comedy with serious messages underneath it all.

4. Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (1998)
A very funny comedy about two competing con men on the riviera.

5. Shrek (2001)
He's green and the movie is very funny.

Honorable mentions:

Schindler's List, Mission Impossible 3 and/or 4, Nikita, Pulp Fiction, Jurassic Park, Blazing Saddles, Groundhog Day, Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, Snatch, As Good as It Gets, Bitter Moon, Bridge of Spies, Erin Brockovich, Falling Down, Fight Club, Apollo 13, Gandhi, Gladiator, Gran Torino, Little Miss Sunshine, Mississippi Burning, Munich, The Name of the Rose, The Shining, Angel Heart, A New Hope (Star Wars), Alien, Terminator 2 and some other science fiction .

 

[DennisN]

I'll keep the thread open for a while, if anyone else decides to sneak in some more nominations .
I plan to go through all nominations some time tomorrow!
See you!

 

[Klystron]

What would movies be without poster art?

All versions of Shakespeare's "Lear" tend to unsettle. "Ran" turns and rattles the cinematic world placed in feudal Japan. Fool -- sensing the obvious -- wraps the self-deposed monarch within alternating wreaths of contempt and compassion.

I miss Lear's daughters particularly enigmatic Cordelia, but the two scheming brothers and their conniving wives more than counter the one prince and consort who care for the aged ruler.

 

[DennisN]

Empire of the Sun (cinematically superb IMHO, great symbolic use of an atom bomb)

I agree, as you can see in my nominations post above. Nice to see that someone else chose that one too . I may not have remembered it if I didn't go through my entire movie library when I chose my favorites.

 

[DennisN]

@Bystander, I have a couple of questions...

GB&U

Could you please clarify which movie this is`? I don't understand.

And,

12. Back to the Future
13. " " " "
14. " " " "

In 13 and 14, do you mean the two Back to the Future sequels?

 

[vela]

I'm somewhat confident that this is the definitively correct list.
...
4. The Princess Bride
...

Inconceivable!

 

[Bystander]

I have a couple of questions...

Good, Bad, & Ugglllyyyy. (Had to stop & think a minute...shorthand simply does not work for movie lists) Yes, and yes.

 

[kuruman]

Here is my list arranged chronologically to disambiguate title degeneracies with remakes, spin-offs, etc.
Dracula 1931
Alexander Nevsky 1938
Casablanca 1942
The African Queen 1951
The Crimson Pirate 1952
The Seven Samurai 1956
Some Like It Hot 1959
North by Northwest 1959
Divorce Italian Style 1962
Dr. Strangelove 1964
The Good the Bad and the Ugly 1966
The Graduate 1967
M*A*S*H* 1970
The Godfather I 1972
American Graffiti 1973
The Sting 1973
Young Frankenstein 1974
Raiders of the Lost Ark 1981
Tootsie 1982
Lord of the Rings, Return of the King 2003