My top 100 movies: #1: E.T. The Extra Terrestrial (2 Viewers)

[Yankee23Fan]

We have close to the same taste in movies.  HAving said that......

.....Castaway sucked.  Like really sucked.

 

[Yankee23Fan]

We Were Soldiers is in my top 5 Vietnam movies.  So is Good Morning Vietnam.

 

[Ilov80s]

#93 - Notorioius

Ingrid Bergman's Alicia is recruited by Cary Grant's Devlin to spy on a Nazi ring that includes Claude Rains' Alexander. Because she falls so in love with Devlin, she agrees to the scheme of marrying Alexander. Its not long, however, before she's found out and Devlin is forced to find her a way out before she's killed.

Filmed immediately after the end of WW2, this is one of the first movies to deal with Cold War (although we still have Nazis instead of Communists). 

I like that the ending is subdued in the surface (there's no shoot out, for example) but is boiling over just beneath. The plot solution is terrifically clever and the final line wickedly ominous.

Trivia: 

While filming one shot, Cary Grant carped that he was supposed to open the door with his right hand but he was holding his hat in that hand. "Have you considered the possibility of transferring the hat to the other hand?" Alfred Hitchcock replied.

The legendary on-again, off-again kiss between Cary Grant and Ingrid Bergman was designed to skirt the Hayes Code that restricted kisses to no more than three seconds each.

That's the last Hitchcock for a while, I promise.

The best ending of any Hitch film. Hitch sucked at endings, often added 1 scene too many.

 

[Andy Dufresne]

#59 - Donnie Darko

I prefer the original version's music arrangement but like the additions in the Director's Cut - especially the part about Watership Down.

At it's heart it's a superhero movie. With lots of 80's music. And I think that's awesome.

Kitty Farmer: [loudly interjecting] I'll tell you what he said! He asked me to forcibly insert the lifeline exercise card into my ######!

Trivia:

Frank says the world will end in "28 days 6 hours 42 minutes 12 seconds." That figure is not random: it comes from adding or subtracting 1 from each part of the figure 27d 7h 43m 11s, which is the precise length of one lunar month (by one of the less-used definitions - sidereal instead of the usual synodic).

Richard Kelly came up with the idea for the future blobs while watching football. John Madden used to use a "telestrator," where he'd diagram a paused video to show where the players were about to go moments before letting the tape roll. Kelly watched this while high and started to think about what would happen, hypothetically, if "someone upstairs" was doing that to humans.

 

[PIK95]

I loved Donnie Darko.  I need to watch it again.  The soundtrack was pretty great too.

 

[Andy Dufresne]

I loved Donnie Darko.  I need to watch it again.  The soundtrack was pretty great too.

Check this out...

"Proud to Be Loud" Performed by The Dead Green Mummies -- this song is actually performed by the band Pantera. (The Dead Green Mummies do not exist.) Pantera has all but disowned their first four albums, this song is track 5 on the fourth of those albums, "Power Metal." The band presumably did not want to be credited with the song (as they don't consider any of their pre-1990 material part of their discography) and made up the name The Dead Green Mummies.

 

[KarmaPolice]

#59 - Donnie Darko

I prefer the original version's music arrangement but like the additions in the Director's Cut - especially the part about Watership Down.

At it's heart it's a superhero movie. With lots of 80's music. And I think that's awesome.

Kitty Farmer: [loudly interjecting] I'll tell you what he said! He asked me to forcibly insert the lifeline exercise card into my ######!

Trivia:

Frank says the world will end in "28 days 6 hours 42 minutes 12 seconds." That figure is not random: it comes from adding or subtracting 1 from each part of the figure 27d 7h 43m 11s, which is the precise length of one lunar month (by one of the less-used definitions - sidereal instead of the usual synodic).

Richard Kelly came up with the idea for the future blobs while watching football. John Madden used to use a "telestrator," where he'd diagram a paused video to show where the players were about to go moments before letting the tape roll. Kelly watched this while high and started to think about what would happen, hypothetically, if "someone upstairs" was doing that to humans.

I am opposite (but it's been a bit since I've seen it), I just remember thinking that the DC seemed dumbed down somehow - maybe the extra scenes were more trying to explain stuff instead of leaving it open ended?  Just remember feeling like my hand was being held more with the DC. 

About the superhero movie, I do like that idea.  I remember listening to the interesting commentary track with Kelly and Kevin Smith and they were talking about how it was a superhero movie.  I had never thought about it in that way until then. 

 

[KarmaPolice]

Check this out...

"Proud to Be Loud" Performed by The Dead Green Mummies -- this song is actually performed by the band Pantera. (The Dead Green Mummies do not exist.) Pantera has all but disowned their first four albums, this song is track 5 on the fourth of those albums, "Power Metal." The band presumably did not want to be credited with the song (as they don't consider any of their pre-1990 material part of their discography) and made up the name The Dead Green Mummies.

Come on, why would they want to forget THIS stage of their career?

 

[Andy Dufresne]

KP, I know what you mean about the "hand holding". For someone who hasn't seen it, the theatrical cut is what they should start with. Part of the fun is being as disoriented as Donnie is.

For subsequent viewings, however, I think the DC is better because it explores the themes a little deeper.

That, and Holmes Osborne's Eddie Darko is given some better lines. Funny ones too.

 

[Andy Dufresne]

#58 - Memento

Like Inception, the structure of this movie is so unique it's a wonder it got made - much less that it became so popular.

Guy Pearce's performance really earns the audience's sympathy for his character. 

IMO, Leonard is NOT Sammy.

Trivia:

During Teddy's line, "You don't have a clue, you freak!" director Christopher Nolan felt that Joe Pantoliano, who played Teddy, did not quite nail the end of the line, so he decided to re-record the last two words to his liking, delivering them himself. Therefore, in the final film, the words, "you freak," as we hear them, are actually being said not by Pantoliano, but by Nolan impersonating Pantoliano's voice. Pantoliano was unaware of the dubbing, until an interview for Memento.

Before filming the scene where Leonard kills Jimmy, Larry Holden told Guy Pearce to really attack him. Pearce, a former bodybuilder, complied and left Holden covered in bruises after the scene.

 

[Andy Dufresne]

#57 - Psycho

Hitch at his best.

Perkins is amazing.

Creepy as hell.

Trivia:

 Alfred Hitchcock said of the shower scene, "...everything was so rapid that there were 78 separate pieces of film in 45 seconds."

Shooting wrapped February 1, 1960, nine days over schedule. A rough cut was finished by April, at which point Alfred Hitchcock was convinced his "experiment" had failed. He was ready to cut the film down to a TV episode, but handed it to Bernard Herrmann to score. After he saw the completed film with the music, he was very pleased.

 

[timschochet]

You'll be done before I've gotten to 70. I'm much slower at this. 

 

[joffer]

Went off the rails with True Lies and Castaway, but back on track with the last two

Memento is brilliant

 

[Andy Dufresne]

You'll be done before I've gotten to 70. I'm much slower at this. 

I don't have much to do at the project I'm on.

 

[Andy Dufresne]

#56 - Run Lola, Run 

Franke Potente is mesmerizing as Lola, a girl that for some reason loves Manni, who has gotten himself in trouble with the local gang. She loves him so much that her force of will is unstoppable.

Director Tom Tykwer also wrote the kick butt music, itself almost a character of the movie.

This film grabs you by the scruff of the neck and drags you through 81 minutes of awesomeness.

Trivia:

Yoshiaki Koizumi who is a game-designer at Nintendo(R) called 'Run Lola, Run' one of the main inspirations he had when he came up with the idea behind the game 'The Legend of Zelda - Majora's Mask' (released on Nintendo 64 in year 2000). Like Run Lola, Run, the game is centered around the experience of time rewinding which will make you experience the same days and events reoccur over and over until you eventually have what you need to achieve your main goal.

There are many spirals in the film (stair cases, bar behind phone booth etc). This is because director Tom Tykwer was a fan of 'Alfred Hitchcock''s Vertigo.

 

[SaintsInDome2006]

#56 - Run Lola, Run 

Franke Potente is mesmerizing as Lola, a girl that for some reason loves Manni, who has gotten himself in trouble with the local gang. She loves him so much that her force of will is unstoppable.

Director Tom Tykwer also wrote the kick butt music, itself almost a character of the movie.

This film grabs you by the scruff of the neck and drags you through 81 minutes of awesomeness.

Trivia:

Yoshiaki Koizumi who is a game-designer at Nintendo(R) called 'Run Lola, Run' one of the main inspirations he had when he came up with the idea behind the game 'The Legend of Zelda - Majora's Mask' (released on Nintendo 64 in year 2000). Like Run Lola, Run, the game is centered around the experience of time rewinding which will make you experience the same days and events reoccur over and over until you eventually have what you need to achieve your main goal.

There are many spirals in the film (stair cases, bar behind phone booth etc). This is because director Tom Tykwer was a fan of 'Alfred Hitchcock''s Vertigo.

I do like this movie.

 

[shuke]

#59 - Donnie Darko

#58 - Memento

#57 - Psycho

#56 - Run Lola, Run

Great run here to save this train wreck.  Psycho and DD would be in my top 20 I'm guessing.

 

[Andy Dufresne]

If the upper regions of a person's Top 100 movie list doesn't include a few "WTH do you like THAT movie for" entries then I doubt that person is much of a free thinker.

 

[SaintsInDome2006]

If the upper regions of a person's Top 100 movie list doesn't include a few "WTH do you like THAT movie for" entries then I doubt that person is much of a free thinker.

True of most things I think.

 

[Andy Dufresne]

#55 - The Emperor's New Groove

Yes, it's totally silly in concept AND execution. But the characters are a hoot and my family uses a lot of one-liners from this one. And we sing this Happy Birthday song in lieu of the more traditional one. 

Yzma: It is no concern of mine whether or not your family has... what was it again? 

Peasant: Umm... food? 

Yzma: Ha! You really should have thought of that before you became peasants!



Trivia:

Patrick Warburton improvised when Kronk hummed his own theme song when he was carrying Kuzco in the bag to the waterfall. Disney legal department had Warburton to sign all rights to the humming composition over to them.

When Kronk and Yzma go to their secret lab, they pass several animal-shaped gates. The first one is a cat and the sound of a cat meowing is heard; ironically, Yzma is turned into a cat by the end of the film. This is a respectful nod to Eartha Kitt's famous role as Catwoman in the televised Batman (1966) series.

 

[Andy Dufresne]

#54 - The Shining

I'm not a Kubrick worshipper. I think people go way overboard when discussing his genius or "deciphering" what he "really meant."

But that doesn't change the fact that this movie is incredible.

The novel was essentially about alcoholosm as King was an alcoholic when he wrote it.

I think the movie begins with this motif but also expands on it to include other madness inducing triggers. What's underestimated is Duvall's Wendy - her emptiness even fills the Overlook Hotel. Being married to her must be a nightmare in itself.

But the real stars are the look and feel of the movie. The images play on your mind just like they would on Jack's.

The niggling details of what doesn't work can be disregarded because of the remaining awesomeness.

 Trivia:

For the scene in which Jack breaks down the bathroom door, the props department built a door that could be easily broken. However, Jack Nicholson had worked as a volunteer fire marshal and tore it apart far too easily. The props department were then forced to build a stronger door.

The "snowy" maze near the conclusion of the movie consisted of 900 tons of salt and crushed Styrofoam.

 

[Andy Dufresne]

#53 - Airplane!

I'm just kind of twisted this way.

Lady: Nervous? 

Ted Striker: Yes. 

Lady: First time? 

Ted Striker: No, I've been nervous lots of times.

Trivia:

Stephen Stucker ad-libbed all of his lines as Johnny.

Otto, the automatic pilot, ultimately disintegrated after spending several years in Jerry Zucker's garage.

All the exterior shots of the plane while flying use a sound track of a propeller plane although it is a jet because the studio would not let the producers use a propeller plane in the movie.

 

[El Floppo]

andy- these write-ups are fantastic. been a lot of fun reading along with this disaster of a list

 

[Andy Dufresne]

andy- these write-ups are fantastic. been a lot of fun reading along with this disaster of a list

 

[rick6668]

All the exterior shots of the plane while flying use a sound track of a propeller plane although it is a jet because the studio would not let the producers use a propeller plane in the movie.

I don't know about this one.

This was a parody of Zero Hour

The first draft we probably wrote in 1974…the way we used to get material for [the Kentucky Fried Theater] was to leave a video recorder all night long, to get commercials to do spoofs…and so one morning we were looking at what we got the night before and there weren’t very many good commercials to work with, but there was this airplane movie, a disaster film, which was Zero Hour, from 1957…we thought we could do a parody of this, see what happens.

Here is comparison of  Airplane and Zero Hour https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-BjU-e01zQ4

If you've never seen the clip above and are an Airplane fan it's a must watch.

The pilot and co-pilot are struck ill with food-poisoning. The only man on board with any flying experience is a veteran who is haunted by a fatal mistake he made the last time he flew a plane. Lives hang in the balance. The crew on the ground nervously try to talk him through safely landing the plane in a horrible storm as his fuel supply dwindles.

If the plot of this 1957 film seems familiar, it’s likely because the comedy classic Airplane! parodies it in detail. The makers of the 1980 comedy actually bought the rights to Zero Hour, so they could use the script as the basis for their film. In fact they left many lines in verbatim from the original screenplay

 

[El Floppo]

never know when I have to write a  or not... glad I don't have to for you.

 

[Andy Dufresne]

One of the lines in Airplane is lifted right from Zero Hour....

The film is mostly a parody of Zero Hour! (1957), a film that had a main character named Ted Stryker and such famous "not meant to be funny" lines like "We have to find someone who can not only fly this plane, but who didn't have fish for dinner."

 

[Bruce Dickinson]

#56 - Run Lola, Run 

Franke Potente is mesmerizing as Lola, a girl that for some reason loves Manni, who has gotten himself in trouble with the local gang. She loves him so much that her force of will is unstoppable.

Director Tom Tykwer also wrote the kick butt music, itself almost a character of the movie.

This film grabs you by the scruff of the neck and drags you through 81 minutes of awesomeness.

Big fan of this movie.  Even bigger fan of the soundtrack, so I dig that you singled that out.  It is a character in the film.

 

[Bruce Dickinson]

One of the lines in Airplane is lifted right from Zero Hour....

The film is mostly a parody of Zero Hour! (1957), a film that had a main character named Ted Stryker and such famous "not meant to be funny" lines like "We have to find someone who can not only fly this plane, but who didn't have fish for dinner."

IIRC, Airplane! is technically a remake of Zero Hour.  ZAZ bought the rights to remake Zero Hour when they realized it would be easier to just stick with that movie's structure and concentrate on the jokes.

 

[DocHolliday]

#54 - The Shining

I'm not a Kubrick worshipper. I think people go way overboard when discussing his genius or "deciphering" what he "really meant."

But that doesn't change the fact that this movie is incredible.

The novel was essentially about alcoholosm as King was an alcoholic when he wrote it.

I think the movie begins with this motif but also expands on it to include other madness inducing triggers. What's underestimated is Duvall's Wendy - her emptiness even fills the Overlook Hotel. Being married to her must be a nightmare in itself.

But the real stars are the look and feel of the movie. The images play on your mind just like they would on Jack's.

The niggling details of what doesn't work can be disregarded because of the remaining awesomeness.

 Trivia:

For the scene in which Jack breaks down the bathroom door, the props department built a door that could be easily broken. However, Jack Nicholson had worked as a volunteer fire marshal and tore it apart far too easily. The props department were then forced to build a stronger door.

The "snowy" maze near the conclusion of the movie consisted of 900 tons of salt and crushed Styrofoam.

One of my favorite movies.  You are correct.  The real stars of the movie are the look and feel.  It looks and feels creepy throughout. 

 

[Andy Dufresne]

#52 - Apocalypse Now

It's not higher because it's a hard movie to sit through all at once. But almost every scene has something to like.

The opening sequence might be my favorite of all time. The distorted surround sound of the chopper blades mixed with the forlorn The End playing over the top puts the viewer immediately in the insane mindset of the Vietnam war.

What makes it even more interesting is the chaos of the production itself. That it was made at all is a miracle. If you haven't seen the making-of documentary "Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse" you must. 

Also, the "Redux" version is worth one watch but I think the theatrical version is the "definitive" one to watch. Redux just gets bogged down.

Willard: Everyone gets everything he wants. I wanted a mission, and for my sins, they gave me one. Brought it up to me like room service. It was a real choice mission, and when it was over, I never wanted another.

Trivia:

Laurence Fishburne was fourteen years old when production began in 1976; he lied about his age.

Shooting was originally scheduled for six weeks. In the end, it took sixteen months.

John Milius explained how he had come up with the title "Apocalypse Now." Apparently, this was derived from, at that time (1965), a very popular tattoo amongst the hippie community of a peace sign that said "Nirvana Now." Milius, by adding just a couple of extra lines, edited the peace symbol to make it look like a circle with a B52 bomber in the middle and changed the slogan to "Apocalypse Now."

 

[msommer]

Pretty strong through the fifties (even with the silliness of Airplane and The Emperor's New Groove)

I'd expect 57, 54 and 52 would end substantially higher on my lists. Apocalypse Now I've probably seen over twenty times at the cinema and untold times on DVD (home cinema mainly). Big fan

The Shining is ine of the most scary movies I had ever seen when I saw it the first time in a crappy vhs rental copy  on a 20" tv. I was thoroughly spooked all night

 

[Andy Dufresne]

#51 - Hoosiers

I didn't grow up in the smallest town in Minnesota (proud Moorhead Spud!), but I do love small towns. In MN there's a feeling of Out State vs Metro - small versus big school. It used to manifest itself more in hockey than basketball, but the team in Hoosiers suffices as a proxy.

Sure it features one of cinema's most awkward kisses ever, but who cares?

Trivia:

For the scene where Dennis Hopper walks onto the court drunk in the middle of the game, Hopper wanted a ten-second notice before calling action. At the ten-second notice, he spun around in circles until action was called, allowing him to stagger onto the court in an awkward fashion in order to appear drunk.

Steve Hollar was actually playing basketball for DePauw University at the time. The NCAA noticed when the film was released. The NCAA eventually decided that Hollar had been hired as an actor, not a basketball player. He still got a three-game suspension and was told to return 5% of his pay.

 

[whiskey7]

#51 - Hoosiers

I didn't grow up in the smallest town in Minnesota (proud Moorhead Spud!), but I do love small towns. In MN there's a feeling of Out State vs Metro - small versus big school. It used to manifest itself more in hockey than basketball, but the team in Hoosiers suffices as a proxy.

Sure it features one of cinema's most awkward kisses ever, but who cares?

Trivia:

For the scene where Dennis Hopper walks onto the court drunk in the middle of the game, Hopper wanted a ten-second notice before calling action. At the ten-second notice, he spun around in circles until action was called, allowing him to stagger onto the court in an awkward fashion in order to appear drunk.

Steve Hollar was actually playing basketball for DePauw University at the time. The NCAA noticed when the film was released. The NCAA eventually decided that Hollar had been hired as an actor, not a basketball player. He still got a three-game suspension and was told to return 5% of his pay.

Great call on both the movie and the David vs Goliath feeling. Definitely know what you mean re: Out State vs Metro in MN.

 

[Andy Dufresne]

The 40's are going to be a little more controversial.

 

[joffer]

i sense some comic books masquerading as movies coming

 

[FattyVM]

i sense some comic books masquerading as movies coming

Hey, I think the First Ironman, the Dark Knight and Guardians can make this list.

 

[Andy Dufresne]

Hey, I think the First Ironman, the Dark Knight and Guardians can make this list.

Nope. None of them.

 

[Andy Dufresne]

#50 - Predator

A good old fashioned action movie - with an alien.

Cool characters, visuals and audio. Just sit back and enjoy. Or as Arnold would say, "Stick around!" Hehe!

Trivia:

The sound editors called the Predator's shoulder gun the "Parrot Gun", because when it moved independent of the Predator while aiming, it reminded them of "Peter Sellers with a rubber parrot on his shoulder."

The "B" camera was given a reel of incorrect film stock, which is why some shots look a lot grainier than others.

The studio's insurance company would not agree to insure the production unless a body guard was hired for the actor Sonny Landham (Billy) for the sole purpose of protecting people from Sonny. The body guard followed Sonny around everywhere to ensure that Sonny didn't get into a fight since he was well known to be a very violent and short tempered actor.

 

[Bruce Dickinson]

#51 - Hoosiers

I didn't grow up in the smallest town in Minnesota (proud Moorhead Spud!), but I do love small towns. In MN there's a feeling of Out State vs Metro - small versus big school. It used to manifest itself more in hockey than basketball, but the team in Hoosiers suffices as a proxy.

Sure it features one of cinema's most awkward kisses ever, but who cares?

The year before I moved to Minnesota, the state hockey tournament featured Edina v Warroad, which was pretty much Hoosiers On Ice... if Chitwood missed the shot at the end.

When I rewatch this movie I fast-forward through the love story stuff.  I try not to let it affect what a great job they did with just about everything else in the film.  

The gym used for the Hickory Huskers home games is a museum now.  Since it's in a small town in Indiana it's not very busy, and if you finish the tour on a low-traffic day they let you shoot a couple free throws in the gym.  I recommend going 1950s-style underhand, just like Ollie did in the movie.  

 

[KarmaPolice]

Not sure what it is - I love watching sports, but very rarely really like a sports movie.  The exceptions are usually stupid kids movies or played for laughs - ie Kicking & Screaming. 

 

[Andy Dufresne]

#49 - Army of Darkness

All right you primitive screwheads...LISTEN UP!

My friends and I got a laugh or three out of Evil Dead 2 so we were excited for this one.

We saw it opening night with about six total people in the theater. We didn't know Raimi was going strictly for camp until Ash leapt toward the chainsaw and caught it with his stumpy arm - at which point I actually leaped from my chair with a cheer. So many great lines.

Good...bad...I'm the guy with the GUN!

Trivia:

The original title for this film was "Medieval Dead".

During filming the Oldsmobile Delta 88 falling out of the sky was shot twice. During the first attempt, the 25-ton crane lifting the car failed due to mechanical problems and toppled over the edge of a cliff at the quarry location where filming was taking place. Fortunately, no injuries occurred because the crane operator jumped from the cab before the crane went over the edge. Days later a larger 80-ton crane was brought in to remove the damaged crane and re-shoot the car drop. 

 

[Andy Dufresne]

#48 - Star Trek III: The Search For Spock

I'm a fan of the original Trek series. This isn't the best Trek movie, but it does contain its greatest scene. Years spent in deep space forged a bond that the crew wasn't going to let some bureaucratic Starfleet break.

And if that meant stealing the Enterprise then so be it.

The score is some of Horner's best. In addition to Stealing the Enterprise, the Mind Meld and Katra Ritual are just beautiful

Trivia:

According to Robin Curtis in the DVD Special Edition "making of" documentary, Christopher Lloyd didn't fully understand the use of the communicators. He would often shout his lines into the air rather than speak into the communicator. (An example she used:: When he says "Bring me up." while in Genesis, He yelled at the sky as if the ship could hear him) He had to be repeatedly told not to yell at the sky.

In the earlier drafts of the screenplay, the Enterprise's auto destruct finished with the ship's engine core exploding, resulting in a massive matter/antimatter explosion, visible from the planet's surface. Harve Bennett later changed this to the primary hull exploding, and the secondary being destroyed in the planet's atmosphere, reasoning that an antimatter explosion would probably destroy the Klingon ship as well. However, a mix-up resulted in the ILM crew doing the sequence according to the earlier version. Bennett considered using this version in the final film, but asked ILM to redo it, this time saying it would make the scene afterward look too much like the ending of Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983). They saved money by re-using the footage from the initial sequence up to the point where the primary hull exploded, then started the new sequence just after.

 

[Buzzbait]

#49 - Army of Darkness

All right you primitive screwheads...LISTEN UP!

My friends and I got a laugh or three out of Evil Dead 2 so we were excited for this one.

We saw it opening night with about six total people in the theater. We didn't know Raimi was going strictly for camp until Ash leapt toward the chainsaw and caught it with his stumpy arm - at which point I actually leaped from my chair with a cheer. So many great lines.

Good...bad...I'm the guy with the GUN!

Trivia:

The original title for this film was "Medieval Dead".

During filming the Oldsmobile Delta 88 falling out of the sky was shot twice. During the first attempt, the 25-ton crane lifting the car failed due to mechanical problems and toppled over the edge of a cliff at the quarry location where filming was taking place. Fortunately, no injuries occurred because the crane operator jumped from the cab before the crane went over the edge. Days later a larger 80-ton crane was brought in to remove the damaged crane and re-shoot the car drop. 

Awesome you included this. Love it! 

So many great quotes in this movie.

Hail to the king, baby.

 

[El Floppo]

#48 - Star Trek III: The Search For Spock

I'm a fan of the original Trek series. This isn't the best Trek movie, but it does contain its greatest scene. Years spent in deep space forged a bond that the crew wasn't going to let some bureaucratic Starfleet break.

And if that meant stealing the Enterprise then so be it.

The score is some of Horner's best. In addition to Stealing the Enterprise, the Mind Meld and Katra Ritual are just beautiful

Trivia:

According to Robin Curtis in the DVD Special Edition "making of" documentary, Christopher Lloyd didn't fully understand the use of the communicators. He would often shout his lines into the air rather than speak into the communicator. (An example she used:: When he says "Bring me up." while in Genesis, He yelled at the sky as if the ship could hear him) He had to be repeatedly told not to yell at the sky.

In the earlier drafts of the screenplay, the Enterprise's auto destruct finished with the ship's engine core exploding, resulting in a massive matter/antimatter explosion, visible from the planet's surface. Harve Bennett later changed this to the primary hull exploding, and the secondary being destroyed in the planet's atmosphere, reasoning that an antimatter explosion would probably destroy the Klingon ship as well. However, a mix-up resulted in the ILM crew doing the sequence according to the earlier version. Bennett considered using this version in the final film, but asked ILM to redo it, this time saying it would make the scene afterward look too much like the ending of Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983). They saved money by re-using the footage from the initial sequence up to the point where the primary hull exploded, then started the new sequence just after.

is this the one with the whales? or is that all of them.

 

[Andy Dufresne]

is this the one with the whales? or is that all of them.

No, that's ST4: The Voyage Home.

Although Scotty and Uhura had been living large by the time of Search.

 

[TheAristocrat]

#48 - Star Trek III: The Search For Spock

And if that meant stealing the Enterprise then so be it.

Love that scene.  Haven't seen that movie in ages.  Might have to queue it up on a lazy weekend.

 

[Andy Dufresne]

#47 - The Last Starfighter

Back in the olden days, when the most important peripheral you could have for your video games was something called an imagination, the closest you could come to being a galaxy saving star pilot (and who doesn't want to be THAT?) was a game called Star Raiders. Movies that required special effects needed model builders and blue screens.

But then Moore's Law kicked in and the fusion of art and technology blossomed. The Last Starfighter was the first movie to do all special effects on a computer.

Compared to the effects of today, those of TLS are primitive. But to those of us who never traded in our imagination at Gamestop, they're still as glorious as ever. And we all still hope to be recruited by the Star League to defend the frontier against Xur and the Ko-Dan Armada!

Trivia:

The director, Nick Castle, played "The Shape" aka Michael Myers in Halloween and wrote Escape From New York and August Rush (among other credits).

Released a few years after the alleged release of the mysterious arcade game 'Polybius' which allegedly caused epileptic seizures and nightmares among the children who played it. The existence of this game is never been proven but there are strong similarities between the plot of the movie and the Polybius conspiracy that is still alive on various online forums.

 

[James Daulton]

#47 - The Last Starfighter

Back in the olden days, when the most important peripheral you could have for your video games was something called an imagination, the closest you could come to being a galaxy saving star pilot (and who doesn't want to be THAT?) was a game called Star Raiders. Movies that required special effects needed model builders and blue screens.

But then Moore's Law kicked in and the fusion of art and technology blossomed. The Last Starfighter was the first movie to do all special effects on a computer.

Compared to the effects of today, those of TLS are primitive. But to those of us who never traded in our imagination at Gamestop, they're still as glorious as ever. And we all still hope to be recruited by the Star League to defend the frontier against Xur and the Ko-Dan Ramada!

Trivia:

The director, Nick Castle, played "The Shape" aka Michael Myers in Halloween and wrote Escape From New York and August Rush (among other credits).

Released a few years after the alleged release of the mysterious arcade game 'Polybius' which allegedly caused epileptic seizures and nightmares among the children who played it. The existence of this game is never been proven but there are strong similarities between the plot of the movie and the Polybius conspiracy that is still alive on various online forums.

Andy you are a movie rating god!

 

[Andy Dufresne]

Andy you are a movie rating god!