Welcome to a Month of Movies! What Are Your All-Time Top 5 Films?

Top of the list:

My top five are associated with an emotional connection - happiness. Not necessarily toward critical acclaim and awards.
1. The Wizard of Oz
2. Tootsie
3. O Brother Where Art Thou?
4. Toy Story 1,2,3 (they come as a set)
5. Forest Gump

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Not many people know about Election. They look at me like i'm crazy. I loved that movie.

Rae
http://www.blushblog.com/

You already have a couple of mine, but since I have so many I'll try not to repeat.

The Bad Seed
Primal Fear
Imitation of Life
Dreamgirls
A Letter to three wives (Fabulous!)

I think that I need a movie day tomorrow :)
Rae
Blushblog

Ok, I'll try...

Impromptu
The Usual Suspects (I agree - so good!)
Lost in Translation
Election
The Age of Innocence

If I could add a 6th, it would be Best in Show. I could watch it over and over. (same goes for Strictly Ballroom)

Jennifer
http://chezlouloufrance.blogspot.com

Sorry, I gotta add this movie. The film is totally cheesy but it contains one of the best or only purse whipping scene known to human kind.

I do not condone purse whipping but this guy had it coming. The actress is Constance Towers playing a soon to be reformed lady of the night.

By no stretch of the imagination is this a good movie. But it was might dang interesting. I'm proud to say I have it on DVD that I got on sale a long time ago.

Clutch power to the people!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x3cD7N3Mleo

Gena Haskett is a BlogHer Contributing Editor. My Blogs: Out On The Stoop ( http://outonthestoop.blogspot.com ) and Create Video Notebook ( http://createvideonotebook.blogspot.com )

My favorites include:

1. Pretty Woman (Julia Roberts and Richard Gere)

2. My Best Friend's Wedding (Julia Roberts, Dermont Mulroney, Cameron Diaz)

3. The Break-Up (Vince Vaughn, Jennifer Aniston

4. Wedding Planner (Jennifer Lopez, Matthew McConaughey)

5. The Ultimate Gift "very touching"

www.marriagelounge.blogspot.com ( http://www.marriagelounge.blogspot.com )

Love that line too! Also, LOVE the scene she argues with Lloyd, swinging that purse like a true diva! I think I'm gonna have to order that movie!

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That is a great line. The other one that kills me is "Everybody has a heart - except some people."

I was getting ready to blog about this very topic! Lot of my favorites been airing lately.

1 "All about Eve" (Fav line: "I'd kiss you, but I just washed my hair") Priceless.

2 "The Truth About Cats and Dogs" (Everyone woman should see this.)

3 "The Joy Luck Club"

4 "How to make an American Quilt"

5 A draw between "Imitation of Life" and "Carman Jones"

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This is really, really hard and I am sure I will have remember something I have missed, but

1. To Kill a mockingbird

2. Charade/Wait until Dark/Breakfast at Tiffany's don't make me choose!

3. Love Actually

4. Rear Window,--- no Vertigo anything Hitchcock, Dial M for Murder, The Birds, Psycho, who can choose!!!

5. Dirty Dancing

This is so fun! I love seeing everyone's top five lists, and I can't believe how many great movies I forgot about that now have me wanting to make a full top 100!

Maybe by the end of the month we can compile this comment thread into the BlogHer Top 100. ;)

Reading everyone's selections has been fun and has brought a smile to my face this morning...

It was tough to narrow it down to five but here goes:

1. The Colour Purple (my all time favourite)
2. Braveheart
3. Love Actually (I watched this movie and had a happiness epiphany - it came at just the right time in my life)
4. Godfather 1 & 2
5. In the Name of the Father - amazing, powerful performances

How could I possibly have left out every Christopher Guest mockumentary? My siblings and I (except for one sister who won't participate) know every one of these classics by heart and take turns "being" a character. EVERYBODY DANCE!

My personal favorite, though, has to be : Well, then, I just HATE you... and I hate your... ass... FACE!"

Not that I would ever USE it in real life. Then again. . . .

"Don't be content with being average. Average is as close to the bottom as it is to the top."

Jane blogs as "Mamacita" at Scheiss Weekly, ( http://janegoodwin.net/ )hitting the fan like nobody can.

1. Harry Potter
2. Love Actually
3. The Princess Bride
4. Stargate
5. Toys

I know them by heart.

"Don't be content with being average. Average is as close to the bottom as it is to the top."

Jane blogs as "Mamacita" at Scheiss Weekly, ( http://janegoodwin.net/ )hitting the fan like nobody can.

would be my number 6.

I just threw it on Facebook, I know some film people and curious to see if they had heard of it.

I showcase writers at a theatre site and you say "ONLY 5" ... geeeez oh man

Here goes, you great flick pickers:

1. BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID - "Think you used enough dynamite there, Butch?" -- "I've got vision and the rest of the world wears bifocals."

2. GODFATHER 2 -- Something about going back in time to set the family story straight ... "In Sicily, women are more dangerous than guns."

** INTERMISSION ** I'm a dame who conquered cancer 6 years now (survivor, not kicked off the island)... and I wanted to share - it's MOVIES that aided and abetted my turning the damnation critters around. I'd come out of a surgery and have one of those toughen up and laugh with 'good friends' that the movies became as a thorough celebratory experience. Through radiation, there'd be a movie*reward on the matinee of each week if I'd "done good". That was the year I saw everything up for the AcadAwards -- so movies ... damn, they matter.

3. Yikes - to pull in 5, I gotta *blend* for how the femme mood pulls you in, in a momemnt or its momentum > WHEN HARRY MET SALLY (I went to Katz Deli in NY this year and posed with Mr Katz - woohoo!) ... UNDER THE TUSCAN SUN (past some of the ditzy moments, the construction guys finishing the wall and of course recreating an Italian villa ... and getting that *nod* from the old man on the balcony - melting) ... MILLION DOLLAR BABY ("Never let your guard down") > Guess those 3 cover womanhood if you throw in Scarlett's rousing radish scene "As God is my witness, I will lie and kill and steal but I will never go hungry again" with GTW

4. Yeah, PRINCESS BRIDE is a true cult flick, ain't it?

5. NEVERLAND ... Johnny Depp as JM Barrie ... the scene with the kids' play -- oh comeon ... Dustin Hoffman's quips in the red velvet seats? Yeah.

********************

I'm new around this joint and must salute -

-- alexash -- THE PHILADELPHIA STORY

-- Major Bedhead -- GROSS POINTE BLANK

-- Victoria's_View -- DIRTY DANCING

-- Gena Haskett -- Love the links!

-- Hermelness -- BRIDGES OF MADISON COUNTY & THELMA AND LOUISE

-- Maria Niles -- follow that yellow brich road - yes

-- Mata H -- intriguing!

-- Catootes -- LION IN WINTER and TOPPER

-- Janekc09 -- THE GRADUATE

-- everyone who said USUAL SUSPECTS

-- and the818 -- You rock -- ALL ABOUT EVE and "how you think"

Thanks all for lettin' me wax eloquent at the joys of "Let's go to the movies".

When you pour an extra coffee or glass of wine, do enjoy AT THE BIJOU ... with the FAB*FEB*FILM*FEST now raising the curtain

~ Absolutely*Kate

AT THE BIJOU ( http://at-the-bijou.blogspot.com/ ) ~ Writers' Raves for Readers' Faves

1. Casablanca
Romance, war, humor, Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman - my favorite movie ever.

2. The Princess Bride
Simply wonderful - the cast, the story, the story outside of the story, all of it.

3. The Producers (the original!)
Gene Wilder, Zero Mostel, Mel Brooks and Springtime for Hitler. Nothing more needs to be said.

4. It's a Gift
W.C. Fields' best movie can cheer up a corpse.

5. A Hard Day's Night
The Beatles movie was absurd and fun and full of the best music on earth.

It's really really hard to stop at five!!

The Blog: Red Nose ( http://bozoette.typepad.com )
The Book: Girl Clown ( http://www.lulu.com/content/45470 )

I'm sparkling this list because it includes Best in Show and every Christopher Guest movie ever made is in a total class of its own. Especially Best in Show and Waiting for Guffman.

GAH YES!!! I can't believe Amelie didn't even cross my mind for consideration - seriously one of my favorite films ever.

OMG, that's brilliant.

1. Braveheart
2. Shawshank Redemption
3. Cinema Paradiso (An Italian Gem!)
4. 50 First Dates (Drew in love)
5. Ever After (Drew in love again!)

Heather blogs about Motherhood & Other Offensive Situations at http://www.ultimateoutcasts.com.

-The Lost Boys
-Legend
-Cleopatra (the 60's version with Liz Taylor)
-Heathers
-The Women (the 30's version)

It's so hard to choose. All of your choices are solid: Princess Bride, Shawshank Redemption - Amazing. Totally on my list. But for the purposes of keeping it fresh, I tried not to repeat others already mentioned here.

1. Amelie. What is there to say really? This movie is tré adorable. I too want to spend my days sipping un cafe at the Double Windmills and strolling jauntily through Montmarte.

2. Indiana Jones: Raiders of the Lost Arc. I could put all the IJ movies here, except for Crystal Skull (Aliens? Really? Come on now!).

3. Ghostbusters. I've seen it hundreds of times and it still cracks me up. Fun fact: my peewee soccer team was the Slimers - our uniforms were bright green.

4. Baby Mama. This movie is hilarious! And I love that the heroines are...well...heroines. It's pretty rare to see females in headlining comedy roles. Hooray for Tina Fey and Amy Poehler!

5. Best in Show. I. Die. Christopher Guest is a friggin genius! "We met at Starbucks. Not at the same Starbucks but we saw each other at different Starbucks across the street from each other."

Erin Groh
erin@blogher.com

Erin is a member of the BlogHer Events Team. You can find her here on BlogHer, on Twitter ( http://www.twitter.com/erinrosegroh ) or on her personal blog, ( http://carriedawatermelon.wordpress.com )

1. The Usual Suspects
2. Sixteen Candles
3. Amadeus
4. Fight Club
5. Clueless

Only 5? That is hard.

BlogHer Contributing Editor, Sarah can also be found at Sarah and the Goon Squad ( http://sarahandthegoonsquad.com/ ) and Draft Day Suit ( http://draftdaysuit.com/ ).

Top ten would be easier...it's like torture to only pick a few. But here goes:

--The Graduate: Mike Nichols homage to the budding counter culture movement. This integrated music (Simon and Garfunkle) with plot beautifully and launched Dustin Hoffman's career

--Bladerunner: Ridley Scott's pitch black film noir sci-fi masterpiece with replicants running amok in a very rainy futuristic L.A. Rutger Hauer's "time to die" soliloquy is sheer poetry.

--Jaws: The first summer blockbuster in film history, made by my beloved Steven Spielberg when he was only 21 years old. It is possible to watch this movie over 50 times, and I have. Anyone want to do Captain Quint impressions with me?

--Raise the Red Lantern: Riveting, dreamy, gorgeous Chinese period piece starring the beautiful actress Gong Li.

--The Right Stuff: Heroic tales of the Mercury 7 astronauts based on the best selling book by Tom Wolfe.

And I'm throwing in a classic as a bonus:

The African Queen: John Huston directs Katherine Hepburn and Humphrey Bogart in the most romantic adventure story ever.

Criteria to pass, for those who don't know:

It has to have at least two women in it
2. Who talk to each other
3. About something besides a man.

http://bechdeltest.com/

Picking just five is tough.

1 - The Lion in Winter - Peter O'Toole and Kathering Hepburn says it all.

2 - Rear Window - Jimmy Stewart and Grace Kelly and Alfred Hitcock.

3 - The Breakfast Club - so so spot on for any age. Love it!

4 - Topper - funny Cary Grant movie.

5 - Secondhand Lions - this movie just absolutely warms my heart.

I have to add just about anything with John Cusack.

1. El Amor Brujo (The Love Magician) ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ftd8tIdiYq4 ), part of Carlos Saura's flamenco trilogy (the other two are Blood Wedding and Carmen).

2. Red Beard ( http://www.pbs.org/wnet/gperf/shows/kurosawa/multi... ) by Akira Kurasawa - this is a stunning film about a doctor in a poor rural area in 19th century Japan. It has scenes in it that will live with you for your lifetime. Black and white. A must for lovers of film.

3. Japanese Story ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C7TMfNCZu0w ) starring Toni Collette as an Australian geologist forced to chauffeur the son of a wealthy Japanese businessman around the desolate heart of Australia.

4. The Women ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VD2uQzeZHzo&fea... ) made in 1939. It stars 135 women. No men in the film. This was a revolutionary film for its time, and it is acerbically witty and great fun even now!

5. a tie between Smoke ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f5Iv11DT-hs&fea... ) starring Wm Hurt and Harvey Keitel, in one of the most simple and masterfully designed films I have ever seen. It is a constant unfolding...And the second film is Il Postino ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XXCC7SdJW1o ) the story of a postman on an island who delivers mail to the exiled poet, Neruda. Both films are deeply touching and poetic without trying to be.

~~ Contributing Editor, Mata H. also blogs right along at Time's Fool ( http://timesfool.blogspot.com )

Stop it with the chase scene through a carnival mid-flight. You lie.

1. I always say The Secret of Roan Innish (or almost anything by John Sayles) is my favorite, but the first time I watched it I'd been reading and rereading Women Who Run with the Wolves for months and I really got it. If I watched it now, I might miss some of the deep female symbolism in it.

2. Something hopelessly romantic like Pretty Woman would have to be in my top 5.

3. I love a musical. How about Chicago? That's a good one for my 5.

4. The Color Purple. I love Alice Walker.

5. Anything about women that passes the bechdel test. I'll pick a recent one: The Kids are All Right.

Virginia DeBolt writes about web design education and web technology ( http://www.webteacher.ws/ ) at Web Teacher. She creates a daily writing prompt ( http://first50.wordpress.com ) at First 50 Words.

Gena - amazing list - you have to share your favorite classics for MOM!

Such a good list!

You know what fire movie I totally love? Frequency. You know with Dennis Quade? Super watchable.

...I don't know if it ever made it to movie-form, but I read a script a long time ago on the Worcester Cold Storage incident, and it was insanely good.

Um, and I was totally remiss in not mentioning 10 Things I Hate About You. Excellent film.

Oooh, I always forget about The Philadelphia Story, and it is GREAT.

Also, love me some What About Bob?

1. Apocalypse Now - weird, brilliant, Martin Sheen + Frances Ford Coppola

2. The Wizard of Oz - trippy, surreal and love the message

3. Wings of Desire - weird, brilliant, trippy, surreal - my favorite kind of story: love is what it means to be human

4 and 5 could be different at any point in time (and in the spirit of MOM, I won't throw out anything that might make me sound even remotely smart or cultured) so today I offer:

4. Saturday Night Fever - Me and Siskel ( http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/artic... )

5. My favorite bad movie of all time: Passenger 57. It makes me laugh though it's not a comedy. Spoiler Alert: Chase scene through a carnival. And then they get back on the plane and resume the hijacking.

BlogHer Contributing Editor ( http://www.blogher.com/blog/maria-niles )
PopConsumer ( http://consumerpop.typepad.com/popconsumer )

This is a bit like picking your favourite child. Um ...

Bridges of Madison County
A mature love story and a movie that resonates after life has taken some of its toll. Beautifully acted by Meryl Streep and Clint Eastwood. Bonus is a superb jazz soundtrack.

Children Of A Lesser God
William Hurt is sublime in this. Brought back memories of a teenage crush I had on my English teacher!

The Colour Purple
How I came to know Whoopi Goldberg and found out that Oprah Winfrey could really act.

The Talented Mr Ripley
Love, love, love this movie. Matt Damon, Jude Law and Gweneth Palfrey in fine form. The masks we all wear is only a small facet of what makes this movie fascinating for me. It is also one of the few I can watch again and again - seeing something a little different each time.

Thelma & Louise
Believe it or not, only saw this movie for the first time this weekend. I couldn’t understand, at first, why it was so cult. Now I absolutely can.

Great idea for a post and got me thinking. Although I refuse to put them in order of preference! HMS

HMS HerMelness Speaks

1. Princess Bride. "No more rhymes now, I mean it." "Anybody want a peanut?"

2. The Philadelphia Story. "Champagne is a great leveleler... leveleler. It makes you my equal."

3. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Beautiful.

4. Spirited Away. Beautiful.

5. His Girl Friday. "What are you playing, osteopath?"

And pretty much anything with William Powell in it.

1. Black Narcissis
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZRzcLK1Ar0

2. Holiday (1938)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wbt028b75AM

3. What Dreams May Come
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1pHCtLzmras

4. The Petrified Forrest
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oh_hdcMkyOE

5. The Cooler
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oATzS3f-iac

I got hundreds more.

Gena Haskett is a BlogHer Contributing Editor. My Blogs: Out On The Stoop ( http://outonthestoop.blogspot.com ) and Create Video Notebook ( http://createvideonotebook.blogspot.com )

How could I have left off Love, Actually? It's my fave Christmas movie. Grosse Pointe Blank - hilarious! Field of Dreams and When Harry Met Sally - classics. Fantastic list. I could watch all of those over and over again.

NotJustAnotherJennifer is a wife and working mom of two beautiful girls, 3 (going on 13) and 1, which means she's sleep deprived but constantly kept on her toes! Most of those experiences are chronicled on her blog, http://midwestmomments.blogspot.com.

I left Dead Poets Society off! It was my #1 for years until Life Is Beautiful knocked it out.

NotJustAnotherJennifer is a wife and working mom of two beautiful girls, 3 (going on 13) and 1, which means she's sleep deprived but constantly kept on her toes! Most of those experiences are chronicled on her blog, http://midwestmomments.blogspot.com.

Swingers and Shawshank - love love love!!

NotJustAnotherJennifer is a wife and working mom of two beautiful girls, 3 (going on 13) and 1, which means she's sleep deprived but constantly kept on her toes! Most of those experiences are chronicled on her blog, http://midwestmomments.blogspot.com.

Is fantastic! And OF COURSE Dirty Dancing.

NotJustAnotherJennifer is a wife and working mom of two beautiful girls, 3 (going on 13) and 1, which means she's sleep deprived but constantly kept on her toes! Most of those experiences are chronicled on her blog, http://midwestmomments.blogspot.com.

The Breakfast Club and The Princess Bride are the best quotable movies ever! Usual Suspects is awesome. Haven't seen The Music Never Stopped.

My #1 is Life Is Beautiful. But it's too intense for me to watch over and over. Stand By Me, Moulin Rouge and Memento are more faves.

NotJustAnotherJennifer is a wife and working mom of two beautiful girls, 3 (going on 13) and 1, which means she's sleep deprived but constantly kept on her toes! Most of those experiences are chronicled on her blog, http://midwestmomments.blogspot.com.

It was my favorite movie in High School. Ummm - not sure what that says about me or my own high school experince :)

This is tough one but here it goes:

1) The Piano
2) Chicago
3) The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
4) The English Patient
5) Some Like it Hot
6) Dirty Dancing (Must on the list! I know it word for word)

1. Little Miss Sunshine: I always get all happy-teary at the end when they dance to Super Freak.

2. Stranger Than Fiction: Love WIll Ferrell in this semi serious role.

3. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind: This movie blew me away.

4. Swingers: First watched it at a poignant time in my life, and have loved it ever since. It always brings back great memories, and has the best quotes.

5. The Shawshank Redemption: I cannot NOT watch it whenever it is on.

I feel like I always embarrass myself with these. But going for pure enjoyment or ones that make me think?

1. About a Boy
2. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
3. Jeffery
4. Dead Poets Society
5. Man on the Moon

Please don't let my husband, who curates film festivals, see my list...

Melissa writes Stirrup Queens ( http://stirrup-queens.com ) and Lost and Found ( http://lostandfoundandconnectionsabound.blogspot.c... ). Her novel about blogging is Life from Scratch ( http://www.life-from-scratch.com/ ).

This is a tough one.

1. The Breakfast Club. Because, duh. It's still relevant.
2. When Harry Met Sally. It still cracks me up, every time I see it.
3. Love, Actually. That scene, when Emma Thompson is in her bedroom, after finding out her husband has been unfaithful, slays me.
4. Grosse Point Blank. Funny, dark and John Cusack. "I killed the president of Paraguay with a fork, how have YOU been?"
5. Field of Dreams. *sniffle*

This list is subject to change at the whim of the poster.

Uh... I'm not good at movies.

Let's see.

1. Steel Magnolias or Erin Brokovich. (I really kind of love either one for various reasons and they go back and forth at the top.)

2. The Time Traveler's Wife (though the book is better, but it's my FAVORITE book of all time and the movie did it justice so it goes on this list).

3. Backdraft (a fire movie has to make the list and this one has an awesome soundtrack, so yeah)

4. It used to be We Were Soldiers but Mel Gibson got too crazy for it to remain on my list, so I bumped Forrest Gump back up for my war movie of choice (PS: I adore war movies)

5. 10 Things I Hate About You (or, the only movie I liked Heath Ledger in)

Contributing Editor Jenna Hatfield (@FireMom ( http://twitter.com/FireMom )) blogs at Stop, Drop and Blog ( http://stopdropandblog.com ) and The Chronicles of Munchkin Land ( http://thechroniclesofmunchkinland.com ). She is a freelance writer and photographer.