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Greatest Movie You Have Ever Seen

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haha, english. Not out of preference but out of necessity. Nihongo no amari joozu ja arimasen. Probably closer to Nihongo no wakarimasen. I know how to say that at least. :thumbsup: It would drive me crazy not to be able to understand what people are saying, though I would say with anime, Japanese with English subtitles is my favorite. Then I know what's going on but there's none of the cheezy dubbing where their mouths keep moving but there is no sound. :D

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I Didn’t mean to give you the wrong impression, I need subtitles at this point too. :D

To avoid hijacking this thread I have another two movie suggestions in the anime relm:

Pre-First - the last two episodes of Cowboy Bebop (they don’t count as a movie) (also better in Eng.) :thumbsup:

First – Akira …now this is a movie I don’t understand (never read the manga) but I absolutely love it!

Second – Ghost in the Shell …they messed up some of the philosophical issues around artificial intelligence, and so have I already in this sentence.

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Haha, my parents own both of those movies (Akira and Ghost in the Shell), but they don't want me to watch them. However the real reason I haven't seen them yet is that I am at school most of the time. :thumbsup: One recommendation I have is Barefoot Gen. It's about a boy who survives the Hiroshima bombing. Just to warn you, it's very, very sad. Not that a movie about Hiroshima would be rainbows and lolipops... A more cheerful one is the ever-popular Totoro. That is my favorite, though it is a children's movie.

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On top of my head.... the best movie I have ever seen was Inherit the Wind. This movie was not mentioned in this thread yet. It is worth seeing. I have not seen the earlier version but the recent version was good though.

It is about the Monkey Trial.. an individual man against a mystic society who is in trial about teaching Charles Darwin theory in a classroom as oppose to the prevailing Creationist belief in the town he lives in. Great story!

Go check it out.

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I'm so glad to see [Contact] mentioned. It is so rarely found on anyone's list, yet I too think it to be a great movie. Everytime I watch it, it gets better and better.

Thanks. Every time (3) I've brought it up as one of my very favorite movies in discussion with Objectivists I've met, they have had extremely negative responses. Two persistently argued that it was a horrible mystic film that glorified faith and openly attacked reason. The third person, who hadn't seen it before, watched it and later told me he didn't like it at all. I'm surprised (though I probably shouldn't be) and happy that Contact has gotten a more positive response here.

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Thanks. Every time (3) I've brought it up as one of my very favorite movies in discussion with Objectivists I've met, they have had extremely negative responses. Two persistently argued that it was a horrible mystic film that glorified faith and openly attacked reason. The third person, who hadn't seen it before, watched it and later told me he didn't like it at all. I'm surprised (though I probably shouldn't be) and happy that Contact has gotten a more positive response here.

Another movie that I love and which often gets panned by other Objectivists, for similar reasons that you mention, is Field of Dreams. I think sometimes the sense of life in a movie is never seen or experienced by some.

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Somebody mentioned Dances with Wolves? That movie is awful, the Indians living idyllically and then the big bad white men come and ruin everything.

As for the Bridge on the River Kwai, I always enjoyed the struggle between Alec Guiness and the Saito character, the one trying to keep his men healthy and himself from going mad and the other trying not to be a barbarian in front of Guiness's character. I also like that Guiness redeems himself at the end by destroying the bridge.

I always liked Contact because of the businessman character who builds the second machine after the religious quack blows up the first government funded project, which is unusual because I generally dislike Carl Sagan, personally and as a writer.

Just to throw in another category of movie, my favorite musical is The Sound of Music, with My Fair Lady coming in a close second.

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On top of my head.... the best movie I have ever seen was Inherit the Wind. This movie was not mentioned in this thread yet. It is worth seeing. I have not seen the earlier version but the recent version was good though.

It is about the Monkey Trial.. an individual man against a mystic society who is in trial about teaching Charles Darwin theory in a classroom as oppose to the prevailing Creationist belief in the town he lives in. Great story!

Go check it out.

it's #4 on my post- I love Spencer Tracy's deliberation...he's a great actor....one of my favorites of the Hollywood Golden Era. :(

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I have enjoyed these (in addition to many that have been posted):

Die Hard - One guy against the bad guys - great action and Bruce Willis is perfect in the role.

Erin Brockovich - Based on a true story. She is very hard-working, resourceful, dedicated -- and constantly underestimated (which makes for some entertaining scenes). Julia Roberts and Albert Finney are great.

Chariots of Fire - About the inner struggles and desire to win of 2 exceptional athletes (please ignore occasional annoying religious baloney).

Jurassic Park - I like movies that involve a process of discovery. Like when the paleontologists who, having imagined dinosaurs their entire lives, pass through the Park the first time and realize they are real. Imagine that.

Forrest Gump - I can't stop watching this when I see it. Tom Hanks is excellent as the simple man whose straightforward goodness always carries him through.

From The Earth to the Moon - This is an HBO miniseries and is a set of movies, each in a different style and with a different theme, but all about the early U.S. space program. I found this really, really interesting and entertaining, and you will probably come away with even more amazement at what the program did. On DVD, you might be able to rent it.

The Red Violin - Follows the "life" of a famous violin through its various owners. Great music, surprisingly dramatic for a story about a musical instrument!

True Lies - The Governator and Jamie Lee Curtis. Action movie with the theme of wanting to live an exciting life. Enjoyable plot (admittedly not too complex), good action and laughs.

Most Clint Eastwood movies - The usual strong moral element, plus, of course, Clint, make these very entertaining. The morality is well-integrated with the plot, so it really adds to the story/movie.

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I always liked Contact because of the businessman character who builds the second machine after the religious quack blows up the first government funded project, which is unusual because I generally dislike Carl Sagan, personally and as a writer.

The businessman character didn't build the second one--he just showed it to Ellie. There was a quote (I haven't seen the movie in a while, so this is as close as I can remember) something like: "First rule of government spending: why build one when you can build two at twice the price? [followed by something about being able to keep the second one secret]"

It was the government that built the second one as well as the first.

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Contact

The movie's portrayal of the sense of discovery, especially after many years of hard work by Ellie, was great. It also reminds me of my Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence one-liner: When our IT department told us that we couldn't run the SETI@home client on all of our servers at work, we were very upseti.

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The businessman character didn't build the second one--he just showed it to Ellie.  There was a quote (I haven't seen the movie in a while, so this is as close as I can remember) something like: "First rule of government spending: why build one when you can build two at twice the price? [followed by something about being able to keep the second one secret]"

S.R. Hadden: "First rule in government spending: why build one when you can have two at twice the price?"

It was the government that built the second one as well as the first.

But it was clear that Hadden (the businessman) was the behind-the-scenes force for the building. Recall, also, that it was Hadden's companies that were the sub-contractors for a lot of the work. He had it all set up, and he had the power. It was Hadden who said to Ellie about the Japanese location: "Wanna take a ride?"

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S.R. Hadden: "First rule in government spending: why build one when you can have two at twice the price?"

But it was clear that Hadden (the businessman) was the behind-the-scenes force for the building. Recall, also, that it was Hadden's companies that were the sub-contractors for a lot of the work. He had it all set up, and he had the power. It was Hadden who said to Ellie about the Japanese location: "Wanna take a ride?"

Those are all good points I hadn't considered--thanks. (Also, thanks for the exact quote)

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I'm glad to see some people here who enjoy watching anime. Many series and movies of the genre promote much more serious and real situations than that of their American counterparts.

Some of my favorite anime series are:

-Kino's Journey (a very philosophical series)

-Yojimbo (based upon Akira Kurosawa's movie)

-Samurai X/ Rurouni Kenshin OAV (A beautiful work of animation)

-Spiral (The main hero of the story utilizes logic as his weapon of choice in capturing criminals)

-Saber Marionette J (I love the character development)

Some of my favorite movies are:

Cold Mountain

Rain Man

Forrest Gump

Men of Honor

Finding Forrester

The Count of Monte Cristo

Good Will Hunting

The Shawshank Redemption

I'm sure that I have many more favorites, but these stand out most in my mind at the moment.

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What about Dead Poets Society?

I too am a big fan of Dead Poets Society; it is an unusually explicit dramatization -- both via actions and philosophic/poetic statements -- that independence and active-mindedness is integral to living a fruitful, "extraordinary" life. A truly wonderful movie.

(P.S. - Dr. Peikoff, in his course "Judging, Feeling, and Not Being Moralistic," said that Dead Poets Society "enraged" him, and expressed a decidedly negative opinion of it. If anyone is interested, I'm more than happy to go into what his reasons were.)

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(P.S. - Dr. Peikoff, in his course "Judging, Feeling, and Not Being Moralistic," said that Dead Poets Society "enraged" him, and expressed a decidedly negative opinion of it.  If anyone is interested, I'm more than happy to go into what his reasons were.)

I am

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I am

*Plot Spoilers Follow*

The main reason that Dr. Peikoff mentioned (this was all in a Q&A period) for why he was "enraged" by Dead Poets Society was that, in his view, all the independent people were made to fail and all the second-handers were made to succeed. He didn't name details (he said he was having some trouble remembering the movie), but my guess was that he was thinking of, e.g., Neil committing suicide, and all the students (except Charlie) signing the document at the end which falsely implicated Mr. Keating.

But I have never agreed with this criticism, especially since the end of the movie (with the students defiantly standing on their desks) was explicitly meant to be a recognition by the students of the sacredness of independence, and of the terrible consequences of blind conformity. However, I will let those who have seen the movie decide for themselves.

--Alex

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*Plot Spoilers Follow*

The main reason that Dr. Peikoff mentioned (this was all in a Q&A period) for why he was "enraged" by Dead Poets Society was that, in his view, all the independent people were made to fail and all the second-handers were made to succeed.  He didn't name details (he said he was having some trouble remembering the movie), but my guess was that he was thinking of, e.g., Neil committing suicide, and all the students (except Charlie) signing the document at the end which falsely implicated Mr. Keating.

Thank you.

The movie is poignant and I can see how Dr Peikoff would regard the tragedy as defeating to the overall purpose, but I think it goes hand in hand with the effort of promoting Objectivism in the face of an irrational world. You aren't always going to win, not everyone who should be saved will be (this reminds me of Cheryl Taggert's suicide) but the scene at the end shows that the teacher did get through to the students, even if they had been too cowardly previous to stand beside him, now they did, and although he had to leave, they would not forget, and some of them would carry this with them, and it was the seeds at least being planted. Besides, it seemed the school has force on their side. Now I want to watch it again. I seem to remember the teacher being angry and saying something about the boy's lack of moral structure. Anyway, the movie reinforced for me the utter evil in self-sacrifice.

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Thank you.

The movie is poignant and I can see how Dr Peikoff would regard the tragedy as defeating to the overall purpose, but I think it goes hand in hand with the effort of promoting Objectivism in the face of an irrational world. You aren't always going to win, not everyone who should be saved will be (this reminds me of Cheryl Taggert's suicide) but the scene at the end shows that the teacher did get through to the students, even if they had been too cowardly previous to stand beside him, now they did, and although he had to leave, they would not forget, and some of them would carry this with them, and it was the seeds at least being planted. Besides, it seemed the school has force on their side. Now I want to watch it again. I seem to remember the teacher being angry and saying something about the boy's lack of moral structure. Anyway, the movie reinforced for me the utter evil in self-sacrifice.

The point is that in a work of art it is self-defeating to dramatize the utter destruction of all the heroes and the compromising of all that was good. I find the movie annoying in the respect that I find myself wanting the Neal kid to die since he's such a weak putz. Plus the scene where he does kill himself is so melodramatic, like you're supposed to sympathize with him even though his life is generally good. Anyone that dopey shouldn't be the protagonist of a film unless it's a biopic, in which case why do a biopic about that guy and not Mr. Keating? The movie leaves a bad taste in your mouth and two hours nearer to death (which doesn't seem that bad in comparison to watching the movie again). Perhaps you can tell I don't like it all that much.

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The point is that in a work of art it is self-defeating to dramatize the utter destruction of all the heroes and the compromising of all that was good.

"All the heroes"? Who was "destroyed," except for Neal? The rest triumphed in the end.

I find the movie annoying in the respect that I find myself wanting the Neal kid to die since he's such a weak putz.

Yes, Neal was weak to some degree, which is why he couldn't survive. Also, he wasn't "the protagonist"; the movie went on for a fair time after his death, and there were all the other students in the movie who triumphed precisely because they proved to be more independent than Neal.

Again, I don't take the movie as expressing the idea that one fails because of independence. On the contrary, when the students caved and signed the document implicating Mr. Keating, it showed how miserable they were, and what a life-destroying mistake it was. And, when they rectified their error by standing on their desks -- despite the fact that they were being threatened with expulsion while doing so -- it was clear that this act was the most life-affirming thing they could do. It was a vindication -- not only of Mr. Keating -- but of their own souls.

--Alex

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Again, I don't take the movie as expressing the idea that one fails because of independence.

I thought I should add that this is the only point I intend to defend (and the only point I've really made) about the content of Dead Poets Society. There certainly are negative points about the movie -- the movie probably did focus too much, etc., on Neal, since he is in fact weak -- and if these points render the movie unenjoyable (or unwatchable) for some, that's fine. But this does not mean that Neal failed because he was too independent. On the contrary, he was not independent enough, as the end of the movie makes clear.

--Alex

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And, when they rectified their error by standing on their desks -- despite the fact that they were being threatened with expulsion while doing so -- it was clear that this act was the most life-affirming thing they could do.  It was a vindication -- not only of Mr. Keating -- but of their own souls.

Yes, exactly. And when I see that scene I hear in my mind Mr. Keating again saying:

"Boys, you must strive to find your own voice. Because the longer you wait to begin, the less likely you are to find it at all."

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My question is:

Did Dr. Peikoff state such before his course EIGHT GREAT PLAYS or before? Even if after I can understand him. He may still think it is a good movie but hate it personally. I will certainly watch this movie again soon because I watched it too young and it was supposed to be very important. I hardly remember what I thought of it when I was 12. I liked it certainly. But will I like it still. :-)

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