Here's a "Top Twenty" list (films)

[Woochifer]

No particular order, some of my personal faves ...

Pulp Fiction - One of the most brilliantly weaved films I've ever seen, with memorable scenes and characters galore, with imminently quotable lines all over.

Run Lola Run - Breathtaking kinetic filmmaking that plays with the chronology in yet another new way.

Lord of the Rings - Already a classic that will serve as a seminal generational benchmark the same way that the Star Wars trilogy did earlier. Epic scale, yet keeps the characters in perspective. Even through repeated viewings, I'm still awestruck by how great a movie this is. Better adaptation of Tolkein's books than I could have ever expected.

Das Boot - Probably my favorite war movie. Chilling depiction of life on a submarine.

Gremlins 2 - Very underrated movie. Lots of satirical and subversive undercurrents, with some overt slapstick and shock elements.

2001: A Space Odyssey - Once of those movies that I can never get tired of. Dense, yet abstract, this is very smart science fiction.

Airplane - Probably remains the funniest movie I've ever seen. Has to be appreciated in the context of the time in which it came out - 1980, when Hollywood kept cranking out one disaster movie after another. The sign of a perfect satire is if a comedy can kill an entire movie genre. Airplane did exactly that.

Die Hard - Remains one of my favorite action pics. Great tension, great villian, lots of interplay between the antagonist and protagonist, sense of peril, great set pieces, dark humor, and an awareness of the era that serves as its backdrop. If a movie can turn Bruce Willis into an action hero, they it's accomplished a lot.

The Right Stuff - Easily one of the best movies of the 80s. (getting beaten by Terms of Endearment for Best Picture was an insult to human decency beyond belief) Told the story of the Mercury astronauts and the breaking of the sound barrier. Conveyed a sense of wonder and awe without turning the main characters into caricatures. If anything, it revealed childhood heroes and mythic figures as human with flaws, but no less than courageous.

Swingers - Brilliant movie because it so thoroughly captured the essense of singles life, male bonding, and the retro lounge scene in L.A. during the mid-90s. One of the most true to life movies I've ever seen. (And yes, hotties on the caliber of Heather Graham did hang out at the north bar at the Derby during Wednesday swing nights)

Singin' In The Rain - All too easy to overlook as happy fluff, but it's also a satirical look at a time of technological transition, and how art had to adapt to it. But, there's nothing wrong with just enjoying the positive energy of the movie either.

Apocalypse Now - Not so much a Vietnam war movie, as a journey into madness. Considering what Coppola went through to get this film finished in the first place (his wife's documentary about the making of this movie is also a great film), it stood to reason that the whole film would resemble a descent into hell.

The Conversation - Probably my personal favorite Coppola film. The tale of how we all live in a technological fishbowl with narrowing privacy is still relevant.

Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan - The best of the Star Trek movies. Ricardo Montablan as Khan is about grandiose a villian as there is. We KNEW that Spock wasn't really dead, but it was still a compelling tale of friendship and sacrifice. Great stuff.

Hard Boiled - John Woo's tour de force. Not quite as emotionally taxing as The Killer or A Better Tomorrow, but this is Woo in total command of his craft. (The gunfight in the hospital features an extended seven minute gun battle filmed with no edits or retakes.) Except for Face/Off, none of his Hollywood productions has been able to come close to matching what he pulled off while still filming in Hong Kong.

Swordsman II - One of the most audacious actions pics ever, at many different levels. Great sword choreography, some of Jet Li's best moments, and a crazy gender bending love triangle subplot (I'll put it to you this way, the villian in Swordsman I was played by a dude, and a chick plays Asia The Invincible in the sequel). Not easy to find, but worth seeking out if you're looking for an intro to Hong Kong cinema.

Iron Monkey - Probably Yuen Woo Ping's most entertaining martial arts pic. Plot is a basic Robin Hood-like fable, except this movie's got some of the most jawdropping fight choreography you'll ever see.

God of Gamblers - This movie and its sequel epitomize why Chow Yun Fat is the coolest actor around. Typifies the frantic and schizophrenic approach to filmmaking in Hong Kong, alternating at times between dramatic, comedic, and tragic all in the same scene, but it's done with such verve and audacity that it works.

Project A II - IMO, this is Jackie Chan's best movie, because it shows him at the top of his game, as a leading man, stuntman, fight choreographer, director, writer, AND singer (okay, he was never great with the vocal chops, but he's certainly done worse than he shows here!). If at all possible, try and find the original Cantonese language version. The U.S. dubbed version butchered a lot of the comedy in this movie.

Fist of Fury (the original HK version, retitled "The Chinese Connection" in the U.S.) - Encapsulates why Bruce Lee is such a legendary figure in martial arts circles. Typical revenge plot, but the intensity of Lee's portrayal is undeniable. Again, try and find a Cantonese language version of this film (the movie titled "Fist of Fury" in the U.S. is actually called "The Big Boss" everywhere else). The English dubbing is atrocious and doesn't really convey the actual mood of the movie in the original language.

Koyaanisqatsi - The ultimate abstract movie that communicates its entire theme with no dialog. It's also probably the ultimate collaboration between a filmmaker and a composer. I've seen this movie live with the Philip Glass Ensemble numerous times and it's an awesome experience in that setting, but still pretty good in 5.1 surround.

Some other faves that come to mind. There are others, but I'm blanking out in the meantime.

A Better Tomorrow
Adventures of Buckeroo Banzai
Adventures of Robin Hood
Alien
Aliens
Animal House
Armour of God II: Operation Condor
Blade Runner (the director's cut, NOT the original theatrical cut)
Blues Brothers
Brazil (the theatrical cut, NOT the "love conquers all" TV version; well, worth renting the Criterion Collection DVD set to see the story behind the movie, and compare the two versions of the film)
Chinese Ghost Story
Chungking Express
Citizen Kane
City of Lost Children
Delicatessen
Dog Day Afternoon
Drunken Master II
Face/Off
Fargo
Field of Dreams
The French Connection
The Fugitive
God of Gamblers' Return
Goodfellas
Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse
Harold and Maude
Insomnia
JFK
Kill Bill
Lawrence of Arabia
Manhunter
Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World
The Matrix
Memento (if you have or rent the limited edition DVD, look up the easter egg that allows you to playback this movie IN SEQUENTIAL ORDER; amazing to compare how the reverse chronology adds to the tension and mystery of the film)
Naked Killer
Once A Thief
Once Upon A Time In China
Once Upon A Time In China, Part 2
Once Upon A Time In China, Part 3
On The Town
The Player
Police Story
Police Story III: Supercop
Psycho
Raiders of the Lost Ark
Rear Window
Reservoir Dogs
The Road Warrior (aka Mad Max 2)
Robocop
Rocky
The Running Man
Saving Private Ryan
Scarface
Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home
Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country
Star Wars
Superman
Taxi Driver
Terminator 2
The Great Escape
The Godfather
The Godfather, Part II
The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly
The Manchurian Candidate
This Is Spinal Tap
Tightrope
To Live and Die In L.A.
Traffic
Tron
Unforgiven
The Untouchables
The Usual Suspects
Vertigo
Way of the Dragon (titled "Return of the Dragon" in the U.S.)
When Harry Met Sally

[dean_martin]

Wow, what a list! Have to agree with ya on Swingers and Hard Boiled and hope to find some of the others you listed especially the Asian stuff.

[IsmaVA]

My list, or a part of it . . .(no particular order)

Fight Club
Unbreakable
The good, the bad and the Ugly
The Matrix
Ghost in the Shell
The Princess Bride
The way of the Gun
Shattered
Forrest Gump
Schindler's List
The Player
Hopscotch

[eisforelectronic]

1. Heat
2. The Empire Strikes Back
3. Searching for Bobby Fischer
4. The Big Blue (not the directors cut)
5. Leon
6. The Last Samurai
7. The Abyss
8. Aliens (my first laserdisc)
9. Almost Famous
10.Star Trek II the Wrath of Khan
11.Gladiator
12.Gone in 60 Seconds (nicholas cage)
13.A New Hope (Star Wars)
14.In god's Hands
15.Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory
16.The Fifth Element
17.Return of the King
18.Old School
19.Roadtrip
20.Starship Troopers

[steelneal]

1. African Queen
2. Shawshank Redemption
3. Casablanca (not just because others like it, because I like it)
4. Jaws
5. Meet Joe Black
6. On Golden Pond
7. Ben Hur
8. Hunt for Red October
9.Waking Ned Devine (great Irish Comedy)
10. Duel - Steve Spielberg's first film... waiting for offical DVD release this summer.
11. Patton
12. Oh Brother Where Art Thou?
13. Liberty Heights - a Barry Levinson Film.
14. Lord of the Rings Trilogy
15. Jurassic Park (not Jaws mind you, but captivating anyway)
16. Holes (Disney)
17. Basic Instinct (great mystery, great skin)
18. Rear Window - Hitchcock
19. A Walk on the Moon
20. The Godfather