h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

In my opinion i think shawshank Redemption is the greatest film of all time.
It has a great twist and gave a good insight into prisons in the 1950's even though some of which was most likyl greatly exagurated it showed that things can be dont that no1 can really find out about,
i cant actuly describe the film, it was just good because of the story
line and that plot

Good choice for a best ever although I like to put them into different categories and though I'd agree with you on Shawshank for best prison film I would like to nominate a few in other categories too:

Best Sci-Fi - Aliens (or possibly Bladerunner or The Matrix)

Best Musical - O Brother Where Art Thou?

Best War - first 20 mins of Saving Private Ryan

Best drama - Schindlers List

There are probably a few other categories Best comedy/Best Romance/Foreign Language (bit like the Oscars really) which could do with nominations too. What do people think?

im not sure about Aliens for sci-fi i think there are a lot better Sci-films than that, not disrespecting your opinion, but they wernt the best, possibly matrix only on the grounds that it was ground breaking due the fact that it questioned our consciences.
i think more people need to join this convo to seggust more ideas really,

Musical i think would be same as you O brother where arent though
War ~(i cant spell it) schindelers list
drama~ im not sure actully...

Thank you for the comments - I agree some of them cross the boundaries, Schindlers List is both a drama and a war film and on reflection I'm not sure O Brother Where Art Thou counts as a musical - although I'd say it is a film inspired by music.

I'd certainly like to see some nominations for Best Comedy from the folks out there.

Editorial Note: This conversation has been moved from 'Talking About the Guide - the h2g2 Community' to 'Ask the h2g2 Community'.

the best film has to be Apocalypse Now
& I wont even begin to explain why, just watch it!

OK, I admit perhaps its not the greatest film of all time, but I thought "Meet Joe Black" was an under-rated film.

I thought it was done in a stylish way and dialogue took centre stage in the film; notice also Brad Pitt's interesting speech patterns.

I recommend it.

Well, I`ve learned that people on h2g2 has no taste in movies

One of my favourites is This Happy Breed, not only an excellent film, but brings back memories of Sunday afternoon films on tv, snow outside and hot, buttered crumpets for tea.

I hasten to add that I wasn't born when the film was released!

It's got to be, for me, either of the following two:

The Third Man - great script, good acting, hell of an atmosphere, all round great movie.
The Seven Samurai - for all the above reasons. It has well rounded characters who act for their own motive, all different, from Mifune's character who is slightly mad and desperately wants to taste battle to the quiet Samurai who prefers the academic side to the reality. Although the battle at the end is necessary it doesn't glorify war and shows it for what is it - there are no winners. Brilliant.

Oh, I ought to name Das Boot as well (The Boat) - a German film about the crew of a U-Boat. It's totally claustrophobic, dark, and again show's the horrors of war really well. It doesn't stint on the truth about warfare and the generally demoralized feeling of the crew stuck at sea for weeks on end mostly with boredom to compete against. Plus Jürgen Prochnow was excellent as the captain.

This was done last year! In a thread called top 10 movies.
I'm sure Xan and Blues Shark recall.
Anyway, best movie of all time?
Either Glengarry Glen Ross, The Silence, Eraserhead or Mirror. In my opinion.

Casablanca - a great classic - perfect casting, great script, great lighting.