The greatest film ever made...

[Dark Victoriana]

At work we have a new staff member who is film obsessed. So we get to talking about films and he makes the startling claim that the film Jaws by Steven Spielberg is the greatest movie ever made. He claims it has no wasted dialogue, no unnecessary clutter as it were.
Well I disagreed with this, as I do not think that there has ever been a perfect film. So I counter-argued that there are almost-perfect scenes which raise a film up.
I would state that the last fight scene from the film 'the Wanderers' is a classic moment, the slow arrival of the ducky boys, the weird wind noise, the dawning realisation of peoples faces of what is going to happen... the fight itself is OK.
Or I offer the film 'Pleasantville' and the discussion of art within the diner and the slow realisation of how attracted they are to each other.

So is there a perfect film, or merely almost perfect-scenes?

[Troperia]

There is no such thing as the 'perfect' film. No matter what, there will someone out there that will hate it and every movie has its own set of flaws.

Also, this should be in General, I think.

[Ole Wisconsin]

I don't believe so. There may be perfect, or pert near perfect, films for a specific person, but ya can't please everyone. No matter what may happen and how good it may be, there's bound to be some feller who points out something he don't like about it.

[Dark Victoriana]

Gentlemen
So no examples of 'almost' perfect films?

I would say that the opening sequence of Bladerunner should be considered.

[Europe and Oceania]

Interstellar, Inception, 2010 Robin Hood with Russel Crowe, Children of Men, Collateral, V For Vendetta, The Last Samurai, Fury, the Lobster,
just to name a few.

[Dark Victoriana]

All good choices, except Robin Hood, every-one knows the Errol Flynn version is the only way to go.

[The Archregimancy]

I'm going to move this to Arts & Fiction - just a mo...

[Rhomaia]

I say Casablanca. Best film I've seen to date.

[Xadufell]

The Thing- 1982

Perfect combination of suspense and horrific monstrosities.

R.I.P. Clark

[The Marxist Militia]

Everyone I know who has seen Monty Python and The Holy Grail, loves it as do I



Also Scott Pilgrim VS the World is Near Perfect

[Dark Victoriana]

Yeah I forgot about Scott Pilgrim. superb film.
The thing would have been a classic if it had a different lead actor... though that is a personal preference.
I do not recall ever having watched Casablanca. (shameful i know )

[The Great Devourer of All]

Perfect films do not exist. Perfect scenes do, as do perfect moments within those scenes, but there are too many for me to pick the absolute best.

My favorites include:

-The final 'kick' sequence of Inception
-Nearly every minute of Interstellar (I know, I know, two quite recent Christopher Nolan films on one list might seem like a bit much. Too bad. Nolan is a stellar director, and Hans Zimmer's music makes his good scenes great.)
-The final fight scene of Captain America: Civil War (Yet another very recent film. I'm not a biased millennial, I promise!)
-The iconic opening scene of Star Wars: A New Hope
-The equally iconic opening scene of 2001: A Space Odyssey
-Yet another opening scene, this time that of [i]Jaws
-"HEEEERE'S JOHNNY!"
-Spock's death scene in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
-"No.... I am your father."
-"KHAAAAAAAAAN!"
-The final dogfights in Star Wars: A New Hope ("Use the force, Luke.") and Star Wars: Return of the Jedi ("It's a trap!")
-Yoda's death scene in Star Wars: Return of the Jedi
-The escape scene and ET's return to his ship in ET the Extra-Terrestrial
-The scene in which Rey returns Luke's lightsaber to him in Star Wars: The Force Awakens

And, as an honorable mention, I might as well throw in the first skirmish with the Reliant in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan. The official first contact scene in Close Encounters of the Third Kind and the final battle of Lord of the Rings: Return of the King deserve similar status in my opinion.

Yes, I know that a disproportionately large number of those scenes were in sci-fi movies. Part of the reason for that is that I am an avid science fiction fan, but the other is that the genre is a large part of our culture. Science fiction embodies the hopes, dreams, fantasies, and fears of the time it was made, even if in the most subtle ways.

[Ngelmish]

Perfection is a concept that I'm leery of as it leaves off far too many films in the interesting category of nearly great, but not quite. Flawed, almost masterpieces are often more interesting than perfect technical execution. However, to try to reduce the scope of possibilities to films that could credibly claim greatness, I'd submit, in no particular order:

Andrei Rublev, 2001 A Space Odyssey, A Man Escaped, A Passage to India, A Serious Man, Alien, All About Eve, Anatomy of a Murder, Anomolisa, Barry Lyndon, Before the Devil Knows You're Dead, Blade Runner, Blow Out, Blowup, Blue Velvet, Children of Men, Chimes At Midnight, Chinatown, City of God, Cross of Iron, Day For Night, Doctor Zhivago, Double Indemnity, Dr. Strangelove, Empire of the Sun, Eraserhead, Excalibur, Faces, Frenzy, Get Carter, High and Low, Inland Empire, Iphigenia, Ivan's Childhood, Irreversible, Kagemusha, Kingdom of Heaven, Lancelot du Lac, Lifeboat, Lost Highway, Magnolia, Marnie, Monsieur Verdoux, Mulholland Dr., Notorious, Once Upon A Time In America, Opening Night, Pan's Labyrinth, Repulsion, Secret Honor, Stalker, Stranger Than Fiction, Synedoche New York, The Conversation, The Cook The Thief His Wife Her Lover, The Hill, The Last Temptation of the Christ, The Last Unicorn, The Lion in Winter, The Seven Samurai, The White Ribbon, Valhalla Rising, Vertigo and That Obscure Object of Desire.

I guess I lied about the order, seeing as it's almost totally alphabetical, but that was the most convenient way to pull up most of these titles. Frankly there are a lot more that I'd consider slapping up there, but either I need to watch again to be convinced either way, or where I suspect I'm allowing personal fondness to sway me a bit too much. And of course that list is idiosyncratic as it is.

[New haven america]

Is an entirely subjective idea.

[Yodle]

Perfection is subjective, as perfection means something different to everyone. I'm not even sure what my favorite movie is.. My perfect movie isn't even fathomable lol

[Yugoslav Memes]

Bee Movie, hands down.

Of course the Emoji Movie may surpass it in greatness, both are worth my respects.

[Yodle]

Bee Movie, hands down.

Of course the Emoji Movie may surpass it in greatness, both are worth my respects.

Let's be real here, Rubber (you can find it on Netflix) is the greatest movie of all time

[Ever Victorious Iron Willed Commanders]

Definitely not the greatest film ever made, but some of my favorites are Castaway and Straight Outta Compton.

[The first Galactic Republic]

It's hard to decide, but it's got to be either Transformers or Elektra.

[SUNTHREIT]

Transformers: Age of Extinction probably

[Auristania]

I say Casablanca. Best film I've seen to date.

I agree

[Secilian Federation]

-

[Anollasia]

My favourite is the Star Wars original trilogy, which isn't even one film.

[Fiscis]

This movie is on youtube... it is the worst movie ever made... and is godly...

[Thiudaland]

Every film has aspects that are irredeemably bad. That being said, it's impossible to come to any sort of objective conclusion. Any conclusion is inherently subjective.