One of my all time favourite movies is probably The Great Escape. Now I could explain hours on hours why I think this movie is great, but I recommend you just check it out yourself. That is, if you have like two and a half hours to spare. The movie is quite long.

I surprisingly haven't watched any of those movies, or at least don't remember watching them. :O

forgot to mention if you like action The Raid 2 is the right choice ..best action movie in the last 10 years.

You seriously have not seen at least Shawshank Redemption? What have you been doing with your life?!

Some of my all time favorites:

Cinema Paradiso
Pulp Fiction
Full Metal Jacket
Incendies
The Help
Cidade de Deus
No Country For Old Men
There Will be Blood
The Fight Club
The Lord of the Rings - The Return of the King

did watched it! great movie indeed.

other great movies:

the devil's advocate

the place beyond the pines

closer

the 25th hour

irreversible

Some moves you definitely need to (imo) watch, if you haven't done it yet are:

American Beauty
Almost Famous
Prisoners
Se7en

And for the girlfriend: What Maisie Knew

Nope, never even heard of it. :S I'll try to watch it soon though! 

No offense, but I hate that movie with a passion. I've seen a lot of prententious crap in my life, especially from contemporary European directors who can't hold a candle to great ones like Truffaut, Melville, Verneuil, De Sica, Fassbinder, Hitchcock, Leone, Fellini etc., but Irréversible was arguably the most insulting pretentious crap I ever saw. It was the first time I bought a movie (bought it because of Monica Bellucci, btw), watched it and hated it that much that I instantly threw the DVD away. I will avoid all future Gaspar Noé movies.

My contribution is a recommendation of 60s/70s thrillers (my current obsession):

Cape Fear, Charade, Arabesque, Wait Until Dark, Point Blank, Bullitt, The Getaway, Le Samouraï, Z, The French Connection 1&2, Le Cercle rouge, Le Passager de la pluie, The Andromeda Strain, Don't Look Now, Chinatown, Duel, Vanishing Point, Charley Varrick, The Taking of Pelham 123, The Laughing Policeman, Get Carter, Klute, The China Syndrome, The Parallax View, The Conversation, Three Days of the Condor, Marathon Man, Coma, Un flic, The Killer Elite, Le Clan des Siciliens, The Outfit, Scorpio, I comme Icare, Sleuth, Silver Streak, The Driver, Taxi Driver, Mean Streets, The Day of the Jackal, The Mackintosh Man, Capricorn One, The Fury, Eyes of Laura Mars, The Medusa Touch, The First Great Train Robbery, Assault on Precinct 13, Family Plot, Rollercoaster, Serpico, Shaft, All the President's Men.

All worth a look imo, all at least very entertaining, some are great, some have those fantastic brass/orchestra soundtracks (by Lalo Schifrin, Quincy Jones, Jerry Fielding, David Shire and others), some of them can even be considered masterpieces of tense storytelling and directing imo (e.g. Charade, Bullitt, Chinatown, Andromeda, both French Connections).

Maybe you find a few you haven't seen yet. I didn't mention movies absolutely everyone with eyes has seen (like Psycho) or movies everyone loves except me (like the Dirty Harry movies and other 70s revenge and/or Iamthelaw-movies with Eastwood or Bronson).

good movies i can remember:

shawshank redemption

edge of tomorrow - i was surprised how good the movie is made

pulp fiction

kill bill vol 1 and 2

crouching tiger hidden dragon

the hours - everyone hated this movie but i love it

Lord of the rings

eternal sunshine of the spotless mind

life of pi

silence of the lambs

the pianist

little miss sunshine

million dollar baby

2001 space odyssey

munich

babel

spirited away

princess mononoke

black swan

the color purple

hurt locker

district 9



movies that is supposedly good but i have not seen yet:

stand by me

ray