“With a song like ‘Sex Farm’, we’re taking a sophisticated view of the idea of sex and…putting it on a farm.” (Derek Smalls, This is Spinal Tap)
A special edition of Total Film magazine contains a list of the “Top 100 Movies of all Time”.  Okay, lists of “best films” are subjective, and often encourage much scratching of one’s noggin. “Where’s The Hours?”, I ask myself while watching The Piano. Anyway, Total Film’s Top 100 contains such joys as This is Spinal Tap (it gets up to 98),  One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (a nutty 43), and Blade Runner (number 32 with a, errr, don’t know what the film is about).  Anyway, here’s the Top 10 of the Top 100:
(10) Donnie Darko
(9)Â Jaws
(8) The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring
(7) The Godfather
(6) Goodfellas
(5) The Shawshank Redemption
(4) The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
(3) Pulp Fiction
(2) Fight Club
Drum roll please…..bang, bang, bang (on your way, hippy)
(1)Â Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes BackÂ
Thoughts on the above list or mentions of what you think are the best movies ever are welcome.
with a silver-paper unicorn?
Top ten lists: ridiculous, always, (this one maybe just a smidgeon more ridiculous than usual) but always a great barometric snapshot of critical opinion. Sight and Sound have done an international poll every decade for the last sixty years and it’s fascinating to see how tastes change: http://www.bfi.org.uk/sightandsound/topten/
Melbourne’s own Senses of Cinema has been doing a rolling survey of cineastes’ personal top tens for the best part of a decade. Anyone can contribute. http://www.sensesofcinema.com/contents/top_tens/about.html
bread and circuses from Madames Le Farge. Subtle. Umn, ok, to be a good baa baa, let’s see. I know. The Sound of Mucus.
Darlene,
Given you lead off with Spinal Tap should the list go up to eleven?
Laura, it’s fascinating to see how much tastes stay the same. On that BFI site you linked to, the critics had Citizen Kane, Vertigo, La Regle du Jeu, and the Godfather at the top of the list.
I don’t think there was a film on the BFI critic’s top 10 made in the last three decades! (I believe that coincides with American critics’ choices too.)
P.S. My list: 2001, Apocalypse Now, Excalibur (don’t laugh), Fight Club, Blade Runner, Three Kings, Children of Men, Starship Troopers (don’t laugh, dammit!).
That list reads like the results of a survey conducted exclusively amongst 16-year-old male Americans. Sure, ‘best’ lists are inherently subjective, but I think we can all agree here that a ‘Top 10 Films of All Time’ list which includes two the ‘Lord of the Rings movies has gotten it seriously wrong.
BBB
Yes, Laura, they are always ridiculous, but kind of fun nevertheless.
Good point, Shaun. Number 11 was Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope.
Crikey, if you’re having a go Fanny, try and be more low brow. I might get it that way ; )
“The hills are alive….”
Some of us like bread and circuses. Makes life a bit more entertaining.
You’re right Paulus. The one time onlys are interesting and so are the apparently mandatory inclusions like Citizen Kane and The Rules of The Game. Vertigo didn’t make the list until 1982, and I think it’s topping the Senses of Cinema poll – probably that’s got a lot to do with the film being rereleased in the 1980s and then restored in the 1990s. I like your list by the way. It makes sense.
Gee whiz, I saw “Excalibur” so many years ago, but it was a good film.
BBB, it was actually Brits who came up with the list.
Donnie Darko was just three hours of my life I’ll never get back.
I am a big schmaltz (however you spell it) and love “It’s a Wonderful Life”.
I was surprised that Dazza and Baz aren’t on the list. Queensland culture at its best. After all it did win the comedy section at the St Kilda film Festival!
Thanks for that Steve. Tee hee. Good one. Queensland kulta is the bestest culture.
And where’s “The Adventures of Barry McKenzie”?
“I think we can all agree here that a ‘Top 10 Films of All Time’ list which includes two the ‘Lord of the Rings movies has gotten it seriously wrong.”
I agree , Jackson’s earlier work was much better and should feature in everyones’ top 10 list – Braindead for example.
Many comedies make it onto the list ? Life of Brian gets my nomination for a top 10 .
Solaris( the original) is also a brilliant bit of work.
boredinHK, yes. Comedies include Some Like it Hot, Monty Python and the Holy Grail and Annie Hall (lurve Annie Hall).
And where’s “The Adventures of Barry McKenzie�?
You got there before me! Though ‘Bazza McKenzie Holds His Own’, the second in the series, is the best. ‘Excalibur’ is on my top ten, it’s a visually stunning film with an interesting pagan/Jungian scheme. (It’s one of those films where all of the characters are metaphors, the props are symbols, and the plot is an allegory, but there’s plenty of proper character development in there too.)
I have fond memories of many other films – ‘The Secret of Roan Inish’, a lovely retelling of an Irish folk-story about selkies. ‘Killer Condom’ (an amusing German film) and ‘Orgasmo’ (The Trey Parker/Matt Stone version) are hilarious. Mel Brooks ‘The Producers’ – both of them, dammit! ‘Drunken Master’ with Jackie Chan. A smattering of Hitchock films.
There are also some excellent films out at the moment, some of them sure to be classics. Judd Apatow’s ‘Superbad’ and ‘Knocked Up’ (haven’t seen 40-Year Old Virgin). But hey, don’t trust me – one of the most recent films I saw was ‘Rush Hour 3′ – and I loved it!
‘The Conformist’ (Bertolucci) and ‘Death In Venice’ (Visconti) have to be in there.
I keep on meaning to find out more about films in the ‘Some Like It Hot’ genre. ‘Bringing up Baby’ was wonderful, and I love old black and white comedies, the sillier the better. The ‘Lord of the Rings’ was quite remarkably, but can’t top Kubrick’s original efforts: ‘Clockwork Orange’ and ‘2001′. And ‘Barbarella’ is still amusing.
I recently saw Excalibur again after for the first time since the 80s and did enjoy it again. Merlin seemed a little more Monty Pythonish than I remember.
I’ll offer the below.
I am fond of the French movie, Brotherhood of the Wolf which is mixture of kung fu, horror and period drama. Robocop is a movie that I still enjoy with some very keen observations amidst the 80s stylized violence. Casablanca still rates as style never goes out fashion. And another Bogart movie, The Big Easy is another fave with some great dialogue but a plot that still leaves me confused. For sentimental reason, Star Wars – A New Hope and Aliens for the sheer terror and the greatness of Ripley. Oh, and Seven Samurai.
I am glad that ‘Spirited Away’ made it into the top hundred. Still one of the most beautiful animations ever made as far as I am concerned.
The Secret of Roan Inish is a beautiful film.
Interesting choices, Pablo. Neither of those made in on the list, which is probably not a shock.
Some Like it Hot was a hoot.
Today I watched Sid and Nancy, and I wouldn’t put it on my best films list. Not bad, but ridiculous ending.
Barry McKenzie Holds His Own is very funny. I love the scene where Clive James is chugging down booze and Barry points out that’s James is a film reviewer overseas on a government grant. Because any arty bastard could get a government grant in those days.
My housemate tells me that Spirited Away is a great film.
At which point, the ever-eloquent James utters his ONLY* line in the film: “BLOOD OATH!”
*I could be wrong about that.
Mmmmm, close to his only comment. Have to watch it again to check.
You can buy ’spirited away’ for a few bucks on ebay. It is one of life’s treats.
I have a list on Senses of Cinema, Laura! As a lurker on your blog I think my favourite film and yours may be the same; Beau Travail. I think The Think Red Line was my second. In an odd way I think war/military films can speak to all genders in a way that other films cannot. When I describe my family life I usually resort to military metaphors; “trench warfare” is my favourite. Long episodes of boredom punctuated by moments of sheer terror. Donnie Darko is the perfect description of my adolescence; with the same soundtrack.
And Das Boot. I think a lot of the experiences of life can be encapsulated in that one film. A shame that he has made a lot of crap since then.
Su, do you mind if I borrow that comment about war / military films and speaking to all genders? I’ve got to write a lecture on Beau Travail for Tuesday week. I could use a few ideas for ways to convince the students to give it a chance.
‘Thin’, rather than ‘think’ in the above.
Yes do, Laura. I find it incredibly moving and I would be happy to think other people might look beneath the surface to see just love and alienation and desire to please and jealousy. And the connection to the same themes in Moby Dick. All in all it is still the perfect film for me. I would add Comme Une Regarde to my list now but I haven’t updated yet.
Urgh Billy Budd not Moby Dick. Don’t mind me- I am supposed to be writing an assignment my brain is mush!.
Shaun, I second Le Pact de Loups for it’s sheer fun value, but any list without Repo Man is incomplete. The life of a repo man is intense!
Yes, I feel exactly the same way about BT. I’m really, really hoping that the students can find their way into it. I feel very privileged to have an opportunity to talk to them about something so amazing, and a bit awed by the responsibility, actually. Evangelising for the good stuff is one of the most fun parts of teaching.
There’s a little bit of Beau Travail on YouTube, loses most of its heartbreaking impact ripped out of context, but people might be interested in checking it out anyway. If not, sorry for the momentary diversion into off-topicness.
I’d nominate a few underdogs that seem to be too rarely mentioned IMO. Imamura’s The Ballad of Narayama is an old fave of mine, as is Clint Eastwood’s Bird. Among Australian films, I found Jocelyn Moorhouse’s Proof engrossing.
Among recent mainstream movies, I’d have thought The Sixth Sense would rank highly.
Clair Denis is a poet of film! The pulse. Thanks Laura.
Two of my favourites are American Beauty (I laughed, squirmed, teared up and regretted. Marvellous) and Badlands by Terence Malick (a great road movie about a serial killer with allegories).
Star Wars has faded sadly from my youth, but I will heartily agree that Alien is a fabbo horror flick with so many penetration, bodily fluid and other forbidden sexual metaphors going, it makes Ken Russell look like..like..a pretty average filmmaker. But I repeat myself (ahem).
And Spirited Away is simply lovely.
Is this the “emo” all the children are talking about?
In any event I love Waterloo Bridge:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=A9Lx2e2YeB4&mode=related&search=
SPOILERS!!!
“Some Like It Hot” has been resident in my Top Ten for as long as I can remember. It defines a genre to perfection – the writing, acting, design, editing..there’s just nothing I’m, left wanting for when I watch it. It’s artlessness sees it somewhat under-rated, but meh, I doubt Wilder would care.
In fact, Billy Wilder’s works have aged (mostly) very well indeed – saw “Stalag 17″ for the first time this year, and was just astonished at the design. And then there’s “One Two Three”, a film that Goodbye Lenin owes an awful lot to.
Opposite end of the scale, Claire Denis. I enjoyed “Beau Travail” immensely, but boy, she doesn’t make life easier. Her next movie, “L’Ennui” lives almost frame-for-frame on the back of my eyelids, but damned if I ever had much of a clue what was going on. Another who almost exclusively represents a filmic form of their own.
Timeless and never faraway from my mind: Gilles Pontecorvo’s “Battle For Algiers”, Michael Mann’s “Heat”. Both breathless, both with lots to teach about people under relentless pressure.
Bei Qing Cheng Shi (A City of Sadness) by Hou Hsiao-hsien should be near the top of any Top 100 list.
What? No Flesh Gordon?
Darlene:
Agree with TheFeralAbacus about “The Ballard Of Narayama” [with "Soylent Green" and "Logan's Run" both also on the subject of population and resource management].
“Seven Samurai” too.
Noticed the top 10 list omits Chinese films like “Shower” or “Not One Less” or “Going Home” and it omits Indian ones like “Sholay” and “Laagan”. Nor does it have “Once were Warriors” and “What becomes of the Broken Hearted”. Where too are “Picnic at Hanging Rock” or “Gallipoli” or “Better Than Sex” or “Death in Brunswick” or “The Man who Sued God”?
FXH:
Yes. “FlAsh Gordon” Especially for Brian Blessed’s acting/overacting and for the music!
FXH:
Oops. what a difference a vowel makes. Haven’t see that one.
Saw it at the drive-in as a nipper. Luckily there were swings at the drive- in in those days. *Yawn*.
“Blue Velvet” Perfect.
“Easy Rider” Made the Hollywood studio system extinct.
“Patton” Made madness normal.
“A Clockwork Orange” Insanely great.
“Annie Hall” Lovely.
“Don’t Look Now” Beyond disturbing.
Amen to that.
A director who’s career has taken the opposite direction — i.e. starting off crap and becoming sublime — is Clint Eastwood, arguably the best living American director at the moment.
Letters from Iwo Jima made bugger-all at the box office, and was shamefully overlooked at the Oscars, but IMHO stands alongside Das Boot as one of the very greatest war films. It performs the difficult task of humanising the Japanese soldier without sentimentalising him.
“Tous les matins du monde” – wrist-slashingly bleak period piece, visually stunning with a fabulous soundtrack for anyone with an ear for the viola da gamba and French Baroque.
Top 10 lists? Yippee! Pointless fun for everyone. Might as well throw in my favourites (at least the ones I can think of tonight):
Jules et Jim, Fargo, The Third Man, 10 canoes, Pulp Fiction, Naked, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless mind, Broadway Danny Rose. Would go with “Das Boot” too.
Ok, not 10 but I don’t think many have rated a mention yet
Very Yankee list. As you’d expect: Hollywood equals hype. No-one thinks American literature would dominate a list of the best books/poetry, yet in movies its taken as normal.
My current all-time faves, if that’s not an oxymoron:
Wings of Desire
2001
The Seventh Seal or Smiles on a Summer Night
(yes, all a bit pretentious)
Romulus, my Father
Meet the Feebles
Amelie
pretty much any animation by Aardvaark, Brothers Quai or Jan Svankmayer
Best American movie, probably The Searchers.
Oh, two more.
Afterlife – incredibly moving Japanese piece.
Best recent American effort probably Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
‘ “Seven Samuraiâ€? too.’
Graham Bell – that reminds me: first time I saw Seven Samurai was when SBS screened it many years ago. But they forgot to show the last few minutes. So after squinting at subtitles on a tiny TV screen for nearly 2.5 hours the film ended at a strangely anti-climactic point.
Got to see those last few minutes the following week, but it lost a lot of impact – it wasn’t like picking up a novel to finish the final chapter.
FXH: Oh, yeah, Flesh Gordon. Amongst its many other glories, it has hands-down one of the greatest jokes in cinema…
(After space-ship crash-lands on alien planet)
DR. JERKOV: (takes several deep breaths, then) Ah, good. There’s oxygen on this planet.
* * *
“Best of” lists are always great fun, but there ought to be a difference between “lists of what I like the best” and “lists of what has been vitally important to advancing cinema as an art.” Movies like “Citizen Kane” always make the top, not because W.R. Hearst was such a compelling creature, but because Welles and Company did things with cinema that were important to its development.
A few suggestions, in no particular order, and totally arguable…
Bergman, “Persona”
McCarey/Marx Bros., “Duck Soup”
Lynch, “Eraserhead”
Dreyer, “Ordet”
Renoir, “Grand Illusion” and “Rules of the Game,” but esp. “Grand Illusion”
Romero, “Night of the Living Dead”
Whale, “Frankenstein”
Tarkovsky, “Andrei Rublev”
Cassavetes, “The Killing of a Chinese Bookie,” “Husbands,” “A Woman Under the Influence”
Godard, “Pierrot Le Fou” (possibly the only good film Godard ever made, let alone a great one, which it is)
Marker, “La Jetee”
Anderson, “Magnolia”
Miyazaki, “The Princess Mononoke” (“Spirited Away” has some magnificent sequences, but to me it doesn’t hold together quite as well)
Lonergan, “You Can Count On Me”
Demy, “The Umbrellas of Cherbourg”
plus a bunch of animated shorts by the Termite Terrace gang (Looney Tunes etc.) too numerous to mention…
Wow, your parents must have been, erm, very liberal …
Good to see Excalibur getting a guernsey here, it’s certainly one of my favourites. I was traumatised when watching it with a girlfriend and her housemate wandered past and said “Oh Excalibur! That’s so hokey …”
Other choices for me would include the aforementioned Das Boot and This Is Spinal Tap, The Right Stuff, John Carpenter’s The Thing, Gattaca and Aliens. Battle of Britain for my war epic fix. I’d probably have to add Children of Men too, now. 2001 and The Empire Strikes Back. Jaws. Rear Window. OK, so my tastes run to the popular and not particularly deep …
European father. Thought it was completely normal.
My list:
1. Ban all recent French “art house” films and watch Truffaut repeatedly.
2. All David Lynch (except maybe that Laura Palmer prequel thingie).
3. Kurosawa – Throne of Blood.
4. Yep, Blade Runner.
5. Anything with Winona Ryder in it.
6. Ingmar Bergman’s Seventh Seal – you know why the knight playing chess with death is such a cliche!
7. Kill Bill! Both volumes. (Or Sin City)
8. Angels over Berlin or whatever the English title was.
9. Nosferatu (either version).
10. Everything by Gregg Araki.
That’s just off the top of my head, and not really in order, and probably more films that stay with me a lot rather than a “best” in a critical sense. Some entries are *frivolous* – guess which ones! A critical sense – well, you need to establish some criteria for judgement. And that’s the tricky bit!
I was so taken by Excalibur I raced out and spent my hard-earned pennies on a cassette of “Music inspired by the film Excalibur”. That was the exact title of the cassette.
The most dramatic piece on it was of course “O Fortuna”, from Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana. What an amazing film — it inspired a composer to write music for it, 50 years previously!
Kim: “7. Kill Bill! Both volumes. (Or Sin City)”
Kill Bill (1 & 2) — you bet your bippy! but Sin City, not in the same league, no way.
“9. Nosferatu (either version)” OH YEAH! (both counts, but for totally different reasons) also Herzog’s great mad quests for Kinski, Aguirre and Fitzcarraldo.
Let’s not forget Murnau’s magnificent “Sunrise,” either.
Another way to think about this is in categories, viz.:
MOST UNFORGETTABLE IMAGERY (tie): “2001″ and “The Seventh Seal”
GREATEST PRODUCTION DESIGN CONCEPTION: “The Wizard of Oz”
BEST USE OF DRAMATIC TROPES (tie): “City Lights” and “Casablanca”
GREATEST OVERALL CONCEPTION (no contest): “La Jetee”
BEST USE OF CINEMATIC TROPES: “Sherlock Junior,” basically all of Keaton (passim)
BEST RE-CYCLING OF OLD WORN-OUT TROPES: George Lucas, first three “Star Wars” movies
GREATEST STORYTELLING ECONOMY, EVER: “King Kong” (original)
GREATEST POKER FACE OF ALL TIME: “Planet of the Apes” (original)
BEST SUSTAINED AESTHETIC CONCEPTION: Ingmar Bergman, circa 1950-1969
BEST MOVIE-STAR PERSONA (3-way tie): Bette Davis, Humphrey Bogart, John Wayne
BEST SUSTAINED COMEDIC CONCEPTION (tie): Termite Terrace All-Stars, “Looney Tunes” and “Merrie Melodies”; tied with Century City All-Stars, “The Simpsons, Seasons 3 and 4″
BEST SUSTAINED HUMANE CONCEPTION: Francois Truffaut. Give it up for da man.
BEST SINGLE FUCKING MOVIE EVER MADE: “Grand Illusion”
I’d add ‘The Dead’, John Huston’s last film, of James Joyce’s short story. Subtle, concise, warm, a perfect human drama.
The alternative Oscars, kinda!
Sorry, crossed with Hilker. My comment responded to j_p_z, if that’s not clear.
Though Cary Grant should be in a category somewhere! And film noir. And Chinatown!
Agree, Kim. (with yrs of 2:38 a.m.)
Two more categories that I forgot…
BEST CINEMATIC FETISH OBJECT: “Monty Python and the Holy Grail”
MOST SHOCKING THING EVER PUT ON FILM, IF YOU THINK ABOUT IT: Karloff’s initial entrance, “Frankenstein”
I was gonna say most under-rated Zombie director… but you know the rest. And I think Mr Romero’s back in style.
“most under-rated Zombie director… ”
Well that would be Jean Rollin, yes? (or perhaps that Spanish guy who did the Templars series back in the 70s, whose name escapes me? “The Blind Dead” or something. Weird, but not really very scary, as the Euros tend to be. [Dario Argento? You call that scary?!] And then there’s also “Let’s Scare Jessica To Death,” though that isn’t really zombies, strictly speaking.) There’s also a pretty funny story to be told about Oliver Stone in this regard, but it sort of takes too long to get into…
And “Land of the Dead” was a total disgrace, imho. Even the esteemed presence of Asia Argento couldn’t save it. Romero’s forgotten how it’s done (but that’s hardly news, since “Day of the Dead” was miserable, too.)
Nope, looks like “Shaun of the Dead” is still the only game in town. And a fine game it is, too, I might add…
After looking through those all those lists Laura (thx) & reading everyone here so far, I thought it a bit redundant to name again any output from truffaut, renoir, hitchcock, kurosawa, welles etc – so I’ve tried to remember films I saw as a young kid or as an early teen that had some impact, or i remember really liking – most I haven’t seen since. Movies way before art-house happened to me – or even going to movies as a late teenager. I’m also excluding hitchcock or other classics mentioned already, that were regularly shown on free- to-air way back when.
Double Indemnity – a fav. midday movie when i was in 3rd/4th grade. i loved noir as a kid..
Mildred Pierce – same
Whatever happened to Baby Jane. (both of them)
Jason & the Argonauts – had to wait at least a year between screenings.
Frankenstein & Dracula
Gone with the Wind (re-released in the 70’s at the cinemas) – all the girls at school went batty and we read the book.
Wake in Fright – donald pleasance in the outback
Jedda – saw it once when i was a very little kid & the image of the traditional aboriginal guy carrying Jedda next to the cliff is still there 40 years later, dont remember too much of it, but some was seared into the memory banks
The Harder They Come – my first date…14 y.o.s on the back of trail bike into the state theatre in the city.
Tommy – I actually got freaked out a little bit by Tina Turner and Keith Moon.
i remember enjoying wes craven’s serpent & the rainbow at the time, jpz. http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0096071/
just having quite high production values, was different for a zombie movie for a start.
Favourite movies? A few of mine:
Sunset Boulevard (Billy Wlider)
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (same opening scene, loses the plot, very funny)
Mulholland Drive (what’s going on)
The Kill Bills (glorious cinema)
Fight Club (what an ending)
Don’s Party might get into my top 10 this year and just this year.
A top 10?
Sorry, just can’t suspend disbelief for that.
Among the very many that’ve moved me the most and the most stunning in all possible ways:
Istvan Szabo – Mephisto, Colonel Redl, Sunshine
Frederico Fellini – Amarcord
Charlie Chaplin – everything
Howard Hawks – Bringing Up Baby
Joshua Logan – Camelot
Dances with Wolves – Kevin Costner
Night of the Shooting Stars & Kaos – Paolo and Vittoria Taviani
Dreams – Akira Kurosawa
And Life Goes On – Abbas Kiarostami
Farewell My Concubine – Zhang Yimou
Come and See – Elem Klimov
Out of Africa – Sydney Pollack
Ingmar Bergman – Fanny and Alexander
John Cassavetes – Minnie and Moskowitz
Manhatten – Woody Allen
3 Women – Robert Altman
Crimes of the Heart – Bruce Beresford
Thanks everybody for your responses.
Good choices, Grace. Sunset Boulevard is a cracker. What a great last scene.
“Nope, looks like “Shaun of the Deadâ€? is still the only game in town. And a fine game it is, too, I might add…”
Great film, very funny and very silly and very sharp. Rockin’ choice.
“1. Ban all recent French “art houseâ€? films and watch Truffaut repeatedly.”
Kim, did you see Lady Chatterley. I liked it, but my friend looked like she was going to keel over and die 3/4 of the way into it. She looked at me and said, “is it nearly over”.
Many of the films I love are not necessarily for the films themselves but for performances in often minor roles that latch themselves into some replay loop in my mind: E.g.:
Movies with Alec Baldwin in a disreputable role.
Almost anything with Philip Seymour Hoffman in it.
Ditto William H Macy.
Sometimes you can crack the jackpot with permutations and combinations of the above e.g. : State and Main, Magnolia, The Cooler, Boogie Nights and, yes, Along Came Polly with a couple of truly eccentric, scenery-chewing performances from Baldwin and Hoffman.
Shorter list:
Puppet Show
Spinal Tap
Most of my favourites have received a mention already, but not my all time favourite which is Tender Mercies, or my runner-up, Neverland. I like to be emotionally moved, without having the actors gushing and those two worked for me.
But I’m interested in individual scenes as much as whole movies and two that spring to mind are the Woolfs at the train station in The Hours and the scene in Rocky where his manager is begging to be given the chance to train Rocky for his title fight. In most respects Rocky is just anothger tiresome illustration of America’s strange fixation on boxing, but that scene was enough to save the movie for me.
What?! No Unforgiven?!
32 Blade Runner
Original Theatrical Release or Director’s Cut, I wonder. If the former, I would’ve hoped it would be rated higher; if the latter, how on earth did it even get into the top 100?
Jenny, that scene at the train station was just…words fail. Some of Kidman’s best work, and in it’s resolution comes an acceptance of each other’s flaws and the possible outcome of the decision.
“Almost anything with Philip Seymour Hoffman in it.”
What did you think of his turn in Cold Mountain?
Anthony, that’s the best list ever. It goes up to 12 and beyond.
Re: Spinal Tap- watch the last minute of this youtube clip to see the genesis of Christopher Guest’ classic character “Nigel Tufnel”:
“Meeeeet the Feeeebles” – only rival to this is “Bad Taste” -> “it’s my turn with the magnum” – NZ’s finest!
Of course Peter Jackson was also responsible for the best zombie movie even made – “Braindead” – zombie killing via lawnmover, best line: “I kick arse for The Lord” by the priest… or “parties over” during the aforementioned lawnmower scene.
“Akira” – esp. the biker gang scene. And seriously, who doesn’t like mutating-psychic-amoeba-things? With laser guns. And weird flying psychic children controlling giant killer teddy-bears. How can it be wrong?
“Van Wilder: Party Liaison” – for being the only US college movie to have the audience retching at the thought of bathing the dog or eating éclairs ever again…
“Muppet’s From Space” – baby steps Dr Phil, baby steps… aliens that graffiti l337-speak on pyramids, raver/eccy-head alien welcoming loonies complete with massage circle and glo-wear, and of course the only movie to pull off a dignified exit by a crustacean wearing a tutu… best line: “build a jacuzzi and they will come”
Argh bad embedding attempt:
http://youtube.com/watch?v=BXLCj7rVcBg
What about McCabe and Mrs Miller? Altman’s best IMHO, but The Long Goodbye is great too.
And recent Scandinavian films, After The Wedding and As It Is In Heaven should be on any list for the quality of the acting and direction alone.
Monty Python and The Holy Grail or Life of Brian should be up their somewhere too.
Not to mention Hidden.
And Brazil.
Once you start….
#1: Apples
#2: Oranges
#3: Et Cetera! The Movie!
Flesh and Blood?
That is, assuming this has devolved into name-the-movie-nobody’s-mentioned-yet.
The Last Unicorn?
http://postmoronic.blogspot.com/2007/09/20-top-films-you-must-read-before-you.html
Ah, IOYC.
Will he ever stop bringing the hilarity? Or do so more frequently?
I’d specify that the theatrical release of Apocalypse Now is superior to the DVD “redux” edition, but having bought Blade Runner before the latest director’s cut is galling.
Anyway, I’d say The Great Escape ought to be on the list somewhere. It’s one of those movies that you stop on when flicking through the channels (if you’ve got more than the standard) and stay up late to watch. Also The Bridge on the River Kwai and The Magnificent Seven. Yes, I am aware that these are all “boy” movies.
Hey Greg; yesterday Su said this:
“In an odd way I think war/military films can speak to all genders in a way that other films cannot. ”
I think she’s right, and I like all the movies you listed.
English language only…
A few Academy Aperture favourites…
Bringing Up Baby,
The Treasure Of The Sierra Madre,
The Philadelphia Story,
His Girl Friday,
Arsenic And Old Lace,
Casablanca,
The Third Man,
The Dambusters,
Battleground,
The Maltese Falcon,
Singin’ In The Rain,
Hobson’s Choice,
Oliver Twist,
Key West,
All About Eve,
The Razor’s Edge,
Idiot’s Delight,
Slightly Wider Screen…
Dial M For Murder,
Rear Window,
North By North West,
On The Beach,
Godfather I,
Godfather II,
Under The Tuscan Sun,
Shall We Dance,
Shawshank Redemption,
Out Of Africa,
Schindler’s List,
The Dirty Dozen,
The Enemy Below,
E.T.,
The Dancer Upstairs,
Memphis Belle,
Breaker Morant,
Newsfront
Wider Still…
Dr. Zhivago,
Ryan’s Daughter,
The Bridge On The River Kwai,
Guns Of Navarone,
Silverado,
An Affair To Remember,
Casino,
Cape Fear,
The Thing,
Alien,
Indiana Jones And The Temple Of Doom,
Tora! Tora! Tora!
The Wild Bunch,
My Fair Lady,
Close encounters Of The Third Kind,
Ben Hur,
Three Days Of The Condor,
Cleopatra,
Dances With Wolves
Tom Burlinson!
Jack Thompson!
Rotgut Howitzer!
Jennifer Jason Leigh taking her kit off gratuitously…again!
Say YES, GODDAMNIT!!! to Condottiero movies.
My personal fave in the genre is “The Last Valley”, with a young Michael Caine as the hard-bitten Cherman* mercenary captain during the Thirty Years’ War and, in an early psycho-berserker role, Brian Blessed, briefly chewing up the scenery.
*Incidentally, this is the movie where he *coughs* perfected the Cherman accent he later used in “The Eagle Has Landed”.
“The War Game” (Peter Watkins, circa 1965), “The Journey” (Peter Watkins, circa 1987), “Citizen Kane”, “Paths of Glory”, “Doctor Strangelove”, “The Piano”, “Il Postino”, “Tiger Bay”, “Seance on a Wet Afternoon”, “The Chambermaid”, “The Meaning of Life”, “The Life of Brian”, “The Rise and Rise of Michael Rimmer”, “The Castle”, “Doctor Zhivago”, “Romeo & Juliet” (Zefirelli), those Shakespearean plays filmed in England in B&W during WWII; “Thirty-nine Steps” (Hitchcock), “Psycho”, “Chimes at Midninght”, “Rear Window”, “Jamon, Jamon”; anything starring Sophia Loren (for me) or Cary Grant (for me missus)
I watch so many movies. mostly on DVD nowadays, my mind has turned to mush.
Still.
Lord of the Rings – all three DVDs one after the other.
The Russian version of War and Peace (which I saw at a cinema in Paddington years ago all three in one sitting. Took a day off work to do it.)
Lawrence of Arabia.
Dr. Zhivago (for the performances of Rod Steiger and Julie Christie.)
Mephisto.
All about Mary.
Any of Clint Eastwood’s movies since The Unforgiven. (The man is a genius.)
Cabaret.(Because I like the Isherwood book, Goodbye to Berlin.)
The Damned.
Breaker Morant.
Yolnu Boy. (Terrifying in a really strange way.)
And I don’t care what people say – Phantom of the Opera – the musical.
Best Western – Shane.
None of the above are in any order.
Ambigulous, your missus has good taste in Hollywood legends. I am interested in the ongoing presence of Citizen Kane in these lists. It’s a good movie, but a flawed one. Psycho is a truly frightening flick.
Not a big western fan, but Shane is a delight. Crikey, the mention of all these films is going to send me packing to the DVD store this weekend.
Darlene and all:
Su said
Not all Su, not all! Most “war” films are nothing but sick products of perverted, cloistered minds.
But “All Quiet On The Western Front” [BOTH versions], “Paths Of Glory” [is it still banned in France?], “Saving Private Ryan” [even though it was a Hollywood blockbuster], “Gallipoli” and “1915″ [with Sigrid Thornton - but was only as a TV serial] are well worth watching. “Oh What A Lovely War” and “Colonel Blimp” should be somewhere in the list too.
“Dances With Wolves”, “Zulu” and “Hell In The Pacific” show things from the other fellow’s perspective.
Worth an honourable mention is Kurosawa’s Soviet co-production of the ’seventies, “Dersu Uzala”. Not a war story but one about a tribal hunter falling in with a party surveying the Trans-Siberian Railway line.
For comedy, try the Netherlands’ contribution to civilization, “The Flodders” I ~IV …. and don’t tell me you’ve never met people like that.
Best 10 films since 2000:
Sophie Scholl: he Final Days (2005 German) – Marc Rothemund
Behind the Sun (Brazilian 2001) Walter Salles
Land of Plenty (2004 US) Wim Wenders
Machuca (2004 Chilean) Andres Wood
Talk to Her (Spanish 2002) Pedro Almodóvar
Lantana (Australian 2001) Ray Lawrence
Japanese Story (Australian 2003) Sue Brooks
Beneath Clouds (Australian 2002) Ivan Sen
Whale Rider (NZ 2002) Niki Caro
Warm Springs (US 2005) Kenneth Branagh
Good point about war films, Graham.
Paths of Glory is such a fine film, perhaps Kirk Douglas’s finest moment.
According to this site:
http://www.filmsite.org/path.html
“Due to the film’s raw, controversially-offensive and critical assessment of hypocritical French military and bureaucratic authorities who callously condemn and sacrifice three randomly-chosen innocent men with execution (for cowardice) for their own fatal blunder, it suffered poor box-office returns, and was banned in France and Switzerland for almost twenty years (until the mid-1970s) following its release.”
jinmaro, great picks. The people who read this site have such good taste in films. Great to see Australian films in your mix.
Incidentally, there’s a New Zealand film called Rain which is worth a watch. Very hard to watch in some places (and very sad), but well worth the effort.
Darlene:
me missus has good taste in Hollywood actors, not such good luck in hubby – ah well, I was lucky, so that’s all nicely balanced out I reckon.
Good to see others admire “Paths of Glory”: I saw it at the age of 17, spellbound: the National Service ballot for Vietnam was a few months away for me and that looming lottery tended to concentrate a lad’s mind
Battle Royale by Kinji Fukusaku – surprised no-one has mentioned it yet
‘The Tracker’, directed by Rolf de Heer, starring David Gulpilil.
‘Being There’, starring Peter Sellers, a master class in subtlety, by far the best of the ‘idiot savant’ genre (in English, at least).
Pretty well anything by Stanley Kubrick. Especially what is probably his most under-appreciated film, ‘Barry Lyndon’, one of the most visually perfect films ever made. His candle lit only shots are superb. And the moonlight seduction scene on the portico of a mansion, impeccably choreographed to music (a Schubert Trio?), is just stunning, takes my breath away every time I see it.
‘Metropolis’, by Fritz Lang. An astounding technical, visual, and foresightful achievement for its time.
I also second ‘Bird’ by Clint Eastwood.
“me missus has good taste in Hollywood actors, not such good luck in hubby – ah well, I was lucky, so that’s all nicely balanced out I reckon.”
: ) Ambigulous, good one. Tee hee.
“Good to see others admire “Paths of Gloryâ€?: I saw it at the age of 17, spellbound: the National Service ballot for Vietnam was a few months away for me and that looming lottery tended to concentrate a lad’s mind.”
Did you, ahem, win the lottery? What that must have been like, one can’t imagine.
Look at this list of Kubrick films from Wikipedia:
The Killing
Paths of Glory
Spartacus
Lolita
Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb
2001: A Space Odyssey
A Clockwork Orange
Barry Lyndon
The Shining
Full Metal Jacket
Eyes Wide Shut
Death
Some impressive stuff in there (can’t speak about Eyes Wide Shut).
Here’s the trailer for this thread.
And never mind best films, what about best film title sequences?
Darlene:
my number didn’t come up in the Nasho lottery, so I served on the home front, protesting against Australia’s participation in the war eventually.
Looking back on those days, the end result for many Vietnamese, north AND south, was bl**dy awful. Recommend a book “When Heaven and Earth Changed Places”, by a woman who lived south of the 38th parallel, joined the Viet Cong as a teenager, eventually changed her viewpoint. She says the war was MANY wars simultaneously: the official US standpoint (communism vs non-communism) corresponded to only one of the wars that were fought simultaneously. Lyrical descriptions of village life before the war arrived in their rice fields…
I agree that Graham Bell made good points about ‘war films’. Many ex-soldiers can never forget the heightened experiences they had in battle or in danger: some will never speak of that.
Practically anything directed by Kubrick, AND most of the earlier films with Peter Sellers ~
“The Mouse that Roared”
“I’m All Right, Jack”
“The Party”
“Pink Panther”
cameo role in “Lolita” (no, the good one made in the 60’s}
“Being There” – yes!
“Dr Strangelove” – blood curdling & brilliant
Thanks for that, Ambigulous.
Looks like a very interesting book. The author comes from an interesting place in which she can offer details of ill-treatment from all sides.
Cripes, Nabakov, I have still got a mouthful of popcorn when the title sequences come on.
Surely not a cameo. Quilty was everywhere.
Best (sic) female film actors ever: Gong Li, Meryl Streep, Kath Hepburn, Judy Davis, Rachel Griffiths, Jessica Lange, Sissy Spacek, Angelina Jolie, Cate Blanchett, Liv Ullman, Vanessa Redgrave, Gena Rowlands
Male: Klaus Maria Brandauer, Laurence Olivier, Richard Burton, Kenneth Branagh, Sean Penn, Geoffrey Rush, Robert Duvall, Charlie Chaplin, Andy Garcia, Al Pacino
Fact is folks, film has fallen fallow in recent times. Special effects and other techno-jazz can’t substitute for… well, substance.
Discuss.
“cameo role in “Lolitaâ€?
Surely not a cameo. Quilty was everywhere.
I arrived at my first screeing at the Valhalla in Richmond 15 minutes late. The film made perfect sense. Without a frame of Quilty in it.
Many year later I saw the real deal. So he’s always been a cameo to me!
Oh, and:
“Happy Together” nearly ripped by head off when I first saw it, and it stands up just brilliantly down the years as well.
“In the Mood For Love” same director, opposite texture. Just delicious.
Wong Kar Wai – because no-one else does.
Oh, and
“Wake In Fright” – Australian film most in need of a tender loving restoration and cinema season.
Would agree with all your choices for female actors except Angelina (would also include Judi Dench). Ms Jolie starred in what might have been the worse movie ever made. It co-starred Antonio Banderas and was called Original Sin. I’ve always wanted to see the film in which AJ played Gia, the model, but I have never found it.
Still a lot of substance out there.
Darlene, Angelina J is all potential. Like you and me, no?
It’s not just she has a gorgeous face, knowing eyes. mind like a steel trap and a sassy, bossy-boots presence. Girl, Interrupted showed what she is capable of, but sadly, no-one seems to know how to handle her or use her as an actor, and that film was a long time ago too.
Winona Ryder is just as talented and ditto the above comments for her.
Two films that I enjoyed enough that I may buy ,
Kiss of the Spider Woman,
Baghdad Cafe…..
I have The Third Man,
now ,I should buy a DVD player I guess, however I can’t seem to appreciate film as much as music….
Right on all counts, jinmaro. Indeed.
Yes, Lang, I suspect that the willigness to fork out money for a film says a lot about his value to the individual. Having said that, I’ve got Barry McKenzie Holds His Own. The Third Man. Yes. Better than Citizen Kane?
Darlene, I feel the “Third Man”, for it’s time it gave little consideration to ethics , I feel the ‘innocent American’ was a bit, well. However , excellent, why can’t these be made today, well I guess we know.
The Kiss of the Spider Woman, please chase it up, was a musical at one stage, then William Hurt and Raul Julia in the film. Covers a lot about human nature.
Baghdad Cafe, enough to see Jack Palance RIP ( Shane) snake oiling Marianne Sagebrecht to lower her blouse, great film…..
Chungking Express was a great film. Two or three claustrophobic locations and California Dreaming over and over but somehow the whole thing was just extraordinary.
What an appalling, and entirely predictable, Top 10.
Except, where was Amelie? That’s exactly the sort of pretentious w@nkfest that often makes these lists.
Ambigulous:
Yes. Definitely “Dr Strangelove”; it was a documentary, wasn’t it?
Darlene and all you mob:
Kindly add “Kikujiro” for weaving every taboo subject in modern Japanese society into whimsical story of a journey. Any of the Carry On series for educating the audience in the finer points of decorum, decency and etiquette. Any of the films starring that superb actor, Ron Perlman, “The Quest For Fire”, the French fantasy “The City Of Children” and, of course, “The Name of The Rose”. And then there was that film from Burkino Faso [sorry, can't recall it's name] broadcast a year or so ago on SBS TV, a film which went into the history of women – well, sort of – ouch!
A musical? You don’t have to be Jewish to really enjoy “Fiddler On The Roof” or be an Amercan to enjoy “Paint Your Wagon”. Take your pick.
The most complete film – and maybe the best – ever must be “The Gods Must Be Crazy”. It had everything: comedy, several versions of social justice, music, drama, off-road driving, politics, adventure, t-t-t-true love, natural history, the Anti-Christ, satire and rhinoceros who put out fires. Beat that.
That’s French film ‘The City of Lost Children’, and yes, it’s marvellous.
Also, ‘The Marx Brothers at the Circus’ and ‘The Marx Brothers at the Opera’ are good.
Darlene:
May I add two role-reversal films?
“Barbakiuaria” a brilliant short Australian film where Aborigine explorers discover Australia …. and the rest is [parallel] history.
“Willi und Der Winzers” a nice little German satire which had the British Royal Family land suddenly in the middle of the night, as political refugees, on a very distant relative in Hannover [whence came King George the First a few centuries before]. Unfortunately, the film came out just before Princess Diana was killed so it didn’t get quite the run it deserved.
London’s Time Out has just released another fascinating list – the fifty greatest music films evah.
You might like to start a new thread on it.
Find the list at
http://www.timeout.com/film/features/show-feature/3567/50-greatest-music-films-ever.html
Grracious. I take a break from books and the Net and look what turns up. Just watched the fourth disc in the Love My Way series. It should belong here, but of course it doesn’t.
But my, Excalibur is the nicest hokum ever. Chretien de Troyes would have loved it. Specially the Orff-allness.
That’s a good looking list, David – thanks.
Callan
“Nightmare Alley”
..going to bed now..
…but not before mentioning Crazy Calculator that I trust you’re referring to the TV series there and not the movie…
…got my bedsocks on now and warming up a glass of milk and rum…
…but still wondering why no one’s namechecked Jacques Tati yet…
or Sam Fuller.
or Clark Gable, Jean Harlow, Wallace Beery, Lewis Stone, Rosalind Russell, C. Aubrey Smith and Robert Benchley in ‘China Seas’.
or Robert Mitchum in ‘Night of the Hunter’.
OK, the milk and rum is done.
or ‘Beat The Devil’.
or ‘The Princess Bride’.
or
‘Xanadu’.Harold and Maude?
‘The Last Detail’ was pretty good too.
“I am the motherfucking Shore Patrol!”
OK, ‘Pufstnuf Zaps The World’ was pretty crap though.
Enjoyed ‘The Parallax View’ though. At least that’s what I was told to do.
And when are they finally gonna re-release Dick Lester’s ‘The Three Musketeers’ and ‘The Four Musketeers’?
And Errol Flynn wasn’t too shabby at all in ‘The Adventures of Robin Hood’.
Tho not quite as handsome as Garbo in ‘Queen Christina’.
…passing…out…now…from…loss…of..alcohol…but…not…before…I say…
“Forget it Jake, it’s Chinatown.”
r o s e b u d………
I Walked With A Zombie
Graham, you certainly can. I’d like to see that Australian film. Interesting stuff.
Thanks David for that list. The film about Karen Carpenter at No 1. Mmmmm. I am not sure I have seen it, but The Carpenters sure made some fabulous pop.
Nabakov, you are a chap with impeccable taste, but go to bed. ; ) Garbo was gorgeous in that film.
A few more.
The Leopard.
Warren Beatty’s Reds. (Of course).
Getting Square – I think that’s the name, a recent Oz. movie about Gold Coast crims, with stunning performances all round, but especially with the David Wenham scene at the CJC trying not to answer questions put to him by CJC counsel. Brilliant!
Gerard Depasrdieu’s Marat.
Of course, Marat/Sade.
Eyes Wide Shut is my favourite Kubrick movie. I’ve watched it 4 times and am still intrigued.
Paths of Glory made a real impression on me as a kid, but not so much recently when I saw it on DVD.
The original The Thing b/w scared me to death as a seven year old, but I’ve never seen it since.
Amadeus. Mozart has never been the same since.
Beneath the Clouds – (I think.) a wonderful movie about the English left in the 1920s, 30s and 40s. Rivetting. A must see for all lefties.
Darlene:
Not sure where you could get to see “Babakiueria”; plead with ABC TV to let you see their library copy perhaps? Scrummage through videotapes at Vinnies, Sallies, LifeLine? Find a high school AV resource collection that has not been attack by modern library practice? Brilliant film.
Silent films? “For the Term Of His Natural Life”, “Battleship Potemkin”, most of Charlie Chaplain’s films and, of course, all of those terrific silent 16mm travel and natural history films that were shown in museums and church halls.
Nabakov:
Which “Musketeers”? The silent epic perhaps?
Here’s my 100:
2001: A Space Odyssey
28 Days
8 ½
Alien
All About My Mother
Andromeda Strain
Apocalypse now
Badlands
Barefoot in the Park
Being There
Belly of An architect
Blade Runner
Blood Simple
Bloody Sunday
Brazil
Chinatown
Citizen Kane
City of Lost Children
Close Encounters of the Third Kind
Closely Watched Trains
Cold Fever
Come & See
Crash
Das Boot
Die Hard
Do the right thing
Donnie Darko
Fail-Safe
Fallen Angels
Fanny and Alexander
Field of Dreams
Fight Club
Forbidden Planet
Goldfinger
Goodfellas
Hard Boiled
In the Heat of the Night
Investigation of a Citizen Above Suspicion
It’s A Wonderful Life
Jaws
Jean de Florette
Klute
Kolya
Last of the Mohicans, The
Lawrence of Arabia
Life of Brian
Love and Death
M*A*S*H
Magnolia
Memento
Midnight cowboy
Miller’s crossing
Mon Oncle
Narc
Night on Earth
Oldboy
On the Waterfront
Once Upon A Time in America
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest
Ordinary People
Planet of the Apes
Platoon
Raging Bull
Ran
Rear window
Repulsion
Road to Perdition
Rushmore
Saving Private Ryan
Seven
Shawshank Redemption
Silence of the Lambs
Soylent Green
Sunset Boulevard
Talk Radio
The Apartment
The Big Lebowski
The Elephant Man
The Graduate
The Haunting (original)
The Hustler
The Killer (John Woo)
The Last Picture Show
The Last Wave
The Natural
The Party
The Rules of Attraction
The Straight Story
The Thing (both versions)
The Tin drum
The Truman Show
The Wild Bunch
The Year of Living Dangerously
This Sporting Life
Traffic
Wild At Heart
Wings of Desire
Withnail & I
Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown
Wonder Boys
Plenty almost made the list.
Purposely didn’t read the comments above until after I made the list, some great films & observations…i could have added the following:
Ballad of Narayama (which also gets me thinking of ‘Kwaidan’ Graham B.)
Kill Bill vol.1
Excalibur
Name of the Rose
The Shining
Meet The Feebles
Bad Taste
Spinal Tap
Mephisto
Night of the Shooting Stars
“King Kong� (original)
Fitzcarraldo
Nosferatu (either version)
Seven Samurai
Shower
All About Eve
Stalag 17
The Great Escape
The Conformist
Best last film seen.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0418455/usercomments
Yes!
“Mad Doctor of Blood Island”
nasking, I’ve seen about 70% of that list and agree with most of it. But dammit, where’s Dr Strangelove? And why is Field of Dreams there?
And nothing by Preston (screwball comedy) Sturgess or the Marx Brothers or Charlie Chaplin. And no mention of Spielberg’s Empire of the Sun http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RyMBJ6DSgSI&mode=related&search= (‘Airpower! Ha ha ha! P51! Cadillac of the Sky!’ And who could possibly disagree? Except for Spitfires or Mosquitoes or … )
Or nothing starring Louise Brooks, Fred Astaire, Gene
PitneyKelly?Dam Busters.
And a plea for animation: Any of the Toy Story’s or the first two Shrek’s; Anything featuring Bugs Bunny from Warner Brothers circa 1935-1960; Anything by Aardman (and really, a Rex the Runt feature film is long overdue) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n9sGuT7AEfE&mode=related&search=
Yes, it’s all a pretty tough call.
For Comfort viewing;
Terence Hill and Bud Spencer movies.
Any film with Margaret Rutherford in it. “Miss Prism, where is that babY!”
Nabakov – fear not: Callan the TV series (I’d forgotten about the movie). I figure the TV series warrants a mention because it has so many of the qualities that I appreciate in cinema.
“Cinema Paradiso” is a perennial favourite – perhaps not top 10 but I’d find room in my top 100. I was also impressed by “Spring Summer Autumn Winter Spring” on many levels.
A few more…
It’s a Mad Mad World, The Producers, Hard Boiled, Tonari No Totoro, Evil Dead, Chinese Ghost Story, Mystery Train, Dead Man, Hairspray, Pee Wee’s Big Adventure, Enter the Dragon, Mad Max II, Drunken Master, Rosemary’s Baby, Tokyo Monogatari, Tampopo, Fargo, Les Fugitifs, Hana-bi, Dirty Harry, Ronin, Cross of Iron, Bad Day at Black Rock, Manchurian Candidate,
anything withe cary grant for me, anything with Grace Kelly for her indoors, “the Odd Couple”for us both.
Yep, Dam Busters is a classic CK…& The Bridges at Toko-Ri. Also, luv Dirty Dozen, Battle of Britain, Bridge on the River Kwai, The Flight of the Phoenix , Zulu, Von Ryan’s Express, Where Eagles Dare, The Guns of Navarone, Tora, Tora, Tora, A Bridge Too Far…The Burmese Harp, Stalingrad, Day One, Battle of the Bulge, Catch 22, Full Metal Jacket, Memphis Belle…& yes, Empire of the Sun, Manchurian Candidate (original), Enemy At the Gates, Brotherhood of War, Joint Security Area, Dr. Strangelove…as you said “a pretty tough call”.
animated/anime: Nightmare Before Christmas, Final Fantasy, Spirited Away, Steamboy, Appleseed, Alice, Ice Age, Toy Story, Chicken Run, Wallace & Gromit (any) Finding Nemo, Shrek, Avalon, Howl’s Moving Castle, Little Otik…
anthony, i’d go Evil Dead 2…agree The Producers, Chinese Ghost Story, Dead Man, Mad Max 2 (& original), Drunken Master, Rosemary’s Baby, Tampopo, Fargo, Hana-bi, Dirty Harry, Cross of Iron.
and yes, cinema paridiso
also add some fave Canadian films: The Sweet Hereafter, Exotica, Le Confessional, Existenz, I’ve Heard the Mermaids Singing, Cube
No paticular order and why:
Mephisto (Szabo/Brandauer)
Nashville (Altman)
The Damned(Visconti)
Sin City(screenplay)
The Tracker(De Heer/Gulpilil/Sweet)
Nosferatu(Kinski)
Elizabeth(Blanchett)
Barry Lyndon(Stanley)
Pan’s Labyrinth(Kubrick)
3 Burials of Melquiades Estrada(TL Jones)
Opps,
Pan’s Labyrinth (the lullaby)
Animation. In no particular order.
Pinnochio – first movie I can remember seeing.
Snow White.
Cinderella.
Peter Pan.
Un-Disney: Shrek 1.
The one about the fish.
Guilty pleasure movies:
Flight of the Phoenix (the Original)
Dragonwyck. Vincent Price goes right over the top.
Gilda. Rita Hayworth … sigh.
Most movies starring Rock Hudson and Doris Day. Triumphs of art overnature.
These kept popping into my head during sleep:
Who’s Afraid of Virginnia Wolf?
Room at the Top
Goodbye Mr. Chips (Peter O’Toole)
Glory
Murder on the Orient Express
Working Class girl
Wall street
rope
Paul, it’s interesting that you say Paths of Glory made a real impression on you as a kid, but not so much later on. Different films really resonate at different times of our lives.
Thanks nasking for providing your top 100 and then more. Great list. I still don’t get the Donnie Darko thing, though. If anyone can explain, please do. You’ve got to love Elizabeth and Richard in Who’s Afraid. Yikes, a wonderful take on emotional illiteracy.
Never heard of that one, Fanny.
Whoever mentioned Sophie Scholl, I tried to watch it last night but the DVD from the video shop was scratched. Blah!!!
From the bits I saw, it looked terrific.
Su:
Of course!
Darlene:
And the drama “The Mission”.
And for music AND comedy “A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum”
Over 150 posts and rising …. Darlene, you have created a Frankenstein’s Monster here.
More absolutely essential films:-
Y Tu Mama Tambien (Gael Garcia Bernal)
The Birds (Hitchcock)
The Leopard (Visconti)
Burnt by the Sun (Nikita Mikhalkov)
Laura (Otto Preminger)
Easter Parade (Garland/Astaire)
Rebecca (Hitchcock)
Pride and Prejudice (Olivier/Garson)
The Razor’s Edge (Power/Tierney)
Camille (Garbo)
All About Eve (Bette Davis)
Atlantic City (Sarandon/Lancaster)
King Lear (Olivier)
Hamlet (Branagh)
Plenty (Streep)
Heavenly Creatures (Kate Winslet)
The Night of the Iguana (Huston)
African Queen (Huston)
Kiss of the Spider Woman (Hector Babenco)
Alien (Ridley Scott)
Guilty pleasures: bios of film actors.
The best:
Sarah Miles’s 3-volume memoirs: A Right Royal Bastard, Serves Me Right, Bolt from the Blue
Laurence Olivier – Donald Spoto
The Life of Richard Burton – Melvyn Bragg
Charlie Chaplin – Autobiography
films – better than politics!!
“Wake in Fright” – very good, saw it in a cinema; stunning. Filmed near Broken Hill?
Yes: “Dr Strangelove” was a documentary, and quite worrying. Peter Sellers, all the actors outstanding, Vera Lynn over closing “credits”.
Still find “Citizen Kane” marvellous, EVEN THOUGH it and “Battleship Potemkin” were overly praised in an old Pelican paperback from 1940’s (??) on cinema.
R o s e b u d…..
Jinmaro:
There have been some outstanding Russian films. You mentioned “Burnt By the Sun”; add to that “The Barber Of Siberia” [a coproduction; don't think it was released in Australia], “Siberiade”, an epic to rival “How The West Was Won” and of course, all those biting satires of the ‘Nineties like “Stary Kluchy”[a musical about three ladies who had been ripped off by a businessman].
for Lefty E –
for you Lusophiles (is that the right word?), there appears to be a Portuguese translation online of the great and hilarious Frank O’Hara poem, “To the Film Industry in Crisis,” which compasses much of what this whole thread is about. You can see it by Googling “estudos avancados” along with “to the film industry in crisis.” Since I don’t know any Portuguese, I can’t tell if it captures successfully what makes the poem so hilarious and moving.
“In time of crisis, we must all decide
again and again whom we love.
And give credit where it’s due…”
Nasking:
You did include “The Last Of The Mohicans” [the latest one, I trust]. I was about to accuse everyone of ignoring that brilliant, multifaceted and timeless story.
“Darlene:
And the drama “The Mission�.
And for music AND comedy “A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum�
Over 150 posts and rising …. Darlene, you have created a Frankenstein’s Monster here.”
Sure The Mission years ago. Beautiful soundtrack. Interesting, I don’t think anyone’s mentioned Schindler’s List. A fine fim that I could only watch once (again the soundtrack was wonderful).
Ahh, it’s a good monster though. I think people like talking about these things, as well as the more directly political stuff.
“Rebecca (Hitchcock)”. Wonderful. How much fun would it have been to have played the part of Mrs Danvers. Heavenly Creatures was Ms Winslet’s first film, I think.
Battleship Pometkin is probably more interesting from an historical perspective more than anything else (bit like Griffith’s notorious Birth of a Nation).
Graham Bell said:
“You did include “The Last Of The Mohicansâ€? [the latest one, I trust]. ”
yep…i love the pacing, cinematography, soundtrack & raw emotion expressed…& thinking of Daniel Day Lewis, i should’ve added ‘My Beautiful Laundrette’…& of course those Brit films that stuck w/ this lad from semi-Pommy background:
All or Nothing
High Hopes
Life is Sweet
Naked
Look Back in Anger
Saturday Night and Sunday Morning
The Dresser
The Duellists
Kes
The Spy Who Came in from the Cold
Sleuth
Kind Hearts and Coronets
Trainspotting
The Long Good Friday
Local Hero
The Italian Job
Dr. No
A Taste of Honey
Educating Rita
Remains of the Day
Women in Love
A Man for All Seasons
and as was mentioned: The Mission
and The Exorcist…can’t believe i forgot it.
some excellent films jinmaro…I even like The Razor’s Edge w/ Bill Murray in it…:)
Darlene, yer welcome…as for Donnie Darko, it touched that part of me that doubts the ‘reality’ as it is explained to us in school etc…that which queries the descriptions of the material world & physical laws that we use to make sense of our world…but sometimes just “don’t seem quite right”…it expressed the inexpressable…bit of a mystical journey i guess.
Perhaps Darlene you could examine one weekend the post 9/11 films & see if there has been any significant change in tone, self-censorship, quality, reliance on technology, budget etc?…just a thought.
That’s a very interesting idea about the 9/11 films. I have tended to avoid them (except for United 93). Will check the video store.
Darlene:
Is it too late to add “Fahrenheit 451″. especially its textless credits, and “Fame” and “Zardoz”?
“Battleship Potemkin” was pioneering as well as interesting; same goes for “Triumph Of The Will” …. and “Wizard of Oz” too.
Speaking of “Schindler’s List”: Thomas K was interviewed Tuesday morning’s ABC RN “Life Matters” about how he wrote the book [don't know if the interview is podcast].
I’ve always been a fan of Frankenstein’s monster, so here I go (again) contributing to its growth.
Animation.
The fish movie was Finding Nemo.
The Ice Age 1 & 2 – how could I forget them. As you may have gueseed I’m a bit of a fan of old Disney cartoon features. But, I found Bambi scary as a kid, teary as an adult. And thought the quality of the cartoon drawing went down hill from about Pooh or 1001 Dalmations – but that’s a subjective view.
When I saw Fantasia the Night on Bald Mountain sequence scared the bejeezus out of me. I actually had a panic attack and my mother had to take me out of the theatre. For an explanation of this reaction refer to Joyce’s novel Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man.
Saw Capote on DVD last night. Loved it.