Author Topic: Top 100 Club: etdoesgood  (Read 18743 times)

Eric/E.T.

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Top 100 Club: etdoesgood
« on: January 30, 2020, 08:02:13 PM »
Mr. Steve the oldkid must be crazy for letting this happen.  ;D

My First Ever All-Time Top 100 List

I'm pretty straightforward about the fact that I have watched more new (to me) movies in the past three years - new releases and past works - than I have in probably the rest of my life combined. There are a fair few formative films that I watched a lot beginning in childhood, featured here, starting with my first ever favorite movies, The Sound of Music and The Neverending Story, but in a sense I'm also in a very formative time for my flim-viewing right now.

At the same time, I wanted to take part with my own list because I figured that no matter how many films you've seen or how long you've been watching, you can always point people toward something new or something they'd been putting off. Thanks for letting me be part of your film viewing this February, I look forward to your replies.

Also to note: I decided at the end to add Bicycle Thieves because it's one that I came to by first watching Shoeshine off Bluevoid's list last month, and, while being an excellent film in its own right, it also is a building block for many other socially-conscious films I have come to love. Just makes sense to make a place for it.
« Last Edit: January 30, 2020, 08:22:10 PM by etdoesgood »
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1SO

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Re: Top 100 Club: etdoesgood
« Reply #1 on: January 30, 2020, 10:54:11 PM »
If you haven't figured it out, I'm the person who is always watching. I will watch almost anything and I've seen over 12,000 features.

There are 12 titles in your Top 100 I haven't seen. If you arrange your list by Popularity, the Bottom 11 are all among my Unwatched. The 12th title is Columbus which I should be getting to in a couple of months.

I am most happy to see Blackfish. It is a favorite of mine, though I tend to be a poor judge of documentaries.

Sandy

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Re: Top 100 Club: etdoesgood
« Reply #2 on: January 30, 2020, 11:04:43 PM »
etdoesgood, welcome to the semi-uncomfortable world of having your favorite films scrutinized! :)

I'll watch:

Columbus
Okja
Winter's Bone

Eric/E.T.

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Re: Top 100 Club: etdoesgood
« Reply #3 on: January 30, 2020, 11:13:08 PM »
If you haven't figured it out, I'm the person who is always watching. I will watch almost anything and I've seen over 12,000 features.

There are 12 titles in your Top 100 I haven't seen. If you arrange your list by Popularity, the Bottom 11 are all among my Unwatched. The 12th title is Columbus which I should be getting to in a couple of months.

I am most happy to see Blackfish. It is a favorite of mine, though I tend to be a poor judge of documentaries.

I have definitely noticed! I don't know if you're the longest standing member here, but when I am looking through replies, I have this vision of you as a mix of the board's Godfather and Fairy Godmother lol. I know you know your shit.

And I read your comment on making lists brick-by-brick and thought of that when I made this. For me, that meant obviously I want what I feel the best films I've seen are, but I also feel there's room for films that have had the highest impact on me, as a film-viewer and person, as well as those that have changed the world. When it comes to documentaries, there are several levels here. When it comes to Blackfish, I think its greatness lies primarily in its cultural impact beyond craft. It spurred me to travel several hours over to San Diego on multiple occasions to protest in front of Sea World. I didn't bring it into the classroom at all, but students began hearing about it at our school and began questioning our science teacher's field trips there. I WILL say, as a result I got more interested in whales, and for three years before I moved from that area, I had my kids fund raise to do a whale-watching expedition during Gray Whale migration. Now, I might not personally take Top 100 to mean Top 100 Films that Spurred the Most Change, but Blackfish made me realize what power film can have beyond artistry. That's why it's there. Project Nim and Crude are politically agreeable films to me, but I also find the former to be a penetrating look at what we mean by humanity and humane, while the latter excels as each a suspenseful procedural, portrait of human neglect, and a searing critique of capitalism. The one film here that's almost purely sentimental is Heaven Adores You, because Elliott Smith has gotten me through a lot, and I feel the doc is incredibly moving and worthy of his legacy. All excellent to me, but in very different ways.

Sorry, lots of writing, but it was something I was dying to explain.  :) Even if no one asked.

Sandy: Looking forward to your opinions, good or bad! It is weird, but being in front of a room of 30-40 tweens and early teens all day, every day means one gets used to being scrutinized. Just maybe not quite so much on an intellectual level (no offense to my kids, they're awesome and brilliant, but still 11-14), but my skin is about 6 inches thick. It'll be fun.
« Last Edit: January 31, 2020, 12:30:37 AM by etdoesgood »
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1SO

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Re: Top 100 Club: etdoesgood
« Reply #4 on: January 31, 2020, 12:17:30 AM »
I have definitely noticed! I don't know if you're the longest standing member here, but when I am looking through replies, I have this vision of you as a mix of the board's Godfather and Fairy Godmother lol. I know you know your shit.
Not the longest standing - Junior, smirnoff, Bondo - but perhaps the one with the most free time, and I would say my wisdom is highly questionable.

Can't tell what I plan to watch. I have a good reason to see many of the possibilities and you've just given me one for Heaven Adores You.

Bondo

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Re: Top 100 Club: etdoesgood
« Reply #5 on: January 31, 2020, 05:58:58 AM »
Ten unseen for me, and they are very streaming/library friendly.

No One Knows About Persian Cats and Turtles Can Fly are on Hulu
3 Faces, Crude and Little Feet on Kanopy
Abre Los Ojos, Project Nim and Quinceanera at my library
Only Heaven Adores You and Simon of the Desert not readily available (at no cost)

I suppose it has been long enough since I watched Vanilla Sky for Abre Los Ojos to be fresh. Not sure exactly which I'll get to but I imagine 3 Faces, as a Filmspot eligible film and the highest ranked on your list, will be my priority.

colonel_mexico

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Re: Top 100 Club: etdoesgood
« Reply #6 on: February 05, 2020, 11:36:22 PM »
I did not get to quite make many posts for January, but I hope to find a quiet evening to watch ME AND YOU AND EVERYONE WE KNOW
"What do you want me to do draw you a picture?! Spell it out?! Don't ever ask me, as long as you live don't ever ask me more!"

Bondo

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Re: Top 100 Club: etdoesgood
« Reply #7 on: February 10, 2020, 10:07:35 PM »
No One Knows About Persian Cats

I can think of a few movies that have as their spine a sequence of musical performances and build a story around them, but few have done it as successfully as this one. Digging into the suppression of artistic expression in Iran, this focuses on Negar and Ashkan, bandmates in search of backing musicians and a way out of Iran. The former provides the reason to introduce the slate of real-life bands that run the gamut of styles while the latter provides a running sense of tension because you know they won't be safe until they get out (or give up).

When I wasn't enjoying the music, I was connecting with Negar. It was the scenes where she is sidelined in favor of Ashkan and his other musical buddies that got closest to pushing me out of the film. There are a lot of very excitable sounding scenes between men whose subtitles do not seem to justify the energy. Shot in a necessarily real style, it does feel largely grounded, rarely feeling like it is reaching to make a point.

Good start to my month in the Club.

Eric/E.T.

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Re: Top 100 Club: etdoesgood
« Reply #8 on: February 11, 2020, 12:05:06 AM »
When I saw you rated this on Letterboxd, I came here straight away.

Thanks for responding! I'll have more time when I'm slightly less tired. Long Monday.
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Sandy

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Re: Top 100 Club: etdoesgood
« Reply #9 on: February 12, 2020, 03:18:03 PM »
Winter's Bone



I'll show up at the table
Again and again and again...
I've got my roots down down down... deep
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I try and not get swallowed up in the futility of raising two siblings, caring for a mother, and running a homestead in the heart of an outlaw Ozark community. I can't fathom how Ree Dolly can pull this off, except she seems to be able to do the unfathomable again and again. As an outsider, I'm left with consternation on how this is all to be done, but these are her mountains, and her kin, and her code of conduct. This is the world she knows and since she consistently shows her mettle, I realize that if anyone can succeed in this uphill battle, she can.