Author Topic: Top Films of All Time  (Read 945015 times)

Sandy

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Re: Top Films of All Time
« Reply #3600 on: September 02, 2012, 06:07:04 PM »
72   The Village
Loads of stuff I would consider for my own list. And I'm sure there's other ones I'd enjoy too if I got around to watching them. :)
Whoa! I didn't know you liked this movie. Not many people seem to. I'll have to ask you about it sometime. :)
I'm just waiting for the blu-ray to come out so I can watch it again. It's such a good looking film, it deserves the high def treatment. Not sure what the delay is.

It's not in my top 100, but I really liked the film and always loved the way this scene was shot.  (SPOILER WARNING)

Arcade Fire, First Contact and now this perfect scene?! I knew there was a reason I liked you. :)


It's also not a case, for me, of rhetorically disallowing reasons for critics to make these lists. It is a case of questioning WHY it is done. If it is for dry academic reasons, then it has as much of a link to film-making, and whether I will like a film, as theoretical particle physics has to the workings of a television; as in, there is a direct link but it is a distant one. Breaking the link between writing about film, and subjectivity, is taking this distancing too far. The greatest example in these lists is the one director/ one film rule. This sets off all sorts of alarms. I liked that on the podcast, this was a major cause for concern. Taking it further, and allowing for only one genre has the torturous feeling of fingernails on a chalkboard. It is almost a self-declaration of "I'm lost somewhere up my own fundament". If the point is to propound the influence of any single film on a genre, then that is contradictory, since any genre film is influenced by dozens of earlier films.

Your own writing is a good example. You have a successful blog, but you haven't crossed that line, and don't seem to have any intention of doing so, away from subjective appreciations of movies. One example of a critic who has retained his subjectivity is Kermode, who I know you enjoy a lot. His list, even though he has to have it stand alongside the 'influencers" in these polls, is resolutely steeped in his favourite genres. His love for a film like We Need To Talk about Kevin, is so tied to what he loves in movies, that he is communicating at a high level with his reviews. He also championed Inception the year before. Now, I don't like either film much, but his criticism tells me, as much about films I won't like as those I will. What more could you want from a critic? This is their purpose, after all. Who do I trust to give me an idea of whether I will enjoy a film or not?

As you say, the academic approach to film, has a great value, but not to me, any more than I would appreciate the guys who theorised quantum physics when I turn my tv on and it works. The link is there but it's a cold trail.

I had to do a double take on this post. I thought I was reading something from smirnoff. You and he been talking? I really enjoyed reading your exchange with Lobby.

"I'm lost somewhere up my own fundament." ;D

Sandy

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Re: Top Films of All Time
« Reply #3601 on: September 02, 2012, 06:09:44 PM »
Totoro, I still need to get to The Earrings of Madame De... and Black Narcissus. Great list!

smirnoff

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Re: Top Films of All Time
« Reply #3602 on: September 02, 2012, 09:44:59 PM »
I had to do a double take on this post. I thought I was reading something from smirnoff.

Burn verbALs, compliment smirnoff. Win win. :))

sdedalus

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Re: Top Films of All Time
« Reply #3603 on: September 03, 2012, 02:07:58 AM »
Pictures and methodology at my website, along with a hypothetical Sight & Sound version Top Ten, but here's the Top 100 list I submitted:


1. Ordet (Carl Theodor Dreyer, 1955)

2. Summer Hours (Olivier Assayas, 2008)

3. Pierrot le fou (Jean-Luc Godard, 1965)

4. The Tales of Hoffman (Powell & Pressburger, 1951)

5. High Sierra (Raoul Walsh, 1941)

6. Gojira (Ishiro Honda, 1954)

7. Hero (Zhang Yimou, 2002)

8. Kill Bill Vol. 2 (Quentin Tarantino, 2004)

9. A Farewell to Arms (Frank Borzage, 1932)

10. The Leopard (Luchino Visconti, 1963)

11. A Canterbury Tale (Powell & Pressburger, 1944)

12. Masque of the Red Death (Roger Corman, 1964)

13. The Godfather (Francis Ford Coppola, 1972)

14. The Taking of Pelham One Two Three (Joseph Sargent, 1974)

15. What's Up, Tiger Lily? (Woody Allen, 1966)

16. Jeanne Dielman, 23 Quai du Commerce, 1080 Bruxelles (Chantal Ackerman, 1975)

17. Seventh Heaven (Frank Borzage, 1927)

18. Thieves' Highway (Jules Dassin, 1949)

19. Twentieth Century (Howard Hawks, 1934)

20. My Girlfriend's Boyfriend (Eric Rohmer, 1987)

21. Night on Earth (Jim Jarmusch, 1991)

22. Double Indemnity (Billy Wilder, 1944)

23. He Walked By Night (Alfred Werker & Anthony Mann, 1948)

24. A Day in the Country (Jean Renoir, 1936)

25. King Kong (Cooper & Schoedsack, 1933)

26. Police Story (Jackie Chan, 1985)

27. Don't Go Breaking My Heart (Johnnie To, 2011)

28. Punch-Drunk Love (Paul Thomas Anderson, 2002)

29. Masculin féminin (Jean-Luc Godard, 1966)

30. The Man with a Movie Camera (Dziga Vertov, 1929)

31. The Band Wagon (Vincente Minnelli, 1953)

32. Bonjour tristesse (Otto Preminger, 1958)

33. Citizen Kane (Orson Welles, 1941)

34. The Tall T (Budd Boetticher, 1957)

35. Early Summer (Yasujiro Ozu, 1951)

36. The Long Goodbye (Robert Altman, 1973)

37. Nights of Cabiria (Federico Fellini, 1957)

38. Magnificent Obsession (Douglas Sirk, 1954)

39. Breathless (Jean-Luc Godard, 1960)

40. Amélie (Jean-Pierre Jeunet, 2001)

41. Senso (Luchino Visconti, 1954)

42. Thomas Mao (Zhu Wen, 2010)

43. The Clock (Vincente Minnelli, 1945)

44. Climates (Nuri Bilge Ceylan, 2006)

45. The Quiet Man (John Ford, 1952)

46. Hatari! (Howard Hawks, 1962)

47. Stella Dallas (King Vidor, 1937)

48. Fantastic Mr. Fox (Wes Anderson, 2009)

49. Jason and the Argonauts (Don Chaffey, 1963)

50. All About Eve (Joseph L. Mankiewicz, 1950)

51. Orphans of the Storm (DW Griffith, 1921)

52. Shock Corridor (Samuel Fuller, 1963)

53. LA Story (Mick Jackson, 1991)

54. Curse of the Demon (Jacques Tourneur, 1957)

55. Exiled (Johnnie To, 2006)

56. Band of Outsiders (Jean-Luc Godard, 1964)

57. Wagon Master (John Ford, 50)

58. God of Gamblers (Wong Jing, 1989)

59. Flags of Our Fathers (Clint Eastwood, 2006)

60. Vertigo (Alfred Hitchcock, 1958)

61. Going My Way (Leo McCarey, 1944)

62. Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (Pedro Almodóvar, 1988)

63. 35 Shots of Rum (Claire Denis, 2008)

64. Pulp Fiction (Quentin Tarantino, 1994)

65. Millennium Mambo (Hou Hsiao-hsien, 2001)

66. Raise the Red Lantern (Zhang Yimou, 1991)

67. The Adventures of Robin Hood (Michael Curtiz, 1938)

68. The Most Dangerous Game (Pichel & Schoedsack, 1932)

69. It's Always Fair Weather (Donen & Kelly, 1955)

70. Ran (Akira Kurosawa, 1985)

71. Anchorman (Adam McKay, 2004)

72. Enter the Dragon (Robert Clouse, 1973)

73. 24 City (Jia Zhangke, 2008)

74. Un chien andalou (Luis Buñuel, 1929)

75. In the Mood for Love (Wong Kar-wai, 2000)

76. Bigger than Life (Nicholas Ray, 1956)

77. The Dawn Patrol (Howard Hawks, 1930)

78. Brief Encounter (David Lean, 1945)

79. Dragon Inn (King Hu, 1967)

80. Monsieur Verdoux (Charles Chaplin, 1947)

81. Zelig (Woody Allen, 1983)

82. A Brighter Summer Day (Edward Yang, 1991)

83. An American in Paris (Vincente Minnelli, 1951)

84. Airplane! (Zucker, Abrahams, Zucker, 1980)

85. Hell in the Pacific (John Boorman, 1968)

86. Some Came Running (Vincente Minnelli, 1958)

87. No Greater Glory (Frank Borzage, 1934)

88. The Big Red One (Samuel Fuller, 1980)

89. Slacker (Richard Linklater, 1991)

90. Under Capricorn (Alfred Hitchcock, 1949)

91. Ninotchka (Ernst Lubitsch, 1939)

92. Charulata (Satyajit Ray, 1964)

93. I'm Not There (Todd Haynes, 2007)

94. True Heart Susie (DW Griffith, 1919)

95. Ghostbusters (Ivan Reitman, 1984)

96. Killer of Sheep (Charles Burnett, 1979)

97. Oki's Movie (Hong Sangsoo, 2010)

98. Age of Consent (Michael Powell, 1969)

99. The Magnificent Ambersons (Orson Welles, 1942)

100. Mon oncle d'Amérique (Alain Resnais, 1980)
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verbALs

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Re: Top Films of All Time
« Reply #3604 on: September 03, 2012, 05:37:51 AM »
I had to do a double take on this post. I thought I was reading something from smirnoff.

Burn verbALs, compliment smirnoff. Win win. :))
I feel barbecued :)
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oldkid

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Re: Top Films of All Time
« Reply #3605 on: September 03, 2012, 09:47:47 AM »
What a great list, sdedalus.  I love that Ordet is your top winner.  The rest of the list, of the ones I have seen, are truly magnificent films (with a couple exceptions... Jason and the Argonauts, really?)  But some standouts for me (apart from the usual):

Kill Bill Vol 2
The Quiet Man
LA Story
Zelig
I'm Not There

And I love the guts you have to put Ghostbusters on your list.  I think many of us should have it on our list, but we feel it's too silly to make our noble top 100.  Or maybe that's just me.  I'm reconsidering it for my 100 this year.
"It's not art unless it has the potential to be a disaster." Bansky

sdedalus

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Re: Top Films of All Time
« Reply #3606 on: September 03, 2012, 10:40:11 AM »
Like Ghostbusters, Jason and the Argonauts is a movie I loved as a kid and have revisited and loved just as much as an adult.  They are both pretty much perfect, I think.  Jason is easily the best Ray Harryhausen I've seen: the skeleton battle is one of the all-time great fight scenes.
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smirnoff

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Re: Top Films of All Time
« Reply #3607 on: September 03, 2012, 11:13:29 AM »
7. Hero (Zhang Yimou, 2002)

Maybe this is the boost Hero needs to make the top 100!

smirnoff

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Re: Top Films of All Time
« Reply #3608 on: September 03, 2012, 11:41:38 AM »
Disclaimer: It's a long weekend and I had time to experiment. Feel free to skip it all!!!



Explanation 2: I wanted to categorize the films in my list in a way that went beyond genre. Something less specific, and more personal. Without bothering to really sort out what I meant, I came up with three categories. I didn't fuss a lot over the getting the wording right for each category, I just included some vague descriptors that seems to loosely fit the distinctions I had in my head.

Category 1: emotional power, escape, story
Category 2: philosophy, insights, contemplative
Category 3: more purely entertainment


I then color coded my list based on what I considered the predominant quality I responded to.  And in some cases, if I felt there was a secondary quality that was fairly significant importance, I allowed for that as well.

How to read the list:

Each category is represented by a colour. The background colour is the predominant quality, and the text colour is the seconardy quality (if any).

For example: when I watch #1 True Grit my response to the film is predominantly emotional (represented by blue in the background). It doesn't necessarily lack in the other categories, but they are not the predominant reason it ranks on my top 100. Thus the text is black, indicating no other secondary qualities of serious significance.

Whereas #12 Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy is in my top 100 on the strength of it's "pure entertainment" qualities, like humour, first and formost (thus green, in the background). However, I also can't deny the importance of it's philosophical side to me. It's a big enough part of why I put it on this list that I felt I needed to point that out (thus the text is red).

Thoughts and results:

It is a little cumbersome to read, that can't be denied. My hope was to have each pick say a little more than it might've, and emphasize which films I look to for which purposes. I also thought that perhaps the list could work the same way as a political compass, and show tendencies in certain directions.

48% of films are predominantly Category 1, and 4% of films are secondarily Category 1.
10% of films are predominantly Category 2, and 18% of films are secondarily Category 2.
42% of films are predominantly Category 3, and 3% of films are secondarily Category 3.

You can spend all day interpreting the results, I just wanted each pick to tell a bit of a story.

Cheers if you made sense of any of this! :))



Click to enlarge


* denotes the film has been blessed with an amazing
score I enjoy listening to independently.
« Last Edit: November 02, 2016, 09:48:17 PM by smirnoff »

sdedalus

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Re: Top Films of All Time
« Reply #3609 on: September 03, 2012, 12:10:59 PM »
Some stats from my list:

Decade distribution:

10: 1
20: 4
30: 10
40: 12
50: 19
60: 14
70: 6
80: 10
90: 6
00: 14
10: 3

National Distribution:

China/HK/Taiwan: 12
France: 12
England: 4
Japan: 3
Italy: 3
Denmark: 1
USSR: 1
India: 1
S. Korea: 1
Turkey: 1
Spain: 1
USA: 61

Director Distribution:

Vincente Minnelli: 4
Jean-Luc Godard: 4
Howard Hawks: 3
Frank Borzage: 3
Michael Powell: 3
DW Griffith: 2
Alfred Hitchcock: 2
Orson Welles: 2
Samuel Fuller: 2
Woody Allen: 2
Luchino Visconti: 2
Quentin Tarantino: 2
Zhang Yimou: 2
John Ford: 2
Johnnie To: 2
All Others: 63
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