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Author Topic: Oldkid's Ultimately Cool (And Long) Top 100 Marathon  (Read 75443 times)

oldkid

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Oldkid's Ultimately Cool (And Long) Top 100 Marathon
« on: July 21, 2010, 01:26:05 AM »
So the next top 100 is in December*, and I'm getting revved up for it.  I've been examining last year's top 100, and my list is so... inadequate.  It needs some serious help.  There's a lot I want to add, and some I need to seriously consider.  So I've got more than a hundred sixty on my possible list.  That means I'd better get started right away.  So I will.  But to fill it out, I need your help.

Take a look at my list, if you care to.  Then, many of you knowing the kind of film I like, tell me what you think is missing off of my list.  I'll pick 25-30 of them to watch and add to my list.  Then I will be watching every movie by December (I hope), and my final list will be formed, bit by bit.  Thus, it will be a bunch of movies I loved with a few that my friends think I will love.  It's a win-win for me.

Let the discussion begin!  :)

*It turns out I was in error about the top 100-- it was in September only a month after I began this marathon of a marathon.  So I guess I'm getting ready for next year!  This means a more flexible, longer marathon and more fun to be had!

My "Table of Contents" is on the next post where each review posted is linked.

Movies I'm Adding to my Top 160 at the Recommendation of My Friends:
Die Hard
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
Canterbury Tale
Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring
Three Kings
Repulsion
The New World
Ratcatcher
The Great Dictator
Army of Shadows
Night at the Opera
Grizzly Man
A Letter To Three Women
A Woman In The Dunes
Harold and Maude
The Conversation
Gallipoli
Breaker Morant
Scarecrow
Emperor of the North
The Science of Sleep
Au Revoir Les Enfants
The 400 Blows
Do The Right Thing
The Big Lebowski
Black Narcissus
The Red Shoes
The Life And Death of Colonel Blimp
The Apartment
Mister Roberts
Ed Wood
Three Comrades
Lucky Star
Grave of the Fireflies
All About My Mother
Adventures of Robin Hood
Hero
Wild Strawberries
Wings of Desire
Still Walking
Nights of Cabiria
Fizcarraldo
Hidden Fortress
Ran-- Why do I have this on my list? I already saw it and feel solid about my evaluation
Out of the Past
Ostrov
Vanilla Sky/Open Your Eyes
Walkabout
Picnic At Hanging Rock
Night Moves
Notorious
Rebecca
« Last Edit: April 01, 2011, 01:10:53 AM by oldkid »
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oldkid

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Re: Oldkid's Ultimately Cool (And Long) Top 100 Marathon
« Reply #1 on: July 21, 2010, 01:29:27 AM »
Oldkid's Top 160 (or so) in no particular order:

Red Beard
Sunrise
Pyassa
Raising Arizona
Dear Zachary
The Passion of Joan of Arc
Joyeux Noel
Son of Rambow
Notting Hill
In America
Secondhand Lions
Planet Terror
A Serious Man
Where The Wild Things Are
The Brothers Bloom
A Short Film About Killing
A Short Film About Love
Ordet
The Double Life of Veronique
Hunger
The Lives of Others
Requiem for a Dream
Spirited Away  
The Mission  
8 ½  
Wall-E
Wendy and Lucy
Finding Nemo  
Pan’s Labyrinth
Apocalypse Now (Redux)
Being There
Memento
Pulp Fiction
The Godfather Part II  
Synecdoche, New York
Lawrence of Arabia
Modern Times
Adaptation
American Splendor
AI: Artificial Intelligence
M
Dead Man Walking
Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind
Seven Samurai
Unforgiven
Before Sunset
Three Colors: White  
City Lights  
Saving Private Ryan
City of God  
Paprika
Blade Runner
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Sling Blade
Network
Dr. Strangelove or, How I Learned To Stop Worrying and Love The Bomb
Brazil
Rashomon
Who Framed Roger Rabbit?
Children of Men
The Player
Hotel Rwanda
The Fog of War
The Princess Bride
The Lion King
Rear Window
The Emperor’s New Groove
Duck Soup
Three Colors: Blue  
When Harry met Sally
Up  
Once Upon A Time In The West  
Rainman
Lars and the Real Girl
Kill Bill Vol. II
Edward Scissorhands
Taxi Driver
To Kill a Mockingbird
Le Samourai
Shaun of the Dead
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade coming soon!!!
2001: A Space Odyssey
Silence of the Lambs
Schindler’s List
Fantasia
A Scanner Darkly  
Cast Away
Gladiator
Amadeus
The Fisher King
Big Fish
Elephant
Gosford Park
Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl
It’s a Wonderful Life
Lord of the Rings: Return of the King
Citizen Kane
Star Wars Episode IV—A New Hope
The Prestige
Salaam Bombay
The Dark Knight The Dark Knight
Monty Python and the Holy Grail
The Empire Strikes Back
United 93
O Brother Where Art Thou?
Mary Poppins
Schitzopolis
Master and Commander: The Far Side of the World
The Third Man
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
Princess Mononoke
The Gods Must Be Crazy
The Green Mile  
Nightmare before Christmas
Brick
Paranoid Park
The Man Without A Past
50 First Dates
The Matrix
The Pianist
Kung Fu Hustle  
Zelig
Fight Club
Young Frankenstein
Serenity
This is Spinal Tap
The Perfect Storm
Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan
The Truman Show
Parenthood
Finding Neverland
Rushmore
My Man Godfrey
Traffic
Stranger Than Fiction
Happy Feet
Chinatown
West Side Story
Buckaroo Bonsai Across the Eighth Dimension coming soon!!!
About A Boy
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire  coming soon!!!
The Queen
The Ten Commandments
A Man For All Seasons
Fiddler on the Roof
Double Indemnity
There Will Be Blood
I Heart Huckabees
Bloody Sunday
My Neighbor Totoro
Toy Story 2
Redbelt
His Girl Friday
Malcolm X
You Can’t Take It With You
District 9
A Night At Maud’s
Groundhog day
In the Mood For Love
2046
Tideland
Lilo and Stitch
I'm Not There
Amelie
Terminator 2
The Last Temptation of Christ
Close Encounters of the Third Kind
Die Hard
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
Canterbury Tale
Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter... and Spring
Three Kings
Repulsion
The New World
Ratcatcher
The Great Dictator
Army of Shadows
Night at the Opera
Grizzly Man
A Letter To Three Women
A Woman In The Dunes
Harold and Maude  coming soon!!!!
The Conversation
Gallipoli
Breaker Morant
Scarecrow coming soon!!!!
Emperor of the North
The Science of Sleep
Au Revoir Les Enfants
The 400 Blows
Do The Right Thing
The Big Lebowski
Black Narcissus
The Life And Death of Colonel Blimp
Grave of the Fireflies
All About My Mother
The Apartment
Y Tu Mama Tambien
Adventures of Robin Hood
Hero
Wild Strawberries
Wings of Desire
Still Walking
Nights of Cabiria
Fizcarraldo coming soon!
Hidden Fortres
Ran
Out of the Past
Ostrov
Vanilla Sky/Open Your Eyes
Walkabout
Picnic At Hanging Rock
Night Moves
The Son
Mister Roberts

« Last Edit: September 07, 2010, 01:19:00 AM by oldkid »
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1SO

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Re: Oldkid's Ultimately Cool (And Long) Top 100 Marathon
« Reply #2 on: July 21, 2010, 01:40:03 AM »
I don't see Die Hard or Back to the Future on your list.

I have to ask about...

Night of the Hunter
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
Singing in the Rain

Also, I plugged your index into IMDB keywords and their best match was Operation Dumbo Drop
« Last Edit: July 21, 2010, 01:43:20 AM by 1SO »

oldkid

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Re: Oldkid's Ultimately Cool (And Long) Top 100 Marathon
« Reply #3 on: July 21, 2010, 01:46:14 AM »
I don't see Die Hard or Back to the Future on your list.

I have to ask about...

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
Singing in the Rain

Also, I plugged your index into IMDB keywords and their best match was Operation Dumbo Drop

I should throw Die Hard on there, that's true, just to see where it lands.  Sorry, BttFites.

The only time I saw One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest was less than a year after I had read the novel, so I hated everything it changed from the novel.  I suppose I can watch it again because after more than 20 years a few of the details have faded.

Singing in the Rain?  Good, but not good enough to get on my top 100.

Operation Dumbo Drop?  Really?  After Netflix is back online, I'll see what they consider my opinion of this... movie... will be.
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Re: Oldkid's Ultimately Cool (And Long) Top 100 Marathon
« Reply #4 on: July 21, 2010, 01:49:34 AM »
I feel like any marathon in this vein has to have some Borzage in it. So, depending on your access and their availability, I reccomend Three Comrades, The Mortal Storm, or Lucky Star. The Mortal Storm is coming to TCM on August 16th and Lucky Star is on Netflix. Three Comrades is orderable from the Warner Archives but is also kind of expensive.  Or you can watch Three Comrades on youtube if you don't mind the idea of it.

Here's the first section.

thcoa
« Last Edit: July 21, 2010, 02:00:35 AM by Junior »
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oldkid

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Re: Oldkid's Ultimately Cool (And Long) Top 100 Marathon
« Reply #5 on: July 21, 2010, 02:09:31 AM »
In the last couple weeks I've already watched a couple of my marathon picks, so I suppose I'll start with them.



The Dark Knight



My second watch, this time on my laptop screen instead of IMAX.  It was just as amazing.  Christopher Bale is pretty dull in this, but Heath Ledger and Aaron Eckhart (who I just saw in Black Daliha)  and Gary Oldman more than make up for Bale’s Keanu-Reeves-ness.  It is smart reflection on human nature.  And the variety of ethical parables that make up this film make my heart beat faster than five hours of top notch special effects.  It is also refreshing to have a truly evil villain—not strictly mad, but completely and brilliantly sociopathic— in order to experience true fear of him. Perhaps it is a little bit of a mess.  If so, it is a perfect messterpiece.  I don’t see how Nolan can top this.  If Inception comes even close to this, it will be worth the money wasted on the theatre that ruined my experience of Toy Story 3.  

Technical-- 4/5-- The storytelling is convoluted a couple times.  Generally excellent, however.
Interest-- 5/5-- Never a dull moment.  Sometimes I needed to pause just to catch my breath.
Tension--5/5-- One of the most intense movies I've ever seen.
Emotional--3/5-- I really struggled personally with some of the situations the Joker set up. 
Characters--3/5-- Ledger's Joker is perfect.  Bale's Batman was a bit dull.  Overall, alright.
Theme-- 4/5-- Holding to one's principles in the face of pure evil.  Well done, even if the theme does get muddied in the plot.
Ethics--5/5-- Not because the ethics are perfect, but because of the ethical struggle the whole movie posed.  I prefer an ethical exercise rather than a sermon.
Personal--3/5-- In general, I can resonate with the struggle to maintain principle when it doesn't seem correct.  But the stakes in the movie are too high to really identify with.


In America



Also my second watch.  In the family, every character is distinct and well developed, but the family as a unit is also perfectly realized.  And then the inclusion of Djimon Hounsou to shake the family up is simply wonderful.  This is the only movie I can think of that both times I watched it I thought, "This is a perfect film."  There are other films that hit all the emotional moments and have wonderful characters, but few that I appreciate so much being a part of their lives, if only for a short time.

Technical-- 5/5-- Well crafted film.
Interest-- 4/5-- I only lost interest the first time I watched the first scenes.  But they soon captured me.
Tension--4/5-- The scene at the carnival.  The dual sickbed scenes.  Totally intense.
Emotional--5/5-- I cried both times I saw this film.
Characters-- 5/5-- This is the real strength of the film.  I have never seen a whole family, including children, presented with such completeness.  I know these people.  I want to know them better.
Theme--2/5-- Not literary in that way, really.  Allowing oneself to feel is a major theme.
Ethics--3/5-- The occasional interesting ethical situation.  How should we deal with addicts who ask us for money?  How do we best raise our children in a frightening environment? 
Personal--3/5-- Just in the raising of my two girls. The joy of the family reminds me of the best times with my family. 


Top 100 List, thus far:
1. In America
2. The Dark Knight
« Last Edit: August 02, 2010, 02:43:40 AM by oldkid »
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Re: Oldkid's Ultimately Cool (And Long) Top 100 Marathon
« Reply #6 on: July 21, 2010, 02:34:22 AM »
I'm not recommending Op Dumb Drop.  Far from it.  Just saying...

stevekimes Top 100 Index

Movies about war

Dystopias

A dystopia is often characterized by an authoritarian or totalitarian form of government. It usually features different kinds of repressive social control systems, a lack or total absence of individual freedoms and expressions and a state of constant warfare or violence. A dystopian society is also often characterized by mass poverty for most of its inhabitants and a large military-like police force.
PLOT:
To keep the loyalty of an impoverished native village during the Vietnam war, an Army unit struggles to deliver a live elephant.

Disney, not including Pixar

Movies whose soundtrack or score would have made them great on their own
"GIMME SOME LOVIN'" - Performed by The Spencer Davis Group
"YOU'SE A SON OF A GUN" - Performed by Marvin Gaye
"(YOUR LOVE KEEPS LIFTING ME) HIGHER AND HIGHER" - Performed by Jackie Wilson
"HANG ON SLOOPY" - Performed by The McCoys
"THINK" - Performed by Aretha Franklin
"QUEEN OF THE NIGHT ARIA" - from "The Magic Flute" - Composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
"WHEN I SEE AN ELEPHANT FLY" - From Dumbo

Movies based on real historic events

Movies involving social criticism

Movies involving France
- (Tchéky Karyo has a large part in it)

oldkid

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Re: Oldkid's Ultimately Cool (And Long) Top 100 Marathon
« Reply #7 on: July 21, 2010, 02:52:49 AM »
I'm not recommending Op Dumb Drop.  Far from it.  Just saying...

stevekimes Top 100 Index

Movies about war

Dystopias

A dystopia is often characterized by an authoritarian or totalitarian form of government. It usually features different kinds of repressive social control systems, a lack or total absence of individual freedoms and expressions and a state of constant warfare or violence. A dystopian society is also often characterized by mass poverty for most of its inhabitants and a large military-like police force.
PLOT:
To keep the loyalty of an impoverished native village during the Vietnam war, an Army unit struggles to deliver a live elephant.

Disney, not including Pixar

Movies whose soundtrack or score would have made them great on their own
"GIMME SOME LOVIN'" - Performed by The Spencer Davis Group
"YOU'SE A SON OF A GUN" - Performed by Marvin Gaye
"(YOUR LOVE KEEPS LIFTING ME) HIGHER AND HIGHER" - Performed by Jackie Wilson
"HANG ON SLOOPY" - Performed by The McCoys
"THINK" - Performed by Aretha Franklin
"QUEEN OF THE NIGHT ARIA" - from "The Magic Flute" - Composed by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
"WHEN I SEE AN ELEPHANT FLY" - From Dumbo

Movies based on real historic events

Movies involving social criticism

Movies involving France
- (Tchéky Karyo has a large part in it)

LOL.  Wow, poverty, war, Motown and France.  How could this movie miss?

And yet... it does. 
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Re: Oldkid's Ultimately Cool (And Long) Top 100 Marathon
« Reply #8 on: July 21, 2010, 03:11:29 AM »
Out of the 160, which ones haven't you seen?

Didn't like Three Colors: Red as much as the other two?

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Re: Oldkid's Ultimately Cool (And Long) Top 100 Marathon
« Reply #9 on: July 21, 2010, 03:15:07 AM »
How about some Powell & Pressburger?  The Red Shoes and Black Narcissus of course, but I bet you'd really like A Canterbury Tale.
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