Thomas P's Top 50 [Archive]

ThomasP

06-11-13, 11:27 AM

I attempted a top one-hundred recently, but failed miserably. (I've been extremely busy with exams and I was quite lazy with the list.)

However, I've decided to start a new thread/topic on my fifty favourite films. Each choice will have an explanation as they don't necessarily rest upon my satisfaction levels.

50. Breathless (1960)

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JLG is my favourite filmmaker, and when I first watched Breathless, I didn’t think any of his other films were going to top it. However, when I watched those films, I soon realised that Breathless was in fact one of his weaker efforts. (You can expect to see me or his films crop up on the list.)

That said, Breathless is a gritty and engaging first feature. It lays down most of the Godardian repertoire that the later films would build upon; less characteristic of Godard's later work are the superb jazz score, and a relatively coherent and continuous narrative.

49. Mulholland Drive (2001)

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I’m still trying to figure out exactly what Mulholland Drive is all about; after four viewings, I doubt I ever will, but the challenge, the thought needed to be put into the film is exactly what makes it a masterpiece.

Lynch also makes a great satire on Hollywood with this film, and I’m sure I’ll return to it over and over again.

48. Scarface (1932)

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Unlike Brian De Palma’s overrated 1983 version, Howard Hawks’ Scarface is a dark, brutal, exhilaratingly violent film, blending comedy and horror perfectly. It’s thrilling on all levels, and features on George Raft’s best performances.

47. The Wind Will Cary Us (1999)

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In my top one-hundred thread, I placed Close-Up, Abbas Kiarostami’s most known and acclaimed film, in at 91. The Wind Will Carry Us, however, is undoubtedly his richest and most challenging film. It’s one of the best films that’s about nothing and everything at the same time.

46. The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962)

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The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance is much more of a personal choice than the films featured above. I’ve always been intrigued by Ford’s style, and having Wayne and Stewart collab like this was sensational. So to was Lee Marvin and Vera Miles.

Acting wise this, along How Green Was My Valley, is Ford’s finest actors’ film.

HitchFan97

06-11-13, 11:54 AM

Breathless and Mulholland Drive? Damn, now that's how you start a list. :up:

The Gunslinger45

06-11-13, 12:14 PM

Hell of a start! Looking forward to the rest!

Daniel M

06-11-13, 12:16 PM

donniedarko

06-11-13, 12:41 PM

I've seen the first three films. I believe Breathless is Godards greatest film, and that after he reached fame he fell into a world of deep ego and a sense of that artistic freedom must be used. That being said, Breathless was an admirable film, which brought out the hand held camera in film. Mulholland Drive is one of Lynches many masterpieces, and one of the best modern films. The original Scarface is the one I've seen, and I found it flat. It's an Ok film overall due to a couple uplifting scenes and the ending. I've not heard of The Wind will Carry us but The Man who Shot Liberty Valance is one of the few westerns I want to see. Unique start to the list, looking forward to the rest :up:

ThomasP

06-12-13, 04:14 AM

Breathless and Mulholland Drive? Damn, now that's how you start a list. :up:

Haha, thanks. :up:

Masterman

06-12-13, 04:16 AM

I've seen 0 of them :), but ill keep checking in.

ThomasP

06-12-13, 04:16 AM

This list seems like something I am going to love, two top choices in Mulholland Drive and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, the first a lot of people love but the latter really is one of the best Westerns, I need to watching it again, I loved the ending. I really want to see both Breathless and Scarface, not heard of the other film but I will add it to my watchlist :)

It wouldn't have added Valance had I not seen again recently. But watching again really made me realise how much I love the film!

I've seen the first three films. I believe Breathless is Godards greatest film, and that after he reached fame he fell into a world of deep ego and a sense of that artistic freedom must be used. That being said, Breathless was an admirable film, which brought out the hand held camera in film. Mulholland Drive is one of Lynches many masterpieces, and one of the best modern films. The original Scarface is the one I've seen, and I found it flat. It's an Ok film overall due to a couple uplifting scenes and the ending. I've not heard of The Wind will Carry us but The Man who Shot Liberty Valance is one of the few westerns I want to see. Unique start to the list, looking forward to the rest :up:

Hopefully I'll be able to explain with the other Godard choices why I think they're better.

Shame about Scarface, though.

I've seen 0 of them :), but ill keep checking in.

Get watching them, then. :P

TylerDurden99

06-12-13, 04:17 AM

:up: for Mulholland Drive.

Tyler1

06-12-13, 07:47 AM

It's great to see a Kiarostami film on someone's list.

ThomasP

06-12-13, 08:01 AM

It's great to see a Kiarostami film on someone's list.

Thanks. He really is great, though I've only seen four of his films.

ThomasP

06-12-13, 08:53 AM

45. La Jetée (1962)

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Like Sans Soleil, Marker’s 1983 film, La Jetée speaks to issues around time and memory, but this film is much more accessible—and thrilling. The bittersweet music, the narrator’s steady voice that sounds like a scientist’s, the museum-quality photos, and the gripping plot all make “La Jetée” an inimitable experience.

44. Shoah (1985)

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I have a problem with most Holocaust films—Schindler’s List, Inglourious Basterds, Boy in the Striped Pyjamas I despise—but Claude Lanzmann’s examination of the Holocaust is profound and shocking both at the same time. More than a treatment of a great subject, the film itself is a great achievement in form.

43. Magnolia (1999)

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The essayistic prologue, the fact that it critiques all of Tom Cruise’s other performances, the heavy-duty realism of it all, makes Magnolia a very ambitious, very worthwhile effort.

42. Caché (2005)

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This brilliant if unpleasant puzzle without a solution, about surveillance and various kinds of denial, finds writer-director Michael Haneke near the top of his game, though it's not a game everyone wanted to play.

The film grows even more unresolved as time passes (and so it becomes more tense). It’s Haneke’s best film, by a country mile.

41. Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953)

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After I watched Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, I went over a read Jonathan Rosenbaum’s analysis of it. It’s really worth reading; it magnifies the experience greatly.

http://www.jonathanrosenbaum.com/?p=23544

Daniel M

06-12-13, 11:01 AM

ThomasP

06-12-13, 11:26 AM

La Jetée and Magnolia are two absolutely fantastic films. Caché I have ready to watch but have never got round to it, although I think it's something that I'll really love. Another Hawks film too that I haven't seen, at some point I am going to have a Hawks film watching spree, so far I have only seen Rio Bravo but I love it.

I only saw Magnolia a few weeks ago, but I absolutely fell in love with it.

Hawks is very underrated in my opinion--every bit as good (if not better) than Ford or Hitchcock.

Masterman

06-12-13, 11:31 AM

Another set I have not seen :(.

Mr Minio

06-12-13, 12:01 PM

It's not like I've seen all of them, but you have a lot of watching ahead, Masterman

Daniel M

06-12-13, 12:06 PM

I only saw Magnolia a few weeks ago, but I absolutely fell in love with it.

Hawks is very underrated in my opinion--every bit as good (if not better) than Ford or Hitchcock.

I only watched Magnolia recently, after I did my top150 films, so it wasn't included in the list. Would have been very high up though, very similar to my favourite film Boogie Nights in the way Anderson deals with joy and pessimistic negative side of humans. I still prefer a few Anderson films more than it, but other time it could become one of my very favourites, like Boogie Nights has.

And yeh Hawks is someone who interests me, seems to have a really well acclaimed body of work, apart from those already mentioned, The Big Sleep and His Girl Friday are two that I really want to see of his.

HitchFan97

06-12-13, 12:12 PM

I adore Magnolia, one of the only movies to ever make me cry. Probably my favorite film of the last 25 years.

donniedarko

06-12-13, 01:34 PM

La Jeéte is indeed fantastic, one of the greatest shorts ever made. I prefer it to Sans Soliel by a land slide. Shoah is just one of those films that Im going to have to watch eventually, but probably not anytime soon, same with Magnolia. Cache is a brilliant film about Paranioa, and has such an intense setting. Gentlemen Prefer Blondes looks good, I'll try to get my hands on it soon.

Mr Minio

06-12-13, 02:37 PM

I started watching Magnolia but stopped after half an hour, because a person I was watching the movie with didn't like it. I wasn't crazy about it neither so never cared to finish it alone. The Wind Will Carry Us I loathed. I don't even think it's a bad film at all. It just doesn't seem to be my kind of a movie. On the other hand, La Jeéte is a great experimental short that led me to watch Sans soleil - an even better masterwork (cheers mark f). Mulholland Drive is my third favourite Lynch and a great example of his characteristic style. I have to see a few films from here too, including among others Breathless. However, I don't care about Monroe film, nor The Man Who Shot...

ThomasP

06-13-13, 12:19 PM

40. Husbands (1970)

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In today’s terms, most would say Husbands does not hold up well. (It’s certainly not up there will Cassavetes’ best, people feel.) But for me, it delivers one of the most devastatingly bleak views of the emptiness of suburban life, something I think almost of all of Cassavetes’ films attempt to do.

39. October (1927)

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As much as I admire Battleship Potemkin, October is a film that showcases Eisenstein’s idea of “intellectual montage” much better.
One of the greatest epiphanic moments in Eisenstein’s films, I think, is the one in October where the image of Jesus is compared to Hindu deities, the Buddha, and the Aztec gods—and that instantaneous transfiguration becomes, in effect, the motivating spirit of a great historical movement.

38. Make Way for Tomorrow (1937)

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With the possible exception of Yasujirō Ozu's Tokyo Story, this 1937 drama by Leo McCarey is the greatest movie ever made about the plight of the elderly. (It flopped at the box office, but when McCarey accepted an Oscar for The Awful Truth, released the same year, he rightly pointed out that he was getting it for the wrong picture.) Hollywood movies don't get much better than this.

37. Los Olvidados (1950)

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“The world doesn't work like Hollywood told us it does, and Buñuel knew well that poverty's truths could not be window-dressed in any way. This film continues to provoke reactions for its unapologetic portrayal of life without hope or trust. It stands out among Buñuel's works as the moment when he broke surface and bellowed, before sinking back into the world of the privileged where his surreal view most loved to play.”

36. Apocalypse Now (1979)

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I enjoy the French plantation sequence in the Redux, but there’s something about the 1979 original that keeps me drawn to it more than Coppola’s newer version. One of the greatest editing jobs in all of American cinema.

HitchFan97

06-13-13, 12:36 PM

I can name plenty of Cassavetes films I like better than Husbands, but it's still great to see him getting some love here anyways. Apocalypse Now is fantastic, of course.

donniedarko

06-13-13, 01:09 PM

Guaporense

06-13-13, 01:20 PM

Yes, the original version of Apocalypse Now is the best.

ThomasP

06-13-13, 01:26 PM

The only one I've seen from this set is the amazing Apocalypse Now which is one of the handful of films I've given a 5, best war movie. I'd like to explore more Cassvates and Einstien films, So I'd like to get a glimpse of those two. Anything directed by Bunuel is something I want to see (is that your favorite of his?) and Make Way for Tommorow is one I've been putting off for atleast a year now

It is my favourite Bunuel film; I'm not that big a fan of his surrealist films, and I find films like The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie way too egotistical--and, to an extent, hypocritical--for my liking.

Masterman

06-13-13, 04:04 PM

Still not seen any of these. :(

ThomasP

06-14-13, 12:31 PM

35. Le Amiche (1955)

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Although relatively plotless, Le Amiche is baroque by Antonioni's later standards. The various failed love affairs are enlivened by emotional confrontations and even a full-fledged brawl. The movie also considerably complicates the Pavese novella—which is striking not only for its cool understatement but also for its underlying existential despair. In 1955, Antonioni was subtly criticized by Pavese's friend, Italo Calvino, for his lack of Pavesean subtlety. The lesson was learned—even more than Le Amiche, it's Among Women Only that anticipates the Antonioni of the 60s.

34. Mean Streets (1973)

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Martin Scorsese's intrusive insistence on his abstract, metaphysical theme—the possibility of modern sainthood—marks this 1973 film, his first to attract critical notice, as still somewhat immature, yet the acting and editing have such an original, tumultuous force that the picture is completely gripping.

33. To Be or Not to Be (1942)

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It could be Lubitsch’s finest achievement, and it's certainly one of the most profound, emotionally complex comedies ever made, covering a range of tones from satire to slapstick to shocking black humour.

32. Day of Wrath (1943)

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Put simply, Day of Wrath is Carl Dreyer’s finest achievement.

31. Blue Velvet (1985)

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I think I’ve seen this film 9 or 10 times. It never gets old; the misce en scene makes sure of that.

Mr Minio

06-14-13, 12:45 PM

I found the latest set to be incredibly interesting.

ThomasP

06-14-13, 12:57 PM

I found the latest set to be incredibly interesting.

Thanks. How come?

The Gunslinger45

06-14-13, 01:00 PM

I love Blue Velvet! I have not seen the original To Be or Not To Be, I have only seen the Mel Brooks remake

donniedarko

06-14-13, 01:20 PM

I too have only seen the Mel Brooks To Be or Not to Be, and I haven't seen the first two either. I'd agree that Day of Wrath is Dreyers finest achievement, even though I haven't seen his other works from that period. Blue Velvet is amazing erotic surrealism, and displays the talent of Lynch. I'd have both movies in a similar place on my list.

Daniel M

06-14-13, 01:38 PM

I have seen Mean Streets and Blue Velvet, and both I think are great films, the former I have only seen once so was placed further down my list, but Blue Velvet was right up there, my favourite Lynch film and an interesting comment you make about the mise en scene, I think about the opening scenes are how everything is constructed specifically in order to help Lynch push across what he's trying to show in the film with the darkness hidden under the perfect town.

From the set before that I have only seen Apocalypse Now, which I love, and is also in my top 10, I have seen both versions a few times now and got it on Blu-ray recently, whilst both versions are fine I do agree that the first version is all that is needed and in the overall context, despite the additional scenes being enjoyable are a bit superfluous and appear a bit disjointed, at least the playboy scene for me.

And as you may tell from my avatar I watched Breathless the other day and I thought it was a great film, not a spectacular film, but a spectacular piece of film making, if you get me, a very interesting proper introduction to Godard, I am now going try and watch some of his other films, to start - Le Mépris, Pierrot le Fou and Bande á Part.

Mr Minio

06-14-13, 03:01 PM

Thanks. How come? I haven't seen three first ones, but they all seem interesting. Day of Wrath is a masterpiece, but I think the greatest Dreyer's achievement is The Passion of Joan of Arc. Blue Velvet is far from being Lynch's best, but it's a great film nevertheless, which only shows how good Lynchian cinema is.

HitchFan97

06-14-13, 04:03 PM

Whooooo Blue Velvet! The only other one I've seen from that set is Mean Streets, which I liked. I suppose more Antonioni is on the way?

edarsenal

06-14-13, 07:24 PM

rare to see the original To Be or not to be on a list, serious rep for that.
I've seen both renditions and normally i can easily pick between an original and a remake but they come SO very close in enjoyment value

cricket

06-14-13, 07:45 PM

Love Apocalypse Now, Mean Streets, Blue Velvet, and Mulholland Drive. The only other one I've seen is Magnolia, which I have to try again.

honeykid

06-15-13, 02:38 AM

Anymore of Bunuel's Mexican period coming up? From what I've seen, those are the only films of his that I'd have much chance of liking.

ThomasP

06-15-13, 06:56 AM

I love Blue Velvet! I have not seen the original To Be or Not To Be, I have only seen the Mel Brooks remake

I personally disliked Brooks' one. :p

I too have only seen the Mel Brooks To Be or Not to Be, and I haven't seen the first two either. I'd agree that Day of Wrath is Dreyers finest achievement, even though I haven't seen his other works from that period. Blue Velvet is amazing erotic surrealism, and displays the talent of Lynch. I'd have both movies in a similar place on my list.

Not many would put Day of Wrath ahead of Passion of Joan of Arc or even Ordet or Gertud.

I have seen Mean Streets and Blue Velvet, and both I think are great films, the former I have only seen once so was placed further down my list, but Blue Velvet was right up there, my favourite Lynch film and an interesting comment you make about the mise en scene, I think about the opening scenes are how everything is constructed specifically in order to help Lynch push across what he's trying to show in the film with the darkness hidden under the perfect town.

From the set before that I have only seen Apocalypse Now, which I love, and is also in my top 10, I have seen both versions a few times now and got it on Blu-ray recently, whilst both versions are fine I do agree that the first version is all that is needed and in the overall context, despite the additional scenes being enjoyable are a bit superfluous and appear a bit disjointed, at least the playboy scene for me.

And as you may tell from my avatar I watched Breathless the other day and I thought it was a great film, not a spectacular film, but a spectacular piece of film making, if you get me, a very interesting proper introduction to Godard, I am now going try and watch some of his other films, to start - Le Mépris, Pierrot le Fou and Bande á Part.

Well, I hope you enjoy those future Godard films. :)

I haven't seen three first ones, but they all seem interesting. Day of Wrath is a masterpiece, but I think the greatest Dreyer's achievement is The Passion of Joan of Arc. Blue Velvet is far from being Lynch's best, but it's a great film nevertheless, which only shows how good Lynchian cinema is.

I definitely love Passion of Joan of Arc (it's one of the few films that mad me cry, although I'm sure that was not Dreyer's intent). Which Lynch films do you think are better than BV?

Whooooo Blue Velvet! The only other one I've seen from that set is Mean Streets, which I liked. I suppose more Antonioni is on the way?

Eh, unfortunately not. I like L'Avventura and Red Desert, but not as much as this.

rare to see the original To Be or not to be on a list, serious rep for that.
I've seen both renditions and normally i can easily pick between an original and a remake but they come SO very close in enjoyment value

Thanks! I'm a huge Lubitsch fan.

Anymore of Bunuel's Mexican period coming up? From what I've seen, those are the only films of his that I'd have much chance of liking.

No. I've only seen two or three, and the others don't nearly match this one. I don't like his other stuff, though.

HitchFan97

06-15-13, 11:31 AM

No. I've only seen two or three, and the others don't nearly match this one. I don't like his other stuff, though.

Have you seen Belle de Jour? I'm no expert on Bunuel either but it's my favorite of his. Definitely had an influence on Lynch and 'erotic surrealism' in general. I'll have to check out Los Olvidados.

Mr Minio

06-15-13, 11:38 AM

Which Lynch films do you think are better than BV?

1. Inland Empire
2. Elephant Man
3. Mulholland Drive
4. Straight Story

The Gunslinger45

06-15-13, 12:28 PM

I personally disliked Brooks' one. :p

To each there own. I still want to see the original

ThomasP

06-15-13, 08:13 PM

30. Spione (1928)

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It’s one of the most important films I’ve ever seen, and it might be the most underappreciated film ever created.

29. Historie(s) du Cinema (1989)

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Tell me that image doesn’t intrigue you.

28. Werckmeister Harmonies (2000)

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I saw The Turin Horse and was not overly impressed, but this film just blew me away. It’s such a beautiful mediation. Essential viewing, if you ask me.

27. There Will be Blood (2007)

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Another PTA film. Perhaps he’s my favourite living director.

26. Shadow of a Doubt

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The only Hitchcock addition to this list, Shadow of a Doubt film peels back the welcoming warmth and sincere innocence of small-town life to reveal the gullibility and the naïveté underneath; it’s a fiction about the perpetuation of fictions.

HitchFan97

06-15-13, 08:16 PM

There Will Be Blood is freaking epic. Shadow of a Doubt is excellent Hitchcock, but I'd obviously prefer to see more than one of his movies on a Top 50 :p

ThomasP

06-15-13, 08:41 PM

There Will Be Blood is freaking epic. Shadow of a Doubt is excellent Hitchcock, but I'd obviously prefer to see more than one of his movies on a Top 50 :p

Haha, I figued. :p

Where do you rank it among his best?

HitchFan97

06-15-13, 08:48 PM

Behind Vertigo, Psycho, Rear Window, North by Northwest, Notorious, Rope, and The Birds. Seems kinda low but I still love it :D

ThomasP

06-15-13, 09:12 PM

Behind Vertigo, Psycho, Rear Window, North by Northwest, Notorious, Rope, and The Birds. Seems kinda low but I still love it :D

I'm sure Psycho and Rear Window are better films, but I simply prefer it. :D

donniedarko

06-15-13, 09:16 PM

I'll admit the Image for number 29 highly intrigues me, but after doing more research kind of opposite. Wreckminster Harmonie has a cult on This forum, I'm yet to see it. The only movie I have watched from the last set is There Will be Blood, which is a pretty good character study. The only other PTA I've seen is The Master, and I prefer TWbB.

Mr Minio

06-16-13, 05:28 AM

I'm interested in 30 and 29 while Werckmeister Harmonies... well, I believe I don't have to comment this!

ThomasP

06-16-13, 06:08 PM

25. King Lear (1987)

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This 1987 film is Godard’s maximally pressurised condensation of his great themes: his manifesto of the image; a lost world of artistic culture, and, of course, of cinema; the hazardous bonds of paternity.

24. The Magnificent Ambersons (1942)

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For the most part, this is a very close adaptation of Booth Tarkington’s underrated novel about the relentless decline of a wealthy midwestern family through the rise of industrialisation, though Welles makes the story even more powerful through his extraordinary mise en scene and some of the finest acting to be found in American movies (Agnes Moorehead is a standout). The emotional sense of America in the late 19th and early 20th centuries is so palpable you can taste it.

23. Do the Right Thing (1989)

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Again, I must refer you to Jonathan Rosenbaum’s brilliant analysis of the film:

http://www.jonathanrosenbaum.com/?p=7544

22. Ugetsu (1953)

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Based on two 16th-century ghost stories, the film is less a study of the supernatural than a sublime embodiment of Mizoguchi's eternal theme, the generosity of women and the selfishness of men. Densely plotted but as emotionally subtle as its name, Ugetsu is one of the great experiences of cinema.

21. Diary of a Country Priest

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A deeply pious young priest discovers that his parishioners have no interest in his kind of religion. When he finds that he's dying of cancer, he rejects both the church and the village and goes to the home of a defrocked brother to die in peace. This spare, intense 1950 film, adapted from Georges Bernanos' novel, is Robert Bresson at his greatest and most difficult, building a profound sense of a higher order through its relentless detailing of the cold, small facts of everyday life. A masterpiece, beyond question.

Daniel M

06-16-13, 06:45 PM

ThomasP

06-16-13, 06:52 PM

I watched Do The Right Thing for the first time the other day, fantastic film. The Magnificent Ambersons has been high on my watchlist for ages now with a lot of other Welles' films. Then the others look interesting too, I know about King Lear but it doesn't appear many people have seen, or rate it, so I will have to have a look sometime.

I first watched it about two months ago, and I've seen it a few times since.

Although there are some who can't get into Bresson's films, I think Diary of a Country Priest is so beautiful anyone can watch it.

donniedarko

06-16-13, 06:55 PM

Sadly enough I haven't seen any of the diet four of this set. A couple that I've wanted to watch. The Dairy of a Country Priest is one of the first Foriegn films I watched, and while I wouldn't consider it classic of French cinema, it was touching.

Daniel M

06-16-13, 06:55 PM

I first watched it about two months ago, and I've seen it a few times since.

Although there are some who can't get into Bresson's films, I think Diary of a Country Priest is so beautiful anyone can watch it.

As far as first time viewing experiences go, Do The Right Thing has got to be one of the most powerful that I can remember.

And well I just watched my first Bresson film today, Pickpocket, which I enjoyed, so I am looking forward to watch more of his films.

ThomasP

06-16-13, 07:46 PM

As far as first time viewing experiences go, Do The Right Thing has got to be one of the most powerful that I can remember.

And well I just watched my first Bresson film today, Pickpocket, which I enjoyed, so I am looking forward to watch more of his films.

I'm glad. And Pickpocket is brilliant.

Pussy Galore

06-17-13, 01:10 AM

great list a lot of films I haven't seen. The ones I loved are Do The Right Thing, Magnolia and Shadow of a Doubt

ThomasP

06-17-13, 04:55 PM

20. Taxi Driver (1976)

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Scorsese's style is a delirious, full-colour successor to expressionism, in which the cityscape becomes the twisted projection of the protagonist's mind. Paul Schrader's screenplay, with its buried themes of sin and redemption, borrows heavily from Robert Bresson's Pickpocket, yet the purloined material is transformed in startling, disturbing ways. It would be hard to imagine an American film more squarely in the European “art” tradition than this, yet it was misunderstood enough to become a significant popular success—a thinking man's Death Wish.

19. The Informer (1935)

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I don’t quite know how to explain this one; all I can say is it had a profound effect on me when I watched it. It’s one of the very first films that I really admired.

18. Chinatown (1974)

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Reworking the somber underpinnings of detective noir along more pessimistic lines, Polanski and screenwriter Robert Towne convey a '70s-inflected critique of capitalist and bureaucratic malevolence in a carefully detailed period piece harkening back to the genre's roots in the 1930s and '40s.

17. Late Spring (1949)

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Yasujirō Ozu's 1949 film inaugurated his majestic late period: it's here that he decisively renounces melodrama and lets his camera settle into the still, long-take contemplation of his gently drawn characters.
The sense of loss and regret is beautifully balanced with the optimism of a new life beginning: for Ozu the family unit is not only a network of personal relationships but also the crisis point in the tragedy of time.

16. Greed (1924)

http://oi41.tinypic.com/2utcy.jpg

Reduced from an eight-and-a-half-hour running time to slightly over two hours, Erich von Stroheim's film is perhaps more famous for the butcher job performed on it than for Stroheim's great and genuine accomplishment. Though usually discussed as a masterpiece of realism (it was based on a novel by the naturalist writer Frank Norris), it is equally sublime in its high stylisation, which ranges from the highly Brechtian spectacle of ZaSu Pitts making love to her gold coins to deep-focus compositions every bit as advanced as those in Citizen Kane. It is probably the most modern in feel of all silent films, establishing ideas that would not be developed until decades later.

Mr Minio

06-17-13, 05:09 PM

Glo-ri-ous taste!

ThomasP

06-17-13, 05:10 PM

Glo-ri-ous taste!

Thank you, sir. Watching Chinatown on the big screen made it so much better for me.

JoeHorrorFanatic

06-17-13, 05:39 PM

I love Taxi Driver.

donniedarko

06-17-13, 05:53 PM

I know I say this all the time but I don't get the love for Taxi Driver, it was nothing special in my eyes. Chinatown is the perfect movie, nothing compares to its magic and beauty. I haven't seen the other three, but I watched my first Ozu recently (Floating Weeds) and I wasn't at all impressed.

The Gunslinger45

06-17-13, 06:52 PM

Number 20 Taxi Driver is my favorite movie! Chinatown is a damn good flick, and Late Spring is in my queue on Hulu

BlueLion

06-17-13, 07:02 PM

Chinatown is imo hugely overrated. Taxi Driver, on the other hand...

ThomasP

06-17-13, 08:23 PM

Chinatown is imo hugely overrated. Taxi Driver, on the other hand...

Why don't you like it?

honeykid

06-18-13, 09:28 AM

+ rep for Chinatown and Taxi Driver.

BlueLion

06-18-13, 10:27 AM

Why don't you like it?

Because, simply put, it is extremely boring. Watched it during the day once, almost fell asleep. And I repeatedly looked at the clock, as I was forcing myself to finish it. There is nothing entertaining or artistic about the movie, and it does not have one single scene that would make me want to give it another go.

mark f

06-18-13, 10:52 AM

Ha!

Daniel M

06-18-13, 11:13 AM

Because, simply put, it is extremely boring. Watched it during the day once, almost fell asleep. And I repeatedly looked at the clock, as I was forcing myself to finish it. There is nothing entertaining or artistic about the movie, and it does not have one single scene that would make me want to give it another go.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8SPakQ7hH6I

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4OfupV4ZR4w

and the final scene of course. Nothing entertaining or artistic? I think you watched a different film to me, sure even if you somehow weren't entertained I don't see how one could not appreciate the beauty of Polanksi's dark noir LA.

I love both Chinatown and Taxi Driver, and the other three are films on my watchlist too :up:

BlueLion

06-18-13, 11:21 AM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8SPakQ7hH6I

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4OfupV4ZR4w

and the final scene of course. Nothing entertaining or artistic? I think you watched a different film to me, sure even if you somehow weren't entertained I don't see how one could not appreciate the beauty of Polanksi's dark noir LA.

I love both Chinatown and Taxi Driver, and the other three are films on my watchlist too :up:

I saw no beauty in it. And seeing as how you mentioned noir and LA in that sentence, I am going to mention LA Confidential - now that is a near-perfect movie. By far the superior noir. LA Confidential > Chinatown any day of the week.

Daniel M

06-18-13, 11:37 AM

I saw no beauty in it. And seeing as how you mentioned noir and LA in that sentence, I am going to mention LA Confidential - now that is a near-perfect movie. By far the superior noir. LA Confidential > Chinatown any day of the week.

L.A. Confidential is a love letter to the older great noir films such as Chinatown, it even has a direct reference with the girl with the plastered (?) nose at the beginning. If it wasn't for films like Chinatown then films like L.A. Confidential wouldn't exist, and it's a film that's deliberate stylish and filled with all the delicious noir elements/characters.

Cobpyth

06-18-13, 11:41 AM

@BlueLion:

God no.

LA Confidential was a good movie and I really LOVE its tone, but the ending COMPLETELY withheld it from being a masterpiece. It's one of the best films of the 90s for sure, but the typical Hollywood ending just didn't feel right after all that happened. It just doesn't fit the neo-noir genre. It's a wonderful tribute to my favorite movie genre, but the ending betrayed it actually.

Chinatown on the other hand is practically perfect in any sense. I still can't understand how ANYONE can dislike this picture. It's probably the most shocking film I've ever seen in terms of emotions.
Apart from the very entertaining and clever plot, this film is actually one of the best character studies ever with one of the most beautiful dark atmospheres I've ever experienced.

@Thomas P: I absolutely ADORE your list. You have a wonderful taste!

HitchFan97

06-18-13, 12:02 PM

Because, simply put, it is extremely boring. Watched it during the day once, almost fell asleep. And I repeatedly looked at the clock, as I was forcing myself to finish it. There is nothing entertaining or artistic about the movie, and it does not have one single scene that would make me want to give it another go.

http://gifs.gifbin.com/082009/1249977126_dramatic_black_woman.gif

Chinatown is one of those movies that I can't imagine anyone not enjoying. Taxi Driver I adore as well. The only Ozu I've seen is Tokyo Story (duh) which I liked.

Tyler1

06-18-13, 12:08 PM

jiraffejustin

06-18-13, 12:17 PM

This list really has been one of the better lists so far, the picks aren't just solid they are interesting and off the beaten path. Keep up the good work.

And I haven't seen anything positive about Godard's King Lear before, so I had written it off. I guess I was premature there and actually should see it.

mark f

06-18-13, 12:23 PM

They're solid if you have a hard copy. :) They certainly are interesting and offbeat though.

Mr Minio

06-18-13, 12:31 PM

I rated Chinatown 3

donniedarko

06-18-13, 12:48 PM

BlueLion

06-18-13, 01:03 PM

http://gifs.gifbin.com/082009/1249977126_dramatic_black_woman.gif

http://www.reactiongifs.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/tumblr_lpq4ce9J0J1qjnfl4.gif

http://gifrific.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/jonah-hill-shock.gif
Contributing to the gifs

http://d24w6bsrhbeh9d.cloudfront.net/photo/aAYRmeL_460sa.gif

BlueLion

06-18-13, 01:05 PM

Chinatown is one of those movies that I can't imagine anyone not enjoying.

At least the great Gene Siskel had the same opinion as me.

http://i.imgur.com/4ohL3xq.png

mark f

06-18-13, 01:10 PM

http://d24w6bsrhbeh9d.cloudfront.net/photo/aAYRmeL_460sa.gif
http://27.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lqp2w0Hyyo1qmkr8bo1_500.gif

BlueLion

06-18-13, 01:14 PM

http://27.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lqp2w0Hyyo1qmkr8bo1_500.gif

Is that a "cool, nice gif!", or a "that's right, gtfo"

I'm assuming it's the latter.

Cobpyth

06-18-13, 03:13 PM

At least the great Gene Siskel had the same opinion as me.

http://i.imgur.com/4ohL3xq.png

Gene Siskel didn't like Taxi Driver either.

HitchFan97

06-18-13, 04:59 PM

Gene Siskel didn't like Taxi Driver either.

Chinatown or Taxi Driver?? Well, Roger didn't like Blue Velvet, so I guess every critic has their off days ;)

Anyways, our gifs have totally hijacked ThomasP's thread. On with the favorites. :)

BlueLion

06-18-13, 05:06 PM

Gene Siskel didn't like Taxi Driver either.

Fair enough. I personally think Taxi Driver is a masterpiece.

But what I was trying to prove was that, not everybody loves Chinatown, and I found somebody (and quite famous, at that) think the same way I did, regarding the movie. So I tried to support the point that I made.

You don't understand why I dislike it, just like I don't understand why people love it so much. But there's nothing abnormal about it. Shawshank Redemption, for instance, is the highest rated movie on IMDb and apparently it's been in the top five of the 'top 250 movies' list since 1999 (I've read about this somewhere, but I forgot where), and the vast majority of people feel it's one of the greatest movies ever made. There are, however, also people who think it's rather mediocre and there's nothing special about it. What I'm trying to say is that it is impossible for every person on planet earth who has seen a particular movie, to fall in love with it and appreciate it like most people do, even if it's 99% of people.

At the end of the day, your own opinion is all that matters.

HitchFan97

06-18-13, 05:12 PM

Shawshank Redemption, for instance, is the highest rated movie on IMDb and apparently it's been in the top five of the 'top 250 movies' list since 1999 (I've read about this somewhere, but I forgot where), and the vast majority of people feel it's one of the greatest movies ever made. There are, however, also people who think it's rather mediocre and there's nothing special about it.

http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lr0l8oKOjv1qii6tmo1_500.gif

mark f

06-18-13, 05:13 PM

BlueLion, everything you say in your last post is true, except Siskel gave Chinatown 2.5/4 and you sounded like you gave it 5/100.

Camo

06-18-13, 05:14 PM

Because, simply put, it is extremely boring. Watched it during the day once, almost fell asleep. And I repeatedly looked at the clock, as I was forcing myself to finish it. There is nothing entertaining or artistic about the movie, and it does not have one single scene that would make me want to give it another go.

I'd suggest to rewatch it at a later date, alot of people i know as well as myself thought it was very average i have now seen it 3 times and it's one of my favourite movies. But if you don't like the movie fair enough i respect your opinion.

BlueLion

06-18-13, 05:21 PM

Everything you say in the last post is true, exceept Siskel gave Chinatown 2.5/4 and you sounded like you gave it 5/100.

Nope. I rate it somewhere between 35-40/100, or 4/10. Although I didn't grasp it, or enjoy it, I still appreciate it in a way, because it is a well made film and I never denied that. But the movie disappointed me, because after reading some reviews and most of the people's comments on here prior to watching the movie, I thought I was going to love it. Unfortunately, I didn't.

ThomasP

06-18-13, 07:00 PM

15. Faust (1926)

http://oi44.tinypic.com/eb1u9c.jpg

A brilliant example of the baroque style by F. W. Murnau. Gösta Ekman is the man who sells his soul, and the buyer is magnificently incarnated by Emil Jannings. As atmospheric and menacing a work as the expressionist movement ever produced.

14. 2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)

http://oi44.tinypic.com/2yyujhi.jpg

Seeing this 1968 masterpiece in 70-millimeter, digitally restored and with remastered sound, provides an ideal opportunity to rediscover this mind-blowing myth of origin as it was meant to be seen and heard, an experience no video setup, no matter how elaborate, could ever begin to approach. The film remains threatening to contemporary studiothink in many important ways: its special effects are used so seamlessly as part of an overall artistic strategy that, as critic Annette Michelson has pointed out, they don't even register as such. Dialogue plays a minimal role, yet the plot encompasses the history of mankind (a province of SF visionary Olaf Stapledon, who inspired Kubrick's cowriter, Arthur C. Clarke).

13. Raging Bull (1980)

http://cdn3.whatculture.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/00417.jpg

12. Intolerance (1916)

http://oi39.tinypic.com/34q5l5w.jpg

Made in 1916 and still ahead of the times, D.W. Griffith's magnificent epic intercuts four stories set in four different periods—an experiment with cinematic time and space that even the avant-garde has only recently begun to absorb. Griffith conceived the film as four rivers that “seem to flow together in one common flood of humanity.” One of the great breakthroughs—the Ulysses of the cinema—and a powerful, moving experience in its own right.

11. Boudu Saved From Drowning (1932)

http://oi44.tinypic.com/15g5n2x.jpg

Despite the problems of sound recording in 1931, Jean Renoir went out of the studio and shot this film on the streets and along the banks of the Seine, and so it is not only a lovely fable about a bourgeois attempt to reform an early hippie (Michel Simon is the shaggy-bearded tramp who spills wine on the table and wipes his shoes on the bedspread) but a photographic record of an earlier France.

--

P.S.: I will be counting down the top 10 one-by-one.

The Gunslinger45

06-18-13, 07:03 PM

2001 is another one of my favorite movies. I have also seen Intolerance and Boudu Saved from Drowning. Both are good films.

HitchFan97

06-18-13, 07:06 PM

I had the pleasure of seeing 2001 in a theater recently and you're absolutely right, it's an experience unlike any other.

donniedarko

06-18-13, 07:16 PM

As so many on this forum and elsewhere I love 2001, my second favorite Kubrick after The Shining. I've had at one time the other four in one of my queues but am yet to watch them.

ThomasP

06-19-13, 11:03 AM

10. A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001)

http://oi40.tinypic.com/14315xf.jpg

A collaboration between the living Steven Spielberg and the late Stanley Kubrick seems appropriate to a project that reflects profoundly on the differences between life and nonlife. I’m not the only one to consider A.I. Artificial Intelligence a very great and deeply misunderstood film; others as disparate as Andrew Sarris and the late Stan Brakhage have more or less agreed with me, as well as my favourite academic critic, James Naremore. But it’s also clear to me that any ordinary auteurist way of processing cinema can’t begin to handle this masterwork adequately: reading it simply as a Spielberg film, as most detractors do, or even trying to read it simply as a Kubrick film, is a pretty futile exercise with limited rewards, even though the fingerprints of both directors are all over it. Seeing it as a perpetually unresolved dialectic between Kubrick and Spielberg starts to yield a complicated kind of sense—an ambiguity where the bleakest pessimism and the most ecstatic kind of feel-good enchantment swiftly alternate and even occasionally blend, not to mention a far more enriching experience, however troubling and unresolved. As a profound meditation on the difference between what’s human and what isn’t, it also constitutes one of the best allegories about cinema that I know.

the samoan lawyer

06-19-13, 11:09 AM

i keep hearing how great A.I is, really want to watch it but just cant bring myself to because of Jude Law and Osment. Some day im sure i'll pluck up the courage.

ThomasP

06-19-13, 11:29 AM

i keep hearing how great A.I is, really want to watch it but just cant bring myself to because of Jude Law and Osment. Some day im sure i'll pluck up the courage.

I had my reservations; I pretty much hate every other Spielberg film (except Close Encounters and Munich).

Hopefully you watch it soon.

The Gunslinger45

06-19-13, 12:20 PM

A lot of people say this is just a Spielberg movie and they would be mistaken. The ending that many people did not like, was actually Kubrick's idea. He and Spielberg were very close friends, and both of them admires of the others work. Spielberg king of the blockbusters envied Kubrick's more darker and artsier movies, while Kubrick wanted to make something lighter and crowd pleasing like his friend. They decided on the collaboration, on this modern day version of a classic fairy tale but sadly Kubrick died before they could start.

The result is Spielberg trying his damnest to shoot the movie like Kubrick (pulling it off quite a bit with certain shots). And he basically said we are going to shoot it based on what Kubrick wanted to do. This was not just Spielberg trying to do a sentimental movie, he was trying to fulfill the unrealized vision of his late friend. Which is really quite beautiful. And while I am not a fan of the movie, my thoughts have changed on the film after these facts have been brought to light.

ThomasP

06-19-13, 02:19 PM

ThomasP

06-20-13, 11:07 AM

Top 50 (50-10):

50 Breathless
49 Mulholland Drive
48 Scarface
47 The Wind Will Carry Us
46 The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
45 La Jetée
44 Shoah
43 Magnolia
42 Caché
41 Gentlemen Prefer Blondes
40 Husbands
39 October
38 Make Way for Tomorrow
37 Los Olvidados
36 Apocalypse Now
35 Le Amiche
34 Mean Streets
33 To Be or Not to Be
32 Day of Wrath
31 Blue Velvet
30 Spione
29 Historie(s) du Cinema
28 Werckmeister Harmonies
27 There Will be Blood
26 Shadow of a Doubt
25 King Lear
24 The Magnificent Ambersons
23 Do the Right Thing
22 Ugetsu
21 Diary of a Country Priest
20 Taxi Driver
19 The Informer
18 Chinatown
17 Late Spring
16 Greed
15 Faust
14 2001: A Space Odyssey
13 Raging Bull
12 Intolerance
11 Boudu Saved From Drowning
10 A.I. Artificial Intelligence

P.S. No. 9 later today

The Gunslinger45

06-20-13, 11:15 AM

You know, a lot of people confuse the film's 'sentimentality'. Most don't know Kubrick wanted many of the quote-unquote sentimental elements; the teddy bear, the ending.

Yeah I know, I put that in my post. :p Kind of bends the mind because I went in thinking that was Spielberg's idea.

Mr Minio

06-20-13, 11:42 AM

I bet number 1 is Goodfellas

ThomasP

06-20-13, 12:00 PM

I bet number 1 is Goodfellas

Sir, I can revel that is wrong. Wanna try again?

Mr Minio

06-20-13, 12:24 PM

Then it's Stalker or another Tarkovsky's film.

HitchFan97

06-20-13, 01:01 PM

He mentioned Godard is his fav director. Contempt?

Daniel M

06-20-13, 01:06 PM

Stop trying to guess guys, kind of ruins it :p

ThomasP

06-20-13, 01:15 PM

I'm not gonna say. :p

--

9. The Master (2012)

http://oi44.tinypic.com/s13mop.jpg

What is The Master about? Not Scientology; of that I’m fairly sure, though the broader appeal of a cult—any cult, spiritual or commercial—to a wounded or malleable mind is always worth exploring. I like the movie best as a portrait of a postwar land, shading from the Truman era toward that of Eisenhower, and for the attention that Paul Thomas Anderson pays to those souls, like the Joaquin Phoenix character, who are stunned and deafened, not enriched or aroused, by a general boom. Hence the wonderful scenes in the department store and the cabbage field; I can picture a different version of the film, in which the hero’s time among the credulous, led by Philip Seymour Hoffman, was itself just such an episode—a strange interlude, rather than one half of a broken-backed tale. Yet there remains so much to be grateful for.

jiraffejustin

06-20-13, 01:20 PM

I should probably get to watching this movie. PTA is awesome. PSH is awesome. Seems like a good combo. (obviously Boogie Nights proves this theory)

Daniel M

06-20-13, 01:28 PM

It seems to divide opinions around here, but I have seen it a few times now and I agree with you that The Master is a fantastic film. I hope over time it is remembered as a masterpiece in film making although I think it is understandable why some people dislike it.

One thing I think I have noticed over repeat viewings is the slightly comedic element that comes as part of Anderson's direction. I have listened to a lot of interviews from him and he always comes across as person with a good balance of professionalism and playfulnesses, and at times comes across as very young and enthusiastic in what he does. Obviously Boogie Nights, my favourite film was largely inspired by his own experiences of watching porn when growing up. Anderson deals with humans, their dreams, relationships etc. in a lot of his films (Boogie Nights and Magnolia on quite a large scale with fantastic ensemble casts) but deals mainly with the pessimistic and ultimately depressing realities to these damaged souls, and I think Phoenix's character might be his best 'damaged soul' yet, I can imagine Anderson creating him and watching the film, laughing to himself at the character, he's funny to me, but in quite a sad way. I love the final sex scene with Joaquin Phoenix, it's hilarious to me as we have seen the film come full circle - at the beginning Phoenix is a care free (kind of) sex-obsessed character unsure of where he's at in his life, and he's the same at the end, this will frustrate some people, but I have smiled at it's brilliance every time I have seen it :)

ThomasP

06-20-13, 01:37 PM

HitchFan97

06-20-13, 01:44 PM

My favorite film of the new decade so far! I imagine I'll love it even more on repeat viewings, but it really is an amazing film. It is very divisive but I bet it becomes remembered as a classic. I'm still pissed that Phoenix didn't get an Oscar.

Daniel M

06-20-13, 01:49 PM

I definitely agree on the comedic part. Watching the Boogie Nights commentary made me think that.

I also get why people don't like that, but I dislike it when people claim its incoherent. A film doesn't necessarily need to start at one place and end at another for it to be a good movie (I'm referring to the ending, which is a repeated image). The image at the end of Freddie lying with the sand woman represents progress to me. I think The Cause ultimately changed him and made Freddie more tolerable towards people.

Did you rank it near the best of 2012?

If by the Boogie Nights Commentary you're referring to where Anderson talks about the character of John C. Holmes and the documentary Exhausted and how he used that to create Boogie Nights, then that is the same one I have listened to and get that idea - if not, then I'll have to try and find it and have a listen anyway ;)

And yeh I agree, and I think it's also incorrect to say there is no plot, because there is, and the main character is allowed to develop like you say, and by the end of the film both we and the character have learnt a lot.

And yeh definitely, I would say it was the best of 2012. My other two favourites were Holy Motors and Django Unchained, although the latter was more pure enjoyment than the artistic quality of the other two. Holy Motors is similar in the fact that there is no clear path from point A to B that we reach, but it gives a fascinating insight in to humans and everyday lives, you might have seen it, but if you haven't I think it's something that will interesting you.

My top 150 that I did a couple months ago - and coincides with my current top 10 (which is outdated but I wont change too soon), doesn't have The Master in it, because I hadn't seen it by then, but it would definitely be near the top of my list with the very best if I was to give you say a top 20 right now, over time I think it will only get better too.

Guaporense

06-20-13, 02:20 PM

Because, simply put, it is extremely boring. Watched it during the day once, almost fell asleep. And I repeatedly looked at the clock, as I was forcing myself to finish it. There is nothing entertaining or artistic about the movie, and it does not have one single scene that would make me want to give it another go.

That's exactly how I felt about it. I also found it extremely boring and was forcing myself to finish it. I still gave it a 2_5 (which would be my rating for a slightly below average movie) because I though that some of the dialogue was good and some parts were interesting, but the overall experience was not very good.

Guaporense

06-20-13, 02:30 PM

Very conservative list, so far.

My ratings:

50 Breathless 0_5
49 Mulholland Drive 5
48 Scarface N.W.
47 The Wind Will Carry Us N.W.
46 The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance N.W.
45 La Jetée 5
44 Shoah N.W.
43 Magnolia 4_5
42 Caché N.W.
41 Gentlemen Prefer Blondes N.W.
40 Husbands N.W.
39 October N.W.
38 Make Way for Tomorrow N.W.
37 Los Olvidados N.W.
36 Apocalypse Now 5
35 Le Amiche N.W.
34 Mean Streets N.W.
33 To Be or Not to Be N.W.
32 Day of Wrath 5
31 Blue Velvet 4_5
30 Spione N.W.
29 Historie(s) du Cinema N.W.
28 Werckmeister Harmonies 3_5
27 There Will be Blood 5
26 Shadow of a Doubt N.W.
25 King Lear N.W.
24 The Magnificent Ambersons N.W.
23 Do the Right Thing N.W.
22 Ugetsu 5 ++
21 Diary of a Country Priest 3_5
20 Taxi Driver 5
19 The Informer N.W.
18 Chinatown 2_5
17 Late Spring 5 ++
16 Greed N.W.
15 Faust N.W.
14 2001: A Space Odyssey 5 ++
13 Raging Bull 3
12 Intolerance N.W.
11 Boudu Saved From Drowning N.W.
10 A.I. Artificial Intelligence 5

One thing we agree: Breathless is probably the worst movie on this list. Most other movies that I have watched I consider to be masterpieces or near masterpieces. Sad is the lack of Kurosawa on the list.

Guaporense

06-20-13, 02:31 PM

Then it's Stalker or another Tarkovsky's film.

Stalker is the best non-Japanese movie I ever watched.

ThomasP

06-20-13, 02:48 PM

Very conservative list, so far.

One thing we agree: Breathless is probably the worst movie on this list. Most other movies that I have watched I consider to be masterpieces or near masterpieces. Sad is the lack of Kurosawa on the list.

I'm not sure if you're insinuating something with that; maybe I'm misunderstanding.

I like Kurosawa's films, but I don't think he compares to Ozu or Mizoguchi; Ikiru came close.

mark f

06-20-13, 02:55 PM

I think he's using "conservative" as "safe or predictable for an art house fan" and not politically, but I think you've chosen many films which usually don't get mentioned.

ThomasP

06-20-13, 02:58 PM

I think he's using "conservative" as "safe or predictable for an art house fan" and not politically, but I think you've chosen many films which usually don't get mentioned.

I get that, but I'm not sure whether he's saying that negatively. :p

mark f

06-20-13, 03:05 PM

I wouldn't worry about that too much. He likes to comment on everyone's list. After all, he's "The Critic".

Guaporense

06-20-13, 03:24 PM

I get that, but I'm not sure whether he's saying that negatively. :p

What I am saying is that most movies on this list appear to be movies that have a very well established reputation as great movies, it looks almost like something arrived as critical consensus. So, it's a conservative list. That probably means that you have a refined taste.

If there were guilty pleasure movies like Zoolander, then it would be a less conservative list. Anyway, I guess that I rate nearly all the movies I have watched very highly is because it's a conservative list.

donniedarko

06-20-13, 03:42 PM

What I am saying is that most movies on this list appear to be movies that have a very well established reputation as great movies, it looks almost like something arrived as critical consensus. So, it's a conservative list. That probably means that you have a refined taste.

If there were guilty pleasure movies like Zoolander, then it would be a less conservative list. Anyway, I guess that I rate nearly all the movies I have watched very highly is because it's a conservative list.

http://i43.tinypic.com/n3q9vd.gif

The Gunslinger45

06-20-13, 03:53 PM

So what is number 8?

HitchFan97

06-20-13, 03:54 PM

I wouldn't say it's a 'conservative' list in any sense of the word. There are five films on here that I had never even heard of and plenty others that get very little attention on this site.

jiraffejustin

06-20-13, 04:00 PM

I wouldn't call it a conservative list either, but I would call it a damn good one. :D

ThomasP

06-20-13, 04:57 PM

Thanks guys. :)

Skepsis93

06-20-13, 04:58 PM

9. The Master (2012)

Oh, HELL yes. :up:

Daniel M

06-20-13, 06:56 PM

I wouldn't say it's a 'conservative' list in any sense of the word. There are five films on here that I had never even heard of and plenty others that get very little attention on this site.

I hope you're not implying that Guapo is wrong :confused:

Mr Minio

06-20-13, 07:06 PM

Of course, he is not. How he possibly could?

jiraffejustin

06-20-13, 07:22 PM

Don't say Guapo is wrong, he will drop an almanac on your ass.

ThomasP

06-21-13, 01:17 PM

8. L'Atalante (1934)

http://oi40.tinypic.com/309luly.jpg

Jean Vigo’s only full-length feature, one of the supreme masterpieces of French cinema, was edited and then brutally reedited while Vigo was dying, so a definitive restoration is impossible. (The reassembled version released in France in 1990 is almost certainly the best and most complete we’ll ever be able to see; it’s wondrous to behold.) The simple love-story plot involves the marriage of a provincial woman (Dita Parlo) to the skipper of a barge (Jean Daste), and the only other characters of consequence are the barge’s skeletal crew (Michel Simon and Louis Lefebvre) and a peddler (Gilles Margaritis) who flirts with the wife at a cabaret and describes the wonders of Paris to her. The sensuality of the characters and the settings, indelibly caught in Boris Kaufman’s glistening cinematography, are only part of the film’s remarkable poetry, the conviction of which goes beyond such categories as realism or surrealism, just as the powerful sexuality in the film ultimately transcends such categories as heterosexuality, homosexuality, and even bisexuality. Shot by shot and moment by moment, the film is so fully alive to the world’s possibilities that magic and reality seem to function as opposite sides of the same coin, with neither fully adequate to Vigo’s vision. The characters are at once extremely simple and extremely complex (richest of all is Simon’s Pere Jules, as beautiful a piece of character acting as one can find anywhere), and while the continuity is choppy in spots—a factor skilfully cloaked by Maurice Jaubert’s superb score—the film’s aliveness and potency are so constant that this hardly seems to matter. A major inspiration to subsequent generations of filmmakers, yet no one has ever succeeded in matching it.

Mr Minio

06-21-13, 02:53 PM

L'Atalante has been on my watchlist for so long! Guess it's the time to finally watch it!

ThomasP

06-21-13, 07:23 PM

L'Atalante has been on my watchlist for so long! Guess it's the time to finally watch it!

It was one of the first really old movies I watched and I've truly loved it since.

ThomasP

06-22-13, 01:58 PM

Number 7 later, if I have time. These exams are driving me crazy. . .

Guaporense

06-22-13, 04:39 PM

I think I will try to watch L'Atalante today!

Guaporense

06-22-13, 07:59 PM

Watched it. Very good, 4.

ThomasP

06-22-13, 08:09 PM

Watched it. Very good, 4.

Glad you liked it. Vigo has another few films (a lot shorter). I'd check those out too.

ThomasP

06-23-13, 07:34 PM

7. Eyes Wide Shut (1999)

http://www.dietabellezzaebenessere.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/eyes-wide-shut-original-resized.jpg

Stanley Kubrick’s last feature (1999) skillfully portrays the dark side of desire in a successful marriage. Since the 60s he’d thought about filming Arthur Schnitzler’s novella Traumnovelle, about a young doctor contemplating various forms of adultery and debauchery after discovering that his wife has entertained comparable fantasies. It has a Kafkaesque ambiguity, wavering between dream and waking fantasy, and all the actors do a fine job of traversing this delicate territory. Yet the story has been altered to make the doctor (Tom Cruise) more of a hypocrite and his wife (Nicole Kidman) feistier; Kubrick’s also added a Zeus-like tycoon (played perfectly by Sydney Pollack) who pretends to explain the plot shortly before the end but in fact only summarizes the various mysteries; his cynicism and chilly access to power reveals that Kubrick was more of a moralist than Schnitzler. This is a gripping, suggestive, and inventive piece of storytelling that, like Kubrick’s other work, grows in mystery over time.

The Gunslinger45

06-23-13, 07:36 PM

ThomasP

06-23-13, 07:53 PM

Ah Kubrick. I remember watching this movie with most everyone I know telling me it was a bad film. Not even close. It is a very good movie. Not my favorite, but I know quite a few people who say this is Kubrick's best.

It was definitely my favourite Kubrick viewing experience. And I believe his most unsettling.

The Gunslinger45

06-23-13, 07:58 PM

Unsettling indeed. Some might put A Clockwork Orange before it, but still it deserves to be described that.

ThomasP

06-23-13, 08:00 PM

Unsettling indeed. Some might put A Clockwork Orange before it, but still it deserves to be described that.

Yes, good call. I'm really not a fan of Clockwork Orange; I admire the moral ambiguity of the novel but despise the morality of Kubrick's film.

The Gunslinger45

06-23-13, 08:03 PM

to each their own. :) Always been more of a Dr. Strangelove guy myself.

Mingusings

06-23-13, 08:04 PM

I love Eyes Wide Shut. One of my all time favorites.

ThomasP

06-23-13, 08:23 PM

I love Eyes Wide Shut. One of my all time favorites.

Glad you love is a lot, too. :)

jiraffejustin

06-23-13, 10:24 PM

You know you are dealing with a great director when a movie as good as Eyes Wide Shut isn't even a top 4 movie for them.

ThomasP

06-24-13, 12:22 AM

You know you are dealing with a great director when a movie as good as Eyes Wide Shut isn't even a top 4 movie for them.

Haha, indeed. Which ones do you have ahead of it?

jiraffejustin

06-24-13, 12:25 AM

Haha, indeed. Which ones do you have ahead of it?

2001 is my favorite movie, so that one. Then I'd probably put A Clockwork Orange, The Shining, and Full Metal jacket ahead of it on a consistent basis. Then I'd probably flip it with Lolita and The Killing depending on my mood. I still need to see Paths of Glory and Barry Lyndon.

The Gunslinger45

06-24-13, 12:27 AM

Guaporense

06-24-13, 01:33 AM

It was definitely my favourite Kubrick viewing experience. And I believe his most unsettling.

I loved Eyes Wide Shut the first time I watched it, but the second time wasn't as good as the first. I think that knowing everything that will appear on the screen didn't do good for this movie. :)

Guaporense

06-24-13, 01:36 AM

2001 is my favorite movie, so that one. Then I'd probably put A Clockwork Orange, The Shining, and Full Metal jacket ahead of it on a consistent basis. Then I'd probably flip it with Lolita and The Killing depending on my mood. I still need to see Paths of Glory and Barry Lyndon.

Paths of Glory and Barry Lyndon are two full 5 movies! And 2001 was my favorite movie for a period of two or three years at a time. Still is my favorite Hollywood movie and traditional science fiction movie.

mark f

06-24-13, 01:37 AM

Hollywood?

Guaporense

06-24-13, 01:53 AM

Well, 2001 is a "British movie" because it was filmed in Britain but it was financed by Hollywood studios and made primarily for an American audience by an American director.

By the same logic, Star Wars is partly Tunisian, since it was partly shot in Tunisia.

Anyway, interesting that Americans have a problem when someone says that something it is their favorite hollywood film (implying that their favorite film overall may not be American) while people find it normal to say it is my favorite French or Italian film.

mark f

06-24-13, 02:33 AM

What are you talking about "problem"? Jumping to some conclusion? After 1960, Kubrick used Hollywood's money but didn't make any Hollywood movies.

Mr Minio

06-24-13, 04:56 AM

Eyes Wide Shut is a really good film successfully portraying the sexual tension between people!

HitchFan97

06-24-13, 11:22 AM

Hell yeah, Eyes Wide Shut! One of my two or three favorite Kubrick films. Although I personally prefer 2001, this one doesn't get love on many top tens so it's a considerably more interesting choice.

ThomasP

06-24-13, 04:38 PM

Hell yeah, Eyes Wide Shut! One of my two or three favorite Kubrick films. Although I personally prefer 2001, this one doesn't get love on many top tens so it's a considerably more interesting choice.

The score is another amazing feat. of the film; that single piano note. :eek:

ThomasP

06-24-13, 06:59 PM

6. The World (2004)

http://theseventhart.files.wordpress.com/2010/04/the-world.jpg

The title of Jia Zhang-ke’s 2004 masterpiece, The World — a film that’s hilarious and upsetting, epic and dystopian — is an ironic pun and a metaphor. It’s also the name of the real theme park outside Beijing where most of the action is set and practically all its characters work. “See the world without ever leaving Beijing” is one slogan for the 115-acre park, where a monorail circles scaled-down replicas of the Eiffel Tower, the Taj Mahal, London Bridge, Saint Mark’s Square, the Leaning Tower of Pisa, the Pyramids, and even a Lower Manhattan complete with the Twin Towers. Extravagant kitsch like this may offer momentary escape from the everyday, but Jia is interested in showing the everyday activities needed to hold this kitsch in place as well as the alienation in this displaced world — and therefore in the world in general, including the one we know.

Flawed only by its abrupt and stylistically awkward ending, The World is a tragic, visionary work — a global newspaper that somehow catches our muddled drift in all its surreal splendor. Maybe its biggest achievement is that it actually lives up to its title.

ThomasP

06-24-13, 10:58 PM

I know it's not a very well known film, but c'mon, guys. :p

The Gunslinger45

06-24-13, 11:07 PM

I have nothing to say, I have never heard of it. :shrug:

donniedarko

06-24-13, 11:43 PM

Anyway, interesting that Americans have a problem when someone says that something it is their favorite hollywood film (implying that their favorite film overall may not be American) while people find it normal to say it is my favorite French or Italian film.

http://i43.tinypic.com/n3q9vd.gif

Tyler1

06-25-13, 07:46 AM

Pleasantly surprised to see The World (2004). Have you seen Platform (2000) and Still Life (2006)? Platform is a masterpiece, and one of my top 100 films.

ThomasP

06-25-13, 09:56 PM

Pleasantly surprised to see The World (2004). Have you seen Platform (2000) and Still Life (2006)? Platform is a masterpiece, and one of my top 100 films.

I've seen Platform, and I really liked it. I still haven't got around to watching Still Life, but hopefully I will soon!

Mr Minio

06-26-13, 06:45 AM

A director I have known for a long time but have yet to discover!

ThomasP

06-26-13, 06:58 PM

5. A Man Escaped (1956)

http://www.fmvmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/A-Man-Escaped2.jpg

Based on a French lieutenant's account of his 1942 escape from a gestapo fortress in Lyon, this stately yet uncommonly gripping 1956 feature is my choice as the greatest achievement of Robert Bresson, one of the cinema's foremost artists. (It's rivaled only by his more corrosive and metaphysical 1951 film Diary of a Country Priest.) The best of all prison-escape movies, it reconstructs the very notion of freedom through offscreen sounds and defines salvation in terms of painstakingly patient and meticulous effort. Bresson himself spent part of the war in an internment camp and subsequently lived through the German occupation of France, experiences that inform his magisterial grasp of what the concentrated use of sound and image can reveal about souls in hiding.

Guaporense

06-26-13, 07:04 PM

I was the first to rep it! :)

Mr Minio

06-26-13, 07:08 PM

I was the first to rep it! :)
http://www.reactiongifs.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/nicholas-cage-you-dont-say.gif

donniedarko

06-26-13, 07:14 PM

I was the first to rep it! :)

No one cares.

http://funny-pictures-blog.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/Funny-GIF-MR-Bean1.gif

The Gunslinger45

06-26-13, 08:31 PM

http://www.reactiongifs.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/nicholas-cage-you-dont-say.gif

Dammit man! I have not taken a ***** all day! That nearly made me drop a loaf! Warn me next time!

ThomasP

06-27-13, 12:53 AM

Haha, these gifs. kill me.

ThomasP

06-27-13, 07:50 AM

4. The Searchers (1956)

http://basementrejects.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/searchers-billboard-600x300.jpg

We may still be waiting for the Great American Novel, but John Ford gave us the Great American Film in 1956. The Searchers gathers the deepest concerns of American literature, distilling 200 years of tradition in a way available only to popular art, and with a beauty available only to a supreme visual poet like Ford. Through the central image of the frontier, the meeting point of wilderness and civilization, Ford explores the divisions of the American national character, with its search for order and its need for violence, its spirit of community and its quest for independence.

Tyler1

06-27-13, 08:02 AM

One of the most important Westerns, with a deep character study which not many give it credit for.

And I thought you would select Au Hasard Balthazar. It was on your top 10 for a long time.

ThomasP

06-27-13, 08:12 AM

One of the most important Westerns, with a deep character study which not many give it credit for.

And I thought you would select Au Hasard Balthazar. It was on your top 10 for a long time.

Yep, Au Hasard certainly was. Like most, it was the first Bresson film I saw (well, I'm pretty sure it's the one most know of) and I decided to see his other works.

Where do you rank his best films?

Tyler1

06-27-13, 08:19 AM

Where do you rank his best films?

1. Au Hasard Balthazar
2. Pickpocket
3. A Man Escaped
4. Mouchette
5. Lancelot du Lac
6. Diary of a Country Priest
7. The Trial of Joan of Arc

Daniel M

06-27-13, 11:25 AM

I have not seen A Man Escaped although I will do when I get round to the rest of Bresson's films, but The Searchers I love, one of my favourite Westerns :up:

Guaporense

06-27-13, 02:58 PM

I honestly found The Searchers to be quite boring.

mark f

06-27-13, 03:29 PM

I doubt they'll spoil the movie, but...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f7x-rzLoeUA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQi4jgROliY

Daniel M

06-27-13, 04:23 PM

I honestly found The Searchers to be quite boring.

...

http://i43.tinypic.com/n3q9vd.gif

ThomasP

06-27-13, 10:03 PM

I doubt they'll spoil the movie, but...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f7x-rzLoeUA
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQi4jgROliY

Stunning scenes.

honeykid

06-27-13, 10:32 PM

I honestly found The Searchers to be quite boring.
I'm not surprised. It is quite boring. :yawn:

edarsenal

06-27-13, 11:40 PM

reps for Searchers and your description of A Man Escaped has made be very curious to see it

ThomasP

06-28-13, 12:02 AM

I'm not surprised. It is quite boring. :yawn:

To each their own.

Jaws was pretty boring for me. :shrug:

mark f

06-28-13, 12:22 AM

O.K. now.

honeykid

06-28-13, 03:00 AM

Yeah, that's just going too far. Not to mention a complete lie. :p

ThomasP

06-28-13, 03:47 AM

Haha, it's all truth. None of Spielberg's films before the 2000s (well, maybe Empire of the Sun) do anything for me. :p

donniedarko

06-28-13, 01:39 PM

Schindler's List?

http://www.jonathanrosenbaum.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/schindlerslist-red.gif

ThomasP

06-28-13, 07:45 PM

Schindler's List?

http://www.jonathanrosenbaum.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/schindlerslist-red.gif

Yes, unfortunately, even Schindler's List; cinematically, it's Spielberg's best film, but I despise the way he sentimentalised the Holocaust.

Like Kubrick said:

"Think that's about the Holocaust? That was about success, wasn't it? The Holocaust is about 6 million people who get killed. Schindler's List is about 600 who don't."

jiraffejustin

06-28-13, 09:07 PM

I always took that as a compliment of the film.

ThomasP

06-28-13, 09:44 PM

I always took that as a compliment of the film.

Really? I'm not sure why.

Even so, I still don't like the film. :p

jiraffejustin

06-28-13, 09:47 PM

Really? I'm not sure why.

Even so, I still don't like the film. :p

Well I wasn't trying to convince you :p

I just thought Kubrick was complimenting Spielberg for not exploiting the Holocaust, instead showing an inspiring side.

Deadite

06-28-13, 10:13 PM

ThomasP

06-28-13, 10:25 PM

I don't think it sentimentalized the Holocaust, or that was the intention, at all. Obviously it focused on a "success story"... but that's ironic wording considering the film itself acknowledges that that was a pittance of human life spared in stark contrast to the mind-numbing slaughter of millions of people.

Does that belittle the dead or trivialize the evil... You may as well say that making any movie about the Holocaust does that. But that's what artists do: they make stories that try to embody human suffering, small and large, and human successes, small and large.

I appreciate that, but the feeling I think Spielberg intended to leave the audience with was one of hope and optimism, but a dramatic representation of Hitler’s crime should leave us shaken and humiliated on behalf of our species for the Holocaust raises the most serious questions about our collective sanity, to say nothing of our moral quality. Hollywood’s “reenactment,” however, chooses to concentrate on an atypical good deed.

And you do raise a good point about a Holocaust film; perhaps I view the Holocaust as too sacrosanct a subject to be made into a film.

Deadite

06-28-13, 11:14 PM

It doesn't need to leave you shaken and humiliated on behalf of your species to the point where you're crawling out of the theater to the nearest suicide booth, does it? It was already very bleak throughout, with enough scenes of brutality. Again, it was acknowledged at the end that what Schindler did was small and atypical, but an act being small and atypical is not at all the same as it being meaningless. I honestly fail to see how Schindler's List was supposed to avoid depicting Schindler and his choice to try to save some.... If you're opposed to that sort of thing being shown at all because you think it prevents the movie from being relentlessly brutal, I don't know what to tell you. :shrug:

Ugh, anyway. It's one of the most depressing films I've ever seen, small successes notwithstanding. That's enough for me.

ThomasP

06-28-13, 11:27 PM

I guess we'll just have to disagree on this. http://www.movieforums.com/community/images/smilies/shrug.gif
--

There is a moment in the film that I'd like to hear you thoughts on: the scene where Schindler's women are accidentally sent off to Auschwitz and herded into showers. We don't know, for sure, whether gas or water is coming out of the showers.

Do you think he should have left such a scene ambiguous?

Deadite

06-28-13, 11:38 PM

ThomasP

06-28-13, 11:42 PM

It's been a while since I saw it. You're implying that using a device of suspense was inappropriate, perhaps in bad taste given the reality of actual gassing? A technique more befitting entertainment like Jaws?

Yes. Jaws I understand; it's a suspense/thriller film, but I thought the placement of it in SL was a little dumb.

I shouldn't use the word ambiguous; suggestion is better.

mark f

06-28-13, 11:45 PM

Why, if the actual survivors weren't gassed?

weeman

06-28-13, 11:47 PM

I think there is an argument to be made for the scene lacking taste, with concern to its subject manner. Especially as Spielberg used suspense in a similar way in his previous films, Jaws having already been mentioned.

I think perhaps hearing muffled screams, or something of the sort, might have amplified the power of the scene?

jiraffejustin

06-28-13, 11:47 PM

I thought the scene in the showers showed that there was actually water coming out. I can't remember for sure, but it seemed they rejoiced when something came out of the shower heads. These were the women under Schindler's protection if I remember correctly.

EDIT: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjy8Z1hK2wY

ThomasP

06-28-13, 11:48 PM

Why, if the actual survivors weren't gassed?

I'm talking about the suggestion of it, though.

jiraffejustin

06-28-13, 11:50 PM

I see where you are coming from, but it doesn't bother me I guess. Are you just offended by it? Or do you just think as a technique it doesn't work?

mark f

06-28-13, 11:51 PM

Whatever, but that objection seems completely unfounded.

Deadite

06-28-13, 11:55 PM

It gets back to the question of artistry, I think. Do you think it was bad taste or too simplistic of Art Spiegelman to have nazi cats and jewish mice in Maus?

Anything short of a documentary will tend to employ dramatic effect. Documentaries occasionally do so, too. I recently watched "Dirty Wars" which was presented in a style similar to a Paul Greengrass thriller. It featured graphic footage of dead women and children.

Deadite

06-29-13, 12:06 AM

I see where you are coming from, but it doesn't bother me I guess. Are you just offended by it? Or do you just think as a technique it doesn't work?

I think he is saying he's opposed to the use of suspense, period, given the reality of the Holocaust and gassings. Which is an understandable moral stance.

I made a related observation about Inglorious Basterds, and allowed leeway by taking into account its director's apparent intentions.

BlueLion

06-29-13, 12:13 AM

I personally found Schindler's List quite difficult to sit through. I do appreciate it, though.

ThomasP

06-29-13, 10:52 AM

3. The Mirror (1975)

http://www.benvickery.com/fortport/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/Watch-The-Mirror-1975-3-1.jpg

Words can't describe the impact this film had on me. All I can say is, it opened me up to a new way of thinking, about art, and maybe even life in general. :shrug:

The Gunslinger45

06-29-13, 11:01 AM

I have seen the Mirror, and it was a very difficult watch for me. Not my artistic taste. Can't wait to see the last two movies.

Tyler1

06-29-13, 12:10 PM

I suspect it's gonna be Playtime (1967).

Mr Minio

06-29-13, 02:27 PM

Mirror is one of my favourite films ever!

I have to finally watch Playtime, but my general aversion to comedies makes me putting it off.

mark f

06-29-13, 02:48 PM

You're safe. It isn't funny. :cool:

Guaporense

06-29-13, 03:08 PM

1. Au Hasard Balthazar
2. Pickpocket
3. A Man Escaped
4. Mouchette
5. Lancelot du Lac
6. Diary of a Country Priest
7. The Trial of Joan of Arc

Mine:

1. Au Hasard Balthazar
2. Diary of a Country Priest
3. Pickpocket
4. The Devil Probably
5. A Man Escaped
6. L'Argent

All are worth watching, though. I plan to watch those 3 you cited that I haven't watched yet. Bresson is a must watch director.

Guaporense

06-29-13, 03:09 PM

The Mirror is the single most impressive art film I ever watched. Easily a 5 movie in every sense of the word.

ThomasP

06-29-13, 07:38 PM

I've seen most of Tarkovsky's other films, though I think The Mirror is the perfect combination of his best facets.

ThomasP

06-30-13, 11:25 AM

2. Le Mépris (1963)

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-PyD-vma3VX0/TtegX1kEi5I/AAAAAAAABdA/0AHxdVpKVDc/s1600/LaMepris-00017-1.jpg

Quoted from a review Rosenbaum wrote for it; I know you won't understand it unless you have read Auerbach's criticism

If Contempt has a single, overarching subject it’s the aching distance between the two styles Auerbach outlines and the two ways of perceiving the world they imply. Using these styles more broadly to describe antiquity and modernity, it should be obvious that Contempt is not simply a look at antiquity from the vantage point of modernity — Fellini Satyricon is closer to that. Contempt is something more nearly akin to the reverse: a look at ourselves as we might appear to the Greek gods. Layering one antithetical style over another — classical over modern — Godard necessarily produces a work shot through with contradictions. In terms of Auerbach’s two modes, Godard’s serene camera movements and the film’s lush, melancholy score stand in for Homeric style, as do various other signifiers of epic and odyssey. But what his camera is traversing (including the Mediterranean, as in the final shot) and what the score accompanies is generally fraught with turbulence, whether it’s obvious or not.

Godard, playing Lang’s assistant director in the film, has the last word, heard over the final tracking movement across the sea, a final command to the film crew, “Silence,” as the camera starts rolling — a command that’s then translated into Italian. Godard’s view of serenity and continuity is necessarily splintered, because the modern world is a Tower of Babel where languages and discourses compete for mastery over a purity that eludes our grasp. Not even silence is unmediated. There’s a French silence, an Italian silence, a German silence, and an American silence; maybe even a Greek silence, which the film prefers to remain silent about.

Mr Minio

06-30-13, 11:40 AM

Another 4.5 movie on your list!

The Gunslinger45

06-30-13, 11:52 AM

Contempt is my favorite movie I have seen from JLG. Excellent choice!

mark f

06-30-13, 01:13 PM

Mr Minio

06-30-13, 01:56 PM

Why are you sad, mark f?

Deadite

06-30-13, 02:00 PM

:laugh:

Guaporense

06-30-13, 03:00 PM

One hell of a list so far.

HitchFan97

06-30-13, 05:28 PM

I want to rewatch Contempt. I loved quite a lot about it the first time I saw it but for some reason it didn't all click for me.

ThomasP

06-30-13, 05:45 PM

What's with the sad face and laugh?

http://www.movieforums.com/community/images/smilies/laugh.gif

mark f

06-30-13, 06:02 PM

Some critics are very good writers even if they are BS artists. Maybe that applies to some filmmakers and MoFos (such as me) too. :( :)

ThomasP

06-30-13, 11:02 PM

Oh, I see.

ThomasP

07-01-13, 05:11 PM

1. Playtime (1967)

http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lsi8c7ThZv1qzpdnho1_1280.png

The wait, which was inadvertedly spoiled by member Tyler1 (HitchFan97 was close when he predicted Le Mépris) is over: my favourite movie of all time, the one which I return to the most and has never failed to disappoint, is Jacques Tati’s Playtime. The restored 65-millimeter version, which I managed to see (all the other viewings have been on DVD/Blu-Ray) has the most intricately designed mise-en-scene in all of cinema. Tati’s studio-constructed vision of Paris begins in daytime with nightmarishly regimented straight lines and right angles and proceeds to night with accidental yet celebratory curves of people instinctively coming together.

Mr Minio

07-01-13, 05:24 PM

ThomasP

07-01-13, 05:33 PM

I saw the prediction and watched it yesterday being sure it's gonna be number one. The first part I found utterly bad. The jokes weren't funny, but it felt like Tati is trying so hard to make them be. Superb mise-en-scene was the only thing that kept me watching it. After a while the movie gets better. The party is very long, but by no means boring. Gags weren't laughable, but not forced either. I found the main character pretty dull and uninspiring, so probably that's why I prefered the latter scenes, where he doesn't appear for dozen of minutes. And while I was struggling at the beginning, the scenes after three thirds I found rather enjoyable. The best thing was the ending and preceding scenes. A gift for a charming lady was something that warmed my cold heart.

3 for masterful scenography and last scenes.

Ah, that'a a shame, especially considering you liked pretty much every other film in my top 10 a lot.

I should point out that I know the film wouldn't have been so high--perhaps not even in the top 10 at all--had I not seen it in the cinema. I consider the film dated now because the only suitable viewing experience for the movie is on a large, film-projected screen. Tati's misce-en-scene is muted by a smaller screen; there are scenes in the film where M. Hulot-like characters appear, but, on a small screen, you may be confused as to which was in real and which one isn't.

You said the later parts of the film warmed you more, which I think was the whole point; as the characters loosen up, the viewer enjoys the experience more.

The Gunslinger45

07-01-13, 05:37 PM

I have not seen this movie. I should sometime. Congrats on completing your list!

Mr Minio

07-01-13, 05:40 PM

ThomasP

07-01-13, 05:44 PM

I haven't seen it on a very large screen, but large enough to appreciate its looks. A nice thing was to observe everything that's on the screen and sometimes there was happening a lot.

Weird point, the ending warmed me, while the latter parts were more enjoyable. That's what I said. Haven't it been for IMO unsuccessful gags, I would have rated it higher, but you never know. I don't deny I may rewatch it some day.

Like I said, one of the film's main points is the curve overcoming the straight line; we go through the first 2/3rds of the film seeing shiny glass, boxed-shape rooms, and perfectly aligned cars. In the restaurant sequence, however, that very glass is broken (which allows lower class, less well off people join the film), order is disturbed, and, for once, we see the power of the curve. That's just how I feel about.

And thanks, Gunslinger!

The Gunslinger45

07-01-13, 05:54 PM

Anytime

HitchFan97

07-01-13, 05:54 PM

I'll have to see this now. Great list!

mark f

07-01-13, 05:59 PM

Most films seem much better when seen on the big screen in as ideal a situation as possible. Everyone should try to see the better [older] films in the cinema. The problem is that it depends on where you live. But do try to watch them. I'm incapacitated and can only watch movies at home now. It's nice but disappointing. Luckily, I've seen most of the special ones I wanted to in the theatre already. :)

Minio, depending on how dull you really found Monsieur Hulot (as played and directed by Tati), he is the lead in four other movies (http://www.imdb.com/character/ch0016488/?ref_=tt_cl_t1).

ThomasP

07-01-13, 06:03 PM

I'll have to see this now. Great list!

Thanks. Make sure you tell me what you think if/when you do!

Most films seem much better when seen on the big screen in as ideal a situation as possible. Everyone should try to see the better [older] films in the cinema. The problem is that it depends on where you live. But do try to watch them. I'm incapacitated and can only watch movies at home now. It's nice but disappointing. Luckily, I've seen most of the special ones I wanted to in the theatre already. :)

Minio, depending on how dull you really found Monsieur Hulot (as played and directed by Tati), he is the lead in four other movies (http://www.imdb.com/character/ch0016488/?ref_=tt_cl_t1).

Yeah, I live in a small city, too; I guess you could say I saw this film in ideal circumstances, as a tourist in Paris.

Tati started to despise the character before he did Playtime, but the studio would not fund the film (at least, not with the budget it had) without a character French audiences would already know. It really is one of the most interesting failures in the history of cinema.

Mr Minio

07-01-13, 06:15 PM

I'm not talking about interpretation, but simply my feelings about the movie.

I know 8 1/2 was supposed to be chaotic, but I hated the chaos in this particular flick.
In Playtime I didn't like the first part mainly due to the main character.

donniedarko

07-01-13, 06:23 PM

I've only seen three from your top ten. The Master which I'm fairly mutual on. I give it a 2.5, and it was one I was highly looking forward to. It felt like it was being made up as it went along. It has fantastic acting and scenery, while some scenes are exceptional, some are plain. Eyes Wide Shut is certainly a fantastic film. It has a great setting and is extremely surreal. I don't love it nearly as much as you do, but I highly appreciate it. A great end to a career of a genius. Finally Contempt which I don't care for. It's just Godard making a film of his and being a prick director while doing it. Anyways nice list and congrats on finishing it. I enjoyed it :up:

ThomasP

07-01-13, 07:21 PM

"being a prick director while doing it" made me chuckle.

Daniel M

07-01-13, 07:26 PM

Donnie certainly doesn't mince his words :D

But a very interesting top 10, all films on their that I have not seen have been on my watchlist for a while I think, that image alone makes Playtime look very interesting, I actually bought Le Mepris on Blu-ray the other day so will watch soon :)

HitchFan97

07-01-13, 07:41 PM

^Looking forward to your thoughts on it Daniel :)

Daniel M

07-01-13, 07:42 PM

^Looking forward to your thoughts on it Daniel :)

I got Pierrot Le Fou on Blu-ray too (and Le Cercle Rouge and Ran), it's the only one of the four I've watched yet, but I know you're a big fan. I loved it, better than Breathless I thought.

ThomasP

07-01-13, 07:53 PM

Pierrot is another great JLG film.

jiraffejustin

07-01-13, 11:37 PM

Great list. You have some fine taste.

honeykid

07-02-13, 03:21 AM

Congrats on finishing your list, Thomas. :)

Tyler1

07-02-13, 08:33 AM

ThomasP

07-02-13, 09:45 AM

Hey, don't hold it against me :p I recall seeing that film on your top 10, and I didn't know that it was your favourite movie. Still, it's marvelous seeing an Asian film on someone's top 10. I'm a big fan of Asian cinema. :up:

I'm just kidding. :p

I haven't seen that much Asian cinema (about 90% of the Asian cinema I've seen is from Ozu, Mizoguchi and Kurosawa), and I haven't seen a bad film by any of them.

Two directors I'm really interested in are Edward Yang and Hou Hsiao-Hsien. I've seen about 6 films between them, and I absolutely love each one.

HitchFan97

07-02-13, 12:06 PM

I got Pierrot Le Fou on Blu-ray too (and Le Cercle Rouge and Ran), it's the only one of the four I've watched yet, but I know you're a big fan. I loved it, better than Breathless I thought.

Those are some freaking awesome movies right there! I saw Le Cercle Rouge just recently, instant favorite.

Guaporense

07-02-13, 01:54 PM

Tati’s studio-constructed vision of Paris begins in daytime with nightmarishly regimented straight lines and right angles and proceeds to night with accidental yet celebratory curves of people instinctively coming together.

Hyperboles aside (which are natural coming from a favorite movie), I will watch this one. It is one of the few in the Sign and Sound top 50 which I haven't watched by now.

Guaporense

07-02-13, 02:55 PM

I haven't seen that much Asian cinema (about 90% of the Asian cinema I've seen is from Ozu, Mizoguchi and Kurosawa), and I haven't seen a bad film by any of them.

Two directors I'm really interested in are Edward Yang and Hou Hsiao-Hsien. I've seen about 6 films between them, and I absolutely love each one.

Never seem Spirited Away?

Mr Minio

07-02-13, 02:56 PM

Don't know about him, but maybe I'll watch it today!

ThomasP

07-02-13, 02:59 PM

Never seem Spirited Away?

I've seen it. I've also seen My Neighbor Totoro.

I quite liked both of them. :)

ThomasP

07-02-13, 09:08 PM

Honourable Mentions:

http://cdn3.whatculture.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/00410.jpg
Jack the Minotaur

The Shining (Stanley Kubrick, 1980)

Jules and Jim (François Truffaut, 1962)

A Brighter Summer Day (Edward Yang, 1991)

Paris qui dort/The Crazy Ray (René Clair, 1925)

Lola (Jacques Demy, 1961)

Andrei Rublev (Andrei Tarkovsky, 1971)

I Vitelloni (Federico Fellini, 1953)

Shoeshine and The Bicycle Thieves (Vitorrio De Sica, 1946 and 1948)

War and Peace (King Vidor, 1956)

Daniel M

07-19-13, 02:50 PM

Right, I have always got on with you before but I have a lot of questions now. Straight up, are these your top 50 films or are they Jonathan Rosenbaums'? Simply I want an answer as to why you feel the need to steal from other people's work in an attempt to come across as some type of critic?

That said, Breathless is a gritty and engaging first feature. It lays down most of the Godardian repertoire that the later films would build upon; less characteristic of Godard's later work are the superb jazz score, and a relatively coherent and continuous narrative.

Rosenbaum…

Jean-Luc Godard’s gritty and engaging first feature had an almost revolutionary impact when first released in 1960. It lays down most of the Godardian repertoire that the later films would build upon: … Less characteristic of Godard’s later work are the superb jazz score (by French pianist Martial Solal), a relatively coherent and continuous narrative, and postsynchronized dialogue.

http://www.jonathanrosenbaum.com/?p=9358

Like Sans Soleil, Marker’s 1983 film, La Jetée speaks to issues around time and memory, but this film is much more accessible—and thrilling. The bittersweet music, the narrator’s steady voice that sounds like a scientist’s, the museum-quality photos, and the gripping plot all make “La Jetée” an inimitable experience.

Taken word for word from the bottom of this article - http://www.sfgate.com/movies/article/FILM-CLIPS-Also-opening-today-2548335.php

That’s a few from the first few films of your list, so I skipped to the end of the list to check stuff…

The number #1 film…

Tati’s studio-constructed vision of Paris begins in daytime with nightmarishly regimented straight lines and right angles and proceeds to night with accidental yet celebratory curves of people instinctively coming together.

Can be found here http://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/playtime/Film?oid=1149946

A Man Escaped the number #5 film…

The best of all prison-escape movies, it reconstructs the very notion of freedom through offscreen sounds and defines salvation in terms of painstakingly patient and meticulous effort. Bresson himself spent part of the war in an internment camp and subsequently lived through the German occupation of France, experiences that inform his magisterial grasp of what the concentrated use of sound and image can reveal about souls in hiding.

http://www.chicagoreader.com/chicago/a-man-escaped/Film?oid=1054797