Thomas P's Top 50
 

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.


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.


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.


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.


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.


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.

Re: Thomas P's Top 50
 

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

Re: Thomas P's Top 50
 

Hell of a start! Looking forward to the rest!

Re: Thomas P's Top 50
 

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 :)

Re: Thomas P's Top 50
 

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:

Haha, thanks. :up:

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

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!

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

Shame about Scarface, though.

Get watching them, then. :P

Re: Thomas P's Top 50
 

:up: for Mulholland Drive.

Re: Thomas P's Top 50
 

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.

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.


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.


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.


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.


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

Re: Thomas P's Top 50
 

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.

Another set I have not seen :(.

Re: Thomas P's Top 50
 

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

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.

Re: Thomas P's Top 50
 

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

Re: Thomas P's Top 50
 

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.

Re: Thomas P's Top 50
 

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...