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I didn't "try to make you sound stupid." I only repeated what you had already said in a way that pointed out its absurdity.
ahwell's Top 100 Movies - 2020
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...I understand some things about Eraserhead, but I don't fully understand it...
and wrote an explanation in my review here at MoFo. Take a look at it if you want.
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91. McCabe and Mrs. Miller (1971)
...This is my first Altman, actually, and I hope his other movies are as good as this...
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I didn't "try to make you sound stupid." I only repeated what you had already said in a way that pointed out its absurdity.
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91. McCabe and Mrs. Miller (1971)
This is a dark, gritty, depressing, bleak, movie. Beatty and Christie give stellar performances - in fact, all the performances are stellar, and of course Robert Altman's direction is superb.
This is my first Altman, actually, and I hope his other movies are as good as this. McCabe and Mrs. Miller is a revisionist Western, a tragedy that hits you in the gut and asks questions about businesses/independence/morality of ownership. It's true cinema, is what I'm trying to say
.While some might find it a bit too dark and muddy visually, it's also constantly thrilling and keeps you engaged right up until the climactic and violent ending.
My third favorite Altman after The Long Goodbye and The Player. Haven't seen Nashville yet.
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The derailment of the thread completely made me forget to comment on your newest entry...
I have not seen that one. Actually I have yet to see an Altman film.
I have not seen that one. Actually I have yet to see an Altman film.
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90. Stand by Me(1986)
I sometimes feel so absolutely alone in the world. Like I'm sitting in a house in a town in a county in a state in the middle of nowhere. I am the center of my own life, yet I always feel like the real center is thousands of miles away. Each car that drives past my window, each family walking their dog. Every drop of rain, every whisper from the wind. Life is so fleeting, and I feel like I'm missing every moment. I sometimes wonder if I'm watching my own life, instead of choosing it. Yet I am so lucky to even experience it in the first place.
Stand by Me deals with childhood nostalgia. And innocence. And our friendships. But to me what hit the most was identity, and choosing your own path. It's about cherishing every moment in your life, and embracing your identity to help you be successful. Love yourself, and then you can love others.
The four boys in Stand by Me don't realize this at first. They have such big hearts, and such big minds, but they all - especially Chris - look down on themselves. Chris wants to be someone, but he doesn't feel he has the brains, or the means. Gordie also wants to be someone, but he feels pressured and hated by his parents and by his dead older brother. The other two have motives more concealed, but Stand by Me doesn't push them to the side. It lets the characters breath and develop.
When I finished Stand by Me the only complaint that I could think of was that I wanted more. I wanted an arc, an ending, a reunion where the adults could share good times. But I realized that would destroy at all. Just like Gordie said about his pie eating story; that's just the end. Sometimes the ending doesn't have to explain everything. Like how the boys dealt with the older gang. How Gordie dealt with his trauma and parents. Where Teddie and Vern went with their lives. Those are questions we care about, but also questions that are so much valuable to think about than to "know" for fact. Every life is intertwined, and we will never for sure truly understand anyone's story except our own.
So let's work every day on making our own story better and better. Let's not let any predetermined fate define us. Let's love ourselves, and love others. If we don't have a center, look for that center instead of letting it find you. Make your own future. Most of us are out of young childhood, and whether it was awful or amazing, remember that as a time of hope and courage and love and friendship, and let that inspire your new adventures.
Listening to the soft, melodic rain outside my window, I'm reminded just how beautiful life is. It will go by before we know it, but we are so fortunate to even be alive. Even for a fraction of a second in the span of the universe. We are so small, but we are a part. If fate really does exist, then rise to meet it.
Thinking about it this way, I don't feel so alone after all.
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It’s been a long time since I watched Stand By Me but I do recall liking it. I should watch it again, though honestly that’s probably not going to happen unless it’s for a HOF.
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It’s been a long time since I watched Stand By Me but I do recall liking it. I should watch it again, though honestly that’s probably not going to happen unless it’s for a HOF.
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90. Stand by Me (1986)
I like Stand by Me, but I don't love it as much as most people do. But it has a great cast of young actors.
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If I answer a game thread correctly, just skip my turn and continue with the game.
OPEN FLOOR.
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If I answer a game thread correctly, just skip my turn and continue with the game.
OPEN FLOOR.
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I love Stand By Me. Just re watched it either last year or the year before and it. Still. Holds. Up.
Such an amazing film
Such an amazing film
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This is an insane coincidence....
89. The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007)
Well, there you have it. Here are the people that are immortalized in history, and here are the people that are only immortalized in their minds. There are certain types of people on the earth, those who live not for themselves, but not even quite for the world. They live merely to exist on their own terms, and let no one influence or control them - they care not whether they end up in the history books. Ironically, these are the people that usually do end up in the history books.
And sulking in the corner is the "other". Perhaps just as smart and brave and kind and innovative. But in the back of their mind, this person is too aware of the people around them and their opinions. They do care about their name living past death, and sadly that likely won't be the case. There is that inner drive and absolute inspiration - as if God struck down a lightning bolt onto one in every million people - that this person will never understand.
Most of us are of this second type. We are all capable, special people; we are unique and have different interests, different talents, different personalities. That's so wonderful. And as long as we live life to its fullest extent there is nothing wrong with being the unknown.
That is, what the Coward Robert Ford fears so much throughout this film, I suspect. What I have feared, but also which I am slowly beginning to accept. After you die, you leave a small ripple in your family and friends. Some people have larger ripples, and some people's ripples are still continuing to affect us years after they died.
Jesse James is no longer one of the most legendary and famous people to ever have lived. But even when he was roaming the wild west, he was immortal. When Robert Ford digs up his old action picture books with "Jesse James robs a train!" on the cover, he is painted as a God. Ford admires him so much that he wants to be him. To talk like him, to act like him. To understand his every move; if you move up in society you are bound to at some point create larger ripples.
So when Robert Ford took out his shotgun and put a bullet through Jesse James's head, I suspect he was not driven by the bounty. He was driven by the immense fear of his impending doom, and that - like all of us must face - his very existence would be wiped away come a year after his death.
Think about all the people who have ever lived. That is billions upon billions of people, seconds upon seconds of pure living. It would be impossible to try to document the human experience from every heart that ever beat. Yet part of me wants to go back and, well, pick a random farmer who lived in my region in the 1800s. Get to know them, read about their life, their family, their important dates. It sounds creepy, but it's also a way of preserving something so distant and lost in time; wouldn't it make you a little happy to somehow know that someone would dig up a dusty journal and read about your life?
Perhaps not all of us, but certainly Robert Ford. Well, in a way, has he achieved the immortality he strove for? Yes and no. He has a wikipedia page; he's more famous than he would have been. But also, at some point one most value their own life after what happens after their life. Robert Ford, for the last ten years of his short life, was miserable. It seemed nothing could redeem his guilt and the hate that so many had for him. What an awful existence. When Ford died, he became known as the man who shot Jesse James - the man who shot a famous person. Without knowing anything about his life, his relationships, his ideals, he is labeled as a coward.
I'm not particularly sure we're supposed to sympathize with either Ford or James in this movie. Both have admirable and repulsive characteristics. The important thing is, they are living breathing people with emotions, thoughts, and words. They once existed, but do they still now?
Time passes so oddly, and with every spring rain it seems all the memories from once upon a time are washed away. Even my childhood memories are fading, and I often wonder if I'm even the same person - your memories define you as much as your genetics, so every second that goes by indicates a new and evolving human being. Its kind of creepy, to know that there are billions, trillions, of different versions of yourself.
There's also something beautiful about that. Perhaps it is futile to question nature, and to question our own presence in the big grand plan of life. The Assassination of Jesse James has a cold touch, but in the end it is a warm movie, and I almost teared up in the end. It's beauty is in it's wistful reflection on how time passes, and with that, our images.
Everything moves so quickly, too quickly. Maybe I do want to be immortal; but, only for an instant.
89. The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007)
Well, there you have it. Here are the people that are immortalized in history, and here are the people that are only immortalized in their minds. There are certain types of people on the earth, those who live not for themselves, but not even quite for the world. They live merely to exist on their own terms, and let no one influence or control them - they care not whether they end up in the history books. Ironically, these are the people that usually do end up in the history books.
And sulking in the corner is the "other". Perhaps just as smart and brave and kind and innovative. But in the back of their mind, this person is too aware of the people around them and their opinions. They do care about their name living past death, and sadly that likely won't be the case. There is that inner drive and absolute inspiration - as if God struck down a lightning bolt onto one in every million people - that this person will never understand.
Most of us are of this second type. We are all capable, special people; we are unique and have different interests, different talents, different personalities. That's so wonderful. And as long as we live life to its fullest extent there is nothing wrong with being the unknown.
That is, what the Coward Robert Ford fears so much throughout this film, I suspect. What I have feared, but also which I am slowly beginning to accept. After you die, you leave a small ripple in your family and friends. Some people have larger ripples, and some people's ripples are still continuing to affect us years after they died.
Jesse James is no longer one of the most legendary and famous people to ever have lived. But even when he was roaming the wild west, he was immortal. When Robert Ford digs up his old action picture books with "Jesse James robs a train!" on the cover, he is painted as a God. Ford admires him so much that he wants to be him. To talk like him, to act like him. To understand his every move; if you move up in society you are bound to at some point create larger ripples.
So when Robert Ford took out his shotgun and put a bullet through Jesse James's head, I suspect he was not driven by the bounty. He was driven by the immense fear of his impending doom, and that - like all of us must face - his very existence would be wiped away come a year after his death.
Think about all the people who have ever lived. That is billions upon billions of people, seconds upon seconds of pure living. It would be impossible to try to document the human experience from every heart that ever beat. Yet part of me wants to go back and, well, pick a random farmer who lived in my region in the 1800s. Get to know them, read about their life, their family, their important dates. It sounds creepy, but it's also a way of preserving something so distant and lost in time; wouldn't it make you a little happy to somehow know that someone would dig up a dusty journal and read about your life?
Perhaps not all of us, but certainly Robert Ford. Well, in a way, has he achieved the immortality he strove for? Yes and no. He has a wikipedia page; he's more famous than he would have been. But also, at some point one most value their own life after what happens after their life. Robert Ford, for the last ten years of his short life, was miserable. It seemed nothing could redeem his guilt and the hate that so many had for him. What an awful existence. When Ford died, he became known as the man who shot Jesse James - the man who shot a famous person. Without knowing anything about his life, his relationships, his ideals, he is labeled as a coward.
I'm not particularly sure we're supposed to sympathize with either Ford or James in this movie. Both have admirable and repulsive characteristics. The important thing is, they are living breathing people with emotions, thoughts, and words. They once existed, but do they still now?
Time passes so oddly, and with every spring rain it seems all the memories from once upon a time are washed away. Even my childhood memories are fading, and I often wonder if I'm even the same person - your memories define you as much as your genetics, so every second that goes by indicates a new and evolving human being. Its kind of creepy, to know that there are billions, trillions, of different versions of yourself.
There's also something beautiful about that. Perhaps it is futile to question nature, and to question our own presence in the big grand plan of life. The Assassination of Jesse James has a cold touch, but in the end it is a warm movie, and I almost teared up in the end. It's beauty is in it's wistful reflection on how time passes, and with that, our images.
Everything moves so quickly, too quickly. Maybe I do want to be immortal; but, only for an instant.
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Part of me think it's too soon for you compile such a list. You've barely begun your journey as a budding young cinephile (though you're miles ahead of where most of us were at your age). I also know that you've only recently watched many of these for the first time and I think re-watches are an integral part of determining favorites. On the other hand, this list will serve as a nice time capsule for you to look back on in a few years. Plus these favorite movie threads are simply a lot of fun to follow.
So far our tastes appear quite dissimilar. I hate to use the term "overrated," but it's a word that immediately springs to mind when I think of Blazing Saddles. There are a few amusing bits and I admire its subversiveness and deceptive intelligence, but overall it just wasn't very funny to me. It seems Mel Brooks's brand of humor doesn't tickle my funny bone. Not a fan of The Producers, either, and Spaceballs is one of my most hated comedies. I like Young Frankenstein a lot, but still find it light on laughs.
Elmer Gantry is a good movie that hasn't stuck with me. I'd like to revisit it at some point. Eyes Wide Shut is a very good movie that has stuck with me (no surprise there given the mask-wearing orgies, which I keep trying to orchestrate in my hometown but nobody attends
), but it's not a favorite. M is great, but I've only seen it once long ago. Not crazy about McCabe and Mrs. Miller, though I'd have to watch it again to remember my issues. Stand By Me is a great coming-of-age movie. It'd probably be a favorite if I'd watched it at a younger age. The Assassination of Jesse James is a beautiful bore. Haven't seen Kind Hearts and Coronets, The Last Crusade or La Haine.
Rebecca is a perfect example of why I find re-watches so important. I would've ranked several Hitchcocks ahead of it after my first viewing, but when I revisited it a couple years back, I suddenly found myself questioning if it isn't actually Hitch's strongest movie. Compare that to something like Strangers on a Train, which I thought was excellent at first and one of the most suspenseful movies ever made, but it hasn't come close to recapturing that feeling on subsequent viewings. There's just something spellbinding about Rebecca. Though still highly suspenseful, it doesn't seem to rely on that aspect as much as other Hitchcocks, so it doesn't blow its load on a first viewing when you're caught up in how things are going to play out. It's a very rich, rewarding film that maintains an air of mystery. Though Hitch's voice is still strong, you can also feel the heavy influence of producer David Selznick, which helps to give it a slightly different vibe from the director's other major works.
I don't know if you've partaken of the devil's lettuce yet, but I highly recommend watching Eraserhead while stoned. (Judging by your "review," you were apparently tripping on something.) It's my go-to movie while high. I'm always going to remember the time I passed out from smoking too much, then woke up at like 3 in the morning to a dark empty house, still noticeably high, just as the baby grows to enormous size and the movie reaches its freak-out crescendo. Needless to say, it was extremely unsettling. I thought I was losing my f**king mind.
Looking forward to the rest of the list, even though I already know what much of it looks like from when you were constantly updating it on Letterboxd.
So far our tastes appear quite dissimilar. I hate to use the term "overrated," but it's a word that immediately springs to mind when I think of Blazing Saddles. There are a few amusing bits and I admire its subversiveness and deceptive intelligence, but overall it just wasn't very funny to me. It seems Mel Brooks's brand of humor doesn't tickle my funny bone. Not a fan of The Producers, either, and Spaceballs is one of my most hated comedies. I like Young Frankenstein a lot, but still find it light on laughs.
Elmer Gantry is a good movie that hasn't stuck with me. I'd like to revisit it at some point. Eyes Wide Shut is a very good movie that has stuck with me (no surprise there given the mask-wearing orgies, which I keep trying to orchestrate in my hometown but nobody attends
), but it's not a favorite. M is great, but I've only seen it once long ago. Not crazy about McCabe and Mrs. Miller, though I'd have to watch it again to remember my issues. Stand By Me is a great coming-of-age movie. It'd probably be a favorite if I'd watched it at a younger age. The Assassination of Jesse James is a beautiful bore. Haven't seen Kind Hearts and Coronets, The Last Crusade or La Haine. Rebecca is a perfect example of why I find re-watches so important. I would've ranked several Hitchcocks ahead of it after my first viewing, but when I revisited it a couple years back, I suddenly found myself questioning if it isn't actually Hitch's strongest movie. Compare that to something like Strangers on a Train, which I thought was excellent at first and one of the most suspenseful movies ever made, but it hasn't come close to recapturing that feeling on subsequent viewings. There's just something spellbinding about Rebecca. Though still highly suspenseful, it doesn't seem to rely on that aspect as much as other Hitchcocks, so it doesn't blow its load on a first viewing when you're caught up in how things are going to play out. It's a very rich, rewarding film that maintains an air of mystery. Though Hitch's voice is still strong, you can also feel the heavy influence of producer David Selznick, which helps to give it a slightly different vibe from the director's other major works.
I don't know if you've partaken of the devil's lettuce yet, but I highly recommend watching Eraserhead while stoned. (Judging by your "review," you were apparently tripping on something.) It's my go-to movie while high. I'm always going to remember the time I passed out from smoking too much, then woke up at like 3 in the morning to a dark empty house, still noticeably high, just as the baby grows to enormous size and the movie reaches its freak-out crescendo. Needless to say, it was extremely unsettling. I thought I was losing my f**king mind.
Looking forward to the rest of the list, even though I already know what much of it looks like from when you were constantly updating it on Letterboxd.
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Part of me think it's too soon for you compile such a list. You've barely begun your journey as a budding young cinephile (though you're miles ahead of where most of us were at your age). I also know that you've only recently watched many of these for the first time and I think re-watches are an integral part of determining favorites. On the other hand, this list will serve as a nice time capsule for you to look back on in a few years. Plus these favorite movie threads are simply a lot of fun to follow.
So far our tastes appear quite dissimilar. I hate to use the term "overrated," but it's a word that immediately springs to mind when I think of Blazing Saddles. There are a few amusing bits and I admire its subversiveness and deceptive intelligence, but overall it just wasn't very funny to me. It seems Mel Brooks's brand of humor doesn't tickle my funny bone. Not a fan of The Producers, either, and Spaceballs is one of my most hated comedies. I like Young Frankenstein a lot, but still find it light on laughs.
Elmer Gantry is a good movie that hasn't stuck with me. I'd like to revisit it at some point. Eyes Wide Shut is a very good movie that has stuck with me (no surprise there given the mask-wearing orgies, which I keep trying to orchestrate in my hometown but nobody attends), but it's not a favorite. M is great, but I've only seen it once long ago. Not crazy about McCabe and Mrs. Miller, though I'd have to watch it again to remember my issues. Stand By Me is a great coming-of-age movie. It'd probably be a favorite if I'd watched it at a younger age. The Assassination of Jesse James is a beautiful bore. Haven't seen Kind Hearts and Coronets, The Last Crusade or La Haine.
Rebecca is a perfect example of why I find re-watches so important. I would've ranked several Hitchcocks ahead of it after my first viewing, but when I revisited it a couple years back, I suddenly found myself questioning if it isn't actually Hitch's strongest movie. Compare that to something like Strangers on a Train, which I thought was excellent at first and one of the most suspenseful movies ever made, but it hasn't come close to recapturing that feeling on subsequent viewings. There's just something spellbinding about Rebecca. Though still highly suspenseful, it doesn't seem to rely on that aspect as much as other Hitchcocks, so it doesn't blow its load on a first viewing when you're caught up in how things are going to play out. It's a very rich, rewarding film that maintains an air of mystery. Though Hitch's voice is still strong, you can also feel the heavy influence of producer David Selznick, which helps to give it a slightly different vibe from the director's other major works.
I don't know if you've partaken of the devil's lettuce yet, but I highly recommend watching Eraserhead while stoned. (Judging by your "review," you were apparently tripping on something.) It's my go-to movie while high. I'm always going to remember the time I passed out from smoking too much, then woke up at like 3 in the morning to a dark empty house, still noticeably high, just as the baby grows to enormous size and the movie reaches its freak-out crescendo. Needless to say, it was extremely unsettling. I thought I was losing my f**king mind.
Looking forward to the rest of the list, even though I already know what much of it looks like from when you were constantly updating it on Letterboxd.
So far our tastes appear quite dissimilar. I hate to use the term "overrated," but it's a word that immediately springs to mind when I think of Blazing Saddles. There are a few amusing bits and I admire its subversiveness and deceptive intelligence, but overall it just wasn't very funny to me. It seems Mel Brooks's brand of humor doesn't tickle my funny bone. Not a fan of The Producers, either, and Spaceballs is one of my most hated comedies. I like Young Frankenstein a lot, but still find it light on laughs.
Elmer Gantry is a good movie that hasn't stuck with me. I'd like to revisit it at some point. Eyes Wide Shut is a very good movie that has stuck with me (no surprise there given the mask-wearing orgies, which I keep trying to orchestrate in my hometown but nobody attends
), but it's not a favorite. M is great, but I've only seen it once long ago. Not crazy about McCabe and Mrs. Miller, though I'd have to watch it again to remember my issues. Stand By Me is a great coming-of-age movie. It'd probably be a favorite if I'd watched it at a younger age. The Assassination of Jesse James is a beautiful bore. Haven't seen Kind Hearts and Coronets, The Last Crusade or La Haine. Rebecca is a perfect example of why I find re-watches so important. I would've ranked several Hitchcocks ahead of it after my first viewing, but when I revisited it a couple years back, I suddenly found myself questioning if it isn't actually Hitch's strongest movie. Compare that to something like Strangers on a Train, which I thought was excellent at first and one of the most suspenseful movies ever made, but it hasn't come close to recapturing that feeling on subsequent viewings. There's just something spellbinding about Rebecca. Though still highly suspenseful, it doesn't seem to rely on that aspect as much as other Hitchcocks, so it doesn't blow its load on a first viewing when you're caught up in how things are going to play out. It's a very rich, rewarding film that maintains an air of mystery. Though Hitch's voice is still strong, you can also feel the heavy influence of producer David Selznick, which helps to give it a slightly different vibe from the director's other major works.
I don't know if you've partaken of the devil's lettuce yet, but I highly recommend watching Eraserhead while stoned. (Judging by your "review," you were apparently tripping on something.) It's my go-to movie while high. I'm always going to remember the time I passed out from smoking too much, then woke up at like 3 in the morning to a dark empty house, still noticeably high, just as the baby grows to enormous size and the movie reaches its freak-out crescendo. Needless to say, it was extremely unsettling. I thought I was losing my f**king mind.
Looking forward to the rest of the list, even though I already know what much of it looks like from when you were constantly updating it on Letterboxd.
That's definitely a valid opinion that perhaps it was too early for me to do this list... but then again, since I wouldn't plan to do this again for many many years, I might as well start somewhere, and just decided to go with 100 movies I really really loved and wanted to share, even if many of them wouldn't make it in a future top 100. I also just love making lists as you can probably tell from my 300+ lists on LB
Looking at your five star ratings, you'll be seeing a lot of those down the line on this list but so far yeah we don't have the closest aligned taste haha. I have NOT seen Eraserhead high but that sounds... legitimately terrifying and my interest is peaked. That and 2001: A Space Odyssey and a couple others have always been movies I've been meaning to see while... in a different state.
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...perhaps it was too early for me to do this list... but then again, since I wouldn't plan to do this again for many many years, I might as well start somewhere...
The experience of making your list will further propel you into more divergent film watching. So far your films choices are varied and well respected. Even if I didn't like the films on your list, it's your list and you seem to have solid reasons for loving them...And I'm impressed by your writing style which is creative and varied, it really says a lot about you and the movie you're reviewing. I really need you to write my reviews!
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