The Movie Forums Top 100 of All-Time Refresh: Countdown

→ in
Tools    





I am going to be bummed if Altman gets zip, but I don't see any of his coming. I still remember my surprise at how Nashville got thrashed in the HOF I nominated it for. He is a lukewarm director here I think.
Yeeesh. I tried to squeeze it in at the end of my list, coulda been my one-pointer.


I'm an Altman fan, so I feel bad about not getting him onto my list. I admit that I tend toward some of his weirder stuff (Brewster McCloud, Images, 3 Women), so finding a single representative comes down to Nashville, or at least one would think. Just a singular achievement. For a more rare suggestion, Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean is pretty swell too.



What should I prioritize? And if you say M*A*S*H, tell me if I should watch the show also, and which should I watch first
The show is pretty good, as far as American sitcoms go, but I strongly recommend that if you have the option, turn off the canned audience track. Without it, the sardonic humor is more pronounced. With it, it's like Hogan's Heroes or something.



Is Bresson popular here? It would be cool for one or more of his films to make this list.
Pickpocket is another one that almost broke the #26 spot on my list. Almost.


Incidentally, I'm pretty sure that Tree of Life is the only 21st Century film on my list. Suck it, Haneke. I should have included my beloved mother!, only partially out of spite.



Is Bresson popular here? It would be cool for one or more of his films to make this list.
Mouchette is my favorite out of 2 of his films I have seen.



28 days...6 hours...42 minutes...12 seconds
Die Hard Great action flick. I'm a sucker for a self-contained action film. Die hard on a plane, die hard on a sub, die hard in an arena. There are reasons why these are used to describe certain action films.

Night of the Hunter - I watched this in college. Loved it. It's really great and a shame it's the director's only film.

Rocky I prefer when he defeats Soviet Russia.

There Will Be Blood Watched this in theatres with my wife. She hated it. I loved it. One of my favourite performances ever.

City of God Made my list. It was shocking to me when I first watched it. Horrifying, beautifully shot and intense. I was taken back by how much I loved it. I have not seen it since and I know we discussed having films on our top 25 that we've only seen once. I intend to watch it again and see if it holds up, but in my mind, it's tops.
__________________
"A laugh can be a very powerful thing. Why, sometimes in life, it's the only weapon we have."

Suspect's Reviews



I'm really bad at keeping up with this crap! So much so that I started writing this last week after Andrei Rublev was posted and then forgot about it! (Short anecdote about Andrei Rublev: I had to watch it for a class about Russia in college and could have sworn I fell asleep during it, but the TA for the class commented on my test that my answer to the essay question about it showed a great insight into the movie and I was very surprised by this. haha)

Back to business, there are a couple from my list that have made it so far. Cabaret and the much debated Harold and Maude. I contemplated Rosemary's Baby and Pan's Labyrinth, but ended up going for a different Polanski that probably isn't making the list and ended up cutting everything in contention made after 1999 for some reason.

Harold and Maude and Cabaret were my #3 and #4, respectively. Love them a lot, clearly. I actually found a kitten behind our house in October and we named him Harold. There were a few possible names I came up with and every group of people we asked chose Harold as their favorite; it was freakish how near unanimous it was.




I watched Harold and Maude the first time when I was 14 and the seventh time a week later. I was immediately kind of obsessed. I loved everything about it really, the characters, the dialogue, the editing, the cinematography, the music. I think it may have actually been my first real introduction to Cat Stevens. I also think it's clear this is a movie that was made by an editor, and incidentally Hal Ashby was an editor on a different movie in my top 10 that is definitely not making the list, but actually also has a connection to Cabaret because one of the writers on that movie was Christopher Isherwood.


A small example of the power of editing.

I can't remember the first time I watched Cabaret, that's how much it's seemingly always been a part of my life. I even painted on my bedroom wall in middle school "Life is a Cabaret," hahaha. And the one time I auditioned for the school musical in high school, I sang the title song.




The soundtrack is obviously impeccable. The cast is fantastic, Joel Grey being a clear standout and eminently deserving of his Oscar win. Bob Fosse was obviously a brilliant choreographer and a magical director who was able to balance oh so well the juxtaposition between the musical numbers at the Kit Kat Club and the drama and romance and terror happening in the lives of the characters.


An example of the many powerful songs in the film, made all the more impactful by its ironic commentary on what's happening outside the club.

Okay, I guess I'll call it so I don't inadvertently forget to post this for another week. The overall list is shaping up to be quite good, despite only having 2 movies so far from my top 25.
__________________
I always wanted to be an f.



Pickpocket is another one that almost broke the #26 spot on my list. Almost.


Incidentally, I'm pretty sure that Tree of Life is the only 21st Century film on my list. Suck it, Haneke. I should have included my beloved mother!, only partially out of spite.
Sadly, I didn't include any Bresson films in my list. I had to leave many great films off of it.

The Tree of Life was the only 21st century film which made my list as well (I had it at #4), Holy Motors came really close (#26), and The Death of Mr. Lazarescu is definitely somewhere in my top 50. I thought of including Parasite, but I've only seen it once and I usually like to let recent films age a bit before I consider giving them 10/10s.
__________________
IMDb
Letterboxd



Mouchette is my favorite out of 2 of his films I have seen.
It's up there for me as well. Either that one or Pickpocket. I'm long overdue for a rewatch of Au Hasard Balthazar though.



You can't make a rainbow without a little rain.
The Night of the Hunter is one of the best film noir movies, and I think it deserves a spot on this countdown, but it didn't make my list.


North by Northwest is one of my favorite Hitchcock movies. It might not be his best, but it's definitely in Hitchcock's top tier, and it's in my top 5 Hitchcock movies, and IMO it's one of his most rewatchable movies. It was #19 on my list.


My list so far:
2) E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982)
7) West Side Story (1961)
19) North by Northwest (1959)
25) Sunday in New York (1963) (My 1-pointer)
__________________
.
If I answer a game thread correctly, just skip my turn and continue with the game.
OPEN FLOOR.




  • 107 points
  • 8 lists
56. The Terminator


Director

James Cameron, 1984

Starring

Michael Biehn, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Linda Hamilton, Paul Winfield




  • 109 points
  • 6 lists
55. Gone With the Wind


Director

Victor Fleming, 1939

Starring

Vivien Leigh, Clark Gable, Olivia de Havilland, Leslie Howard



Like T2, Terminator was another tough cut from my shortlist.
Never been a fan of Gone With The Wind tbh.

Not surprised though to see them make it, and happy T1 got ahead of T2.
T2 is technically a better movie, but the everlasting influence of T1 should always place it higher.