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

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For shame. I would have also expected Reservoir Dogs at least, then Inglourious Basterds almost certainly, and maybe Django Unchained
Always felt that "Jackie Brown" was Tarantino's best effort. None made my list.



My thoughts...

Schindler's List
(Spielberg 1993)

That's the real Auschwitz death camp that Spielberg used in the film. I don't even have to look that up as I instantly recognized that distinctive building with the train tracks running right threw the middle of it. And the cement ramp that takes the poor souls down to the showers, that was real too. Auschwitz must have been hauntingly eerie for the cast & crew to be there where so many humans were gassed to death in the showers, then cremated in giant furnaces that ran non-stop. It's mind boggling that the holocaust could have ever happened, and yet it did happen...Spielberg pays the victims & the heroes their due respect with his film Schindler's List.

Spielberg gets kick around a lot here at MoFo. Gawd knows I've taken pot shots at Spielberg for his big budget blockbusters with their sentimentalism and feel good moments...But damn if Spielberg didn't step away from his usual fare and give us a pictorial history in film form of the events that led to Oscar Schindler saving so many Jews from certain death. The film is almost void of Spielberg's trademark 'tugging at the heart strings' and instead he made a film that's very European feeling in form. The story is presented like a French New Wave film where the narrative isn't as important as the symbolism and visuals are. It's not a typical Spielberg film at all and for stepping outside of his usual film making style I respect him.




We've gone on holiday by mistake
A wizard votes precisely when he means to!
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We've gone on holiday by mistake
Not a fan of the Lord of the Rings Movies. They feel to me like they're 80% made by a guy sitting infront of a computer.

Schindler's list is a good but not great movie. Wouldn't be near my top 100.
I felt that during a rewatch last year.

I've seen people talking about the recent 4k release and how jarring some of the effects are in that format.



A wizard votes precisely when he means to!
If I'm being honest, if you submitted your ballot a little late but said this, I'm pretty sure we'd have made an exception.



Bright light. Bright light. Uh oh.
LotR: TT didn't make my list but another of the trilogy did. Schindler's List is my #12.

The Two Towers introduces my favorite character, Gollum, and turns most of the film into a medieval battle, and then accentuates that battle up the yin-yang.
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Schindler's List (Steven Spielberg, 1993)


Harrowing true story of the Holocaust told through the life of businessman Oskar Schindler (a towering Liam Neeson) who joins the Nazi Party when he sees a way to make some money off the horrors of war. Along the way to acquiring his influence and fortune, he is a witness to the killings of several of his Jewish workers at his ammunitions factory and the German liquidation of the Krakow ghetto. These experiences leave him a changed man. Gradually, under the guidance of his office manager/conscience Stern (the deeply moving Ben Kingsley), Schindler arranges to "buy" many Jews who go to work in the comparative safety of his enamelworks. However, he still finds himself at the whims of malicious camp commandant Amon Goethe (the frightening Ralph Fiennes) and the Nazis' desire for the Final Solution concerning the Jews.

I find the film to be told in almost an entirely fresh way, as the story builds, from a series of brief scenes about people who we don't know at all, into a world of flesh-and-blood characters who are just trying to survive a horrible situation. The editing and Janusz Kaminski's brilliant chiaroscuro photography especially come into play as the ghetto is filled in two parts and one side is subsequently liquidated. The remaining half go to labor camps and eventually to extermination. Even in the darkest moments, there are several glimpses of humor in Steven Zaillian's script. There would be no way to survive in such an unthinkable world without keeping one's humanity through humor, dark as it may be.

I could go on for pages here, but I'm going to stop now. I'll just say that if you haven't seen Schindler's List, be warned that it truly contains shocking atrocities, and it's a hard R-rated film which most will find deeply disturbing. However, there is a light at the end of the long tunnel. I have had discussions with some people who have told me that they were personally offended because the film had a "happy ending", and that Spielberg should have chosen a darker story instead of this "Oscar bait". I respect their opinions, but I have to disagree. Of course, I don't know of any relatives of mine who were killed during the Holocaust, and if I did, it might change my perspective. However, even then, I would have a difficult time denying the cinematic power of this film.
My List

4. Star Wars
9. Cabaret
12. Schindler's List
20. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid
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We've gone on holiday by mistake
I watched Schindler's List recently on Netflix and its amazing how funny it is, despite the gravity of the subject matter. The monstrous buffoon that is Amon Goeth is played perfectly by Ralph Fiennes, its so clever to have done the character this way rather than some cold calculating German. He's like the cruel child idiot pulling legs off spiders from school being left in charge, and it's marvellous to watch the prisoners outsmart him, like the "it was him", or the scene where the guns don't work and he's so defeated he doesn't even go through with the execution.

Amon Goeth would not be out of place as the greatest villain in film history.



Let's pull up out of this before it becomes a tailspin re: negativity.

Nobody can police anyone else's participation, though, if it's on-topic. Anything posted publicly can (and usually will, in my experience) be commented on. I'd encourage everyone to talk privately if it starts to extend beyond that, and if you need or want me to mediate, just let me know. Thank you in advance.



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The "Miss Vicky hates movies" jokes are getting really old, people.
I might have been the first one in this long thread to have posted that. I apologize! I truly meant it only as a silly joke. I appreciate your discriminating tastes.



Schindler’s List is excellent but a tough watch.

I love LOTR . Surprised it was Two Towers that made it on since people love to say it’s their least favorite of the trilogy.



We rewatched the LOTR trilogy over the past month, and as it did when I saw them in the theaters, The Two Towers feels like a placeholder film, with its most important function being the introduction of new characters that will play a part in the conclusion. It's fine enough, but not as compelling as Fellowship or Return. It would be surprising then if the other two don't now appear. (I didn't vote for any.)

Schindler's List is a tough one. My theater experience with it was aggravating, filled with loud teenagers,so while I could still appreciate the film, it was hard to give it the attention it probably needed. I haven't revisited it since then, and I have no strong desire to (saving all my strength for Shoah, tbh).



I wonder if any other LotR movies will make it here. I'll be surprised if this is the only movie which makes it on this list as I think it's the least popular of the trilogy. Overall, I admire the craft of the LotR trilogy and all the practical effects which went into making them, but it's not a trilogy I'm a fan of as, with me, I think it's a case of liking the craft over the story. With that being said though, I remember Fellowship of the Rings having the best craft in the trilogy.

Schindler's List is great though.
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For worth what it's worth, I do think all three LOTR movies have a case to be on a Top 100 movies of all-time list –– even from a purely filmmaking perspective.
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The number of directors with multiple entries stays the same, but Spielberg is the only director with three movies.



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Never saw any of the LOTR movies and plan to address this when I have 20000 free hours.

Schindler's List. Great movie? Or great subject with great director? I lean the latter.