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

Registered User

01-29-21

Originally Posted by SpelingError

I've seen 87/100

What I haven't seen:

The Godfather
Chinatown
Once Upon a Time in the West
The Godfather: Part II
The Third Man
Gone With the Wind
Rocky
Heat
Metropolis
Stand By Me
The Apartment
Dazed and Confused
Toy Story

Gonna blame the missing points on this.

Slentert

Registered User

01-29-21

Damn, it appears that I have arrived here too late and missed out on a great event. Would've loved to contribute a list.

SpelingError

AKA Popcorn Reviews

01-29-21

Originally Posted by Wyldesyde19

You can�t see my face right now, but if you could, it would be one of disappointment.
😜

I imagine that not having watched The Godfather is a huge surprise. I plan to get to it this year though for sure!

SpelingError

AKA Popcorn Reviews

01-29-21

Originally Posted by KeyserCorleone

Gonna blame the missing points on this.

10 years from now when we do this list again, I will redeem myself.

John McClane

You ready? You look ready.

01-29-21

Everybody�s list got me looking like a tinfoil hat wearing, mama�s basement dwelling sociopath.

Someone�s gotta bear that burden.

donniedarko

Survivor 3 Champ

01-29-21

1.Chinatown
2. Persona
3. Eraserhead
4. Rosemary�s Baby
5. La Haine
6. The Pianist
7. Apocalypse Now
8. The Long Goodbye
9. Duck Soup
10.Donnie Darko
11. Rear window
12. Blue velvet
13. Elephant man
14.12 Angry Men
15.Knife In The Water
16.The Shining
17.Mulholland Drive
18.Cries & Whispers
19.Vertigo
20.Straw dogs
21.Touch of Evil
22.Time Crimes
23.The Acid House
24.Close-Up
25.The florida project. (1 pointer)[

Originally Posted by donniedarko

The Florida Project
Sean Baker's The Florida Project is an innovative film, brilliantly bringing the audience into the lives of the poor American. This ain't a blue collar film, or one of the working class, this film portrays the no collar. A minor, but aesthetically familiar, subgroup of American culture. However the film is effectively portrayed through a lens that's the any person has seen life through, regardless of class, the innocent perspective of a young child. There's no overbearing message the film tries to push on the audience, but there's a key lesson to take away on simplifying people. Moonee's mom, Halley, really fits the look of an irresponsible impoverished single mother who whores herself out. And she is, she's hotheaded, self-centered entitled, petty,a poor role model, and edges negligent. On the other hand she's social, appreciative, a hustler, and she cares about those close to her. She's no supermom but it's clear that she loves her daughter. Baker doesn't care about the poor decisions Halley undoubtedly made to get in this position, or the unfair outstanding circumstances in her life. The film looks at none of this, it's truly just a glimpse in the life of Halley and her daughter through a hot Florida summer.

Brilliantly the film puts as much focus, and same style, on the significant moments and the daily events surrounding the summer. A house burning down and 3 kids getting ice cream gets the same attention, and focus on detail. It's shot- well like, life itself. No unnecessary dramatization. Similarly Baker didn't follow a trend that's common in realism works like this one. The film covers many dark topics and their consequences, but none of these are glamorized with graphic on screen sex, or abuse, or violence. It's all in the implications, and the subtle human emotion surrounding these events.

I reckon most audience members relate most to Bobby, brilliantly portrayed by WIlliam Dafoe, since most audience members are Bobby. A caring observer with only so much power. Baker doesn't ask you to judge, or critique, or understand the characters. Just like Bobby this film drags you in to the lives of these characters as an observer, who will smile, laugh, and maybe cry with them. And just when you feel like you've known these people your whole life, poof their gone, their story will continue out of your sight (Just like with Bobby).

A uniquely human piece, that accomplishes so much while doing so little.

Originally Posted by donniedarko

Knife in the Water (Polanski, 1962)

What a brilliant film. With three isolated characters, Knife in the Water builds a tension that can not be imitated by anyone but the master himself, Polanski. A well established-but obviously flawed- married couple pick up a young hitchhiker, and take him along on their boat for a sailing trip. The divide between classes is immediately evident. The film was made in Poland's communist era, owning a private car is a new concept and by any nations standard the couple is wealthy. There are sly remarks exchanged about age, but what's really being taunted is prosperity. The tension is so thick in the opening scenes you can cut it with a knife

. You'd think a love triangle has already been in play that the audience is just unbeknownst too. But despite the tension and the discreet cruelty there's something so beautiful and serene about the sailing trip. Despite the build up suggesting a storm, the calming eastern-European setting was so free that I would have happily joined. Adding to the beauty is the cinematography which is the best I've ever seen. It's minimalist but every shot is beautiful, which is to be expected with Polanski's perfectionist mentality. But not only beautifully shot, the camera work is equally symbolic with its constant showing of exclusion. There's rarely a scene where the three, yes only three, cast members are together. It's usually 2 vs 1.

I also realized in this film how well Polanski incorporates props. For a long time I have considered Persona the best film in that regard, Knife in the Water takes the cake. Whether it's Andrjez watch, the upscale robes, the alarm clock, the pipe, the Crocodile floaty, the instruments of the ship, the hot soup, the liquor. Everything is in place and serves a purpose. Especially the knife, which is just as essential to the film as any of the characters. The film has a theme of materialism, and it seems Polanski's a very materialistic man himself. This can really be seen in his recent feature, Venus in Fur. The economic statement in this film was deemed "too western" for Polish audiences, but I believe the statements on hard work, bravery, and climbing up the ladder is a great one.

Outside of economic themes there are plenty of other ideas, often revolving around eroticism, but another interesting study in this film is that of masculinity. The two male characters constantly one up each other. It begins as man of sea vs man of land and evolves from there to general bravery. The shirts literally come off, and it's implied that this is to impress the center female figure, who is by far the wisest character of the film. But she's rather stoic if not irritated by this, she does not care who the "skipper" is, and often volunteers to be submissive to both of her fellow sailors instead of idly watching the fiasco. The film is very psychological in its questioning of actions- far more complex than Rosemary's Baby. (Which isn't a sly to the classic horror film, but more a compliment to this thriller). The story ends right where it began, with the couple bickering in their car. Despite the destructiveness and deception, what has changed?

Perhaps in the 25 best films I've ever seen

Originally Posted by donniedarko

The Long Goodbye (1973)
Robert Altman's "The Long Goodbye" isn't only in my mind his greatest achievment, it is one of the ten greatest film I've seen to date. It follows the private detector Phillip Marlowe who had had other appearances in film. This time around he was played by the amazing Elliot Gould, who fits his role like a custom made glove. If that even exists. Marlowe was a wise guy, everyone saw it, and everyone has an opinion of Marlowe. We seem him shocked once in the movie, it was the coke bottle scene. One of the few scenes of true violence in the film. It's a scarring and relentless scene, and Marlowe is visibly shaken. For the rest of the film he's wise as can be, and walks around as if he's invincible. No matter what's going on in the back of his mind, he's concerned with his cat who ran away. We never know the fate of his cat, and we can only hope it doesn't turn out like his other friend. Both of his pals are gone by the end, Marlowe doesn't sweat it though.

There's a lot to be said about the similarities between this and Polanski's "Chinatown", another one of my favorites. Both have a smart ass detective, who's sly but never boastful. In Polanski's film the detective is played by Jack Nicholson. Who in my mind has obvious similarities with Elliot Gould. Both detectives revolve around the woman who's involved in there case, and the woman in both films views them as puppets. Both women have a breakdown forced by the detective. The sexual tension is so familiar, and these films only have a year between one another. They both deal with corruption in the police force and cover ups. "Chinatown" digs much deeper, but Robert Altman exposes it too.

I believe Mr.Ebert described Marlow's character the best. He lives in the seventies but him mind is in the fifties. He's the odd man out in this film, he dresses differently, talks independently, and is the lone man in smoking. The only man similar to him is Mr. Wade, played by Sterling Hayden, with his shaggy beard and dirty habits. But even he the alcoholic is more blended into the crowd. The film has three scenes that stick. Three of the finest scenes in film history. The coke bottle, which I already spoke on. The public argument as drowning scene, which Gould, Hayden, and Pallandt show us true acting all at once. And finally the concluding scene, the wieght off the shoulder, the revenge. They were perfectly shot, and truly this was flawless in a technical sense. The camera work, the sound track, the writing, it was brilliant film noir.

The scenes were captivating picture of symmetry. We have the black and white Marlowe in the middle, then we flowery colors and trees forming a wall around him. I view this film a true craftsman ship. Everything fit, not a thing out of place. I feel like the elusiveness is what makes it great, we never know the true color of the main characters. They are covered with something outside them. We see there baggage, but not there thoughts. The audience doesn't know what the thought process behind these people are. Making anything possible, it all unwraps itself, with twists and turns. I've called Altman dry many times before, but this was far from boring. Despite having long in the title, this is an entertaining film, that I loved. It's amongst my ten favorites now, and I'm sure I'll only enjoy it more as time goes on.

I'll be back to review my other watches probably next week

Originally Posted by donniedarko

Just got finished watching Straw Dogs, and holy ****, I don't remember the last a film has given me such an adrenaline rush. I'll try to collect my thoughts and write a review.

Straw Dogs (1971, Peckinpah)

Straw Dogs has an eerie feel from the start, intellect American, David (Dustin Hoffman) movies into a villager with his maturely younger S.O., Amy (Susan George). It's obvious in this film that **** is going to go down, you can figure from every poster... or if you just heard of the movie from someone, so perhaps it was premeditated that I'd feel some intensity, but the film itself definitely creates an uptight atmosphere. David and Amy have their differences, David's more mature but Amy has more smarts when it comes to the locals. They have some tense trivial arguments, but sexually they're happy. The surrounding characters are not so pleasant, except for some elitists everyone surrounding is trash, or soon to be trash. British hicks who have no entertainment outside of drinking or fantasizing over David's bombshell wife.

Trouble comes towards David's household, and trouble comes hard. It begins with some animal cruelty which always hits the emotions, and then a harsh rape scene. Difficult to watch, and feels comparable to the one in Girl With The Dragon Tattoo. The irony is, David came to this village to escape the chaos of America, with the war protests, race riots, notable assassinations really concentrated only three years before this films release date.

The notorious final sequence features insane violence, built up by a harrowing intensity. The plot line behind this was much more intricate than I expected, since this was no pointless violence. The film obviously doesn't endorse violence, but Peckinpah was not pulling a Haneke stunt, because I was hot headed and yelling for David to kill the bastards. David became a man and defended his household, and I'll applaud that. David also became a badass, not a super hero but that Bernhard Goetz type badass. Rooting for David was an exhilarating film watching experience, but also harsh since a true moral dilemma exists.

Dustin Hoffman compared to Berhnard Goetz

Straw Dogs is among the most intense films I've ever seen, which gets crazier and crazier as it goes along. With an amazing performance from one of the greats in Dustin Hoffman. Isolation is scary, but being alone is far from the scariest.

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Originally Posted by mark f

Yeah, there's no body mutilation in it

rauldc14

2022 Mofo Fantasy Football Champ

01-29-21

My list

1. Shawshank Redemption
2. Man on Fire
3. Rear Window
4. The Descendants
5. Casablanca
6. Mystic River
7. La La Land
8. Million Dollar Baby
9. Forrest Gump
10. Sansho the Bailiff
11. Manchester by the Sea
12. North by Northwest
13. Psycho
14. Gladiator
15. Spirited Away
16. Gone Baby Gone
17. Unforgiven
18. Wizard of Oz
19. Silence of Lambs
20. Finding Nemo
21. On the Waterfront
22. Some like it Hot
23. Halloween
24. Braveheart
25. Gran Torino

I was pretty disappointed that Sansho couldn't make the backend of the list, and probably just as disappointed Million Dollar Baby missed out, but I was not surprised to see that one omitted.

Really wanted to see La La Land hit this list. I think it will be a classic for a lot of people down the road.

I sent this list 2 months ago but my order has already changed for some. The only film I left out that would have made it then was Wedding Crashers but I left it off because it had no shot.

Great work @Yoda and @TheUsualSuspect

KeyserCorleone

Registered User

01-29-21

My top 25 can be seen here along with every other movie I've seen. Included in the back is a list of hashtags that appear on most of the entries (the hashtag list is incomplete.

https://rateyourmusic.com/list/JGuy/top-films/

Thief

Master of None

01-29-21

Originally Posted by KeyserCorleone

2001 probably got number one because it's one of the most thematic films in existence. The special effects are decades ahead of its time as well, so it manages to make a five-star rating. However, I'm addicted to character development, and the only one who got character development was the robot and everybody else was a robot. I understand it wasn't a very character driven film, but it should have been considering its human topics.

But that would've been against one of the main themes of the film, which is the dehumanization that comes with technology and "progress". The fact that "the only one who got character development was the robot and everybody else was a robot" *IS* the point.

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Thief

Master of None

01-29-21

Originally Posted by MovieFan1988

Got a question for all you guys

Which movie surprised you the most when it appeared on the list?

I say Halloween for me as it's one of my ballots, I never thought it would make it on here especially making it to the top 50

Like someone else said, American History X. I was never a fan of it, but putting that aside, it's not a film that comes up a lot on film discussions, or really for anything else.

Also, the appearance of all three Lord of the Rings.

My other surprise was The Godfather, Part II being outside of the Top 20. I could've sworn it would be in it.

But I think one of my biggest surprises, as many people have said, was the total absence of Nolan. I didn't vote for any of his films and, frankly, the only one I would've considered for this list would be Memento, and maaaaybe The Prestige, but considering how popular he is, it was really a huge surprise.

John W Constantine

Alias: John Utah

01-29-21

Ballot:

1* Heat
2* Andrei Rublev
3* Goodfellas
4* Akira
5 The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
6 Once Upon A Time In America
7* Once Upon A Time In The West
8* Lawrence of Arabia
9* Alien
10* Chinatown
11* The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly
12 Superman '78
13 Watchmen
14 Missing
15* The Tree Of Life
16 The Conversation
17* Enter the Dragon
18 Heaven's Gate
19 Airplane!
20 Zodiac
21* Jaws
22* Schindler's List
23 Do The Right Thing
24 Robocop
25 Ghostbusters

Harry Lime

BANNED FROM VIENNA

01-29-21

That's a pretty good list, especially # 1 and #48. Have to admit I'm a bit disappointed that I missed out on submitting my top 25 - could have gotten 2001 even higher.

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rauldc14

2022 Mofo Fantasy Football Champ

01-29-21

Originally Posted by Harry Lime

That's a pretty good list, especially # 1 and #48. Have to admit I'm a bit disappointed that I missed out on submitting my top 25 - could have gotten 2001 even higher.

And if your top 10 is accurate, could have got Fargo on the list!

KeyserCorleone

Registered User

01-29-21

Originally Posted by Thief

They probably should have touched up on that more near the end then, because I'm normally very good at guessing themes in these types of movies. Believe it or not, The Mirror was a pretty easy movie to decipher.

Harry Lime

BANNED FROM VIENNA

01-29-21

Originally Posted by rauldc14

And if your top 10 is accurate, could have got Fargo on the list!

It's close. I'll take the blame on that one. My bad.

TheUsualSuspect

28 days...6 hours...42 minutes...12 seconds

01-29-21

2001 and The Godfather are 1 and 2? Talk about OVERRATED MOVIES!!!

In all seriousness, 2001 deserves a rewatch from me.

Had Goodfellas on my list, but neither Godfather or 2001.

Thanks to everyone for submitting a list and making my life difficult. I had fun doing it, I was stressed doing it and even after the reveal I got stressed by a quadruple check. In the end, @Yoda F**KING killed it. The design looks great and he put a lot of work into it. Deserves al the rep he gets. I just plugged in some numbers, Chris really took the reigns of this one with the countdown.

So upset Paul Blart did no make the list. Was hoping for at least a 100 or 99 spot placement.

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Suspect's Reviews

Captain Spaulding

Defending Champ

01-29-21

The 25 films I voted for, presented in alphabetical order:

2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)

Alien (1979)

The Apartment (1960)

Apocalypse Now (1979)

Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey (1991)

Cannibal Holocaust (1980)

Cool Hand Luke (1967)

The Devil's Rejects (2005)

Easy Rider (1969)

Edward Scissorhands (1990)

Fitzcarraldo (1982)

For a Few Dollars More (1965)

His Girl Friday (1940)

The Karate Kid (1984)

Lady Snowblood (1973)

The Last Picture Show (1971)

The Matrix (1999)

Once Upon a Time in the West (1968)

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975)

Psycho (1960)

Pulp Fiction (1994)

Some Like It Hot (1959)

Taxi Driver (1976)

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre (1974)

Toy Story (1995)

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resopamenic

Registered Poser

01-30-21

2 the gudfather
1 2001

both great films that surely are in my top 100, if i really stretch it that far.

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