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

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"Apocalypse Now" is a great watch but a tough one due to its length and slow moments. Not a slight, just an opinion. It is firmly planted in my top ten war epics.


"Raiders of the Lost Ark" is the ultimate adventure film. It's cast isn't the greatest, the acting lesser so. But dammit', it just really doesn't matter.


"Jaws" for myself has the most perfectly assembled cast. Every character fits and meshes seamlessly. Damn, wish I put it on my list now.


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My Craptastic List:  


78/95 films seen



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I feel similarly about The Grapes of Wrath and It Happened One Night missing out.
🥺
Two great movies that were in contention for points from me!



Personally I can’t believe Rio Bravo and Boogie Nights missed out. Thought there were a fair few fans on here.
Boogie Nights came damn close to being on my list. My favorite PTA by a long shot. But yet, I hate "Magnolia".



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Programming Note

To this point I've just been posting things at the first comfortable opportunity after I get up each day, which has usually been mid-morning ET. But for the last day, and because I'll be posting a thing or two along with the last couple of films, I'm going to actually schedule the final reveal.

Revealing one a day, but the final two simultaneously, means the list will conclude on Friday, the 29th. And it'll all go up at 12:30 PM ET, for anyone who wants to be there right when it happens.
Will 102-110 be posted then?



Can I ask that the last two films be revealed on different days? On Friday, I won't be able to update the directors list until a few hours after you reveal the next movie, but on Saturday I can do it as soon as you reveal the final entry.



With only two movies left there will be no question what the remaining titles are (excepting those waiting for The Departed, The Dark Knight, or Inception). Meaning if you reveal #2 there is no longer any reason not to divulge what #1 is. We always reveal the final two of any list at the same time.
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Now would be the time to admit that I don't speak (or read) emoji.

Jaws definitely deserves its place on the list even though I didn't vote for it. Between Quint's speech, the scene where Mrs. Kinter slaps him in the face and the extended war between the hunters and the shark on the boat, there's more than enough there that it's a worthwhile watch. Keep in mind, they had to cut back on the amount of time you saw the shark due to issues with the mechanical sharks they chose to film with. It works here because it forced director Steven Spielberg to maximize the impact of the shark's appearances, thus making for a better film.



Yeah, would be totally anticlimactic unfortunately. But I’ll be posting some stats to that effect on Friday anyway, since I’ve got all the IDs and can run a lot of stuff automatically.



Yeah, would be totally anticlimactic unfortunately. But I’ll be posting some stats to that effect on Friday anyway, since I’ve got all the IDs and can run a lot of stuff automatically.

Damn. I wanted to post it right afterwards. I guess if I'm still coming here ten years later for the 2030 list I'll talk it over with you ahead of time.



You can't make a rainbow without a little rain.
I saw Jaws in the theater when it was originally released, and after all these years, I'm still afraid to go into the water when I'm at the beach. Any movie that can leave a lasting impression like that, and is such a good movie that it still makes me want to watch it over and over again, deserves to be on the list. It was #24 on my list.


My list so far:
2) E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982)
3) 12 Angry Men (1957)
7) West Side Story (1961)
10) The Wizard of Oz (1939)
19) North by Northwest (1959)
20) Raiders of the Lost Ark (1981)
24) Jaws (1975)
25) Sunday in New York (1963) (My 1-pointer)
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OPEN FLOOR.



It’s the crème de la crème of adventure films. A classic for a reason. So many iconic scenes and moments. It’s pretty much the definition of the genre. And it was on my list.
Yes, that's just what the Hebrews thought.



I'm ashamed to say that even though it's one of my all-time favorites, I had Jaws at #21. I need to rectify that soon, as I feel in love with a more recent movie but it really doesn't stand anywhere close to Jaws. This movie is great one for the ages and once again, @mark f (dang his prolific writing self) has put things perfect perspective about a certain movie. I, too, really noticed audience reaction for the first time when I saw Jaws. Although it's faded somewhat since 1975, my peripheral was excellent back then, at the age of 14, as I sat in the audience, waiting for the movie. And during the first of many shock scenes (which I, like mark f, won't reveal, even all these decades later), I noticed with my side vision my whole row of movie patrons shrink backwards in their seats. Of course, even were I without peripheral vision I would have felt the row shake! Audience participation of the best kind, fear-based, made the movie even more fun, but it was definitely Spielberg's movie that was what I loved the best. I loved it so much that I got people in the family to take me three more times so "they could see it." Yeah, that's why. First movie I ever saw that many times at the theater. And everyone but my parents loved it (I related that in my Raiders comments in this thread), but I didn't care---I got to see it three more times!

And like several people have said, the Indianapolis monologue by Quint has grown to be my favorite scene in the movie. One of my favorite moments in a movie full of favorite moments is right before Quint starts telling his tale, Hooper is joking about what Quint's tattoo might be, and Quint just reaches over and puts his hand on Hooper's arm to stop his laughter before he says to the Chief, "Chief, that there is the U.S.S. Indianapolis." Just the movement of his hand on Quint's arm, showed me that even though there is tension among the men, Quint still has enough respect for Hooper to just touch him instead of socking him or yelling at him.

I had a cousin who had seen the film almost one week earlier and he'd spoiled the finale for several other cousins, the "smile" ending, and yet, I didn't pay close enough attention to him to even remember when that moment came, so it was still a total surprise for me. I love this movie so much and life mark f and others, find no fault in it whatsoever.

19. The Searchers #97
1. To Kill a Mockingbird #85
25. Die Hard #63
14. Rear Window #40
8. It's a Wonderful Life #38
2. Aliens #37
13. The Wizard of Oz #36
9. Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back #30
3. Lawrence of Arabia #15
11. The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring #11 (same as the list proper)
23, Apocalypse Now #9
10. Raiders of the Lost Ark #8
21. Jaws #6
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I guess I can figure out which of my picks aren't going to make it. It looks like I got 16/25, which is just fine by me. Other than a possible RICO violation for my participation in the so-called "art film mafia" (we prefer to be addressed as 'Cosa Dogme' professionally), I think the skin of my teeth are largely unchafed.


Mine that did not make it:


Fantasia - My #2, and we already discussed the omission of classic Disney. I think this is Disney's masterpiece. I have a well-stocked cache of perfectly objective rationales to support this assertion, but I'll follow the example here of nostaligic anecdotes. I saw Fantasia at the age of two in the theater during one of the many revival runs. My memory is hazy, and I'm sure I napped for portions, but what is clear is the sheer fearsome awe of this ocean of color and music. Many of these early cinema experiences (like my first watch of Star Wars) I can only really remember remembering them, but with Fantasia the thrill and fascination remain distinct sensations. Maybe as close to a religious experience that I've had, in the church of magical imagination. They are certainly memories of memories at this point, but I had dreams of Fantasia-ese throughout my early childhood.


Yojimbo - Nothing shabby about Seven Samurai or Hidden Fortress, but Yojimbo is my favorite samurai by a long shot. It's also a Strangelove-ian level satire of base political instincts. Obviouly there's so many Kurosawa that are worthy of the list - Rashomon, Throne of Blood, Ran, Dreams - but Yojimbo is the one I enjoy rewatching the most.


Being John Malkovich - Frankly, you mojos picked the wrong Charlie Kaufman film. It's not just the first, but remains the most fundamental exercise of Kaufman's pet themes, which more or less invariably involve the frustration between controlling and transcending one's consciousness and identity. It's just Topo Gigio, no?


Red Desert - I thought that 8 1/2 and Andrei Rublev might be outside chances, but this was the film that I presumed wouldn't make the list. I'm sorry that no Antonioni ended up, but this one has always been the one I'm most fond of, even if it gets overlooked for L'Avventura and Blowup by most polls like this one. A beautiful and mesmerizing film.


Husbands - It's hard to argue why this film should place instead of Woman Under The Influence and I won't bother. But as tempting as it is to say that my preference is due to the male bonding of the three charismatic character actors, well, it might only be half true. I am fond of the anarchic comaraderie, but when it's all said and done, the film isn't particularly flattering to the enterprise of male-bonding.


Raising Arizona / Barton Fink - The Coens have the rare advantage of having two film on my list, and ain't it a shame they both missed it. Thus is the nature of the Coens, each film has its share of firm advocates and detracters. These two are my favorites, respectively their finest comedy (and definitely the one I've watched the most) and one of the best cinematic practical jokes. Fink has been criticized as opaque and impenetrable, but it isn't that difficult to figure out. Barton is the classic self-absorbed artist with his head in the sand. It's similar to an inverse Sullivan's Travels, except with a serial killer subplot and a Faulkner whisperer, and a film that is more cynical (accurate) about the Hollywood machine. I think that The Man Who Wasn't There and A Serious Man are the only later Coen films that can match the "mundane surreal" tone and mix of humor and pathos.


Hour of the Wolf - So many Bergman films to choose, from Silence of God trilogy to Cries and Whispers, but for my money, Wolf is the most existentially terrifying. The dark heart of night ("soon...or never"), wrestling regrets that the film only suggests but never explicates. An unreliable narrator, a drowned child, an orgy of birds, a mask in the abyss. Goya could not have made a more haunting film.


Being There - My 2nd from Hal Ashby, this quiet, unassuming picture makes for a perfect eulogy for the end of New Hollywood.



Bright light. Bright light. Uh oh.
The Incredibles is my #10.

I love everything about The Incredibles. I realize that most people think of it as just a Pixar film or an animated film or a super hero film, but I think those tags for it miss the point of what I believe the film to be. It certainly tells a good story, not only in the context of a "family film" or the greatest James Bond film never made, but also in its overall creative presentation. The Incredibles displays sparkling wit and invention on almost every level: character animation, vocal expression, art direction/set design, the yummy musical score which sounds like it's from a '60s spy movie, only much cooler, and the use of both old-style "newsreels" and modern technology to make the plot more-complex and put the entire thing into larger satirical focus. This doesn't even mention the incredibly fast pace of both the editing and the verbal/visual humor.

A normal movie about super heroes wouldn't dig this deep into all the hassles inherent in being a super hero inside when the world won't allow you to express it on the outside. It also presents a family dynamic which is realistic in that it is so full of contradictions. The males in the Incredible family really want to express their super powers, while mom (Holly Hunter) knows it's better for the family (in more ways than one) to stifle them, just as the legal system and government have deemed necessary. The daughter is at the age where she's getting interested in boys but is very shy about this normal process and is able to use her power to help her get through it. The son just wants to be able to show off in sports once in awhile. The baby, well, we don't know about the baby...

Before I start sounding too serious and pompous about what I consider one of the most exhilaratingly FUN movies ever made, let me mention the "Incredible" supporting characters. Mr. Incredible's (Craig T. Nelson's) best friend Frozone (Samuel L. Jackson) is one bad mutha, Jason Lee is a riot as a science/tech geek who wants to be Mr. Incredible's sidekick, and perhaps best of all, director/screenwriter Brad Bird plays Edna E. Mode, the costime designer to the super heroes, as a sort of cross between Edith Head and Linda Hunt.

All the gibberish above can just be ignored if you like, while I cut to the heart and soul of how I feel when watching The Incredibles. I feel like the giddy kid I was in the 1960s who fell in love with movies and cartoons. The main difference today is that I can love this film because it reminds me of so many other terrific films which are a part of me, yet it feels newer and more intense than almost all of them. Another thing I think about when I'm watching this movie is that it's a great FILM. I certainly don't think I'm watching a cartoon because these characters are real to me. I'm just glad that the technology is available so that a film classicist of the stature of Brad Bird can share this story with all of us.

Little Big Man is my #8.

My favorite western, Little Big Man, involves 121-year-old Jack Crabb (Dustin Hoffman) who relates his adventures, beginning 111 years earlier, to a historian (William Hickey) who hears things which border on the unbelievable. Jack Crabb was adopted by the "Human Beings" (in this case, the Cheyenne) and raised in their culture by Old Lodge Skins (the wonderful Chief Dan George). Eventually, he ends up back in white society where he learns about sex and sin but is comforted by his newly adoptive "mother" (Faye Dunaway). The film covers lots of ground as things eventually lead up to the Battle of Little Big Horn.

Some people might call this an anti-western because it makes the Indians the heroes and the whites the Bad Guys. It basically rewrites some of the history that was taught (or deleted) when I was in school and turns it into what is mostly taught now to my daughter. But at the time, it had some heads shaking. Some people think that it's not really a western at all, but an allegory about the Viet Nam War and genocide. Whatever way you take the film, I generally take it as a highly-stylized, hilarious, heartbreaking journey through the history of our nation at a time when the culture clash of the West in the 1870s was coming to a head. I find all the parallels to American life in the late 1960s to be just frosting on the cake, yet it's true that this film probably only would have been made during a relatively small window of time, and thank God it was.

It's also a very episodic film because Jack Crabb went through several "phases"; among those are his religion phase, his gunslinger phase, his Indian fighter phase, his adventures as a snake oil salesman, his attempt to become a legitimate businessman and a married man, his long search for his white wife after she's been kidnapped by the Indians, and his many confrontations with the dangerously psychotic Custer (Richard Mulligan). Sometimes I see Forrest Gump as a film which took its storytelling style from Little Big Man. However, I find this film to have more genuine humor and tragedy to it. For being as fantastically entertaining as it is, it seems almost unreal that it's such a wonderful history lesson too. Whether you think it's real history, movie history, or just a series of tall tales told by that self-proclaimed liar Jack Crabb is up to you.

Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? is my #6.

Elizabeth Taylor (Martha) and Richard Burton (George) give two of the greatest performances in screen history in Mike Nichols' brilliant film debut, Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?. I consider Edward Albee's awesome play to be the culmination of everything Tennessee Willaims accomplished. Williams trailblazed the eccentric, yet totally-honest characters which are present in this amazing film, which is also of a higher-cinematic quality than all of its forebears. The younger couple, played by Sandy Dennis and George Segal, get trapped in the older couple's web soon enough and find it difficult not to try to add to the situation while trying to extricate themselves.

This film pushed the envelope for frankness and language in American films, and thus was semi-responsible for the MPAA. Yet, the MPAA is better than the Hays Code, so it shouldn't be attacked for that. Most of my films, at the higher echelon of my list, are pretty damn unique, and they either created a new world for films to be made in or, at least, appreciated. Even when that's not true, they are so far away from what's considered normal films nowadays, that they should all get your attention.

Most of the film is shot on one set, but once again, what somebody might consider uncinematic is turned into a major asset by Nichols and his cast. Many of the greatest surprises in the film involve the camera moving away, if only for a few seconds, and when it returns, it completely blows your mind. The brutal honesty of two couples' relationships has rarely been brought out into the open before or since. In that way, when the film almost turns fantastic at the end, it actually deepens the tragedy and significance of everything which has come before. Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Probably every normal, loving human being should be, but that still means that no one can afford to miss all of this film's truths and humor.


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Showgirls is the only movie that was legitimately robbed not making the 100.

All you other forgotten souls, bring your complaints to it. All Showgirls ever asked of you was to love it!

*sobs hysterically*
I like puppy chow too.



Jaws is great, I think it was #23 on my list. It's waaaay more than an action film It's also a drama, a thriller and a horror that has stellar performances, a killer script, and was a gruelling one to make. It's also riddled with intelligent cfilm-making (such as the colour yellow being present as a warning sign just before any shark death). Bought the 4K Blu-Ray a few months back and it looks stunning.