Harry Lime's List

I don't get the reference Iro, I could blame it on my being tired but I think I wouldn't get it anyways. As soon as you tell me, I'm sure I'll feel stupid, but that's okay.

Also, looks like you have 32 movies to watch.

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"Don't be so gloomy. After all it's not that awful. Like the fella says, in Italy for 30 years under the Borgias they had warfare, terror, murder, and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and the Renaissance. In Switzerland they had brotherly love - they had 500 years of democracy and peace, and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock."

Nope, not what I thought.

It's a reference to a scene from Repo Man where Tracey Walter is explaining his theory about "collective unconsciousness" to Emilio Estevez. The actual line goes like this...

"A lot o' people don't realize what's really going on. They view life as a bunch o' unconnected incidents 'n things. They don't realize that there's this, like, lattice o' coincidence that lays on top o' everything. Give you an example; show you what I mean: suppose you're thinkin' about a plate o' shrimp. Suddenly someone'll say, like, plate, or shrimp, or plate o' shrimp out of the blue, no explanation. No point in lookin' for one, either. It's all part of a cosmic unconciousness."

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Iro's Top 100 Movies v3.0

I've seen exactly 50/100 of the movies on your list.

I know you're gonna give me guff about it, but Repo Man has been on the top of my "To See List" for a long time. The two video store's next to my place don't even have a copy for me to rent. And by the looks of that quote you posted, I'm wanting to see it even more. I've heard nothing but good things about that film. I'm thinking I could buy a copy for pretty cheap, and although I've sworn off buying any new DVD's (only renting and borrowing, then burning a copy for myself) due to a loss of a DVD collection big enough to discourage me from buying anymore, I think I'll buy it within the next week. I'll let you know what i think of it.

As to you posting the plate of shrimp with that intent, it is very interesting because I erased part of what I had written in that reply to Swan. It was about that exact same thing and a few experiences I have had before that resemble such premonitions. I think we can sense the future, not predict it. Maybe due to the Collective Unconscious, which I learned about reading Carl Jung, or even the Eternal Recurrence could explain it. The idea that the Universe constantly renews itself in the exact same form, meaning every moment has been lived over and over for infinity. I learnt about this reading Nietzsche, and although this would be a literal interpretation (I am more of the idea that it was meant as a way to live life each day as if it were infinite), it could explain it, seeing as we've all been here before; I've written this, you've posted the shrimp, and we'll do it all again, forever. Kinda bleak though.

I believe the phrase Jung used was Synchronicity.

Repo Man isn't an overtly philosophical film, however. This doesn't stop it from being one in a strange way - Emilio Estevez's character Otto is a young man, a blank slate that various characters throughout the film interact with and leave a mark on through their expression of their own personal philosophies. He accepts some, rejects others, and in some cases he does both to the same code - his soul is in a strange sort of turmoil as a result of the countless outside influences he's subjected to (much like virtually everyone else in the film - they are at once the same as him and yet totally different).

There's a lot to be said about Repo Man, although it's definitely one of those films where most of the meaning is dug out from in between the lines. You seem smart enough to be able to do it, so I'll leave you to it.

Hmm, think I might just go watch it now...

You're right, I haven't put together a top 100. To be honest, I'm not sure I could. I was thinking about it, but I'd have to rewatch a lot of films to make sure that I still thought of them, as least, as well as I used to (and then judge them against what I've seen since) and I just don't see that happening anytime soon. I don't even know if I could put down my five favourites, as it's been so long since I saw any of them (10 years in the case of a couple) that I wouldn't really be confident that I still felt the same way about them.

If it helps, I think that Jaws, Gone With The Wind and Charlie's Angels would almost certainly be in the top 10. Everything else really would be up for grabs.

Okay then, I might as well post the other 100. It was mainly put together as there were quite a few film that didn't make the first list, but very easily could have. Also because as stated before, damn I'm bored.

101. The Grapes of Wrath (1940, Ford)


102. Touch of Evil (1957, Welles)


103. Reservoir Dogs (1992, Tarantino)


104. Notorious (1946, Hitchcock)


105. Ikiru (1952, Kurosawa)


106. E.T. The Extra Terrestrial (1982, Spielberg)


107. Once Upon a Time in the West (1968, Leone)


108. The Graduate (1967, Nichols)


109. Dazed and Confused (1993, Linklater)


110. Viridiana (1961, Bunuel)

Quality choices as always - plus a great choice in the form of Dazed and Confused. I've been meaning to watch that again lately.

111. The Manchurian Candidate (1962, Frankenheimer)


112. My Life to Live (1962, Godard)


113. The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser (1974, Herzog)


114. Donnie Darko (2001, Kelly)


115. Pickpocket (1959, Bresson)


116. Babe (1995, Noonan)


117. WALL-E (2008, Stanton)


118. Repulsion (1965, Polanski)


119. Three Colours Trilogy (1994, Kieslowski)


120. Once Upon a Time in America (1984, Leone)

121. It's a Wonderful Life (1946, Capra)


122. Stalker (1979, Tarkovsky)


123. Animal House (1978, Landis)


124. Breathless (1960, Godard)


125. The Best Years of Our Lives (1946, Wyler)


126. The Vanishing (1988, Sluizer)


127. Blood Simple (1984, Coen)


128. The Killing (1956, Kubrick)


129. Memento (2001, Nolan)


130. The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928, Dreyer)

I'll have to go add some of these to my Netflix queue. Let me ask you something first - should I watch the theatrical cut or director's cut of Donnie Darko? I keep hearing very mixed reactions on which one I should watch.

MM - personally I would recommend the theatrical cut. The director's cut spoon-feeds the meaning of the film directly to you, whereas the theatrical cut can be left a lot more open to interpretation.

Of course, spoon-feeding may be your thing. I'm just saying, if you're after a more ambiguous, thought-provoking experience, watch the theatrical cut. If you want to understand the film straight-up, go with the director's cut. I recommend theatrical, of course.

Isn't the first version everyone watches the one they will prefer? So asking anyone wouldn't really matter?

I haven't seen the theatrical version, but from what I know that's how it seems.

A handful of those will be in my Top 100, Harry Lime. Very nice list, sir, number 101 particularly.

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"The mind is its own place, and in itself
Can make a Heaven of Hell, a Hell of Heaven."
John Milton, Paradise Lost

My Movie Review Thread | My Top 100

131. 8 1/2 (1963, Fellini)


132. American Splendor (2003, Berman, Pulcini)


133. American Graffiti (1973, Lucas)


134. A History of Violence (2005, Cronenberg)


135. Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975, Gilliam, Jones)


136. Ran (1985, Kurosawa)


137. Modern Times (1936, Chaplin)


138. White Heat (1949, Walsh)


139. L.A. Confidential (1997, Hanson)


140. Easy Rider (1969, Hopper)

I've said it before, and I actually think this is the third time I've said this here, but always start with the original...unless it's Blade Runner.