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

Oh, I didn't vote for The Two Towers, for whatever that's worth. But the films are genuine epics, lovingly crafted, and I'm so happy they exist.

Nope. I suspect similar to the case of Robert Altman the support for Tarantino's films is spread too broadly among his fanbase. Pulp Fiction will almost certainly still make it because it was the first to break through and made that generation of mid-'90s burgeoning film fans full-on freaks and is generally considered important even by those who aren't hardcore Quentin disciples. But other than that I would think his votes will be too evenly split between Inglourious Basterds, The Hateful Eight, Django Unchained, Jackie Brown, the two Kill Bills, Once Upon A Time in Hollywood, and even Reservoir Dogs. I would bet Death Proof is the only one that didn't appear on more than one ballot.

We shall see but I wouldn't hold your breath waiting for Basterds.

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3 Lumets here...

Oh, and it's not tomorrow's pair, but there's a pairing coming up that made me laugh out loud when I saw it.

Interesting. At no point would I ever insinuate that the use of CGI means that less work goes into a film. I can only guess at the amount of man-hours (person-hours?) spent on it. Just personal taste really.

For shame. I would have also expected Reservoir Dogs at least, then Inglourious Basterds almost certainly, and maybe Django Unchained

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I agree. I rewatched them for the first time in a long time early 2020. Might have actually been my first time rewatching all 3 in a row. I was surprised how well they held up and how much I loved just being in the world. I know it's blasphemy in the cinephile world to group a trilogy together. Maybe no trilogy feels more of a piece than this one though. Pretty obvious why, but it makes the 9+ hours not feel like it to me

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Fair enough. Even if you weren't saying that, I think it would be a valid critique, not wanting lots of CGI in a film. And while it may be a lot of man-hours for somebody, I wonder if maybe it can be a lot less work for the director, specifically, and a lot more on things that are reducible and interchangeable with non-cinematic things. But as you say, personal taste. It might be an interesting discussion, and maybe one where my intellectual conclusions are very different from my gut-level reactions.

Anyway, all that said, I think it's probably particularly important to use a lot of practical effects to depict fantastical things. Films like these arguably need to go the extra mile to make them feel grounded in some kind of reality, and to Jackson's credit, he definitely did a lot of that.

My first memory of these films, actually, is some very old 10-minute behind the scenes video where they talk about some of those effects (maybe a year and a half before the film's release). I remember thinking how real it all looked. My family and I probably watched that clip several times, in part because it was all we had of the film at the time. But I remember that almost as vividly as I remember seeing the first film for the first time.

Yeah, same here. This happens with a lot of great things I love. My wife and I, for example, like to rewatch the previous season of our favorite shows before the next one comes on (only in rare circumstances, otherwise that's a huge time sink), and every time I think "eh, this is gonna be boring, just to make sure we're refreshed," and it never is. When something is good, it pulls you in each time. The LOTR films are definitely like that, the "flipping through the channels, stop, and then watch the rest of the movie because each scene grabs you on its own" thing.

Two fine films.

The LOTR trilogy is generally epic and at least one of them belongs on here, so I'm happy to see Lord Of The Rings: The Two Towers as one of today's reveals. It's been some years since I've seen them so I'd be hard pressed to say which I prefer .... sounds like a reasonable excuse to revisit them in the near future I guess

Schindler's List is Spielberg at his best imo, nice to see it leap up relative to where it placed last time.

Seen: 49/60 (Own: 21/60)


Faildictions (Eternal vsn 1.0):
40. Stalker (1979)
39. La Strada (1954)

If a Speilberg ever showed up on my list, it would have been "Schindler's List". Loved the film, hatred the subject matter, if that makes sense.


Going back to the age old argument here. For my list preferences, I saw these as one film, split three ways. Same with Kill Bills and Linklater's Sunrises series. So none of these types made my list.

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46/60 films seen

No votes here.

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To compare, I still like the effects in films like Clash of the Titans with Ray Harryhausen's stop motion type of work. It's probably because those films were a big part of my childhood though, not the actual techniques or anything.

Oh! I know this pairing:

Kung-Pow! Enter the Fist



Milk


If you can't see the overlap, then you haven't watched the greatest (arguably) kung fu flick of all time! WEEEEOOOH WEEEEEOOOOH WWEEEEEEEEE *hrrrrrrrchk*

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I thought it was a big favorite here. But we are running out of spots.

Just rewatched the extended versions of all 3 LOTR movies over the New Year period.

Reservoir missing would be shocking though

And you're just finishing up right now.

Sorry for sounding like a broken record, Like both but neither ever were making my list. Schlinders List no doubt is a very good film but Ive never had any desire to revisit it and thats not down to the subject matter. All the LOTR movies to me, are good Sunday afternoon films, lying in front of the fire, hungover. Ive only 4 shown up from my list so far, not quite as confident as I once was that they will all show.

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I can't really comment much on Two Towers because I was bong brained at the time it was on, and really just remember fragments. I remember being entertained enough though. But opposable thumbs would have been enough to entertain me at the time. Ultimately, Lord of the Rings is just not for me, even if I can recognize the skill and craft that went into it, as well as all of the condensing Peter Jackson had to do with the books to make it something cinematically comprehensible. Maybe, if the entire series took place in Hobbitville, and Frodo just sat around eating food and smoking a pipe, I probably would have been super on board. Like a Middle Earth Jeanne Dielmann. Unfortunately, he finds stuff to do, and hangs out with a bunch of characters whose names all sound the same to me. Yes, I'm prejudiced against elves. Unapologetically.

Schindler's List would be Spielberg's greatest if not for the blockbuster cypher that is Close Encounters. Weirdly, for a man of suffering for many years from sugar induced Peter Pan Syndrome, Schindler almost feels like the movie he worked his entire career towards. It's the culmination of all his skills he learned peddling kiddie fare, to somehow articulate the misery of the Holocaust about as clearly as anyone ever has on screen. His ability to stay focused on an array of fascinating central characters, insert fragmented anecdotes of periphery characters as punctuation marks, give us a history lesson, show off an array of cinematic tricks, and be as human as he ever would before or since, the film is a miracle. I wrote it off for a number years after first seeing it, seeing it as a really competent, even a fairly effective attempt at adulthood filmmaking by Spielberg. A rewatch a few months ago shattered that underestimation. It's a masterstroke. Visually, cinematically and emotionally devastating. But also funny. And life affirming. And rage inspiring. And, most incredibly of all, really really entertaining, even as it makes you contemplate whether this planet is even worth being on anymore....didn't make my list though. I think Blood for Dracula took its spot.