Neiba's Top 100 (July 2018 edition)

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The thing isolated becomes incomprehensible
Welcome to the anual update of...

NEIBA'S TOP 100 OF ALL TIME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!



The idea is quite simple: a list made of my absolute favourite movies, regardless of the year, genre or country of origin, in a relatively free order (it's impossible to rank 100 movies I love in a very specific way) so, just look at it as a group and not so much as 99 being worse than 98.

To each entry, I'll write the reasons why I love it and I'll post my favourite scene and quote of the movie.

The idea is quite simple: a list made of my absolute favourite movies, regardless of the year, genre or country of origin, in a relatively free order (it's impossible to rank 100 movies I love in a very specific way) so, just look at it as a group and not so much as 99 being worse than 98.

To each entry, I'll write the reasons why I love it and I'll post my favourite scene of the movie.




(and here's to hoping I actually finish it this time)



The thing isolated becomes incomprehensible
100.

Django

Sergio Corbucci
Italy/Spain
1966



I sure never thought I'd end up grave-digging and not even getting paid for it, either. Anyhow, it's better to be above ground doing that than below ground doing nothing.

One of the two non-Leone spaghetti westerns that really have impact on me (the other one is The Great Silence) and one of the founding fathers of the subgenre.
It has not the detail perfection of Leone's westerns - you will often see a 6-bullet-gun firing 10 times in a row - but it's deadly accurate on what it tries to do. It's bitter, dirtier and colder that Leone's masterpieces but in no way less grandious.
Franco Nero is amazing as Django, a deadlier and more supernatural version of Eastwood's Man with No Name and the soundtrack composed by Bacalov creates a great atmosphere that Corbucci uses masterfully!



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99.

Cidade de Deus
(City of God)
Fernando Meirelles
Brazil
2003

A kid? I smoke, I snort. I've killed and robbed. I'm a man.

City of God tells the story of two boys growing up in a brazilian slum, the different choices they make and how hard it is to leave a world of violence if you are born in it!
It's a frighteningly real depiction of brazilian slums. The fact that it's shot in the style of a documentary makes it hard not to feel as if you're in the street in the middle of all the carnage!
The script, cinematography and acting are unified by one single vision, a realistic take on crime and poverty, which makes of this thriller one of the most impressive films of the century, so far.




The thing isolated becomes incomprehensible
98.

Paths of Glory

Stanley Kubrick
USA
1957



Samuel Johnson had something else to say about patriotism. He said it was the last refugee of a scoundrel, sir.


Paths of Glory is one of the most brutal views on war ever put into film. It's emotionally draining, intense to an almost nauseating point and incredibly realistic. It also happens to be beautifully shot, acted and most of all, directed.
Stanley Kubrick was 29 years old when he made this masterpiece, his first one, in my opinion, and it's incredible how everything that made him one of the greatest directors of all time is present since so soon on his career! Kubrick was profoundly anti-war, an amazing photographer and had an amazing eye for details. With a great cast as this one, the result had to be this!
The final scene is part of the reason why I love Kubrick so much. How he goes from intense debates on morality to showing how far we are from solving humanity biggest problems whenever we ignore the only path to do so: art.




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97.

Amour
Michael Haneke
Austria/France/Germany
2012



It's beautiful.
What?
Life. So long
.

This is where European cinema still can do its magic - when compared to Hollywood, European films can still portray true innocence and sincerity.
Amour is a heart wrenching masterpiece where everything is superbly done! The atmosphere just grabs you and makes you sadder and lonelier each minute. The setting, acting and writing are particularly important on this, as everything becomes emptier and colder as the story develops.
It's not an easy watch, and if you hate feeling unbearably depressed when watching a film, don't watch this, but if you value the power that a film has to take you to the most uncomfortable place within yourself, then this is a film for you.





The thing isolated becomes incomprehensible
96.

Snatch

Guy Ritchie
UK/USA
2000



In the quiet words of the Virgin Mary... come again?

I don't think there's any movie that makes me laugh the way Snatch does.
Guy Ritchie tried this formula on Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, two years before, but he didn't have the experience nor the actors to make it better. But with this one, he nailed it!
Brad Pitt and Benicio del Toro are great additions to the cast, the cinematography has some real cool moments and the editing gives it an insane pacing, but it's the script that makes this such a fun watch! Endlessly quotable and full of legendary punchlines.
I hope Guy Ritchie will find the inspiration that made him do this...



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95.

It's Such a Beautiful Day
Don Hertzfeldt
USA
2012



The next thing you know you're looking back instead of forward. And now, at the climax of all those years of worry, sleepless nights, and denials, Bill finally finds himself staring his death in the face, surrounded by people he no longer recognizes and feels no closer attachment to than the thousands of relatives who'd come before. And as the Sun continues to set, he finally comes to realize the dumb irony in how he had been waiting for this moment his entire life, this stupid awkward moment of death that had invaded and distracted so many days with stress and wasted time.

Don Hertzfeldt is one of the most creative minds working in animation at the moment and in It's Such a Beautiful Day, he has his masterpiece.
This is not a feature film per se but a trilogy of short films put together: Everything Will Be Ok (2006), I Am So Proud of You (2008) and It's Such a Beautiful Day (2011).
We follow the life of Bill in a serious of isolated events, and we learn that he some problem of mental illness (depression? schizophrenia?). His relationship with the world and everyone around him it's just beautiful to see, and the kind of deep question this film asks his overwhelming. It's a depressing movie, no doubt, but one that manages to make you look around and find beauty in everything.
When I first watched it, it had such a big impact on me that I rewatched it the next day, and even liked it more.





The thing isolated becomes incomprehensible
94.

Goodbye Lenin

Wolfgang Becker
Germany
2003



Socialism doesn't mean live behind a Wall. Socialism means reach the others and live with the others.

It's impressive how the world can change in a few months. 1989 is one of the most important dates of last century and I can only imagine what's to live in Berlin at that time.
This film is astonishing in the way that it tells this dramatic time of history through a completely original angle: a small family who had to adjust to a new reality by creating a time capsule among the chaos of change. For that alone Becker deserves a lot of praising.
Luckily, this is more than only a good premise! The soundtrack is superb, and one of the most well know of the past 2 decades (even if most people have no idea where these piano pieces come from); the acting is great, particularly from Daniel Brül; and the cinematography and directing are in a total compromise to portraying such a theme, filled with mixed emotions and states of mind.
I loved the message of the film and how socialism was eventually portrayed at the end of the movie. It gave me hope and that's one of the most important things a work of art can give you.



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93.

East of Eden
Elia Kazan
USA
1955



I've been jealous all my life. Jealous, I couldn't even stand it. Tonight, I even tried to buy your love, but now I don't want it anymore... I can't use it anymore. I don't want any kind of love anymore. It doesn't pay off.

Kazan is gradually becoming one of the directors I like the most. Everything he does on this film is close to perfection: every shot looks amazing, so well framed, the pacing is great and the script has a very literary style that I love.
I haven't read the original book and I heard this movie doesn't follow what Steinbeck wrote, which I don't think it's bad because this movie really is a masterpiece of its own. And even not reading Steinbeck's work, I can almost bet the spirit of the book is still here, even if the full story is not.
About the acting, this film made me realize why James Dean is still rememebered as one of the greats even if he only made 3 movies. I mean, the guy is perfect for the role, not even a younger Marlon Brando would be a better cast! All his facial expressions are incredibly convincing and his array of emotions is huge. He pretty much erases from screen the rest of the very solid cast, with the exception of Julie Harris with whom he has an amazing chemistry with.
Overall, this is a work of a master. The tilted camera angles at the end are superb and even if a lot of directors used it, Kazan used them in a very original way making them really effective!





movies can be okay...
I love Amour and Paths of Glory, in fact, their directors are my top 2 of all time. I really like It's Such a Beautiful Day too. Great list so far, and I'll definitely be keeping up with it.
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"A film has to be a dialogue, not a monologue — a dialogue to provoke in the viewer his own thoughts, his own feelings. And if a film is a dialogue, then it’s a good film; if it’s not a dialogue, it’s a bad film."
- Michael "Gloomy Old Fart" Haneke



The thing isolated becomes incomprehensible
92.

The Best Years of Our Lives

William Wyler
USA
1946



Give 'em time, kid; they'll catch on. You know your folks'll get used to you, and you'll get used to them. Then everything'll settle down nicely. Unless we have another war. Then none of us have to worry because we'll all be blown to bits the first day. So cheer up, huh?

The Best Years of Our Lives is one of those movies that you watch as if it was opera: it's grandious, and theatrical with amazing music. It's almost 3 hours long and slowly paced but it doesn't drag for a second.
It has an astonishing visual storytelling, with an incredible attention to details, great acting and writing!
The cinematography and camera work are brilliant, the last scene with the marriage is out of this world: condensing such a long and fragmented story on a single frame is one of the most remarkable things I've ever seen on a movie.

Fun fact: It's the first film Wyler directed after the WW II, where he fought. It's amazing how he transformed such a traumatic experience in such a powerful film.



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91.

High Noon
Fred Zinneman
USA
1952



You're a good-looking boy: you've big, broad shoulders. But he's a man. And it takes more than big, broad shoulders to make a man.

One adrenaline fueled western that grabs you in the first seconds and doesn't let go till the very end.
Amazing acting by Cooper, hauting cinematograhy and soundtrack and perfect pacing.

One hell of a ride!





The thing isolated becomes incomprehensible
90.

Nuit et Brouillard

Alan Resnais
France
1956



With our sincere gaze we survey these ruins, as if the old monster lay crushed forever beneath the rubble. We pretend to take up hope again as the image recedes into the past, as if we were cured once and for all of the scourge of the camps. We pretend it happened all at once, at a given time and place. We turn a blind eye to what surrounds us and a deaf ear to humanity's never-ending cry.

It's not easy to find a movie on Holocaust with such power and, at the same time, that makes the viewer so responsible on what happened in Europe in the 30s and 40s.
In times like this, with that orange piece of crap sitting on White House, with Europe being menaced again by the ghost of fascism in Hungary, Italy, France, etc. the answer to a peaceful future should be in remembering that past instead of forgetting it ever happened (or in the case of some lunatics, absolutely denying it). In that sense, Nuit et Brouillard is an amazing tool for peace and should be treasured as such.



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89.

Fail-safe
Sidney Lumet
USA
1964



You learned too well, Professor. You learned so well that now there's no difference between you and what you want to kill.

The evil twin brother of Dr. Strangelove. The fact that this movie came out in the same year as Kubrick's masterpiece and it's about the same theme (even if a completely different take on it) turned it into kind of a hidden gem.
Sidney Lumet continues to be, in my opinion one of the most underrated directors ever and he has on Fail-Safe one of his most defining films!




@neiba you should watch Night Will Fall. It has an impact on a person like Night and Fog does.



Neiba, my man, what the hell is up!?! Nice start to your list so far. I like the write-ups. Including clips of your favorite scenes is also a great touch. Fail-Safe and The Best Years of Our Lives are my favorites to appear so far. I also really dig City of God and Django. High Noon and Paths of Glory are great movies that I don't necessarily love, but I've only seen them once.

As a big fan of Steinbeck's novel, I was pretty disappointed with the film adaptation of East of Eden since it only includes the last 200 or so pages. Now that it's been awhile since I've read the book, I should revisit the movie and judge it on its own merits. I don't think I've ever watched Snatch in full, but I find Guy Ritchie's movies aggressively off-putting. Amour is about as enjoyable as watching a litter of kittens be doused in gasoline and set aflame. Haven't seen the others.

Looking forward to the rest of your list!
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Master of My Domain
High Noon probably has one of the best concepts for a movie, ever. I'm surprised that not many directors and writers rip it off.
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(and here's to hoping I actually finish it this time)[/center]
GOD DAMMIT, neiba!

I was actually looking forward to spending my entire Saturday just looking through this list, only to realize you didn't make it that far even though it was started, like, half a year ago.

Get back to it, neiba! I love what I'm reading here!



The thing isolated becomes incomprehensible
GOD DAMMIT, neiba!

I was actually looking forward to spending my entire Saturday just looking through this list, only to realize you didn't make it that far even though it was started, like, half a year ago.

Get back to it, neiba! I love what I'm reading here!
waiting for you to return to the MoFo, buddy!!! missed you!