ahwell's Top 100 Movies - 2020

→ in
Tools    





You mean me? Kei's cousin?
"Just let me whip this out."
"Aaaaah!"
__________________
Look, Dr. Lesh, we don't care about the disturbances, the pounding and the flashing, the screaming, the music. We just want you to find our little girl.





99. Elmer Gantry (1960)

Really, really, solid movie. First of all, amazing acting across the board. I believed every performance, especially Elmer himself. I think Lancaster won the Academy Award this year, and he deserved it! I also loved the character of Elmer. They didn't give us all the details, they make us search for it and try to find out about him and the other characters. That's good. I liked that. Overall, an incredible movie that leaves the viewer with many many ideas to think about.
__________________
Lists and Projects
Letterboxd



You can't make a rainbow without a little rain.


100. Blazing Saddles (1974)

I think it's a masterpiece. It's actually the only Mel Brooks I've seen (looking forward to Young Frankenstein), other than his short film The Critic. First of all, Blazing Saddles could never ever be made today, in a world with Political Correctness and SJWs. This movie would be shredded by those types of people... but they don't understand that the movie is actually making fun of white people and racism through it's hundreds of horrible jokes about "n*****s" and rapes and overall the bad aspects of American culture. All the white people in this movie (with the exception of the Waco Kid) are absolute idiots who have no idea what they're doing, so when this movie is criticized for being insensitive I just have to laugh. Besides its political importance, Blazing Saddles is just a good time. It's so creative, and every scene is a delight. Of course the plot is in the background, as with most spoofs. Its a parody of a Western, so its the classic "innocent people of the village vs. Cowboy murderers" type of thing. And Mel Brooks plays it out perfectly. There are legitimately catchy songs, great jokes, fun characters, and much more in this film, one of the greatest comedies of all time in my opinion.

While I like Mel Brooks, and I can usually appreciate his type of humor, neither Blazing Saddles nor Young Frankenstein rank among my favorite movies. They're both good movies, but I just don't seem to enjoy them as much as other people do. However I think I might enjoy Blazing Saddles more if I rewatch it, now that I've watched so many westerns for the countdown.
__________________
.
If I answer a game thread correctly, just skip my turn and continue with the game.
OPEN FLOOR.



You can't make a rainbow without a little rain.
...I do that too.

So you've seen to Mel Brooks films so far? I kinda liked Space Balls, if you're familiar with the original Star Wars you might like it.
I think I saw Space Balls but don’t remember anything of it. So yeah I think those two are the only ones right now, looking forward to the Producers especially!
Spaceballs, (it's one word, not two), is probably my favorite Mel Brooks movie, but it probably helps that I've been a fan of Star Wars since I saw it in the movie theater back when it was first released.


I've not seen The Producers, but I just read about it and it sounds pretty good and the reviews it's got here are pretty high too. It's hard to go wrong with Gene Wilder in a film, the man had some serious comic timing.
I highly recommend The Producers. Both the original and the remake are good movies, but the original is the better of the two movies.


Like many here, I’ve seen Blazing Saddles, Young Frankenstein, Spaceballs and Robin Hood.
Saddles and Frankenstein are great, Spaceballs is actually still pretty funny, Robin Hood is pretty bad.
I still need to see The Producers, The 12 Chairs, Silent Movie, High Anxiety, History of the World Part 1 and Life Stinks.
It's been many years since I've seen it, and I remember very little about it, but I remember that I didn't like The 12 Chairs. Maybe it's time to rewatch it to see if my opinion about it has changed.



You can't make a rainbow without a little rain.


99. Elmer Gantry (1960)

Really, really, solid movie. First of all, amazing acting across the board. I believed every performance, especially Elmer himself. I think Lancaster won the Academy Award this year, and he deserved it! I also loved the character of Elmer. They didn't give us all the details, they make us search for it and try to find out about him and the other characters. That's good. I liked that. Overall, an incredible movie that leaves the viewer with many many ideas to think about.

Elmer Gantry is another movie that I like, but I don't love. I think maybe it's a bit too "preachy" for me. Plus, while I can appreciate Burt Lancaster as a great actor, I'm not a big fan of his.



99. Elmer Gantry (1960)
One of my favorite films. I believe Markf thinks highly of it too. A somewhat similar film that I once nominated in an HoF is Nightmare Alley, you might like that.



One of my favorite films. I believe Markf thinks highly of it too. A somewhat similar film that I once nominated in an HoF is Nightmare Alley, you might like that.[/size]
Glad you love it too! Yes, I think mark f is a huge fan, at least it’s in his top ten in his profile. Will check out Nightmare Alley, thanks!



Elmer Gantry is another movie that I like, but I don't love. I think maybe it's a bit too "preachy" for me. Plus, while I can appreciate Burt Lancaster as a great actor, I'm not a big fan of his.
That’s definitely fair about it coming across as preachy, although I think you can read a ton into it other than what’s on the surface.



That’s definitely fair about it coming across as preachy, although I think you can read a ton into it other than what’s on the surface.
I didn't think Elmer Gantry (the movie, not the character) was preachy at all. I'd say it balanced it's positive and negative aspects of revivalist preachers in a fair and very interesting way. That's why I like it so, that and Shirley Jones



Another one from my watchlist. Not seen Elmer Gantry yet. I think it was @cricket singing some praises for it once. I don’t know. Maybe mark f too. I just set remember I really wanted to see it at one point never got around to it.

I have a feeling this list will be filled with films I have yet to see but really want to.



Another one from my watchlist. Not seen Elmer Gantry yet. I think it was @cricket singing some praises for it once. I don’t know. Maybe mark f too. I just set remember I really wanted to see it at one point never got around to it.

I have a feeling this list will be filled with films I have yet to see but really want to.
Oh yes, cricket in fact nominated it for that HoF I watched it for!





98. Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949)

Well, well, here we have a very dark comedy. This one is just delightful in its murderous humor, it takes such fun in joy in presenting us with such a likable and interesting young character who just happens to be a murderer as well. I loved all the characters in the movies, all the future dukes and duchesses had interesting quirks and personalities, and both Edith and Sibella were great. The acting was a bit stiff, but it's made up for in the brilliance of the dialogue and character building. The film is also really funny, and I think the memoir style for the film made it very effective and enjoyable.



Bright light. Bright light. Uh oh.
I think it's a great list so far since 2/3 are on my Top 100 and the other is well-worth being on someone's list.
__________________
It's what you learn after you know it all that counts. - John Wooden
My IMDb page



I think it's a great list so far since 2/3 are on my Top 100 and the other is well-worth being on someone's list.
Thank you, you must have taste



I watched Kind Hearts and Coronets in the Comedy I HoF. I appreciated the film, but didn't love it. I bet if I had watched it with subtitles I would've gotten more out of the British dry humor. As it was I didn't find it all that funny. I'd say it was a language barrier thing for me, as it seemed like a well made movie and something I should like.





97. Rebecca (1940)

Do you think the dead come back to watch the living?

Rebecca was the only Hitchcock movie to ever win best picture, which may seem like an odd choice, since Hitchcock has directed far more crowd pleasing, far more exciting, far more scary, and far "better" films. But there is an intimate tug to Rebecca, a warm grasp at our identities, that even Vertigo and Rear Window don't quite do.

Rebecca is about a dead woman who has more power over the people she knew than anyone living. Hitchcock builds suspense masterfully, as we are introduced to a naive and "simplistic" young woman who quickly strikes a relationship with an odd and mysterious man. Who is he? Who was Rebecca? What does he do? She doesn't know any of this, but her heart tells her to go with him.

Once at Manderley, she must quickly change her perception of their relationship, and of course of her own identity. This is what Rebecca is truly about - identity, and who we are in relation to those that came before us.

Notice our main character does not have a name, but is rather Mrs. de Winter. She is a mere shadow of Rebecca, and Maxim cannot see her as anything else. She is "alive" but lives in the image of others. How does one break through and become independent? Especially when being watched and compared every minute.

No other movie from the 40s that I've seen dives so well into a woman's identity, emotions, and struggles. Women are at the center anyways. Rebecca of course being the titular character - although she never appears on screen. But Mrs. Danvers and Mrs. DeWinter are the two in the foreground. One obsessed with the past, and the other one unaware of the past and obsessed with the future. Maxim is a character who has a prominent role, but exists as a 2-D character - he is a figure which Mrs. DeWinter can develop her identity on.

Rebecca is optimistic - we can have twisted lives, yet these twisted lives can help us find our own identities and true personalities. By the end, Mrs. DeWinter has changed, and she is much more of a character than she was at the beginning. She has surviving; now she is living.

It's with awe and wonder that I've come out of every Hitch movie so far. He seems to have a limitless imagination to be able to keep a very similar style - the warped psychology of his character - yet to make every movie special and different. Rebecca made me want to cry and laugh; it is one of his most emotional films, and undoubtedly a masterpiece.