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

I'm fascinated to know what was on your list. Unless you're bluffing us and will reveal at the end that all 25 made it.

EDIT: Nevermind, the lack of chyp's name on the "who sent a list" list would explain his lack of movies

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I only have to re-watch Dr. Zhivago and after that my War ballot is ready to go.

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Like many genres, "War Film" is problematic. All Quiet On the Western Front and Platoon are obviously war films. But what about Schindler's List which doesn't cover combat? What about Coming Home? What about Henry V? What about The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers? What about Starship Troopers? What about Dr. Strangelove? What about Duck Soup?

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If you guys wanna talk future countdowns and the complications they entail, don't forget to put them here, or they're just not gonna be seen long-term:

Suggestions for future countdowns

Yeah, I can certainly see that, and I think you and crumbs are on the same page here. It's probably worth mentioning that I watched the movie after I had read Conrad's Heart of Darkness, so at least to some degree I was viewing the film through that lens, fairly or not. Conrad's Kurtz is quite different (mostly, more absent) than Coppola's Kurtz, and I guess I prefer the former.

This is how I feel about such films too--or, really, any film whose feel and ambiance has a certain amount of despair.

But, I am also old enough to remember the emotional fallout from Vietnam and that whole mess of a war. No glory, just confusion and division. So, I can appreciate a film like this dealing with the mix of emotions with which so many were striving to deal. It captures what my teenage self remembers "feeling" during that time, without having actually been there.

But I too never feel I need to rewatch this one, for a lot of those same reasons. It just makes me feel too raw.

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dont worry chyp, together with @Mr Minio we should have three solid votes for When Woman Ascends the Stairs and the rest is first spot guarantee

oh wait

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Apocalypse Now is a worthy contender, though I went with other Coppola films for my list.


My sentiments exactly.


Considering how The Great Escape, Grave of Fireflies and Pianist would most probably won't feature on this list now, I support doing this countdown.

I had Citizen Kane and Apocalypse Now reversed. I'm sticking with the remainder of my prediction.

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My view of Apocalypse Now is tainted because I saw the overly long Redux version and I would much rather have seen the Theatrical Cut. I might have liked it more than I did.

Due for a revisit though.

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Re: original vs. Redux, I agree with the general consensus that (whatever my issues with it) the original cut is preferable to the Redux cut. The added scenes work better individually than collectively and drag down the pace.

On another topic, The Princess Bride was one of my final cuts; it would easily make my personal Top 100. It's an absolute treasure.

Quick question for the group, perhaps a naive one: Why all the love for Goodfellas as a top-ten? I mean, I loved it myself and have rewatched it many times... but I wouldn't see it as a top-ten pick. What's the appeal? What makes it iconic or classic enough to make the top ten here? (Not disparaging--really, just asking.)

As with most reduxes, I don't think the redux to Apocalypse Now adds much to the theatrical version's themes and more or less bloats its runtime. I greatly prefer the original cut.

I liked the French Plantation stuff but the Playboy girls part was a waste of time, can't remember what else off hand was in the Redux.

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It's my favorite Scorsese flick, and on this particular list, I tried to lean more into my favorites rather than what I objectively thought were the best films ever made, as I don't think I have the knowledge or will to do such a thing. I would probably put at least two other Scorsese films above Goodfellas if I ever did try to go full-objective (never go full objective!), but I would never do such a thing.

I demand still frames of these playgirls, so as to judge for myself. In a very clinical and academic way, of course!

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Couldn't you ask that of any and every film on this list, top ten or not? Personal taste, I reckon. I happen to think it is Scorsese's masterpiece among masterpieces. I guess enough other MoFos agree?

"I watch movies for the articles."

I'm not the biggest Goodfellas or Scorsese fan, which I've said a lot of times, but I agree with the overall statement. If it makes it, it makes it

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Agreed, if the Godfather is the masterpiece of the upper ranks of the Mafia then Goodfellas is the masterpiece of the lower ranked guys.

I would say it's my most likely to just watch if it's on TV.

The only time a new cut of a film makes sense as being necessary is if the studio or a producer interfered and forced a filmmaker to make edits they did not want to make. With infamous butcherings, like Leone's Once Upon a Time in America, of course it is glorious to see the film as the director intended. With Gilliam's Brazil or the Final Cut of Ridley Scott's Blade Runner these are the full, uncompromised versions that were originally intended but unable to be realized until years later. The Lord of the Rings are special cases as extra footage was filmed designed to be included in longer cuts for the DVDs. But for a while there in the late '90s and into the 2000s "Director's Cut" simply became a marketing gimmick on DVD packaging. In those types of situations it is always a worse cut because it is unnecessary. Include extra scenes and alternate takes as supplements, I'm all for that, but don't recut the movie just because you can.

To me Coppola's recuts (he has also recut The Cotton Club and most recently The Godfather Part III) feel more like the because-I-can camp. But whatevs.