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

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Two films that I like but didn't vote for either.

Dr. Strangelove was a film I found I really enjoyed when I first saw it. I had never really seen anything like it before and was impressed by both the scope and uniqueness of what Kubrick set out to achieve, as well as the end result which I found to be very funny and amusing. It's been way too long since I last watched it though.

As mentioned a couple of times in this thread, Fellowship is my favourite film of The Lord of the Rings series. I've always enjoyed the parts of movies where a team starts to come together and the planning for the mission takes place, so it fits in with that. When I try to think about my favourite moments in the series, one that always comes to mind is when the Nazgūl arrive in Bree. I always used to find that sequence quite scary and effective. I think Viggo Mortensen stands out to me in the first film as the strongest performer, I'm a big fan of him as an actor.

90/90 seen and it's going to be 100% once we're done
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I'll take my shot at predicting the Top Ten.

1. The Godfather
2. Jaws
3. 2001: A Space Odyssey
4. GoodFellas
5. Casablanca
6. Pulp Fiction
7. Raiders of the Lost Ark
8. Blade Runner
9. Citizen Kane
10. Apocalypse Now

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at least we can agree that spartacus as his.. weakest?
After Fear and Desire, probably.
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rbrayer's Avatar
Registered User
I'd be interested to hear why you don't think other trilogies shouldn't be treated the same. Only distinction I can come up with is that they were filmed all in a row, but I'm not sure the circumstances of production should factor into artistic qualifications.

But yes, agree to disagree, regardless.
My distinction is narrative, not technical, i.e. whether they are separate stories that stand on their own or simply parts in one story like a novel. For example, Star Wars/Empire/ROTJ are portions of a larger story, but each (except maybe ROTJ) stand on their own as dramatic stories with a beginning, middle, and end. It became a trilogy because of success, not as the plan from day 1. LOTR was always going to be one story - and it had to be. I haven't seen the films, so I confess, maybe they stand adequately on their own individually, but the fact that they are all parts of a single novel is informing my view.

(And yes, I know that The Godfather book includes parts 1 and 2, but it doesn't include 3, and 1 and 2 are definitely complete stories on their own.)



My prediction:

1. The Godfather
2. 2001: A Space Odyssey
3. Jaws
4. Casablanca
5. Blade Runner
6. Raiders of the Lost Ark
7. Pulp Fiction
8. Goodfellas
9. Citizen Kane
10. Apocalypse Now
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rbrayer's Avatar
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My current list (with chances of making the rest of the list):

1) Vertigo
2) Persona
3) 8 1/2
4) Ikiru
5) Night of the Hunter
6) 100%
7) 60%
8) 0% (a travesty, but not a surprising one)
9) 5% (holding out hope but very doubtful. This not being on the top 100 - and this artist not even being represented - is just nuts).
10) The Third Man
11) Rear Window
12) Out of the Past (0% but accidentally revealed the other day)
13) 100%
14) 5% (very doubtful)
15) Raging Bull
16) 0%
17) Sunset Boulevard
18) Chinatown
19) 0%
20) 0%
21) Mullholland Drive
22) 0%
23) The Apartment
24) 0%
25) 0%

Having my top 6 (and mebbe 7) make it is nice, even if their placement is by and large not. I am definitely surprised at a few omissions, but they were made before 1970 ergo less chance it seems.



I might get to liking Dr Strangelove one day but I'm not there yet. It has great moments but it plays like it's 3 hours to me.

Finally a Lord of the Rings movie I have seen, and the reason I'll only have seen 98% of the movies on this countdown.

1. Godfather
2. Jaws
3. Casablanca
4. Blade Runner
5. Goodfellas
6. Pulp Fiction
7. 2001
8. Citizen Kane
9. Apocalypse Now
10. Raiders of the Lost Ark



My distinction is narrative, not technical, i.e. whether they are separate stories that stand on their own or simply parts in one story like a novel. For example, Star Wars/Empire/ROTJ are portions of a larger story, but each (except maybe ROTJ) stand on their own as dramatic stories with a beginning, middle, and end. It became a trilogy because of success, not as the plan from day 1. LOTR was always going to be one story - and it had to be. I haven't seen the films, so I confess, maybe they stand adequately on their own individually, but the fact that they are all parts of a single novel is informing my view.
Well, the LOTR books were published separately, so in that sense they were identical to the films: conceived as a whole story but broken up for logistical and financial reasons. For philosophical classifications I think that's the same as Lucas not knowing if he could finance all his stories the way he wanted upfront, particularly since that, too, was conceived as one story from the beginning.

I'm not sure how viable it is to introduce any of those outside/financial considerations into how we classify things artistically. The Matrix Reloaded ends on an outright cliffhanger and was made concurrently with The Matrix Revolutions, but do we regard that as one film? Ditto for the second and third Back to the Future films (and the first one there even ends right where the second narrative begins!). In the end it seems like it's going to be a "feel" thing more than something where we can draw a clean line that doesn't have some big exceptions on either side.

Anyway, to each their own, I just think it's interesting to flesh out. I think insofar as there's a real answer to any of this it's that countdowns like this are imposing classifications that just don't cleanly fit reality.



I always used to find that sequence quite scary and effective. I think Viggo Mortensen stands out to me in the first film as the strongest performer, I'm a big fan of him as an actor.
This comment reminded me of the time I stood next to Viggo Mortensen in a bathroom. NYC movie theater bathrooms are small, y'all.



My top 10 prediction:

1. The Godfather
2. GoodFellas
3. Pulp Fiction
4. Apocalypse Now
5. 2001: A Space Odyssey
6. Raiders of the Lost Ark
7. Jaws
8. Blade Runner
9. Citizen Kane
10. Casablanca

Didn't expect Casablanca and Citizen Kane were so popular to make the top 10 but I would still expect to be lower than the more recent popular movies.

From my list:

1.
2.
3.
4. Spirited Away (2001)
5. Stalker (1979)
6. Making it to the top 10
7. Ikiru (1952)
8.
9.
10.
11. Tokyo Story (1953)
12. Making it to the top 10
13.
14.
15. Making it to the top 10
16.
17.
18.
19.
20. The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
21. Star Wars (1977)
22. Taxi Driver (1975)
23.
24. The Return of the King (2003)
25. In this Corner of the World (2016) (one pointer)

There was a single English speaking movie I had in the list that is not going to make it. The others that didn't make it are Bicycle Thieves (1948), Ghibli Films, Tarkovky's and Ozu's.



The final update before the top ten.

I haven't seen 3/8 of the last films: The Big Lebowski, Chinatown (there's a tiny chance I've seen this as a kid), and Lawrence of Arabia (I'm planning to rectify this, but then again, it's been on my to-do list for quite a while).

The Shawshank Redemption I've seen once many, many years ago. I know I didn't particularly like it back then, but the reasons for that are lost in time. Maybe I should rewatch this too.

Taxi Driver is really good, and one of those films I should have rewatched for this. Possibly my favorite De Niro role. It was in consideration for my list but didn't make it.

Alien is great. I rank it below Aliens, though, and only the sequel made my ballot. It was definitely in consideration.

Dr. Strangelove didn't impress me, though admittedly it's been quite a few years. I've already mentioned I'm not a Kubrick fan.

The Fellowship of the Ring was the LotR movie that made my list at #12. The whole trilogy is excellent, but the first part is quite easily my favorite.

Oh, and I did watch Sunset Boulevard. It was good, but not the kind of film that would have had a chance to make my ballot.

Seen 68/90
My list this far:
01: The Exorcist (1973) [#47]
02: Once Upon a Time in the West (1968) [#31]
05: Aliens (1986) [#37]
10: The Matrix (1999) [#24]
12: The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001) [#11]
13: The Seventh Seal (1957) [honorable mention]
14: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly (1966) [#23]
15: The Terminator (1984) [#56]
18: The Thing (1982) [#20]
25: Poison for the Fairies (1984) [1-pointer]
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28 days...6 hours...42 minutes...12 seconds
Just to put my two cents on the LOTR thing.

In doing these countdowns, we've run into issues as to what classifies as what. The most notable one being the Horror Countdown. So the decision (in my opinion) was a logical one that made the most sense. What is the easiest way to classify these movies? If it was released separately, it is its own entry. This is clear cut and dry to me. No arguments as to if Kill Bill should be split, if Endgame and Infinity War should be split, what do we do about the Three Colors movies? Everything is split. If we combine LOTR but not certain other ones, where do we draw the line?

I didn't want to have to chase people down because some put the whole trilogy down while others split it up. No confusions, just simple one film entries. Would it be fair to compare all three LOTR movies against one Godfather? I don't think so. Are you upset all three movies made it? Sure, would you be upset if Return of the Jedi made it because two other Star Wars movies made it? Who knows.

If people want to put all three movies on their lists, that's their business. If people want to pick one film out of the three, that is their business. We didn't take 'artistic merit' into account at all because that opens up too many cans of worms.

These are the opinions of me and me alone, even though the discussion was brought up between Chris and I, I don't want to speak for anyone else but myself.


I await for the next 4 Avatar movies to make the next list and have everyone argue about it.


*like that will ever happen.
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This comment reminded me of the time I stood next to Viggo Mortensen in a bathroom. NYC movie theater bathrooms are small, y'all.
At least it wasn't a NYC bathhouse.


(#notmyfabfunk)



This comment reminded me of the time I stood next to Viggo Mortensen in a bathroom. NYC movie theater bathrooms are small, y'all.
I'd ask you what that was like but I saw Eastern Promises so I feel like it happened to me already.



Hayden may in fact be my favorite performance in the whole movie.
Powerful essence.



I am going to reluctantly accept this. Still think this low.
Dr. Strangelove is the greatest movie there ever was/is/will ever be.
It was Numero Uno on my list.


Happy to see Fellowship feature. Best of the trilogy, but not on my list.



The characters' roll call: Dr. Strangelove, Buck Turgidson, Jack D. Ripper, King Kong, Bat Guano, Premier Kissoff, Lothar Zogg, etc.
The names are mostly courtesy of the late great Terry Southern. My favorite is Merkin Muffley, named after a certain pornographic grooming instrument. Which is hilarious because, you know, he's bald.



We've gone on holiday by mistake
Is there any chance of a surprise at this point? Are Casablanca and Citizen Kane absolute certs?
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