Iro's Top 100 Movies v3.0

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Welcome to the human race...
A pair of Top 10 finishes all the way down to #83
Yeah, I revisited it a while back for the first time in years and just felt differently - like I said, hard to feel like actually watching it start to finish when it's been memed to death over the past few decades and it didn't inspire much in the way of actual laughter due to overexposure. Still amusing enough that I can't get rid of it entirely, though. Makes me think that, once I'm done here, I'll have to go back and count how many comedies cracked each of my lists.
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I really just want you all angry and confused the whole time.
Iro's Top 100 Movies v3.0



Welcome to the human race...
#82. Chinatown
(Roman Polanski, 1974)



"Forget it, Jake, it's Chinatown."

Last time I put this on a list, I remarked that this was the kind of film I wish I could forget so I could experience it all again - not just the shocking twists and turns of its central murder mystery, but simply the flair with which it executed everything from the clever detecting methods and on-his-feet thinking of J.J. Gittes (Jack Nicholson) to the deftness with which it conducted all manner of cryptic conversations and all-important reveals (or even just how these characters move about, as is definitely the case with Faye Dunaway's Mrs. Mulwray playing a particularly wounded variation on the femme fatale). This is probably an irrational reason to rank it as low as I have this time around - it's not the film's fault that I can only go in fresh one time (and even had it spoiled beforehand) - but even so, I can't go past just how smoothly Robert Towne's watertight script flows like so much run-off from a drought-ridden California's water reserves. An effective exercise in adapting the already-dark sensibilities of film noir for the even more downbeat era of the 1970s, taking considerable advantage of the expansion of creative freedom to paint a seamier portrait of the 1930s and truly underline just what kind of monsters are vying for power and why (with John Huston's glowering tycoon making the most of limited screen-time to become one of cinema's best - possibly most underrated - villains).

2005 ranking: N/A
2013 ranking: #37



Yeah, I love Chinatown too; like, if I had to pick just one all-time favorite work of Neo-Noir, I honestly can't think of anything I'd put any higher than it.



If I like them all this much, then I'm sure you hate every single one.
C'mon. You know that ain't true. You've got three of my 100 already and I loved Dazed & Confused.
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5-time MoFo Award winner.



Welcome to the human race...
#81. Event Horizon
(Paul W.S. Anderson, 1997)



"Oh, my God. What happened to your eyes?"
"Where we're going, we won't need eyes to see."

Probably bound to be one of the most controversial choices on this list, Event Horizon is arguably the finest work from vulgar auteur extraordinaire Paul W.S. Anderson. A film about an experimental spaceship that disappears during its maiden voyage only to reappear at the edges of known space years later, one can easily recognise its influences (it starts off like Solaris and finishes like Hellraiser) and look askance at its goofier, more dated aspects. That being said, Anderson is able to tie it all together into an atmospheric mid-budget horror full of disturbing visions, spacebound dangers, and some genuinely hellish visuals. The characters tend towards sci-fi/horror stereotypes, but they do tend to be bolstered by some solid performances (most obviously Sam Neill as the ship's troubled designer and Laurence Fishburne as the taciturn captain of the recon team). Knowing that there was once a much longer cut (now lost forever) with even more horrific material to show can't help but intrigue, but this proves a gory and unsettling exercise all the same.

2005 ranking: N/A
2013 ranking: N/A



I watched that once, and I don't remember caring for it, and this was when I was 15 (and would like just about anything), so I can't imagine it would hold up very well if I ever rewatched it...



#81. Event Horizon
(Paul W.S. Anderson, 1997)



"Oh, my God. What happened to your eyes?"
"Where we're going, we won't need eyes to see."

Probably bound to be one of the most controversial choices on this list, Event Horizon is arguably the finest work from vulgar auteur extraordinaire Paul W.S. Anderson. A film about an experimental spaceship that disappears during its maiden voyage only to reappear at the edges of known space years later, one can easily recognise its influences (it starts off like Solaris and finishes like Hellraiser) and look askance at its goofier, more dated aspects. That being said, Anderson is able to tie it all together into an atmospheric mid-budget horror full of disturbing visions, spacebound dangers, and some genuinely hellish visuals. The characters tend towards sci-fi/horror stereotypes, but they do tend to be bolstered by some solid performances (most obviously Sam Neill as the ship's troubled designer and Laurence Fishburne as the taciturn captain of the recon team). Knowing that there was once a much longer cut (now lost forever) with even more horrific material to show can't help but intrigue, but this proves a gory and unsettling exercise all the same.

2005 ranking: N/A
2013 ranking: N/A
omg i remember seeing this movie yrs ago on tv. i need to rewatch this movie



Welcome to the human race...
#80. Silence
(Martin Scorsese, 2016)



"I pray, but I am lost. Am I just praying to silence?"

I suppose I can see how this may get underrated both within Scorsese's output and on its own terms - in the context of a filmography filled with electrifying tales of crime and chaos, an extremely patient and lengthy period drama that addresses matters of faith using methods that are literally and figuratively torturous is not exactly going to win over everyone. However, I'd argue that this difference is what distinguishes it for the better as Scorsese explores a whole other filmmaking mode in telling the tale of two Portuguese priests (Andrew Garfield and Adam Driver) traveling to Japan in search of their allegedly-apostatised colleague (Liam Neeson) and coming face-to-face with the very real danger posed by practicing Christianity in 17th-century Japan. Such a premise could settle into a simple narrative about the inherent immorality of religious persecution that positions Garfield and Driver as the film's unambiguous heroes, but what follows is instead a more complex interrogation of what faith means - a source of unwarranted personal pride? A weapon wielded by colonising forces no less brutal than the persecutors who resist? A belief that is tainted by misunderstanding and miscommunication on the part of both believer and skeptic? Even a filmmaker as thoroughly Catholic as Scorsese understands that there is nuance to the subject even (especially?) when one side is shown using lethal force against the other. The collection of calmly-depicted diatribes between Portuguese and Japanese not only shows Scorsese's own influence from Japanese cinema but speaks to the importance of the material above all else. Silence may not move like a Scorsese film usually moves, but deep down it still feels very much like his.

2005 ranking: N/A
2013 ranking: N/A



That elusive hide-and-seek cow is at it again
I had no idea there was a longer cut of Event Horizon. That might have changed my perspective on the movie, had it been available. Hm. This is a movie that I'll revisit every five years or so because it has so much potential. It's great sci-fi horror in concept, the effects are mostly spot on (with the exception of water sloshing around in a plastic bottle within the abandoned, and frozen Event Horizon ship---I could be wrong on that frozen part, but that's the memory that stuck), it had weird nods to Hellraiser, which I was a long fan of by this release, and had a mostly great cast. Sam Neill was perfect in this role, IMO, showing a scientific restraint, all the while subtly slipping into madness as the story played out.

Perhaps it was Jack Noseworthy burnout from his Mtv's Dead at 21 run. Perhaps it was the awkward shift in tone during the final third. For sure it was a bottle of water.

Idunno.

I always find myself repeating most of these same comments whenever this title pops up here. It's like I've come out of a bad relationship but still can't find the strength to let go and just move on. I see so much potential, "if only..." Regrettably, whatever was missing for me was never there and never will be. I need to accept that and come to terms with it. I need to move on with my life. A rebound viewing of Ghosts of Mars should help. you know, something quick and easy but nothing that I'd introduce to mom. Then maybe I can try to enjoy other movies that I've been too reluctant to get involved with. Now might be the time to take another look at Under the Skin. Or to restart Stalker. I might even be open to experiencing Annihilation again! No. Wait. That's too much. I'm not sure I have it in me yet for that. Hm... Maybe I should just try to reach back out to Event Horizon. I admit that I might have misunderstood things. Or that maybe I expected too much. I can't put it all off on the movie. There were two of us, here, I mean. Surely, I am as responsible for the things not working out between us? I wonder if I could watch it tonight, maybe? I saw, recently, it's available for streaming. Maybe the things that used to bother me won't this time? Maybe I've changed with age? Maybe this movie has too? I think I owe it to myself to at least try again? Maybe this time will be different??
__________________
"My Dionne Warwick understanding of your dream indicates that you are ambivalent on how you want life to eventually screw you." - Joel

"Ever try to forcibly pin down a house cat? It's not easy." - Captain Steel

"I just can't get pass sticking a finger up a dog's butt." - John Dumbear



That elusive hide-and-seek cow is at it again
Oh. I didn't want to clutter my mostly serious reply, above, with this throw away comment but I'm liking a lot of posts here. 50/50 because I think the movies are great (though I'm somewhat surprised to see them so relatively low, making me curious what else is to come) and because I know Iro truly appreciates the thumbs-up notifications. Truly.

I got u, bro.



Welcome to the human race...
#79. Battle Royale
(Kinji Fukusaku, 2000)



"Life is a game, so fight for survival and see if you're worth it."

One of my favourite premises is that of "the most dangerous game", the extremely simple set-up wherein a person is deliberately forced into a scenario where they must survive against someone who is hunting them simply for sport. The eponymous government-mandated game in Battle Royale offers its own variation on this set-up by taking a whole class of middle-school students to a remote island and forcing them to kill each other in three days or else they all die by explosive collar. The whole thing unfolds as teen drama writ large - while some characters try to hack the system or go on killing sprees, others settle for such simple goals as chasing their crushes or hanging out with their friends for as long as they can. This gained itself a cult reputation due to its controversial post-Columbine release and Tarantino's seal of approval, but it's hard to do what a long-absent MoFo did once and call this film "cool" - despite the gratuitous violence and black comedy that pulsate throughout this film, at the end of the day this is still a film about children being forced to fight each other to the death and Fukusaku (himself a child during World War II) understands the severity of being exposed to such violence at such a young age to the point that the film nails what could be hopelessly overwrought exercises in drama and satire.

2005 ranking: #13
2013 ranking: #68



Welcome to the human race...
#78. Wings of Desire
(Wim Wenders, 1987)



"I can't see you, but I know you're there."

The premise of a guardian angel (Bruno Ganz) who finds himself wishing to experience the pleasures of being human is such a straightforward one that it was translated far too easily into a treacly English-language remake, but Wenders still manages to find a significantly more high-minded approach through his choices (such as angels only seeing the world in black-and-white) and exploring the possibilities offered by the concept rather than focusing too heavily on the admittedly rather one-sided romance between Ganz's invisible immortal and the trapeze artist (Solveig Dommartin) with whom he becomes especially intrigued. Everything from ponderously philosophical conversations between angels to them being privy to humans' internal monologues of innermost despair and trying their best to comfort them through a limited range of influence builds to create an immersive experience. Even stunt-casting Peter Falk as himself in a sub-plot where he is shooting a film in Berlin is a move that seems like it shouldn't work but does because of how well he commits to what the film is doing.

2005 ranking: N/A
2013 ranking: N/A



Good list so far, Iro. Lots of N/As and big drops in your list. Will be interesting to watch how it unfolds.. A lot changes in almost a decade. But really, one thing, Chinatown should be much higher.
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"Don't be so gloomy. After all it's not that awful. Like the fella says, in Italy for 30 years under the Borgias they had warfare, terror, murder, and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and the Renaissance. In Switzerland they had brotherly love - they had 500 years of democracy and peace, and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock."



#78. Wings of Desire
(Wim Wenders, 1987)



"I can't see you, but I know you're there."

The premise of a guardian angel (Bruno Ganz) who finds himself wishing to experience the pleasures of being human is such a straightforward one that it was translated far too easily into a treacly English-language remake, but Wenders still manages to find a significantly more high-minded approach through his choices (such as angels only seeing the world in black-and-white) and exploring the possibilities offered by the concept rather than focusing too heavily on the admittedly rather one-sided romance between Ganz's invisible immortal and the trapeze artist (Solveig Dommartin) with whom he becomes especially intrigued. Everything from ponderously philosophical conversations between angels to them being privy to humans' internal monologues of innermost despair and trying their best to comfort them through a limited range of influence builds to create an immersive experience. Even stunt-casting Peter Falk as himself in a sub-plot where he is shooting a film in Berlin is a move that seems like it shouldn't work but does because of how well he commits to what the film is doing.
I love this movie so much that it almost hurts.



Welcome to the human race...
Good list so far, Iro. Lots of N/As and big drops in your list. Will be interesting to watch how it unfolds.. A lot changes in almost a decade. But really, one thing, Chinatown should be much higher.
When I first re-did the list, there was a roughly 50% influx of new additions and a lot of titles I'd underrated got pushed up the list to accommodate that. Will probably count the final number of additions/drops/jumps once it's over because the stats will be interesting. As for Chinatown, like I said I think it's almost too perfect a mystery film in that I want to space out my viewings of it as opposed to a good chunk of my other selections being favourites by virtue of how comparatively easy they are to throw on.