The Tatty 100

a very diverse list, i'm sure i'll be coming back here for a long time for some recommendations ( bar the westerns, they're just not my thing )...and i can't believe i still haven't watched Sonatine....i love Kitano....

__________________
http://www.last.fm/user/diezelpower/

Thanks my dear, and remember - there's nowt wrong with a bit of the old literary convention nonsense from time to time. And if I don't speak about myself in the third person, who the heck else would do it for me?


TheUsualSuspect - Your sense of relief is only bettered by my own, I can assure you.

nebbs - I hope I haven't bigged up Sonatine too much that it will be an anti-climax.

PT - You know me better than I actually do.

Stu - Thanks mate. The last five or six were especially hard to place in order but I didn't want to cop out and rush things. I've just deleted the Word document where I started the list, and it was dated 2nd March. Phew.

adi - I'm sure the love of Westerns comes from my older cousins taking me to Saturday morning matinee shows when I was a kid and all they used to show were ancient Horse Operas. I can imagine that getting an adequate subtitled translation for a film like Sonatine must be a massive pain in the arse. I'm quite lucky that Japanese films, for example, come with English subs - even quite a few bought direct from Japan, such as Kitano's last film, Takeshis', which I bought a while back. I hadn't a bloody clue what the text on the DVD menu said though.

__________________
"Critics are like eunuchs in a harem; they know how the Tatty 100 is done, they've seen it done every day, but they're unable to do it themselves." - Brendan Behan

Haven't seen your Number 1, but will soon. Love your other top 4.

__________________

"Those are my principles. If you don't like them I have others."- Groucho Marx

Cool list.

Haha, Withnail & I was on the list! I was right!

I also need to see Sonatine. I seriously hope it's better than Violent Cop.

And this top 100 made mine look pithy. I take my hat off to you.

__________________
Iro's Top 100 Movies v3.0

Great list Dave. I can't imagine how much time it must have taken you to do all of this. All of your comments were great to read.


Btw...I now have Wings of Desire to watch this weekend because your list and write up. Thanks for the inspiration.

Excellent work, bro. I, like Pyro, have a slew of films to watch!

__________________

Thanks again one and all for sticking with this.

I had a wonderfully trite little conclusion written out on the Word doc where the original list lay, and it got deleted when I placed the damn thing in my recycle bin after 2 months staring at me on my desktop. I hate clutter.

I'll write something after I sober up as today has been....rather liquid...

Wow! What a list! I love the eclestity of it. Certainly some gems in there.
Never seen Sonatine but luckily I rent DVDS on-line so going got see if its available!

__________________

Sonatine is an...interesting choice. It is a striking and often powerful film, but, like a lot of Kitano's work, the internal construction of the individual scenes is better than the overall construction of the total film. I think it's his background (as a comedian and club entertainer) coming to the fore (I feel the same way about, say, Woody Allen's work).

Still, it's nice to see something different on the top of a list, you know?

Such as?

Funny that, but I think TK's background in stand-up comedy manifests itself in different ways, such as the actual comic scenes in hitherto serious films. If that's what you mean then I apologise, because I don't really have a clue what you're on about without an example or two.

If you're saying that, for instance, you find his works less than the sum of their parts then fair enough - I'd agree on something like Boiling Point or Getting Any? being uneven, though with some memorable scenes. You could say exactly the same thing about any director who's films you kinda like, have taken time to watch a few times but haven't seen anything that really moves you.

I guess what I'm driving at is that his films (including Sonatine) have a strongly episodic feel, more like a series of related vignettes than a smoothely flowing narrative. His best scenes are incredibly striking and memorable, but they overshadow the films themselves. When I think of great films, I think of memorable scenes, but always first of the whole film. Sonatine for me will always be defined, not as holistic cinema, but by the rock 'em sock 'em robots parody and the Kitano grinning like a madman while blowing his brains out.

So when you think of, for example, The Godfather (dunno if you even like it but run with me on this), you don't immediately visualise, say, Michael in the restaurant but rather the whole 2h 51?

Fair enough.

I can't agree with that, especially as I find that the narrative structure holds up all the way through (and the two scenes you mentioned are integral to that). Then again, I've been watching Sonatine for over a decade.

As for a defining scene, I'd say it was the "I wouldn't carry a gun if I were tough" dialogue which probably means we've been watching two different films.

Aren't films great?

I actually feel much the same way about The Godfather, and see it as a series of brilliantly conceived and executed vignettes loosely held together by plot (which is why I'm part of the legion that feels The Godfather Part II is the better film).

I'd put Sonatine in my top 15 films of all time, I just wouldn't rank it among the ultra-elite tier (the first 7-9 films on my list), it is clumped with a group of pictures that are brilliant in almost every way, but have some minor flaw (usually, as in Sonatine's case, narrative construction that isn't as polished as the internal construction of scenes). I don't have The Godfather anywhere in my top 25, so make of that what you will.

I never even heard of Sonatine before. But I'm sure I'll be familiar with it in the next couple of weeks.

Nice closing choices for your excellent list, Tacitus.

__________________
TOP 100 | "Don't let the bastards grind you down!"

Why don't you post a list of your favourite films (not in this thread though ) so I can check the, at most, 14 movies which fit the criteria of your second post. Just one would suffice actually, to see if you can make sense of your theory.

ScreenSelect have it so I'm sure other online rental jobbies do too. I've seen it in HMV for £6.99 if you like the film.

http://www.movieforums.com/community...4073post324073

You forgot to put a 'because' in your sentence.

like i said, i knew i'd come back to this thread for suggestions...thanks to you, i've seen Das Boot, Do the right thing, i've bookmarked Sonatine, Miller's crossing, Kikujiro,Ran and Dead man's shoes....too bad i couldn't find the Wim Wenders and Mike Leigh...but i'll keep looking....thanks again....

Dead Man's Shoes and Miller's Crossing and Ran are all fantastic, in different ways. You'll be glad you saw every one of them, I'd imagine.

__________________
Review: Cabin in the Woods 8/10