Thursday's Top 100 (2016)

Thursday's Top 100 - 10th Anniversary Edition

I last did my top 100 in February 2006, 10 years ago, so I thought it was about time to redo it. Tastes change, and I’ve seen a lot of movies in the last ten years. I’ve actually tried several times to make a top 100 list since then, but ordering movies is hard. I tried to do a top 250, but believe it or not that was even harder. I’ve had to leave some really good movies off this list because I just didn’t have room for them, and on another day the choices and the order could be wildly different (I had at least fifty movies to try to squeeze into the bottom 25 slots, and I'm still sorry I couldn't fit in Repo! The Genetic Opera), but here is a rough guide to a bunch of movies I love.

Get ready for arthouse, mainstream, cult, foreign, British, sci-fi, musicals, zombies, gay teen drama, dogme, obvious choices, never-heard-of-it choices, iron clad classics and guilty pleasures.

#100 X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014)
#99 Parked (2010)
#98 Gone With the Wind (1939)
#97 The Lion in Winter (1968)
#96 Miller's Crossing (1990)

#100

X-Men: Days of Future Past (2014)



This is the inclusion I'm most likely to change my mind about, which is why it's sitting here at 100. As a film it's not perfect, but I've loved X-Men since I used to watch the cartoon as a kid, they're easier to relate to and more interesting than a single superpowered man in a cape. Although I do like a good cape. This reboot of the franchise with Michael Fassbender, James McAvoy, Jennifer Lawrence and Nicholas Hoult has breathed new life into it, with Future Past my favourite of the series so far. It's just a lot of fun.

Favourite parts: Quicksilver helping Magneto escape from prison, and any scenes in which Charles Xavier and Magneto glare at each other over their break up in the previous film.

Honourable Mention: X-Men First Class

Wasn't expecting that for a first pick. I like X-Men fine, but haven't loved any of the movies. First Class comes the closest. Yeas, that Quicksilver scene is incredible.

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Letterboxd

#99

Parked (2010)



Low budget Irish (with some Finnish input) film about a man (Colm Meaney) who finds himself homeless on returning to Dublin and has to live in his car. A young drug user (Colin Morgan) moves into his car park and the two make unlikely friends. It's both humorous and melancholy and it's beautifully shot. A little heavy handed in patches but I've seen this twice now and found it very moving each time.

If you like this you might like: If under the radar Irish films are your thing, also check out Inside I'm Dancing (2004)

I'm looking forward to seeing your list, TN.

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5-time MoFo Award winner.

#98

Gone With the Wind (1939)



I feel like this film is often misunderstood, usually by people who haven't seen it. Scarlett O'Hara is the ultimate anti-heroine, scheming, selfish and bad to the bone, but damned good at it, and you can't help but admire her determination. She adores Ashley Wilkes but he's probably a klan member and as much unworthy of her affection as out of reach. Only too late does she realise she's missed her chance with the charming scoundrel Rhett Butler. Yes, a lot of the characters are racists, but it doesn't follow that the film itself is. Hattie McDaniel was the first African American woman to win an acting Oscar for her role in this film - and more than seventy years later we have the #oscarssowhite controversy.

At nearly four hours long, it's a marathon watch, but if you're going to look at something for four hours it might as well be something as gorgeous as this, with lush sets and eye-popping colours.

Memorable Quote: "Frankly, my dear, I don't give a damn."

#97

The Lion in Winter (1968)



King Henry II, his wife, mistress, three sons and Philip II of France all variously plot against each other. I hadn't seen this when it appeared on the MoFo 1960s list, but soon rectified that mistake. What a delight to watch. Witty, cutting, at times amusingly anachronistic dialogue "Of course he has a knife, he always has a knife, we all have knives! It's 1183 and we're barbarians!" All of the characters are awful, of course. Your family rows have nothing on this. Fantastic acting, though, especially from Katherine Hepburn and Peter O'Toole. Also, obviously a big influence on Blackadder.

Memorable quotes: "Well, what shall we hang... the holly, or each other?"

Always good to have another list to follow!

The X-Men movies are just okay to me, not bad but just can't get into them like so many others can. I've never heard of Parked but looks interesting. Gone With the Wind is my sister's favorite movie, I can't even remember if I actually saw it all the whole way through but definitely remember seeing parts of it multiple times (especially the ending). I watched The Lion in Winter when it was the movie of the month for January; very fine film indeed, great choice!

Great start Thursday Next, I will be following!

Of the first four, Parked is the only one I haven't seen. I like a of the other 3 well enough.

I tried nominating Parked for a tournament once. I had to replace it because it wasn't widely available, I don't think it had been released in the US at the time.

Really great to see you doing this TN

So far i have only seen Gone With the Wind which is a great start since it is one of my favourite movies, Vivien Leigh as Scarlett is also my favourite female performance. I know it is something everyone says about long films but i honestly never felt the time here even when i first watched it when i was 13 i didn't realize how long i had spent watching it until after it was finished.

#96

Miller's Crossing (1990)



"Nobody knows anybody. Not that well."

Perhaps controversially, this is the only Coen Brothers movie on my list. It works well as a violent gangster movie, and a darkly comic pastiche of gangster movies. The cast is good, I like Gabriel Byrne. The plot is absorbing but not incomprehensible and it looks good.

Honourable Mentions: The Big Lebowski, which is probably the only other Coen movie I really like.

I'll probably try and do a batch of five a day, by the way.

GWTW and Miller's Crossing are both on my 100, so naturally I'm delighted to see them here. The Lion in Winter is something which I really enjoyed and a film which could threaten to make my own 100, should I see it the requisite number of times.

BTW, have you seen the tv remake with Patrick Stewart and Glenn Close? It's good.

Nice! will be following your list TN as we have some similar tastes

Miller's Crossing is another great pick. Top five Coen film for me.

No, I haven't seen it but I plan to check it out.

Read and repped the bunch so far. Good stuff. I like the X-Men movies, though I remember preferring First Class above Days of Future Past.

Gone with the Wind is a classic and I liked it a lot. I want to revisit it, but it's not exactly a go-to film. I still haven't seen Miller's Crossing, I need to dive into all the Coen's works...

Looking forward to more!

for doing this.

I enjoyed Gone With the Wind but haven't seen anything else you've listed so far. I'll be interested to see what the rest of the list holds.

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