Cries&Whispers Top 100

Nearly enough for + rep. However, as one of those was The Double Life Of Veronique and another was The Breakfast Club, I've given it anyway.

Best list I've seen on here.

In the Mood for Love - god, god yes. It would be in my top 50 at least though. Cache is definitely a film I need to revisit. I remember liking it. I totally agree with you on Dark City. Alfonso Cuaron is indeed a genius. I think Y tu mama tambien is also a great companion to Children of Men, as weird as that sounds. I've not seen 87-89 so I'll happily appropriate those those as recs haha. I wasn't such a fan of Elephant as the last two Gus Van Sant's you mentioned with an almost identical style.

+Rep for Inglourious Basterds and The Breakfast Club.

I strangely agree with you on that Alfonso Cuaron comment. Something about the way he directs these two movies just works for me. I can't think of one without the other. But Y tu mama tambien is in my bottom twenty while Children of Men is in my top 10 on the strength of two scenes. If you've seen the movie and watched closely, I'm sure you know which two.

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"I want a film I watch to express either the joy of making cinema or the anguish of making cinema" -Francois Truffaut

... I have, but I'm not sure if I do know ... Clive Owen walking through the soldiers probably. I mean that was... no words...

um... ummmm... I love the very last scene with the boat; the symbolism is quite nice.

Perhaps the scene at the Battersea Power Station with David?

I'm glad it's in your top 10. It truly is a masterpiece, despite its newness. I can't remember a dystopia film ever doing what CoM did or saying what it said.

My favourite of yours so far is In The Mood for Love which was my no.3 in my fave 100 list. Cache is a great film too.

Yes, the best scene is the one where Clive Owen walks through the city in ruins through the uprising march, gunfire, soldiers and a tank; walks into and out of a school bus, walks up the stairs to a building being barraged with heavy gunfire, and into the building; rescues Kee with her crying baby, escorts them downstairs past the building's tenants, through the soldiers, and out the building--all in a seemingly unbroken shot. It actually has a few cuts and uses a lot of CGI to add detail, but it's still one of the most exhilarating scenes I've ever seen.

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But this is actually my favorite scene. The logistics involved in setting up this scene are just ridiculous. But a lot is subtle CGI and clever editing used to mask cuts. Still, every time I see it I can't really see any of this. The audio is insanely bad on this, so just watch it with the sound down. It's still amazing.



Here's a fairly long explanation video of how the extended takes were filmed.

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I need to watch it again soon and write an essay on it, maybe comparing it to Y tu mama. I now truly feel it is a defining work of the 2000s, my generation.

I'm not even going to pervert those two scenes right now by YouTubing them.

Wow, this is sad. I have only seen 1 of these so far!!

Let me guess... Inglourious Basterds? If this is the one, then I think you'll love A History of Violence and L.A. Confidential. They both have pretty violent, hard-hitting content and are just shot really vividly.

So far this is the list which I have seen the most movies (Out of 20, 15 maybe)..
3 Women is one film which I had never heard of before..

I hope to pick up a lot of movies to watch from your list as you progress.

As do I. What a great list.

I have a lot of time for everything on here as long as Abre Los Ojos and Vanilla Sky are interchangeable (I have not seen the remake).

A great start pal and I thoroughly look forward to reading the rest!

haha so have i.

I like how you compared and contrasted The Ram to LaMotta and Bickle. Never really thought to compare these characters but the parallels make sense since you've brought them to light. This list is very very good, man. Good picking The Wrestler, Inglourious Bastards and The Double Life Of Veronique. All great films. I really wish I could have put the latter on my list as I do think it's wonderful and The Wrestler is, imo, Aronofsky's best film by far.

I don't like Hidden, though. In fact, I don't like ANY of Haneke's films. I find him to be far too pretentious and his style just feels really alienating to me. I agree that it's atmospheric, but there is just something about his films that don't agree with me.

Nope, I've only seen L.A. Confidential, which was a great movie.

80. The Sixth Sense (1999)



What happened to M. Night Shyamalan? Lately, he has failed to make a film that registers on my emotional radar. I find his characters one-dimensional, his stories contrived, and his dialogue completely cartoonish. But once upon a time, he was among the greatest young directors in Hollywood. He made movies with a soul, where dynamic characters go through ordeals I care about and actors seem emotionally invested in those characters. This is his best film, and it does all of that. The ghost story is clever and fun, but for me the real payoff is not the revelation of Bruce Willis' situation, but the reconciliation between mother and son. Of course, Haley Joel Osment is terrific as a troubled, alienated boy, but my favorite character is Toni Collette's single mother, who struggles to communicate and pleads with Cole to tell her what's wrong. The scene where the two central characters wait in a traffic jam and Cole finally opens up to his mother is the heart of the movie, and Shyamalan films the catharsis with genuine concern for his characters.

79. Fight Club (1999)



It is much easier for me to list what I do not like about this movie than to describe what earns it a spot on this list. I hate the dialogue which begs to be quoted, I disapprove of the testosterone-laden violence and stubbornly masculine viewpoint, and I find its attempts at becoming a modern day manifesto on capitalism, independence, and whatever the hell else to be utterly hollow. But Edward Norton's stellar performance, David Fincher's mindf*ck directing, and the mere presence of Brad Pitt make it all worthwhile. And I'm a guy, so I can't help but be engaged in the more graphic scenes.

78. Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)



This is a movie that could easily have ranked higher on my list, as indeed, it's one of the greatest movies of all time. Peter Sellers is dynamic and ever funny, the dialogue is witty and quick, and George C. Scott is just a complete riot. In a lot of ways, this is completely unlike anything Stanley Kubrick has ever written or directed. His dictatorial attention to detail is still present, as there are some amazingly composed shots--particularly the War Room--but Kubrick actually works more like any great comedy director than his usual, distant self. He films primarily the actors' faces and gestures, and trusts their comedic abilities to fill the frame with the humor. And his cast more than delivers. I think of this film as a close relative of 2001: A Space Odyssey. In both films Kubrick explores man's self-destructive nature through its creation of 'perfect' machines. But this one's way funnier.

77. The Earrings of Madame de... (1953)



I think this is the most opulent film ever made. Max Ophuls films every frame with sumptuous sets and costumes, sparkling jewelry, and beautiful rich people. His balletic camera moves through rooms with lucid choreography and makes his characters subtly seductive. With all the dressed up settings and characters, it's a testament to Ophuls' skill as a storyteller that he manages to surpass the artifice and tell an affecting story at all. But he does, and this is one of my favorite comedic love stories. Ophuls was known for his abilities to deftly work his camera and film stunningly detailed spaces. This movie is a compendium of his talents. If you like flashy, dynamic directing then Ophuls is a great place to start, and this is his greatest achievement.

76. Dial M for Murder (1954)



Alfred Hitchcock is the greatest director of all time. His films always adhere to the highest level of craftsmanship, and his ability to tell complex, almost contrived stories is unsurpassed. With this film, he displays his prowess in scene construction and editing. Much of the action takes place in one small apartment, but like Rope and Rear Window, the movie never seems like a filmed play, with all the action happening on one stage. I imagine Hitchcock's storyboarding must have been maddeningly detailed, as every shot in this film is perfectly set up to sustain the suspense throughout the movie. He has an ability to mold a story so every detail leads to a resolution that can be filmed in one climactic scene. This movie is a more contained example of Hitchcock's genius. And Grace Kelly is the most beautiful woman in Hollywood history.

75. Written on the Wind (1956)



I consider this the definitive 1950s melodrama. It has everything--sexual deviancy, unrequited love, themes of impotence and inferiority, alcoholism, sordid rumors, murder, and enough innuendo to warrant a stricter rating. Douglas Sirk made lots of money for studios in the 1950s directing pulpy stories with a romantic touch, but his populist sensibilities caused most critics to dismiss him. But I think Sirk is a true auteur, who insisted on making movies his way. This film, shot in Technicolor, is a vibrant example of his skill. The first scene, for example, introduces us to the central players with action and intrigue, never dialogue. It's visual storytelling at its best.

74. The Dark Knight (2007)



This movie will probably forever be the greatest comic book adaptation in cinema history. It stands alone thanks to Chris Nolan's vision of a dark, corrupt Gotham, great performances from everyone, and Heath Ledger's amazing Joker. Nolan also directs a complex plot with stunts and set pieces that rank among the greatest in action movie history. But the real appeal for me, for everyone, is the Joker. Heath Ledger commands the entire movie as a mad genius who tests Batman in scheme after demented scheme. And the movie's actually pretty deep. Nolan explores themes of duty and desire, chaos and order, and above all justice, and follows them to an intense climax on two ferries. All this in a movie about a guy in a costume who fights bad guys.

73. My Life to Live (1962)



When I first studied film theory, I thought Jean-Luc Godard was the most engaging, fun, and thought-provoking director around. But after seeing most of his movies of the 60s and 70s, I consider his films more fun to think about than to watch. He was usually so concerned with exploring the nature of film and experimenting with new techniques that his stories offered me nothing to hold onto after the movie was over. But this film is entirely different. The experimental instincts are still there, but now they serve the story. Godard's camera is forever probing, inquisitive, trying to understand his protagonist. But Anna Karina, his wife and muse, offers us no clues. That is, until a scene in which she goes to a theater and watches Carl Dreyer's The Passion of Joan of Arc. And in that scene, Karina's face mirrors that of Dreyer's subject, and tells us everything we need to know about her.

72. There Will Be Blood (2007)



This movie just kicks so much ass. No Country for Old Men is probably a better made movie, but I think Paul Thomas Anderson should have taken home the Oscar solely on the merit of the ambition of his vision. He has always been a wonderful writer and director of real, breathing characters, but Daniel Day-Lewis' Daniel Plainview is another monster entirely. But in my opinion, this is all about Robert Elswit's cinematography. The movie is scorched in sun, bathed in oil, and overwrought with stunning landscapes. I could watch this movie with the sound turned down.

71. Late Spring (1949)



Yasujiro Ozu is probably the greatest director of all time, alongside Alfred Hitchcock. But the two couldn't be further apart. Ozu's films have no real action, little suspense, not even a real story arc in the traditional Hollywood sense. His stories are more specific, usually intimate portraits of families, and the duties, desires, loyalties, pains, and disappointments that go with those relationships. Perhaps because of his simple tales, most people consider him a fairly straightforward director. But I actually think his films were quite experimental and wholly original. In every scene of every movie, he undermines the accepted rules of filmmaking. He often ignored conventions of editing in favor of setting up a prettier shot. And he always succeeded. To me, he is without a doubt the director with the greatest instinct for fine composition. Every frame of his movies is serene, controlled, and non-intrusive. Instead of following a character and forcing the viewer to see something, he sets his camera firmly in one position and allows characters to move throughout the frame. This is probably the most objective way to film a movie, and it forces me as the viewer to understand things for myself. Every one of Ozu's poetic films is uniformly excellent because they are usually variations on the same themes of family, modernity vs. tradition, and, always, love.

I really love what you have to say about There Will Be Blood, you summed up my feelings entirely.

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If I had a dollar for every existential crisis I've ever had, does money really even matter?

The Sixth Sense has to be considered one of the best endings in any movie. M. Night has gradually declined in his filming since this one. Really the only other film by him that I enjoyed was The Village and that was only because of the acting talents of Bryce Dallas Howard.

Much rep for Late Spring!