Twenty-five sentences on the twenty-five greatest films ever made.
Lists by their nature reflect upon their creator. What my list more starkly reveals about me is that even though I consider myself to be an agnostic, I am nevertheless drawn to themes of religion and spirituality. Cinema, for me, is at its most potent when it reveals humanity’s ability to love, experience and inflict pain, compassion, longing, and sorrow. Humanity in film is usually shown in exaggerated states of idealism or demoralization, and rarely says much about the human existence. Genuine humanity, with its brilliance and its horror, shown in the midst of a mysterious life is what I personally long for, and treasure the films where I find it.…
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26 - John Lars Ericson
Yikes, that came out bitchier than I meant it to be.
I think it's because I'm angered that you, my cinematic arch nemesis, got me addicted to that damn "goatee stroking".
27 - Shark
Chris, re. your assessment of Cool Hand Luke -- with all due respect, you're wrong; it's one of the most profound films ever made.
28 - Mark Saleski
gees, i'm not even sure i can come up with 25....
not in order:
1.Diva
2.2001
3.Babette's Feast
4.Mystery Train
5.Repo Man
6.Do The Right Thing
7.It Happened One Night
8.Citizen Kane
9.Casablanca
10.8 1/2
uh....i'm stuck...
29 - Eric Olsen
Mark, I really love Diva too, like a door to a magical world I didn't know existed, stylized but totaly in keeping with the heightened sensitivities of high art. Exciting, lyrical, touching, and it was the first time I understood the appeal of opera.
30 - Mark Saleski
exactly, eric. it made me go out and buy a copy of Catalani's "La Wally".
plus, i love the fact that the guy covets his Nagra (stereo equipment porn!)
31 - Mark Saleski
11. Pulp Fiction
12. A Clockwork Orange
13. Pi
14. Ricky and Pete
15. A Boy And His Dog
16. Fandango
17. Ruby In Paradise
18. Paris, Texas
19. Apocalypse Now
20. Breakfast Club
21. Jean de Florette/Manon of Spring
22. The Good, the Bad & the Ugly
23. Cinema Paradiso
24. The Bicycle Thief
25. Annie Hall (or Manhattan..or...)
32 - Mark Saleski
sorry for all the goatee stroking
33 - Chris Kent
Don't know much about Roger Ebert, and I vaguely recall the AFI list. I owe a far deeper debt of gratitude to Danny Peary and his "Cult Movie" books (there are three). The first two I read in high school and the third while in college. Excellent film criticism and to this day I thumb through them, though they are quite the worse for wear.
I have a friend in NY who likes to blow foreign films up my ass all the time, and with few exceptions, I find most of them to be pretentious pieces of shit. Like your list, mine constantly fluctuates, and I add and take away on a whim. This weekend I rented Sunrise, and my list held firm.....
34 - Chris Kent
Cult Movies
Fascinating books for those interested.....
35 - Rodney Welch
Chris -- Interesting you should say that foreign films "with few exceptions [are] pretentious pieces of shit." What I always run into is the opposite; so many people try to show off their taste by saying they "like foreign films," which seems to mean that any movie made outside of America is automatically good. You go the other route; you think they're automatically crappy.
36 - Mark Saleski
i tend to like movies that have lots of character development & talking...things not usually found in american films (except those in my list up there)
37 - Bob A. Booey
This was a really impressive discussion, one I'm not really able to participate in since I'm not familiar with most of the movies you people list. You should write more often about movies, John Lars (or other non-cinematic topics, for that matter).
AI was an abomination and Spielberg is the only director alive who could screw up Kubrick's brilliance with the typical manipulative, heavy-handed, pull-at-your-heartstrings, parental abandonment plea for sentimental identification on the part of the view. I'm not saying it's not emotionally affective, it's just something Kubrick would have hated. I also don't think that Spielberg is capable of a truly dystopian, technophobic vision the way Kubrick was -- Spielberg has always been the geek who wants to make everyone happy through the wonders of special effects and technology. But then I don't know any director I can think of who should have taken the Kubrick project. Any ideas?
I do think Bergman's best was Seventh Seal, although it's not goatee-stroking cool to pick his generally most acclaimed film as your favorite.
I think "goatee-stroking" is funny too. It sounds like something I'd come up with, so I'm going to steal it.
That is all.
38 - bhooshan
Hi Lars et al-
Thanks for the great discussion, am just startinig my world movie exploration phase. I live in India and untill recently we wouldnt even get decent VCD's let alone DVD's of great world movies which are apparently not even screened in the USA. It took me a long time to realize Independence day was a crap movie but pls dont blame, its the hollywood and its marketing thats the nculprit here...anyways...i thought i shd add a few movies here which i think shd be there in any top 25 list(including yours!): Can i also ask you how come none of the 90's and the new millenium movies appear on yr list? (yeah, i know you dont fill in the decades first and then the movies understandably but is it because you start cronologically and end up filling up most of the slots byt the time you reach the eighties and then you are left with no space for the last two decades?)
1] Cinema Paradiso: Truly marvelous story telling, wonderful wonderful characterization (uncle/father figure alberto's character was the greatest celluloid achievement as far as characterization goes...), searingly incisive dialogues spoken casually among characters but they are more like a discourse to humanity(agreed its cheezy at times but still...). I feel this movie needs to be squeezed in somehow, can you do something about it?
2] Shawsang Redemption: Well, may be its just that i saw it only recently, but i thought the story telling again was masterful yet very controlled and i think Tim Robbinson gave a performance of a life time(i hope he won something for this?). Finaly, i have never seen a prison movie taking up philosophy and hope in good measure as its BG theme.
3] Spy Game, purely for being the only one movie of its genre oozing that kind of class and stylized movie making style. May be ill hate it another 5 years down the line but right now it goes into my charts
4] Satyajit Ray's "Pather Panjali" of the appoo trilogy: Well, since this seem to be primarily americans readers here, i suggest you watch it lest i comment about anything on this movie. (John, i guess you've got the wrong Satyajit movie up there in yr list)
As part of the trend, my shocking addition would be for the french movie piano teacher for its sheer ground breaking use of shocking sexuality as an art(??) form!
ill add more as i continue to recollect more...
--Bhooshan
39 - Sandip
Overlooked...
Kurosawa - Seven Samurai, Yojimbo, Rashomon, sanjuro, the hidden fortress, Kagemusha.
Bergman - Seventh Seal, Virgin spring
Wilder - Sunset Boulevard
Scorsese - Mean Streets, Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, Goodfellas
FF Copolla - Apocalypse Now, Godfather trilogy
Lynch - Elephant man
Lean - Lawrence of Arabia
Curtiz - Casablanca
Kubrick - Dr Strangelove
Vittorio de Sica - The Bicycle thieves
Chaplin - City Lights, Modern times
City of God - It is a modern day classic.
It was sad that you did not include The bicycle thieves in your list or anything by Kurosawa, David Lean and Chaplin. I think Chaplin is largely overlooked as a director due to the slapstick nature of his movies. But Modern times is such a brilliant satire of industrialisation, no movie has come close to it...maybe noone has since tried to mock big industry. I havent watched most of the movies you have mentioned, so I will not comment on many of them.
But here are the movies from your list I would defenitely remove:
Blade Runner - agreed it is a breakthrough movie and a rather good modern noir, but it does not hold a candle to Sunset Blvd or maltese falcon, or even Chinatown for that matter.
Thin Red line - Apocalypse now is a much better war movie, and shows how a man is affected by war. Platoon also is, imo, a better movie than Thin red line.
Eyes Wide Shut - ....if Kubrick was alive I would be his groupie. But this was a sophomoric effort by the master. Give me Dr Strangelove over this anyday. Lolita is a much deeper study of sexuality and the human psyche for me.