Interesting list, Phil. But how ‘bout changing that lead image- it’s a (literal) eyesore & will likely be up on the homepage for the next month or so (given the current posting rate in the Blog). At least bleed the color out to grayscale, that ruddy sclera is given me the a serious case of the upchucks. :)

I probably share about a tenth of those picks in common (great to see flicks like The Swimmer, The Steel Helmet, Repo Man, etc... make yer cut.

Movie that appears on Phil's list and would appear on mine (were I to do one, which I won't) that would likely not appear on anyone else's: Mishima.

Why would you number a top 100 list which is clearly in alphabetical order?

Is it an oversight or are we supposed to believe that you prefer movies that start with "A" over movies that start with "B"?

Besides, "American Psycho" is a marginal book and an awful movie.

Well, we've got a few in common Phil! Aguirre, Chinatown, Repo Man, Shock Corridor and the Peckinpahs (though unlike you I love Getaway). Pretty Murcan selection though (I know I know, youse Born In Da USA)! Thought you might have gone for an earlier Polanski like Repulsion, and maybe a few more Japanese things (Kurosawas, or sumpin). And how about more Brits? Nic Roeg would definitely be in there for me. Anyway, chuffed to pieces you like Repo Man. "Don't you fucking hate normal people?" is one of the great quotes of all time, maybe only bettered by "The more you drive, the less intelligent you become" (or wds to that effect). And I just love the sound the alien car makes. Yup, Cox rocks.

"the General"
Buster Keaton

greetings
Cor

what a US-centric, testosterone-driven list that is, capped by two porn flicks.

no room for 8 1/2 or Citizen Kane, got to get Weapons of Ass Destruction in there... :)

Citizen Kane is boring. I've never seen 8 1/2.

Anatoli Solonitsin snubbed by Lexington Steele

felderkarb

Wow, 100 is a big number. I mean, that doesn't seem to be an interesting filtration at all, given that movies are usually long and there's only so many a person can watch. Heck, I haven't even seen 100 movies so far in my life. Probably almost 50 by now though, as it's become a significant interest for me in recent years. I can't comment on this list much because I haven't seen a single one of these films! I recognize a few of the names though, and I got the soundtrack to Mishima when I was in high school and used to play it once in a while. Solid stuff I suppose. Only a few movies have really knocked me out enough to make it onto any kind of favorite list, but just to be a good sport, I'll list them:
Institute Benjamenta (Brothers Quay)
The Holy Mountain (Jodorowsky)
Suna no Onna (=Woman of the Dunes) (Abe/Teshigahara)
If we're counting documentaries, then of course Step Across the Border (Humbert/Penzel).
If we're counting the broadest category of moving 2D images, and not just human-related narrative, I'll add Steve Roden's Reincarnation to the list, and some Brakhage too...

Sorry Phil, had to pull editorial rank & switch to the plain vanilla schematic- the upchuck bucket was overflowing.

The new photo is awesome! I didn't mind the other one, but I like the conceptual slant of this schematic.

Well, happy to see someone else appreciates It's A Gift.
Shock Corridor... Hmm. I just viewed that. Too campy for my tastes.
If Citizen Kane doesn't do it for you, may I direct your attention to Touch of Evil.
And, no Kubrick? Wha?

"Movie that appears on Phil's list and would appear on mine (were I to do one, which I won't) that would likely not appear on anyone else's: Mishima."

Why? I've seen that one on TV, and I like it.

"What a US-centric, testosterone-driven list that is, capped by two porn flicks."

O, it really is US- and mainstream-centric! (I hail from Ukraine, Europe). It looks like a scan of whatever happened to be on the shelves of a rent-a-video around the corner. One requires courage (uneducated mind?) to call “Amelie” or “Mad Max” “greatest movies”. I wonder what’s left off the list and look forward for an index of the greatest hentai or sitcoms ever.

Look more carefully at Amelie, Autsaider. It's far more than puff pastry. Jeunet is a really underrated visual stylist. Anyway, the list is personal favorites, not an all-time best (though Road House would still make that list).

MAP: Heck, I haven't even seen 100 movies so far in my life. Probably almost 50 by now though, as it's become a significant interest for me in recent years.

Me: Oh, come on. How old are you? Did you grow up in a commune or something? If it was becoming a "significant interest" of yours I'd expect you to watch 50 films in a *year*, let alone a lifetime, to say nothing of all the films you might watch just because you're a normal entertainment consumer.

Phil: (though Road House would still make that list).

Road House? You can't possibly be referring to that Patrick Swayze flick where he plays a 'famous' bouncer (with a M.A. in Philosophy from NYU, mind you)?

Do you mean for camp value? I remember that film so clearly because I remember laughing at how ludicrous it is. Maybe you can explain what I'm missing?

And why isn't "GI Jane" on there?

Ah, lists, lists. Best glorious best.

FWIW, I think Mike P. should rank order the 50 movies he's seen so far for us. He could call it "The 50 greatest movies sez [him]."

FWIW, I'm thinking of coming out with the 100 best internet posts listings--Part I* in the near future. I won't list them alpha though: that's just a cop-out.

*Part I includes only those involving music** between the years 2001 and 2003, inclusive.

**or appearing on a music-oriented site: I, for one, don't think it's prudent to get too persnickity or exclusionary with respect to boundaries in our listings of what's best/most superb/essential in the universe. After all, it's a big world, music-connected is specific enough. Don't you think so?***

***This last question should be asked after the manner of Gracie Allen.

>Road House? You can't possibly be referring to that Patrick Swayze flick where he plays a 'famous' bouncer (with a M.A. in Philosophy from NYU, mind you)?

I can, and I am. I own it on DVD. The first time I saw it I laughed until stuff I didn't even remember ever eating shot out my nose. I've watched it dozens of times since then (almost as many times as I've watched Repo Man, which at one point in high school I could recite almost from memory, the way other nerds can quote hour-long swaths of Monty Python dialogue).

Think about the bizarreness of the movie:

1) Patrick Swayze is a bar bouncer with, as you mentioned, a degree in philosophy.

2) He is a famous bar bouncer, so much so that his name is spoken in tones of hushed awe by barflies and fellow bouncers alike.

3) He has a mentor in bar-bouncin' (Sam Elliott).

4) The film is so over-the-top homoerotic that the villain's chief henchman grabs Swayze in a headlock and stage-whispers in his ear, "I used to fuck guys like you in prison," and we're meant to hear that as a threat, not the come-on it so clearly is.

I see Road House as the first part of a weird homoerotic trilogy of films Patrick Swayze made in the mid- to early 90s: the two follow-ups were Point Break (a two-hour unconsummated courtship dance between Swayze and Keanu Reeves, leaving the latter so frustrated he eventually had to settle for River Phoenix in My Own Private Idaho) and To Wong Foo, Thanks For Everything, Julie Newmar, in which Swayze finally erupted and played a drag queen. (I own Point Break on DVD, too.)

Road House is one of the greatest (and one of the most purely) American films ever made.

AWESOME! And fucking agreed.

. . .not just philosophy, but "man and faith shit." You know why this movie kicks ass? Because pain don't hurt. Swayze sleeps in the buck, all haters can swing from my nuts.

"Road House is one of the greatest (and one of the most purely) American films ever made."

And, just to be clear, the basis for these assertions is mostly that you make it part of a weird homoerotic trilogy that includes "Point Break" (which you have on DVD) or is more a function of Sam Elliott's portrayal of Swayze's bar-bouncin' mentor?

FWIW, IMHO, that film's lack of a parchute-jumping rescue scene with a shirtless Keanu knocks it out of "most purely American films" if not necessarily out of "greatest American films" a group to which it may well be entitled on the basis of Swayze's hair and teeth alone. And Elliott's moustache.

Don't you think so?

Phil,
I had forgotten about that strong homoerotic undercurrent!. And now all these related currents, I missed!

It seems like we enjoy Road House for essentially the same reasons; it is bizarre.

I used to go see Demi Moore movies because of how stupid and weird they were, and was sad when she quit the biz, though now she's back, I guess, but she'll never be that kind of star again.

Two of my favorite movie moments, both Demi Moore related:

Sitting in the theater and watching her version of The Scarlet Letter (a fucking bizarro masterpiece) and over-hearing a young school girl tell her mother during the hot-tub scene, "I don't remember that in the book."

Then watching "GI Jane" on an airplane. An old couple across the aisle from me were also watching it. Half-way through, the old gent took off his headphones, stood, and said to his wife, "Let's get out here, this movie stinks."

Holy shit, Walt - add Schaumann's post to whatever list you're working on.

Schaumann: CLASP!

I have bad taste in movies and am unfit (or rather, unmotivated) to comment. But I do note the presence of the mightily bad (and powerfully fun) "Starship Troopers." Still, you want shit fo fun? "Showgirls," baby.

You have Carpenter's The Thing up there, a favorite of mine as well, but you left out his seismically important "They Live," the funniest flick he ever made.

Piper!

"I come here to chew bubble gum and kick ass. . .

and I am all out of bubble gum."

This list is extremely comedically challenged. "Happy Gilmore" but not "Caddyshack" (which I don't even like that much but wtf)!?!?!? Adam Sandler should be capped immediately. Same with that simp Cameron Diaz; at least "There's Something About Mary" wasn't trashing up the list. And where's "Clerks"?

Happy Gilmore is listed not because of Adam Sandler, but because of Christopher McDonald's performance as Shooter McGavin, which is fucking amazing. He eats Sandler alive in every scene they share.

boo Clerks! it's incredible the cultish following that man has created simply by setting a few mediocre-to-dreadful films in the same fictional universe. boo i say.

"Personal favorites" = guilty pleasures?

For those Baggers who hunger for in-depth film writing by a fine musician (although he can be a bit verbose), I refer you to Phillip Greenlief's film blog.

Hey Schau,

"Your face looks like it fell in the cheese dip in 1957."

Like John Abbey and Autsaider, I'm struck by the proportion of American and rather mainstream films that appear on Phil's list of personal favourites. But it made me think about what I would put on a list of my own. If only to encourage others to come up with similar lists for our entertainment, instruction and derision, here are the first 25 favourites that came to my mind, set out in chronological order:

Tokyo Story (Yasujiro Ozu, 1953)
Persona (Ingmar Bergman, 1966)
Au Hasard Balthazar, (Robert Bresson, 1966)
Love (Karoly Makk, 1971)
Spirit of the Beehive (Victor Erice, 1973)
Still Life (Sohrab Shahid Saless, 1974)
The Sacrifice (Andrei Tarkovsky, 1986)
Dekalog (Krzysztof Kieslowski, 1989)
Vive l'Amour (Tsai Ming-Liang, 1994)
Good Men, Good Women (Hou Hsiao-Hsien, 1995)
Ulysses' Gaze (Theo Angelopoulos, 1995)
Moment of Innocence (Mohsen Makhmalbaf, 1996)
The Taste of Cherry (Abbas Kiarostami, 1997)
Power of Kangwon Province (Hong Sang-Soo, 1998)
Freedom (Sarunas Bartas, 2000)
Faithless (Liv Ullmann, 2000)
No Place To Go (Oskar Roehler, 2000)
Platform (Jia Zhang-Ke, 2000)
Season of Men (Moufida Tlatli, 2000)
Werckmeister Harmonies (Bela Tarr, 2000)
Distance (Hirokazu Koreeda, 2001)
Dog Days (Ulrich Seidl, 2001)
Eloge de l'Amour (Jean-Luc Godard, 2001)
To The Left of the Father (Luiz Fernando Carvalho, 2001)
Uzak (Nuri Bilge Ceylan, 2002)

I can't decide who would be the most pissed off, Wayne sitting down with a 4lp tub of popcorn and forced to watch "Road House", or Phil tied to a chair with a bottle of Aquavit tantalisingly and eternally out of reach and forced to sit through "The Sacrifice".. Great stuff, lads, keep it up. Vive la difference!

Some overlap w/ Phil, but not much...

1.) 8 ½
2.) 12 Angry Men (Lumet)
3.) A Clockwork Orange
4.) A Face in the Crowd
5.) A Woman Under the Influence
6.) All About Eve
7.) Andrei Rublev
8.) Assault on Precinct 13 (Carpenter)
9.) Atlantic City
10.) Badlands
11.) Battle of Algiers
12.) Blade Runner
13.) Blood Simple
14.) Blue Collar
15.) The Blues Brothers
16.) Cape Fear (Thompson)
17.) Charlie Varrick
18.) Chinatown
19.) The Conversation
20.) Cool Hand Luke
21.) Das Boot
22.) Days of Wine and Roses
23.) Dead Man
24.) Delicatessen
25.) Derzu Uzala
26.) The Driver
27.) Drugstore Cowboy
28.) Fail Safe
29.) Fast Times at Ridgemont High
30.) Get Carter (Hodges)
31.) Glengarry Glen Ross
32.) The Godfather, Part 2
33.) Good, the Bad and the Ugly
34.) Grand Illusion
35.) Harakiri
36.) The Hustler
37.) The Ice Storm
38.) Ikiru
39.) The Intruder (Corman)
40.) Jaws
41.) Kanal
42.) King Kong (Cooper)
43.) King of Marvin Gardens
44.) Kiss Me Deadly
45.) Kiss of the Spider Woman
46.) La Jetée
47.) La Strada
48.) Lifeboat
49.) Lolita (Kubrick)
50.) M
51.) McCabe & Mrs. Miller
52.) Midnight Cowboy
53.) Midnight Run
54.) Missile (Wiseman)
55.) Naked (Leigh)
56.) The Naked Prey
57.) Nightmare Alley
58.) Night Moves
59.) Night of the Hunter
60.) Night of the Iguana
61.) Night of the Living Dead
62.) Once Upon a Time in the West
63.) On Golden Pond
64.) On the Beach
65.) Panther Panchali
66.) Paris, Texas
67.) Pulp Fiction
68.) Raiders of the Lost Ark
69.) Raising Arizona
70.) Raw Deal (Anthony Mann)
71.) Rififi
72.) ‘Round Midnight
73.) Salvador
74.) The Searchers
75.) The Seventh Seal
76.) Seconds
77.) The Shining
78.) Sleeper
79.) Smile
80.) Solaris (Tarkovsky)
81.) Straight Time
82.) Sullivan’s Travels
83.) Sunset Boulevard
84.) Sweet Smell of Success
85.) The Swimmer
86.) The Terminator
87.) Testament (Littman)
88.) This is Spinal Tap
89.) This Sporting Life
90.) Time Bandits
91.) Umbrellas of Cherbourg
92.) Used Cars
93.) Wages of Fear
94.) Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?
95.) Who’s Afraid of Virginia Wolff?
96.) The Wild Bunch
97.) World of Apu
98.) Woman in the Dunes
99.) Yellow Submarine
100.) Zorba the Greek

Ha ha "LB" not "LP".. how about that for a Freudian locked groove

"boo Clerks! it's incredible the cultish following that man has created simply by setting a few mediocre-to-dreadful films in the same fictional universe. boo i say."

You can boo all you fucking want; my list would have "Clerks" on it and if you don't like it, make your own goddam choices for me criticize. I liked "Chasing Amy" fine too if you want to take some more shots; although the ending was incredibly stupid but featuring Ben Affleck acting like a moron was good casting. "Dogma" was drop-dead horrible and extremely unfunny; except for the gibbering idiots that were in the same theater but mentally in another dimension. It made Chris Rock more unfunny than I thought possible. Never should've been made. I didn't even bother with "Mall Rats" since I was warned away by somebody who has seen many more Eddie Murphy movies than I thought was possible by the non-criminally insane.

an all-time favorite from childhood that I'm hoping others have had the privilege of seeing:

BAD RONALD

is it on dvd yet?
what a film!

So far a high-art list and a low-art list. What about the mid-level stuff I like, like "Turtle Diary," "Chimes at Midnight" and "Twelfth Night"?

And where's the schmaltz? Don't you guys like to sob a bit at the movies occasionally? Where's Joan Fontaine? Are all my faves too girly for bagatellen?

Also, where's Polanski's "The Tenant"? The goddamn guy is turning into Simone Weill, for christ's sake! And Anthony Perkins as Joseph K in a bamboo cage!

Ah, lists.

my sincerest apologies, captain hate. I should explain that I worked at Kevin Smith's comic book store in los angeles for six months. about fifty percent of the store's merchandise was jay and silent bob crap. I just didn't understand why a not-so-great filmmaker had enough of a following to warrant the manufacture of so much silly junk. nobody makes Fassbinder bookends, or Tarkovsky plush toys-- and they were great directors.

I used to like clerks quite a bit until working at the store. it was unfair of me to attack the film without the above description of my prejudice.

while working at the store, the other clerks and I each made a list of our favorite films. mine follows below, as per your request. criticize away.

Aguirre, the Wrath of God: Werner Herzog, 1972 (Germany)
Bamboozled: Spike Lee, 2000 (USA)
The Band Wagon: Vincente Minnelli, 1953 (USA)
Bleeder: Nicolas Winding Refn, 1999 (Denmark)
The Celebration [Festen: Dogme 1]: Thomas Vinterberg, 1998 (Denmark)

The Decalogue [Dekalog]: Krysztof Kieslowski, 1989 (Poland)
Female Trouble: John Waters, 1974 (USA)
Fireworks [Hana-bi]: Takeshi Kitano, 1997 (Japan)
FLCL: Kazuya Tsurumaki, 2000 (Japan)
Gates of Heaven: Errol Morris, 1980 (USA)

Gozu: Takashi Miike, 2003 (Japan)
The Graduate: Mike Nichols, 1967 (USA)
Henry Fool: Hal Hartley, 1997 (USA)
Jaws: Steven Spielberg, 1975 (USA)
The Kingdom [Riget]: Lars Von Trier, 1994 (Denmark)

The King of Comedy: Martin Scorsese, 1983 (USA)
Lilo & Stitch: Chris Sanders, Dean DeBlois, 2002 (USA)
My Darling Clementine: John Ford, 1946 (USA)
Pather Panchali: Satyajit Ray, 1955 (India)
The Player: Robert Altman, 1992 (USA)

Popeye: Robert Altman, 1980 (USA)
Rashomon: Akira Kurusawa, 1950 (Japan)
Run Lola Run [Lola rennt]: Tom Tykwer, 1998 (Germany)
Shadow of a Doubt: Alfred Hitchcock, 1943 (USA)
Sherlock Jr.: Buster Keaton, 1924 (USA)

The Shining: Stanley Kubrick, 1980 (UK)
Show Me Love[Fucking Åmål]: Lucas Moodysson, 1998 (Sweden)
Stalker: Andrei Tarkovsky, 1979 (West Germany, Soviet Union)
Sullivan’s Travels: Preston Sturges, 1941 (USA)
The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: Tobe Hooper, 1974 (USA)

Top Hat: Mark Sandrich, 1935 (USA)
Videodrome: David Cronenberg, 1983 (USA)
Video Quartet: Christian Marclay, 2002 (USA)
The White Rose: Bruce Conner, 1967 (USA)
Wild Strawberries [Smultronstället]: Ingmar Bergman, 1957 (Sweden)

Walton asked, "And where's the schmaltz? Don't you guys like to sob a bit at the movies occasionally?". But schmaltz is not the only cause of tears. Both bleakness and tragedy, for instance, may suffice. To give just one example, the last hour of Angelopoulos's 'Weeping Meadow' -in which almost everyone the heroine cares for is cut down by the grim, implacable forces of human mortality and twentieth century history - possesses a huge emotional momentum that I suspect will leave many reeling from the cinema with blurry eyes. When one can have both tears and aesthetic and intellectual substance, why trouble oneself with the mild misadventures of anthropomorphic canines or the improbable antics of implausible women?

William Hutson; nice explanation and any list with "The King of Comedy" (has Jerry Lewis ever been better cast?) will get no criticism from me. In fact I might take your list to the vidstore.

Anybody like "The Grifters"?

When one can have both tears and aesthetic and intellectual substance, why trouble oneself with the mild misadventures of anthropomorphic canines or the improbable antics of implausible women?

I guess because one doesn't always want everything at once. That's one of the reasons I don't like lists. E.g., one schmaltzy movie ("family movie" I suppose) I quite like is "October Sky" (should have been called "Rocket Boys," like the book, IMHO). It's about growing up, science, the rewards of hard work, heroes, Hodgkinson's disease, coal mines, and friendship. It has a lovely Mark Isham score. But it isn't about universal bleakness, and it's not campy like, e.g., "Repo Man" or filled with testosterone like, say, a randomly chosen Sam Elliott movie. So, it's not really a bagatellen-style movie. It could make a list on maybe a soccer mom site, though. And, while I love Bergman, I sometimes prefer these type of soccer mom movies. Not because I think they're better, but also not necessarily because I want some sort of dumb entertainment. I think it's because it's a wide world and lots of subjects and feelings are important at various times. Best lists seem to me to require some sort of rank-ordering of subjects and feelings. I tend to resist that.

Is W.C. Fields's "Six of a Kind" better than (the first) "Nosferatu" (or I guess the second one)? Is it better than "Dawn of the Dead" or "Lord of the Rings II"? These just seem like stupid questions to me. I can't believe there are arguments on this thread.

An interesting response, Walto.

For myself, I find that everyday life routinely provides enough - indeed, a surfeit - of what might perhaps be called the lighter and more frivolous sides of life, whereas film-going (along with literature, music and some other domains) offers a much rarer opportunity for "high seriousness", to borrow a decidedly Victorian phrase from Matthew Arnold. Having sat through untold hundreds of lightweight Hollywood films, my personal conclusion is that these are always a depressing waste of the opportunities and potential of cinema and are best avoided to the fullest extent possible. Life is just too short.

May I ask what a "soccer mom" is?

"I can't believe there are arguments on this thread."

Oh, yes you can, Walt!

btw, I also was pleased to see "King of Comedy" make a list. imho, it might just inch out "Taxi Driver" and "Raging Bull" as Scorsese's finest and has always been near the top of my "all under-rated" list. Also good to see Pather Pancheli, which ranks real high with me.

Wayne, I'm pleased to see you enjoyed "The Power of Kangwon Province." An excellent film. One that would have to make my list that no one has yet mentioned is Joseph Losey's "The Servant."

Wayne, a soccer mom is a suburban housewife. Also, my take is that for some people every day life provides a surfeit of cosmic tsuris. FWIW, I'd generally recommend "16 Candles" or "Sleeper" over both "Potemkin" and "Last Year at Marienbad" for those in ICUs. (But perhaps it's Wayne in the the ICU and he longs for nothing more than a dose of Russian realism? WTHDIK?)

Brian, I too have always liked "King of Comedy" (in spite of the continuity problems--seems like it has more than its fair share of goofs). In fact, that's my favorite Scorsese movie by far. I don't like "Raging Bull" as much as the mavens (no matter how many other films Marty pays tribute to in it), and I prefer "Mean Streets" and "King of NY" to "Taxi Driver." ("What's a mook?") But the good thing is that, in spite of apparently being the girly man on this board, I hated "Age of Innocence" (both the movie and the book).

BTW, I do think it's kind of silly to criticize people's lists--except with respect to their titles--i.e., "Best" instead of "Favorite." But this leads us into questions of aesthetic relativism, etc., (Do you actually mean to suggest that "Ran" can't justly be said to be objectively better than "Porky's"?!?!) and I absolutely refuse to go there.

If 'Ran' had included a locker room voyeur scene, it might have measured up.

Bill Ashline: I'm pleased to see you enjoyed "The Power of Kangwon Province." An excellent film.

I would also strongly recommend his 'The Day a Pig Fell into the Well' and 'Virgin Stripped Bare by Her Bachelors'. All three are strikingly desolate but engaging depictions of the inanity of all too much of contemporary life. One notable aspect of them is Hong Sang-soo's remarkably unsexy sex.

Walto: a soccer mom is a suburban housewife

Pardon my ignorance and curiosity, but why "soccer"?

Walto: my take is that for some people every day life provides a surfeit of cosmic tsuris.

True. I also tend to think that the best of cinema offers illuminating accounts of the nature of our world of troubles that should not be missed.

I take it the soccer reference refers to the fact that these women can generally be found driving their kids to some game or practice or class or something.

[MikeP] Heck, I haven't even seen 100 movies so far in my life. Probably almost 50 by now though, as it's become a significant interest for me in recent years.

[Alastair] Oh, come on. How old are you? Did you grow up in a commune or something? If it was becoming a "significant interest" of yours I'd expect you to watch 50 films in a *year*, let alone a lifetime, to say nothing of all the films you might watch just because you're a normal entertainment consumer.

[MikeP] I'm 28. I grew up in the suburbs of the mid-Atlantic East Coast region of the US; I've never been to a commune. Hmm, 50 films in one year seems hard to comprehend, but upon reflection I realize that's only about one per week, which seems very doable—heck, even desirable. I suppose my lifestyle so far has just not been a good match for such heavy movie-watching for whatever reasons, but I imagine that could easily change. Between the ages of zero and 23 or so, I averaged about one movie per year and about .25 visits to a movie theater per year, maybe less. So it's just not been a significant part of my cultural experience until recently. Also, I haven't watched TV in about 13 years and I've probably only skimmed or read a few articles from a newspaper about ten times in my life. I passionately despise corporate media culture and wish to live free of it as much as possible. I prefer first-hand experiences, libraries, specialized periodicals, and the internet. When I was about 13 I got my mother to buy a community access pass to my local university library and for my teenage years I spent as much free time as possible indulging a typical cycle of interests there. In reference to your last sentence above, I would not consider myself a normal entertainment consumer by any stretch and I'd sorta expect a lot of other folks who read Bagatellen wouldn't be either (except Phil of course!).

There's a bit more to it, though. I find movies to be a really intense, draining experience, sometimes in a good way, sometimes not. Perhaps it's because I'm not densensitized to them like most people. Unless they were chosen carefully to be inspiring works of art for the most part, too frequent indulgence would be a risk of damage to my inner life. As a medium, conventional cinema/theater engages more brain modalities than any other (static images, moving images, sound, language, body movement, personal action, social interaction, etc), resulting in a kind of experiential entrainment that minimizes the role of the experiencer as a co-creator in an art object, which is precisely the appeal of the sort of music, images, texts, etc that I prefer to indulge in. In other words, with movies I sometimes feel like I'm being to rigidly manipulated to have a certain experience, whereas I prefer to control my experiences myself as a rough generalization. I suppose a similar point of view accounts for the fact I've never sampled a recreational drug (alcohol, nicotine/tobacco, marijuana, speed, hallucinogens, cocaine, etc), with the sole sensible exception of caffeine in the occasional very useful and/or enjoyable tea/coffee.

Watching corporate-culture/Hollywood type movies seems closely analogous to eating pizza, bagels, potato chips, etc. It's harmless every once in a while, but done regularly, like once a week or so, it seems like a serious threat to basic health and quality of life.

Wayne, I haven't seen any of those films, but I've seen other films by three of the composers (Ozu, Tarkovsky, Godard) that I found very pleasing (especially the Ozu), so I get the feeling you have awesome taste and I can use your list as ace recommendations! So, thanks! Many of my friends are film experts, so thanks to their advice I typically don't have to wade through any filler. William, likewise, though I've only seen one movie on your list (Stalker).

Narew, wow, another 100 list. Amazing. I've seen two of those (Woman in the Dunes and Pulp Fiction)!

[Wayne] Like John Abbey and Autsaider, I'm struck by the proportion of American and rather mainstream films that appear on Phil's list of personal favourites.

[MikeP] "struck" was a good choice of words there, Wayne. "surprised" would likely be rather inaccurate! Phil is the official Bags representative of mainstream American culture!

Wayne, wow, it's fascinating you don't know the phrase "soccer mom"! I take it you're not American (and I noticed you don't use American English spelling above). I suppose it's a specifically American concept. Soccer is notorious for being a taxing afterscool activity for American youth. In the prototypical situation, the mother has the burden of dropping off the kids to practices and games and separately picking them up later, using a minivan of course, which takes place in the afternoon and results in constant driving and attempts to juggle other errands, cooking dinner (or getting dinner from a fast-food drive-through), etc. These people are casualties of America's suburban sprawl, a depraved situation that has raped trees, farms, etc and replaced them with strip malls, ugly, junky, homogenized "single family homes", and pointless, ecologically fraudulent lawns.

"Soccer is notorious for being a taxing afterscool activity for American youth. In the prototypical situation, the mother has the burden of dropping off the kids to practices and games and separately picking them up later, using a minivan of course, which takes place in the afternoon and results in constant driving and attempts to juggle other errands, cooking dinner (or getting dinner from a fast-food drive-through), etc. These people are casualties of America's suburban sprawl, a depraved situation that has raped trees, farms, etc and replaced them with strip malls, ugly, junky, homogenized "single family homes", and pointless, ecologically fraudulent lawns. "

I can't believe Walt left that part out.
My poor Mommy. I didn't know!

I'm depraved on account of I'm deprived!

--"Officer Krupke."

Michael, I'm delighted that you have found my list of some interest and use, Apart from 'Still Life', 'Freedom', 'No Place to Go' and 'To the Left of the Father', all of the films I mentioned are currently available on DVD with English subtitles, albeit sometimes with different titles (in the USA 'Uzak' is called 'Distant') or in editions published in the 'Far East'.

I should perhaps say that I decided not to list multiple films by any one director, which increases the degree to which they are arbitrary. I should also stress that many of the films I've mentioned reflect aesthetics very different from those of Hollywood. One of Robert Bresson's maxims for film-makers was "be sure to exhaust what can be communicated by stillness and silence". This injunction is very strongly embodied in many of my choices. For example, David Bordwell has calculated that average shot length (ASLs) in Hollywood films in the 80s were between 3-8 seconds and have fallen since. By contrast, the ASL in Angelopoulos's 'Ulysses's Gaze is 103 seconds (Bordwell's calculations), while Tarr's 'Werckmeister Harmonies' has 39 shots over the course of 145 minutes, giving it an ASL of over 200 seconds. Some of the films also have minimal and/or elliptical plots, little dialogue, 'unexpressive' acting and no music. They are also often quite bleak.

If I was doing the list again now, I would probably drop 'To the Left of the Father' in favour of Michael Haneke's 'Code Unknown' (2000).

[Mike P]: "I take it you're not American".

Correct, I'm British. I've heard the phrase "soccer mum" used in the American media, but I've never understood what it meant. It is not used on this side of the pond. I gather from this link that the phrase sometimes has pejorative connotations.

[Wayne] Some of the films also have minimal and/or elliptical plots, little dialogue, 'unexpressive' acting and no music. They are also often quite bleak.

[MikeP] Dude, now you're talking my language! Sounds like some hot shit! Fascinating about the ASL thing too, though I must say I have enjoyed seeing experimental short films that do to images what Squarepusher, drill 'n' bass, and glitch composers did to drum beats, quite literally, a very promising avenue for film in my opinion. Extremes are the hot potato.

Werckmeister Harmonies is amazing, as I've mentioned here before. Satantango is in the works on DVD also, looking forward to that very much!

Mike, forgive me, but with a 50-movie repertoire, I don't see how you could have any idea whether any particular film was unusual or extremely derivative. Totally rad or Hollywood shlock (or Bollywood shlock or Paris shlock). Be kind of like my 10-year-old daughter (who's seen many more than 50 movies, btw, depraved thing) opining on improvised music.

Mike, with no more than 50 films under your belt (substantially fewer than my depraved 10-year-old btw) I'm curious how you can tell whether or not a movie you're seeing is experimental or otherwise rad, rather than derivative shlock Hollywood, Bollywood, Paris, or otherwise. Whether it's a "promising avenue" or a well worn dirt road. Innate intuition?

"Correct, I'm British. I've heard the phrase "soccer mum" used in the American media, but I've never understood what it meant. It is not used on this side of the pond. I gather from this link that the phrase sometimes has pejorative connotations."

Correct; what everybody seems to be dancing around is that it's code for white housewives.

"One of Robert Bresson's maxims for film-makers was "be sure to exhaust what can be communicated by stillness and silence"."

thus the mentioning of Hong Sang-soo's work, I can see. I own a DVD copy of "Oh Soo-Jung" (Virgin Stripped Bare), but I didn't like it quite as much. The two quintessential Korean directors for me are Im Kwon-taek and Lee Chang-dong, who's now the Minister of Culture. If you haven't seen Chihwasan or Seopyunje by Im yet, please do. Lee's two best films are Peppermint Candy and Oasis--both highly recommended. And have you seen Park Chan-ook's Old Boy yet?

"This injunction is very strongly embodied in many of my choices. For example, David Bordwell has calculated that average shot length (ASLs) in Hollywood films in the 80s were between 3-8 seconds and have fallen since."

Well, that would be because of Eisenstein and the dominance of montage in Hollywood. Montage underwrites so much of Hollywood cinema that most audiences probably can't go back to people like Bergman and Godard anymore. The edits are too slow for them, which is unfortunate.

Very much enjoyed your list, Wayne. Lot's of great stuff on there. I must concur with Walto for once that lists of this sort are always personal and not really open for argument, especially when the title moves from "best" to "favorite."

Captain Hate: "Correct; what everybody seems to be dancing around is that it's code for white housewives."

Really? 'Cause out here in California, it's as likely to apply to Latino moms, most of whom are not just housewives.

If anyone's curious there's a brief etymological history of the phrase "soccer mom" here. A few cites from the early 1980s but it only entered the lexical bigtime through politics in the mid-1990s.

Mildly astonished that Howard Hawks seems to be omitted from discussion so far, unless I missed it. What, no takers for To Have & Have Not, Bringing Up Baby, His Girl Friday, Red River, &c.?

"Mildly astonished that Howard Hawks seems to be omitted from discussion so far, unless I missed it. What, no takers for To Have & Have Not, Bringing Up Baby, His Girl Friday, Red River, &c.?"

Wait. I thought I had Ball of Fire on my list. No? Aw crap. Love that movie.

"Mildly astonished that Howard Hawks seems to be omitted from discussion so far, unless I missed it. What, no takers for To Have & Have Not, Bringing Up Baby, His Girl Friday, Red River, &c.?"

Wait. I thought I had Ball of Fire on my list. No? Aw crap. Love that movie.

"Only Angels Have Wings" shares my top Hawks spot with "Red River".

Adam Hill: "Really? 'Cause out here in California, it's as likely to apply to Latino moms, most of whom are not just housewives."

That would be the non-pejorative connotation.

Is anybody else having a hard time posting here; I take it from some of the multiple posts that the answer is yes.

Hm, having seen most of Hawks' comedies (I haven't got hold of Twentieth Century & Man's Favorite Sport? yet), I'd not really rate Ball of Fire that highly compared to the rest... but it's still plenty of fun, & of course it's nice to have that lengthy sequence with Gene Krupa's band featuring Roy Eldridge.

I might as well add that while Sullivan's Travels seems to get the nod here (maybe because of the link to the Coen Bros.?), I'd find it hard to pick between that one, The Lady Eve & The Palm Beach Story.

To get on a different tack, The Passion of Joan of Arc is easily one of the most powerful films I've seen, & deserves mention here.

First, a friendly tip on posting: type your post, feed in the ‘imaginary expletive’ & click the Post button ONCE. Even if the new page doesn’t load right away, rest assured your post has been saved to the site. It’s the (understandably) impatient multiple clicks that yield the multiple posts.

Fwiw, my Top 100 would jibe pretty closely with Narew’s.

My pick of the Howard Hawks oeuvre is The Big Sleep, hands-down, though Red River and Rio Bravo are damn good Westerns. Far as Sturges goes, I’ve only seen a handful, but Sullivan’s Travel is my pick of the few, with The Lady Eve a close second, but not because of any Cohen Brothers connections.

Still marveling at MAP’s less than 50 flicks in a lifetime feat; it’s an enviable position in many ways. And wondering too if Phil could rise to the challenge of fashioning a FAVORITE 100 composed *solely* of porn titles (not for my own consumption, mind you ;)

"First, a friendly tip on posting: type your post, feed in the ‘imaginary expletive’ & click the Post button ONCE. Even if the new page doesn’t load right away, rest assured your post has been saved to the site. It’s the (understandably) impatient multiple clicks that yield the multiple posts."

Actually no. I'm getting messages from my browser that I'm unable to connect. Only to find when sending the message again that it had already been posted. Must be a traffic issue.

"To get on a different tack, The Passion of Joan of Arc is easily one of the most powerful films I've seen, & deserves mention here."

I much prefer Dreyer's later Day of Wrath, the earliest chronologically on a top 20 list I made here:

http://www.ymdb.com/jon-abbey/l17011_ukuk.html

[Wayne] Some of the films also have minimal and/or elliptical plots, little dialogue, 'unexpressive' acting and no music. They are also often quite bleak.

[MikeP] Dude, now you're talking my language! Sounds like some hot shit!

Not all of the films I mentioned fall are exercises in minimalist miserablism ('A Moment of Innocence', for example, is not very bleak, being more an exploration of personal and collective memory and film-making). Perhaps the works of Tsai Ming-Liang and Bela Tarr would be the best places to start for the budding "epicure of duration" (Nabokov).

[MikeP] I must say I have enjoyed seeing experimental short films that do to images what Squarepusher, drill 'n' bass, and glitch composers did to drum beats

I'm not sure I've grasped your analogy. Would you mind elaborating a little?

[Jon Abbey] Werckmeister Harmonies is amazing, as I've mentioned here before.

And the Artificial Eye DVD release comes with another excellent Tarr film, the rain-sodden 'Damnation'. Curiously, the soundtrack of the opening scene of 'Damnation', which features three minutes of clanking airborne coal trucks, rather reminds me of the music of Keith Rowe.

Poor old Tarr seems to be having a hard time with his latest film. After years of trying to raise the money for the film, he finally began shooting in Corsica recently. However, following the suicide of a key French promoter who had used his own resources as security for the project, the complex edifice constructed to finance the film seems to have collapsed, bringing the shoot to an end. The film is evidently now on hold once again while Tarr searches for new funds.

[Jon Abbey] Satantango is in the works on DVD also, looking forward to that very much!

I read a year ago that Tarr had told a Danish magazine that a DVD transfer with English subtitles was under preparation. Have you heard anything more recent? (I notice, BTW, a bootleg release is currently being sold on ebay, but by all accounts the quality is execrable.)

Tarr's first three films (The Prefab People, The Outsider and Family Nest) have just been released on DVD in sub-optimum but watchable transfers.

[Bill Ashline] I own a DVD copy of "Oh Soo-Jung" (Virgin Stripped Bare), but I didn't like it quite as much. The two quintessential Korean directors for me are Im Kwon-taek and Lee Chang-dong, who's now the Minister of Culture. If you haven't seen Chihwasan or Seopyunje by Im yet, please do. Lee's two best films are Peppermint Candy and Oasis--both highly recommended. And have you seen Park Chan-ook's Old Boy yet?

'Virgin Stripped Bare by Her Bachelors' is perhaps a little lighter than the previous two, but I nonetheless found its slow, downbeat exploration of the contingency of human memory and sordidness of human relations engaging.

I've seen 'Chihwaseon'. I found a rather ordinary and conventional historical biopic. I came away wondering whether an element of picaresque orientalism had been included with an eye to export to the West.

Lee Chang-dong is someone whose work I haven't (yet) got around too.

I've also not seen 'Old Boy'. Perhaps too quickly, I've categorized this as yet another tiresomely sensationalist tale of psychotic revenge and avoided it.

[Bill Ashline] that would be because of Eisenstein and the dominance of montage in Hollywood. Montage underwrites so much of Hollywood cinema that most audiences probably can't go back to people like Bergman and Godard anymore. The edits are too slow for them, which is unfortunate.

I gather from Richard Malby's fine book 'Hollywood Cinema' that at the time of their first appearance Eisenstein's ideas were generally dismissed by Hollywood as propagandistic. It seems that to the extent that they had an influence it was indirectly through the work and writings of Serb émigré Slavko Vorkapitch. That said, I think you're right that Hollywood conventions, including that dictating rapid successions of cuts, has shaped many people's expectations of film and rendered other approaches unpalatable to them.

“Actually no. I'm getting messages from my browser that I'm unable to connect. Only to find when sending the message again that it had already been posted. Must be a traffic issue.”

Bill, how does the situation you described contradict my suggestion? It is a bandwidth issue (must be the massive influx of all those recent Wire readers ;) Click “Post” once & your post will be posted, you have Emory Davis’ word.

On another note, would welcome some opinions on the Wayne-mentioned Old Boy and the others in that ‘trilogy’ as I’ve heard good things about it from folks like Jesse Goin (over at JC).

Okay, I’m off for a b-day bag of Swedish licorice, a shot of Maker’s, neat, & to the bank to cash-in the bag of ducats sent by mum & pop.

"I read a year ago that Tarr had told a Danish magazine that a DVD transfer with English subtitles was under preparation. Have you heard anything more recent?"

Artificial Eye is supposedly releasing it before year's end:

http://www.criterionforum.org/forum/viewtopic.php?p=23622

Happy birthday, Derek! Here are a couple of other possibly unpopular faves of mine (unpopular maybe because of both the nationalism and the alleged corniness of their director).

"Bitter Tea of General Yen" (though, obviously, an Asian actor in the lead would have been preferable to a Norwegian). Nice sound track, too.

"Meet John Doe"--I love the way a kind of Reagonista, country-folk feel-goodism quickly morphs into textbook fascism with a little push from a big biz type.

"I might as well add that while Sullivan's Travels seems to get the nod here (maybe because of the link to the Coen Bros.?), I'd find it hard to pick between that one, The Lady Eve & The Palm Beach Story"

I remember switching out The Lady Eve for Sullivan's Travels at the last minute (I wrote my list several months ago, and would have have done so differently had I written it today) simply because I'd seen it more recently. Plus, The Lady Eve is my mother's favorite film of all time, so I thought I'd let her keep that one.

Oldboy is pretty interesting. I was told that Park was the Korean Takashi Miike, so I went in expecting something a little different. Much more sentimental (--not necessarily a bad thing).

two of the finest American films of the 90's:

Jarmusch's DEAD MAN

Haynes' SAFE

Late in high school, I had this weirdo pal who turned me onto French New Wave films. He had taped quite a few of them from this cable station in Los Angeles, and we'd watch them. What a wonderful experience. Then he'd make me watch Cassavettes' films, which he also taped from the same station, which at that time made me want to claw my face from boredom. Later, though, that changed.

"I've seen 'Chihwaseon'. I found a rather ordinary and conventional historical biopic. I came away wondering whether an element of picaresque orientalism had been included with an eye to export to the West."

I'm sorry Wayne, but I think that's a pretty reductive reading of Im's work. A lot of his films are historical in that way, but you could say the same for Kurosawa as well. Since the film is about a painter's perception mediated through the natural--a very 19th century form of aesthetic--the use of the picaresque would seem very appropriate. Ohwon was a specific historical figure as well from the peasant class.

"I've also not seen 'Old Boy'. Perhaps too quickly, I've categorized this as yet another tiresomely sensationalist tale of psychotic revenge and avoided it."

If that's all it was, I wouldn't recommend it. Park does a lot more with that narrative than the average director would, though it still might not be your cup of tea.

"I gather from Richard Malby's fine book 'Hollywood Cinema' that at the time of their first appearance Eisenstein's ideas were generally dismissed by Hollywood as propagandistic."

You mean his political ideas. His cinematic ideas have been embraced wholesale by Hollywood.

"First, a friendly tip on posting: type your post, feed in the ‘imaginary expletive’ & click the Post button ONCE. Even if the new page doesn’t load right away, rest assured your post has been saved to the site. It’s the (understandably) impatient multiple clicks that yield the multiple posts."

Actually no. I'm getting messages from my browser that I'm unable to connect. Only to find when sending the message again that it had already been posted. Must be a traffic issue.

"Bill, how does the situation you described contradict my suggestion? It is a bandwidth issue (must be the massive influx of all those recent Wire readers ;) Click “Post” once & your post will be posted, you have Emory Davis’ word."

That's nice to know that I have your word, Derek, but I just lost my entire post to Wayne by following your word. It was not posted even after I pressed the post button once as you directed. You're assuming that people are hitting the post button twice out of impatience. In point of fact, I wait until my Safari browser gives me a "can't open the page" before I sent again.

"Bill, how does the situation you described contradict my suggestion? It is a bandwidth issue (must be the massive influx of all those recent Wire readers ;) Click “Post” once & your post will be posted, you have Emory Davis’ word."

That's nice to know that I have your word, Derek, but I just lost my entire post to Wayne by following your word. It was not posted even after I pressed the post button once as you directed. You're assuming that people are hitting the post button twice out of impatience. In point of fact, I wait until my Safari browser gives me a "can't open the page" before I sent again.

"Bill, how does the situation you described contradict my suggestion? It is a bandwidth issue (must be the massive influx of all those recent Wire readers ;) Click “Post” once & your post will be posted, you have Emory Davis’ word."

That's nice to know that I have your word, Derek, but I just lost my entire post to Wayne by following your word. It was not posted even after I pressed the post button once as you directed. You're assuming that people are hitting the post button twice out of impatience. In point of fact, I wait until my Safari browser gives me a "can't open the page" before I sent again.

[Bill Ashline] "I'm sorry Wayne, but I think that's a pretty reductive reading of Im's work. A lot of his films are historical in that way, but you could say the same for Kurosawa as well. Since the film is about a painter's perception mediated through the natural--a very 19th century form of aesthetic--the use of the picaresque would seem very appropriate. Ohwon was a specific historical figure as well from the peasant class."

My primary reservations concerned the fact that - in terms of its approach to space, time, narrative, editing, lighting, sound, the bases of artistic eminence, etc - the film amounted to little more than another great man story framed within the conventions of Hollywood.

My suspicions about 'picaresque orientalism' also (indeed, mainly) had to do with the film's depiction of the human world: i.e. the bodies, costumes, interiors and exteriors of buildings, streets, social relations, etc.

I'm afraid I've not as yet found much of interest in Kurosawa's historical films either.

[Wayne] "I've also not seen 'Old Boy'. Perhaps too quickly, I've categorized this as yet another tiresomely sensationalist tale of psychotic revenge and avoided it."

[Bill] "If that's all it was, I wouldn't recommend it. Park does a lot more with that narrative than the average director would, though it still might not be your cup of tea."

I'd be interested to hear more about what the additional dimensions Park brings to the genre.

[Wayne] "I gather from Richard Malby's fine book 'Hollywood Cinema' that at the time of their first appearance Eisenstein's ideas were generally dismissed by Hollywood as propagandistic."

[Bill] "You mean his political ideas. His cinematic ideas have been embraced wholesale by Hollywood."

Maltby states that both Eisenstein's films and his theories were rejected by Hollywood, the latter on the ground that they were explanations of propagandistic practices.

I'm not sure that we can properly saw that Eisenstein's cinematic ideas "have been embraced wholesale by Hollywood". Can we really understand Hollywood dominant approach as a tacit but rigorous application of Eisenstein's principles of metric, rhythmic, tonal and intellectual montage? Would it be accurate to say that the typical Hollywood director takes Eisenstein's view that "the maximum effect could be gained only if the shots did not fit together smoothly, but instead jolted the spectator"? That seems dubiously consistent with the smooth dictates of Hollywood continuity editing.

ll Ashline] "I'm sorry Wayne, but I think that's a pretty reductive reading of Im's work. A lot of his films are historical in that way, but you could say the same for Kurosawa as well. Since the film is about a painter's perception mediated through the natural--a very 19th century form of aesthetic--the use of the picaresque would seem very appropriate. Ohwon was a specific historical figure as well from the peasant class."

My primary reservations concerned the fact that - in terms of its approach to space, time, narrative, editing, lighting, sound, the bases of artistic eminence, etc - the film amounted to little more than another great man story framed within the conventions of Hollywood.

My suspicions about 'picaresque orientalism' also (indeed, mainly) had to do with the film's depiction of the human world: i.e. the bodies, costumes, interiors and exteriors of buildings, streets, social relations, etc.

I'm afraid I've not as yet found much of interest in Kurosawa's historical films either.

[Wayne] "I've also not seen 'Old Boy'. Perhaps too quickly, I've categorized this as yet another tiresomely sensationalist tale of psychotic revenge and avoided it."

[Bill] "If that's all it was, I wouldn't recommend it. Park does a lot more with that narrative than the average director would, though it still might not be your cup of tea."

I'd be interested to hear more about what the additional dimensions Park brings to the genre.

[Wayne] "I gather from Richard Malby's fine book 'Hollywood Cinema' that at the time of their first appearance Eisenstein's ideas were generally dismissed by Hollywood as propagandistic."

[Bill] "You mean his political ideas. His cinematic ideas have been embraced wholesale by Hollywood."

Maltby states that both Eisenstein's films and his theories were rejected by Hollywood, the latter on the ground that they were explanations of propagandistic practices.

I'm not sure that we can properly saw that Eisenstein's cinematic ideas "have been embraced wholesale by Hollywood". Can we really understand Hollywood dominant approach as a tacit but rigorous application of Eisenstein's principles of metric, rhythmic, tonal and intellectual montage? Would it be accurate to say that the typical Hollywood director takes Eisenstein's view that "the maximum effect could be gained only if the shots did not fit together smoothly, but instead jolted the spectator"? That seems dubiously consistent with the smooth dictates of Hollywood continuity editing, etc.

wow, so glad to read some news about Béla Tarr here!
the best movie of all time, for me, is 'Sátántangó'. maybe I'll make a longer list one day, but nothing can touch my number one.
sorry to see nobody likes 'The big Lebowski' here ;-)

I like "The Big Lebowski"--just don't ask me to post about it on Shabbas.

Bill, actually, you have Emory Davis’ word, a knavish ne’er-do-well if ever there was one :) Believe it or not, a common reason for multiple posts is multiple clicks on the “Post” button- happens all the time & it falls to the Bags custodial engineering team to sweep away the extras. Regardless, sorry you lost your reply to Wayne. If you receive “unable to connect” notifications in the future it might be a good idea to refresh your browser & see if the post appears before posting it again. I’ll delete your duplicates above; apologies again for the inconvenience. Shoe-string budgets mandate rust-bucket architectures (or bandwidth, as the case may be) & the problem may be more serious than first surmised- a team of contracted IT eggheads is troublshooting as I type.

Back to subjects cinematic, anyone here a fan of Robert Aldrich? I just picked up Hush… Hush, Sweet Charlotte and am looking forward to screening it tonight after spinning Kim Carnes’ “Bette Davis Eyes” to get in the proper mood.

I think the Coen brothers are massively overrated, almost without exception, and certainly after their first two movies (Blood Simple/Raising Arizona).

my advice to people having trouble with double posts is to open up another browser window and take a look at the home page before retrying, because for some reason, your name will show up there under recent posts well before the post actually appears. there's definitely something not working right, though.

BTW, Derek, Bill is quite right about the site acting weird lately. Not only do you time out trying to post, but if you do get the main page to finally show a link to new material, it's literally hours before clicking on that link brings you to any new posts. That is, a link to this post will appear on the main page long before anyone will be able to see it by clicking that hyperlink. You'll get to this page, but that post won't be here.

Anyhow, this stuff is relatively new (less than a week), but doesn't seem to be going away....

here's a top-80 (why 80? why not?) I just put together. if your eyebrow twitches uncontrollably upon seeing Toshiro Mifune and Bruce Willis in the same list.. well, that's how I like it. I realize I have listed some trash, but sometimes I get a huge kick out of something like 'The Long Kiss Goodnight' (which I have picked here as the prototype of a whole bunch of movies I enjoy). Obviously I don't enjoy it in the same way as I would a Béla Tarr movie (I realize I could be pegged as an intolerably ironic pseudo-intellectual after all this, so be it), the latter being much more dear to me in a more 'profound' way.. at the risk of sounding pompous.
I have mixed it all up, so try not to let it get on your nerves.
thanks for the other lists, particularly Wayne and Jon, surely they will be of inspiration in the near future ('Stop calling me Shirley' (Airplane!, 1980))!

Faust (1926 F.W. Murnau)
Un Chien Andalou (1928 Luis Buñuel)
Duck Soup (1933 Leo McCarey)
The Wizard Of Oz (1939 Victor Fleming)
Ikiru (1952 Akira Kurosawa)
The Big Sleep (1946 Howard Hawks)
Un Condamné A Mort S'Est Echappé (1956 Robert Bresson)
Les 400 Coups (1959 François Truffaut)
Village Of The Damned (1960 Wolf Rilla)
Lolita (1962 Stanley Kubrick)
Winter Light (1962 Ingmar Bergman)
Le Mépris (1963 Jean-Luc Godard)
Otto E Mezzo (8 1/2) (1963 Federico Fellini)
The Masque Of The Red Death (1964 Roger Corman)
Point Blank (1967 John Boorman)
Once Upon A Time In The West (1968 Sergio Leone)
Teorema (1968 Pier Paolo Pasolini)
Auch Zwerge Haben Klein Angefangen (1970 Werner Herzog)
Zabriskie Point (1970 Michelangelo Antonioni)
Get Carter (1971 Mike Hodges)
The Godfather (1971 Francis Ford Coppola)
Morte A Venezia (1971 Luchino Visconti)
Last Tango In Paris (1972 Bernardo Bertolucci)
Shura (1972 Toshio Matsumoto)
Love And Death (1975 Woody Allen)
Network (1976 Sidney Lumet)
Taxi Driver (1976 Martin Scorsese)
In Einem Jahr Mit 13 Monden (1978 Rainer Werner Fassbinder)
Monty Python's Life Of Brian (1979 Terry Jones)
Stalker (1979 Andrei Tarkovsky)
Airplane! (1980 Jim Abrahams)
Merry Christmas, Mr Lawrence (1983 Nagisa Oshima)
Ciske De Rat (1984 Guido Pieters)
Blue Velvet (1986 David Lynch)
Jean De Florette / Manon Des Sources (1986 Claude Berri)
Ju Dou (1990 Zhang Yimou)
C'Est Arrivé Près De Chez Vous (1991 Remy Belvaux a.o.)
La Double Vie De Véronique (1991 Krzsysztof Kieslowski)
Hudson Hawk (1991 Michael Lehmann)
Farewell My Concubine (1993 Chen Kaige)
National Lampoon’s Loaded Weapon 1 (1993 Gene Quintano)
Natural Born Killers (1994 Oliver Stone)
Pulp Fiction (1994 Quentin Tarantino)
Satantango (1994 Béla Tarr)
Die Hard With A Vengeance (1995 John McTiernan)
The Doom Generation (1995 Gregg Araki)
Heat (1995 Michael Mann)
Ulysses’ Gaze (1995 Theo Angelopoulos)
The Usual Suspects (1995 Bryan Singer)
Hamlet (1996 Kenneth Brannagh)
The Long Kiss Goodnight (1996 Renny Harlin)
Trees Lounge (1996 Steve Buscemi)
The Butcher Boy (1997 Neil Jordan)
The Eel (1997 Shohei Imamura)
Funny Games (1997 Michael Haneke)
Gummo (1997 Harmony Korine)
Happy Together (1997 Wong Kar-Wai)
Mother And Son (1997 Alexander Sokurov)
The Big Lebowski (1998 Joel Coen)
Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas (1998 Terry Gilliam)
Festen (1998 Thomas Vinterberg)
Happiness (1998 Todd Solondz)
Hard Eight (1998 Paul Thomas Anderson)
The Idiots (1998 Lars Von Trier)
Lola Rennt (1998 Tom Tykwer)
Lulu On The Bridge (1998 Paul Auster)
Ratcatcher (1998 Lynne Ramsay)
Fight Club (1999 David Fincher)
Une Liaison Pornographique (1999 Frédéric Fonteyne)
The Cell (2000 Tarsem Singh)
Requiem For A dream (2000 Darren Aronofsky)
Songs From The Second Floor (2000 Roy Andersson)
Le Fabuleux Destin D'Amélie Poulain (2001 Jean-Pierre Jeunet)
Hundstage (2001 Ulrich Seidl)
Dolls (2002 Takeshi Kitano)
The Man Without A Past (2002 Aki Kaurismäki)
Goodbye Dragon Inn (2003 Tsai Ming-Liang)
Reconstruction (2003 Christoffer Boe)
The Return (2003 Andrei Zvyagintsev)
Spring Summer Fall Winter... And Spring (2003 Kim Ki-Duk)

a fitting way to end, since Kim Ki-Duk is probably my favourite currently active, 'young' director. Bad Guy, The Isle, Bin Jip (aka 3-Iron), Samaritan Girl are all great and highly recommended.

Derek, I didn't care for "Hush, Hush, Sweet Charlotte."

All these long lists...but has a single Guinness, Olivier, Gielgud, or Richardson vehicle made any of them? And how's Hitchcock doing here--is it really just one mention)? Tsk. Tut.

100 isn't enough. 1000 maybe. Maybe.

Oh, and since I don't think anybody's said this yet....I don't think "Citizen Kane" is boring in the slightest.!!! (Maybe if Bruce Dern had been in it, it would have passed Phil's muster?)

Jon: "I think the Coen brothers are massively overrated, almost without exception, and certainly after their first two movies (Blood Simple/Raising Arizona)."

I agree with this completely. I love 'parts' of all their movies, but they never hold together well. I do like that after winning attention and Oscars for "Fargo" (which is way overrated), they blew their big money on a very uncommerical "Big Lebowski." That was nice.

And no, Lee Marvin in "Kane" would have been better!

Yeah, Adam, Lee Marvin as Kane. Or perhaps Bruce Lee!

"Lee Marvin as Kane. Or perhaps Bruce Lee!"

Bruce was robbed of that role once already... fuck David Carradine!

Revisionist casting could save certain movies and sink others, but the effect would always be interesting. Consider, for example, W.C. Fields as Don Corleone in The Godfather, and Buster Keaton as Josef K in Welles' The Trial (in which Anthony Perkins looked the part but delivered his lines very badly).

"Anthony Perkins looked the part but delivered his lines very badly"

But not as badly as his Australian turn as Lt. Commander Holms in that end of the world Beach thing he did.

BTW, ever see Daniel Day Lewis as Kafka in "The Insurance Man"? I actually used that film to train workers' compensation conciliators for a couple of years. Not only did it make them think about the horrors of bureaucracy from the point of view of injured workers, it also contains a nice discussion of industrial diseases and why they can't be reasonably distinguished from "garden variety" workplace accidents....

I agree, Perkins is an odd fish out in On the Beach & not the least bit believable as an Australian Naval officer (Peck is pretty bland in his role too), but that film is unique, especially for the time period., just about as bleak as it gets. Even the syrupy theme song piping over the closing credits can’t leaven the cosmic finality of it. Fail-Safe has a similar killer dénouement, one so disturbing to audiences that the studio decided to affix a caveat assuring that such an endgame scenario could never truly come to be.

Walt, what’s the “Why” behind your “didn’t care for” regarding Charlotte?

Never seen The Insurance Man, but would like to.

Am I correct in thinking that the only genuinely good bit of acting that Perkins committed to celluloid is in Psycho?

Speaking of David Carradine, I just got DVDs of Death Race 2000 and Street Fighter (w/Sonny Chiba) on the sidewalk in NYC today, for a dollar each. Don't even know if they'll play, but what the hell, right?

Derek, I think I have it on tape and would have to see it again to answer fully, but my main recollection of it is that it's just over-the-top. The acting, the pathos, the lack of sufficient motivation, (can a "lack" be over the top? well, whatever), etc. I remember it as if it were an overlong episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents.

I do generally enjoy Bette Davis, though.

I just got DVDs of Death Race 2000 and Street Fighter (w/Sonny Chiba) on the sidewalk in NYC today

Two fun flicks, esp. the latter (the X-Ray fist squashing head shot is classic!), seems like there’s at least a couple dozen boots of it floating around.

Phil, have you seen the Hanzo The Razor trilogy, I’m thinking it might be right up your alley.

“…my main recollection of it is that it's just over-the-top. The acting, the pathos, the lack of sufficient motivation…

For better or worse, sounds like typical 60s Aldrich to me :) Which leads me to one more question: Walt, did/do you groove on What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? Just poured a couple fingers of Maker’s and am prepping the screening room with notes to follow.

Maybe somewhat better, that one, IIRC, Derek. I'm sorry to say that they kind of run together a bit for me. I think the main thing about "Baby Jane" may be that it goes on too long. Starts moving from creepy to annoying at some point.

I'm curious what your take will be...

“Frankly, you’re beginning to smell and for a stud in New York—that’s a handicap.”
— Midnight Cowboy

“In Vietnam the wind doesn’t blow—it sucks.”
—Full Metal Jacket

Instituta Benjamenta—YES!! As well as the entire collection of Brother’s Quay animation shorts-available on DVD. Brakhage—YES!! Dreyer. The Passion of Joan Of Arc and Vampyr are initiators of an amazing cinematic realization. I’m glad had your turn-around concerning A Woman Under The Influence and of course there’s Shadows, Faces and The Killing Of A Chinese Bookie.

In common with initial list (of films seen): Chinatown; Pi; Raging Bull; Repo Man; Stranger Than Paradise; The Swimmmer and YES!! White Dog should be on DVD!!

For Captain Hate I took a bunch of kids to see Animal House. The appearance of the Eat Me cake forever changed our young lives.

Thanks Wayne Spencer—I can’t wait to renew my card at Kim’s to check some of these out!

To add first some of the feminine:

The Daisies: completed 1966, released under government strain 1967
/ Director: Vera Chytilová
Vagabond: 1985, French / Writer-Director: Agnes Varda
Working Girls: 1986, American / Writing Credits: Lizzie Bordon & Sandra Kay / Director: Lizzie Bordon
Privilege: 1990, American / Director: Yvonne Rainner
Control Room: 2004, Arabic, / Jehane Noujaim

Spirited Away: 2003, Japanese / Director: Hayao Miyazaki
The God’s Of Time Square: 1999, American / Director: Richard Sandler
The Celebration: 1999, Danish / Writer-Director: Thomas Vinterberg
Crumb: 1995, American / Director: Terry Zwigoff
War Is Menstrual Envy: 1992, American / Director: Nick Zedd
Life Is Sweet: 1990, UK / Writer-Director: Mike Leigh
She’s Gotta Have It: 1986, American / Writer-Director: Spike Lee
Full Metal Jacket: 1987, American, / Writers: Gustav Hasford, Michael Herr and Stanley Kubrick / Director: Stanley Kubrick
Paths of Glory: 1957, American / Writer-Director: Stanley Kubrick
2001: A Space Odyssey: 1968, American / Screen Writers: Stanley Kubrick & Arthur C. Clarke / Director: Stanley Kubrick
Nashville: 1975, American / Writer: Joan Tewkesbury / Director: Robert Altman
The Man Who Fell To Earth: 1975, UK / Writers: Paul Mayersberg & Walter Tevis (novel) / Director: Nicolas Roeg
Picnic At Hanging Rock: 1975, Australia / Writers: Joan Lindsay (novel); Chris Greeen (screenplay) / Director: Peter Weir
Soylent Green: 1973, American / Writers: Harry Harrison (novel); Stanley R. Greenberg / Director: Richard Fleischer
Trash: 1970, American / Writer-Director: Paul Morrissey
Clair’s Knee: 1970, French / Writer-Director: Eric Rohmer
Performance: 1970, UK / Writer: Donald Cammel / Directors: Donald Cammel & Nicolas Roeg
Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner: 1967, American / Writing Credits: William Rose / Director: Stanley Kramer
Hold Me While I’m Naked: 1966, American / Director: George Kuchar
The Red Shoes: British, 1948 / Story: Hans Christian Anderson / Screenwriters: Michael Powell; Emeric Pressburger; Keith Winter / Directors: Michael Powell; Emeric Pressburger
Peeping Tom: 1960, British / Story-Screenwriter: Leo Marks / Director: Michael Powell
The Wizard of Oz: 1939, American, / Writers: L. Frank Baum; Noel Langley; Edgar
Allan Woolf: Florence Ryerson / Directors: Victor Fleming; King Vidor

&

Jules And Jim
Swept Away
Seven Beauties
The Sound Of Music
West Side Story
Mary Poppins
Hair
Dead Eyes Of London
Eyes Without A Face
Billie Jack
Fritz The Cat
Nico Icon
Twenty Four Hour Party People
Man With A Movie Camera
Pickpocket
The Bicycle Thief
The Misfits
Arthur
Moonstruck

“Frankly, you’re beginning to smell and for a stud in New York—that’s a handicap.”
— Midnight Cowboy

“In Vietnam the wind doesn’t blow—it sucks.”
—Full Metal Jacket

Instituta Benjamenta—YES!! As well as the entire collection of Brother’s Quay animation shorts-available on DVD. Brakhage—YES!! Dreyer. The Passion of Joan Of Arc and Vampyr are initiators of an amazing cinematic realization. I’m glad had your turn-around concerning A Woman Under The Influence and of course there’s Shadows, Faces and The Killing Of A Chinese Bookie.

In common with initial list (of films seen): Chinatown; Pi; Raging Bull; Repo Man; Stranger Than Paradise; The Swimmmer and YES!! White Dog should be on DVD!!

For Captain Hate I took a bunch of kids to see Animal House. The appearance of the Eat Me cake forever changed our young lives.

Thanks Wayne Spencer—I can’t wait to renew my card at Kim’s to check some of these out!

To add first some of the feminine:

The Daisies: completed 1966, released under government strain 1967
/ Director: Vera Chytilová
Vagabond: 1985, French / Writer-Director: Agnes Varda
Working Girls: 1986, American / Writing Credits: Lizzie Bordon & Sandra Kay / Director: Lizzie Bordon
Privilege: 1990, American / Director: Yvonne Rainner
Control Room: 2004, Arabic, / Jehane Noujaim

Spirited Away: 2003, Japanese / Director: Hayao Miyazaki
The God’s Of Time Square: 1999, American / Director: Richard Sandler
The Celebration: 1999, Danish / Writer-Director: Thomas Vinterberg
Crumb: 1995, American / Director: Terry Zwigoff
War Is Menstrual Envy: 1992, American / Director: Nick Zedd
Life Is Sweet: 1990, UK / Writer-Director: Mike Leigh
She’s Gotta Have It: 1986, American / Writer-Director: Spike Lee
Full Metal Jacket: 1987, American, / Writers: Gustav Hasford, Michael Herr and Stanley Kubrick / Director: Stanley Kubrick
Paths of Glory: 1957, American / Writer-Director: Stanley Kubrick
2001: A Space Odyssey: 1968, American / Screen Writers: Stanley Kubrick & Arthur C. Clarke / Director: Stanley Kubrick
Nashville: 1975, American / Writer: Joan Tewkesbury / Director: Robert Altman
The Man Who Fell To Earth: 1975, UK / Writers: Paul Mayersberg & Walter Tevis (novel) / Director: Nicolas Roeg
Picnic At Hanging Rock: 1975, Australia / Writers: Joan Lindsay (novel); Chris Greeen (screenplay) / Director: Peter Weir
Soylent Green: 1973, American / Writers: Harry Harrison (novel); Stanley R. Greenberg / Director: Richard Fleischer
Trash: 1970, American / Writer-Director: Paul Morrissey
Clair’s Knee: 1970, French / Writer-Director: Eric Rohmer
Performance: 1970, UK / Writer: Donald Cammel / Directors: Donald Cammel & Nicolas Roeg
Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner: 1967, American / Writing Credits: William Rose / Director: Stanley Kramer
Hold Me While I’m Naked: 1966, American / Director: George Kuchar
The Red Shoes: British, 1948 / Story: Hans Christian Anderson / Screenwriters: Michael Powell; Emeric Pressburger; Keith Winter / Directors: Michael Powell; Emeric Pressburger
Peeping Tom: 1960, British / Story-Screenwriter: Leo Marks / Director: Michael Powell
The Wizard of Oz: 1939, American, / Writers: L. Frank Baum; Noel Langley; Edgar
Allan Woolf: Florence Ryerson / Directors: Victor Fleming; King Vidor

&

Jules And Jim
Swept Away
Seven Beauties
The Sound Of Music
West Side Story
Mary Poppins
Hair
Dead Eyes Of London
Eyes Without A Face
Billie Jack
Fritz The Cat
Nico Icon
Twenty Four Hour Party People
Man With A Movie Camera
Pickpocket
The Bicycle Thief
The Misfits
Arthur
Moonstruck

There's a constant slippage in this thread between movies personally liked and those that might be considered great. No way - forgive me, Merry Fortune - is 'Arthur' great, unless you just mean great fun (and especially, or perhaps only, while drunk). But 'Jules et Jim' has got to be a strong contender for the most irritating movie ever made. Anyone who thinks 'Amelie' is sickeningly twee really ought to see Truffaut's film, but only if you've got a sick-bag at the ready.

>There's a constant slippage in this thread between movies personally liked and those that might be considered great.

This is true, but the big mistake is in assuming you're supposed to be nominating the latter, not the former. My list was my favorite movies, not "the greatest."

Refresh my memory -- why is Jules and Jim now forever more consigned to be associated with wretching? And what exactly are the qualities of great film?

I take back Arthur because despite Dudley Moore's hysterically sincere moment of interaction with a napkin holder, heavy drinking known as alcoholism is in reality sad and regressive and unfortunately still holds a far-reaching fascination for many among us. So then, should it or should it not be that morality is a consideration when determining the greatness of a film?

No criticism of you, Phil, was implied in my remark. Your list and the reasons for making it are perfectly clear; it's on the thread that things occasionally go awry. It's pointless to get involved in one of those discussions about "what exactly are the qualities of a great film". But, Merry Fortune, I didn't say that 'Jules et Jim' wasn't great, I just implied it was sickeningly twee. It's an opinion, take it or leave it. FWIW, I very much like 'Amelie', so I can stand a bit of twee.

but brian, what does twee mean? by the sound of it i would say sentimental or something close. why would a discussion about the qualities of a great film automatically be considered pointless? this is my third official thread posting on the site and i am looking forward to long and thorough discourse; it's exactly what i'm here for. i've found some of the conversation on these threads really amazing - great too for nervous insomnia. unfortunately i did not see amelie. i like discusion as exchange of information. there's far too much side taking which makes me weary.

Twee = sickeningly cute. "sentimental" is in the ballpark but isn't quite right as you can be unselfconsciously sentimental but "twee" implies selfconscious archness I think.

I can't decide if I liked Amelie or not.

"selfconscious archness" - yes, thanks Nate.

Thing is, Merry, "discussion about the qualities of a great film" should emerge out of a discussion of film, not, as you requested of me in an earlier post, a definition per se. Getting bogged down in definitions avails no-one. Also, quite frankly, I haven't got the time to launch into an analysis of 'Jules et Jim' (I wish I knew how to italicise words on this site) or indeed anything else, and that's true I suspect of most thread-posters hereabouts. Glad you like the Bags site, though. And I look forward to hearing what you might have to say about 'Jules et Jim' (or any other film/CD/DVD/book/whatever).

Brian, about Jules and Jim, respectfully, it is in fact an effort of great substance. It’s fine that you think it’s twee in the realm of opinion giving, but in another realm there’s a lot more to it. The depth of the spark and curiosity of one Francois Truffaut is very apparent in his labor. I know he was writing about the French New Wave before he began making films and this revealed a pretty thorough understanding before he even picked up a camera. Have you seen the 400 Blows? It’s a brave, personal (first) film about a little boy, and his family who have lost touch with what it means to be child. The Wild Child is also interesting.

This is a very open-minded music site and it seems incongruous to dismiss a filmmaker of Truffaut’s sensitivity and mastery. I kind of suspect a lack of historical perspective and would chalk any oversight off to that kind of thing. Even if one did not care for the film as you do not, it’s impossible to take any dismissal of Truffaut’s work seriously. But then as Phil pointed out—this is a Sez Me assessment. Empathetically (and emphathetically)—an opinion is an opinion and opinions are what they always were and forever will be.

So Jules and Jim for me — wherever I was at that moment in my personal love of film — all was pretty focused on the educational process, freshness and complexity of those true originals, which I consider to be of great value. Aesthetically Europeans tended to be less bound to the more presentational style characteristic of much American filmmaking and they had a great way of seamlessly, fearlessly (often not without retribution from governmental, parliamental, etc… powers that be) par-for-the-course integrating politics into their Mis-en-scenes. In the American sector, Spring Time For Hitler / The Producers was a pretty subversive moment, as well as a finely hysterical one.

I was not necessarily suggesting set definitions or even requesting definitions of you. I was just curious as to why you thought identifying the qualities of what makes a great film would be pointless. Concerning the other thread posters, as I’ve been reading many of them, it's pretty variously unpredictable just where each individual takes the discussion and for how long. I've come across some intense, involved, lengthy discussion, so apparently not everyone feels as you do.

I came across Ken Vandermark’s thread about music reviews and music writing. He was identifying the problem with the inability of many music reviewers to effectively and accurately refer to existing definitions of the many various types of music. Relative to our discussion, the idea of definitions or even the possibility will usually blow any forum or conversation wide open as a definition is a challenging thing. I do fully appreciate the need for a unity of definition as an economical approach to discussion, but in discussion for discussion’s sake it’s the attempt that’s interesting. The experience is sometimes frustrating because there is no compelling man in his inner belief and his personal set of tape loops (self included certainly).

Thanks for the twee explanation and great encouragement; I like "self-conscious archness" (thanks) and I meant (to spell) “retching,” Wretching, as we all know, is throwing up while tearing down! Onward ----

Hi Merry

No need for the "respectfully", you can disrespect me all you like, I won't flinch.

I'm long in the tooth, so have had an opportunity to view all, or nearly all, of Truffaut's films, including 'The 400 Blows' and 'Wild Child', both of which I've seen on a number of occasions, both of which I think are fine movies. I also like the drained-out emotion of his 'Fahrenheit 451', which was critically ill-favoured. So it goes. Essentially, I don't have a problem with Truffaut per se, just with 'Jules et Jim'. I'm not saying it isn't a film of great substance, but the manner in which the characters are presented is like being force-fed cream cakes. It's a beautifully made piece of work, but I can't stand it. Write it off to ignorance if you like, that's fine with me, but even at gunpoint you couldn't force me to watch it again.

Well I hope under no circumstance will you be forced to watch anything you dislike so completely! If i get to see Jules and Jim again, and now I kind of would like to, I will be on the look-out for that force-feeding-of-cream-cake element though I suspect I probably will disagree. I remember it as being a pretty dark film.

Referring back to your original aesthetic evaluation, retching as the result of being force fed anything is a pretty strong possibility.
Disrespectfully yours — merry

Ten years ago, for the first century of cinéma, a magazine asks me to write down my 100 films and, from that, to choose 10.

This is the one hundred list.

I've just drop some titles and put few more recent (meaning from this last ten years):

It's a chronologic list.
Well, not much to see with what Phil wrote down.

1 Der letze mann (The Last Of The Men) / Wilhem F. Murnau (1924/ GER)
2 Faust/ Wilhem F. Murnau (1926/ GER)
3 Sunrise/ Wilhem F. Murnau (1927/ USA)
4 Steamboat Bill Jr/ Buster Keaton (1928/ USA)
5 Die Buschse di Pandora/ Georg W. Pabst (1928/ GER)
6 Dr Jekyll And Mr Hyde/ Rouben Mamoulian (1931/ USA)
7 M/ Fritz Lang (1932/ GER)
8 Trouble In Paradise/ Ernst Lubitsch (1932/ USA)
9 Blonde Venus/ Joseph Von Sternberg (1932/ USA)
10 Freaks/ Tod Browning (1932/ USA)
11 Okraïna/ Boris Barnett (1933/ URSS)
12 Design For Living/ Ernst Lubitsch (1933/ USA)
13 La Règle du jeu/ Jean Renoir (1939/ FR)
14 Citizen Kane/ O. Welles (1941/ USA)
15 Man Hunt/ Fritz Lang (1941/ USA)
16 The Great Dictator/ Charles Chaplin (1941/ USA)
17 Ivan Grozny/ Sergei M. Eisenstein (1941/ 45/ URSS)
18 Double Indemnity/ Billy Wilder (1944/ USA)
19 The Big Sleep (1944/ 46/ USA)
20 Roma citta apperta/ Roberto Rossellini (1945/ IT)
21 My Darling Clementine/ John Ford (1946/ USA)
22 Out Of The Past/ Jacques Tourneur (1947/ USA)
23 Pursued/ Raoul Walsh (1947/ USA)
24 Letter From An Unknown Woman/ Max Ophuls (1948/ USA)
25 Ostatni etap (The last stage)/ Janka Jakubowska (1948/ PL)
26 Yoru no onna tachi (Women Of The Night)/ Kenji Mizoguchi (1948/ JAP)
27 White Heat/ Raoul Walsh (1949/ USA)
28 Night And The City/ Jules Dassin (1950/ UK)
29 The Asphalt Jungle/ John Huston (1950/ USA)
30 The River/ Jean Renoir (1950/ INDIA/ UK)
31 Ugetsu monogatari/ Kenji Mizoguchi (1953/ JAP)
32 Madame de…/ Max Ophuls (1953 FR)
33 Tokyo monogatari/ Yasujiro Ozu (1953/ JAP)
34 Sansho Dayu (Sansho The Baliff)/ Kenji Mizoguchi (1954/ JAP)
35 The Big Heat/ Fritz Lang (1954/ USA)
36 Viaggio in Italia/ Roberto Rossellini (1954/ IT)
37 Schichinin no samourai/ Akira Kurosawa (1954/ JAP)
38 The Night Of The Hunter/ Charles Laughton (1955/ USA)
39 The Searchers/ John Ford (1956/ USA)
40 An Affair To Remember/ Leo McCaray (1957/ USA)
41 The Seven Seals/ Ingmar Bergman (1957/ SWD)
42 Touch Of Evil/ Orson Welles (1957/ USA)
43 Band Of Angels/ Raoul Walsh (1957/ USA)
44 Vertigo/ Alfred Hitchcock (1958/ USA)
45 Les Quatre cent coups/ François Truffaut (1959/ FR)
46 La dolce vita (Federico Fellini) (1959/ IT)
47 Anatomy Of A murder/ Otto Preminger (1959/ USA)
48 Pickpocket/ Robert Bresson (1959/ FR)
49 Rio Bravo/ Howard Hawks (1959/ USA)
50 Hiroshima mon amour/ Alain Resnais (1959/ FR)
51 Rocco And His Brothers/ Luchino Visconti (1960/ IT)
52 The Misfits/ John Huston (1960/ USA)
53 Psycho/ Alfred Hitchcock (1960/ USA)
54 Wild River/ Elia Kazan (1960/ USA)
55 Seishun zankoku monogatari/ Nagisa Oshima (1960/ JAP)
56 Pasazerka/ Andrzej Munk (1961/ 64/ POL)
57 The Man Who Shoot Liberty Valance/ John Ford (1961/ USA)
58 Cronaca familiare/ Valerio Zurlini (1962/ IT)
59 Lawrence Of Arabia/ David Lean (1962/ UK)
60 L’eclisse/ Michelangelo Antonioni (1962/ IT)
61 Cléo de 5 à 7/ Agnès Varda (1962/ FR)
62 The Birds/ Alfred Hitchcock (1963/ USA)
63 Tystnaden/ Ingmar Bergman (1963/ SW)
64 Nippon konchu-ki/ Sohei Imamura (1963/ JP)
65 Il gattopardo/ Luchino Visconti (1963/ IT)
66 Le Mépris/ Jean-Luc Goddard (1963/ FR)
67 Chimes At Midnight/ Orson Welles (1964/ ESP/SWT)
68 Le Chat dans le sac/ Gilles Groulx (1964/ CAN)
69 Charulata/ Satyajit Ray (1964/ INDIA)
70 Playtime/ Jacques Tati (1964/ 67/ FR)
71 Les Parapluies de Cherbourg/ Jacques Demy (1964/ FR)
72 Persona/ Ingmar Bergman (1966/ SWD)
73 Blow Up/ Michelangelo Antonioni (1966/ IT/ UK)
74 Belle de jour/ Luis Bunuel (1966/ FR)
75 La Bataille d’Alger/ Gillo Pontecorvo (1966/ IT/ ALG)
76 Le Deuxième souffle/ Jean-Pierre Melville (1966/ FR)
77 Andreï Roublev/ Andreï Tarkovski (1967/ URSS)
78 In Cold Blood/ Richard Brooks (1967/ USA)
79 2001: A Space Odyssey/ Stanley Kubrick (1968/ USA)
80 The Party/ Blake Edwards (1968/ USA)
81 The Rain People/ Francis F. Coppola (1969/ USA)
82 The Last Picture Show/ Peter Bogdanovich (1971/ USA)
83 La Maman et la putain/ Jean Eustache (1972/ FR)
84 The Godfather I & II (Francis F. Coppola) (1972/75/ FR)
85 Fellini-Roma/ Federico Fellini (1972/ IT)
86 The Passenger/ Michelangelo Antonioni (1974/ IT/FR/SP)
87 Zekalo (The Miror)/ Andreï Tarkovski (1974/ URSS)
88 Eraserhead/ David Lynch (1974/ USA)
89 Die ehe der Maria Braun/ Rainer Werner Fassbinder (1978/ RFA)
90 Sauve qui peut (la vie)/ Jean-Luc Godard (1979/ USA)
91 Raging Bull/ Martin Scorsese (1979/ USA)
92 Four Friends/ Arthur Penn (1980/ USA)
93 Moonlighting/ Jerzy Skolimovski (1982/ UK)
94 Come And See (Requiem For A Massacre)/ Elem Klimov (1985/ URSS)
95 Blue Velvet/ David Lynch (1986/ USA)
96 Dead Ringers/ David Cronenberg (1989/ CAN)
97 Kuroi ame (Black Rain)/ Sohei Imamura (1989/ JAP)
98 Good Men, Good Women/ Hou Hsiao Hsien (1995/ TAW)
99 The Thin Red Line/ Terrence Malik (1998/ USA)
100 Rosetta/ Luc & Jean-Pierre Dardenne (1999/ BEL)

Philip, I'd like to burn you seven DVDs.

. . .well, six, seeing what you placed 87th instead of first.

We have disgustingly similar taste in film. "Wild River" and "The Big Heat"!!!

Last post: where is "Weekend"?

Last post: where is "Weekend"?

Not on my list because to my eyes the film didn't aged so well.
Its still a "visionnary" film but...

"Breathless", "Pierrot le fou" (who was on the previous list), "Bande à part" or "Masculin/ Féminin" are better films for my taste.

Michael, thanks to burn me some DVD but my player is zone 2 only.
Let me now what titles, I may have it.

About "Zerkalo" (The Mirror), the list is done chronologicaly so his rank has no meaning.

for your information, "Zerkalor" (nor "Roublev" either) was on my ten list.
I like Tarkovski but his "mysticism", when put in words, bore me most of the time.

By the way, where are your very own list?

I like your list too, Philip. Nice to see "Chimes at Midnight" and "Double Indemnity." Don't know about "Freaks," though--I Think I'd rather have something with Olivier, Guinness or Gielgud.

And, FWIW, I don't think "The Birds" is top notch Hitch: I'd rather have a bunch of the British ones, particularly "Strangers on a Train."

I didn't think Strangers on a Train was British Hitchcock? Maybe you're thinking of The Lady Vanishes--at least, there's a train there too, & it's probably the best of his 1930s films.

There's a British cut and an American cut of Strangers on a Train. The final scenes are slightly different. I believe, though, that the film was made in the USA with Hollywood money.

My favorite Hitchcock: Shadow of a Doubt.

Right, gents. I should have written "earlier/British ones."

...not that it really matters. jeez i hate myself for nitpicking. sorry.

W:
W: "Don't know about "Freaks," though--I Think I'd rather have something with Olivier, Guinness or Gielgud."

- Won't argue about "Freaks". The film is unique.

Gielgud is on "Chimes At Midnight".
Guinness is on "Lawrence Of Arabia".
Don't like much Olivier as a film's actor.
Interesting director, thought.

W: "And, FWIW, I don't think "The Birds" is top notch Hitch: I'd rather have a bunch of the British ones, particularly "Strangers on a Train."

- Really? I think that Hitchcock gave four incredible masterpieces between 1958 and 1963
("Vertigo", "North By Northwest", "Psycho" and "The Birds").
"The Birds" is the metaphysical one.
The most frightening when you think deeply about it.

"Strangers On A train" is from the american period (1953). Love some piece of it (The murder on the island seen in glass reflection, the tennis match where the only person who doesn't move the head to follow the game is the killer, etc.) but I don't like the rythm of the film (to slow sometimes and to speed at other times).
I'd rather choose "Rear Window" or "Notorious".

Since I really don't like the dialogue in "The Birds" and you're not crazy for "Strangers on a Train" I suggest we agree on "Rear Window." I still want more Guinness, and suggest "Tunes of Glory" or "Bridge on the River Kwai." For Olivier, I propose "Uncle Vanya" (which also has the merit of Redgrave saying "She's so lazy, she sways when she walks.") For Gielgud, how about "The Loved One"?

Also, you have to keep in mind my middle-brow tendencies. I want "Key Largo" and maybe even "Philadelphia Story" and "Cinema Paradiso" Also, as indicated above, I gotta have "Turtle Diary" "Twelfth Night" and "Meet John Doe."

WTHDIK?

I don't watch many movies, but I watch the good ones over and over and over. Just like books, if it is worth seeing/reading twice, it worth reviewing at least 10 times