Monday, May 23, 2005

I'll take "Yet More Lists" for $500, Alex!

Via Tosy and Cosh (which one is Tosy, and which one is Cosh?) I see that the film critics of TIME Magazine have listed their 100 greatest movies of all time. Here's their list, with the ones I've seen in bold (and with additional, occasionally pithy, commentary):

Aguirre: the Wrath of God (1972)
The Apu Trilogy (1955, 1956, 1959)
The Awful Truth (1937)
Baby Face (1933)
Bande à part (1964)
Barry Lyndon (1975)
Berlin Alexanderplatz (1980)
Blade Runner (1982) (I have never understood this film's high acclaim. Its production design is absolutely brilliant, but the story and characters inevitably leave me cold every time I watch it.)

Bonnie and Clyde (1967)
Brazil (1985)
Bride of Frankenstein (1935)
Camille (1936)
Casablanca (1942) (This is the best movie of all time that doesn't also happen to be a Star Wars movie.)

Charade (1963)
Children of Paradise (1945)
Chinatown (1974)
Chungking Express (1994)
Citizen Kane (1941)
City Lights (1931)
City of God (2002)
Closely Watched Trains (1966)
The Crime of Monsieur Lange (1936)
The Crowd (1928)
Day for Night (1973)
The Decalogue (1989)
Detour (1945)
The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie (1972)
Dodsworth (1936)
Double Indemnity (1944)
Dr. Strangelove: or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)
Drunken Master II (1994)
E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial (1982)
8 1/2 (1963)
The 400 Blows (1959)
Farewell My Concubine (1993) (I'm actually cheating here, because I've seen the first hour of this film six times. Every few months I request it from the library for watching in installments after The Daughter has gone to bed, and each time, I end up having to return it before I can finish it. Which is a pity, because that first hour is just engrossing.)
Finding Nemo (2003) Ummmm...one of the greatest ever? Well, it just might be, but for a list to include this but nothing by Hayao Miyazaki seems odd to me. Nemo is a wonderful film, but it's not a Spirited Away or a Princess Mononoke.

The Fly (1986) (Oh, come on, now. This is a classic?!)
The Godfather, Parts I and II (1972, 1974)
The Good, The Bad and The Ugly (1966) (In all honesty, it might have been For a Few Dollars More.)

Goodfellas (1990) (Good movie. But I don't care how many people think it got robbed at the Oscars, Dances With Wolves moved the bejesus out of me.)

A Hard Day's Night (1964)
His Girl Friday (1940)
Ikiru (1952)
In A Lonely Place (1950)
Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956)
It's A Gift (1934)
It's A Wonderful Life (1946) (Sorry, but I just don't like it.)

Kandahar (2001)
Kind Hearts and Coronets (1949)
King Kong (1933)
The Lady Eve (1941)
The Last Command (1928)
Lawrence of Arabia (1962)

Léolo (1992)
The Lord of the Rings (2001-03) (Whoaaaa, again)

The Man With a Camera (1929)
The Manchurian Candidate (1962)
Meet Me in St. Louis (1944)
Metropolis (1927)
Miller's Crossing (1990)
Mon oncle d'Amérique (1980)
Mouchette (1967)
Nayakan (1987)
Ninotchka (1939)
Notorious (1946)
Olympia, Parts 1 and 2 (1938)
On the Waterfront (1954)
Once Upon a Time in the West (1968)
Out of the Past (1947)
Persona (1966)
Pinocchio (1940) (For those who think that Disney flicks are all just happy and fun little entertainments, I refer you to the scene where Lampwick turns into a donkey. It's as chilling a moment of pure horror as I've seen in a film. Really.)

Psycho (1960)
Pulp Fiction (1994) (The friend of mine at The Store with whom I saw Revenge of the Sith also adores this film, and we're constantly quoting it to each other in passing. A key catchphrase of ours, for when one of us is having a very frustrating day, is: "I'm trying real hard to be the shepherd.")

The Purple Rose of Cairo (1985)
Pyaasa (1957)
Raging Bull (1980)
Schindler's List (1993) (It kind of bothers me that this film has become somewhat overshadowed by the decidedly inferior Saving Private Ryan. Schindler's List just might be the most powerful film I have ever seen.)

The Searchers (1956) (This is one of those films you gotta see, even if after you see it you're unclear as to just why it was that you hadda see it. If that makes sense.)

Sherlock, Jr. (1924)
The Shop Around the Corner (1940)
Singin' in the Rain (1952) (Just thinking about this movie makes me smile -- and it's not even my favorite musical!)

The Singing Detective (1986)
Smiles of a Summer Night (1955)
Some Like It Hot (1959)
Star Wars (1977) (Only, as far as I am concerned, the greatest movie ever made. Suck it, Citizen Kane!)

A Streetcar Named Desire (1951)
Sunrise (1927)
Sweet Smell of Success (1957)
Swing Time (1936) (Ahhhh, Fred and Ginger....)

Talk to Her (2002)
Taxi Driver (1976)
Tokyo Story (1953)
A Touch of Zen (1971)
Ugetsu (1953)
Ulysses' Gaze (1995)
Umberto D (1952)
Unforgiven (1992) (My favorite Western after Dances With Wolves.)
White Heat (1949)
Wings of Desire (1987)
Yojimbo (1961)

Wow, there are a lot of movies on that list I haven't even heard of, much less actually seen. Goodness. And there are some on here that I think I may have seen, but I'm not sure, so I didn't mark them as such.

UPDATE: Upon further reflection (assisted by Nefarious Neddie in comments), I remember that I've only seen half of Lawrence of Arabia. Maybe someday I'll have my own "Second Half Film Festival", in which I finish all the movies I've started watching over the years and not finished....

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